EARTHDAWN CREATURES

BOG GOBS

Initiative: 5	Physical Defense: 6
Number of Attacks: 1	Spell Defense: 8
Attack: 5	Social Defense: 12
Damage:	Armor: 7
Number of Spells: (1)	Mystic Armor: 3
Spellcasting: 7	Knockdown: 7
Effect: Gobbing (see below)	Recovery Tests: 2
Death Rating: 24	Combat Movement: 30
Wound Threshold: 6	Full Movement: 60
Unconsciouness Rating: 16
Legend Points: 100
Equipment: Half-spear (+3 steps to Strength step)
Loot: 1D10 silver pieces

Commentary
Not native to Barsaive, bog gobs are squat, ugly, wicked creatures with glowing yellow eyes set in mottled-gray heads. Standing 4 to 5 feet tall, they weigh a staggering 200 pounds. The same magic that holds their mud-colored, bipedal bodies together also acts as resilient natural armor. They gather in groups numbering from 10–60 throughout the wilderness of Barsaive. According to legends, these creatures came to Barsaive from faraway swamps in the lands to the north.

Bog gobs often attack simply to injure victims, as well as to kill and loot. These creatures always leave survivors, although the larger the attacking group, the fewer the survivors. The reason for this behavior remains a mystery, though some believe the gobs leave survivors because they enjoy the tales that inevitably spread following these attacks. Beastmasters cannot use their powers to affect bog gobs.

Bog gobs possess a special magical ability called “gobbing.” To use this ability, the bog gob touches a character and makes a Spellcasting Test against the target’s Spell Defense. If the Spellcasting Test is successful, the bog gob’s body becomes fluid and adheres to the character. For each additional bog gob that touches the victim and makes a successful Spellcasting Test, reduce the target character’s step numbers by –1 for all tests he attempts while gobbed. Once four bog gobs have gobbed a character, he begins to suffocate. The character takes 1 Damage Point each Combat Round until fewer than four bog gobs remain on him. In most cases, gobbing bog gobs must be killed before a character can physically remove them. A Dispel Magic spell, however, removes them if the Effect dice roll result is equal to or higher than the bog gobs’ Spell Defense. Bog gobs may also attack other targets while gobbing a victim.

BRITHAN

Initiative: 5	Physical Defense: 7
Number of Attacks: 1 (2)	Spell Defense: 7
Attack: 7 (10)	Social Defense: 9
Damage:	Armor: 13 (17)
Number of Spells: NA	Mystic Armor: 2
Spellcasting: NA	Knockdown: 12
Effect: NA	Recovery Tests: 4
Death Rating: 54	Combat Movement: 35
Wound Threshold: 14	Full Movement: 75
Unconsciouness Rating: 48
Legend Points: 125
Equipment: None
Loot: None

Commentary
Dwarf hunters have described the brithan as a cross between a bear and an elemental having a bad day. Luminescent flecks color these animals’ eyes, and their large heads sit atop ursine bodies covered with shaggy, deep brown or blue-black fur.

Brithans are territorial and will stand on their hind legs and roar a challenge to anything that enters their domain. If a single character answers the challenge, the brithan enters into ritual combat with him, and the two fight until one submits. Brithans submit after taking their first Wound; battering a brithan to unconsciousness is also a victory. A character need not kill the brithan in order to win the combat. Defeating a brithan in ritual combat earns the character all of the creature’s Legend Points. A brithan’s submission lasts for about 72 hours, after which the creature tends to forget who beat him. Any character who submits to a brithan must move himself and his team at least half a mile (800 meters) away from the victorious creature, or the brithan will attack the character in an attempt to kill him.

If more than one character attacks a brithan, the animal fights back savagely, gaining an extra attack in each round of the encounter, adding 3 steps to its Attack step for each Attack Test and adding 4 steps to its Damage step for each Damage Test.

