Huadhla

Huadhla (Natural Familiar)

FREQUENCY: Rare
NO. APPEARING: 40-100
ARMOR CLASS: 5
MOVE: 15”
HIT DICE: ½
% IN LAIR: 10%
TREASURE TYPE: C
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: By weapon type
SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below
SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 25%
INTELLIGENCE: Very
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
SIZE: S (1¼’ tall)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
LEVEL/X.P. VALUE: III / 65 + 1/hp

The haudhli are creatures of nature,
remaining close to plants and the earth
wherever they dwell. They live in small hills
or mounds, each family of 2-5 having its
own burrow with a concealed entrance. A
community of haudhli will normally have
20 families. Though they may dwell any-
where because of their hardiness, haudhli
are most likely to live near the habitations
of men— but the humans may not be
aware of them. Because they are swift afoot
and can make themselves essentially invisi-
ble in natural terrain, they may be locally
common in even heavily populated areas
without ever being found out.

The haudhli are not friendly with the
larger races (to them, even a halfling is
large), particularly if an intruder or group
of intruders discovers their lair. If they are
discovered and approached, they will expect
and perhaps bluntly demand many apolo-
gies for the intrusion. Haudhli love precious
metals and gems, and a community will
often have its own treasure trove. Some-
times they can be bribed with gems or
jewelry.

Haudhli are handy with simple tools, and
can fashion small swords and bows and
arrows with which to defend themselves.
Their swords do 1-3 points of damage vs. S
or M creatures, 1-2 vs. opponents of size L.
Their bows have half the range of a short
bow; arrows do 1-2 points of damage vs. S
or M creatures, and only 1 point against
size L foes. The haudhli use no other weap-
ons, but may employ traps, especially in the
vicinity of their lair.

A haudhla can speak with plants once per
hour, and once a day it may employ detect
snares & pits, predict weather, purify water,
obscurement, snare, and audible glamer.
All of these spell-like powers are performed
at the eighth level of ability. In addition,
haudhli can fall from any height or pass
over any surface as if using the psionic
discipline body equilibrium. They can
survive extreme temperatures (-20 to +120
degrees F.) withno protection, but this
resistance is notproof against normal flame
or magical heat or cold of any sort.
If a neutral magic-user acquires the serv-
ices of a haudhla as a familiar, the spellcas-
ter gains the haudhla’s resistance to magic
and to extreme temperatures, as well as its
body equilibrium ability — but these
powers are conferred on the master only if
master and familiar are touching. The
magic-user may also receive telepathic
communication of all the haudhla sees,
hears, and senses, as long as master and
familiar are no farther than 12” from each
other.

Haudhli appear as minuscule humans
with sharp and somewhat homely features,
with skin color ranging from brown to dark
brown, and silvery-blue hair. They wear
clothes of green, brown, or grey hues. They
speak the haudhla language plus the
tongues of gnomes, pixies, sprites, halflings,
and the common tongue.