In eons past, the mind flayers enslaved entire races, including the forerunners of the githyanki and githzerai. Centuries of captivity bred hatred, nurtured resolve, and finally instilled psionic powers into these slaves. With mental armaments of their own and a powerful leader to rally behind (the legendary Gith), the slaves instigated a cross-planar struggle that, in the end, threw down the mind flayer empire, bringing freedom to the surviving slaves.
Due to philosophical differences the gith split into two racially distinct groups. Both peoples' hatred of the mind flayers knows no bounds, though, and they break off hostilities with one another to slay mind flayers if the opportunity presents itself.
A group of mind flayers have been working feverishly to resolve the problem the gith collectively present and have finally constructed a powerful psionic artifact that when powered up, will allow them to resume control over the race of gith. It is designed to neutralize them psionically--so much so that, once it is activated, they will never regain their formidable abilities.
The artifact is a flawless diamond, the size of a gith’s head, and inscribed with runes upon every facet. Referred to by the illithid as the Gith Capacitor, to power it up, they must expose it to the energy and insanity of the Far Realm. However, gates to the Far Realm are all but unknown…until recently.
The mind flayers have recently discovered a gate to the Far Realm within the howling tunnels of Pandemonium, and they’ve gathered together to power the artifact up. Fortunately, the Sha’sal Khou discovered this plot, and, adopting the tradition of their githzerai constituents, brought together a powerful rrakkma comprised of both githyanki and githzerai to quell the illithid threat once again.
Githyanki
The githyanki plunder countless worlds from the decks of their astral vessels and the backs of red dragons. Feathers, beads, gems, and precious metals decorate their armor and weapons—the legendary silver swords with which they cut through their foes. Since winning their freedom from the mind flayers, the githyanki have become ruthless conquerors under the rulership of their dread lich-queen, Vlaakith.
Githzerai
Focused philosophers and austere ascetics, the githzerai pursue lives of rigid order. Lean and muscular, they wear unadorned clothing free of ornamentation, keeping their own counsel and trusting few creatures outside of their own kind. Having turned their backs on their warlike githyanki kin, the githzerai maintain a strict monastic lifestyle, dwelling on islands of order in the vast sea of chaos that is the plane of Limbo.
Sha’sal Khou
The Sha’sal Khou are githyanki and githzerai radicals working toward the reunification of their respective peoples. They labor to create a unified nation of gith. Members of the Sha’sal Khou work secretly within their respective societies, subtly discouraging attacks on the other gith race while carefully recruiting like-minded individuals.
Create a 9th-level githyanki or githzerai character or adapt one of the preconstructed ones. For starting equipment, use that provided by your class and background, but multiply your background gold by 50 and add 1,000 gp. You can sell any unwanted gear at list price and buy any nonmagical gear or basic healing potions, also at list price. You also get one common magic item each.
The only allowed races are githyanki and githzerai, but for everything else, you can use anything from an official book, anything from UA that wasn't later redone or printed in an official book, and anything from Plane Shift. Ask me about any homebrew you want to use.
Milestone leveling.
My house rules:
Inspiration stacks and functions as luck points (see the Lucky feat).
If you roll a natural 20 on an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw, you automatically succeed. If you would have succeeded anyway, you critically succeed.
If you roll a natural 1 on an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw, you automatically fail. If you would have failed anyway, you critically fail.
If you're in physical contact with someone (such as if you're grappling them), you automatically hit with anything with a range of touch, such as inflict wounds or vampiric touch.
Hey! I'm definitely interested, but do you know what your 2 players are going to be classing as? I don't want to step on any toes
One's going to be a cleric, I just got another player (for a total of 4, including you) who's going to be a warlock, and I don't know about the other. I recommend a melee character of some sort.
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"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Great, I was actually thinking about playing a monk anyway because of the whole Githzerai connection! I'll put together a character. Would you rather me PM you or post it here?