CADAVER MAN

Initiative: 4	Physical Defense: 5
Number of Attacks: 1 (4)	Spell Defense: 6
Attack: 7	Social Defense: 11
Damage:	Armor: 9
Number of Spells: NA	Mystic Armor: NA
Spellcasting: NA	Knockdown: 7
Effect: NA	Recovery Tests: 2
Death Rating: 36	Combat Movement: 25
Wound Threshold: 9	Full Movement: 50
Unconsciouness Rating: Immune
Legend Points: 110
Equipment: None
Loot: None

Commentary
During the Scourge, some residents of citadels infested by Horrors chose death rather than face such evil beings. From these suicide victims, some of the more intelligent Horrors created the animated corpses known as “cadaver men,” undead beings capable of feeling only pain. Although most cadaver men retain their human intelligence, their miserable existences have filled them with hatred of the living and driven most insane. As a result, social contact with cadaver men, though possible, is unsettling for living beings. Cadaver men are also cannibals, but contrary to popular myth do not require sentient flesh for survival.

Cadaver men fly into attacking furies if they experience significant pain, such as suffering a Wound. An enraged cadaver man may make 4 attacks per round until it has killed the character who caused it pain or 10 rounds have passed, whichever comes first. If a cadaver man cannot determine who caused its pain, it kills any characters who happen to be within its striking range.

CAVE TROLL

Initiative: 5	Physical Defense: 6
Number of Attacks: 1	Spell Defense: 6
Attack: 11	Social Defense: 8
Damage:	Armor: 20 (with cave axe)
Number of Spells: NA	Mystic Armor: 2
Spellcasting: NA	Knockdown: 7
Effect: NA	Recovery Tests: 3
Death Rating: 40	Combat Movement: 30
Wound Threshold: 11	Full Movement: 60
Unconsciouness Rating: 32
Legend Points: 275
Equipment: Cave axe, chain mail
Loot: 1D4 silver pieces per troll

Commentary
Cave trolls descended from tribes of trolls who took to the deep places of the Earth when the Horrors came. Their isolation from the rest of the world led to cultural stagnation, and in some cases, degeneration among these tribes. Elemental magic has raised the strength of these cave trolls beyond that of civilized trolls, however, and in recent years they have emerged from their tunnels to explore the world above. Rude and often violent, the cave trolls’ habit of mixing trade with raiding has made them unwelcome visitors in most of Barsaive.

Cave trolls use large stone weapons called cave axes, little more than crude stone axes bolstered with elemental magic. Wielding a cave axe requires a Strength Value of 17 (7 steps). Cave axes add 7 steps to the troll’s Strength step when making Damage Tests. Because demand for these weapons is low, cave axes are undervalued at 50 silver pieces each. Cave trolls take offense at anyone other than a fellow cave troll using one of their axes.

CHAKTA BIRDS

Initiative: 8	Physical Defense: 10
Number of Attacks: 1	Spell Defense: 8
Attack: 9	Social Defense: 10
Damage:	Armor: 10
Number of Spells: 1	Mystic Armor: 3
Spellcasting: 12	Knockdown: 6
Effect: 12	Recovery Tests: 1
Death Rating: 30	Combat Movement: 60
Wound Threshold: 8	Full Movement: 120
Unconsciouness Rating: 21
Legend Points: 200
Equipment: None
Loot: None

Commentary
Chakta birds resemble large ravens with red-tipped wings and gold-flecked feathers. These social animals usually travel in flocks of 15–25 birds, and can use their limited telepathy to communicate with intelligent beings within a 60-yard radius. They often approach travelers to share news of the air (or road) ahead, an example of the “civilized” behavior that has prompted some scholars to speculate about their origins.

Courteous animals, chakta birds expect courtesy in return. Any rude behavior or omission of simple road courtesies, such as sharing of bread or hunting catch, proper introductions, or offering of places at a fire, enrages chakta birds.

When angered, most chakta birds attack the offending character, and some almost always attack the offender’s companions. Chaktas begin an attack by flying around their targets in a whirling circle, cawing and screeching madly. The whirling birds then use their magic to paralyze the offending character. Make a Spellcasting Test for the chakta bird against the Social Defense of the target character. If the test is successful, roll the Effect dice to determine the number of rounds the target remains paralyzed by the chakta’s magic. The paralysis effect reduces the target’s Physical Defense to 3. After paralyzing a target, chakta birds swoop in to physically attack the paralyzed character. The character can break the paralysis before the rounds have expired if he apologizes profusely to the bird (through stiffened, rigid lips), or makes a successful Charisma Test against the bird’s Social Defense.

