SRD - Races

GOLIATHS

Goliaths are massive creatures unafraid of throwing their weight around in a fight. Highly competitive, these strong nomads can prove to be powerful allies and welcome additions to any adventuring party.

Personality: Goliaths are known for their almost foolhardy daring. In their mountain homes, they leap from precipice to precipice, heedless of the fatal consequences of a misstep. They place great stock in clan and family; life in the mountains teaches even the youngest goliath to rely completely on his fellows for a hand across a crevasse. Because most goliaths are hunter-gatherers, they tend to be inquisitive, always curious about whether better hunting lies over the next ridge or a good water source can be found in the next canyon.

Goliaths are completely unsympathetic toward tribe members who can't contribute to the well-being of the tribe anymore - an attitude reinforced by social structures. Old, sick, and otherwise infirm goliaths are exiled from their clans, never to return.

Physical Description: A typical goliath is larger than the largest half-orc. Most stand between 7 and 8 feet tall and weigh between 280 and 340 pounds. Unlike with most other races, there is no appreciable difference in height or weight between male and female goliaths.

Goliaths have gray skin, mottled with dark and light patches that goliath shamans say hint at a particular goliath's fate. Lithoderms - coin-sized bone-and-skin growths as hard as pebbles - speckle their arms, shoulders, and torso. Their skulls have a jutting eyebrow ridge, wide jaw, and occasional lithoderms as well. Female goliaths have dark hair on their heads, grown to great length and always kept braided. Male goliaths generally have hair only on their limbs. Goliaths' eyes are a brilliant blue or green, and they often seem to glow a little from underneath their furrowed brows.

Because their skin mottling has cultural significance, goliaths generally dress as lightly as possible, displaying their skin patterns for all to see. For the same reason, few goliaths would willingly get a tattoo - to draw on one's skin is tantamount to trying to rewrite one's fate. Goliaths instead decorate themselves with jewelry, often sporting ear, nose, or brow rings. A goliath's lithoderms are also common places to embed a gem or two, since they have few nerve endings and stand out on the goliath's body already.

Relations: When encountered in the mountains, goliaths are outwardly friendly to anyone who doesn't threaten the tribe and can keep up with them as they climb from peak to peak. Humans who brave the mountains - rangers and druids, most often - can often earn a tasty meal by helping a team of goliath hunters.

Goliaths hold dwarves in particularly high regard, wishing their tribes had the dwarven aptitude for weapon crafting. Some of the bravest goliaths climb down into the tunnels and natural caverns under a mountain, seeking a dwarf community to trade with.

The smaller-than-human races are regarded as curiosities, but many a nimble-climbing gnome or halfling has earned respect by beating a goliath in a race up a cliff. Goliaths view the extended life span of an elf as vaguely frightening, finding it hard to imagine a person who could have known one's great-great grandfather.

A goliath tribe's attitude toward any nearby giants varies widely. Some tribes eagerly trade with giants; the giants' weapons aren't up to dwarven standards, but they are made in larger sizes (which goliaths greatly prefer). However, giants have a bad habit of trying to turn goliaths into their slaves, using them for menial tasks they're too big or too lazy to do themselves. Conflict inevitably ensues, and soon either the giants are dead, the goliaths have fled, or the goliaths are chained up as slaves to a giant-lord.

Goliaths tend to hold goblinoids and orcs (including half-orcs) at arm's length, noting that the "downlanders" they trade with regard such races as troublemakers. But because goblinoids rarely stray into the high mountains, they are usually someone else's trouble, so goliaths don't bear them any actual malice.

Alignment: Goliaths have a slight tendency toward chaotic alignments, which is reflected in their wanderlust and the small, mobile communities in which they live. Still, each goliath tribe has one or more adjudicators that settle disputes within the clan, and such goliaths are generally lawful. Goliaths have a slight preference for good over evil, since among the high mountain peaks, survival becomes much easier when one aids a fellow goliath without insisting on recompense.

Goliath Lands: Because they don't support large-scale agriculture or extensive settlements, the mountain ranges where goliaths live are home to few other intelligent races. Most tribes of goliaths wander from peak to peak, tending their goat flocks and foraging for alpine roots and tubers. Typically, a tribe sets up a temporary village in an alpine meadow and remains there for a month or two, then moves on when the season changes or better hunting can be found elsewhere. Larger tribes tend to follow a similar trail from year to year, retreating to lower elevations in midwinter and when they need to trade, then ascending to the highest peaks once the snow melts.

Some goliaths live at lower altitudes among humans or other races, most often because their tribe exiled them after a crime, dispute, or injury. Many a folk tale features a forlorn goliath working as a farmhand after a failed courtship in the mountains.

Religion: Kavaki the Ram-Lord is the primary deity of the goliaths. As the Chief of All Chiefs, he watches over the goliaths and their mountain homes. His clerics say that Kavaki created the goliaths when he found a bush bearing gems in place of fruit growing atop the highest mountain peak in the world. When Kavaki plucked gems from the bush, those gems became the first tribe of goliaths. Kavaki instructs his followers to seek out the hidden bounty of the mountains and keep the tribe safe from harm.

Language: For millennia, the goliaths have had only a spoken tongue, Gol-Kaa, which has only thirteen phonetic elements: a, e, g, i, k, l, m, n, o, p, u, th, and v. Recently, the goliaths have picked up the alphabet of the Dwarven language, though the concept of a written language hasn't spread to all the tribes yet. Those tribes that have learned the Dwarven alphabet are busily transcribing the goliaths' vast oral tradition into carvings, cave paintings, and even books.

