Complete Xeno (3.5e Sourcebook)/Introduction

Introduction

Outsiders are beings born from another dimension, and aberrations are species which fit not with the natural order of the world. The surface of the planet teams with life and magic, and intelligent beings walk its surface under a blanket of the sky above. But what above the sky, into the stars and heavens themselves? In some worlds, nothing... the stars are little more than pinhole lights in the cosmic cloth seperating the material from the outer planes or the far realm. But in other worlds the material plain extends far beyond a single planet, into the sky, and space itself, an empty void where the stars in the skies are burning suns of their own, possibly dancing with dozens of planets, planets which can host LIFE. In this expanded material plane, Faerun, Eberron, and other worlds are just one of many in the material, and while some may be populated with humanoid life, other beings exist, born in non-Earth worlds. They would be aberrations were they not beings originating from another material plane across the gulf of space.

Complete Xeno

While the book has the most material for Dungeon Masters seeking to add new elements such as the concept of an enemy no one yet understands, or perhaps as a First Race which has left relics across the land, there is plenty of material for players as well, allowing for the possibility of playing as alien races, campaigns spanning multiple worlds, invasion stories from either side, and abductions. It allows for games to break the mold of swords and sorcery, and possibly run modern or future campaigns with the standard D&D system. Naturally, Dungeon Masters will find dozens of monsters, feats, and lore about these alien species, allowing you to highlight just one, or all races in your game if you wish. Each chapter is devoided to a major alien species, including their home planets, ships, and technology, ready to be used in your campaign.

Origins of Aliens

While aliens share many traits with aberrations and outsiders, they are not nessicarly one of them. The key point of what makes an alien is that they are indeed material planar creatures (even the outsider ones, being native outsiders). However, their homelands are somehow alien and strange, by strange environments such as a sun too dim, or a world without a surface, or through proximity to strange effects such as brushing on the edge of the planes, existing in an alternate material world where the atmosphere is carbon dioxide, or a world where the planet is alive and erupting with magical energies powerful enough to change the surface of life upon it.

Regardless of their homeworlds, aliens can find means of traveling the great void between solar systems and still find the standard campaign settings without need of plane shifts to move into another dimension. As such, aliens by and large much either be technologically or magically advanced enough to allow for ships and other means of propulsion across the vast distances.

The major xenomorphic races include the following:

Gokiburi, or Gokes are they are known in shorthand, are roach-like creatures from a semi-tropical homeworld. They are dutiful, proud, brave, and persistant, but can also be totalitarian, domineering, militant, and expansive. Born with latent psionic energy, their paragon leaders possess subtle control over their colony with mental and pheromic means.

The Uberich are humanoid aliens, thin and lithe, and indeed weak of frame but possessing powerful psychic minds filled with evil intent. Able to home their abilities by focusing upon a single emotion, this idea has formed the basis of even their technology, literally riding upon engines of fear.

The Seppia are kindly curious creatures from a distant gas giant. Lacking legs to walk or a body pressurized for most earth-like worlds, they walk the land in construct bodies, appearing as the local humanoids do in an effort to understand life on a world with a surface.

Noo are creatures who are all one, a single planet consumed in a sentient slime. Finding itself unable to expand any further, it reached for the stars, sending child seeds out into the depths of space in hopes of finding new planets to colonize and grow its ever-widening conciousness. All Noos are part of the Noosphere, and the Noosphere is all of Noo.

The Tempus are beings from a world long dead, long lived ancient giants who wander the land ponderously, thinking throughs slowly to conserve energy and watching the universe pass before them. They have scattered across the cosmos now, and what seems like eons to many are but the passing of another day for them.

Appilons are hard-shelled creatures from a hostile world, a land of sulfer smoke and thunder. Born in a place which would kill any lesser being they have been built to survive against all odds, split into two types of beings which both weather out the everlasting storms of their world.

These six races mentioned here represent the most widespread and virulent of the alien species which roam the stars, though many others exist, be they uberich slaves or natives who have no yet left their homeworlds. Some pre-existing creatures may also qualify as aliens in a setting, the most likely of all being the Neogi. which possess spider-like flying ships, visiting from a distant star, or the Tsochari which hail from a yet unknown lightless dead planet out in space. Such creatures may be given the xenoblooded subtype if desired.

