Ganzi

Unlike the crossbreed aasimars and tieflings, ganzi are mutations caused by generations of exposure to chaotic energies in the Material Plane.

Ganzi share many traits with proteans. They are fluid and flexible, resilient, resistant to the energies of decay and entropy, and can sense the delicate currents of chaos that bind the planes together, alerting them to danger and deception and allowing enterprising ganzi to stir those eddies and rewrite a creature’s fortunes. They also share the proteans’ curiosity and disdain for order, compulsively wandering the world to see what can be seen.

Physical Description: No two ganzi look alike, but most appear human with one or two unusual physical qualities—often slowly-shifting patterns of birthmarks on their hands, feet, or faces. A rare few display reptilian or birdlike qualities such as scaly skin, feathery hair, or needlesharp teeth. An unfortunate few are born missing major features, or with ears, eyes, or fingers in unusual places on their bodies. Their hair and eyes invariably shine in vibrant colors, which shift over the course of weeks or months. Less common than aasimars, tieflings, or geniekin, ganzi are often mistaken for these other races.

Society: Ganzi tend to distrust organization and tradition, and rarely form strong communities or cultural touchstones. Instead they blend into the wilder ringes of their parent culture, joining artist conclaves, anarchist collectives, dissidents, protesters, or revolutionaries challenging tradition.

Relations: Ganzi excel at blending in with other races, despite their bombastic tendencies and unusual physical traits. Most simply appear as excitable humans. Many ganzi never realize their true heritage, mistaking their strange abilities for sorcerous aptitude. Those who recognize a touch of the planes in their blood get on well with other native outsider races— geniekin especially. Their experiences as outcasts in a larger society means they appreciate the challenges faced by half-elves and half-orcs, even if their struggles are different.

Alignment and Religion: As might be expected for a people touched by otherworldly chaos, ganzi tend to reject rigid codes and laws, but they feel no strong pulls toward good or evil, and tend most often toward chaotic neutral alignment. Ganzi who honor the gods prefer those who guide them on their journeys or who reward quick wit.

Adventurers: Ganzi naturally slip into (and out of) the role of adventurer as they explore the world. Most succumb to a wanderlust that carries them out into the wilderness or drives them to explore the strange corners of their home communities, while others find that their natural impulse to test limits and poke at holes earns them enemies from whom they must flee.

Ganzis are the end result of planar chaos touching living creatures. Where the planes brush against the Material Plane or where chaotic inhabitants (be they chaos beasts, proteans, valkyries, or others) affect or influence mortal life, ganzis are born in their wake like ripples in a pond.

While ganzis are superficially human in appearance, they often have features that set them apart from the rest of humanity. These features can vary widely; one ganzi might have a discolored hand that flickers with entropic (but harmless) energy, while another might have brightly colored scales covering her shoulders and back, and yet another might have horns and glowing green eyes.

Likewise, ganzi height and weight can vary dramatically, even by human standards, but the average ganzi stands between 5 and 6 feet tall and weighs anywhere from 100 to 300 pounds.

Many ganzis are mistaken for aasimars or tieflings at birth, but in truth ganzi births very rarely result from mortals mingling with outsiders. The vast majority are born after one or both parents were exposed to a force of chaotic or entropic energy. As such, the circumstances of a ganzi’s childhood can vary dramatically and depend on the parents’ tolerance for the unexpected.

A ganzi’s tendency towards chaos exacerbates this, with many ganzis developing gregarious, iconoclastic, or thrill-seeking reputations among their peers. A sizable minority of ganzis appear completely human early in life, their anarchic heritage manifesting shortly after puberty in a chaotic—and traumatic—spasm of rapid evolution. While ganzis are most commonly of human stock, it is not unknown for ganzis to be born among other races. These ganzis bear superficial signs of their nonhuman heritage, but their statistics and abilities are identical to those born to humans.

Like other native outsiders of humanoid heritage, ganzis are found most often scattered amidst the societies of their parent races. The rare ganzis who choose not to wander may live their entire lives without meeting another of their kind. Due to their scattered pattern of birth and their tendency towards wandering lifestyles, ganzis rarely congregate in significant numbers and almost never form cultures of their own. On occasion, a Material Plane society in a region with links to other planes will produce enough ganzis over time for them to form their own subculture, but such societies are rare indeed.

Given their relationship to the Cerulean Void and its natives, it is not uncommon for ganzis with awareness of their heritage and the resources for planar travel to journey to the Maelstrom. Some ganzis make this pilgrimage to seek out proteans, valkyries, or other natives of the Maelstrom in hopes of understanding their own place in the cosmos, while others are drawn to the idea of communing with the vast and potent force of primordial chaos itself.

