Art by Cribs
Gatorman
Ancestry
Most gatormen dwell far away from civilization, occupying swamps and remote rivers that are too dangerous for others to settle in. There they live in small villages and tribes led by a chieftain or shaman. Their homelands are very and so all gatormen are used to hardship and fighting, often with other gatormen tribes for the dominance of their territory. Due to the scarce supplies and danger of their homeland, many gatormen gather in parties to raid nearby settlements for food, weapons, slaves, and everything else that is useful for them.
Walking Crocodiles: Gatormen resemble bipedal crocodiles that stand between 7 and 8 feet tall and weigh between 600 and 800 pounds, towering over most people. Their powerful bodies consist of dense muscles that are covered with thick scales that provide natural armor. They have long, powerful jaws filled with large razor-sharp teeth that tear the flesh and bone of men equally. Their powerful bodies have relatively short arms and legs that end in webbed and taloned fingers. They move slowly on land but their long and powerful tail enables them to keep their balance and to move surprisingly fast in the water. They mature quickly when young and can live several centuries, even though most die earlier due to their violent lifestyle.
Primitive People: Most tribes live simple lives away from civilization and utilize wood, stone, and bone for their tools and weapons. They often worship fairies, demons, spirits, or powerful monsters that occupy their homelands. Shamans communicate with those beings and bring often blood sacrifices to appease and bargain with them. Gatormen villages are seldom more than a collection of simple huts surrounded by high undergrowth that can be abandoned when required and rebuilt easily elsewhere. They are used to the hardships and dangers of their environment, resulting in little desire for comfort and a high tolerance for deprivations. The tribes often fight with each other, against the other denizens of their homeland, or raid the settlements of outsiders and as a result, most gatormen are skilled warriors.
They know the advantages of iron and steel due to encounters with the empire and others that invaded their territory. Consequently, they are interested in obtaining tools and weapons made of these materials. They often raid places, where they assume to find them. Also, slaves that know the secrets of smelting and forging are highly-priced. Another strategy for gatormen to obtain these goods is trading, the exchange of the treasures of the swamp-like pearls, rare herbs, meat, skins, and coats for iron tools and modern weapons. Many also become mercenaries or leave their home in the hope to gather the knowledge of smelting and forging to create an advantage for their tribe.
Cruel Maneaters: The gatormen are carnivores, only capable to eat meat and fish efficiently and the consumption of food is important for them. Besides the required nutrition for their bodies, it is also important for their spiritual belief and growth. They think that they do not only consume the meat of their prey but also parts of their soul and so their soul grows. Intelligent creatures have stronger souls because they have more memories and emotions and as a result, their meat is highly priced by gatormen. Bad and painful emotions and memories are stronger than other ones and so the gatormen often torture their prey to nurture the soul. When the soul is ripe, it is harvested by consumption.
Trust and Softskins The swamps and other homes of the gatormen are very dangerous, infested with disease, monsters, and other frightening horrors. Besides these odds, gatormen have little need for tools or weapons to not only survive but also strive in their homelands, thanks to their natural weapons and armor. They take pride in them and call those that lack them softskins, which are viewed as born weak. This belief is enhanced by the fact, that most softskins struggle and succumb to the dangers of the swamps and riversides the gatormen live. Besides that, the gatormen know that softskins are inventive and dangerous because they wield powerful tools and weapons that make up for their lack of natural weapons. They may be born weak but are capable to gain strength and gatormen respect that fact. Based on this knowledge outsiders are capable to arrange agreements for trading and passage, exchanging goods the gatormen need for mercenary work, passage, and treasures of their home, like exotic herbs, beasts, pearls, and so on.
Trusting each other is necessary for survival and those that break vows or agreements are often cast out or leave because nobody trusts them anymore. Due to this, agreements are reliable even for outsiders and often hold several decades. Some gatormen use their contact with outsiders to leave the swamp in the hopes to return later with more knowledge, treasures, and power.
Common Names Aasmir, Amelia, Ajani, Barnabas, Brianna, Caliban, Dunja, Edin, Ivana, Jada, Jana, Jano, Jayden, Joshua, Maleok, Mara, Milan, Mila, Milo, Miro, Novak, Tianna, Vera, Yuri, and Zarko.
Art by belloflostsouls.net
Creating a Gatormen
- Attribute Scores Strength 12, Agility 9, Intellect 9, Will 9
- Perception equals your Intellect score + 1
- Defense 13
- Health equals your Strength score
- Healing Rate equals one-quarter your Health, round down
- Size 2, Speed 8, Power 0
- Damage 0, Insanity 0, Corruption 0
- Languages and Professions You speak the Common Tongue and Dark Speech. You begin the game with one profession, which you determine by rolling on the Gatormen Profession table.
- Shadowsight You see in areas obscured by shadows as if those areas were lit.
- Cold Blooded You make challenge rolls for effects of exposure in cold environments and cold effects with 1 bane.
- Good Swimmer You ignore the effects of difficult terrain when you swim. While swimming your speed is increased by +4. You can hold your breath up to 1 hour.
- Mighty Jaws You can do attack rolls and grapples using unarmed strikes even when both your hands are occupied by biting your target.
- Powerful Tail You can do attack rolls using unarmed strikes even when both your hands are occupied by slamming them with your tail. These attacks have +1 Reach.
Level 4 Expert Gatormen
- Characteristics Health +6.
- You either learn one spell or gain Death Roll.
- Death Roll When you have grappled somebody with your mighty jaws, you can use a triggered action and make a Strength challenge roll. For every size category, the target is bigger than you, you have 1 bane on the challenge roll. On a success you and the target are knocked prone, the target takes 2d6 damage and you are still grappling it. On a failure, the grapple ends and you are knocked prone.
