Samsaran

For more information on all races, see: Races

Mysterious humanoids with pale blue flesh and transparent blood like the waters of a trickling brook, samsarans are ancient creatures even in their youth. A samsaran's life is not a linear progression from birth to death, but rather a circle of birth to death to rebirth. Whenever a samsaran dies, they reincarnate anew as a young samsaran to live a new life. Their past memories remain vague and indistinct—and each new incarnation is as different a creature and personality as a child is to a parent.
Capable of recalling the lessons and failings of their previous incarnations, the samsarans seek to live lives of balance and enlightenment in order to ensure they are reborn upon death to continue their trek through history.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Samsarans appear similar to humans, with dark hair and solid white eyes with no pupils or irises. Skin tones are generally shades of light blue or purple. Many are adorned in markings visually similar to henna, and are often mistaken for tattoos. It is said that the amount of markings upon a samsaran's skin is indicitive of how many previous lives a samsaran has lived. These markings can either be seen as a sign of wisdom and experience, or one of failure to achieve harmony in previous lives. A samsaran’s blood is crystal clear, like the water of a pure mountain spring.

Genetics and Reproduction

Samsarans can give birth, yet they do not give birth to samsarans. Instead, they bear human children. Typically, samsarans give up their children not long after birth to be raised in human society, where the children grow and live their lives normally. Upon death, such offspring sometimes reincarnate as samsaran children, if they have lived their lives in keeping with harmony. While most samsarans who die also reincarnate as samsaran children, this is not always the case. When a samsaran has utterly failed at maintaining harmony in her current life, or when she has succeeded perfectly at it, her soul instead travels to the Great Beyond to receive its final, long-delayed reward or doom.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Samsarans prefer to live simple lives of reflection, scholarship, and worship. They try to live their lives free of the ambitions and greed that mortality often imposes, since they view their lives as only the latest incarnation of many to come. Any accomplishments left undone in this current life can surely be achieved in the next, or the one after that. Samsarans’ memories of their past lives are not complete; they most often feel like half-remembered dreams.
Samsarans do not keep family names, but often retain the names of their previous one or two incarnations, regardless of gender, as a sort of replacement for a family name to honour their previous lives’ accomplishments or to remind them of their past shames.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Male Names: Agyen, Bakji, Dakash, Henar, Puran, Sonan, Thukten.
Female Names: Chimi, Mindu, Nalita, Rema, Sonitri, Treeni, Yeshing.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Humans and others often misunderstand samsarans’ nature. Many fear or even hate samsarans’ unusual association with death, thinking them to be strangely cursed souls at best or vengeful spirits made flesh at worst.

Alternate Racial Traits

Replaces Lifebound

Mountaineer

Samsarans who live their lives in the mountains are immune to altitude sickness and do not lose their Dexterity bonus to AC when making Climb checks or Acrobatics checks to cross narrow or slippery surfaces. This racial trait replaces Lifebound.

Replaces Shards of the Past

Mystic Past Life

You can add spells from another spellcasting class to the spell list of your current spellcasting class. You add a number of spells equal to 1 + your spellcasting class’s key ability score bonus (Wisdom for clerics, and so on). The spells must be the same type (arcane or divine) as the spellcasting class you’re adding them to. For example, you could add Divine Power to your druid class spell list, but not to your wizard class spell list because Divine Power is a divine spell. These spells do not have to be spells you can cast as a 1st-level character. The number of spells granted by this ability is set at 1st level. Changes to your ability score do not change the number of spells gained. This racial trait replaces Shards of the Past.

Favored Class Options

Instead of receiving an additional skill rank or hit point whenever they gain a level in a favored class, samsarans have the option of choosing from a number of other bonuses, depending upon their favored class. The following options are available to all samsarans who have the listed favored class.

Monk: Add a +1/2 bonus on the monk’s saving throws to resist death attacks.
Oracle: Add one spell known from the oracle spell list. This spell must be at least one level below the highest spell level the oracle can cast.
Rogue: The rogue gains 1/6 of a new rogue talent.
Wizard: Add one spell from the wizard spell list to the wizard’s spellbook. This spell must be at least one level below the highest spell level the wizard can cast.

Racial Traits

+2 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom, -2 Constitution
Samsarans are insightful and strong-minded, but with frail bodies.

Samsaran
Samsarans are humanoids with the samsaran subtype.

Medium
Samsarans are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.

Normal Speed
Samsarans have a base speed of 30 feet.

Low-Light Vision
Samsarans can see twice as far as humans in conditions of dim light.

Lifebound
Samsarans gain a +2 racial bonus on all saving throws to resist death effects, saving throws against negative energy effects, Fortitude saves to remove negative levels, and Constitution checks to stabilize if reduced to negative hit points.

Samsaran Magic
Samsarans with a Charisma score of 11 or higher gain the following spell-like abilities: 1 / day— Comprehend Languages, Deathwatch, and Stabilize. The caster level for these effects equals the samsaran’s character level.

Shards of the Past
A samsaran’s past lives grant them bonuses on two skills. The samsaran chooses two skills—they gain a +2 racial bonus on both, and they are always class skills for them. Once made, this choice can’t be altered.

Languages
Samsarans begin play speaking Common and Samsaran. Samsarans with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following languages: Abyssal, Aquan, Auran, Celestial, Draconic, Giant, Ignan, Infernal, Nagaji, Tengu, and Terran.

Average Lifespan
80 years

Average Height
5 ft. 6 in. – 6 ft. 8 in.

Average Weight
120 – 190 lbs.