...this copy/paste from the Eberron campaign setting about Kalashtar. Weirdness in formatting and spacing is due to OCR errors.
Quote:KALASHTAR
The kalashtar are a compound race: incorporeal entities from the alien plane of Dal Quor, the Region of Dreams, merged with human bodies and spirits to form a distinct species. They were once a minority among the quori, the native race of Dal Quor, hunted and persecuted for their religious beliefs. Thousands of years after the quori invaded Eberron and the connection between their plane and the Material Plane was severed, the kalashtar were the fi rst of the quori to discover a means to reach the Material Plane once more. Fleeing persecution, they transformed their physical forms into psychic projections that allowed them to enter the Material Plane and possess willing humans. Today, new kalashtar are born, not possessed; neither spirit nor human, they are a new race that breeds true.
It took three hundred years for the other quori to discover a similar means to psychically project their spirits out of Dal Quor and possess human bodies, forming the Inspired (see page 290), while leaving their own bodies behind—much as mortals project their minds to Dal Quor when they dream. For fi fteen hundred years now, the Inspired in their vast kingdom of Riedra have continued to persecute and oppress the kalashtar.
Personality: As a true hybrid of human hosts and quori spirits, the kalashtar possess keen intellects but are not ruled by logic. They seek the perfection of their minds and spirits, often to the exclusion of any physical pursuits.
They are generally warm and compassionate, but their manners and ways of thinking are alien to the native races of Eberron. They are more interested in psionics than in the magic that pervades Khorvaire, and often lace their discourse with esoteric terms such as “matter,” “kinetics,” and “ectoplasm.”
The kalashtar are outcasts from their home plane and can never return there—not even in dream. The combination of life in exile and a dreamless existence makes the kalashtar slightly inclined toward madness, and some have speculated that the kalashtar devote themselves to psychic and physical discipline in order to keep themselves safely sane.
Physical Description: Kalashtar appear very similar to humans, but they have a grace and elegance that makes them seem almost too beautiful. They are slightly taller than the average human, and their faces have a slight angularity that sets them apart from the human norm, but these deviations only make them seem more attractive.
Relations: Kalashtar are born diplomats and relate fairly well to individuals of all races—except, of course, the Inspired. They relate best to humans, with whom they share the greatest physical similarity, but some kalashtar find themselv es strongly drawn to other races instead. They oppose the Inspired in all ways, both within Riedra and beyond its borders, and likewise oppose any group or force that corrupts or degrades mortal souls.
Alignment: Kalashtar are generally lawful good. They combine a sense of self-discipline that borders on the ascetic with a genuine concern for the welfare of all living things, or at least their souls.
Kalashtar Lands: The kalashtar homeland is a region of Sarlona called Adar, a land of forbidding mountains and hidden fortresses in the southeastern portion of the continent. Even in Adar their numbers are small, and the number of kalashtar found in Khorvaire is much smaller still. However, they can be found in many of the largest human cities. The largest kalashtar population in Khorvaire is in the city of Sharn.
Dragonmarks: Kalashtar never possess dragonmarks.
Religion: Kalashtar do not follow gods, but they have their own religion, called the Path of Light. The center of this belief system is a universal force of positive energy the kalashtar call il-Yannah, or “the Great Light.”
Through meditation and communion with this force, the kalashtar seek to strengthen their bodies and minds for the struggle against the forces of darkness that threaten all life on Eberron. Though il-Yannah is not a deity, its few clerics draw power from the Path of Light. A greater number of devout followers of the Path are psions and psychic warriors.
Language: Kalashtar speak Quor, the language of the quori, and the common tongue of their homeland (Common in Khorvaire, or Riedran in Adar). Quor is a hissing, guttural tongue more suited to the alien forms of the quori than their humanoid hosts. It has its own written form, a flowing, elegant script with many circular letters.
Names: Kalashtar names have much in common with the name of their people: They are three to five syllables long, with a combination of hard and hissing consonants.
Male names end with one of the masculine name suffi xes –harath, –khad, –melk, or –tash.
Female names use the feminine suffi xes –kashtai, –shana, –tari, or –vakri.
Male Names: Halkhad, Kanatash, Lanamelk, Minharath, Nevitash, Parmelk, Thakakhad, Thinharath.
Female Names: Ganitari, Khashana, Lakashtari, Mevakri, Novakri, Panitari, Thakashtai, Thatari.
Adventurers: Every kalashtar enters adulthood facing a fundamental choice: Try to live a normal life as a persecuted exile in Adar, or take up a more active role in combating the Inspired in the world. Not surprisingly, many kalashtar choose the latter option and live a life at least bordering on that of the adventurer. Most kalashtar adventurers are motivated primarily by their hatred of the Inspired, but a few—primarily those advanced along the Path of Light—are driven by their compassion for all living beings and their desire to fi ght darkness in whatever form it takes.
KALASHTAR RACIAL TRAITS
• Medium: As Medium creatures, kalashtar have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
• Kalashtar base land speed is 30 feet.
• +2 racial bonus on saving throws against mind affecting spells and abilities, and possession: The kalashtar’s dual spirits help them resist spells that target their minds.
• +2 racial bonus on Bluff, Diplomacy, and Intimidate checks: Kalashtar are masters of social interaction, influencing others through their commanding presence and subtle psychic powers.
• +2 racial bonus on Disguise checks made to impersonate a human: Kalashtar have a close physical resemblance to humans.
• Kalashtar sleep but they do not dream. As such, they have immunity to the dream and nightmare spells, as well as any other effect that relies on the target’s ability to dream.
• Naturally Psionic: Kalashtar gain 1 extra power point per character level, regardless of whether they choose a psionic class.
• Psi-Like Abilities: Mindlink (1/day). This ability is like the power manifested by a wilder of 1/2 the kalashtar’s Hit Dice (minimum 1st level).
If you are not using the Expanded Psionics Handbook in your game, use this description of the mindlink power:
You forge a telepathic bond with another creature within 30 feet, which must have an Intelligence score of 3 or higher. The bond can be established only with a willing subject, who therefore receives no saving throw and gains no benefit from spell resistance.
You can communicate telepathically through the bond even if you do not share a common language.
No special power or influence is established as a result of the bond. Once the bond is formed, it works over any distance (although not from one plane to another), but only lasts for 1 round per character level. This is a mind-affecting ability.
• Automatic Languages: Common and Quor. Bonus Languages: Draconic and Riedran.
• Favored Class: Psion. A multiclass kalashtar’s psion class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.
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