Humanoids as player
 characters in AD&D® games

by Joseph Clay

 
 

The pecking order	Notes on the tables	Physical abnormalities	Starting money	Character race descriptions
Orcs	Goblins	-	Kobolds	Xvarts
The shaman	-	The tribal magic-user	-	The witch doctor
Dragon 141	-	Races	-	Dragon

The following material is highly variant, but gamers may use it to start an alternate campaign in which the bad guys get a little glory for a change. If these rules
are not adopted for PCs, a DM may wish to use them for creating extraordinary
NPCs (perhaps even populating an isolated area of the world with "super humanoids" for the PCs to fight. Note that the D&D® Gazetteer GAZ 10 The Orcs of Thar
(released in December) contains a humanoid character-generating system as well,
though this article does not mesh with that or with other material on humanoids in
this magazine issue.

Exceptional humanoids are rare and
distinct from the other members of their
respective races. Such special beings could
conceivably enjoy limited level advancement, and a person playing a humanoid
character would have a unique roleplaying challenge. Some people would like
the chance to be a rustic and downright
disgusting orc after role-playing one too
many noble elves. Other maverick roleplayers may similarly want to play a
diminutive yet lethal kobold, breaking out
of the mold of the average, easily slain
humanoid. It is for these people that the
following guidelines for humanoid PCs
were created.

The pecking order
To get the proper feel for role-playing
humanoids, one must first understand
their motivations. Humanoid society is
usually formed into tribal hierarchies with
the strongest members in control. This
type of organization is also found in wild
animal populations and is often referred to
as the "pecking order!" In groups of preda-
tory animals like wolves or lions, the
rivalry of the pecking order establishes
the most physically powerful male as the
master of all he surveys. This mastery
allows the strongest male to have his first
choice of a mate, food, and all else he
desires. The leading male also has great
responsibilities in the hunt and in the
protection of his group. In humanoid
societies, the pecking order works in
much the same way; in both cases, the
group is there for the protection of its
individual members over all other outside
influences. Humanoids take this reasoning
a step further so that all other outside
influences must be eliminated, controlled,
or used for group or individual benefit.
Most humanoids fervently believe that the
only way to get something in life is to take
it by force.

Humanoids of all races will not be
adverse to joining forces in order to attack
common enemies; however, each race is
aware that when the battle is done, there
should only be one race to claim the spoils.
Most of the time, different humanoid

races war against each other for food and
slaves. This intertribal and interracial
warfare is imbedded in their religions and
in their minds. The warring weeds out the
weak and gives the survivors power  and
glory, thus establishing the pecking order
on a large scale. Exceptional humanoids
that become adventurers are a result of
this weeding process, and are nearly
always driven by the same competitiveness their tribes possess.

Notes on the tables
This article provides several tables to
help DMs and players determine the various aspects of humanoid PCs. Tables 1-3
provide minimum and maximum attributes, the number of dice used to determine these attributes, and any applicable
modifications made to the rolls. These
figures are determined by race, which is
reflected in the focus of each table.
Thesetables are based on Character Race Table III: Ability Score Minimums & Maximums, on page  15  of the  Players Handbook.
Tables 4-6 provide character-class level
limitations. These limits are determined by
race, as illustrated in the focus of each
table.
Tables 4-6 are similar to Character Race Table II: Class Level Limitations, on page 14 of the Players Handbook.
Tables 7 and 8 provide racial adjustments for humanoid thief and thiefacrobat abilities, respectively.
These tables are derived from the Racial Adjustments sections of the Thief Function Table on page 28 of the Players Handbook,
and the Thief-Acrobat Function Table on page 24 of  Unearthed Arcana.
Table 9 is a new table; it lists a number
of physical abnormalities for humanoid
PCs which are described in the following
section.
Table 10 lists starting ages for each of the humanoid races (as in the NonHuman Characters Table on page 12 of the Dungeon Masters Guide).
Table 11 shows the various age categories for each humanoid race (as in the Age Categories table on page 13 of the  DMG).
Table 12 is the Shaman Experience table;
it provides the experience points, levels,
titles, and numbers of hit dice for this
spell-casting class. Spells for this class are
listed in Table 13. Table 14 (like Table 12)
lists experience information for the witch
doctor character class. Spells available to
this class appear in Table 15. These tables
are similar to those provided in the  Players Handbook  for the other character
classes.

