Weirdlet
2007-01-02, 02:13 AM
Okay then, let's see if this works better...
I’ve adjusted the stats some, I hope they’re less over the top now, and fine-tuned the weapons a bit as well as giving them some of the technology that seems appropriate. I’m not giving them a blasty plasma-bolt or ethergaunt equivalent for now- I’m kind of trying to play with ‘Predators as if they had evolved in D&D land’- but I think with the bows they’d build for themselves are pretty nasty projectile weapons all on their own. The imagery I’m drawing on for that is towards the end of the Fellowship of the Ring, where the Uruk-hai attack and all of a sudden these *thick*, *horrific* black arrows sprout from nowhere and you just get this feeling of how much force there was behind it.
I’ve also adjusted the vision thing, hope it makes more sense and fits better. I’m still looking for advice on how one calculates a Level Adjustment, as well.
Hryush:
Medium Monstrous Humanoid
Hit Dice: 10d8+40 (80 hp)
Initiative: +4
Speed: 40 ft (8 squares)
Armor Class: 18 (+4 Dex, +1 natural, +3 studded leather armor) touch 14, flat-footed 14.
Base Attack/Grapple: +10/+5
Attack: Masterwork Longspear +16 melee (+14 Adjacent) (1d8+6/x3) or Masterwork Composite Longbow(+5) +15 ranged (1d8+5/x3) or Short Sword +15 melee (1d6+5/19-20/x2) or Slam +15 melee (1d6+5/x2) or Bite +15 melee (1d3+6/x2)
Full Attack: Masterwork Longspear +16 melee (+14 Adjacent) (1d8+5/x3) and Slam +15 melee (1d6+5/x2); or Short Sword +15 melee and Slam +10 melee (1d6+5/x2); or Masterwork Mighty Composite Longbow (+5) +15 ranged (1d8+5/x3); or Slam +15 melee (1d6_5/x2) and Bite +10 melee (1d3+6/x2).
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: --
Special Qualities: Thermal Vision 60 ft.
Saving Throws: Fort +11, Ref +9, Will +5
Abilities: Str 20, Dex 18, Con 18, Int 16, Wis 14, Cha 10 (using Str 12, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 10 and Cha 10 as a base)
Skills: Hide +18 (+22 in home territory/appropriate jungle), Move Silently +16, Listen +9, Spot +11, Survival +9, Search +8, Climb +10, Swim +10, Tumble +9, Jump +10, Balance +7 (10 ranks Hide, 10 Move Silently, 5 Listen, 5 Spot, 7 Survival, 5 Search, 5 Climb, 5 Swim, 5 Tumble, 5 Jump, 3 Balance.)
Feats: Alertness, Stealthy, Lightning Reflexes, Shorten Grip
Environment: Warm marshes
Organization: Solitary, hunting/scouting pack (2-5), clan (20-100 +5% non-combatant young) (long lifespans- they’ve usually got a few children around, not many, but consistently)
Challenge Rating: 10? (again, need advice on calculations)
Treasure: Some coins, bone jewelry?
Alignment: Usually lawful neutral
Advancement: By character class
Level Adjustment: (Need Advice on Calculating)
Looking past the quivering spear that has been imbedded in the tree behind you next to your ear, you can see the mottled patterns of the jungle suddenly outline a figure running towards you with the ring of a blade being unsheathed as it approaches. Half again as large as a human, the monster rushes forward, mandibles flared in a roar as long, thick spines stream back from its head like braids. It is muscled. It is massive. And it looks as though it's coming for your head.
Hryushes hunt to live, and live to hunt. In the trees or in the water of their native swamps, they are effective and deadly predators, seeking food and challenges to their skills as warriors. Blind to light, they see through a combination of heat and electrical sense.
--Thermal Vision: Not as Blindsense or Blindsight, the hryush still needs to make Spot and Listen checks to see someone within their normal range of vision, but being heat-based they are not affected by lighting conditions or spells such as Invisibility, which conceals a person from light-based sight but does not affect the heat they give off. Ethereal creatures are not physically present and thus are not visible, and blinding attacks still work against the hryush.