The closest things either subrace of gith have to deities are their founders: Vlaakith for the githyanki, Zerthimon and Menyar-Ag for the githzerai, and Gith for both. A sufficiently fanatical githyanki might manifest the powers of a cleric of the Order or War domain, but such a person is more likely to be a paladin and not at all likely to be a member of the Sha'sal Khou. A githzerai might likewise be so devoted to the philosophy of Knowledge or Order that he/she can draw divine power from the belief of the entire githzerai race. Any sufficiently well-traveled gith might adopt the worship of one or more deities from other cultures, but as this is basically Planescape, it's not exactly normal for a member of a non-Material-Plane race to be quite that impressed with any given deity.
That said, don't let me keep you from playing the gith cleric you want to play.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Great, I was actually thinking about playing a monk anyway because of the whole Githzerai connection! I'll put together a character. Would you rather me PM you or post it here?
Just didn't want to take up a spot and slow things down if you were expecting multiple posts a day, everyday. Some days I can post regularly. Others, I don't get a chance to log into DDB at all. If that's a problem, I'd rather someone else take my spot. If not, then I'm all in.
Just didn't want to take up a spot and slow things down if you were expecting multiple posts a day, everyday. Some days I can post regularly. Others, I don't get a chance to log into DDB at all. If that's a problem, I'd rather someone else take my spot. If not, then I'm all in.
Should be fine. That's about where I am right now, actually.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Hello all, I'll be playing Quadere Lendou, the Githzerai Cleric. I'm really just grabbing the pre-gen for the adventure, but Matthias' post made me stop and think about what a Githezerai Cleric would be devoted to in terms of a deity. Here's my crack at it:
Quadere is a student of knowledge, seeking it wherever he goes, and in whatever form he can find it, trying to distill it down to its purest form. It is through knowledge he believes the races of Gith can reconcile their long held conflict, and is why he has joined with the Sha'sal Khou. In his seeking he has encountered some of the gods of knowledge, and offered a reverence and respect, rather than outright devotion. And through a combination of the relationships with these Powers, and his innate ability to manipulate chaotic energies, he can manifest what passes for divine powers to a normal mortal being.
Quadere is a typical Githzerai, gray haired, sallow skin, and yellow eyes. He wears an unadorned breastplate, a plain shield, and is wrapped in a cloak that seems to billow constantly, even in places without wind or air.
Hello! Nice to meet you. Assuming everything is okay with my character, I'll be playing as Ard Kraran, a Githzerai Monk.
Ard is a Githzerai Monk, so he spent much of his time growing up strengthening his mind and body against chaotic influences. As he became more skilled at martial arts, he felt he needed to find something more flexible than what was taught at his temple, so he set out on a journey to find a new master. Eventually, after much searching, he found one, and studied under a unique and relatively unknown martial arts teacher.
Ard looks very similar to what you might expect from a young Githzerai with sallow skin and yellow eyes. He keeps himself completely shaven as part of his monastic tradition. Out in the field, Ard wears nothing but simple cloth garments, although oddly, he appears to be quite drunk most of the time. Those who travel with him will quickly notice that he seems to constantly be drinking from a unique tankard that he keeps stored in his robes whenever he is given an opportunity.
Grezar grew up in Shrak'kt'lor, the githzeari's largest city. He lived a normal lifestyle for a githzerai but got recruited into a thieves' guild when in his late teens. Even though he agreed with his fellow githzerai's way of living an ordered life, he let himself indulge in the joy of taking shiny things from other people. After amassing an enormous debt with one of his contractors, he was forced to rat out and catch other thieves and wrongdoers that opposed his contractor and ended up enjoying his para-vigilante lifestyle the same as he did stealing. Even though he enjoys both of these things, he considers himself to be in a quite neutral position, not showing much aversion or fondness for in any other subject.
(Short description of my character. He's pretty much gonna be a semi-rogue-ish blood hunter.)