P h y s i c a l   a b n o r m a l i t i e s
In some humanoid societies, physical
abnormalities are a fact of life. Abnormalities run from unfortunate deformities to
useful new abilities. Exceptional humanoids are distinct from regular humanoids
because they are so often remarkably
abnormal, even for humanoids. Physical
abnormalities are determined randomly by
rolling twice on Table 9. These abnormalities are detailed as follows:

Abnormally tall:  Height is increased by
1-2?, weight by 20-40 lbs., and strength by
1 point. If height is increased past 7? tall,
the humanoid is considered to be in the
larger-than-man-size category for weapon
damage.

Color blind:  Certain colors cannot be
distinguished and will appear uniformly
gray, at the DM?s discretion.

Disgusting habit:  This causes a penalty
of -2 to charisma and comeliness. Possible bad habits could include great uncleanliness, slobbering, belching, or worse
(player's choice).

Disproportionate arms:  Increase
strength by 1 point, but only with respect
to the use of hands, arms, and shoulders.
This extra point of strength may be used
for wielding hand weapons, pummeling,
and grappling. In addition, increase the
chance of successful climbing by 5%.

Dumb:  The humanoid may be dumb, but
not stupid. Reroll intelligence and wisdom
scores using 1d4 +4.

Furry/hairy:  The humanoid is covered in
heavy growths of fur. Improve natural
armor class by 1 point and give + 1  to
saving throws vs. cold damage.

Heightened smell:  The sense of smell is
highly acute, allowing the humanoids to
distinguish hundreds of different people
by scent alone. Surprise rolls are granted
+ 1 in favor of an individual with this
ability. Tracking by scent can be done on a
20% chance.

Homing instinct:  With this ability, a lost
humanoid can always make a straight-line
path to his home ground (if he is on the
same world as his home).

Insanity:  Roll for the type of insanity on
page 83 of the  DMG.  It is suggested that
insanity should be a type that might
improve role-playing rather than one of
the more serious, uncontrollable, disruptive forms (like suicidal mania, etc.). [See
"Methods to Your Madness," in DRAGON®
issue #138, for playable types of character
insanity.]

Iron stomach:  An iron stomach-allows
the owner to eat bad food, carrion, rats,
rot grubs, or anything that might be
remotely edible with no ill effects. Saving
throws vs. ingested poison are at +4; if no
saving throw is normally possible, the
humanoid gains a saving throw of 16,
adjusted by other applicable bonuses from
magical items.

Keen hearing:  The humanoid has an
80% chance to hear noise, with a 20%
chance in the worst conditions.

Oversized claws:  The humanoid can
make regular claw attacks, doing 1-4 hp
per clawed hand (two such attacks per
round) plus bonuses for strength.

Oversized teeth: The humanoid can bite
for 1-4 hp damage (normally, humanoid
bites only do 1 hp damage).

Psionics:  This rare humanoid is psionically endowed and must roll for psionic
ability, powers, and disciplines, as per the
Players Handbook, pages 110-117.

Stupid:  Reroll intelligence and wisdom
scores using 1d4 + 1. Although not particularly bright, the humanoid with this affliction can be single-mindedly tenacious. The
humanoid can continue to fight for 1-4
melee rounds after reaching zero through
-   6   h p   b e f o r e   b e i n g   k i l l e d .   A t   -   7   h p   o r
more, death is immediate.

Sensitive skin:  In direct sunlight, the
humanoid with this affliction suffers 2 hp
damage per hour from burns.

Thick cranium:  The humanoid with this
enlarged forehead can use it as a large,
hard object when pummeling  (Unearthed
Arcana,  page 107). Subtract 1 point of
intelligence.

Tougher hide:  Subtract 2 from the natural armor class of the humanoid.

Ugly:  Reroll comeliness using 1d6 + 2,
and subtract 1 point from charisma (maximum score of 10 allowed)

Ugly (very):  Reroll charisma using
1d10 -8, and subtract 3 points from charisma (maximum score of 8 allowed).

