"They were terrible in a fashion I am not certain I can explain - like apes in that they had hairy, crooked bodies, long-armed, short-legged and thick-necked. It was something in their faces, perhaps in the huge pale-irised eyes. It told me they were as human as I."
The Claw of the Conciliator [303-4]
SIN EATER
Skill: 1. Brewer. 2. Combat Engineer. 3. Metalsmith. 4. Stonemason.
Starting Items: A heavy weapon, or a medium weapon and a shield, a flask of mushroom wine, a pouch of iron nuggets, medium armour and two Tools of the Trade.
The Sin Eaters are a slave race of troglodyte labourers. In centuries past, feuding Nephilim demanded huge sums of copper, gold, iron and silver to satiate their war machines. When their mine slaves couldn't meet quota, the impatient godlings perverted them into something more efficient.
Black eyes and albino flesh. Childlike bodies with oversized, shovel-like hands. Tombstone teeth dripping with acrid saliva. Fungal HEPA filter beards. Their epithet arose from their ability to smell (and devour) precious metals. Geophagia was common among slaves due to mineral deficiencies, but the Nephilim - in their infinite cruelty - have twisted their misery into an opportunity for profit.
Slave revolts have freed many of the mutated albinos from their subterranean prisons. A scattered few now roam Urth as beggars, soldiers or cave guides. But most remain underground, content to run their liberated mines under autochthonous leadership.
And who can blame them? The dark is all they have ever known.
Gain +1 to HP and SAVE per template.
A: Bearded, Blindsight, Truffle Pig
B: Stone To Mud, +2 inventory slots
C: Tunnel Fighter, +1 to hit
D: Metallophage, +1 to damage
As a Sin Eater, you have proficiency with all melee weapons and can wear all armour. You require a least a pound of raw rock (or an ounce of metal) per day to stay healthy. You also need to eat normal rations - chunks of iron provide necessary vitamins, not calories.
If your beard is burned or shaved, you immediately suffer d10 damage due to system shock. You can't use your BEARDED or BLINDSIGHT abilities until it regrows after a day.
BEARDED
Your face is bearded, irrespective of your biological sex. The hairs extend into your ears and nose, even smothering your mouth. You can tear a hole to drink and eat - it regrows in a few minutes. Your beard is filled with symbiotic fungus that acts as a living air filter, making you immune to airborne toxins.
The microbiome can even recycle your breath into fresh air. This makes you nearly immune to suffocation, outside of a vacuum or water. Your beard is relatively waterproof, but if it gets completely soaked the recycling stops working. In practice, you can survive underwater for around an hour.
BLINDSIGHT
You can't actually see in the dark, but you can navigate it with antennae-like hairs in your beard. These grant you [templates]x15' of blindsight. Beyond this range you're forced to rely on your poor eyesight, suffering a -2 to all rolls requiring vision (ranged attacks, sighting enemies etc.).
Your blindsight can penetrate thin surfaces, detecting voids behind walls or floors that could indicate a trap or hidden door. You're also completely unaffected by visual illusions or invisibility spells. Unfortunately, it doesn't let you to read writing. There's a reason your people prefer braille.
TRUFFLE PIG
With a turn of concentration, you detect metal within [templates]x30'. This isn't "smelling" - you've got no sense of smell thanks to your parasitic beard. Rather you taste the nearby metals, rolling flavours around in your mouth like a sommelier, discerning details like distance, quantity and quality.
You can also eat metal and rocks with a bit of chewing - your saliva functions as a powerful solvent. Unfortunately, a diet rich in heavy metals means only the strongest fermented foods and alcohols register to your ruined taste buds.
Of note, if you eat precious metals like gold or silver you immediately convert them to XP. This doesn't work on jewels - you can't digest them. It also won't share the XP with the party. You greedy bastard.
