There might have been a time when the buommans were merely human visitors to the Astral Plane. But now, perhaps hundreds of millennia later, the buommans are neither merely visitors, nor merely human. Known to some astral denizens as the “moaning monks”, buommans dwell in temples and shrines formed by astral debris, which they believe to be the mortal forms of sleeping deities, long forgotten. Whether the buommans inhabit these structures in the hope of awakening these deities, or in an effort to ensure that they stay asleep, is known only to the buommans.
Personality: Buommans are quiet, withdrawn and deferential. Though they appear capable of understanding languages, they “speak” no tongue other than their low, booming songs in a dialect called Buommi, which appear to be more music than actual language.
Physical Description: Buommans appear more or less like humans, though with long, sagging faces and elongated hands and feet (a feature most prominent in the fingers and toes). On average, buomanns are slightly shorter and slightly heavier than humans. A male buomman has long hair and bushy brows; a female buomman has no apparent body hair. Buommans reach adulthood at about the same age as humans, and the eldest members of the race can live to be 120 years old.
Relations: Buommans often spend their entire lives in ascetic contemplation within the confines of the shrine or temple in which they were born. From time to time, though, a buomman (particularly a buomman monk) departs his or her home to explore the Astral Plane, or other planes, out of curiosity about the outside worlds. Sometimes these individuals gravitate to service with wandering githzerai, and occasionally venture back to Limbo with them. Buommans avoid confrontations with evil outsiders, more out of caution than from fear or dislike. If buommans have any enemies, they are most likely found on the planes of Pandemonium and the Abyss. Buommans get along quite well with creatures from the Elemental Plane of Earth or the Elemental Plane of Water.
Alignment: The average buomman is lawful, tending toward lawful neutral or lawful good. A few buommans are lawful evil or simply neutral.
Religion: Buommans eschew traditional religions, seeming, as they do, to worship their temple homes in the Astral Plane. A few who travel extensively develop an affinity for Fharlanghn, the god of roads. But few buommans become clerics of any deity, because their vow against speaking (described below) makes spellcasting difficult. Those who wish to learn to cast spells with verbal components must acquire the Nonverbal Spell feat.
Whether a buomman believes that the astral bodies that his race dwells upon are dead deities, sleeping deities to be awakened or sleeping deities that must never rise is up to the individual buomman. Neutral buommans usually believe in the dead deities theory, while lawful good buommans believe that the deities are sleeping and will someday awake to spread their majesty again. Lawful evil buommans fear the return of these deities, and sing their songs to prevent them from awakening.
Language: Buommans communicate with one another by means of their low, throaty songs, but the concepts they convey appear to be more abstract than informational. Contrary to rumour, a buomman does not constantly sing, but instead sings as part of rituals that mark his daily life. The buommans have a song for arriving, a song for leaving, a song for waking, a song for sleeping, a song for eating, and countless other songs for far less concrete concepts. Except for these songs, buommans choose not to speak any recognizable language, though they are capable of learning any language they choose. The average buomman, for example, understands Common; he simply never speaks it.
Names: For a race that has collectively taken a vow against speaking, buommans have a wide variety of names — all of which are based on musical notes. For example, a buomman female might express her name as a short melody in the key of D sharp, and a different buomman female might express her name as the same melody, but in B sharp. The name of the race reflects this tradition, being based on the deep, sustained note that every buomman learns to vocalize before he or she can walk: “buomm”.
For the convenience of other races, buommans do not mind accepting nicknames, but they prefer those that have no harsh consonants. “Jak”, for example, would be an uncomfortable appellation, while “Moony” would suit a buomman just fine.
Adventurers: Most buommans who feel the urge to explore are younger members of the race. They usually set out with the goal of gathering information for the temple (which usually means seeing the multiverse), with the intent of returning to the ascetic life when they become tired or homesick. Some few actually do return, late in life, to introduce new concepts into their insular societies.
Source: Planar Handbook (Page 8)
Your character can be either male or female.
Every player character starts as an adult. You can choose or randomly generate your character’s age. If you choose it, it must be at least the minimum age for the character’s race and class (see Table: Starting Ages). Your character’s minimum starting age is the adulthood age of his or her race plus the number of dice indicated in the entry corresponding to the character’s race and class on Table: Starting Ages.
Alternatively, refer to Table: Starting Ages and roll dice to determine how old your character is.
| Adulthood | Intuitive1 | Self-Taught2 | Trained3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 years | +1d4 (16—19) years | +1d6 (16—21) years | +2d6 (17—27) years |
1 This category includes barbarians, rogues and sorcerers.
2 This category includes bards, fighters, paladins and rangers.
3 This category includes clerics, druids, monks and wizards.
With age, a character’s physical ability scores decrease and his or her mental ability scores increase (see Table: Aging Effects). The effects of each aging step are cumulative. However, none of a character’s ability scores can be reduced below 1 in this way.
| Middle Age1 | Old Age2 | Venerable3 | Maximum Age |
|---|---|---|---|
| 35 years | 55 years | 80 years | +2d20 years |
1 -1 to Strength, Dexterity and Constitution; +1 to Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.
2 -2 to Strength, Dexterity and Constitution; +1 to Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.
3 -3 to Strength, Dexterity and Constitution; +1 to Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.
When a character reaches venerable age, the DM secretly rolls his or her maximum age, which is the number from the Venerable column on Table: Aging Effects plus the result of the dice roll indicated on the Maximum Age column on that table, and records the result, which the player does not know. A character who reaches his or her maximum age dies of old age at some time during the following year, as determined by the DM.
The maximum ages are for player characters. Most people in the world at large die from pestilence, accidents, infections or violence before getting to venerable age.
Choose your character’s height and weight from the ranges mentioned in the appropriate race description or from the ranges found on Table: Height and Weight. Think about what your character’s abilities might say about his or her height and weight. A weak but agile character may be thin. A strong and tough character may be tall or just heavy.
Alternatively, roll randomly for your character’s height and weight on Table: Height and Weight. The dice roll given in the Height Modifier column determines the character’s extra height beyond the base height. That same number multiplied by the dice roll or quantity given in the Weight Modifier column determines the character’s extra weight beyond the base weight.
| Gender | Base Height | Height Modifier | Base Weight | Weight Modifier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | 4’ 8" | +2d10 (4’ 10"—6’ 4") | 130 lbs. | ×2d4 (134—290 lbs.) |
| Female | 4’ 4" | +2d10 (4’ 6"—6’ 0") | 90 lbs. | ×2d4 (94—250 lbs.) |
Source: Planar Handbook (Page 18)