Copyright 2011 Wizards of the Coast.

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We’ve heard about these people in several previous entries, and now is the time to take a more detailed look at them.

The Lore

The Tigerclaw people claim direct descent from the Hunter of Winter, a powerful primal spirit in the shape of a sabertooth tiger who roamed the world when it was young. Their stories tell of Hota Swiftstripe, one of their first chieftains, who ran into the Hunter while he was tracking a bear near a glacier. The spirit lashed out with a claw and took out one of Hota’s eyes before he could even blink, but the chieftain proceeded to lure it to a frozen lake.

The tiger’s great weight cracked the ice and caused it to fall in, but Hota fell compassion for such a great hunter and reached out with his spear to help the beast get out. The Hunter of Winter told Hota that from that moment on they were brothers, since Hota bore the Hunter’s mark and had saved its life. Hota himself would be blessed with the blood of the tiger, and so would all his descendants. When Hota returned to his tribe, he was no longer a human, but one of the first razorclaw shifters.

All of Hota’s descendants were shifters as well, so today the Tigerclaw are divided into two sub-groups. The Tigerbloods who occupy important roles such as chieftain, shaman, and several types of elite warrior; and the Tamed, non-shifters who work as gatherers, artisans and rank-and-file warriors. These are not quite castes despite being called such by the book: there is a way for one of the Tamed to become a Tigerblood.

When a Tamed has proven themselves worthy, the tribe’s chieftain invokes a rite of initiation where the candidate must hunt and attempt to subdue a sabertooth tiger. They must not kill it - this is seen as a grave offense punishable by death. Those who succeed are elevated to Tigerblood status. While they do not become shifters themselves, they’re paired with a Tigerblood shifter so that their children are born shifters. There doesn’t seem to be any gender-based role division within the Tigerclaw, or at least the book doesn’t mention any. The important one is the Tigerblood/Tamed distinction.

The Tigerclaw used to live all around the Vale, but were driven north when Nerath began to encroach on their territory. Chief Scargash’s tribe lives in Winterbole Forest in our present, and has been there for 70 years after returning from the frozen wastes north of the forest. Presumably there are other tribes who still live up there. The book says they sometimes kidnap worthy outsiders as mates to keep their numbers up, or adopt orphans from other communities for the same reason. The first alternative is a horrible cliche, so I’d suggest focusing more on the second and saying they also take in willing and worthy adult outsiders instead of kidnapping them.

That said, the Tigerclaw are usually distrustful of outsiders. They remember Nerath and the empires that came before, all of whom tried to impose their ways on their people only to eventually crumble to dust while the Tigerclaw endured. They consider all “creatures” outside their tribe to be hunters competing for territory, whether those creatures are monsters or people. These “competitors” can be negotiated and traded with, but never fully trusted. And if they threaten the tribe, the Tigerclaw think no more of raiding a human or elven settlement than they would of cleaning out a nest of snakes or culling an uppity wolf pack.

Their society also has its own criminals and outlaws, too. Tribe members who slay their kin or steal from the tribe are either put to death or exiled, depending on the severity of the crime. Those who are exiled are known as the Riven. Most of them are quite evil and resort to worship of evil spirits or demons to survive when cut off from the tribe. While some live as lone hunters, others band together in marauder groups who make a living raiding both their former kin and the outsider communities found south of Winterbole.

The largest of these groups is led by a shaman named Shadowfang, who was exiled for worshipping a giant demon lord named Kostchtie. They are based west of the Winter River and frequently go south to raid villages and towns. The Lord Warden of Fallcrest has a standing bounty on Shadowfang’s head. The book doesn’t mention whether the people of the Vale distinguish between Riven and standard Tigerclaw, so you can vary your answer there depending on what sort of story you want to tell.

Their biggest internal conflict right now comes from the fact that Chief Scargash and his shamans are making a serious attempt at opening diplomatic channels to the other sapient inhabitants of Winterbole: the Frost Witches, the Treants, and Bitterstrike. This appears to be working, but it has the more traditionalist of the Tigerblood worried because they fear this will make the Hunter of Winter see them as “soft” and withdraw its gifts. In other words, they’re like fighting and know successful diplomacy will leave them with less excuses to pick fights.

