The Silent City: Sylvanin

Ability Score Adjustments: Sylvanin, as slender, fragile creatures have a -2 penalty to Constitution. However, they receive +2 Dexterity.

Ability Score Range
Strength  3/18
Dexterity  8/20
Constitution 2/16
Intelligence 6/18
Wisdom 3/18
Charisma 6/18

Class Restrictions
Warrior
Fighter 12

Wizard
Mage 15
Specialists (not unlocked)
Kits (not unlocked)

Priest
Cleric 6
Specialty Priest (Lorim) 12

Rogue
Thief 12

Hit Dice. Player character Sylvanin receive hit dice by class.

Alignment. Sylvanin tend toward chaotic good, but may be of any type.

Natural Armor Class. Sylvanin have tough sealed ribcages and hard chitinous armor plating just below the surface of their skin. This provides them with a natural AC of 6.

Languages. Sylvanin speak the local common and Elotic.

Special Advantages. All sylvanin are also born with a pair of semi-functional gliding wings which allows them to feather fall whenever they drop more than 10 feet. These wings are usually tucked back, and if they are wearing anything on their backs they cannot be used.

Sylvanin are adept at finding secret doors, and can utilize the elvish power in the PHB. They also have 90' infravision when they are in low- or no-light conditions. They receive the elvish ambushing ability from the PHB, and Sylvanin thieves have a +20% bonus to their move silently rating if their wings are free, as they can use them to help propel themselves and keep a light step. This correspondingly grants a 30% Hide penalty while their wings are unfurled.

Special Disadvantages. Sylvanin have no special disadvantages.

Aging and physical features. Sylvanin use the PHB elf charts for aging and height/weight.

Proficiency unlocks. Once the Sylvanin are introduced into a settlement, they unlock the craftsmanship of chime-harms, the playing of same; also, sylvanin generally can learn engineering, hunting/trapping, set snares, and various forms of black-, white-, weapon-, and armorsmithing. Sylvanin communities also have information on astrology, and usually some knowledge of the surrounding geographical area.

Culture and History

The sylvanin were the first race to join the great coalition of the High Mages of the City. They claim to have always lived in the high places, and to be natural suppliants of Lorim of the Heights. They have a preference for mountain-valleys, elevated streams, treetops, and other such places. They supposedly taught the Men Below to write and carve in exchange for other, deeper secrets.

As the City expanded its influence to the heights, more and more sylvanin lands came under their sway. Eventually, they were reduced, little by little, to wonder-workers under the Guild system. They competed heavily with the extra-planar Voidborn for city favors, but, like the Chasmous, always stood high in City esteem. Many famous generals, sorcerers, Guildmages, and even Assembly-men and Councillors were sylvanin.

They are soft-spoken and lyrical, having a great love of the beauty of things half-made or half-destroyed. Their handicrafts are always asymmetrical, and they find symmetry in art to represent stasis, death, and a failure in the mind of the artist.

The sylvanin have a natural aptitude for magic and fencing. All sylvanic communities prefer the rapier, epee, and falchion to other, heavier, weapons. Some say the sylvanin once had the gift of flight, but traded it for the power of magic; be that as it may, the infamous spell-beads that dot the surface likely have their origin in sylvanic rituals to please Lorim.

Silent City: Myconidia

Eons ago, in the City's youth, the people of the city encountered the Fruit. They named these creatures Myconidia in the City tongue of Lemmic, and they offered them a contract: the Myconidia could enter the City, as citizens, but they would have to undergo some changes and swear to a pact. Some of the Myconidia did this, while others refused. Those that swore the Pact were changed; they grew mouths, and turned russet red. Those who did not retreated to the wild caverns and became known as the Free Myconids.

Myconid culture is deeply communal; the fruiting, the mobile creature that is seen above ground is merely the mycnoid's sporing. It can wither and die without affecting the true myconid: the mycelium growing below the earth. Myconids communicate amongst each other by emitting spores or, if they grow in the same village, by mingling neural connectors in their mycelium.

However, the fact that they are not mobile also greatly effects their culture -- they do not travel far from their mycelia, they have no gender differentiation, and they reproduce by causing their fruitings to die and form a new mycelic colony. They are immortal in lifespan, though over many centuries they become forgetful, and the destruction of fruitings and degradation of mycelia also causes them to lose their oldest memories. They have no understanding of faith and religion, and cannot therefore be priests.

Myconid names are descriptive and always in Lemmic; for example, Guardian, Proprietor, Walker.

Myconids have the following stat adjustments: -2 Str, -1 Cha, +1 Int, +2 Con.

