OSR Class: Otterperson Swift Striker

My assortment of FLAILSNAILers who are inhabiting Vymrrys at the moment really took a liking to the otters and their orgiastic bacchanals and ongoing war with the elf gangs of the House of the Purple Sun. One of them wanted some otter hirelings, so here's the first of three disturbingly violent otter classes. 

Otterperson Swift Striker*

While it is not currently known from whence the Otterpeople originated, most of those living in Vymrrys currently occupy a hidden enclave South of the shipyards and docks on the west side of the city. Swift Strikers are the mercurial spies and assassins of the otter-world, conducting surveillance against the House of the Purple Sun throughout the city. They rarely engage in battle headlong, instead preferring to surprise their enemies unaware.

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Prime Attribute: Dexterity [13+]

HD: 1d6

AC (base): 9 [10]

Armor/Shield Permitted: Leather, no shield

Weapons Permitted: Any, but magical daggers and swords only

*For saving throws, hiding, moving silently, picking locks, and leveling use the standard Thief table from S&W Complete

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About The Class

Alignment: Any

Armor: Due to their supple skeletons and contortionist-like abilities, Otterfolk can only wear armor that can bend with them, limiting them to leather and cloth.  Armor purchased or requisitioned from a non-Otter leather-smith will cost double. 

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Class Abilities

Supple Skeleton: An Otterperson's supple bones and joints allow them to contort into a variety of shapes, allowing them to enter and crawl through any tunnel through which even a small humanoid could not fit. Their wriggly nature also makes them harder to hit with slow moving weapons, giving a +1 AC vs. two-handed weapons. 

Otter Lungs: All Otterpeople are able to hold their breath for up to five minutes, allowing them to swim underwater for great distances as well as give immunity against inhalation poison for that time. 

Rock Assassination: The Swift Striker is especially adept at using rock slings to kill its prey, never incurring a penalty when aiming at a specific body part with the sling. [1d4 dmg] 

Hide in Liquids (2nd): At 2nd Level, a Swift Striker learns to hide in any liquid as well as it can hide in shadows. 

Whisker Location (3rd): At 3rd Level, the Swift Striker has adapted its sensitive whiskers to note moving objects within 60 feet. And will only be surprised by unseen assailants 33% of the time. 

Leap from Water (5th): At 5th Level, a Swift Striker becomes capable making an especially deadly stealth attack from water, should it be hiding there. This quick and lethal attack gives an extra +2 bonus to attacks from hiding, and an extra 1d4 damage.  

Establish Shadow Enclave (9th): At 9th Level, a Swift Striker may establish their own Enclave along any available coastline. The new enclave start with 2d20 Otterperson civilians, 1d8 of which can be immediately trained in the ways of Swift Striking. Each level after 9th, roll 1d8 to see how many new clan members have been born. Of this new number, 1 in 3 will be a Swift Striker, rounded up. 

Every Other Level: Roll on the random advancement Thief table.

Social Ecology: The Beetlefolk Proletariat of the Flowering Expanse

Far to the Northwest of Vymrrys, as the rolling dunes of the Stone-Crushed Sea level off into an arid and rocky wasteland, a lost traveller might happen upon the Flowering Expanse, and potentially the always aloof brood-clans of the Beetlefolk Proletariat. 

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Social Structure

The eusocial Beetlefolk Proletariat makes its home among the flowering giga-cacti that grow out of the cracked and desiccated scrublands, with each individual brood-clan occupying a single cactus. As a cactus grows, so too does the clan - slowly - able to hatch more larvae within the root system under the arid soil. As the larvae grow into adult Beetlefolk, they are given roles within the brood, and though some might seem more important than others to a traveller, all roles within the Proletariat are treated with equal dignity and respect. These roles fall into one of two castes within the brood: the reproductive caste, and the sterile caste. Among the sterile Beetlefolk, roles include defense, foraging, larval care, mercantile, and architecture/construction. The reproductive caste are mainly preoccupied with making sure the intra- and inter-clan economy is running smoothly, that all roles are filled, and that each mature member has a role. 

Each clan (and thus the Proletariat as a whole) maintains a standard ratio of 1:3 reproductive to sterile Beetlefolk, with the reproductive members of the brood living near the heart of the cactus. Political representation is afforded at this ratio as well. Every few years, a meeting of all clan representatives occurs and discusses when the next clan should be formed, and which clans will need to donate reproductive members. All decisions are made based on the best interests of the Proletariat in terms of long-term survivability. 

View from the base of a mature Gigacactus.
A clan of about 600 could live here with room to expand.

Defense

The Proletariat is aloof and fiercely defensive of their borders, and the clans which occupy gigacacti closest to the edge of the Proletariat's territory usually produce the strongest and most capable Defenders. Attempts by other civilizations to obtain nectar from the cactus flowers have made the Proletariat intensely wary of all outsiders, regardless of their intentions. In a typical clan 1/3 of all sterile caste members will be assigned to roles in defense, though in the border clans, this fraction can rise as high as 2/3. Within clan defense units, specialization occurs, as some Beetlefolk will be assigned positions in flower defense, larval and root defense, scouting parties, or warbands (in times of conflict). The clans never fight amongst themselves, though there are occasionally disagreements which need political intervention, and all fighting units are preoccupied with outside threats. 

Traditional Enemies

Longtime enemies of the Proletariat include raiding parties of Arakokra from the mountain range to the North - The Weeping Children - as well as Bullywugs from the Vexatious Chlorine Marshes to the East.