Other Races (POSP)

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At the DM's option, players may choose almost any manner of being as a player character. For example, the Dark Sun® campaign allows players to run half-giant characters, dwarf/human crossbreeds, or feral halflings—all with ability scores ranging from 5 to 20 instead of 3 to 18. If a player has a specific character race from an unusual campaign world that he wishes to use, DMs can simply skip the selection of Racial Abilities and take the character race with all its benefits and hindrances exactly as it appears. Generally, players may not customize these unusual races, and they receive zero character points for selecting a nonstandard race .
For the DM's convenience, a short list of common humanoid and monstrous character races is provided on page 42 , with standard abilities and hindrances. These creatures appear in The Complete Book of Humanoids and The Monstrous Manual™, and more detailed descriptions of their lifestyles and societies can be found in those books. A player can choose one of these races for his character if the DM agrees, but the character gains no additional character points in this step.
The races described here include: aarakocra, alaghi, bugbear, bullywug, centaur, flind, giff, githzerai, gnoll, goblin, hobgoblin, kobold, lizard man, minotaur, mongrelman, ogre, orc, satyr, swanmay, thri-kreen, and wemic, 
==Racial Abilities and Restrictions==
Naturally, each of the unique races described in this section have their own special powers, benefits, and hindrances. When a player selects a character, he must accept the standard abilities and restrictions of that race—there are no optional variations or abilities, such as those described for dwarves, elves, or the other standard demihuman races. The racial abilities are summed up on the chart below.
Race 	AC	hp	MV 	Natural Attacks 	Characteristics
Aarakocra 	7 	+0	6, Fl 36(C) 	1d3/1d3/1d3(talons, beak) 	a, y, ff
Alaghi 	4 	+9	12 	2d6 (fist) 	b, c, ff, z
Bugbear 	10	+3	9 	— 	d, e, z
Bullywug 	6 	+0	6, Sw 15 	— 	a, c (75%), e, f, g, aa
Centaur 	5 	+4	18 	1d6/1d6 (hooves) 	a, z, ff
Flind 	10	+2	12 	— 	c
Giff 	6 	+4	6 	2d6 (head butt) 	s (10%), z
Githzerai 	10	+0	12 	— 	d, s
Gnoll 	10	+2	12 	— 	cc
Goblin 	10	+0	6 	— 	d, h (25%), bb, cc
Hobgoblin 	10	+0	9 	— 	d, h(40%), i(40%),j(40%),cc
Kobold 	10	+0	6 	— 	d, k, bb, cc
Lizard man	5 	+0	6, Sw 12 	1d3/1d3/1d6(claws, tail) 	f, aa
Minotaur 	6 	+6	12 	2d6 (head butt) 	d, l, m, n, o, z
Mongrelman	5 	+0	9 	— 	c (80%), p, q, dd
Ogre 	5 	+4	9 	— 	z
Orc 	10	+0	12 	— 	d, h(35%), i(25%),bb, cc
Satyr 	5 	+0	18 	2d4 (head butt) 	c (90%), d, l, r, ee
Swanmay 	7 	+0	15, Fl 19(D)	— 	x
Thri-kreen	5 	+0	18 	1d4 (x4), 2–5(claws, bite)	g, t, u, v, w, ff
Wemic 	6 	+5	12 	1d4/1d4 (claws) 	g (50'), z, ff
AC is the creature's natural Armor Class. If the creature wears armor that is superior to its natural defenses, it may use the better value as its AC. If the creature wears armor that is inferior to its natural AC, its AC improves by only 1 place. For example, a lizard man (AC 5) in leather armor (AC 8) is actually AC 4, since the leather armor provides a small measure of extra protection. However, a lizard man in plate mail (AC 3) is AC 3.
HP is the creature's bonus hit points at first level. After the character determines his hit points normally for his class and level, he may add this number to his hit point total.
MV is the creature's normal movement rate while unencumbered. Several monstrous character races allow flying or swimming as alternative means of movement.
Natural attacks describe any natural attacks the character can make without any weapons. Generally, a character must choose to either use his natural attacks or fight with a weapon in a round, but there are three exceptions: centaurs and wemics can attack with a weapon and use their natural attacks at the same time, and thri-kreen can attack with a weapon and use their bite at the same time.
