Monday, January 3, 2011

General Rules: Monsters - Chitine

Chitine (adapted from Monsters of Færûn)
Small Monstrous Humanoid

Hit Dice: 2d8+2 (11 hit points)
Initiative: +1
Speed: 30 feet, climb 20 feet
Armor Class: 16 (+1 size, +1 Dexterity, +3 webbing armor, +1 shield)
BAB/Grapple: +2/+2
Attack: Dagger +3 melee (1d4, piercing and slashing, 19-20 x2) or javelin +4 ranged (1d6, piercing, 20 x2, 30 feet x5)
Full Attack: 3 daggers +3 melee (1d4, piercing and slashing, 19-20 x2) or 3 javelins +4 ranged (1d6, piercing, 20 x2, 30 feet x5)
Space/Reach: 5 feet by 5 feet/5 feet
Special Attacks: Grappling bonus
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 feet, difficult to disarm, sensitive to sunlight, spider affinity
Saves: Fortitude +1, Reflex +4, Will +3
Abilities: Str 10, Int 12, Wis 11, Dex 13, Con 12, Cha 7
Skills: Balance +5, Climb +9, Craft: Trapmaking +6, Hide +8, Jump +4, Move Silently +5
Feats: Multidexterity, Multiweapon Fighting
Environment: Underground
Organization: Swarm (2 - 8) or tribe (10 - 60 plus 2 - 5 choldrith)
Challenge Rating: 1
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Usually chaotic evil
Advancement: By character class
Level Adjustment: +1

Chitines are spiderlike humanoid created by Gangyn as her most useful servants. They build with webbing in the same way that humans employ stone or wood.

Chitines stand just under 4 feet tall and weigh about 85 pounds. Their four spindly arms are long and have an extra joint allowing them a greater range of motion than most humanoids' arms. Their faces are humanlike, but their eyes are faceted and mandibles just from their mouths. They have mottled gray skin and stringy black hair that grows in a tangle from their heads and down their backs.

Chitines secret an oil that keeps them from becoming stuck in their own webs. Their palms and feet are covered with hooks that allow them to climb up walls and across ceilings. They spin sticky webs from an aperture in their bellies and use this webbing as construction material for homes, traps, and armor. Chitine armor grants a +3 armor bonus to Armor Class and has a -1 armor check penalty.

Chitines usually speak Umbran.

Combat
Chitines typically rely upon traps and ambushes to help them overcome larger and more powerful creatures. Frequently they build normal looking spider webs with a seemingly natural way around it concealing a pit, drop net, or similar trap. They can harden their webbing to produce spikes and edges into their traps, typically dealing 1d6 points of damage each.

Chitines are naturally ambidextrous, and can use as many as three weapons at once with no penalties. Weapons, armor, and objects made from hardened webbing deteriorate after several months if not regularly treated with the oil secreted by chitine skin. These items are also susceptible to fire. Two rounds of combat with flame ignites the webbing, burning an item away in 2d4 rounds.

Difficult to Disarm (Ex): Because of the hooks in a chitine's palm, the creature gains a +4 bonus on its opposed check when an opponent tries to disarm it.

Grapple Bonus (Ex): Sometimes chitine choose to grapple humans and capture them alive to serve as sacrifices to the spider goddess Gangyn. Their four arms grant them a +4 bonus on grapple checks (reflected in the statistics above), giving them equal footing with Medium size creatures.

Difficult to Disarm (Ex): Because of the hooks in a chitine's palm, the creature gains a +4 bonus on its opposed check when an opponent tries to disarm it.
Sensitive to Sunlight (Ex): In sunlight and bright magical light (such as a daylight spell), chitines suffer a -1 penalty to attack and damage rolls.

Spider Affinity (Ex): Chitine treat monstrous spiders as animals for all purposes including a druid's Wild Empathy and Animal Companion abilities, and Handle Animal checks. Chitine are almost always found with a variety of monstrous spiders that they keep as pets, mounts, and war beasts. Chitine can be found with almost any type of monstrous spider.

Chitine Society
Chitine villages are located in the middle of mazes of traps-laden webbing. The hard-web dwellings resemble domed houses, complete with windows and adorned with decorative shapes. They build freely on cavern floors, walls, and ceilings, connecting their buildings with br9idges of webbing. Suspended in the center of the cavern is a temple devoted to Gangyn. The choldrith - the priests of the chitines - are the undisputed leaders of chitine communities.

Goblinoids hate chitine, and usually attack them on sight. This is probably due to the fact that chitine tend to regard goblinoids (and their vermin pets) as food, and set about hunting them whenever possible.

Chitine as Characters
The chitine's favored class is rogue. Chitine wizards and sorcerers are extremely rare, and their priests are actually members of another race - the choldrith. Chitine wizards are almost always illusionists specializing in shadow magic, and their sorcerers are universally descended from the shadow or spider-blooded heritage.

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