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Sphinx Racial Info/Progression

by Jamie Baty

Sphinx
Sphinxes are enigmatic creatures with great, feathery wings and leonine bodies. All sphinxes are territorial, but they can often differentiate between deliberate intrusion and temporary or inadvertent trespass. There are marked differences between male and female sphinxes.

Personality: Sphinxes are solitary creatures by nature. They do mate for life, but spend much time apart, meeting to exchange riddles, knowledge, and information, or to rear young. Each parent of a young sphinx seeks to impart all of its knowledge to their offspring. This tends to be a lengthy process, and can become tedious for the young.
Sphinxes are known for their love of riddles and puzzles. They also enjoy learning trivia. They have no special interest in real learning, and they are not bothered by culture or history. However, they do tend to pick up much knowledge throughout their lives, and can be very knowledgeable sages.
One trait not often known about sphinxes is their fascination with collections. They are ardent collectors of things obscure and rare: expertly-crafted chessmen, Blackmoor artifacts, or wickerwork from remote areas. They seem to be drawn to the rarest and most difficult to obtain objects- it is believed so that the enthusiasm for the collection will never be quenched.
Sphinxes are proud creatures, and unlike dragons, they cannot be swayed by treasure or flattery. They react poorly to those that treat them with flippancy or discourtesy. However, they will tease travellers and may even be flighty and flippant themselves, if they feel the travellers are friendly, intelligent, and properly respectful.
Sphinxes will avoid combat if possible- all the better to converse with those it meets. They will not hesitate to defend themselves or attack those it feels are a threat. They will use their spells or spell-like abilities in preference to any other attack method.

Physical Description: A sphinx is a leonine creature with large feathery wings, most often similar to those of an eagle. They have the coloration variations common to lions- that is to say a range of browns and yellows.
Sphinxes cannot use weapons, and generally do not wear any armour, although barding could be fashioned for them. They would rather use protective magic that can fit upon their anatomy.

Relations: Sphinxes are territorial creatures, but do enjoy conversing with those its meets. Sphinxes will often ask riddles of travellers to see if they should be allowed to pass through their lands. Sphinxes have little patience for dullards and fools, but otherwise treat most races the same unless they have cause to treat them better or worse.

Alignment: Androsphinxes tend to be chaotic good as a race. Gynosphinxes are almost always True Neutral.

Sphinx Lands: There are no sphinx lands, as such. They are most likely to found be found among ruins in warm deserts, Ylaruam is a particularly favoured area for them. Some sphinxes can be found on the flying city of Serraine.
Sphinxes make for excellent guardians, and can often be found protecting dangerous valleys or wadis to keep travellers from harm. Some guard ancient tombs of long forgotten kings and khans, to either jealously guard the knowledge they contain, or in honour of the rulers who valued the presence of sphinxes in their lands and behaved accordingly.

Religion: Most sphinxes worship Grammaton, the Immortal who created them. Most cleric sphinxes choose two of the following domains: Good, Healing, Knowledge, Magic or Protection.

Language: Sphinxes speak their own language, Draconic, and Common. They are also familiar with other Local Languages, Halfling and Gnome.

Names: Sphinx names are shrouded in mystery. They simply are referred to by their location or some other recognisable trait. Some examples are "Sphinx of Halag," "Sphinx of Kaziri-al-Wadi," or "The Stoic Guardian Sphinx of Makbar Khan." The reality is sphinxes prefer to keep their names secret, and they rather enjoy the names humanoids come up for them. Those studying the creatures have, however, determined that many follow the naming conventions of Ancient Nithia or Ylaruam.

Adventurers: Knowledge, more precisely riddles and puzzles, drive sphinxes to adventure. The need to add to its collections and to remove dangerous creatures from its territory are also strong motivations to a sphinx.
Sphinxes occasionally gain class levels, androsphinxes preferring the cleric class and gynosphinxes preferring the sorcerer class.

Androsphinx
These are the male sphinxes.

