Thri-kreen

The thri-kreen are a race of sentient, mostly-humanoid mantis-people, originally from the Dark Sun campaign setting. They later proved popular enough to port over to other places. Scary, but in an alien way rather than an evil way.

They have poisonous bites, psionics, and they can jump like grasshoppers. They don't sleep, but their lifespan is only 30 years. They don't have cultural taboos against cannibalism, and love the taste of raw elf, though they aren't the crazed murder-munchers the Dark Sun halflings are. They prefer double-bladed lightsabers polearms, and make three-sided Xena-style boomerang throwy-things by mixing their venom with plant sap until it hardens. They've also gone through a few different body configurations over the years, starting out as basically praying mantises with hands and moving towards a notably more humanoid bent in recent editions.

First showed up in AD&D in Monstrous Manual, and became a playable character race in the Dark Sun Revised edition. The MM specifically stats the basic thri-kreen, and mentions the existence of two cousin species; the more powerful and intelligent Tohr-kreen ("mantis nobles") and the spacefaring surgeons & bio-artificers called Xixchil. There would eventually be a Dark Sun splat detailing all of the varieties of thri-kreen and tohr-kreen (basic tohr-kreen, j'ez, j'ohl, giant zik-trin'ak, primitive trin, laborer t'keech, female druid tondi), whilst the xixchil would get attention paid to them in Spelljammer.

Thri-kreen are the darlings of powergamers everywhere, as four arms means four weapons means all sorts of crazy builds focused on massive, nigh-unusable numbers of attacks each turn. It turns out four arms doesn't help with spellcasting at all, so they're actually not such a huge deal.

They were recently voted one of the three most-popular races to be added to 5e, perhaps because they're the hardest "core" Dark Sun race to just glue another's template over and call it a day. The designer admitted that doing so would be pretty tough, but that it had to happen eventually.

They're a favourite when some drawfag offers to sketch some erotica for /tg/, and wants to squick us out instead. Well, except for those corrupted by Slaanesh.

Thri-kreen Stats

Thri-kreen have been present in every single edition since they were released for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons - unlike their unfortunate cousins, the Xixchil. In fact, except for 4th edition, they've actually had multiple appearances in each edition.

AD&D

Thri-kreen were present in both the Original and the Revised versions of the Dark Sun campaign setting. The versions are fundamentally identical.

Ability Score Range: Strength 8/20, Dexterity 15/20, Constitution 5/20, Intelligence 5/20, Wisdom 5/20, Charisma 5/17

Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Dexterity, +1 Wisdom, -1 Intelligence, -2 Charisma

Class & Level Limits: Cleric (12), Druid (16), Fighter (16), Gladiator (15), Psionicist (Unlimited), Ranger (12)

Base Armor Class: 5

Reduce Darkness/Blindness-based penalties by 1 point/5% - this does not apply to ranged activities.

Does not require sleep.

Cannot use magic items designed to be worn by demihumans.

Can make 1 Bite attack (1d4+1 damage) and 4 Claw Attacks (1d4 damage) per round. A thri-kreen fighter can attack with both weapon and bite, but multiple attack abilities only apply to its weapon.

From 3rd level on, can leap 20 feet straight up and 50 feet straight forward. Can't leap backwards.

From 5th level on, bite attack delivers a paralytic venom; creatures must pass a Save vs. Paralyzation or be paralyzed for rounds dependent on size (smaller than man-sized: 2d10, man-sized: 2d8, larger: 1d8, Huge/Gargantuan: 1 round).

Bonus proficiency with the Chatkcha gained at 5th level. If Chatkcha Proficiency is taken earlier, the thri-kreen gains nothing.

From 7th level on, can roll a 1d20 when fired at by physical missiles; on a 3+, the thri-kreen dodges the missile. Magical missile weapons modify this roll, subtracting their plus bonus from the thri-kreen's result.

3rd Edition

The thri-kreen was printed no less than three times in 3rd edition. It was first printed in the 319th issue of Dragon Magazine, as part of the quasi-official Dark Sun reboot. This version was then lifted and reprinted exactly as it was into the "Expanded Psionics Handbook". Finally, it was reprinted again in the Forgotten Realms sourcebook "Shining South".

+2 Strength, +4 Dexterity, -2 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom, -4 Charisma

Monstrous Humanoid

Medium

Base Land Speed 40 feet

Darkvision 60 feet

Immune to Sleep

+3 Natural Armor

Multiple Limbs: Four arms, qualify for the Multiweapon Fighting and Multiattack fets.

Natural Attacks: 4 Claw Attacks (primary, 1d4 damage), 1 Bite Attack (secondary, 1d4 damage), a weapon-equipped thri-kreen can use its natural attacks as secondary attacks.

Poisonous Bite (Ex): Once per day, can deliver poison via its bite with initial damage 1d6 Dex, secondary damage paralysis for 2d6 minutes, DC 11 + thri-kreen's Con modifier.

Leap (Ex): +30 racial bonus on Jump checks.

Weapon Familiarity: Gythka and Chatkcha are Martial Weapons for thri-kreen, not Exotic Weapons.

Naturally Psionic: 1 bonus power point at 1st level.