Standing about 8 feet tall, hryushes are muscular and powerful, with a thick, frog-like skin in highly effective camouflage colors stretched over hard-developed frames. Their heads seem large for their bodies, fringed in long adapted scales that almost resemble thick braids or flexible spines, and they possess deep-set eyes above a delicate mandibled mouth. Around their necks, arms and waists are jewelry carved of bone, heavy on the fangs and claws- symbols of kills they themselves have made, with intent on gaining prestige for themselves and their clans, as well as making themselves more attractive as potential mates. All other beings capable of self-defense are seen as rightful prey, though in rare instances, someone who has acquitted themselves well may be considered an equal. Hryushes eschew magical and mental abilities in favor of physical combat, regarding clerics with wariness and respect as an exemption to the rules- if the gods say that such a person can help them with magic, by all means, let them, if the situation is dire enough.
Combat:
When hunting for food, a hryush will approach with stealth, then attack swiftly and decisively- the same method is applied to trophy hunting, but once the element of surprise is lost, instead of letting their prey go they will continue to battle their chosen opponents, making their utmost efforts. In both, a hunter is most frequently found alone, but may team up with a partner or small group if the situation is clearly more than one can handle alone. A hryush attacks with blade first, and usually only goes for bareknuckle brawling if disarmed or engaged in more-or-less friendly tussles amongst its own kind. Biting is a last resort or a sharp reprimand to a subordinate. When in his or her home swamp, a hyrush receive a +4 racial bonus to Hide and Move Silently checks.
Being well-equipped is important to a hryush warrior, and the cultural focus on glorious hunts and battle has led to the creation of their own weapons and armor, focusing on their particular needs and abilities, including a way to neutralize users of the distrusted arcane powers.
--Helmet: Covering the face as part of their armor, this mask-like helmet also helps clarify Thermal Vision for a +2 to Spot.
--Shadowmesh: There are many dangerous and strange creatures living in the same jungle as the hryush, including spiders that weave a strange web indeed. Reflecting and redirecting light, it has the effect of seeming transparent- and making whatever is covered in it look much the same. Hryush crafters seek out these webs and spin and weave them into a mesh that hunters can wear, gaining the ability to Hide in Plain Sight when so clothed, with an additional +2 bonus to Hide checks. Armor may be worn over shadowmesh and treated with the same materials to not disrupt the effect.
--Equalizers: The inherent distrust of magic has lead, in this rare exception, to fighting fire with fire. The best craftsmen among Hryush will study arcane magics in order to be able neutralize them, learning spells themselves or working with powerful priests and priestesses to create small, anti-magic field bombs for more adventurous hunters to carry with them as they venture beyond their own territory. The hunter on the prowl where a party might encounter it will have three or four of these, using them sparingly when it seems advantageous, such as when the spellcasters of a party are forced into close quarters. Equalizers are small ceramic balls that break open on striking the ground or other hard surface, covering a 10-ft. radius with an anti-magic field for 110 minutes.
Hryush Society:
Hryush are organized into clans, based on close kin ties. Each extended family holds territory for hunting and living, keeping well isolated from other clans until the breeding season, when bands of outclan males will be accepted as guests in the territory of families where some of the females have decided to have children that year. They are tolerated for the duration of the season, first to witness their competition for the affections of the female warriors, then as support for their season-mates during gestation. After the birth of their offspring, males are expected to return to their own families.
Clans are usually led by the eldest and most renowned warrior, who is frequently given the position by the previous leader through a ritual trial by combat, when the elder leader feels their chosen successor is ready and that they are no longer physically fit enough to lead. Warriors and hunters are held to a strict set of rules about who is a fit opponent or prize in a hunt- slavery is viewed as anathema, and humiliation worse than death. A good death is not to be sneezed at- disgrace must be avenged.
