The Ur-Quan Masters Discussion Forum

Does anyone on these forums play d20 roleplaying games? It's such a darling setting. I was playing around with the idea of racial classes like in the Wizards of The Coast Savage Species book. Like so:

Shofixti Racial Class

Lvl      HD      Att      Fort      Ref      Will      Skill Points      etc
1      1d8      +1      +2      +0      +0      (2 + Int mod) x 4      Feat, Smite 1/day, Courage, Kyaiee!
2      2d8      +2      +2      +0      +0      2 + Int Mod      +2 Dex, Aura of Courage, Glorious Strike
3      3d8      +3      +3      +1      +1      2 + Int Mod      Feat, +2 Str, Rage 1/day
4      3d8      +3      +3      +1      +1            +2 Cha, For Daikon

Racial  Traits
Starting Ability Score Adjustments: +2 Con, -2 Int. Shofixti are tenacious, but lack a strong sense of self-preservation.
Size: As a small creature, shofixti gain a +1 size bonus to AC, a +1 size bonus to attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus to Hide checks, but use smaller weapons than humans, and their lifting and carrying capabilities are 3/4ths those of a medium character.
Speed: Shofixti land speed is 20 feet.
Darkvision: Shofixti can see in the dark up to 60 feet.
Automatic Languages: Shofixti.
Favored Class: Shofixti. The best multiclassing choice for a shofixti is fighter (or samurai).

Class Skills
The Shofixti's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Iaijitsu Focus (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Perform (Cha), and Profession (Wis).

Class Features:
All of the following are class features of the shofixti racial class.

Feats: A shofixti receives one feat at 1st level, and another at 3rd level. After 4th level, it gains feats normally according to its effective character level (the total of its Hit Dice, level adjustment, and class levels) as shown on Table 2-5: Experience and Level-Dependent Benefits, in the PHB.

Smite (Ex): One per day, a shofixti can make a melee attack with a +4 attack bonus and a damage bonus equal to his hit die (if he hits). The shofixti must declare the smite before making the attack.

Courage (Ex): Shofixti are raised from birth that they will be glorified in the afterlife if they die in combat. Consequently, there is a complete lack of fear of death in the entire shofixti culture. Shofixti are immune to fear (psionic or otherwise).

Kyaiee! (Ex): Shofixti are known for their general exuberance and battle-eagerness. All shofixti benefit from a +2 racial bonus to initiative.

Aura of Courage (Ex): At 2nd level, the shofixti's courage has become so powerful it is inspiring to his comrades. Allies within 10 feet gain a +4 bonus on saving throws against fear effects.
Glorious Strike (Ps): At 2nd level, a shofixti may put a little of himself into his attacks. Any time he successfully strikes in melee, the shofixti may choose to suffer up to three points of damage. Each damage suffered in this manner adds +2 to the damage dealt by the attack. This is considered to be a psionic ability.

Rage (Ex): At 3rd level, a shofixti can fly into a rage a certain number of times per day. In a rage, a shofixti temporarily gains a +4 bonus to Strength, a +4 bonus to Constitution, and a +2 morale bonus on Will saves, but he takes a –2 penalty to Armor Class. The increase in Constitution increases the shofixti’s hit points by 2 points per level, but these hit points go away at the end of the rage when his Constitution score drops back to normal. (These extra hit points are not lost first the way temporary hit points are.) While raging, a shofixti cannot use any Charisma-, Dexterity-, or Intelligence-based skills (except for Balance, Escape Artist, Intimidate, and Ride), the Concentration skill, or any abilities that require patience or concentration, nor can he cast spells or activate magic items that require a command word, a spell trigger (such as a wand), or spell completion (such as a scroll) to function. He can use any feat he has except Combat Expertise, item creation feats, and metamagic feats. A fit of rage lasts for a number of rounds equal to 3 + the character’s (newly improved) Constitution modifier. A shofixti may prematurely end his rage. At the end of the rage, the shofixti loses the rage modifiers and restrictions and becomes fatigued (–2 penalty to Strength, –2 penalty to Dexterity, can’t charge or run) for the duration of the current encounter.
A shofixti can fly into a rage only once per encounter. At 3rd level he can use his rage ability once per day. Entering a rage takes no time itself, but a shofixti can do it only during his action, not in response to someone else’s action.

For Daikon (Ex): At 4th level, Shofixti add their Charisma modifiers, if positive, to their attack and damage rolls.

