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Mongrelman

Mongrelmen are a mixture of the blood of many species: humans, orcs, gnolls, ogres, dwarves, hobgoblins, elves, bugbears, bullywugs, and many others. Their appearance varies greatly, combining the worst features of their parent stocks. They are usually clad in dirty rags; they are ashamed of their appearance and try keep their bodies concealed, especially among strangers. They have no distinct tongue of their own, but speak a debased common, mixed with grunts, whistles, growls, and gestures. Their names often mimic animal noises. They worship Meriadar who is a god of patience, long suffering and tolerance.

Mongrelmen combine the worst features of many species, including humans, orcs, gnolls, ogres, dwarves, hobgoblins, elves, bugbears, and bullywugs. No two mongrelmen look the same, but all appear as poorly constructed combinations of various humanoid races. Always misshapen and ugly, mongrelmen grow to heights ranging from five to seven feet tall. In general, they are ashamed of their appearance and do their best to keep their bodies hidden from those they encounter. Mongrelmen speak common, though they intermix intelligible words with grunts, whistles, growls, and gestures. Their names often mimic animal noises.

Mongrelmen receive no welcome in lawful and good societies. Among evil and chaotic groups, they meet with enslavement and abuse. Most of these reactions are in response to mongrelmen appearances — they look like deformed monsters and are treated as such by society at large. They work as slaves or serfs, toiling endlessly for cruel and evil masters. Mongrelmen have infinite patience and an unswerving belief that their oppressors will eventually be punished by outside forces. Because of this belief, enslaved mongrelmen refuse to rebel against their masters, even when the opportunity presents itself. Those remaining free often take up residence in abandoned ruins or other long forgotten places.

Mongrelmen are survivors. To remain alive and relatively unharmed is their ultimate goal — they do not seek power or treasure or fame like other races. An orderly day-to-day existence is a mongrelman's perfect state of being. Patience is the greatest virtue, not the ability to destroy. They are by no means pacifists, but they will only fight in self-defense or on the orders of their masters. Free mongrelmen have a long tradition of art, music, and literature. Of course, mongrelman music is an acquired taste, being a bizarre cacophony of animal songs mixed with mournful dirges and wails.

Role-Playing Suggestions. Mongrelmen player characters are either escaped slaves whose masters finally succumbed to outside forces (as the mongrelman knew they would) or free mongrelmen who have been inspired by some ballad or tale to take up the life of an adventurer. While fighting is not in their blood, mongrelmen make natural thieves and a few aspire to become bards or even wizards. Even the most outgoing mongrelman is shy, quiet, and easily embarrassed. The shame that makes them conceal their bodies follows even the most successful adventurer throughout his or her career. They hate what they look like, and sometimes turn to adventuring in order to forget for a time. Of course, most people they meet are quick to remind them with a gasp, by turning away, or by outright insults.

When speaking in character, players should punctuate their sentences with grunts, whistles, and animal noises. Lots of gestures are also used by mongrelmen when they talk. Those mongrelmen PCs who believe themselves to be artistically inclined should also feel free to make up ballads, stories, and songs on the spot to entertain their companions — the more awful and abstract the song, the more perfect it will be to a mongrelman's ears. Mongrelmen are great believers in what will be will be. This makes them infinitely patient and extremely ordered. Those that become adventurers may have decided that fate needs a little help now and then, but fhey still hold to the belief that everything is planned and they can't change it. Of course, most feel that something good is waiting for them in the future. All they have to do is wait patiently for it to arrive. Shyness is bred into mongrelmen, and even those of the race that work as adventurers tend to stay out of the spotlight. They like to avoid contact with others (except their companions), and have come to believe that stealing what they need (but never more than they need) is perfectly acceptable. They love art, music, and literature. Most read everything they can get their hands on. Often, when their party discovers scrolls or books, mongrelmen PCs will try to acquire them instead of seeking magical weapons, items, or even gold.

Special Advantages, Mongrelmen can mimic the sounds made by any monster or creature they have encountered, though they cannot imitate special attack forms. All mongrelmen, regardless of class, can pick pockets. They have a base score of 70%, and receive a 5% bonus in pickpocket per level, starring at 5th level. Mongrelmen can camouflage themselves and their items. It takes one full turn to hide, giving them an 80% base chance to go unnoticed. Each additional turn spent preparing the camouflage increases the chance by 1 % to a maximum of 95% (after 16 turns). Successfully camouflaged stationary persons and items are not noticed unless they are touched or otherwise disturbed. Camouflaged buildings are usually unnoticeable farther away than 50 feet, though this depends on the size and type of the structure.

Special Disadvantages. No matter what Charisma score a mongrelman has among his own kind, when first meeting strangers of different races his Charisma is treated as 1 for reaction adjustments.

For every 10 mongrelmen encountered, there is at least one with 2 Hit Dice; for every 30, there is one with 3 Hit Dice; and for every 40, there is one with 4 Hit Dice. In a community where they are not held as thralls, there are usually a leader (AC 4, Move 12, HD 5, Dmg 1d12, +1 bonus to attack roll) and five bodyguards (HD 4). Because of their appearance, mongrelmen are seldom welcome in any lawful or good society, and are usually enslaved or abused by evil or chaotic groups. Thus mongrelmen are found as either slaves or serfs, working long hours for evil humans or humanoids in a dismal community, or as refugees living in abandoned ruins. Enslaved mongrelmen are not willing to rebel, but wait patiently for their masters to be destroyed by outside forces. They prefer to live an orderly day-to-day existence. A mongrelman prides itself in the ability to survive; they consider the title "The Survivor" to be more esteemed than "The Great." For them, patience is a greater virtue than being good at the arts of war. A mongrelman performs acts of violence only in self-defense or (in the case of slaves) on the orders of their masters; free mongrelmen do not hesitate to kill anyone they believe threatens their community. They prefer to avoid contact with other creatures except in times of great need, when they try to steal what they require (food, tools, etc.). Free mongrelmen raise domestic game and grow fruits and vegetables. They have a long tradition of art, music, and literature. Their songs are a bizarre cacophony of animal songs mixed with mournful dirges and wails; a few sages consider them to be beautiful, but most disagree. Ecology: Mongrelmen are omnivorous, but their teeth are most efficient at eating meat. The life span of a free mongrelman is between 25 and 35 years; the average slave lives only 15 to 20 years. Their infant mortality rate is very high. Their major enemies are tribes of wandering humanoids that hunt them for sport.

