Kech

Kech are forest predators that hunt humans and demihumans. Slim and wiry, they move like monkeys and have fanged mouths, jutting lower jaws and blazing blue eyes. Their leathery skin is wrinkled like leaves and naturally green for camouflage. Long prehensile toes let them swing branch to branch at 60 feet per round, and on the ground they lope like baboons on knuckles and hind legs. Though only of average intelligence, they are sly and crafty, and speak their own language, the common tongue and bits of local dialects.

With a 50% chance of moving in total silence and skin that melts into the foliage, kech impose -5 on opponents' surprise rolls. They would rather trap than fight, digging pits and setting snares to catch careless travelers or wear down large parties, and they often mimic clear cries for help in the common tongue to lure victims close. In melee they bite and rake with both front claws.

They respect humans and demihumans without fearing them. Lone targets are preferred, but a band will hit a large armed group by night, focusing on one or two people, usually the sentries, and killing them fast before the rest wake, then vanishing into the trees with the bodies. Their trail is nearly invisible: even a ranger has at best a 50% chance to follow a fresh one, minus 25% per hour.

Kech range through every kind of woodland from steaming rain forest to subarctic pine. A band holds 2d4 adults and 1d3 noncombatant young; the young ride their elders' backs when traveling and hide in camouflaged tree nests during the night's hunt. These nests are 90% invisible from below, so guards are seldom posted.

Bands track paths back to forest settlements, then nest 3-5 miles away. By night the adults stalk the trails into the village and set snares, typically catching late workers, wandering elders or couples out for a night stroll. After four or five kills they move on before armed resistance gathers, following a road out of town toward the next village.

Most bands are evil, deliberately maiming and terrorizing and tormenting victims for fun before killing them. Several evil bands sometimes unite on cloudy or moonless nights to sweep through a settlement, showing no mercy and occasionally wiping out whole villages. About 10% of bands are neutral instead.

Neutral kech eat humans, elves and half-elves, and orcs if starving. Evil bands eat all of that plus apes of every kind, monkeys, gorillas and even their own kind. Bands stay small to suit local food, splitting in two when they grow too big. No predator hunts them deliberately, since they are too elusive to rely on, but people sometimes kill them for their hides, which tan into tough, heavy leather armor (AC 7). They hoard nothing, but nests may hold victims' belongings. They live about 40 years.