d100 Familiars

This is intended to be system-agnostic. If your GM is chill you can get away with some of the more interesting ones. If you are the GM, be chill. 5e style familiars are super lame and boring—they are just magic pets anyways.

1. None. Your familiar has recently died. You are in search of a new one.
2. Robot eagle. Has arms in addition to wings. His bionic eye can see through up to 1/2" of any material.
3. Mummy frog. Can summon a very small and ineffectual swarm of 3d6 flies.
4. Changeling Cockatiel. Normally looks like a normal Cockatiel, but can morph into a 1' visage of anything its seen. Cannot imitate speech. Hardly useful as a tool, as it is very unreliable and tends to change into whatever it wants whenever it wants. Don't let it see anything you don't want it to imitate.
5. Cyclopean Cat. One-eyed. Has small tusks and likes to drink.
6. Animated sock puppet. Useless unless you commit one hand to its animation.
7. Miniature Chameleon Wyvern. Two wings and two legs. Curly grasping tail. Changes color with its erratic emotions, not to blend in. Often angry at you and you don't know why.
8. Tiny wooden knight. Cannot speak but is very loyal. Hops up and down and makes dramatic arm movements to get your attention.
9. Push Beetle. Size of a chihuahua. Crumples up all your scrolls into a big ball and pushes them around for you like a dung beetle. Really unfortunate familiar for muddy conditions.
10. Taxidermy weasel. Attached to a wood stand. Makes noises like someone who can't move their mouth. Its eyes dart back and forth. Moves when nobody is looking.
11. Crat. Rat with a cat-size body and rat-size head. Walks on two legs. 
12. Lard ooze. Can store things inside itself. Dissolves in water. No limit to its size (which is directly correlated to how much damage it can survive), but can only incorporate fats like lard or butter.
13. Eggball. A large egg with one eye and an audible heartbeat. Rolls around. Can cast invisibility once per day.
14. Mutated grasshopper. Has a human-like face. Can fly and slam into people as like a sling attack.
15. Masks. Two floating theatre masks connected by a red and yellow ribbon. One smiles, one frowns. They work together and can grab things with their teeth.
16. Animated broom. Like fantasia. Has arms.
17. Ape chair. A wooden chair with arms and legs carved like chimpanzee limbs. Can function as wheelchair. Causes you to look important, but not rich.
18. Two-headed crow. Will bring you odd shiny things (like coins.) Witches will try to trade you other, stranger, familiars for it.
19. Porcupine. It has one extra large arm deformed by dark magic. It may be intimidating to any foe smaller than a human.
20. Floating Porcelain eye. Does not blink or change. Can cause a slow-moving cancer not dangerous to anything with a lifespan less than 500 years.
21. Potted Lemon Tree. Grows 1d6 mundane lemons per year. Must be fed and watered. Cannot move of its own volition.
22. Red and Pinked Striped cat. Has all black fur on its head. Very sneaky. Does not make sound of any kind under any circumstances. Like, even if you were to hit it with a bat and crush its bones—no sound emanates.
23. Blonde unicorn. Regal.
24. Dog-sized tarantula. Vulnerable to piercing weapons.
25. Igor. Low-self esteem and loyal. Its really messed up of you to use a human as a familiar.
26. A small moon. It orbits you. It has minor gravity magic.
27. Articulated stone golem arm. Obeys the most recent command given to it by any creature.
28. Familiar Chain. An adamantine chain that makes any creature with animal intelligence act as your familiar as long as it's worn. Currently worn by a rottweiler.
29. Master goat. It has its own familiar, a raven. The goat will obey you but has its own machinations. You do not have any power over the raven.
30. Elephant Landstar. Terrestrial "sea"-star. Can crack locks with its powerful beak or grapple opponents like a pair of manacles. It craves eggs, and can't be persuaded not to try to eat any egg it encounters.
31. A floating skull, magically animated when a cigar is put burning in its mouth. Acts as if mundane otherwise.
32. A silver tongue on a silver chain. Tongue once belonged to a historian of magic. Speaks audibly and slowly. It has a great knowledge of abjuration and the history of great abjurers.
33. Praying mantis. Made of folded paper. Can fly. Can't swim.
34. Metal spider. It spins up to 50' of metal wire in its lifetime. It can eat its own metal wire to replenish its supply. (I had a recurring nightmare for a little while where I had a bug on me which always ended with me trying to crush it with my hand and being horrified to find it made of metal.)
35. Tiny cloud. Has a cloud-formed old lady face. Very wise. Encourages its master to be patient and careful. Can storm, but it isn't very powerful becomes fatigued.
36. Smoke troll. A great familiar. 2' tall gray bipedal creature who's skin constantly produces a thin smoke. It has almost dog-like facial features. Anticipates your needs and seeks to fulfill them, although it is not prescient. Doesn't like to talk—although it can.
37. Archaeopteryx. Very cool little feathered dino. This one has an advanced intuitive understanding of mathematics. It can guide your haggling with its subtle head nods and shakes, but only if the item you're haggling is interesting to it (food or shiny things).
38. Flea Golem. As strong as a man, as large as a bean. Only ever obeys 50% of what its commanded to do.
39. Vestigon the proper. An infernal imp with four arms and no wings. Can teleport short distances with a 30 second delay. It will try to (literally) poison your companions. You can sacrifice a level up to grant it two level-ups. The more powerful it is the less likely it becomes to obey you. 
