Wemic
Wemics are basically the answer to the question "what would you get if a catfolk and a drunken centaur tried making a baby?" The result: a race who are humanoid lions from the waist up and giant, actual lions from the waist down, centaur-style. This makes them one of the most controversial beastfolk races, since the "species-taur" format is very common in the furry fandom. The race is particularly associated with the Forgotten Realms region, where they are heavily present in the Shaar region.
Do not confuse them with Chakats.
History
David C. Sutherland III created the modern-day wemic for a game product called Monster Cards Set 3, a first edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons supplement released in 1982; with the artwork for the original depiction being undertaken by Jim Roslof. From these humble origins, it went on to appear in the AD&D 1e's Monster Manual II. From AD&D 2e onwards, it began its long association with the Forgotten Realms; it first appeared in the Forgotten Realms Monstrous Compendium Appendix, and was subsequently reprinted in the Monstrous Manual. It became a playable race in the Complete Book of Humanoids, and then in Player's Options: Skills & Powers. It also had an "Ecology of" article in Dragon #157.
The wemic subsequently made its way into Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition, first through the FR splatbook "Monsters of Faerun" as a creature, and then as a PC option in "Races of Faerun".
Physiology
Wemics are, to put it bluntly, leonic centaurs: a humanoid upper torso extending from what would be the neck of a lion. From head to rump, wemics are 10 to 12 feet long, and they stand 6 to 7 feet tall from their front paws to the tops of their heads. They weigh around 600 pounds. Add in the powerful claws (retractile on the hands and forelimbs), and you have an imposing sight. A wemic is covered in fur, for the most part; editions have differed on whether the humanoid portion is as fur-covered as the rest of them, or just "unusually hairy" by human standards. One of the vaguest things is just how feline featured the wemics are; art and textual descriptions have presented them as everything from "human faced" to "anthro lion-faced" to "somewhere in between" - their Ecology Article in Dragon Magazine has a small bust of male and female wemics potraying the male as an ugly, almost orc-like mixture of human and feline features, whilst the female has beautiful and perfectly human features. The one thing that all renditions agree on is that wemics have leonic eyes (golden irises, vertical slit pupils) and lion-like ears mounted high on their heads, and that males sport huge, bushy, mane-like masses of hair that spill from their heads.
So, if you want to go the "standard RPG route" and have males being tauric lion-furries and females are tauric lion-catgirls, well, you're justified.
"Monsters of Faerun" also presents the existence of "optionally canon" Mountain Wemics, whose forms are based on the cougar (or "mountain lion") instead of the standard lion. These are somewhat smaller, have different tails, and lack manes.
Culture
In a nutshell, wemics are one of the "primitive races" of D&D, with a culture that combines Stone Age nomadic human with distinct leonic elements. Proud but slow to anger, the wemic "society" consists of the pride; a small family group of males, females and offspring whose size has been described as consisting of either "4d4 adult males, 2d12 adult females, and 1d12 cubs" (Monstrous Manual), "dozen males, one or two dozen females, and as many as a dozen young, age five years or less" (Ecology of the Wemic) or "1 to 4 males, 2 to 12 females, and 1 to 6 cubs" (Monsters/Races of Faerun). Prides may gather together based on ties of relationship via blood or marriage to form tribal groups, though in 3e lore it's stated that tribes tend to be temporary arrangements usually serving to guard the prides against a threat too great for an individual pride to handle. In AD&D, tribes may band together under a particularly mighty and charismatic patriarch to form short-lived kingdoms, but invariably scatter when that king is defeated, since they are a naturally fractious race.
The largest source of information on wemics remains their Ecology article, which goes into many details of their culture. For example, only a pride's patriarch takes multiple mates, as a symbol of his might, but females have complete authority of which males they choose as a spouse (which is why only the patriarch, the strongest wemic in the pride, gets multiple women) - males primp and preen and strut to attract a female's attention. However, many of these details are contradicted by their writeup in "Races of Faerun" - for example, Ecology of the Wemic states that males hunt whilst females guard the cubs, but Races of Faerun states that females do most of the hunting, as males take up the duty of guarding the prides from attacks by marauding monsters during the night.
Wemics live about 40 to 50 years, in no small part because once they reach their late 30s, they start to physically slow down and so become easy prey for the monsters of the savanna. Which makes you really think about what kind of world the D&D setting is when a 600 pound sword-wielding lion-man is considered "prey"!