Ecology of the Mongrelman (by Johnathan Richards)

nuckledragger limped toward the forts gate, an empty wooden bucket in his left hand. He hurried to catch up to the small party gathering there, not wishing to be left behind. This was a momentous occasion for him: for the first time in his four years1, he was to be allowed outside the four walls of the wooden structure that had been his whole universe. His father, Scale-face, had convinced the others that he was old enough to take part in the duties and responsibilities of an adult. Karg, the scarred old orc that kept watch at the gate, motioned for the two other guards to open up. As they pulled open the heavy doors, Karg gave the mongrelmen their orders. “Be back in two hours. Don’t be late. Remember your families.” This last, Knuckledragger knew, was a thinly-veiled threat—any who took the opportunity to escape did so with the knowledge that their family members back at the fort would be put to death slowly. The orcs were not known for their mercy, and to date no mongrelman had ever failed to return from these excursions outside the fort. Knuckledragger fell into line behind his father as the mongrelmen shuffled through the gate of the orc fort. Ahead lay the wide world. Who knew what wonders it held? Knuckledragger had heard the stories, of course, and could already reproduce the sounds of many forest creatures, animals he had never seen, but whose calls he had heard imitated by others.2 Once beyond sight of the fort, Knuckledragger sensed a change in the adults around him. They walked with a proud bearing not stooped and hunched as if they wished to shrink into as small and unnoticeable a ball as possible. Knuckledragger was well accustomed to the posture, having witnessed it day in and day out during his lifetime as a thrall among the orcs. It was always best to escape notice, especially when living with cruel masters. A slave unseen was a slave not being beaten or tormented.3 Ah, but now sweet freedom! Knuckledragger drank in a deep breath, tasting the exotic fragrances as they passed through his muzzle. A dozen different wildflowers tickled at his shiny black nose, vying for his attention. How different things smelled out here, when compared to the stenches inside the orc fortress! Knuckledragger pricked up his ear— his left one, the one covered with a soft, downy fur—as he became aware of the sounds of the forest ahead of him. Birds chittered in the trees, insects droned, and somewhere, a woodpecker drilled a tree in search of dinner. “What are you thinking, asked Scale-face, looking down at his son and calling him by his true name.4 “This, its all so beautiful!” gasped Knuckledragger. “If only we could stay here forever!” “If only,” agreed Scale-face. “But you know that we cannot. The orcs are our masters; still, perhaps someday this will not be so.” The small band trudged into the forest. There were six of them in all: besides Knuckledragger and his father, there was Half-Human, so named because, by the whims of fate, he had been born with human or human-like features along the entire left side of his body; Crab Leg who also had a crabman’s eyestalk growing out his face, and who could therefore look in two places at once; One-Horn, who always held his head sideways because of the weight of the minotaur horn growing from the right side of his head; and Little Shorty, whose predominantly ogrish facial features looked very out of place on a body supported by stubby little goblin legs. Once several hundred feet into the shade of the forest, the band stopped.

Give your bucket to advised Scale-face. Puzzled, Knuckledragger looked at Crab Leg, who reached out expectantly. “But I thought I was going to pick berries with you!” he complained. will pick your berries for you. You will come with and me.” “Where are we going?” “You will see when we get there. Now, give your bucket.” Reluctantly, Knuckledragger handed his bucket over to Crab Leg. What was going on? Knuckledragger had looked forward to the experience of picking berries with the adults, and was disappointed that this was not to be. Still, he was in a forest, experiencing all kinds of new sensations. He decided to look on the bright side and just be glad that the adults were allowing him to accompany them. Crab Leg, One-Horn, and Little Shorty went off in various directions, gathering berries and other edibles in their buckets. The other three, however, went in a different direction altogether, heading deeper into the forest. “There is much you need to know,” said Scale-face as they walked. “Things that cannot be said in front of the orcs.” “What kind of things?” Knuckledragger wanted to know. “The story of our heritage. The tale of our beginnings. The legend of our Hidden God.” Knuckledragger had not known that they had a god, hidden or otherwise. He well knew of Gruumsh, the one-eyed god of the orcs, as well as a few other, lesser gods his masters respected. But still—a god of the mongrelmen? Was such a thing possible? “Long ago,” Scale-face began, “our people were not as you see us now. They were smooth of skin and uniform in appearance, much as all orcs look like orcs, or all humans look like humans. We were created by the Hidden God in that form and had magical powers: we were able to take on the shapes of other races. If you wished it, you could look like an orc, or an ogre, or an elf, merely by wishing it. “But our ancestors angered the Hidden God, and he cursed them. Their children were born looking not like them, but like us, with bits of this creature and bits of that. Furthermore, they could not change their shape as their parents could, so they were forced to stay in the misshapen forms in which they were born. So it is today.” “What did they do to anger the Hidden God?” “That, no one knows. But there is hope. Perhaps one day, the Hidden God will revoke his curse, and your children, or perhaps your children’s children, will regain the power that is their birthright. Ah, we are here.” Knuckledragger looked around but saw nothing unusual. They had been walking through the forest and were now in another part of it. What made this part of the forest so special? Then he saw it, as if a veil had been lifted from his eyes. That clump of trees over there, with the fallen branch—it was actually a small dwelling! Knuckledragger had looked right at it for several seconds without realizing what it was.5 “What is it?” he asked his father, his voice dropping to a whisper. “This,” replied Scale-face, “is the temple of the Hidden God.” A flap opened in the side of the structure, and an ancient mongrelman appeared from inside the temple. “Greetings Is this your son?” “Yes. this is the Priest of the Hidden God.” “Pleased to meet you, said Knuckledragger, noting that the