Your racial ability score adjustments don't make much sense. We haven't seen signs of strong constitution or particularly weak intelligence. Sure, they did not invent space travel on their own, but they might have eventually if the Yehat had not given it to them.

I'd say give them the same physical stat adjustments as gnomes or halflings, or something like that.

Also, Do we get levels in being Human? No. So why do shofixti get levels in being shofixti? Are you doing this as monster levels for tough monsters (as a balance in character generation, like if you take a werewolf or naga character)? Shofixti aren't that tough, certainly not 4 levels worth.

Or is there a particular style of warrior that so far only shofixti have ever been? Then it should be split up into a character class and a race, with the character class restricted in that non-Shofixti will have to have a really good RP reason for being able to take levels in it.

Does d20 have an equivalent of the old Oriental Adventures expansion?  Make Shofixti unrestricted in Samurai and related classes and that should work fine, right?

(Important note: Posting in massive ignorance here.  I played Paranoia and GURPS, and left AD&D after Spelljammer...)

Not to quibble, but I would say that we've seen a few signs of weak intelligence from the few shoftixti we've met in the game, and they are virile. So to speak. Samurai would work swell for them. I imagine them as much more fierce than halflings and gnomes.
Death 999, the racial class is used for monsters that are more powerful than a first level character, yeah. Races like mind flayers and trolls.
Essentially, I just thought it would be more fun if each species of alien had its own racial class. They can take other classes after the first level, so there's no reason a shofixti couldn't take one level of this racial class then unlimited in samurai, fighter, etc..

Yet another example:

Supox Racial Class

Lvl      HD      Att      Fort      Ref      Will      Skill Points      etc
1      1d8      +0      +0      +0      +2      (2 + Int mod) x 4      Feat, +2 natural armor, Photosynthetic Healing
2      2d8      +1      +0      +0      +3      2 + Int Mod      +2 Dex, +2 Int, Synergetic Fighting
3      3d8      +1      +0      +0      +3      2 + Int Mod      Feat, +2 Wis, +3 natural armor, Copycat

Racial  Traits
Starting Ability Score Adjustments: +2 Wis, -2 Str. Supox are cooperative, but their plant metabolism is ill-suited to applying force.
Plant: Supox are immune to conventional mind-affecting effects, non-weedkiller poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, and polymorphing.
Speed: Supox land speed is 20 feet.
Low-light vision: Supox can see in the dark up to 60 feet.
Skills: +8 racial bonus on Hide checks made in forested areas.
Automatic Languages: Supox.
Favored Class: Supox. The best multiclassing choice for a supox is ranger.

Class Skills
The supox's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Hide (Dex), Knowledges (all)(Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Dex), Spot (Wis), and Survival (Wis).

Class Features:
All of the following are class features of the supox racial class.

Feats: A supox receives one feat at 1st level, and another at 4th level. After 5th level, it gains feats normally according to its effective character level (the total of its Hit Dice, level adjustment, and class levels) as shown on Table 2-5: Experience and Level-Dependent Benefits, in the PHB.

Photosynthetic Healing (Ex): When able to take root and bask in the light of the sun, supox are able to speed their natural healing processes. They heal twice as fast as they normally would when fully resting. Note that a supox must get a good six hours of sunlight in order to use this ability, and water wouldn't hurt either.

Synergetic Fighting (Ex): When a supox flanks an opponent, he and his ally enjoy a +4 attack bonus instead of +2.

Copycat (Ex): If a Supox spends a round studying a character in combat, he may make a Sense Motive check (against their Bluff) to "get the hang of" their style of fighting. Henceforth, the supox enjoys a +2 insight bonus to his AC and attacks against that particular opponent.

Why are you assigning the races base hitpoints if they're going to be classes?

Note: Halflings can be quite firece. Actually, all races can exhibit fierce of passive. You can have a Half-Orc Cleric specializing in Healing and Good, or a Halfling Barbarian who's going to be taking levels in Bear Warrior as well.
It may be a bit bold of me, but I think you're stereotyping races.

Not to quibble, but AFAIK you can met exactly two Shofixti in game, (or is it only one? I never met the brother...), and their old, demented and their ships are shot to hell so they can't identify you. I don't fully see how you can stipulate that the entire races is daft from that.

That'd be kind of like having the Chenjesu meet with [insert name of the political leader/celebrity/religious figure you like the least] and then assuming all Earthlings are the same.

