Homebrew Bhuka Species Details

Bhuka -- Full Description

Physical Description: Bhukas are slightly built, with sand-colored skin and brick-red, tightly curled hair. They have little facial or body hair. Their large ears, networked with veins, fold flat against the head to retain heat in the cold desert night and keep out blowing sand. A frill of skin about the neck contains numerous spines that can lift the frill and raise it for cooling. The face of a bhuka is flat, with slitlike nostrils protected by flaps of skin. A bhuka’s eyes have long lashes to keep out sand and dust, and the skin surrounding them is darker than the rest of the face, giving a bhuka the appearance of wearing a mask. Bhukas have wide, splayed feet that help them move easily over sand, and they do not wear shoes. Body paint is used to signify social position and ranges from a simple stripe on a low-ranking youth’s neck frill to an elaborate pattern of spots, stripes, and religious glyphs covering the arms and upper body of a matriarch. Clothing is flowing and light, woven from desert grasses using ancient techniques that make the garb excellent protection from heat. A typical bhuka stands between 4 and 5 feet tall and rarely weighs more than 90 pounds.

Relations: From the beginning of their history, bhukas have been a gentle people of whom others have taken advantage. When the first people emerged from the Lower World, bhukas were the last to choose their home and thus had to adapt to the harsh waste. The cruder goblinoid races deride them as weak, while the traditional enemies of goblins (such as badland dwarves and painted elves) are more likely to engage a bhuka on friendly terms. Warlike people of the waste have driven bhukas away from fertile regions, forcing them into an ever-smaller and less hospitable territory. Yet this form of exile is a source of strength for the bhukas, who take pride in their ability to flourish even under such conditions. Bhukas are not cowards—push too hard, and they reveal a toughness bred of burning sun and baked earth. The bhuka people have a longstanding trade relationship with the crucians (see page 144 of Sandstorm), exchanging food, art objects, and dyes for tools and other worked items. Asheratis are unnerving to bhukas. The asheratis’ presence below the sand is disturbing to a bhuka’s perception of reality and challenges his standing in the hierarchy of the waste.

Alignment: A complex system of community relationships holds a bhuka village together. Respect for superiors and the need to contribute to the common good is drilled into every member of the society, and those who do not adhere become outcasts. Bhuka society is lawful, with most individuals tending toward good.

Bhuka Lands: Bhukas form extended family groups, called phratries, consisting of several clans related by origin. Each phratry claims ancestry from one couple who emerged from the Lower World at the beginning of history and is responsible for maintaining a particular tradition of the people. Young adults of a given phratry cannot marry within any of its clans, which means they must wed someone from another village; the new family may settle with either parent clan. Bhukas inhabit adobe or sandstone dwellings built into and against cliffs or dug into the upper levels of desert canyons. Each family has its own home, with a terrace built under it to allow drying of food, space for sitting and talking, and access to other houses. The entrance to a house is well above ground level as a defense against invaders—access is by ladders or rope lifts. A central spring provides water to the community. Farms surround each village. The arid climate and hard earth of the waste makes agriculture a challenge, but bhukas use traditional dry-farming techniques to grow their staple foods of beans, sunflowers, desert grasses, and corn. The fields are not plowed. Instead, tough native vegetation holds the soil in place, with the crops planted in rows of deep holes. Sometimes, the village spring irrigates a terrace built below the house entrances for growing small, tough melons that furnish both food and containers. Bhukas supplement their diet with wild plants such as cactus pads, fruits, and the meat of small animals. Religion: Religion is the glue that holds a bhuka community together. Each phratry is responsible for protecting a relic of the Emergence, the time when the first people came out from under the earth. For example, members of the Wokuhoo (Moon Owl) phratry are the caretakers of the Talon, a relic of the bird that led their ancestors into the Upper World. They lead ceremonies commemorating that event and control imagery that appears in sacred art relating to it. Bhuka society is matriarchal, each village headed by a Grandmother who presides over a council of male and female elders. The Lower World from which the people surfaced is known as the Second Womb, where the mother deity, Kikanuti, nurtured them and taught them until they were ready to emerge. (The more savage goblinoids, they believe, are not yet mature and must stay beneath the earth.) The Grandmother is the village’s link to Kikanuti and presides over important ceremonies. Each bhuka village has a ceremonial pit, dug into a courtyard or sacred cave and covered with a lid of painted hides. The walls are carved with traditional symbols that depict the Emergence and subsequent migrations of the people, as well as images of friendly spirits, important landmarks, and food animals and plants. The most solemn rituals take place in these pits, which recall the dark world beneath the ground from which the bhukas emerged. Outsiders are strictly forbidden from entering sacred pits, and only adult members of the community participate in the rites. The village pit is also where coming-of-age rituals are held. Village festivals celebrating the harvest, weddings, and changes of season take place in the common area rather than the pit, and are occasions for feasting, song, and dance. The bhukas believe that Kikanuti still guides them in the Upper World by sending them her spirit children to dwell among the villages. These spirits are embodied in ritual masks, which clan elders don for festival dances at specified times of the year. A mask’s spirit possesses the dancer wearing it and is honored by the villagers with feasting and prayers. Bhukas acknowledge the existence of hostile deities of the waste and take care not to offend them, even holding an annual appeasement ceremony at the winter solstice. Unfortunately for the bhukas, this practice does not usually deter the warlike followers of antagonistic deities.

