Yurian
The Yurians are a race of crab-people first printed in the Dungeons and Dragons 3.0 Fiend Folio. They are notable for not only having a misprinted racial hit dice and/or Level Adjustment, but for being one of two races of crab-people in D&D Third Edition to sport such a misprint, with the other race being the crucians. The big difference is that the yurians are ocean crabs, whereas crucians are desert crabs. The other big difference is that crucians were eventually given a PC stat block, whereas the yurians are forever stuck in NPC-with-a-level-adjustment purgatory.
Their counterpart in Magic: The Gathering is the Homarids.
It's generally believed yurians are the official (well "official") 3e update of the original crabfolk, since the lore they have is basically a retread of the expanded 2nd edition lore for crabfolk - the generally peacable nature, propensity towards inexplicable rampages, surprising adeptness at art and generally primitive hunter-gather lifestyle. The only thing missing is the inexplicable obsession with silver.
In 3rd edition Forgotten Realms, it was stated in "Serpent Kingdoms" that Aldani are simply a setting-specific regional name for yurians. That lore was subsequently retconned in 5th edition.
NPC stat block[edit | edit source]
- Medium-Size Monstrous Humanoid (Aquatic)
- Hit Dice: 3d8+6 (19 hp)
- Land speed: 30 ft./turn, swim speed 20 ft./turn
- +6 natural armor
- Base Attack/Grapple: +3/+5
- Natural weapons: 2 Claws dealing 1d6+2 damage each
- Saves: Fort +5 (3 from RHD, 2 from con), Ref +3 (3 from RHD, 0 from dex), Will +1 (1 from RHD, 0 from wis)
- Ability Scores: Str 14, Dex 11, Con 14, Int 9, Wis 11, Cha 8
- Skills: Hide +6 (after +4 racial bonus), Listen +5, Spot +5, Swim +10
- Feats: Alertness, Power Attack
- Darkvision 60 ft.
- Limited regeneration: Yurians can regrow lost body parts as part of their natural healing ability. If a yurian loses a limb or eyestalk, the lost part regrows as soon as the damage is healed by any means.
- +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard
- Can always choose to take 10 on Swim checks, even if distracted or endangered.
- Level Adjustment: +4, but this is contradicted later in the description, which states "A yurian PC’s effective character level (ECL) is equal to its class level +4. Thus, a 1st-level yurian barbarian has an ECL of 5 and is the equivalent of a 5th level character." Because yurians have 3 racial hit dice, this would give a level adjustment of +1.