STONE TO MUD
You've got enough experience with your oversized hands and toothy maw to safely clear rubble, dig trenches and even chew through doors without any additional tools. If you are properly equipped, you can even bore holes in solid rock - expectorating solvent to soften the rock for pickaxe blows.
Each 5'x5'x5' section takes a turn to complete. You'll want wooden supports to stop your tunnel from eventually collapsing, and smashing through solid rock creates enough noise to provoke a random encounter roll. Nonetheless, being able to twist dungeon architecture on a whim is a powerful ability.
TUNNEL FIGHTER
You suffer no maluses for fighting while prone, squeezing through a crawlspace or drowning in pitch-black water. This includes spelunking in heavy armour, or wielding heavy or massive weapons in cramped confines. Furthermore, so long as you're underground, you cannot be surprised.
METALLOPHAGE
You've weaponised your hunger for minerals. If you land an attack on someone, in lieu of damaging them you can devour a weapon, suit of armour or piece of equipment (so long as it's made from metal). If you landed the attack on a monster made from metal or rock, you deal double damage instead.
This ability also functions on magic items, though they get a SAVE to resist your predations. If you do devour a magic item, you immediately identify what it was and gain the knowledge on how to replicate its effects, so long as you have the prerequisite skills.
TOOLS OF THE TRADE (d12)
- Night Vision. Pair of thick goggles that grant 60' of green-tinted darkvision, turning even total darkness into bright light. Unfortunately, the lenses emit a very visible green glow.
- Foil Blanket. A crinkly sheet of reflective metal. Reflects body heat, rendering the wearer invisible to creatures with infravision (and keeping them warm) so long as they stay still. 1 slot.
- Bottled Air. Clay vessel with four moist breathing tubes. Bite the end off to start flow of oxygen. Contains enough air for four hours of breathing. 3 slots.
- Surgery Worm. Forearm-sized bug that clamps wounds shut while injecting coagulants and painkillers. Heals 2d6 HP. The worm dies after being used. 1 slot.
- Cave Canary. Actually just an ugly bat you keep in a small cage and feed with your blood. Highly sensitive to toxic fumes. 1 slot.
- Immovable Rods. Five diamond-tipped spikes covered in microscopic barbs. They slide into stone like butter, but they're all but impossible to remove. Effectively single use. Useful for spiking doors shut, anchoring a rope or arresting a sudden fall. Five to a slot.
- Ghost Chain. 100' spool of silvered chain. Incredibly strong and surprisingly lightweight. Rumoured to be capable of restraining incorporeal monsters. 1 slot.
- Crystal Diode. A cigar-sized metal tube with a twist cap. If opened, the glowing crystal inside emits a 300' beam of red light. Useful for measuring distances or blinding people. If affixed to a ranged weapon, grants +2 to hit at the cost of giving away your position.
- Rare Earth Magnet. Overpowered magnet that's difficult to transport safely. If properly anchored it could restrain someone in metal armour - requiring a SAVE to break free. 3 slots.
- Beard Oil. Disgusting, fire-retardant gel for protecting your beard. If applied to the entire body it halves fire damage for an hour. Jar contains enough for three such applications. 1 slot.
- Stinkdamp Bomb. Ampoule filled with toxic smog. If broken, the gas expands into a 30' cloud after a round. Those exposed must SAVE or fall unconscious and start losing d6 HP per round. Victims can't regain consciousness until they're removed from the cloud. 1 slot.
- Demon Rock. Heavy lead lockbox containing a glowing blue rock. If opened, the rock emits an energy that disrupts spellcasting, creating a 15' anti-magic sphere. It also deals d4 damage per round to anyone inside the sphere. No SAVE. 4 slots.
THE MAKING OF
The inspiration for this post, especially its art, comes from Lovecraft's "The Beast In The Cave" microfiction. Despite it being one of his earliest works - written when he was only fourteen - it's still a personal favourite of mine. And though it might lose me some online street cred, I'd be lying if I said the dwarves from Artemis Fowl didn't also play a role here.
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