Warm Desert

So named for their eerie, translucent carapaces, ghost scorpions are nocturnal desert hunters. A ghost scorpion’s body is 3 feet long with a 3-foot long tail, and it weighs 45 pounds.

Jackals are usually encountered alone or as a mated pair, but sometimes they associate for a time with a small pack composed of two parents and their adult offspring, with the offspring serving a deferential support role to their parents. Although considered craven and foul by humans, jackals are relatively friendly and gentle with members of their own small packs.

Attracted to the edges of human settlements in their territory, jackals often make opportunistic raids on fruit crops and vulnerable domesticated animals. They’re also attracted to large deposits of garbage that they can sift through for leftover food. Jackals are remarkably adaptable, and readily forage for insects or fruit, feed on found carcasses, or hunt small or vulnerable game as the opportunity presents itself.

Jackals are notorious for their craftiness in evading pursuit, and they’ve been known to feign death when caught in order to lull opponents into complacency and gain another chance to escape. A jackal can attempt a Bluff check opposed by its opponent’s Sense Motive check to play dead. If successful, after combat ends, the jackal can begin a new encounter with surprise. During the surprise round, only the jackal and any opponents who succeeded on their Sense Motive checks can act.

Exiles from an arid world circling a red star, modern kasathas have no idea how they left their home or how to return, but they keep searching for a way back. A clannish and secretive people, they have a matriarchal society, but other races have difficulty recognizing any physical difference between females and males. Kasathas keep their mouths hidden behind clothing, and don’t remove this clothing in the presence of other races. They are omnivores, but prefer meat and salty foods. Upon reaching adulthood, many kasathas leave their clans to search the world for adventure, treasure, and ways to return to their homeworld.

Camels are large, desert-dwelling herd animals noted for their stamina and ill tempers. A typical camel stands about 6 feet at the shoulder and 7 feet at the hump.

Solifugids are sometimes called “camel spiders,” “wind scorpions,” or “sun spiders,” despite the fact that they are neither spiders nor scorpions but rather their own unique species. They have large pedipalps near their heads, used to grab and hold prey while they feed with their twin sets of vertically aligned mandibles. When hunting in groups, they prefer to attack targets already grappled by other solifugids. The various species of enormous solifugids generally have eight legs, although the front two appendages are large enough that they can easily be mistaken for an additional pair of legs. Some species, like the albino cave solifugid, have fewer legs, but all solifugids are aggressive vermin. The following table lists the most common variants beyond the two presented above. Many of these species have additional unique abilities, such as the razormouth’s ability to cause hideous, bleeding wounds in those it attacks.

Gnolls are a race of hulking, humanoids that resemble hyenas in more than mere appearance; they show a striking affinity with the scavenging animals, to the point of keeping them as pets, and ref lect many of the lesser creatures’ behaviors. Gnolls are capable hunters, but are far happier to scavenge or steal a kill than to go out and track down prey. This laziness impels them to acquire slaves of whatever type is available, whom they force to dig warrens, gather supplies and water, and even hunt for their gnoll masters. Creatures other than hyenas and other gnolls are either meat or slaves, depending upon the temperament of the tribe. Even a dead or fallen comrade is a fresh meal for a gnoll, who might honor a distinguished tribe member with a brief prayer, or thoroughly cook one that has died of a wasting disease, but otherwise view a dead gnoll as little different from any other creature. The more “civilized” gnolls do not eat their prisoners, but instead keep them as slaves, either to defend or improve their lair or to trade with other tribes or slaver bands. Gnolls relish combat, but only when they have the obvious advantage of numbers. In other situations, they prefer to avoid combat except as a means of winning a kill from another hunter, or as a clever ambush to bring down a large meal. These hyena-men see no value in courage or valor, instead preferring to flee once it becomes clear that victory is not possible, noting that it is better to run with tail tucked away than to lose one’s tail entirely. During combat, gnolls use a strange mixture of pack tactics and individual standoffs. If a gnoll feels that it is winning, it attempts to take down a weaker being rather than aiding its fellows. If the gnolls are struggling, they gang up on a powerful leader and try to take that creature down, in the hopes of forcing its allies to flee. Gnoll leaders are typically rangers, although clerics are highly regarded as well. Most gnolls find arcane magic difficult to master, and as a result it is relatively rare to see a gnoll bard, sorcerer, or wizard.

