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dailycharacteroption · 6 months

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Roleplaying Races 14: Astomoi

(art by @xcrimsonalertx here on tumblr!)

We’re back with another special on playable ancestries, and this one’s a bit obscure.

Ahhh, yes, the Astomoi, one of the playable options that I mentioned before when talking about things that I wish First Edition had done (i.e., fleshing out some of the otherwise one-and-done playable ancestries that were introduced in a bestiary and never touched again).

But without further ado, I give you the faceless psychic enigmas, the astomoi!

Now, with their psychic abilities and featureless bodies, one might assume that the astomoi are a completely original creation by Paizo, or barring that, a reference to some surreal fantasy or sci-fi fiction, but this is actually not the case!

First mentioned by Megasthenes and later by Pliny the Elder in their naturalist bestiary works, the Astomi, or Astomoi as we would come to call them, were supposedly a species of human-like beings from the mouth of the Ganges River that were notable for their hairy bodies and complete lack of mouth. These beings supposedly subsided on the air they inhaled and the smells of fragrant fruit and vegetables.

This sort of “human-like but having a strange anatomy” is common trope of bestiaries at the time, whether Megasthenes made them up entirely or heard about them from some traveller’s stories, and perfectly illustrates how the human imagination filled in the edges of the known world long before exploration, scientific observation and accurate recordings of events did.

The astomoi as they appear in Pathfinder look a bit different, but keep the key elements of being mouthless and the sensitivity of their sense of smell, as we shall soon see.

Our Astomoi are humanoid in shape and mostly hairless, their bodies absorbing light while also projecting colorful patterns on the surface of their skin, looking by all accounts like humanoid blots of darkness in which stars or shapes are sometimes seen. Astomoi lack not just mouths, but eyes, noses and ears, their craniums being truly featureless. Instead, their whole body is scent-focused sensory organ, while their natural psychic ability provides for their sight and hearing.

While they can absorb some nutrients through the air, their primary method of sustenance is to psychically pull the nutrients of foodstuff out and absorb it through their skin, rendering the food tasteless and of no nutritional value to others. However, their skin is also their greatest weakness, as the permeability of the skin, which facilitates their ability to absorb scents, makes them vulnerable to inhaled toxins and air-transmissible disease.

Sadly, the fact that this ancestry was created for a bestiary and hasn’t received a single bit of lore support means that our only clues as to their disposition and society are literal scraps. What we do know is that they are predisposed to asceticism, making it likely that their culture and way of life are contemplative, minimalist, and lacking in extravagance. Indeed, Astomoi rarely see the need to wear any clothing at all save for protective materials for the weather, and even in their native temperate homelands, the most they ever where are a few small rags, and not even for modesty, not that their anatomy sports anything that other peoples would consider covering. (or maybe they do, if there is any sexual dimorphism with astomoi, we literally have only one piece of art to go off of. So feel free to fill in those gaps yourself.)

I also imagine with their sensitive olfactory organs, that scent must pay a strong role in their society, with faint perfumes being used for aesthetic purposes or even to convey meaning, though obviously they don’t wear anything too strong to avoid overwhelming themselves and others. Similarly, their food is likely prepared with aroma in mind, with spices and cooking being used to bring out mouth-watering scents. Imagine a group of astomoi gathered round a large, perfectly cooked and seasoned baked fruit buffet, just taking in the smell before absorbing the nutrients. Maybe even preparing an additional portion for mouth-bearing neighbors, which the astomoi enjoy with their senses even though they do not partake.

Astomoi are observant and insightful, capable of making sense of the world and their own thoughts, however, their bodies are somewhat delicate.

Without a mouth, astomoi must use their telepathy to communicate with other beings with language. Notably, they don’t seem to have their own tongue, perhaps learning languages mostly to facilitate communication with non-astomoi rather than for communication with each other.

Naturally, their whole body being an olfactory organ gives them a keen sense of smell.

Meanwhile, they use telepathy to simulate darkvision within a moderate range, but are blind beyond that. However, that telepathy allows them to substitute thought components common to psychic spellcasting for the verbal counterparts found in most other magic traditions in a telepathic shout that the threads of magic respond to.

However, having such receptive and sensitive skin means that astomoi are quite vulnerable to inhaled poisons and disease.

That being said, having no mouth does mean you can’t exactly feed them something poisonous. They can, however, absorb the magical effects of potions and other magical ingestables in the same way they do food, so there is that.

