Nothic (4e Race)
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Nothic[edit]
If I let you go, what will I have to eat? There must be an exchange here, see?
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| By Mizz |
| Racial Traits |
| Average Height: 5'9"-6'5" |
| Average Weight: 160-240 lbs. |
| Ability Scores: +2 Intelligence, +2 Dexterity or Constitution |
| Size: Medium |
| Speed: 6 squares |
| Vision: Darkvision |
| Languages: Common, Undercommon |
| Skill Bonuses: +2 Insight, +2 Arcana, +2 Stealth |
| Aberrant Origin: The race is considered to be an aberration for the purpose of effects that relate to creature origin. |
| All-Seeing: You have a moderate racial bonus to saving throws against illusions. |
| Arcane Eye: You gain a +2 racial bonus to saving throws against effects that blind and a +2 bonus to saving throws against charm effects. |
| Rotting Gaze: You can use rotting gaze as an encounter power. |
| Rotting Gaze | Nothic Racial Power |
| Driven to violence, you concentrate your foul gaze at a creature to melt its flesh from its bones. | |
Encounter  Necrotic
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| Immediate Reaction | Ranged 5 |
| Trigger: You are bloodied by an enemy's attack | |
| Target: One creature | |
| Attack: Intelligence + 2 Vs. Fortitude | |
| Hit: 1d10 + Intelligence modifier necrotic damage | |
| Increase to +4 bonus and 2d10 + Intelligence modifier
damage at 11th level, and to +6 bonus and 3d10 + Intelligence modifier damage at 21st level | |
The nothic are a race of cursed individuals driven to deteriorating sanity. The first nothics came about from bands of wizards who entered sealed crypts of the lesser deity Vecna, in search of arcane solutions to ancient mysteries, as well as the god's own secret of power. To punish them, Vecna placed a trap which turned those who fell upon it into the first nothics. This technique of secret keeping was replicated by the lich Acererak, who enacted the same curse on his coven of curious wizards. Thus came the nothic out of careless curiosity. They bear little memory of their days when they were not monsters, but are always plagued with a vague intuition that they can find some way to reverse their plight. Thus, they are known to lurk at places where great magical knowledge is often hoarded.
Play a nothic if you want...
- To be curious and know a lot about magic.
- To play an aberration cursed for knowing too much.
- To be a member of a race that favors the wizard, artificer and rogue classes.
Physical Qualities[edit]
The nothic are roughly humanoid in shape, but appear much more lizard-like in truth. Their skin is covered in tough scales, usually of a brown color, that turn spike around the back of their heads and along their spine. Their most notable feature is the one huge eye on their face, set above a maw of sharp teeth. The eye is often green and gives one a strange feeling upon gazing at it for too long. It is said to be capable of prodding into one's soul, and is symbolically vestigial of the curious wizards nothics once were. Nothics have four claws per hand and three clawed digits per foot. They are commonly naked due to their reclusive natures, living away from civilization.
Attitudes and Beliefs[edit]
Nothic have little care for chaos or law. They simply like to do as they please. Most tend to be evil, having their minds corroded by Vecna's magic. They retain their curiosity and intelligence, however, and use it now to toy around with prey. Nothics see themselves as often better than other creatures, who are too stupid and docile, acting without thinking. These aberrations like to use their big brain power to torment other beings psychologically and are obsessed with unearthing secrets.
Vecna, having created the nothic first, is possibly the only god nothic will recognize. They often have forgotten that the god is the one responsible for their transformation and instead are lulled by his knowledge of the arcane and death. Many serve in his cults as guardians or jesters. Those fervently faithful to him could be granted a link to his mind, becoming his spy. He would thereby be able to see through their eyes. Following his will, they often wage wars against the forces of shadar-kai who serve the Raven Queen.
Nothic Communities[edit]
Nothics are viewed as they appear: foul monsters. They rarely gather in groups, preferring to live alone in isolation, and moving under the cover of darkness whenever discovered. If groups gather, they never remain for long due to each nothic's craving for knowledge clashing with the others. Sometimes, however, a certain group may be able to realize their combined goals and move together, though these remain small and rare gatherings. Their hideous form makes them require obscuring clothing in public and most never even dare to venture out. Nothic make their homes in places like caves near magical fonts of knowledge, like mystical libraries or magic mines. People with strong magic power sometimes entice them and make them personal guards in exchange for food. If people saw a nothic in broad daylight, they would probably try to kill it.
Nothic Adventurers[edit]
Above all else, a nothic craves knowledge of magic. They are usually often interested in magic with the promise of alleviating this odd transformation they are under, though this is only a vague sense and they often have no discernible memories of their past. This insatiable curiosity stays with them throughout their lives and draws them to sources of great magic power, be they objects, people or places.
Wizard: True to their origin, the nothics retain a good deal of affinity for arcane arts, making them natural wizards. Their craving for magic secrets allows them to access a variety of spells from libraries as wizards.
Artificer: The nothics' hunger for knowledge extends to magical contraptions. Their high intelligence lets them often figure out how doohickies work, and then they move on to build things as they please. Like wizards, their knowledge remains unsatiated in their craft.
Rogue: With their naturally shady way of life, nothics are naturals at evading detection. Their savagery is something not to be underestimated despite their narrow focus on magical knowledge.
Three sample nothic adventurers are described below.
Asys is an artificer nothic who's traveled about under the guise of an ugly hunchback cobbler. He seeks more magical and curious trinkets with which to tinker. Many a magical consortium he has visited, and he has taken something away from them all. What he seeks is a device that is said to be able to remove any curse. But his skills have yet to produce such a thing, and so he continues his learning.
Jarx is a nothic wizard bent on learning more about the mysterious god he has seen mentioned so many times in tomes. The symbol of a disembodied eye and hand plague his mind like haunting visages. He must learn what they mean and how it may connect to his curse. When the library where he frequents lacks the answers, he sets out to find the truth.
Ilxa is a nothic rogue employed within a cult of Vecna as a spy. He one day overhears of the origin of her kind and realizes the god whom he had served to be the origin of his plight. Distraught, he barely escapes with his life. He knows his mind and eyes are still linked to Vecna, so he will not be able to run forever. He seeks to grow his strength before taking revenge on the god and his cult, and perhaps cure himself of this curse.
Roleplaying a Nothic[edit]
When creating a nothic adventurer, here are a few points to consider.
Curious. Nothics care a lot for what interests them. They are the type who may even go off on their own to explore whatever piques their interest. This includes a wide range of subjects on magic.
Self-Interested. If the nothic takes something, it is often because it believes it has a better use for it than the owner does. They have little regard for the wants or needs of others when interests clash.
Prying. Even allies are not exempt from a nothic's wandering gaze. Other than magical secrets, the next best thing a nothic loves is secrets of others. They are usually interested in the dirt of one's past and love to use dirty gossip to their advantage.
Nothic Characteristics: Scheming, savage, egotistic, curious, knowledgeable, perceptive
Nothic Names: Wyx, Kiloc, Oxylish, Psal, Reless
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