Jackalweres are evil, supernatural jackals born with the ability to assume human form. Some folks superstitiously consider jackalweres to be emissaries of evil spirits or wicked desert gods, and it is easy to understand why, as they can take the shape of a human and possess a keen intellect; however, they also have a taste for murder and humanoid flesh. In its hybrid form, a jackalwere stands 6 feet tall and weighs 150 pounds.

Trox were once members of a much smaller and more docile race of subterranean burrowers, but were long ago enslaved by the duergar and bred into useful brutes. Eventually, several clans of trox were able to escape their slavers and reach the surface world, though they found the creatures above were just as eager to enslave them. Most trox still live a life of servitude. A free trox tends to be loyal to its true friends and inquisitive, though it can harbor deep grudges and resentments.

Scarab beetles often mass in swarms and terrorize remote desert regions. These vermin are a threat to ancient tombs as they chew their way through the interred.  A scarab swarm comprises thousands of scarab beetles, each filthy from its constant contact with dung and carrion. Normally inattentive toward other creatures, scarab swarms subject those who get in their way to thousands of sharp bites as well as an infectious disease. Indeed, the bites of a scarab swarm are the least of their victims’ worries, as the disease they carry claims far more lives than their hunger.  Some religious scholars theorize that scarabs are prone to swarming because they’re drawn to the same malign energy that causes undead to rise, though most people regard this explanation as pure superstition. Some worshipers of gods of death see the arrival of a scarab swarm as a portent of ill fortune.

Dust diggers most resemble mammoth starfish, with thick sandy-colored exoskeletons covered with rough, burr-like spines. Its five arms are long and thin, and covered with hundreds of barbed, tubular cilia that the creature uses to move as well at grab and grapple prey. At the fleshy center of the creature’s body gapes a circular maw lined with large sharp teeth. As ambush predators, dust diggers spend the majority of their lives buried beneath the sand, waiting patiently for prey to stumble over their ambush site. Dust diggers are asexual. They reproduce by budding, splitting off young three to four times over the course of their 10-year lives—smaller versions of themselves that must immediately move away from the parent to avoid being snatched up and eaten. Dust digger young are just over 4 feet across, and can move relatively quickly through sand (their burrow speed is 40 feet). Usually, a young dust digger travels at least a mile from its parent before it settles down to create its first ambush—the amount of life in the region it has chosen as its new lair often determines whether the new dust digger thrives or starves to death, for once it digs its first ambush, it rarely moves more than a few hundred feet away over the course of its life.

The jann (singular janni) are the weakest of the genies. Jann are formed out of all four elements and must therefore spend most of their time on the Material Plane. Some lore even casts the janni as the most “human” of the genie races, although most jann are quick to correct this insult, usually with the edge of a sword. A janni is human-sized, standing about 6 feet tall and weighing about 180 pounds. Jann are physically strong and courageous, and do not take kindly to insult or injury. Most are quite prone to seeing insult even when none is intended by the speaker. If overwhelmed in battle, they escape using flight and invisibility, returning later with reinforcements. Jann enjoy their privacy, preferring the solitude of the deep desert and isolated oases. They are usually suspicious of humans, but are often willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. Jann have a strong cultural tradition of hospitality, and will never turn away someone in need of food, water, or shelter, though they might expect payment in the form of a favor at some later date. Among the other genie races, jann generally have good relations with both djinn and shaitans. While not actively enemies, jann dislike the proud and aloof marids. Jann have a distinct aversion to the efreet, who often try to enslave them or conscript them into their armies.

Karkadanns roam the barren and wind-swept deserts of the world where their deep bellows can be heard for miles. Their solitary horns have led many to assume that they are a breed or variant of unicorn, but karkadanns bristle at that claim.  Known for their aggression and physical power, karkadanns are proud warriors that rarely back down from a fight. They readily charge into combat, seeking to impale their foes on their wicked horns. Legend says that the only thing that can calm an enraged karkadann is the song of a ring dove.  Some desert travelers seek out karkadanns because of their mystical ability to purge a creature of toxins. Many a traveler stung by a giant scorpion or bitten by a viper hopes for nothing more than to come across a karkadann. This treatment isn’t granted lightly. Karkadanns are narcissistic and self-serving, so they often demand outlandish favors in return for curing a poisoned creature. They size up what the person can reliably pay and demand just a bit more. Some alchemists, however, have learned that the ability to purge poisons isn’t just supernatural, and that some part of that power lies within the karkadann’s devious horn.

