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Player > Races > Cephalume
Starfinder Alien Archive 3 p.11
Cephalumes are Medium aberrations with the plantlike subtype.
As a standard action (as long as their bioluminescence isn’t suppressed), a cephalume can create flickering patterns in the light emanating from their skin. Each sighted creature within 20 feet must succeed at a Will saving throw or be fascinated for as long as the cephalume continues this presentation (a standard action each round). Creature that understand Lumos are unaffected. This is a sense-dependent effect. The DC of the saving throw is equal to 10 + half the cephalume’s character level + the cephalume’s Wisdom modifier. A cephalume can’t use this ability again until they have taken a 10-minute rest to recover Stamina Points.
A cephalume increases the light level by one step out to a radius of 20 feet. A cephalume can suppress or reactivate this light as a move action, and they receive a +4 racial bonus to Stealth checks when their light is suppressed. A cephalume also uses this light to communicate with others.
Cephalumes have a land speed of 10 feet and a swim speed of 30 feet.
Cephalumes have resistance 5 to cold.
Cephalumes have darkvision with a range of 60 feet.
A cephalume is immune to the dangers of extreme depths.
For effects targeting creatures by type, plantlike creatures count as both their type and plants (whichever type allows an ability to affect them for abilities that affect only one type, and whichever is worse for abilities that affect both types). They also receive a +2 racial bonus to saving throws against mind-affecting effects, paralysis, poison, polymorph, sleep, and stunning, unless the effect specifies that it works against plants.
Cephalumes form
symbiotic unions with krikiks, a living
biological augmentation unique to their
race. Most cephalumes have one of the
following krikik symbiotes.
Airjet Krikik: An air bladder in the krikik
increases the cephalume’s land and swim speeds
by 10 feet. Once per day as a swift action, the cephalume
can double their movement speed for that round.
Electrostatic Krikik: The krikik is covered in thin,
electrically charged spines that allow the cephalume to
cause any weapon they wield to deal half its damage
as electricity damage, becoming lethal and non-archaic
if it is not already. If the weapon already deals two
damage types, this effect replaces one with electricity.
In addition, this allows the cephalume to grant any
weapon they wield the staggered critical hit effect.
If the weapon has any other critical hit effects, the
cephalume chooses only one to apply on a critical hit.
Sharprock Krikik: The krikik’s hard crust grants the
cephalume a +1 racial bonus to AC.
Siltsight Krikik: The krikik has heat-sensitive eyes that
allow the cephalume to double the range of their
darkvision and to see through non-magical fog, mist,
and clouds without penalty, ignoring any cover or
concealment bonuses from those effects.
Tentacle Krikik: The krikik has a prehensile tentacle that
increases the cephalume’s natural reach by 5 feet.
Cephalumes are native to the Near Space planet Luminar,
a gas giant with a thick outer atmosphere of hydrogen and
helium and a dense, high-pressure ocean of liquid methane
with a frozen icy floor. Cephalumes predominantly live
in the middle strata of these methane seas, a lightless
expanse with no discernible ground or sky. Cephalumes
have cephalopod-like bodies with a prominent head and
a large single foot. Their skin is naturally bioluminescent,
and cephalumes flicker this light to
communicate in Lumos, a visual
language comprised of sequential,
carefully timed blinks. As
a result, most cephalume
clothing and armor
incorporate transparent
force fields to allow light
to shine through.
Cephalumes form symbiotic
unions with small bioelectric
arthropods known as
krikiks. These symbiotes
can communicate with
their hosts in a tactile
variant of Lumos that
uses soft electrical
pulses. Krikiks
have significantly
longer life spans than
cephalumes do, and they
are sometimes gifted from
cephalume to cephalume as
heirlooms. Cephalumes can
bond with multiple krikiks
as they age, though such
a distinction is reserved
for respected cephalumes of
high station.
Cephalume culture is subtle
and traditional, valuing community,
curiosity, and exploration. Cephalumes engage in
a unique form of ancestor worship,
and the buildings in their
settlements are actually the
calcified remains of their dead,
often the only solid structures to
be found in the aquatic void they live
in. Many cephalumes continue to regard
these edifices as the people they once were,
and even hold conversations with them to talk out their
problems in times of stress.
Like most other civilizations, cephalumes achieved
spaceflight at some point
during the Gap and now
embark on celestial
walkabouts across
the galaxy. They
strive to learn
about the
technologies and
cultures of other
civilizations before they
return to Luminar, adding
their discoveries to the
collective knowledge of their
people. Cephalume starships, like their
buildings, are made from the remains of
their dead. Cephalumes consider it to be a
great honor to explore the universe with one
of your ancestors serving as your vessel.
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