With their high intelligence and wisdom, astomoi make excellent casters regardless of class, though of course they are middling when it comes to charisma casters, though not bad per se. That weakness to constitution does not do them any favors, so if you plan any sort of tanky close-range combatant, you should probably focused on having a high AC over being able to eat hits. With than in mind, their ascetic ways makes monk a tempting class, but you should probably focus on being a rapid damage dealer and debuffer rather than absorbing hits. Sneaky classes like rogue and such are also decent, though if you’re a trap-breaker, be a very good trap breaker, because that suceptability to inhaled toxins, while situational, could be a major problem. Honestly, the only thing I would recommend steering them away from is ranged builds, as their sense of sight is limited to 60 ft, ok for skirmishes in a dungeon, not so much for making a sniper in the open field.

Overall the astomoi is a clever idea for creating a serviceable playable ancestry out of an obscure folklore reference, but it is hampered by a lack of lore. However, that is just more imperative for you and your players to come up with lore for them that fits your world!

#pathfinder #race #astomoi #Bestiary 5

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crimso-o · 2 years

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Getting into Pathfinder nowadays and I've fallen in love with Astomoi, so I made my own 😳💕

They need more love, it's a shame there isn't much info about them.

#pathfinder #astomoi #pathfinder 1e #fantasy oc #art #ocs #artwork #digital art #oc artwork #open commissions #cheap commissions #pathfinder oc #shadow oc #female shadow #astomoi pathfinder #astomoi art #cool ocs #digital oc art

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feeshies · 6 years

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This is my new d&d character. Her name is Mika. She’s an astomoi (living shadow) and a shadowdancer. She has no mouth or eyes or physical form and she must dance.

Other people in the party: A goblin vampire hunter who doesn’t know she’s a vampire A dryad druid who really wants to make a friend and fall in love. Also she’s always surrounded by bees.

Girls club

Also all 3 of us wanted to play so we're all going to try to dm together

#oc: Mika #fish art #pathfinder astomoi

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katair · 7 years

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some pathfinder losers, orio and ritz

#Character Design #pathfinder #summoner #original character #monster #astomoi #eidolon #Katairs poopy art #my art

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kairelart · 7 years

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Just dumping a lot of art I’ve been doing for a not-yet-started pathfinder campaign on here.

Characters are:

Tanis, my sylph wizard and his celestial ferret, Sterling.

Lucy, a ratfolk rogue.

Kharles, an ifrit bard.

Orio, an astomoi summoner and their eidolon/weird dream snake, Ritz.

And Mel, a human cavalier with his various bee friends.

We have one more party member, but I’m not entirely sure who they are yet, so I'll probably put them on here too, eventually.

#dnd #dungeons and dragons #pathfinder #Kairel makes art

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lilith-darkmoon · 7 years

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Formed from the bleeding essence of the Astral Plane, Euthymious (astomoi blood arcanist) has no memory of anything resembling a childhood as other humanoids would understand it.

#my patreon #astomoi #arcanist #pathfinder rpg #rpg #my art

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dailycharacteroption · 3 years

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Aerial Assaulter (Fighter Archetype)

The High Ground. Regardless of the Star Wars memes, there is an advantage to attacking from above.

Fiction is full of figures that specialize in combat from the air (Final Fantasy’s Dragoons come to mind), whether they are merely dropping in from above or achieving true flight, and today’s subject does just that.

Associated originally with the city-state nations of the Shory, who lived in flying cities that were marvels of magical engineering for their time, today we are looking at an archetype representing those descended from the warrior traditions that evolved alongside the air mages that the flying cities were most famous for.

Even though the Shory are long gone, the tradition have survived in it’s displaced people and their descendants, allowing for warriors that specialize in leaping high and/or dive-bombing foes from above to be found anywhere, not to mention in completely separate settings.

Either way, the aerial assaulter style promises to grant offensive and defensive advantages to those who attack from the air.

Long before they have reliable access to flight magic, these warriors train to master the art of motion in the air, gliding with stability, and squeezing the most power out of flight magic that affects them as possible.

With a bounding leap, these warriors prefer to strike from above whenever possible. Naturally, they prefer to do so from actual high ground, but when at ground level, sometimes the only way to get the high ground is to jump, or even parkour one’s way up a taller enemy, to get that extra advantage. Indeed, they are so adept at gaining that high ground advantage and utilizing it that they become all the more accurate by leaps and bounds when doing so, no pun intended.

Whether it be an advantage of their species or a blessing of magic, aerial assaulters all eventually seek out methods of true flight, and learn the art of the aerial dodge, shifting aside to help better avoid attacks.

The truest master of the high ground can drive their full weight behind their weapon, making their critical blows all the more lethal. What’s more, they turn aside attempts to befuddle them from below with ease.

