Cayzle's Wemic Site
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3E Wemics Done Right! STAT BLOCKLarge Monsterous Humanoid
Hit Dice: 5d8+5 (27 hp)
Initiative: +2 (Dex)
Speed: 40 feet
AC: 17 (-1 size, +2 Dex, +2 natural, +2 large shield, +2 leather armor)
Attacks: Greatclub +8 melee; 2 claws +3 melee
Damage: Greatclub 1d10+4; claws 1d4+2 each
Face/Reach: 5 ft. by 10 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Pounce
Special Qualities: Low Light Vision
Saves: Fort +2, Ref +6, Will +3
Abilities: Str 18, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 11, Wis 8, Cha 11
Skills*: Balance +2, Craft (primitive objects) +3, Hide** +6, Jump +8, Listen +3, Move Silently +8, Spot +3, Wilderness Lore +6
Feats: Alertness
SECONDARY STAT BLOCK
Climate/Terrain: Temperate and warm plains
Organization: Solitary, pride (2-16), tribe (20-200, including 2-8 subchiefs of 2nd-5th level, and priest of 4th-6th level, and a chief of 5th-8th level), or nation (500-2,000, including 4-10 tribes, 1-4 priests of 7th-12th level, and a king of 9th-14th level)
Challenge Rating: 3
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Usually neutral
Advancement: By character class
DESCRIPTIVE TEXT
Wemics are creatures that resemble lions from the waist down and humans from the waist up. They look like centaurs from far off, but at closer distances their leonine natures become clear. Their lower portions are very well muscled; their short fur is tawny; they sport a lion's tail with a tuft of black fur at the end. Their upper portions are like well-formed humans, although the males grow long, mane-like hair, and both sexes have cat-like eyes and larger canine teeth than humans -- which partly explains their heavy accent when speaking the common tongue. Wemics dress mostly in furs and leather, and many braid totems or beads into their hair as clan and pride markers. Wemics stand six to seven feet tall, and they average ten feet long from head to rump. These large-size creatures weigh 550 to 800 pounds.
Although they are monsterous humanoids, wemics have low light vision, not darkvision.
Wemics speak thier own language and Common, albeit with a heavy accent.
COMBAT
Wemics typically fight using the claws of their forelimbs and a weapon, using the off hand to carry a shield (usually made of tough leather). They make their own leather armor, shields, clubs, and javelins; they treasure swords, obtained as booty, tribute, or trade. Some wemics, especially rangers, use two weapons, and others use huge two-handed weapons.
Pounce: Wemics, like lions, can leap into the fray of melee. With a charge action, a wemic can pounce upon his or her enemies, gaining a full attack instead of a standard attack. A wemic also gain a full attack when making a partial charge (a partial pounce, in this case).
Skills**: Wemics have a +4 racial bonus on Jump, Move Silent, and Hide checks. In tall grasses and in natural underbrush, their Hide check rises to +8.
WEMIC CHARACTERS
As hunters, wemics often become rangers, their favored class. Others are commonly warriors, fighters and, in harsher lands, barbarians. Wemic priests -- adepts, clerics, and druids -- are also fairly common. The race has a strong tradition of bards, who, in a non-literate culture, remember wemic history and custom. Sorcerers are known among wemics, although they are as often feared as respected. Wemics almost never learn the arts of wizardry, because wemics have no written language in which to record spells. The urban arts of rogues are not useful to most wemics. And there is no tradition of wemic monks or paladins.
Wemic clerics worship racial gods (or wemic aspects of gods that govern nature, hunting, and war). Some also honor Nature, and others believe that animalistic and ancestral spirits guide them. Clerics are not proficient with medium or heavy armor, but they are proficient with swords, daggers, and javelins, in addition to standard cleric weapons. Wemic priests must choose two of the following domains: Travel, Animal, War, Hunting. Hunting is a new Domain.
Hunting:
Granted Powers: Totem Bag. If a wemic priest defeats an opponent single-handedly, then the priest can add a totem from the defeated opponent to the totem bag. After the totem, a small bone, tooth, claw, or bit of horn, is added to the totem bag, the wemic priest receives +1 to track, sense motive, and attack others of the same race or species as the defeated opponent. The wemic may have no more than eight totems in his or her totem bag.
