Friday, March 13, 2009

Monster: Neu

Neu
Armour Class: 7
Hit Dice: 1***
Move: 120' (40')
Attacks: 1 bolt or by weapon
Damage: 1-8 or by weapon or spell
No. Appearing: 1-4 (2-12)
Save As: M2
Morale: 8
Treasure: G
Alignment: Lawful
XP Value: 19

A humanoid race, neu appear delicate and much like a sheltered and noncombatant human, perhaps a scholar of some sort, until one notices the small tell-tale signs: strange or outright unnatural hair- or eye-colour, skin that has a faint sheen like that of marble or even tiny matte scales when the light hits just so. Neu take pleasure in manipulating and exerting control over others, and consider themselves to have a finer touch about it than the sshian. They excel in the creation of arcane constructs, and are customarily accompanied by living statues, golems or stranger creations.

All neu have the spell ability of a third-level magic-user; their leaders, of 1+3 HD, have spellcasting abilities of a fifth-level magic-user or even higher. When not casting spells in combat -- or leaving combat to their crafted servants -- neu attack using slender rods of faceted crystal that emit bolts of energy inflicting 1-8 hit points of damage with a 60' range. Very rarely will a neu wield a physical weapon, but it has been known to occur.

2 comments:

trollsmyth said...

Very interesting. Deceptively fragile. I'm guessing there's something a rivalry between the neu and the sshian. Is there a particular niche they fill in your campaigns?

taichara said...

Very interesting. Deceptively fragile.

Indeed; though honestly fragile enough that a good chunk of them were overrrun when faced with warriors with spellcaster-smiting weaponry --


I'm guessing there's something a rivalry between the neu and the sshian. Is there a particular niche they fill in your campaigns?

Better to say that they were rivals; both races are ancient and virtually unknown at this point in campaign-time.

Which is convenient for the neu, at least, because they use that to play off of the ignorance of the "young races" to their benefit. I haven't brought them into play actively yet, but it's coming.

The sshian may become more of an active "adversary"; but you never know, they might wind up being seen as the lesser of the two evils. People can be like that, even fictional people ;3

So, I suppose it's to say they both fill the niche of the "awakening ancient empire remnants" ...