Jerren

Jerren are one of two races that originated in the Book of Vile Darkness for Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition. As you might expect from the title, they are an ultra-edgy, super-evil race, so utterly foul and wicked that it honestly comes off as kind of stupid. Originally halflings, these little bastards used a war against goblinoids to stoop to extents so low that they actually freaked out their former opponents, devolving into a race of fiend-worshipping, poison-wielding cannibals.

Official Fluff

Jerren are halflings, although they despise that name. About two hundred years ago, the Jerren were typical nomadic halflings who inhabited a wide prairie. Every spring, they were beset by goblins and bugbears from the nearby hills. These raids cost the Jerren dearly in lives and food, eventually threatening to wipe out the halflings entirely. The leaders of the various Jerren clans gathered one winter and made a harsh decision. They called upon all the spellcasters among the Jerren and gave them access to corrupt magic secured from a secret source. They armed each warrior with terrible poisons and weapons designed to spread disease and plague among the goblinoids.

The next spring, the ensuing war between the Jerren and their enemies threatened to wipe out both sides. Blood stained the prairie. Even with their new tactics, the Jerren would have lost, except that their previous decision opened the door to further malevolence. Soon the halflings were committing atrocities against their enemies that even the goblins and bugbears found repulsive. When the latter retreated into the hills, the Jerren followed them. Soon all that remained of the goblinoids were heads upon spikes positioned throughout the hills and grisly scenes that suggested bloody sacrifices made to evil gods.

Today, the plains are inhabited by terrible bands of vicious halflings who seek to overcome, feed upon, and corrupt all those they can hunt down and catch. All travelers and prairie-dwellers fear Jerren hunters.

Personality: Jerren are ruled by strength and blood lust. No leader can manage to control more than a small band of these chaotic and evil halflings, and those who show even the slightest bit of weakness or mercy are quickly cut down and devoured by the others. Like other halflings, Jerren live a nomadic lifestyle. They prey upon others for their food and most of their goods. The only things Jerren produce are instruments of war and torture—and the poisons for which they are now infamous.

Physical Description: A Jerren is physically indistinguishable from a lightfoot halfling, but its evil is so palpable that no one would ever mistake it for a normal halfling. In their rituals to dark deities such as Karaan, Erythnul, Rallaster, and the unnamed power revered by their ancestors, Jerren cover themselves with ritual scars and self-inflicted wounds. Jerren are always angry, bitter, and savage. They are always sadists and often masochists as well.

Relations: Jerren prey upon any living creature that crosses their path. They crave blood and sacrifices to feed the insatiable hunger of the deities to whom they have sworn allegiance. Jerren seek victims to experiment upon with their newly concocted poisons, corrupt spells, and specially fostered diseases.

Alignment: Any evil.

Jerren Lands: Jerren bands claim stretches of plains, prairie, and desert, far from any bastion of civilization. They are nomadic, and the race is broken up into tribal bands that each claim large stretches of territory. When different Jerren bands meet by chance, they may turn upon each other, their base nature overcoming their desire to honor their common heritage.

Religion: Not particularly pious, Jerren may give lip service to any evil power. However, they all secretly revere an unnamed power, the power their elders long ago bargained with to secure their victory at the cost of the corruption of their race.

Language: Jerren speak a guttural dialect of Halfling, which uses the Common script (though Jerren rarely write at all). Almost all also speak Common.

Names: A Jerren typically chooses a name that helps her make the impression she wants to make. If she wants to be known for slaying the kin of her enemies, she chooses a name such as Kinslayer. If she wants to be known as a terror to all she meets, she picks a name such as Bloodspray.

Adventurers: Jerren are drawn almost invariably toward violent careers in which they can kill, degrade, and enslave others. Thus, rogues, assassins, blackguards, and many of the prestige classes in this book are ideal for Jerren.

Crunch

+2 Dexterity, –2 Strength: Jerren are quick, agile, and skilled with ranged weapons, but they are Small and therefore not as strong as other humanoids.

Small: As Small creatures, Jerren gain a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but they must use smaller weapons than humans use, and their lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of Medium-size characters.

Jerren base speed is 20 feet.

+2 racial bonus on Intimidate, Bluff, and Move Silently checks. Jerren are scary, untruthful, and sneaky.

+1 racial bonus on all saving throws. Jerren are surprisingly capable of avoiding mishaps.

+2 morale bonus on saving throws against fear. (This bonus stacks with Jerren’s +1 bonus on saving throws in general.)

+1 racial bonus on attack rolls with a thrown weapon. Jerren delight in inflicting harm from afar.

+2 racial bonus on Listen checks. Jerren are quite skilled in overhearing secrets.

Automatic Languages: Common and Halfling. Bonus Languages: Infernal, Abyssal, Goblin, and Orc.

Favored Class: Rogue. A multiclass Jerren’s rogue class does not count when determining whether she takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing. Jerren delight in stealth, sly tricks, and lies, and the vocation of rogue comes naturally to them.