Half-Elf Half-Tarek (El’Rek)
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Ability Score Adjustment: +2 Dexterity, +1 Constitution or +2 Strength
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Class Level Limits: Fighter 10, Gladiator 8, Thief 8, Psion 7, Cleric (Earth, Fire or Magma) U
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Multi-Class Options: F/T, F/C, F/P, P/T, C/T, C/P
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Height: 78-84”
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Weight: 150-275#
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Aging:
Starting: 12
Adult: 16
Middle/Old/Venerable: 32/50/60
Maximum: 80
Languages: Common, Elven, Tarek -
Movement: 12
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Special Abilities: Infravision 60’
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At 3rd level (the starting level for all DARK SUN PCs), a half-elf; half-tarek receives a bonus proficiency: survival. This proficiency is free; it doesn’t fill up any of the character’s available slots. The player must specify the terrain type his character is proficient in. Terrain types for the world of Athas include stony barrens, sandy wastes, rocky badlands, mountains, scrub plains, forests, salt flats, and boulder fields. Note that the terrain type selected must make sense for the character. A half-elf who grew up in Tyr, for example, shouldn’t select swamp survival.
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Tarek are well known to be able to fight through mortal wounds. El’Reks also enjoy this ability. Ignore becoming unconscious due to going into negative hit points. An El’Rek can continue to fight while bleeding out for a number of rounds equal to a third of his or her Constitution score. Healing said character before -11 HP is reached will save such a character from death. This is actually due to those of Tarek’s having two hearts - this being shared with their offspring.
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El’Reks automatically begin with the bonus proficiency in the heartpick and handfork.
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El’rek have thick hides, giving them a natural AC of 7.
Special Restrictions:
- These poor souls have a -3 reaction adjustment to both elves and tareks, they are rarely taken in by either race or publically accepted.
- They also have a -5 reaction adjustment to known defilers; a -3 towards known preservers they have a hard time reacting kindly to either type of wizard, they prefer them dead.
- An El’rek will shun most magical items and only find weapons or faith related items useful to them. A PC El’rek will not even so much carry other magical items.
Background: An El’rek’s life is typically harder than either a tarek’s or an elf’s. Intolerance from others is the main cause for this difficult existence, which often shapes and defines an El’rek’s nature. As such, an El’rek rarely finds acceptance in either parent’s society. Elves have no tolerance for children of mixed blood; their traditions demand that such children and even their mothers be cast out of the tribe. Tarek’s are also as harsh, and El’rek born into Tarek society have no better chance of survival. Tareks will rarely accept El’rek as allies or partners, and seldom will they accept them into their homes or families, and even fewer will call an El’rek friend.
Tareks have no faith in a half-elf’s elven side, and elves distrust the tarek in these crossbreeds. Because of this, an El’rek goes through life as an outsider and loner. He wanders from situation to situation without a people or a land to call home. Thus, he is forced to develop high levels of self-reliance in order to survive. This self-reliance is a El’rek’s greatest asset, and an El’rek prides himself on it. He learns not only the skills of survival but methods for dealing with loneliness as well. This may make a half-elf seem detached and aloof, but he will cooperate with companions when necessary. This air of indifference often hides a desire to gain acceptance from one side of a El’rek’s heritage or the other, a pursuit that’s usually in vain. Fortunately, however, other races don’t have a basic dislike of El’reks, so these characters typically find companionship among dwarves or thri-kreen. El’rek often find solace with other practitioners of the elemental plane of Earth, as the Tarek side has close ties with this plane due to their mutated existence. [See the Tarek Entry in the Dark Sun MC II.] Interestingly enough, this is actually the source for a few El’rek’s birth, when an elven earth shaman and a tarek earth shaman decide to mate. This is one of the rare instances when a pair of loving parents may come out in a player’s background.
El’rek share the tarek’s hate of wizardly magic in all its forms. They go out of their way to destroy defilers and they’ll even chase away preservers who use their magic in their vicinity. This hatred often leads them at odds with the elven side of their parentage.
Appearance: These heavily muscled tarek & elf crossbreeds are often mistaken for muls, in fact they often find themselves most comfortable among the sterile half dwarves. There are some notable differences though in the shape of the El’rek’s nose and head - as well as the ability to grow hair and facial hair. El’reks often find themselves shaving if they wish to keep a low profile in the City-States. They are more lithe of build than their Tarek parent’s and sometimes pull a bit of the alien beauty of their elven parentage.
Physically El’reks are a tall, tough race. They have long arms and medium legs, compared to a human, and they are often seen using their long powerful arms to aid them in running. Their skin can be any color and texture of stone. They have an earthy, musty smell due to their elemental bound with earth. El’reks, like their Tarek parent will not bathe with water, but have been know to rub dirt on themselves to dry and remove blood if necessary.
Tareks have square thick boned heads with pronounced brow ridges. They have pointed ears and wide noses. Most do not file their teeth like their tarek kin, unless specifically trying to fit in.