And you can not even assume that all shofixti are brave! For instance, what are the Spathi known for? NOT having courage - And what is the Black Spathi squadron made of? Brave (OK - Maybe not all) Spathi that have dealt with or not have fear. Now take the Shofixti, Now I am sure that most of them are brave, but I am sure a few outcasts are not so brave. See, even the most common trait in a specie  is usually over come by the "unorthadox" few. So to really get a grasp of all the species you have to study them very carefully and as Lukipela said "not just take a famous or special few".  

The mechanic I chose for this is racial classes. That means they get hit points as they go up a level. Though not necessarily every level, as you could no doubt notice, if you know d20 stats.

As for stereotyping races, it is perfectly permissible for a Shofixti or supox to take only the first level of the racial class, then take levels in whatever else he/it pleased. Hence, only the first level of a racial class is true for every member of the species.

Now in the case of the shofixti, you must keep in mind not only that although you only meet one or two of them during the game and all further shofixti are descended from them, but also that the entire species chose to perish exhibiting the qualities we so know them for.

If you're sad about their intelligence penalty, you must be reminded that although not necessarily dumb they are certainly the least sophisticated starfaring race you encounter. They were only uplifted a few generations ago, anyway. And certain traits can reasonably be expected to be the rule rather than the exception.

As with the Black Spathi Squadron, there are almost certainly exceptions to the general rule. But suggesting that I somehow make a detailed study of the species is just silly.

Anyway, here's the Umgah for you to pick apart and be unhappy with:

Umgah Racial Class

Lvl      HD      Att      Fort      Ref      Will      Skill Points      etc
1      1d8      +0      +2      +0      +0      (2 + Int mod) x 4      Feat, All-Round Vision, Blindsight 10', Sensitive Hearing
2      2d8      +1      +3      +0      +0      2 + Int Mod      +2 Int, +2 Wis, Lore
3      3d8      +2      +3      +1      +1      2 + Int Mod      Feat, +2 Con, Regeneration 1
4      4d8      +3      +4      +1      +1      2 + Int Mod      Large size, reach 10', +2 Str, Modification (+1)

Racial  Traits
Starting Ability Score Adjustments: +2 Int, -4 Cha. Umgah are clever, but their sense of humor is universally despised.
Speed: Umgah land speed is 20 feet. At 5th level, when the Umgah becomes large, this speed increases to 30 feet.
Darkvision: Umgah can see in the dark up to 60 feet.
Automatic Languages: Umgah.
Favored Class: Umgah. The best multiclassing choice for an umgah is tough hero.

Class Skills
The umgah's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Craft (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Handle Animals (Wis), Heal (Wis), Knowledges (all)(Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), and Spot (Wis).

Class Features:
All of the following are class features of the umgah racial class.

Feats: An umgah receives one feat at 1st level, and another at 3rd level. After 4th level, it gains feats normally according to its effective character level (the total of its Hit Dice, level adjustment, and class levels) as shown on Table 2-5: Experience and Level-Dependent Benefits, in the PHB.

All-Round Vision (Ex): Umgah are exceptionally alert and circumspect. Their many eyes and other sensory organs give them a +4 bonus to Spot and Search checks, and they can't be flanked.

Blindsight (Ex): Umgah have sufficient non-visual sensory input to perceive their surroundings, even in pitch blackness, up to a range of ten feet.

Sensitive Hearing (Ex): Umgah have a lot of ears going on. They receive a +4 racial bonus to listen checks.

Lore (Ex): At 2nd level, umgah gain the ability to know legends or information regarding various topics, just as a bard can with bardic knowledge. The umgah adds their level and their Intelligence modifier to the lore check, which functions otherwise exactly like a bardic knowledge check.

Regeneration (Ex): Umgah take normal damage from fire and cold. If an umgah loses a tentacle or body part, the lost portion regrows in 3d6 minutes. The creature can reattach the severed member by holding it to the stump.

Modification (Ex): At 4th level, the Umgah has gained sufficient mastery of its own biology that it may perform a single modification to itself. It may increase any ability score of its choice by 1, permanently. This may only be done once.

Exhibiting a understanding of honour, showing a knowledge of duty and paying the ultimate penalty for freedom are stupid qualities?



Less sophisticated than say, a race that has blasted itself back to the stone age a couple of times? Or less sophisticated than a race that attained spaceflight, but not hyperspace travel before the Chenjesu arrived?

On a side note, I'm not actually complaining, or arguing in any serious way, I'm just enjoy a bit of nitpicking. Feel free to ignore me if you like.
;)

The other aliens you meet throughout the game, including humans, are universally better informed, more reasoning, and of higher tech level than the Shofixti. They are essentially feudal ewoks. They have the least sophisticated ship out of all the species.