Looking to play an acrobatic fighter that enjoys striking above? This archetype might be for you. Unless you’re playing a race that gets flight, you’ll be limited to acrobatics until around level five, but once you get an ally caster that can regularly enhance you with the power of flight, or better yet, magical equipment that grants it, you’ll really be soaring. Just be wary of flying foes that are more skilled in the air than you, and definitely pick up a method to protect against fall damage, just in case.

A high-flying lifestyle like this almost certainly reflects a daredevil mentality, though they could just as easily be cool-headed, well disciplined masters, the sort that your average hothead anime protagonist would have a rivalry with, but there is plenty of room for variation beyond that. All share a love for the air though.

With it’s ancient trees untouched by civilization, Muktilva Rainforest has it’s fair share of arboreal ambushers, including the powerful jungle giants, many warriors of which train to strike from above when flying or falling.

While normally ascetics, the mysterious faceless astomoi know better than most the dangers the world presents to their frail bodies, so when danger comes calling, many of their people have learned to strike first from above, where most other species never think to look.

Centuries ago, when the flying city of Laru crashed in the savannah, it was the gnolls that dwell there that came to the aid of the refugees and survivors. To this day, the gnolls share a special kinship with the “sky clan”, and often train under them in the art of “Eagle-Hunt” style, diving and flying down upon foes.

#pathfinder #archetype #fighter #aerial assaulter #giant #jungle giant #astomoi #gnoll #Blood of the Ancients

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dailycharacteroption · 6 years

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Relic Raider (Rogue Archetype)

As a general rule, rogues are typically found, or rather, not found, getting into places they shouldn’t be, and in the vast array of places with that qualification, we make note of tombs, ancient complexes, and abandoned ruins.

Today’s subject specializes in infiltrating and looting such places, delving deep in order to recover rare relics and either take them for themselves or else sell them to buyers both legitimate and otherwise, depending on how the local authorities view tomb robbing.

Whether they are legitimate archaeologist or just those looking for a quick buck, their line of work often pits them against restless dead and the magical wards left behind by the creators of such places, and their skills specialize to rise to the challenge.

As they often have to deal with magical curses and hauntings, these tomb robbers are well-versed in identifying such things, picking up on subtle cues.

Not one to let a thing like curses stop them, these rogues learn to expand their skill at disabling magical traps to also include dispelling curses, though they have an upper limit in how many they can disable in a single day.

Additionally, these rogues can learn a few special talents associated with their skill set. Namely, some learn to not only disable curses, but lay them as well, these already magically talented rogues cursing foes just as they drive their weapon into their vitals.

Others learn the art of stabbing into the ether, not only striking at incorporeal undead, but also at bodiless haunts.

Extremely useful for dungeon crawls into haunted and cursed locations, these rogues add their own spin to things. I recommend definitely maxing perception, since you’ll want to see things coming in the absence of uncanny dodge. Their ability to remove curses also makes them useful prior and after running into various cursed artifacts and rooms as well. I recommend a utility rogue build, focusing on having an arsenal of skills and tools, including the magic talents you’ll have to take to get the cursed sneak attack.

Classical adventuring explorers with a touch of magic, this archetype is useful for representing both outright tomb robbers, as well as those with a genuine archaeological interest. Of course, even the latter is not necessarily goodly, with some archaeologists perfectly happy to defile and steal from the descendants of the cultures they investigate in order to make their mark, and a hefty earning, from historical finds. Understanding where the line between rediscovering the past and stealing from other cultures is an important part of playing this archetype well.

On its final, ill-fated voyage, the Maiden’s Lace was lost at sea carrying rare artifacts from Engyor. Eager divers have tried to recover them before, but the sunken vessel is chock-full of haunts and curses, not to mention the duppy which was once the captain. Trying to loot the ship will require specialized aquatic equipment and someone skilled at breaking curses.

Sir Maxwell Intorion, legendary adventurer, archaeologist, family man, lover, fighter, murderer, martyr. Indeed, he was many things in life, but after an ill-fated expedition, his luck finally ran out, and now he exists as the very sort of thing he struggled against for so long, a gearghost tied to the rolling boulder trap that crushed him, lying in wait to take out his frustrations on the next daring fool.

Viewing the magical defenses of lost civilizations as fascinating puzzles, the astomoi Engadaa has been hiring themselves out to expeditions for decades now, and more than one has had their lives saved by a quick-thinking disabling of a cursed item. As long as you keep them away from traps involving toxic vapors, they will not steer you wrong.

#pathfinder #archetype #rogue #relic raider #duppy #gearghost #astomoi #Black Markets

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