CRAKBILL

Initiative: 5	Physical Defense: 7
Number of Attacks: 1	Spell Defense: 5
Attack: 7	Social Defense: 6
Damage: 9	Armor: 3
Number of Spells: (1)	Mystic Armor: 1
Spellcasting: 6	Knockdown: 7
Effect: 10	Recovery Tests: 2
Death Rating: 28	Combat Movement: 60
Wound Threshold: 10	Full Movement: 120
Unconsciouness Rating: 20
Legend Points: 60
Equipment: None
Loot: Neck cord worth 1D6 x 10 silver pieces, that also counts as treasure worth Legend Points

Commentary
their heavy bills like stone hatchets, the birds crack open the skulls of recent kills or paralyzed prey and feast on the brains of their victims. The bills are less useful against mobile targets than their fearsome appearance suggests. Though crakbills have skulls and body and leg bones, their necks contain no vertebrae. Instead, a crakbill’s neck is a thin tube of interwoven muscle. A flexible spiral of magical material that looks like burnished copper connects the skull to the body and reinforces the neck muscles. This neck cord, worth 1D6 x 10 silver pieces, counts as treasure that can earn a character Legend Points.

The crakbill’s most potent weapon is its paralyzing breath, which the bird spews in an orange, gaseous stream around a single victim. The crakbill makes a Spellcasting Test against the target’s Spell Defense to determine if the paralyzing breath takes effect. If the test is successful, the gamemaster rolls the Effect dice to find out how much damage the breath weapon does. The damage caused by the paralyzing breath is reduced by the target’s Mystic Armor Rating. A character Wounded by the breath weapon is paralyzed, and must make a Willpower Test with a result of 10 or better to break the paralysis. The victim may make only one Willpower Test per Combat Round. Successful use of the breath weapon stains a character orange for 72 hours after the attack, when vigorous bathing removes the stain.

Crakbills combine the breath weapon attack with a special running attack in which they run full speed past the intended victim and hiss orange vapor at him in passing. Crakbills continue these running attacks until at least one or two victims succumb to paralysis. This attack is similar to the Splitting Movement Combat Option (see Combat). Once the crakbills have dropped a victim, some of the birds try to feed on the paralyzed body.

DEMIWRAITH

Initiative: 9	Physical Defense: 7
Number of Attacks: 1	Spell Defense: 9 (14, see below)
Attack: 7	Social Defense: 13
Damage: 9	Armor: 6
Number of Spells: (1)	Mystic Armor: 4
Spellcasting: 12	Knockdown: 7
Effect: Chilling Touch	Recovery Tests: 1
Death Rating: 38	Combat Movement: 60
Wound Threshold: 10	Full Movement: 120
Unconsciouness Rating: Immune
Legend Points: 225
Equipment: None
Loot: 1D4 small gems, worth 1D12 x 10 silver pieces each, or a total of 5D6 x 10 silver pieces

Commentary
Demiwraiths are an unusual type of animated dead. Not true undead, such as vampires or ghosts, these hateful spirits possessed victims during the long years of the Scourge and eventually merged with the host body. Some of these spirits could not separate themselves from their hosts when the hosts died, and became demiwraiths. The demiwraiths animate the dead flesh that imprisons them, and revel in destroying the living. A black, foggy, astral substance often shrouds a demiwraith’s body, giving these beings an appearance similar to that of a true wraith. Because demiwraiths are not true undead, their Spell Defense is increased by 5 against spells specifically designed to target undead beings.

Demiwraiths use a magical effect called Chilling Touch. To inflict Chilling Touch, the demiwraith must touch the target and make a Spellcasting Test against the target’s Spell Defense. If the test is successful, the afflicted character takes 1 point of damage per Combat Round until the effect is dispelled or the character makes a successful Willpower Test. Chilling Touch manifests as severe cold, freezing the victim in his tracks. The victim can take no action until the Chilling Touch effect is dispelled or the character overcomes the effect by making a Willpower Test with a result of 9 or better. To dispel Chilling Touch, treat it as a Circle 2 spell.