Whark

A new “old” monster and playable race for your OSR game.

Whark

A fierce warrior race standing nearly twice the height of a man with four arm, tusked maws, and savage ferocity. Whark are cruel to the point they are almost alien to men but they are not without honor and depending on tribal affiliation may be reasonable form time to time. Whark shine in battle as they are able to wield a weapon in each hand or multiple shields.  As four armed monsters Whark can strike at a single foe with as many weapons as they can bear with no penalty if splitting attacks among multiple foes subtract this number form their chance to hit (i.e. a Whark attacking 3 adventurers simultaneously would make each attack roll at -3). Whark are able to climb very well and swiftly as they have six limbs on hand and it is surprising to see such a large warrior scaling sheer surfaces (90% chance to climb sheer surfaces or as a thief with the same level as the Whark’s HD). Whark are able to use their lower set of hands as a set of legs and as such may drop to a centaur like posture to run quickly on all 4 limbs, a Whark may use a lance as if mounted while running as such. The stats given are for a normal member of the species some may be encounter with much higher AC. Despite their amazing fearlessness in battle they are superstitious and skittish around creepy illusions and necromantic magic. Whark are only surprised half as often as normal.

Whark HD 4 (or better); AC 8[11] or armor; Atk: up to 4 weapons; Move: 9 (climb 6, run 15); Save: 13; AL: L or N; CL:5; ML:10; WIL: 15; Special: sense vibrations (only half penalty vs invisible foes).

Whark as Player Characters

Superstitious: Whark are brave except in the face of necromantic magic and frightful illusions, they save at -2 vs illusions and any necromantic/undead origin magics and special attacks.

Tied to environment: Whark are adapteded to survive in specific cruel environments depending on tribe, culture or campaign. When making saves inside this environment Whark receive a +2 bonus, saves made outside this environment receive a -2 penalty. Recommended Environments: Desert, Swamp,Arctic. A dungeon is neither inside nor outside an environment unless it has unusual features.

Darkvision: Whark have limited darkvision being able to see 30’ in darkness.

Awareness: Whark have a low level of telepathy that allows them to sometimes sense when they are being observed by others, just the presence not their location. Whark are only surprised by living beings on a surprise roll of 1.

Four Arms: Whark are able to fight with a weapon in all four arms. They suffer no penalties when striking against a single foe in a round but when splitting attacks between multiple foes they must subtract the number of foes from the chance to hit (attacks must all be designated before rolls are made a Whark PC can’t attack 1 foe see if a single blow hits and move attacks over to other foes).

A Whark may deploy multiple shields gain the benefit of each, if using more then one shield a whark suffers an attack penalty equal to the total number of shields being used.

Centaur Stride: A Whark can assume a centaur-like gait by using his lower set of arms as legs. They move quickly in such a posture have a move rate of 15 . They are also able to use a lance as if mounted.

Tough skins: Whark have AC8[11] when unarmored, armor grants the same AC for them as it does men otherwise.

Big: Whark are big as such they must eat twice as many rations as a man. Whark armor is expensive to manufacture due to their size and anatomy among Whark and those who are trained by Wharksmiths armor costs 3 times normal, getting armor made away from a Wahrkhold would cost 5 times normal prices (except for shields they are normal cost).

Whark will fight at -2 to hit in dungeons or indoors in tight corridors or areas with ceilings under 10’ in height.

Classes: Whark make excellent Fighters and are able to reach 13^th level. Whark enjoy killing and some focus this so they are able to be Assassins up to 7^th level.  Some rare Whark may become Monks but are unable to rise higher then 7^th level as they can never truly master their inner selves (A whark monk will have an AC of 8[11] at 1^st level). A Whark may multiclass as a Fighter-Assassin but is limited to 9^th level as a fighter and 5^th level as an Assassin if they do so. (DM:if your game lacks monks or assassins consider allowing Whark thieves).

Whark have no aptitude for magic and as such there are no Whark MU or Clerics. If using Whark in 

Fantastic Heroes and Witchery Friars, Mystics, and Templar could be allowed to reach 7^th level.

If using psionics/psychics in your campaign Whark are able to use such abilities and may be an appropriate psychic class if your game has one up to 9^th level if single classed (6^th if multi-classed).

Note to DM’s: Whark do have some clear advantages that may not be kept in check with the restrictions listed above  but do consider this: Who’d be the first person to catch an arrow or be targeted by hostile wizards the 5’8” human warrior or the 10’ tall four armed green giant with tusks?

Whark are also culturally alien to most classical D&D law/good guy cultures as they consider most other races weak runts and they exhibit odd behavior like laughing at the sight of others suffering and consider pain humorous as well; their odd behavior can and should have serious negative consequences among other folk.

This race should work fine in BFRPG  (and other OSR games) just adjust movement rates to fit the games rates. If a DM wants to be a big old grump and make Whark PCs pay extra for multiple limbs assign them a 10% exp penalty and deny bonuses for superior stats.

Oh yeah: “whark” is singular and plural for all things whark.