Description
Degenerate humans long lost from the world of light, morlocks have regressed through years of subterranean dwelling into barely-thinking beasts of the endless night. They no longer remember the civilized lives their ancestors led, although many morlock tribes still dwell in the shattered ruins of their ancient homes. Ironically, in many cases morlocks worship the statues and artefacts left behind by these ancestors as their gods.
Morlocks are maggot-pale creatures with lank, white hair and large, soft, spatulate fingers. Their eyes are huge and black, and though they don't have dark-vision, they see well in the dark with the aid of the tiniest amount of light.
They are generally found in filthy, ragged, cowled robes: they almost never wear armour of any kind. Melee weapons are commonly knives, hatchets or short swords; missile weapons are generally slings or javelins. They also employ nets and bolas to capture prey for sacrifice and/or consumption.
Special Features
- Expert Climbers
- Morlocks can cling to and move on cave walls and even ceilings as long as the surface has hand- and footholds. In effect, a morlock is treated as constantly being under a non-magical version of the spell spider climb, save that it cannot cling to smooth surfaces.
- Leap
- A morlock may make a single attack during a jump, and they can jump up to 60'. It can make this attack at any point along the course of the leap—the start, the end, or while in mid-air.
- Swarming
- Morlocks dwell and fight in cramped quarters every day of their lives, and as such are quite adept at swarming foes. Twice as many morlocks can attack a single opponent as normal (i.e. 12 morlocks can simultaneously engage a single human-sized opponent from all sides) and when attempting to grapple or overbear a foe, each additional morlock after the first adds +4 to the effect STR used to determine the success or failure of the grapple.
- Light-Blindness
- In daylight, or in light comparable to daylight, morlocks are completely blind, and if they have to venture out into the day they wear thick cloth wrappings around their eyes. Even candle-light is sufficiently bright to make them dazzled and uncomfortable, and they will attempt to extinguish such lights as soon as possible.
- Dark-Sense
- Morlocks can navigate in pitch-blackness by means of ambient sounds, air movements, touch, and even smells. They cannot see in utter blackness, but their attacks against foes in lightless darkness (or who are invisible) are at only -1. In conditions with any light at all, such as a moonless night, or a cave lit only by the faintest glimmers of bioluminescence, they operate as if it were daylight for the surface folk.