priests right hand was covered in scales the same color as those on the left side of Scale-face’s head. Perhaps it was because of this similarity between the elder priest and his father, but Knuckledragger took an instant liking to him. “Come inside, We have much to discuss.” and I will be back for you soon,” said Scale-face, holding up his bucket and smiling. “We must fill these for the orcs, lest they grow suspicious.” With that, he and Half-Human trudged away from the temple, leaving Knuckledragger and the priest by themselves. Knuckledragger followed the priest through the camouflaged flap and inside the temple. It was dark and gloomy, but exciting to the young mongrelman, for it was a secret place of which his masters, the orcs, did not know. “How long have you lived here?” Knuckledragger asked. “Twelve years,” replied the priest. “Twelve years! How old are you?” “Thirty-seven. There are a few good years left in me yet!” Knuckledragger’s mouth dropped. He’d never heard of anyone living to be so old. Maybe the Hidden God gave his priests the gift of long life. Knuckledragger asked if this was so. “No, no,” chuckled the priest. “So far, the Hidden God has remained as hidden to me, his priest, as to anyone. He has given me no powers, granted me no visions, provided me with no spells. Given me absolutely no indication, in fact, that he’s even there at all.”7 “Is he?” asked Knuckledragger. “I mean, what if he’s dead or something?” “No, my son, gods cannot die. He is testing us, and we must be patient. He will present himself when he is ready, and not before.” “How long must we wait?” “As long as it takes.”

Knuckledragger hid his disappointment. “So what do you do? As a priest, I mean.” “I pray, mostly. I pray for the Hidden God’s forgiveness for whatever sins our forefathers committed. I pray for a return of the powers it is said our ancestors possessed. Mostly, I pray for the patience to continue on as I have for these thirty-seven long years.” “Why do you live out here, by yourself?” The elder priest smiled down at Knuckledragger. “I could not live with you, among the orcs. The Priest of the Hidden God must devote his time to prayers and supplication, time I would not have as a slave. Here, I have all that I need: a small stream nearby for my water, forest plants in abundance for my food,8 and plenty of solitude in which to pray for our people.” Could I ask you to say a prayer for my mother?” “Of course, my child. What is your concern?” “She’s going to have a baby soon. Could you ask the Hidden God to see that the baby survives?”9 A look of pain flickered across the old priest’s face for a fleeting moment. Then, in a voice full of weariness and hope, he said, “We will pray together.” Fidgeting in a torn leather bag that had been tossed into a comer, the priest pulled out an old piece of flint and steel, and worked his mismatched hands at starting a spark. After a few moments, he managed to light a yellowing taper candle and pulled back the curtain from a small

alcove cut into the wall. “Behold, the shrine of the Hidden God,” he intoned. The alcove, of course, was empty. Nonetheless, he placed the candle in a notch before the alcove: Together, he and Knuckledragger prayed to their god for an intercession in the fate of Knuckledragger’s unborn sibling. They were still kneeling in position before the empty altar when Scale-face and Half- Human returned. “It’s time to go, he said quietly. Knuckledragger got up, thanked the priest, and walked back toward the forests edge in silence with his father and his friend. “You are quiet, Scale-face observed. “Yes, I’ve been thinking. If the Hidden God returns our powers, what form will you take?” “I don’t think it will happen like that, my son.” “You don’t?” “No. The Hidden God took away the power not from the generation that angered him, but from their children. I’m sure that when he sees fit to return our power, it will be the same way. One day, our children will be born as they once were, and the race will be as it once was.” He looked down at his son. “So do not waste time hoping to change your body someday.10 Accept it as the one you will have for the rest of your life, and move on to other things. Besides,” he said, smiling “you’re not particularly ugly.”11 They walked along in silence for awhile longer, then Knuckledragger blurted out, “I think I would like to serve the Hidden God.” “You would? But, you’re much too young to be a priest. Perhaps in fifteen or twenty years, when you’re much older. Right now, you are a strong young man in the prime of your life. You are needed by the rest of the community.12 Ah, here come the others.” Crab Leg, One-Horn, and Little Shorty came hobbling up from out of the forest. “Great news, found a dead body in the forest, of a species unknown to us! A small humanoid, with blue skin.” “How small?” “Only about three feet, but we don’t know if he was fully grown. We took his arm, just in case.” “Where is it?” “Strapped to leg.” Crab Leg passed Knuckledragger’s bucket back to him, now filled with hunks of mushrooms and tubers, and lifted up his rotting, filthy robe13 to show a small blue arm strapped to his inner leg by strips of cloth. He smiled, showing reptilian teeth. “We’ll Feast tonight.”14 “Come,” said Scale-face. “We must not be late.” Together, the six shambled off toward the orc fortress. “Humph!” snorted Karg at their arrival, sounding as always, a bit disappointed that there’d be no torturing the hostages in retaliation for an escape attempt. As the mongrelmen shuffled single file back into the fort, he grabbed Scale-face by the shoulder. “You! Scale-face! Your woman is giving birth. You may go to her.”

Scale-face passed his bucket of berries to Crab Leg and bowed before the orc guard. “Master, I thank you for your kindness,” he said, then scurried off in the direction of the slave huts.15 Knuckledragger hid his concern and went with the others to prepare the food. The next hour went by quickly, as Knuckledragger was caught up in the daily routine of his slavery. There was the food to prepare, the war-beasts to groom, the fires to be tended to, and the weapons to sharpen.16 Knuckledragger went about his duties in a daze, worried about his family, and thinking about his prayer to the Hidden God. Perhaps this will be the time, he thought. Perhaps my little brother or sister will be the first of the new race and be born with skin all the same color and texture. He was shaken from his reverie by Not Half Bad, a female mongrelman who was fortunate enough to have predominantly orcish features on her face and most of one arm and leg. “Your mother and sister are fine, Perhaps you would like to see them.” Giving a silent prayer of thanks to the Hidden God, Knuckledragger hurried over to the ramshackle hut where his family lived. Entering the open doorway, he saw his mother, Frog Lips, lying back in exhaustion on the pile of damp straw that made up her bed. Scale-face was holding a small bundle in his arms, wrapped in the cleanest scraps of cloth to be found. Seeing his son, he smiled down at him. “You have a sister,” he said softly, and lowered her so Knuckledragger could see. Silently pleading with the Hidden God, Knuckledragger looked at his new sister with a heart filled with hope. She had green scales covering the top of her scalp and halfway down the right side of her head. The left half was

