Dunewalkers (Sandworm-taur race inspired by Tremors and Dune)

[Aniikinis]

Dunewalker

Dunewalker Guide
Large (long) monstrous humanoid
Hit Dice: 1d8 +4 (8 HP)
Initiative: +5
Speed: 20 ft, 30 ft burrow (Sand and loose dirt only)
Armor Class: 11 (10 + 1 dex), touch 11, flat-footed 10
Base Attack/Grapple: +1 / +3
Attack: Khopesh -1 melee
Full Attack: Khopesh -1 melee
Damage: Khopesh 1d6 slashing
Space/Reach: 10x5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: none
Special Qualities: Short Reach, Wasteland Skin
Saves: Fort +0, Ref +2, Will +2
Abilities: Str 7, Dex 12, Con 13, Int 8, Wis 12, Cha 9
Skills: Spot +5, Listen +5, Search +5, Knowledge (Nature) +3, Profession (Wasteland Guide) +5, Diplomacy +3, Bluff +1
Feats: Toughness, Improved Initiative
Environment: Deserts and Wastelands
Organization: Solitary, Pair, Group(3-20), Settlement(50-500)
Challenge Rating: 1/2
Treasure: half
Alignment: Usually Neutral
Level Adjustment: 0
Advancement: By character class

The darkly skinned, human-looking man before you looks to be a burrowing worm from the waist down, but his eyes are soft and full of knowledge. As he replaces his weapon back into his scabbard he says that he will gladly guide you through the waste, for a price.

Dunewalkers are very somber and quiet people, helping others to find their way and not get totally lost in the deserts that they call home. A typical dunewalker looks human from the waist up with sandy-coloured hair, amber coloured eyes, and skin tones that range from the colours of the sand native to where they were born to deep earthy tones to even pitch black or dark grey. However from the waist down they appear to be large subterranean worms. Along the dunewalker's spine, arms, and in radially symmetrical rows along their lower bodies are small spikes that are too short and round to do anything but propel the dunewalker forward. The colours of the spikes are the same colour as the dunewalker's hair and the colour of the lower body is the same colour as the dunwalker's skin.

Dunewalkers mainly speak terran when they're around each other, but when conversing with other races they typically speak common and/or the language of the region.

Dunewalker
Dunewalker characters possess the following racial traits:

• -4 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +2 Con, -2 Int, +2 Wis, -2 Cha (-4 App)
• Large (Long) Monstrous Humanoid
• Space: 10 feet by 5 feet
• Speed: 20, Burrow 30 foot (sand and very loose dirt only)
• Special Qualities: Darkvision 60, Short Reach, Wasteland Skin
• Automatic Languages: Common, Terran, and any one non secret language. Bonus Languages: Any, except secret languages.
• Favored Class: Ranger
• Level adjustment: +0

Bonus Feat: Dunewalkers gain an additional feat at first level like a human.

Short Reach: A dunewalker inhabits a 10 foot by 5 foot space, but their reach is short compared to their size. They can only reach 5 feet from the space that their torso is in not their whole body.

Wasteland Skin: Due to their strange habits and way of life, dunewalkers never take damage from high heat and take triple damage from cold temperatures. This does not function like fire resistance or weakness to cold, as it does not change the amount of damage taken from fire or cold attacks, just from ambient temperature.

Weapon Familiarity: Dunewalkers are always proficient with the dunewalker khopesh.

Racial Weapon:
The Dunewalker Khopesh
Cost: 20 gold(for dunewalkers, outsiders tend to pay sums upwards of 200+gp
Damage: 2d3+str
Critical: 17-20/x3
Range Increment: melee
Weight: 3.5 lbs
Type: light one-handed, slashing or piercing
Special: +2 to disarm, +2 to sunder, trip

Weapon Descriptions

The dunewalker khopesh has a sturdy handle with the hilt of the blade extending from the hilt before the blade makes a sharp Z-like shape before the blade slowly curves up into a point with a blunt, spike-like protrusion on the inside of the point of the blade.