Gatormen Background
| d20 | Background |
|---|---|
| 1 | You butchered and ate helpless people. Gain 2 Corruption |
| 2 | You became lost in the swamps and experienced unsettling visions. Start the game with 1d3 Insanity. |
| 3 | Your tribe has been destroyed by monsters and you are the lone survivor. |
| 4 | You had a human slave once that told you a lot about the world outside the swamps. |
| 5 | You were briefly possessed by a demon. Gain 1 Corruption. |
| 6 | You befriended a shaman and learned many of the old spirits and legends of the swamp. |
| 7 | A swamp spirit appeared and gave you an important quest. You left your home to fulfill it. |
| 8 | Your tribe has been destroyed by soldiers of the empire and you have been taken into slavery for 2d6 years. |
| 9 | Once you had been attacked by one of the great swamp beasts and survived barely. |
| 10 | You earned a living working in your profession. |
| 11 | You took part in raiding softskins. |
| 12 | You fought a weak gatormen and lost. You left your tribe in shame. |
| 13 | You left your homeland to see the world. |
| 14 | You were an adjutant of a local shaman. |
| 15 | You traveled extensively. You speak one additional language. |
| 16 | During a raid you came across a special weapon. The weapon is fine and covered in runes, though it does not appear to be magical in nature. |
| 17 | You were chosen to become a sacrifice for the spirits by your people but fled. |
| 18 | You are a talented hunter. Add a random wilderness profession to your list of professions. |
| 19 | You performed a great deed, and you are a hero to your tribe. |
| 20 | You found a great treasure. Begin the game with one enchanted object created by the GM. |
Gatormen Age
| 3d6 | Age |
|---|---|
| 3 | You are a gatorling, no more than 8 years old. Reduce your height and weight by 50 percent. |
| 4-5 | You are an adolescent, 8 to 20 years old. Reduce your height and weight by 25 percent. |
| 6-8 | You are a young adult, 20 to 50 years old. |
| 9-12 | You are a middle-aged adult, 51 to 100 years old. |
| 13-15 | You are an older adult, 101 to 150 years old. |
| 16-18 | You are a venerable adult, 151 years old or older. |
Gatormen Build
| 3d6 | Build |
|---|---|
| 3 | You are short and spindly, under 7 feet in height, and weighing about 500 pounds. |
| 4-5 | You are short, standing about 7 feet tall. |
| 6-8 | You are thin, weighing about 600 pounds |
| 9-12 | You are a typical gatormen, standing between 7 and 8 feet in height and weighing between 600 and 800 pounds. |
| 13-15 | You have a big frame and weigh more than 900 pounds. |
| 16-17 | You stand 8 feet tall and weigh 800 pounds. |
| 18 | You are a giant, 10 feet tall and over 1000 pounds. |
Art by Onslow
Gatormen Profession
| d20 | Profession |
|---|---|
| 1 | Slave |
| 2 | Guide |
| 3 | Merchant |
| 4 | Slaver |
| 5 | Gatherer |
| 6 | Poacher |
| 7 | Hermit |
| 8 | Tracker |
| 9 | Healer |
| 10 | Raider |
| 11 | Mercenary |
| 12 | Warrior |
| 13 | Bandit, Brigand |
| 14 | Devotee of the Gods |
| 15 | Trapper |
| 16 | Cook or Butcher |
| 17 | Hunter |
| 18 | Animal Trainer |
| 19 | Fisher |
| 20 | Entertainer (singer, or storyteller) |
Gatormen Appearance
| 3d6 | Appearance |
|---|---|
| 3-5 | You have a monstrous appearance. Scars and parasites cover your whole body, missing scales give sight to your flesh and your teeth are deranged. Your whole body emits the stench of rotting meat. |
| 6-8 | You have a sickly appearance. Your tail is very thin, your snout slim with some teeth missing, while the rest are partly your broken. Your eyes secret mucus and your scales are thin and of yellow color. |
| 9-12 | You resemble most gatormen. Your body is covered with thick green-brown scales, you have a long and strong tail and jaws filled with razor-sharp teeth. |
| 13-15 | Your scales are very dark, in contrast to the shining teeth you possess and only a small number of scars can be seen on your body. |
| 16-17 | Thick green scales cover your body and it has a bright belly side with piercing red eyes. You are viewed as very beautiful by your people. |
| 18 | Your body is covered with dark brown scales with yellow eyes lurking in your eye sockets. Your people believe that you have been chosen by one of the swamp spirits. |
Inspired by Iron Kingdoms
Gatormen Personality
| 3d6 | Personality |
|---|---|
| 3 | You are a bully and enjoy tormenting things that are weaker than you. |
| 4-5 | You’re just trying to stay alive! |
| 6-8 | You love to eat things and put them between your jaws. |
| 9-12 | The world is brutal and unforgiving and only the strong survive. |
| 13-15 | The softskins are inside as soft as outside and need your protection and guidance to survive in this harsh world. |
| 16-17 | You have little use for the customs of your people. It’s time to move past the dusty caves and seek out fortunes elsewhere. |
| 18 | You are born for greatness and using your might to get your right is natural. |
Size 2 Creatures
As a gatormen, you are a Size 2 character, which makes you quite a bit larger than most other player characters. Size 2 characters have several benefits and drawbacks, summarized here.
- Your reach is 2 yards (Shadow, page 37)
- Your movement might be restricted by space (Shadow, page 38)
- Size 1/2 and smaller creatures can freely move through your space (Shadow, page 38).
- Armor and weapons cost double the listed price (Shadow, pages 100 and 102)
- Your attacks with weapons that normally deal 1d6 damage or more deal 1d6 extra damage. Your attacks with weapons that normally deal less than 1d6 damage instead deal 1d6 damage (Shadow, page 102)
Art by Unknown