GUELTA - By Tim Martin
Frequency:
Very rare
No. Appearing: 1-4 (1-5, see below)
Armor Class:
6
Move:12"
Hit Dice: 5 (or per class)
% In Lair: 25%
Treasure Type: Incidental
No. Of Attacks: 1 or 3
Damage/Attack: 1-6/1-6/1-4 or by spell type
Special Attacks: Nil
Special Defense: See below
Magic Resistance: Nil
Intelligence: Genius
Alignment: Neutral Good
Size: M
Psionic Ability: Nil
Attack/Defense Modes: Nil
Level/XP Value: 500 + 10/hit point
The guelta (singular and plural forms are identical) are a strange race, perhaps distantly related to primates or lemurs of some sort. They are found deep in the wastes of Anauroch, mostly inhabiting a distant mountain range many day’s journey from the edges of the Great Sand Sea. The mountain range they favor, the El-Ahgarri, is a series of sandstone cliffs, and pinnacles, extraordinary towers that rise suddenly and abruptly from the surrounding dunes, a distant and almost mythical region once called the “The Gates to the Land of Thirst” by an anonymous Dales poet.
In appearance the guelta are like a cross between a gorilla, a bear, and something else. They stand about 6 feet in height and while completely bipedal are excellent climbers and can go about on all fours if the need arises. As they often make their lairs in tunnels and passageways they dig themselves in the soft sandstone, this serves them well. Generally their soft fur is a brown or tan in coloration, though as they grow older it becomes darker, till finally the oldest members of a particular tribe are almost black. They have bifocal vision and small but noticeable snouts, which though possessing sharp teeth are not entirely carnivorous in nature. Though they possess sharp claws on their hands and feet they are perfectly capable of wielding weapons and tools. They do not possess infravision but do have extraordinary night vision otherwise, and have a very keen sense of smell and hear quite well.
Some theorize that the El-Ahgarri range was once tropical and verdant, perhaps covered in rain forests and replete with parrots and orchids. Whatever caused the desert to form, whether it was climatic change, the Phaerimm, or what have you (depending upon who you ask), the El-Ahgarri instead became lonely sentinels in a harsh and unforgiving landscape. The rain forests became drier, turning to open woodland, then scrubland as the rains became rarer and rarer, finally turning to true desert, often bare rock. The trees for the most part perished, and the birds died out or migrated elsewhere.
Somehow, someway, the guelta remained. Where before they once lived in simple tribes, living a semi-nomadic existence feeding peaceably on fruits, nuts, berries, insects, and the occasional bird’s egg, they now faced extinction. They could no longer rely on the rich bounty of nature to provide for them, they no longer lived in a rain forest where food was a mere arm’s length away but in a horrid desert, where one could starve or die of thirst in a matter of days if not hours.
Though in truth most of the guelta died out, or perished in sad treks through the desert, whole tribes dying in the dunes in a desperate quest for better lands, some remained. Clinging to the few natural oases that welled up in the El-Agharri range, they at first eked out a wretched existence, surviving in small groups, constantly hunting for plants and animals to supplement their diets. These were lean years in their existence, ones in which many tribes nevertheless perished, or became decimated to mere handfuls of survivors.
Over the years though they adapted, learning to hunt for food in the early morning, evening, and nighttime hours, avoiding the harsh rays of the daytime sun. They learned to dig for animals from their burrows, to find underground tubers for their stored moisture, to build small fires to attract insects at night, to sift through sand for windblown seeds.
This way of life may have continued to the present if not for the visions of one particular guelta. He saw a way to remake the desert, a way to bring back the forests and the grasslands and the rivers and lakes. Merely surviving on the fringes of the desert were not enough, clinging to the oases like islands in the sea. The guelta must extend their oasis, to make the desert bloom once again.
Towards this end each tribe started a centuries long process of doing what it can to push back the desert. The guelta, who had by this time become accomplished druids, studied the plants of the desert, trying to find the best ones to plant. They planted groves of palms and other plants wherever they could, sometimes around an oasis, often times not. They sought to stabilize dunes, to plant desert species that could survive on the occasional rare rainstorm or flashflood.
