G’hor-Khut are massive creatures unafraid of throwing their weight around in a fight. Highly competitive, these strong nomads can prove to be powerful allies and welcome additions to any adventuring party.

   Personality

G’hor-Khut are known for their almost foolhardy daring. In their mountain homes, they leap from precipice to precipice, heedless of the fatal consequences of a misstep. They place great stock in clan and family; life in the mountains teaches even the youngest g'hor-khut to rely completely on his fellows for a hand across a crevasse. Because most g’hor-khut are hunter-gatherers, they tend to be inquisitive, always curious about whether better hunting lies over the next ridge or a good water source can be found in the next canyon. G’hor-Khut are completely unsympathetic toward tribe members who can’t contribute to the well-being of the tribe anymore—an attitude reinforced by social structures. Old, sick, and otherwise infirm g’hor-khut are exiled from their clans, never to return.

   Physical Description

A typical g’hor-khut is larger than the largest k'han-dush. Most stand between 7 and 8 feet tall and weigh between 280 and 340 pounds. Unlike with most other races, there is no appreciable difference in height or weight between male and female g’hor-khut. G’hor-Khut have grey skin, mottled with dark and light patches that g’hor-khut shamans say hint at a particular g’hor-khut’s fate. Lithoderms—coin-sized bone-and-skin growths as hard as pebbles—speckle their arms, shoulders, and torso. Their skulls have a jutting eyebrow ridge, wide jaw, and occasional lithoderms as well. Female g'hor-khut have dark hair on their heads, grown to great length and always kept braided. Male g'hor-khut generally have hair only on their limbs. G’hor-Khut’s eyes are a brilliant blue or green, and they often seem to glow a little from underneath their furrowed brows. Because their skin mottling has cultural significance, g’hor-khut generally dress as lightly as possible, displaying their skin patterns for all to see. For the same reason, few g’hor-khut would willingly get a tattoo—to draw on one’s skin is tantamount to trying to rewrite one’s fate. G’hor-Khut instead decorate themselves with jewellery, often sporting ear, nose, or brow rings. A g’hor-khut’s lithoderms are also common places to embed a gem or two, since they have few nerve endings and stand out on the g'hor-khut's’s body already.

   Relations

When encountered in the mountains, g’hor-khut are outwardly friendly to anyone who doesn’t threaten the tribe and can keep up with them as they climb from peak to peak. Humans who brave the mountains—rangers and druids, most often—can often earn a tasty meal by helping a team of g’hor-khut hunters. G’hor-Khut hold dwarven races in particularly high regard, wishing their tribes had the dwarven aptitude for weapon crafting. Some of the bravest g’hor-khut climb down into the tunnels and natural caverns under a mountain, seeking a community of dwarven stock to trade with. The smaller-than-human races are regarded as curiosities, but many a nimble-climbing so'van has earned respect by beating a g’hor-khut in a race up a cliff. G’hor-Khut view the extended life span of elven races as vaguely frightening, finding it hard to imagine a person who could have known one’s great-great grandfather. A g’hor-khut’s tribe’s attitude toward any nearby giants varies widely. Some tribes eagerly trade with giants; the giants’ weapons aren’t up to dwarven standards, but they are made in larger sizes (which g’hor-khut greatly prefer). However, giants have a bad habit of trying to turn g’hor-khut into their slaves, using them for menial tasks they’re too big or too lazy to do themselves. Conflict inevitably ensues, and soon either the giants are dead, the g’hor-khut have fled, or the g’hor-khut are chained up as slaves to a giant-lord. G’hor-Khut tend to hold goblinoids and orcs (including k'han-dush) at arm’s length, noting that the “downlanders” they trade with regard such races as troublemakers. But because goblinoids rarely stray into the high mountains, they are usually someone else’s trouble, so g’hor-khut don’t bear them any actual malice.

   Alignment

G’hor-Khut have a slight tendency toward chaotic alignments, which is reflected in their wanderlust and the small, mobile communities in which they live. Still, each g’hor-khut tribe has one or more adjudicators that settle disputes within the clan, and such g’hor-khut are generally lawful. G’hor-Khut have a slight preference for good over evil, since among the high mountain peaks, survival becomes much easier when one aids a fellow g’hor-khut without insisting on recompense.

   G'hor-Khut Racial Traits

• +4 Strength, –2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution: G’hor-Khut are massively muscled, but their bulk sometimes gets in the way when they’re trying to be nimble.
• G’hor-Khut base land speed is 30 feet.
• Medium: As Medium creatures, g’hor-khut have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size. However, see the powerful build ability description below for more details.
• Monstrous Humanoid: As monstrous humanoids, g’hor-khut are proficient with all simple weapons, but they have no proficiency with any armour or shield.
• Powerful Build: The physical stature of a g’hor-khut lets it function in many ways as if it were one size category larger. Whenever a g’hor-khut is subject to a size modifier or special size modifier for an opposed check (such as during grapple checks, bull rush attempts, and trip attempts), the g’hor-khut is treated as one size larger if doing so is advantageous. A g’hor-khut is also considered to be one size larger when determining whether a creature’s special attacks based on size (such as improved grab or swallow whole) can affect them. A g’hor-khut can use weapons designed for a creature one size larger without penalty. However, their space and reach remain those of a creature of their actual size. The benefits of this racial trait stack with the effects of powers, abilities, and spells that change the subject’s size category.
• Mountain Movement: Because g’hor-khut practically live on the ledges and cliffs of the most forbidding mountains, they are particularly adept at negotiating mountain hazards. G’hor-Khut can make standing long jumps and high jumps as if they were running long jumps and high jumps. A g’hor-khut can engage in accelerated climbing (climbing half their speed as a move action) without taking the –5 penalty on the Climb check.
• Acclimated: G’hor-Khut are automatically acclimated to life at high altitude. They don’t take penalties for altitude during mountain travel. Unlike other denizens of the mountains, g’hor-khut don’t lose their acclimation to high altitude even if they spend a long time at a lower elevation.
• +2 bonus on Sense Motive checks: When speaking to one another, g’hor-khut tend to augment their verbal communication with subtle body language. They are likewise able to “read” the unintentional body language of others.
• Level adjustment +1.