Astomoi

Astomoi appear to be made of pure darkness. They require no food—indeed, they have no mouths—and they have no eyes with which to survey their environment. Instead, they rely on their powerful minds to sense the world around them and subsist on nutrients absorbed from the air.

This can turn against them, however, as powerful smells and inhaled poisons can render an astomoi helpless.

Predisposed to asceticism, astomoi rarely wear more than rags, if they wear anything at all.

Racial Traits

• Ability Score Modifiers +2 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom, -2 Constitution: Astomoi ever pursue enlightenment through self-denial and are psychically attuned to their surroundings, but their delicate bodies are more susceptible to the physical dangers of the world.
• Type: Astomoi are humanoids with the astomoi subtype.
• Size: Astomoi are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
• Speed: Astomoi have a base speed of 30 feet.
• Mouthless: Astomoi don’t need to eat or drink to survive. Instead, they absorb the essence of food and drink; this consumes the nutrients of the meal as though it had been eaten, rendering the food useless to others. Astomoi consume potions and other ingested materials in the same fashion. Since they never actually ingest anything, they can’t normally be exposed to ingested poisons.
• Scent: Astomoi have the scent special ability.
• Sensitive Breath: Astomoi take a –2 penalty on saving throws against disease and inhaled poisons.
• Telepathic Senses: Astomoi can’t speak or see, but can mentally sense the area within 60 feet, as per darkvision, and can speak telepathically. An astomoi can’t see anything beyond 60 feet. An astomoi must provide thought components for spells that normally require verbal components. It can use language-dependent abilities with its telepathy, but not abilities that depend on audible components.
• Languages: Astomoi begin play knowing Common, but as they have no mouths, they cannot speak. They have telepathy with a range of 100 feet. Astomoi with high Intelligence scores can choose any of the following languages: Abyssal, Aklo, Celestial, Elven, Gnome, Infernal, and Sylvan. See the Linguistics skill page for more information about these languages.

Alternate Racial Traits

The following alternate racial traits may be selected in place of one or more of the standard racial traits above. Consult your GM before selecting any of these new options.

• Dissolve into Shadow: Once per day, an astomoi can fade into the shadows. This functions like invisibility with a duration of 1 round per level (maximum 5 rounds). This ability cannot be used in bright light. This is a supernatural ability. This racial trait replaces scent.
• Shadow Magic: Astomoi add +1 to the DC of any saving throws against spells of the shadow subschool that they cast. Astomoi with a Charisma score of 11 or higher also gain the following spell-like abilities:
  • 1/day—dancing darkness, message, and shadow weapon. The caster level for these effects is equal to the astomoi’s level. This racial trait replaces scent.
• Shadow Resistance: Astomoi get a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against spells of the shadow subschool. This racial trait replaces scent.

Favored Class Options

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

• Medium: Add one spell known from the wizard’s illusion school spell list. This spell must be at least one level below the highest spell level the medium can cast.
• Psychic: Add one spell known from the wizard’s illusion school spell list. This spell must be at least one level below the highest spell level the psychic can cast.
• Sorcerer: Add +1/2 point of damage to any illusion spells of the shadow subschool cast by the sorcerer.
• Summoner: Add +1 skill rank to the summoner’s eidolon.
• Witch: Add +5 feet to the witch’s familiar’s darkvision (to a maximum of +30 feet). If the familiar does not have darkvision, the familiar gains darkvision 5 feet. If the witch ever replaces her familiar, the new familiar gains this bonus to its darkvision distance.