Spikers are of the same general ancestry as bladelings. Both races hail from Acheron, but scholarly speculation places their origins on the Nine Hells of Baator, the Bleak Eternity of Gehenna or even some unknown metal-based plane.
Personality: Spikers, like bladelings, share a great love of battle. They bravely enter combat, often focusing their attacks on the most dangerous opponent they perceive.
Physical Description: The skin of a spiker is of a dull metallic hue, spotted with patches of metallic spines. A spiker’s eyes are a deep violet, and its blood is black and oily. Spikers are about as tall as humans but are considerably heavier, with the average male weighing over 200 pounds and the average female about 40 pounds lighter. Spikers don’t reach adulthood until past the age of 30, and even the longest-lived among the race don’t survive to see the end of their ninth decade.
Relations: Spikers are conservative about trusting other races, and they tend to be very cautious around anyone other than fellow spikers and bladelings.
Alignment: Spikers tend toward lawful alignments, gravitating toward lawful neutral or lawful evil. Lawful good and non-lawful spikers are uncommon, but not unheard of, though such characters usually choose to leave Acheron to travel the planes.
Religion: Hextor’s emphasis on law and war appeals to most spikers. Sometimes the sheer joy of battle fosters an affinity for Kord, and many spikers who worship the god of strength choose to be barbarians.
Language: Spikers speak Common. Many also learn Infernal.
Names: Spiker names tend toward visceral or combat-oriented words, with no gender differentiation. A spiker’s first name is usually a simple one (often a weapon or a combat-focused verb) given at birth. The second name is usually a nickname earned in adolescence or adulthood.
First Names: Dirk, Grip, Parry, Rend, Spike, Thrust.
Second Names: Bloodletter, Demonbane, Falldown, Fartraveler, Gutrender, Spellfodder.
Adventurers: Spikers love combat. The best way to test one’s bravery and skill is through serious, no punches-pulled fighting. Thus, the adventuring life offers ideal opportunities for a spiker to test her mettle. Also, spikers who do not have a lawful neutral or lawful evil world-view find themselves misfits in the spiker society on Acheron.
Source: Planar Handbook (Page 14)
Your character can be either male or female.
Every player character starts as an adult. You can choose or randomly generate your character’s age. If you choose it, it must be at least the minimum age for the character’s race and class (see Table: Starting Ages). Your character’s minimum starting age is the adulthood age of his or her race plus the number of dice indicated in the entry corresponding to the character’s race and class on Table: Starting Ages.
Alternatively, refer to Table: Starting Ages and roll dice to determine how old your character is.
| Adulthood | Intuitive1 | Self-Taught2 | Trained3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 years | +1d4 (16—21) years | +1d6 (16—23) years | +2d6 (17—31) years |
1 This category includes barbarians, rogues and sorcerers.
2 This category includes bards, fighters, paladins and rangers.
3 This category includes clerics, druids, monks and wizards.
With age, a character’s physical ability scores decrease and his or her mental ability scores increase (see Table: Aging Effects). The effects of each aging step are cumulative. However, none of a character’s ability scores can be reduced below 1 in this way.
| Middle Age1 | Old Age2 | Venerable3 | Maximum Age |
|---|---|---|---|
| 35 years | 52 years | 69 years | +3d10 years |
1 -1 to Strength, Dexterity and Constitution; +1 to Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.
2 -2 to Strength, Dexterity and Constitution; +1 to Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.
3 -3 to Strength, Dexterity and Constitution; +1 to Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.
When a character reaches venerable age, the DM secretly rolls his or her maximum age, which is the number from the Venerable column on Table: Aging Effects plus the result of the dice roll indicated on the Maximum Age column on that table, and records the result, which the player does not know. A character who reaches his or her maximum age dies of old age at some time during the following year, as determined by the DM.
The maximum ages are for player characters. Most people in the world at large die from pestilence, accidents, infections or violence before getting to venerable age.
Choose your character’s height and weight from the ranges mentioned in the appropriate race description or from the ranges found on Table: Height and Weight. Think about what your character’s abilities might say about his or her height and weight. A weak but agile character may be thin. A strong and tough character may be tall or just heavy.
Alternatively, roll randomly for your character’s height and weight on Table: Height and Weight. The dice roll given in the Height Modifier column determines the character’s extra height beyond the base height. That same number multiplied by the dice roll or quantity given in the Weight Modifier column determines the character’s extra weight beyond the base weight.
| Gender | Base Height | Height Modifier | Base Weight | Weight Modifier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | 4’ 10" | +2d10 (5’ 0"—6’ 6") | 140 lbs. | ×2d6 (144—380 lbs.) |
| Female | 4’ 5" | +2d10 (4’ 7"—6’ 1") | 100 lbs. | ×2d6 (104—340 lbs.) |
Source: Planar Handbook (Page 18)