Ugly (extremely):  Reroll comeliness using
2d6 -20, and subtract 5 points from charisma (maximum score of 6 allowed, with
no minimum score). If two "Ugly" results
are rolled, the charisma effects are cumulative and the lowest possible comeliness
score using either result is adopted. Anyone who sees a humanoid with charisma
and comeliness scores of negative values
must make a saving throw vs. spells or be
affected as if by a  scare  spell. It is obvious
that such a humanoid must keep his face
covered when he is not in private.
 

Table 1
Orc Attributes
 

A t t r i b u t e	Min.	Max.	Dice	Mod.
Strength	8	18/00	3d6	+ 1
Intelligence	2	16	2d8	-
Wisdom	2	16	2d8	-
Dexterity	2	17	3d6	-1
Constitution	10	19	3d6	+1
Charisma*	2	16	2d8	-
Comeliness*	2	12	2d6	-

* Add + 2 to the given charisma when dealing with orcs from the PC's own tribe
 

Table 2
Goblin Attributes
 

A t t r i b u t e	Min.	Max.	Dice	Mod.
Strength	3	18/75	3d6	-
Intelligence	3	17	3d6	-
Wisdom	2	16	2d8	-
Dexterity	3	18	3d6	-
Constitution	8	17	3d6	-1
Charisma*	2	16	2d8	-
Comeliness*	2	8	2d4	-

* Add + 2 to the given charisma when dealing with goblins from the PC's own tribe.
 

Table 3
Kobold and Xvart Attributes
 

A t t r i b u t e	Min.	Max.	Dice	Mod.
Strength	3	15	3d6	-1
Intelligence	2	16	2d8	-
Wisdom	2	16	2d8	-
Dexterity	3	18	3d6	-
Constitution	2	16	2d8	-
Charisma*	2	16	2d8	-
Comeliness*	2	8	2d4	-

Table 4
Class Level Limitations (Orc)
 

Ability Score	Shaman	Fighter	Magic-user	Thief	Assassin
15	5	2	4	7	12
16	6	3	4	8	12
17	7	3	4	9	12
18	8	4	4	9	12
18/99	-	5	-	-	-
18/00	-	5	-	-	-
19	10	6	5	10	13
20	11	8	6	10	14
21	11	12	6	10	14

Table 5
Class Level Limitations (Goblin)
 

Ability Score	Shaman	Fighter	Magic-User	Thief	Assassin
15	7	2	4	9	11
16	8	2	4	10	12
17	9	3	4	11	12
18	10	4	5	11	13
18/99	-	4	-	-	-
18/00	-	5	-	-	-
19	11	6	6	11	14
20	11	8	7	12	14
21	11	9	8	12	14

Table 6
Class Level Limitations (Kobolds/Xvarts)
 

Ability Score	Shaman	Fighter	Magic-User	Thief	Assassin
15	5	2	2	10	10
16	6	2	2	11	10
17	7	2	3	12	11
18	8	2	4	12	11
18/50	-	3	-	-	-
18/75	-	4	-	-	-
18/99	-	5	-	-	-
19	10	6	5	12	12
20	10	6	6	12	12
21	10	7	8	12	12

Table 7
Racial Adjustments for Thieves
 

Race of the thief	Pick pockets	Open locks	Find/remove traps	Move silently	Hide in shadows	Hear noise	Climb walls	Read languages
Orc	-5%	+5%	+15%	-	-	+5%	+10%	-20%
Goblin	+5%	+5%	+5%	-	+5%	+5%	-	-10%
Kobold	+5%	+5%	+5%	+10%	+15%	+5%	-15%	-10%
Xvart	-	+5%	+5%	+10%	+15%	+5%	-15%	-5%

Table 8
Racial Adjustments for Thief-Acrobats
 

Race of acrobat	Tightrope walking	Pole vaulting	High jumping	Broad jumping: standing	Broad jumping: running	Tumbling: attack	Tumbling: evasion	Tumbling: falling
Goblin	-	-2'	-1'	-1 1/2'	-2'	+5%	+10%	-
Kobold	-	-2'	-1'	-2'	-2'	-	+10%	-5%
Xvart	-	-2'	-1'	-2'	-2'	-	+10%	-5%