Names: Every goliath has three names: a birth name assigned by the newborn's mother and father, a nickname or honorific assigned by the tribal chief, and a family or clan name. The birth name tends to be short - often only a syllable or two - but the clan names often have five syllables or more and always end in a vowel.

The honorific isn't a traditional name so much as it is a descriptive nickname, often a two-part sobriquet. The honorific can change at the whim of the tribal chief, whether because a particular goliath did something useful for the tribe (earning an honorific such as "Highclimber" or "Nighthunter") or as punishment for failure (a middle name such as "Latesleeper" or "Wanderslost"). Goliaths who have been exiled from their tribe generally carry a middle name that reflects their status, such as "Solitary" or "Kinless." Some specific roles within the tribe, such as lorekeeper or shaman (described in the Society and Culture section later in this chapter), have honorifics attached to them as well.

When introducing themselves for the first time, goliaths always use the first name/honorific/family name construction, translating the honorific into the listener's language if possible. Thereafter, they refer to themselves and each other by the honorific alone. Goliaths traveling among other races sometimes assign honorifics to their comrades rather than use their given names.

Male Names: Aukan, Eglath, Gauthak, Ilikan, Keothi, Lo-Kag, Maveith, Meavoi, Thotham, Vimak.

Female Names: Gae-Al, Kuori, Manneo, Nalla, Orilo, Paavu, Pethani, Thalai, Uthal, Vaunea.

Honorifics: Bearkiller, Dawncaller, Fearless, Flintfinder, Horncarver, Keeneye, Lonehunter, Longleaper, Rootsmasher, Skywatcher, Steadyhand, Threadtwister, Twice-Orphaned, Twistedlimb, Wordpainter.

Family Names: Anakalathai, Elanithino, Gathakanathi, Kalagiano, Katho-Olavi, Kolae-Gileana, Ogolakanu, Thuliaga, Thunukalathi, Vaimei-Laga.

Adventurers: Traditionally, the only goliaths to become adventurers are those exiled (voluntarily or other wise) from the goliath tribes high in the mountains. However, since some goliath tribes spend more time with "downlanders," especially the dwarves, it's becoming more common for a tribe to send a particularly competent goliath on a mission that aids the tribe or goliaths in general. Once they descend from their mountain homes, most goliaths find the lowlands fascinating, although they are generally on their guard against "downland tricksters." The same wanderlust that keeps goliath tribes moving often keeps a lone goliath among humans for far longer than he originally intended.

GOLIATH RACIAL TRAITS

+4 Strength, -2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution: Goliaths are massively muscled, but their bulk sometimes gets in the way when they're trying to be nimble.
Monstrous Humanoid: As monstrous humanoids, goliaths are proficient with all simple weapons, but they have no proficiency with any armor or shield.
Medium: As Medium creatures, goliaths have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size. However, see the powerful build ability description below for more details.
Goliath base land speed is 30 feet.
Powerful Build: The physical stature of a goliath lets him function in many ways as if he were one size category larger. Whenever a goliath is subject to a size modifier or special size modifier for an opposed check (such as during grapple checks, bull rush attempts, and trip attempts), the goliath is treated as one size larger if doing so is advantageous to him. A goliath is also considered to be one size larger when determining whether a creature's special attacks based on size (such as improved grab or swallow whole) can affect him. A goliath can use weapons designed for a creature one size larger without penalty. However, his space and reach remain those of a creature of his actual size. The benefits of this racial trait stack with the effects of powers, abilities, and spells that change the subject's size category.
Mountain Movement: Because goliaths practically live on the ledges and cliffs of the most forbidding mountains, they are particularly adept at negotiating mountain hazards. Goliaths can make standing long jumps and high jumps as if they were running long jumps and high jumps. A goliath can engage in accelerated climbing (climbing half his speed as a move action) without taking the -5 penalty on the Climb check.
Acclimated: Goliaths are automatically acclimated to life at high altitude. They don't take the penalties for altitude described in the Mountain Travel section. Unlike other denizens of the mountains, goliaths don't lose their acclimation to high altitude even if they spend a long time at a lower elevation.
+2 bonus on Sense Motive checks: When speaking to one another, goliaths tend to augment their verbal communication with subtle body language. They are likewise able to "read" the unintentional body language of others.
Automatic Languages: Common and Gol-Kaa. Bonus Languages: Dwarven, Giant, Gnoll, Terran.
Level Adjustment: +1.

CHAOS GNOMES

Infused with the spirit of chaos, these gnomes are energetic, flamboyant, and charismatic. They exude a restless, inspirational energy and seldom rest. They also possess uncanny luck and have great talent as sorcerers. Colorful cousins of standard gnomes, they are adventurous; even the most staid among them is prone to wander. Although commonly referred to as chaos gnomes, these precocious humanoids also call themselves "imago" (singular and plural).

Although some find chaos gnomes' energy and recklessness off-putting, none doubt their power as sorcerers. With their powerful racial ability to bring a touch of chaos to their spellcasting, spellcasting imago often become known as chaos mystics.

Personality: Chaos gnomes find probability, chance, and randomness extremely fascinating. Although many individuals of other races consider them slightly mad, chaos gnomes can at times be brilliant, making intuitive leaps to accurate conclusions that might elude the brightest thinkers of other races. They have a great sense of humor, finding amusement in many aspects of life. Unlike other gnomes, however, chaos gnomes are seldom tricksters or pranksters.

