| Personality: Once of one race with the githyanki under the enslavement of the mindflayers, the githzerai broke away from their illithid masters and then their gith brethren, sparking a racial war that has continued into the present. The two gith peoples separated and found new homes: the githyanki in the silver void of the Astral Plane, and the githzerai in the Outer Plane of Limbo, a plane of swirling chaos, where stability can only be achieved by shaping the chaotic matter of the plane with the mind; focus and discipline are necessary for this to occur.Githzerai are quiet and reserved, burning with a passion that drives them far beyond what most mortals are capable of. Severe and serious, the githzerai tend toward sombreness in their clothing and personalities. They’re usually close-mouthed, keeping their own counsel and trusting few outside their own kind. The githzerai are sworn to protect their adopted home of Limbo, since that refuge was only won after millennia of hardship and war. Any threat against their haven is met with whatever force is necessary to eliminate the threat.By: James O'RanceImported from a previous version of Planewalker.com |
| Physical Description: Githzerai are humanoids, thinner and taller than humans with sharp features, long faces, and eyes of grey, black, or yellow. They have a thin, angular frame, and limbs that look like they are made of nothing but strings of muscle knotted around bone. |
| Relations: Githzerai believe that members of other races cannot truly understand them, and seem sombre and stand-offish to friendlier races. Githzerai have no true enmity towards most races, however, and can dwell in human, elven, and multicultural communities without difficulty. Githzerai bear an ancient hatred for mind flayers and githyanki, and will never accept either as a companion. Their ancient hatreds for the illithids and the githyanki erupt violently in any encounter with those races. |
| Alignment: Lawful Good |
| Lands: Githzerai dwell in their spartan cities of chaos-shaped stone in the Outer Plane of Limbo, including Shra'kt'lor and the Floating City. |
| Religion: The God-King, Zaerith Menyar-Ag-Gith, is a monument to githzerai racial pride, and the source of the famous githzerai planeshifting powers. Unlike the rulers of other peoples, the God-King is not particularly aggressive or inhibiting. Most githzerai believe that without him, they might become enslaved again. “Better the heartfelt devotion of a free soul than the grudging obedience of a slave,” is a common githzerai saying that contrasts loyalty to Zaerith with “loyalty” to the mind flayers. The God-King personifies the freedom of their kind. Some githzerai worship the memory of Zerthimon, an ancient githzerai hero who confronted the tyrant Gith, and begun the aeons-long war for freedom against the illithids (and later, the githyanki). Zerthimon knew the githzerai before they knew themselves. He defined the People, and gave them one mind. Those that know his words are called zerths. |
| Language: Githzerai speech is based on history. All events can become part of their story-like culture; metaphor is a powerful tool, an inspiration to heroism for the People, and a deterrent to villainous deeds. The githzerai accent is difficult to understand – githzerai take every word, snap it, and then drag out the vowels for good measure. |
| Names: Githzerai names sound harsh and alien, and usually consist of unusual consonants and glottal stops. Some githzerai are named after one of the myriad historical figures that the githzerai remember as part of their thousands of years-old culture. |
| Male Names: Arja’rok, Beezil, Dak’kon, Fri’hi, Hailcii’n, Kars’ten, Retholien, Selqant, Toryg, Tovus, Try’ig’or, Vilquar, Yves, Zerchai. |
| Female Names: Ach’ali, Devorxa, Elezpah, Imogen, Jebeel, Ji’li’kai, K’atzn’ii, Kii’na, Lar’il, Moraan, Ro’jhi, T’cha, Torpel’lin. |
| Family Names: None. |
| Adventurers: Githzerai adventurers have left the company of their own kind to venture beyond Limbo and dwell with other races. There is always a good reason for this. Some githzerai adventurers are the sole survivors or apprentices of rrakma (illithid–hunter) bands. Others might be outcasts from the floating cities of Limbo, perhaps due to some injust accusation of treachery by the Anarchs Guild, or wanderers who live in self-imposed exile in order to further their own self–understanding. Very rarely, a githzerai may have spoken the Pronouncement of Two Deaths As One, swearing such loyalty to a companion that the githzerai will willingly perish before he will consider abandoning that companion. |
Racial Traits: - +2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, –2 Strength, –2 Wisdom. Githzerai are quick of mind and of body, although their thin frames do not possess the power of other races. The introspection of most githzerai causes their perceptiveness and understanding of other people to suffer.
- Medium-size: As medium-size creatures, githzerai have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
- Githzerai base speed is 30 feet.
- Outsider: All githzerai possess Darkvision to 60 feet. They cannot be brought back from the dead by raise dead or resurrection spells, unless these are cast on their home plane of Limbo. In many other respects, they are treated as Humanoids.
- Power Resistance: A githzerai gains Power Resistance equal to 5 + 1 per character level. In campaigns that do not feature psionics, this extraordinary ability works in an identical fashion to Spell Resistance.
- +2 racial bonus to Innuendo skill checks: Githzerai conversation is rich in metaphor and hidden meaning.
- Psionic Feats: A githzerai may select psionic feats (from the Psionics Handbook) even if she is not a psion or psychic warrior. Githzerai can select any psionic feat provided that they meet all of its prerequisites, including reserve power points. Non-psionic githzerai do not possess power points unless they take the Inner Strength feat.
- Githzerai adventurers do not possess the inherent psionic skills of githzerai in Limbo, perhaps due to their extended time away from their wizard God-King.
- Automatic Languages: Githzerai, Planespeak. Bonus Languages: Celestial, Eladrin, Infernal, Slaad, Tanar’ri.
- Favoured Class: A githzerai can choose Psion or Sorcerer as her favoured class. A multiclass githzerai’s favoured class does not count when determining whether she suffers an XP penalty (see Experience for Multiclass Characters, page 56 of the Player’s Handbook.)
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