Beastmen of Mystara

[Bhu]

Can anyone tell me anything about them, info on the web is mighty scarce

[awa]

assuming these are the same beast men referenced in my complete book of humanoids.

+2 dex -2 cha about 5 feet tall
they can alter the appearance of there fur to make them harder to spot in forests.
favor "primitive" weapons particularly blow guns with poison darts.

there language is very complex with word gestures and fur changes which makes them feel superior to races with more simple languages.

It says they don't believe in magic or the supernatural and have extreme always on magic resistance which even mess with their magic items.

they can be fighters rangers and thieves

[Bhu]

These would be older than that. They're from the Hollow World campaign setting.

[Roland St. Jude]

A fur-wearing warrior culture who admire feats of physical prowess, they inhabit the northern wastes in a collection of villages. They are not a unified people and, individually, they do not appear the same as either the "true-breeding" races or each other. They admire storytellers but are skeptical of tales of deeds done outside their sight and a too-tall tale teller might be called to prove his prowess or provide evidence of deeds done. But the keeper of the tribes own tales is important despite any lack of hunting or fighting skill. Deeds not lineage or gender determines a person's status in the tribe.

(There's a complex set of tables in the Hollow World box set for physical variations among them. The gist of the table is that they vary widely in height, weight, skin/fur/horns/etc.)

They tend to have short names with hard consonant sounds like Bagokk and Makorr. The have a harsh guttural language and some also speak Neathar human, Antalian, and Icevale Elvish.

Beastmen are generally hospitable to outsiders and worship Ka the Preserver. Beastmen get +1 to Str and Con and -1 to Dex. They are limited to 16 in Int and Wis, but a Beastman shaman must have a 16 Wis and a Beastman Wokan must have a 16 Int.

They have saves as fighters, their own special experience table, Natural AC of 7, infravision 60', and a Prime Req of Str. They can wield culturally appropriate weapons and be of any alignment.

What else would you like to know?

[Bhu]

Thanks Roland!!!! :smallbiggrin:

Whats a wokan?

Any weird racial abilities besides variation in appearance? I'm kind of updating them to 3.5. I'm told they were created in the beginning of the world as 'hosts for evil beings?'

[Khedrac]

Without checking my books a wokan (plural wokani)* is a witch doctor.

*it might be singular wokani actually.

[Roland St. Jude]

Wokan is singular and the plural is Wokani, at least from what I glean from usage. It means magic-user and shaman means cleric among the humanoids of Hollow World. They pay an experience surcharge (put them on the appropriate class XP chart in your conversion).

The Beastmen, also called Brute-Men, were originally reincarnations of evil beings, but that was 4500 years ago and before they moved to Hollow World (which gave them their own existence untainted by that). They are described as ancestors of the humanoid races on the surface, such as orcs, goblins, gnolls, etc. However, Beastmen are now basically a good (not Good or Lawful, the text I've seen doesn't get into that) culture with members who can be of any alignment.

It's probably worth noting that the Beastmen are in the Consult Your DM section of the Player's guide with just barely enough information to make a character.

[Bhu]

It's still more than what I've found via google!

While I have you here, Krugel Orcs are basically just orcs with Mongolian flavor aren't they?

[Khedrac]

Krugel Orcs are basically just orcs with Mongolian flavor aren't they?OK for this I have given up and gone and got my Hollow World books. The answer is a qualified "no". The primary culture based on the Mongol is the Ethengar Khanates (human).
The Krugel Orcs are horse-riding nomad mercenaries, however they do not follow their herds (something I understand the Mongol to have done). They have permanent communities where they train horses and corral bison. They can live off the animals they round up but that is subsistence-level so they raid a lot. The hire out as mercenaries, and except for Azcan and Shadow Elf ambassadors coming to hire them they attack anyone in their lands (again as I understand it the Mongols did sometimes trade happily so again different).
Finally their dress is basically a poncho (called a tabarko) over scale or chain mail armor.

So close - but not quite.

[Bhu]

But physically they're still just the standard orc yes?

[Khedrac]

But physically they're still just the standard orc yes?Yes they are (except that their language is specifically a variant of orcish and both parties have to roll under Int on 1d20 when they communicate with someone using normal orcish).

However the sample personality given is 4th level (3HD) and a squad leader - so presumably they are using the humanoid level rules from GAZ10 The Orcs of Thar (fun book in many ways - level 36 trolls are nasty when you consider that a normal troll is level 1 and everyone is level-capped at 36...)

[Bhu]

Thanks guys!! THis'll make the stuff I'm planning much easier!

[Bhu]

Perchance can anyone tell me what book the wokani originated in?

[Khedrac]

The Masters Boxed Set introduced non-human spell-casters in the DM's book - shaman and wicca.
The Rules Cyclopedia has the same rules for monster spell-casters with wicca renamed to wokani.

[Bhu]

Thanks Khedrac!

[Khedrac]

Thanks Khedrac!
A pleasure, I have a great fondness for that version of D&D.

[Bhu]

Anyone knoe if there are any undead/demons in mystara capable of possession?

[Khedrac]

Undead I will have to go and check, but I think it quite possible as there are quite a few that are primarily spirits (Odic, Druj etc).

Demons in old D&D are a bit different to AD&D and 3rd Ed demons. To start with there are no stats for any in the Basic, Expert, Companion or Masters sets!
There is one "low level" demon called a Death Demon on the Creature Catalog - quite nasty for its hit dice but cannot possess.

All the other demons are the immortals of Entropy - in 3rd Ed terms they have divine rank 0 or better - yes demons are the enemies the beings worshiped fight. Actually the weakest demons do get to square off against the toughest mortals at the end of major adventures - and then come back looking for revenge as there is no way a mortal can actually kill one!

As such it makes sense that Demons can possess mortals - they can pretty much do whatever they want.

[Khedrac]

OK, one quick check of my books later...

B/Ex/C/M D&D does not seem to have the concept of Character Possession in there*. Some of the Undead in the Companion rules are described as possessing bodies or parts of bodies, but checking the details shows them all to be dead before it becomes undead.
The closest is the undead "Possession" or "Sword Spirit" in the Creature Catalog - but it can only possess items.

*Err, this should read "by monsters" - the spell "Magic Jar" is a 5th level spell and does exactly this... This means we now have an undead that can possess someone - a lich casting magic jar.

Old D&D joke - why should you never turn a lich?
A: Because it will come back invisible, prepared and angry.

[Bhu]

I wonder who the evil beings the beastmen were created as bodies for are then.

Thanks Khedrac!