We already saw how Bitterstrike and the Frost Witches see these attempts, and we’ll look at the treants in a bit.

The Numbers

We get several stat blocks for Tigerclaw warriors here, spanning most of the Heroic tier. I’ll look at them in order of level.

The stat blocks are either humans or shifters. Shifters get low-light vision and might have transformation-related abilities that kick in while they’re bloodied.

Tigerclaw Hordling

Likely a Tamed warrior of no particular distinction, this human is a Level 3 Minion Skirmisher. They attack with a battleaxe that crits on a 18-20, though the damage increase from the critical is not spectacular since this is still a minion.

Tigerclaw Brave

This human is a skilled warrior, which means they might one day undergo the Tigerblood initiation ritual. They’re a Level 3 Soldier with 49 HP.

Braves fight with a Broadsword in melee and throw Sabertooth Spears at range (they carry 2). The sword makes basic attacks that mark for a turn on a hit. The spear targets Reflex and immobilizes for a turn on a hit. On a miss it deals half damage and slows for a turn. This is not an at-will attack: it recharges when the brave is bloodied.

If a marked enemy adjacent to the brave shifts, they can use a Sabertooth Jab to make a free sword attack against them.

Tigerclaw Scout

This is a shifter, which means they’re definitely a Tigerblood. They’re also a Level 4 Skirmisher with 55 HP.

The scout is an Adept Charger, which means they’re not limited to taking only free actions after a charge. Their Razorclaw Flurry power gives them a +2 bonus to Speed and a +4 to defenses against opportunity attacks while bloodied.

Scouts fight with paired Light Picks, meant to invoke the image of a sabertooth tiger’s fangs. They do an extra die of damage if used on a charge, and can use a power named Sabertooth Strike to attack two different targets at once. This recharges as long as at least one of the attacks misses.

If an enemy ends its movement in a square where it flanks the scout, the scout can use Wild Instinct as a reaction to shift 2 squares.

Tigerclaw Fang-Wielder

This shifter is a Level 5 Brute with 77 HP. They use a heavy war pick, whose attacks to extra damage while they’re bloodied. It can also be used in a Fang of the Sabertooth maneuver (recharge 5+), which does heavy damage, knocks prone, and on a critical hit inflicts 5 ongoing damage (save ends).

When the Fang-Wielder first becomes bloodied, they use a reaction named Winter’s Rage, which is an attack on a Close Burst 1 that damages and knocks prone on a hit, does half damage on a miss, and pushes 1 square as an effect.

Fang-Wielders want to charge right in and actually like getting surrounded by melee PCs, because all of their best traits kick in when they’re bloodied.

Tigerclaw Shaman

These shifters act as spiritual advisors and general spellcasters for the Tigerclaw. They’re Level 5 Controllers with 52 HP. In combat they use a Longspear and some mind-affecting magic.

This includes the Phantom Fangs at-will spell, which on a hit does psychic damage and immobilizes for a turn, and on a miss slows for a turn. It also includes the Concussive Roar encounter power, a minor action that attacks a Close Blast 3 and on a hit pushes targets 3 squares and immobilizes them. On a miss it pushes 1 square instead, but in either case it does no damage.

Sabertooth Tiger

Yes, as implied in the lore the Tigerclaw make use of sabertooth tigers as pets. Tigerblood candidates have to tame a wild tiger as part of their initiation, and I imagine they also breed and raise tigers to accompany hereditary Tigerbloods. An encounter involving Tigerclaw members is also likely to involve these beasties.

Sabertooth Tigers are Large Natural Beasts with the Mount keyword and Level 6 Soldiers with 72 HP. They have a ground speed of 8 and a climb speed of 4. Their Charging Pounce trait works like the scout’s Adept Charger, letting them make any type of action after a charge. And their Tiger Charge trait gives a +2 damage bonus to the charge attacks of their rider.