a sickly yellow, with large tan warts. Ogre-sized lips on the left side merged into human-sized lips on the right, giving her an artificial sneer. From the dark hair covering the back of her hand, Knuckledragger sensed the same gnoll blood in her that was responsible for his own muzzle and left ear. “What do you think?” asked Scaleface. Knuckledragger looked up at his father, and smiled sadly. “She’s not particularly ugly,” he said, then turned to finish his chores

footnotes 1. Mongrelmen, like many other short-lived races, grow quickly. They reach adulthood around age four or five, and they live to a maximum age of 40. Of course, those held as slaves by other races rarely live that long, counting themselves lucky if they live to see 15 or 20 years. 2. Regardless of their facial appearance, mongrelmen enjoy a wide variety of vocal abilities and can precisely imitate just about any noise they hear. This includes noise heard secondhand, so once a single mongrelman hears a particular animal call, he can pass that call on to all other mongrelmen in his tribe. Animal calls make up a large part of mongrelman “music.” 3. Mongrelmen prefer not to be seen. They are well aware that their appearance causes disgust and fear (and often ridicule). For this reason, mongrelmen are abnormally fascinated with the concept of invisibility, for it not only hides their twisted bodies from sight but also aids in their pickpocketing abilities. To many, becoming invisible is the ultimate goal, and the quest for a ring of invisibility has launched a few mongrelmen on the path of the adventurer. 4. All mongrelmen have two names: their ‘true name” and their “slave name.” Their true name is most often an animal noise. A mongrelman is given his true name at birth, and it this name by which other mongrelmen call him. Other races, unable (or unwilling) to perfect the animal mimicry necessary to pronounce a mongrelman’s true name, often come up with a name for the mongrelman that they can pronounce. Referred to by mongrelmen as their slave names, they are the names by which they are known by other races. Such names are usually derogatory but somewhat descriptive of the mongrelman’s physical appearance. Mongrelmen do not give themselves slave names, but they often adopt the first slave name given to them by others, no matter how derogatory. After all, a mongrelman doesn’t really care what other races call him—he knows his true name.

5. The mongrelman knack for camouflage is an instinctive one. Some sages speculate that it is a logical extension of their desire to hide away from others, a method by which the slow-moving mongrelmen can escape those who would do them harm. In any case, most mongrelmen are able to camouflage themselves in one turn with materials at hand—usually twigs, branches, leaves, dirt, and mud. The base chance of success for their camouflage is 80%, and this increases by 1% per additional turn devoted to the task (to an upper limit of 95%). Mongrelmen are not squeamish about disguising themselves, thinking nothing of rubbing mud all over their bodies if it helps. In addition to themselves, mongrelmen can camouflage stationary items up to the size of small buildings, which are usually undetectable at ranges greater than 50’. 6. Perhaps because mongrelmen all tend to be on the lowest end of any social scale, they take pains not to have levels of status in their own society. All mongrelmen call each other by their true names, regardless of station. Priests, elders, and even the leaders of free mongrelmen do without fancy titles— no “sir,” “madam,” or “my lord” is ever spoken by one mongrelman to another. Indeed, mongrelmen see each other as true equals, as perhaps only the lowest of the low can truly see themselves. 7. The sad reason for this is that the Hidden God does not exist. Rather, the legend of the Hidden God is a corrupted version of the mongrelmen’s history, after being passed down verbally from generation to generation. The Hidden God was actually an ancient wizard (whose name, alas, is lost to the ages) who, desiring a doppleganger-like race able to adapt the forms of others, created beings he called “infiltrators.” The infiltrators were thin, wiry beings with large black eyes, who could absorb the genetic properties of beings whose flesh they consumed. Undergoing a ritual known as “the Feast,” they would eat humanoid flesh, digest it in specialized organs within their body, and thereafter be able to transform their bodies into copies of the humanoid forms on which they had feasted. Utilizing this ability, they were able to infiltrate many humanoid societies and serve as spies for the wizard. However, the wizard unknowingly created the Infiltrators without the ability to breed true to their forms. The offspring of two infiltrators was always a misshapen humanoid form showing various, random features of the humanoid forms “feasted” upon by its parents. Thus was born the mongrelman race. Alas, mongrelmen today still worship the Hidden God and pray for the day he will return them to their “days of glory.” Each mongrelman society has a single Priest of the Hidden God (in slave societies, the priest is often as hidden as their god) whose duties are to pray for betterment of their lot in life. The Hidden God, of course, never answers these prayers, but the mongrelmen are a patient folk, and they are willing to wait.

8. Mongrelmen are omnivorous. Free mongrelman grow fruits and vegetables and often supplement their diet with domestic game, partially because they tend to be below-average hunters. While many mongrelmen sport teeth designed for eating meat, they are perfectly happy living a vegetarian existence if necessary. 9. Another sad fact of mongrelman existence is their high infant mortality rate. Even in free mongrelmen societies, only about 50% of infants born live more than a week. In slave societies, where the mongrelmen live under much harsher conditions, the infant mortality rate can be as high as 80%. For this reason, a healthy baby mongrelman is a cause for great rejoicing. Mongrelmen have a stoic attitude toward those that don’t survive; considering the lives they lead, they often consider them “the lucky ones.” 10. Although appreciation of beauty is an important part of mongrelman society, and they have a fascination with polymorph magic, no mongrelman would willingly alter his appearance to hide his ugliness. Mongrelmen take their hideous appearance as a fact of life, something over which they have no control, and while their ugliness shames them and causes them to seek to hide from others, they nonetheless believe it is their duty as mongrelmen to remain in the forms in which they were born until the Hidden God deems otherwise. To take matters in their own hands, they fear, would anger their god and prevent him from returning their shapeshifting powers. No mongrelman would put the improvement of his own appearance ahead of the betterment of his entire race.

