The World of Abadonya

Giants Beneath the Ice

Kharrox communities lie far below Frostmarch's glaciers and mountains, where natural caverns intersect with forgotten shafts, mineral veins, geothermal chambers, and ruins buried long before the current surface settlements were founded.

Their physical power makes them exceptional miners and tunnel-builders, but Kharrox society does not measure worth by strength alone. Knowing where to dig, when a wall is unsafe, how to read vibrations through stone, and how to move an entire community before a collapse are equally respected skills.

Many Frostmarch travelers know Kharrox only through stories of enormous shapes emerging from the dark. Those who actually trade with their settlements often describe them as cautious, intensely loyal, and surprisingly curious.

Built for Weight and Stone

Kharrox are Large, powerfully built insectoid humanoids. They stand on two massive legs and possess two primary arms suited to weapons and heavy labor.

Four smaller grasping limbs extend from the midsection. These appendages are not well suited to ordinary weapon use, but they make Kharrox exceptionally difficult to escape once they secure a grapple.

Their bodies are protected by thick chitinous plates, and coloration often reflects local geology: black, gray, iron-red, pale stone, or deep brown.

A Kharrox's heavy silhouette is unmistakable, even in dim underground light.

Cities Carved Through Pressure

Kharrox settlements are designed around their ability to move through earth and stone. Surface-style streets are uncommon; instead, communities spread vertically through broad chambers, sloping shafts, reinforced tunnels, and deep work galleries.

Living quarters are spacious by subterranean standards because of Kharrox size, while workshops and storage rooms are built to accommodate enormous loads.

Many settlements include emergency burrow routes that can be opened rapidly if a main tunnel collapses or enemies breach the outer passages.

Kharrox builders prefer simple structures that survive pressure rather than ornate halls that look impressive but fail under stress.

The Surge

Kharrox possess enormous physical strength even before the sudden surge of power that can overtake them after injury.

Among their people this state is often called the Surge. It is understood as a dangerous but useful instinct: pain triggers a short burst of heightened strength and endurance while making defensive caution more difficult.

Experienced Kharrox warriors train to recognize when the Surge has begun and use it deliberately rather than allowing anger to control every decision.

Kharrox who develop stronger sensitivity to vibrations in the earth sometimes lose this explosive reaction and become exceptional underground sentries instead.

Few Friends, Strong Bonds

Kharrox communities are often wary of outsiders. Their size and strength have caused other peoples to fear or exploit them, while their remote settlements make misunderstandings difficult to correct.

Once someone is accepted as a true friend, however, Kharrox loyalty tends to be intense. They remember both kindness and betrayal for a very long time.

This combination of curiosity and deep memory makes Kharrox adventurers unusual companions: slow to trust, but extremely difficult to turn against those they have chosen.

What Endures Matters

Kharrox traditions often emphasize survival, physical labor, responsibility, and the belief that strength should protect something rather than exist only for display.

In Abadonya, Namir attracts many Kharrox through traditions of craft, endurance, fire, and worked stone. Trentula is respected by communities that view the deep earth as part of the natural world rather than something separate from it.

Kharrox may follow any alignment or deity. Their size and physical power do not determine temperament or morality.

Standard Pathfinder 1e Racial Traits

Ability Score Modifiers: Kharrox have total racial ability score modifiers of +8 Strength, –2 Dexterity, –2 Intelligence, –2 Wisdom, and –2 Charisma.

Type: Kharrox are monstrous humanoids.

Size: Kharrox are Large creatures. Their size contributes +2 Strength and –2 Dexterity and applies the normal Large-size modifiers under Pathfinder 1e rules.

Base Speed: Kharrox have a base speed of 30 feet.

Languages: Kharrox use the xenophobic language trait. They begin play speaking their racial language. Kharrox with high Intelligence scores have access to their normal listed bonus languages under Pathfinder 1e rules.

Burrow: Kharrox have a burrow speed of 20 feet.

Frenzy (Ex): Once per day, whenever a Kharrox takes damage, it can enter a frenzy for 1 minute, gaining a +2 racial bonus to Constitution and Strength but taking a –2 penalty to AC.

Darkvision: Kharrox have darkvision 60 feet.

Grabbing Appendages: Kharrox gain Improved Grapple as a bonus feat. Their smaller appendages allow them to maintain a grapple while still making attacks with their primary arms.

Race Points: 28 RP.

These are the Pathfinder 1e racial mechanics used for Kharrox characters in Abadonya.

Alternate Racial Trait

Tremorsense: Some Kharrox develop exceptional sensitivity to vibrations through earth and stone. They gain tremorsense 30 feet. This replaces Frenzy and Burrow.

This option uses the normal Pathfinder 1e alternate racial trait replacement rules.

The Buried Roads

Frostmarch is the principal homeland of the Kharrox. Their communities are concentrated beneath the Icecrown Peaks, old mining belts, and deep caverns warmed by geothermal activity.

Some warrens connect to ancient underground roads that predate modern Frostmarch settlements. Kharrox guides know portions of this network, though few outsiders are ever shown complete routes.

Surface sightings are most common near collapsed mines, newly opened fissures, or places where deep creatures have forced Kharrox communities upward.

Strength Beyond the Warrens

Kharrox adventurers leave home to investigate collapses, recover missing kin, hunt dangerous subterranean creatures, reclaim abandoned tunnels, or learn about the surface world.

Barbarians, fighters, brawlers, rangers, kineticists, and other physically powerful classes are common, though Kharrox can pursue any class allowed by the normal rules.

A Frostmarch Kharrox adventurer might be following a buried road that suddenly continues upward, seeking the cause of an underground disaster, or protecting companions who have become the first outsiders the Kharrox truly trusts.

Return to the Races of Abadonya index to browse other ancestries.