Androsphinx Racial Traits:
• +12 Strength, +8 Constitution, +6 Intelligence, +6 Wisdom, +6 Charisma.
• Large size. -1 penalty to Armour Class, -1 penalty on attack rolls, -4 penalty on Hide checks, +4 bonus on grapple checks, lifting and carrying limits double those of Medium characters.
• Space/Reach: 10 feet/5 feet.
• An androsphinx's base land speed is 50 feet. It also has a fly speed of 80ft (poor).
• Darkvision out to 60 feet and low-light vision.
• Racial Hit Dice: An androsphinx begins with twelve levels of magical beast, which provides 12d10 Hit Dice, a base attack bonus of +12, and base saving throw bonuses of Fort+8, Ref+8, Will+4.
• Racial Skills: An androsphinx's magical beast levels give it skill points equal to 15 x (2 + Int modifier, minimum 1). Its class skills are Appraise, Concentration, Decipher Script, Intimidate, Knowledge (Any), Listen, Spot and Survival.
• Racial Feats: An androsphinx's magical beast levels give it five feats.
• +13 natural armour bonus.
• Natural Weapons: 2 claws (2d4).
• Pounce (Ex): If a sphinx charges a foe, it can make a full attack, including two rake attacks.
• Rake (Ex): A sphinx that pounces onto a creature can make two rake attacks with its hind legs. The sphinx makes the rake attack at his normal BAB and causes 2d4+1/2 Str bonus in claw damage.
• Roar (Su): Three times per day an androsphinx can loose a mighty roar. The first time it does this, all creatures within 500 feet must succeed on a DC (10+ 1/2 HD + Cha bonus) Will save or be affected as though by a fear spell for 2d6 rounds.
If the sphinx roars a second time during the same encounter, all creatures within 250 feet must succeed on a DC (10+ 1/2 HD + Cha bonus) Fortitude save or be paralysed for 1d4 rounds, and all those within 90 feet are deafened for 2d6 rounds (no save). If it roars a third time during the same encounter, all those within 250 feet must succeed on a DC (10+ 1/2 HD + Cha bonus) Fortitude save or take 2d4 points of Strength damage for 2d4 rounds. In addition, any Medium or smaller creature within 90 feet must succeed on a DC (10+ 1/2 HD + Cha bonus) Fortitude save or be thrown to the ground and take 2d8 points of damage. The force of this roar is so great that it deals 50 points of damage to any stone or crystalline object within 90 feet. Magic items and held or carried items can avoid damage with a DC (10+ 1/2 HD + Cha bonus) Reflex save. Other androsphinxes are immune to these effects. The save DCs are Charisma-based.
• Spells: An androsphinx casts divine spells as a 6th-level cleric from the cleric spell list and from the Good, Healing, and Protection domains.
• Automatic Languages: Sphinx, Draconic and Common. Bonus Languages: Local Languages, Gnome and Halfling.
• Favoured Class: Cleric.
• Level Adjustment of +5.

Androsphinx Racial Progression
The table below gives an optional level progression for androsphinx players. In this system, starting ability score modifiers and other abilities are granted later or partially granted. At the end of the base progression, the androsphinx will be the same as if created normally.

Table: Androsphinx Racial Progression

Class Level	Hit Dice	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Special
1st	1d8	+1	+2	+2	+0	(2+ Int Mod) x4	+2 Str, +6 Int, Darkvision 60ft, Low-light vision, 2 claws (1d4), Starting Feat.
2nd	2d8	+2	+3	+3	+0	2+ Int Mod	+2 Con, +1 Natural AC Bonus
3rd	2d8	+2	+3	+3	+0	---	+2 Str, +2 Natural AC Bonus, Rake (1d4), Spells (1st Level Cleric)
4th	3d8	+3	+3	+3	+1	2+ Int Mod	+2 Wis, +3 Natural AC Bonus, Feat
5th	4d8	+4	+4	+4	+1	2+ Int Mod	+2 Cha, Pounce
6th	4d8	+4	+4	+4	+1	---	+2 Con, +4 Natural AC Bonus, Roar (1/day), Spells (2nd Level Cleric)
7th	5d8	+5	+4	+4	+1	2+ Int Mod	+2 Str, 2 claws (1d6), +5 Natural AC Bonus
8th	6d8	+6	+5	+5	+2	2+ Int Mod	+6 Natural AC Bonus, Feat
9th	6d8	+6	+5	+5	+2	---	+2 Wis, Rake (1d6), Spells (3rd Level Cleric),
10th	7d8	+7	+5	+5	+2	2+ Int Mod	+2 Str, +7 Natural AC Bonus
11th	8d8	+8	+6	+6	+2	2+ Int Mod	+2 Con, +8 Natural AC Bonus, Roar (2/day)
12th	8d8	+8	+6	+6	+2	---	+2 Cha, 2 claws (2d4), +9 Natural AC Bonus, Spells (4th Level Cleric)
13th	9d8	+9	+6	+6	+3	2+ Int Mod	+2 Str, Feat
14th	10d8	+10	+7	+7	+3	2+ Int Mod	+2 Wis, +10 Natural AC Bonus, Rake (2d4)
15th	10d8	+10	+7	+7	+3	---	+2 Con, +11 Natural AC Bonus, Spells (5th Level Cleric)
16th	11d8	+11	+7	+7	+3	2+ Int Mod	+2 Str, +12 Natural AC Bonus
17th	12d8	+12	+8	+8	+4	2+ Int Mod	+2 Cha, +13 Natural AC Bonus, Roar (3/day), Spells (6th Level Cleric), Feat

Gynosphinx
These are the female equivalents of the androsphinx.