40. Mole-rat. This creature can shapeshift between its natural form (a mole) and its lycanthropic form (a rat) at will. It speaks a language common in this world, but which you do not currently know.
41. Half-blind coyote. It can see into the spirit realm, but has poor vision of the physical realm.
42. Goblin badger. A large badger bred to hunt goblins. It has powerful burrowing claws and digs tunnels large enough for a man to crawl through on his belly.
43. Gem prince. A small intelligent golem which you are attempting to train for some great purpose. Like a Pinocchio. 
44. Artillery barnacle. Attaches to your skin. It can provide breathable air for you underwater. Its cannon's range is doubled beneath the waves.
45. Pufferforce Toad. A large toad which expands a globe of force around itself when threatened, blocking all physical beings, objects, and effects of low or moderate power strength.
46. Bloodthorn vines. A thorny plant which feeds on blood. It can grow into your veins, taking a small amount of damage you receive in your stead, but causing you vulnerability to fire. It wants to germinate its seeds in the corpses of your enemies.
47. Cobra fist. A snake with a left-hand instead of a head. Weirdly skin-colored. 10ft blindsight, blind beyond.
48. Coconut crab. Is intelligent but utterly utilitarian and without empathy. (Will attempt to eat your fallen comrades.) Can climb and grapple.
49. Magic carpet. Good sense of humor, vibrates at your jokes. Has a carrying capacity of 10lbs, and can't move while encumbered. 
50. Projection orb. Projects the blue hologram of a beautiful woman. She is moderately intelligent, but remembers nothing from one conversation to another besides generally who you are. Can record audio, with up to 40 seconds of audio storage.
51. Capuchin. Fiendish little monkey. Speaks the language of nobility. Refuses to wear any kind of clothing.
52. Hyena king. Participates in combat regardless of system rules. You need to employ its golden muzzle in populated areas to avoid it biting passerbys. 
53. Angelic skull. A golden skull with four feathered wings. Can always tell if a creature is living or dead. Sings a sorrowful lament at sunset.
54. James the owl familiar. He has secretly murdered his last 9 masters, and seeks a tenth. His hoot has a "villain laugh" quality.
55. Finger prophet. Large disembodied ghost of a hand. It writes its master's fortune on the wall each dawn (weal or woe, you can interpret this as a +1 or -1 to all rolls that day if you want.) It can grab incorporeal entities, but not corporeal ones.
56. Black rabbit. Can turn invisible at will, (useful for magic tricks.) Becomes dangerous if not well fed.
57. Bush-ent. Small awakened shrub. Can speak to plants on your behalf. 
58. Goblin slave. This goblin has, for some goblin-logic reason, determined you to be its master. You cannot get rid of it. It speaks of you like you're a terrible master no matter how you treat it. It will randomly turn your possessions and resources into wasteful and absurd inventions.
59. Vulture. Sneers at your enemies from atop roofs or fences. Will not help you if they might be put in danger.
60. The cube. A polished black cube which makes a humming sound as it floats through the air. It knows the exact age of all objects, and the identification code of the object's creator (kind of only useful for figuring out if two objects were or were not created by the same creator.) It is from the future, seeking to catalog things which no longer persist, in search of forgotten tech. It speaks of avoiding "young Vacuum Prime."
61. Canicore (dog-eater). A small chimeric creature with a bobcat head and arm, lizard head and arm, and a sea lion rear.
62. Koala. Has psionic powers, but anything it telepaths to you is communicated to all creatures within 30'. Any creature within 30' can see through the koala's eyes.
63. Darwinian Lockfinch. Semi-intelligent. If you place a treat inside a lock, it will morph its beak to fit the lock.
64. Two pits. These pit-bull twins are ferocious. Their sleek gray coats give you the air of someone to be respected. They will not leave each other's side, and if one dies the other one will quickly follow suit.
65. Giant Roly-Poly. Can roll up to protect itself (or so you can douse it in oil and light it so you can roll it into foes like a bowling ball from hell). Can climb walls that are the opposite of smooth.
66. Hammerhead Snail. Last of its species. They used their hard heads to break their rival's shells by whipping their outstretched heads against one another.
67. Bovine Machine Cultist. Small robotic shaman. Wears the preserved head of a cow as a mask. Performs rituals every evening.
68. Magic Mirror. Has no special knowledge, except that it knows if you are the most of or best at anything in the world. For instance, it can tell you if you are the most beautiful person in the world, or if you are the best tennis player, but can't tell you who is the best spaceship pilot unless its you.
69. Venomous Caterpillar. Normal caterpillar size. Venomous to the touch. Easy save or causes peaceful hallucinations and a disregard for consequences. Will one day metamorphose into one of the horsemen of the insect apocalypse.
70. Stilted Seahorse. Terrestrial seahorse with long, narrow, single-toed legs. No arms.
71. Greater Urban Amphipod. 3' long amphipod which moves through jumping short distances. It can burrow and can detect electricity.