Hryush favor physical strength and intelligence far above magic or mental abilities- a mage or psion would be shunned if they practiced openly, unless there were very special circumstances that placed them as a protector and useful to the species as a whole. Clerics are regarded with respect from a distance, while a gifted storyteller or bard is regarded as sacred to everyday life. In such a hyrush, physical weakness would be excused in deference to their exalted position, and their ability to make or break a warrior’s reputation in ways that will live long after they are gone. Physical ability is expected and required in all socially accepted Hryush, unless one has exceptional skills in other areas necessary to their lifestyle, such as weapons- or armor-making. Rarely will a mother be willing to expose her child if there is something wrong with it, but neither will she give unreasonable shelter as it grows, and if it overcomes its disabilities and survives to adulthood it will be highly respected.
Females are built much like males, being more amphibious or reptilian than mammal, though the fringe of adapted scales on their heads are often much longer, trailing in the water for their infants to hold onto as they swim. Each clan will have a compound made of wood at the center of their territory as a base, built around and incorporating the huge trees, with a few outflung dwellings for scouts/border guards and any local mystic or cleric. Being blind to light, they do not see as most creatures do, but depend on heat and vibrations or being close enough to touch- most non-verbal communication is tactile, their written language is read by brushing fingertips over the glyphs, and body art consists of scarring rather than tattoos. To be allowed close contact is a sign of trust usually only permitted with fellow clan-members and season-mates.
Hryushes As Characters:
Hryushes tend to be fighters, although they are capable of a great many things given time and inclination beyond the warrior life. Clerics worship the Burning Goddess and the Cold God, looking for good luck from the former and bad luck for their enemies from the latter. It is rare for a hryush to practice arcane magic, and often such a one, or one with lesser physical abilities or running from humiliation, will be an outlaw to hyrush society and become interested in the ways of other species.
Hryush characters possess the following racial traits-
-- +8 Strength, +6 Dexterity, +4 Constitution, +2 Intelligence, +4 Wisdom.
-- A hryush’s land speed is 40 ft, water 25 ft.
-- Thermal Vision 60 ft.
-- Racial Hit Dice: A hryush begins with ten levels of monstrous humanoid, though it is possible for them to start out younger with appropriate adjustments. These provide 10d8 Hit Dice, a base attack bonus of +10/+5, and base saving throws of Fort +7, Ref +3, and Will +3.
--Racial Skills: A hryush’s monstrous humanoid levels give it skill points equal to 13 X (2 + Int Modifier, minimum 1). Its class skills are Hide, Move Silently, Listen, Spot, Survival, Search, Climb, Swim, Tumble, Jump, and Balance.
--Racial Feats: A hryush’s monstrous humanoid levels give it four feats.
--Weapon Proficiency: A hryush is proficient with the longspear, the shortsword, the longbow and all simple weapons.
-- +1 natural armor bonus.
--Natural Weapons: Slam (1d6), Bite (1d3)
--Special Qualities (see above): Thermal Vision
--Automatic Languages: Hryush, Common, Aquan.
--Favored Class: Fighter.
--Level adjustment (Need help Calculating)
The above is for a Hryush in the prime of life, an established adult and warrior- I'm also thinking that it might be good to have a lower-HD one available, representing a young adult, the sort more likely to break with tradition or be cast out and go involve themselves with PCs.
Hryush Deities:
Hryush worship two deities, whom they regard as the two primary forces in the universe. One associated with heat and the other with cold, the hryush believe that the universe is spawned, set in motion, destroyed and created anew constantly by the powerful reactions and interactions between these two elemental forces.
The Burning Goddess- The deity considered most conducive to hryush life, she is mistress over heat, energy and matter, grounding in the physical world and giving it life, the passion to live and kill and create more of oneself. Her domains are Fire, Chaos, War and Competition, and her favored weapon is the lightning bolt (longspear). Those who are struck by lightning are said to be favored by her.
The Cold God- The giver of order and stability, the ruler of hryush hell and the stiller of movement, the Cold God is considered lord of nothingness, of the void that devours. His favored weapon is the ice shard (short sword). His domains are Cold, Darkness, Law and Time.