Language: The bhukas do not have a literate society. All their lore is oral, supplemented by a rich library of symbols that adorn both artistic and everyday objects. Their language is distantly related to Goblin, but the two tongues diverged so long ago that most other goblinoids cannot understand Bhuka. The isolated bhuka society offers little reason for its members to learn Common, but many bhukas speak Draconic due to their trading relationship with the crucians.

Names: Bhuka names are long and carry much meaning, but they retain the harsh syllables of the Goblin tongue. A typical bhuka has a given name, followed by the name of the mother’s clan (preceded by kha, or “born of”), and the clan into which he or she has married (preceded by gi). Children receive a pet name until they come of age and choose a name that describes their personality.

Male Given Names: Aghila’ak (Runs Like Lizard), Cochik’ukan (Eyes of Sunhawk), Gistik’uwa (High-Kick Dancer), Kotigana (Ears of Hare), Niskigan (Snake Fang), Piklit’akit (Jumping Mouse Grace), Takigini (Speaks with Force), Wikitagan (Flight of Swallow). A bhuka elder

Female Given Names: Chinkichu (Basket of Corn), Hintak’inai (Painted Frill), Kekkoti (Little Ear), Lakinigo (Slow Smile), Namatagi’na (Sings with Paint), Stikuchi (Dancing Mother), Takihoti (Speaks with Wisdom), Yukaki’na (Leader of Songs). Clan Names: Clans carry the name of a totem spirit or relic of the Emergence.

Examples: Chikuk (Sunhawk), Kekkinna (Ear of Corn), Kichu (Basket), Niski (Rattlesnake), Pitlitak (Jumping Mouse), Wiki’i (Swallow), Wokuhoo (Moon Owl).

Adventurers: The tight-knit, agrarian community of the bhukas does not often produce wanderers, but their ancient migrations are still a part of the race’s memory. Some individuals are born with the wind in their souls, as the bhukas say, and are thought to be the incarnations of spirit children. These bhukas become ambassadors, traveling between the scattered villages with messages and gifts, and lead the trade expeditions to the lands of the crucians. Those in whom the wind blows more strongly embark on solitary travels, perhaps to see where the other children of Kikanuti have gone, or simply to follow their hearts. Such individuals might join with other travelers who earn their trust. Outcast bhukas also rove the waste. These are usually bitter, selfish beings who do not form groups. Sometimes a wanderer yearns to belong, though, and might find a sense of community among other races.

• +2 racial bonus on Constitution checks or Fortitude saves to resist harmful effects from heat and dehydration. Bhukas are toughened to the rigors of waste life. • +2 racial bonus on Knowledge (nature) checks. Knowledge (nature) is always a class skill for bhukas. • Heat Endurance: Bhukas gain Heat Endurance (see page 50) as a bonus feat. • Automatic Languages: Bhuka and Common. Bonus Languages: Draconic and Goblin. • Favored Class: Druid. A multiclass bhuka’s druid class does not count when determining whether she takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing. • Level adjustment +0.