KARKADANN HORN
A karkadann’s horn is a potent ingredient in treating most poisons. When combined with rare herbs and minerals worth 100gp, a karkadann horn can be used as an additional material component when casting neutralize poison to grant the caster a +5 competence bonus on her caster level checks to end the poisons’ effects. When using karkadann horn as an ingredient while making a Heal check to treat poison, the user gains a +5 bonus on the check, and, if successful, the treated character gains a +8 competence bonus on her saving throw against the poison instead of +4.

Ghuls are undead jann whose eternal existence was twisted by fate and wrought through the displeasure of Ahriman, Lord of the Divs. As if the curse of undeath and ravenous hunger were not enough, these once-majestic creatures now bear donkey hooves as feet. Despite their horrific undead appearance, this feature shames them the most, and they hide their feet from view. Ghuls, like ghouls and ghasts, haunt cemeteries and other places of the dead hoping to feed on corpses. They also hunt mourners and grave tenders, as they enjoy the taste of living prey as well as that of the dead. Selective in their diets, ghuls choose their victims by personality, believing innocence and youth taste more delicious than the barely palatable flesh of the bitter and old. Sometimes a ghul follows a funeral procession in hyena form, keeping a safe distance until the ceremony, whereupon it changes into its true form to attack and feast. Sorrow and despair taste as delicious as innocence to a ghul. While not directly affected by sunlight, ghuls despise its presence and only move about during the day if forced to by necessity. They primarily hunt at night, sometimes straying far from their graveyard lairs and burial caves in search of fresh prey to sate their hunger. The longer a ghul goes without feeding, the more ferocious and primal the creature becomes. A well-sated ghul organizes with others of its kind and lesser undead, tormenting nearby towns and settlements. A ghul involved with this level of organization often has a scattered set of lairs throughout the desert. These allow the ghul to strike far from its home lair and hide again without having to travel during the blistering daylight sun. When a ghul goes for too long without feeding, it becomes increasingly feral and violent—its statistics don’t change, but it grows less concerned with fleeing combat, even when it is obviously outmatched. Ghuls stand 6 feet tall and weigh 90 pounds.

Perils of the desert depths, giant ant lions construct traps from the shifting sands. These beasts lurk at the base of these pits, half buried and patiently awaiting unwary prey.

When a giant ant lion reaches maturity, it creates a cocoon of sand and dirt around itself. Over the course of a month, the ant lion undergoes a dramatic metamorphosis—when it emerges, its body has become elongated and thin and it has gained a set of enormous, lacy wings. Depending on the region, giant adult ant lions are often called giant lacewings, giant damselflies, or giant spindleflies, but regardless of their regional name, they remain ravenous and deadly, replacing the sand trap cunning of their larval form with swift flight and greater battlefield mobility.

Saguarois, also called cactusfolk by desert-dwelling humanoids, make their homes in rocky badlands, hot scrublands on the edge of vast deserts, and sandy dunes baked by the sun. They are generous but territorial, offering aid to travelers who brave the blistering deserts—often in the form of their own watery blood—but don’t tolerate guests who overstay their welcome. Civilization rarely attempts to push far into the deserts, leaving these creatures relatively isolated from other intelligent races. In cases where belligerent settlements threaten the way of life for tribes of saguarois, however, the cactusfolk respond with terrifying violence. Saguarois live in small nomadic tribes, traveling under the life-giving sun by day and rooting themselves each night in places where they can draw minerals from the pebbly and sandy soil and absorb water. Saguarois produce flowers once a year that go to seed and grow into young saguarois if the adult creatures properly care for them. If planted, a seed must be attended by one or more saguarois over the course of a year before the infant saguaroi sprouts. After sprouting, it takes 4 years before the infant saguaroi can uproot itself and move about, and decades more to reach maturity. Some saguarois have lived for hundreds of years, and these old cactusfolk often sprout additional limbs or strange twisting growths stretching out from their cylindrical torsos. Usually these additional limbs and growths are nonfunctional, but significantly advanced saguarois have been known to learn how to use them as if they were their primary arms and legs.

