Reavers were a race of aquatic creatures from the Domains of Dread who on rare occasions intruded into Toril's waters to plague fishermen and others living near the shore.[3]
Description[]
Reavers looked like tall humanoid creatures covered with small razor-sharp scales. They had large fish-like eyes and webbed hands and feet, with the fingers and toes ending in short but deadly sharp claws that could rip through flesh and bone with ease. Their mouths were wide and fish-like and filled with rows of needle-like teeth. They spoke with a lisping, hissing tongue in a language that was very difficult for other races to match. Some of the sounds they used to communicate were ultrasonic, so most could not even hear them.[2][4]
Personality[]
As a race, the reavers were an evil and dark people, who lurked near the shore hoping to get close to swimmers, fishermen, or small boats they would then ambush, dragging their victims down into the deeps. They were carnivorous to a fault, eating only the raw flesh of land-dwelling creatures or sea mammals. Likewise intelligent prey were seen as far better meat than that of simple animal life. Thus a reaver would often pass up other targets to strike at a wandering band of humans or demihumans. After feasting on the bodies of their victims, they would leave behind a grisly trophy of blood and death, marking their successful hunt and warning off those who might think of hunting them down for vengeance.[2][4]
Combat[]
Not noted for their clever tactics and intricate strategies, the reaver would be a brutal and savage opponent that tore its victim into pieces. When in mêlée, the reaver would strike thrice, with both its claw-like hands and with its deadly bite. It would attempt to grapple the victim and drag them along its scales, using their sharpness to cut them up even more. Needless to say, such close encounters usually ended badly for those held by a reaver. Soft weapons like whips were also in danger of being destroyed if used on a reaver as those sharp scales would cut the weapons even as they were struck by them.[2][4]
Society[]
Reavers tended to gather in schools like fish, of a dozen or so individuals. Territorial in the extreme, they often regarded any settlements near their lairs as intrusions upon their territory, regardless of whether or not those settlements predated the lair's establishment. Any such 'intrusions' were rewarded with night-raids on the settlement, with each of these raids marked by violent acts of terror against a specific household. They did this hoping to drive off the inhabitants from the lands that bordered on the reavers' ocean realm.[2][4]
Reaver lairs were often hidden beneath a coral reef or at the heart of a thick seaweed forest, with reavers stealthily hunting and slaying those who stumbled upon the location of the lair, or even just intruded near it.[2][4]
From time to time, a reaver would be exiled from its group, usually due to failing some important task. These outcasts would leave the ocean behind and find a freshwater river or lake to take up a solitary existence preying on settlements otherwise far removed from the usual reaver habitats.[2][4]
History[]
In the Year of the Banner, 1368 DR in the Weathercote Woods, the adventurers Florozt'a, Galimer, Tiep, and Druhallen were ambushed by a reaver in the middle of the night.[5]
Appendix[]
Appearances[]
Novels & Short Stories
Card Games
Organized Play & Licensed Adventures
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Beth Bostic, et al. (January 2004). Denizens of Dread. Edited by Dale Donovan. (White Wolf Publishing), p. 175. ISBN 1-58846-951-4.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 William W. Connors (1991). Monstrous Compendium Ravenloft Appendix. (TSR, Inc.), p. 45. ISBN 9781560761082.
- ↑ Lynn Abbey (September 2000). The Nether Scroll. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 78. ISBN 0-7869-1566-8.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Beth Bostic, et al. (January 2004). Denizens of Dread. Edited by Dale Donovan. (White Wolf Publishing), pp. 175–176. ISBN 1-58846-951-4.
- ↑ Lynn Abbey (September 2000). The Nether Scroll. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 77. ISBN 0-7869-1566-8.