Monsters of Athas

Contents:

Animals, Domestic

Erdlu

Kank

Mekillot

Inix

Belgoi

Braxat

Dragon of Tyr

Dune Freak (Anakore)

Gaj

Giant, Athasian

Gith

Silk Wyrm

Jozhal

Tembo

Over the course of the next few pages, you will learn a little about the most common, interesting, or dangerous creatures that I have encountered in my travels. Again, I must caution the would-be adventurer that even the most passive beast or sweetest flower is often deadly on Athas.

Animals, Domestic

| Erdlu | Kank | Mekillot | Inix
CLIMATE/TERRAIN: | Tablelands or Hinterlands | Tablelands or Hinterlands | Tablelands or Hinterlands | Tablelands or Hinterlands
FREQUENCY | Common | Common | Rare | Uncommon
ORGANIZATION: | Flock | Hive | Solitary | Solitary
ACTIVITY CYCLE: | Day | Any | Day | Day
DIET: | Omnivore | Omnivore | Omnivore | Herbivore
INTELLIGENCE: | Animal (1) | Animal (1) | Animal (1) | Animal (1)
TREASURE: | Nil | Nil | Nil | Nil
ALIGNMENT: | Neutral | Neutral | Neutral | Neutral
NO. APPEARING: | 50-500 (5d10x 10) | 50-500 (5d10x 10) | 1 or 2 | 1 or 2
ARMOR CLASS: | 7 | 5 | 7 (underside 9) | 6
MOVEMENT: | 18 | 15 | 9 | 15
HIT DICE: | 3 | 2 | 11 | 6
THAC0: | 17 | 19 | 9 | 15
NO. OF ATTACKS: | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2
DAMAGE/ATTACK: | 1d6/1d4 | 1d6 | 1d6 | 1d6/1d8
SPECIAL ATTACKS: | Nil | See below | Swallow or crush | Crush
SPECIAL DEFENSES: | Nil | Nil | Nil | Nil
MAGIC RESISTANCE: | Nil | Nil | Nil | Nil
SIZE: | M (7' tall) | L (8' long) | G (30' long) | H (16+'long)
MORALE: | Average (10) | Elite (14) | Elite (14) | Steady (12)
XP VALUE: | 65 | 35 | 6,000 | 650
Psionics | Nil | Nil | Nil | Nil

There are numerous domesticated animals on Athas. Some of the most common ones, at least in the Hinter and Tablelands. are described here.

Erdlu

Erdlus are flightless, featherless birds covered with flaky gray-tored scales. They weigh as much as 200 pounds and stand up to seven feet tall. They have powerful, lanky legs ending in four-toed feet with razor-sharp claws, and can run at great speeds over short distances (no more than half-a-mile). Their bodies are massive and round, with a pair of useless wings folded at their sides. Attached to their yellow, snake like necks are small round heads with huge wedge-shaped beaks. Erdlus make ideal herd animals, as they can eat many forms of tough vegetation, as well as snakes, lizards, and other small reptiles. They instinctively band together in flocks for protection. When threatened, their first impulse is to flee. If this is not possible, the entire flock will turn and give battle as a group. When they fight, ~ they strike at their attackers with their sharp beaks and then rake them with their claws.

Erdlu eggs are an excellent food, containing all the nutrients that a human or demihuman needs to survive for months at a time. If eaten raw, they can even substitute for water (1 gallon per egg) for periods of up to one week. In addition, the hard scales of their wings make excellent shields or armor (AC 6), their beaks can be used to make fine spearheads, and their claws are often crafted into daggers or tools,

Kank

Kanks are large docile insects. Their bodies have a black chitinous exoskeleton. and are divided into three sections: head, thorax, and abdomen. Kanks often weigh as much as 400 pounds and stand up to four feet tall at the back, with bodies as long as eight feet from head to abdomen. Around their mouths, they have a pair of multi-jointed pincers which they use to carry objects, to feed themselves, and occasionally to fight with. On their thoraxes, they have six lanky legs ending in a single flexible claw with which the kank can grip the surfaces it walks upon. Their bulbous abdomens have no appendages, and are simply carried above the ground. Kanks are often used as caravan mounts, as they can travel for a full day at their top speed, carrying a two-hundred pound passenger and two-hundred pounds of cargo. They also make decent herd animals and are especially valued by elves. Because they can digest nearly any sort of organic matter, these hardy beasts will thrive in almost any environment. In addition, they require little attention, for a kank hive instinctively organizes itself into food producers, soldiers, and brood queens. The food producers secrete melon-sized globules of green honey that they store on the their abdomens to feed the young and, when food is scarce, the rest of the hive. Humans and demihumans can live on this nectar alone for periods of up to three weeks, but must supplement their diets with meat and/or vegetation after longer periods. The sweet taste of this nectar makes it very valuable, and it is this that has caused the kank to be domesticated. It should be noted that wild kanks produce far fewer globules than their carefully breed cousins. When the tribe stops in an area that looks as though there is a considerable amount of vegetation, the brood queens lay a clutch of twenty to fifty eggs. The soldier kanks, along with the rest of the hive, ferociously defend this area from all predators, and will not leave until the eggs hatch. Herders must delay their migrations or abandon their hives when this conflicts with their plans. In a fight, the soldiers attack first, striking with their pincers for 1d6 points of damage. In addition, any victim hit by a soldier is injected with Class O poison save vs. poison or be paralyzed in 2d12 rounds). If pressed, the food producers will also fight, but they lack the poison of the soldiers. The brood queen never attacks, even in self defense. Although predators may attack kank for the food producers' honey globules, only the foulest carrion eaters will eat kank flesh. As soon as a kank dies, its meat emits a foul smelling odor that not even a starving man can stomach. The chitinous exoskeleton of kanks can be scraped and cut into solid plates of armor (AC 5), but it is somewhat brittle and each time it is hit there is a 20% chance that it will shatter.

