B.4 Traits

Amphibious: An amphibious creature can hold its breath ten times longer than normal (see Endurance).

Blooded: A blooded creature has blood. It is affected normally by Blood abilities.

Bloodless: A bloodless creature does not have blood. It is immune to Blood abilities.

Corporeal: A corporeal creature has a physical body. If its body is sufficiently damaged, it will die or otherwise cease functioning.

Dynamic: A dynamic creature needs to eat, drink, and sleep. It heals normally when it rests, and is affected normally by the Medicine skill.

Ensouled: Ensouled creatures have souls. When an ensouled creature dies, the soul native to its body typically goes to an appropriate afterlife.

Floating: A floating creature is only affected weakly by gravity. It does not fall while it is able to use a fly speed, and it is unable to glide. This does not increase its height limit for any fly speed it may have. A floating creature above the height limit for its fly speed falls down until its fly speed becomes functional again, which does not cause it to take falling damage. Some creatures can freely choose whether they float, potentially allowing them to glide.

Immortal: An immortal creature can never die of old age. Most immortal creatures can still be killed and need to take actions to sustain their life, such as eating and drinking. Some immortal creatures completely cease aging once they reach maturity, while others continue to grow or change over time without limit.

Incorporeal: An incorporeal creature does not have a physical body. Being incorporeal has the following effects:

• Always floating
• +5 bonus to Stealth
• An average fly speed with no height limit, but no other movement modes
• Cannot be touched
• Cannot be detected by tremorsense or tremorsight
• Immune to squeezing (-2 Armor and Ref) and difficult terrain
• Immune to Brawling, Creation, Manifestation, Physical, and all mundane abilities
• Unable to use any mundane Physical abilities

Incorporeal creatures ignore any other effects which would only make sense for creatures with a physical body, such as setting off pressure plates for traps. They can also enter or pass through solid objects. They must remain adjacent to the object’s exterior at all times.

While an incorporeal creature is inside of an object, it can choose whether it is completely enveloped or partially contained. If it is completely enveloped, it does not have line of sight or line of effect outside of the object, limiting its ability to attack. If it is partially contained, it has cover, but can otherwise attack and be attacked normally.

Many incorporeal creatures have no Strength attribute. If an incorporeal creature has a Strength attribute, it has some ability to manipulate the physical world despite being incorporeal. Unless otherwise noted, an incorporeal creature with a Strength attribute may selectively choose whether it wants to interact with physical objects.

Invisible: An invisible creature or object cannot be seen with light. Creatures unable to see an invisible creature are at least partially unaware (-2 defenses) of its attacks, and they can be fully unaware (-5 defenses) as normal depending on their level of awareness. Attackers suffer a 50% miss chance with targeted attacks even if they know the location of the invisible creature. See Awareness, and Stealth, for how to identify invisible creatures.

Legless: A legless creature has no legs. Legless creatures cannot jump, but they are immune to being prone (half speed, -2 Armor and Ref).

Living: A living thing has life, which means that it can change and adapt over time. Living creatures have distinct organs in their body.

Mindless: A mindless creature lacks a normal mind. It does not have Intelligence or Willpower attributes, and has no Mental defense. Any attacks against it that would normally use its Mental defense use its Fortitude defense instead. It uses its Strength to determine its magical power instead of its Willpower.

Unlike a simple-minded creature, a mindless creature cannot normally be given instructions or communicated with in any meaningful way. They still act autonomously, but in a way that is entirely instinctual, without the ability to form thoughts or plan ahead. Some magic can influence or control mindless creatures, but that magic works on different principles than ordinary mind-influencing magic. A mindless creature has no soul, so if it dies, it cannot be resurrected. Mindless creatures are immune to Compulsion and Emotion abilities.

Mortal: Mortal creatures eventually die of old age. Their bodies deteriorate over time.

Multipedal: A multipedal creature typically uses more than four legs to move. Multipedal creatures gain a +10 foot bonus to their speed, a +5 bonus to the Balance skill, and are immune to the trip ability.

Nonliving: A nonliving creature or object is neither alive nor undead. It is immune to Life effects and Poison effects. It is unaffected by the Medicine skill, even if it is dynamic.

Quadrupedal: A quadrupedal creature typically uses four legs to move. Quadrupedal creatures gain a +10 foot bonus to their speed and are resistant (+4 defenses) to the trip ability.

Simple-Minded: A simple-minded creature has an incompletely functioning mind. It can follow simple instructions, but is not fully sentient or capable of complex reasoning. It has no soul, so if it dies, it cannot be resurrected. Simple-minded creatures are immune to Emotion abilities. However, they are vulnerable (-4 defenses) to Compulsion attacks.

Sighted: A sighted creature uses light to see, typically using eyes.

Sightless: A sightless creature does not use light to see, making it permanently blinded (50% miss chance, -2 defenses). Most sightless creatures have special senses, such as blindsight, that allow them to attack and defend themselves normally.

Soulless: A soulless creature does not have a soul. It is immune to Soul abilities. Although it may have a mind capable of intelligent thought and emotion, its opinions and thinking patterns are utterly fixed, without possibility of change. If it dies, it cannot be resurrected.

Static: A static creature does not need to eat, drink, or sleep. It does not regain hit points or remove vital wounds when it rests, and is unaffected by the Medicine skill. Any damage it takes must be physically repaired like a damaged object using a relevant Craft skill, as described below. The difficulty value for these Craft checks is equal to 5 + twice the creature’s rank (minimum DV 2). Unlike when creating new, the time required for these repairs is not reduced by beating the Craft DV by 10 or more.

• A short rest requires 10 minutes of work and a Craft check.
• A long rest requires 8 hours of work and a Craft check.
• Removing a vital wound requires 8 hours of work, a Craft check, and raw materials with a value one rank lower than the creature’s rank (minimum rank 0, or 1 gp). This also grants the benefits of a long rest.

Swarm: A swarm is a collection of smaller creatures that are mechanically treated as a single larger creature. Swarms are resistant (+4 defenses) to targeted abilities and vulnerable (-4 defenses) to area abilities. They can freely share space with other non-swarm creatures, and this does not cause the swarm or the creature in its space to be squeezing (-2 Armor and Ref).