Using their druidic powers and their keen sense of smell (to smell water), they opened new oases and wells where they could, preferably in areas that were somewhat sheltered from the unforgiving sun. This mysterious and rare race can be to appreciated by all of the desert species. The Bedine called them the El-Barii, or the Bear Men (or sometimes the Sand Bears), with some tribes thinking them more spirit than living being with their awesome ability to call up water from the ground and plant vegetation where there was none. The D’tarig, the diminutive scavenger race of the desert, and even the horrid gnolls clans all both honor and fear the guelta, thankful for what they have done and in awe of their powers.
Guelta will generally be encountered in groups of 1-4, and will all be druids of between levels 1-12. There is a 40% chance that there will be additional guelta druid elder of levels 10-20. Owing to their sand colored hide they will be 60% invisible in natural terrain with no effort, and with effort they can increase this 85% (though they are visible to those who can see hidden or invisible objects). In physical combat they guelta will generally use their foreclaws for 1-6/1-6 and a bite for 1-4, as they disdain physical weapons. Sometimes they make use of wooden staffs which they can wield quite effectively, but by and large they prefer to rely upon their spell powers.
The guelta in their years in the desert have developed a few unique spells in their druidic repertoire.
Waterbind (Conjuraton/Summoning)
Level: 6 Range: 0 Duration: See below Area of Effect: Special Components: V,S,M
Casting Time: 1 hour Saving Throw: None
The guelta use this spell to summon water elementals, though not for purposes of combat or defense. Instead, this is one of the ways the guelta create new oases. Before casting this spell, the guelta carefully researches and prepares the area; the area for the potential oasis must be able to hold the water (i.e. it can’t be sand where the water will simply drain away), it must be sufficiently shaded so that it will evaporate at too high of a rate (perhaps by a rock overhang or trees), etc. This preparation may requires days, weeks, or even months before the spell is cast.
Once the guelta believe an area is ready, they cast waterbind. Taking an hour to cast, the spell will bring forth from the Elemental Plane of Water a special breed of water elemental, one not necessarily there for brute displays of force, put into service as a combatant as they often are by wizards and druids. Instead this water elemental’s task is to bring an oasis to life. The water elemental has six months to bring the oasis into being on its own, generally by seeking to divert underground streams or rivers into the potential oasis, perhaps raising the level of groundwater so that the pool fills. If the water elemental is not successful, it is bound forever to that oasis, forever seeking to bring water into the oasis by whatever means necessary. If after two years the oasis is still not self-sustaining, the water elemental generally dies, yielding what little water still remains in its body to the pool.
The chance of success for a waterbind spell to successfully produce a self-sustaining oasis is a base 30% chance, plus 1% chance per level of the caster. For every week spent preparing the oasis site for the waterbind spell add 5% to the chance for success, up to 30%.
Lesser Dewshield (Evocation)
Level: 2 Range: 0 Duration: 6 hours Area of Effect: 20’ sq/lvl Components: V,S,M
Casting Time: 1 round Saving Throw: None
By use of this spell, a guelta druid is able to wring some moisture out of the night air. Cast in the wee hours of the morning well before dawn, this spell creates a very thin floating shield 20 foot square per level of the caster, similar to a very weak wall of force. Very cold, it serves as object for moisture to condense on. Upon expiration of the spell or on the expressed command of the caster it drops all gathered moisture into a designated receptacle. Water gained in this fashion equates to a pint per level of the caster (or per 20 square feet).
The lesser dewshield can withstand some damage, up to 10 points, before it is destroyed, though it is not designed to function as a shield.
Greater Dewshield (Evocation)
Level: 4 Range: 0 Duration: Permanent Area of Effect: 10’ sq/lvl Components: V,S,M
Casting Time: 1 turn Saving Throw: None
By use of this spell, a guelta druid can create a longer lasting, albeit smaller, lesser dewshield. Generally used around their tribal homes or on occasional placed over a particular area of plants the guelta are trying to cultivate. Producing every morning a half-pint of water per level of the caster, the water is dumped by the shield either in a designated container or over a plant or group of plants.
The shield is invisible, and withstand up to 20 points of damage before being destroyed.