FREQUENCY: Very rare
NO. APPEARING: 1-4
ARMOR CLASS: 4
MOVE: 12"
HIT DICE: 6 + 3
% IN LAIR: 20%
TREASURE TYPE: D
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1 kick or 1 weapon
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 2-12 or by weapon type (plus strength bonuses)
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Hurling rocks
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Surprised only on 1 1
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Low
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic evil
SIZE: L (9' - 11' tall)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
    Attack/Defense Modes: Nil
LEVEL/X.P. VALUE: V/475 + 8/hp

    The fachan is an unusual creature that
lives in rocky, unforested hills and rough
terrain. It is vaguely humanoid in appearance,
but has only one arm, one leg, and
one eye (set in the center of its face like that
of a cyclops). The leg is attached to a special
joint in the center of its pelvis, and the arm
is joined to a socket set in the middle of its
chest. In many other respects the fachan
looks like an ogre; indeed, one birth in
every 400 among ogrekind produces a fachan.
Fachans are found with 5% of all
ogre tribes, and in 1% of all orc lairs.

    Fachans have dark grey-brown skin and
thick, wiry, blue-black hair. Their eyes are
purple with white pupils, like those of ogres.
They have a life span of approximately 90
years and speak the tongues of ogres, trolls,
and orcs.

    The musculature of the fachan's two
limbs is exceptional; the arm has the gripping
and striking power of a fighter with
exceptional strength (roll percentage randomly
for each individual). They move
about with a sort of hopping run and are
quite agile. They can make great leaps of as
much as 10' in distance and can clear a
6'-tall hurdle form a standing start. If
unarmed, a fachan may kick or stomp
creatures of 6' height or less, doing 2-12
points of damage on each successful hit.
Fachans weigh between 550 and 1,000 lbs.,
depending on their size, but despite this
bulk can leap from a prone to a standing
position in one segment.

    Humans and demi-humans hate fachans,
mainly because the creatures share the same
dietary preferences for dwarven, elven, and
halfling flesh that most ogres have. Most
other humanoid creatures cannot stand
them either, since fachans are prone to
exceptionally cruel behavior which they will
direct against anyone nearby. Only orcs and
ogres have made any attempt to get along
with fachans, and some orcish tribes have
succeeded in getting fachans to serve as
scouts and guards. Fachans have exceptionally
acute hearing, enabling them to pick up
the sound of approaching horsemen from
up to five miles away. They can only be
surprised on a roll of 1 on a six-sided die.

    In combat, fachans will usually use clubs
or morning stars as weapons, though some
can be induced to use axes or swords. Because
they have only one hand, they cannot
use missile weapons or polearms, but they
can (because of their great strength) use
swords of up to bastard size, and they get
the full "two-handed" damage results from
the latter (2-8/2-16). While a fachan can use
a shield to defend itself, it would be unable
to hold a shield and make any attack other
than by kicking or stomping; this would be
an extremely rare situation.

    Fachans can hurl rocks weighing up to 40
lbs. apiece to a maximum range of 60
yards, causing 4-10 points of damage for
each rock that hits its target. However, the
fachan's body structure and lack of depth
perception (because of the single eye) cause
the creature to take a -2 penalty "to hit" on
a rock throw out to any rnage (cumulative
with the -2 medium range and -5 long range
penalties normally assessed). Medium range
for a fachan's rock throw starts at 20 yards
and long range is anything from 40 to 60
yards.

    Though fachans are technically giant-class
humanoids, their weird body arrangement
causes a ranger to receive only
one-half (round fractions down) of the
normal damage bonus that members of that
class get against such creatures. Dwarves
and gnomes cannot evade fachans as they
can ogres and giants, and fachans have
normal chances to strike these smaller folk.

    Alchemists and magic-users have found
that the hearing organs of a fachan may be
used to make potions of clairaudience. It is
also known that the hide of a fachan's hand,
properly treated and enchanted, may be
made into a single glove or gauntlet for
either a right or left hand, depending on the
handedness of the fachan from whcih the
hide was taken (50% chance for either
result). This gauntlet of fachan power will
impart 18/00 strength to the wearer's arm,
hand, and shoulder. Only one such glove
may be worn by a person at one time; two
of them worn simultaneously will negate
each other's effects. The user gains all bonuses
to grip and use a weapon in that hand
(+3 to hit, +6 to damage); however, he may
not lift weights that his body could not
normally support, since the glove only
strengthens the limb on which it is worn.
The user gets a strength bonus for hurled
weapons thrown by the hand wearing
the gauntlet. The gauntlet may be used by
dwarves in conjunction with a girdle of
giant strength and a +3 dwarven thrower
warhammer, just as if using a gauntlets of
ogre power; but humans may not use such a
glove with a hammer of thunderbolts because
the weapon is too large to use one-handed.
 

    by Roger Moore
 

LETTERS

Creature queries
-
Dear Dragon,
The description of the fachan (Creature Catalog,
issue #89) states that the enchanted/treated
hide of a fachan can be made into a magical glove
or gauntlet. The next paragraph says that it [the
fachan] will be either right or left handed, but
how can the hide be right or left handed if the
fachan has only one arm in the middle of his
chest?

Bill Hilf
Orange, Calf. 
(Dragon #95)


Let's assume that the fachan has a typical
humanoid skeletal structure, down to and including
an opposable thumb on its upper extremity.
For the thumb to work the same way as it does 
with other humanoids, it must be on either the 
right or left side of the fingers it opposes.  If 
the fachan didn't have this kind of hand structure, 
it would be implausible for the creature to 
be as strong as it is. 

That's about the best I can do for a logical
reason. Actually, Bill, you can answer this first
question for yourself just by stretching your
willingness to suspend disbelief a little bit further.
If you can accept the "existence" of a creature
with one arm in the middle of its chest, you
should also be able to accept the 'fact' that the
fachan's single arm has either a right hand or a
left hand at the end of it.

-- KM
(Dragon #95)