ALIGNMENT: Lawful Good
HIT POINTS: 92
ARMOR CLASS: 10 (Special; see below)
NO. OF ATTACKS: 3/2
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-8 (+1)
MOVE: 12”
PSIONIC ABILITY: 310
Attack/Defense Modes: None/all
STRENGTH: 16
INTELLIGENCE: 17
WISDOM: 17
DEXTERITY: 14
CONSTITUTION: 15
CHARISMA: 19/17

Gaveral Rocannon is an ethnographic
scientist for the League of All Worlds, an
interstellar federation of human-populated
worlds in the Galaxy. At the age of 43
he was made director of a survey team
charged with the exploration of an unnamed
world possessing a number of
medieval-culture humanoid races. Just
as he and the rest of his team were
preparing to leave the planet and report
back to the League, their starship was
attacked and all but Rocannon, who was
with the castle-dwelling Liuar folk, were
killed.

By listening to his radio, Rocannon
learned that the world had been invaded
by troops from another League planet,
now in open rebellion and planning to
use this world as their secret raiding
base.

Rocannon vowed to take vengeance
for the deaths of his friends. He set off
with a Liuar friend, Lord Mogien, to find
and somehow destroy the secret starbase.
On the way they were joined by
other adventurers who had the same
desire: Kyo, an elf-like being whose
village was destroyed by the invaders;
Yahn, a Liuar man who became Rocannon’s
warriors.

The party rode windsteeds to their
destination. These are great catlike,
winged beasts that could be ridden in
flight. Treat them as AD&D tigers, moving
at 48” flying unmounted and 36”
mounted. They are grey, black or white
in color, with dark stripes, and can hover
in flight.

The party fought their way through
barbarians, bandits, and angelic-like vampires
across two continents. When they
reached the last great mountain chain
between them and the starbase, only
Rocannon, Mogien, and Yahan were left.
It was in these mountains that Rocannon
was changed forever. One night he
met a small, elderly being by a well inside
a cave. Rocannon was allowed to drink
from the well; from this and the teachings
of the elderly being (called an Ancient
One), he developed his latent psionic
talents.

As Rocannon and his men were leaving
the mountains they were attacked by an
invader’s helicopter. Rocannon’s right
hand was permanently crippled by laser
fire. Lord Mogien flew his windsteed into
the helicopter and destroyed it, but was
himself slain. This, the loss of Rocannon’s
closest friend, was the unknown
price the Ancient One had said he would
have to pay for fulfillment of his desire to
destroy the starbase. Unconscious,
Rocannon was carried down from the
mountains to a Liuar country by Yahan.
After he recovered, Rocannon set out
for the starbase alone. Using his psionic
talents, he infiltrated its defenses and
sent a message on a starship communicator
to the League, calling down an
attack on the base by faster-than-light
starships. He quickly fled the base, and
shortly thereafter it was destroyed. Rocannon
returned to the Liuar country
and became their ruler.

Rocannon is known to the Liuar as the
Wanderer, Olhor, a being whose coming
was prophesied in legends. The knowledge
that he has met with an Ancient
One, the tales of his invulnerability (due
to his impermasuit, described below),
his dauntless courage, and his apparently
single-handed destruction of the rebel
starbase and its forces have all combined
with his own naturally high charisma to
give him an effective charisma of 19 to
the Liuar and all associated peoples. By
nature he is honest, thoughtful, and
peaceable.

After his return from destroying the
starbase, Rocannon married a widowed
queen of the Liuar and gave her a jeweled
necklace that he’d carried all through his
adventures: The Eye of the Sea is a huge
sapphire on a golden chain, worth about
50,000 gp. Rocannon still owns his
impermasuit, an extremely advanced
form of personal armor so thin as to be
invisible and skintight. He will wear this
suit when preparing for battle. It completely
protects him from radiation,
weather, all heat or cold attacks, poison
gases, electricity and acids. Up to 100
points of physical damage per round are
absorbed by the suit, with damage in
excess of this being taken from Rocannon’s
own hit points. He may move at
normal speed in this suit. Rocannon
carries a longsword and rides a windsteed
with more hit points than most of
its type.

Rocannon possesses the psionic disciplines
of Clairaudience, Clairvoyance,
Empathy, ESP, Mind Bar, and Telepathy.
The first four powers are usable at ranges
of up to 20 miles or so without penalty.
He may be counted on to use his powers
against any enemy encampments, eliminating
the possibility of a surprise attack
by the opponents. If using his powers,
Rocannon will always surprise opponents
unless they too are psionic.

Physically, .Rocannon is an attractive
man with pale skin and dark grey hair. He
is not a Terran human, but was born of
another human-related race called the
Hainish. Those who meet with Rocannon
are left with the impression that
there is something very different and
special about him, and there will be the
feeling that he is not one of this world.
The DM can, of course, assume that
Rocannon’s adopted world is that of the
current D&D campaign.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Rocannon’s World
(paperback, Ace Books) by Ursula K.
LeGuin.
Written by Roger E. Moore
 
 

Giants in the Earth

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Dragon 54