Crucian
Crucian
CR 3 LN Humanoid
This humanoid creature has a crab-like shell growing from its back, and chitinous plates on its limbs. Its face is mostly human, but weathered and with short, pointed ears. It wears leather clothing, and its shell is decorated with paint and etchings.
Crucians are desert-dwelling humanoids with territorial dispositions and a fierce sense of loyalty. They organize their society like a guild, with ranks being awarded or revoked for merit and talent. Each crucian band guards a single oasis, and sends crews from it on business or raiding missions. Crucian bands distrust one another, and are more likely to engage in trade with other races than between bands. Raiding missions between bands are often undertaken to capture children to raise as their own—such influxes of new blood keep crucian bands from collapsing from inbreeding, but can create conflict if the children are old enough to have their own priorities and alliances when captured. Young, whether native or captured, are raised communally, with parental relationships taking a lower priority to loyalty towards the band as a whole.
Crucian warfare is all about defense. Crucian oases are well guarded by forts, walls and landworks, and crucian armies typically include sappers and engineers trained to overcome those obstacles. They tend to fight in formation, closing gaps in their ranks in order to avoid being flanked. They prefer hammers in combat—their own shells protect them from slashing and piercing damage. Crucians with levels often take teamwork feats to improve their ability to coordinate.
Crucians are decorative people, and their shells are painted and carved with symbols of their accomplishments and alliances. Band membership is carved into a crucian’s shell when it reaches the age of majority, and an exiled crucian has this symbol defaced. Such a ruined symbol is seen as highly shameful in crucian society, but many bands will accept an exile, if only to gain intelligence about a rival band. Crucians live short and intense lives. They are old by 40, and few survive to be 60. Crucians with Intelligence bonuses can take Giant, Gnoll, Sphinx and Terran as bonus languages.
Crucian CR 3
XP 800
LN Medium humanoid
Init -1; Senses low-light vision, Perception +5
Defense
AC 19, touch 9, flat-footed 19 (-1 Dex, +8 natural, +2 armor)
hp 22 (3d8+9)
Fort +4, Ref +0, Will +4
DR 5/bludgeoning
Defensive Abilities stability, withdraw; Weakness awkward shape
Offense
Speed 20 ft.
Melee masterwork earthbreaker +5 (2d6+3/x3)
Ranged sling +1 (1d4+2)
Statistics
Str 15, Dex 8, Con 17, Int 10, Wis12, Cha 10
Base Atk +2; CMB +3; CMD 12 (16 vs. bull rush, trip)
Feats Alertness, Shake It Off
Skills Diplomacy +2, Perception +5, Sense Motive +5
Languages Common, Draconic
SQ hammerer, slow and steady
Ecology
Environment warm deserts
Organization solitary, crew (2-5), squad (4-10 plus 1 3rd level sub-boss) or band (8-40 plus one 3rd level sub-boss per 10 individuals and 1 5th level boss)
Treasure standard (masterwork earth breaker, sling, 10 bullets, leather armor, other treasure)
Special Abilities
Awkward Shape (Ex) A crucian can only wear armor custom designed for it. In addition, it increases the armor check penalty of all armor it wears by -1.
Hammerer (Ex) A crucian is proficient in light hammers, warhammers and earthbreakers.
Slow and Steady (Ex) A crucian’s base speed is 20 feet, but their speed is not reduced by armor or encumbrance.
Stability (Ex) A crucian receives a +4 bonus to its CMD against bull rush or trip attempts when it is standing on the ground.
Withdraw (Ex) A crucian gains an additional +1 to its AC when taking the fighting defensively or total defense actions.