I'd like to hear whom would receive an intelligence penalty, if not the Shifoxti. The Thraddash are likely candidates. Other than that nobody leaps to mind.

The shofixti could not have blasted themselves back to the stone-age even if they wanted to. That would likely be a function of wisdom, anyway.

You guys pick funny things to dislike.

Does anyone with a working knowledge of d20 have any comments about the other races?

Tech level is not necessarily a function of intelligence. Compare the tools that Forrest Gump used with those used by Socrates.

On the other hand I would suggest that killing yourself and all of your species for your 'freedom' is wholly fruitless. Perhaps Wisdom score should be at -3?

The shofixti chose honorable and useful death over defeat and enslavement. Their allies who taught them space travel, the Yehat, betrayed them and fled. In giving their sun the early nova, they destroyed an estimated third of the Ur-Quan fleet. If the Yehat had stood their ground, the Ur-Quan could have been defeated.

Since there aren't a lot of philosophical works mentioned in the game, I'll just have to assume that the shofixti are sort of dim compared to species like the Spathi, whom went from caves to space over only 600 years.

If I were to give the Shofixti wisdom penalties, it would have to be an even number. But I think they're wise enough to not warrant anything of that sort.

A Spathi is intelligent but not wise. A shofixti is wise enough but not especially intelligent.

Yes - but you have to admit that a shofixti is looking forward to death as some of their plans appear. (Of course that is what the Spathi think of us but.... ;) ) I would give the shofixti a penalty of 1 or 0.

This assumes that someone _must_ have an intelligence penalty.  I view the Shofixti as being just as intelligent as Human beings, but they just happened to start out later, and currently have weaker tech.  Humans and Shofixti seem to be near the bottom of the tech & intelligence scale in the SC universe.  If humans are the base (+0 all attributes; which they usually are), then most races should recieve bonuses to intellect.

Most races are receiving Int bonuses thus far, as I go through them. That at least one species must have an Int penalty is my conceit, true, but it is not an unreasonable one. Shofixti did not develop their own space-faring technology, so I would put them significantly behind humans technologically. I don't know why we're even still talking about this.

This is my take on the druuge. Maybe if I'm lucky it will somehow be more controversial than the Shofixti.

Druuge Racial Class

Lvl      HD      Att      Fort      Ref      Will      Skill Points      etc
1      1d8      +0      +0      +0      +2      (2 + Int mod) x 4      Feat, exceptional bargain, grasping
2      2d8      +1      +0      +0      +3      2 + Int Mod      +1d6 sneak attack, know thy enemy
3      2d8      +1      +0      +0      +3            +2 Int, +2 Cha, enhance value
4      3d8      +2      +1      +1      +3      2 + Int Mod      Feat, +2 Dex, divert attack (3/day)
5      3d8      +2      +1      +1      +3      2 + Int Mod      +2 Cha, +1d6 sneak attack, deceitful

Racial  Traits
Starting Ability Score Adjustments: +2 Int, +2 Cha, -2 Con. Druuge are sly and coercive, but sickly.
Speed: Druuge land speed is 30 feet.
Skills: Druuge learn from the Crimson Corporation at young age that bargaining is what gets you ahead. Druuge enjoy a +4 racial bonus to Appraise checks.
Automatic Languages: Druuge.
Favored Class: Druuge. The best multiclass choice for a druuge is rogue.

Class Skills
The druuge's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Search (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), and Use Rope (Dex).

Class Features:
All of the following are class features of the druuge racial class.
     Feats: A druuge receives one feat at 1st level, and another at 4th level. After 5th level, it gains feats normally according to its effective character level (the total of its Hit Dice, level adjustment, and class levels) as shown on Table 2-5: Experience and Level-Dependent Benefits.

Exceptional Bargain (Ex): Druuge haggle the price of mundane items and goods exceptionally well. The druuge may make a Bluff check when buying an item versus the seller's Sense Motive check. If successful, the druuge may buy the item at a 10% discount. This ability may be used concerning mundane items only. A druuge may repeat this process to get as much as a 30% discount on the item, However each bluff check beyond the first suffers a cumulative -4 circumstance penalty on each roll.

Grasping (Ex): Druuge know their way around scavenging missions well enough to manipulate objects with effortless speed and care. Druuge receive the Quickdraw feat as a bonus. Furthermore, they may pick up items off the ground as a free action, and never suffer an attack of opportunity when doing so.

