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.

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