Tryvruisteans (3.5e Race)

Tryvruisteans

Personality

Being brand new to this world, these beings have a very alien appearance, but adhere to a moral code that values Good, Peace and Acceptance above all other things. If a Tryvruistean is included in the campaign, it is quite likely that he is the only one of his kind in the whole world. Due to a cataclysmic event in their world, they were disseminated in stasis vessels (that would latter reform into their psycho-mechanical exoskeletons) to several other worlds of the material plane, and maybe even beyond, using a very recent (during the time of the cataclysm) and imperfect psycho-technology known as the psi-drive.

Tryvruisteans that escaped this way have ancestral memories implanted in their brains that are accurate enough to recount their story as told here. Exact details missing from this text also miss from the Tryvruisteans memories. They long for their ancestral home and their progenitors, but they make it up for being extremely xenophile as a race. Tryvruistean simply love to know new cultures, species, places, modes of thinking, religions, philosophies, languages, etc. Everything that has been invented by sentient or even quasi-sentient beings is highly esteemed by Tryvruisteans.

Even as they love to know more about others, they are reluctant in revealing more about themselves. Being all alone in a world is a vulnerable position, and each escaped Tryvruistean know their life is extremely important to their whole species.

Adventuring:

Given the prohibitive costs of psycho-mechanical objects necessary for a Tryvruistean survival (see bellow), they adventure because of gold rewards. The opportunity to do good is also a hard thing to pass, and the exciting thought of seeing new things, knowing new people and locations and hearing new languages is just too much for the xenophile instincts of a Tryvruistean.

They take the whole of Psions but, their ability to change appearance and their psi-senses (see bellow) make them extra useful to any adventuring group.

Physical Description

For obvious reasons, Tryvruisteans are often disguised as a member of a different race, and they can change that psionic disguise at will (see the powers of the exoskeleton, bellow). The true appearance of a Tryvruistean is not very pleasant to most creatures. They look like a giant, fat bellied slug that is laying on it's back. Their “head” is a large portion on one extremity of their body, often bent upwards from their horizontal aligned form, where they have 26 completely black, lidless, protruding eyes of different sizes, facing all directions. They have 8 strong tentacle like appendages that work as legs, four at each side of their body, that are used for dragging and lifting the body when necessary. They are able to climb as well as a human, but they need much more effort to do so, preferring slight, slick slopes. Their body is covered in a glistening lubricant mucus that makes locomotion easier, and protect their skin bellow. 4 more tentacles, much less muscular then the legs protrude from their sides, but begin at the upper half of their body. Those long, slender tentacles are their arms, and they end each in a bifurcation, forming 2 smaller tentacles at their ends, which work as hands. Their skin is soft, but thick, cold and slimy to the touch. The colours vary from bright yellow, crimson, and bright orange, usually with tinges of blue, green or purple around the tentacle areas. They also have two tentacles in the upper part of their “head”, which can detect sound and smells. Due to the high mobility of these sensory appendages, a Tryvruistean in his home planet used to be able to easily pinpoint sound and smell with an accuracy that would send bloodhounds running for their money. Male Tryvruistean also have 2 tentacles (their reproductive organs) on the part of their body opposite to their heads, while females have 4 openings instead, that are not visible at any moment other than their mating act.

Internal Anatomy:

A Tryvruistean absorbs food directly from skin, including water, performs chemosynthesis and excretes back toxic substances that are then used by algae in photosynthesis and create some of the nutrients they can't create on their on and oxygen. Their race developed in a symbiotic relationship with those algae, and when their civilization rose, they had feeding tanks, where the nutrients were accumulated and where the algae were kept. Feeding was always a social experience for the Tryvruistean and they derived pleasure from both the exposure to the nutrients and the algae, but also from the company of each other. The nutrients diffuse through their body via inter-tissue extracellular plasma-like medium and several siphon-like organs provide circulation of this liquid, commanded by the neuron network to circulate the plasma as needed.

Their neural system is not centralized and composes the bulk of their mass. Tryvruistean scientists studied the paradox of their extremely complex and demanding neural system and the measly molecular nutrition necessary for a full 250 kg adult Tryvruistean to live and prosper. Their research lead them to quantum-level energy studies, and they were able to approximately replicate the effect to give rise to artificial consciousness. The quantic nature of the phenomenon was accepted but never fully understood or accounted for. They could use it, derive technology from it, describe it mathematically, but it would always hide it's true precise nature from them. It was not until the discovery of psionics that they fully realized how their neural systems truly worked.

This incredibly simple internal anatomy is all there is to a Tryvruistean, and any naturalist examining a dead one, without the contextual knowledge of their extremely advanced civilization, would conclude they were no smarter than octopodes.