Psi-Like Abilities: 3/day - Chameleon, Know Direction & Location; 1/day - Metaphysical Claw. Manifester level is equal to 1/2 Hit Dice (minimum 1st) and DCs are Charisma-based.

In the EXPH, thri-kreen can also use Psionic Displacement 1/day, whilst in Shining South, they can instead use Greater Concealing and Amorpha 1/day each. Possibly a case of regional variance.

Racial Hit Dice: 2 levels of Monstrous Humanoid, which provide 2d8 Hit Dice, BAB +2, Fort +0, Ref +3, Will +3.

Racial Skills: A thri-kreen starts with (5 * (2+Int modifier)) skill points and its racial class skills are Balance, Climb, Hide, Jump, Listen and Spot.

+4 racial bonus on Hide checks in sandy/arid settings.

Racial Feats: Deflect Arrows and 1 bonus feat.

Favored Class: Ranger

Level Adjustment: +2 for the psionic thri-kreen, +1 if psionic traits are removed.

4th Edition

Thri-kreen made their triumphant return to the stage in the 4th edition Dark Sun Campaign Setting, joining Muls as the only Dark Sun race considered worthy of getting its own new racial writeup, where half-giants were just made a reskin for goliaths.

Ability Scores: +2 Dexterity, +2 Strength or Wisdom

Size: Medium

Speed: 7 squares

Vision: Low-light

Skill Bonuses: +2 Athletics, +2 Nature

Multiple Arms: Once per turn, you can draw/sheathe a weapon or stow/retrieve an item as a Free Action instead of a Minor Action.

Natural Jumper: You are always considered to have a running start when jumping.

Torpor: You enter a torpor-state instead of sleeping, leaving you aware of your surroundings. You only need 4 hours in torpor to gain the benefits of an extended rest.

Racial Power - Thri-kreen Claws: 1/encounter, as a minor action, make a melee 1 attack against up to 3 opponents. You can choose whether this attack keys off of Strength, Dexterity or Wisdom at character creation. You gain a +3 attack bonus per tier and inflict 1d8 damage per tier (plus Chosen Ability Score modifier). You gain a bonus to the damage roll equal to the number of targets.

The thri-kreen's racial Paragon Path is the Thri-Kreen Predator. At 11th level it gains a Climb speed of 4 squares, +2 damage bonus with Thri-Kreen Claws, and the ability to make a jump as a free action as part of burning an action point to take an extra action. At 16th level, when the thri-kreen is adjacent to an enemy that is also adjacent to one of the thri-kreen's allies, the thri-kreen is considered to be flanking that enemy.

Its level 11 attack power is Capturing Claws (as Thri-Kreen Claws, but grabs the target), its level 12 Utility power is Insect's Spring (make a jump check as a minor action 1/encounter), and its level 20 attack power is Paralyzing Bite (inflict 2d6 + Chosen Ability Score poison damage, target is Stunned until end of your next turn and takes ongoing 5 poison damage, save ends).

Monstergirls?

Thri-kreen "monstergirls" are one of those areas where /tg/ inevitably gets into a debate about the definition of monstergirl vs beastfolk vs furry. Born out of a memetic attempt to mess with people's heads that lead to thri-kreen erotic art (and at least two human-on-thri-kreen porn-fics) showing up in /tg/, thri-kreen have retained that memetic infamy that sees lewd commentary and requests invariably brought-up in thri-kreen threads. The issue is that such material always goes hard-core xenophile, depicting thri-kreen as their canonical near-humanoid bug-selves instead of the more human-like forms commonly seen on monstergirls, which invariably sparks the anti-beastfolk brigade to come out of the woodwork and start yapping, just like what happens when threads about the cuteness of kobolds, gnolls and minotaurs pop up.

Gallery

• 
  L'original.
• 
  CHATCHKAS AND SPEARS.
• 
  Four arms makes for a lot of potion throwing.
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  Long pointy sticks and three-pronged shuriken.
• 
  No magic, psionics only, final destination.
• 
  Knifin' around
• 
  Hello there!
• 
  Snack time?
• 
  The noble paladin Sir Mix-A-Lot once explicated the virtues of a large abdomen.

• 
  "I do declare!"
• 
  Potions!
• 
  Oh my!
• 
  Ready for her wedding day.
• 
  Drawfag, you got some splainin' to do!
• 
  WHAT HAS SCIENCE DONE.
• 
  Thri-kreen girl what are you doing you are not a nurse.
• 
  D'awww
• 
  D'AWWWWWW
• 
  DATE NIGHT
• 
  Real thri-kreen fans stick to 90%.

This article contains PROMOTIONS! Don't say we didn't warn you.

• 
  SCIENCE!
• 
  Now with wait a minute what the fuck
• 
  18 Charisma
• 
  Sleek!
• 
  Now with boobs!
• 
  You should be ashamed of yourselves, fa/tg/uys.
• 
  Fa/tg/uys are a bunch of disgusting perverts.
• 
  But it's okay. She loves us anyway.
• 
  Is that an immovable rod in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?
• 
  This is just wrong! Dark Sun dwarves don't have beards!

See Also

Thri-Kreen Erotica