Xenoblooded and Xenotheric

Being from a strange place does have its perks, manifested through the xenoblooded and xenotheric templates introduced in this book. While not all aliens have these templates, many do, a biological requirement to survive on what are otherwise alien, hostile worlds or even purposeful genetic tampering on part of the races themselves.

Xenoblooded

This subtype pertains to the Xenoblooded family of creatures very much related to the xenotheric, which hail from planes associated with aberrant lifeforms. While the xenoblooded are often just as alien as their purely xenotheric counterparts, the conditions they live in are less extreme or alien, and as such they possess very few traits of full xenotheric creatures. Unlike normal xenotherics, aberrations that gain the xenoblooded subtype through evolution do not immediately become outsiders with the augmented aberration subtype.

Traits

The traits listed here override the base traits wherever applicable.

• The Xenoblooded subtype overrides and replaces the Extraplanar and/or Native subtypes.
• Does not qualify for xenotheric feats or prestige classes, but does count as a xenotheric creature for the purpose of item restrictions, favored enemies, and similar.

Creatures with the Xenoblooded Subtype

The following creatures have the xenoblooded subtype:

Creature Entry	CR	Type	Subtypes	Size	Description
Aberrant Troll Cavestalker	12	Aberration	Augmented Giant, Psionic, Xenoblooded	Large
Chiyokoid	8	Aberration	Human, Psionic, Xenoblooded	Medium
Ethereal Scutigera	7	Aberration	Xenoblooded	Large
Graha Vestige	4	Outsider	Incorporeal, Psionic, Xenoblooded	Tiny
Provolvic Horror	16	Outsider	Extraplanar, Psionic, Xenoblooded	Large
Pupathid	5	Aberration	Xenoblooded	Medium
Zergling	2	Aberration	Xenoblooded	Medium	A fast, scary beast that tears people apart and runs in groups.

Races with the Xenoblooded Subtype

The following races have the xenoblooded subtype:

Creature Entry	CR	Type and Subtypes	Size
Appilon, Agiishell		Aberration [Xenoblooded]	Medium
Appilon, Ortshell		Aberration [Xenoblooded]	Medium
Baisuzhe		Aberration [Xenoblooded]	Medium
Cosmin		Aberration [Xenoblooded]	Medium
Flumph		Aberration [Xenoblooded]	Small
Gokiburi		Aberration [Xenoblooded]	Medium
Hekatonped		Magical Beast [Xenoblooded]	Medium
Huldra		Humanoid [Xenoblooded]	Medium
Kerbal		Humanoid [Xenoblooded]	Small
Kremen		Monstrous Humanoid [Earth, Xenoblooded]	Medium
Mahaari		Humanoid [Xenoblooded]	Medium
Myrmidon		Monstrous Humanoid [Xenoblooded]	Medium
Nebular		Aberration [Xenoblooded]	Medium
Take		Plant [Xenoblooded]	Medium
Tempus		Outsider [Xenoblooded]	Large

Xenotheric

This subtype pertains to the Xenotheric family of outsiders, which hail from planes associated with aberrant lifeforms. Many xenotheric species have suffered varied amounts of exposure to the transmorphic and undefined currents of the Far Realm and other such places of conception. Most xenotherics were transmogrified by their unnatural evolution, having attained a higher form of existence where thought and locution occurs solely on the cerebral state, and yet others have been horribly altered by their experiences, flensed by planar chaos until their sapience was stripped away. However, despite all of these vastly different creatures having equally varied origins, the forces they were exposed to are akin, and therefore many of their physical and mental traits overlap. Since no home or origin between them is shared, xenotherics do not belong to any single plane or realm, and simply naturally gravitate to any environments that suit their requirements.

Various superphyla of xenotheric outsiders have strong links to certain types of aberrations. Aberrations that gain the xenotheric subtype through evolution become outsiders with the Augmented Aberration subtype.

Traits

The traits listed here override the base Outsider traits wherever applicable.