I’ve adjusted the stats some, I hope they’re less over the top now, and fine-tuned the weapons a bit as well as giving them some of the technology that seems appropriate. I’m not giving them a blasty plasma-bolt or ethergaunt equivalent for now- I’m kind of trying to play with ‘Predators as if they had evolved in D&D land’- but I think with the bows they’d build for themselves are pretty nasty projectile weapons all on their own. The imagery I’m drawing on for that is towards the end of the Fellowship of the Ring, where the Uruk-hai attack and all of a sudden these *thick*, *horrific* black arrows sprout from nowhere and you just get this feeling of how much force there was behind it.
I’ve also adjusted the vision thing, hope it makes more sense and fits better. I’m still looking for advice on how one calculates a Level Adjustment, as well.
Hryush:
Medium Monstrous Humanoid
Hit Dice: 10d8+40 (80 hp)
Initiative: +4
Speed: 40 ft (8 squares)
Armor Class: 18 (+4 Dex, +1 natural, +3 studded leather armor) touch 14, flat-footed 14.
Base Attack/Grapple: +10/+5
Attack: Masterwork Longspear +16 melee (+14 Adjacent) (1d8+6/x3) or Masterwork Composite Longbow(+5) +15 ranged (1d8+5/x3) or Short Sword +15 melee (1d6+5/19-20/x2) or Slam +15 melee (1d6+5/x2) or Bite +15 melee (1d3+6/x2)
Full Attack: Masterwork Longspear +16 melee (+14 Adjacent) (1d8+5/x3) and Slam +15 melee (1d6+5/x2); or Short Sword +15 melee and Slam +10 melee (1d6+5/x2); or Masterwork Mighty Composite Longbow (+5) +15 ranged (1d8+5/x3); or Slam +15 melee (1d6_5/x2) and Bite +10 melee (1d3+6/x2).
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: --
Special Qualities: Thermal Vision 60 ft.
Saving Throws: Fort +11, Ref +9, Will +5
Abilities: Str 20, Dex 18, Con 18, Int 16, Wis 14, Cha 10 (using Str 12, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 10 and Cha 10 as a base)
Skills: Hide +18 (+22 in home territory/appropriate jungle), Move Silently +16, Listen +9, Spot +11, Survival +9, Search +8, Climb +10, Swim +10, Tumble +9, Jump +10, Balance +7 (10 ranks Hide, 10 Move Silently, 5 Listen, 5 Spot, 7 Survival, 5 Search, 5 Climb, 5 Swim, 5 Tumble, 5 Jump, 3 Balance.)
Feats: Alertness, Stealthy, Lightning Reflexes, Shorten Grip
Environment: Warm marshes
Organization: Solitary, hunting/scouting pack (2-5), clan (20-100 +5% non-combatant young) (long lifespans- they’ve usually got a few children around, not many, but consistently)
Challenge Rating: 10? (again, need advice on calculations)
Treasure: Some coins, bone jewelry?
Alignment: Usually lawful neutral
Advancement: By character class
Level Adjustment: (Need Advice on Calculating)
Looking past the quivering spear that has been imbedded in the tree behind you next to your ear, you can see the mottled patterns of the jungle suddenly outline a figure running towards you with the ring of a blade being unsheathed as it approaches. Half again as large as a human, the monster rushes forward, mandibles flared in a roar as long, thick spines stream back from its head like braids. It is muscled. It is massive. And it looks as though it's coming for your head.
Hryushes hunt to live, and live to hunt. In the trees or in the water of their native swamps, they are effective and deadly predators, seeking food and challenges to their skills as warriors. Blind to light, they see through a combination of heat and electrical sense.
--Thermal Vision: Not as Blindsense or Blindsight, the hryush still needs to make Spot and Listen checks to see someone within their normal range of vision, but being heat-based they are not affected by lighting conditions or spells such as Invisibility, which conceals a person from light-based sight but does not affect the heat they give off. Ethereal creatures are not physically present and thus are not visible, and blinding attacks still work against the hryush.
