Mephibosheth
2006-04-20, 12:35 AM
Vanar
http://www.hanuman.com/Hanuman.jpg
Vanar are a race of monkey-like humanoids who populate islands overgrown with lush vegetation. They are formidable warriors who literally tear trees out of the ground and wield them as oversized clubs.
Personality
Vanar are characterized by what is called their "monkey nature." While they are cunning and shrewd, they have somewhat limited attention spans and they tend to be rash. They are quick to both anger and laughter, and they tend to be exceedingly curious. They are often quite generous and loyal to their friends.
Physical Description
The Vanar are quite similar to humans in build and are indistinguishable from humans in many respects. However, they possess long, somewhat prehensile tails of which they are very proud, and their faces have strong monkey-like characteristics.
Relations
The Vanar largely maintain cordial relations with their neighbors, but they tend to be somewhat isolationist. Their generosity and curiosity tend to make other races view them as endearing.
Alignment
The Vanar are overwhelmingly chaotic and tend more toward good than evil. Rare Vanar are neutral or even lawful, but these individuals are few and far between.
Vanar Racial Traits
+2 Dexterity, +2 Strength, -2 Wisdom: Vanar are quick and agile, but their monkey nature leaves them with short attention spans and prone to rash actions.
Medium: As Medium creatures, Vanar have no special bonuses of penalties due to their size
Vanar base land speed is 30 feet. Vanar also have a climb speed of 15 feet and can take 10 on any climb check, even in circumstances where taking 10 is not normally allowed.
Low-light vision
Powerful Build: Vanar count as one size category larger for the purposes of weapon size. They do not count as larger for any other purpose.
+4 racial bonus on Jump checks, +2 racial bonus on Climb, Search, and Spot checks. Vanar are renowned for their prodigious jumping abilities, their monkey nature makes them at home in the trees, they are quite alert, and they are surprisingly thorough searchers.
Improvised Weapon Familiarity: Vanar characters only take a -2 penalty on attack rolls when using improvised weapons instead of the normal -4 penalty. Vanar warriors usually wield tree-trunk clubs in melee combat and hurl rocks in ranged combat.
Spell-Like Ability: A Vanar can use Enlarge Person or Reduce Person as a spell-like ability for a number of rounds equal to his/her character level. A Vanar can only use this ability to alter his/her own size.
Favored Class: Fighter
LA: +2
Vanar Tree-Clubs
Vanar warriors typically wield the trunks of trees as clubs in battle. These tree-clubs count as improvised two-handed weapons (entailing a -4 penalty to attack rolls for all non-Vanar and a -2 penalty for Vanar characters). These weapons deal 2d6 bludgeoning damage, with a critical multiplier of x3.
Vanar Throwing Rocks
Vanar warriors usually throw rocks when they wish to engage in ranged combat. These projectiles are substantially larger than sling stones, dealing 1d8 bludgeoning damage with a critical multiplier of x2. The have a range increment of 10 ft and count as improvised weapons.
So, this is my take on the monkey race from the Ramayana. Please let me know what you think about them, especially on their balance against the other PHB races. I'm particularly curious about the effect their ability to wield improvised weapons might have on balance. What do you think?
As always, I welcome any comments.
Mephibosheth
http://www.hanuman.com/Hanuman.jpg
Vanar are a race of monkey-like humanoids who populate islands overgrown with lush vegetation. They are formidable warriors who literally tear trees out of the ground and wield them as oversized clubs.
Personality
Vanar are characterized by what is called their "monkey nature." While they are cunning and shrewd, they have somewhat limited attention spans and they tend to be rash. They are quick to both anger and laughter, and they tend to be exceedingly curious. They are often quite generous and loyal to their friends.
Physical Description
The Vanar are quite similar to humans in build and are indistinguishable from humans in many respects. However, they possess long, somewhat prehensile tails of which they are very proud, and their faces have strong monkey-like characteristics.
Relations
The Vanar largely maintain cordial relations with their neighbors, but they tend to be somewhat isolationist. Their generosity and curiosity tend to make other races view them as endearing.
Alignment
The Vanar are overwhelmingly chaotic and tend more toward good than evil. Rare Vanar are neutral or even lawful, but these individuals are few and far between.
Vanar Racial Traits
+2 Dexterity, +2 Strength, -2 Wisdom: Vanar are quick and agile, but their monkey nature leaves them with short attention spans and prone to rash actions.
Medium: As Medium creatures, Vanar have no special bonuses of penalties due to their size
Vanar base land speed is 30 feet. Vanar also have a climb speed of 15 feet and can take 10 on any climb check, even in circumstances where taking 10 is not normally allowed.
Low-light vision
Powerful Build: Vanar count as one size category larger for the purposes of weapon size. They do not count as larger for any other purpose.
+4 racial bonus on Jump checks, +2 racial bonus on Climb, Search, and Spot checks. Vanar are renowned for their prodigious jumping abilities, their monkey nature makes them at home in the trees, they are quite alert, and they are surprisingly thorough searchers.
Improvised Weapon Familiarity: Vanar characters only take a -2 penalty on attack rolls when using improvised weapons instead of the normal -4 penalty. Vanar warriors usually wield tree-trunk clubs in melee combat and hurl rocks in ranged combat.
Spell-Like Ability: A Vanar can use Enlarge Person or Reduce Person as a spell-like ability for a number of rounds equal to his/her character level. A Vanar can only use this ability to alter his/her own size.
Favored Class: Fighter
LA: +2
Vanar Tree-Clubs
Vanar warriors typically wield the trunks of trees as clubs in battle. These tree-clubs count as improvised two-handed weapons (entailing a -4 penalty to attack rolls for all non-Vanar and a -2 penalty for Vanar characters). These weapons deal 2d6 bludgeoning damage, with a critical multiplier of x3.
Vanar Throwing Rocks
Vanar warriors usually throw rocks when they wish to engage in ranged combat. These projectiles are substantially larger than sling stones, dealing 1d8 bludgeoning damage with a critical multiplier of x2. The have a range increment of 10 ft and count as improvised weapons.
So, this is my take on the monkey race from the Ramayana. Please let me know what you think about them, especially on their balance against the other PHB races. I'm particularly curious about the effect their ability to wield improvised weapons might have on balance. What do you think?
As always, I welcome any comments.
Mephibosheth