Incidentally, the mongrelman love of beauty is much deeper than that of most other races, perhaps because they themselves are so far removed from it. A mongrelman is just as able to find and appreciate beauty in the smooth, even features of a female goblin as in the most delicate elven princess 11. “You’re not particularly ugly,” is a high complement among mongrelmen. They are truthful enough not to insult each others’ intelligence by calling one another “beautiful,” and “not particularly ugly” is about as high as they can honestly go. 12. Call it fatalism, rationalization, or just simple realism, but mongrelmen, while insisting on having a priest (or priestess) of the Hidden God in every mongrelman community, tend to reserve the post for those elderly members of the community who are unable to work at jobs requiring heavy manual labor. 13. Mongrelmen tend to wear dirty, ragged clothing. Because of their oddly-shaped bodies they prefer their clothes to be loose, and robes (especially those with hoods that can conceal their faces) are popular among both sexes. Dirty clothes don’t bother mongrelmen as they aid in their attempts at camouflage. For similar reasons, mongrelmen have difficulty fitting into standard armor. Only rarely will a mongrelman be lucky enough to be able to fit into a set of armor; usually they must make do with bits and pieces of different types. Players with mongrelmen PCs who wish to wear armor should consult The Complete Fighter’s Handbook, page 111, for rules on piecemeal armor.

14. Mongrelmen today retain the ability to “feast.” However, all “feasting does is store the humanoids form in the mongrelman’s genetic code and passes that form on to its offspring. Thus, a mongrelman with no ogrish features “feasts” upon a slain ogre’s flesh. Later, when he mates, his children could end up with body parts resembling those of an ogre. Only humanoid forms from four to nine feet or so can be successfully “feasted” upon, so the mongrelman makeup will never include halflings or kobolds (too small) or giants (too big). Mongrelmen continue to “feast” for many reasons. Some believe that the Hidden God requires it of mongrelmen so that when he restores their ability to shapechange, they will have that many more forms they can adopt. Others believe that only when a set number of humanoid forms have been “feasted” upon will the Hidden God restore their power. Some simply like the flavor of humanoid meat. In any case, “feasting” is a private act that mongrelmen will not share with others not of their race. “Feasting is always done in private, and not everyone in the mongrelman community will partake. Usually, only those who do not sport features of the humanoid to be “feasted” upon will take part, so that the flesh can be used only by those able to benefit from it. Children are not allowed to “feast” until they have been initiated into adult society and have learned the secret history of the mongrelmen and their Hidden God.

15. There is almost no end to the amount of abuse a mongrelman slave is willing to take. Among mongrelmen, mere survival is the greatest accomplishment one could hope for. They remain courteous and obedient to their masters no matter what the provocation, wishing only to avoid trouble. Sadly, this makes them excellent slave material, a fact not many humanoid tribes are liable to overlook. 16. Mongrelman passivity is so great that humanoid tribes need not fear allowing mongrel- men access to weapons. There is no chance that the mongrelmen will use the weapon to try to free themselves from slavery in a bloody revolt, as such a concept is foreign to them. Many humanoid tribes even go so far as giving their mongrelmen slaves piecemeal armor and weapons and training them for battle, using them as “cannon fodder.” Mongrelmen can be trained to use just about any weapon, but prefer simple ones such as swords and clubs. Free mongrelmen often use blowguns;besides being a simple weapon to make and use, it is silent and can be used by a camouflaged mongrelman without giving away his location. In addition, it is easier for a mongrelman to remain still and hidden and use a blowgun on prey that comes within range than to track and chase down prey, given the standard mongrelman’s limping gait. The blowgun darts are usually coated in a mild poison that causes paralysis for 1d4 rounds unless a save vs. poison is made at +2.

The Making of a Mongrelman

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Homebrew

The idea is to divide the typical biped body into sections, then roll to see what race/species a particular section will be.

Left Head

Right Head

Upper Torso

Lower Torso

Left Arm

Right Arm

Left Leg

Right Leg

I weeded out all the slime and ooze creatures; anything that was a demon, spirit, or undead; and anything that was already an amalgam of body parts of other creatures. I also left out creatures like beholders and centipedes, because of the extreme difficulty of grafting any part of them onto a mongrelman. I left out things like brain moles and thought eaters as well, because, well, they just seemed wrong to use for this purpose.

The DM will want to rule on whether to allow broad creature types or hominids only, and whether to bar marine/wetland creature types or not. A chart for each decision is provided.

If the creature part falls outside the size range for a mongrelman, that body part would, of course, either shrink to the maximum size or enlarge to the minimum size. For instance, an elephant leg would not be as large as on an actual elephant, yet it would still be hideously out of proportion. A spider leg would of course be larger than on a typical spider.

When adjustment of the charts was necessary, I gave less weight to humanlike creatures, and more weight to creatures that traditionally go into the making of a mongrelman. If two races or species were essentially the same, such as Gremlins and Fremlins, I only included one. If two varieties of a race were different enough, I split them, as with Gnolls and Gnoll Flinds.

And, of course, I gave the DM more opportunities to choose than the player.

Roll 1d100.