Starting money
For the sake of simplicity, all humanoids
can be given the starting money normally
allowed to their prospective classes. But if
a DM wishes to create a more challenging
dilemma for starting humanoids, he may
equip each of them with any three of the
following useful groups of things instead
(player's choice): any one weapon; one suit
of ring mail, studded leather, or leather
armor; a shield (any size); one week's food
and water; a pouch with 2-8 random coins
(with thieves picks and tools if the humanoid has thieving abilities); a completely
loyal,

immature pet (must be a nonmagical
mammal having 5 HD or less when full
grown);

a wooden holy symbol (for shamans and witch doctors); a crudely made
spell book (written on thin wooden sheets
or old paper) for witch doctors, with spell
components for 2d10 castings; one set of
very warm furs, a hat, boots, and gloves;
1-4 one-gallon jugs of highly volatile drinking grog; 1-2 flasks of oil; one flask of a
randomly determined poison (DM's decision as to potency, effects, and use). Motheaten or dirty old garments are free for
starting humanoids. The DM must remind
the humanoid that he comes from a technologically backwards, if not impover
ished, tribal situation; even shoes or boots
are rarely available.

Character race descriptions

Orcs

Exceptional orcs may be fighters, shamans, magic-users, thieves, or assassins.
Orcs may be multiclassed as witch doctors, fighter/assassins, or shaman/thieves.
Orcs have a natural armor class of 10,
modified by dexterity and armor. In addition to their own language, orcs speak
Goblin, Hobgoblin, Ogrish, and a crude
form of Common. They also speak their
alignment language but can learn no additional languages. Orcs pick up most
obscene and slang words and phrases if
exposed to a given language for more than
one week?s time.

Orcs have infravision to a 6? range; in
bright light, they take a penalty of - 1 on
?to hit? rolls and saving throws. Orcs have
a base movement rate of 12?) an average
weight of 170 +2d12 lbs., and an average
height of 66 +4d4? (about 6?). All orcs
have excellent mining skills, and exceptional orcs have a 35% chance to detect
grade, slope, new construction, sliding
walls, traps, and depth underground.
Many orcs have the ability to construct
large engines of destruction, such as catapults, battering rams, etc.; some orcs have
extra proficiency in the use of one specific
siege-engine type, receiving a + 1 bonus
on ?to hit? rolls. A few know how to train
elephantine creatures as war mounts.
Orcs can handle any hand-held weapons
that humans can handle.

Orcs hate elves and their ilk, and will
generally attack them before attacking any
other creature. Exceptional orcs will tolerate elves as long as there is no impertinence. This balanced tolerance rarely
prevents an orc from using harmless but
vulgar puns which the orc regards as high
sarcasm. All orcs are rude, crude, and
have bad manners, especially when fighting and eating. Attempts at teaching an
orc complex tasks sometimes result in
vaguely acceptable behavior, although this
is usually perverted into unintentional
parodies of the desired goal.

Goblins

Goblins may be fighters, shamans,
magic-users, thieves, assassins, or thiefacrobats. They may be multiclassed as
witch doctors, fighter/shamans, fighter/
thieves, fighter/witch doctors, and
s h a m a n / t h i e v e s .

Goblins have a natural armor class of 10,
modified by dexterity and armor type. In
addition to their own language, goblins
also speak Hobgoblin, Kobold, Orcish, and
a stilted form of Common. They also speak
their alignment language and a maximum
of one other language, regardless of intelligence. A goblin can call off attacks from
wolves, worgs, and most dogs if he rolls
his charisma or less on 1d20, with a + 2
bonus.

Goblins have infravision to a 6? range.
In bright light, goblins take a penalty of
- 1 on "to hit" rolls and on saving throws.
Goblins have a base movement rate of 6?)
an average weight of 70 +2d10 lbs., and
an average height of 43 + 2d4?. Goblins
have fair mining skills, with a 25% chance
to detect grade, slope, new construction,
sliding walls, traps, and depth underground. When attacked by larger-thanman-size creatures, goblin characters
subtract 1 from their opponents ?to hit?
rolls because of the relative speed and
small size of goblins.

