Race a Day: Solvsted

Solvsted

World travelers with an appetite for knowledge and adventure.

RACIAL TRAITS

Average Height: 5’6” – 6’6”

Average Weight: 130-250lb.

Ability Scores: +2 Charisma, +2 to one other ability score of your choice

Size: Medium

Speed: 6 squares

Vision: Normal

Languages: Common, Common Elven, Solvsted Dialect, Choice of two others

Bonus Skill: You gain training in one additional skill, regardless of class.

Jack of All Trades: Choose 4 skills you are trained in. You gain a +1 racial bonus to those skills.

Seen it All: You are immune to fear and fear affects.

Well-Traveled: You may choose one racial power from any playable race. You now have that racial power as your own.

Racial Memory: If your solvsted is descended from the joural, you gain one of their racial powers. If your solvsted is descended from the valdis you gain a +1 bonus to one of the following ability scores: Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma. If your solvsted is descended from the eladrin in the player’s handbook, you gain the fey step ability. If your solvsted is descended from the elf in the player’s handbook, you gain the elven accuracy ability.

Adventurous, free-spirited travelers, the solvsted love nothing more than to see the world. They are not a race in and of themselves, rather, they are adventurous joural or valdis elves who have an exhilarating wanderlust that calls them to explore as much of the world as possible. It doesn’t matter if someone else discovered something first, they only wish to see the whole of the world and any other world with their own eyes.

Play a solvsted if you want…

            ♦ to play a savvy and experienced world traveler.

            ♦ to play a charismatic, multilingual explorer.

            ♦ to be a member of a race that is charming and flexible enough to play a wide variety of classes.

Physical Qualities

Solvsted are generally about the same size as the elves they come from, sometimes tending to be a bit taller than normal. However, their skin is almost always a deep, golden bronze from their travels, and their hair is usually darker than their brethren, tending to black, dark auburns, and sometimes deep purples or royal blue. Their eyes run the gamut of their elven heritage and can come in almost any color.

            Solvsted mature at about the same rate as humans, but their aging process slows considerably after the age of 18. They stay vital and healthy well into old age and can live to be over 200.

Playing a Solvsted

The solvsted are a branch of elves that are born with a strange sense of desire to see the world. They don’t like to stay in the same place for very long and crave exploration, adventure, new people, and new places. On Joresch, they come from joural and valdis stock – the kaedia for some reason unaffected by this wanderlust – and leave their homes at an early age to set out and explore. It’s unknown what causes the wanderlust, it seems to be random, and it’s not always passed from parent to child; a solvsted can give birth to a normal valdis or joural. Still, it does happen, and is never viewed as a bad thing as the solvsted are a hearty, good natured people who always come home to visit and treasure family and friends as much as exploration.

            Many solvsted become sailors, giving them a great chance to travel extensively. They take to it easily, as though they were born with sea legs. In fact, something about the solvsted allow them to learn many things easily and quickly. They pick up on languages, customs, currency, and skills much more quickly than other people. Solvsted also make excellent bards. They’re need to travel takes them everywhere, allowing them to pick up new songs and stories easily. They’re also quite good at reading a crowd, or knowing the tastes of the region or town they’re in and finding just the right song or story to inspire and enchant.

            Overall, the solvsted tend to be happy, upbeat people. They enjoy new people and make friends quickly and easily; the solvsted are the only people openly welcome among the kaedia. They always have stories, no matter what they choose to do with their lives, and are happy to share their knowledge and stories with all their friends and their friends are anyone they happen to be telling a story to. Having a solvsted in your party brings knowledge, wisdom, stories and song and always make welcome companions.

Solvsted Characteristics: Agile, clever, friendly,  joyful, light-hearted, optimistic, perceptive, quick

Solvsted Names: Typically eladrin, elf, joural, or valdis names.

Solvsted Adventurers

Three sample solvsted adventurers are described below.

            Berrian is a bard who has traveled most of the eastern continent. He is welcomed in nearly city on the continent, but he’s done with his travels there and seeks more. As he is making arrangements to travel to Q’omar, he bumps into an old friend of his. The friend is on the run, and as Berrian turns around he sees that most of port Xel is on fire. His old friend has two people with him, a torilan woman, and a human. Berrian quickly bargains to get his friend and their companions on board and, demons on their heals, they take off in a dirigible bound for Ciradon, a new adventure dawning for Berrian.

            Kala has chosen the path of Light and become a cleric of Elysia. She travels the world, healing the sick, fighting the darkness and helping those in need. Her travels have taken her many places and she delights in her duties and her ability to meet new people. On a recent pilgrimage to the Academy of the Flame, she noticed things seemed odd. People were quiet, distant, and many of her old friends were gone. One of her oldest friends, the princess of Askar, had apparently left as well, under mysterious circumstances. Determined to get to the truth, Kala calls in some old favors, and gets  an adventuring group together to explore the church and the town and get to the bottom of the mystery.

            Londris is a chaos wizard and he revels in his power every day. It lets him travel the world easily, and lets him meet new people as well. Recently, something has been troubling him. There are dark things creeping into the world, strange creatures, monsters and demons. Normal animals seem to be getting more and more aggressive, attacking stray travelers, families, even whole towns. A pervasive shadow seems to be slowly coalescing over Joresch, and it’s totally harshing his buzz. He decides that it’s his job to figure things out. He must explore this mystery, find out what evil may be spreading throughout the world, and put a stop to the evil shenanigans.