Know Thy Enemy (Ex): By 2nd-level, the druuge has learned how to exploit its enemies moral weaknesses. Such a druuge may add its Intelligence modifier (if positive) to Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, and Sense Motive checks. This is in addition to the normal modifier.

Enhance Value (Ex): By careful, slight modifications, a 3rd-level druuge can increase the value of a non-psionic item of value, such as a gem, an art object, or a piece of equipment. The druuge spends 1 hour performing these modifications and then makes an Appraise check, increasing the value of the object by 1% per point of the check result. A druuge cannot enhance something with a readily obvious value, such as a coin, and it cannot enhance the same object twice.

Divert Attack (Ex): Three times per day, a 4th-level druuge can maneuver events so that an opponent's melee attack meant for it is actually directed at another character within the attacker's reach. The new target must also be a foe of the attacker. If there is no such foe within reach, the maneuver fails.

Deceitful (Ex): At 5th-level, the druuge becomes particularly unreadable in combat. He enjoys a +3 racial bonus on all Bluff and Sense Motive checks when part of or against combat maneuvers (this includes the supox's copycat ability).

Hanging around by chains all day probably does not make one dexterous.  I wouldn't think the Druuge to be very intelligent either;  they get tricked fairly often (the Utwig, the Captain).  Heck, they probably bought their spacefairing tech.

I also wonder about the CHA bonus. They're sly and radiate that slutty "come-hither-and-purchase" aura, but let's face it:
Druuge are butt ugly[/i]. Make it more along the lines of giving the Druuge a CHA bonus to those that are engaged in conversation with it. I know that, personally, I wouldn't want to approach a Druuge. They smell bad, they drool, and, well...yeah! Echk.

Thank the progenitors, something other than shofixti eliciting comments.

As for Int, The druuge have an organized interplanetary bureaucrat-government that spans a huge corner of the galaxy. They are one of the more powerful races, actually.
They habitually trick their customers, they hacked into the Captain's computers to pull out data, etc.. I'd say they are pretty clever. Anyway, not getting suckered into a deal usually falls under Wisdom.

As for Dex, have you seen the way that guy tugs on chains? He's pretty fricking good at it. You don't see the humans tugging on chains and swinging around like monkeys.

As for Cha, I'm sure most of the aliens smell. Most probably don't even breathe the same air as humans. They look pretty much human in appearance without serious hideousness, unlike the VUX for example. Cha is not appearance-based anyways. It's force of personality. Most players probably end up getting coerced into dealing slaves with them, for example. They are pretty persuasive.

Anyone who knows anything about d20 think much of the abilities?

   I know d20 (hate the "[insert type here] hero" buisness), and as far as I see, the skills look ok. One thing I'd add for the Druuge is some bonus to interpersonal communication skills (Bluff, Intim, Diplom, Sense)  when dealing with enslaved people, even if they're not their own slaves. They're just good at that, I wager. +4 or 3 I'd say.
  Perhaps they'd have some skill at, well, Rope Use (even though they are chains). The higher the level the better, as they've had more time swinging around in them.
  Negative CON? Why sayest thou that? If its an issue of balance, I think their general reputation offsets any stat penalites, hands down. (Most [good]) hunams aren't going to want to deal with the Druuge if all the Druuge's interest is in is getting the said person to sell them their child for a can of gas. That and they never seemed that sick to me in any encounters I had with them (Except for the time that I drained all the fuel from the one...he turned kinda white).
   As for CHA...Taken from PNF:

Now, call it ethnocentric of me, but I doubt that any race would enjoy dealing with such a set of, well....phisiological problems that the Druuge have. Indeed, one race might enjoy the smell of the Druuge, but I bet most don't. Humans obviously don't, anyway. Maybe give them a negative to intial reaction mods due to known nature (if it IS known, anyway) and general disgusting scent.
  Heheheh, speaking of which, give them an aura that keeps anything with any sort of ability to smell at a 5 foot radius. If forced into the aura, the person/animal/alien has to make a FORT save, DC 18(?) or become nauseated for 1d8 rounds. Those that make the save cannot be affected for another hour. Creatures with the Scent feat (I forget the name, I think that's right) have to stay 30 feet away. The DC save for more sensitive noses is 22, and the nausea lasts for 2d8 rounds, re-tried every hour.

Note that the same argument regarding ugliness holds true for the VUX.  The Yehat call them "grotesque monsters" -- the VUX believe everyone else to be disgusting, but the vote is against them.  CHA penalties should be assessed to the VUX before the Druuge, I'd think.

There's more to CHA than appearance, anyway.

