Xvart

Xvarts are cruel, cowardly little humanoids with bald heads, blue skin and orange eyes. In the humanoid pecking order they rank between goblins and kobolds, often brokering between the two while lording it over the kobolds. They dress in simple cloth doublets of blue and green and are hardy against the weather, so apart from their eyes they blend well into their surroundings.

Feeble alone but endlessly prolific, xvarts nearly always appear in large numbers. They fear humans and attack them only with overwhelming odds, but they hate halflings enough to attack them even without that edge, and they bully kobolds whenever they can.

Fair fights do not interest them. They ambush, encircle and overwhelm, ideally while their victims sleep or rest. One in every 20 carries a net to entangle a target, and the mob tries to bear foes to the ground so everyone can pile on. Their small short swords deal 2-5 points of damage, and their sheer numbers make a shield nearly useless, since no fighter can turn it toward them all.

Every 100 xvarts have a leader with 11 hit points who fights as a 2 HD monster, often with a spear or long sword, plus three lieutenants of 8 hit points apiece who fight as 1+1 HD monsters. About 5% are shamans with 2nd-level priest spells and another 5% are magic-users with spells up to 2nd level. These casters stay back, use up their spells and slip away, usually with 1-6 giant rats at their side.

Their society is crude but keeps them alive. Tribes lair in cave complexes or deep forest, guarded by 3-30 giant rats. Hunting parties go out daily, killing livestock or small game or raiding farms, and xvarts will eat almost anything. Females do not fight; they raise the young, keep the community running and maintain the many traps around the camp.

Xvarts speak their own tongue plus goblin and kobold, which makes them natural go-betweens for those feuding races. Goblins employ them as spies, while xvarts treat kobolds with contempt; only the kobolds' sheer numbers stop xvarts from overrunning their slightly weaker neighbors. Xvarts love taking human prisoners, either for ransom or simply to torment them.

Most creatures are bigger and stronger, and xvart life is hard, lasting only about 50 years. They mate in spring and autumn, each mating producing two young raised by the whole tribe until age seven, when they take up hunting and camp duties.