Stat maximums and minimums (before adjustment):

Str 6/18, Dex 3/15, Con 8/18, Int 3/16, Wis 6/18, Cha 3/18

Classes: thief (merchant) 12, fighter 9, Ranger 12, fighter/thief, maybe others (unlockable)

Movement: 12

Special Abilities: The Mycelium. The fruit tend to have titles instead of names. The ambulatory mushroom one sees is not the actual house of the thing's personality; rather, this is a mesh of fungus in the earth called the Mycelium. Whenever a Fruiting character dies, they may make a resurrection survival roll during each successive season until they regenerate. If they succeed, their next Fruit loses 1 Con, but regenerates over the next month at their mycelium. If their Con ever drops to 0, it requires 100 years for the mycelium to recover and issue new fruit. If the mycelium is destroyed or dies, this ability is lost.

Mushroom Speak. If a myconid PC stops and roots for 10 minutes, they can use a special version of speak with plants that affects all fungi. They can do this any number of times per day.

Regeneration. If a myconid stands in water for 6 hours, they may regenerate an additional 1d4 hit point per day.

Planting. A myconid may allow their fruiting to perish if left in safety for 1 month to "reproduce" and plant a new mycelium.

Weapon Proficiencies. Merchant-myconids may select one of three unique starting items and be proficient in their use and repair: repeating crossbow (40 bolts), bullseye lantern, or potion belt (with 5+1d6 random grenade-like potions on it)

Culture and History
In the youngest period of the City, after the discovery and integration of the Chasmous but before the construction of the first Serpentine Gates, the Myconidia were contacted in the upper reaches. City ambassadors spent many years with them.

Myconidia were by no means united, and generally made war for territory, resources, and cultural reasons. There were as many Myconid cultures as there were caverns, and each varied widely. Myconid coloring was sometimes useful as a way to determine allegiance, because the diet of a mycelium when producing its Fruiting would, in part, determine what color Fruit was produced.

The Myconidia had a religion focused on a single world-spanning fungus they called Sorl, the original Mycelium. Some claimed that prior to the coming of the City and the Pacts, all Myconidia were part of Sorl the Silent; others, that they fractured long ago, well before the City came, and that their sporings all made war.

The City, little by little, expanded its influence in the upper reaches, particularly where the temperate and tropical regions permitted year-round habitation of the upper caverns. Trade with the surfacers was important, and a rumor has been passed in myconid culture for centuries and centuries that the first City-dwellers were men that followed a Wanderer-guide into the depths of the earth to begin with. Whether this is true is a matter for debate (though myconidia have a very vague concept of "truth"; much more important is a malleable concept of mythic truth -- things that are true not because they literally happened, but because they make sense and explain something vital).

The City made allies with various sporings (as the myconidia colonies are known), eventually leading to the Pact. This was sealed at the Great Sporing (myconid legend tells this to be the origin of all the Myconidia from a single lonesome Fruit, but this is unlikely) by the admission of all Wanderers and allied Settlers into the Pact.

Imparting the Pact began a long period of internecine warfare between Wild and Settled Myconidia. Their languages diverged. In some regions there was uneasy peace between them, but in others there was outright warfare. However, the City never became involved in the fighting, except to outfit their proxies, the Settled Myconids, with weaponry and magics. Myconid rumor persists that there are Fruit who were taught to use magic and become mighty wizards, but again, they are more interested in metaphorical than literal history. As it stands, no myconid has been able to master the necessary skills to use magic.

The Myconidia are therefore divided into three rough groups: the Wild, the Settled, and the Wanderers. Wanderers are most likely to become adventurers and gain class levels. They provide the necessary interlink between Settled societies and the Wild, and were once a frequent sight in the grand bazaars of the city.

Subrace and Subculture

Birthright does something interesting with humans. It divides them up into cultural groups and gives them bonuses as though they were separate races. The bonus modifiers for the Cerilians are the following:

Anuirean, +1 Wis, -1 Dex
Brechtian, +1 Dex, -1 Wis
Khinasi, +1 Int, -1 Con
Rjurik, +1 Con, -1 Cha
Vos, +1 Str, -1 Int

On the one hand, I really like this. On the other, I have some reservations about it. These single point perks and flaws are meant (I'm sure) to represent the various inclinations, cultural leanings, values, and training amongst those populations. That's neat, because cultural norms SHOULD be reflected in the game.

And yet... cultural norms shouldn't, to my mind, be as decisive a factor as the blatantly inhuman nature of demihumans. That +1 Dex, -1 Wis is no different from the dwarven alteration from the PHB (though to be fair, in Cerilia, dwarves get a +2, Con, -2 Dex which sort of addresses the problem). I almost want to adopt the more dramatic adjustments from Birthright for my own demihumans (almost, but won't).

I really like cultures and subraces. I really like stat adjustments. I really like when they work together. I think Birthright, alone amongst the AD&D supplements, solves this issue in the best way (eg, exaggerating the inhuman qualities of demihumans). Things such as the Complete Book of Dwarves tend to blend the idea of distinct subraces and distinct cultures—in fact, the notion of non-cultural subraces is something that might not make sense, though that's a debate about genetics in a primarily fantasy setting which is a road we probably don't want to go down.