Goblins hate gnomes and dwarves, and
will generally attack them before attacking
any other creature. Exceptional goblins
might rein-in their racial hatreds in order
to benefit from mutual cooperation, but
this does not keep them from subterfuge,
manipulation, or worse at a later date.
Goblins of all alignments can have henchmen, but evil goblins will literally enslave
their followers.

Kobolds and xvarts

Kobolds and their blue-skinned cousins
may become fighters, shamans, magicusers, thieves, assassins, or thief-acrobats.
They may be multiclassed as witch doctors, fighter/shamans, fighter/magic-users,
fighter/witch doctors, fighter/thieves,
fighter/assassins, shaman/thieves, shaman/
assassins, magic-user/thieves, or witch
doctor/thieves.

Kobolds speak their own language, Goblin, and Orcish; xvarts know their own
tongue, Kobold, and Goblin. These two
races also speak their alignment languages
and a maximum of one more language.
Kobolds can deal with wild boars and
giant weasels as goblins do large canines,
and xvarts deal with all rats and bats in a
similar fashion.

Kobolds and xvarts have infravision out
to a 6" range; in bright light, they take a
penalty of - 1 on "to hit" rolls and on
saving throws. Their base movement rate
is 6?) average weight is 34 + 2d6 lbs., and
average height is 31+ 2d8". Kobolds have
a natural armor class of 8 and xvarts of
10, with modifications for armor worn
and dexterity. When being attacked by
larger-than-man-size creatures, these
beings subtract 1 from their opponents ?to
hit? rolls because of the size differential.
Normal kobolds and xvarts almost
always live in large war bands which
makes up for their individual small sizes.
Exceptional kobolds and xvarts compensate for their smallness by the use of cunning tactics, common sense, and raw skill;
still, they realize that safety lies in num
bers and will always retain good standing
within one or more tribes. Each such
humanoid therefore finds it advantageous
to increase the size and might of his tribe,
indirectly gaining more prestige and personal power. For example, by seeking to
improve tribal ironworking techniques,
the exceptional kobold benefits, as his
tribe can create better weapons and
armor of higher protective value. These
smallest beings must look after each other
in order to survive annihilation by their
numerous enemies. To reflect this tribal
orientation, an exceptional kobold or xvart
adds double his level of experience to his
charisma score to get the charisma effect
when dealing with humanoids of his own
tribe.

Since so many assorted creatures attack
them, kobolds have become clever haters,
particularly despising the likes of brownies, pixies, sprites, and gnomes. Exceptional kobolds tolerate the more powerful
gnomes only if they can ignore them. Any
conversation with these races is terse and
to the point. By contrast, xvarts seem to
hate everyone equally.

Table 9
Physical Abnormalities
 

1d100	Abnormality
0 1 - 0 2	A b n o r m a l l y   t a l l
0 3 - 0 6	Color blind
0 7 - 1 0	Disgusting habit
1 1 - 1 2	Disproportionate arms
1 3 - 1 6	D u m b
1 7 - 2 0	Furry/hairy
2 1 - 2 2	Heightened smell
2 3 - 2 5	Homing instinct
2 6 - 2 7	Infravision
2 8 - 3 0	I n s a n i t y
3 1 - 3 4	Iron stomach
3 5 - 3 6	Keen hearing
3 7 - 3 8	O v e r s i z e d   c l a w s
3 9 - 4 2	Oversized teeth
4 3	P s i o n i c
4 4 - 4 5	S t u p i d
4 6 - 4 9	Sun-sensitive skin
5 0 - 5 1	Thick cranium
5 2 - 5 3	Tough hide
5 4 - 5 9	U g l y
6 0 - 6 4	Ugly (very)
6 5 - 6 6	Ugly (extremely)
6 7 - 9 4	N o   a b n o r m a l i t i e s
9 5 - 9 9	Roll again twice
0 0	Player's choice

