Canemite Amazon
The Amazons of Canem are a fiercely indepednat group that has never found themselves beholding to the other Xanthic alliances. Fractured by significant mountains, the Canem landscape helped the women of Canem to develop strong familial clans bound by similar traditions, the status of the male as second class. In the Canem, men rarely reach beyond the servant class and are utterly dominated within the homestead. Clans in Canem typically find residence in the deep caves of the mountains. Nearly all citizens of Canem are indeed warriors charged with the protection of their clan. That being so, it is a rare thing, indeed, when a Canemite ventures forward to risk themselves for any other cause.
Role
The Canemite warrior is very highly regarded. She is the defender of the whole clan’s way of life, and every Canem girl aspires to grow up to be a warrior. In the Wild Lands the Canemite is a curiosity, often regarded as a barbarian, stared at, and whispered about. The people of other cultures will be suspicious of her, and she will probably start out being uncomfortable around men who appear to be her social equal- in her eyes, they are the ones who are unnatural.
Distinctive Appearance
None
Special Benefits
Male warriors in a civilization where female warriors are rare tend to underestimate the Canemite. Therefore, in any fight where the Canemite confronts a male who is not familiar with her personally or female warriors in general, she gets a +3 to attack rolls and +3 damage on her first blow only. This is because her opponent's guard is down. This doesn't work on player-characters unless the player is role-playing honestly enough to declare that he, too, would underestimate her.
This ability doesn't work on some other types of characters:
- An NPC who is wary enough not to underestimate the Canemite might, with a successful Intelligence check, see the attack coming and deny her the bonus
- A seasoned veteran (any Warrior of 5th level or higher, or any other character of 8th level or higher), in spite of his prejudice, will realize that she is moving like a trained warrior and keep his guard up, denying her the bonus
If the Canemite hits an NPC with this attack, he'll never again be prey to it; if an NPC even sees an Canemite hit someone with it, he'll never fall for it himself. But if she misses that first strike, then the target will continue to underestimate her and she can use those bonuses again on her next strike.
Special Hindrances
The Canemite suffers a –3 reaction roll adjustment from NPCs who are from all other territories. This reaction adjustment goes away for characters who come to respect her, such as (presumably) her PC allies.
Class
Attribute Requirements
None
Barred Beliefs
None
Race Requirement
Human
Bonus Weapon Proficiencies
Spear, Long Bow. (Amazon fighters can Specialize only in Spear or Long Bow.)
Required Weapon Proficiencies
None
Recommended Weapon Proficiencies
Various axes, swords.
Barred Weapon Proficiencies
None
Bonus Non-Weapon Proficiencies
Riding (Land-Based), Animal Training
Recommended Non-Weapon Proficiencies
Animal Handling, Animal Lore, Armorer, Bowyer, Hunting, Running, Survival, Tracking
Equipment
When an Canemite is first created, she must buy her weapons and armor from among the following choices only: Weapons - Axe, Bow (Any), Club, Dagger/Dirk, Hand or Throwing Axe, Javelin, Knife, Lance, Spear, Sword (any Armor - Shield, Leather, Padded, Studded Leather, Brigandine, Scale Mail, Hide, Banded Mail, Bronze Plate Mail. Once she has adventured elsewhere in the world, she may purchase weapons and armor from those regions.
Wealth Options
The Amazon gets the ordinary 5d4 x 10 gp as starting money.
Homeland Terrain
None
Economic System
None