Congrid

Congrid

Resembling massive eels with humanoid arms, the congrid are an inquisitive race that spends much of its time researching arcane secrets and exploring the world. While often considered strange to the average person, congrid rarely take offense, shrugging off insults and injuries alike as they slither their way slowly but surely into finding out new and interesting facts about the world.

The congrid claim to have engineered their own forms long ago, though no written record exists of this time period. Their ancestors are giant eels, and many are still kept as guardians, pets, and research subjects. Regardless of the truth of whether or not they were self-made, they certainly possess the ability in present times to change a creature’s genes and physical form. Creations such as winged eels, massive fish capable of holding several people inside their transparent mouths, and air-breathing burrowing sharks are all currently capable of being created. Congrid are obsessed with new information, hoarding it greedily like it was gold, and seldom give away any of their secrets -- for free. Congrid place no price on information, but information that is true is certainly more valuable than false information. Thus, amongst congrid, lying is as sure a way to earn enmity as theft or violence, though a few lucky travellers tell of having passed off a bold-faced lie as being a metaphor or riddle for something else. Congrid are suckers for riddles. Some congrid will even accept valuable information in exchange for goods or services, but one who does so would seldom accept any excuse for false information given for a valuable possession.

Congrid typically live in massive underwater cave systems, combining both submerged and air-filled portions not only for their own benefit, but for that of travellers as well. Congrid often use dried goods and keep metallic objects which would rust in salt water. This tendency has caused congrid cities to become veritable trading hubs in the dry portions, and they have invented numerous methods of keeping goods dry or oxygenating water for guests to allow them to “breathe” water as well. Sculpted city portions also exist, resembling massive groups of tubes and inner cavern structures constructed from transparent ringed glass. While many other races call this material “congrid glass”, it is in fact a far more durable material like a concrete that can be many feet thick, made from the secretions of giant mollusks bred by the congrid for this purpose. Congrid cities or towns near the surface are sometimes built into coral reefs, usually with smooth rock on the interior to minimize injuries from coral against those on the inside.

While the congrid do predominantly live in wet environments, they are an amphibious race, and have multiple outposts in landlocked areas. They often keep divine spellcasters busy creating water to keep themselves comfortable, and are more than happy to provide for thirsty travellers (provided they answer a few choice questions of course). They use beasts of burden on land as much as other races, utilizing their flexibility by tying their lower bodies into a loose knot to use a normal saddle. Land-bound congrid associate more freely with other non-aquatic races, though their mastery of air-breathing languages is often limited by their raspy tone of voice and habit of translating their own language’s idioms into other languages. Still, land-bound congrid traders seldom let a deal get away, and what they lack in negotiation they make up for with a keen eye for valuable or unusual goods.

Congrid stretch about 10 to 12 feet long from head to tail tip. They have large round eyes that come in shades of yellow, green or blue; picene heads with a raised nose bridge; and two small slits at the end of its face for nostrils. They also possess rudiments of eyebrow muscles and eyelids, which aid them in expressing their emotional state to non-congrid as well as providing their eyes with protection. Congrid’s wide mouths contain numerous sharp pointed canine teeth that are longer towards the front of the mouth, with some possessing a second set of vestigial teeth behind the first. In spite of this, a congrid’s bite is only slightly more powerful than a humans, but their muscular body structure allows them to tear into food by thrashing their head about or rotating side to side while in the water. Each congrid has a neck a bit thicker than their lower body; this neck stretches one and half feet to two feet down into a humanoid torso that has a pair of arms with five-fingered hands and tapered talons. Their hands have sharply ridged skin on their palms and the underside of their fingers, that aid in gripping and tasks requiring a sensitive touch. A congrid’s ribs tend to be flexible and grow far smaller as they fade into their lower bodies. Their long bodies lack legs and are much taller than they are wide, allowing the congrid to move under water or on land by undulating their mid and lower body side to side. Congrid possess a flexible fin along their back beginning at the back of their head and stretching the length of their body. Their gills are midway along their necks, and resemble two small dark holes. Outside of water, their bodies secrete a thin membrane of mucus that keeps them moist and aids in breathing. Although congrid do possess lungs in addition to their gill structures, they can draw much more oxygen from air by using both simultaneously. Most congrid have a gray, violet, green, or yellow skin that can darken over time from exposure to light, with some taking advantage of this trait to create patterns on their bodies using a specially cut length of adhesive cloth to cover portions not to be darkened, sometimes leaving them with stripes or patterns as complex as a tattoo. Congrid may have naturally darker skin at the end of their noses and mouths that expands and grows darker with age. They usually live for around 60 years.

