Scro Monster Class

Scro appear at first glance to appear to be just bigger, more militant orcs; however, that assumption can land one's name in the dead book. They are a new race created by the now quasi-mythical Dukagsh. When there is a scro movement in wildspace, it is of great concern for all involved.

Personality: Scro are a quasi-religious warrior race. Their self-confidence and bravado combined with their keen intellect cause those familiar with terrestrial orcs to pause for just a bit. Honor, bravery, ritual, and domination are the cornerstone of scro society. As such, these traits are valued in an individual scro. Scribes - individual scro who are commissioned to document and report the deeds of their fellow scro by the clergy of Dukagsh and the Scro High Command - are ever present reminders that an individual scro must act with the benefit of the entire scro nation in mind.

Physical Description: The scro resemble muscular orcs standing a good foot taller then an ordinary orc, not to mention they are usually fully armored and armed to the teeth with all manner of wicked weaponry. Scro have the characteristic orcish pig-like snout; however, that is where the similarities end. The scro stand proud and erect and their high foreheads resemble humanity's. Scro have large canine teeth that they sharpen to a fine point; they decorate their teeth and ears with tribal mini-totems. Scro eyes also appear as a human's would, but they glow a sickly phosphorescent green in dim light. Skin color ranges widely from slate gray, burnt orange, light tan, and moss green, to jet black and even, in rare cases, albino white.
Scro armor is well oiled, well maintained studded leather with each stud filed to a sharp point. The armor is always jet black, though the studs are painted different colors. Their numerous weapons are just as well maintained. Scro often complete their wardrobe with a night-blue cloak.
Scro carry no standards, but each scro wears an insignia that identifies its individual tribe. This is worn either as a shoulder patch or on the left side of the chest.

Relations: Due to their domineering nature, the scro do not have good relations with any race. Only those races that have a tendency to be dominating have a working relationship with scro. Humans, giants and goblin-kind are the races most prone to associate with scro. These relationships are based on mutual strength (i.e., neither has means to totally dominate the other), being either tediously strained or one of the races taking a position of superiority. The scro and the EIN are mutual hated enemies and will usually go to great lengths to see each other destroyed.

Alignment: The rigid and domineering society of the scro is lawful evil. The concept of a chain of command is strongly enforced. While natural charisma and personal strength are admirable traits, they are not as respected as intelligence, honor and proven bravery. The greatest of their leaders have all these qualities. Scro also place great emphasis in a personal ritualized lifestyle. A respectable scro must behave with both forethought and conviction. However, personal glory and honor are important to a scro so initiative is prized - when it leads to success (failure is dealt with severely). Infighting can erupt between individual scro, but the clergy and the scribes help minimize any spillover from getting out of control.

Lands: Scro will inhabit any land be it through conquest or by colonization. They will not limit themselves as their orc cousins have. Scro lands are sometimes inhospitable but this does not concern the scro as it would other 'weaker' races - the scro consider it a challenge to overcome adversity. Their lands tend to be darker and foreboding compared to most human settlements. This is primarily due to increased pollution caused by massive smelters and mining the surroundings for precious ores used to forge the scro war effort. Scro have non-elven prisoners run the most dangerous machinery. Promising scro prisoners can also be found as slaves in personal households and as gladiators and 'combat dummies' in their combat arenas.

Religion: Scro religion completely centers on Dukagsh. The clergy of Dukagsh oversee such rites as birth, death, and promotion of leadership while the scribes record the events for posterity and prosperity. Both the priests and scribes are separate from the leadership command structure; but while the scribes serve to document noteworthy events, the priests instead act as advisors to a general or captain of a ship. Unlike scribes they are expected to enter into combat as both combatant and medic. Those scro who seek a ship of their own are wise to keep their resident priest alive and well - failure on the part of a captain to keep his priest (and by extension, the ship's scribe) alive face extreme censure and punishment upon reaching port. The clergy teaches that leaders must be brave, honorable and educated on a great number of subjects including the art of war. While the scro scribes will never acquire command they are very important to scro society. Scro scribes by default are more important alive than dead and expect enemies to honor them as one honors a messenger. Scro never kill or harm a messenger from another race (even if the messenger is elvish) for such a death of a messenger is a dishonorable act. Scro want others to know of their deeds and concede the same courtesy to their enemies accordingly. Only if the messenger acts dishonestly will they slay him; usually they return the head of the messenger to the country the messenger represents a few moments before invading the offending nation.

Languages: The scro speak a distant variant of the orcish tongue. Curiously, some speak fluent elvish, for they have fanatically preserved the language of their worst enemies so that when the scro slaughter the elven race, the marauding humanoids can tell their victims, in their own tongue, who is doing this to them. Typically a scro will also know the following languages: giff, goblin and giant.

