New Race: Awakened Animals

I'm starting up a new Swords & Wizardry / Heroes of the Sundered Chronicles campaign which will be a 1-on-1 game with my wife.  She asked to have a companion that's a panther with human-level intelligence.

I've written up a race for an awakened panther so we can use the standard character rules to make this companion.  Below is the new race for awakened great cats.

Awakened Animals

Awakened animals are regular animals that have been granted a human-level of intelligence by magic, divine intervention, the sheer power of nature, or some other form of magical change.  They can advance in class levels like any other PC race, and follow all other associated rules.  While they have the knowledge needed to understand the use of tools, weaponry, and other humanoid creations, they are restricted in their use by their physical form.  Each type of animal has it's own set of racial abilities.

Awakened Great Cats

Great cats, such as lions, panthers, and tigers, which have been granted a human-level of intelligence by magical intervention.

Thick Hide: While unarmored, an awakened great cat has an armor class of 6 [13].  When factoring armor class while wearing armor, start from the standard base armor class of 9 [10].

Natural Weaponry: Awakened great cats are capable of attacking with claws and bites.  The cat may make 2 claw attacks as an action, each dealing 1d4 points of damage on a hit.  If both claw attacks hit, the cat may pull the enemy in for a bite attack, which deals 1d6 damage on hit.

Darkvision: Awakened great cats can see in the dark out to 60 feet.  This ability does not penetrate natural darkness.

Keen Senses: An awakened great cat is only surprised in a roll of 1 on a d6 in combat.  If the Referee calls for a skill check associated with hearing or vision, such as the Notice and Search skills, the cat increases his or her skill die by one step.

While written specifically with Heroes of the Sundered Chronicles (an S&W variant rule set) in mind, this race will work perfectly in S&W or other compatible OSR games.  You'll have to either ignore or adapt the skill bonus from Keen Senses.

New Race: The Kavarli

I've been working on the races that will be available for play in Acteos.  The only of the standard non-human races I'm including is the dwarf.  Accompanying the human and the dwarf will be the Kavarli (detailed later in this post), Liontaur (centaur-like lion-humans), Rashka (humanoid felines), and Sylvans (sort of like wild-elves with antlers).

This doesn't mean the standard non-human races have no place in Acteos.  I can think of perfect spots for halflings, gnomes, and half-orcs.  I just don't have much interest in writing about them at the moment.  Elves, well... I've grown to prefer a less Tolkien-esque elf and love a more chaotic, mythological elf.  Indulging life in their hills while charming humans to life enslavement.  So, elves will get an entry in the monster section.  The Sylvans are my take on a playable race that's elf-like but not.

At any rate, I wanted to post and show off one of the races I've just finished up.  This is, as is usual for this kind of post, unedited.

Kavarli

The Kavarli are a massive, human-like people that are descendants of the elemental spirits of earth.  Their name translates to “children of stone” in their language.  They stand on average between 7 and 8 feet tall, and have rough, gray skin that feels like touching warm stone.  They value strength, honor, and combat prowess, but birthright rules above all else.  While Kavarli society is centered in the distant land of Ber’ruln, many Kavarli immigrated to Acral many generations ago.  Ber’ruln, which means “nature’s birth”, is an island that is said to be a major source of elemental power.

It is Kavarli tradition that their leaders be male, often the first-born son of the previous leader.  However, female Kavarli that prove themselves as warriors have no issues with taking roles of leadership and commanding the respect of their people.  It is more common for a female Kavarli to take on the role of their people’s shaman.  It is believed that the spirits of the earth share a special bond with female Kavarli.

Tough as the Earth: While unarmored, a Kavarli has a base Armor Class of 7 [12].  When factoring AC while wearing armor, start from the usual base AC of 9 [10].
Fearless Warrior: Kavarli gain a +2 bonus to all saving throws to resist fear effects.
Powerful Build: Kavarli treat all two-handed weapons as one-handed weapons.  This means that a Kavarli can wield, for example, a two-handed sword in one hand and gains a +1 bonus to damage when wielding it with two hands.
Child of Stone: While human-like, Kavarli are not quite human.  They are not susceptible to spells or effects that only affect human-like targets, such as Charm Person.

Art by Shaman's Stockart.  Used under license.