Extraplanars

Extraplanars are those who stay on a plane other than their native plane. A creature that travels the planes can gain or lose this subtype as it goes from plane to plane. Every creature whose native plane
is not the Material Plane has the extraplanar subtype (but would not have when on its home plane). No creature has the extraplanar subtype when it is on a transitive plane, such as the Astral Plane, the Ethereal Plane, and the Plane of Shadow.

The following are examples of extraplanars sometimes seen in Faerun.

* Githyanki
* Githzerai
* Khaastas
* Mephlings
* Sind

Githyanki

Githyanki are the descendants of ancient humans enslaved by the Illithid Empire eons ago. After winning their freedom through a violent uprising led by one called Gith, they split with their brethren the githzerai over intense ideological differences. Living in the Astral Plane under the tyrannous lich-queen Vlaakith CLVII for millennia, the githyanki have devoted their entire society to warfare and conquest. Now, with the lich-queen recently slain, the githyanki are splintered and weakened, making them open targets for their ancient enemies. Due to both their heritage as illithid slaves and generations on the Astral Plane, githyanki also have a strong disposition towards psionic ability.

Cold, aloof and utterly militaristic, the githyanki have little in common with the distantly related humans. Although exceptions
are quite notable, most githyanki only focus on war and domination – all life is defined by these. Needless to say, competition runs deep in the githyanki psyche. Even everyday activities become silent contests to outdo each other. They have a need for people to be organized hierarchically, like a military unit. Surprisingly, though, violence almost never erupts from this competitive drive. Ever since the separation from the githzerai, githyanki never fought other githyanki – as long as they were loyal to their lich-queen. Even with Vlaakith dead, the githyanki remain a proud and loyal race.

Aside from their form, the githyanki's human heritage is almost unrecognizable. They are deceptively gaunt and lanky, but that hides steely muscles constantly trained for combat. The average githyanki stands 6 1/4 feet tall and weighs around 170 lbs. Their mottled, yellowish gray skin is pulled tight. Their hair is nearly always black, but red-haired githyanki have been encountered and it is said to be a dire omen when one is born. Their eyes are entirely glossy black, and their ears are pointed and marked with serrations in the back. They gain these serrations in dark ceremonies celebrating their coming of age.

Githyanki dress is always ornate, bordering on gaudy. They decorate their armor and weaponry with elaborate engravings signifying their prowess in battle. These weapons and armor are always finely polished and cared for more than the githyanki’s own family. Unlike most humanoid races, githyanki are an egg-laying species. These eggs are normally taken to heavily guarded fortresses in the Prime Material Plane where they can properly grow until hatching. Githyanki children likewise spend many years on the Prime Material Plane training in warfare and growing to adulthood. Their entire society brutally engineered by the lich-queen, githyanki are almost always evil, and even those who have split from githyanki society are rarely good. Their regimented lifestyle leads most githyanki to be lawful, but not nearly as strongly as the tendency towards evil.


Racial Traits:

- Ability Adjustments: +2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution, -2 Wisdom.

- Darkvision: Githyanki can see in the dark up to 60 feet.

- Spell Resistance: Githyanki have spell resistance 5+1 per character level.

- Red Dragon Pact: Githyanki receive a +3 racial bonus to Diplomacy checks from their pact with red dragons.

- Favored Class: Fighter. A multiclass githyanki's fighter class does not count when determining whether she takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.

- Level Adjustment +1: Githyanki are slightly more powerful and gain levels more slowly than other races. It will take more experience for a githyanki to reach level 2 than it would for normal races, for example.

Githzerai

Like their cousins, the githyanki, the githzerai are the descendants of ancient humans enslaved by the Illithid Empire eons ago. After Gith led their people to freedom, a warrior known as Zerthimon rose up to oppose her, warning that she would lead them into an evil just as great as the illithid. A civil war between those loyal to Gith and the followers of Zerthimon began, eventually resulting in the two sides splitting into the githyanki and githzerai. They have sworn to never be enslaved again by anyone, and all githzerai are taught to protect their freedom and that of their people above all else.

The githzerai as a rule are grim and serious to the point of being humorless. Smiles are rare, laughs are rarer, and tears are rarest of all on a githzerai's face; they are the bane of artists, bards, and jesters everywhere. They do not speak often, preferring to remain silent rather than waste words over meaningless issues. Though not as paranoid as the githyanki, they live cautiously, trusting few nongithzerai and are always mindful of their wars with the githyanki and illithid. Their greatest fear is that they will somehow be enslaved again, thus githzerai view just about everything as a form of oppression that they must fight against.