AD&D PC Stats
- Ability Score Minimum/Maximum: Strength 11/18, Dexterity 6/17, Constitution 11/18, Intelligence 3/18, Wisdom 3/18, Charisma 3/18
- Ability Score Adjustments: +1 Strength, -1 Dexterity
- Class & Level Restrictions: Fighter 12, Shaman 7, Witch Doctor 7, Bard 10
- +5 bonus HP at first level
- Natural Armor Class: 6
- A wemic can attack with both foreleg claws for 1d4 damage each.
- A wemic can attack with its claws and its hand-held weapons at the same time.
- A wemic can leap 10 feet upward and 30 feet forward.
- A wemic takes damage as a Large creature.
- Weapon Proficiencies: Club (Stone), Javelin, Short Sword, Spear
- Nonweapon Proficiencies: Animal Noise, Eating, Fire-Building, Hunting, Natural Fighting, Religion, Spellcraft, Survival (Plains), Tracking, Weaponsmithing, Weaving, Wild Fighting.
| Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition Races | |
|---|---|
| Core | Dwarf • Elf • Gnome • Half-Elf • Half-Orc • Halfling • Human |
| Dark Sun | Aarakocra • Half-Giant • Mul • Pterran • Thri-kreen |
| Dragonlance | Draconian • Irda • Kender • Minotaur |
| Mystara | Aranea • Ee'ar • Enduk • Lizardfolk (Cayma • Gurrash • Shazak) • Lupin • Manscorpion • Phanaton • Rakasta • Tortle • Wallara |
| Oriental Adventures | Korobokuru • Hengeyokai • Spirit Folk |
| Planescape | Aasimar • Bariaur • Genasi • Githyanki • Githzerai • Modron • Tiefling |
| Spelljammer | Dracon • Giff • Grommam • Hadozee • Hurwaeti • Rastipede • Scro • Xixchil |
| Ravenloft: | Broken One • Flesh Golem • Half-Vistani • Therianthrope |
| Complete Book Series | Alaghi • Beastman • Bugbear • Bullywug • Centaur • Duergar • Fremlin • Firbolg • Flind • Gnoll • Goblin • Half-Ogre • Hobgoblin • Kobold • Mongrelfolk • Ogre • Ogre Mage • Orc • Pixie • Satyr • Saurial • Svirfneblin • Swanmay • Voadkyn • Wemic |
| Dragon Magazine | Half-Dryad • Half-Satyr • Uldra • Xvart |
3e PC Stats
Wemics have the following racial traits:
- +8 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution, –2 Charisma. Strong, fast, and hardy, wemics do not care much for impressing others outside their pride.
- Large: As Large creatures, wemics suffer a –1 size penalty on attack rolls and AC. They also suffer a –4 size penalty on Hide checks. However, they can use larger weapons than humans can, and their lifting and carrying limits are twice those of Medium-size characters.
- Wemic facing is 10 feet They have a reach of 5 feet.
- Wemic land speed is 40 feet .
- +4 natural armor.
- Darkvision 60 feet.
- Proficient with all simple weapons and shields.
- +8 racial bonus on Jump checks.
- Monstrous Humanoid Hit Dice: A wemic has 5d8 racial Hit Dice. A wemic character receives the maximum hit points for his first monstrous humanoid Hit Die and rolls his other monstrous humanoid Hit Dice normally. He rolls all Hit Dice from class levels and does not automatically get maximum hit points on his first class-level Hit Die. A wemic’s racial Hit Dice also provide a +5 base attack bonus and saving throws of Fort +1, Ref +4, and Will +4. Wemics with class levels add their class attack bonus and save bonuses to their racial attack bonus and saves.
- Monstrous Humanoid Skills: A wemic’s monstrous humanoid Hit Dice grant him skill points equal to (2 + Int modifier, minimum 1) ×8. Class skills for these skill points are Hide, Jump, Listen, Move Silently, Spot, and Survival. A wemic does not get the ×4 multiplier for skill points acquired from his first class level.
- Monstrous Humanoid Feats: A wemic’s monstrous humanoid Hit Dice grant him 2 feats. A typical wemic chooses Alertness and Great Fortitude. A wemic with class levels gains feats based on his total Hit Dice.
- Natural Attacks: Wemics can make 2 claw attacks, dealing 1d6 points of damage each. A wemic can attack with a onehanded weapon at his normal attack bonus, and make a claw attack as a secondary attack (–5 penalty on the attack roll, and half Strength bonus on the damage roll).
- Automatic Languages: Sylvan, Common. Bonus Languages: By region.
- Favored Class: Barbarian.
- Level Adjustment: +3. Due to his 5 racial Hit Dice, his natural attacks, and his racial skill bonus, a wemic has an effective character level of 8 plus his class levels.