Senses:

In their natural environment, Tryvruisteans have excellent senses. Their whole skin is sensitive to smells and sound, but the two specialized appendages on top of their heads enhance these senses a thousand fold. Tryvruisteans can pinpoint the locations of sounds and smells with extreme accuracy, even under water. The entirety of their skin is sensible to touch, some areas more than others, like the hand-like bifurcated end of their arm appendages.

Tryvruisteans have a very special sense of vision. Even before they awoke their latent psionic powers, they could see minuscule details, being able to read minor alterations in another's body to sense their emotions. They can tell two normally identical items apart from each other to a margin of 0.01 of difference. They can see into the ultra-violet region of the light spectrum as well as the infrared, noticing heat and chemical processes occurring around them. Their vision is accurate for great distances as well as for close proximity. They are able to discern features on someone's face and clothing and even read lips easily from 1 km away.

Relations

Tryvruisteans have no ill feelings towards any species as a whole. They view every creature as deserving a chance to prove themselves individually. They are not, at first, familiar with the notion of evil extra-planars, so they would consider giving a Tanar'ri a chance to repent.

History:

These beings hail from a far removed star system in the Material Plane. They used to buy “animals” from the Neogi for centuries, because as their species is extremely low breeding, their need for a workforce increased much more rapidly than they alone could deal with it. Their technological prowess was tremendous, and they were experimenting with droids, synthetic intelligence and uplifting other species, when the Neogi came. They claimed to sell these uplifted, barely sentient "animals" as workforce and pets for several races just like them. The Tryvruisteans marvelled at the spelljamming vessels of the Neogi, and offered them several research deals, all of which the Neogi refused. In the end, after much bargaining and at a very steep cost, the Tryvruisteans learned how spelljamming worked and how they could never achieve it. Their home planet was poor on magic. Despite the Neogi taking a huge advantage in this deal, trading essentially nothing for the Tryvruisteans valuable riches, the Tryvruisteans did not suspect the Neogi had acted in bad faith.

It wasn't until one of the “animal” pets finally managed to teach psionics to his master that the Tryvruisteans understood the true nature of the Neogi trade. Relations between factions soured and, when confirmed that all the pets had been stolen from their home world, the Neogi were banned from Tryvrust, having several payments refused. The Tryvruistean society lived a new Renaissance under the guidance of the ex-slave, enjoying their new psionic powers, and they granted freedom and full rights to all previous "animals". The crisis of adapting several species to free lives in a planet that basically depended on them for slavery was a great one, but under the leadership of the legendary ex-slave, they all pulled it together. The psionic powers allowed for much better technology and in a matter of less than one century, the problem had been solved, and the two moons of Tryvrust terraformed. They were developing a psi-drive for the spelljammers when the Neogi unleashed a terrible vengeance upon them. Upon the test of the first psi-drive, the Neogi delivered to one of their clients: a whole society to destroy, dominate and devour. The Tryvruisteans, being a pacific race stood no chance before the extra-dimensional fiends. Their downfall was swift and horrible. In the months during the downfall of their civilization, a few Tryvruisteans led by the ex-slave used their psi-drive powers to send infant, hibernating Tryvruisteans far into the other worlds of the material plane, using special artificially intelligent psycho-mechanical stasis capsules built to survive the rigours of the psi-jump and that would then adapt themselves as exoskeletons to allow the Tryvruistean inside to survive and thrive in the conditions of each world.

The “ex-slave” was an Illithid, and given the many, most extravagant and decadent performance eatings shared during and after the fall of the Tryvruisteans, across several Illithid colonies around the Planes, it is a safe bet to say the elder brains are pleased with the results, and that this might have been a first step towards the birth/re-birth of the boundless Illithid Empire.

Alignment

Any Good.

Lands

Due to their adaptable psycho-mechanical exoskeletons, Tryvruisteans thrive on any climate, from arctic to arid to underwater. Their only weakness is magic.

Magic:

Magic is harmful to the strange and decentralized neural system of a Tryvruistean. They are, in fact, virtually defenseless against it. A Tryvruistean can perform no save against effects that are naturally magical (they can still avoid full damage from a fireball on a successful Reflex save or try a Fortitude check to save against effects of a non-magical poison administered via a magical manner).

Magic is so harmful, in fact, that a Tryvruistean's senses are rendered useless when in mere contact with the atmosphere of a magically active world. They only sense they can rely then is their touch.

This is the main reason why a Tryvruistean in a magically alive world must use his exoskeleton. It is capable of filtering out that magic, protecting the Tryvruistean inside from the overwhelming neural feedback caused by arcane energies.

Religion

Tryvruisteans may show a prevalent interest in several different deities through periods of their lives, and do make offerings and prayers to all of them. Praying or oferring in a shrine or temple is more a cultural experience, like an exotic dish from foreign cuisine than it is an actual religious act.