Dry Land Hominids Only

01-03 DM's choice

04-07 Aracokcra

08-11 Alaghi

12-14 Beastman

15-19 Bugbear

20-21 Dwarf

22-24 Giant

25-29 Gnoll

30-33 Gremlin

34-35 Elf

36-39 Flind

40-44 Goblin

45-46 Halfling

47-50 Hobgoblin

51-52 Human

53-56 Kobold

57-61 Ogre

62-65 Ogre Mage

66-70 Orc

71-72 Pixie

73-75 Saurial Bladeback

76-78 Saurial Finhead

79-81 Saurial Flyer

82-84 Saurial Hornhead

85-87 Treant

88-91 Troglodyte

92-96 Troll

97-99 Yeti

100 Player's choice

Creatures Hominid and Not

(Dry Land Only)

01-02 DM's choice

03-04 Alaghi

05 Ape

06 Bear

07-08 Beastman

09 Beaver

10 Boar

11 Buffalo

12-13 Bugbear

14 Bull

15 Camel

16 Cockatrice

17 Couatl

18 Deer

19 Dog

20 Dwarf

21 Eagle

22 Elephant

23 Elf

24-25 Flind

26-27 Giant

28-29 Gnoll

30 Goat

31-32 Goblin

33 Gorgon

34 Gremlin

35 Halfling

36 Hippopotamus

37-38 Hobgoblin

39 Horse

40 Human

41 Hyena

42 Jackal

43 Jaguar

44-45 Kobold

46 Leopard

47 Lion

48 Lizard

49 Lynx

50 Mammoth

51 Mastodon

52 Mule

53-54 Ogre

55-56 Ogre Mage

57-58 Orc

59 Otter

60 Otyugh

61 Owl

62 Pixie

63 Porcupine

64 Ram

65 Rat

66 Remorhaz

67 Rhinoceros

68 Roc

69 Roper

70-71 Saurial Bladeback

72-73 Saurial Finhead

74-75 Saurial Flyer

76-77 Saurial Hornhead

78 Scorpion

79 Skunk

80 Snake

81 Spider

82 Stag

83 Tiger

84 Titanothere

85 Treant

86-87 Troglodyte

88-89 Troll

90 Umber Hulk

91 Unicorn

92 Wasp

93 Weasel

94 Wolf

95 Wolverine

96 Wyvern

97 Xorn

98-99 Yeti

100 Player's choice

Hominid Types Only

(Including Marine/Wetland)

01-04 DM's choice

05-08 Aracokcra

09-11 Alaghi

12-14 Beastman

15-18 Bugbear

19-22 Bullywug

23-24 Dwarf

25-26 Giant

27-30 Gnoll

31-33 Gremlin

34-35 Elf

36-38 Flind

39-42 Goblin

43-44 Halfling

45-47 Hobgoblin

48-49 Human

50-53 Kobold

54-56 Lizardman

57-59 Locathath

60-63 Ogre

64-66 Ogre Mage

67-70 Orc

71-72 Pixie

73-75 Saurial Bladeback

76-78 Saurial Finhead

79-81 Saurial Flyer

82-84 Saurial Hornhead

85-87 Treant

88-91 Troglodyte

92-95 Troll

96-98 Yeti

99-100 Player's choice

Creatures Hominid and Not

(Including Marine/Wetland)

01-02 DM's choice

03 Alaghi

04 Ape

05 Aracokcra

06 Bear

07 Beastman

08 Beaver

09 Boar

10 Buffalo

11 Bugbear

12 Bull

13 Bullywug

14 Camel

15 Cockatrice

16 Couatl

17 Crab

18 Crocodile

19 Deer

20 Dog

21 Dolphin

22 Dwarf

23 Eagle

24 Elephant

25 Elf

26 Flind

27 Frog

28 Gar

29 Giant

30 Gnoll

31 Goat

32-33 Goblin

34 Gorgon

35 Gremlin

36 Halfling

37 Hippopotamus

38 Hobgoblin

39 Horse

40 Human

41 Hyena

42 Jackal

43 Jaguar

44 Kobold

45 Leopard

46 Lion

47 Lizard

48 Lizardman

49 Locathath

50 Lynx

51 Mammoth

52 Mastodon

53 Mule

54 Octopus

55-56 Ogre

57 Ogre Mage

58-59 Orc

60 Otter

61 Otyugh

62 Owl

63 Pixie

64 Porcupine

65 Ram

66 Rat

67 Remorhaz

68 Rhinoceros

69 Roc

70 Roper

71 Sahuagin

72 Saurial Bladeback

73 Saurial Finhead

74 Saurial Flyer

75 Saurial Hornhead

76 Scorpion

77 Shark

78 Skunk

79 Snake

80 Spider

81 Squid

82 Stag

83 Tiger

84 Titanothere

85 Toad

86 Treant

87 Troglodyte

88-89 Troll

90 Turtle

91 Umber Hulk

92 Unicorn

93 Wasp

94 Weasel

95 Wolf

96 Wolverine

97 Wyvern

98 Xorn

99 Yeti

100 Player's choice

Then roll to determine if there will be a tail. If the DM is allowing a broad spectrum of creatures, roll 1d6 where:

1-4 no tail

5-6 tail

Then roll 1d100 against the appropriate chart to see what kind of tail. If the creature you roll has no tail, roll again.

If the DM is allowing hominids only, roll 1d100 against the appropriate hominid chart. If the creature has a tail, it's yours.

Each mongrelman gets one mutation.

1 Big Hand

2 Claw

3 Extra Arms

4 Foul Appearance

5 Horns

6 Hypnotic Gaze

7 Prehensile Tail

8 Razor Sharp Fangs

9 Regeneration

10 Spikes

11 Stunty

12 Tentacles

13 Thick Skull

14 Two Heads

15 Very Long Legs

16 No Mutation

At the DM's discretion, a player may offer to choose an exceptionally disadvantageous body part, in exchange for which they may roll for another mutation.

Mutation table is from http://www.theminiaturespage.com/rules/fan/bbmongrl.html.

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From: Dragon Magazine - December 1997

Appendix: Designing a Mongrelman PC

Johnathan M. Richards

With most PCs, the character’s physical appearance is up to the player, who can decide such things as whether or not his PC is a blonde or a brunette and what color his eyes are. After all, such details don’t usually make a difference in how the PC will be played, or alter any of his capabilities.

