Welcome to Curious Quill, an original content resource for d20 roleplaying.

The Quill has spent time describing people and beasts of the world, but these are just creatures for the player characters to encounter. Developing a character you want to play, using the existing rules, can seem difficult. Follow the posts this season and the character tag for tips and recommendations on making unique characters.

Lore Kevin Frank Lore Kevin Frank

Bestiary: Behemoths

Behemoths are gigantic, primordial monsters that have existed since the dawn of the world, and typically are or were considered the alpha predator in their home.

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Lore Kevin Frank Lore Kevin Frank

Gwyven: Mother of Beasts

Gwyven, known as mother of beasts, is a divine being from whom nearly all beasts originate from. Created by the Caelestine, the gods of the four elements, she was given features and qualities from each of them, features that would be the source of the fauna and other beasts.

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Lore Kevin Frank Lore Kevin Frank

The Baest Notera: A Taluman Bestiary

The Baest Notera is the most well-known and comprehensive bestiary in the land of Taluma. Written hundreds of years ago by the Lokk explorer Nyklandr Sylvfar, with the help of the legendary Curious Quill itself, it still is respected as the foremost authority on beasts. It accomplishes this by presenting age-old folklore and knowledge of many cultures in the classical taxonomy of the Aymirian people.

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Lore Kevin Frank Lore Kevin Frank

New Feat: Predator’s Sense

Orc hunters who follow the path of a Gwyvenclaw develop abilities like a natural predator. Their instinct become honed to strike first when they spot their prey.

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Lore Kevin Frank Lore Kevin Frank

Background: Orc Gwyvenclaw

Orcs are known as exceptional hunters, but there are some who are renowned for taking this expertise to another level. Some orcs train to be monster hunters. They are known as Gwyvenclaws, after the Taluman divine mother-of-all-beasts Gwyven.

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Lore Kevin Frank Lore Kevin Frank

Orcish Monster Rending

After they have hunted and killed a monster, orcs are known to eat the flesh of all manner of creatures. But the other parts of a monster can be as—if not more—valuable than the meat. The process of breaking down a monster is called rending among the orcs, similar to dressing among other people. .

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Lore Kevin Frank Lore Kevin Frank

Orc Tattoos

Many cultures are known to use tattoos, including tattoos. While they are often found among subcultures or specific groups in other cultures, among the orcs it is more of a rule.

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Lore Kevin Frank Lore Kevin Frank

Orc Eidol-Stones

Though orcs of Taluma honor Gwyven above all god’s, they do worship all of them. In addition to the primary gods, they also honor other spirits, eidolons, immortals with transcendental power. The different people of Taluma have different eidolons: such as the exemplars of Luministic humans. They do not build temples or even smaller shrines, instead they worship their eidolons at monoliths called eidol-stones.

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Lore Kevin Frank Lore Kevin Frank

New Feat: Hunters’ Edge

Orc hunters travel across the land in pursuit of beasts and monsters alike. Some of the greatest hunters learn to take advantage of the qualities of piercing weapons which are uniquely suited for hunting over bludgeoning and slashing ones.

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