Aerie (Apath)

Unofficial rules compendium

This is a work in progress.

Aries are tiny fey, courtiers and emissaries of fey courts and gentry among smaller fey. Long confined only to the deepest fairy glades and to fairy itself, aeries are becoming more common as the barriers between planes weaken.

Less concerned with pranks and more with simply enjoying fun and beauty, aeries are creatures of conflicting drives. Generally stay-at-homes who enjoy the good life, they can be intensely curious when not overtaken by shyness or laziness. Aeries have high opinions of themselves, and thrive on respect and influence. They are daring and think nothing of challenging opponents several times their own size. They view the world with a curiosity and true desire to learn, and this runs counter to their boisterousness; aeries will often find it convenient to remain hidden to observe the ways of others.

Aeries prosper in any place of great natural beauty or that satisfies their curiosity. A few aeries even live in cities, usually as invisible observers. In areas dominated by evil they try to maintain small hidden havens of beauty. Aeries love to craft beautiful and intricate things, and can get mesmerized by artful devices. In fairy lands, aeries often take on a more active role, as mediators and spokesmen for other small fey and as courtiers in fairy courts.

Physical Description Aries are humanoid fey, about 8 inches in height (a full foot with wings included) and weigh 4 to 8 ounces. They are generally gnome-like in appearance, with gossamer wings that have a wingspan of just over a foot. Like gnomes their hair and skin comes in a variety of colors and often reflects their personality; a shy aerie is likely to have pale coloration, a passionate one bright, one interested in plants is likely to be green, and so on. The generally have graceful builds, but this is not universal, some aerie are shorter and chubbier, looking somewhat like tiny winged dwarfs.

Society: Aeries often live in a a society devoted to the study and protection of some locale or phenomenon, called their ward. This can be anything from a quaint human village to a waterfall or even a storm cloud. Such groups of aeries are very devoted to the focus of the community, letting it inspire everything from clothes to living spaces and they might even change their physical appearance to more resemble their ward. If the focus is another type of creature, the aeries take on the mannerisms and views of their ward.

Aeries don't have families and young aeries are formed out of raw magic or from the ward of another aerie. It has been observed that a living ward of an aerie can be reincarnated as an aerie after death. Aeries still enjoy a flirt, and those living in complex courts might engage in lengthy courtships, complete with all the pride and prejudice of mortal love.

Relations: Aries often live in the societies of others, either as nobility among the smaller sprites or as courtiers and messengers among elves and larger fey. They are friendly to gnomes, in a patronizing way, regarding gnomes as lacking sophistication. Aeries are curious about other races when the occasion arises, and often study them and even mimic their behavior, but rarely reveal themselves except to a few individuals, often artists, children, beggars, or others whose reports on them are unlikely to be believed. Because of this, they remain elusive fairytale creatures and other races have no particular preferences or prejudices about them.

Alignment and Religion: Aeries are proud but good-natured and tend toward chaotic good in alignment. Their loyalties and interests are personal rather than familial or patriotic. An aerie will think nothing of opposing another aerie if their interests collide, but such confrontations are rarely belligerent. Aeries in conflict would rather let their favorites quarrel and bet on the outcome than involve themselves directly, at least as long as their ward is sure to survive. If an aerie's ward is threatened, they will use every trick in their arsenal to protect it.

Adventurers: Aeries sometimes get attached to larger folk and follow them around, often adopting traits similar to their companion. Often seen as little more than familiars to their larger friend, some aeries thrive in being the mind behind the mask, but most demand respect and attention.

Names Aeries often have names that describe them or that sound like titles. An aerie warrior who likes to ride goats might be called sir horn or clovenhoof, an arie with particularly bright colors might be named indigo or roseblush. Remember than aerie colors often match their interests

Bark, Brave, Chiper, Chump, Clever, Grump, Nettle, Rose, Silver, Sly, Spray, Strong, Sunflower, Thorn.

