d20 Adamant Entertainment Hordes The Bloodfang.pdf

The Bloodfangs

Written by: Justin S. Bow

Editing and Layout: Gareth-Michael Skarka

Introduction

The Hordes series presents a number of Barbarian

tribes for use in your fantasy D20 campaigns. Each

release provides you with information about the tribe,

sample NPCs and a prestige class for use with that

tribe.

In this edition: The Bloodfangs, a vicious band of

half-orc marauders.

Habitat

The Bloodfang tribe is not speciﬁc to a particular

climate or landform and can effectively be placed

anywhere in a setting. However, as they are brutal

raiders and sometime cannibals, they are best used

in either a frontier area where the territory is mostly

lawless, or in a poorly controlled portion of a kingdom

like a steep mountain range or thick forest. As written,

the Bloodfang are assumed to be in the foothills of

a border mountain range. With minor tweaking, the

tribe could easily appear in any location the DM wants

them.

History

The Bloodfang tribe is descended from an especially

vicious band of frontier outlaws and an equally vicous

clan of orcs. Seeing each other as kindred spirits,

the bandits and the orcs allied against civilization,

pillaging any wilderness outpost or lonely homestead

they came across. It was a foundation of brutality

which guides the Bloodfangs to this day. The living

symbols of the orc-human alliance are the tribe’s half-

orcs. It is an alliance built on blood: the mixed blood

of the tribe and the spilt blood of their enemies.

as their own, brain-washing them over time to make

them full members of the tribe. Any adults taken alive

may be sold into slavery if there is a ready market for

the goods, but are more often tortured to death for

sport or killed and eaten in one of the tribe’s many

cannibalistic rituals. Rarely, a Bloodfang warrior will

keep a particularly attractive mate as a chained slave.

These slaves are treated like animals by the tribe, but

any children borne out of such a joining are considered

full members of the Bloodfangs.

Culture

Currently the Bloodfang tribe numbers about 75

individuals including women and children. The

ﬁghting force of men and orcs is around 20 total with

the tribe being fairly evenly split into humans, orcs,

and half-orcs. The overall alignment of the tribe is

Chaotic Evil, with a few Neutral Evil individuals.

Characters of other alignments are generally killed by

the tribe when young, or run away so as to avoid being

murdered.

Bloodfang culture, in keeping with the CE alignment

of the tribe, is exceedingly brutal. The lives of others

are worthless to a true Bloodfang and they strive

to sow chaos, fear, and bloodshed wherever they

can. Strength, stealth, and ruthlessness are the most

admired traits of the Bloodfang and battle prowess

brings the greatest measure of prestige.

Arcane magic is feared, but its practitioners are

shown little respect. While clerics and shamen usually

possess some measure of battle stamina and are

valuable religious leaders (averting the wrath of the

gods), arcane spellcasters are generally physically

weak and spend a lot of time meditating or reading.

Two things which are not thought highly of among

the Bloodfang. Wizards are considered especially

despicable because their powers come from a book;

disgusting for the fact that it is a book and also

because that book can be taken away, rendering the

wizard helpless.

The Bloodfangs would be more numerous if they did

not constantly engage in bloody, low-level warfare

with their tribal neighbors. Orcs ﬁnd the Bloodfangs

fairly normal, but more aggressive and cunning than

they are used to, while most humans and all good folk,

no matter what race, see the tribe as an abomination.

The Bloodfang tribe is semi-nomadic -- hunting

and gathering over a home territory, but regularly

infringing on the territories of neighboring tribes. They

heavily supplement this simple lifestyle by raiding

pretty much anyone they can get their hands on.

In spite of their callousness towards other people’s

well-being, the Bloodfang are surprisingly careful of

their children. Certainly every child has a few knife

scars or spends half their time swollen-faced from

being knocked around, but they are rarely killed

before adolescence unless they are deemed too “weak”

to live (a term which means they aren’t evil enough).