Splendid, splendid. This is the type of feedback I was looking for. What is this PNF? I believe I shall switch the Con bonus for a short-ranged breath weapon of some sort.

PNF = Pages of Now and Forever

They have immense data ragarding races - what they say - were they live etc. It is the place of info for SC2.

http://www.classicgaming.com/starcontrol/

Maybe you could bring back comeliness into your d20 system to split apart beauty and true charisma, then you could apply bonuses and penalties appropriately.

Breath weapon?  Why not give them gaze attacks too? /sarcasm

Moola: "You know your crew mean nothing to you, Captain!"
*Gaze Attack: Corrupting Capitalism and Greed*
FORT DC: 35
Captain fails-
Captain: "Yeessss....I am awaaareee offf tthhhaaattt...llleet mmee ggiive yyoouuu sssoommeee aaassss sssslllaaavveees fforr frrreeee!!!"
Moola: "Too kind of you, Captain, that's the third time this week. 50 or 100 this time around?"

Thraddash special Feats.....
Smoke gas?

If that is your special attack for the druuge what are you going to do about Arlou?!

They'd have psionics, duh.
A gaze attack isn't psionic, nor are they all mind-compulsing. It just makes sense that the Druuge's are. Those that are under attack by it would probably feel their evil inner greedchild come to the surface and hallucinate by seeing it pratically bathing in RU. How could they resist?

But arlou sometime look - well - weird - not gross, but weird. Therefore they could have a gaze attack as well as pisonics. I mean - if the Druuge have it - then I think Arlou deserves it too.

The Ur-Quan have 4 tendrils, do the Arilou deserve 4 tendrils too? :)

Well... I don't know - Just something about the arlou looks creepy to me. Maybe it is just me  :-/

I am working on the Arilou presently, but I'm having a difficult time making them interesting to play. They've got the ability to teleport short distances, control intertia, implant false memories, and increase in generic psionic power over time. I could use a few more ideas.

Good ideas though, so no thank you Mr. Gaze Attack.

I wager that the Ur-Quan have plenty more tentacles that the 4 they use for piloting Dreadnoughts.
I mean, at least four more holding whips to smack slaves around, and a few more to latch on to the ceiling (unless they do that with their legs).

I know, the gaze attack was a total joke. :P

Arilou powers...hrm. They should be able to *see* interdimentionally as well as simple 3D vision.

They also have a different view of timeflow;  maybe they cause a big penalty to anything trying to surprise them? (does d20 system still use surprise?)

Like old-school rangers, you could force them to have a neutral aspect to their alignments (does d20 system still use alignment?).

Levitation as a natural ability?
Light or Faerie Fire?
*smell* Modification similar to the umgah ability, but only on another character (even another arilou).  Probably increases a mental stat.
The teleportation is a device in their vessals; I doubt they can do it themselves.

Ah, brilliant stuff.
Arilou absolutely should be able to see interdimensionally. I don't know why I originally gave that to the Pkunk. d20 does still use a (vastly improved) form of surprise, and the arilou ought to eventually not need worry about it.
The d20 system does officially use alignment, but only the twelve-year-olds use it. Reducing every philosophy, allegiance, normative ethics system, etc. down to nine stratifications? C'mon. Also, not very useful in a future setting.

Levitation is obvious and I don't know why I did not think of it sooner. Faerie fire is extremely apropos, as well. Modifying other characters is tricky. Perhaps only one or two people could be modified at a time? If one of them gets eaten by an Ur-Quan, the Arilou could modify someone else. I don't really like that.

As for the teleportation only being a function of their vessels, I don't think it a tremendous stretch for a sufficiently powerful Arilou psionicist to teleport themselves a very short distance. I assumed that their ships teleporting was simply an amplification of their natural ability, or at least of principles they understad sufficiently well to make use of. In any case, it's fun and probably not too much of a stretch.

More like the psionic power from 2nd Ed. dimensional door... :)

As for the modification: perhaps they need to have been studying this individual for 4-5 levels (making it essentially a party member or hireling).

In 3e they break it down into a 3rd level dimension slide, and a 4th level dimension door. These have varying distance and weight limits. I gave them slide.

That version of modification doesn't sound too hot. 'Sides, it was my impression that the arilou do that sort of thing over hundreds or thousands of years.

Mayhaps then, they can only do it on humanoid beings? Syreen, Druuge, Thraddash(?), and naturally us silly Hunams.

Give them some sort of mental link to others, too. Like a Paladin's Spec. Mount, start off with feeling surface emotions, then get deeper as the Arilou progresses in levels.