A tarek raider. He's a large, muscular, blue-skinned humanoid with a bald head, large pointy ears, and large pointy teeth.

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We’re back to using the s-word for this one, though it only appears once.

The Lore

According to the book, legends tell that “an entity of mad destruction” created the tareks in the very distant past to serve as “instruments of murder”. I guess this means that they were created as bioweapons for the genocidal wars of the Red Age, which would explain why they’re so strong and tough. In any case, their earth priests helped them revolt against their masters and attain independence.

In our narrative present, tareks live in isolated communities in Athas’ hilly and moutainous regions. They’re intensely isolationist and xenophobic, so most of the contact they have with other humanoids is when they raid any of their communities that might be located too near to tarek territory.

While they seemingly hate everyone, they are “sworn enemies of the gith”. Like all particularly strong humanoid species, they’re popular targets for slavers because they do well at the arena. It’s no wonder most revolts in Athas seem to start there…

The Numbers

Tareks are Medium Natural Humanoids with a ground speed of 6. Their signature trait is Deathless Warrior, which lets them roll a save when they hit 0 HP. If they pass, they only drop at the end of their next turn, and can act normally until them. They speak Common and Giant, and are Unaligned by default.

The book recommends adding additional varieties of tarek by taking orc stat blocks and replacing their bonus charge speed and Warrior’s Surge with Deathless Warrior. So I guess they’re explicitly Darker and Sunnier orcs.

Tarek Raider

Raiders are Level 3 Soldiers with 49 HP. They’re disciplined and try to stick together in a fight even if scattered by forced movement. Their Tarek Squad Tactics give them Combat Advantage against anyone adjacent to at least one other Tarek.

A raider is usually armed with a Bone Heartpick whose attacks damage, slide 1 square, and mark for a turn on a hit. If someone decides to ignore the mark, their Dangerous Aggression gives them a free attack against the offender, and if that hits the target is also immobilized (save ends).

Tarek Earth Shaman

Earth shamans are Level 4 Controllers with the Leader tag. They fight much like Earthbenders from the Avatar shows.

Their melee attacks use Fists of Stone which target Fortitude, damage on a hit and slide 3 squares as an effect. They can also use a spell named Clutching Stone (close blast 3 vs. Fort, recharge 5+) that does the same damage, knocks targets prone, and restrains them (save ends). And their ultimate technique is Tide of Stone (close blast 5 vs. Ref, recharges when first bloodied), which deals heavy damage and knocks prone on a hit. Allies caught in the blast can instead shift 3 squares as an effect.

Encounters and Final Impressions

Tareks will only buddy up with other tareks and whatever domesticated beasts they might train. You will only find them in Mixed Groups of People if they’re enslaved.

As seen above, they like to stick close to each other in fights, and the book also mentions they like the same focused fire tactics that tend to be described as optimal for PCs. In other words, if they can they’ll pick a particularly vulnerable target and focus their attacks there until the target is dead before moving on to the next.