Children taken in raids are not treated as gently as

native children of the tribe and are, in effect, slaves

until they are fully indoctrinated and old enough to

ﬁght effectively. Then, they are used as fodder to be

thrown at neighboring tribes until their “loyalty” has

been proven.

During winter, the Bloodfangs live in a large cave

in their tribal territory. The cave has access to the

Underdark and the tribe regularly has to ﬁght off

monsters lairing in their home when they begin

their winter residence. Except during winter, the

Bloodfangs live in tents or quickly-constructed brush

hovels.

In addition to their ongoing campaign to obliterate

their tribal neighbors, the Bloodfangs spend a healthy

amount of time attacking settler homesteads and small

villages. The outcome of these attacks is usually a pile

of mutilated bodies and a some burning buildings.

The Bloodfangs take very young human and half-

orc children prisoner on these raids and raise them

Bloodfang males are considered of age when they ﬁrst

go out and kill another humanoid, bring back its heart

and eat the still-dripping organ raw before the tribe.

It is considered especially auspicious if the warrior is

strong enough to bring back the whole carcass of his

kill to share with the tribe in a grisly feast.After this

food-taking, the warrior is ritually scarred with a hot

iron on his cheeks, chest, arms, and back.

face of his peers’ envy. This ﬂuidity of relations makes

it difﬁcult to keep accurate track of tribal geneaology;

ensuring sometime (often unknown) interbreeding

between cousins, half-siblings, and siblings.

Bloodfang females come of age after their ﬁrst period.

They receive a small ritual scar on their belly in the

shape of a crescent moon, but are not expected to hunt

and kill as are Bloodfang men. Soon after this coming

of age, the newly-minted woman is taken from her

family by one of the tribe’s warriors.

As demonstrated by the practice of mate-theft, the

status of women in the Bloodfang tribe is very low.

In many ways they are considered no more than

property. Indeed, prized horses and dogs regularly see

better treatment than Bloodfang women. However,

as difﬁcult as a woman’s life in the Bloodfang may

be, there are two paths to higher status. The ﬁrst,

and easier, means for a woman to attain status in the

tribe is to be blessed with magical abilities thereby

becoming a shaman of the tribe. It doesn’t matter

whether the shaman is a Cleric, a Sorceror, or an

Adept, spells are spells and ﬁne distinctions in magic

are beyond the understanding of most Bloodfangs. But

one thing every Bloodfang learns at an early age is

respect for power and every spellcaster has that.

Sometimes the acquisition of a mate is accomplished

by stealth, but often it is showy and violent, thus

raising the status of the warrior both by the acquisition

of the woman and by the demonstration of battle

prowess. To differentiate a mate-theft from a more

serious attack on a tribe-member, warriors on a mate-

theft paint red streaks along their faces and both sides

of the chest.

In cases where the parents approve the match, any

resistance to the girl being taken is mostly for show,

with battle ending after ﬁrst blood is drawn. If the

girl’s father thinks the warrior is weak, combat

may be to the death. Of course, many parents don’t

particularly care what happens to their children and

will let them be taken with little resistance whether or

not they think the mating will result in a worthwhile

alliance for their family.

The more difﬁcult, but more common, means to status

for women is to follow the path of the warrior. A

woman quick and accurate with a blade who matches

the Bloodfang men in viciousness is treated as an

equal among the tribe’s warriors. This is no mean

feat as many male Bloodfang are eager to “test” any

prospective women warriors in combat; seeing them

as a threat to the position of the tribe’s men.

Although much of the respect accorded to female

warriors is due to their killing prowess, there is also

a touch of the sacred about them. Any woman who

becomes a full warrior of the Bloodfang is considered

to be blessed by the spirit of the badger (a tough and

vicious animal) and close to the supernatural.

