The Porcupian

In the shadows of the night, a young prince slowly makes his way down the street to his castle, with only the moonlight to guide his way. Suddenly a large, dark creature drops down in front of him, spinning in a circle and shooting three large spines into the prince, pinning him to the tavern wall behind him. He cries out in pain, "How dare you! D-don't you know who I am?!" The creature comes even closer, revealing a large, fur covered body with many spines and quills running along his back.

"Why, yes, I do know who you are," his smooth, silky voice responds. "You are the prince that has been stealing money from the country to build a second, possibly even a third mansion for yourself, even without your King's knowledge or consent. And for that, you must die," finishing his sentence with one last quill being driven through the Nobleman's head.

You are a Porcupian, ananimalistic race that seem to be smarter porcupines, though not by much.

A Forgotten Civilization

The Porcupian race has been forgotten by most of the outside world,and for good reasons. These creatures naturally inhabit large, dense forests, or even occasionally the Underdark if they get access to it,and almost never leave their home city without cause. This leads to the few Porcupian cities there are to be very far behind technologically, due to the very limited outside communication they recieve. As such, they are typically only skilled in very primitive weaponry, such as Spears, Bows,and the occasional blade they pick off of intruder's bodies, and have almost no desire to learn new cultures, espically the elder's of the city.

The Protectors of Wood

Unlike their distant cousin, the Porcupine, the Porcupian see wood as the most valuable resource in the world, and should be protected at all costs. When an unknown creature enters their forest, it doesn't take long until they discover the intruders. The Porcupian have traps set all throughout the forest they call home, ranging from covered pits to false paths with ambush parties waiting at the end. They worship the God of the Forest, Ibium, and commonly use wooden dolls and idols as offerings, with the most valuable wood to them being Redwood.

Ibium, God of the Forest Ibium is often portrayed as a Satyr in Religious Scriptures, holding a Wooden Club in his Right Hand and with a Porcupian child at his feet. This child is said to be the very first Porcupian, Pras the Spined One, who was supposedly created by Ibium to protect his Forests from Restoa(Depicted as a Goliath), the God of Mountains, from taking the land for himself.

Porcupian as Adventurers

Porcupians as a whole are a very introverted race,and almost never leave their the safety of their forest, with one very well known exception. The great hero of the Porcupians was Styz the Ressurected, who had left his home, named Ibium's Sacred Forest by his people, to spread the word of their God. However, after 5 years without his return, everyone believed him to be dead. Finally, after 20 years away from his home, Styz finally returned with Swords, Gold, and knowledge of the new outside world.

Porcupian Names Porcupians typically have names that contain a single syllable, and are more often than not given a title for a major deed committed. For example, Styz gained his title after his people belived he had died in the outside world, only to return later.

Your Charcter

When making a Porcupian character, consider the following questions: Why did your character leave the forest? What drives him or her to keep going? What happened when they came across their first creature of another race? If they use another weapon other than pirmitive ones, how did they learn how to use such weaponry? You gain the following benefits:

Ability Score Increase: Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Wisdom score increases by 1.

Age: Porcupians reach maturity slightly earlier than humans, at about 15 years old, and tend to live to 150, with the oldest ever recorded being 180.

Alignment: While Porcupians are generally vicious compared to other races, they do have very specific rules and laws they follow. Porcupians are almost always Lawful,but can vary between Good and Evil.

Size: Porcupians tend to be slghtly smaller than humans, ranging from 4 too 4 1/2 feet on average, and usually weigh a little over 120 pounds. Your size is medium

Walking Speed: You have a walking speed of 30 feet and a climbing speed of 20 feet, thanks to your small claws built for climbing up trees.

Bite: Your teeth are a Natural Weapon, which you are considered proficient with. As an action, you can bite a creature within 5 feet of you, dealing 1d6 piercing damage on a hit.

Quills: Your back is covered in quills, protecting you from most others. Your Armor Class is increased by 1. When any creature makes an Unarmed Strike, uses a Natural Weapon, or attemps to grapple you, they take piercing damage equal to your Strength Modifier(minimum of 1).

Porcupian Weapon Training: Porcupians are taught how to weild weapons at a very young age to prepare for the worst. You have Proficiency with Light Armor, Greatclubs, Spears, and Shortbows.

Languages: You know Common and Porcupian, a harsh, guttural, animalistic language. Porcupian uses the Dwarvish Text, after Styz brought back documents in Dwarvish and taught his people how to read it.