SRD - Races

GITHYANKI

Githyanki are the descendants of a humanlike race enslaved by mind flayers for millennia. Exiled on the Astral Plane since time immemorial, they are returning to the Material Plane in a grand crusade at the Lich-Queen's command. Their target is a world called Pharagos, and their goal nothing less than the annihilation of every sentient creature that dares to dwell there.

Personality: Githyanki are a living contradiction: ruthlessly cruel and sadistically violent toward almost all nongithyanki, but unfailingly polite, respectful, even refined among their own kind. The key to this paradox is their self-identity: the githyanki have never forgotten that they were slaves of the mind flayers for generations, and they blame everyone but themselves for that fact. A thousand years of hatred and resentment has corrupted the entire culture of the githyanki into a seething cauldron of violence directed toward anything that is not included in their own circle of fellows.

Physical Description: Githyanki appear superficially human, similar in size and proportion. Tall and gaunt, they average 6 1/4 feet tall and typically weigh around 170 pounds. They possess rough, leathery skin, pale yellow in color, and red or black hair (often pulled into one or more topknots). Their black eyes are sunken deep into their long, angular skulls, their noses are small and highly placed, and their ears are pointed and serrated in back. They favor elaborate dress and baroque armor.

Relations: The githyanki hate almost everyone. At the top of their list are the mind flayers who enslaved them and engendered the hatred that defines them, followed closely by their cousins, the githzerai. The denizens of the Lower Planes are perhaps the only creatures the githyanki ever count as allies: they have an ancient pact with a red dragon consort of Tiamat, and ally with demons and devils more often than with any other creature. "Good relations," to the githyanki, generally means "sharing a military alliance," and the quality of those relations shifts as quickly as fortunes in war.

Alignment: Githyanki are always evil, although they can be lawful, neutral, or chaotic in temper. Nonevil githyanki are one-in-a-million exceptions, and githyanki who stray so far from their heritage as to adopt a good alignment are completely unheard of.

Githyanki Lands: Githyanki are native to the Astral Plane, though their ancestors were humans from the Material Plane in ages past. They build fortress-cities on chunks of floating Astral rock or even on the corpses of dead deities that drift through that otherwise barren plane. They enjoy the conquest of other races and cultures, however, and have fortress-outposts established on many planes and many Material-Plane worlds. In addition to these overt sites, the githyanki maintain secret brood-chambers scattered throughout the Material Plane, and are quite adept at operating secretly among humans in particular.

Religion: Githyanki owe allegiance to their Lich-Queen alone, who forbids the worship of deities among her people. Indeed, as a race that often makes its homes on the corpses of dead gods, the githyanki are not inclined to revere these all-too-finite deities.

Language: Githyanki speak their own language, which they treat as a sacred secret, never using it around members of other races. They also speak Common, and many know Draconic as well. In general, githyanki disdain learning the languages of other creatures, with dragons, demons, and devils being the most common exceptions.

Names: Calli'tao, Geatroth, Gharvag, Karluth, Khlasath, Khosuvh, Madivh, N'a'rai, Quith, Rech, Ris'a'n, Tehv'in.

Adventurers: Githyanki rarely adventure in the way that humans, elves, dwarves, and other races typically understand that term. For githyanki, an adventure is a military operation, strictly regimented, led by a military commander, and ultimately directed by the Lich-Queen herself. It is not an opportunity for self-aggrandizement or the acquisition of personal wealth. Githyanki "adventurers," then, are soldiers in the army of the Lich-Queen, cooperating on missions to achieve her goals.

GITHYANKI RACIAL TRAITS

+2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution, -2 Wisdom. Githyanki are hardy and agile, but their utter subservience to their Lich-Queen has weakened both their willpower and their sanity.
Medium-size. As Medium-size creatures, githyanki have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Githyanki base speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision: Githyanki can see in the dark up to 60 feet.
Psionics: 3/day - daze and mage hand. In addition, githyanki of 3rd level or higher can use blur three times per day, githyanki of 6th level or higher can use dimension door three times per day, and githyanki of 9th level or higher can use telekinesis three times per day and plane shift once per day. These abilities are as the spells cast by a sorcerer of the githyanki's level. The DCs of these abilities are Charisma based.
Spell Resistance: A githyanki has spell resistance of 5 + 1 per character level.
Extraplanar: Although Githyanki are humanoids, they are native to the Astral Plane and are thus susceptible to banishment and similar spells when they are on other planes.
Automatic Languages: Githyanki. Bonus Languages: Abyssal, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Infernal, and Undercommon.
Favored Class: Fighter. A multiclass githyanki's fighter class does not count when determining whether he suffers an XP penalty for multiclassing.
Level Adjustment: +2. Githyanki are more powerful than members of the standard races, and advance in levels more slowly. A githyanki's effective character level (ECL) is equal to his total class levels +2. Thus, a 1st-level githyanki fighter is considered a 3rd-level character and must earn 6,000 XP to reach 2nd level.

DUTHKA'GITH

In preparation for this invasion of Pharagos, Vlaakith the Lich-Queen has secretly been breeding a race of superwarriors - the duthka'gith. Half githyanki, the duthka'gith also claim descent from the seed of Ephelomon, the fiendish red dragon consort of Tiamat.

Personality: Duthka'giths are stronger, faster, and smarter than their githyanki parents, and they know it. They combine the cruel violence of the githyanki with the arrogance of dragons, and care little for the complex niceties of githyanki society. Where the githyanki are refined, the duthka'gith are boorish and savage. The threat of violence, obvious or implied, pollutes their every dealing, whether with outsiders (nongithyanki), fullblooded githyanki, or other duthka'gith.

