Belgoi
![]() |

Belgoi are one of the many humanoid horrors unique to the Dungeons & Dragons world of Dark Sun. Able to pass for humans until one notices their long, clawed fingers and webbed, three-toed feet, the belgoi have basically replaced orcs as the most rapacious and destructive race on Athas. Yes, even including humans.
Belgoi are a tribal people, living in surprisingly massive groups that inhabit the bleakest part of the Tablelands. They are also, without a doubt, the most hated and despised people in all of Athas. Even the Sorcerer-Kings won't tolerate the presence of a belgoi tribe within five-day's travel of their city-states, and honestly it's not hard to understand why. The belgoi are a scourge on Athas, who rapaciously strip the land bare of everything edible they can find and then pollute whatever they can't eat, drink or otherwise use for themselves. Even some defilers do less damage to their surroundings than belgoi do! Whilst omnivorous, they actively prefer to prey on sapient creatures... why? Because they're sadistic bastards, that's why!
To hunt their favored prey, belgoi shamans fashion unique bells from the bones of dead belgoi, which act as a powerful focus for the race's innate affinity for telepathy. Small bands of belgoi hunters shadow humanoid bands in the wasteland, ringing their bells and slowly wearing away at their mental defenses, so they can compell victims to separate themselves from the group and sneak away to be slaughtered by the belgoi. Thanks to their wicked claws and ability to drain life energy with a touch, belgoi are surprisingly formidable foes, but their maniac courage makes them truly deadly; if a belgoi band enters battle and realizes they are outmatched, they will summon every belgoi within miles, and the fight will not stop until one side has been completely slaughtered in pitched battles that can last for days.
4th edition tweaked the race only slightly, turning them into corrupted fey who have been driven mad by the destruction of the Feywild (not that they were particularly nice guys before that happened) and now want to take their vengeance out on all material life, with a particular hatred for the eladrin.
Playing Belgoi?![edit | edit source]
Now, you'd probably not take a look at the belgoi and think "now there's a race that's screaming for a PC conversion!" Well, the madlads behind the Complete Book of Athasian Humanoids disagreed, and worked their magic on the belgoi. Sadly, no effort went into expanding their lore to explain why a belgoi might be traveling with a party, which is a bit of a shame considering that they're on the extremely evil end of the scale even by Athasian standards.
- Ability Score Minimum/Maximum: Strength 5/20, Dexterity 8/20, Constitution 5/20, Intelligence 5/15, Wisdom 5/20, Charisma 5/18
- Ability Score Adjustments: +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, -1 Intelligence, -1 Wisdom, -2 Charisma (note: increase Cha by +2 when dealing with NPCs of the same race)
- Racial Class/Level Limits: Fighter 16, Gladiator 14, Cleric 12, Thief 12, [[Psion]icist Unlimited
- Racial Thieving Skill Adjustments: Pick Pockets +5%, Open Locks -5%, Move Silently +10%, Hide in Shadows +5%, Climb Walls -5%, Read Languages -5%, Detect Illusion -5%, Bribe Official -10%, Escape Bonds +5%
- Natural Armor Class: 10
- Movement: 12
- Natural Weapons: A belgoi can attack twice per round with their claws, which do 1d4+2 damage. Creatures struck by a belgoi's claws must pass a Save Vs. Poison or lose 1d6 Constitution points for 1d4 turns... and yes, that save or drain must be made for each strike.
- Belgoi Bell: Once a belgoi with either the Psionicist class or Telepathic wild talents reaches 5th level, they can construct a bell from bone. Ringing this bell when attempting to make telepathic contact augments the effort; the target must successfully save vs. mind-affecting spell or contact will be made. If the victim saves successfully, in addition to the contact being failed, all creatures within 20 yards of the victim hear the bell ringing, which they don't if the save is failed.
- Infravision 60 feet
- Roleplaying Disadvantage: Belgoi are despised by the other sapients of Athas as despoilers, thieves, raiders and cannibals. Merchants will try to shortchange them, crimes will be blamed on them, and good luck looking for work.
- Mandatory Initial NWP Proficiency: Survival
Terrors of Athas followed suit by converting them into Dengeons & Dragons 3rd Edition:
- Ability Modifiers: +6 dexterity, +2 Intelligence, +4 Charisma -2 Wisdom,
- Size: Medium
- Space/Reach: 5ft/5ft
- Speed: 30ft
- Darkvision 60 feet
- Racial Hit Dice: 5 levels in Monstrous Humanoid (5d8 HD, BAB +5, Fort +1, Ref +4, Will +4)
- Racial Skills: 8 X (2 + Int modifier) skill points, class skills are Hide, Intimidate, Listen, Move Silently, Search, and Spot.
- 2 feats.
- Weapon Proficiency: All Simple Weapons, Belgoi Natural Weapons.
- Natural Weapons: 2 Claws (1d4 damage + 1d6 Temporary Strength damage, increased to 2d6 Temp Str damage on a critical hit)
- Special Attacks:
- PsiLike Abilities: Manifester level 7th, save DCs are Charisma based, all 3/day.
- Attraction (+7 bonus, DC 16)
- Brain Lock (all targets, DC 14)
- Ego Whip (2d4 Charisma damage, DC 16)
- Empty Mind (+5 bonus)
- Psionic Dominate (DC 18)
- Bell-Ringing (Su): A creature targeted by a belgoi's domination power who can hear the belgoi ringing a bell suffers a -2 penalty on their Will save.
- Automatic Languages: Belgoi, Bonus Languages: COmmon
- Favored Class: Psion
- Level Adjustment: +4