Racial Feats:
Toughened Spinal Locomotion [RACIAL]
Description: Through repetitive use of your burrowing ability, you have strengthened the spikes that litter your body, allowing you to burrow through hard packed soil and clay.
Prerequisite: Dunewalker, 5 HD, 12 Strength
Benefit: You can now burrow through all forms of dirt and very loose gravel, but still cannot burrow through solid rock or the like.
Normal: You can only burrow through sand and loose packed dirt.
Special: Whenever you burrow into the earth you may choose to leave behind a tunnel for others to follow. At any point in time you may choose to have the tunnel collapse behind you.

Sharpened Spikes [RACIAL]
Description: Through the many abrasions from small rocks and obstacles within the tougher dirt, your spikes have become sharpened and toughened, allowing you to use the ones on your arms as natural weapons.
Prerequisite: Dunewalker, Toughened Spinal Locomotion, 14 Strength
Benefit: The spikes on your arms double as natural weapons. You gain two large primary sting attacks that deal 1d6 piercing damage each.
Normal: Your spikes are fairly dull and cannot be effectively used as weapons.
Special: While grappling, your spikes are considered to be natural armour spikes and you are considered proficient with them even if you somehow would not be normally. You do not take any penalties for attacking with your spikes or one of your sting attacks while grappling, provided that you may make the attack in the first place.

Caustic Spinal Locomotion
Description: Through repetitive use and extreme growth, you have reactivated glands long-since thought to be vestigial within the skin at the base of your spikes.
Prerequisite: Dunewalker, 15 HD, Toughened Spinal Locomotion, Sharpened Spikes, 16 Strength
Benefit: You can now burrow through solid rock, packed gravel, and the like
Normal: You cannot burrow through solid rock, packed gravel, or the like.
Special: Whenever you use the sting attacks granted by Sharpened Spikes you may also choose to add an additional +1d4 acid damage. You must choose to add this when you make the attack roll

Graboidal Brood
Description: Your family still keeps a trace of your evolutionary history within yourselves, showing traits from your ancient, prehistoric ancestors, and you are no different.
Prerequisite: Dunewalker, 1st level only, Con 16, Str 12, cannot have another heritage feat
Benefit: You are blind and a sharp beak in place of a normal mouth with three fairly long-ish prehensile tongues each with a set of small horn-like protrusions and a small beak. You gain one medium bite attack (1d6), three tiny bite attacks (1d2) that cannot be used if you have used your medium bite earlier in the round, and Tremorsense out to 25 feet per character level.
Normal: You have no bite attacks, no tremorsense, are not blind, and can speak normally.
Special: You cannot speak languages and are blind.

Shai-hulud Heritage
Description: Somewhere in your bloodline you gained the terrible and powerful blood of a sandworm from a far-off land known only in the dreams of your alien ancestor as "Arrakis" or "The Dancer"
Prerequisite: Dunewalker, 1st level only, Wis 16, Int 14, cannot have another heritage feat
Benefit: You gain the Powerful Build trait. At the levels of 10, 15, and 20 you go up a size category.
Normal: You do not gain size categories as you level up, you do not have a water weakness, and you do not have powerful build.
Special: You have very porous skin and are able to take in water from your environment, however you are very vulnerable to water-based substances and must make a DC 15 fortitude save each round you are in contact with water to avoid taking damage as though you were touching acid.

Six Feet Under
Description: You have become well versed in the art of dragging people beneath the ground for a well deserved dirt nap
Prerequisite: Dunewalker, Scorpion's Grasp, Sharpened Spikes, Str 18, Int 14
Benefit: If you have successfully pinned an enemy to the ground, on your next turn you may choose to make an additional pin action. If you succeed on the second pin action you must take another pin action on the following turn, this effect occurs directly after the final pin action (3+ pin actions total). You may choose to pull the enemy close and burrow up to your speed with the enemy. You may choose to let go of the grapple at any time during the movement. Should the enemy begin his turn underground with no access to air, the enemy begins to suffocate and, if below 5 feet deep, may not be able to claw his way out of the earth (Strength DC. 15 per 5' deep)
Normal: You cannot drag an enemy underground (no matter how much he's begging for it)

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So what do you guys think? I'd love some constructive criticism.

Edit: Added a racial feat chain to expand upon the burrowing ability and adding a natural weapon.
Edit 2: Added onto the racial feats.
Edit 3: Cleaned it up

[rferries]

Another original design! I love the spikes - just like the Tremors, haha.

The ability modifiers are quite complex - I guess they favour druids, clerics, and rangers? (either ranged or using weapon finesse?). Why the Strength penalty?