Chaos gnomes have a great love of arcane magic, and they often develop sorcerous talents. Although they appreciate divine magic for its power and utility, they rarely remain devoted to one deity or philosophy long enough to develop significant divine spellcasting abilities.

Many find these free-spirited gnomes engaging, and more serious or stoic individuals often form great friendships with chaos gnomes. Chaos gnomes enjoy such relationships as well, finding a natural foil for their own chaotic nature in the serious demeanors of their friends.

Physical Description: Chaos gnomes stand 3 to 3-1/2 feet tall, much like other gnomes. They have the same slight build and trim appearance that other gnomes favor, but their coloring differs wildly. Chaos gnomes have bright red, blue, green, or violet eyes, and their eyes change in hue and brightness depending on their mood - from bright red when angry or excited to dull green or blue when bored or disappointed. They have similarly bright hair color, ranging from vivid red to blond. Chaos gnomes favor bright colors in their clothing, particularly reds and oranges. They decorate their clothing with seemingly random bead patterns.

Relations: Chaos gnomes get along well with members of most races, but they find it especially easy to relate to other gnomes. They are at ease with the free-spirited elves, and they enjoy the halflings' nomadic lifestyle. Dwarves have a difficult time getting along with chaos gnomes. Dwarves respect other gnomes for their inventiveness and skill with mechanical objects, but chaos gnomes are simply too likely to break rules, laws, or customs for dwarves to tolerate them for long. Perhaps surprisingly, half-orcs get along well with chaos gnomes. The gnomes are seldom concerned with a half-orc's parentage, so their communities seem particularly accommodating and open to half-orcs who have had difficulty finding acceptance by other races.

Alignment: Chaos gnomes, as their name suggests, are naturally inclined toward chaos. Although they are flighty even by the standards of other gnomes, they are good-hearted like most of their kindred. Chaos gnomes value freedom, which is the one cause or ideal that can always hold their attention.

Chaos Gnome Lands: Chaos gnomes thrive anywhere, and since they are not numerous, they often dwell with or near other gnomes for protection. Chaos gnomes are not the wanderers that halflings are, but neither are their communities as permanent as those of most other races. Typically, a few chaos gnome families decide to settle in a pleasant area and begin building a community. Within a few years, the area will be a small but bustling chaos gnome town. After about a decade, though, the gnomes begin to move on, and within two or three years thereafter, the area is likely devoid of chaos gnome inhabitants.

Religion: Chaos gnomes rarely take a serious religious stance - they join a church for as long as it suits their fancy and then move to another when worship grows dull or troublesome. Chaos gnomes are more serious about the worship of Garl Glittergold than of any other deity, but even he cannot hold their attention or devotion for long.

Language: Chaos gnomes speak Gnome. They enjoy learning different languages, and they often pull expressions and words from other languages into their own.

Names: Chaos gnomes love names, and most have at least a half dozen. A chaos gnome is given a name by her parents, but she usually uses it only for the first ten years or so of her life. By that time, a chaos gnome usually feels ready to pick her own name. This first name choice is as serious a tradition as any that exists in chaos gnome culture, and an individual uses this name for up to six or seven years before changing it again. After this second name change, a chaos gnome chooses a new name whenever she feels so inclined, many times just adopting a word or words that she likes.

Male Names: Aidien, Doolian, Chainion, Pellia, Rookinoniak, Zingnoff.

Female Names: Gonnynock, Pella, Tarralin, Zernaelian.

Family Names: Chebwith, Kalliess, Nornock, Parrington, Smothings.

Adventurers: Like their more common kindred, chaos gnomes are curious and impulsive. Most chaos gnomes adventure to see the world. Their nearly insatiable love of new and different sights and experiences drives many chaos gnomes to wander for a good portion of their youth. Older chaos gnomes are even likely to accompany their children on their first significant travels.

+2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution, +2 Charisma, -2 Strength: Chaos gnomes are agile and share the typical gnome toughness. Many find their spontaneity compelling, but they are Small and therefore not as strong as other humanoids.
Small: As a Small creature, a chaos gnome gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but she uses smaller weapons than humans use, and her lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character.
Chaos gnome base land speed is 20 feet.
Low-Light Vision: A chaos gnome can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. She retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
Weapon Familiarity: Chaos gnomes treat gnome hooked hammers as martial weapons rather than exotic weapons.
Spell Power: A chaos gnome's effective caster level when casting spells with the chaos descriptor increases by 1. This increase applies when determining level-dependent spell variables and on caster level checks, and it stacks with other spell power abilities, such as from the hierophant prestige class.
+4 dodge bonus to Armor Class against monsters of the giant type: This bonus represents special training that chaos gnomes undergo, during which they learn tricks that previous generations developed in their battles with giants. Any time a creature loses its Dexterity bonus to Armor Class, it loses its dodge bonus, too.
+2 racial bonus on Listen checks: Chaos gnomes have keen ears.
Luck of Chaos (Ex): Once per day, a chaos gnome can reroll one roll that she has just made before the Dungeon Master declares whether the roll results in success or failure. The character must take the result of the reroll, even if it's worse than the original roll.
Immunity to confusion effects.
Spell-Like Abilities: 1/day - entropic shield. A chaos gnome with a Charisma score of at least 10 has the following spell-like abilities: 1/day - daze, flare, prestidigitation. Caster level 1st; save DC 10 + chaos gnome's Cha modifier + spell level.
Automatic Languages: Common and Gnome. Bonus Languages: any.
Favored Class: Sorcerer. A multiclass chaos gnome's sorcerer class does not count when determining whether she takes an experience point pen alty for multi classing. Many chaos gnomes are multiclass sorcerer/clerics with the Luck domain.
Level Adjustment: +1.

