[Monster] The Bugs Do Rise (incomplete)

[CharPixie]

Executive Overview:

History

In great colonies deep in the earth, once the Tark did live. In their isolation, the Tark existence revolved around the Tark Queens. The Queens controled the hives; the hives could only serve their Queens. Nothing more. They could not even imagine that there was more to existence. They couldn't imagine at all. They couldn't even feel; love was foreign to them. They did not love their Queen. They served her. There was nothing else; no other way to think.

Tark now feel a deep pang at this thought; that their ancestors had the capacity to experience life but that they were not allowed is a despair that haunts them.

Still, no perfection exists short of the Heavens. There was a colony where a particularly ruthless Queen ruled. She had dismembered her rivals, and sent her Soldiers all through her domain, driving them to hunt down new Queens and intruding Queens, and bring them to a horrible end. They hunted all Queens, so savage was her commands, but she kept them from her, by her will. She aged, and one day, more than the plunder of the surface was brought down into her hive. Plague came, and spread through the hive. Many of the hive's Tark died, and the Queen herself became ill; too ill to control the hive. The Tark formerly under her control began to regain their own volition.

And they knew terror. Freed from the rigorous channels the Queen had held their minds to, they knew emotion, and they knew dread. They fled from the hive, scattering into the upper earth. And the Soldiers, no longer prevented from attacking the Queen, carried out her last orders.

They regrouped, and under persecution from the living Queens they founded cities, met with the surface dwellers, and traded away their souls with labour to buy weapons to use against the Queens. Soon, other hives were liberated, and the remaing Queens were driven from the Tark earth.

But still the Tark knew terror, for their very nature was against them. The Queens and the Soldiers were not foreign to the Tark. They grew from the Tark. Children would turn into monsters as they slept. Adults would undergo fierce metamorphose as they struggled to build their new lives. Newly born Soldiers would turn on their old friends and family, hunting them in some ancient pursuit of order. Newly born Queens would hide themselves, their ambitions fully formed even as their shape and their powers still were just beginning to manifest.

The Tark

-- discuss what the individual Tark look like, act like, and such.

The Soldier

-- discuss what a Tark undergoes as they become a Tark Soldier, a 'Godarl', and how they hunt.

The Queen

-- discuss the form and motives of the Queens, and the danger they represent.

[CharPixie]

The Tark

Tark, 1st Level Warrior
Small Monstrous Humanoid
Hit Dice: 1d8+2 (6 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 15 ft (20 without armour), burrow 10 ft.
Armor Class: 16 (+1 natural, +1 size, +4 scale mail), touch 11, flat-footed 16
Base Attack/Grapple: +1/-3
Attack: Heavy Flail +3 melee (1d8+1 19-20/x2) or claw +3 (1d3+1) or javelin +2 ranged (1d4+1)
Full Attack: Heavy Flail +3 melee (1d8+1 19-20/x2) or claw +3 (1d3+1) or javelin +2 ranged (1d4+1)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: N/A
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft, Quadped, Tark Traits (Ex)
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +0, Will +0
Abilities: Str 13, Dex 11, Con 14, Int 7, Wis 10, Cha 6
Skills: Hide +4, Listen +4
Feats: Power Attack
Environment: Underground
Organization: Solitary, pair, troupe (5-10), or many many more (TBA)
Challenge Rating: 1
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Usually lawful
Advancement: By character class
Level Adjustment: +1

The tark warrior presented here had the following ability scores before racial adjustments: Str 13, Dex 11, Con 12, Int 9, Wis 10, Cha 8.

Tark, 10th Level Rogue
Small Monstrous Humanoid
Hit Dice: 10d6+10 (45 hp)
Initiative: +3
Speed: 20 ft, burrow 10 ft.
Armor Class: 21 (+3 dex, +1 natural, +1 size, +6 +2 glamoured mithral chain shirt), touch 14, flat-footed 18
Base Attack/Grapple: +7/-4
Attack: +2 merciful dagger +13 melee (1d3+1+1d6 19-20/x2) or claw +11 (1d3-1) or +1 frost, returning dagger +12 ranged (1d3+1d6)
Full Attack: +2 merciful dagger +11/+6 melee (1d3+1+1d6 19-20/x2) and +1 frost, returning dagger +10/+5 melee (1d3+1d6 19-20/x2)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: N/A
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft, Quadped, Tark Traits (Ex), Evasion (Ex), Improved Uncanny Dodge, Trapfinding, Trapsense +3, Sneak Attack +5d6, Slippery Mind (Ex).
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +10, Will +4
Abilities: Str 8, Dex 17, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 13, Cha 10
Skills: Bluff +13, Climb +14, Disable Device +7, Disguise +13, Forgery +14. Hide +22, Listen +8, Move Silently +18, Open Locks +10, Profession(Miner) +9, Search +8, Spot +7.
Feats: Weapon Finesse, Stealthy, Two Weapon Fighting, Improved Two Weapon Fighting
Environment: Underground
Organization: Solitary or pair
Challenge Rating: 11
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Usually lawful
Advancement: By character class
Level Adjustment: +1

The tark rogue presented here had the following ability scores before racial adjustments: Str 8, Dex 15, Con 10, Int 14, Wis 13, Cha 12.

