It's inevitable that every profession has members who are bad at what they do. For adventurers, this pool is rather small, as only the successful ones last very long in a job that can be summed up as "killing monsters and taking their stuff." Crushed, however, is one such individual.
Born the smallest of her litter, Crushed was so named when her mother dug her out from under her brothers and sisters, who had piled together for warmth while sleeping, murmuring as she did so, "poor little thing, you'll be crushed!" As it turned out, her name was very apt. Becoming an adventurer just like her father, Crushed ended up dying while barely out the door on her first trek. Unlike her father, however, Crushed found that she was one of those people who, for completely inexplicable reasons, was gifted with infinite lives, being reborn at the Temple in her home city of Char-Mon each time she died. Armed with this knowledge, Crushed continues to live the life of an adventurer, proving that some people just never learn...
Stat Block[]
Crushed Dume CR 5
Female anthrokitty rogue 4
NG Medium Monstrous Humanoid
Init +5 (+5 Dex); Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent; Listen +7, Spot +8
Languages Common
AC 17 (+2 leather armor, +5 Dex), touch 15, flat-footed 12; Dodge, uncanny dodge
hp 29 (4 HD)
Fort +4, Ref +9, Will +2; evasion
Spd 30 ft.
Melee shortsword +8 (1d6+2/19-20) or
Melee claw +8 (1d3+2) and
Melee claw +8 (1d3+2) and
Melee bite +3 (1d4+1) or
Ranged +8
Space 5ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Base Atk +3; Grp +5
Special Atk sneak attack +2d6
Combat Gear shortsword
Abilities Str 15, Dex 20, Con 16, Int 11, Wis 12, Cha 17
SQ darkvision 60’, evasion, infinite lives, low-light vision, scent, trapfinding, trap sense +1, uncanny dodge
Feats Alertness, Dodge, Run, Toughness, Weapon Finesse (B)
Defects Extremely Inept, Inept
Skills Appraise +3, Balance +20, Bluff +8, Climb +10, Escape Artist +12, Hide +14*, Jump +14, Listen +7, Move Silently +16, Open Lock +10, Spot +8, Swim +8
Possessions Leather armor, backpack, candle, crowbar, waterskin, 1 week’s rations
Evasion (Ex): If Crushed is exposed to any effect that normally allows her to attempt a Reflex saving throw for half damage, she takes no damage with a successful saving throw.
Infinite Lives (Ex): If Crushed dies, then at the beginning of the next round she is immediately reborn at main hall in the Temple in Char-Mon. When this happens, she must make a Will save (DC 20) to retain any XP she's gathered, with failure meaning she loses it, retaining the minimum XP necessary for her current level. Her dead body and her possessions remain where she died, and do not reappear at the temple. Her corpse cannot be raised, resurrected, or reincarnated, but can be animated or otherwise become undead. Crushed is not reborn if she dies of old age.
Scent (Ex): This special quality allows Crushed to detect approaching enemies, sniff out hidden foes, and track by sense of smell. Creatures with the scent ability can identify familiar odors just as humans do familiar sights.
Crushed can detect opponents within 30 feet by sense of smell. If the opponent is upwind, the range increases to 60 feet; if downwind, it drops to 15 feet. Strong scents, such as smoke or rotting garbage, can be detected at twice the ranges noted above. Overpowering scents, such as skunk musk or troglodyte stench, can be detected at triple normal range.
When Crushed detects a scent, the exact location of the source is not revealed – only its presence somewhere within range. She can take a move action to note the direction of the scent. Whenever she comes within 5 feet of the source, she pinpoints the source’s location.
Trap Sense (Ex): Crushed has an intuitive sense that alerts her to danger from traps, granting a +1 bonus on Reflex saves and a +1 dodge bonus to AC against attacks by traps.
Trapfinding (Ex): Crushed can use her Search skill to locate traps when the task has a DC higher than 20. Finding a nonmagical trap has a DC of at least 20, higher if it is well hidden. Finding a magic trap has a DC of 25 + the level of the spell used to create it. Rogues can use the Disable Device skill to disarm magic traps. Disabling a magic trap generally has a DC of 25 + the level of the spell used to create it. A rogue who beats a trap’s DC by 10 or more with a Disable Device check can generally study a trap, figure out how it works, and bypass it (with her party) without disarming it.