DREAM DWARVES

Dream dwarves feel the hills slumber beneath them. They see the world as a resting giant of inestimable power, and they are caught in the dreaming. While other dwarves shape metal and stone, dream dwarves contemplate and meditate. Wise and cautious, they understand nature in a way at once similar to and wholly alien to the understanding of druids and shamans of other races.

Dream dwarves share a sort of collective subconscious with the world around them, a phenomenon they call the earth dream. The earth dream shapes many aspects of a dream dwarf's life, and no discussion of dream dwarves can be complete without at least some understanding of the earth dream. The earth dream is a powerful force, and members of other races can occasionally feel its pull and become earth dreamers.

Personality: Dream dwarves have little of the natural craftsmanship of other dwarves, and they instead spend many hours in somber contemplation of the earth dream. They are inquisitive, and they seek to supplement the information and wisdom they gain from the earth dream with personal experience. To those who don't know them well, dream dwarves can seem shy or wary, but in truth they are merely reserved; they are more likely to utter one carefully chosen phrase than engage in a prolonged discussion.

Physical Description: Dream dwarves stand about 4 feet tall and weigh about 10 to 15 pounds less than a typical dwarf. Their skin color ranges from dark gray to deep brown, and their hair is dark brown or black. They have pale eyes, usually green or blue in color but with the occasional lavender or pale red. Dream dwarves usually decorate their clothing with abstract symbols that represent important personal experiences within the earth dream.

Relations: Dream dwarves get along well with other dwarves, who look up to them as shamans and prophets. They also get along well with gnomes, who share their love of the earth, and they even enjoy the company of halflings and elves. They are friendly with druids of any race, sharing the class's love of nature and natural power. Their silent and mystical demeanor can cause humans, halfelves, and half-orcs to think dream dwarves a little strange, but rarely causes significant problems in relationships with members of these races.

Alignment: Dream dwarves are most often neutral good. They share a bond with the earth and the earth dream, and this bond helps them see the power and energy inherent in a peaceful life. As a result, most dream dwarves remain kind and good-hearted even through adversity, and they value a balance between law and chaos.

Dream Dwarf Lands: Dream dwarves almost always build their homes within or near those of other dwarves, and many members of other races don't even realize that dream dwarves are a separate subrace. Their homes are often underground, embodying their love of the earth. Occasionally, dream dwarves form small, secluded monasteries high up on a mountainside in an effort to become closer to the earth dream.

Religion: Although dream dwarves pay homage to Moradin and the rest of the dwarf pantheon, their primary deity is the earth itself, as expressed by the collective experience that dream dwarves call the earth dream.

Language: Dream dwarves speak Dwarven.

Names: Dream dwarves place great significance on their names, believing that even the most common version of a name carries power. Their names are likely to change over time, as they incorporate new syllables or words into their names. Dream dwarves believe that they find these words and syllables within the depths of the earth dream, and they incorporate them into their identities out of reverence and to show that they understand the power of the earth.

It is quite likely for a dream dwarf's name to change or grow longer after he goes through a particularly harrowing or dangerous experience; as such, it's usually true that an accomplished dream dwarf adventurer has a long, intricate name that recalls his greatest exploits.

Male Names: Bren-Iol, Bollinak, Car-Innul, Derinar, Harar, Malanath.

Female Names: Allalia, Assanae, Giallin, Kula-Tai, Mala, Shelbath.

Clan Names: Brekaran, Esstranak, Penathan, Quwerthena, Skarnath.

Adventurers: Dream dwarf adventurers seek the wisdom that comes from personal experience. Some, driven by the earth dream's urgings, wander to find more of what they've seen in the dream. Others seek to escape the dream and their people's involvement in it, traveling to other lands to be rid of its pull. Most however, travel and adventure to better understand the parts of the earth dream that they can sense, to experience the dream in other places, and to broaden their own understanding of the world.

