Rastipede (3.5e Race) - Dungeons and Dragons Wiki (2024)

Rastipede[edit]

A race of insect centaur merchants from the Spelljammer setting, converted from 2e to 3.5.

Personality[edit]

Rastipedes are born from eggs laid from a queen who lives deep within the cave complexes they live in. They spend the first ten years of their lives in the underground tunnels of their nests, which leaves them with an intuitive grasp of stone passages equal to that of dwarves. They are well educated in history and mathematics from an early age. Rastipede nests typically contain 100-600 individuals, half of which are young. Rastipedes are a very peaceful people but adults will defend their nests and young to the death.

Physical Description[edit]

Rastipedes average about 4 feet tall and 6 feet long, and weigh an average of 250 pounds, with bodies covered in thick, grey-green chitin. They have a long, eight-legged lower body, an approximately humanoid torso with two arms, and a head with two large black compound eyes, chitinous mandibles and two long antennae. The antennae provide them with a very keen sense of smell, and they can detect most creatures through scent alone. They are often described as "insectoid centaurs" by others meeting them for the first time. Males and females are indistinguishable in appearance, with neither wearing much clothing. Rastipedes can eat about anything and live an average of about 150 years.

Relations[edit]

Rastipedes are most often encountered by other races as traveling merchants. They have a reputation as ruthless merchants, since they will sell much anything other than smuggled goods or slaves, and are good at turning a profit at anything they sell. They are considered only second to the mercane in their bartering skills, who they often associate with. Other races seeking to negotiate with mercane usually do so through rastipede intermediaries. Rastipedes are not inherently dishonest in negotiations, and will honor any bargains they make once they are made, but they do enjoy following the letter of a trade deal rather than the spirit of it. A common trick of rastipede traders is to not inform their trade partners of any untrue assumptions the latter are making. Therefore, seasoned travelers exercise utmost caution when bartering with rastipedes, lest they end up getting more—or less—than what they bargained for.

Alignment[edit]

Rastipedes tend towards neutrality as a whole, but individuals can be of any alignment.

Lands[edit]

Rastipedes spend much of their time in their underground nests, but those can be built in pretty much any subterranean complex, and rastipedes set up nests on many different worlds. Rastipedes travel throughout space seeking both goods and people to sell them to.

Religion[edit]

Rastipedes most often worship gods of travel, trade and community.

Language[edit]

Rastipedes speak Common and Rastipede, a language comprised of chirps and clicks. They accentuate their language with pheromones; some humanoids have allergic reactions to these pheromones, similar to hay fever.

Names[edit]

tbd

Racial Traits[edit]

• +2 Constitution, -2 Dexterity: Rastipedes’ bodies are as tough as they are awkward.
• Monstrous Humanoid(Xenoblooded): Rastipedes are eight-legged insectoid centaurs from space.
• Medium: As a Medium creature, a rastipede has no special bonuses or penalties due to its size.
• Rastipede base land speed is 40 feet.
• Darkvision: A rastipede can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight, and a rastipede can function just fine with no light at all.
• Eight Legs(Ex): Rastipedes' eight legs grant them the benefit of being quadrupedal, granting them a +4 bonus on ability checks made to resist being bull rushed, overran, or tripped, and carrying capacity equal to x1.5 the normal carrying capacity of a creature their size. Needless to say, they also require barding, rather than normal armor, with the x2 increase in mundane material cost as normal.
• Natural Armor: Rastipedes have a +2 bonus to natural armor from their hard carapace.
• Natural Weapons: A rastipede has two primary claw attacks which deal 1d4 damage each.
• Scent(Ex): A rastipede can detect opponents by scent within 30 feet. If the opponent is upwind, the range increases to 60 feet; if downwind, it drops to 15 feet. Strong scents, such as smoke or rotting garbage, can be detected at twice the ranges noted above. Overpowering scents, such as skunk musk or troglodyte stench, can be detected at triple normal range. When a rastipede detects a scent, the exact location of the source is not revealed—only its presence somewhere within range. The rastipede can take a move action to note the direction of the scent. Whenever the rastipede comes within 5 feet of the source, the rastipede pinpoints the source’s location.
• Stonecunning(Ex): This ability grants a rastipede a +2 racial bonus on Search checks to notice unusual stonework, such as sliding walls, stonework traps, new construction (even when built to match the old), unsafe stone surfaces, shaky stone ceilings, and the like. Something that isn’t stone but that is disguised as stone also counts as unusual stonework. A rastipede who merely comes within 10 feet of unusual stonework can make a Search check as if he were actively searching, and a rastipede can use the Search skill to find stonework traps as a rogue can. A rastipede can also intuit depth, sensing his approximate depth underground as naturally as a human can sense which way is up.
• Verminblood(Ex): Rastipedes count as vermin when least advantageous, such as when being struck by a Vermin Bane weapon.
• Automatic Languages: Common and Rastipede
• Bonus Languages: Any, except secret languages
• Favored Class: Rogue or Bard
• Level Adjustment: +0
• Effective Character Level: 1

Vital Statistics[edit]

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