Post by GuardianTempest on Aug 9, 2018 0:06:57 GMT -6
It is said that simpler organisms are more likely to survive, and the Slyths are proof of it. These giant mounds of slime have only become more diverse with eons of evolution, especially after contact with other races, but at their core they're still the same.
Physical Characteristics
Average Height: 0.5-5.0m, depending on posture
Average Weight: 40-80kg
Languages: Trade, Slimetouch
Common Personality Traits: Easygoing, simplistic, humble, dependable, friendly
Common Physical Traits: Gelatinous body, malleable form, cellular core, varying colors, needs hydration
Example Names: Kraj, Suu, Moldsmal, Squiggly, Erubetie
Racial Statistics
Characteristic Bonus: +1 to Constitution or Composure
Skill Bonus: +1 to Acrobatics and Brawl
Power — Nucleic Vitals: A Slyth's only internal organ is the nucleus controlling their boneless mass. You can change your shape freely and fit through tight spaces. Incoming attacks always hit the Body if they don't hit the Gizzards. If you have a Bionic Limb attached, that limb can be hit normally but critical damage still uses effects for hitting the Body.
Size: 4
Racial Feats
Metal Slime (Paragon Asset)
You are among the rarest and oldest breeds of Slyth, your Resilience is increased by one. During combat, add your Excellence to Speed, Initiative and Armor; and double that to Aura. Your nucleus is more sensitive to damage from age, your total Hit Points are halved.
Acidic
With more acidic pH levels and a faster metabolism, you can digest more than organic matter. Your weaponless unarmed attacks deal an additional +2k0 damage and gain the Toxic property. Whenever you are dealt wounds from a melee attack, you may deal 2k1 damage with Toxic against the attacker as a reaction if he is adjacent to you. Cannot be taken with Yukkuri.
Yukkuri
Most Slyths are barely edible, usually it makes people sick when they try. You, on the other hand, are some kind of universal dessert that can actually heal people from how delicious you are. Just don't let your nucleus get eaten or you'll die immediately. You may have allies feed on you, healing them by one Hit Point for every two that you lose. Cannot be taken with Acidic.
Max Slimer
You have so much bulk that you can afford to shed chunks of yourself as a form of ablative armor. Your size is increased by 2 and you may reduce it by 1 to prevent all damage dealt from a successful attack as a reaction. However, a bigger body means you have a bigger nucleus to control it. Your Resilience is halved (to a minimum of 1) against attacks that would hit your Gizzards. Size is restored by 1 point for every 5 Hit Points you recover.
Admirer
It's a well-known fact that Slyths have a tendency to mold themselves into a likeness of other races they encounter. Less common is the ability to fix their pigments to match. Gain a +2k1 bonus on Disguise tests made to pass as a race of the same Size as you.
Physical Qualities
Slyths are some of the longest-lived races on the Wheel due to their extremely simple physiology: A Slyth is a single, giant cell that feeds on whatever is available, but truly requires only water to live. Extremely arid environments pose a challenge to them, and they are incapable of surviving in a vacuum. Their shapes range from disorganized blobs to endearing attempts at imitating other races they've met.
The cytoplasm making up a Slyth's body has a color and a consistency as varied as the shapes they take, but usually defaults to a translucent blue color with a viscosity similar to jelly. A Slyth's diet literally has an effect on its color; one who eats mainly plant matter often becomes a green shade, while a Slyth that gets a lot of blood or animal protein becomes red or orange. Slyths with very acidic compositions take on yellow hues and a much looser gel, almost more syrupy than slimy. Spots and stripes can also develop, but no one's sure exactly how.
Slyths are, in fact, biologically asexual, and - like their microscopic counterparts - reproduce by mitosis. There's also no rhyme or reason to when a given Slyth decides to split; the greybeards seem to think it mostly has to do with how much they can get to eat besides water. Slyths are considered to be fully cognizant and mature from the moment of spawning, even if their emotional development leaves a bit to be desired.
Playing a Slyth
Left to their own devices, Slyths tend to congregate into communal masses that don't do much more than eat, hang out, and carry on complex philosophical debates solely through the medium of touch. That last bit can often offend some bloods; Slyths have rather weak eyesight compared to other races, and their olfactory senses are practically nil, but their tactile and auditory senses are fantastic. A Slyth's lack of personal space is a result of this, one who hugs a solid out of the blue is simply trying to communicate better.
They do, however, have a much easier time understanding and integrating the mores of other races into their mindsets... again, greybeards point to their semifluid biology as the root of this. Just as water will take the shape of whatever it's poured into, a Slyth will mimic and occasionally even identify as whatever races it finds itself living with. If that race is sexually dimorphic, the Slyth may even go so far as to imitate that as well; Slyths are so self-effacing that one may only remember it's a Slyth when around other Slyths.
The Slyth's diet, though, may change that. While most Slyths tend to default toward a humble, easygoing personality, chemicals in their food may change that. Plant matter, aside from turning the Slyth green, may also enhance this natural humility or exaggerate certain characteristics other races associate with parents. Blood and animal protein, similarly, create an aggressive streak that's hard to tamp back down. Slyths with more acidic compositions tend to have caustic tongues, as well, and the less said about high salt intake, the better.
A popular practice, for those who know of them, is to have a Slyth serve as a living container for certain small items, as long as you don't mind the things saturated in goo and battered around a bit. The more acidic breeds tend to destroy such items outright, making them useful as living garbage disposals; thankfully, most spelljammers are floored using nonreactive substances, preventing them from melting through.
Slyth Heroes
Created by the Humans to explore the most inhospitable reaches of the Great Wheel, the Promethean known as "The Grey Goo" made a terrifying discovery in one particular Crystal Sphere: A horrible army that threatens much of the universe if left unchecked. The metallic Slyth puts aside its primary objectives in favor of warning its masters of the coming shroud.
Once upon a time, a Slyth was investigating the ruins of a Tomb World. However, he mistook a dangerous artifact as mere decoration and caused the daemon inside to hijack his nucleus, overriding his will with its own. Now he goes by Arakune, enjoying the new lease on life the unwitting Slyth has given him.
Mercury is an irritating little blob of liquid metal, first witnessed in action during an attempted destruction of an Alternian colony. At first taken for another of the little grey bastards, her speed and malleability soon put the laugh to that, and the invading Githyanki were quickly routed, roundly cursing the little metal troll's presence.
