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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

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PFS StandardArdande

Ardandes are geniekin whose elemental birthright ties them to the Plane of Wood. Their elemental connection can take many different forms, all expressions of the different types and permutations of elemental wood. They might embody the life and vibrancy of a seedling, full of potential and ready to grow. Or, they could be strong and flexible, like the branches and roots of ancient trees, interconnected and all growing together. They could also possess power over death and decay, like decomposing logs ready to fertilize and feed the next generation.

Common on the Plane of Wood, uncommon in the First World, and only on the cusp of a resurgence into the Universe, the ardandes often feel misplaced in the multiverse, born into the wrong place or the wrong time. Many spend their lives searching the planes for answers about themselves and their heritage.

Ardandes are found in all major cities and civilizations on the Plane of Wood, though most live in Nodollin, the Glowing Infinity, a metropolis controlled by the powerful kizidhars. Some ardandes say life in Nodollin is filled with infantilization and belittlement from the kizidhars, the wood genies who rule the land and much of the plane. The kizidhars largely view ardandes as genies like them, but a lesser form of genie that ranks below kizidhar commoners in the same way they are lesser to the shuyookhs. Though a few ardandes rebel against this social order, the weight of culture tells them hierarchies are natural to the element of wood, and they should accept their place even if they chafe.

Many planar ardandes moved to Shodokar when the new city was founded, hoping the influx of portals leading out of the Plane of Wood would let them visit the rest of the multiverse and learn about their lost mortal heritage. They delight in meeting visitors and showing off the beauty and wonders of their home plane. Some have even moved to the Universe, and they make invaluable mentors for the new ardandes only just discovering their elemental potential across Golarion.

Recall Knowledge - Humanoid (Society): DC 15
Unspecific Lore: DC 13
Specific Lore: DC 10

Elite | Normal | Weak
Proficiency without Level

Changes from being Weak are marked in red below.
NOTE: The -2 damage penalty to non-strike offensive abilities (-4 if the ability is limited, such as spells) is NOT factored in.

Weak Ardande GardenerCreature -1

Medium Ardande Human Humanoid 
Source Rage of Elements pg. 217 2.0
Perception +7; low-light vision
Languages Common, Muan
Skills Athletics +1, Crafting +4, Diplomacy +1, Nature +5, Stealth +4
Str +0, Dex +3, Con +1, Int +1, Wis +4, Cha +0
Plant Empathy The ardande gardener can use Diplomacy to Make an Impression and make very simple requests of plants.
Items glowing lantern fruit, gardening tools, shortbow (20 arrows), sickle
AC 14; Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +7
HP 7
Speed 25 feet
Melee [one-action] sickle +4 [+0/-4] (agile, finesse, trip), Damage 1d4-2 slashingRanged [one-action] shortbow +6 [+1/-4] (deadly d10, range increment 60 feet), Damage 1d6-2 piercingPrimal Prepared Spells DC 15, attack +7 (-4 dmg); 1st heal, longstrider, wall of shrubs; Cantrips (1st) detect magic, know direction, take root, tanglefoot, timber
Decompose [two-actions] (primal, void) Frequency once per day; Effect Void energy seeps out of the ardande gardener, decaying everything within a 5-foot emanation and causing plants and foliage to age and decompose. Natural difficult terrain is destroyed, and creatures in the area with the plant or wood trait take 1d6 void damage (DC 14 basic Fortitude).

Sidebar - Locations First World Ardande

Some ardandes are born in the First World, the children of dryads who take mortal lovers. These ardandes have little contact with other mortals and think of themselves as elemental fey rather than planar scions, a reasonable perspective when life in the First World means severance from the River of Souls.

All Monsters in "Geniekin"

NameLevel
Ardande1
Ifrit1
Oread1
Suli1
Sylph1
Talos1
Undine1

Geniekin

Source Bestiary 2 pg. 200 2.0
Geniekin are mortals whose ancestry has become entangled with that of genies, causing them to exhibit elemental powers drawn from the Elemental Planes. Though the geniekin found here are all of human descent and have example alignments, geniekin and other planar scions can descend from other ancestries and have any alignment.

Planar Scion

Many immortals dwell upon the other planes of the Great Beyond. Some are benevolent and kindly, like angels. Others are cruel and destructive, like demons. And some flt roles outside of morality, like psychopomps. It’s far from unheard of that mortals and immortals alike become entangled romantically, and the children of such engagements carry a supernatural element in their bloodlines for generations to follow. After the first generation, this otherworldly influence usually lies dormant, but now and then, the influence can manifest strongly in descendants many years later. These inheritors of extraplanar legacies are known collectively as planar scions.

Common Terminology

The term geniekin came into common parlance mostly thanks to tales from Casmaron and, in particular, the Padishah Empire of Kelesh. Many of these folk stories, songs, and other common tales include great figures who have genie parentage. The prominence and legacy of these stories, along with the fact that the most common geniekin are those with genie ancestors, have cemented “geniekin” as a common term for any individual who manifests elemental traits. This is true even when genies are not part of a person's lineage, such as individuals descended from elementals or sorcerers with the elemental bloodline. Scholars have pushed to use the more accurate descriptor of “elemental scion,” but the term has yet to permeate the common lexicon.

Elemental Permutations

While other planar scions have lineages that reflect the specific fiends, celestials, or monitors from which their families descend, geniekin lineages are better described as permutations of elemental expression. Elements sometimes manifest in unique and unusual ways within a line of geniekin, regardless of the elemental they descend from. These permutations and their lineages are as follows.

Air: fumesoul (miasma sylph), smokesoul (haze sylph), stormsoul (lightning sylph)

Earth: dustsoul (soil oread), gemsoul (crystal oread), miresoul (mud oread)

Fire: brightsoul (radiant ifrit), cindersoul (ash ifrit), lavasoul (magma ifrit)

Water: brinesoul (saltwater undine), mistsoul (vapor undine), rimesoul (frost undine)

Sidebar - Locations Geniekin on Golarion

While most geniekin planar scions live on their genie parent's ancestral plane, rare fonts of elemental power or genie activity sometimes give rise to geniekin on Golarion. By far, geniekin are most commonly found in Katapesh, as genies are more prevalent there than other regions due to the influence of genie binders.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Geniekin Parentage

Planar scions from the elemental planes are known as geniekin because they are overwhelmingly born from couplings between mortals and genies: ifrits are born of efreeti, oreads of shaitans, sulis of jann, sylphs of djinn, and undines of marids. Despite this distinguished ancestry, geniekin do not display most of their parents' exceptional talents, such as their ability to grant wishes.

Sidebar - Related Creatures Other Planar Scions

Two other planar scions are the entropy-infused ganzi and their polar opposites, the orderly aphorites, scions of chaos and law respectively.