Aarakocra (DSC)

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Of all the aarakocra who live beneath Athas's crimson sun, only the silvaarak of the White Mountains can be used as player characters. The bird-people born to the village of Winter Nest grow to an average height of feet tall with wingspans of 20 feet. Males weigh about 100 pounds, while females weigh about 85. With gray beaks, black eyes, and plumage that ranges from purest white to silver to shades of pale blue, the aarakocra of Winter Nest look much different than the bird-people of the deep desert.
Aarakocra who leave Winter Nest to become player characters are seen as young rebels by the rest of their community. They are adventurous, seeking higher purpose and a way to help the beleaguered world. In all cases, aarakocra have a deep and abiding respect for the gifts of nature and little patience for those who abuse those gifts.
As beings intimately connected to high mountain peaks and the open sky, aarakocra have a great love of freedom. In some ways, this love is even more intense than a similar emotion
experienced by elves. They prefer to always be above a situation, either flying or perched above the rest of a group so that they can have a bird's-eye view. Aarakocra are claustrophobic and will only enter an enclosed building or cave if absolutely necessary.
Aarakocra make excellent fighters and good rangers, but their fear of enclosed places makes them wither in captivity, so they can never develop into gladiators. The silvaarak send a select number of their village to learn preserving magic from Oronis of Kurn, but no bird-person can develop the skills necessary to be a defiler. All other character classes, except for bard, are open to aarakocra PCs. Like all character races, they can excel as psionicists.
The following game statistics apply to the aarakocra player character:
* An aarakocra PC has a natural Armor Class of 7. However, because his bones are light and fragile, any damage caused by a bludgeoning weapon is increased by 1d4 points.
* Each bird-person has the ability to fly; movement rate is 36, with maneuverability class C. Base movement rate on land is 6.
* An aarakocra can use his talons instead of a weapon during combat, striking twice in a round for 1d3 points of damage with each successful hit. When using a javelin (if the character is proficient in its use), an aarakocra can make a special diving attack that gets a +4 bonus to attack and causes double damage.
* When forced to fight in an enclosed area (any area where the aarakocra can't spread his wings and fly), an aarakocra receives a -2 penalty to all attack rolls.
* The silvaarak are slightly longer-lived than their primitive cousins. Even so, the oldest aarakocra known lived to only age 42.