Namahage are referred to by many different names. They are referred to as Ogre Demons, Fire Ogres and Fire Demons (just to name a few of the names they are referred to). One of the biggest misconceptions about the Namahage is that many believe these creatures are from the Elemental Plane of Fire, the Nine Hells or the Abyss. The truth is that Namahage are creatures of flesh and blood, who originated from here, on the Prime Material Plane. The likely reason for the misconception of the origins of the Namahage is their obsession with fire and magic related to fire.

From an early age Namahage children show an interest and aptitude towards creating fire through magic. The Namahage's obsession with fire is so well known that human parents will often warn their children that if the play with fire it will attract the nasty Namahage who would feast on their souls.

Ecology

A fully grown Namahage stand 9 feet tall and weighs over 400 lbs. Namahage have a dark red skin tone, and a muscular physique. They grow hair on their head and on other areas of their body (in a similar manner as humans). Their hair starts off as being black, but quickly starts to grey shortly after reaching adulthood. Most Namahage develop receding hairlines around this time (this occurs in both males and females of the species).

Male and female Namahage look so similar in appearances that it is often difficult for an outsider to distinguish the two sexes from each other. This has led to the misconception that all Namahage are males (there is in fact an equal number of Namahage males as there are females).

Namahage live on average to 200 years. They reach adulthood at 30 years. Namahage have infravision and are able to see up to 60 feet in total darkness.

Habitat & Society

Namahage live in secluded villages. The Namahage go to great lengths in keeping the whereabouts of their villages secret (the Namahage use illusion spells and other magic to conceal the location of their village). A village has between 35 to 70 Namahage adults (5D8+30) and between 10 to 25 children (5D4+5). Namahage children have between 2 to 6 Hit Dice each. Each village is led by a Chieftain, who is the most powerful Namahage of the village. Namahage villages are often located on mountains and hills.

Hamahage are very capable of hard work, but prefer to use extortion to obtain food and supplies. It is common for a Namahage village to impose "protection taxes" on nearby human and demi-human villages. A nearby village will often be required to pay a monthly tribute in resources and services in exchange for "protection" from the village burning down. Namahage do have a sense of honour, and as long as the villagers pays their tribute the Namahage will ensure that they will not burn their village down.

A form of tribute that the Namahage may impose on a nearby human or demi-human village is that of slaves. A Namahage village will have between 20 to 70 slaves (10D6+10). Namahage prefer dwarf slaves (dwarves are hard workers and skilled craftsmen); however, depending on where the Namahage village is located dwarves may be hard to come by. The actual demographics of their slaves is a reflection of the populations of the neighbouring villages in which they impose their "protection taxes" on.

Namahage are not cruel to their slaves, and will treat their slaves well as long as they are productive. However, once the slaves stop being productive or become rebellious, the slaves will quickly find their way into the Namahage's stew pot.

When travelling outside their village, Namahage will disguise their appearances. This is very easy for the Namahage to accomplish as every Namahage is able to cast illusionary magic to conceal their appearance and voice. Namahage appear to have an innate able to alter their physical appearance and change the sound of the voice with magic. A Namahage could create an illusion to conceal their physical appearances and alter their voice as many times a day as they wish.

However, when a Namahage uses their magic to change their appearances, they are only able to create the illusion that their physical body has changed. For instance, a Namahage may use her magic to disguise herself as a human woman, but she will take up the same physical space as her Namahage form (even though she appears much smaller than her original form). Thus, the Namahage in disguise as a human woman may avoid riding a horse due to the fact that her actual weight may be too much for the horse to handle.

It appears that there is no limitation to the duration of time the Namahage could maintain their disguises (creating an illusion of their physical appearance and altering their voice). In fact, many Namahage spend months (or even years) in disguise when they are exploring the world outside of their villages. However, the Namahage's ability to disguise their physical appearance automatically ends when they take any offensive actions, such as attacking.

Attitudes & Outlook

Namahage work well together, and obey the rules set out by their Chieftain. However, Namahage cooperate with each other out of a sense of their own self-interests (i.e. the attitude that I will help you today, so that you will become indebted to me and I could therefore further my own interests down the road).

Languages

Namahage speak their our language and the common language of the region they are from. 75% are able to speak a third language and 25% are able to speak a fourth language. Namahage Chieftains speak a minimum of three languages.

Weapons & Amour

Namahage are armed with a large cudgel in which they are able to wield with a single hand (the Namahage intentionally keeps one of their hands free in order to cast magic). The Namahage magically attune their cudgels so their weapons will do additional fire damage (when the weapons hits its target, the victim is engulfed by flames).

