Telvar

Averaging nearly 8 feet, telvar are nimble but weaker than humans or even elves. Large feathered wings, mostly brown, gray or white, grow from their shoulders. Their fingers and toes are unusually long, and their feet can grip small objects. They have big pointed ears and large eyes with double eyelids, and their bodies are covered in tattoos marking family ties and milestones such as a first hunt or first kill. They dress in layers of loose garments made mostly of game hides. They have 80-foot infravision.

Telvar are superb archers, picking off targets from far overhead and gaining +2 damage on every hit with the great bow. They can never specialize in melee weapons. When they must close in, most use long, slender swords that deal damage as short swords.

Their magic is limited: the women's priestly spells are mainly for healing and divination, though some are cleric/fighters. Because of this, telvar focus on enemy spellcasters until those are out of the fight, and if they cannot overcome them they withdraw to wait for another chance. As long as arrows last, they shoot at grounded foes and avoid melee unless they have no choice or the enemy is badly hurt.

These winged barbarians live in large clans in mountains far from civilization, building no cities and following the herds on their yearly migrations. Every male is expected to be a skilled hunter and fighter, and weak children rarely survive. Many women train as hunters under the same harsh standards; the rest gather food or serve as priests. All telvar clergy are women, and though they cannot lead families, they hold great influence as spiritual and community advisors.

Family heads gather every two years to resolve disputes, plan hunts, and occasionally declare war on intruders. Leadership is won by combat: every three years any warrior may challenge the head to a ritual duel that continues until one side yields. Losers usually leave, either founding new families or working as mercenaries.

They trade in cities now and then but dislike crowds, prize honesty, and are loyal allies though slow to commit; they are seldom foes of adventurers.

Telvar adventurers are usually restless young idealists or failed challengers in temporary exile. They suit group decisions, serve as scouts and archers, favor ambush over pitched battle, and bluntly expect companions to match their endurance. Unable to maneuver in tight spaces, they dread the underground.

Telvar work hard to stay in balance with nature, keeping strictly to clan hunting territories and never overhunting, knowing that the clans' survival depends on it. Travelers may cross their lands safely as long as they do not disrupt that balance. Outsiders mistake their simplicity for dullness, but invading humanoid bands have learned how well the clans coordinate in war.

Telvar magic items: The best hunter in each family wears a hunter cloak, which makes the wearer almost undetectable to animal-intelligence creatures while airborne: silent in flight, scentless, absorbing echolocation, and invisible to animals. It does nothing on the ground or against smarter beings, and attacking animals does not cancel it (XP 1,500, GP 3,000). Concussion arrows, made by telvar priestesses for aerial battles against the fainil, are +3 to hit and damage and burst on impact, stunning anyone within 10 feet for one round unless they save vs. spells (XP 300, GP 650). The fainil's countermeasure is the shield of the deep, an ordinary-looking buckler usually carried by an unremarkable soldier. Once a day its bearer can give up all but 1 hit point to raise a 20' radius barrier that acts as protection from normal missiles and grants 15% magic resistance to all inside, lasting 15 rounds or until the bearer dies or falls unconscious (XP 4,500, GP 15,000).