Pixies Reworked

Danny Perdue, one of my longtime players, started playing with me as a pixie named Ilarion. I was new to playing D&D on IRC and inclined to be lenient and let people play strange and unpleasant things that I would never otherwise. Together, we worked up a strange pixie society and gave them a real place in the setting. Since the death of Ilarion, I have never let anyone play a pixie. All that may be about to change... as Danny has created an updated and expanded racial breakdown of the 10th Age pixies. Rather than confine them to the strange custom class we originally made, this allows them to be fighters, thieves, or fighter/thieves as well as have access to a pool of natural magical powers without overbalancing them one way or the other (I think).

Enjoy, all work by Danny Perdue.

Pixie Player Characters of all stripes may be classed either as Fighters (in which they can progress normally to the 7th level of ability), Thieves (in which they may rise normally to 12th level), or Fighter/Thieves. Their relatively low level limits are the result of a combination of reliance on their potent natural abilities and their congenital lack of strong commitment. For these same reasons, they require double the amount of experience points (2,500 for thieves, 4,000 for fighters, and so on) to advance in level.

All pixies may, once per day, produce the effects of Polymorph Self (which also automatically renders them visible for its duration), Know Alignment, Dispel Magic, Dancing Lights and ESP, cause Confusion by touch, become visible for any length of time*, and produce an illusion of auditory and/or visual nature, all of which function as if cast by an 8th-level wizard. One in ten pixies can also produce Otto's Irresistable Dance, and are considered 'noble' or afforded special respect and admiration, but these are never Player Characters.

Pixies of either class have hit dice of one step lower than normal: Fighters roll for HP on 8-sided dice, and thieves on 4-sided. Neither may wear armor nor use shields of any non-highly magical nature - indeed, armor in pixie proportions would not be sturdy enough to offer much protection - and may use only a limited range of weapons - small bows which they make themselves, darts which they will use spears and javelines, and daggers and knives, which they wield as swords. They can only use magic items suitable for their class and which can conform to their dimensions - ruling out a great deal of worn items that don't magically resize to fit a character even smaller than a halfling.

Because of their quasi-divine nature as a natural, uncreated race, all pixies have some latent spellcasting ability: at 5th level for warrior-pixies and 7th-level for thieves, they gain Minor access to the priest spheres of All, Plants, Elemental Air, Necromantic and Charm and operate as priests of their own level (minus four and six, respectively).

The vast majority of pixies live in the Barrowlands and pay fealty (nominally, unless some threat comes to invariably spark the intermittent pixie sense of community) to the King of Dust and Shadows who reigns there and functions as a kind of theocrat and living psychopomp. In idyllic woods all through the north, however, tiny claves of pixies (generally no more than twenty or so at any given time) are known to exist which function autonomously and some may pay homage to some Aelio (Aloran, Eminea, Aros/Anunia, Raya, or nightmarishly Sernis or Rhamna), Vinthar (Beryl Ironfoot, Pogrilius Tosscobble or Arina Songster), or the gigantine gods Omiros, depending on where they live and who they have come into contact with. In any case, all pixies of any alignment operate in essentially the same way, and all are beholden to a sort of 'code of honor', honor here used loosely.

All pixies oppose agents of Night - trolls, shadows, pact magicians, etc. that they discover with whatever means they may, and must operate against them to the fullest of their abilities, though not to the point of suicide.

Pixies all must oppose the destruction or debasement of natural things, and generally oppose new settlements near their lands, though they will gladly reclaim and inhabit constructions that have become abandoned and overgrown.

Pixies of all stripes scorn ideas of ownership and only keep what they may carry or personally oversee. In practice they may hide things for the pleasure of seeing others (nonpixies particularly) seek them, if such caches are found, or items taken, they are considered fairly won.**

Pixies can be warlike and must never suffer claims of cowardice - in pixie societies, such an allegation is made with uncharacteristic gravity. A pixie may NEVER forfeit a challenge fairly issued, though he is bound by no means to adhere to the 'spirit' of any such contest.

Those who do not cleave to these ideals generally lose their magical powers (they remain invisible, however - they lose the ability to become visible), any spellcasting ability they may have, and gain the mockery or emnity of all their kin.

*pixies can always see one another, but cannot necessarily see through any other kinds of invisibility - though it is rumored that pixies are not fooled by Dust of Disappearance produced from their ground wings, and may react very poorly indeed to individuals employing or carrying such a thing.

**pixies are aware that nonpixies DO truck with these ideas, and generally refrain from endless games of "What of yours is mine now?" with, for instance, adventurers they have taken to travelling with.