Congrid do not enjoy good relations among many races, but among those in the know they are renowned masters of altering creatures, tampering with what they call the “chain of life”. Known for having created numerous aquatic magical beasts, many were made simply to prove that they could, in fact, be made. Abuse of altering the chain of life is considered one of the highest crimes in congrid society, and offenders are typically dealt with by using one of their own methods on them and exiling them. Congrid have used these techniques for making life forms suitable for transport, as cattle, pets, guard animals, textile manufacture, and as living art. They also modify plants using simpler methods to create hardy aquatic plants resistant to disease, to use as a wrapping that is water-tight, or to produce medicine that can be used without side effects. Congrid can also perform manipulations that allow a living creature to change itself into another, but this is a difficult and costly process that requires constant maintenance of the creature through magic. Far simpler is their ability to promote the body’s natural healing processes, remove numerous hereditary defects, or even change a creature’s gender. Such alterations are far more prolifically known and the congrid offer these at a far less costly amount, since these methods have been perfected to the point where magical sustainment is not required.

Congrid relate well with races that value the acquisition of knowledge, even through oral history (as congrid have numerous storytellers and historians as well), but tend to do poorly with races who deceive them intentionally or destroy sources of knowledge, no matter how terrible the ends the knowledge may be put to.

Congrid often leave their homes in search of new experiences, using the information they have gathered to push themselves as far as they can go. They tend to separate themselves from experiences in an analytical manner, but are hardly unemotional. They often get excited when seeing something new, relishing the experience, but their reduced number of tones out of water make it difficult for other creatures to read their emotions when feeling emotions other than excitement. Congrid adventurers can tend towards spellcasting or martial roles, with many dealing well with front-line combat as fighters or barbarians, or providing support as wizard or witches. They also function well as alchemists or magi thanks to their study of the magical sciences and capability as close-range combattants. Rogues tend to be less common amongst congrid, but may even be regarded as heroic amongst their people provided they refrain from stealing from or deceiving fellow congrid.

SIDEBAR: Genetic Modification Facilities

Congrid are capable of altering a living being’s genes using specialized magical laboratories that only function at well below sea level. With these facilities, a creature can successfully change its race from one humanoid subtype to another or one animal to another in a month’s time at a cost of 10,000 gp, plus any additional costs from spells the creature may require. The creature then changes its ability scores like it would when subject to the reincarnation spell, but mental ability scores are also affected during the process in addition to physical ability scores. However, due to their body’s rejection of its own cells, the subject requires constant magical healing or their body will kill its own cells as it uses the new genetic information and determines the existing cells to be foreign bodies. Congrid sometimes do this purposefully to particularly heinous criminals they would prefer not to keep anywhere near one of their civilizations and then exile them. It takes a number of days equal to the creature’s Constitution score for them to die in this way, and nothing short of a limited wish, wish or miracle can stop the horrendous decomposition of the creature’s body. Altering facets of the same race, such as regrowing damaged or lost organs or changing gender, are far more simple by comparison and do not require such facilities, the cost being only 2,500 gp. The subject of a more simple genetic change has it take effect in 2 weeks after the process is completed. Either process takes a 1 hour ritual to begin and requires a specialized laboratory costing 1,500 gp and a congrid spellcaster with one of the following spells: limited wish, miracle, regenerate, reincarnate, wish, or at least 15 ranks in Spellcraft and access to a spell of the polymorph subschool of 4th level or higher. The subject of a race change requires the daily application of healing spells to restore any damage done by their body within a specialized chamber (included in the above cost) along with a restoration or heal spell halfway through the process. If such a spell is not applied, the creature gains 1 negative level each day treatments are missed. The process is completed after 28 treatments. Missing a treatment causes the creature’s body to start killing its own cells as outlined above, but resuming treatments reverses the process and the number of days the creature can miss treatments begins adding up from 0 once again. A travelling party may be required to pay for the application of these spells at different facilities, or may construct such a laboratory themselves and use their own healing magic instead.

