Neanderthal stats

[Gez]

Me had neanderthals in a prehistoric one-shot we played. Their stats were as such:

Neanderthal: Medium-size Humanoid (Human).

Ability adjustment: +2 Str, -2 Int, +2 Wis, -2 Cha. They are strong and far wiser than other think, but they are slow to adapt and shy.

IIRC, they did get a bonus to some skills like Wilderness Lore and one or two knowledge skills pertaining to nature and cosmology.

Their favored class was a variant class of ranger we made for that game, called the Hunter. Rangers with sneak attacks every three levels and some bonus feats instead of favored enemy and spells.

 

[whatisitgoodfor]

According to my Anthro Prof, Neandertals would be a lot stronger and more robust, but dumber in certain ways.

Their brains were approximately the same overall size as modern humans, but re-arranged. HSS has a lot of mass up front in the head, the regions of the brain associated with problem solving and complex thought. HSN had more mass at the rear of the skull, which is the portion of the brain associated with memory and observation.

But, that's enough of an Anthro lesson for today. If you really want a Neandertal race, then just take the Ape from the MM and take away its claw attacks.

In light of the new guidlines for monster PC's, they should be about right as an ECL 10.

 

[Malin Genie]

Interestingly SHARK talks about realism as opposed to balance, but in physiological terms, superiority in one area is almost always at the expense of some area. The whole history of evolution is that of more efficient trade-offs (more efficient in the sense of providing a net advantage in the given milieu) supplanting less efficient tradeoffs.

IIRC the way in which Neanderthal muscles were attached gave them great strength in terms of raw power, but poorer range of motion. A Neanderthal might pull a small tree down, but may swing a sling or hurl a spear with no more - or even less - force than a Cro-Magnon.

The attachments of the leg muscles of the chimpanzee gives an interesting modern comparison. The chimp can jump much further than a human, but this is traded off against an awkward 'Trendelenburg' gait (which humans with certain musculoskeletal problems can also exhibit.)