Tanar'ri, Vrock

Melee RV 20

Coordination RV 10

Brawn RV 20

Fortitude RV 20

Intellect RV 10

Awareness RV 10

Willpower RV 30

Lifestyle RV 6

Repute n/a

Health: Fortune:

70 50

Origin:

The countless vrocks are powerful demons of the air, hailing from the Abyss. These tanar'ri are the first 'true' members of their race, who are neither born nor spontaneously created in their treacherous home - no, vrocks only develop from weaker tanar'ri who gain power the hard way.

Known Powers:

Tanar'ri Physique: though they are the weakest of the true tanar'ri, vrocks are not to be trifled with. Having developed through countless eons of suffering and hatred, each vrock is a true planar entity, and possesses these dangerous tanar'ric powers:

* Darkness: all tanar'ri have the ability to share the inherent darkness of their very souls with the world at large. This rudimentary power functions at but rank value 4, but basically 'blacks out' the sector a vrock currently occupies (it works within Near range).

* Damage Reduction / Cold and Physical Attacks: while not immune to the effects of cold or physical attacks, vrocks are considerably resistant to these attack forms. When exposed to any such damage, a vrock may reduce its intensity by 2 RS - before any other defenses apply.

* Damage Reduction / Magic Attacks: furthermore, vrocks are highly resistant to magical assault. Their bodies actively resist change that isn't of their own volition, and reduce the effects of magic cast upon them by 3 RS - before any other defenses apply to such.

* Dimensional Transit: in addition to being able to teleport, tanar'ri can transition themselves between planes of existence. They may do so with rank value 10 ability, though on a failed ACT roll dimensionally transiting tanar'ri may be subject to error, per a failed teleport. *

* Infravision: many of the Abyss' countless layers are dark beyond mortal ken, and have never seen the light (physically or otherwise). As such, all tanar'ri have evolved the ability to see by heat as well as by visible light, and can do so with rank value 10 ability.

* Invulnerability to Fire, Electricity, Heat, and Poison: the tanar'ri are hardy creatures - they have to be to survive at all in the endless, horrific wastes of the Abyss. Their forms have evolved over time to give them complete immunity to fire, electricity, heat, and poison.

* Portal Sense: planar beings all, vrocks have the ability to perceive the various rifts that dot the planescape of the multiverse. Most of these doorways are invisible to the naked eye, but all vrocks can spy them with ease, doing so with rank value 20 ability.

* Telepathy: almost all tanar'ri are able to communicate directly from mind to mind - a vital skill when so few speak the same tongue. They can usually broadcast and receive thoughts with rank value 6 skill, enough to get their point across when necessary.

* Teleportation: chaotic creatures all, the tanar'ri can bend space itself to their will. All tanar'ri possess the power to teleport with rank value 30 ability, and can avoid teleportation's usual side effects while transporting themselves within the same plane of existence. *

Additional Limbs: the vrocks appear like oversized vultures, but are anatomically different. Tucked beneath their wings are a spare pair of humanoid arms, which they can use to manipulate objects or attack - these limbs offer one additional melee strike per turn.

Annulment: in addition to their considerable magic resistance, a vrock has the ability to completely dispel magic in its vicinity as well. Functioning at rank value 10, this spell-like power allows vrocks to easily counter weaker magic used against them.

Beak: though not their primary physical weapons, vrocks possess a large, vulture-like beak. They can wield this sharp implement to inflict Slashing damage in melee, whether in a pecking maneuver or when attempting to rend a foe for sustenance.

Claws: vrocks have long talons at the ends of each digit, on both their hands and feet. These terrible implements allow a vrock to inflict its Brawn value in Slashing damage if it must, though it usually prefers to wield melee weaponry in battle when practical.

Crowd Control: impressive in mental strength, a vrock may impose its thoughts and desires upon others within its vicinity. This rank value 10 power allows it to control the minds of everyone within its current sector, with either a simple command or a hypnotic suggestion.

Flight: as oversized, vulture-like beings, vrocks have the ability to fly like a bird. They can soar at speeds of up to 81.81 miles per hour, doing so with rank value 6 speed - though this flight cannot be maintained in an environment lacking air (such as a vacuum).

Imaginary Doubles: though they work well in groups, an oddity for tanar'ri, vrocks can also generate their own, pretend posse. Vrocks may wield this power at rank value 4, allowing them to generate four imaginary friends to befuddle foes in both melee and ranged combat.

Link: vrocks have the ability, when at least five of them are present, to join their power and perform a dance of ruin. This dance generates rank value 30 energy of an unknown type, which affects everyone within Very Near distance who lacks the benefit of cover after three turns.