DREAM DWARF RACIAL TRAITS

+2 Constitution, -2 Dexterity: Dream dwarves are as tough as other dwarves (and stronger of personality), but they are a bit clumsy and slow to react.
Medium: As Medium creatures, dream dwarves have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Dream dwarf base land speed is 20 feet. However, dream dwarves can move at this speed even when wearing medium or heavy armor or when carrying a medium or heavy load (unlike other creatures, whose speed is reduced in such situations).
Darkvision: Dream dwarves can see in the dark out to 90 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight, and dream dwarves can function just fine with no light at all.
Stonecunning: Dream dwarves have the same knack for finding unusual stonework that dwarves do. This ability grants a dream dwarf a +2 racial bonus on Search checks to notice unusual stonework, such as sliding walls, stonework traps, new construction (even when built to match the old), unsafe stone surfaces, shaky stone ceilings, and the like. Something that isn't stone but that is disguised like stone also counts as unusual stonework. A dream dwarf who merely comes within 10 feet of unusual stonework can make a Search check as if he were actively searching, and a dream dwarf can use Search to find stonework traps as a rogue can. A dream dwarf can also intuit depth, sensing his approximate depth underground as naturally as a human can sense which way is up. Dream dwarves have a sixth sense about stonework, an innate ability that they get plenty of opportunity to practice and hone in their underground homes.
Weapon Familiarity: Dream dwarves treat dwarven waraxes and dwarven urgroshes as martial weapons rather than exotic weapons.
Stability: Dream dwarves are exceptionally stable on their feet. A dream dwarf gains a +4 bonus on ability checks made to resist being bull rushed or tripped when standing on the ground (but not when climbing, flying, riding, or otherwise not standing firmly on the ground).
+2 racial bonus on Diplomacy checks made with creatures of the earth subtype: Dream dwarves get along well with earth elementals and similar creatures.
Dream Sight (Su): A dream dwarf can see ethereal creatures as easily as she sees material creatures and objects. A dream dwarf can easily distinguish between ethereal creatures and material ones, because ethereal creatures appear translucent and indistinct.
Spell Power: When in contact with the ground, a dream dwarf's effective caster level when casting divination spells or spells with the earth descriptor increases by 1. This increase applies when determining level-dependent spell variables and on caster level checks. This increase stacks with other spell power abilities, such as from the hierophant prestige class.
Automatic Languages: Common and Dwarven. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Elven, Gnome, Terran, Undercommon.
Favored Class: Druid. A multiclass dream dwarf's druid class does not count when determining whether she takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.

FERAL GARGUNS

A small offshoot of the goliath race, feral garguns tear their livelihood out of the frigid northern regions with tooth and claw. Feral garguns derive from goliath and giant parentage. These large, savage humanoids fight in quick, furious bursts of energy. In the barren areas of the north, there is little room for mercy, and the feral garguns have had to learn to be aggressive just to survive.

Even more than their goliath kindred, feral garguns find cities and the trappings of civilization confusing and intimidating. Although individual feral garguns have found ways to adapt to the cities and villages of other races, the majority prefers the simple, nomadic lifestyle of the far north.

Personality: Fierce, quick-tempered warriors, feral garguns usually assume that the strongest individual is the leader, and they usually settle disagreements with some nonlethal test of strength. Despite this outward ferocity, feral garguns have a deep sense of personal honor and place a great deal of importance on self-reliance.

Physical Description: A typical feral gargun is as big as a goliath and larger than the largest half-orc. Most stand between 7 and 8 feet tall and weigh between 280 and 340 pounds. As with their goliath kindred, there is no appreciable difference in height or weight between male and female feral garguns.

Feral garguns are covered in smooth, thick fur. This fur ranges in color from white to light gray to dark brown. Although their bodies are humanoid in shape, the faces of feral garguns are similar to those of bears, and they have longer, narrower faces than other humanoids.

Relations: Most feral garguns have little to no interaction with other humanoid races, so when they do interact, they remain curious and polite, at least by their standards. They get along well with goliaths, who trade the feral garguns metal weapons and armor when they have them to spare. Feral garguns also enjoy the company of halflings, valuing their success at maintaining a nomadic lifestyle. Feral garguns some times see halflings as mentor figures because of this attitude - a role that most halflings find both amusing and appealing.

Feral garguns hate giants. Bigger and better equipped than the feral garguns, a tribe of giants can usually drive a group of feral garguns from an area, or worse, capture and enslave them. Feral garguns attack and kill giants whenever they have the opportunity.

Alignment: Feral garguns tend toward chaotic alignments, valuing freedom and personal choice very highly. Even the most organized group of feral garguns is really just a collection of self-sufficient individuals traveling together for safety.

Feral Gargun Lands: Feral garguns roam the plains and tundra of the far north, covering huge areas in the search for food, shelter, and tools. Small bands of feral garguns join together once or twice a season to share stories, trade tools and goods, and discuss the dangers of the coming season. Feral gargun lands face constant pressure from groups of giants, orcs, and goblinoids, as well as from powerful individual creatures such as dragons. When such foes appear, the feral garguns meet and decide as a group whether to move on or to fight.

Religion: Feral garguns pay homage to their own deities, chief among them Galtha, the Mother of Winter. Galtha teaches her people to survive even in the harshest cold and when food is scarces. "When you can thrive where others cannot even eke out an existence," says the teachings of Galtha, "then survival and success are assured."

Language: Feral garguns speak the goliath language of Gol-Kaa. Gol-Kaa has only recently been put down in written form using the Dwarven alphabet, and no feral gargun tribe has yet warmed to the concept of a written language. Individual feral garguns who have moved away from their homelands and adventured among other races have learned to read and write in other languages, but they remain the exceptional few.

Names: All feral garguns remain unnamed until their second birthday. The infant mortality rate is high in the cold northlands, and leaving infants unnamed makes it easier for the tribe to accept the death of a young feral gargun when it occurs. On his or her second birthday, a feral gargun is given two names: a first name, and a last name taken from his mother's name. The last name translates roughly into "son/daughter of [the mother's name]."

A feral gargun can earn the right to adopt his father's name by performing some great deed. This deed is never specified beforehand, and only a council of elder feral garguns can make this award. Few feral garguns actually earn their father's name, and not failing to do so carries no shame or stigma.

Male Names: Agam, Agath, Gethik, Gothan, Thokan.

Female Names: Evva, Maka, Makin, Prenna, Vulla.