Githzerai were once human, but the crucibles of enslavement, war, and survival in Limbo have forged a new form for them. Standing roughly six feet tall and weighing around 150 pounds, githzerai would be distinct from their forebears even without their
unmistakable sharp features and piercing, yellow-gray eyes. Their skin is pulled tightly and has a dark yellow color to it. Some cannot tell the difference between a githyanki and a githzerai, though the distinctions are clear and few make the mistake twice. In sharp contrast to the baroque ornateness of githyanki, the githzerai favor extreme simplicity. Dark, drab earth tones prevail, even more so in their monasteries, and voluminous cloaks are common – especially over light armor. Like the githyanki, the githzerai are an egg-laying species due to the horrific mutations made while enslaved by the illithids.

Githzerai exhibit an odd combination of order and chaos. They are all extremely independent, believing that no one has the right to choose their path for them, and thus enslave them. Most githzerai are as chaotic as the Limbo they call home; their rejection of githyanki legalism in part guided their decision to colonize the plane of primordial chaos. Likewise, they reject the predation and callousness so prevalent amongst githyanki, although they make neither claims nor efforts to goodness. Yet as much as they value personal freedom, githzerai society instills both rigid discipline and complete loyalty to the entire race. Such are the necessities of war.


Racial Traits:

- Ability Adjustments: +6 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, -2 Intelligence.

- Darkvision: Githzerai can see in the dark up to 60 feet.

- Spell Resistance: Githzerai have spell resistance 5+1 per character level.

- Inertial Armor: Githzerai can use psychic force to block an enemy's blows. This gives them a +3 natural armor bonus.

- Favored Class: Monk. A multiclass githzerai's monk class does not count when determining whether she takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.

- Level Adjustment +2: Githzerai are more powerful and gain levels more slowly than other races. It will take more experience for a githzerai to reach level 2 than it would for normal races, for example.

Air Mephling

Scholarly lore contains two different origin stories for the air mephlings. In one, air mephlings are planetouched offshoots of long-ago unions between mephits and an indeterminate race of humanoids. The other is a darker tale of a megalomaniacal mage seeking to imprint his essence on another race. What is true is that a mephling will occasionally born to mephit parents. Weaker than their mephit ancestors, air mephlings are put out of mephit communities as undersirable runts. They're left to the mercies of the inhospitable planes. Mephit parents revolted by their humanoid child will leave the babe on a hostile plane. Kindly parents will place the child on a habitable plane where it will easily be found by other creatures. Sometimes other creatures adopt the abandoned baby and it grows to reach adulthood.

Air mephlings are usually loners who desire an elusive sense of belonging. Nevertheless, they're attractive and personable, generally liked by people around them. Mephlings look like less comely versions of their mephit parents with stunted wings. A typical mephling stands less than 3 feet tall and weighs around 30 pounds.

An air mephling looks like a short, cloud-white winged human with wind-tossed hair, small horns and pointed ears.


Racial Traits:

- Ability Adjustments: +2 Dexterity, -2 Intelligence, +2 Charisma.

- Wings: Due to their wings, air mephlings move 20% faster than other races.

- Small: As a Small creature, a air mephling gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but she uses smaller weapons than humans use, and her lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character.

- Summon Gale: Once per day, an air mephling can call upon his elemental nature and summon a powerful blast of wind which can knock over foes who fail a Fortitude save as well as disperse any harmful cloud effects in its path.

- Favored Class: Bard. An air mephling's bard class does not count when determining whether she takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing. This path befits their love of travel and wind instruments.

- Level Adjustment +1: Air mephling are slightly more powerful and gain levels more slowly than other races. It will take more experience for an air mephling to reach level 2 than it would for normal races, for example.

Earth Mephling

Scholarly lore contains two different origin stories for the earth mephlings. In one, earth mephlings are planetouched offshoots of long-ago unions between mephits and an indeterminate race of humanoids. The other is a darker tale of a megalomaniacal mage seeking to imprint his essence on another race. What is true is that a mephling will occasionally born to mephit parents. Weaker than their mephit ancestors, earth mephlings are put out of mephit communities as undersirable runts. They're left to the mercies of the inhospitable planes. Mephit parents revolted by their humanoid child will leave the babe on a hostile plane. Kindly parents will place the child on a habitable plane where it will easily be found by other creatures. Sometimes other creatures adopt the abandoned baby and it grows to reach adulthood.

Earth mephlings are usually loners who desire an elusive sense of belonging. Nevertheless, they're attractive and personable, generally liked by people around them. Mephlings look like less comely versions of their mephit parents with stunted wings. A typical mephling stands less than 3 feet tall and weighs around 30 pounds.