The reclusive death worm is much feared in the deserts, badlands, and steppes in which it dwells, for it brings to a battle multiple harrowing ways of inflicting death upon its foes—acid, lightning, poison, and its ravenous jaws. The creatures are remarkably good at hiding amid the sands and rocks of their favored terrain, and devilishly efficient at selecting foes that they can easily kill. This combination makes stories of these creatures hard to confirm, and in most urban centers, common wisdom is that the tales of death worms are fabrications— attempts to impress city folk or hallucinations born of too much drink. A death worm is 15 feet long and weighs 1,200 pounds— although rumors of much larger death worms persist.

Scarabs are small, six-legged insects with sharp protrusions on their front legs that they use for burrowing. They are primarily coprophagous, eating dung for sustenance. An individual scarab often spends days rolling a single ball of dung across the desert until it can find the perfect place to bury it and deposit eggs. Because they burrow underground to create life, scarab beetles are associated with burial rites. Some say scarab beetles’ connection with the dead gives them powers greater than those of normal beetles, but as of yet there is no evidence this is true.

Perhaps the least leonine of all sphinxes, the ram-headed criosphinx lacks the intellect of androsphinxes and gynosphinxes, but still outmatches the dimwitted hieracosphinxes. Like hieracosphinxes and androsphinxes, criosphinxes are always male. At the start of a battle, a criosphinx lowers its horns and crashes into foes, clawing enemies it has engaged. It favors charging down on foes from great heights. Criosphinxes crave wealth over nearly all other things, habitually extorting tolls for safe passage from any who pass their lands. Groups who cannot pay must yield one of their number or a pair of mounts for the criosphinx’s meal— single travelers must fight or die. Unlike gynosphinxes, no mere riddle suffices—only the shine of metal or the gleam of jewels can satisfy a criosphinx. Little can convince a criosphinx to part with even a single coin save the lust that its kind bears for the gynosphinx. Criosphinxes crave mating with gynosphinxes above all else, and pay well for the whereabouts of a female, or better yet, a well-crafted riddle that might impress one. For their part, gynosphinxes prefer to have little to do with what they mock as the sheep of sphinxes, though they sometimes lower themselves to a brief assignation in the rare event a criosphinx manages to impress them with wealth or wit. Some criosphinxes set themselves as soothsayers of the desert, trading upon the storied wisdom of androsphinxes and gynosphinxes to deceive gullible travelers. Like their more blustering brethren, they seek wealth from passersby, but for the purposes of dispersing information rather than in exchange for safe passage. Such reliable information as they possess usually comes from idle conversation with the creatures of the desert, with criosphinxes using their inborn ability to speak with animals. A criosphinx lacking in sound information usually fabricates a pleasing lie. Criosphinxes detest hieracosphinxes, regarding them as little more than beasts and a disgrace to their noble race. They drive off their falcon-headed cousins with mock-charges and posturing, escalating to full-fledged attacks if ignored. Androsphinxes they view with mixed fear and respect, and gynosphinxes with disdain and lust.

Among the fiercest of their kind, desert drakes exhibit a lust for destruction as merciless as any desert storm. These fierce, ambush predators hunt by finding high perches among rocky outcroppings and surveying their surroundings. When likely prey wanders into sight, a desert drake dives into the sand and burrows toward its quarry or flies low with cover from dunes or other outcroppings. Drawing near the likely path of its victims, it bursts from the sand or dives from above to catch foes off guard, preferring to attack targets that exhibit the most fear first. Before enemies can recover from the initial onslaught, a desert drake exhales a cloud of electrified dust, using its superior senses to press the attack. Mated pairs of desert drakes hunt larger prey and groups of victims, and rampages of the beasts might gather near overland trade routes to devour whole caravans. A typical desert drake measures 15 feet long from nose to tail tip, has a supple, wormlike build, and weighs about 2,500 pounds.

Girtablilus fiercely guard ancient places and treasures lost to history. Far from civilized eyes, they thrive and piously protect their charges with the aid of monstrously large scorpions that girtablilus keep as pets. All girtablilus share a zeal for religion, although the objects of veneration vary from tribe to tribe. Some girtablilu tribes still serve long-forgotten deities, preserving the divinities’ names and holy rituals. Others embrace religions derived from prehistoric worship, devoted to the idea of gods that once were or might never have been. Girtablilu leaders are clerics or oracles, and are responsible for the tribe’s religious observances and laws. Tradition and service to the group are important. Those who violate tribal beliefs are killed or exiled into the harsh wasteland. Girtablilus believe that no sacrifice in life (including death in the service of the gods) goes unrewarded in the hereafter; this belief makes them fierce and fearless fighters. A girtablilu is 13 feet long and weighs 800 pounds.