==Abilities and Restrictions==
a. Charge Attack: The creature is capable of making a charge attack, gaining a +2 bonus to attack and inflicting double damage with an impaling weapon such as a spear, javelin, or lance. Aarakocra perform a diving attack, centaurs charge like knights, and bullywugs leap at their enemies.
b. Move Silently: The creature can move silently, as the thief ability, with a base success of 40%, +5% per level.
c. Hide in natural settings: The creature can hide in natural settings, just as a thief can hide in shadows. The base success chance is 35%, plus 5% per level. If a flat percentage score appears next to this ability, use this score instead; for example, a satyr's abilities include c(90%), which means that a satyr has this ability with a 90% success chance.
d. Infravision: The character possesses infravision (the ability to see in the dark) to a range of 60 feet.
e. Surprise opponents: When alone or with a group of similarly stealthy creatures, the character gains a bonus on his chance to surprise his enemies. Bugbears inflict a –3 penalty on opponents' surprise checks. A bullywug using its chameleon power inflicts a –2 penalty to opponent's surprise checks, or a –6 if the bullywug attacks with a leap from a place of concealment.
f. Amphibious: The character is at home in either water or air environments. Combat penalties for fighting in water do not apply to the character, although using Type S or B weapons underwater is still very difficult. Bullywugs are true amphibians and can breathe water; lizard men are still air-breathers, but they can hold their breath for a number of rounds equal to their Constitution score before checking for drowning.
g. Leap: The character's powerful leg muscles enable him to make astounding leaps, bounding up to 30 feet forward or 10 feet into the air. Leaping to close with an enemy is considered a charge attack, and the character suffers double damage if he lands on a spear or similar weapon set against a charge. Bullywugs gain the special ability to inflict double damage with a leap. Note that thri-kreen can actually leap 50 feet forward or 20 feet in the air, but they do not gain this ability until they reach 3rd level.
h. Detect new construction: The creature has natural skills for mining, and can spot new or unusual construction with the percentage score noted. This is similar to the dwarven or gnome abilities as described earlier in this chapter.
i. Detect sloping passages: The creature can note subtle grades or slopes in underground passageways and chambers with the percentage score noted.
j. Detect sliding or shifting walls: The creature can detect walls that move or shift with the percentage score noted.
k. Attacked last: The character comes from a race notorious for its cowardice and ineffectiveness in combat. Consequently, enemies are likely to dismiss the character as a negligible threat and concentrate their attacks on other, more impressive, members of the character's party unless the character displays some unusual prowess, powerful magic, or skill.
l. Hard to surprise: The monstrous character's keen senses make it very difficult to surprise him. The character receives a +2 bonus to all surprise checks.
m. Tracking: The character's sense of smell is so acute that he can track, as per the tracking proficiency, with a 50% chance of success. Normal modifiers for old or confused trails may apply.
n. Spell immunity: Minotaurs have the unique power of immunity to maze spells, due to their familiarity with labyrinths and other such places.
o. Fearlessness: Minotaurs also enjoy a +3 saving throw bonus versus fear, including fear, scare, cause fear, or emotion spells, dragon fear, and similar effects.
p. Sound mimicry: Mongrelmen have the ability to perfectly imitate any sound they hear. They cannot create magical effects such as a harpy's song, a sphinx's roar, or a shout spell by imitating these sounds, although they can duplicate the non-magical aspects of these sounds exactly.
q. Pick pockets: Mongrelmen also have the ability to pick pockets as the thief ability, with a success chance of 70% plus 5% per level.
r. Create magical pipes: Satyrs can create pan pipes that can cast charm, sleep, or cause fear effects within a 60 foot radius. To gain this ability, the satyr must invest 4 character points in the music/instrument trait when first created, and then devote 2 character points to the Music proficiency at least three times. He can't spend more than 2 character points per level on the proficiency, so the earliest he can gain this ability is at 3rd level. The pipes themselves are easily crafted and have no magical properties; it's the satyr's unearthly skill that creates the magical effects.
s. Magic resistance: The character is magic resistant. Giff have a flat 10% magic resistance, while githzerai have a magic resistance of 5% per level—for example, a 6th-level githzerai has a magic resistance of 30%.
t. Antennae: A thri-kreen's antennae give it a sensitivity to motion and serve to lessen darkness-based combat penalties by 1 point while fighting enemies within 15 feet.