Gynosphinx Racial Traits:
• +6 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution, +8 Intelligence, +8 Wisdom, +8 Charisma.
• Large size. -1 penalty to Armour Class, -1 penalty on attack rolls, -4 penalty on Hide checks, +4 bonus on grapple checks, lifting and carrying limits double those of Medium characters.
• Space/Reach: 10 feet/5 feet.
• A gynosphinx's base land speed is 40 feet. It also has a fly speed of 60ft (poor).
• Darkvision out to 60 feet and low-light vision.
• Racial Hit Dice: A gynosphinx begins with eight levels of magical beast, which provides 8d10 Hit Dice, a base attack bonus of +8, and base saving throw bonuses of Fort+6, Ref+6, Will+2.
• Racial Skills: A gynosphinx's magical beast levels give it skill points equal to 11 x (2 + Int modifier, minimum 1). Its class skills are Bluff, Concentration, Diplomacy, Disguise, Intimidate, Knowledge (Any), Listen, Sense Motive, and Spot.
• Racial Feats: A gynosphinx's magical beast levels give it three feats.
• +11 natural armour bonus.
• Natural Weapons: 2 claws (1d6).
• Pounce (Ex): If a sphinx charges a foe, it can make a full attack, including two rake attacks.
• Rake (Ex): A sphinx that pounces onto a creature can make two rake attacks with its hind legs. The sphinx makes the rake attack at his normal BAB and causes 1d6+ 1/2 Str bonus in claw damage.
• Spell-Like Abilities (Sp): 3/day: clairaudience/clairvoyance, detect magic, read magic, see invisibility; 1/day: comprehend languages, locate object, dispel magic, remove curse (DC 10+1/2 HD+ Cha bonus), legend lore. Caster level 14th. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Once per week a gynosphinx can create a symbol of death, a symbol of fear, a symbol of insanity, a symbol of pain, a symbol of persuasion, a symbol of sleep, and a symbol of stunning as the spells (caster level 18th), except that all save DCs are 22 and each symbol remains a maximum of one week once scribed. The save DCs are Charisma-based.
• Automatic Languages: Sphinx, Draconic and Common. Bonus Languages: Local Languages, Gnome and Halfling.
• Favoured Class: Sorcerer.
• Level Adjustment of +4.

Gynosphinx Racial Progression
The table below gives an optional level progression for gynosphinx players. In this system, starting ability score modifiers and other abilities are granted later or partially granted. At the end of the base progression, the gynosphinx will be the same as if created normally.

Table: Gynosphinx Racial Progression

Class Level	Hit Dice	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Special
1st	1d8	+1	+2	+2	+0	(2+ Int Mod) x4	+2 Dex, +8 Int, Darkvision 60 ft, low-light vision, 2 claws (1d4), Starting Feat
2nd	2d8	+2	+3	+3	+0	2+ Int Mod	+2 Wis, +1 Natural AC bonus, 1/day: clairaudience/clairvoyance, detect magic, read magic, see invisibility
3rd	2d8	+2	+3	+3	+0	---	+2 Con, +2 Natural AC bonus, Rake (1d4)
4th	3d8	+3	+3	+3	+1	2+ Int Mod	+2 Str, +3 Natural AC bonus, Feat
5th	4d8	+4	+4	+4	+1	2+ Int Mod	+2 Cha, +4 Natural AC bonus, Pounce
6th	4d8	+4	+4	+4	+1	---	+2 Wis, +5 Natural AC bonus, 2/day: clairaudience/clairvoyance, detect magic, read magic, see invisibility
7th	5d8	+5	+4	+4	+1	2+ Int Mod	+2 Cha, +6 Natural AC bonus, 1/day: comprehend languages, locate object, dispel magic, remove curse
8th	6d8	+6	+5	+5	+2	2+ Int Mod	+2 Str, +7 Natural AC bonus, Feat
9th	6d8	+6	+5	+5	+2	---	+2 Cha, +8 Natural AC bonus, 2 claws (1d6)
10th	7d8	+7	+5	+5	+2	2+ Int Mod	+2 Wis, +9 Natural AC bonus, 3/day: clairaudience/clairvoyance, detect magic, read magic, see invisibility
11th	7d8	+7	+5	+5	+2	---	+2 Cha, +10 Natural AC bonus, Rake (1d6)
12th	8d8	+8	+6	+6	+2	2+ Int Mod	+2 Str, +2 Wis, +11 Natural AC bonus, 1/week: symbol of death, a symbol of fear, a symbol of insanity, a symbol of pain, a symbol of persuasion, a symbol of sleep, and a symbol of stunning (caster level 18th, DCs are 22, 1 week duration).