An earth mephling appears akin to a short, stony, hairless dwarf with small horns and pointy ears.


Racial Traits:

- Ability Adjustments: +2 Strength, -2 Dexterity, -2 Intelligence, +2 Charisma.

- Small: As a Small creature, a earth mephling gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but she uses smaller weapons than humans use, and her lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character.

- Merge with Stone: Once per day, an earth mephling can call upon her elemental nature to make his skin as hard as stone, gaining damage reduction 5/adamantine. The effect lasts for 5 rounds or until it has absorbed 20 points of damage, whichever comes first.

- Favored Class: Druid. An earth mephling's druid class does not count when determining whether she takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing. This represents their links to the earth and stone of the natural world.

- Level Adjustment +1: Earth mephling are slightly more powerful and gain levels more slowly than other races. It will take more experience for an earth mephling to reach level 2 than it would for normal races, for example.

Fire Mephling

Scholarly lore contains two different origin stories for the fire mephlings. In one, fire mephlings are planetouched offshoots of long-ago unions between mephits and an indeterminate race of humanoids. The other is a darker tale of a megalomaniacal mage seeking to imprint his essence on another race. What is true is that a mephling will occasionally born to mephit parents. Weaker than their mephit ancestors, fire mephlings are put out of mephit communities as undersirable runts. They're left to the mercies of the inhospitable planes. Mephit parents revolted by their humanoid child will leave the babe on a hostile plane. Kindly parents will place the child on a habitable plane where it will easily be found by other creatures. Sometimes other creatures adopt the abandoned baby and it grows to reach adulthood.

Fire mephlings are usually loners who desire an elusive sense of belonging. Nevertheless, they're attractive and personable, generally liked by people around them. Mephlings look like less comely versions of their mephit parents with stunted wings. A typical mephling stands less than 3 feet tall and weighs around 30 pounds.

A fire mephling resembles a miniature devil, with fiery, reddish-brown skin, horns and pointed ears.


Racial Traits:

- Ability Adjustments: +2 Dexterity, -2 Intelligence, +2 Charisma.

- Small: As a Small creature, a fire mephling gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but she uses smaller weapons than humans use, and her lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character.

- Reach to the Blaze: Once per day, a fire mephling can call upon his elemental nature and radiate flames which damage all those within 5 feet, doing 2d4 points of fire damage per round (Reflex save for half damage). This effect lasts for 5 rounds.

-Favored Class: Sorcerer. An fire mephling's sorcerer class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing. This reflects their natural arcane power.

- Level Adjustment +1: Fire mephlings are slightly more powerful and gain levels more slowly than other races. It will take more experience for an fire mephling to reach level 2 than it would for normal races, for example.

Water Mephling

Scholarly lore contains two different origin stories for the water mephlings. In one, water mephlings are planetouched offshoots of long-ago unions between mephits and an indeterminate race of humanoids. The other is a darker tale of a megalomaniacal mage seeking to imprint his essence on another race. What is true is that a mephling will occasionally born to mephit parents. Weaker than their mephit ancestors, mephlings are put out of mephit communities as undersirable runts. They're left to the mercies of the inhospitable planes. Mephit parents revolted by their humanoid child will leave the babe on a hostile plane. Kindly parents will place the child on a habitable plane where it will easily be found by other creatures. Sometimes other creatures adopt the abandoned baby and it grows to reach adulthood.

Water mephlings are usually loners who desire an elusive sense of belonging. Nevertheless, they're attractive and personable, generally liked by people around them. Mephlings look like less comely versions of their mephit parents with stunted wings. A typical mephling stands less than 3 feet tall and weighs around 30 pounds.

A water mephling resembles a small, fish-scaled human with black, bulbous eyes, small horns and pointed ears.


Racial Traits:

- Ability Adjustments: +2 Constitution, -2 Intelligence, +2 Charisma.

- Small: As a Small creature, a water mephling gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but she uses smaller weapons than humans use, and her lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character.

- Shrouding Fog: Once per day, the water mephling can call upon his elemental nature to summon a dense fog that grants all creatures within the fog concealment (20% miss chance). This effect lasts 5 rounds.

- Favored Class: Monk. An water mephling's monk class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing. This path matches their calm strength and patience.

- Level Adjustment +1: Water mephlings are slightly more powerful and gain levels more slowly than other races. It will take more experience for an water mephling to reach level 2 than it would for normal races, for example.

