====== Illumian ====== Created by the goddess Ioun, illumians are the living embodiments of the Words of Creation. An ancient and enigmatic race, illumians flourished for ages in their astral dominion of Shom, but their society was slowly torn apart through rivalry and conspiracy. The remaining illumians have now gone into hiding, forming secret cabals in which they pursue their individual agendas. ===== Racial Traits ===== * echo "+2 to any one ability score:"; Illumians gain a bonus to one ability score depending on their chosen major sigil, which is described below. * echo "Medium:"; As Medium creatures, illumians have no bonuses or penalties due to their size. * echo "Speed:"; Illumian base speed is 30 ft. * echo "Superior Literacy:"; Illumians receive a +4 racial bonus on Linguistics checks, and Linguistics is always treated as a class skill for illumians. * echo "Luminous Sigils (Su):"; The sigils that orbit an illumian’s head glow softly, providing a 5-foot radius of illumination. Illumians can make their sigils disappear by concentrating for a moment (a standard action), but can only keep their sigils doused in this manner for up to 1 minute per character level. Restoring the sigils to visibility is a free action. * echo "Major Sigil (Su):"; In addition to the array of dimly glowing luminous sigils that orbit their head, each illumian has a single brightly glowing sigil that imbues them with an ability score bonus. Illumians can choose between one of the following major sigils: * echo "Grace:"; +2 Dexterity * echo "Life:"; +2 Constitution * echo "Mind:"; +2 Intelligence * echo "Soul:"; +2 Charisma * echo "Spirit:"; +2 Wisdom * echo "Vigor:"; +2 Strength * echo "Minor Sigils (Su):"; The remaining lesser sigils that make up an illumian’s halo grant them aptitude with certain skills and abilities. Illumians can choose two minor sigils from the following list: * echo "Discipline:"; +2 racial bonus on saves against mind-affecting abilities * echo "Focus:"; +2 racial bonus on dispel checks and caster level checks made to overcome spell resistance * echo "Force:"; +2 racial bonus to CMB * echo "Instinct:"; +2 racial bonus on initiative checks * echo "Skill:"; +2 racial bonus on precision damage rolls (such as sneak attack) * echo "Vitality:"; +2 racial bonus on saves against poison, disease, and death effects * echo "Zeal:"; +2 racial bonus on turn/rebuke checks and damage * echo "Glyphic Resonance (Ex):"; Illumians are the physical embodiment of a magical language, so they interact strangely with symbol-based spells. This group includes all spells whose names contain the word glyph, rune, sigil, or symbol (such spells in the Player’s Handbook include explosive runes, glyph of warding, greater glyph of warding, sepia snake sigil, and the various symbol spells). When an illumian encounters such magic, one of two things happens: Either the illumian’s resonance overpowers the spell, or the foreign magic corrupts the mystical language that defines the illumian. Illumians have a –4 racial penalty on saving throws against these effects if their level is less than the caster level of the spell. If an illumian’s level equals or exceeds the spell’s caster level, they are immune to the effect. * echo "Final Utterance (Ex):"; When an illumian dies, their body releases the imbued language from which they were created. For 1 round per HD of the illumian, anyone within earshot hears ululating syllables—usually gibberish, but occasionally a prophetic phrase or a final curse on the illumian’s enemies. The illumian’s body need not remain intact for the final utterance to occur. Even if an illumian succumbs to a disintegrate spell, their disembodied voice still utters strange gibberish for several rounds. * echo "Languages:"; Common * echo "Favored Class:"; Any three