Saturday, 15 June 2013

Aballonian

Aballonians are an excellent way of introducing elements of science fantasy to s campaign this is doubly true for Planescape since they aren’t that big of a jump from Modrons and Inevitables. Unlike the constructs of Mechanus, however, Aballonian can have a variety of alignments or personalities and unlike warforged, these constructs have their own culture and civilizations. Combine this with their ability to self-customize and to use animate objects as minions, and you have a memorable encounter regardless of whether the Aballonian is friend or foe. 

- When an Aballonian showed up at the doorstep of the Civic Feasthall, the Senates laughed back out on the street. Of course, that was before someone realized that these constructs worked differently than the ones the Society was used to dealing with, and that meant that they had senses that the planers had never even heard of before. Now the construct can’t fill up sensory stones fast enough. 
- If there’s one thing planers hate more than an Anarchist, it’s an Anarchist with bombs. Thanks to their newest recruit, one cell is going introduce them to something even worse: an anarchist with a plasma cutter.
- Almost all Aballonian who travel the planes are Those Who Become, but a small minority are Those Who Wait... only they are not waiting anymore. Small groups have sprung up who believe that the First Ones still plan on returning, but they have either become lost or are prevented from doing. They now scour the planes, looking for signs of their lost masters, hoping one day to guide them home to Aballon.

Aasimar

So saying something new about Aasimar in Planescape is kind of tough right off the bat. How did I solve that problem? By writing up the entry for the Aballonian first! Anyhow, there have been wonderful things written about the Aasimar in both Blood of Angels and the Advanced Races Guide. Go check them out if you haven’t already. 

While the Aasimar have definitely been well covered, here are some thoughts. Aasimar and Teifling are opposites in many ways, but opposites often have parallel themes as well. Aasimar often have to deal with the same type of ostracism that their fiendish counterparts do and while the direct causes are different, the ultimate reason is the same. They are fundamentally other, there is something about them that is not human. Play that up in your PCs and NPCs. 

- While evil creatures such as demons and dragons are famous for being able to produce offspring with any type of creature, this also true, if less commonly known, for celestials. The assimar Ferrus Beryl is the product of one of these bizarre trysts. Born of an eladrin father and a sentient ooze, Ferrus is inexplicably a humanoid aasimar with the half-ooze template as opposed to a celestial ooze. 
- Not every aasimar lives up to their race’s beautiful stereotype. Walks-Under-Foot is a hunchback with brilliant red hair. Even though his extremely strong and tough, he is also extremely self-conscious. What he fails to realize is that his twisted back is actually a set of wings growing within his body, a legacy from his Peri mother.  
- For Abrielle Starhair, living by the laws of her Archon ancestors has become too much. She has broken ranks with the rest of her wealth and powerful family, fled to Sigil’s Hive and is now being apprenticed in witchcraft by an ancient ogre Xaositect.