Xamodas was a githyanki soldier, fighting for the Revered Queen. He enjoyed life as a soldier up until the day he made a huge mistake on the battle field that cost the lives of all of his compatriots and nearly his own life, as well. Left for dead on the battlefield, a githzerai found him and took him to a safe place to heal. That is when Xamodas first learned what the Sha’sal Khou was all about. From that moment forward, he realized that githzerai and githyanki should not fight one another, but should instead be unified against a far more worthy foe, the mind flayers. He may never get his silver sword, but his own sword and shield are still pledged to war. Now, however, he is a soldier for the Sha’sal Khou.
Hi, everyone. David here, hopefully joining this awesome adventure (yes, I love all things Gith!).
Here's my character background thus far. I will update with a few more details later.
Meet Githrana the Severer
Githrana is, and always will be, a soldier. His father was one of the knights charged with protecting Gith herself when she went into the Abyss and never returned. Neither did he, but from a young age, Githrana always knew that his father was still alive and speaking in his dreams through his legendary silver sword. His bond was so strong, even across the plains, that his father’s sword, called the Severer, began to imbue him with the powers of a warlock. After completing his academy training, Githrana was asked to join a Rrakkma to bring back the head of a mind flayer, thus sealing his commitment to his queen. He chose, instead, to heed the call of his father’s sword and to attempt to reclaim it and thus hopefully answer the mystery of Gith’s disappearance. First, however, the Severer has asked Githrana to prove his worth through a variety of quests and adventures….
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Originally from Atlanta, GA. Now in Philadelphia, PA. Gaming since 1970s.
Matthias had been writing a startup, but windows 10 updated and it deleted the text. I don't really know what he's been doing since, probably writing another startup.
Also here's the invite to a discord server he made, in case any of you are interested in communicating through there: https://discord.gg/fEvj6Cx
Sorry about the massive delay. It took me far too long to figure out what to do with that accursed introduction. And I had to start over twice. I hope I haven't lost too many of you.
In eons past, the mind flayers enslaved entire races, including the forerunners of the githyanki and githzerai. Centuries of captivity bred hatred, nurtured resolve, and finally instilled psionic powers into these slaves. With mental armaments of their own and a powerful leader to rally behind (the legendary Gith), the slaves instigated a cross-planar struggle that, in the end, threw down the mind flayer empire, bringing freedom to the surviving slaves.
Due to philosophical differences the gith split into two racially distinct groups. Both peoples' hatred of the mind flayers knows no bounds, though, and they break off hostilities with one another to slay mind flayers if the opportunity presents itself.
A group of mind flayers have been working feverishly to resolve the problem the gith collectively present and have finally constructed a powerful psionic artifact that when powered up, will allow them to resume control over the race of gith. It is designed to neutralize them psionically--so much so that, once it is activated, they will never regain their formidable abilities.
The artifact is a flawless diamond, the size of a gith’s head, and inscribed with runes upon every facet. Referred to by the illithid as the Gith Capacitor, to power it up, they must expose it to the energy and insanity of the Far Realm. However, gates to the Far Realm are all but unknown…until recently.
The mind flayers have recently discovered a gate to the Far Realm within the howling tunnels of Pandemonium, and they’ve gathered together to power the artifact up. Fortunately, the Sha’sal Khou discovered this plot, and, adopting the tradition of their githzerai constituents, brought together a powerful rrakkma comprised of both githyanki and githzerai to quell the illithid threat once again.
Githyanki
The githyanki plunder countless worlds from the decks of their astral vessels and the backs of red dragons. Feathers, beads, gems, and precious metals decorate their armor and weapons—the legendary silver swords with which they cut through their foes. Since winning their freedom from the mind flayers, the githyanki have become ruthless conquerors under the rulership of their dread lich-queen, Vlaakith.