Adventurers: Feral gargun adventurers seek to explore the world. They often wish to learn from other races and cultures, seeking to return to their people with treasure, tools, and knowledge that will make life in the northern reaches easier. Some feral garguns leave their tribe hoping to perform some deed great enough for them to earn their father's name. Because of their size and ferocity, feral gargun barbarians easily find a place in adventuring groups, mercenary squads, or other martial organizations. Feral garguns find the sea fascinating, and the few who learn to make their way as sailors seldom abandon that profession.

FERAL GARGUN RACIAL TRAITS

+4 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +4 Constitution, -2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma: Feral garguns are strong, tough, and agile, but they are not as smart or personable as their goliath kindred.
Medium: As Medium creatures, feral garguns have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Feral gargun base land speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision: Feral garguns can see in the dark out to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight, and feral garguns can function just fine with no light at all.
Powerful Build: The physical stature of a feral gargun lets him function in many ways as if he were one size category larger. Whenever a feral gargun is subject to a size modifier or special size modifier for an opposed check (such as during grapple checks, bull rush attempts, and trip attempts), the feral gargun is treated as one size larger if doing so is advantageous to him. A feral gargun is also considered to be one size larger when determining whether a creature's special attacks based on size (such as improved grab or swallow whole) can affect him. A feral gargun can use weapons designed for a creature one size larger without penalty. However, his space and reach remain those of a creature of his actual size. The benefits of this racial trait stack with the effects of powers, abilities, and spells that change the subject's size category.
Racial Hit Dice: A feral gargun begins with two levels of monstrous humanoid, which provide 2d8 Hit Dice, a base attack bonus of +2, and base saving throw bonuses of Fort +0, Ref +3, and Will +3.
Racial Skills: A feral gargun's monstrous humanoid levels give him skill points equal to 5 × (2 + Int modifier). A feral gargun's class skills are Climb, Hide, Jump, Listen, Search, Spot, and Survival.
Racial Feats: A feral gargun's monstrous humanoid levels give him one feat.
Mountain Movement: Because feral garguns practically live on the ledges and cliffs of the most forbidding mountains, they are particularly adept at negotiating mountain hazards. A feral gargun can make standing long jumps and high jumps as if they were running long jumps and high jumps. He can engage in accelerated climbing (climbing half his speed as a move action) without taking the -5 penalty on the Climb check.
Acclimated: Feral garguns are automatically acclimated to life at high altitudes. They don't take the penalties for altitude described in the Mountain Travel section on page 90 of the Dungeon Master's Guide. Unlike other denizens of the mountains, feral garguns don't lose their acclimation to high altitude even if they spend months or years at lower elevations.
Resistance to Cold 5 (Ex): Feral garguns have adapted to the harsh conditions of their homelands, growing a tough hide and thick fur to protect them from low temperatures. They can ignore the first 5 points of cold damage dealt by any attack, whether mundane or magical.
Natural Armor: A feral gargun's tough hide and thick fur protect him from harm, giving him a +2 natural armor bonus to AC.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: As a monstrous humanoid, a feral gargun is proficient with all simple weapons but has no proficiency with any armor or shield.
Natural Attack: A feral gargun has two claw attacks, each dealing 1d6 points of damage. A feral gargun armed with a weapon sometimes uses the weapon as its primary attack and a claw as a natural secondary attack (provided it has a claw free to make the secondary attack).
Goliath Blood: For all effects related to race, a feral gargun is considered a goliath. Feral garguns, for example, are just as vulnerable to special effects that affect goliaths as their goliath ancestors are, and they can use magic items that are only usable by goliaths.
Favored Class: Barbarian. A multiclass feral gargun's barbarian class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty. The rough life of the feral garguns in the wild produces many barbarians.
Level adjustment +2.

STONECHILDREN

Born of a union of mortal and elemental, a stonechild is a hardy entity grounded in soil and stone and gifted with incredible strength, fortitude, and a keen intellect. Although they are not the outcasts that half-orcs often are, stonechildren are rarely raised among others of their kind. Most stonechildren grow to maturity while living in dwarf or human communities, and those few who stay on the Material Plane often wander alone, taking up the mantle of adventurer.

Stonechildren are most comfortable in and under the mountains; because of this preference, they usually end their wandering by settling with a community of dwarves. As they grow older, even the most adventurous stonechildren become more and more likely to seek a way to the Elemental Plane of Earth and surround themselves with others of their kind.

Personality: Stonechildren relish challenges and enjoy proving their own strength. They admire those who make their own way in life, and they feel a sense of camaraderie with the earth itself. Even when traveling alone through dangerous areas, stonechildren remain solid and sensible. Stonechildren keep their feelings hidden behind a slow practicality, and when they find someone's company unpleasant they usually just leave quietly. Stonechildren are stalwart in the face of adversity, whether it takes the form of the physical dangers of combat or the long solitude of life as a wanderer.

Physical Description: With rough, gray skin and a stony bulk, a stonechild looks like a powerful human made out of stone. Stonechildren have tremendous physical strength and fortitude, and can easily overpower most humanoids. Stonechildren do not have hair, and their eyes are limited to shades of gray, black, or the occasional gemlike hue (usually a muted blue or green). Although their tough hide resembles stone, they are outsiders, not elementals. Stonechildren grow nearly 7 feet tall, and they can easily weigh more than 300 pounds.