Standard Racial Traits

• Ability Score Racial Traits: -2 Strength, +2 Dexterity
• Size: Tiny. Tiny creatures gain +2 size bonus to their AC, a +2 size bonus on attack rolls, a –2 penalty on combat maneuver checks and to their CMD, and a +8 size bonus on Stealth checks. Tiny creatures use Dexterity instead of Strength bonus on Climb and Combat Maneuver checks. Tiny characters take up a space of 2-1/2 feet by 2-1/2 feet, so up to four of these characters can fit into a single square and a Tiny creature can stand in the space of a larger creature. Tiny races typically have a natural reach of 0feet, meaning they can’t reach into adjacent squares. They must enter an opponent’s square to attack it in melee. Thisprovokes an attack of opportunity from the opponent. Since they have no natural reach, they do not threaten the squares around them. Other creatures can move through those squares without provoking attacks of opportunity.
• Type: Aeries are creatures of the fey type.
• Base Speed: 15 ft.
• Languages: Aerie begin play speaking Common and Elvish. Aerie with high intelligence scores can choose from the following: aklo, auran, fairy common, gnome, halfling, sylvan, treant.
• Random Starting Age: Base age zero
  Barbarian, Rogue, Sorcerer +1d2
  Bard, Fighter, Paladin, Ranger +1d3
  Cleric, Druid, Monk, Wizard +1d6.
• Aging Effects: Aeries do not age.
• Height and Weight: Height 4 inches Weight 2 ounces. Modifier 2d3 inches. Weight Multiplier x1 ounce.

Offense and Defensive Racial Traits

• Fey Reach: When wielding a reach weapon or a rapier, an aerie has a reach of 5 ft.

Movement Racial Traits

• Wings: Aeries can move through the air, as air walk, but must remain within 10 ft. per Hit Dice of an object or creature of at least Medium size.

Skill Racial Traits

• Disarming Humility: Aerie are forthright and disarming, which wins them allies in the long run. They gain a +2 racial bonus on Diplomacy checks.

Senses Racial Traits

• Limited Tremorsense: Through a combination of scent, hearing, and sensitive paws, aerie can sense the presence of creatures and objects in contact with the ground up to 30 ft. away, even if the creatures are invisible or have full concealment. Creatures with cover can still use Stealth against the Aerie by threading carefully.

Alternate Racial Traits

• Hare These aerie has large ears and tall ears that add at least a foot to its total height. Hares have lowlight vision and gain a +2 bonus on Perception checks. This replaces limited tremorsense.
• Burrowing The yatu has a burrow speed of 20 feet. This replaces sprinter and jumper.
• Flee Forward The aerie gains a +2 bonus on combat maneuver checks made to bull rush or overrun an opponent. This bonus only applies while both the member of this race and its opponent are standing on the ground. This replaces parting kick.

Aerie in Greyhawk

Aerie are relatively common in Nippon and the Nippon Territories, and exist Zindia and the Celestial empire. Individual aerie may travel to other parts of the world in the service of an employer.

Advance Race Guide Design Points

+4 Size Tiny +2 Fey type

9 points

Racial Trait Options

Aerie can choose among the following traits.

Bunny Hop Acrobatics is a class skill for you. When using the Acrobatics skill to jump, you halve DCs based on the length of the jump. This counts as assisted movement and does not stack with the benefits of assisted movement.

Burrower You can burrow through sand and soft earth at a speed of 5 ft., leaving a tunnel behind.

Forager Like your ancient forebears, you can subsist on many kinds of green plants. You gain a +4 trait bonus on Survival checks to find food.

Karumijutsu Acrobatics is a class skill for you. When using the Acrobatics skill to jump, you take only a +2 DC increase per foot you leap upwards, rather than the normal +4. This counts as assisted movement and does not stack with the benefits of assisted movement.

Stomper You can stomp the ground to create vibrations easily picked up with tremorsense, and can send messages to others with such senses up to ten times the range of their tremorsense. The Aerie language has special expressions transmitted this way; you can transmit fairly complex messages if both you and the listener knows the language.

External Links

• Aerie @ Wikipedia.

The text in this article is Open Game Content. It is covered by the Open Game License v1.0a, rather than the Action copyright. To distinguish it, these items will have this notice. If you see any page that contains OGL material and does not show this license statement, please contact one of the Action administrators. Please note that images used in article may have different copyright than the text.