Bhuka Traits

Get ready to--SURVIVE

Sure Feet

Bhukas have broad feat and splayed toes
that help them travel easily over sand and similar loose
surfaces. They treat shallow sand as normal terrain and
deep sand as shallow sand -- more on that below.

Sand Travel Fields of deep sand can impede the movement of creatures that cannot fly, float, or otherwise stay off the ground when traveling. Most creatures do not automatically sink all the way into deep sand. A hard crust of dried mud or salt can make the surface hard enough to support some weight. Sand that has been stabilized by desert growth is generally safe to walk on. The following new terrain features are provided to supplement those found under Desert Terrain on page 91 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide.

Shallow Sand: Shallow sand is much more common in desert areas than deep sand. Areas covered by this terrain feature have a layer of loose sand about 1 foot deep. It costs 2 squares of movement to move into a square with shallow sand, and the DC of Tumble checks in such a square increases by 2.

Deep Sand: Deep sand is most often found in deep deserts near areas of rolling dunes and fierce storms. Many creatures unfamiliar with desert terrain mistake deep sand for quicksand, although deep sand is not nearly as deadly. Areas covered by this terrain feature have a layer of loose sand up to 3 feet deep. It costs Medium or larger creatures 3 squares of movement to move into a square with deep sand. It costs Small or smaller creatures 4 squares of movement to move into a square with deep sand. Tumbling is impossible in deep sand.

Sand Crust: A sand crust appears as normal solid ground. Usually formed from a hardened crust of dried mud or salt, sand crusts sometimes cover areas of shallow sand (or, very rarely, deep sand). If a creature weighing more than 100 pounds (including equipment carried) enters a square covered with a sand crust, it breaks through to the sand below. The creature treats the square as shallow sand or deep sand, whichever lies below that square of sand crust, and it must deal with the effects of the sand on movement as described above. Creatures moving through an area of sand crust leave a trail in their wake, turning the sand crust they pass through into shallow sand or deep sand squares as applicable. Creatures weighing 100 pounds or less can treat sand crust as normal terrain.

Glare Resistance

Glare The sun can be extremely dangerous to unprotected eyes, drying and irritating the tissue. Areas of white sand, salt, gypsum, or similarly light-colored material reflect the sun’s glare into the eyes even when not looked at directly. Sun glare is doubly dangerous during winter months, when the sun is low on the horizon and thus difficult to avoid looking at. Characters traveling in such conditions must cover their eyes with a veil, dark lenses, or a similar eye covering. Those whose eyes are unprotected in such conditions are automatically dazzled. Such characters take a –1 penalty on attack rolls, Search checks, and Spot checks. These penalties are doubled for creatures that have light sensitivity (such as drow or orcs). Characters who take the precaution of covering or shielding their eyes automatically eliminate the risk of being dazzled by sun glare and take no penalties. Glare-induced blindness lasts as long as characters remain in an area of sun glare and for 1d4 hours thereafter, or for 1 hour thereafter if the character enters a shadowed or enclosed area. The dazzling effect of sun glare can be negated by a remove blindness spell, but an unprotected character still in an area of sun glare immediately becomes dazzled again when the spell’s duration expires.

Water Sense

Water Depth Survival

DC in bold italics.

0 feet (on the surface) 10

10 feet or less 12

11–20 feet 15

21–40 feet 20

41–70 feet 25

71–100 feet 30

Miscellaneous Racial Traits

–2 Strength, +2 Dexterity. Bhukas have a delicate build, but they are agile.

• Medium: As Medium creatures, bhukas have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.

+2 racial bonus on Constitution checks or Fortitude saves to resist harmful effects from heat and dehydration.

Bhukas are toughened to the rigors of waste life. • +2 racial bonus on Knowledge (nature) checks. Knowledge (nature) is always a class skill for bhukas. •

Heat Endurance: Bhukas gain Heat Endurance (see page 50) as a bonus feat.

• Automatic Languages: Bhuka and Common. Bonus Languages: Draconic and Goblin.

• Favored Class: Druid. A multiclass bhuka’s druid class does not count when determining whether she takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing. • Level adjustment +0.

Heat Endurance -- FEAT

The Bhuka have adapted to the harsh environments of the wastes over thousands of years granting them protection from the sweltering temperatures of the desert.
+ 2 on Fortitude Saving throws against fire, heat protection 1.