Ash Child

This 3-ft. tall humanoid looks much like a human or elven child. Its skin, hair, eyes, and clothes are almost uniformly white.

Ash children are thought to be distant relatives of brownies and other hearth spirits occasionally found on Quasielemental Ash. It’s possible they were created by the same hag who first shaped the ash witches, but they're now manufactured by the witches themselves. They do not have an adult form, and they never grow old, but they still die when their time is up (aging roughly half as fast as a human). Occasionally, an ash child at least a century old evolves into an adult ash witch.

Ash children speak Ashen, the common language on the Quasielemental Plane of Ash, but some also learn Planar Trade. They speak in whispers, inventing rhymes and rhythmic patterns as they chatter excitedly at one another.

Ash children attack in self-defense, if panicked by bright light, or if ordered to. They cling to their opponents, attempting to overbear them with surprise and numbers. Their bite is mildly poisonous, but their most feared attack is suffocation.

Poison (Ex) : Injury, Fort DC 13; initial damage nausea (lasts 1 minute), secondary damage 1d4 Strength. The save DC is Constitution-based and includes a +2 racial bonus.

Suffocate (Ex) : A creature grappling an ash child is unable to breathe, as the ash rises from the child’s body and actively attempts to cut off all breathing. Regardless of the success of the grapple check, the creature must make a Constitution checks to hold its breath every round. The DC of the check is 10, and it increases by +1 for each previous success. When the creature fails one of these Constitution checks, it begins to suffocate. In the first round, it falls unconscious (0 hit points). In the following round, if the ash child chooses to maintain the grapple, the creature drops to -1 hit points and is dying; in the third round, it suffocates.

Skills: Ash children have a +2 racial bonus on Hide and Survival checks.

Ash children congregate in schools, and are often found around ash witches, although if none is available they will associate with even a mephit. A few abandoned ash children have turned to planewalking; the lonely little bastards usually attach to virtually any friendly creature that comes by. They are extremely loyal to their friends. They like to touch and hug, and don't understand what anyone would have against soot stains

ASH CHILDREN AS CHARACTERS Ash children possess the following racial traits.

• +2 Dex, -2 Wis. Ash children are agile, but not particularly focused or determined.
• Small Outsider. As Small creatures, ash children has a +1 size bonus on AC and attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but also a -4 penalty on grapple checks; their carrying weight is ½ that of a Medium character. Ash children have the cold subtype; also, they are always native to the Quasielemental Plane of Ash, and have the extraplanar subtype when not on their home plane.
• An ash child’s base land speed is 20 feet.
• Darkvision 60 feet .
• Racial Hit Dice: An ash child begins with two levels of outsider, which provide 2d8 Hit Dice, a base attack bonus of +2, and base saving throw bonuses of Fort +3, Ref +3, and Will +3.
• Racial Skills: An ash child’s outsider levels give it skill points equal to 5 x (8 + Int modifier). Its class skills are Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Search, Spot, and Survival. Ash children have a +2 racial bonus on Hide and Survival checks.
• Racial Feats: An ash child’s outsider levels give it one feat.
• Natural Attack: Ash children have a bite attack that can be used once per round, dealing 1d4 (plus Strength modifier) points of piercing damage. It delivers the ash child’s poison.
• Special Attacks (see above): Poison, suffocate.
• Special Qualities (see above): Immunity to cold, vulnerability to fire.
• Automatic Languages: Planar Trade, Ashen. Bonus Languages: Jannti, Night Hag.
• Favored Class: Rogue.
• Level adjustment +1.