Unapproachable East.pdf - The Forgotten Realms

ability, regardless of actual level). See the speak with
animals spell description in the Player’s Handbook.
• Automatic Languages: Common and Sylvan. Bonus Languages:
Aquan, Auran, Giant, Goblin, Mulan, Rashemi, Shou, Tuigan.
• Favored Class: Any. A multiclassed spirit folk’s highest-level
character class does not count when determining whether
she suffers an XP penalty.
River Spirit Folk Racial
Traits
River spirit folk have the following abilities and characteristics.
• Medium-size.
• Land speed 30 feet.
• River spirit folk have a base swim speed of 30 feet. They do
not need to make Swim checks to swim normally. They gain
a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special
action or avoid a hazard, and they can always choose to
take 10 on these checks, even if distracted or endangered
when swimming. They can use the run action while swimming,
provided they swim in a straight line.
• Water Breathing: River spirit folk can breathe water as
easily as they breathe air.
• Low-Light Vision: Spirit folk can see twice as far as humans
in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions
of poor illumination. They retain the ability to distinguish
color and detail under these conditions.
• +2 racial bonus on saving throws against spells and spell-like
effects with the word “water” in the name of the effect.
• Once per day, a river spirit folk can use speak with animals
to speak with any fish. This ability is innate to river spirit
folk. It has a duration of 1 minute (the spirit folk is considered
a 1st-level caster when using this ability, regardless
of actual level). See the speak with animals spell description
in the Player’s Handbook.
• Automatic Languages: Common and Sylvan. Bonus Languages:
Aquan, Auran, Giant, Goblin, Mulan, Rashemi,
Shou, Tuigan.
• Favored Class: Any. A multiclassed spirit folk’s highest-level
character class does not count when determining whether
she suffers an XP penalty.
Taer
Primitive hunters of the icebound north, taers are cruel and
savage creatures who haunt the remote mountains and passes
of the East. They launch war parties into warmer lands, carrying
off livestock, food stores, or even people for the clan’s
larder. Even more so than other evil folk such as orcs or
gnolls, taers are regarded by other races as crude, bloodthirsty
beasts without a single redeeming quality.
Although taers regard other creatures as potential enemies
or meals, they possess a surprisingly complex store of oral histories,
rules for conduct within the clan, and tribal wisdom.
RACES OF THE EAST
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Long ago, the race developed a comprehensive code to govern
its tendency toward violence, at least between its own members.
Anyone not of the taer’s clan is beyond the protection
of this code and can be robbed, murdered, or eaten at will.
Those few taers who wander into civilized lands either extend
their concept of “clan” to some other set of intelligent creatures,
such as a group of bandits, a village, or an adventuring
band, or quickly die at the hands of an angry mob.
Personality: They lack the cognitive and innovative intelligence
of humans and other such races, but taers are intuitive
and imaginative in their own way. They think in analogies and
metaphors, most of which are mythic sagas handed down by
the storytellers of the clan from generations past. Taers see
themselves as characters in a life-story that began long before
they were born and will go on long after they are dead.
Taers who leave their clans and learn to regard people of
other races as fellow tribesfolk (as opposed to prey) slowly
weave their new experiences into their old worldview, constructing
new myths to explain what they cannot understand
any other way. A taer can literally “turn off” cognitive
thought and descend into bestial rage in the blink of an eye
to meet a physical challenge, but for days afterward, he ponders
the experience and seeks to explain what happened.
Physical Description: Taers are powerfully built creatures
about 5 to 6 feet in height, with thickly muscled arms and apelike
faces. They are covered in thick white fur that blends in with
snowy backgrounds, although their hands and faces are bare of
fur. Beneath their fur, their skin is dark gray and leathery in texture.
A male taer weighs about 220 pounds, while a female is
more lightly built, weighing about 180 pounds. Taers carry
themselves in a crouch, their knuckles almost dragging on the
ground; a taer that straightens up stands almost 7 feet in height.
Relations: No other race gets along well with taers, although
frost giants, ogres, and white dragons occasionally ally with
a taer clan to achieve some greater goal. In turn, taers typically
view all other creatures as either enemies or prey. A taer
who learns to include nontaer companions as part of his “clan”
can be a loyal comrade, but he often measures his companions’
actions against taer expectations.
Alignment: Taers are drawn neither to law or chaos. They
value the complex rules of their clan life but yearn for wild
freedom. They tend to be evil, preying on nontaers too weak
to defend themselves. Even within the clan, taers use their traditions
ruthlessly to attain the highest status possible. A fair
number of adventuring taers are of neutral alignment.
Religion: Taers possess a complex pantheon filled with spirits
and mythical figures, but they most often revere aspects
of Auril the Frostmaiden and Loviatar. Giant deities such as
Grolantor and Thrym also appear in taer mythology.
Language: Taers speak Giant. Player character taers speak
Common as well. Bonus languages include Auran, Damaran,
Draconic, Orc, and Rashemi, although it’s a rare taer who can
manage more than two languages.
Names: Taers name themselves after landmarks and natural
phenomena, preceded by a simple clan name. Examples include:
Hrusk Mountain Thunder, Vulg Falling Ice, or Chark
Smoking Sky.