Table 10
Age categories
 

Race	Young adult	Mature	Middle aged	Old	Venerable
Goblin	10-12	13-25	26-35	36-50	51-65
Kobold/Xvart	20-30	31-65	66-100	101-135	136-180
Orc	8-10	11-20	21-30	31-40	41-55

Table 11
Humanoid Starting Age
 

Race	Cleric	Fighter	Magic-user	Thief
Goblin	9+1d4	9+1d4	13+1d8	9+1d4
Kobold/Xvart	28+1d4	20+1d4	37+2d12	26+1d4
Orc	7+1d4	7+1d4	11+1d6	7+1d4

Table 12
Shaman Experience Table
 

Experience points	Experience level	8-sided dice for accumulated hit points	Level title
0-2,000	1	2	Minor shaman
2,001-4,000	2	3	Minor shaman
4,001-8,000	3	4	Minor shaman
8,001-17,500	4	5	Shaman
17,501-35,000	5	6	Shaman
35,001-70,000	6	7	Shaman
70,001-140,000	7	8	Shaman priest
140,001-285,000	8	9	Shaman priest
285,001-570,000	9	10	Shaman priest
570,001-845,000	10	10+2	Greater shaman
845,001+	11	10+4	Greater shaman

T h e s h a m a n

The shaman is a primitive subclass of
the cleric. A character must have a mini
mum wisdom ability score of 9 to be a
shaman; if wisdom is greater than 15, the
character adds 10% to the experience
points awarded to him by the referee, A
shaman PC also gains bonus spells from
high wisdom.

The shaman is dedicated to a deity and
urges his tribe to worship that god. The
shaman's alignment is that of his deity, and
he uses the weapon and armor types used
by that deity and by his own tribe.
PC shamans are limited to the casting of
certain spells; these are listed hereafter.
Shamans have the same number of spells
usable per level as clerics, using these
spells to protect the welfare of their
tribes. Shamans may additionally use
clerical scrolls with spells other than those
on the shamans? spell table.
Shamans use the cleric's fighting and
saving-throw tables. All saving throws vs.
disease and poison are made at +2, due to
the hardy lifestyle of the shaman.
The shaman character has some of the
primary abilities of the barbarian class.
These primary abilities are:  hide in natural
surroundings, surprise,  and  leadership.

The shaman also has the following
barbarian-class secondary abilities:  survival, first aid, outdoor craft,  and  tracking.
Exceptional humanoid shamans also
have sage knowledge, having two to four
special categories within the major field of
study. The major field of study will, of
course, always be ?Humanoids and
Giantkind.? Shamans can read and write
any language they can speak with a 5%
chance of success per intelligence point.
Humanoid shamans of 9th level can
concoct poison as assassins can. Scrolls
may be inscribed by shamans of 7th level
only if the shamans can use the spells they
inscribe.

If and when a humanoid shaman
achieves 8th level, he automatically
attracts humanoid followers if he establishes a place of worship. These humanoid
followers are fanatically loyal and serve
without pay as long as the shaman does
not change deities or alignment. The number of humanoid followers is the same as
the "Number Appearing" statistic found in
the  Monster Manual  under the appropriate humanoid type.

<
Orc: 30-300
Goblin: 40-400
Kobold: 40-400
Xvart: 40-400
>

In addition, there will
be subleaders of the appropriate type and
4-20 temple guards (normal humanoids
with maximum hit points). For each
advance in level beyond the 8th, the shaman gains 2-20 additional humanoid followers. The shaman may also build a
castle or some type of fortified temple
upon reaching 9th level, as would a normal cleric.

