Nordanbjörn  - The Northern Bears

vesion 0.1

by Benjamin Baugh

A special class for Autarch Press’s Adventurer Conquer King System.  

Prime Requisite:  STR

Requirements: STR 16, CON 14

Hit Dice:  1d8

Maximum Level:  11

The Nordanbjörn  are speaking bears, intelligent as men, but lacking the tool culture that comes easily to a people with such clever hands.  They are long limbed, sleek in Summer, heavy and shaggy in Winter.  They have jaws that can crush an elk’s skull, and claws longer than a man’s fingers.  They have rough dexterity with their forelimbs, and can rise to two legs if they must, but they’re not tool-users - at best, they can shrug on and cinch-up and a suit of dwarf-forged bear-barding.  They have the senses of a woodland beast, and are well adapted to the harsh climate of their native lands.

They are relatively few in number compared to humans, but control a broad forested territory to the North - the Nordligmarches.  The marches are a rugged and inhospitable terrain of mountains, icy rivers, dense ancient forests, and ice-broken rock.  The hub of the civilization is the Sky Hall - a vast and ancient ruin made in a prehuman age.  The females and young of the Nordanbjörn  tend to cluster there, while the less sociable males wander the outer regions of the Nordanmarches, gathering only occasionally into bands for drinking and storytelling.  

Northern Bears can speak Common, the Nordanbjörn  language and Elven.  

Northern Bears posses the power and ferocity of wild beasts, and they grow larger and more terrible as they age - and adventuring bears can grow faster than their stay-at-home cousins.  While their lack of hands makes it impossible for them to wield shields, make missile attacks (either thrown or by weapon) or ordinary melee weapons, Nature has equipped them with a fearsome arsenal.  They attack AC 0 foes successfully on a roll of 10+, and this increases 2 every 3 levels like a human fighter.  The also possess the natural attacks of a brown bear - two claw attacks and a bite attack which inflict 1d3/1d3/1d6 damage.  At 5th level they have grown in size considerably, and possess the natural attacks of a grizzly bear which inflicts 1d4/1d4/1d8 damage.  At 9th level, the Northern Bear has grown even larger and more fearsome, and has the natural attacks of a cave bear which inflict 1d6/1d6/1d10.  They finally achieve their full growth at 11th level, and are enormous terrible combatants with the natural attacks of a polar bear which inflict 1d8/1d8/2d6.  

A Northern Bear may forego its bite attack if it lands two claw attacks against a single foe, and instead immediately grapple their enemy using the wrestle rules - the victim receives the normal saving throw against Paralize, but the bear need not make another roll to grapple.  

If bears attack normally rather than grappling a foe, then they cleave as a human Fighter of the same level.

Northern Bears possess a tough hide that grows thicker as they age.  In addition to protecting them from extreme weather conditions, their AC begins at 1, and increases by +1 every 3 levels.  They can also wear armor, but it must be made to fit them and they will outgrow armor eventually, requiring old armor to be modified (50% of the armor’s cost) at 5th, 9th, and 11th levels.  Magical bear armor can accommodate some growth - each +1 enchantment bonus is one ‘stage’ of growth the armor can expand to accommodate.  Modifying magical armor to fit a growing bear requires both a skilled smith and a mage with the magical engineering proficiency and will cost considerably more (due to the larger base cost of magic armor).    

Because they lack hands and a tool culture in their native lands, Northern Bears do not begin play with any starting gold or equipment, but may acquire it normally after play begins.  

The size, strength, and primarily quadrupedal stance of a Northern Bear have some other effects on their adventuring career, some of these factors increase as they gain experience and growth.  

1st Level

• Northern Bears are large and strong, and their frames can carry great burdens.  They can carry 50% more than a human for each movement category, and adventuring Northern Bears often wear heavy leather harness crafted for their use with tie-down points and straps for gear.  
• Armor made for their bearlike frame costs 50% more than that made for a smaller humanoid frame.   They can’t ride mounts, but can be carried in sufficiently roomy wagons.  
• Northern Bears possess a keen sense of smell which halves the penalties they suffer from darkness, and grants a +4 bonus to throws to forage, track, or hunt if they can employ their sense of smell in the effort.  
• The brute strength of the bear grants a +2 on throws to bash open doors, lift weights, or perform similar acts of brute force.  
• The heavy clawed forelimbs of the Northern Bears possess a small measure of manual dexterity, but the best they can manage is to cinch up the straps on a suit of dwarf-forged bear barding or harness.  They suffer a -4 penalty to any action requiring fine dexterity, delicacy, or close work.  
• Their mere presence will cause untrained domestic animals like horses, cows, sheep, and goats to make a Morale check or panic and try and escape.  A rider can control a trained mount, and animals can become used to the bear’s presence if it proves innocuous.  
• Bears of this size require 50% more food and drink than a humanoid adventurer, but for the Northern Bears it is not considered an evil act to eat the bodies of honorably slain foes (a human sized corpse provides enough for 1d6 days of food at 1st level, 1d4 at 5th level, 1d2 at 9th level, and 1 at 11th level).  They can also forage fairly easily, and are extremely omnivorous - this and their sense of smell grant a +4 bonus on hunting and foraging checks during wilderness exploration.  If they need to go without, they can endure for twice as long as most humans and demihumans before suffering from the effects of deprivation if they have been eating more than their daily requirements before this.  