Physical Description: Duthka'giths have lost most of the githyanki similarity to humans. They average close to 7 feet tall and are considerably heavier than githyanki, averaging more than 210 pounds. Their skin has a definite scaled texture to it and ranges from deep red (primarily on the shoulders and back) to orange (on the palms, soles of the feet, and belly). Their hair is shaggy and wild, resisting any attempt to pull it into the formal topknots the githyanki favor. Their ears are slightly larger in proportion to their heads than a githyanki's are, but share the same serrated back edge. Their eyes gleamred, suggesting glowing black embers.

Relations: Duthka'giths share all the enemies of the githyanki, which is to say almost everyone. Their relationship with the githyanki themselves varies from individual to individual, but generally is strained at best. The duthka'giths look down on the githyanki but work closely together with them. Every duthka'gith considers itself a born leader, which is not far from the truth, but as a result they quickly become frustrated when forced to accept an inferior position of any sort.

Alignment: Like githyanki, duthka'giths are always evil, and they tend strongly toward chaos (though not exclusively, because of Ephelomon's connection to the lawful plane of the Nine Hells).

Duthka'gith Lands: Duthka'giths have no lands of their own, and share living space with githyanki.

Religion: Like githyanki, duthka'giths are loyal to the Lich-Queen above all and consider the gods inferior, mortal beings undeserving of worship. Duthka'giths are not generally prone to the weakness of worship, but they tend to be particularly drawn to the messianic cult of Gith. In fact, many duthka'gith believe that Gith was transformed into a half-dragon during her stay in the Nine Hells, and that the breeding of the fist duthka'gith is a sign that Gith's return is imminent.

Language: Duthka'giths speak the githyanki language and Draconic. Many also speak Common, but they share the common githyanki disdain for the languages and culture of other species.

Names: Duthka'giths usually carry githyanki names.

Adventurers: Vlaakith bred the duthka'giths to lead the githyanki in the invasion - to serve as generals, sergeants, and champions of her mighty army. This vision has not fully materialized, thanks in large part to the unforeseen strongly chaotic bent of the duthka'giths. Duthka'giths are indeed born leaders, but many of them demonstrate such impatience with the regimentation of githyanki life that they strike out independently, sometimes forming small, elite units made up entirely of their own kind to attack Pharagos in their own way, sometimes working alone to wreak destruction on whatever they happen to find. In this way as in many others, duthka'giths manifest both the best and the worst aspects of their fiendish, draconic, and githyanki ancestry.

DUTHKA'GITH RACIAL TRAITS

+8 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +4 Constitution, +2 Intelligence, -2 Wisdom, +2 Charisma. Duthka'giths have the great physical strength and hardiness of their dragon parent, as well as the characteristics of the githyanki.
Medium-size. As Medium-size creatures, duthka'giths have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Duthka'gith base speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision: Duthka'giths can see in the dark up to 60 feet.
Low-light Vision: Duthka'giths can see twice as far as humans in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. They retain the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
Psionics: 3/day - daze and mage hand. In addition, duthka'giths of 3rd level or higher can use blur three times per day, duthka'giths of 6th level or higher can use dimension door three times per day, and duthka'giths of 9th level or higher can use telekinesis three times per day and plane shift once per day. These abilities are as the spells cast by a sorcerer of the duthka'gith's level. The DCs of these abilities are Charisma based.
Spell Resistance: A duthka'gith has spell resistance of 5 + 1 per character level.
Dragon: Duthka'giths are creatures of the dragon type. This makes them vulnerable to certain spells and immune to others, including spells that specifically target humanoids. Like all dragons, they are immune to sleep and paralysis effects.
Extraplanar: Duthka'giths are native to the Astral Plane and are thus susceptible to banishment and similar spells when they are on other planes.
Breath Weapon (Su): Once per day, a duthka'gith can breathe a cone of fire to sear its enemies. This is a 30-foot cone that deals 6d8 points of fire damage to creatures within it. A successful Reflex save (DC 10 + the duthka'gith's Constitution modifier) reduces the damage by half.
Natural Weapons: A duthka'gith can attack with its claws and bite. Its bite deals 1d6 points of damage (plus one-half the duthka'gith's Strength modifier), while its two claw attacks each deal 1d4 (plus the duthka'gith's Strength bonus).
Natural Armor Bonus: +4.
Smite Good (Su): Once per day, a duthka'gith can smite good, dealing extra damage equal to its character level against a good opponent.
Energy Resistance: A duthka'gith is immune to fire and has cold resistance 5.
Githyanki Blood: For all special abilities and effects, a duthka'gith is considered a githyanki. Duthka'giths, for example, are just as vulnerable to special effects that affect githyanki as their githyanki ancestors. Duthka'giths also can qualify for prestige classes that require the githyanki race as a prerequisite.
Automatic Languages: Githyanki and Common. Bonus Languages: Abyssal, Celestial, Draconic, Infernal.
Favored Class: Fighter. A multiclass duthka'gith's fighter class does not count when determining whether he suffers an XP penalty for multiclassing.
Level Adjustment +5: Duthka'giths are even more powerful than githyanki, and advance in levels more slowly. A duthka'gith's effective character level (ECL) is equal to his total class levels +5. Thus, a 1st-level duthka'gith fighter is considered a 6th-level character and must earn 21,000 XP to reach 2nd level.