Racial Knowledge: All Knowledge checks are treated as trained skill checks for this rilkan incarnate, regardless of whether she actually has ranks in the skill. She also gains a +1 competence bonus on all Knowledge checks. Possessions: +1 chain shirt, +1 heavy steel shield, potion of cure moderate wounds, 17 pp, 19 gp. The sample rilkan incarnate presented here had the following ability scores before racial and level-based adjustments: Str 14, Dex 10, Con 13, Int 8, Wis 15, Cha 12. MONSTERS
The following groups of rilkans can be encountered in a tavern within a rilkan settlement. EL 1: Two carousing rilkan warriors are deep in their cups. They hurl insults repeatedly at the party, and only an honorable duel will satisfy them. EL 4: A gang of rilkans (four 1st-level warriors and a 3rdlevel rogue) has been scuffling in the street, but the four warriors have now surrounded the taunting rogue. The fight isn’t serious since the rilkans have yet to draw their weapons, but the PCs might not realize that fact right away. The rilkans don’t mind if the characters get involved, but if any PC deals lethal damage to any rilkan, all five of them immediately turn on that character and make him the target of their jibes and their swords.
CHAPTER 7
RILKAN ENCOUNTERS
SKARN
following soulmelds shaped. All of the benefits they provide are included in the statistics above. Bluesteel Bracers (Su): This rilkan incarnate gains a +2 insight bonus on initiative checks and a +1 insight bonus on weapon damage rolls. Dissolving Spittle (Su): This rilkan incarnate can spit to a range of 30 feet, dealing 1d6 points of acid damage with a successful ranged touch attack. Impulse Boots (Su): This rilkan incarnate gains the uncanny dodge ability, as well as a +1 enhancement bonus on Reflex saves. Because this soulmeld is bound to her feet chakra, she also gains evasion. Incarnate Weapon (Su): This rilkan incarnate has created a +2 battleaxe with chaotic alignment from incarnum. Detect Opposition (Sp): This rilkan incarnate can detect law at will, as the spell of the same name (caster level 4th). Essentia Pool (Su): This rilkan incarnate has an essentia pool of 4, and her essentia capacity is 1 (or 2 for her soulmelds). She normally has 2 points of essentia invested in her incarnate weapon, 1 in her bluesteel bracers, and 1 in her impulse boots. If melee combat is not her best option, she shifts 2 points of essentia from incarnate weapon to dissolving spittle, increasing the damage dealt by that soulmeld to 3d6. Incarnum Radiance (Su): Once per day, this rilkan incarnate can activate this ability as a free action, gaining a +10-foot sacred bonus to her base land speed for 5 rounds. This adjustment also increases her Jump modifier by 4. Racial Aid: Any time this rilkan incarnate succeeds in using the aid another action to assist another rilkan, she adds +3 to her ally’s roll rather than +2.
Skarns are proud, sophisticated warriors who constantly strive for perfection of form. With a height of about 6 feet and a weight of approximately 210 pounds, a typical skarn is significantly more massive than an average human. Skarns adorn their spines with jewelry, and even in everyday circumstances they keep these natural weapons polished and sharp. The hierarchical skarn society features clearly defined social classes. As a race, skarns prefer cities to rural communities. They prize architecture as an art form, and their cities display a wide range of different yet harmonizing styles of construction and engineering. Like their sister race, the rilkans (see page 12), the skarns are descendants of the mysterious mishtai, a long-vanished progenitor race. Despite their shared heritage, the skarns look down on the rilkans for their supposed contribution to the mishtai’s failure to create a perfect race. The skarns treat most other races as inferior, though this viewpoint rarely carries any malice. Skarns speak Common. When they deign to learn other languages, they prefer the tongues of those few races or creatures that they consider close to equals, such as Abyssal, Celestial, Draconic, Elf, and Infernal.
COMBAT Skarns are adept at fighting with their arm spines and use them as much as possible in combat. In addition, skarns who can wield incarnum use their soulmelds to enhance their combat prowess.
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