Ungolwaith

Ungolwaith is the name the elves of Wendar gave to the sand folk.

Climate/Terrain: Dry deserts/badlands - specifically the Adri Varma Plateau
Frequency: Rare
Organisation: Tribal
Activity Cycle: Any
Diet: Minerals
Intelligence: Average (8-10)
Alignment: Any Lawful
No. Appearing: 2-12 (10-60 member in a tribe)
Armour Class: 3-7 (see below)
Movement: 12
Hit Dice: 1-9
Thac0: 19
No. of Attacks: Up to four (but usually 2)
Damage/Attack: By weapon (+2 due to their great strength)
Special Attacks: None
Special Defences: See below
Magic Resistance: None
Size: M (6' average)
Morale: Elite (13-14)
XP Value: 275

Ungolwaith (sand folk) are a silicon-based, humanoid species. In their youth, their thick, leathery skin is smooth and green, but it darkens to slate grey (or even black) with age. As they age, glandular secretions cause their hides to gradually become encrusted with hard silicon crystals. Young Ungolwaith have an AC of 7. Middle-aged Ungolwaith have ACs of 5 or 6. Elders most often have an AC of 4, and truly ancient Ungolwaith may have an AC of 3. When full grown, they average six feet tall. All have four arms (two sets, one above the other on the torso), and have no hair or an external nose. Each hand and foot has four digits - two "fingers" and two "thumbs."

Combat: Ungolwaith are extremely strong, and inflict extra 2 points of damage with any weapon they use. During melee, each Ungolwaith usually attacks twice, once with his upper arms and once with his lower arms. Commonly, Ungolwaith carry large bastard swords. The war chief carries a ceremonial glaive, though he may use other weapons in actual combat. Ungolwaith have a special affinity for the desert. They can't be surprised in desert country, and they cunning ambushes can be detected only by magical means.

Habitat/Society: All Ungolwaith, regardless of current sex, are warriors and are governed by a strict code of tribal honour that places a premium on martial combat. For more information, see my previous post.

Ecology: The biology of the Ungolwaith is by far the strangest yet seen. All are alternately male or female, with the onset of extreme summer heat triggering a change of sex. This change occurs in all Ungolwaith except for pregnant females.

Being a silicon-based lifeform, the Ungolwaith ingest a type of gruel made of sand and other minerals. This gruel is poisonous to almost all carbon-based life-forms.

The average lifespan for an Ungolwaith is about 250 years, after which the body quickly decomposes (a matter of minutes) into its base materials.

New PC Race - Ungolwaith

After looking at my notes, I realize that we had made the character for OD&D. However, with some thought, reworking and using both the Complete Book of Humanoids and the Complete Barbarian's Handbook, I managed to come up with this:

Ungolwaith

Ability Score Adjustment: The initial ability scores are modified by a +2 bonus to strength, and a -2 penalty to intelligence.

Ability Score Range

Class Restrictions

Hit Dice: Player character ungolwaith recieve hit dice by class.

Alignment: Any Lawful.

Natural Armor Class

Languages: The Talk (native), Elvish (Wendarian dialect)

Role-Playing Suggestions: Not only are ungolwaith non-human, they are not even a carbon-based lifeform. Therefore, their thinking is a little more different. They used to be very self-important and hostile (see DA3), but the years have humbled them and now they are a very spiritual, yet still somewhat agressive, people.

Special Advantages: 2 attacks per round; bonus nonweapon proficiency: desert survival; can make themselves undetected in a desert setting, able to hide with a 90% chance of success.

Special Disadvantages: Cannot wear any armor better than AC 6 (most armor is camarilla hides worn by the younger members of the tribes); cannot eat the food of carbon-based lifeforms - therefore they must carry/prepare their own food taken from minerals in the ground (if preparing their own food, must have the cooking skill).

Monsterous Traits: -2 penalty on reaction checks due to appearance.

Common Weapon Proficiencies: Bastard sword, glaive, club, dagger, spear, axe, bola.

Common Non-weapon Proficiencies: Riding (camarilla), mountaineering, cooking, hiding, armorer (crude), foraging, weapon improvisation, weaponsmithing (crude).

Note: Most of the above skills were taking from the Complete Barbarian's Handbook