These locations can also be used to combine traits of multiple animals together into one, creating a new sort of magical beast. While any sort of animal can be combined with any other sort, learning how to create a functional creature takes research. Spellcasters can pay 100 gp per week to make a Spellcraft check in order to learn how to create a creature with specific traits, with a DC equal to 10 + 3 per HD of the creature among those to be mixed with the most HD. A prospective magical beast can include up to one trait from another creature per HD it possesses. Traits include movement types (using the higher speed from the creatures), senses, add the amphibious subtype (when mixing aquatic and terrestrial races) or even a racial skill bonus, but cannot affect ability scores or natural armor. Each new trait beyond the first increases the DC of the Spellcraft check by 2. Failed checks can be made again with another week’s research. Success indicates that the character learns how to create a new sort of magical beast, which can be made at any laboratory using materials worth 500 gp per HD and taking 1 week’s time per HD.

Rumors exist of congrid made facilities that can combine aspects of multiple different creatures, even of completely different makeups, but the concept of such things is devalued by renowned congrid scholars on moral grounds, so certainly any that do exist would be hard to find.

## Racial Traits

* Ability Score Racial Traits (0): Congrid are hardy and quick-witted, but seldom exert their own will over others and are frankly a bit unnerving. They gain +2 Constitution, +2 Intelligence and -2 Charisma.
* Size (0): Congrid are Medium creatures and thus receive no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
* Type (0): Congrid are humanoids with the aquatic and congrid subtypes.
* Base Speed (-1): Congrid have a base speed of 20 feet, but their speed is never modified by armor or encumbrance.
* Languages (0): Congrid begin play speaking Aquan and Common. Congrid with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following languages: Alko, Draconic, Elven, Goblin, Sahuagin, Sylvan, and Terran.
* Swim (2): Congrid have a 30 foot swim speed and a +8 racial bonus on Swim checks.
* Amphibious (2): Congrid can breathe both in water and air and can survive on land indefinitely.
* Serpentine (0): Congrid have a long tail instead of legs, and while they can be tripped they gain a +4 bonus on CMD against trip attempts. Magical footgear and armor on the lower body (such as for most medium and heavy armor) must be reworked for their unusual anatomy, and adds +50% to the normal base cost of such equipment.
* Low-Light Vision (1): Congrid can see twice as far as humans in conditions of dim light.
* Bite (1): Congrid have a bite natural weapon, dealing 1d3 points of damage. This bite is a primary attack, or a secondary attack if the congrid is wielding manufactured weapons.
* Observant (2): Congrid gain a +2 bonus on Sense Motive checks. Congrid are astute at spotting deception or noticing the factors in play in social situations.
* Flexible (3): Congrid gain a +2 bonus on Escape Artist checks. A congrid also moves at full speed while squeezing and takes only half the normal penalties to AC and attack rolls.

Racial Points: 10

## Alternate Racial Traits

* Land Treader (-1): You were modified before birth to have human-like legs in addition to an eel-like body, allowing you to move more quickly on land. The congrid gains a land speed of 30 feet, but is affected normally by encumbrance and loses the serpentine trait. This replaces the base speed and serpentine racial traits.
* Aquatic Scent (2): Your olfactory senses have been altered to allow you to smell in a much broader range than most. The congrid has the scent ability with double normal range underwater, but out of water the range is only 5 feet and cannot be used upwind. Congrid with an enhanced sense of smell tend to rely more on your ability to smell pheromones or sweat to sense a creature’s mood than through observation. This replaces the observant racial trait.
* Appraising Eye (2): You pay more attention to the real things of importance in life, other than people: Objects of permanence and real value. The congrid gains a +2 bonus on Appraise checks and may know if an estimated value is above or below market price if the check fails. This replaces the observant racial trait.
* Electric Shock (3): Your body generates a considerable amount of electrical current. The congrid gains a +1 bonus to the DC of any saving throws against effects they produce with the electricity type and any stunning fist attempts they make. This replaces the flexible racial trait.
* Slapping Tail (3): While the lower spine of most congrid is more flexible, yours is much more rigid, allowing you to pummel enemies with your lower body. The congrid’s tail can be used to make attacks of opportunity as a natural attack or as part of a full attack, dealing 1d8 points of damage plus the congrid’s Strength modifier. This attack is always considered a primary attack. This replaces the flexible racial trait.
* Curious (1): The congrid’s long neck leads to them sticking their noses in many places they don’t belong. When making a Perception check, the congrid may treat their point of origin as being from any space within 5 feet of their current space. This replaces the low-light vision racial trait.

## Favored Class Options

The following favored class options are available to all congrid characters who have the listed favored class, and unless otherwise stated, the bonus applies each time you select the favored class reward.

## Section 15 OGL Copyright Declaration:

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