Stregoni
Blood calls to a Stregoni as the flame calls to the moth. Always hungry, they are forced to hunt and feed upon living creatures they once protected and nourished as their own children. For, the alternative is to risk their sanity and their immortal souls to the horrible ailment known among their kind simply as the Curse of the Blood Moon.
Despite their tragic past and everything they have endured in the name of survival, the Stregoni have managed to flourish once again. Nowhere near as numerous as they once
were, now they are mostly found in the fringes of
society, living secluded lives in the guise of
decadent nobles and halfwild madmen.
Also known as the Pale Lords or the
Living Vampires, Stregoni are often
remote, distant, and secretive. Their
condition weighs heavily upon them so they
are slow to let outsiders get close to them,
and for good reason: They never know when
the Blood Curse might overtake them and
those they would now call friends become
nothing more than prey. Better to keep others
at bay and not get attached. That way, they
only need to mourn the loss of an innocent life
and not a friend who trusted them.
If you want a character who is mysterious and
mistrusted if not feared, with a predatory,
almost alien outlook on mortality and life, who
struggles to fit in society, you should play a
Stregoni.
YOU MIGHT...
- Strive to embrace, fight, or dismiss the vampiric
reputation of the stregoni.
- Carefully monitor your relationship with other, shorter-lived ancestries, either keeping them at a distance or making sure you are not easily approachable, both in a physical and an emotional way.
- Dress and act in a way that is strange or unfamiliar to most, with mannerisms and etiquette of a bygone era.
OTHERS PROBABLY...
- See you as a dangerous individual, predatory and dominant in nature, whether this is true or not. Some admire, while others avoid you.
- Consider you eccentric and convoluted, with motives that are hard to follow and relate to.
- Expect you to turn into a blood-crazed madman at any moment without prior warnings.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Stregoni are physicaly similar to humans, if slightly taller and with a few other notable differences. Their skin is white as snow, not simply ‘Pale’ as their moniker suggests, while their eyes have slit pupils like those of cats and their colors range from yellow and orange to gray and green.
By far the most striking feature of a Stregoni, however is the retractable fangs most possess. Some Stregoni are able to hide them, others however have no such luck giving them the appearance of a terrible cat of prey. Accentuating the entire look is usually a thick mane of hair, usually snow white or silver in color but blonde, scarlet red, or coal black are also common.
Stregoni fashion typically follows that of the humans of the area they occupy, if a bit old fashioned and out of date. Most tend to wear darker colors and hats or other headgear when out in the public eye.
Stregoni mature much like a human does until their late 20s but their aging slows down to a crawl afterwards. Due to their tendency of staying isolated as well as the low birthrate of the cursed race, young Stregoni are all but unseen by outsiders.
SOCIETY
Aldenalim society once spread throughout the multiverse influencing and affecting every other major and minor race they came in contact with. Unfortunately all that ended with the Curse of the Blood Moon and the fall of the Ancients into savagery and eventually what would become the Stregoni. Ancient ruins and lone towers from that long forgotten civilization and time can still be found occasionally, hidden in foreboding forests or high mountaintops.
Stregoni are a people on decline. Each death brings the entire race one step closer to annihilation, since births are so rare.
At the same time however, it also brings them one step closer to release from the Blood curse.
This unique mindset has made the Stregoni grim, almost looking forward to their end while at the same time dreading it. For death under the blood curse brings eternal damnation and undeath!
No Stregoni would willingly submit to an eternity of unlife as a True Vampire and in fact the hatred they hold for undead is only compared to that for their other eternal enemies: the ones they hold responsible for their downfall, the alien and enigmatic Alfen!
ALIGNMENT AND RELIGION
Stregoni are often seen as cruel and cold-hearted, and in a manner they have to be to survive under their curse. They do not create strong bonds with most short-living creatures since today’s friend could be tomorrow’s prey in their eyes. While other creatures often see them as monsters, the truth is that to a Stregoni each life lost to their Hunger is a burden they have to live with for an eternity. Most are Neutral.
They follow their own religion and have their own deities they worship which are thought to be the Patriarchs or Matriarchs of their various Bloodlines. Dragomir is venerated as the Protector and Guardian of the dwindling race, while the abhorred Weisner is not worshiped, except in small cells of fanatical doomsday cults.
NAMES
Stregoni have names often associated with old Noble Houses among humans. That is not coincidental since they often pose as old, secluded families of human ancestries with Noble ties. They usually have ancient and out of use names but some prefer to simply use their Surname when interacting with others not of their kind, while others yet adopt names common in the cultures they live in.
SAMPLE NAMES
Antiopia, Bartholomeos, Dragomir, Drakwald, Elhena, Guindwer, Klaus, Manfred, Nicodemus, Ophelia, Savarus.
ARCANE BLOOD Stregoni 1
BLOOD HEALING Stregoni 1
Even corrupted, your Blood still holds part of its Divine Origins allowing you to heal your wounds when in need. Spend 1 to 3 Blood Points:
(1 Blood Point) you heal 1d4 hit points.
(2 Blood Points) you heal 2d6 hit points.