T a b l e   1 3
Shaman Spells
 

N u m b e r	1st level	2nd level	3rd level	4th level	5th level	6th level
1	Ceremony	Augury	Cure blindness	Abjure	Animate dead monsters	Animate object
2	Cure light wounds	Chant	Cure disease	Control temperature 10' radius*	Atonement	Conjure animals
3	Detect evil	Detect charm	Death's door	Divination	Commune	Find the path
4	Detect magic	Detect life	Dispel magick	Exorcise	Control winds*	Forbiddance
5	Light	Holy symbol	Flame walk	Neutralize poison	Cure critical wounds	Heal
6	Portent	Resist fire	Locate object	Produce fire*	Dispel magic <evil?>	Speak with monsters
7	Protection from evil	Snake charm	Prayer	Spell immunity	Quest	Stone tell
8	Resist fear <Remove fear?>	Speak with animals	Remove curse	Tongues	True seeing	Weather summoning

* As the druidic spell of the same level

The tribal magic-user
The tribal magic-user is the same as a
regular magic-user, except that spell lists
are more limited for magicians in such
rustic situations. The spells of tribal magicusers are engraved into poor-quality paper
or wooden tablets because the expensive
parchment required to make a proper

spell book is beyond the technological
capabilities of most humanoid tribes.
These spell "books" are bulky, having an
encumbrance value of 10 gp per spell level
for wooden tablets and 3 gp per spell level
for paper books.

Humanoid magic-users and witch doctors are initially limited in magic-user
spells, but they may attempt to learn and
use other magic-user spells if such are
accessible. The spells must be provided by
the very few human or demi-human
magic-users who are willing to trade with
humanoids (or are forced to do so). Since
the providing magic-user runs the risk of
being labeled as a traitor (or worse), he
will certainly charge many times the formal fee for such services. Exceptional
magic-users and witch doctors all begin
with the spells read  magic  and write, with
1-3 other spells as well.

Wooden or parchment scrolls may be
inscribed by 7th- or higher-level tribal
spell-casters, so long as the spells involved
are on their allowed spells lists.

The witch doctor

Witch doctors are a special form of
multiclassed magic-user/shaman open only

to humanoids. The witch doctor differs
from other multiclasses  because a six-sided
die per level is used to determine hit
points. Witch doctors have all the abilities
and level limitations of shamans.
The ability to learn and memorize
magic-user spells is restricted by the level
limitations of the tribal magic-user class,
even though the witch doctor can achieve
higher levels.

In addition to the special abilities of
shamans, witch doctors  have other skills.

At 3rd level, witch doctors can brew
crude alcoholic beverages.

At 5th level, the
following spells can be brewed as potions:
cure blindness, cure disease, cure  light
wounds, resist  fear, and resist  fire. Neutralize poison  and  spell immunity  can be
brewed as potions upon attaining 7th
level.

Also at 7th level, a witch doctor has
sufficient alchemical ability with which to
construct a homonculous. Note that no aid
from an alchemist is required unless the
witch doctor wishes to make other potion
types.

Table 14
Witch Doctor's Experience Table
 

Experience points	Experience level	6-sided dice for accumulated HP	Level title
0-4,500	1	1	Acolyte
4,501-9000	2	2	Evoker
9,001-18,000	3	3	Witch-Conjurer
18,001-39,500	4	4	Bewitcher
39,501-75,000	5	5	Witch-Brewer
75,001-130,000	6	6	Witch-Brewer
130,001-230,000	7	7	Witch-Brewer
230,001-420,000	8	8	Witch Doctor
420,001-820,000	9	9	Witch Doctor
820,001-1,220,OOO	10	9+2	Witch Doctor
1,220,001+	11	9+4	Witch Doctor

Table 15
Tribal Magic-user and Witch Doctor Spells
 

Number	1st level	2nd level	3rd level	4th level
1	Affect normal fires	Audible glamer	Clairaudience	Dig
2	Dancing lights	Bind	Clairvoyance	Enchanted weapon
3	Identify	Detect invisibility	Defect illusion	Fear
4	Jump	Invisibility	Dispel magick	Plant growth
5	Mending	Levitate	Flame arrow	Polymorph other
6	Push	Magic mouth	Haste	Polymorph self
7	Run	Mirror image	Invisibility, 10' radius	Remove curse
8	Shield	Preserve	Material	Ultra vision
9	Taunt	Scare	Protection from normal missiles	Stoneskin
10	Ventriloquism	Shatter	Slow	Wizard eye

zb

1.

Koromundu (frost giant witch doctor; 91.217)
(see Blizzard)

Blizzard (252: mature adult | 91.218)
(see Koromundu)