Mekillot

Mekillots are mighty lizards weighing up to six-tons, with huge, mound-shaped bodies as long as 30 feet. Their backs and heads are covered with a thick shell that serves as both a sunshade and protection from attacks by other large creatures. Their undersides are covered with much softer scales (AC 8). Despite their vicious dispositions, mekillots are often used ascaravan beasts. A hitched pair can pull a wagon weighing 10-20 tons at a slow, plodding pace. Mekillots are never truly tame, however; even when they are hitched to a wagon, the stubborn creatures have been known to turn off the road and go wandering off for days - without any apparent reason. They are also noted for making snacks of their handlers. Because of the difficulties of controlling these beasts, most caravans rely on psionicists with the appropriate powers to drive them. In a fight, mekillots attack with their long tongues, striking for 1d6 damage. On a natural roll of 20, the tongue grasps the victim and tries to draw him into his mouth. He must save vs. Paralyzation to avoid being swallowed and slowly killed by the great beast's digestive system. Swallowed individuals are helpless to employ any form of attack other than psionics on the mekillot that consumed them. Mekillots protect their vulnerable undersides by instinctively dropping to their bellies when anything crawls beneath them. This causes 2d12 points of damage to the creature they drop upon and may injure the mekillot, depending on what it is trying to flatten.

Inix

The inix is a large lizard midway in size between a kank and mekillot. It weighs about two tons and grows up to sixteen feet long. Its back is protected by a thick shell, while its belly is covered with a layer of flexible scales. Inix make spirited mounts, and are capable of carrying up to a seven-hundred and fifty pounds. They move at steady pace for hours on end, and over short distances, their charge is as fast as that of a kank. Inix riders often travel in howdahs, small box like carriages that are trapped to the beast's back. The one major drawback to traveling by inix is that these large herbivores need vast amounts of forage. If they don't get enough to eat they are nearly impossible to control. Thus, they are seldom used in regions where forage is at a premium. In combat, inix slap with their immense tail (1d6 damage) and bite 1d8 damage). On a natural biting attack roll of 20, they grasp man-sized or smaller opponents and do an additional 1d20 points of crushing damage. Their shells are useful for making armor (AC 5), and their scaly underbellies can be used to make a type of fine leather armor (AC 7).

Belgoi

CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Tablelands

FREQUENCY Uncommon

ORGANIZATION: Tribe

ACTIVITY CYCLE: Any

DIET: Omnivore

INTELLIGENCE: Low

TREASURE: M, (I)

ALIGNMENT: Lawful evil

NO. APPEARING: 1-10

ARMOR CLASS: 7

MOVEMENT: 12

HIT DICE: 5

THAC0: 15

NO. OF ATTACKS 2

DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1d4+2

SPECIAL ATTACKS: Constitution drain

SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil

MAGIC RESISTANCE: Nil

SIZE: M (6' tall)

MORALE: Average (8-10)

XP VALUE: 650

PSIONICS SUMMARY:

Level | Dis/Sci/Dev | Attack/Defense | Score | PSPs
2 | 2/1/5 | EW,PB/M- | 12 | 35

Telepathy - Sciences: domination; Devotions: attraction, ego whip, psionic blast mind blank, contact.

Note: These psionics are common to most belgoi. It is not unusual for individuals of higher status to have more powerful psionics, however.

At first sight, the belgoi appear human - and then you notice the long claws on the end of their fingers, their puckered, toothless mouths, and their webbed, three-toed feet. They are a race of ignorant demihumans who dwell in the most forlorn wastes of Athas. They have a taste for the flesh of intelligent races and no ruler will tolerate them within five day,s travel of his city.