A tark stands about 2 and a half feet tall and is 3 feet long from head to the end tip of the thorax.. It weighs about 50 pounds.

Tark Characters
Tark characters possess the following racial traits.

* +2 Constitution, -2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma.
* Small size: +1 bonus to Armor Class, +1 bonus on attack rolls, +4 bonus on Hide checks, -4 penalty on grapple checks, lifting and carrying limits ¾ those of Medium characters.
* +1 natural armour.
* A tark’s base land speed is 20 feet.
* A tark has a burrow speed of 10 feet. The tark must have both front manibles free to burrow.
* Darkvision out to 60 feet.
* +2 racial bonus on Climb, Knowledge(History), and Profession(Miner) checks.
* Automatic Languages: Common, Tark. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Dwarven, Gnome, Goblin, Undercommon.
* Favored Class: Rogue.
* Level Adjustment: +1

[CharPixie]

The Godarl, or "Tark Soldier"

Godarl
Medium Monstrous Humanoid
Hit Dice: 3d8+6 (19 hp)
Initiative: -1
Speed: 30 ft, burrow 10 ft.
Armor Class: 12 (+3 natural, -1 dex), touch 9, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/+6
Attack: Greatclub +6 melee (1d10+4 x2) or claw +6 (1d4+3) or javelin +2 ranged (1d6+3)
Full Attack: Greatclub +6 melee (1d10+4 x2) or claw +6 (1d4+3) or javelin +2 ranged (1d6+3)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: N/A
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft, Quadped, Tark Traits (Ex)
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +2, Will +4
Abilities: Str 16, Dex 8, Con 14, Int 5, Wis 13, Cha 4
Skills: Listen +5, Spot +3, Survival +5
Feats: Alertness, Endurance, TrackB
Environment: Underground
Organization: Solitary, pair, or pack (5-10).
Challenge Rating: 3
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Usually lawful
Advancement: By character class
Level Adjustment: +2

Godarl, 6th Level Ranger
Medium Monstrous Humanoid
Hit Dice: 3d8+12 + 6d10+24 (80 hp)
Initiative: -2
Speed: 30 ft, burrow 10 ft.
Armor Class: 16 (+3 natural, -2 dex, +5 +1 chain shirt), touch 8, flat-footed 16
Base Attack/Grapple: +9/+15
Attack: +1 Flaming battleaxe +16 melee (1d8+7+1d6 x3) or claw +15 (1d4+6) or throwing axe +7 ranged (1d6+6)
Full Attack: +1 Flaming battleaxe +14/+9 melee (1d8+7+1d6 x3) and throwing axe +13/+8 melee (1d6+3 x2)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Spells
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft, Quadped, Tark Traits (Ex), Favoured Enemy (Tark) +4, Favoured Enemy (Human) +2, Wild Empathy, Animal Companion.
Saves: Fort +9, Ref +5, Will +6
Abilities: Str 22, Dex 6, Con 18, Int 8, Wis 12, Cha 6
Skills: Hide +7, Listen +7, Move Silenty +7, Spot +7, Survival +11
Feats: Alertness, Cleave, Diehard, EnduranceB, Improved Two Weapon FightingB, Power Attack, TrackB
Environment: Underground
Organization: Solitary.
Challenge Rating: 9
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Usually lawful
Advancement: By character class
Level Adjustment: +2

Typical Spells Known (ALL; save DC 11 + spell level): 1st— detect snares and pits, pass without trace.

A godarl stands about 7 feet tall and is 6 feet long from head to the end tip of the thorax.. It weighs about 300 pounds.

[CharPixie]

RESERVED

[CharPixie]

RESERVED

[felblood]

Excuse me, but the warrior class uses a d8 hit die instead of a d10.

I love the concept though. It's like the human quandry of finding your identity within society, except with unpredicable mutations, crazy mobs, and little girls who suddenly become megalomaniacal conquerers. Roleplaying and hack'n'slash material in one package: the best of both worlds.

I am curious to see wether the soldier race will serve the new queens, or try to execute their ancestral order to kill them.