Language

The only languages a Tryvruistean speak are his mother tongue, Verias, and Common (or the equivalent). They can learn to speak other languages extremely quickly (1 month of study and practice for each), no matter how complicated, up to a maximum of languages equal to their Intelligence bonus. The exoskeleton can speak on behalf of the Tryvruistean, but he can use his telepathy to do it directly.

Names

Racial Traits

• −2 Strength, −4 Dexterity, +2 Constitution, +10 Intelligence, −2 Wisdom, −4 Charisma. Neither the exoskeleton or the Tryvruistean are exceptionally strong, and their movements are extremely ungraceful. The combination of both makes up for a more sturdy constitution, but what sets Tryvruisteans apart from other creatures are their immense, almost unfathomable intellect. Despite their legendary intelligence they are easily distracted by side-thoughts and, as an alien lacks basic common sense and can more often than not speak out of turn or stick their foot in their mouth (an analogy that would be better suited if they had feet or a mouth)
• Category: Aberration
• Tryvruistean are Large sized
• Tryvruistean base land speed is 30 feet: They can swim just as easily.
• Amorphous (Ex): A Tryvruistean is not subject to critical hits. It cannot be flanked. The exoskeleton follows the Tryvruistean neural commands, adapting its position seamlessly
• Telepathy (Ps): The Tryvruistean can communicate telepathically with any one willing creature of Intellect 4 or above in a 30m radius sphere. For each 2 levels in manifester classes, he can communicate with one more willing creature. He can mentally hear, understand and answer each individual separately, but he cannot make they converse with each other directly. He can serve as a "messenger" between any number of those individuals (if they are aware of each other), recounting the mental words of one to the other and back again. For each conversation, the only delay an individual perceives is the one to mentally say his words, have them told to the recipients of his message, have the recipients reply, and then mentally listen to their reply, as repeated by the Tryvruistean "hosting" the meeting. The Tryvruistean can hold one telepathic session for 10 minutes + 5 minutes for each level in his Manifester class(es). For every peer besides the first, he needs an extra level to attain the extra minutes. For example, a conversation between the Tryvruistean and 3 creatures would need at least 3 manifester levels to last 15 minutes. The Tryvruistean breaks the Telepathic link if the manifests any power or if the gains or spends his psionic focus. After breaking the link for whatever reason, the Tryvruistean cannot perform another Telepathy session for at least 12 hours, minus one hour per Manifester levels (minimum of 1 hour of Telephatic rest).
• Noise Knowledge (Ex): Tryvruisteans are so interested in every thing that they end up learning too many details on useless knowledge. The DM should penalize the Tryvruistean's XP gain by 10 to 20 percent, depending on how many useless pieces of information they may have learned, up to the DM's discretion.DMs are encouraged to roleplay this feature instead of relying in this cold game mechanic. Have the player's character gleefully waste its time learning irrelevant details, or missing important encounters and then appropriately give them less experience. This mechanic is here just for the benefit of DMs who just aren't in the mood to roleplay useless rolls or come up with irrelevant activities the Tryvruistean might be performing instead of being where it matters. This actually requires an extra dose of thought to avoid plot holes. If you are up to it, as a DM, go for it. If not, just use the mechanic detailed here
• Empathic Vision (Ex): Tryvruisteans can sense a creatures surface emotions only by looking at them, granting them +10 circumstance bonus on Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate and Sense Motive tests, when they put their mind to it (can't be done hastely, or on the spot. The DM has the final word to judge if this ability may be applied at each situation). This is not a psionic power and can't be block by means that would block psionic powers.
• Attuned Vision (Ps): At 3rd level, the Tryvruistean have a +14 racial bonus on Search and Spot tests, and have at least a 50% chance of finding a secret entrance just by looking in its general direction (or more, depending on how bad it is hidden). They can detect traps as Rogues, with a +14 racial bonus, but they cannot detect magical traps, and they cannot disarm any traps. They can't detect magic or magically hidden creatures, or discern illusions from reality.
• Psi-Like Ability: Constant — Sense Psychokinetic Field: At 5th level, the Tryvruistean gain a permanent form of SRD:Touchsight, foregoing any need for Search and Spot tests, and automatically detecting any form in a 90m radius sphere. They still cannot detect magically hidden creatures or objects, but they gain a Will save to discern an illusion.
• Psi-Like Ability: Constant: — Scry Psychokinetic Field: At 10th level, they gain the ability to permanently read superficial thoughts in their psychokinetic field. This distinguishes illusory phantasm from real creatures (although doesn't reveal the true form of an object or creature disguised by illusion). It also pinpoints any creature, making invisibility useless. With a little prying, anywhere between 1 to 10 minutes, it is possible to divine the race, gender, if a creature is a magic user or psionic, profession, name, etc. A magic user or psionic may attempt a Will (Manifester level 10th), and if they pass, they are aware of the spying and become immune to the Tryvruistean psychokinetic Field for 24 hours. The DC is Intelligence based.
• Automatic Languages: Verias (their mother tongue), Common Bonus Languages: Any, at DM's discretion
• Favored Class: Psion (They can only gain level in other psionic classes. They can never gain a level on a magic user class, or a class with a spell-like ability)
• Level Adjustment: +3

