d20 Adamant Entertainment Hordes The Thunderfist.pdf

The Thunderfist

Written by: Justin S. Bow

Editing and Layout: Gareth-Michael Skarka

Introduction

The Hordes series presents a number of Barbarian

tribes for use in your fantasy D20 campaigns. Each

release provides you with information about the tribe,

sample NPCs and a prestige class for use with that

tribe.

In this edition: The Thunderﬁsts, barbarian

survivors from a ancient fallen Dwarven kingdom.

Habitat

The Thunderﬁst tribe should be placed in the vicinity

of an ancient, fallen, isolated dwarven kingdom. The

location should be remote enough that the descendants

of the kingdom’s survivors would have been separated

from general society and eventually devolved into

barbarism. As they are written, the Thunderﬁst are

assumed to be living in a rugged, mountainous

environment, but could easily be placed in a thick

forest or other inhospitable clime.

History

The Thunderﬁst tribe is descended from the survivors

of an ancient dwarven kingdom which was overrun

by orcs and goblins allied with a band of dark elf

mercenaries. While the bulk of the surviving dwarves

left their lost homeland far behind, some remained to

ﬁght the conquering monsters in a drawn-out guerilla

war.

people. They subsist primarily on goat-herding and

limited agriculture of hay, ﬂax, potatoes, and some

barley, but heavily supplement their diet with hunting

and gathering.

As time passed, the dwarves lost hope of retaking

their home, their supplies ran out, and they began to

acclimate themselves to a life of harsh survival in the

mountains which overlaid their small kingdom. After

living isolated for many centuries, the Thunderﬁst

have lost all memory of their one-time greatness

except for what is preserved in the shaman’s tales.

Instead, they lead simple but violent lives, eking

sustenance from the thin mountain soil, and staving off

attacks by the monsters who lair in halls the dwarves

once claimed.

During winter, the Thunderﬁsts come together in a

series of communal caverns that lie near the center of

their territory. These caves do not have access to the

Underdark and were one of the original refuges of the

Thunderﬁsts’ ancestors when they ﬂed the fall of their

kingdom. Side caverns in the Thunderﬁst winter camp

are claimed by various family groups, with the central

cave being reserved for communal living as well as

the tribe’s sacred forge.

Summer dwellings of the Thunderﬁsts are semi-

permanent structures of rough-hewn logs partially

buried in the turf of their mountain meadows.

Culture

The Thunderﬁst tribe numbers around 300 including

women and children. There are roughly 100 dwarven

warriors with perhaps another 50-100 semi-trained

combatants. The remaining dwarves are either too

young or too old to be effective in combat. The

overall alignment of the tribe is Chaotic Good, with

a few Neutral Good and Chaotic Neutral individuals.

Characters of other alignments generally leave the

tribe to walk their own path through the world, ﬁnding

Thunderﬁst society not to their taste. There is no

stigma to this sort of leave-taking and, if the wanderer

should return at some point in the future, they will

be welcomed back with open arms. Only those of

evil alignment are actively driven from the tribe and

attacked on sight as though they were dangerous

animals.

The Thunderﬁsts tend to rely on their own skills at the

forge to supply weapons and basic armor. They also

raid the orcs and goblins that dwell in the lost dwarven

kingdom for artifacts and raw materials. They are

willing to trade with outsiders for desired goods

(usually armor or weapons of exotic make or that

have magical properties; occasionally jewelry) but are

suspicious of strangers and not above taking by force

something they deem truly necessary. Only clearly evil

merchants (usually slavers) are outright pillaged.

Thunderﬁst culture is loose and non-restrictive.

Each individual is free to be themself but everyone

has a responsibility to look out for the safety of the

community and each other. This communal attitude is

especially important since the Thunderﬁst tribe has a

number of enemies that threaten their home territory.

The most respected traits in Thunderﬁst society are

strength, level-headedness, and endurance. While

the capacity to inﬂict punishing blows is certainly

desirable, it is considered more important to be able

to repulse the attacks of one’s enemies and to respond

in an appropriate way. Of course, Thunderﬁst dwarves

believe that a murderous rage is sometimes the most

appropriate response to threats.