72. Golden Retriever. Great wingman/lady and grants a small bonus to seduction rolls, if the target likes dogs. Also grants +2 versus mental illness. It has no combat instinct or ability, and there is a 10% chance you enter serious long-term depression if it dies.
73. Dimensional Exchange Familiar. These shloggy (a texture our 3 dimensional brains interpret as soft) creatures are 4-dimensional. They have various non-euclidian appearances depending on your opinion of it. They cannot eat anything native to this dimension, so they only hang around for about 3 days before leaving and being replaced with another of their kind—per your contract with their masters. They know a lot about interpersonal relationships and how to make peace with others, but always speak to you like an adult with no kids talks to little kids. Slow and sort of condescending. 
74. Scintillating Python. Mildly radioactive. Likes things as they were long ago. Often counsels you to delegate responsibility.
75. Throwing Grackle. Can throw its voice to sound like its emanating from somewhere else. Can imitate words but not voices.
76. Gnarled Baboon. Its infected with Papio Papillomavirus, causing it to grow hard, antler-like warts all over its arms and face. Its very scary when screaming and chasing things.
77. Grandfather Koi. Majestic beard of barbles. Can fly, but can't breathe outside water. It knows many old freshwater creatures on a first name basis.
78. Shale Gargoyle. Its natural, not carved. It's hard to tell if it has a face or if you are just imagining it does. It cannot fly on its heavy stone wings, but it can climb—leaping from one ledge to another, faster even than it can walk normally.
79. Pygmy Ostrich. Wears a wealth of gold bracelets and bangles. It's feathers are heavy with jewelry. 
80. PseudoBio Dragonfly. Made of nanites which imitate natural biology. It can fly extremely fast, but cannot carry anything. It can modulate its size to be anywhere from 0.5"–7" long.
81. Ported Goblin Shark. Deep sea goblin shark, in the deep see, but with a moving portal in front of its face so that it can sort of follow you around. Water does not fall out of the portal. You can put stuff through the portal for it to eat. Don't expect to get it back. 
82. Rune Cairn. A mobile cairn of runed rocks. It tumbles about in a pile. It can crush toes. It can glow as a torch.
83. Morphing Pig. Can move rapidly along the scale between being a show pig to being a wild boar, depending on its environment and circumstances. Moving from one extreme to the other takes 1 hour.
84. Ropetail Monitor. Monitor lizard with a detachable tail. Tail regrows 1' per week once detached, to a maximum of 10'.
85. Eel Jarrobot. Spindly robot body with a moray eel in a jar to control it. The jar looks very small for an eel of this size.
86. Undead Gorgon head. This decapitated zombie gorgon head has very weak petrification powers. I pulls itself across the ground with its zombie snake hair.
87. Glamour Pixie. Has a Brooklyn accent. Her hair is always dramatic and different. Can use Vicious Mockery, but against former allies only.
88. Bronzed Bear. This bear is extremely old and relatively frail, a remnant of a bygone race of bears. Its instincts are all that remain, even if its senses are dulled. It has good intuition about ambushes and where to find fresh water.
89. Leather dog fetish. A crafted stuffed fetish of leather, inhabited by a young and ignorant spirit. It is in the rough shape of a dog, but has no features. The spirit is seeking to know more about this realm. Give it a few hundred years, and it may become powerful enough to no longer need this physical form. While it may not know much of your physical world, it does intuitively understand much about spirit power.
90. Fish Priest. A 2' tall blue fishfolk priest. Its language is strange, but with the help of his prayers you haven't died yet. He seems to be on some holy mission, and you are a part of it.
91. Kookaburra. Good for creating distractions. Is wanted in two backwater towns.
92. Skeleton servant. Was once a child or a gnome? Does not have eyes, its vision is as one nearly blind (it does not have blindsight). You have painted its bones, and one day hope to commission your favorite artist to turn your servant into a masterpiece.
93. Demon worm. Not much use right now, besides causing your enemies mundane nightmares, but once it reaches its potential its loyalty will be priceless. It is very unlikely that it will just murder your and eat your bones instead of rewarding your sacrifice.
94. Stump. An animated tree stump (I think this makes it an undead plant?). It has tremor-sense, and can store enough water to sustain a man for 2 weeks. It is slow and heavy.
95. Tattooed owl. Used to be familiar to a necromancer, and it missing the feathers on its head and back. It uses minor necromancy chants to raise tiny bone shambles out of its regurgitated pellets.
96. Miniature Ankylosaurus. High AC/Parry. Can carry 60lbs without trouble. Very survivable, but a poor scout.
97. Stag Beetle. Larger than a natural stag beetle; cat size. Moves deliberately like an elephant, not the wild tapping feet of usual beetles. Its pincers can grapple, but the beetle is not heavy enough to restrict or hurt anything bigger than a poodle.
98. Baby Dragon Turtle. This is the beginning of its life. It will double in size every two years until it is the size of a city. If you go near the ocean it will abandon you.
99. Blind ghost. Is bound to you, and you are the cause of its death. It does not blame you, but you must complete some quest in order to free it. It cannot move more that 30ft from you. It can move through walls.
100. Reroll twice and take two familiars. They hate each other or love each other (50% chance of each).

