Medium Monstrous Humanoid (Psionic)
Hit Dice: 2d8 (9 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 40 ft. (8 squares)
Armor Class: 15 (+2 Dex, +3 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 13
Base Attack/Grapple: +2/+3
Attack: Claw +3 melee (1d4+1); or longspear +3 melee (1d8+1/×3); or javelin +4 ranged (1d6+1)
Full Attack: 4 claws +3 melee (1d4+1) and bite –2 melee (1d4 plus poison); or longspear +3 melee (1d8+1/×3) and 2 claws –2 melee (1d4) and bite –2 melee (1d4 plus poison); or javelin +4 ranged (1d6+1)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Poison, psi-like abilities
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., immunity to sleep effects, leap
Saves: Fort +0, Ref +5, Will +4
Abilities: Str 12, Dex 15, Con 11, Int 8, Wis 12, Cha 7
Skills: Balance +3, Climb +2, Hide +3*, Jump +35, Listen +2, Spot +2
Feats: Deflect ArrowsB, Multiweapon Fighting
Environment: Warm desert
Organization: Solitary or pack (5–10)
Challenge Rating: 1
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Usually chaotic neutral
Advancement: By character class
Level Adjustment: +2
This creature resembles a bipedal praying mantis, complete with six limbs; the lower two are used for walking, and the upper four end in four-fingered clawlike hands. It has large, dangerous mandibles, compound eyes, and two small antennae sprouting from its head.
Fierce hunters and faultless trackers, the thri-kreen are a race of insect-folk sometimes known as “mantis warriors.” They are alien and inscrutable creatures who seem to be bloodthirsty monsters to those who do not know them well. Thrikreen are near-perfect hunters, nomadic folk who spend their brief lives roaming vast distances of the deserts, scrublands, and savannas of the south.
A thri-kreen’s exoskeleton is a sandy yellow in color, well suited for the dry savannas and grasslands these creatures favor. Thri-kreen wear little clothing other than a simple harness for carrying weapons and equipment.
Thri-kreen speak their own language, and some also know Common.
COMBAT
Thri-kreen are whirling dynamos in combat, using weapons along with their claws and poisonous bite. They always take the time to enhance their combat abilities with their psi-like abilities, or slip away from a fight that seems too dangerous by using their chameleon power.
While hunting, thri-kreen use their natural camouflage to sneak up on potential prey. Thrikreen can close to combat (and flee fromit) more quickly than most of their foes because of their speed and their ability to leap. They can use the gythka and chatkcha (exotic weapons that are unique to mantis warriors), but they prefer to attack with their claws and their poisoned bites.
Poison (Ex): Injury, Fortitude DC 11, initial damage 1d6 Dex, secondary damage paralysis for 2d6 minutes. A thrikreen can use its poison bite once per day. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Psi-Like Abilities: 3/day—chameleon, know direction and location;
1/day—displacement, lesser metaphysical weapon. Manifester level 1/2 thri-kreen’s Hit Dice (minimum 1st level).
Attack/Defense Modes: ego whip, mind thrust/thought shield, empty mind. A thri-kreen manifests powers, and gains additional attack and defense modes, as if it were a psychic warrior or a psion with Psychometabolism as its primary discipline. (A psionic thri-kreen character’s favored class is psychic warrior, though a few choose monk or psion with the primary discipline of Psychometabolism.)
Leap (Ex): A thri-kreen is a natural jumper. It gains a +30 competence bonus on all Jump checks, and its maximum jumping distance is not limited by height.
Skills: *A thri-kreen has a +4 racial bonus on Hide checks in sandy or arid settings.
Immunity to Sleep (Ex): Since thri-kreen do not sleep, they are immune to magic sleep effects .A thri-kreen spellcaster still requires 8 hours of rest before preparing spells.
THRI-KREEN EQUIPMENT
Thri-kreen warriors have invented two exotic weapons that are unique to their race—the gythka and the chatkcha. These are described below.
Gythka: This Large exotic melee double weapon is a polearm with a blade at each end. The wielder can fight with it as if fighting with two weapons, but doing so incurs all the normal attack penalties associated with fighting with two weapons, as if the wielder had a one-handed weapon and a light weapon. A thri-kreen who has the Multiweapon Fighting feat can wield two gythkas at once as double weapons because of its four arms.
Each end of a gythka deals 2d6 points of damage. Each end is a slashing weapon that deals double damage on a critical hit and threatens a critical hit on an attack roll of 20.
Cost: 60 gp; Weight: 25 lb.
Chatkcha: This Medium-size exotic ranged weapon is a crystalline throwing wedge. Its sheer weight makes it unwieldy in the hands of those not proficient with it. A chatkcha deals 1d6 points of piercing damage and has a range increment of 20 feet. It deals double damage on a critical hit and threatens a critical hit on an attack roll of 20.
Cost: 1 gp; Weight: 3 lb.
THRI-KREEN AS CHARACTERS
Fierce hunters and faultless trackers, the thri-kreen are a race of insect-folk sometimes known as “mantis warriors.” They are inscrutable, alien creatures; those who do not know them well believe them to be bloodthirsty monsters. Nomadic folk who spend their brief lives roaming vast distances of the deserts, scrublands, and savannas of the south, thri-kreen are near-perfect hunters.
Personality: Each thri-kreen forms deep attachments with a handful of other individuals, regarding them as clutch-mates, companions to be defended with one’s own life if need be. All others outside this small group of companions are strangers and enemies, although thri-kreen are intelligent enough to recognize that one traveling alone in the lands of other folk would be wise to keep such observations to oneself.