The population of the Thunderﬁsts is fairly stable with

some growth over time. Generally speaking, they have

more children than other dwarves, although a smaller

percentage survive to adulthood. This greater fertility

rate, even after the comparatively high infant mortality

of the tribe, makes the Thunderﬁsts one of the few

dwarven populations that can really be considered to

be ﬂourishing.

Representatives of the gods are highly respected in

Thunderﬁst society, whether the holy person serves

the tribe’s gods or others. This does not mean that the

Thunderﬁsts welcome worshippers or clerics of evil

The Thunderﬁst tribe is well settled on a stable tribal

territory. In the summer, they travel to alpine meadows

where they live in small, separated camps of about 50

gods as brothers and sisters. Rather, they recognize the

depth of commitment in any truly religious person and

strive to show respect to those people of foreign faiths

who offer no threat to the tribe. Clerics and followers

of evil gods are killed in the quickest, most painless

manner possible. It is not acceptable to Thunderﬁst

sensibilities to allow a threat to the tribe to wander

freely.

Thunderﬁst males are considered of age after they

have participated in their ﬁrst raid; earlier if they

distinguish themselves in a feat of martial or hunting

prowess. The decision to include anyone in a raid

is made by the war-leader of each Thunderﬁst sub-

clan and these decisions can only be gain-sayed by

the tribal chief. In theory, the war-leader is the tribe

member best suited to determine whether a young

warrior is prepared to join his elders in a raid, thus

ushering him into manhood. In practice, war-leaders

occasionally hold the right of manhood over a young

dwarf, looking for a pay-off for inclusion in a raid or

simply as a way of settling up old grudges. Such abuse

of the right of manhood is rare, but can happen.

When it comes to arcane magic, the average

Thunderﬁst has mixed feelings. While it is certainly

the case that magic can be useful, it is sheer arrogance

to believe that a dwarf or any other mortal being can

truly control a force so powerful. Where wizards

often see themselves on a level with the gods, the

Thunderﬁsts see these book-dependent delvers into the

unknown as madmen set on a course of destruction.

Sorcerors, since they use natural, untrained talents

are treated with more respect but are still considered

dangerous though they are not forcibly expelled from

Thunderﬁst society and sometimes ﬁnd a place as

valued members of the tribe if they show themselves

to be prudent and humble in the use of their powers.

After the young Thunderﬁst warrior distinguishes

himself in combat, he becomes a man of the tribe.

Adult Thunderﬁst males completely shave their heads

and beards so that they are clean-shaven at all times.

The traditional dwarven beard and long hair provide

excellent holds for an opponent in battle, but smooth

skin does not.

In addition to being shorn, every Thunderﬁst man, as

part of the rite of manhood, is tattooed in front of his

clan (or the whole tribe if the rite takes place during

winter) with two black bars down the sides of his head

and a sort of tattooed beard on his neck. The head

tattoos start at just in front of the tips of the ears and

extend to the knobs of bone at the base of the skull.

They are solid black punctuated by pale circles of

un-inked skin. The beard tattoo starts at the middle

of the warrior’s lower lip and is shaped in a rough

oval, extending most of the way down the neck. It is

commonly drawn in an intricate, swirling design.

Clerics of gods of magic are practically unknown

in the Thunderﬁst tribe, but should one come along,

they would be treated as a cleric rather than a wizard

or sorceror. The tempering inﬂuence of a deity is

very important to the Thunderﬁst when it comes to

magic. There have been, historically, a number of

arcane spellcasters who have succumbed to madness,

either destroying enemy and friend indiscriminately,

or turning to the ways of evil, drowning in the lure

of power. This history of seduction by evil makes

the Thunderﬁsts extremely suspicious of arcane

spellcasters in general, and of magic-wielding dwarves

in particular.

Thunderﬁst females come of age after their ﬁrst period

and are not required to prove their worth in combat,

but between 10 and 25 percent of maturing women

take the test of combat as would a man. Thunderﬁst

women are not required to shave their heads, but

most have hair no longer than 2 or 3 inches. Female

warriors shave their heads like their male comrades

and receive the head-bar tattoo, but not the beard

tattoo.