Combat: Belgoi usually attack by sneaking up on their victim,s camp and selecting a juicy looking target. Each belgoi rings a small bell that allows it to make contact with its victim, then attempts to use domination to take over the victim's body and have him leave camp, or attraction to lure the. victim into the darkness. If the belgoi's contact is successful, only the victim can hear the bell, but if it fails, then the entire party hears it. Once the victim is lured out of camp, the belgoi caresses and touches the victim, temporarily draining 1 d6 points of Constitution per round (duration: 1d4 turns, victim loses all bonuses due to high Constitution). Upon reaching 0 Constitution points, the victim falls unconscious, and the belgoi sits down to feast. If forced into melee combat, the belgoi strike with their wicked claws, inflicting an 1d4+2 points of damage. Each time they hit, the victim must save vs. poison or lose 1d6 points of Constitution (as described above). When a battle starts to go against the belgoi, they will flee and fetch replacements for any of their fallen comrades, then return a short time later to attack again. Therefore, battles with belgoi often turn into long, running fights that last for many days. The only way to prevent the belgoi from returning time after time is to kill them all before they have a chance to escape.

Habitat/Society: Basically, the belgoi form huge raiding tribes and behave as such. They tend to make their homes in forlorn parts of the desert, but journey forth in great numbers to harass the trading routes, settled villages, and anywhere else they can find a plentiful supply of poorly defended people. Belgoi hosts tend to move in small parties of 1-10 individuals. When they encounter likely-looking prey, the scouting party usually attacks, looking to its own dinner first. If they have stumbled across a large group, however, they will fetch other members of their tribe and return to attack with greater numbers.

Ecology: Belgoi often leave the land barren and desolate behind them, stripped of all animal and vegetable life. They are second only to the foulest of defilers in the destruction they cause to the world about them.

Braxat

CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Tablelands, Mountains, and Hinterlands

FREQUENCY Rare

ORGANIZATION: Solitary

ACTIVITY CYCLE: Night

DIET: Carnivore

INTELLIGENCE: High (13-14)

TREASURE: R, V

ALIGNMENT: Neutral evil

NO. APPEARING: 1 or 2

ARMOR CLASS: 0

MOVEMENT: 15

HIT DICE 10

THAC0: 1 1

NO. OF ATTACKS: 1

DAMAGE/ATTACK: by weapon + 10

SPECIAL ATTACKS: Breath Weapon

SPECIAL DEFENSES: Hit only by magical or steel weapons

MAGIC RESISTANCE: Nil

SIZE: H

MORALE: Fanatic (18-19)

XP VALUE: 5,000

PSIONICS SUMMARY:

Level | Dis/Sci/Dev | Attack/Defense | Score | PSPs
6 | 1/2/10 | MT,PB,PsC/ IF,MB,M-, TS,TW | 15 | 80

Telepathy - Sciences: psychic crush, tower of iron will.

Devotions: mind thrust, psionic blast, intellect fortress, mental barrier, mind blank, thought shield, awe, contact, inflict pain, invincible foes.

It is difficult to tell whether the braxat are of mammalian or reptilian stock. Their backs are covered with thick, articulated shells their heads have a squarish lizard-like shape giving them a reptilian appearance, and the crowns of their heads are defended by three to five horny protrusions. At the same time, they walk upright on two feet, can speak with a human-like voice, have a fully opposable thumb, and are warm-blooded.

Combat: Braxat are hunters by nature, and their fighting tactics reflect this. They will often use psionic attacks (inflict pain or invincible foes) in an attempt to disable their opponents and reduce the risk to themselves. After attacking psionically, the braxat wade into hand-to-hand combat, usually carrying a massive spiked club that inflicts 2d4 points of damage. They use their breath weapon only as a last resort, for it tends to render the prey unsuitable for consumption. This cone of acid is one foot in diameter at the base and extends for ten-feet, where it is five feet in diameter It does 2d10 points of damage to anything it touches (save vs. breath weapon for 1/2 damage). Braxat suffer damage only when hit by steel weapons or those with a magical enchantment upon them. All other weapons glance off of them harmlessly, although they may be knocked prone or otherwise affected by them. Habitat/Society: Braxats are found throughout Athas, wandering the forlorn wastes in search of prey. They are usually solitary creatures, but may rarely be found in mated pairs (in this case, the young are usually safely hidden away in a remote cavern).

Ecology: Braxat are true terrors of the desert, usually attacking at night in search of fresh meat. Although they will eat caravan mounts on occasion (with the exception of kanks), they prefer intelligent races. Braxat shells make excellent shields and armor plates (AC 2). Because of this, they are sometimes hunted by other creatures living near them. Because of the power of the braxat, however, would-be hunters often find the tables turned upon them and end up the targets of a deadly ambush.

Dragon of Tyr

CLIMATE/TERRAIN Any

FREQUENCY Unique

ORGANIZATION Solitary

ACTIVITY CYCLE: Any

DIET: Omnivore

INTELLIGENCE: Supra-genius (20)

TREASURE (H)

ALIGNMENT: Lawful evil

NO. APPEARING: 1

ARMOR CLASS: -10

MOVEMENT: 15, Fl 45 (A), Jp 5, Br 6

HIT DICE: 32 (250 hit points)

THAC0 -3

NO. OF ATTACKS: 4 + breath weapon or spell & psionic

DAMAGE/ATTACK: 2d10+ 15/2d10+ 15/4d12/5d10

SPECIAL ATTACKS: Breath weapon 25d12

SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below

MAGIC RESISTANCE: 80%

SIZE: G (40' tall

MORALE: Fearless (20)

XP VALUE: 42,000

PSIONICS SUMMARY:

Level | Dis/Sci/Dev | Attack/Defense | Score | PSPs
25 | 6/12/28 | EW,II,MT,PB,PsC/ IF,MB,M - ,TS,TW | 19 | Varies (usually 200+)

Clairsentience - Sciencies: clairvoyance, precognition; Devotions: combat mind, danger sense, poison sense.