Their bites do extra damage on a charge, and grab on a hit (escape DC 15). If the tiger has a grabbed victim, it can only bite that victim. It can also use Puncturing Fangs against them. This hits automatically, does some physical damage, and inflicts ongoing 5 damage (save ends).

Tigers are higher level than most of the humanoids in this entry, but this is not a problem because ever since the Monster Vault mount monsters no longer have to be of equal or lower level than their riders. You can safely drop this restriction from all older monsters as well.

Tigers want to charge in, grab someone, and keep using Puncturing Fangs on them, preferrably while their rider attacks.

Scargash, Tigerclaw Chief

Scargash seems to be a fairly typical Tigerclaw chief as far as stats go. You could use the same stats for chiefs of other tribes if any appear in your game. He’s a shifter, of course, and a Level 6 Elite Brute with the Leader tag and 176 HP.

Scargash gains a +2 bonus to all of his defenses while bloodied, and his leadership style expresses itself as an aura (5) named Encircle the Prey, which grants allies +2 to damage on attacks against targets they are flanking.

His War Pick inflicts ongoing damage on a hit and can be used in a Double Attack. If both of those attacks hit the target also suffers a -2 penalty to all defenses.

His encounter power is a Staggering Swipe that damages the target and does half damage on a miss. As an effect, it also slides the target 3 squares to a space adjacent to one or more other enemies. Those enemies take an automatic 10 damage and fall prone as the flung target bowls into them.

Primal Sabertooth Tiger

The kind of majestic mount a Tigerclaw chief would ride into battle. They could be extraordinary mundane specimens, but are likely somehow blessed by the Hunter in Winter either naturally or via Tigerclaw rituals. Primal sabertooths are Huge Natural Beasts with the Mount keyword and Level 8 Elite Soldiers with 178 HP.

They have the same Charging Pounce trait as their smaller relatives, and also have Threatening Reach 2. Their basic attack is a Reach 2 Claw that damages and inflicts 5 ongoing damage. If the target was already taking ongoing damage, this inflicts 10 ongoing damage instead. This means that a second claw attack on the same target will worsen their ongoing damage, or that a first attack will already inflict the worse condition if the target was taking ongoing 5 damage from another source.

The primal tiger’s Bite is a minor action. It does light damage and grabs with escape DC 20. The tiger can pull the victim along when it moves without provoking opportunity attacks from the victim. Only one victim may be grabbed at a time.

Their special attack is Go For the Kill (recharge 5+), which targets Reflex, deals heavy damage, knocks prone, and gives the tiger 5 temporary HP if the attack bloodies the victim.

When the tiger hits 0 HP, it can shift its speed and use Go For The Kill one last time. If this reduces the target to 0 HP, the tiger heals back to 20 HP instead of dying. This ability, called Fierce Spirit, is an encounter power, so the tiger can’t use it again in the same fight.

Final Impressions

The book uses the word “barbarian” a lot, but I’ve avoided doing it here. I suppose they’re barbarians in the D&D class sense, but I wouldn’t want to use the rest of that word’s baggage with them. And if I included the Tigerclaw in a game, I’d definitely remove the bit where they raid other communities for “worthy mates”. It’s still a bad trope no matter how you look at it.

Removing that shitty trope leaves you with a fairly complex people as far as D&D cultures go. They’re not likely to be very friendly to outsider PCs, but they have good reasons for their suspicion. Outsiders can still interact with them in peaceful ways with a bit of work, and they would make a good origin culture for martial or primal PCs.

If Bitterstrike decides to go a-conquering, she’ll want to force Scargash’s tribe to act as her front-line troops. I imagine their traditionalists will welcome this since it will mean an end to diplomacy followed by lots of battles, but most of the tribe would resent serving under the dragon and/or being manipulated by Frost Witches who would surely be the secret instigators of the whole thing. They’re the first troops you fight, but they’re also the weak link you work in order to dismantle the Army of Winter.

Shadowfang’s bunch makes for a much less ambiguous enemy faction, but PCs who like to go for the diplomatic solution would still have plenty to do in a scenario where the people of Winterhaven and Fallcrest had trouble telling them apart from other Tigerclaw and directed their enmity at all of them.