• The Xenotheric subtype overrides and replaces the Extraplanar and/or Native subtypes.
• Xenotherics with an Intelligence score of 3 or higher have telepathy out to 100 ft.
• May take feats with the Xenotheric tag.
• Bio-Energy (Ex): Xenotheric metabolism is capable of producing large amounts of biological energy. This energy can then be used to power special attacks and abilities. Some of these abilities are exclusive to specific Xenotheric species, whereas others can be accessed through various Xenotheric feats. See bio-energy below.
• Immunity to poison, polymorphing, petrification and form-altering effects. They can still be affected by polymorphing and form-altering effects created by themselves.
• Resistance to acid 10 and electricity 10.
• Xenotheric outsiders eat, but do not sleep. Certain xenotherics do not need to breathe; defer to the creature's statistics for information on breathing.

Bio-Energy

Certain lifeforms have the capacity to generate large amounts of metabolic energy that can be used for many different purposes. Such a creature's bio-energy pool can contain a maximum amount of charges equal to 3 plus the creature's Constitution modifier (minimum 1). These charges may be expended to facilitate certain special powers. Some of these powers are exclusive to specific species of creatures, whereas others can be accessed through various abilities gained from feats or class features.

Expended bio-energy charges regenerate at a rate of 1 charge per minute. Drained bio-energy comes back at a rate of 1 point per hour of rest.

Bio-Energy Drain: Certain more exhaustive processes cause bio-energy drain. Charges lost through bio-energy drain do not regenerate within 1 minute and are effectively lost; your bio-energy pool is treated as having 1 charge less for every charge drained. A creature with bio-energy drain equal to the size of its bio-energy pool cannot use its bio-energy for any purpose.

Bio-energy drain can be restored through one or more hours of uninterrupted rest, recovering one point of bio-energy drain per hour. Creatures that do not need sleep (like creatures with the Xenotheric subtype) still need to rest, where rest is defined as a time during which no strenuous activities are performed (actions that induce fatigue or exhaustion, or otherwise elicit Fortitude saves against these effects even if the creature is not required to attempt them).

Creatures with the Xenotheric Subtype

The following creatures have the xenotheric subtype:

Creature Entry	CR	Type	Subtypes	Size	Description
Battlehead	8	Aberration	Xenotheric	Medium	An ambush predator capable of making temporary dead-magic zones. Attacks with pincers and a sharp beak.
Battlehead, Warhead	13	Aberration	Xenotheric	Large	An ambush predator capable of making temporary dead-magic zones. Attacks with pincers and a sharp beak.
Blattodea	3, 11	Vermin, Aberration	Xenotheric, Augmented Vermin	Medium, Huge
Deathclaw	5	Animal	Xenotheric	Medium
Elder Thing	10	Outsider	Aquatic, Xenotheric	Large
Fast Headcrab	2	Outsider	Xenotheric	Tiny
Flying Polyp	15	Outsider	Air, Xenotheric	Huge
Gastropotamos	4	Animal	Xenotheric	Large
Gokiburi	1/2, 3, 6	Aberration	Xenotheric	Medium
Headcrab	1/2	Outsider	Xenotheric	Tiny	A headcrab is a predatorial Xenotheric species, whose natural hatching grounds lie within the vast plateaus of Xen.
Hedoro	3	Ooze	Shapechanger, Xenotheric	Medium
Kavka	1/3	Animal	Xenotheric	Tiny	Kavkas are small avians from the planet Gokia that feed on bugs and occasionally scavenge on other meats.
Lunar Tarrasque	27	Magical Beast	Xenotheric	Colossal
Malcurion Dragon	8, 12, 15, 17, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, 36, 39, 42	Dragon	Xenotheric	Medium, Large, Huge, Gargantuan
Mizmazer	7	Outsider	Extraplanar, Psionic, Xenotheric	Medium
Mkodos	4	Ooze	Xenotheric	Medium
Nimbus Drifter	9	Elemental	Air, Xenotheric	Gargantuan
Phynasm, Hungering Horror	33	Outsider	Xenotheric, Eldritch	Macrofine
Poison Headcrab	4	Outsider	Xenotheric	Tiny
Primeval Dragons	5, 8, 12, 15, 18, 22, 25, 27, 30, 33, 36, 38, 20, 23, 26, 29, 32, 35, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 28, 31, 34, 37, 39, 40, 9, 11, 14, 17, 21, 24, 41, 42	Dragon	Earth, Fire, Air, Cold, Evil, Psionic, Good, Water, Xenotheric	Large, Huge, Gargantuan, Colossal, Medium
Scoropendra	14	Outsider	Augmented Aberration, Xenotheric	Medium, Large
Seppia SOLO Gear	2	Construct	Gear, Xenotheric	Medium
Seppia, Suitless	4	Magical Beast	Xenotheric	Tiny
Solarian	8	Outsider	Psionic, Xenotheric	Medium
Thundersquid	7	Magical Beast	Aquatic, Xenotheric	Medium
Vortigaunt	2	Outsider	Xenotheric	Medium
Warp Dragon	7, 8, 10, 13, 16, 18, 21, 23, 24, 26, 27, 29	Dragon	Xenotheric	Medium, Large, Huge, Gargantuan, Colossal
Ya-te-veo	8	Plant	Xenotheric	Large