A burrow speed, like flight, can be game-breaking at lower levels. Particularly on a race that gets a human's bonus feat. However you've given them a net -2 to ability scores and the penalties (but not advantages) of being Large... so perhaps this race is fine at LA+0.

I would definitely use this race in a campaign, as NPCs if not PCs. Loads of storytelling potential, I'm actually quite jealous I didn't think of a race concept like this. Kudos!

[Aniikinis]

Thank you for the critique, rferries. The reason for the strength penalty was that I viewed them as being more used to setting pit traps and using the hazards of the wastes for capturing their food or using wind and sand based magic along with the shifting sands and ranged attacks to drive intruders off their trail and far from the above ground entrances to their cities. And simply because, yes they would seem to need that strength for burrowing, but the strength required is instead taken care of through the spikes littered across the body, evenly distributing the force and movement required.

To be quite honest, I was seriously thinking about appending the burrow speed with (Sand and Loose Dirt Only) to exemplify their wasteland-based advantages. Maybe have a feat be allowed after a certain level to strengthen the spikes and let them burrow through tougher material, with another at a very high level to allow the burrowing through of rock with the help of caustic mucus or the like.

I will admit that the main reason for this was "Deserts traders and guides are fairly underused in the current fantasy genre and lots of people like tauric creatures in fantasy as well as giant worms..." right after "I need to stop watching Tremors."

[rferries]

Thank you for the critique, rferries. The reason for the strength penalty was that I viewed them as being more used to setting pit traps and using the hazards of the wastes for capturing their food or using wind and sand based magic along with the shifting sands and ranged attacks to drive intruders off their trail and far from the above ground entrances to their cities. And simply because, yes they would seem to need that strength for burrowing, but the strength required is instead taken care of through the spikes littered across the body, evenly distributing the force and movement required.

To be quite honest, I was seriously thinking about appending the burrow speed with (Sand and Loose Dirt Only) to exemplify their wasteland-based advantages. Maybe have a feat be allowed after a certain level to strengthen the spikes and let them burrow through tougher material, with another at a very high level to allow the burrowing through of rock with the help of caustic mucus or the like.

I will admit that the main reason for this was "Deserts traders and guides are fairly underused in the current fantasy genre and lots of people like tauric creatures in fantasy as well as giant worms..." right after "I need to stop watching Tremors."

Ah I see, sounds logical!

Limiting them to softer ground would align with the Tremors even more; I like how you've thought ahead to making a feat chain to improve upon that.

Again, I'm somewhat amazed this particular tauric concept hasn't come up in a sourcebook before. Endless variants on purple worms/Dune etc but never a PC race, until now.

[Aniikinis]

Clarified the burrow ability and added in the feat chain I was thinking about, any critiques?

[rferries]

They all look good. Nifty idea to let the acid be a bonus for Caustic Spinal Locomotion, I'd make it so Toughened Spinal Locomotion also lets you leave a tunnel for other characters to follow you.

What about Improved Grab and the ability to drag a victim underground somehow, to suffocate or be devoured ? Could be incorporated into Sharpened Spikes.

[Aniikinis]

They all look good. Nifty idea to let the acid be a bonus for Caustic Spinal Locomotion, I'd make it so Toughened Spinal Locomotion also lets you leave a tunnel for other characters to follow you.

What about Improved Grab and the ability to drag a victim underground somehow, to suffocate or be devoured ? Could be incorporated into Sharpened Spikes.

I didn't think about the tunnel idea, and dragging someone under the ground to suffocate/be eaten would be a very powerful thing to add, maybe powerful enough to warrant another feat just for it...

[rferries]

Yeah you'd have to offer the target a Reflex save and/or have to make grapple checks or it'd be too deadly. But think of the horrifying possibilities... :D

[Aniikinis]

Added a couple of feats.

[rferries]

Haha magnificent work on the feats! Do a sandworm (from Beetlejuice) one too. :D I can't believe this isn't attracting more commentary, it's a superb piece of homebrew.

[Aniikinis]

Thank you for the comments, and I'm not all that familiar with the sandworms from Beetlejuice. What all to they do?

[rferries]

Not much, they only appear in a couple scenes, here's one.. They're native to "Saturn" (possibly an afterlife dimension).