Githzerai
Focused philosophers and austere ascetics, the githzerai pursue lives of rigid order. Lean and muscular, they wear unadorned clothing free of ornamentation, keeping their own counsel and trusting few creatures outside of their own kind. Having turned their backs on their warlike githyanki kin, the githzerai maintain a strict monastic lifestyle, dwelling on islands of order in the vast sea of chaos that is the plane of Limbo.
Sha’sal Khou
The Sha’sal Khou are githyanki and githzerai radicals working toward the reunification of their respective peoples. They labor to create a unified nation of gith. Members of the Sha’sal Khou work secretly within their respective societies, subtly discouraging attacks on the other gith race while carefully recruiting like-minded individuals.
Create a 9th-level githyanki or githzerai character or adapt one of the preconstructed ones. For starting equipment, use that provided by your class and background, but multiply your background gold by 50 and add 1,000 gp. You can sell any unwanted gear at list price and buy any nonmagical gear or basic healing potions, also at list price. You also get one common magic item each.
The only allowed races are githyanki and githzerai, but for everything else, you can use anything from an official book, anything from UA that wasn't later redone or printed in an official book, and anything from Plane Shift. Ask me about any homebrew you want to use.
Milestone leveling.
My house rules:
I'm looking for 4-6 players and I already have two of them: AsbestosPenguin and ManolitoPiesdeplata.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
Hey! I'm definitely interested, but do you know what your 2 players are going to be classing as? I don't want to step on any toes
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
Great, I was actually thinking about playing a monk anyway because of the whole Githzerai connection! I'll put together a character. Would you rather me PM you or post it here?
A quick note on clerics:
The closest things either subrace of gith have to deities are their founders: Vlaakith for the githyanki, Zerthimon and Menyar-Ag for the githzerai, and Gith for both. A sufficiently fanatical githyanki might manifest the powers of a cleric of the Order or War domain, but such a person is more likely to be a paladin and not at all likely to be a member of the Sha'sal Khou. A githzerai might likewise be so devoted to the philosophy of Knowledge or Order that he/she can draw divine power from the belief of the entire githzerai race. Any sufficiently well-traveled gith might adopt the worship of one or more deities from other cultures, but as this is basically Planescape, it's not exactly normal for a member of a non-Material-Plane race to be quite that impressed with any given deity.
That said, don't let me keep you from playing the gith cleric you want to play.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
How often would you be expecting people to post for this? Don't have a character concept in mind yet, but I'm definitely interested.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
Just didn't want to take up a spot and slow things down if you were expecting multiple posts a day, everyday. Some days I can post regularly. Others, I don't get a chance to log into DDB at all. If that's a problem, I'd rather someone else take my spot. If not, then I'm all in.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
Hello all, I'll be playing Quadere Lendou, the Githzerai Cleric. I'm really just grabbing the pre-gen for the adventure, but Matthias' post made me stop and think about what a Githezerai Cleric would be devoted to in terms of a deity. Here's my crack at it:
Quadere is a student of knowledge, seeking it wherever he goes, and in whatever form he can find it, trying to distill it down to its purest form. It is through knowledge he believes the races of Gith can reconcile their long held conflict, and is why he has joined with the Sha'sal Khou. In his seeking he has encountered some of the gods of knowledge, and offered a reverence and respect, rather than outright devotion. And through a combination of the relationships with these Powers, and his innate ability to manipulate chaotic energies, he can manifest what passes for divine powers to a normal mortal being.
Quadere is a typical Githzerai, gray haired, sallow skin, and yellow eyes. He wears an unadorned breastplate, a plain shield, and is wrapped in a cloak that seems to billow constantly, even in places without wind or air.
Hello! Nice to meet you. Assuming everything is okay with my character, I'll be playing as Ard Kraran, a Githzerai Monk.
Ard is a Githzerai Monk, so he spent much of his time growing up strengthening his mind and body against chaotic influences. As he became more skilled at martial arts, he felt he needed to find something more flexible than what was taught at his temple, so he set out on a journey to find a new master. Eventually, after much searching, he found one, and studied under a unique and relatively unknown martial arts teacher.