Physical Description: A thri-kreen resembles a bipedal praying mantis. Its body’s exoskeleton is sandy yellow in color. Of the body’s six limbs, the lower two are used for walking, and the upper four end in four-fi ngered, clawlike hands. Thrikreen have large, dangerous mandibles and compound eyes. Two small antennae sprout from the tops of their heads. They wear little clothing beyond simple harnesses for carrying weapons and equipment.
Relations: Thri-kreen view themselves as noble hunters and judge other folk on the simple relationship of predator to prey. They respect barbarians, rangers, and others who live off the land and treat the land with care. On the other hand, savage and evil races such as gnolls and orcs despoil the lands that should be hunted with respect, and thus they earn the thri-kreen’s enmity. The mantis warriors generally regard city folk and farmers of other races as not-hunters, and therefore not worth their attention (but also unworthy of their enmity).
Alignment: Thri-kreen have virtually no social structure other than the clutches they form with their closest allies. The notion of sophisticated rules for social behavior is foreign to them. They are almost always chaotic in alignment, and often neutral with respect to good and evil.
Thri-Kreen Lands: Thri-kreen like it hot. They favor warm, dry climates, especially arid grasslands and plains that most other folk consider uninhabitable. Since they are a nomadic race, they make no permanent settlements and travel light, carrying little more than tools and food from camp to camp.
Religion: Thri-kreen strongly favor a druidic tradition instead of the myriad deities of other races. Thri-kreen druids serve as the spiritual leaders of the race.
Language: Thri-kreen speak their own language, Thri-Kreen, which is composed of clicks, whistles, and snaps of their mandibles. Thri-kreen player characters also speak Common.
Names: Thri-kreen make no distinction between male and female names, and they do not use a surname.
Thri-Kreen Names: Chak-tha, Drik-chkit, Kacht-ta, Kat’chka, Pak’cha, Pik-ik-cha, Ptekwe, Tak-tha, Tik-tik.
Adventurers: Most thri-kreen adventurers are barbarians, rangers, or druids—characters who do well in the wide-open spaces favored by the race. On rare occasions, a thri-kreen hunter falls in with an adventuring party and bonds with its new companions, taking them as clutch-mates in place of its own kind.
THRI-KREEN RACIAL TRAITS
- +2 Strength, +4 Dexterity, –2 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom, –4 Charisma: Thri-kreen are strong and quick, but they think differently from most humanoids and have a hard time relating to folk of other races.
- Monstrous Humanoid: Thri-kreen are not subject to spells or effects that affect humanoids only, such as charm person or dominate person.
- Medium: As Medium creatures, thri-kreen have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
- Thri-kreen base land speed is 40 feet.
- Darkvision out to 60 feet.
- Immunity to magic sleep effects.
- +3 Natural Armor: A thri-kreen’s exoskeleton is tough and resistant to blows.
- Multiple Limbs: Thri-kreen have four arms, and thus can take the Multiweapon Fighting feat instead of the Two-Weapon Fighting feat. Thri-kreen can also take the Multiattack feat.
- Natural Attacks: Thri-kreen can attack with four claws and a bite. The claws deal 1d4 points of damage, and the bite is a secondary attack that also deals 1d4 points of damage. A thri-kreen can attack with a weapon (or multiple weapons) at its normal attack bonus, and make either a bite or claw attack as a secondary attack. For example, a thri-kreen ranger with the Multiweapon Fighting feat who is armed with three short swords could attack with all three swords at a –2 penalty (the normal penalty for fighting with multiple weapons while using light weapons in its off hands) and also make a bite attack at a –5 penalty.
- Poison (Ex): Bite, initial damage 1d6 Dex, secondary damage paralysis, DC 11 + Con modifier. A thri-kreen produces sufficient poison for only one poisonous bite per day.
- Leap (Ex): Thri-kreen are natural jumpers. They have a +30 racial bonus on Jump checks.
- Weapon Familiarity: Thri-kreen can treat gythkas and chatkchas as martial weapons rather than exotic weapons.
- Naturally Psionic: Thri-kreen gain 1 bonus power point at 1st level. This benefi t does not grant them the ability to manifest powers unless they gain that ability through another source, such as levels in a psionic class.
- Psi-Like Abilities: 3/day—chameleon, know direction; 1/day— psionic displacement, metaphysical claw. Manifester level is equal to 1/2 Hit Dice (minimum 1st). The save DCs are Charisma-based.
- Racial Hit Dice: A thri-kreen character begins with two levels of monstrous humanoid, which provide 2d8 Hit Dice, a base attack bonus of +2, and base saving throw bonuses of Fort +0, Ref +3, and Will +3.
- Racial Skills: A thri-kreen’s monstrous humanoid levels give him skill points equal to 5 × (2 + Int modifi er). His class skills are Balance, Climb, Hide, Jump, Listen, and Spot.
- Thri-kreen have a +4 racial bonus on Hide checks in sandy or arid settings.
- Racial Feats: A thri-kreen character has Deflect Arrows as a bonus feat. In addition, his monstrous humanoid levels give him one feat.
- Automatic Languages: Common, Thri-Kreen. Bonus Languages: Elven, Giant, Gnoll, Goblin, Halfling.
- Favored Class: Ranger.
- Level Adjustment: +2.
Source: Monster Manual, Expanded Psionics Handbook
