As an option, a Dungeon Master can choose to allow githyanki as a player character race. Because githyanki are evil in alignment, it's suggested that such player characters are outcasts, renegades, or pariahs who have turned from their race's baser nature. These nonevil githyanki would retain no ties to their culture, and in fact would most likely be hunted by githyanki knights as traitors.
Class[]
Player character warlocks, githwarriors, and gish are possible. Knights, because of their devotion to the lich-queen and obvious dark nature, can't be player characters. Mlar, g"lathk, and hr'a'cknir wouldn't make good adventurers, so they're also not allowed to be played as player characters.
Level Limits[]
Although no githyanki ever rises above 11th level, this is more a fact of the lich-queen's intervention than racial limitations. Even outcast (player character) githyanki that rise to 11th level automatically attract her attention. Attempts to rise to greater power draw down her wrath, a fate the vast majority of llth-level characters could not survive. At first, she sends several waves of githyanki teams after them, each one larger and stronger than the last. If the teams aren't able to bring such a player character to her, she uses whatever local resources (such as assassins) as might be available in the area the player character is currently working in, and sends knights, githwarriors, and warlocks to coordinate the retrieval. The lich-queen is a persistent creature, so she won't give up on this matter until she has the offender. Of course, player character githyanki have the option of remaining at 11th level and gaining no further experience points, which appeases the evil queen and keeps her from devouring their life essence.
Racial Abilities[]
Githyanki player characters gain a +1 bonus to their Dexterity and Intelligence scores, but they must subtract a -1 penalty from their Wisdom and Charisma ability scores. These modifications can take scores above 18 and below 3.
Because githyanki player characters are outcasts, their ability to plane shift is taken away from them by the lichqueen. This ability of hers is immediate, irrevocable, and unavoidable. There is no range involved. Some believe that her control over this ability is some by-product of her continual consumption of the life forces of powerful githyanki. The only particularly special ability that the player character has left is the movement rate of 96 on the Astral Plane. Githyanki also have double the normal chance for psionic potential.
Githyanki live to be about 200 years old, but since nothing ages on the Astral, only those that spend great amounts of time away from home (like player characters) need ever worry about growing old and dying.
As mentioned above, githzerai reactions to githyanki are almost always going to be bad. This is true for outcast githyanki as well. Most other folks are prejudiced against them also. Reaction adjustments for good-aligned nonplayer characters have a -2 penalty and neutral nonplayer characters make their check with a -1 penalty, while those for githzerai of any alignment are made with an additional -8 penalty
Equipment[]
Githyanki player characters are not granted automatic magical items as they gain levels as githyanki nonplayer characters are. Without ties to the society, there is no one to grant the weapons to them. Fact is, if a player character githyanki somehow got his hands on a silver sword, he'd be hunted by knights until it was recovered and he was slain.