Psychokinesis - Sciences: detonate, disintegrate, telekinesis; Devotions: animate shadow, ballistic attack, molecular agitation, soften.

Psychometabolism - Sciences: death field, life draining; Devotions: body equilibrium, cause decay, chameleon power, ectoplasmic form, heightened senses, reduction, suspend animation.

Psychoportation - Sciences: teleport, Devotions: dimensional door dimension walk, teleport trigger, time shift.

Telepathy - Sciences: psychic crush, tower of iron will; Devotions: contact, ego whip, id insinuation, intellect fortress, mental barrier, mind blank, mind thrust, mind link, psionic blast, thought shield.

Metapsionics - Sciences: ultra blast

Defiler Spells: 1) charm person, friends, hypnotism, sleep, chill touch; 2) bind, forget, ray of enfeeblement, scare, spectral hand; 3) hold person, suggestion, feign death, hold undead, vampiric touch; 4) confusion, emotion, fumble, contagion, enervation; 5) chaos, domination, feeble mind, animate dead, magic jar, 6) eye bite, mass suggestion, death spell, reincarnation; 7) shadow walk, control undead, finger of death; 8) binding, mass charm, sink; 9) mordenkainen's disjunction, energy drain.

Fortunately, there is only one dragon in the Tyr Region, and perhaps in the entire world of Athas. It is tall and thin, with a gnarled bone structure and swollen, bulbous joints. Its appearance is reptilian in many ways: it has a long, snake-like neck, whip-like tail, and scaly hide. Yet it walks on two legs, its hands have long, well developed fingers and thumbs, its bone structure seems faintly humanoid, and its head is long and narrow, with a distinctly mammalian appearance.

Combat: The dragon is a terror in combat. It can attack simultaneously with its massive claws (2d10+15) its fang-filled mouth (4d12), and its whip-like tail (5d10) In addition to its melee attacks, the dragon can use one psionic power and cast one magical spell per round. For purposes of determining psionic power and spell effects, it is treated as 20th level psionicist and a 20th level defiler. The dragon's saving throw numbers are always "2". Three times a day, the dragon can breath a cone of superheated sand during a round instead of using its psionic powers and casting a spell. This cone is five-feet wide at the base, fifty-feet long, and a hundred feet in diameter at its far end. The cone does 25d12 of damage, which is treated as both heat and abrasive damage. The dragon can be hit only by +2 or better magical weapons. If these are not made of metal, the dragon suffers only 1/2 damage from the attack. Each round, the dragon automatically regenerates 10 hp. The dragon has an 80% magic resistance to all spells cast against it. The dragon usually attacks like a hunter, first stalking and then chasing down its prey. Next, if its opponent consists of a large group of individuals, it attacks with its death field psionic power, but if the opponent is only a handful of individuals, it attacks them individually with its life draining power. The dragon uses its breath weapon only as a last resort, for it is so destructive that nothing usually remains of any prey that it hits.

Habitat/Society: The dragon wanders over all parts of Athas, usually alone. Occasionally, it visits a sorcerer-king, leaving disaster and chaos in its wake.

Dune Freak (Anakore)

CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Any sandy region

FREQUENCY Uncommon

ORGANIZATION: Small Tribes

ACTIVITY CYCLE: Nigh

DIET: Omnivore

INTELLIGENCE: Low (5-7)

TREASURE: P

ALIGNMENT: Neutral evil

NO. APPEARING: 2-12 (2d6)

ARMOR CLASS: 8

MOVEMENT: 9, 15 Br

HIT DICE: 3

THAC0 17

NO. OF ATTACKS: 2

DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1d4/1d4

SPECIAL ATTACK: Surprise bonus, Paralyzation, suffocation

SPECIAL DEFENSES: Burrow

MAGIC RESISTANCE Nil

SIZE: M (6' tall)

MORALE: Steady (11-12)

XP VALUE: 650

PSIONICS: Nil

The anakore are a race of dimwitted humanoids with bony, wedgelike heads, small ears pressed close to the sides of their heads, and sunken, beady eyes covered by clear membranes to prevent sand from scratching these delicate tissues.

The bright light of Athas' sun blinds the anakore during the day, but at night they can see as clearly as most beings do during the day. The anakore do not have infravision, however; they do not see body heat. In complete darkness, they are as blind as any human But if there is even the tiniest amount of light, such as from a star, they see very well.

The anakore have an unusual dorsal ridge running along their spine. This fin is actually a sensitive organ which picks up minute vibrations traveling through the sand. With it, they can locate a solitary creature walking on the sand from as far away as five miles.

