By Eliahad

The Centomus

The Centomus are the creation of the acclaimed wizard and alchemist, Jorelev Mendege. Jorelev was best known for his work with predicting the number of peas that would appear on a pea plant as well as pre-determining the eye color of baby stirge. Jorelev, jaded and miserable because he was never awarded the Royal Prize from King Muhck'a'Muhck, decided to continue his work in odd mating behaviors. The Centomus is one of those creations.

With a sprinkling of magic (A deluge if you ask any self-respecting wizard -- which Jorelev most certainly wasn't) Jorelev managed to create viable offspring from the pairing of a pixie and a mouse. The resulting crossbreed had the body of a mouse and the torso, arms and head of a pixie. Jorelev was thrilled with the mere fact that it worked, overjoyed at the fact that he could repeat the experiment and ecstatic when he found the centomus could reproduce. Unfortunately for Jorelev, the centomus retained much of their pixian sentience and, after Jorelev had left on a drunken binge being passed over for yet another Royal Prize, they took over the lab. Jorelev was found a week later, the authorities said he looked like a pincushion.

Looking much like a miniature centaur, the centomus live in a tribal society lead by a chieftain who is usually the strongest and the smartest male. Each chieftain chooses eight lieutenants to be a part of his own personal guard, as well as assigning them duties in the upkeep of his warren. These positions are only a step away from Chiefdom and, every year, young centomus vie for their own spot and the respect and honor the position entails.

Once a year, in a great festival, those who wish to challenge for a position on the guard may do so. In unarmed combat the challenger and challenged fight until the other surrenders or dies. Defeat is not well tolerated in centomus society and most challenges end in a fatality. If a loser surrenders without bloodshed, his life is forfeit to the winner, and often he is exiled from the community.

On the rarest occasions, a member of the guard may challenge the chief for his position. These battles are always to the death, and the rules of unarmed combat are often discarded completely. Before the battle is completed, a great scuffle will often break out between the various supporters and the entire warren descends into civil war. These wars can last for months or years, and consist of fierce close quarters fighting among the underground tunnels.

Tactics: Centomus always hunt in swarms or packs. They are clever hunters, often sending groups around to flank their opposition. They are excellent shots with their bows and there is always at least one shaman (level one or two adept or cleric) who can cause some distress to the enemy. They use arrows that they have rubbed with a special powder derived from mushroom spores. The powder, upon entering the blood stream causes sleepiness.

Sleep Arrows: All centomus are armed with sleep arrows. Any opponent struck by the arrow, regardless of Hit Dice, must succeed at a Fortitude save (DC 15) or be affected as though by a sleep spell.

Poison Dagger: Centomus are often armed with small daggers anointed with wasp poison. On a successful attack it deals an initial 1d6 Dexterity damage (Fortitude DC 18 to resist) and has the secondary effect of another 1d6 of Dexterity damage.

Centomus Swarm: When a centomus tribe goes to battle with an enemy they form massive swarms called Warbands. These Warbands consists of anywhere from 100 to 500 of the warren's finest soldiers. They swarm much larger foes, attacking with sleeping arrows and stabbing with poisoned daggers. The battle may not stop with the destruction of their opponents, however, frenzied centomus warbands are known to continue their frenzied attack, destroying farmland and cattle in their violent conquests. When struck by the centomus swarm, a character takes 3d6 damage, plus the sleep and poison effects provided in the descriptions for the individual centomus.

Rage (1/day): While a single centomus is a fierce and tenacious opponent, a war band can be whipped into such a frenzy that little can stand in their way. In battle the war leaders can excite their brood to even greater strength and endurance. This excitement is similar to that of the Barbarian, the swarm gains +4 to Strength and +4 to their Constitution as well as an additional +2 morale bonus to Will saving throws. This rage lasts for 5 combat rounds and at the end of that time they suffer a -2 to strength and a -2 to dexterity for the duration of the encounter.

The Treestar is a small five-armed creature that looks much like the starfish. The leathery surface of the treestar, however, is covered in a soft, fluffy green fur. The natural green coloring gives the creature the look of a patch of moss and offers good camouflage in the deep forests it calls home.

Also unlike its underwater cousin, the treestar is quite quick, slinging and gliding from branch to branch via adhesive pads on the tips of its arms. When hunting, treestar typically hang just above a well-worn path or game trail and drop from above, either enveloping the creature (in the case of small rodents) or adhering to it with the secretions of its arms. It will then suck the blood of its prey, either until the prey is dead, or the treestar is sated.

Skills: All Treestars have a +10 racial bonus to their hide skill while in a forest setting.

Independent Appendages: The limbs of the treestar act independently from the body. Unless a called shot is made upon the center of a treestar, roll a 1d6 after a successful attack. If the number rolled is higher than the number of limbs remaining on the treestar, the damage is applied to the body. For example: A treestar has lost 2 limbs from its total of five, a successful attack will hit the central body on a roll of 4 or higher.

Adhesive Appendages: The arms of the treestar secrete sticky resins that allow it to grapple quite effectively. For every arm that is attached it gains a +5 to grapple checks (+25 maximum). Treestars do not automatically lose grapples to much larger opponents.

Blindsight (Ex): Using its exceptional sense of smell, and fine hairs along the bottom of its arms, the starfish is aware of all creatures within about 60 ft. It cannot be affected by blindness, invisibility or other forms that obscure sight. It primarily uses this ability to hunt prey.

Arm Regeneration (Ex): Hacking off an arm doesn't deter a Treestar, any removed limbs grow back at the rate of one per round. Thus if a treestar has lost four legs, it would take four rounds to recover them all. It then takes an additional round for the treestar to reattach the arm to its victim.

Combat: When the treestar attacks, it generally throws itself from a branch, and attempts to latch onto an opponent with as many arms as possible. Each individual arm makes its own individual grab. It then attempts to grapple with the opponent, gaining bonuses for every arm that is attached.

Improved Grapple (Ex): The treestar is not subject to the usual penalties for attempting to grapple, including the size modifier and attack of opportunity. Treestars receive a bonus on their grapple rolls depending on the number of appendages that attach to their prey.

Contrict (Ex): For their small size, treestars have exceptional grips, and they can begin crushing anything in their grasp. They automatically deal two points of damage every round they have at least two arms attached.

Suffocation (Ex): On a successful critical hit by any appendage, the treestar has managed to adhere to the face, snout, or other respirative opening and is beginning to suffocate the opponent. A character can hold their breath for 1d4 rounds plus their constitution bonus (because they were most likely caught off guard, characters do not receive the full 2 rounds per constitution point duration). After that they must make a Fortitude save every round at DC 10 +1 per round after the first, or they suffocate to death. The suffocation effects are in addition to the two points of damage suffered by constriction.