u. Paralyzing bite: At 5th level, a thri-kreen gains the ability to paralyze its prey with a bite. The victim must save versus poison or be paralyzed 2–16 rounds (1–8 rounds if larger than man-sized, or only 1 round if size H or larger.)
v. Dodge missiles: At 7th level, a thri-kreen gains the ability to dodge thrown or fired missiles with a roll of 9 or better on a d20.
w. Racial weapons: At 5th level, a thri-kreen automatically gains proficiency in the chatkcha, a crystalline throwing wedge commonly used by the mantis warriors. At 7th level, the character gains proficiency in the gythka, a thri-kreen polearm. Consider these weapons to be equal to a javelin and a bill-guisarme respectively for damage, range modifiers, etc.—but note that the chatkcha returns to its thrower if it misses its target.
x. Swan form: Swanmays may polymorph themselves into a swan form at will. While in swan form, they can only be struck by +1 or better weapons, can fly at the listed rate, and have a magic resistance of 2% per level. A swanmay's equipment and belongings remain behind when she transforms. The swanmay requires a magical token (a cloak, ring, or similar item) to perform her transformation, and if she loses it she can no longer transform until she gets it back.
==Penalties==
y. Claustrophobia: Aarakocra are extremely claustrophobic and are uncomfortable indoors or underground. An aarakocra character suffers a –3 penalty to attack rolls in such settings.
z. Size: A number of monstrous characters enjoy the mixed blessings of being a Size Large (L) creature. While this permits them to wield large weapons in a single hand, or even use huge weapons with both hands, it also means that they suffer damage as large creatures.
aa. Dehydration: A character with this restriction is vulnerable to dehydration if he spends too much time out of the water. The character must wet his entire body (a water skin full will do) three times per day, or lose 2 points of Constitution per missed bath. If the character's Constitution falls to 0, he dies of dehydration.
bb. Light: Many humanoids are accustomed to darkness, and they find bright light to be disorienting and painful. A character with this weakness suffers a –1 penalty to attacks in daylight or within the radius of continual light spells.
cc. Racial enmity: Some humanoids are the natural enemies of common demihuman races, who have evolved special fighting techniques to combat them. Dwarves gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls against orcs, goblins, and hobgoblins; gnomes gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls against kobolds and goblins. In addition, ogres suffer a –4 penalty to hit dwarves, and ogres, bugbears, and gnolls suffer a –4 penalty to hit gnomes.
dd. Hideous appearance: Mongrelmen are so warped in appearance that they have an effective Charisma of 1 (a –7 penalty) for purposes of Reaction Checks.
ee. Easily distracted: Satyrs are very susceptible to distraction. Encountering a female of 15 or higher Charisma causes the satyr to forget everything except the idea of wooing the woman for 1–6 full turns, or even more if she is at all friendly. Even a bitter enemy can fascinate the satyr if she makes any effort at all, and in all circumstances satyrs have to succeed in a saving throw versus spells to consciously harm a beautiful woman—or ignore her. A bottle of strong drink can have the same effect.
ff. Inhuman form: Some monstrous characters are restricted from wearing armor or some magical items by their body form. For example, thri-kreen and alaghi cannot wear armor; centaurs, wemics, or bullywugs can't wear magical boots or magical armor due to their unusual shapes; and so on. In a questionable case, the DM should decide if a character can use a piece of equipment or not using his best judgment of the situation.
==Ability Score Requirements==
Just like demihumans, characters must qualify for these optional races by meeting certain ability score criteria. The ability score adjustments noted are applied after a character has met the required scores. Some of these adjustments can elevate a humanoid or monstrous character to ability scores of 19 or 20, or reduce a characteristic to 2.
