Beast Races

Introduction to the Beast Races

Beast Races are the more brutish group of races. For all their might however, all Beast Races share a superstitious quality. Their superstitions and weaknesses vary according to their race.

Alaghi

Alaghi are the distant relatives of Yetis - they are largely neutral and resemble big light-colored sasquatches. They are feared for their monstrous appearance; Alhagis are about 7 feet tall. They generally love nature and find themselves more comfortable outside of cities. They have excellent senses and can be nearly any class. Most Alaghi love games of all sort. Because they live outside of society, they do not have access to the vast systems of knowledge that other races share. Unfortunately, their mouths are not equipped to speak common very well, and Alhagi with intelligence scores less than 9 often have trouble being understood. Their base melee damage is 1D6.

Superstitions & Weaknesses: Alaghi are extremely fearful of these three signs of mortal danger: 1) any night where no stars are visible, 2) encountering a lone animal who does not flee, and 3) days when lightning hits the earth. If any of these conditions exist, the Alaghi wil be hard-pressed to venture vorth from a safe dwelling.

Goblins

Goblins are the most prevalent and least feared and respected of the Goblin races. Though they are attributed with coming up with the language of all Goblinkind, they've done little else to advance the livelihoods of anyone. Goblins can come in all types of personalities, though the majority of them keep to themselves. Goblins are generally weak, but have well-tempered skin and take minimum damage from fire or any explosive spell or concoction.

Superstitions & Weaknesses: Most goblins hate gnomes and dwarves. Even though they may have friends from those races, they often chide them for it. Goblins are extremeful fearful of being anyway transformed or polymorphed and will avoid such situations at all costs.

Orcs

Orcs are a varied race in terms of personalities and abilities. They are often refferred to as the 'humans' of the beast races, due to the incredible diversity of their civilization: some live in cities, others in tribes, others are lone hunters, others are kings and knights. One thing common among all Orcs is their incredible ability to withstand enormous amounts of pain. It was once speculated that Orcs simply had no nerves to feel such pain, but a polymorphed wizard proved otherwise when in Orc-form he was dismembered with hot swords but screamed the whole time. In the end he concluded it was willpower, not any aspect of Orc physiology that provided their high threshold of pain. Whatever it is, despite any severe injury Orcs are able to perform well enough to fight or escape.

Ogres

Ogres are huge humanoids who resemble large humans with slightly goblinoid features. Ogres make excellent warriors due to their hardiness. Despite their brutish nature, many Ogres are also extremely accomplished in the magical arts. They vary greatly in intelligence and manners depending on where they grew up. Despite their superior size, they have amicable relationships with their other goblinoid cousins. They are often hired as mercenaries by all races, since they have a general fondness with outfitting their lairs and dwellings with fine treasures.

Superstitions & Weaknesses: A long tradition of heading natural signs and portents have made Ogres extremely sensitive to violent changes in weather or similar terrestial phenomena. Any sudden shift in weather is a terrible sign and most Ogres will only venture out with great difficulty on such a day.

Trolls

Trolls are large, hardy, regenerating Beast Folk. Trolls that adventure are generally very superstitious - they will avoid magic at all costs - destroy all magical items they find - and distrust any weapon they do not make themselves or find. In any hard decision, they consult their "Gozor" - the spirit of an animal or dead ancestor they believe always follows them.

They are highly protective of friends and highly superstitious. A Troll subtracts their 'constitution bonus' (expressed as bonus hitpoints per level) from all damage he takes from all sources except for fire and magic. They are 8 to 9 feet tall and can only wear helmets. They take triple damage from fire, and always take the full damage and suffer the full effects of spells, regardless of saving throw. Infravision 120ft.

Superstitions & Weaknesses: Trolls are extremely fearful of magic and will avoid it at all costs. They are also moderately fearful of those struck with illness, as virtually no troll ever gets sick.

Lizardmen

Lizardmen are quiet by nature, savage in combat, tacticians, merchants, and wanderers by trade. Lizardmen generally have very serious demeanors and do not understand any form of humor that doesn't involve a dismemberment or decapitation.

They swim at double their movement and can hold their breath for 5 minutes. Lizardmen all naturally have the unarmed combat style. They will utilize any opportunity to swim. Lizardmen have a natural AC of 6. They cannot wield any weapon which has not been crafted by their own species. Infravision 120ft.

Superstitions & Weaknesses: Lizardmen are highly fearful of extreme heat and dry places like deserts.

Kobolds

Dogfaced little runts, big on adventure but small and pathetic. Superstitous, humorous, and mildly annoying.

In any situation where a Kobold would be seriously wounded or die as an action, they may force a re-roll of dice. All enemies critically miss on a 1, 2, or 3 quite badly when a Kobold is involved. A Kobold always scores a critical hit on a roll of 1 - but the results are often mixed. Infravision 60ft.

Superstitions & Weaknesses: Kobolds are generally fearful of most races that are bigger than them as a result of years of oppression. Unlike goblins, Kobolds are so despised that they aren't even used as slaves, and as a result of this they are extremely fearful of being locked up.

Hobgoblins

These are fearsome warriors who lord over all the monstrous humanoid races (Orcs, Goblins, Kobolds etc.) They are highly respected by most monstrous and humanoid races and make great warriors. They are generally gruff, respect order and organization, but are often surprisingly just. Hobgoblins have a great respect for other humanoid music, also. Their weapon hordes are dominated by polearms and oriental arms.

Infravision 120ft. A Hobgoblin has 18 intelligence for the purposes of teaching itself weapon masteries.

Superstitions & Weaknesses: Hobgoblins believe that it is extremely unlucky if a weapon ever breaks in battle, and are reluctant to do anything else on a day when a weapon breaks in battle.

Wemics are ferocious half man-half lions that travel in "prides". They have the top torsos of humans and the bottom halves of lions. The leonine part of their body is covered with fur, and their face is leonine with feline eyes. Their hair grows backwards like a huge mane. Their claws are retractable (D4 / D4) and they can attack with them and their weapon in the same round. They can leap 30 feet upward or 15 feet forward and can climb trees at 85%.

Superstitions & Weaknesses: While savage in combat, Wemics fear the undead greatly. They will be reluctant to engage the undead in combat or in interpersonal relationships should there be an undead party member.

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Source Information: Information on this page was supported using The Complete Book of Humanoids by Bill Slavicsek (1), the Monstrous Manual (2) by Tim Beach, and the Monstrous Compendium Annuals, Volume 2 - 4 (3, 4, 5). All of these books were released by TSR in the 1990s and are now out of print.