Races with the Xenotheric Subtype

Creature Entry	CR	Type and Subtypes	Size
Brachyura		Monstrous Humanoid [Aquatic, Xenotheric]	Large
Noo		Ooze [Shapechanger, Xenotheric]	Medium
Seppia		Construct [Gear, Xenotheric]	Medium
Setenall		Outsider [Psionic, Xenotheric]	Medium
Starborn		Outsider [Xenotheric, Air, Earth]	Medium
Uberich		Humanoid [Xenotheric]	Medium
Uongo-mijusi		Outsider [Xenotheric]	Medium
V'Kai		Aberration [Xenotheric]	Medium
Vaelza		Ooze [Shapechanger, Xenotheric]	Medium
Zeitgeist		Aberration [Xenotheric]	Medium
Zherihnghil		Outsider [Xenotheric]	Medium

Sufficently Advanced Science...

Several of the alien technologies introduced in this book are just that, technoligical, extraordinary items which often have magical or near-magical effects. Such things are inevitably useful in a magic-dominating world, able to bypass antimagic fields and giving "magic" to the otherwise mundane hands of aliens. While they have all be priced accordingly for their usefulness, you may rule that the seemingly magical weapons of the aliens are indeed magic items, build by magic-capable aliens, and thus following the normal rules for magic items. If you choose to do this, you can adjust the price lower as needed to fit similar magical items. Alien relics left on a world which does not understand them are also likely to treat them as magical items from a roleplaying perspective, even if they have no idea how they work, with all magical attempts to divine their function coming up blank. They may take on the role of lesser artifacts in this manner. Ancient alien races may be useful in explaining the origins of certain other artifacts or even the original origin of creatures such as warforged. Could the warforged been first used as a robotic exploring probe by strange beings from another time?

Introducing Aliens in your Campaign

So you have decided to use aliens in your game. You can finally play out battles in space and everything, but what if your campaign is pre-existing and you cannot start out with the knowledge of aliens in the first place? You may decide that you wish to start introducing the aliens subtly, perhaps beginning with an abduction, or strange sightings. The PCs could discover ancient ruins which ends up projecting a beam into space and weeks later, discover it has called something down from the sky. This brings of the questions of how they will interact: will they be benign or vicious? Why have they come? Do they bring their entire force of a small scout ship? More importantly consider the possibility of your PCs getting a hand on alien technology. You may wish to handwave it, saying it cannot be used because it is too advanced, and thus also provides a fine way to pose a powerful challenge against equipped opponents, yet not ruin the expected wealth by level by allowing them to loot the item-heavy bodies of their enemies. Alternatively you may want to allow them to use alien items, all the way up to starships. If such happens, your campaign setting may expand to other worlds, providing an even larger experience.

Politics, action, war, even ship-sailing themes can be explored using alien technology, as the PCs desesperately attempt to figure out how to fix their ship as hostile beings chase them down, or their diplomacy attempts end up causing a much larger problem for their home planet. They may reach another land filled with alien gods, or end up hurling through time, only to arrive back home in the far future. The choice is up to you!