Balthrok

Medium Monstrous Humanoid

Hit Dice: 2d8+4 (13 hp),dying/dead –3/–15 Initiative: +0 Speed: 30 feet AC: 16 (+6 natural),touch 10,flat-footed 16 Base Attack/Grapple: +2/+5 Attack: Claw +6 melee (1d8+3) Full Attack: 2 claws +6 melee (1d8+3) Space/Reach: 5 feet/5 feet (Face/Reach:5 feet by 5 feet/5 feet) Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 feet,digging claws, tremorsense 60 feet Saves: Fort +5,Ref+0,Will +2 Abilities: Str 16,Dex 10,Con 15,Int 8,Wis 9,Cha 6 Skills: Climb +6,Swim +5 Feats: Sense the Unseen,Weapon Focus (claws)

Environment: Any temperate Organization: Solitary,pair,pack (3–8 plus one 3rd-level elder),war party (4–20 plus one 6th-level elder),or colony (20–500 plus 1d6 10th-level elders) Challenge Rating: 2 Treasure: Standard Advancement: By character class Level Adjustment: +1

Combining the qualities ofa bear,mole,and human,a balthrok resembles a massive,hairless beast with overly long arms.Its wide,powerfully built hands end in thick,jagged claws that can tear through armor and tunnel through dirt. Driven to aggressive acts because ofoverpopulation,balthroks slowly infiltrate and assault towns and villages from below.

Balthroks burrow through the ground,lying in wait beneath the surface to ambush prey.They sometimes wield crude weapons,usually taken from their enemies.Balthroks hate all humanoid life,and sometimes groups ofthem gather to destroy a village or town.They burrow beneath walls and homes,coordinating their actions to cause several important structures within a town to collapse at the same time.In the confusion that follows,they erupt from the ground and attack the townsfolk.

The dramojh created and bred balthroks to serve as siege troops.Their ability to tunnel through earth and stone makes them invaluable in such operations,since they can undermine fortifications or create paths into the heart ofa fortress’s defenses.With their masters long defeated,they retreated to the dark corners ofthe world.In isolated hills, forests,and mountain ranges,they have dug extensive towns and cities far from prying eyes where they live in peace.

Over time,their population grew too large for their burrows. Recalling the earlier war that spawned them,balthrok leaders spread propaganda painting the giants and their allies as murderers and usurpers oftheir rightful lands.War parties of balthrok scouts now probe the borders ofcivilized realms,using their digging talent to create hidden passages beneath cities.In some areas,sewers are rife with these creatures.Balthroks like to launch raids on isolated buildings and delight in slaying giants.

Combat

Strong and tough,balthroks rarely flee from battle.They prefer to stand and die,seeing defeat as a stain that only blood can purge. The elders’ propaganda has fanned the flames offanaticism in many balthrok scouts and warriors,making them liable to win battles through sheer force ofwill.And since they refuse to surrender,they cause heavier casualties than other marauders.

Balthroks prefer to fight at a place and time oftheir choosing.Ifpossible,they sow an area with hidden pits and other hazards that disrupt their enemies’ plans and give them the advantage ofsurprise.One oftheir favorite tactics is digging a hole and hiding in it beneath a loose cover ofearth,then leaping out to fall upon an opponent’s flank or rear.

Digging Claws (Ex): A balthrok’s thick,jagged claws allow it to tunnel through dirt and rock with relative ease.It does not work fast enough to have a burrow speed,but it can construct tunnels more quickly than even the stoutest miners.A single balthrok can dig a 10-foot tunnel usable by Medium or smaller creatures after 10 minutes ofwork.It takes an additional 10 minutes to enlarge such a passage to be usable by Huge or Large creatures.Teams ofbalthroks usually work together to create elaborate mazes and intricate subterranean strongholds.

A balthrok’s claws are tough and durable,owing partially to their magical nature.Skilled balthrok smiths can improve them with mundane and magical weapon enhancements.Use the standard rules for enchanting an item,except that the claws have a base cost of0 gp.They must be upgraded to masterwork quality as normal before they can receive magical abilities.

Tremorsense (Ex):A balthrok automatically detects the presence and location ofany creature or object that stands on the ground within 60 feet ofit.