Khaasta

Sometimes mistaken for poweful lizardfolk, khaastas are extraplanar creatures native to the Abyss. On their home plane and the Barrens of Doom and Despair (where many have migrated), khaastas are mercenaries and fighters who impose their will on others by force of arms. In Abeir-Toril, however, they take a much more cautious approach, staying on the outskirts of society and interacting with the natives only when they need to acquire specific information.

The khaastas view Faerun as a tremendously challenging place, where they must fight their own instincts to wage war against the native inhabitants while gathering the information necessary to hunt down the sarrukh. Since most of the scaly races inexplicably refuse to betray the progenitor race, the khaastas face the daunting task of gathering this information from humanoids and other civilized beings of Faerun - groups that in fact now very little about the sarrukh.

Though physically similar to a lizardfolk, a khaasta appears considerably more imposing. Its copper-red scales are small, and each individual sports a colorful, flaring crest that is unique in color and shape. Its long powerful tail is used for balance rather than combat.


Racial Traits:

- Ability Adjustments: +8 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +4 Constitution, +2 Intelligence.

- Darkvision: Khaastas can see in the dark up to 60 feet.

- Natural Armor: +3 Natural Armor Bonus.

- Armor, Weapon & Shield Affinity: Lizardfolk are naturally proficient with all simple and martial weapons, light armors, medium armors, and shields, except tower shields.

- Favored Class: Fighter. A multiclass khaasta's fighter class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.

- Level Adjustment +3: Khaastas are powerful and gain levels more slowly than other races. It will take much experience for a khaasta to reach level 2 than it would for normal races, for example.

Sind

Generations ago, a tribe of githzerai was attacked on the Warrior's Rest by invading githyanki. The githyanki were led by the consort of their then-living queen. During the battle, the tribe's leader, Sind, used his unique power to sequester the githyanki leader's very being. Nevertheless, outnumbered, the githzerai fled with the comatose githyanki leader using their plane shift powers, and in their panic, the tribe ended up on the rocky island of the Gates of the Moon. Sadly, Sind died shortly after delivering his people, leaving them with their comatose prisoner. The remaining tribesmen knew the githyanki would not rest until they had recovered their leader. So they devised a means of hiding the githyanki consort, forever comatose, below the Gates of the Moon. The tribe settled in along the ocean shore and paid their respects to the lillendi and shards of that realm. Over the ensuing generations, the constant use of psychometabolic powers to survive the plane became permanent.

The tribe, now known after their leader as the sind, had adapted to their new coastal environment. Often the tribe was visited by a giant of great wisdom, who was seen as the reincarnation of Sind himself and named “Sind who has risen� or simply Sindar. Sindar helped the sind negotiate with the celestial beings that lived among the moonlight. However, after a time, the sind were found by the githyanki. They begged Sindar to lead them once again to deliverance. Sindar could not refuse and led his people to Eastern Heartlands of the Realms. There he settled them among the wetlands of the region sometime before the fall of Myth Drannor.

Today sind are most prevalent in the Eastern Heartlands, particularly in the Marsh of Chelimber and the Marsh of Tun, though many also live among the various marshes of the Nelanther (on various small, nameless isles). A few survivors hang on in the Vast Swamp in Cormyr and small colonies still live in coastal marshes along the Sword Coast (the places young sind go to 'have adventures'). When Sindar first brought them to the Realms, some sind made their way to the marshes in eastern Aglarond. These sind are long since slain by the undead armies of Thayan aggression.

Sind, or "marshwiggles", are an uncommon humanoid race related to the githzerai, who dwell in marshlands in peaceful colonies. They tend to be dour, cynical pessimists, but they are also stubborn, pragmatic, good-natured, and sensitive. If one is befriended, he will trust, and can be trusted, absolutely. Sind have a dry, slow sense of humor. Sind and lizardfolk are sometimes allies against common enemies; nevertheless, they are more often neighbors who coexist peacefully, largely ignoring one another. There is seldom strife between the two races.


Racial Traits:

- Ability Adjustments: +4 Dexterity, +2 Constitution, +2 Wisdom.

- Darkvision: Sind can see in the dark up to 60 feet.

- Skills: Sind have a +2 racial bonus on Hide checks.

- Natural Armor: Sind have a natural armor bonus +2.

- Weapon Proficiency: A sind is proficient with all simple weapons.

- Special Qualities: Damage reduction 5/magic, hardiness to enchantment spells and effects, poison resistance, scent.

- Favored Class: Druid. A multiclass sind's druid class does not count when determining whether she takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.

- Level Adjustment +3: Sind are more powerful and gain levels more slowly than other races. It will take more experience for a sind to reach level 2 than it would for normal races, for example.