Combat: Anakore usually attack their foes by burrowing underneath them, then striking from beneath the victim with their sharp claws. Such victims suffer a ~ 3 penalty to their surprise rolls. The anakore continue to fight from within the sand for as long as possible, imposing a - 2 penalty to their opponents' attack rolls. When an anakore hits a victim with both claws, it holds the individual motionless for a moment and bites with its short, sharp teeth. While this bite inflicts no damage in itself, it does inject poisonous saliva into the wound. The victim must immediately save vs. paralyzation or be completely unable to move for 1d4 rounds. On the round following paralyzation, the victim is dragged under the sound, suffering an additional 1d4 per round suffocation damage.

Habitat/Society The anakore live within any sandy heap, such as sand dunes or the alluvial fans at the mouths of the canyons. Normally, they travel and hunt in small packs of two to twelve individuals, with the largest, most aggressive acting as leader. They are rarely found outside of sandy areas, but they can walk upright across various kinds of terrain - though they are unusually vulnerable in this state and will avoid fighting at all costs.

Ecology: The anakore are nomadic burrowers who are constantly moving through the sandy wastes of Athas. It is often possible to identify an area through which anakores have passed by the dead plants found there - the anakores chew the roots away, leaving the upper stalks exposed. In addition to their diet of plant roots, the anakores also eat meat - mekillot, inix, erdlu, elf, dwarf, halfling, and nearly anything except kank.

Gaj

CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Sands, stony barrens, rocky badlands, and islands

FREQUENCY Very Rare

ORGANIZATION: Solitary

ACTIVITY CYCLE: Any

DIET: Carnivore

INTELLIGENCE: Very (11-12)

TREASURE: Z

ALIGNMENT: Neutral evil

NO. APPEARING: 1-2

ARMOR CLASS: 2

MOVEMENT: 12

HIT DICE: 7

THAC0 13

NO. OF ATTACKS: 1

DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1d6

SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below

SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below

MAGIC RESISTANCE: Nil

SIZE: L (6' diameter)

MORALE: Champion (15)

XP VALUE: 2,000

PSIONICS SUMMARY:

Level | Dis/Sci/Dev | Attack/Defense | Score | PSPs
8 | 1/4/13 | II, EW, PB/ IF,MB,M - ,TW | 17 | 120

Telepathy - Sciences: domination, mass domination, probe, tower of iron will; Devotions: aversion, contact, ego whip, esp, false sensory input, id insinuation, inflict pain, intellect fortress, life detection, mental barrier, mind blank, psionic blast, send thoughts.

The gaj is a psionic horror. Physically, it appears as a large reptile resembling a beetle in appearance. Its body is covered by a scaly, rust-orange shell about six feet in diameter. From beneath this shell protrude six four-jointed legs which end in webbed feet with long, sharp claws.

Its head is a spongy white globe about two feet in diameter. Spaced at even intervals around the head are six compound eyes. A pair of barbed mandibles as long as a man's arms flank six fingerlike appendages that hang over its mouth, and three feathery stalks rise from the top of the head.

Combat: The gaj strikes with its psionic attack modes first, trying to disable its opponents before moving in for the kill. If this fails, or once the opponents are disabled, the gaj tries to kill its prey with its two huge mandibles. Whenever the gaj makes a successful hit, the victim must save vs. paralyzation or be held by the mandibles until he breaks the hold (as if wrestling; see Punching and Wrestling in Chapter 9: Combat of the DMG). While held, the victim suffers five points of damage per round. More importantly, the gaj wraps its feathery antenna around the victim's head and psionically probes his innermost thoughts. Unlike the standard psionic probe, however, this is a painful, destructive process. The victim loses 1d4 points of Intelligence or Wisdom (distributed randomly on a point by point basis) each round he is held. This loss is permanent, and once the victim's Intelligence or Wisdom drops to 0, he becomes a mindless husk and will soon die of starvation and thirst.

The hard shell covering the gaj's body reduces the damage that all non-metallic weapons cause it. Thus, all non-metal weapons inflict half their normal damage to these monsters. In melee, it can also protect its vulnerable head by pulling it beneath its shell. This leaves the dangerous mandibles exposed, and does not reduce its combat effectiveness at all.

Habitat/Society: The gaj are solitary hunters that prey on other intelligent life forms. They prefer to live in rocky areas where their shells serve as camouflage, or in sandy areas where they can hide themselves from predators in a shallow burrow. Most often, they are found alone, but occasionally mated pairs are encountered.

Ecology: Like all carnivores, the gaj eat flesh to provide their bodies with physical energy. Unlike most other animals, however, the gaj derive their mental energy from the thoughts of other beings - through the effects of their probe powers. No matter where they live, the gaj are constantly using their feathery antennas to search the horizon with their psionic life detection powers for signs of their favorite prey - other intelligent races. After a week without consuming the thoughts of an intelligent creature, the gaj starts losing PSPs at the rate of 1d10 per day. The lost PSPs are fully recovered once the gaj feeds, but if his total number of PSPs ever drops to 0, he loses his psionic powers and his will to live. Within a week, the creature will die.

