A mul rebel about to bash some slaver's skull in with a rock.

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The text for this entry sounds really fucking racist. It can’t decide whether to talk about muls as if they were non-sapient animals or whether to stick to the old “stupid and brutal savage” cliches. Therefore, I’ll paraphrase and summarize it more aggressively than I do most other entries, and also pull stuff from the much more even-handed text in the Campaign Guide.

The Lore

Muls are half-dwarves, born from the union of a human and a dwarf. They’re taller than humans on average, and combine dwarven strength and endurance with human physical and mental agility. Most muls are born into slavery, as they were originally a sorcerer-king eugenics project.

Muls resent slavery just as much as anyone else, and their strong wills and bodies usually often put them in a position to do something about it. They often rebel and turn on their oppressors, and you can find communities of free muls making a life out in the wastes and organizing to strike back at the sorcerer-kings.

Despite their aptitude for resistance, muls are popular as gladiators, which means a lot of them receive combat training from their enslavers. Most muls the PCs encounter will have some degree of skill at fighting, and free individuals often go on to work as mercenaries and bodyguards because of this.

The Numbers

Muls are Medium Natural Humanoids with a ground speed of 6. Their signature trait is the same Incredible Toughness mul PCs get. Once per encounter, at the start of their turns, they can automatically end a ongoing damage effect or the dazed, slowed, stunned, or weakened conditions. This applies both to (save ends) effects, and to those that would last until the end of the turn, which makes this ability really useful.

Mul Gladiator

Trained and forced to fight in the arena, the mul gladiator is head and shoulders above his human rivals both literally and in terms of skill. He’s a Level 4 Elite Soldier with 112 HP. He wields a warhammer and can use a Double Sweep maneuver to attack twice in the same action, knocking the target prone if both attacks hit. If an adjacent prone enemy stands up, the gladiator can use a Pursuing Shove to attack their Fortitude. On a hit, he pushes the target 3 squares and shifts 3 squares to follow.

Mul Chainfighter

This could represent a more experienced gladiator or bodyguard, or a free agent like a mercenary. It’s a Level 8 Brute with 106 HP.

The chainfighter wields a Cahulaks as their main weapon. This is a Dark Sun weapon introduced in the Campaign Guide: a length of chain with barbed grappling hooks on either end. Its attacks have Reach 2, or Reach 1 if the chainfighter has a creature grabbed.

Grabs happen via the Ensnaring Tines maneuver, a Reach 2 attack that pulls the target 1 square and grabs them if they end up adjacent to the mul, who can grab at most one victim at a time in this way.

If the grabbed victim attempts to escape and fails, the chainfighter can use Wicked Ensnarement (vs. Fortitude) as a reaction. On a hit, this deals a bit of damage and knocks the target prone.

Mul Savage

This unfortunately-named stat block is meant to represent a free mul that is used to surviving in the wastes. It’s a Level 9 Brute with 120 HP and the Leader tag.

The tag is justified by the Furious Inspiration aura (5) projected by the mul. Whenever an ally inside the aura becomes bloodied they can make a melee basic attack as a free action.

This warrior fights with a Bone-Studded Greatclub, whose attacks damage and knock prone on a hit. When first bloodied, his Bloodied Fury lets him make the same attack against every enemy in a Close Burst 1, additionally pushing them 2 squares on a hit.

Mul Champion

A prominent figure in the rebel movements against the sorcerer-king, champions inspire others to take up the fight through their deeds. Like the chainfighter, the champion wields cahulaks, but they’re a lot more skilled with the weapon. Champions are Level 17 Soldiers with 167 HP.

Their basic Cahulaks attack works exactly like the chainfighter’s, with better numbers. Their Snagging Tines maneuver is Reach 2 and grabs on a hit, but it doesn’t pull: the champion can maintain a grab at up to Reach 2. Swinging Hook (Encounter) lets them slide a grabbed target 4 squares as an effect, maintaining the grab if the target is within 2 squares of the champion at the end of the movement. At the end of the movement the champion makes an attack both against the grabbed target and an enemy adjacent to that target, damaging and knocking them prone on a hit.

As a minor action, the Champion’s Gaze marks every enemy in a Close Burst 2 for a turn. If a marked enemy makes an attack that doesn’t target the champion, they open themselves to a Wicked Parry, a reach 2 interrupt that damages and inflicts a -2 penalty to the triggering attack.

Encounters and Final Impressions

The book completes its collection of fantasy racism cliches by stating that neither humans nor dwarves like muls very much. Nevertheless, they can be found in Mixed Groups of People as bodyguards, enforcers, and so on.

I liked the stat blocks because they’re relatively simple and each has One Neat Trick. Shame about the fluff, but as you saw it’s relatively easy to fix.