The Thunderﬁst are extremely protective of their

children as they rightly view them as the very

lifeblood of the tribe.

This protectiveness does not mean that the Thunderﬁst

parent locks their child up in a cave and only lets them

out when they come of age. Rather, the Thunderﬁst go

out of their way both as parents and as a community

to properly train their children in self-defense and

wilderness lore. In theory, even a Thunderﬁst toddler

has some basic capacity to survive on their own in the

wild.

Marriage in the Thunderﬁst tribe is a loose affair.

Youngsters court each other as they like and are not

betrothed or otherwise given away or assigned by

parents. Matches are made for love and while parents

of the couple may object to the marriage, the ﬁnal

decision is left to the bride and groom. However, only

men and women who have passed through the rites

of adulthood can get married and start a family. This

taboo is occasionally broken, but such missteps are

frowned upon. Still, there have been a fair number of

rushed manhood ceremonies with a wedding taking

place immediately after the tattooing.

predators. Men are also the tribe’s hunters and

miners. Women handle growing the tribe’s few crops,

weaving clothing, and gathering wild plants. Women

warriors are allowed to herd and hunt with the men.

In theory, it would be acceptable for a man to decide

he prefers growing things or for a non-warrior woman

to spend her time mining. In practice, there is enough

social pressure brought to bear that this almost never

happens.

Although getting married is restricted to full adults

of the tribe, marriages do not necessarily last forever.

Dwarves are notoriously strong-willed and also

quite long-lived. As such, it is not uncommon for

“divorces” to happen after a few decades. These splits

are difﬁcult but rarely carry much rancor and divorced

tribe members do not bear any shame for ending their

marriage. The average Thunderﬁst goes through 3

or 4 marriages in their lifetime, but a large minority

never divorce at all. Divorce does not require any

kind of sanction from the tribe. The married couple

simply agrees that they will be divorcing, then makes

the tribal chief or shaman aware of the fact. Children

are allowed to choose the parent to remain with,

while infants usually go with the mother. However,

the father still holds a special place in his offsprings’

lives. In cases where a Thunderﬁst woman with infants

from one father marries another man, the children are

essentially raised by all three persons (or four if the

father has remarried). This sometimes causes hard

feelings in the family, but usually works out amicably.

Children are primarily cared for by the Thunderﬁst

women, but after they are old enough, boys are taken

herding and hunting with their fathers.

Shamen of the tribe are fairly evenly split between

males and females.

Tribal Dress

& Equipment

The Thunderﬁst tribe have retained much of

their ancestors’ craftsmanship in spite of their

comparatively primitive lifestyle. As such, they grow

ﬂax and weave their own clothing from it. This cloth

is usually left its natural off-white color or dyed gray,

green, ochre, or brown to blend in with the local

terrain. Brightly colored cloth made with exotic dyes

is highly prized among the tribe and they especially

like rich reds, purples, indigos, and dazzling golds. It

is common for successful Thunderﬁst warriors to dress

their wives and children in the richest cloth they can

afford as a status symbol, though they wear common

ﬂax clothing while they are actually working. In the

evenings, though, they are decked out in the best they

own. Warriors and hunters rarely wear ﬁnery unless

there is a rite or clan party going on since the rigors of

the outdoors are not kind to fancy clothing.

There is only one situation which cancels the right to

divorce among the Thunderﬁsts. That is if the woman

is pregnant, in which case she is expected to stay with

her husband until she has given birth and no longer

needs to be cared for afterwards. This requirement is

waived if a new husband is already lined up for the

woman.

The status of women in the Thunderﬁst tribe is very

good. All Thunderﬁsts are considered to be equal

in value regardless of their sex. Certainly women

warriors receive more respect than other women, but

this is only natural as warriors receive more respect

than anyone else in the tribe except for shamen.

On raids, Thunderﬁst warriors whiten their faces with

chalk and draw an ochre stripe down the middle of

their shaved heads. Their armor is blackened with soot

unless stealth is not necessary on the raid.

