Zarias - Creature and Class for DCC

Shared by Jovianeye under Creative Commons 2.0

Zarias are primitive humanoid cheetahs, usually found in tropical grasslands living in roving bands of hunter/gatherers.  While omnivorous, most prefer fresh meat to other foods, although zarias do not eat intelligent creatures.  They may have good relations with other humanoid settlements near their range.  They often breed cheetahs as hunting beasts, and there is a 25% chance that 1d4 trained cheetahs will be present for every 25 zarias (or portion thereof).

Zarias are able to put on a burst of speed, raising their movement rate by +5' or better for up to 6 consecutive rounds (1 minute).  If they use this ability for more than one consecutive round, they suffer fatigue – taking 1 point of temporary Stamina damage on the 1^st additional round, 2 points on the 2^nd additional round, 3 points on the 3^rd, and so on – this damage lasts until they have a chance to rest for 5 minutes.  A zaria can use this burst of speed as part of a charge action, gaining an additional +1 bonus to hit and damage on that round.  This ability cannot be used if the zaria is wearing armour or carrying more than a light burden.

Zarias have slender builds and long tails.  They are lithe and graceful, moving with deftness and ease.  They have keen eyesight and hearing.  Both genders stand around 5 feet tall and weigh around 130 pounds.  They live to about 70 years on average.  They speak their own language, and use the Elf column in Appendix L to learn additional language.

Tactics

Zarias hunt cooperatively in groups, or by ambush as individuals.  They avoid larger game because of their relative fragility, targeting mostly small animals, such as some species of antelope and wild pig.  Whenever possible, they use ranged attacks in preference to melee.

As a group, zarias will attempt to drive prey or enemies toward waiting hunters.  If there are enough zarias, some will provide suppressive fire, using this option whenever the prey animal (or enemy) seeks to go in an undesired direction or attack the zarias with missile weapons of their own.  The ambushers seek to ambush via stealth.

Solitary zarias likewise hunt by ambush, but are unlikely to attempt to take prey much larger than a rabbit. Zarias are quite willing to drive prey or enemies toward natural hazards, such as cliffs or tar pits, whenever possible.

Zaria Characters

Hit Points:  A zaria gets 1d6 hit points at each level.

Weapon training:  A zaria is trained in the use of blowgun, club, dagger, shortbow, sling, and spear.  Zarias do not usually wear armour, but are not prohibited from doing so.  Wearing armour removes a zaria’s bonus to Initiative, Speed, and AC (see below).

Alignment:  Zarias are usually neutral or lawful. Few zarias are chaotic, and these are shunned by their kind.

Enhanced senses:  Zarias have excellent low-light vision and a keen sense of smell. They can see twice as far as a human in the dark, so long as any light is present.  Their keen sense of smell negates surprise on a 1 in 5 chance, when surprise would otherwise occur.

Initiative: An unarmoured zaria adds her level to her Initiative.

Speed:  A zaria’s movement bonus when sprinting increases as she gains levels.  This ability can only be used when the zaria is wearing no armour, and carrying no more than a light load.

AC Bonus:  An unarmoured zaria carrying no more than a light load gains a bonus to AC based on her quick reflexes, as indicated below.

Stealth:  Zarias are stealthy, gaining a bonus to hide and move quietly, as noted below.

Action Dice:  A zaria can use her Action Dice for attacks or skill rolls.

Luck:  A zaria’s Luck modifier is applied to Initiative rolls, AC, and Reflex saves.

Zero-level zarias:  A 0-level zaria has a 5’ Speed bonus and enhanced senses.

Level	Attack	Crit Die/Table	Action Dice	Speed Bonus	AC Bonus	Stealth Bonus	Ref	Fort	Will
1	+0	1d4/II	1d20	+5’	+1	+2	+2	+0	+1
2	+1	1d6/II	1d20	+10’	+2	+3	+2	+0	+1
3	+2	1d8/II	1d20	+10’	+3	+4	+2	+1	+1
4	+2	1d10/II	1d20	+15’	+4	+5	+3	+1	+2
5	+3	1d10/II	1d20+1d14	+20’	+4	+6	+4	+1	+2
6	+4	1d12/II	1d20+1d16	+25’	+5	+7	+4	+2	+2
7	+5	1d12/II	1d20+1d20	+30’	+5	+8	+4	+3	+3
8	+5	1d14/II	1d20+1d20	+35’	+5	+9	+5	+3	+3
9	+6	1d14/II	1d20+1d20	+35’	+6	+10	+5	+3	+3
10	+7	1d16/II	1d20+1d20+1d14	+40’	+6	+12	+7	+3	+4

Zaria Level Titles

Level	Title by Alignment
	Lawful or Neutral	Chaotic
1	Kin-member	Kin-shunned
2	Warder	Wanderer
3	Hunter	Exile
4	Ranger	Lone-farer
5	Far-Ranger	Dark-spotted one

Background:  When I first introduced my older daughter to D&D (3.0 version), she wanted to be able to play a humanoid cheetah.  Thus was a racial type born.  Her character's name was "Zaria", and when I was working on RCFG, I used that name as the racial name of the species.  With this entry complete, they are now also possible under the Dungeon Crawl Classics rules.