Names: Scro like to name their infants after famous scro of the past with one exception - none would dare name their child Dukagsh as this would be sacrilege. The infant's given name, also known as ritual name, is ceremoniously given to him by the father (or mother for a female) of the child while the clergy and the scribes are in attendance. If the father or mother is unavailable, the closest in relation to the child for the child's sex is given the honor of naming the child. In extreme circumstances, a child could go nameless until he proves himself and earns a name. Such a child is named Niam - 'nameless' in the scro tongue. Typical scro names begin with the scro's tribes name, followed by clan name, followed by the scro's father's name (or mother's name for a female), and finally the individual scro's given name. The complete full name is only used in formal ritual, while the scro will usually go by only the last two of his names on a regular basis. When dealing with other races the scro understand that most races don't place as high an emphasis on their extended family; as such, a scro often allows others familiar with him to casually call him by his given name. The scro will always insist on proper use of his entire name if ceremony demands it.
A scro who desires to form a tribe of his own must undergo a ritual by the clergy to be stripped of his tribe name. The venturesome scro's given name becomes the entire tribe's new tribe name.
Tribal Names: Bazillak, Tarantula
Clan Names: Bloodskull
Male Names: Heort, Trog
Female Names: Chizar, Zareh

Adventurers: Most scro because of their military nature rarely find themselves adventuring. But a few scro find they do not want to abide by scro dogma, mores, and laws. Of these few, a small number find their way out of the constant scrutiny of scro society. Others are captured and gain their freedom far away from the Scro Empire. These scro are forced to fend for them selves and must learn how to survive. Scro who break off from their tribe to form a new tribe also make a significant portion of scro adventurers. Typical scro are fighters, clerics, or rangers; however, monks, barbarians, bards, and wizards are not uncommon. The few scro sorcerers are either killed in infancy due to their inherent 'oddity' or are used as shock troops for the military. Druids are rare among the scro, since they are traditionally a spacefaring race. Scribes are often rogues or bards, but this is not absolute.

Racial Traits

R	Starting Ability Score Adjustments: +2 Strength, –2 Wisdom, –2 Charisma.
R	Speed: Scro land speed is 30 feet.
R	Darkvision: Scro can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but is otherwise like normal sight, and scro can function just fine with no light at all.
R	Weapon Familiarity: Scro may treat orcish double axe and orcish shotput (See chapter 7: Equipment of the Players Handbook and chapter 5: Tools of the Trade of the Sword and Fist) as martial weapons, rather than exotic weapons.
R	Orc Blood: For all effects related to race, a scro is considered an orc. Scro, for example, are just as vulnerable to special effects that affect orcs as their orc ancestors are, and they can use magic items that are only usable by orcs. (See the Monster Manual for more information about orcs, and the Dungeon Master's Guide for more on magic items).
R	Automatic Languages: Common and Orc. Bonus Languages: Dohwar, Dralasite, Dwarven and Elven. Scro learn the languages of thier enemies.
R	Favored Class: Scro and Figher. A scro's scro class level and fighter class level do not count when determining whether it takes an XP penalty for multiclassing. Scro practice the art of combat and physical development.

Class Skills
The scro's class skills (and key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Chr), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Intimidate (Chr), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Profession (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis).

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the scro monster class.
Weapons and Armor Proficiency: Scro's are proficient with all simple weapons and martial weapons, with light armor, and with shields.
Feats: A scro recieves one feat at 1st level and another at 4th level. After 4th level it gains feats normally according to its character level, as shown on table 2–5: Experience and Level-Dependent Benefits.
Bite: A scro can bite with its powerful teeth for 1d3 damage plus ½ Strength bonus. If a scro kills an opponent with its teeth, the triumphant warrior affixes a small gem or bauble on one of its oversized canines.
Spell Resistance: A Scro has spell resistance equal to 4 + its class level.

The Scro

	Hit	Base Attack	Fort	Ref	Will	Skill
Level	Dice	Bonus	Save	Save	Save	Points	CR	Special
1st	1d8	+0	+0	+2	+2	(2 + Int mod) x4	½	Feat, spell resistance, bite 1d3
2nd	2d8	+1	+0	+3	+3	2 + Int mod	½	+2 Dex, +2 Int
3rd	2d8	+1	+0	+3	+3	—	1	+2 Str, +2 Con
4th	3d8	+2	+1	+3	+3	2 + Int mod	2	Feat, +1 natural armor
5th	3d8	+2	+1	+3	+3	—	2	+2 Str, +2 Con

Random Starting Ages Table for Scros

		Bard	Cleric
	Barbarian	Fighter	Druid
	Rogue	Paladin	Monk
Adulthood	Sorcerer	Ranger	Wizard
14	+1d4	+1d6	+2d6

Aging Effects Table for Scros

Middle Age*	Old**	Venerable	Maximum Age
40 years	53 years	80 years	+2d12 years

Random Height and Weight Table for Scro

	Base	Height	Base	Weight
Gender	Height	Modifier	Weight	Modifier
male	5' 10”	+2d12	260 lb	x (2d12) lb
female	5' 5”	+2d12	190 lb	x (2d12) lb

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Scro, © 1990 Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
d20™ System, Conversion of Scro ©2003, Mark Doolan
Original Source: Monstrous Compendium #9