Uncanny Dodge (Ex): Crushed can react to danger before her senses would normally allow her to do so. She retains her Dexterity bonus to AC even when caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. However, she still loses her Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized.
Skills: Being an anthrokitty, Crushed has a +4 racial bonus on Climb, Hide, and Move Silently checks, and a +8 racial bonus on Balance and Jump checks (factored into above statistics). She uses her Dexterity modifier instead of her strength modifier for Climb and Jump checks (factored into above statistics). *In areas of tall grass or heavy undergrowth, the racial Hide bonus rises to +8 (adding another +4 to Crushed’s Hide modifier).
Combat[]
Crushed's combat skills (or, more accurately, her lack thereof) are one of the leading reasons that she dies as often as she does (the others being her ability to find traps by setting them off, and her atrocious luck). Unlike the rest of her party, she's never quite sure of her role in a fight (Red Stephie is the spellcaster, Purity is the most martial, and Knaw is the deadliest), and so usually ends up just sort of swinging her sword at whatever's attacking them, usually with poor (if not outright disastrous) results. While Crushed does have some minor thieving skills, these were learned ad hoc during her adventuring "career" and are nowhere near as good as Knaw's, something with the little rat never fails to remind her of.
Current Sketch[]
Despite her constant deaths, Crushed remains undaunted towards being an adventurer. With the help of her friends and fellow adventurers Red Stephie, Knaw, and Purity (who are similarly reborn when they die) and a rotating cast of others who periodically join the group (usually until they realize just how death-prone Crushed and company are), she's actually managed to make some headway in her chosen profession, though it's always three steps forward, two steps back.
Crushed adventures mostly as a way of paying the bills; she only barely manages to stay afloat this way, since when she dies none of her possessions are taken with her when she's reborn. While she's usually able to go back and loot her dead body (which remains an awkward experience, despite having become something of a regular one), as often as not any treasure she'd acquired up to that point are lost during or just after her death (e.g. by being dissolved in acid, melted by the dragon's breath, stolen by the orcs that killed her, etc). Still, Crushed carries on in hopes of one day finding a big score that will leave her set for life.
Appearance[]
Crushed is short, but quite beautiful. Standing barely over five feet tall, Crushed has bright orange fur all over her entire body, with black tiger-stripes across her back, arms, legs, and tail. Her hair is a deep blood red (she's seen the comparison often enough to be sure) and hangs halfway down her back. Crushed usually wears skimpy clothes, not out of a desire to flaunt her body (though she doesn't consider that to be a drawback), but because the smallest clothes are the cheapest ones, and that's a real concern when she's constantly being reborn, naked, at the temple (her neighbors have seen her walk home from there naked so many times that it's lost all shock value, though many of them still appreciate the sight).
Design Notes[]
Crushed was designed by using the Anthropomorphic template from Savage Species [1] with a cat. Her size was then raised to Medium (since a cat with that template would normally be Small). The Infinite Lives special quality is original, written to match Crushed as she appears in the source material (see below).
Crushed has the Inept and Extremely Inept Defects, both of which are from Tests of Skill v.3.5 [2] by Skirmisher Publishing. Defects behave exactly like character flaws (from Unearthed Arcana [3]), save that they don't need to be taken at first level, and are not limited to two (however, though you gain a feat for each defect you take, you can only gain as many bonus feats this way equal to the number of feats you'd have normally). These two defects make Crushed use a d12 wherever she'd normally roll a d20 (e.g. skill checks, attack rolls, saves, etc). All the rules for the roll apply normally, just on a d12 (e.g. she can still "take 6," scores a critical threat on a natural 12, etc).
Crushed is from the (somewhat erotic) webcomic "Crushed: The Doomed Kitty Adventures," by the Brothers Grinn (over at www.supermegatopia.com). A Crushed d20 supplement was made by Team Frog Studios in 2001, with a PDF version of the book being released in 2003 [4]. The version of Crushed posted here is my own take on the character, written by me.