(3 Blood Points) you heal 3d8 hit points.
Heightened (+1) Healing increases by 1HP.
In addition, your Blood Pool increases by 1 (maximum 3).
BLOOD METAMORPHOSIS Stregoni 1
In addition, your blood pool increases by 1 (max 3).
BLOOD POWER Stregoni 1
BLOOD SIPHON
Stregoni 1
CURSED MINDSET Stregoni 1
ETERNAL ENMITY Stregoni 1
In addition, if a creature critically succeeds at an attack against you and deals damage to you, you gain your bonus to damage against that creature for 1 minute regardless of whether it has the chosen trait.
Special Your GM can add appropriate creature traits to the eternal enmity list if your character is from a community that commonly fights other types of enemies.
PREDATOR'S CLAWS Stregoni 1
By spending a blood point you can increase the size of damage caused by your Claws to 1d10 for 10 minutes.
PRUDENT RESTORATION
Stregoni 1
STREGONI MIGHT Stregoni 1
In addition, You can attempt to Grapple or Shove creatures up to two sizes larger than you, or up to three sizes larger than you if you’re legendary in Athletics.
Special This benefit stacks with the titan wrestler General Feat.
STREGONI NIMBLENESS Stregoni 1
Stregoni Polyglot Stregoni 1
5th LEVEL
Bestial Hunger
Stregoni 5
Blood CLAWS Stregoni 5
Desperate HealerStregoni 5
Special You can choose this feat more than once, choosing a different creature type to gain the ability to feed upon.
Form of bat and wolf Stregoni 5
Gaze of the Ancients Stregoni 5
The power of Dragomir runs true in your veins and holds the power to compel even your enemies. Spend blood Points as shown and choose from among the following actions:
(1 Blood Point) you use the command Spell against the target.
(2 Blood Points) you use the Charm spell against the target.
(3 Blood Points) you use the enthrall spell against the target without talking or singing.
These spells are considered Focus spells for you, automatically heightened as you level.
Heightened (+3) your range reaches 60 feet.
(+6) you can target up to 10 creatures at once, instead of 1.
Hunter's speed
Stregoni 5
You Stride 10 feet.
You can take the Step action.
Might of the Dragon Stregoni 5
Strength from Within Stregoni 5
Humanoid Form You can only take on the form of a human.
Summon Animal You can only summon a Giant Rat, a Spider Swarm, a rat swarm, a vampire bat swarm, or a Wolf.
9th level
Blood Channeling Stregoni 9
Honor Or Death
Stregoni 9
Hunter's Form Stregoni 9
In addition, your Imprecise Scent range increases to 60 feet and your circumstance bonus on survival checks while tracking creatures whose scent you know, increases to +4. You can track such creatures moving at your normal speed without any penalties.
Predatory Splendor Stregoni 9
Siphon SoulStregoni 9
STregoni endurance Stregoni 9
13th Level
Aura of Grandeur
Stregoni 13
In addition, once per day you can choose to automatically succeed in one skill check in the above categories, or increase the degrees of success by one category in a skill check you just made.
Call of the Shadows Stregoni 13
In addition, you can spend a Blood Point to cast Invisibility on yourself as a focus spell, as long as you are in Dim light or Darkness. You remain Invisible only while remaining in such conditions. Otherwise all of the spell's rules (including heightened version) apply.
Darkwolf Form Stregoni 13
spend 2 Blood points: You assume the form of a Large wolflike beast with the following statistics and abilities:
-
AC 20+ your Level. Ignore your armor's check penalty and speed reduction.
-
20 temporary hit points.
-
Low-light vision and Imprecise Scent 30feet
-
Athletic modifier +20, unless your own modifier is higher.
-
Speed 40 feet.
-
The following unarmed melee Attacks, which are the only attacks you can use. You are trained with them. Your Attack modifier is +20, and your damage bonus is +9. These attacks are strength based (for the purpose of the enfeebled condition, for example). If your unarmed attack modifier is higher, you can use it instead.
Melee
Jaws (Deadly) 1d12 piercing
Melee
Claw 1d8 Slashing, plus 1d6 persistent bleed on a critical hit.
At 18th level, your Size increases to huge, your Reach to 15 feet, and your Speed to 50 feet. You instead gain AC=23+ your Level, 25 temporary Hit Points, an Attack modifier of +25, a damage bonus of +15, and Athletics +25.
You can maintain this form for 1 minute. You can use the Dismiss Action to end it early.
The Beast Within Stregoni 13
The Blood Lord's Secret Stregoni 13
In addition, you can choose to spend a Blood point in substitution to a somatic or verbal component when casting such a spell, allowing you to use less actions in the casting!
Artwork/Credits
Cover Art: Vampire by Ll qian
https://www.artstation.com/liqian
Page 2: Vampire Swordsman by Hyunji Yi
https://www.artstation.com/armond
Page 8: Snow White by PapaNinja (Serge Birault)
https://www.deviantart.com/papaninja
Special thanks to Apostol Apostolov who created the template used in this Document. V.1.04 24th of January 2020
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