Chapter Four: CREATURES Alabast

Creatures

The Lands ofthe Diamond Throne provide a home not just to exotic races and interesting individuals.The realm is filled with all sorts of creatures,some benevolent and some malign.Many are intelligent and not so different from humans,faen,giants,and so on.Others are strange beasts so alien that they can hardly be understood at all.The worst ofthem are creatures sometimes known as the Legacy ofthe Dragons—creatures created by the dramojh in their foul workshops,using their own slaves as raw material.

Obviously,the races mentioned in Monte Cook’s Arcana Unearthed are only the beginning when it comes to the inhabitants ofthe Lands ofthe Diamond Throne.This chapter presents a dozen new monsters as well as listing dozens more that you can incorporate from other books,including the MM.

Alabast

Medium Humanoid (Alabast)

Hit Dice: 1d8–1 (3 hp),dying/dead –1/–8 Initiative: +2 (Dexterity) Speed: 30 feet AC: 15 (+2 Dexterity,+3 studded leather jack), touch 12,flat-footed 13 Base Attack/Grapple: +1/+1 Attack: Rapier +3 melee (1d6),or light crossbow +3 ranged (1d8) Full Attack: Rapier +3 melee (1d6),or light crossbow +3 ranged (1d8) Face/Reach: 5 feet by 5 feet/5 feet Special Qualities: Low-light vision Saves: Fort +1,Ref+1,Will +0 Abilities: Str 10,Dex 15,Con 8,Int 13,Wis 9,Cha 11 Skills: Listen +2*,Ride +6,Search +4*,Sneak +4,Spot +2* Feats: Intuitive Sense,Weapon Finesse

Environment: Cold or temperate land Organization: Company (2–4),troupe (11–20 plus two 3rdlevel teladans and one leader of3rd to 6th level),or band (30–100 plus 20 percent noncombatants plus one 3rdlevel teladan per 10 adults,five 5th-level iladans,and three 7th-level koradans) Challenge Rating: 1/2 Treasure: Double standard Advancement: By character class Level Adjustment: +0

* Includes a racial bonus.

Alabasts could almost pass for humans,except for their snow-white skin,hair,and eyes.They have thin,angular features,slight physiques,and pointed ears like a faen’s.These humanoids are not natives ofthis world,but instead were brought here hundreds ofyears ago in a dramojh experiment:The dramojh tore an entire city,Kellest Minos,from the alabast homeworld and brought it to Serran—specifically to the center ofa wide plain in Thartholan.Since that time, the 10,000 alabasts in Kellest Minos,and their descendants after them,have done what they could to find and return to their world,but without fruition.

Alabasts express very little emotion and speak only when absolutely necessary.They act aloofand arrogant in the company ofother races.Every alabast is convinced that he or she is more important than the folk ofthis world in which they find themselves.They resent and feel distaste for the realm and everything in it,but it is a quiet,brooding resentment.

While not actually nocturnal,alabasts dislike direct sunlight and do not care for wide open spaces.Thus,the placement ofKellest Minos was a particularly cruel twist offate (this pyramid-city stood within a thick,ancient forest on the alabast homeworld).As they prefer to stay in enclosed,shaded areas,they have attempted to grow a forest around their displaced city,with only marginal success.

Alabasts speak their own language,although many have learned one or more local tongues,especially Common.Their lifespan is about as long as a human’s,but despite their similar appearance and physiology,they cannot breed with humans.

The information in the statistics above is for a 1st-level alabast warrior.

Combat

Not particularly combative,alabasts fight savagely to defend themselves or drive away outsiders (which to them means everyone).They favor ranged attacks and magic over standing toe-to-toe with an opponent in melee.They attempt to use their mobility and natural grace to their advantage when fighting.

Skill Bonuses: All alabasts gain a +2 racial bonus to Search,Spot,and Listen checks.

Alabast Society

Alabasts value individual freedom,peace,and quiet (and for many,solitude).They consider themselves superior to other races,but among themselves treat each other with a calm, distant respect.Although no alabast alive remembers their former world,almost all ofthem want to leave Serran and return home.

Alabast society is based entirely on merit—the better you are at what you do,the more prestige and authority you have.(To put it another way,the higher level you are,the more influential you are.) They call unfettered individuals teladans, mage blades iladans, and warmains koradans. When they came to this world,they had no other classes (other than warrior,expert,and commoner).Some have learned witchery and even the magical approach ofthe magister since their arrival.