Although it is fairly uncommon for mate-theft to result

in death, it does happen. Mortal combat is most likely

if the invading warrior happens to break something

valuable in the parents’ dwelling including causing

signiﬁcant structural damage to the home. This

enrages the prospective father-in-law more than any

theft of family ever could.

Since becoming pregnant would be the next thing

to committing suicide for any woman ﬁghter in this

brutal society, it is common for them to permanently

injure their reproductive organs with crude surgery so

that they are unable to conceive.

Family units in the Bloodfang tribe are fairly ﬂuid,

with mates being shifted between warriors based

primarily on attractiveness of the mate and the

individual combat proﬁciency of the warrior, but

mates are occasionally used as trade goods. The

accepted terminology for other Bloodfangs that a

warrior claims as mates is wives (or husbands) while

kidnapped people are referred to as dolls. Particularly

attractive mates are often fought over and can change

hands many times until they are acquired by a warrior

skilled and intimidating enough to keep them in the

Tribal Dress

let alone understand a book. Similarly, personal

discipline is denigrated as foolish nonsense. As such,

it is little surprise that by far the bulk of Bloodfang are

Barbarians with a healthy batch of Warriors among

the “non-combatants” of the tribe. However, since

cunning and stealth are respected nearly as much as

brute strength, it is not uncommon for a Bloodfang to

be a Rogue or, more often, a Rogue/Barbarian multi-

class. Only the most powerful warriors of the tribe

have attained the brutal savagery and skill necessary to

take levels in the Bloody Ravager prestige class.

& Equipment

The Bloodfang are hardly skilled craftsmen. As such,

they dress in poorly cured hides or garments acquired

on a raid. They prefer bright colors; especially reds

and greens. Bloodfang men wear as much jewelry as

they can ﬁnd room for on their bodies, with gaudy

necklaces and arm bands being the most prized items.

If a Bloodfang woman or child is dressed in anything

other than rags, it is almost always as a display of

wealth on the part of the warrior they belong to.

The Bloodfang are too unfocussed and vicious for

there to have ever been a Ranger in the tribe. They are

far more interested in randomly destroying nature than

in learning how to live in harmony with it.

On raids, the barbaric ﬁnery of the warriors is

concealed beneath hides rubbed with charcoal to allow

some measure of stealth.

Bloodfang women, although of low status, are more

than used to combat, ﬁght like hell-cats, and often

have one or more levels of Warrior in addition to any

levels of Commoner they may possess.

Hide or leather armor is worn by young or poor

warriors of the tribe while older, wealthier warriors

prefer to gird themselves in chain shirts. The most

prized armor is the mithral shirt since it is shiny,

provides excellent protection, and its light weight does

not hinder the wearer when he is sneaking up on prey.

Tactics

The Bloodfang can hardly be called military geniuses.

However, they have a bag of standard tactics that have

worked for them in the past and continue to work in

the present.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Bloodfang prefer to arm

themselves with axes, especially greataxes. The

brutal weapons chop through bone and homestead

doors with equal ease and make for excellent tools

of intimidation. Poor warriors must settle for using

mauls or great clubs, but hardly any Bloodfang carries

a shield, thinking the defense unmanly and soft. The

tribal philosophy is that it is better to be able to hew

through a man than to deﬂect a blow.

The most important thing to remember about the

Bloodfang tribe is that while they are brutal killlers,

they prefer not to get into a fair ﬁght. The greatest

delight for a Bloodfang warrior is to see total fear in

the eyes of his victim. When you take that away, battle

loses some of its luster. This is not to say that the

Bloodfang are cowards, because if cornered or facing

surprisingly powerful opponents they will ﬁght like

madmen, only retreating if it becomes clear they are

outmatched.

The average warrior, in addition to his main weapon,

carries a short bow and quiver as well as at least a half

dozen knives of varying sizes. These small blades are

not used only as weapons, but as implements of torture

when there is no time to drag a victim to a safer, more

entertaining location.