Balthrok Society

Balthrok society is built around the veneration ofand obedience to the elders who rule.As a balthrok ages,its claws gradually take on a gleaming,gemlike appearance.This feature allows a balthrok to easily display its social rank.Even the fiercest warrior becomes a passive underling in the presence ofan elder.Balthroks rarely fight among themselves for leadership,since combat and natural causes kill most ofthem before they grow old enough to claim the mantle ofrulership. The elders rule as an oligarchy,forging a consensus by popular vote among themselves to set policy and make decisions. Common balthroks have no say in their government.

Some sages believe balthroks were bred for maximum pliability and obedience.The dramojh designed them to blindly follow whomever they identified as a leader.In the absence ofa strict military structure,the balthroks now give their obedience to the next closest thing—the elders among them.

Unfortunately,these elders typically have few characteristics ofa good leader.Many seek only to satisfy their own desires, putting their subjects to work as litter bearers,servants, miners,and raiders to provide them with a comfortable existence.The elders encourage an aggressive stance toward other creatures because this is the easiest way to avoid overpopulation and food shortfalls.

Balthrok Elders

Balthrok elders develop several psionic abilities that set them apart from their mundane kin.Most balthroks die in battle or ofnatural causes long before they are old enough to exhibit these talents.The dramojh most likely created this disparity among the balthroks to foster a natural ruling class among the creatures and to ensure that in the aftermath ofthe war they would not be burdened with a large population ofthem.

The elders are the heart and soul ofa balthrok community. Their idiosyncrasies,obsessions,and desires filter down through the ranks to the youngest balthrok.Should a settlement lose its elders,its members plunge into a state ofuneasy fear.The balthroks do their best to harvest food and sustain their holdings,but they otherwise fall into a paranoid,defensive state.They may collapse tunnels leading out oftheir warrens,preferring to risk subsisting on fungus and water drawn from wells within their lairs rather than attempt to venture into the outer world without leadership.Until a new elder appears,the colony remains paralyzed with fear.

Balthrok elders have long,thick claws speckled with shards ofgold,crystals,silver,and other valuable materials. Their heads are slightly larger than normal,betraying the enhanced mental abilities that they have developed.All balthrok elders gain the following abilities.

Dominant Personality (Su): All balthroks have an inbred,intuitive tendency to obey an elder’s wishes.All balthroks obey an elder’s verbal commands without question,and even ones under magical compulsion refuse to attack an elder.Other elders are immune to this effect.

Rousing Leader (Su): When a balthrok elder leads his followers into battle,he grants them fierce determination and an unshakable spirit.All balthroks within 60 feet ofan elder,except for other elders,gain a +2 morale bonus to attack rolls,damage rolls,and saves.

Spell-Like Abilities (Sp): A balthrok elder can cast the following spells as a 5th-level magister:1/day—slow, suggestion; 3/day— charm. The save DC against these spells is DC 12 + spell level.

Ability Scores: An elder gains a +6 bonus to Intelligence, +4 bonus to Wisdom,and a +6 bonus to Charisma.

Challenge Rating: Elders have a base CR of3.

Balthrok Characters

Most balthrok characters are warriors.They disdain weapons, preferring to use their sharp claws in battle.Balthroks can enchant their claws or grant them the same upgrades and abilities,such as masterwork quality or the dire special ability, that weaponsmiths can build into weapons.Their claws have a natural affinity for magic and exhibit the supernatural ability to “remember” any modifications and enchantments placed on them.As a balthrok’s claws grow,they retain any changes made to their overall shape.Most researchers believe that the dramojh granted the balthroks this ability with their foul magic,and some unscrupulous smiths pay rich bounties for samples ofthese claws.

Balthrok Encounter (EL 5)

Under the leadership ofa cunning balthrok elder,a small colony ofthese creatures plans to unleash a terrible disaster on a city near their lair.The balthroks have crafted many passages beneath a main market square.During the upcoming harvest, suicide teams ofbalthrok diggers will destroy the supports that keep those passages intact,turning the crowded square into a massive sinkhole.Hundreds oftownsfolk may die in the disaster,while the balthrok elders hope that the resulting chaos will leave the city ripe for the picking.

While the characters are adventuring in the wilderness near the city,they may come across large piles ofearth next to mysterious tunnels dug into hillsides,as well as increased numbers ofbalthrok patrols.Ifthey piece together the evidence,they come to realize that they must invade the tunnels,drive away the balthroks,and prevent the creatures from retaking and collapsing the passages.