Unapproachable East.pdf - The Forgotten Realms
Unapproachable East.pdf - The Forgotten Realms
Unapproachable East.pdf - The Forgotten Realms
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Adventurers: Adventuring taer are almost always outcasts<br />
from their clan, who were defeated in (or failed to pursue correctly)<br />
the endless taer measurement of fitness. <strong>The</strong>y are more<br />
comfortable joining a small band they can think of as a new<br />
clan than living among the folk of a large settlement. Most<br />
taer adventurers are simple brigands, but some become mercenaries<br />
who sell their strength and ferocity, and a few rare individuals<br />
attach their loyalties to a band of good-hearted heroes.<br />
Regions: Almost all taers choose the taer region, which describes<br />
an individual driven from his clan and sent into exile<br />
in human lands. See Chapter 3: Regions and Feats.<br />
Taer Racial Traits<br />
Taers have the following racial abilities and characteristics.<br />
• +4 Strength, +2 Constitution, –4 Intelligence (to a minimum<br />
of 3), –2 Charisma: Taers are tough and tremendously<br />
strong, but are insular and do not have the reasoning capacities<br />
of other races.<br />
• Medium-size.<br />
• Land speed 30 feet, climb speed 30 feet. Taers gain a +8<br />
racial bonus on all Climb checks. A taer must make a Climb<br />
check to climb a wall or slope with a DC of more than 0 but<br />
can always choose to take 10, even if rushed or threatened<br />
while climbing. A taer who chooses an accelerated climb<br />
moves at double the listed climb speed and makes a single<br />
Climb check at a –5 penalty. Taers cannot use the run<br />
action while climbing. <strong>The</strong>y retain their Dexterity bonus to<br />
Armor Class (if any) while climbing, and opponents get no<br />
special bonus to their attacks against climbing taers.<br />
• Racial Hit Dice: A taer begins with two levels of giant. This<br />
provides 2d8 Hit Dice, a base attack bonus of +1, and base<br />
saving throws of Fort +3, Ref +0, and Will +0.<br />
• Racial Skills: A taer character’s giant levels give him skill<br />
points equal to 5 × (2 + Intelligence modifier). Taer class<br />
skills are Climb, Hide, and Spot. A taer’s pelt blends in with<br />
snowy backgrounds, conferring a +4 racial bonus on Hide<br />
checks in snow-covered locales.<br />
• Racial Feats: A taer’s giant levels give him one feat.<br />
• Weapon Familiarity: Taers treat greatclubs and longspears<br />
as simple weapons.<br />
• Giant: Taers are not subject to spells or effects that affect<br />
only humanoids, such as charm person or dominate person.<br />
• Darkvision: Taers can see in the dark up to 60 feet.<br />
• Natural Armor: +2 natural armor bonus.<br />
• Natural Attacks: An unarmed taer can make two slam attacks<br />
at his normal attack bonus and a bite attack at a –5 penalty<br />
on his normal attack bonus. <strong>The</strong> taer’s slam attacks deal 1d3<br />
points of damage, and the bite deals 1d4 points of damage.<br />
• Cold Subtype (Ex): Taers are immune to cold damage but are<br />
vulnerable to fire attacks. <strong>The</strong>y take half again as much<br />
(+50%) damage as normal from fire, regardless of whether a<br />
saving throw is allowed, or if the save is a success or failure.<br />
• Automatic Languages: Common, Giant. Bonus Languages:<br />
By character region.<br />
RACES OF THE EAST<br />
15<br />
• Level Adjustment: +1. A taer has an effective character level<br />
(ECL) of 3 plus class levels, so a 1st-level taer barbarian<br />
would have an ECL of 4. See the Powerful Races sidebar.<br />
• Favored Class: Barbarian. A multiclassed taer’s barbarian<br />
class does not count when determining whether he suffers<br />
an XP penalty.<br />
Volodni<br />
More than a thousand years ago, at the end of the terrible<br />
wars that racked Narfell and Raumathar, a proud Nar lord led<br />
a host of his people into the great forests of the ancient<br />
empire, seeking to escape the roaming demons and magical<br />
plagues that ravaged his lands. Some power of the old woods—<br />
perhaps an elder treant, or even the Oakfather himself—confronted<br />
the Nar refugees to deny them refuge unless they<br />
forswore their demon-summoning ways and agreed to take the<br />
forest’s blood for their own. <strong>The</strong> lord agreed on the spot, convinced<br />
that any bargain was better than returning to certain<br />
destruction, but the price was greater than he could imagine:<br />
He and his followers surrendered their humanity in exchange<br />
for sanctuary. Thus the volodnis, the pine folk, were born.<br />
<strong>The</strong> volodnis are a humanlike race of treefolk who defend<br />
their forest homes with iron resolve. Unlike other sylvan<br />
beings, volodnis aggressively seek to expand into new forests<br />
and grow the borders of old ones, regardless of who gets in the<br />
way. Many feel that only the fall of “warm folk” civilization<br />
can preserve Faerûn’s forests, but others hope to peacefully<br />
persuade humans to allow the return of the ancient forests.<br />
Personality: Volodnis are cold and dispassionate, remorseless<br />
in pursuit of any tactic that serves their ends. <strong>The</strong>y remember<br />
every injury but have the patience of the forest itself<br />
when exacting vengeance. <strong>The</strong>y are not acquisitive, as they<br />
have little need for material possessions. Some volodnis feel<br />
the blood of their human ancestors more deeply than others<br />
and are capable of benevolence—or spitefulness and crime.<br />
Physical Description: Volodnis resemble their human forebears,<br />
but their skin is the deep olive-green of a pine needle,<br />
and their flesh is woody and tough. Clear sap runs through<br />
their veins instead of blood, and their hair grows in long, thick<br />
locks scaled like the bark of a young tree. <strong>The</strong>ir eyes are gleaming<br />
black, and they tend to be tall and lean, with wide shoulders<br />
and long arms. <strong>The</strong> pine folk favor weapons and armor<br />
made from leather and wood, dyed in green and brown to<br />
blend in with the terrain of their forest home.<br />
Relations: Volodnis get along reasonably well with other<br />
sylvan creatures such as centaurs and satyrs and usually work<br />
toward the same ends as elves. <strong>The</strong>y revere treants and are<br />
warm to druids of any race, but they do not care for people who<br />
see a forest only as uncut firewood and unbuilt homes. Those<br />
who despoil natural settings out of spite rather than necessity<br />
wake a volodni’s latent hostility into pure, cold rage (the most<br />
militant volodnis see no difference between the two actions).<br />
Consequently, volodnis harbor a stronger dislike for goblins,<br />
orcs, and such creatures than they do for dwarves or humans.