Standing about 8 feet tall, hryushes are muscular and powerful, with a thick, frog-like skin in highly effective camouflage colors stretched over hard-developed frames. Their heads seem large for their bodies, fringed in long adapted scales that almost resemble thick braids or flexible spines, and they possess deep-set eyes above a delicate mandibled mouth. Around their necks, arms and waists are jewelry carved of bone, heavy on the fangs and claws- symbols of kills they themselves have made, with intent on gaining prestige for themselves and their clans, as well as making themselves more attractive as potential mates. All other beings capable of self-defense are seen as rightful prey, though in rare instances, someone who has acquitted themselves well may be considered an equal. Hryushes eschew magical and mental abilities in favor of physical combat, regarding clerics with wariness and respect as an exemption to the rules- if the gods say that such a person can help them with magic, by all means, let them, if the situation is dire enough.
Combat:
When hunting for food, a hryush will approach with stealth, then attack swiftly and decisively- the same method is applied to trophy hunting, but once the element of surprise is lost, instead of letting their prey go they will continue to battle their chosen opponents, making their utmost efforts. In both, a hunter is most frequently found alone, but may team up with a partner or small group if the situation is clearly more than one can handle alone. A hryush attacks with blade first, and usually only goes for bareknuckle brawling if disarmed or engaged in more-or-less friendly tussles amongst its own kind. Biting is a last resort or a sharp reprimand to a subordinate. When in his or her home swamp, a hyrush receive a +4 racial bonus to Hide and Move Silently checks.
Being well-equipped is important to a hryush warrior, and the cultural focus on glorious hunts and battle has led to the creation of their own weapons and armor, focusing on their particular needs and abilities, including a way to neutralize users of the distrusted arcane powers.
--Helmet: Covering the face as part of their armor, this mask-like helmet also helps clarify Thermal Vision for a +2 to Spot.
--Shadowmesh: There are many dangerous and strange creatures living in the same jungle as the hryush, including spiders that weave a strange web indeed. Reflecting and redirecting light, it has the effect of seeming transparent- and making whatever is covered in it look much the same. Hryush crafters seek out these webs and spin and weave them into a mesh that hunters can wear, gaining the ability to Hide in Plain Sight when so clothed, with an additional +2 bonus to Hide checks. Armor may be worn over shadowmesh and treated with the same materials to not disrupt the effect.
--Equalizers: The inherent distrust of magic has lead, in this rare exception, to fighting fire with fire. The best craftsmen among Hryush will study arcane magics in order to be able neutralize them, learning spells themselves or working with powerful priests and priestesses to create small, anti-magic field bombs for more adventurous hunters to carry with them as they venture beyond their own territory. The hunter on the prowl where a party might encounter it will have three or four of these, using them sparingly when it seems advantageous, such as when the spellcasters of a party are forced into close quarters. Equalizers are small ceramic balls that break open on striking the ground or other hard surface, covering a 10-ft. radius with an anti-magic field for 110 minutes.
Hryush Society:
Hryush are organized into clans, based on close kin ties. Each extended family holds territory for hunting and living, keeping well isolated from other clans until the breeding season, when bands of outclan males will be accepted as guests in the territory of families where some of the females have decided to have children that year. They are tolerated for the duration of the season, first to witness their competition for the affections of the female warriors, then as support for their season-mates during gestation. After the birth of their offspring, males are expected to return to their own families.
Clans are usually led by the eldest and most renowned warrior, who is frequently given the position by the previous leader through a ritual trial by combat, when the elder leader feels their chosen successor is ready and that they are no longer physically fit enough to lead. Warriors and hunters are held to a strict set of rules about who is a fit opponent or prize in a hunt- slavery is viewed as anathema, and humiliation worse than death. A good death is not to be sneezed at- disgrace must be avenged.
