Tarrasqueling

Tarrasqueling

Cut from the flesh of the Tarrasque\*, these diminutive spawns of the mighty world-eater are perhaps just as terrifying as their parent. Still hulking by humanoid standards, each is grown from a discarded chunk of flesh left over from the Tarrasque (usually after a battle with foolish heroes). As not all such leavings become tarrasquelings, it is unknown what in particular causes them to gain a life of their own. Some suggest that the blood of a humanoid must come in contact with the discarded remains or that special environmental conditions must be met.They have tremendous tempers and voracious appetites that forces them to eat near constantly. This is not particularly difficult as they can consume anything from stone to wood, and can even eat metal if they are hungry enough (and they are always hungry).

## Physical Appearance

Though each one varies in appearance, a tarrasqueling resembles a muscular tyrannosaurus with a heavy spiked shell, large horns on its head, and non-atrophied arms. They often sit hunched, their predatory maws facing their prey. Females are generally larger than males but weigh comparatively less. Unlike its bestial father tarrasquelings are of humanoid intelligence, though this is not in overabundance. Their hands are humanoid as are their feet, and their spikes do not protrude quite as drastically as those of the real Tarrasque. Most are a burnt tan or orange, while a select few have been shown to be slate with a bluish tinge to their reptilian hide.

## Society

As they are something of an anomaly, there are no tarrasqueling communities and most live fringe existences. Their sheer physicality often lends them to more brutish lines of work (soldiering, thuggery, etc). The few that are accepted into society fare better. Tarrasquelings are often found among savage tribes as adopted children or as their tyrannical leader. When an event occurs that facilitates the creation of a large number of tarrasquelings at once they will often form into a horde. These broodmates will often regard each other as siblings and go on destructive rampages when they come of age if not guided to some other purpose. Many of these hordes become the catalyst for bandit groups or even mercenary companies. Might makes right in the society of these brutes and fierce combat is a regular occurrence. because of their healing the fights are often to the “death”, with the defeated tarrasqueling regenerating some hours after being slain.

## Personality

Those who find a passion and stick with it often progress in rank quite quickly. Once a tarrasqueling sets their sights on something they would sooner die than give it up. Many barbarian leaders or bandit kings have been tarrasquelings and even the occasional knight commander or high priest (if they are particularly zealous) have the blood of the tarrasque in their veins. Tarrasquelings are easily frustrated when they do not understand something and will act brutishly when given the option. They have a primitive survivalist streak in them and they often see things in a very black and white fashion.

## Relations

Despite their savagery, tarrasquelings are social creatures. They like hierarchies and have something of a pack mentality. They are abrasive but form strong bonds, particularly during combat. They are stubborn but loyal to a fault, risking life and limb for allies. They can be very protective of their friends, though they would never admit to it.

## Religion

While not innately religious, many tarrasquelings show an almost religious reverence for their progenitor, the tarrasque. They believe him to be a divine agent of destruction or a universal force for the cycle of death and rebirth. Others still resent the great beast and seek to find ways to destroy it. This latter view is more commonly expressed by civilized tarrasquelings who believe they have a duty to kill it or some special gift that will allow them to more easily deal with it.

* This assumes that there is only one Tarrasque per given game world. If there are more in your setting, please make this plural.

## GMing / Playing a Tarrasqueling

A tarrasqueling is somewhat powerful race with some unique points that GMs and players should be aware of. As a tarrasqueling is more powerful than a standard race the GM will likely need to increase the CR of the encounters or come up with other mitigating factors (do not allow traits for tarrasque players, use the “effective character level” system, etc). Being the spawn of a tarrasque means they have self-healing abilities, but they can be overcome rather easily (they only have regeneration 1/day). This means they won’t die but regenerate very slowly. A tarrasque still requires sustenance to live and, coupled with their voracious appetite, means if they are at a large number of negative hit points they will die of starvation in a day or two despite their healing. Their shell is also quite powerful, allowing them to deflect certain kinds of magical attacks some of the time once per day. As a GM, you need to be aware of the capacities of a tarrasqueling and build your encounters appropriately.

Age & Death

Tarrasquelings are slow to mature, but the limits of their natural lifespan have never been reached. They are functionally immortal for effects related to age effects and never progress past adulthood. Most die a violent death before their time, though the act of killing them can prove difficult. As a tarrasqueling always slowly regenerates they can survive the worst traumas inflicted upon them. However, a creature who regenerates is still subject to starvation while he regenerates, and a tarrasqueling is no exception. Normally drowning, starving, or even burning the body of a tarrasqueling (for a long time) will kill it.

## Racial Traits

* Ability Score Racial Traits (2 RP): Tarrasquelings are brutish, fierce, and and suffer great trauma before they go down. However, they are not noted to be very keen and have a bulky carapace that hinders their movement. They gain +4 Constitution, -2 Dexterity and -2 Intelligence.
* Size (0 RP): Tarrasquelings are Medium creatures and thus receive no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
* Type (3 RP): Tarrasquelings are monstrous humanoids with the tarrasqueling subtype.
* Base Speed (0 RP): Tarrasquelings have a base speed of 30 feet.
* Languages (1 RP): Tarrasquelings begin play speaking Common. Tarrasquelings with high Intelligence scores can choose from any language (other than secret languages).
* Tarrasque Shell (4 RP): Tarrasquelings have a shell that repels and negates some forms of magic. The first time per day that a tarrasqueling is targeted by a cone, line, ray, or magic missile spell, he has a 50% chance to negate such an effect. If successful, there is a 30% chance a deflected effect reflects back in full force at the caster; otherwise it is simply negated. The daily use of this ability is only expended if it negates the effect.
* Hunched Legs (3 RP): A tarrasqueling has very powerful legs that are designed to leap great distances. He gains a racial +4 bonus on Acrobatics checks made to jump.
* Low-Light Vision (1 RP): Tarrasquelings can see twice as far as humans in conditions of dim light.
* Hulking Carapace (2 RP): Tarrasquelings have a +2 natural armor bonus to their AC due to their spiky plated armor on their back. However, a tarrasqueling counts as a non-humanoid for the purposes of wearing armor.
* Voracious Appetite (1 RP): A tarrasqueling can gain sustenance from almost any form of mineral or organic matter. A tarrasqueling can digest anything with a hardness of 10 or less, though this does not give them the ability to necessarily chew it- it must come in bite sized chunks. A tarrasqueling who eats 1 pound of non-foodstuff counts as having eaten a trail ration. A tarrasqueling must eat four times as much as a normal creature of their size (4 rations or 4 lbs. of non-foodstuff). A tarrasqueling can go 1 day + a number of hours equal to his Constitution modifier without food before he begins to starve (see rules for starvation and thirst in Chapter 13 of the Pathfinder Core Rulebook). This does not alter how much water they need.
* Blood of the All-Consumer (1 RP): While tarrasquelings do not have the full regenerative powers of their progenitor, they do have the ability to regrow lost body parts and killing one is a difficult task. A tarrasqueling has regeneration 1 per day that cannot be suppressed by any means.

RP: 18

## Random Tarrasquelings Starting Ages

(13-16 years) | +1d6
(13-18 years) | +2d6

1 This category includes barbarians, oracles, rogues, and sorcerers.

2 This category includes bards, cavaliers, fighters, gunslingers, paladins, rangers, summoners, and witches.

3 This category includes alchemists, clerics, druids, inquisitors, magi, monks, and wizards.

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