General Rules: Monsters - Brutigan

Brutigan (adapted from Giant Lore)
Medium Giant

Hit Dice: 3d8+6 (19 hit points)
Initiative: +1
Speed: 30 feet
Armor Class: 19 (+1 Dexterity, +2 natural, +4 armor, +2 shield); touch AC 11, flat-footed AC 18
BAB/Grapple: +2/+6

Attack: Longspear +6 melee (1d8+4, piercing, 20 x3, 10 feet) or heavy flail +6 melee (1d10+4, bludgeoning, 19-20 x2, +2 disarm, trip) or throwing blade +3 ranged (1d6+4, slashing, 20 x3, 15 feet x5)

Full Attack: Longspear +6 melee (1d8+4, piercing, 20 x3, 10 feet) or heavy flail +6 melee (1d10+4, bludgeoning, 19-20 x2, +2 disarm, trip) or throwing blade +3 ranged (1d6+4, slashing, 20 x3, 15 feet x5)

Space/Reach: 5 feet by 5 feet/5 feet
Special Attacks: Demoralization, Large weapon handling

Special Qualities: Low-light vision, pack morale, orc blood

Saves: Fortitude +5, Reflex +2, Will +1
Abilities: Str 19, Int 14, Wis 11, Dex 12, Con 15, Cha 8

Skills: Intimidate +5, Handle Animal +1, Knowledge: War +4

Feats: Power Attack
Environment: Any, usually hills or mountains

Organization: Solitary, pack (3 - 10), gang (10 - 20), or tribe (50 - 100)

Challenge Rating: 2
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Usually neutral evil
Advancement: By character class
Level Adjustment: +1

Looked down upon by hags and thus deprived of their companionship, ogres often resort to breeding with races they have conquered, and not always consensually. Typically, if their mate can even bear the child, it is deformed or unable to further reproduce. In the case of orcs, some ogre-orc half-breeds have bred again, forming the line of small but savage giants known as brutigans.

Brutigans stand between six and a half and eight feet tall, only slightly taller than most humans. They are denser, and weigh anywhere from 250 to 300 pounds, nearly all of which is muscle. They are barrel-chested and their arms and legs are thick and built for lifting heavy objects and running long distances. They typically wear heavy boots on their oversized feet and thick gloves on their massive hands. Their skin is covered in coarse brown or black hair. Their eyes are dark brown to black, although in torchlight they glow a malevolent red. Their features are not as severe as an ogre's, but still more bestial than an orc's. They are generally born with nasty-looking oversized fangs, but these are often filed down so they may bark battle orders more clearly. While they seldom bathe, and are usually dirty and rank, their equipment is always kept in perfect condition.

Any who have seen a brutigan alongside an ogre or an orc will report that brutigans have a more intelligent look. They are extremely cunning and constantly look for the advantage in every situation. Brutigans love to debate issues their consider important - mostly battle strategies - although many of those debates end in a fight. Brutigans speak Eurozoic, Jattalaic, and one other common language.

Combat
Brutigan settlements are hard to catch unawares. They post sentries, take turns at watch, and set simple alarm traps to make sure they are not surprised. If expecting a battle, which they nearly always are, brutigans search out the best ground and plan the best strategies to use ahead of time. They are savvy enough to use their Power Attack on opponents wearing light or medium armor, but will use their full attack value against any foes demonstrating a good defense. Brutigans commonly wear scale armor, but it is not uncommon for them to wear armor they have scavenged from fallen foes. Many wear different forms of armor, depending on their preferred role in their tribe: Light for scouts, medium for skirmishers, and heavy for shock troops. Further, brutigans are proficient with all simple and martial weapons. A party should not be surprised to see a group of brutigans armed with crossbows, halberds, longswords, and other weapons claimed from fallen foes.

Large Weapon Handling (Ex): Brutigans are quite big for Medium-size creatures. Due to their large hand size and heavily muscled arms, they are able to wield Large weapons with one hand. They may not use Huge weapons.

Pack Morale (Ex): Despite their argumentative nature, brutigans are generally supportive of other tribe members. In battle, it is not unusual to hear them cheering each other on and yelling out dangers a fellow brutigan may not have seen. Working closely together like this gives brutigans a higher morale bonus than normal troops. If there are four or more brutigans fighting ogether within 50 feet of each other, they gain a +1 morale bonus to their attacks rolls and saves against fear effects. Circumstances that limit communication, such as silence effects or low visibility, cancel pack tactics.

Demoralization (Su): Brutigans are as verbally creative with their threats as they are physically demonstrative of their strength. By ripping apart armored plating, snapping boards, and telling their opponents in graphic detail how they will kill them, brutigans may demoralize their opponents with their Intimidate skill. Unlike the normal use of this ability, any opponent who is shaken remains so for the duration of the combat.

Orc Blood (Ex): Due to their orcish heritage, brutigans are treated as if they were orcs for the purpose of feats, magic effects, and other effects that only benefit or otherwise affect orcs. Brutigans are also treated as giants for all such purposes.

Brutigan Society
typically, brutigans organize into tribes of 50 to 100 members. In any tribe, about two-thirds are combatants, as both males and females equally participate in battle. The other one-third are children, and for all practical purposes are as tough as orcs. other giants will seek out tribes of brutigans for use as infantry when going to war.

Brutigans live nearly anywhere. There are tribes of them reported in nearly every climate, from the desert to the arctic. The majority of them live in hill and mountains, usually near ogres and hill giants. They are industrious and build palisades, entrenchments, outposts, and other defensive structures. They domesticate local wolves and similar animals and use them in battle. They tend to live above round, but if caves are available, they certainly have no aversion to using them for shelter.

Brutigans have an oral storytelling tradition, involving very detailed and tactical retellings of battles.

Brutigan Characters
Might makes right in brutigan society, and mindset tempered only by respect for martial prowess over sheer strength. In their eyes, brutigans are the perfect combination of orc fighting ability and ogre strength. A brutigan's favored class is fighter.

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