Giant, Athasian

CLIMATE/TERRAIN Sea of Silt Islands, Tablelands

FREQUENCY Uncommon

ORGANIZATION: Clans

ACTIVITY CYCLE: Day

DIET: Omnivore

INTELLIGENCE: Low (5-7)

TREASURE: Y (I)

ALIGNMENT: Varies by individual

NO. APPEARING: 1-20

ARMOR CLASS: 4

MOVEMENT: 1 5

HIT DICE: 15

THAC0 5

NO OF ATTACKS:

DAMAGE/ATTACK 2-16 + 14

SPECIAL ATTACKS: Hurl rocks

SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below

MAGIC RESISTANCE: Nil

SIZE: H (20-30')

MORALE: Champion (16-17)

XP VALUE: 9,000

PSIONICS SUMMARY:

Humanoid giants are not capable of employing psionic powers. Because of their huge brain mass, humanoid giants are resistant to all forms of psionics. When any form of psionics is used against them, they are allowed to save vs. spells to negate it. In addition, in psionic combat, they are treated as if they have all five defense modes.

Many beast-headed giants are intelligent enough to make good psionicists, however. Although they lack the general immunity to psionics that their humanoid cousins possess, they have the following statistics

Level | Dis/Sci/Dev | Attack/Defense | Score | PSPs
5 | 2/3/10 | Varies/3 | 13 | 75

Their disciplines, sciences, and devotions vary too widely to make generalizing possible or practical. Athasian giants come in only two basic varieties: humanoid and beast-headed.

Humanoid giants resemble massive humans standing between 20 and 30 feet tall, and weighing between four and eight tons. They have exaggerated and sometimes comical features, such as huge noses, ears, mouths, and so forth. Their skin is usually dark red to black in color, and their hair is coarse and sturdy (giant hair ropes are the best on Athas). Most humanoid giants have a Strength scores of 25.

Beast-headed giants resemble humanoid giants in many respects, save that they are slightly smaller (15-20 feet). In place of the head of a man or woman, they have the head of some beast, and their skin is usually an extremely pale color, like pink or alabaster. Beast-headed giants are rarely seen in the Tablelands, for they are just short enough to make wading through the Sea of Silt hazardous to their safety.

Combat: Giants fight in two basic modes: defensively or offensively. When fighting defensively, such as when protecting their island homes from uninvited guests, their favorite tactic is to hurl boulders at the enemy from as great a range as possible (up to 250 yards), doing 2d10 damage to anyone or anything they hit.

Offensively, giants like to get to the heart of the matter, melee, as quickly as possible. They will charge into the fray swinging their huge clubs. When hit by a giant, any being of man-size of smaller must save vs. paralysis or be knocked off his feet and fly 1 yard per point of damage inflicted.

Habitat/Society: Generally, humanoid giants are only destructive when they want something, or when a stranger has landed on their island uninvited. Otherwise, they are quite congenial and friendly.

Beast-headed giants tend to be more hostile, and treat all nongiants as vermin. They are magical mutations of normal giants, and are treated by their brethren as inferior beings. Since beast-headed giants are on the whole somewhat wiser and more intelligent than humanoid giants, this makes them understandably bitter

Ecology: Most giants feed themselves through herding sheep, kanks, erdlus, and other animals. They often supplement this simple lifestyle through raiding, simple forms of commerce (such as by selling their hair to rope-makers), and occasionally by hiring themselves out as mercenaries (though this is considered quite dishonorable by most giants).

Gith

CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Tablelands, Mountains

FREQUENCY Uncommon

ORGANIZATION: Tribal

ACTIVITY CYCLE: Day/Night

DIET: Carnivore

INTELLIGENCE: Average (10)

TREASURE: M (Individual), I (Lair)

ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Evil

NO. APPEARING: 10-100

ARMOR CLASS: 8

MOVEMENT: 10

HIT DICE 3

THAC0 17

NO. OF ATTACKS: 1 or 2

DAMAGE/ATTACK: by weapon or 1d4/1d4

SPECIAL ATTACKS: Springing

SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil

MAGIC RESISTANCE: Nil

SIZE: M

MORALE: Steady (12)

XP VALUE: 175

PSIONICS SUMMARY:

Level | Dis/Sci/Dev | Attack/Defense | Score | PSPs
5 | 2/3/10 | II, MT/M-, TW, MB | 16 | 80

Telepathy - Sciences: tower of iron will, project force; Devotions: id insinuation, mind thrust, contact, mind blank, mental barrier.

Psychokinesis - Sciences: telekinesis; Devotions: animate object, animate shadow, ballistic attack, control body, control flames.

Note: Only leaders commanding 25 or more gith have psionic powers. The psionics listed above are representative of these leaders, but their powers do vary greatly. Gith with more hit dice have correspondingly greater powers.