Although there are many different species of sphinx, the one certain scholars refer to as the “gynosphinx” (a name many sphinxes find insulting) is a wise and majestic creature that is nevertheless terrifying when angered. Less moralistic than their male counterparts (the “androsphinx”—a different creature entirely than the sphinx presented here), sphinxes are careful and methodical in their decision-making, and pride themselves on their cold logic and impartiality. They have little patience for the lesser sphinx variants, seeing them as little better than animals. Sphinxes love riddles and complicated dilemmas, and treasure strange facts and arcane trivia far more than gold or gems While not great scholars in any traditional sense, sphinxes’ great appreciation of puzzles leads them to research shallowly in a wide variety of subjects, and they can often be invaluable sources of information, especially when making use of their magical abilities. They are usually happy to barter with other races, and regularly trade material goods for information or new and interesting quandaries. They make excellent guardians for temples, tombs, and other important locations, so long as they are kept adequately entertained. Sphinxes place great value on politeness, but can be dangerously temperamental—while they may decide to share their latest riddles with travelers out of altruism, they think little of devouring those who don’t give their dilemmas adequate attention or provide useful insight. Sphinxes are typically 10 feet long and about 800 pounds. While their wings are capable of holding them aloft for long periods of time, they are poor fliers, and prefer to land before engaging foes, lashing out with their powerful claws. Though fiercely territorial, they tend to give intruders plenty of warning before attacking.

The mightiest of the common sphinxes, androsphinxes see themselves as all that is worthy and noble in the species and carry themselves as though the weight of the world rests upon their good example. They view criosphinxes with paternalistic condescension, hieracosphinxes with poorly veiled disgust, and gynosphinxes as the only other sphinxes worthy of their time. Androsphinxes put on a gruff and cantankerous front to outsiders. They make no effort to hide annoyance when displeased. Androsphinxes tend to be territorial, though less so than other sphinxes. They almost invariably warn and bluster before attacking, and nearly always heed a call to parley. Androsphinxes barter information and conversation for safe passage, not treasure. Androsphinxes are 12 feet tall and weigh 1,000 pounds.

Desert giants rove the stark and majestic sands, rarely dwelling in permanent camps. They roam from oasis to oasis, sleeping beneath the stars or in easily dismantled yurts, breaking camp as whim strikes or when food sources grow scarce. Desert giants stand 15 feet tall on average, but have slender builds and rarely weigh more than 2,000 pounds, a fact that greatly contributes to their grace and speed. The giants favor loose robes with keffiyehs for protection from the scouring desert winds, as well as traveling leathers worn beneath the robes. They require little water, and are able to survive for as long as 2 weeks on food alone. When such goods are available, they drink water, milk, and juices in prodigious amounts, but they spurn beer, wine, and stronger spirits. The bulk of their diet comes from figs, olives, and similar bounty of the oases, supplemented by meat if required. The eldest desert giants live as long as 300 years. Despite their nomadic ways, desert giants guard their territory fiercely, driving away all interlopers, whether intelligent or bestial.

Shedus live far from the hustle and bustle of humanity in harsh deserts. There they populate caves, ruins, or ancient temples reclaimed from the shifting sands. In these places of refuge, shedus contemplate the struggle between good and evil throughout the universe. Tireless vehicles of good and kindness, shedus fight against outsiders who corrupt and threaten humanity. Skilled in healing, shedus focus on eliminating plagues, even hunting down outsiders and undead working in that destructive medium. Shedus rarely make their homes near each other. This is not out of any sort of animosity, but rather from a feeling that having two or more shedus within close proximity wastes the opportunity to provide aid to a larger region. When a shedu roams through the lands of another, it always seeks out the local shedu for an opportunity to talk and share knowledge over the course of 3 days.

Consummate conversationalists, brass dragons prefer to talk instead of fight. Brass dragons lair near humanoid settlements, where they can hear the most recent news and gossip.

A giant emperor scorpion is an ambush predator, burying itself in soil or sand until prey approaches.

Blue dragons are consummate schemers and obsessively orderly. In combat, blue dragons prefer to surprise foes if possible, and are not above retreating if the odds turn against them. They prefer to lair near those that they control, sometimes even within the confines of a city.