Even young Thunderﬁst warriors wear chain shirts

into combat. Usually this armor is passed down from

their fathers or grandfathers and some of it holds a

legacy going all the way back to the fallen dwarven

kingdom. Older and wealthier warriors wear Medium

armor, usually scale mail, banded mail, or, most

That having been said, there is a clear delineation

between men’s and women’s work. Men are expected

to handle the herding duties of the tribe, watching

over the tribe’s goats and guarding them against

commonly, breastplates. About 25% of all Thunderﬁst

armor is magical in some way due to the tribe’s

tendency to acquire scavenged relics from the halls of

the lost kingdom as well as the comparatively large

number of cleric/smiths in the tribe.

Thunderﬁst live a hard life and it is important for

each member of the tribe to know enough to be able

to survive in the wild. Sometimes the non-ﬁghting

members of the tribe pick up a level or two of Warrior

to augment their basic Expert levels, but rarely more

than two or three.

Unlike their more civilized cousins, Thunderﬁst

dwarves eschew the use of the axe as its blade can

get notched or stick in an opponent. Instead, they

use hammers: either a warhammer and shield or a

two-handed maul. Unlike most warhammers, the

Thunderﬁst shape theirs in smooth round balls like an

unspiked mace so that repeatedly striking an enemy

does not knock the metal out of shape.

Thunderﬁst dwarves have Barbarian as their favored

class rather than the standard dwarf favored class of

Fighter.

Tactics

The Thunderﬁst are not blood-thirsty killers. However,

their culture gloriﬁes battle prowess and their

situation, surrounded by enemies as they are, leads

to a life of regular violence. That having been said,

the tribe’s warriors do what they can to avert enemies

from attacking their people. The primary technique for

this is to strike ﬁrst against the orcs and goblins who

are their neighbors. Thunderﬁst war bands regularly

make forays into orc and goblin territory, where they

kill what warriors they can and grab as much booty as

possible. Warriors from the Thunderﬁst tribe do not

harm women or children and do not take live captives

for purposes of slavery. Occasionally, an enemy

warrior will be captured and interrogated, sometimes

being set free afterwards, but usually killed in a

merciful manner. Similarly, the Thunderﬁst are not

above taking the occasional captive for ransom.

In fact, the tribe’s name comes from the weapon that

their chief carries; the Thunderﬁst. This great maul

is both intelligent and highly magical and was saved

from the fall of the dwarven kingdom by the original

leader of the guerillas that the Thunderﬁst tribe is

descended from.

The average warrior, in addition to his main weapon,

carries a short bow and quiver as well as a couple of

knives for utility purposes and a sling as a backup

weapon.

Common

Classes

Thunderﬁst culture centers around strength,

competency, and the capacity to take care of oneself

but also to lend aid to the community in times of

crisis. As such, multiclassing is not uncommon among

the Thunderﬁst. The most common class is Barbarian,

but many Thunderﬁst take a few levels of Ranger or

Fighter as well. This multiclassing rarely exceeds 4

levels of Fighter or 6 levels of Ranger. Occasionally,

a Thunderﬁst will take levels of Rogue, but this

is extremely rare because the path of the Rogue is

seen as dishonorable. Thunderﬁst Clerics usually do

not multiclass but sometimes take a level or two of

Barbarian to augment their physical might.

The Thunderﬁst do not raid peaceful settlements or

isolated homesteads unless the inhabitants of those

places have made themselves enemies of the tribe by

disrespecting their territorial rights or by attacking

tribe members. In these cases, the homesteaders

are considered as bad as the orcs and treated the

same. Similarly, the tribe does not make a habit

of attacking merchants unless they are slavers or

represent an evil power. Slavers especially draw the

wrath of the Thunderﬁst, being killed out of hand

and the “merchandise” set free with new clothes,

a few weapons, and an armed escort to the nearest

settlement.

Because they live above the ruins of a fallen dwarven

kingdom, the Thunderﬁst make regular excursions

into those nighted depths seeking the artifacts of their

ancestors. Since the kingdom is currently inhabited

by a number of mutually hostile orc and goblin

Only a rare few experienced and dedicated warriors

take levels in the Warrior Smith prestige class.

Non-warriors in the Thunderﬁst tribe are considered

to be Experts and take their levels in that class. The

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