Githzerai

Natives of the chaotic Plane of Limbo, the Githzerai are a monastic race of travelers and merchants which can be found almost anywhere on the planes. The githzerai have definitely human traits, but tend to be thinner, with tense faces and sharp features. They choose simple clothes without shining colors.

The githzerai society is extremely chaotic, but is not without laws or traditions. A githzerai individual is usually faithful to his people, even if he lives far from them. It is not uncommon for a githzerai to spend years alone on a Plane, wandering in search for adventures.

The great conflict: the githzerai have been fighting for a long time a long racial war with the Githyanki. Both races once were men who were enslaved and treated like beasts by the mind flayers. This situation lasted several centuries, until a woman named Gith took command of the rebels. The battle was long and bloody, but in the end the slaves conquered their freedom. Some of them (the githyanki) stayed faithful to Gith, while others, the Githzerai, decided to follow a powerful magic user named Zerthimon who proclaimed himself their king and subsequently their god. Zerthimon revolted against Gith because he thought she was hateful and unfit to rule the people. A great battle followed: the people was divided between the githzerai, followers of Zerthimon, and the githyanki, followers of Gith. Zerthimon died in the conflict, but with his sacrifice he freed the Githzerai from Gith: the Githzerai believe that he will one day come back as a god and will take them to another plane. This racial conflict between Githzerai and Githyanki has lasted millennia and it doesn't seem to be going to end.

Githzerai society: the Githzerai mainly live in the plane of Limbo, where they have fortresses and are very powerful. Each of this fortresses counts about 3000 Githzerai under a supreme chief. Others, instead, live in cities with 100000 or more people and hold everything under control, in a plane that is chaotic and impredictable for others. A significative example is Shrakt'tor, headquarter and capital, which counts two millions Githzerai: here the most important nobles and generals dwell, to decide the strategies to fight the githyanki and the mind flayers. There is noone in Limbo who can challenge the power of Shrakt'tor or its numerous population.

The Githzerai fortresses on the Prime Material Plane are few, but important, they have enormous crude and square towers with adamantite walls dominating the arid plains and each contains about 500 githzerai, among which the supreme chief. No plant nor animal lives near these fortresses and the terrain is reduce to dry land for kilometers: it's not clear whether this is a reaction of the land to the foreign substance of which they are made or if it's the work of the Githzerai mages, who try to keep other creatures away. The most probable aim of these fortresses is to control the githyanki. The githzerai, though not particularly violent, don't want to conquer the Prime Material like the githyanki do, but they know that, should their enemies be able to conquer it, they will become stronger and more dangerous. So the githzerai keep an eye on the githyanki's progresses and lead offensives targeted to their strongholds to slow their expansion. During these assault the githzerai don't attack willingly the inhabitants of the Prime Material (humans, demihumans, humanoids, etc..), but aren't willing to renounce to a well placed offensive only to respect their rights: the end justifies the means.

Statistics Racial requisites

Strength 3/18

Dexterity 4/18

Constitution 3/18

Intelligence 6/18

Wisdom 3/18

Charisma 3/18

Other stats

Movement	12
Base AC	10
Allowed classes	Warrior, Mage, Thief, Rrakkma Warrior, Zerth Priest, Warrior/Mage, Warrior/Thied, Psionicist.

The githzerai have 30 character points to purchase racial skills. Up to 5 points can be saved for use in class skills or proficiencies.

Magic resistance (15): the githzerai have a 5% per level magic resistance.

Attack bonus(5): +1 on to hit rolls with a weapon chosen by the character.

Infravision (10): the character has infravision in 18 meters radius.

Planar travel (10): at the ninth level, a character with this power can cast the clerical spell Planar Travel once per week.

Bonus in fight (5): the githzerai have a +1 to hit mind flayers and githyanki.

Intelligence bonus (20): characters with this skill receive a +1 to Intelligence (maximum 18).

Silver sword (15): to benefit from this skill the githzerai has requisites to meet:

he must be a warrior or a Rrakkma warrior.
he must be at least 5th level
he must be Chaotic Neutral
he must serve the githzerai's cause
he must have the disadvantage Phanatic (towards Zerthimon)
he must specialize in two handed sword
he must have at least 15 intelligence

Once all these requisites are met, the character's superiors will give him a two handed sword +3 which, if used in the Astral Plane, has a 5% chance for each hit to sever the foe's silver cord (see the paragraph about the Astral plane in the DMG or the Guide to the Astral Plane); characters with Mind Bar will be immune to this effect. The githzerai will do anything to avoid that a silver sword ends up in a foe's hand; should this happen, very aggressive expeditions will form to recover it. This is the main reason for the requisites to obtain the silver sword: the githzerai, given the importance of these weapons to them, choose the people to be given this manufact very carefully.

Reduced sleep (5): the githzerai only needs 4 hours a day of sleep to rest; this skill is very useful for spellcasting characters.

Fabio. E-mail: kmtjch@tin.it

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