As befits their chaotic origin, the personality and outlook of individual ganzis can vary significantly. Often chaotic-aligned, with no particular tendency towards good or evil, many find themselves drawn to the life of the wandering adventurer. Ganzis are commonly possessed of deep curiosity and powerful creative talent, leading many to become artists or bards, while others enjoy the alchemist’s dichotomous mastery of creation and destruction. Sorcerous talents and oracular mysteries of all varieties are unsurprisingly common among ganzis.

Ganzi Characters

Ganzis are defined by their class levels— they do not have racial Hit Dice. All ganzis have the following racial traits.

• Ability Score Modifiers: Ganzis are passionate, creative, and resilient, but they have difficulty focusing on intellectual pursuits. They gain +2 Constitution and Charisma, but suffer –2 to Intelligence.
• Size: Ganzis are Medium creatures and have no bonuses of penalties due to their size.
• Speed: Ganzis have a base speed of 30 feet.
• Senses: Ganzis have darkvision 60 feet.
• Maelstrom Resistance: Ganzis have acid resistance 5, electricity resistance 5, and sonic resistance 5, and they gain a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against spells of the polymorph subschool.
• Skilled: Ganzis gain a +2 racial bonus on Sense Motive and Survival checks.
• Languages: Ganzis begin play speaking Common and one of the following: Abyssal, Celestial, or Protean. Ganzis with high Intelligence scores can select any of those languages as bonus languages, along with Aklo, Aquan, Auran, Ignan, Sylvan, or Terran.
• Ganzi Oddity (see below)

Ganzi Oddity

As creatures infused with the entropic forces of the Maelstrom, all ganzis have a distinct and unusual oddity that manifests as a physical or magical ability that sets the ganzi apart. Typically, a ganzi’s oddity is chosen from the most common manifestations of entropy listed below, but other, more unique oddities can certainly exist. The numbers listed for each option can be used to randomly determine what form of ganzi oddity a particular Ganzi might have, at the GM’s option, but the quibble ability is the most common.

1–2: Chaos Champion (Su) Ganzis with a lineage linked to the einherji often become crusaders for the forces of entropy and excel in combat against lawful beings. The ganzi can smite law once per day as a swift action, targeting a lawful foe. She adds her Charisma modifier as a bonus on attack rolls and gains a bonus on damage rolls equal to her Hit Dice. Once activated, smite law persists until the target is dead or the ganzi rests, whichever comes first.

3–4: Entropic Flesh (Ex) Ganzis with lineages that link strongly to chaos beasts retain some of their ancestors’ immunity to transformation. In addition to gaining a +2 bonus on Escape Artist checks and to CMD against grapple combat maneuvers, when such ganzis are affected by a hostile transmutation effect (such as polymorphing or petrification), they can attempt a new saving throw at the start of their next turn to end the effect. They gain a +4 bonus on this second saving throw, but if they fail, the transmutation effect persists as long as it normally would.

5–6: Prehensile Tail (Ex) Ganzis with lineages that are particularly influenced by the presence of proteans often have colorful feathers, scales, or skin, and a long serpentine tail. This tail can be used to carry items. While ganzis with this oddity cannot wield weapons with their tails, they can use their tails to retrieve small, stowed objects carried on their persons as a swift action.

7–14: Quibble (Su) For most ganzis, the influence of chaos is relatively subtle and manifests as an ability to infect others with entropy and unexpected luck (be it good luck or bad). Once per day as an immediate action, a ganzi can twist probability and alter the luck of a single creature within 20 feet, forcing it to reroll a single d20 roll it has just made. The target must take the second result, even if it is worse. A ganzi can use this ability after the target has rolled but must use it before the GM declares whether the roll was a success or failure. Unwilling creatures can resist a ganzi’s quibble with a successful Will save (DC = 10 + half the ganzi’s level + the ganzi’s Charisma modifier). This is a curse effect.

15–18: Spell-Like Ability (Sp) Ganzis whose chaotic influences rise from regions other than the Maelstrom or its inhabitants often manifest an oddity that duplicates the effects of a specific spell. Such ganzis gain one of the following spell-like abilities, usable once per day at a caster level equal to the ganzi’s HD: alter self, blur, detect thoughts, hideous laughter, minor image, shatter, or spider climb.

19–20: Weaponplay (Ex) Ganzis with lineages that link to the valkyries manifest their heritage in their skill in combat. Such ganzis are always proficient with all simple and martial weapons, and they can qualify for feats normally available only to fighters (such as Weapon Specialization) even if they don’t have any fighter class levels.

Expanded Oddities

Due to the Maelstrom’s entropic influence on their compositions, ganzis each have an unusual but defining feature—referred to as an oddity—that sets them apart from other races and even from other members of their own race. These oddities vary wildly from ganzi to ganzi, and they can manifest as physical features, such as feathers, scales, or a tail, or as more subtle magical abilities. At the GM’s discretion, players with ganzi characters can roll 1d20 to randomly determine what form their characters’ oddities take using the list below.

