Base Requirements

• Races: Human
• Classes: Any
• Ability Requirements: Reason 10, Appearance 13
• Alignments: Any Good
• Starting Cash: By class
• Bonus Languages: Turmic
• Recommended Languages: Chessic, Chondathian, Sespechian, Telpi, Thorass

Proficiencies

• Weapon Slots: By class
• Non-weapon Slots: By class
• Available Categories: By class
• Bonus Proficiencies: Etiquette, Soothsaying, Time Sense
• Required Proficiencies: none
• Recommended Proficiencies: none

Overview: The dark-skinned, tattooed people of Turmish dwell in a land that is prosperous, peaceful, and civilized. The Turms are known for being articulate and honorable, as well as their habit of wearing beautiful, ornate armor.

Description: All of the people of the Vilhon Reach accept the practice of marking their foreheads with small dots of colored chalk. One dot means the character can read, two dots mean they can write, and three dots mean they can use magic.

The mahogany-skinned Turms are a splendid and graceful people. If their blood does not have a long-forgotten elfish component, it certainly should. The average Turmish male stands between 6½ and 7½ feet tall and weighs between 180 and 200 pounds. The rest of his musculature and features are slender and well-defined, as his height and weight might suggest.

As a rule, they tend to remain clean-shaven, since beards are associated with someone of the merchant class. Along with this careful grooming, the Turms are fond of wearing pleasant fragrances and colognes to mask the smells of sweat, metal polish, and other scents acquired “on the road.”

The warriors of Turmish wear armor that is a flawless blend of elf and human styles. The armor is usually customized with embossing, spires, and raised, fluted curves on the shoulder plates and other joints.

Role-Playing: Turmishite adventurers follow closely in the mindset of their fellow countrymen. Wealth and status are unimportant; rather, a person is judged on his own individual merits. Turmishites reject the ideas of social classes and the privileges allegedly due to such folk. Even though they are a handsome folk, Turmishite adventurers do not concern themselves with fashions. In fact, they have been known to openly laugh heartily at foreigners who wear something inappropriate for the situation (silks in the sewers, bright clothes while trying to hide, etc.), gaudy, or ridiculous in the name of fashion.

Since Turmishites believe in judging a person on his deeds, these people make sure that they themselves will be judged well. They are brave and honorable warriors whose personal words are their bonds: They never shy away from an important cause and always come to the aid of someone being pushed around by a stronger bully.

Turms also make excellent hosts and very polite guests. In the latter case, a Turm always remembers to bring a gift to the home of his host. If a person wishes to insult a Turmishite, call him a "Turmite"—it will probably be the last thing that person ever says.

The Turms look upon spellcasters with respect and some degree of admiration, just as they do any learned individual. Turm spellcasters do their best to live up to the high standards their countrymen have for them. They attempt to maintain high ethical and moral standards in all their affairs and give generously of their time and advice.

Special Abilities:

• The adventurers of the Vilhon Reach are so skillful at predicting the outcome of political struggles, military conflicts, and other contests that they have acquired quite a reputation for soothsaying. This knack gives them a -2 bonus to all initiative rolls.
• Turmishites are from a nation that is generally respected and well-liked, especially their merchants. Turmishites get a +1 reaction bonus when interacting with NPCs. Naturally, this assumes that the character is acting civil, not being rude or not actively participating in some drunken brawl.
• Every suit of armor, shield, and helm are decorated in the distinctive Turmish fashion. Thus, when purchasing their initial armor, its true value is actually an additional 20% of the list price. Still, the character only pays the list price. The additional value comes into play only if the items are being resold or repaired.
• Cultures that favor displays of ornamentation are usually quite impressed by Turmishite armor. With such cultures, a Turmishite gains a +2 bonus on NPC interactions when wearing armor constructed in Turmish. Note that this is cumulative with the base +1 reaction bonus mentioned earlier.
• Turmishite spellcasters are especially skilled at the casting of information-gathering spells. These include the spells of the Divination school and the Divination priest sphere. When they cast these spells, the listed duration, range, and area of effect is increased by half.
• In addition, a Turmishite who uses a scrying device (such as a crystal ball) automatically gains use of clairaudience when using that device. This is in addition to any other abilities the particular magical item possesses.

Special Disadvantages:

• The inability of these folk to commit to anything other than a quest for more profits is not particularly inspiring. Characters built with this kit suffer a -1 penalty to their starting Leadership scores (minimum 3).
• While the peaceful and sagacious nature of these characters is impressive, they are not without their weaknesses. The most pronounced of these is a lack of combat experience. The penalty for using a weapon without proficiency increases by 3 for such characters (thus a warrior has a -5 non-proficiency penalty and a wizard has a -8 penalty).
• Parties of adventurers outside the Vilhon Reach area that have a Turmishite in their midst cannot be inconspicuous. The face of the Turmishite will definitely be remembered by innkeepers and tavern bartenders. In addition, the companions of the Turmishite are 65% likely to also be remembered by NPCs that they meet. On missions that require stealth, anonymity, or a subdued presence, this drawback can be catastrophic.

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