Unfortunately, the same does not hold true for the mongrelman PC, made available in The Complete Book of Humanoids (see pages 43-46). As its very name suggests, a mongrelman is made of differing body parts from a wide variety of creatures, and no two mongrelmen are apt to look anything like one another. The player wishing to run a mongrelman PC is going to have to know just what his character looks like before he can even decide on his character class. After all, some physical traits are going to hamper, if not preclude altogether, various career possibilities. A mongrelman with two crab claws in place of hands is not likely to have much of a future as a mage, if he can’t even perform the simplest of somatic gestures. Similarly, pickpocketing isn’t likely to be possible to such a mongrelman; he’ll probably end up as a warrior, and a pitiable one at that, as he’ll be unable to wield the coveted magical swords and similar enchanted weapons a party is sure to encounter eventually.

A system is needed to generate the physical appearance of a given mongrelman. This appendix provides one way to do so, by means of Table 1: The Random Mongrelman Appearance Generator. It also gives some notes on what additional capabilities and detrimental attributes accompany the mongrelman’s specific physical makeup. These notes should be useful even to those who opt not to randomly roll their PCs’ appearances, but prefer to design them piece by piece themselves.

The “Mongrelman” entry in the MONSTROUS MANUAL® rules states “mongrelmen are a mixture of the blood of many species: humans, orcs, gnolls, ogres, dwarves, hobgoblins, elves, bugbears, bullywugs, and many others.” Since the creatures specified range in size from 4’ to over 9’ in height, only humanoid creatures within that size range were added to the table, specifically, the crabman, goblin, lizard man, minotaur, and satyr. If DMs wish to add other creatures to this list, it is easy enough to modify the table to suit their individual campaign worlds.

Randomly Determining Your Mongrelman’s Appearance

A mongrelman’s body makeup is generally split into nine different areas, each of which might be patterned after a different creature. Each of a mongrelman’s arms and legs tend to be predominantly patterned after a single creature, while the head and torso are usually an amalgamation of several different creatures blending into each other. A diagram of these areas appears as Illustration 1. Mongrelman bodies are seldom symmetrically divided; often the torso body type might run partway down an arm or leg, or a patch of flesh on the head might continue partway down the mongrelman’s back, but the diagram is close enough to permit close approximations of individual mongrelmen’s physical makeup.

Table 1: Random Mongrelman Appearance Generator

		(A/B/C)	(D/E)	(F/G)	(H/I)

		Head	Torso	Arm	Leg	Height

Bugbear 01-10 01-10 01-05 01-05 7’

Bullywug 11-20 11-15 06-10 06-15 4’-7’

Crabman 21-25 16-20 11-25 16-25 7’-10’

Dwarf 26-30 21-25 26-30 26-30 4’+

Elf 31-35 26-30 31-35 31-35 5’+

Gnoll 36-45 31-40 36-45 36-45 7.5’

Goblin 46-50 41-45 46-55 46-50 4’

Hobgoblin 51-60 46-55 56-60 51-55 6.5’

Human 61-65 56-60 61-65 56-60 6’

Lizard Man 66-75 61-70 66-75 61-70 7’

Minotaur 76-80 71-75 76-80 71-80 7.5’

Ogre 81-85 76-80 81-85 81-85 9’+

Orc 86-95 81-90 86-95 86-90 6’

Satyr* 96-00 91-00 96-00 91-00 5’

Since only male satyrs exist, only male mongrelmen can have satyr body parts.

If rolling up a female mongrelman, reroll any results that indicate a satyr’s body part.

Roll percentile dice on the table above for each of the nine areas of the mongrelman’s body, recording the results on the diagram in Illustration 1.

Illustration 1

A = right eye, right ear

B = left eye, left ear

C = mouth, nose

D = chest, upper back

E = stomach, waist, lower back, tail (if any)

F = right arm, right hand

G = left arm, left hand

H = right leg, right foot

I = left leg, left foot

Once the rolls from Table 1 have been made and recorded, it only remains to determine the specific oddities of your mongrelman’s physiognomy. Roll 1d10 and compare that number to Table 2. This shows how many quirks your mongrelman character has. Finally, roll d% on Table 3 to determine the specific quirks, rerolling any duplications.

Table 2: Number of Quirks

Roll 1d10

1-6 One quirk

7-9 Two quirks

10 Three quirks

Table 3: Quirks

Roll 1d100

01-10 Different eye (roll again on the head column, this eye replaces the one in area A or area B)

11-20 Different ear (roll again on the head column, this ear replaces the one in area A or area B)

21-35 Odd patch of skin (roll again on the torso column, this roughly 3” patch of skin is located on the head, torso, arm or leg)

36-45 Additional head area (roll again on the head column, splitting one of the head areas into two smaller areas—A becomes A1/A2, B becomes B1/B2, or C becomes C1/C2)

46-55 Additional torso area (roll again on the torso column, splitting one of the torso areas vertically into two smaller areas—D becomes D1/D2 or E becomes E1/E2)

56-65 Additional arm area (roll again on the arm column, this new area runs from the shoulder to the elbow—F becomes F1/F2 or G becomes G1/G2)

66-75 Additional leg area (roll again on the leg column, this new area runs from the hip to the knee—H becomes H1/H2 or I becomes l1/I2)

76-80 Different back (roll again for torso, this applies only to the mongrelman’s back)

81-85 Different teeth (roll again on torso column: 1-4 teeth are of new type instead of what was originally rolled for area C)

86-90 Different fingers (roll again on arm column, 1-3 fingers are of new type instead of what was originally rolled for F or G)

91-95 Different toes (roll again on leg column, 1-3 toes are of new type instead of what was originally rolled for H or I)

96-00 Tail (satyr or lizard man, 50% chance of either)

If, when rolling up a specific quirk, you get a result which isn’t a change to the mongrelman (for instance, rolling lizard man teeth when your PC already rolled up a lizard man snout for area C), reroll the specific result but not the quirk itself. In the example above, the player would reroll on the head column until he got teeth that didn’t match those already in his PC’s mouth.