The gith are a race of grotesque humanoids that appear to be a peculiar mixture of elf and reptile. They are extremely gaunt and lanky, with long gangling arms and spindly legs. Their hands have three fingers with no opposable thumb, yet they are able to use tools and wield weapons. Both their fingers and toes end in sharp claws. If one could get a gith to stand up straight, he would measure close to seven feet tall. However, most gith appear to be no more than five feet tall, for they stand hunched over at the shoulders.

Combat: If possible, the gith attack in mass, usually starting with a psionic attack from one of their leaders. Then the entire party moves in quickly to melee. They often accomplish this by springing up to twenty feet in one giant leap to close with their enemies. When they employ this spring, it gives them a + 2 THAC0 bonus on the first round of combat.

The gith are generally armed with large, wicked-looking spears with giant, razor-sharp heads of obsidian (1d6-1 damage). Although these spears look like thrusting weapons, they are used primarily to slash or chop. The gith often armor themselves, especially their vulnerable backs, with inix-shell armor (AC 6).

Habitat/Society: The gith live in tribal organizations. The individual with the most powerful psionics generally acts as the leader. All other social positions are distributed at his pleasure.

For every twenty-five gith, there will be a five HD leader, for every fifty, a six HD leader, and for every tribe of 100 or more, a seven HD leader. In addition to having hit points and THAC0 numbers appropriate to their HD, these leaders will have psionic powers approximately equal to a psionicist of an equivalent level.

Ecology: Mountain gith live in underground lairs, claiming a particular canyon or valley as their territory. Gith inhabiting the Tablelands tend to organize their society more along the lines of a nomadic hunting clan, going wherever the game takes them. They do not hesitate to attack human or demihuman groups

Silk Wyrm

CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Badlands

Frequency Uncommon

ORGANIZATION: Solitary

ACTIVITY CYCLE: Any

DIET: Carnivore

INTELLIGENCE: Low (5-7)

TREASURE: (W)

ALIGNMENT: Neutral

NO. APPEARING: 1

ARMOR CLASS: 3

MOVEMENT: 12, Fl 12 (C)

HIT DICE: 6

THAC0 15

NO. OF ATTACKS: 1

DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1d6

SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below

SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil

MAGIC RESISTANCE: Nil

SIZE: L (501 long)

MORALE: Steady(11-12)

XP VALUE: 1,400

PSIONICS SUMMARY:

Level | Dis/Sci/Dev | Attack/Defense | Score | PSPs
6 | 1/1/0 | Nil/Nil | 15 | 45

Psychometabolism - Sciences shadow form.

The silk wyrm is a snake with a hard, chitinous shell that measures over 50' in length. They are commonly seen flying through the air during the day searching for prey, but rarely attack until dusk, when they assume their shadow form and sneak into a camp to attack.

Any creature bitten by a silk wyrm must save vs. poison or be paralyzed for 1d4 days (a restore or remove curse will reverse this effect). Psionic powers can still be used while in this state, as long as the body itself is not required to move.

The silk wyrm will drag its paralyzed prey away and encase it in a sheath of silk, inside which the unfortunate victim will linger for up to two weeks. During this time, the silk wyrm will occasionally stick its head into the protective cocoon and bite the victim's neck, draining a little bit of blood and paralyzing him for another 1d4 days Each time this occurs, the victim loses one point of Constitution. When his constitution reaches 0, all of his blood has been drained and he dies.

The silk casing manufactured by the silk wyrm is valued in many cities for use in expensive clothing. It is flame resistant ( + 4 bonus on any saves vs. normal fires, + 2 bonus vs. magical fires) and very tough. Cutting a captured victim free can be quite time consuming.

Jozhal

CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Tablelands and Hinterlands

FREQUENCY Rare

ORGANIZATION: Family

ACTIVITY CYCLE: Nocturnal

DIET: Omnivore

INTELLIGENCE: Very (14-15)

TREASURE: U

ALIGNMENT: Chaotic neutral

NO. APPEARING: 5-10 (Id6+4)

ARMOR CLASS 3

MOVEMENT: 18

HIT DICE: 4

THAC0: 17

NO. OF ATTACKS: 1

DAMAGE/ATTACK ld6 or by weapon - 2 or 1d4/1d4

SPECIAL ATTACKS Uses magical items & spells

SPECIAL DEFENSES: Camouflage

MAGIC RESISTANCE 10%

SIZE S (4, tall)

MORALE: Steady (11-12)

XP VALUE: 1,400

PSIONICS SUMMARY:

Level | Dis/Sci/Dev | Attack/Defense | Score | PSPs
4 | 2/2/9 | EW,PB/IF,TS | 14 | 80

Psychoportation - Sciences banishment. Devotions: dimensional door, time shift, time/space anchor, teleport trigger.

Telepathy - Sciences contact. Devotions: ego whip, psionic blast, intellect fortress, thought shield, mind ball.

Spells - 1) detect magic, cure light wounds, detect poison, locate animals or plants, magical stone; 2) silence 15' radius, hold person, flame blade; 3) locate object, dispel magic.