Hunting Spells:
1) True Strike
2) Expeditious Retreat
3) Invisibility
4) Snare
5) Locate Creature
6) Find the Path
7) Improved Invisibility
8) Discern Location
9) SympathyWEMIC SOCIETY
Wemics are in some ways strikingly similar to Humans, and in other ways, shockingly alien. They are perhaps most similar to the varied non-agricultural nomadic herders in the Real World -- the North American Plains Indian, the Bedouin, the Mongols. Wemics are wanderers, following the herds, living under the sky
A nomadic, stone-age folk, wemics are often represented as barbaric,illiterate, and uncivilized; they are famous for being highly superstitious. Others would describe wemics as nature-oriented people with a rich tradition of oral history -- they live close to the earth and are in tune with the magical forces around them. As is often the case for cultures that live on the edge of survival, under conditions of harsh competition, in which wits and strength are paramount, wemics make necessity into virtue. Wemics must hunt and fight to stay alive, so they glorify bravery, persistance, and aggression. Their success at carving out a niche and thriving is evident in their proud nature.
Wemics generally only have access to stone-age technology. They do not work metal, and the few metal goods they have (mostly swords) are treasured as family heirlooms. Wemics have access to the skill Craft (primitive objects), which lets them make the tools, weapons, and simple items such as clothing, beads, baskets, tents, and so on. Nothing ot these would be worth more than 10 or 20 gold pieces in an urban market -- most such items would be scorned as worthless. Some wemics use Craft (art) to make beautiful objects, but most wemics live hard lives and seldom have time for such luxuries.
Wemics are not known for their common sense. They are brave to the point of foolhardiness, and their pride makes it easy for clever foes to manipulate them. Unless guided by a priest or oracle, their superstitious nature often leads them astray. It is not uncommon to find wemics enslaved by other peoples -- "enslaved" does not mean docile, but a wemic's loyalty, even to an owner, can be unbreakable. Wemic cubs can be bought and sold in some markets.
Some wemics are solitary hunters or hermits, but most live in family groupings called prides. In some prides, males and females pair off as do humans, but in other prides, males are fewer and the group is polygamous, as with lions. A pride usually consists of 3-18 adults and 1-6 cubs. Wemics become 1 hit die young adults by age three and reach maturity by age seven. Wemics seldom live more than 50 to 70 years.
Prides usually have a leader with 1-3 ranger levels. One adult in each pride may (25 percent of the time) be a priest -- an adept, cleric, or druid with 1-3 levels.
Prides often owe allegiance to a clan, which is headed by a clan chief. And sometimes clans will band together as a nation under a king.
Wemics are forced to be nomadic by their need to follow herds, so they tend to scorn settled folk as lazy, slow, and filthy (and in truth, most cities visited by wemics are dirty and unsanitary). They usually look down on settled folk, such as humans, as degenerate and soft. But that doesn't stop them from trading! Wemics are usually happy to trade, especially for metal blades from knives to greatswords. Beads, mirrors, combs and brushes, fine cloth, and tools are all very welcome. Wemics usually trade in furs and ivory, but wemic crafts are often considered valuable.
Wemic Lands: Wemics follow the herds they depend on for food, so they are often found in savannah, following antelope and zebra; or in the plains, following wild horses and bison; or even in the tundra, following caribou. Wemics view these grazing grounds as their own land, and they react violently to encroachment and competition. However, they welcome merchants, tolerate passers-through, and even work as guides, scouts, and caravan guards when it suits them.
*Details on Skills
- 28 ranks (per Monster Manual, page 11)
- Balance -2 armor +2 dex +2 ranks = +2
- Craft (primitive objects) +3 ranks = +3
- Hide +4 racial bonus -4 large -2 armor +2 dex +6 ranks = +6
- Jump +4 racial bonus -2 armor +4 str +2 ranks = +8
- Listen +2 alert -1 wis +2 ranks = +3
- Move Silently +4 racial bonus -2 arm +2 dex +4 ranks = +8
- Spot +2 alert -1 wis +2 ranks = +3
- Wilderness Lore -1 wis +7 ranks = +6