Race 	Str 	Dex 	Con 	Int 	Wis 	Cha
Aarakocra 	4/17 	7/17 	6/17 	3/18	3/17 	3/18
Alaghi 	10/17	3/17 	12/18	5/18	3/16 	3/16
Bugbear 	7/17 	8/17 	8/18 	4/17	3/18 	4/15
Bullywug 	6/18 	4/18 	6/18 	4/15	3/16 	4/15
Centaur 	11/18	5/18 	10/17	3/16	3/17 	3/18
Flind 	7/17 	6/18 	6/18 	3/16	3/16 	4/17
Giff 	14/18	3/15 	10/18	3/15	3/16 	3/17
Githzerai 	3/18 	3/18 	3/18 	3/18	3/18 	3/18
Gnoll 	5/17 	5/18 	5/18 	4/15	3/16 	4/15
Goblin 	5/16 	4/17 	5/16 	3/18	3/18 	4/13
Hobgoblin 	6/18 	6/18 	5/18 	3/18	3/18 	4/15
Kobold 	4/17 	4/18 	5/16 	3/17	3/18 	3/14
Lizard man	8/18 	3/18 	6/18 	3/17	3/18 	3/16
Minotaur 	10/18	5/14 	10/18	5/14	5/18 	5/18
Mongrelman	6/17 	6/18 	8/18 	4/18	3/18 	3/9
Ogre 	14/18	3/8 	12/18	4/10	3/9 	4/10
Orc 	5/17 	3/17 	8/18 	3/16	3/16 	5/14
Satyr 	6/18 	8/18 	6/17 	4/18	3/18 	3/17
Swanmay 	13/18	12/17	14/18	9/18	13/17	9/18
Thri-kreen	8/18 	12/18	5/18 	5/18	5/18 	3/15
Wemic 	10/17	7/18 	11/18	3/18	3/18 	3/18
==Racial Ability Score Adjustments==
After selecting a race, modify the character's ability scores as shown below.
Race''' 	Adjustments'''
Aarakocra 	+1 Dexterity,-1 Strength, –1 Constitution
Alaghi 	+2 Strength, –2 Intelligence
Bugbear 	+1 Strength,-1 Intelligence, –1 Charisma
Bullywug 	+1 Dexterity,-1 Intelligence, –1 Charisma
Centaur 	+1 Constitution, +1 Wisdom, –2 Dexterity
Flind 	+1 Strength, –1 Charisma
Giff 	+2 Strength, –1 Dexterity, –1 Intelligence
Githzerai 	None
Gnoll 	+1 Strength, –1 Intelligence, –1 Charisma
Goblin 	–1 Strength, –1 Charisma
Hobgoblin 	–1 Charisma
Kobold 	–1 Strength, –1 Constitution
Lizard man	None
Minotaur 	+2 Strength, +2 Constitution, –2 Wisdom, –2 Charisma
Mongrelman	–1 Intelligence, –1 Charisma, +1 one other score
Ogre 	+2 Strength, +2 Constitution, –2 Intelligence, –2 Charisma
Orc 	+1 Strength, –2 Charisma
Satyr 	+1 Dexterity, +1 Constitution, –1 Intelligence, –1 Charisma
Swanmay 	+1 Dexterity, +1 Wisdom
Thri-kreen	+1 Dexterity, +1 Wisdom, –1 Intelligence, –1 Charisma
Wemic 	+1 Strength, –1 Dexterity
==Humanoid and Monster Character Level Limits by Class==
Race 	Fighter	Ranger	Priest 	Wizard	Thief	Bard
Aarakocra 	11 	– 	7 	– 	11 	–
Alaghi 	12 	– 	Druid 12 	– 	– 	–
Bugbear 	12 	– 	Cleric 8 	– 	9 	–
Bullywug 	10 	– 	7 	– 	9 	–
Centaur 	12 	10 	Druid 14 	12 	– 	12
Flind 	12 	– 	Cleric 9 	– 	11 	–
Giff 	11 	– 	Cleric 8 	– 	9 	–
Githzerai 	9 	– 	– 	12 	15 	–
Gnoll 	11 	– 	Cleric 9 	– 	11 	–
Goblin 	10 	– 	Cleric 9 	– 	12 	–
Hobgoblin 	11 	– 	Cleric 9 	– 	12 	–
Kobold 	8 	– 	Cleric 9 	– 	12 	–
Lizard man	12 	– 	7 	– 	9 	–
Minotaur 	12 	8 	7 	8 	10 	–
Mongrelman	10 	– 	Cleric 10	10 	8 	8
Ogre 	12 	– 	3 	– 	– 	–
Orc 	10 	– 	Cleric 9 	– 	11 	–
Satyr 	11 	7 	– 	– 	11 	–
Swanmay 	– 	14 	Druid 12 	– 	– 	–
Thri-kreen	16 	12 	12 	– 	– 	–
Wemic 	12 	– 	7 	– 	– 	10