If allowed to choose their target, the Bloodfang tend

to attack smaller groups with few or no warriors and

especially go after groups containing women and

children. They have learned their lesson regarding

speciﬁcally targeting halﬂings after some unfortunate

losses to the small folk, and now treat that race with

caution. However, the gnomish reliance on magic and

technology has doomed them to victim status in the

eyes of the Bloodfang.

Common

Classes

Bloodfang culture is centered around personal

strength, cunning, and power. Spellcasters are feared

but rarely respected and it is the rare tribe member

indeed who has enough writing to sign his own name,

Relations

Bloodfang war-bands commonly raid settled lands,

attacking isolated homesteads, slaughtering most

of the inhabitants, and burning down the buildings.

Occasionally, the entire strength of the tribe will attack

a small thorp or village. They will try to ascertain the

strength and number of the town’s defenders before

attacking.

With Other

Tribes

The Bloodfang exist in what amounts to a state of

constant warfare with all surrounding tribes whether

orc or human. They attack these tribes in the same

kinds of raids they stage against their more settled

neighbors and in turn, those tribes make raids on the

Bloodfang. The Bloodfang have no real allies except

those of convenience and have difﬁculty working

with others. They restrain themselves when dealing

with traders, but only those who are heavily guarded

enough that the Bloodfang do not think they can easily

kill them.

In cases where the Bloodfang attack a group of

travelers or a homestead, they are unlikely to take

more than one or two captives back to their camp,

handling most of the torture on the spot and taking

only gutted carcasses, children, and sometimes

“mates.”

When a successful attack is made on a village, the

Bloodfang generally try to round up as many live

captives as possible. The purpose of this is twofold;

ﬁrst, to have live sacriﬁces for use in their gruesome

rituals and, second, to sell the remainder into slavery

in exchange for weapons, armor, magic, and luxuries.

Religion,

Rituals,&

When the Bloodfang attack, they prefer to do so under

cover of darkness. The large number of orcs and half-

orcs (with darkvision) in the tribe often gives them

an advantage over prey of other races. They sneak as

close to their target as possible, then come bursting

out of the night, screaming like a pack of demons.

Not only does this surprise their foes, buying precious

seconds in which to attack unresisted, but it is just

plain terrifying, a thing the Bloodfang love being.

Passtimes

The Bloodfang worship a pantheon made up

primarily of gods of blood, pain, battle, death, fear,

and darkness. These are gods not to be loved, but

propitiated. Gods to fear and serve. If the campaign

setting already has similar gods in it, assume that the

Bloodfangs follow these gods. Otherwise, have them

worship tribal spirits or another already existing god

of evil and chaos native to the campaign setting.

Bloodfang warriors use ranged weapons in battle only

if the foe is obviously superior. In these instances they

engage in hit and run tactics, but may also resort to

bow-work if they are unable to immediately engage

a foe in melee combat. In the latter case they will ﬁre

arrows while running towards their target, then switch

to melee weapons as soon as possible. The accuracy

in these attacks is terrible, but that doesn’t particularly

bother the Bloodfang.

Prominent among Bloodfang gods is the Hag, also

sometimes called the Crone. The Hag is the Bloodfang

goddess of nature and the natural world. She is usually

depicted as a hideous ancient human or orc female

with clawed hands and a predator’s teeth. Where other

nature gods are associated with bounty and growing

things, the Hag rules over all that is dark and violent

in the natural world; decay, violent death, stalking

predators, freezing cold, blasted wilderness and all

that is dangerous or off-putting about the wild. It is

possible that the Hag is an entirely different entity

than the nature gods that other peoples worship, but

it is also possible that she is an already existing,

probably benevolent, female nature deity twisted by

the Bloodfangs’ vision of life. The Hag is said to be

always hungry for ﬂesh, eating any that is left on the

Other tactics are rarely used by the average Bloodfang

warrior, but particularly cunning members of the tribe

(especially the chief and shaman) will adapt to what

best suits the situation and their goals.

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