8
In addition to Basic, Twi’lek characters speak Twi'leki, which combines verbal
sounds and an elaborate and subtle sign language using their lekku. While other
characters may learn to understand Twi’leki, speaking it fluently is impossible
without the presence of lekku, though some aliens have learned to mimic lekku
movements with their arms and hands, and can speak a pidgin version of the
language, which is close enough to make themselves understood.
Notable Twi’leks include Aayla Secura, Hera Syndula, and Oola.
Wookiee: Wookiees are fur-covered demihuman creatures that stand over 7 feet
tall on average, are monstrously strong, and are a strange meld of canine, ursine,
and feline in posture, movement and appearance. They are a forest-dwelling race
whose home planet of Kashyyyk is covered with dense forests, swamps, and
trees that reach hundreds of feet into the air. They are an arboreal-dwelling
species, and a fierce warrior culture, which led them to be enslaved by the
Empire to nullify them as a threat.
Wookiees gain +4 to strength but suffer -2 to dexterity and -2 to Charisma. A
wookiee whose strength bonus takes them higher than 18 is entitled to a
percentage roll, even if a thief, and any +1 leftover after 18 adds +10% to their
percentage roll. Thus, a wookiee who rolls 16 for strength sees their strength
raised to 18, and gets a percentage roll, adding +20 to their final score for the
leftover +2. If this +20 would take the wookiee over 18/00, they may have a
strength of 19 or even 20 (a % roll of 110 would equate to strength 19, while a
% roll of 120 would equal a strength 20).
Their standard movement rate is half again that of a similarly encumbered
human (18”/13”/9”, respectively). They can climb trees or normal surfaces
without the need to make a die roll, and at their normal movement rate. They
can also climb sheer surfaces that others would be unable to scale as a thief of
the same level. Wookiees may progress only as Fighting-Men, and only to the
eighth level of experience. They do, however, gain open hand damage as a monk
of the same level (Supplement II, page 6). Finally, they are proficient with the
Wookiee bowcaster.
While they can understand Basic (the common language of the galaxy), they
cannot speak any language but their own Shriiwook. Likewise, aliens can learn
to understand Shriiwook, but the best they can manage in speaking it is a sort of
barely intelligible pidgin version.
Chewbacca is the most famous member of the Wookiee race.
Other Alien Races: There are literally thousands of species that populate the
galaxy. The DM is encouraged to come up with any other alien race desired,
using the ones listed here as examples.