Standing about four feet tall, the jozhal is a small, two-legged reptile with a skinny tail, a long flexible neck, and a narrow, elongated snout. Its mouth is filled with needle sharp teeth, and its lanky arms end in small, three-fingered hands with an opposable thumb. Although the jozhal's hide is covered with scales, they are so small as to be unnoticeable at first, and it appears to more akin to a man's skin or a baazrag's rough hide. The jozhal can change the hue of its skin at will, either to match the color of its environment, or to stand out against it.

Combat: Generally, the jozhal prefers to avoid combat. It attempts to flee, then use its ability to change skin color to hide from pursuers (they must roll their Wisdom or less on ld20 to find the jozhal). Should the pursuer get too close to the jozhal without actually seeing it, the jozhal will attack. The victim must make a surprise check with a -2 penalty.

During the actual fight, the jozhal attempts to defend itself first with psionics and magic, then with any magical items it currently possesses (roll on Table 88 in DMG, results calling for armor, shields, or weapons count as no magical item in jozhal's possession). If that fails, it will bite with its teeth for 1 d8 points of damage, or strike with any weapon available to it (with a -2 damage modifier.)

Habitat/Society: The jozhal live in small family groups of four to five creatures. They are extremely intelligent and cunning, but regard humans or demihumans as foolish, dangerous creatures and will rarely tolerate them.

Jozhals are attracted to magic of all sorts, and whenever they see humans or Demihumans passing they track the party down and attempt to cast a detect magic spell on the group. If the spell reveals any magical items, they will try to sneak into camp and steal them.

Ecology: Jozhals forage for food (roots and tubers), and eat almost any sort of small reptile, snake, or insect. Their magic is akin to that of elemental clerics, and is therefore not destructive to the environment around them.

The jozhal clan's intellect is best reflect in its relationship to the world around it. They are very careful never to destroy the lifegiving world in which they live, always making use of every bit of scrap and refuse that they find. They carry this to extremes, even practicing cannibalism and using the bones of their dead to construct weapons and tools.

Tembo

CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Tablelands and mountains

Frequency Uncommon

ORGANIZATION: Pack

ACTIVITY CYCLE: Night

DIET: Carnivore

INTELLIGENCE: High (13-14)

TREASURE:

ALIGNMENT: Chaotic evil

NO. APPEARING: 1-6

ARMOR CLASS 4

MOVEMENT 15

HIT Dice: 4

THAC0 17

NO. OF ATTACKS: 5

DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1d4 (x2)/1d6 (x2)/1d8

SPECIAL ATTACK: Level drain

SPECIAL DEFENSES: Dodge missiles

MAGIC RESISTANCE: 10%

SIZE M

MORALE: Fearless (20)

XP VALUE: 975

PSIONICS SUMMARY:

Level | Dis/Sci/Dev | Attack/Defense | Score | PSPs
5 | 1/2/5 | - /IF, M- | 10 | 80

Psychometabolism - Sciences: death field, life draining, shadowform; Devotions: chameleon power, displacement, ectoplasmic form, heightened senses, immovability.

The tembo is a despicable, furless, tawny-colored beast covered with loose folds of scaly hide. Varying between three and six feet in length, they usually stand about as high as a man's thigh. All four of their lithe feet end in long sharp claws, and huge canine fangs protrude from beneath the flappy lips of their squarish snouts. The tembo has huge, squarish ears which it can turn in any direction, independently of each other.

Combat: Though all tembo love to fight, their battle tactics are as unpredictable as these vicious beasts themselves. Some attack by stealth from a short distance away, sneaking as close as possible to their victims and trying to destroy them with a death field. Others prefer to play with their victims, batting them from one paw to another, using life draining each time the paw lands. Still other tembos like to leap into the fray immediately, meleeing their victims from the first round.

In such physical confrontations, the tembo are true horrors. Their favorite tactic is to leap at their victim, attacking with all four feet and their bite at once. The front claws cause only 1d4 damage, but the back claws have a greater tendency to sink into softer flesh, ripping through important tendons and organs (which is why they do more damage). The greatest danger of the tembo comes from its horrid mouth, however When the tembo successfully hits with its powerful jaws, the victim must make a saving throw vs. death magic or lose one life level. This loss is permanent, and a save must be made each time the tembo lands a successful bite.

When attacked from a distance, the dexterous tembo have a 40% chance of dodging any non magical missile fire directed at them.

Tembo display no fear, and will always fight to the death rather than run.

Habitat/Society: Tembo prowl the desert in small packs that seem to have no real social organization or cohesiveness. Each tembo does more or less as it pleases, not sharing any prey it downs with the others. The tembo's one concession to social life is that if one of them is attacked, the entire pack will join to fight the enemy.

Ecology: The favorite food of the tembo is the young of any other race. Tembo are famous for sneaking into a nomadic camps to drag off elven children, for skulking about dwarven villages prowling for untended toddlers, even for sneaking into populated cities to snatch noble babes from their cradles. Needless to say, this makes these despicable beasts universal objects of hatred. Even feuding elf tribes, the most dedicated of enemies, have been known to call a truce for the purposing of hunting down a tembo pack that has appeared in the area.