Feylaar

These massive four-armed apes were once hunted as slave labor, until their psionics proved them too dangerous to keep.

A feylaar towers nearly a foot over an average elf and is as wide as it is tall. Each of its four arms acts independently, and though it can stand erect it usually walks on legs and lower arms. Its huge mouth bristles with two pairs of fangs and rows of flesh-grinding teeth. Its coarse hair is dull gray or black when caught off guard, but it usually uses psionics to blend into its surroundings.

Its first move is to conceal itself and ambush its prey; psionics and a knack for hiding give it +2 on surprise rolls. Then come the blows: each fist hits for 2-7 points of damage and its bite for 2-9.

If two or more fists hit in one round, it grabs the target, lines up the head, and claps both hands against it for 2d10 damage. While held, a victim cannot do anything requiring free hands or arms, but may try to break loose each later round with a Strength check at -4 to effective Strength.

It relies on psionics to dodge harm in a fight, and if badly hurt it abandons normal attacks for a life draining touch. Its powers include the sciences death field, shadow form, domination and psionic blast, and the devotions blink, mind thrust, displacement, chameleon power, plant mind, cell adjustment, invisibility, inflict pain, adrenaline control, id insinuation, post-hypnotic suggestion and ego whip.

Feylaars gather in loose clans, but their deepest bond is with a mate. Pairs stay together for life, their loyalty to the wider clan always thin. Every two or three years the female bears a single infant after nine months, and both parents raise it to adulthood at age eight. They live up to about 45 years, the females a bit less due to the strain of childbearing.

Their origin is a mystery. Though only recently found, their numbers, especially along a forested ridge west of a nearby mountain range, imply a long presence in the desert world. One rumor credits a long-dead sorcerer tyrant who wanted soldiers that needed no weapons; another claims they grew their second pair of arms through psychometabolism. Neither tale is well supported.

Feylaars hate captivity and cannot be held for long. A caged one may unleash a death field, often taking many of its handlers and keepers with it.