Blackdrop
2007-08-07, 06:51 PM
Lycans
The Lycan race is relatively young when compared to the humans, elves, hobgoblins and dwarves. They were not some horrible side product of nature. Their past lies in the powers of the divine and in tragedy.
Many centuries ago the foul god Wolfen(this is going to change as soon as I think up a better name) chose his favorite beast from the mortal world, wolves, and gave many of them a curse. A curse that whoever they bit would become like them when night-fell. He sent these cursed creatures into the oblivious world below. And he waited.
Decades passed and stories rose of strange creatures. Creatures that could assume a normal form by day and a wolf-like one by night. These stories were passed off as nothing more than stories. Until a village in the kingdom of Thamlor(from my up coming campaign) was ransacked, most of it's inhabitants killed, and the survivors infected with the curse.
Thamlor(a god from my campaign) decided to deal with these creatures himself, until he realized that their curse was divine in nature. He then decided to dispatch a group of paladins from his temple to deal with the wolfmen.
The plan went smoothly. The paladins arrived at the village and slaughtered all but one of the wolves. The last one ran into the forest. The paladins pursued the creature, who seemingly had control over when he transformed, for three days. When they finally caught the beast, they were exhausted and in no condition to fight. The wolfman didn't care and attack the group anyway, but he didn't attack to kill. He attacked to infect.
The werewolf incapacitated the paladins and fled. When they awoke they could feel their sanity slipping away. The god Thamlor, feeling responsible for what had happened to them, did everything in his divine power to ward of the foul curse. When Wolfen realized what he was doing he fought back. He hit the paladins with an extra strong curse. One that would forever hold them in the form of a wolf. With the power of two divine curses the paladins ceased being human and became the lycans.
Over time, evolution, with some divine prodding, helped lift the curse. They regained the ability to walk on their hind legs and even regain humanoid thumbs. Their biggest challenge to over come reteaching themselves to speak in human tongue.
Lycans Statistics
+2 Dexterity, -4 Charisma
Medium Size: As Medium creatures, lycans have no special bonuses or
penalties due to their size.
Lycan base land speed is 30 feet. However, when lycans are wearing no armor or light armor, carrying a light load, and running on all fours, a lycan can increase their base land speed to 40 feet. This does not stack with the barbarians Fast Movement ability.
Low-Light Vision: A lycan can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. She retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
Thumbed Paws: The bizarre relearning and re-evolving that the lycan species underwent produced some odd results. Instead of having hands or paws attached to their forearms, they have a hybrid. A paw with 4 slighty extended toes and a thumb-like appendage. This is the closest the lycan species has come to normal humans hands. These "thumbed paws" have some drawbacks. A lycan suffers a -4 penalty to being disarmed and when they are cast an arcane spell with a somatic component they must make an arcane spell failure role, as if they were wearing armor.
Natural Weapons: A lycan can use the claws on her front two paws/hands as natural weapons. They can only be used when the lycan is standing upright and her hands empty (not carrying any manufactured weapons, shields, torches, etc. EX. a lycan can't be carrying a shield in one hand and attack with the other). These attacks do 1d4+strength modifier for damage.
Lycans have Scent as a Special Ability.
Lycans have a +4 racial bonus on Survival checks when tracking by scent.
Lycanthrope Immunity: Lycans are immune to the curse of lycanthropy.
Automatic Languages: Common. Bonus Languages: Elven, Gnome, Halfling, Sylvan.
Favored Class: Ranger. A multiclass lycans’s ranger class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.
The Lycan race is relatively young when compared to the humans, elves, hobgoblins and dwarves. They were not some horrible side product of nature. Their past lies in the powers of the divine and in tragedy.
Many centuries ago the foul god Wolfen(this is going to change as soon as I think up a better name) chose his favorite beast from the mortal world, wolves, and gave many of them a curse. A curse that whoever they bit would become like them when night-fell. He sent these cursed creatures into the oblivious world below. And he waited.
Decades passed and stories rose of strange creatures. Creatures that could assume a normal form by day and a wolf-like one by night. These stories were passed off as nothing more than stories. Until a village in the kingdom of Thamlor(from my up coming campaign) was ransacked, most of it's inhabitants killed, and the survivors infected with the curse.
Thamlor(a god from my campaign) decided to deal with these creatures himself, until he realized that their curse was divine in nature. He then decided to dispatch a group of paladins from his temple to deal with the wolfmen.
The plan went smoothly. The paladins arrived at the village and slaughtered all but one of the wolves. The last one ran into the forest. The paladins pursued the creature, who seemingly had control over when he transformed, for three days. When they finally caught the beast, they were exhausted and in no condition to fight. The wolfman didn't care and attack the group anyway, but he didn't attack to kill. He attacked to infect.
The werewolf incapacitated the paladins and fled. When they awoke they could feel their sanity slipping away. The god Thamlor, feeling responsible for what had happened to them, did everything in his divine power to ward of the foul curse. When Wolfen realized what he was doing he fought back. He hit the paladins with an extra strong curse. One that would forever hold them in the form of a wolf. With the power of two divine curses the paladins ceased being human and became the lycans.
Over time, evolution, with some divine prodding, helped lift the curse. They regained the ability to walk on their hind legs and even regain humanoid thumbs. Their biggest challenge to over come reteaching themselves to speak in human tongue.
Lycans Statistics
+2 Dexterity, -4 Charisma
Medium Size: As Medium creatures, lycans have no special bonuses or
penalties due to their size.
Lycan base land speed is 30 feet. However, when lycans are wearing no armor or light armor, carrying a light load, and running on all fours, a lycan can increase their base land speed to 40 feet. This does not stack with the barbarians Fast Movement ability.
Low-Light Vision: A lycan can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. She retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
Thumbed Paws: The bizarre relearning and re-evolving that the lycan species underwent produced some odd results. Instead of having hands or paws attached to their forearms, they have a hybrid. A paw with 4 slighty extended toes and a thumb-like appendage. This is the closest the lycan species has come to normal humans hands. These "thumbed paws" have some drawbacks. A lycan suffers a -4 penalty to being disarmed and when they are cast an arcane spell with a somatic component they must make an arcane spell failure role, as if they were wearing armor.
Natural Weapons: A lycan can use the claws on her front two paws/hands as natural weapons. They can only be used when the lycan is standing upright and her hands empty (not carrying any manufactured weapons, shields, torches, etc. EX. a lycan can't be carrying a shield in one hand and attack with the other). These attacks do 1d4+strength modifier for damage.
Lycans have Scent as a Special Ability.
Lycans have a +4 racial bonus on Survival checks when tracking by scent.
Lycanthrope Immunity: Lycans are immune to the curse of lycanthropy.
Automatic Languages: Common. Bonus Languages: Elven, Gnome, Halfling, Sylvan.
Favored Class: Ranger. A multiclass lycans’s ranger class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.