Relations: Tough, reliable, and focused on the utilitarian, stonechildren get along with most races. Stonechildren are closer to dwarves than any other race, and they often settle in dwarf communities for a time. Many humans and dwarves seek to emulate the strength and silence of the stonechildren, but their strength and practicality can seem alien to elves and gnomes.

Of the few stonechildren who do not live on the Elemental Plane of Earth, most are wanderers, and as such they enjoy the company of halflings. For their part, halflings readily acknowledge the value of having a large, physically powerful stonechild with their troupe.

On the other hand, stone children sometimes have a difficult time understanding the elf mind-set. Like stonechildren, elves are close to nature, but elves share none of the stonechildren's connection to stone and the power of the earth, making them seem flighty and unfocused.

Alignment: Stonechildren make their own way in life, keeping a balance between following the rules and laws of others and adhering to their own sense of honor. This outlook leads many stonechildren to adopt an attitude of neutrality. Although they make their own choices, stonechildren have a deep love of the earth and a compassion for others. In their own way, stonechildren are workers for the cause of good, quietly protecting others when they can.

Stonechild Lands: Stonechildren do not have lands of their own on the Material Plane. Even on the Elemental Plane of Earth, their numbers are sparse, but they occasionally form permanent communities along with elementals and other earth creatures. On the Elemental Plane of Earth, stonechildren build secure dwellings in the sides of great caverns, usually with the help of powerful elementals.

Religion: Because they often wander alone, stonechildren do not have any racial religion. Most stone children adopt the religion of their mortal parent or the community in which they grew up, making a wide array of deities the norm for any group of stonechildren. Although Moradin the Soul Forger is primarily seen as the deity of the dwarves, stonechildren also venerate his powers over stone, his solid strength, and his prodigious skills at the forge. More stonechildren revere Moradin than any other single deity, but even his worshipers fall far short of constituting a majority.

Language: Stonechildren speak both Terran and Common, but they prefer Terran. They are more intelligent than many humanoids, and they pick up languages readily. Almost all stonechildren learn Dwarven early in their life, and many master other languages as well. Stonechildren do not have a literature of their own, although many individual members of the race have kept records and stories of their travels.

Names: Stonechildren share some of the naming conventions that dwarves have, but they are far less rigid about the process. Whereas dwarf names belong to the family and clan, stonechildren bond closely to their names, making them intensely personal things. Stonechildren also do not follow the strict naming traditions of dwarves, and they create new names with each new generation. Some of their typical names derive from the Common names for different types of stone.

Male Names: Beltan, Fartach, Ingot, Ored, Slate.

Female Names: Berna, Kihild, Merna, Shale, Zeea.

Family Names: Angaran, Kar-Gulduk, Pal-Mituk, Raskanik, Rendark.

Adventurers: Stonechild adventurers usually travel in search of something they desire. For some, this goal is material wealth; for others, it is a chance to study with famed craftsmen. Some want to seek out more of their kind on the Material Plane, while others search for new ways to test themselves in physical combat. Stonechildren are tough and ready for whatever comes their way, and many stonechildren go off on adventures at least once or twice in their lives.

STONECHILD RACIAL TRAITS

+8 Strength, +8 Constitution, +2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma.
Medium Size: As Medium creatures, stone children have no special bonuses or penalties due to size.
A stonechild's base land speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision: Stonechildren can see in the dark out to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight, and stonechildren can function just fine with no light at all.
Racial Hit Dice: A stonechild begins with two levels of outsider, which provide her with 2d8 Hit Dice, a base attack bonus of +2, and base saving throw bonuses of Fort +3, Ref +3, and Will +3.
Racial Skills: A stonechild's outsider levels give her skill points equal to 5 × (8 + Int modifier). Their class skills are Appraise, Climb, Craft (stoneworking), Intimidate, Knowledge (history), Knowledge (the planes), Listen, Search, Spot, and Survival.
Racial Feats: A stonechild's outsider levels give her one feat. In addition, stonechildren get Blind-Fight as a bonus feat.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: As an outsider, a stonechild is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with light and medium armor, and with shields (except tower shields).
Natural Armor: A stonechild's tough hide protects her from harm, giving her a +4 natural armor bonus to Armor Class.
Immunity to Acid and Poison: Stonechildren take no damage and suffer no ill effects from acid or poison.
Magic Stone (Sp): Three times per day, a stonechild can use a magic stone effect, as the spell (caster level 3rd).
Automatic Languages: Common and Terran. Bonus Languages: Celestial, Dwarven, Ignan.
Favored Class: Fighter.
Level adjustment +4.

WHISPER GNOMES

Whisper gnomes outwardly resemble common gnomes, but they lack the jovial nature and easy outlook on life that their more common relatives enjoy. Instead, whisper gnomes are creatures of stealth and suspicion. In profession and behavior, they range from dangerous spies to peaceful recluses. Few members of other races can match a whisper gnome's powers of stealth, and whisper gnome scouts and rangers always stalk any creatures that come within a few miles of their hidden hillside communities.

Whisper gnomes reluctantly ally themselves with common gnomes and other races when necessary. They know that they lack the physical strength and numbers to stand completely on their own.

Personality: Whisper gnomes are quiet, suspicious sorts who find it hard to build lasting relationships with members of other races. Although no other race is openly friendly with these reclusive individuals, no race bears them active malice either. Often, whisper gnomes share information about impending threats when allying themselves with more powerful or numerous humanoid races; in most cases, this arrangement has worked out extremely well for both sides. If the whisper gnomes' allies find themselves short of a few valuables after the gnomes have left their community, the losses are offset by the whisper gnomes' valuable scouting and information-gathering abilities.

