New Player Character Race: Otaki
I made this race to fulfill some of the lack that has occurred thanks to the loss of Gnomes and Halflings.
Otaki (Half-Goblins)
The Otaki exist in every part of Ortho, even their name means 'The Children of Ortho' in Goblinish. The presence of lonely Hobgoblin soldiers in every province has resulted in many children that largely exist outside of conventional Ortho society. The perfect order of the planet has no use for bastards and few members of the race were born from a wedded union between a Hobgoblin and human. Over time, their numbers swelled to the point that they started marrying members of their own kind and producing Otaki that were not the product of a hybrid union. In many respects, the Otaki have managed to become their own race.
While the Harmonium would dearly love to "civilize" the Otaki, all efforts to do so have resulted in failure. Those who join the Harmonium tend to find themselves ostracized and treated with suspicion from their race. Also, the members of the Harmonium rank and file tend to treat Otaki recruits with a mixture of contempt and derision (especially, Hobgoblin members). While racism is a deeply Un-Harmonious quality, familiarity seems to have bred contempt. This quality tends to evaporate at higher ranks of the Harmonium.
The only Otaki that do have any real active membership in the Harmonium are those from Vak'Moor. The Vak'moor Otaki often attempt to insert their children into the ranks of the military. They are often shocked by the behavior of their kinsmen in other provinces and the reaction they recieve from troopers that are used to their more chaotic brethren.
Personality: Otaki tend to be hot-blooded and passionate creatures that disregard common sense over emotion. They are easily swept up in causes and quick to take offense. Otaki vengeance is well known to sometimes take generations to perform but vendettas are never forgotten. Otaki tend to fall in love easilly and tend to disregard Ortho social norms for the joys of the moment.
Otaki are bored easily and often drawn into plots or intrigues just for the experience. They have a cultural severance for the art of bluffing and few Otaki don't have some skill at playing on the emotions of others. While few Otaki fear hard-work, they have a tendency to seek great wealth through thinking rather than labor. Thus, they make natural merchants. Beauty is believed to be the highest thing that an Otaki can fight for.
Otaki artists and performers are amongst the most greatest on Ortho, if not necessarilly the most socially accepted.
Physical Description: The Otaki are mostly human-like in appearance, except for their red and orange skin-tone. Oddly, Otaki have elf-like pointed ears that are an aspect found in neither humans or Hobgoblins. Despite their Goblin parentage, they show little sign of their more brutish parentage. Instead, many human beings have come to view their appearance as exotic and beautiful. Oddly, Hobgoblins also tend to view Otaki as attractive despite the severe cultural restrictions against intimacies with them. Otaki hair tends towards either black, blond, or flaming red.
It is noteworthy that Otaki don't resemble Half-Goblins from other worlds. Their pointed ears and angular seem more like elves than anything else. It is speculated, mostly by individuals that consider it a slander against the Otaki, that The Lords of Chaos may have given their race qualities that are similar to the lost species of Ortho or that most have a deviant strain of elf blood. The Otaki tend to dismiss this as nonsense.
Alignment: Due to the constant harassment that Otaki receive from law enforcement, they take a dim view of the Harmonium and OCA. While few are active rebels, they are known to enjoy tweaking the nose of law enforcement whenever possible. This includes giving aid to fugitives, misleading authorities, and otherwise complicating the lives of law enforcement.
Most Otaki favor a Neutral or Chaotic alignment but there are many Lawful members of the race. It's just that the species has created a cultural pride in being slightly deviant from the norm and other factors have made such behavior discouraged. Still, the Otaki members of the Harmonium tend to be amongst the hard and rigid in interpretation of the law due to their need to prove themselves 'above' their heritage.
Otaki Lands: Otaki have a, somewhat, undeserved reputation for shiftiness and criminal behavior. Still, due to the fact that many of them grow up in disgrace or disadvantaged circumstances, a large portion have ended up in questionable professions. Otaki are an incredibly common sight in the Licensed Quarters. The beauty of Otaki has made them especially well received as courtesans while others become swept up in the quasi-legitimate vice cartels that thrive on the indulgence in said regions. This has only fed their reputations as dangerous individuals that have a penchant for mischief.
More than a few Otaki have found themselves forming traveling troupes of entertainers. Given that they rarely are able to forward enough money to become full blown Venture cartels, Otaki tend to fall back on performances to feed themselves. These carnivals are often fronts for less than entirely decent activities. Some become traveling Licensed Quarters, legal or not, in order to maximize the profits that go into Otaki pockets. Quite a few of the larger circuses are actually generational unions that are, effectively, Otaki tribes.
North Thaera and the Thaeran Isles are the only places that Otaki are found in vast communities. Due to Hobgoblin prejudice against merchants, these are the only lands that they are known to hold respectable jobs as well.
Religion: The Otaki follow the Lords of Order in public but genuine reverance is almost non-existent amongst the race. Even gods they normally might follow like The Lord of Music or Community have been soured for them by the rigid interpretations of the church. The vast majority of Otaki are, therefore, godless for all intents and purposes.
Those Otaki that hear of The Lords of Chaos are, more often than not, intrigued. Patches of Lords of Chaos worship continue amongst the race with many conducting rituals in secret. The most evil Otaki find Alzrius' focus on "wealth and pleasure for worship" to be a god that they can understand.
Language: Otaki speak Ortho Common as their Native tongue along with 'Otakese' that is a pidgin version of Hobgoblinish mixed with remains of Thieves Cant along with words borrowed from every corner of Ortho. Those raised in Hobgoblin communities tend to speak Hobgoblinish as opposed to Otakese.
Names: Otaki tend to prefer Human names rather than Hobgoblin names, since the later race tends to view it as an insult to their racial pride. Otaki tend to give exotic sounding names their children in order to distinguish them from the ordinary and simple names of most Ortho commoners.
Adventurers: Otaki have a natural penchant for magic that is lacking from their Hobgoblin parents. Due to the unwillingness of most formal schools to employ Otaki students, most are self-taught or gain their knowledge from family traditions. Otaki magic tends to focus on Enchantment and Illusions as opposed to more physical effects. These aid in their reputation as beautiful and manipulative creatures.
Combined with their penchant for thievery and disregard for the Law, the Otaki make the best Bards in Ortho. Those Otaki who lack a desire to be an entertainer are often inclined to become rogues.
Otaki
* Medium: As Medium creatures, Otaki have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
* Otaki base land speed is 30 feet.
* Low-Light Vision: A Otaki can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. She retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
* Otaki have a -2 penalty to Wisdom.
* Otaki have a +2 bonus to Charisma.
* Otaki spell casters gain a +1 bonus to all Concentration checks with spells from the Enchantment/Charm or Illusion schools of magic.
* +2 racial bonus on Diplomacy, Bluff, and Gather Information checks.
* Goblin: For all effects related to race, a Otaki is considered a Goblin.
* Automatic Languages: Common and Otaki. Bonus Languages: Any (other than secret languages, such as Druidic).
* Favored Class: Bard
Nice addition to Ortho.