Tanarukk of the Mittelhelm (3.5e Race)

Tanarukk

Personality

Physical Description

Tanarukk have a fairly uniform appearance, resembling short, stocky and ork with stooped, apeish postures. Their hair is coarse, whether on their heads or the patches that grow on their chest, forearms and calves. They have sharp teeth and prominent manible tusks, with their lower jaws protruding farther than their small snouts. Their eyes are red, wolfish and glow when angry. Their foreheads are low and ridgid with layers horned scale-like plates, with males developing ram-like horns in their old age. Their skin varies from gray to dun brown, their hair is typically black, dark brown or gray. They have four finger-hands and three toes on each of their over large feet.

Tanarukk prefer chain mail, leather and plate to linen; a dagger to fork or spoon; a skull to a tankard; ale to wine; coffee to tea; and brute force and anger to diplomacy and tact.

Relations

Bred from ork slaves and the infernal minions of Arioch, the Tanarukk are a powerful and wholely evil strain of ‘planetouched’. When the Fallen General arrived on the Mittelhelm he found what was left of Gruumsh’s army shattered, leaderless and ripe for the raping. Those ork that fell into Arioch’s service found themselves as chattel for the dark army of fiends that had followed the General into exile. These unholy and unspeakable couplings produced the Tanarukk. It wasn’t long after the first births that Arioch vanished after a rather disastrous lose in a battle with the human Imperium. The Tanarukk found themselves free.

To survive, they packed up forming Prides; each Pride is lead by an alpha and to keep their bellies full, the Tanarukk turned on and ate their sires. Ork flesh agreed with them palette and they have been hunting it ever since. Tanarukk prefer their meals kicking and screaming, however their hell-spawned nature allows them to metabolize more or less anything they can shove into their over-sized, unhingable mouthes.

They breed true with their own kind and mature to an age where they can hunt at about 6, maturing to a breeding age at about 9. Female Tanarukk give birth to litters of up to 4 pups. Their infernal blood gives Tanarukks extraordinarily long lives and there are still Tanarukk around that remember when Arioch held their leashes, almost five hundred years ago.

Tanarukk are not stupid creatures, they possess keen senses, keen minds and a complex social order rooted in the tenent of the Pit which spawned them. While it appearing brutal and barbaric by human standards, a Tanarukk pribe is always improving upon itself. They hone their combat skills on each other and drill constantly in pack tactics. They live only to slaughter and mate, ever advancing the species.

There are few Tanarukk mages and its mayhaps its for the best that no Breed have been reported.

Alignment

Lands

Tanarukk are nomadic, roving the Badlands and mountains in prides of 15 to 30 individuals, where they often run afoul of human marauder clans, and ork or ogren tribes. The young and pregnant females are protected by other members of the pride, but are left to their own means when the pack hunts. Each pack is ruled by a dominant male who is typically called the Boss.

Religion

Tanarukk utter oaths to Gruumsh and offer sacrifices and prayers to the war-god aspect of the Huntsman, who they call the Red God. There are also several devil worshipping cults among the populace and devotees of Asmodeus or Bel can be found through out their holdings. There are also a number of Dragonwights among the northern prides.

Language

Infernal, Tanarukk.

