Kubitt

Kubitts are a race of diminutive humanoids native to the Hollow World of Mystara in Dungeons & Dragons.

Honey, I shrunk the Amazons.

In the year AC 50, an Alphatian wizard whose name has been lost to history began magically experimenting on wood imps and pixies, ultimately producing a race of tiny humanoids that stand no more than 18 inches tall - the name of their people actually derives from an archaic-even-then term for "a foot and a half of distance". Though he succeeded in breeding strength and independence into his creations, the experiment works too well; when he tried to make slaves of them, they revolted and killed him.

The Immortal named Vanya became smitten with these tiny warriors, and rather than risk their destruction - after all, they had just killed an Alphatian wizard, and in that magocracy, the penalty for that would be death - she transported the entire race to a single jungle valley within the Hollow World, there to be preserved for all eternity.

The Valley of the Kubitts is a realm of Iron Age technology in the Hollow World, although of course anything they make is too small even for a halfling or gnome to make practical use of. Established in a region north of the Milenian Empire, where foothills give way to rainforest, the Kubitts have constructed a single huge village in the rainforest's center, built into the treetops in order to grant protection from the dinosaurs and other prehistoric monsters that are native to the Hollow World.

Due to some quirk of the process that made them, kubitts appear as perfectly ordinary, fair-skinned, dark-haired humans. You know, apart from being so short. They are a matriarchal species, perhaps a result of Vanya's patronage over the race. They aren't your typical amazons, though; males can join the military, and hold officer ranks, and the prince-consorts are important functionaries. But only the queens rule, and only female officers are allowed to negotiate with intruders to the valley.

Because the kubitts are not stupid. They're well aware that their size makes them at a disadvantage, and so they have taken many steps to protect themselves. Their goal is to dominate their environment, despite their size, but although they have been successful in fortifying their valley, expanding is proving troublesome. Common tricks include massive (to them) trap arrays, earth-moving projects used to create false footsteps of giants, using the severed heads of past hostiles to present a warning for other unwelcome foes to clear off, and claiming to be giants hidden by powerful magic whilst addressing people from in hiding.

Despite this, the kubitts are actually interested in learning more of the outer world. They're particularly interested in the prospect of becoming mercenaries, spies and assassins (which they were created to be, after all): the money they could acquire from that could be used to hire big-folk to do the heavy labor they need to expand their kingdom.

Whilst they have none of the more magical powers of their ancestors, kubitts are inhumanly strong for their size, and impossibly quick. As such, a kubitt can run at the same speed as a human, being capable of covering more than six feet in a single leaping sprint.

Kubitt PCs, per the rules of Basic D&D, have a Strength range of 2d6+1, a range for all other stats of 3d6, and receive a +2 bonus to Dexterity. They are treated as humans for level progression, and can be clerics, fighters, magic-users, thieves, foresters and rakes.

They suffer a unique drawback in their size; they cannot ordinarily reach or manipulate objects more than 2 feet above floor level, and even when armed with kubitt pole-arms, cannot strike something more than 4 feet off the ground.

However, their inhuman (for their stature) strength allows them to move very quickly, and so they are fast as a full-sized human. Their size and natural training in stealth means that all non-thief kubitts have Move Silently and Hide In Shadows scores identical to a thief of the same experience level - a kubitt thief adds +10% to both of those abilities.