Braxat

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Not to be mistaken for the British movement to withdraw from the European Union.

Braxats are one of the many monstrous humanoids that stalk the burning wastelands beneath the Dark Sun in Dungeons & Dragons. Resembling a 15' tall lizardfolk with thick chitinous armor plating and 3-5 horns, braxats are some of the meanest sons-of-bitches to prowl the badlands.

Y'see, not only is a braxat a 15ft tall mountain of meat-eating muscle armored in chitin so thick it can repel anything shy of a steel or enchanted blade, but it's also smarter than most humans (average Intelligence 13-14), has innate powers of telepathy and psychoportation, spews acid in a short-ranged cone, and is a sadistic bastard that regards humanoids as preferable prey for their superior ability to experience and express pain and fear. So, whilst braxat chitin may be highly valuable for making armor and shields out of, most people with any common sense stay the hell away from braxats if they have a choice - too many would-be hunters have ended up the hunted. It's a good thing that they are highly antisocial and won't even interact with other braxats except for mating and child-rearing.

The braxats debuted in the original Dark Sun boxed set, and have gone on to appear in every single edition since. This original sourcebook had only minimal fluff, boiling down to what we described above; braxats are nocturnal predators with a sadistic streak who favor intelligent prey over all else. It was later reprinted identically in the Monstrous Compendium Appendix Annual Volume 4, this time with new, colored art.

They later returned in Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition in the 3e Monster Manual II. Whilst preserving the basics, this iteration expanded upon the braxats. They lost their valuable chitinous armor, and instead, their "rhino-like" horns are valuable as artistic mediums. They're still brutally sadistic predators, but they're much less antisocial, now gathering in brutal tribes that raid and pillage their surroundings. The biggest change is that, for some reason, they spit a cone of cold instead of a cone of acid!

The Serpent Kingdoms splatbook would also borg them into the Forgotten Realms as yet another creation of the Sarrukh.

Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition saw them return in the Dark Sun Creature Catalog. Regaining its acidic spittle, this braxat strikes a balance in lore between its 2e and 3e portrayals; whilst braxats rarely cooperate with each other - even mating is largely a matter of one braxat deciding it wants kids and then beating & raping the other parent into submission - they are often lured or cowed into service by other powerful and malevolent beings, or rise to become the leaders of savage bandit clans and raider tribes. This edition describes braxats as regarding anything smaller than them with contempt, and anything bigger than them with hateful competitiveness.

Finally, they returned in Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition in Boo's Astral Menagerie for Spelljammer, having basically reverted to their 2nd edition lore.

Playing Braxats?

Braxats were not included as a PC race in the Complete Book of Athasian Humanoids, which is kind of weird when you consider that equally bestial or evil humanoids such as anakore, belgoi, hejkin and sligs made it in! But, "Terrors of Athas" for 3rd edition does feature a playable braxat statblock:

Ability Score Modifiers: +20 Str, +2 Dex, +14 Con, +6 Int, +4 Wis, +2 Cha

Huge size. –2 penalty to Armor Class, -2 penalty on attack rolls, -8 penalty on Hide checks, +8 bonus on grapple checks, lifting and carrying limits quadruple those of Medium characters.

Space/Reach: 15 ft./15 ft.

A braxat‘s base land speed is 40 feet.

Darkvision out to 60 feet.

Racial Hit Dice: A braxat begins with 12 levels of monstrous humanoid, which provide 12d8 Hit Dice, a base attack bonus of +12, and base saving throw bonuses of Fort +4, Ref +8 and Will +8.

Racial Skills: A braxat‘s monstrous humanoid levels give it skill points equal to 15 x (2 + Int modifier). Its class skills are Climb, Concentration, Intimidate, Jump, Listen, Spot and Survival.

A braxat‘s monstrous humanoid levels give it 5 feat

Weapon Proficiency: A braxat is proficient with all simple and martial weapons as well as with its natural weapons.

+11 natural armor bonus.

Natural Weapons: Gore (2d6).

Special Attacks:

Breath Weapon (Su): Braxats can breathe a 30-footlong cone of acid for 4d8 points of acid damage (Reflex save DC 23 half). Once it has used its breath weapon, the creature must wait 1d6 rounds before it can do so again. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Psi-Like Abilities: At will—missive (70 ft. range); 3/day—crisis of breath (affects up to 4 creatures, DC 17*) disable (45 ft. range, affects 15 HD targets, DC 17*), http://athas.org 19 force screen (+6 shield bonus*), inflict pain (4 additional targets, DC 17*), psionic suggestion (affects 4 additional targets, DC 14*). Manifester level 12th. The save DCs are Charisma-based. *Includes augmentation for the braxat‘s manifester level.

Special Qualities: Damage reduction 10/metal, darkvision 60 ft., power resistance 17

Automatic Languages: Braxat, Common. Bonus Languages: Dwarven, Elven, Gith, Tarek.

Favored Class: Ranger.

Level Adjustment: +8.

Gallery

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  The original braxat art, drawn by Baxa.

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