The Exoskeleton

The exoskeleton (a psycho-mechanical construction of advanced Tryvruistean psycho-technology, controlled by the Tryvruistean in conjunction with an advanced artificial intelligence) has the form of a biped robot with reversible knees, liquid jet propulsion for swimming, four double-elbowed arms which can manipulate any object a human hand could, attached to the central piece by completely rotating shoulders. The central piece is a smooth frame, protecting a crystalline capsule in its core, filled with liquid where the Tryvruistean lies. Besides protecting against climate, and collecting molecular nutrients from air, soil and water to keep the Tryvruistean and the algae alive, the exoskeleton possesses many other functions.

The exoskeleton protects against physical attacks with an AC of 6. If the Tryvruistean spends his psionic focus, he can add his INT bonus to his AC for a number of rounds equal to 1 + his character level.

The exoskeleton functions as a psi-crystal, but has a highly intelligent synthetic personality matrix. It provides +4 to all Knowledge tests.

The exoskeleton protects against magic, providing magic resistance equal to 10 + character level + INT bonus. It also filters the magic interference out of the sensory input of the Tryvruistean. From inside the exoskeleton, a Tryvruistean can listen and smell with accuracy similar to that of a human, but they retain their amazing sense of vision. In fact, due to their psionic awakening, the Tryvruisteans have developed some rare and powerful psi-senses (see above).

The exoskeleton provides a constant aura of fake sensory input around it, and the Tryvruistean can choose how he can look. Any magical power or psionic power that reveals illusions or psionic effects will reveal the form to be illusory. The illusion, if psionically dispelled, can only be put forth again in 24 hours. True seeing and similar effects reveal the form behind the illusion.

The exoskeleton and the Tryvruistean inside share damage, each one taking half, via an empathic link. (They both have the same amount of hit points) Any damage that would reduce the Tryvruistean to 0 or bellow is not shared, but instead, ruins the exoskeleton.

Crafting the Exoskeleton:

If the exoskeleton is broken (reduced to 0 points) the Tryvruistean must repair it, at a cost of 200g and 1 week per hit point for the first 10 hit points, progressively halving that cost and time for every next 10 hit points (100g and half a week for each of the next 10 hit points, then 50g and one quarter of a week for each of the next 10 hit points, and so on). The exoskeleton is partially functional after the first 10 hit points are repaired, and the Tryvruistean can use it to continue its repairs, speeding up the process.

A Tryvruistean would be wise to construct a second exoskeleton, as a spare one. Because no materials could be recycled from the old one and everything would have to be built from scratch, such work would cost at least 30 thousand gold pieces, and consume a total of 14 months of work.

To fix an exoskeleton from inside a working one costs 2500g and takes one week.

For every week building or fixing the exoskeleton, the Tryvruistean must make a Craft: Psycho-mechanics check with DC 20. If he passes the test, with a margin of success of 5, he mail fail the test in the next week and still get the work done; if he passes with a margin of success of 10 or higher, he has been able to speed the process, and may discount 1 extra week from the time left until completion; if he fails the test, he needs to pay time and money for this week again, as it has all been wasted; a natural 20 discounts 2 weeks from the time until completion, and a natural 1 means he has to redo the time of this week and the week before that.

The original personality matrix would have to be transferred from the first exoskeleton. To craft a new personality matrix is impossible given the resources available at this stage, but a Tryvruistean could craft the physical crystal hardware to host it, and transfer the personality matrix to his own body, and then put it in the crystal hardware. The cost of such psycho-computational piece is 100 thousand gold pieces, and the time it takes to build it by hand is 6 whole years. If the personality matrix is destroyed before the Tryvruistean has a spare crystal hardware device to store it, it has to store the other personality inside himself, which usually causes trouble and confusion due to the two personalities sharing the complex and almost chaotic neural system of the Tryvruistean (lower INT by 2, WIS by 4 and CHA by 2).

Vital Statistics

Table: Random Starting Ages

Adulthood	Simple	Moderate	Complex
20 years	+ 1d12	N.A.	N.A

Table: Aging Effects

Middle Age^1	Old^2	Venerable^3	Maximum Age
300 years	800 years	1400	+3d100 years
At middle age, −1 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha. At old age, −2 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha. At venerable age, −3 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha.

Table: Random Height and Weight

Gender	Base Height	Height Modifier	Base Weight	Weight Modifier
Male	' "	+	400 lb.	1d10 × (8) lb.
Female	' "	+	450 lb.	1d12 × (10) lb.

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