The cudgel does 4 to 10 points (1D6+3) of bludgeoning damage and 2 to 12 points (2D6) of magical fire damage (a successful Saving Thrown versus Spell will half the fire damage. The bludgeoning damage remains the same).

The cudgel is magically attuned to the Namahage, and for anyone other than another Namahage that cudgel will function as an ordinary two-handed club.

Namahage never wear armour, as armour prevent them from casting spells. In fact, Namahage usually wear very little clothings. They often only wear a loin cloth, with a simple belt. However, the Namahage's natural toughness grants them a Armour Class of 5.

Spells (Special Attacks)

Namahage have an innate talent towards magic, and every Namahage can cast a selection of spells. The following is a list and description of the spells that a Namahage can cast:

• Lesser Fireball: This spell is the same as the Fireball spell, but it does 3D6 damage (a successful save versus spell with reduce the damage to half). The range of this spell is up to 60 feet, and the radius of the burst of flames is 15 feet. The Namahage is able to cast this spell up to 3 times per day.
• Flaming Servant: If there is a source of fire within 60 feet of the Hamahage, then the Hamahage could summon a servant to emerge from the fire. The light source needs to be at least the size of a camp fire. However, quite often a Hamahage will use the fire caused from their lesser fireball spell as a means of calling their flaming servant (they will summon their flaming service the round following their lesser fireball spell). The Hamahage could only use this spell once per day, and the flaming servant will be under the Hamahage control for up to 1 hour (after which the flaming service will be extinguished). The statistics for the Flaming Servant is AC 4, Mv 12 (Fly), HD 4, THACO 16, Att 1, Dam 2D6, Size M, Save F4. The Flaming Servant is vulnerable to cold based attacks (i.e. Cone of Cold) and will take double damage from these attacks. They are resistance to fire based attacks (i.e. Fireball) and will not take any damage to these attacks.
• Sacrificial Fire: If a Namahage is on verge of defeat they will often resort to the Sacrificial Fire spell. It takes a single action to cast this spell, and the Namahage's body will exploded into a burst of flames. The flames will extend in a 20 foot radius from the Namahage's body and will cause all those in the radius 6 to 36 (6D6) points of fire damage (a successful versus Spell Saving Throw will half the damage). The Namahage will die in the process of casting this spell.

In addition to these spells, a Namahage has the ability to alter the appearance and the sound of the voice through illusionary magic at will (as discussed previously). As well, Namahage are able to cast detect magic and detect invisibility at will, and are able to cast these spells an unlimited number of times each day.

Special Defences

Since Namahage are still creatures of flesh and blood they can be harmed by fire damage. However, due to their life long obsession with fire, Namahage have developed a certain resilience to magical fire based attacks. If a magical fire based attack (i.e. Fireball) is cast on the Namahage and they succeed a Save versus Spell Saving Throw, then the Namahage will take no damage from the fire. However, if the Namahage fails their saving throw then they will take the full amount of damage.

Saving Throws

A Namahage will have the same Saving Throws as a Level 7 Fighter.

Treasure

Since Namahage infrequently engage in commerce to obtain their resources and services from neighbouring populations (they use extortion practices instead) Namahage rarely carry coins. However, a Namahage will often carry magical items, usually taking the form of potions. 75% of Namahage will carry on them 1 to 4 (1D4) magical potions. The most common potions found on a Namahage are potions of healing, invisibility and flight.

Hit Dice Adjustments

It is common to find Namahage with a range of HD. For instance, a Namahage child may have 4 HD while a battle tested Namahage Veteran may have 9 HD. When making adjustment to the number of HD a Namahage has, it is important to note that the Namahage's THACO and Saving Throws will changed at a rate of 1 per HD. Therefore, a 9 HD Namahage will have a THACO of 12 and the Saving Throw of a 9th Level Fighter, while a 4 HD Namahage will have a THACO of 17 and the Saving Throw of a 4th Level Fighter.

Namahage Chieftains

Namahage Chieftains have all of the Namahage abilities list above. In addition to these abilities, they possess the same level of magic as a 5th level Magic-Users. A Namahage Chieftain counts as a Level 5 Magic-Users when casting spells, and has the following number of spell available:

• Level 1 Spells: 4
• Level 2 Spells: 2
• Level 3 Spells: 1

A Namahage Chieftain has the saving throw as a Level 12 Fighter.

A Namahage Chieftain will carry 1 to 4 (1D4) magical potions, 1 to 4 (1D4) magic-user scrolls, 50% chance of having a wand (usually a Wand of Fireball) and 30% chance of wearing a magical ring.