Page 127 - Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberrations

Constrict (Ex): A tsochar strand deals 1d3–3 points of against one another, except for the fact that a tsochar is not well
damage with a successful grapple check. When a strand deals equipped to inflict serious harm on one of its fellows. They can’t

damage by means of its grapple check, it injects its victim with poison or inhabit each other, and their hard flesh is difficult

poison. to damage with their own natural weapons. Two tsochari can
Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, the tsochar strand fight all day long and not do much harm to each other.

must hit a Small or smaller opponent with its tentacle attack. Since they are so resistant to each other’s physical attacks,
It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without tsochari naturally limit their competitions to battles of
provoking attacks of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, intrigue, status, and prestige. Tsochar society is organized into
it establishes a hold and can constrict. Tsochari receive a +4 a number of rival castes, each constantly jockeying for power
racial bonus on grapple checks.
and wealth. The five most important castes are the nobles, the

CHAPTER 7 THE WEARERS OF FLESH damage 1 Dex. The save DC is Constitution-based. The tsochar priests, the arcanists, the soldiers, and the merchants. Other
Poison (Ex): Injury, Fortitude DC 11, initial and secondary
castes might have more members than these, but they rarely
interact with creatures of other races.
strand’s poison is delivered by dealing damage with its constrict
Nobles are the rulers of the tsochari, consisting of a merito-
attack.
TSOCHAR VARIANTS cratic group of especially strong, old, cruel, and manipulative
individuals. No tsochar is favored by its birth position; the
Roughly one in ten tsochari belong to the “noble” caste. These creatures have no sense of family or hereditary posts. Instead,
creatures achieve a higher consciousness than the common any tsochar that demonstrates that it is capable, clever, and
tsochar, and advance by character class in addition to grow- ruthless can slowly worm its way into the ranks of the nobles.
ing larger as common tsochari do. A typical noble tsochar is High-ranking individuals in other castes frequently work
a tsochar of 8 Hit Dice, with four to eight sorcerer levels. The toward achieving enough status and wealth to abandon their
largest and oldest tsochari are terribly powerful sorcerers, old castes and become nobles.
cruel and ancient entities that rule over their lesser fellows Priests belong to perhaps the most powerful caste. Tsochari
with an iron grip. are fervently devoted to their sinister deities, and the cult of

Tsochari that are especially capable with their telepathy take Mak Thuum Ngatha is the single most influential organiza-
the Mindsight feat, described below. tion within tsochari society. Even the nobles must pay heed
to the priests’ proclamations of divine will. Priests view the
Mindsight plundering and sacrifice of otherworld races (such as humans)

A creature that has this feat possesses innate telepathic abil- as a holy mandate, and constantly seek to bring the worship
ity that allows it to precisely pinpoint other thinking beings of the Nine-Tongued Worm to new spheres.
within range of its telepathy. The creature perceives where the The arcanist tsochari assimilate and study stolen magical lore
others are and how powerful their intellects are. from other races. All tsochari are fascinated by arcane magic,
Prerequisite: Telepathy special quality. but the arcanists actually take levels in sorcerer or wizard

Benefit: A creature that has this feat can detect and pinpoint classes. Tsochari plots to subvert human wizards’ guilds arise
beings that are not mindless (anything with an Intelligence in the black halls of the arcanists.
score of 1 or higher) within range of its telepathy. This works Soldier tsochari serve the dictates of the leader castes. They
much like blindsense—the creature knows what square each do the bidding of nobles, priests, and arcanists. Soldiers strive
thinking being is in, but it does not see the being, and the to ascend to nobility through useful service, demonstrated
being still has total concealment unless the creature can see successes, and a certain ruthless streak. The soldiers balance
it by some other means. the rivalry between noble and priest by following noble dictates
The creature also perceives several observable characteristics and priestly mandates as they deem advisable.
about each being detected with mindsight, including the Tsochari merchants are not really merchants at all, since no
being’s type and Intelligence score. The creature need not take tsochari would offer payment for the things it desires unless no
any additional or special actions to gain this information; it is other option is available. They work as far-ranging explorers,
as obvious to mindsight as the being’s race and clothing would raiders, slavers, and spies in search of opportunities to enrich
be to eyesight. themselves at the expense of less-capable races.
Normal: Telepathy offers no special ability to sense other
minds. The creature has to know that a being is there to com- LANGUAGE
municate with it telepathically. Tsochari speak their own language, Tsochar. Much of it consists
of complex raspings and buzzings created by rubbing strands
together. While humanoids could conceivably learn to under-
TSOCHAR SOCIETY stand tsochar speech, actually speaking the language would be
Tsochari are spiteful, ambitious, avaricious, and self-centered. difficult indeed. Because tsochari are telepathic, the Tsochar

They would likely entertain all sorts of murderous schemes language is relatively simple, with a broad vocabulary of tech-

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