Ard looks very similar to what you might expect from a young Githzerai with sallow skin and yellow eyes. He keeps himself completely shaven as part of his monastic tradition. Out in the field, Ard wears nothing but simple cloth garments, although oddly, he appears to be quite drunk most of the time. Those who travel with him will quickly notice that he seems to constantly be drinking from a unique tankard that he keeps stored in his robes whenever he is given an opportunity.
What are we using for ability scores? Standard array? Point Buy?
PbP Characters
Valrish (Dragonborn // Barbarian 6) - Out of the Abyss - play by post
PbP DMing
SPANISH - Storm King's Thunder
Grezar grew up in Shrak'kt'lor, the githzeari's largest city. He lived a normal lifestyle for a githzerai but got recruited into a thieves' guild when in his late teens. Even though he agreed with his fellow githzerai's way of living an ordered life, he let himself indulge in the joy of taking shiny things from other people. After amassing an enormous debt with one of his contractors, he was forced to rat out and catch other thieves and wrongdoers that opposed his contractor and ended up enjoying his para-vigilante lifestyle the same as he did stealing. Even though he enjoys both of these things, he considers himself to be in a quite neutral position, not showing much aversion or fondness for in any other subject.
(Short description of my character. He's pretty much gonna be a semi-rogue-ish blood hunter.)
PbP Characters
Valrish (Dragonborn // Barbarian 6) - Out of the Abyss - play by post
PbP DMing
SPANISH - Storm King's Thunder
Xamodas was a githyanki soldier, fighting for the Revered Queen. He enjoyed life as a soldier up until the day he made a huge mistake on the battle field that cost the lives of all of his compatriots and nearly his own life, as well. Left for dead on the battlefield, a githzerai found him and took him to a safe place to heal. That is when Xamodas first learned what the Sha’sal Khou was all about. From that moment forward, he realized that githzerai and githyanki should not fight one another, but should instead be unified against a far more worthy foe, the mind flayers. He may never get his silver sword, but his own sword and shield are still pledged to war. Now, however, he is a soldier for the Sha’sal Khou.
(Champion Fighter. Ready to go.)
Hi, everyone. David here, hopefully joining this awesome adventure (yes, I love all things Gith!).
Here's my character background thus far. I will update with a few more details later.
Meet Githrana the Severer
Githrana is, and always will be, a soldier. His father was one of the knights charged with protecting Gith herself when she went into the Abyss and never returned. Neither did he, but from a young age, Githrana always knew that his father was still alive and speaking in his dreams through his legendary silver sword. His bond was so strong, even across the plains, that his father’s sword, called the Severer, began to imbue him with the powers of a warlock. After completing his academy training, Githrana was asked to join a Rrakkma to bring back the head of a mind flayer, thus sealing his commitment to his queen. He chose, instead, to heed the call of his father’s sword and to attempt to reclaim it and thus hopefully answer the mystery of Gith’s disappearance. First, however, the Severer has asked Githrana to prove his worth through a variety of quests and adventures….
Originally from Atlanta, GA. Now in Philadelphia, PA. Gaming since 1970s.
Are we still waiting on another player?
Matthias had been writing a startup, but windows 10 updated and it deleted the text. I don't really know what he's been doing since, probably writing another startup.
Also here's the invite to a discord server he made, in case any of you are interested in communicating through there: https://discord.gg/fEvj6Cx
PbP Characters
Valrish (Dragonborn // Barbarian 6) - Out of the Abyss - play by post
PbP DMing
SPANISH - Storm King's Thunder
Sorry about the massive delay. It took me far too long to figure out what to do with that accursed introduction. And I had to start over twice. I hope I haven't lost too many of you.
IC thread: https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/play-by-post/23565-rrakkma-ic
Discord server: https://discord.gg/T6ZaZhe
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)