Once the mongrelman’s features have been decided upon, the player must determine if his character has any special physical abilities or disadvantages due to his body’s unique physiognomy. The following characteristics are possible:

Bite damage. Mongrelmen with the mouth of a minotaur may choose to bite in melee for 1-2 hp damage. Those with lizard man snouts may bite for 1-6. Merely having a few minotaur or lizard man teeth does not qualify the mongrelman for bite damage.

Claw damage. Mongrelmen with the claws of a lizard man can attack for 1-2 hp damage. Those born with a crabman’s claw can cause 1-6 hp damage, but this ability comes at a cost—the claw’s rigidity prevents the mongrelman from casting spells requiring intricate somatic gestures and hampers thieving skills such as picking pockets and opening locks. A mongrelman with one crabman claw has only a base 40% chance of successfully picking a pocket (instead of the standard 70% mongrelman ability); those with two drop down to a mere 10% chance. For these reasons, mongrelmen with crabman claws often become warriors.

Dry skin. Those mongrelmen with body parts of either a lizard man or a bullywug must moisten those areas at least once every 24 hours or suffer the effects of a halfpower irritation spell (-2 AC and -1 to hit) until they can do so.

Extra limb. Those mongrelmen with a partial crabman torso might have one of the crabman’s smaller arms (player’s option). Only one extra arm is possible, unless both of the die rolls for the mongrelman’s torso resulted in “crabman,” in which case two extra arms are possible. These extra arms are capable of fine manipulation, adding +5% per additional arm to the mongrelman’s ability to pick pockets in certain circumstances. (The arms must be free to move, not hidden under layers of clothing.)

Flexible eyestalk. Mongrelmen with a crabman’s eyestalk can move it in all directions, making it easier to peek over a wall, around a corner, and so on. If severed, an eyestalk grows back in about a week.

Horn Butt. A mongrelman with the horn of either a minotaur or satyr can butt for 1-4 hp damage. This is less damage than a satyr or minotaur causes, but mongrelmen are generally not in as good physical condition, nor can they generate the speed necessary for a really good headbutting. In no case can a horned mongrelman cause charging damage.

Infravision. A mongrelman will have 60’ infravision, if he has at least one eye from one or more of the following creatures: bugbear, dwarf, elf, goblin, hobgoblin, minotaur, orc, or satyr. Many mongrelmen with infravision possess it in only one eye, although this doesn’t seem to hamper them much.

Light Sensitivity. Mongrelmen with at least one goblin or orc eye have a sensitivity to bright lights, including normal daylight. They strike at -1 to hit when in bright sunlight or its equivalent.

Lizard Man Lungs. Mongrelmen with the upper torso (area D) of a lizard man are able to hold their breath for 2/3 of their Constitution scores (rounded up), as opposed to the standard 1/3.

Ogre Strength. A mongrelman with the arm of an ogre has a +1 to hit and +2 to damage with weapons wielded in that hand. The bonuses are not as high as those enjoyed by fullblooded ogres, but this reflects the fact that only the mongrelman’s arm is that strong, not the rest of his body.

Reduced Movement. Compare the height of the two creatures indicated when the rolls were made for the mongrelman’s legs (as indicated by the height column on Table 1). If there is a 2’ or more difference, the mongrelman’s movement rate drops down to 6 as a result of the difference in leg length. Furthermore, he will move with an awkward, limping gait.

Tail. Those mongrelmen with a torso (area E) of lizard man or satyr heritage often have tails. Satyr tails are of normal size; lizard man tails tend to be shorter than those of true lizard man tails, and cannot be used in melee in any fashion. However, they can make disguising the mongrelman as a normal humanoid more difficult.

Tracking ability. Only those mongrelmen with the nose of a minotaur have this ability; those who do can track creatures by their scent with a 50% probability of success.

Any special abilities or disadvantages should be noted on the mongrelman’s character sheet.

Other physical traits can be obtained from examining the MONSTROUS MANUAL descriptions of the various creatures whose body parts make up the mongrelman. These won’t add any extra abilities (one shouldn’t, for instance, try arguing that because his mongrelman PC has minotaur features on his head, he is immune to maze spells), but they can provide some interesting details about the character. As an example, ogres have purple eyes with white pupils, while hobgoblin eyes are yellowish or dark brown. A mongrelman with one eye of each type will definitely look distinctive.

Little features like these can also be helpful when naming the mongrelman, or at least when deriving his “slave name.” Generically insulting names (“Ugly,” “Lumpy,” “Freakface”) are most often used in cases where the mongrelman is the only one of its kind in the group; even a crude tribe of orcs has to use a bit more imagination when dealing with mongrelmen in any numbers. In such cases, the “slave names” tend to be a bit more descriptive (“Clawhand,” “Eyestalk,” “Furface”), if only to keep the individual mongrelmen straight.

Choosing Your Mongrelman’s Appearance

The other way of determining your mongrelman PC’s appearance is simply to pick and choose body parts. The DM must approve of any “handpicked” mongrelman body design in the interests of game balance, ensuring that the mongrelman doesn’t have too many advantages without “paying for them” with disadvantages. For instance, a mongrelman with two ogre arms, a minotaur’s bite attack and tracking ability, 60’ infravision (due to one dwarven and one human eye, bypassing light sensitivity) and two extra-manipulative crab arms is pushing the limits of fair play. A good rule of thumb might be a disadvantage for every two advantages, just to keep up game balance. Remember, you’re role-playing a misshapen creature ashamed of its deformed body, not a superhuman powerhouse!

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Hybridize #1 and #2. Since I much prefer the "quirks" of #2 over the "mutations" of #1, I'd suggest using the methodology of #2, but using the race/species charts in #1. The rule of thumb would be: if this part of the original creature has a particular ability, then you have it in this part too, but in less strength. Therefore, if you have the arm of a troglodyte, you can make it stink something fierce in battle, but not do nearly as much damage, if any, with the odor. If you have one eye of a wasp, that one eye will see ultraviolet.

Of course, all results subject to DM approval and/or refinement.

The above comes from several sources and will be refined down to one document that encompasses all that is needed for the game.

For the full original article on Mongrelmen by Johnathan Richards see Dragon Magazine #242 from December 1997