No seafarer's tale is more frightful than that of the hamaguan. The surface races know little about this enigmatic race of sea monsters.

Hamaguans, also known as octopaurs, live in the vast depths of the oceans, where they have carved out massive cities in and around the trenches of the world. They have a bloodthirsty rivalry with both the merfolk and the sahuagin, and the hamaguans fight both of their enemies to the death. Since the merfolk and sahuagin favor shallower waters, large-scale battles are rare.

Hamaguans appear to be a cross between humans and octopi. They have the torso, arms, and head of a human. However, their lower torso is that of an octopus: eight tentacles, rough fishy skin, and an opening to emit an ink spray. Hamaguans cannot use their tentacles to attack, since years of evolution have made the tentacles more useful for movement.

Octopaurs live militaristic lifestyles and hope to control all the world's oceans and seas one day. While hamaguan and kraken don't always see things eye to eye, they have been known to form temporary alliances when they think it benefits them to do so.

COMBAT

Hamaguans live to fight and conquer. They use their tridents and spears in addition to their natural psionic abilities in most fights. If a hamaguan feels threatened, it uses its ink cloud and jet abilities to escape alive.

Psionics (Sp): 3/day -- combat prescience, prowess, shield of prudence, vigilance. Effective manifester level 16th (but as psychic warrior).

Attack/Defense Modes (Sp): At will -- mind thrust, psychic crush/mental barrier, thought shield.

Alterations (Sp):At will -- range alteration and condition alteration (nauseating) (see "Alter Your Basic Psionic Combat").

Amphibious (Ex): Hamaguans can survive out of the water for 1 hour per 3 points of Constitution. (After that, refer to the drowning rules in Chapter 3 of the Dungeon Master's Guide.)

Freshwater Sensitivity (Ex): A hamaguan fully immersed in freshwater must succeed at a Fortitude save (DC 15) or leave the water immediately. If the hamaguan fails and cannot escape, it suffers a -4 morale penalty on all attack rolls, saves, and checks. Even on a success, it must repeat the save attempt every 10 minutes it remains immersed.

Ink Cloud (Ex): A hamaguan can emit a cloud of jet-black ink 20 feet high by 20 feet wide by 20 feet long once a minute as a free action. The cloud provides total concealment, which the hamaguan normally uses to escape a losing fight or to blind an opponent for tactical reasons. Creatures within the cloud suffer the effects of total darkness. This ability can be used only when a hamaguan is fully submersed in water.

Jet (Ex): A hamaguan can jet backward once a round as a double move action, at a speed of 200 feet. This ability can be used only when a hamaguan is fully submersed in water.

Light Blindness (Ex): Abrupt exposure to bright light (such as sunlight or a daylight spell) blinds hamaguans for 1 round. In addition to temporary blindness, they suffer a -1 morale penalty on all attack rolls, saves, and checks while operating in bright light.

Power Resistance (Ex): A hamaguan has a power resistance equal to 10 + its HD.

Speak with Cephalopods (Ex): Hamaguans can communicate telepathically with cephalopods (such as octopi and squids) up to 150 feet away. The communication is limited to fairly simple concepts such as "food," "danger," and "enemy." Hamaguans can use Animal Empathy to befriend and train cephalopods.

Underwater Sense (Ex): A hamaguan can locate creatures underwater within a 30-foot radius. This ability negates the effects of invisibility and poor visibility. It is less effective against creatures without central nervous systems, such as undead, oozes, and constructs; a hamaguan can locate such creatures only within a 30-foot radius. Hamaguans are not fooled by figments when underwater.

Hamaguan Society

Hamaguans live in crystal cities spread throughout the deep ocean trenches. They live to fight, and nearly all hamaguans know basic combat skills.

Hamaguans are almost constantly at war, though large-scale battles are rare and almost never take place near their great cities. Their cities are much like any other, though hamaguan guards constantly patrol the streets. Peace is maintained by force, anyone that is out of line is immediately put to death.

Hamaguan Characters

A hamaguan's favored class is the psychic warrior, but many also choose to become clerics. Hamaguans clerics worship the great sea witch, Sifraniska, and they can choose two domains from the following domains: Destruction, Evil, Law, War, and Water. The favored weapon of Sifraniska is the trident. Sifraniska's symbol is a trident with eight tentacles growing from the shaft.

Sifraniska is a new deity created by the authors to add flavor to the hamaguan. If you are using the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, Sifraniska may be replaced with Umberlee, Queen of the Deep, and clerics can choose two domains from the following domains: Chaos, Destruction, Evil, Ocean, Storm and Water.

A hamaguan PC's effective character level (ECL) is equal to its class level +7; thus, a 1st-level hamaguan psychic warrior has an ECL of 8 and is the equivalent of an 8th-level character.