Hryush favor physical strength and intelligence far above magic or mental abilities- a mage or psion would be shunned if they practiced openly, unless there were very special circumstances that placed them as a protector and useful to the species as a whole. Clerics are regarded with respect from a distance, while a gifted storyteller or bard is regarded as sacred to everyday life. In such a hyrush, physical weakness would be excused in deference to their exalted position, and their ability to make or break a warrior’s reputation in ways that will live long after they are gone. Physical ability is expected and required in all socially accepted Hryush, unless one has exceptional skills in other areas necessary to their lifestyle, such as weapons- or armor-making. Rarely will a mother be willing to expose her child if there is something wrong with it, but neither will she give unreasonable shelter as it grows, and if it overcomes its disabilities and survives to adulthood it will be highly respected.
Females are built much like males, being more amphibious or reptilian than mammal, though the fringe of adapted scales on their heads are often much longer, trailing in the water for their infants to hold onto as they swim. Each clan will have a compound made of wood at the center of their territory as a base, built around and incorporating the huge trees, with a few outflung dwellings for scouts/border guards and any local mystic or cleric. Being blind to light, they do not see as most creatures do, but depend on heat and vibrations or being close enough to touch- most non-verbal communication is tactile, their written language is read by brushing fingertips over the glyphs, and body art consists of scarring rather than tattoos. To be allowed close contact is a sign of trust usually only permitted with fellow clan-members and season-mates.
Hryushes As Characters:
Hryushes tend to be fighters, although they are capable of a great many things given time and inclination beyond the warrior life. Clerics worship the Burning Goddess and the Cold God, looking for good luck from the former and bad luck for their enemies from the latter. It is rare for a hryush to practice arcane magic, and often such a one, or one with lesser physical abilities or running from humiliation, will be an outlaw to hyrush society and become interested in the ways of other species.
Hryush characters possess the following racial traits-
-- +8 Strength, +6 Dexterity, +4 Constitution, +2 Intelligence, +4 Wisdom.
-- A hryush’s land speed is 40 ft, water 25 ft.
-- Thermal Vision 60 ft.
-- Racial Hit Dice: A hryush begins with ten levels of monstrous humanoid, though it is possible for them to start out younger with appropriate adjustments. These provide 10d8 Hit Dice, a base attack bonus of +10/+5, and base saving throws of Fort +7, Ref +3, and Will +3.
--Racial Skills: A hryush’s monstrous humanoid levels give it skill points equal to 13 X (2 + Int Modifier, minimum 1). Its class skills are Hide, Move Silently, Listen, Spot, Survival, Search, Climb, Swim, Tumble, Jump, and Balance.
--Racial Feats: A hryush’s monstrous humanoid levels give it four feats.
--Weapon Proficiency: A hryush is proficient with the longspear, the shortsword, the longbow and all simple weapons.
-- +1 natural armor bonus.
--Natural Weapons: Slam (1d6), Bite (1d3)
--Special Qualities (see above): Thermal Vision
--Automatic Languages: Hryush, Common, Aquan.
--Favored Class: Fighter.
--Level adjustment (Need help Calculating)
The above is for a Hryush in the prime of life, an established adult and warrior- I'm also thinking that it might be good to have a lower-HD one available, representing a young adult, the sort more likely to break with tradition or be cast out and go involve themselves with PCs.
Hryush Deities:
Hryush worship two deities, whom they regard as the two primary forces in the universe. One associated with heat and the other with cold, the hryush believe that the universe is spawned, set in motion, destroyed and created anew constantly by the powerful reactions and interactions between these two elemental forces.
The Burning Goddess- The deity considered most conducive to hryush life, she is mistress over heat, energy and matter, grounding in the physical world and giving it life, the passion to live and kill and create more of oneself. Her domains are Fire, Chaos, War and Competition, and her favored weapon is the lightning bolt (longspear). Those who are struck by lightning are said to be favored by her.
The Cold God- The giver of order and stability, the ruler of hryush hell and the stiller of movement, the Cold God is considered lord of nothingness, of the void that devours. His favored weapon is the ice shard (short sword). His domains are Cold, Darkness, Law and Time.