Magic Sense: all vrocks have the ability to sense ambient magic in their environment. They may do so with rank value 10 ability, which lets them spot magical items, beings, and other phenomena within Near distance of their person (four sectors).

Nonapparent Vision: the vrocks have a limited form of this power, which allows them to perceive items that have been rendered invisible to conventional light spectra. This power works at rank value 10, complementing their infravision quite nicely.

Plant Control: a strange power the vrocks possess is the ability to emit a cloud of spores, once every three turns. Anything within Very Near distance of this rank value 10 power will suffer like damage, as the plant-like things the spores hatch literally grow out of their victims.

Revival: like other true tanar'ri, vrocks can sometimes give death the laugh. Unless killed inside the Abyss or eaten, vrocks may attempt to reconstitute themselves on their home plane with this rank value 6 power. The difficulty involved, of course, depends on how they died.

Sound Generation: vrocks may generate a loud screech once per day. They may do this to incapacitate a foe, doing so with rank value 20 ability. Those who fail a Fortitude ACT roll against this power will suffer a Concuss result for 1d10 turns.

Summoning: once a day, a vrock may attempt to summon forth tanar'ri to aid it in whatever fashion it chooses, with rank value 2 skill. A red ACT brings forth 2d10 manes, a blue ACT summons forth one to six bar-lgura, and a yellow ACT roll will make manifest a powerful nalfeshnee.

Telekinesis: vrocks may impose their desires upon objects in their vicinity, a true example of mind over matter. They may only do so with rank value 10 ability, but this allows the creatures to move 400 pounds of matter just by thinking about it!

Limitations / Enhancements:

Susceptibility: like all tanar'ri, vrocks are weak against the use of cold-wrought iron weapons, as well as holy water and weapons. Their supernatural defenses are ineffective against such assaults, which inflict at least a quarter of their maximum Health in damage.

Equipment:

Spears: on occasion, vrocks will carry a spear with them into battle. They may use these implements to inflict their Brawn value in Slashing or Thrown Slashing damage, depending on just how attached to the weapon they may be (thrown spears are hard to recover in flight).

Quirks:

Gigantism: vrocks are pretty big. While they're not so large that they qualify to have the growth power as a general matter of course, these things are tall - eight feet tall, in fact. This requires that any clothing or equipment that vrocks would utilize be custom built for beings their size.

Unattractive 2: vrocks are monstrous, vulture-like terrors! Mortals react very negatively to a vrock, both for their appearance and scavenger-like behavior, and vrocks are at a -4 RS to all NPC reactions when interacting with humanoid beings of any kind (save for other tanar'ri).

Skills:

Tactics: a rarity amongst the chaotic tanar'ri, vrocks have the ability to work together - and can effectively plan strategies on the fly. If others follow a plan of their concoction to the letter, they receive a +1 RS to related ACT rolls attempted while doing so.

Characteristics:

Vrocks are strangely social beings. They work well with others of their own kind, and are loyal to other vrocks above all else - even their true tanar'ri superiors. They're elite fighters amongst demon kind, and are known to eat their foes whole.

Appearance:

Vrocks look like oversized vultures, standing eight feet tall. They possess humanoid arms they can tuck beneath their large wings however, which allows them to grasp objects or victims when necessary. Their plumage, which covers their entire body, is primarily gray and black in hue.

Ecological Niche:

Vrocks are the first form of true tanar'ri. They are not born, and they do not spring forth whole from the very Abyss itself. No, a vrock must develop from previous, lesser tanar'ri. The curious thing about this though is that vrock breed - and even lay eggs.

When this is done, a lesser tanar'ri who is ready to evolve to the point of true tanar'ri status will manifest within the egg once laid, and will transform into a freshly created vrock. The tanar'ri see this as a symbolic 'birth' of a true member of their race.

Assuming they bother to let the egg hatch, that is.

Vrocks are used as elite shock troops in the Blood War, bringing death from above to those who oppose the tanar'ri. They are often found in groups of eight or more, as they work together extremely well for tanar'ri - sometimes too well, for they are only truly loyal to each other.

While they can scavenge for meat, they prefer the freshly dead created by their own hand when seeking sustenance. Thus vrocks will often gang up on and murder victims they can easily defeat in the Abyss, sharing the spoils of their violence amongst themselves.

Notes:

* Depending on which version of the Planescape lore you wish to use, vrocks (along with the rest of the tanar'ri) may not have access to these powers any longer, having lost them due to yugoloth meddling. Their presence is at the discretion of the individual Gamemaster.

Extra Goodies:

Return to the Bestiary main page!

Interested in using Technoholic content in your own project? Please read this beforehand!