Bestiarum vocabulum - Ahoggyá (Monster and Race stats)

I blame the Tekumel hype for this grumpy Bestiarum entry. And I must also point out that all the Description text below was taken from the great Tekumel site (or the Ssú will come back at night to take me away).

Bestiarum vocabulum – Ahoggyá (The Knobbed Ones)

 

“Or you might find a normal man to jolly you?” Old White-side gurgled a chuckle. “Some say that your body is appealing in spite of your veil. Now if it’s pleasure you seek, then know that we Ahoggyá have eight sexes and –”

-         from The Man of Gold

Ahoggyá                                                CR 2 (600 XP)

Large monstrous humanoid

Init +0; Senses Perception +10 (360º vision)

DEFENSE

AC 15, touch 10, flat-footed 14 (+5 natural, +1 dodge, –1 size)

HD 31 (3d10+15)

Fort +8, Ref +1, Will +3

OFFENSE

Spd 30 ft.

Melee +4 battleaxe (1d8+3), 3 longsword +1 (1d8+1)

Space 10-ft.; Reach 5-ft.

STATISTICS

Str 17, Dex 10, Con 21, Int 13, Wis 11, Cha 8

Base Atk +3; CMB +10; CMD 16 (20 stability)

Feats Dodge, Multiweapon Fighting (racial), Weapon Focus (longsword)

Skills Acrobatics +6, Climb +7, Heal +5, Knowledge (geography) +5, Intimidate +5, Knowledge (history) +5, Linguistics +4, Perception +10, Survival +5 Racial modifiers: +4 on Perception, +2 on Intimidate

Languages Ahoggyá (racial), Common, Dwarven, Giant

Special Qualities Ahoggyá’s charm, ferocity, knobbed one, stability

ECOLOGY

Environment warm coasts and swamps

Organization 10-40 close to their territories (1-4 outside their lands)

Treasure standard

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Ahoggyá’s Charm (Ex) Ahoggyá receive a +2 racial bonus to Intimidate and any Diplomacy check to improve an Ahoggyá’s starting attitude has its difficulty increased by 5.

Knobbed One (Ex) Although Ahoggyá are monstrous humanoids, due to their sturdy frames they have good Fortitude and Will saving throws (instead of Reflexes and Will). Ahoggyá don’t have darkvision.

Stability (Ex) Ahoggyá receive a +4 racial bonus to their Combat Maneuver Defense when resisting a bull rush or trip attempt while standing on the ground.

Perfect Guardian (Ex) Ahoggyá have 360º vision and can only be flanked when surrounded by 4 or more enemies. Ahoggyá receive a +4 racial bonus on Perception checks. They can buy Scent as a feat.

Undersized Weapons (Ex) Although a Ahoggyá is Large (due to its bulk), its exotic they wield weapons as if they were one size category smaller than their actual size and doesn’t have a Large creatures’ reach.

DESCRIPTION

The Ahoggyá are four-armed and four-legged, barrel-bodied, bristly and knobby. Their four arms extend out at equidistant intervals from under a domed, thickly armored carapace on top of the body. Between and below these arms, protected by a horny ring, are the eyes and other organs: two eyes and a fanged mouth on one side, and two eyes and other organs on each of the remaining three sides. Excretory organs are tucked up under the body. Their thickly muscled legs extend out from the base of the body in a permanent crouch, and their hands and feet both possess three digits and a thumb. They range from 1.41 to 1.60m in height, but their torso is perhaps 80cm in diameter. They have eight sexes, but their reproductive processes are largely unknown.

The gruff and boisterous Ahoggyá tend to be rude and insensitive, obeying their own alien customs and displaying little interest in man’s concerns. Some Ahoggyá emerge from their swampy habitat to serve as mercenaries in human armies for a few years, but they eventually return home. They have no curiosity about religious matters, and are abysmally poor sorcerers.

AHOGGYÁ PLAYER CHARACTERS

Ahoggyá player characters are defined by their class levels – they do not possess racial hit dice. All Ahoggyá player characters possess the following racial traits.

+2 Constitution, –2 Charisma: Ahoggyá player characters are tough, but brusque and boisterous.

Ahoggyá’s Charm (Ex): Ahoggyá player characters receive a +2 racial bonus to Intimidate.

Ahoggyá’s Ferocity (Ex): Ahoggyá player characters gains Diehard as bonus feat.

Horny Protective Ring (Ex): Ahoggyá player characters has a +5 natural armor, but due to their unique body can’t use any type of armor (including magic armor), unless custom made for them.

Innate Guardian (Ex): Ahoggyá player characters have 360º vision and receive a +4 racial bonus on Perception checks. They can buy Scent as a feat. An Ahoggyá of 4^th level or higher can use a feat slot to improved this trait to Perfect Guardian (see above).

Multiweapon Fighting (Ex): Ahoggyá player characters can by this feat, even if they Dexterity is lower than 13.

Resilient (Ex): The first time an Ahoggyá player characters spends an Ability Score Increase on Constitution, he gains a +2 bonus instead a +1.

Stability (Ex): See above.

Undersized Weapons (Ex): See above.

Commentaries: I broke some traditional mechanics aspects of Pathfinder races above. First, I wanted the Ahoggyá to be player-friendly since 1^st level (I also believe that NPCs shouldn’t use the same rules as PCs, which include different stats for monsters). However, in order to balance the Ahoggyá to Pathfinder I had to remove a lot of mechanical traits characteristically of them. Because I’m too lazy to creature a “monster class” advancement, I attempted something different – I used feats as mechanical compensation. Ahoggyá PCs can buy with feats some racial traits. I also invented the Resilient racial trait (where you get different benefits from Ability Score Increase, in this case Constitution; the name would be different for other Ability Scores). I think it’s a nice way of individualizing a race and it helps to compensate the fact that Ahoggyá don’t have a net bonus of +2 for Ability Scores at 1^st level.