Skulldrakes *A draconic PC race for GURPS Fantasy* by S.D. Anderson Skulldrakes are a subspecies of dragon. They get their names because their heads bear a strong resemblance to a humanoid skull, especially at angles that obscure the length of their snouts. They are relatively weak as dragons go. An adult skulldrake is roughly the size of and has most of the same physical statistics as a young firedrake, PD excepted. They have the spellcasting and skills equivalent to an adult firedrake with the same IQ. They are definitely long lived, but not immortal. The aging process that hardens their hides hardens their arteries. Natural deaths occur due to heart failure and stroke. Sometime during their counterpart to "Monstrous" Dragon, (where they have Adolescent Dragon statistics, except PD, which is now 1 point.) age kicks in and they become "Old Skulldrakes". An Old Skulldrake acquires the "fragile" disadvantage. Soon afterwards (5 x HT years) the old one becomes "antique", and death generally follows in 1d6+2 years. Skulldrakes almost exclusively breathe fire. The only documented case of an acid spitting skulldrake was later shown to have been casting an "acid breath" spell of it's own invention. Skulldrakes are a dying race. They are easier to kill than firedrakes, whom they must compete with for territory. Their monstrous head makes a superb trophy for hunters, and the relative easy by which they can be vanquished encourages hunters. But they are far from helpless, let alone finished. Because of their smaller size, they can live off less productive lands than their larger cousins. If enough such lands existed, unclaimed by other dragons, beasts or humans, they could flourish. But there aren't anywhere near enough such places. It costs 100 points to be an adult Skulldrake. Winged Flight 30 -10 Dying Race DR 10 -25 Mana Dependent Claws 40 -20 -4 reaction modifier Increased ST 50 -02 -1 reaction from firedrakes Extended Lifespan 5 -15 Greedy Longevity 5 -10 Miserly Metabolism Control -2 10 -05 Glutton Striker (tail) 5 -05 Keeps Oaths (when given!) DX + 1 10 -30 No fine Manipulators IQ + 1 10 -20 Sleepy 66% of the time HT + 4 45 -05 Reduced Move -1 Alertness + 2 10 -20 Hideous Appearance -4 Magery -3 35 -10 Inconvenient Size (3 hexes) Racial inate spell: Breathe Fire 13- 4 +1 Reaction from Rep Men 2 Flight Skill at DX 2 Strong Will +1 4 Thanatagzikulath (100 pt Skulldrake character) ST: 18 (-10 pts) DX: 11 (0 pts) IQ: 14 (30 pts) HT: 14 (0 pts) total: 20 pts Advantages: Skills Skulldrake (100 pts) Brawling 12- (2 pts); English 13- Literacy (10 pts) (1 pt); Intimidate 13- (0 pts); Area Knowledge 14- (1 pt); Fast Disadvantages: Talk 12- (1/2 pt); Merchant 12- Bloodthirst (-10 pts) (1/2 pt). Enemy: Dragon Hunters 6- (-10 pts); Bully (-10 pts) Spells Overconfidence (-10 pts) Apportation 15- (1 pt); Missile Shield 15- (1 pt); Reverse Missiles (1 pt); Quirks: Seek Earth 15- (1 pt); Shape Earth 15- Loves to Push Dwarves around (-1 pt) (1 pt); Earth Vision 15- (1 pt); Earth Thinks she can sing (-1 pt) to Stone 15- (1 pt); Shape Stone 15- Prefers rubies to other gems (-1 pt) (1 pt); Flesh to Stone 15- (1 pt); Stone Hates archers (-1 pt) to Flesh 15- (1 pt). Lies about having Demon Sensing Powers (-1 pt)* Patron/Duty: Lord Zachary 6-/15- (0 pts) *Due to his facial appearance Detect Lies is at -4 to catch this lie. Skulldrakes _do_ resemble demon kin, and the claim sounds reasonable. It takes a bit of energy, but he can shape stone/shape earth to make a safe haven while she (and the party?) sleep. You'll have to leave air holes, but they don't necessarily have to look like air holes. Thanatagzikulath (Than for short. Using the name "Thanny" will probably get you killed!) is a dragon who's come in from the cold. When an adolecent firedrake drove him from his home of nearly 3 centuries, he had enough. It took a few months, but he managed to negotiate with a local lord, selling his services as aerial scout and mage. His initial plan was ingratiate himself with the lord and persuade that noble to help him win back his home. Two facts have prevented this plan. The first is that the firedrake who bested him was a sexually active female, who has at least a half dozen male firedrakes courting her, and presumably ready to act as her allies. The second is that Thanatagzikulath is finding civilized life enjoyable. His pay isn't that terrific, by his standards, but Lord Zachary sends him a stead diet of criminals and political opponents, the lair he dug magically is quite defendable, and as Zachary's chief siege engineer, a gnome named Gerald Weldbolts helped design the lair, he has far more comfortable quarters now than he had ever lived in before. He had to give Weldbolts his word not to slay the gnome to assure himself of secrecy, and hopes the gnome's oath to not use his knowledge of the lair will be kept. Thanatagzikulath is starting to become popular amongst the locals. A large group of bandits raided a village towards the western border of the lording. Thanatagzikulath was sent after them. The bandits saw the drake in flight, prepared their archers. A score or more poisoned arrows flew at the skulldrake, then magically reversed course as they neared him. Caught completely by surprise, most of the bandits were pincushioned by their own shafts. The survivors were disorganized and scattered. Thanatagzikulath hunted down most of them. A few more adventures like this combined with growing familiarity of him by the locals could even give him a measure of good reputation.