5th Level

• The size of the bear increases dramatically, and now for all combat maneuvers where it is relevant, they are considered significantly larger than most humanoids, and on equal footing with ogres and similarly sized monsters.  
• They can carry twice as much as a human adventurer now, and can easily carry a full grown human, elf, or dwarf as a mount - ever a good trait when carrying wounded or infirm companions to safety or partnering with a single rider to make use of mounted combat.  
• Bear armor costs twice as much as human armor, and any armor already owned must be modified to fit (50%  of the armor’s value ).  
• The bear’s brute strength bonus increases to +4
• They penalties for manual tasks increases to -6
• Northern Bears of this great size require twice the food of a human.
• The size and ferocity of the Northern Bears grows so great that any creature smaller than they are and who are not used to their presence and familiar with the Nordanbjörn   people suffers -2 to their Reaction rolls.  Elves, being linked strongly with nature, never suffer this fearful reaction.  When taking action intending to cause fear, however, the bears get a +2 bonus.  
• In tight quarters - such as narrow dungeon  corridors - the size of the Northern Bears can be a disadvantage.  If the Judge rules this is the case, Nordanbjörn  suffer a -2 penalty to their AC, as they are unable to move defensively.  This can be used to the party’s advantage in some situations - a large bear can easily block a narrow corridor, preventing enemies from passing.  
• Allies may use the Nordanbjörn  as cover against missile attack if the bear remains fairly still (-2 to AC) and moves at no more than half normal speed, human-sized characters sheltering behind the bear can claim full cover (unable to target) or partial cover (-2 to hit), but attacks which miss those sheltering are compared to the bear’s AC instead to see if they hit.  This tactic can be risky, if the Nordanbjörn  is not wearing good bear barding.  A number of human sized characters equal to the bear’s Strength bonus can shelter behind in full cover.  Twice this many dwarf-sized characters can shelter.  
• At 5th level, they possess the savagery of a 5HD monster for the purposes of attacking enemies which can only be harmed by silver and magic weapons.  

9th Level

• Bears of this size can carry weight three times that a human could carry.
• Bear armor costs three times as much as human armor, and any armor already owned must be modified to fit (50%  of the armor’s value ).
• The bear’s brute strength bonus increases to +6
• The bear’s penalty for delicate manual tasks increases to -8
• Northern Bears of this great size require three times the food of a human.
• The size and ferocity of the Northern Bear increases so dramatically, that smaller and unfamiliar creatures now suffer a -4 to their reaction rolls, but the bear can claim a +4 bonus when deliberately causing fear.
• In tight quarters, bears now suffer a -4 penalty to their AC due to difficulty maneuvering.
• Two additional allies can shelter from missile attacks behind the bear.      

11th Level

• Bears of this size can carry weight four times that a human could carry.
• Bear armor costs four times as much as human armor, and any armor already owned must be modified to fit (50%  of the armor’s value ).
• The bear’s brute strength bonus increases to +8
• Northern Bears of this great size require four times the food of a human.
• Two additional allies can shelter from missile attacks behind the bear.    

At 9th level (Björnajarl), a bear can carve out a marche in the edges of the wilderness - heavy forests for a preference - and claim the territory.  The marche will contain 1d4+1 human or demihuman settlements (roll 1d8  for each: 1-5 human, 6-7 elven, 8 dwarf) the Nordanbjörn  is now responsible for protecting.  The bear will attract 10 0-level human or demihuman warriors from each settlement and 1d6 1st level characters of mixed classes from each settlement.  He will also be joined by a sleuth of young bears.   1d6 bears plus 1 for each settlement in the marche of 1st to 3rd level (1d3 level) who will help protect the territory in exchange for access to civilized comforts like mead, beer, spiced sausage, and heaped furs on which to sleep.  

Curious Wanderer Template

This pregenerated template represents a curious young bear who has wandered from the Nordanmarches to explore the strange Southern lands.  This template is ready for adventure.  However, if your bear’s Intelligence is 13+, you may select 1 additional Proficiency before play begins if you’d like.  

Northern Bear Level Progression

Northern Bear Attack and Saving Throws

Northern Bear Proficiencies Gained per Level

Northern Bear Proficiency List: Alertness, Ambushing, Bargaining, Beast Friendship, Berserker, Blind Fighting, Caving, Climbing, Combat Reflexes, Combat Trickery, Command, Dungeon Bashing, Eavesdropping, Endurance, Goblin-Slaying, Illusion Resistance, Intimidation, Labor, Land Surveying, Language, Lay on Hands, Magical Music, Naturalism, Navigate, Performance, Running, Skirmishing, Survival, Tracking.

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Design Notes

Sapient Bear fans, to me! to me!  

Most of their stuff is based on the bear writeups in the monster section, tweaked as made sense for a player character rather than enemy monster.  

I totally winged the XP progression for these guys too.   I tried to eyeball it, but it’s all best-guess gut feeling stuff.  I ended up cribbing the Spellsword’s progression because the numbers were big, and the bears seem pretty powerful.  They have some limitations, but they’re not going to stop the bear from kicking ass.  

Having trouble with the titles - anybody suggest anything here?

I gave them their own hash of saving throws, with the general theme being that they’re tough as hell, but not agile, and of equivalent willpower and psychic resilience to humans.  

This writeup is much bigger than the classes in the ACKS core book, but there’s more fiddly bits than most core classes.  Feature or bug.

It’s nice to do this in a system that’s not over-concerned with cross-class balance.  I don’t have to shortchange the bears as much.  

I need to add some stuff for how a Bjornjarl  bear manages his marche and protects it, what kind of things he could get out of the domain, and the challenges it might impose.  Some good possibilities for characters with co-local or overlapping domains here too.

Be interesting to see how this stacks up to the custom class building stuff I heard about for the PHB.