1–3: Amorphous Limbs (Su) The influence of the Maelstrom manifests in the ganzi’s ability to transform one of her limbs at will, often into a natural weapon such as a massive clawed arm. Every 1d4 rounds as a swift action, a ganzi can transform one of her limbs into a natural melee weapon that deals 1d6 points of damage. The transformation lasts until the beginning of the ganzi’s next turn. The damage dealt by this natural weapon can be lethal or nonlethal, at the ganzi’s discretion, and she chooses whether the damage type is bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing.

4–6: Ink (Ex) As a standard action, the ganzi can spit a stream of opaque, black ink from her mouth to a distance of up to 20 feet. The ganzi can target either a creature or a square on the ground, each with different effects, as detailed below. The ganzi can use this ability once per day, plus one additional time per day for every 4 Hit Dice she has. Creature: The ganzi shoots a stream of ink into a creature’s eyes as a ranged touch attack with a range of 30 feet. If the ganzi hits, the target must succeed at a Fortitude saving throw (DC = 10 + half the ganzi’s Hit Dice + the ganzi’s Constitution modifier) or be blinded for 1d4 rounds. Ground: The ganzi spits the ink into a single square on the ground within 30 feet, which becomes slippery for 1d6 rounds. Any creatures entering the square must succeed at a Reflex save (DC = 10 + half the ganzi’s Hit Dice + the ganzi’s Constitution modifier) or fall prone.

7–10: Racing Mind (Ex) A ganzi whose lineage is linked to hunduns might inherit an aspect of the outsiders’ chaotic minds. The ganzi’s churning vortex of thoughts bolsters it against mental attacks, granting the ganzi a +2 bonus on Will saves against mind-affecting effects.

11–13: Spell-Like Ability (Sp) Ganzis whose chaotic influences rise from sources other than the Maelstrom or its inhabitants often manifest an oddity that duplicates the effects of a specific spell. Such a ganzi gains one of the following spell-like abilities, which can be used once per day with a caster level equal to the ganzi’s HD: acid arrow, gust of wind, mirror image, resist energy, scorching ray, see invisibility, or warp wood.

14–16: Uncanny Aura (Su) Some ganzis have an unsettling aura of chaos that rattles hostile creatures that venture too close. Once per day as a standard action, such a ganzi can activate an uncanny aura; enemies within 30 feet must succeed at a Will saving throw (DC = 10 + half the ganzi’s Hit Dice + the ganzi’s Charisma modifier) or become frightened until the beginning of the ganzi’s next turn. The aura remains for a number of rounds equal to the ganzi’s Charisma modifier (minimum 1 round). Once a creature has been affected by an uncanny aura, whether it failed its save or not, it cannot be affected again for 24 hours.

17–18: Vestigial Wings (Ex) The ganzi has a pair of small, vestigial wings, likely but not limited to resembling those of a flying creature or some manner of construct. Though these appendages do not grant flight, these ganzis can use their wings to stabilize themselves when they’re thrown off balance. Such ganzis gain a +1 bonus on Reflex saving throws and a +2 bonus on Acrobatics checks to balance.

19–20: Void Touch (Su) A ganzi whose lineage is influenced strongly by voidworms might exhibit the ability to inflict chaos on others’ minds. Three times per day when such a ganzi hits a creature with a melee attack, the ganzi can deliver a burst of chaos to that creature as a free action. The target must succeed at a Will save (DC = 10 + half the ganzi’s Hit Dice + the ganzi’s Constitution modifier) or be confused for 1 round.

Favored Class Options

• Arcanist: Add 1/2 to the arcanist’s effective caster level when casting spells with the chaotic descriptor.
• Bard: Add 1/2 to the bard’s bardic knowledge bonus.
• Druid: The druid gains a +1 bonus on Knowledge (nature) or Knowledge (planes) checks related to extraplanar flora and fauna.
• Hunter: The hunter’s animal companion is specially trained for extraplanar expeditions and gains a +1 bonus on Stealth and Acrobatics checks while on a plane other than the Material Plane.
• Investigator: Increase the total number of points in the investigator’s inspiration pool by 1/3.
• Oracle: Add one spell known of the enchantment school from the cleric or wizard spell list. This spell must be at least 1 level below the highest spell level the oracle can cast.
• Rogue: Add a +1/2 bonus on Stealth checks while on a plane other than the Material Plane.
• Sorcerer: Choose a bloodline power from the abyssal or protean bloodlines that the sorcerer can use. The sorcerer treats her class level as though it were 1/2 higher (to a maximum of +4) when determining the effects of that power.
• Wizard: Add 1/3 to the wizard’s effective caster level when casting a spell with the chaotic descriptor.