Physical Description: Whisper gnomes are slightly taller than other gnomes, standing between 3-1/2 and 4 feet tall. Whisper gnomes are skinny, almost gaunt creatures, and rarely weigh more than 40 pounds.

Their skin ranges in color from light gray to light green, although none of this variation in skin tone is noticeable without careful attention. Whisper gnomes have gray or blue eyes, but again they are rarely bright or striking in intensity.

Relations: Many other humanoid races regard whisper gnomes as they would an untrustworthy cousin - they know that whisper gnomes are unlikely to do any lasting harm or steal their most precious items, but at the same time, they deserve to be watched carefully. Dwarves in particular distrust whisper gnomes; these serious and stoic individuals let whisper gnomes into their cities only under the direst of circumstances. Elves, humans, and half-elves generally tolerate whisper gnomes. Of all the other races, halflings are the most accepting of whisper gnomes, and many whisper gnomes travel for a time with halfling caravans. Half-orcs and whisper gnomes get along very well. Whether because the two races are such opposites that they end up respecting the other's strengths, or because they both often find themselves outcasts from other races, they seem to enjoy each other's company and approach to life. Half-orcs with nowhere else to go occasionally settle in a whisper gnome community.

Alignment: Most whisper gnomes are neutral or neutral good. Whisper gnomes favor personal freedom and choice, but at the same time they value an ordered community and respect the rights of others and - to an extent - the property of others.

Whisper Gnome Lands: Whisper gnomes live in and among the communities of more common gnomes, or they form small, carefully hidden communities of their own. They favor the rolling hills and light woods that other gnomes enjoy, and like their distant cousins, they live underground. Whisper gnomes who want a more active lifestyle settle in human lands and find work as spies, emissaries, or as simple thieves.

Religion: Whisper gnomes pay homage to Garl Glittergold, but many also venerate Olidamarra. Whisper gnomes are very open-minded about religion, and they find the single-minded religious devotion of other races strange and confining. Most whisper gnomes believe it expedient to pay attention to whatever deity can help them the most in their current situation, and they do not see it as strange to frequently pray to different deities.

Language: Whisper gnomes speak Gnome, which uses the Dwarven alphabet. Most whisper gnomes also speak Terran, and they sometimes use that tongue as a sort of semisecret code when in the company of other races.

Names: Whisper gnomes consider names as semipermanent aliases at best, and one usually goes by a different name in each nongnome community he or she visits. When among other gnomes (of any kind), whisper gnomes usually stick to the names given to them by their parents. Whisper gnome family names are similar to, but not exactly like, the clan names of common gnomes.

Male Names: Alth, Fash, Threan.

Female Names: Bella, Freith, Geim, Mala, Nan.

Family Names: Bermin, Daergel, Falath, Shrenan.

Adventurers: Whisper gnome adventurers travel to test themselves. They seek not only to try out their powers of speed and stealth against the physical strength of larger creatures, but also to test their own moral limits. Many adventuresome whisper gnomes know that they are capable of stealing from humans and other creatures that can't hope to compete with their powers of stealth, and they seek some rationale for why they shouldn't take advantage of this superiority.

WHISPER GNOME RACIAL TRAITS

+2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution, -2 Strength, -2 Charisma: Whisper gnomes are agile and tough, but they are Small and therefore not as strong as larger humanoids. Their quiet nature also leads to a lack of personal presence.
Small: As a Small creature, a whisper gnome gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but he uses smaller weapons than humans use, and his lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character.
Whisper gnome base land speed is 30 feet, despite their size.
Low-Light Vision: A whisper gnome can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. He retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
Darkvision: Whisper gnomes can see in the dark out to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight, and whisper gnomes can function just fine with no light at all.
Weapon Familiarity: Whisper gnomes treat gnome hooked hammers as martial weapons rather than exotic weapons.
+1 racial bonus on attack rolls against kobolds and goblinoids (including goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears): Like their more common cousins, whisper gnomes battle these creatures frequently and practice special techniques for fighting them.
+4 dodge bonus to Armor Class against monsters of the giant type (such as ogres, trolls, and hill giants): This bonus represents special training that whisper gnomes undergo, during which they learn tricks that previous generations developed in their battles with giants. Any time a creature loses its Dexterity bonus (if any) to Armor Class, such as when it's caught flatfooted, it loses its dodge bonus, too. The Monster Manual has information on which creatures are of the giant type.
+4 racial bonus on Hide and Move Silently checks: Whisper gnomes have an uncanny knack for stealth.
+2 racial bonus on Listen and Spot checks: Whisper gnomes have keen eyes and ears.
Spell-Like Abilities: 1/day - silence (must be centered on whisper gnome's body). A whisper gnome with a Charisma score of at least 10 also has the following spell-like abilities: 1/day - ghost sound, mage hand, message. Caster level 1st; save DC 10 + whisper gnome's Cha modifier + spell level.
Favored Class: Rogue. The best multiclass choices for whisper gnome rogues are fighter, ranger, and cleric. A fair number of whisper gnome wizards and sorcerers become arcane tricksters.
Racial Feats: The Extra Silence and Silencing Strike feats can be taken by whisper gnome characters.