Names

Racial Traits

• +4 Strength, +2 Dexterity, -2 Wisdom, -4 Charisma: Tanarukk are strong and fast, but are rather short-sighted and aggressive.
• Humanoid:
• Medium-sized: Tanarukk are short, broad and squat, built very similarly to a dwarf.
• Tanarukk base land speed is 20 feet: by running on all fours a Tanarukk can move at 40' ft/round.
• Darkvision: 60’ feet.
• Damage Reduction: Tanarukk possess a natural Damage Reduction of 1d6/-, which applies to slashing, piercing, bludgeoning and fire damage.
• Thick Hides: +1 deflection bonus to their Defense.
• Warrior Race: The Tanarukk train in combat from the time they can stand and this gains them the following feats- Weapon Proficiency (Natural), Melee Weapon Proficiency (Simple), Melee Weapon Proficiency (Martial), Armor Proficiency (Light), Armor Proficiency (Medium), and Shield Proficiency.
• Natural Weapon: A Tanarukk can delieve a viscious bite, inflicting 1d6 [piercing] + 1/2 its Strength modifier damage. A Tanarukk’s unarmed attacks are considered armed, and it can inflict non-lethal or lethal (bludgeoning) damages as it chooses. A tanarukk can attack with its weapons at its normal attack bonus and then make a natural attack as a secondary attack, normal modifiers apply.
• Great Horns: the cranial plates of a male Tanarukk are more pronounced than the female of the species and over the course of decades these bony plates thicken, calcify and curl to form ram-like horns. As male ages, these horns become more and more pronounced and are the center of a Tanarukk's pride. Young Adult: 1d4 + 1/2 Strength bonus (bludgeoning), normal damage on a charge; Adult: 1d6 + full strength bonus (bludgeoning), x2 damage on a charge and the horns of an adult Tanarukk count as a ghost touch weapon; Middle Aged:1d6 + full strength bonus (bludgeoning), x3 damage on a charge and the horns of an elder Tanarukk count as a ghost touch weapon; Old: 1d8 + full strength bonus (piercing/bludgeoning), x3 damage on a charge and the horns of a old Tanarukk count as a ghost touch weapon. Venerable: 1d8 + full strength bonus (piercing/bludgeoning), x4 damage on a charge and the horns of a venerable Tanarukk count as a +1 ghost touch weapon.
• Ork Blood: Despite all their special features, Tanarukks are still ork. Thus Tanarukk can use or create ork weapons and arcane items or technologies with ork-specific properties.
• Pack Hunter: Tanarukk excel at small unit tactics, and when two or more Tanarukk are travelling together, they can not be surprised or caught flat-footed unless they are all caught flat-footed. Tanarukk can not be flanked, unless they all are flanked. This benefits applies only between Tanarukk, who are no more than 30’ feet apart.
• Scent: Tanarukk have keen noses and can detect approaching enemies, sniff out hidden foes, and track by sense of smell. Tanarukks can identify familiar odors just as humans do familiar sights. Tanarukk can detect opponents within 30’ ft. by sense of smell. If the opponent is upwind, the range increases to 60’ ft.; if downwind, it drops to 15’ ft.. Strong scents, such as smoke or rotting garbage, can be detected at twice the ranges noted above. Overpowering scents, such as skunk musk or troglodyte stench, can be detected at triple normal range. When a Tanarukk detects a scent, the exact location of the source is not revealed—only its presence somewhere within range. An Tanarukk can take a move action to note the direction of the scent. Whenever, a Tanarukk comes within 5’ ft. of the source, the character pinpoints the source’s location. A Tanarukk with the Track feat and the scent ability can follow tracks by smell, making a Wisdom (or Survival) check to find or follow a track, Tanarukk’s senses make up for their slack-wits and they enjoy a +6 bonus to Survival checks made when tracking by scent. The typical DC for a fresh trail is 10 (no matter what kind of surface holds the scent). This DC increases or decreases depending on how strong the quarry’s odor is, the number of creatures, and the age of the trail. For each hour that the trail is cold, the DC increases by 2. The ability otherwise follows the rules for the Track feat. Tanarukk tracking by scent ignore the effects of surface conditions and poor visibility.
• Hell Gut: a Tanarukk can survive without food and water indefinately provided there is at least oxygen and 1 lb of matter (or ectoplasm) around for it to eat. Their planetouched nature allows them to metabolize anything it can swallow. This ability also lends to the distinct sulphuric oder which follows a Tanarukk where ever they go. Tanarukk take a -4 racial penalty to Hide and Move Silent checks. Once someone has smelled a Tanarukk and lived long enough for that instance to become a memory, it is never forgotten or mistaken for anything else.
• Automatic Languages: Infernal, Tanarukk. Bonus Languages: with an Intelligence of 12 or higher can also speak ork, a Tanarukk with an Intelligence of 14 or higher can also speak common.
• Favored Class: .
• Level Adjustment:

Vital Statistics

Table: Random Starting Ages

Adulthood	Simple	Moderate	Complex
15 years	+	+	+

Table: Aging Effects

Middle Age^1	Old^2	Venerable^3	Maximum Age
301 years	351 years	400 years	+ years
At middle age, −1 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha. At old age, −2 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha. At venerable age, −3 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha.

Table: Random Height and Weight

Gender	Base Height	Height Modifier	Base Weight	Weight Modifier
Male	' "	+	lb.	× () lb.
Female	' "	+	lb.	× () lb.

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