Pentaquine

Ten good pentaquine words: imperial, consecrating, champ, stamp, reel, aloof, regard, writhe, tip toe, demand.

Her mother knew Pentaquine was special when she was forced to sorcerously bisect herself in order to birth Pentaquine's five foal heads. The filly, stood shakily, and spoke a divine phrase and reunited her mother's estranged halves, resurrecting her. She passed the first three tests of the Horse Celestium Club before marehood and was elected queen of the clubhouse at the minimum age of six.

Pentaquine is the five-headed queen of The Horse Celestium Club. She has never taken a stallion. She is pure and divine. Her voice is like a choir of angels, like thin glass wind chimes smashing mighty against themselves so as to break, but don't. In her presence, even lower horses are granted power to speak on her behalf—like as to translate her perfect words into common language. No human has ever shaved their patterns into her coat. No brand can brand her. Her wisdom and beauty are the subject of many minstrels musings. Even psionic horses respect her. She is above all horses, and they love her. 

And, secretly, she feels alone.

High Horses & The Horse Celestium Club

In order for a horse to prove itself a high horse, a horse must past any one of four tests. Without proof, a horse will never be granted club membership into Horse Celestium. The four tests, in order of least to most prestigious, are as follows: the testing and proof of great gifts test (which includes a basic mental aptitude subtest), the religious sense and attunement test, the greater oratory test (which includes a sort of "let's just double check they don't have any major problematic beliefs" subtest), and the run through the sound barrier test. 

The variety in these tests ensure that great horses of many power sources can attain membership. Most high horses pass only the great gifts tests, but others who can often attempt to pass multiple. No horse has ever passed all four, (only one horse, Furio Ponagio has ever succeeding in running through the sound barrier, and he died from heart explosion immediately after.)

This selection of tests preclude the acceptance of horses with psionic powers, which under the classical interpretation of "Great Gifts" do not qualify. This has led to the creation of a much less prestigious and more freaky rival club, known as "The Horses of Excellent Mental Endowment Club". High horses and psionic horses tend to think poorly of one another.

While there is a physical clubhouse for the Horse Celestium Club, most high horses have never been there. Visiting is a common bucket list item, even among lower horses.

Ambitions

Pentaquine has some ambitions for her rule, and for the preservation of the clubhouse's reputation—which is her foremost duty.

She is determined to keep her elected position as queen. To do this, she must continue to prove her majesty and power. This means performing various great works of dance, creating masterful works of art, and achieving impressive feats. 

She once ascended and descended the infinite spiral ramp of Sadlegrat in only 14 days. When she returned, her worshippers sought to collect a vial of her sweat as a relic, but not one drop was found.

She knows her destiny is to one day join the constellations as her final act as queen. She dreads the great solitude this will bring.

Pentaquine's Despair

Pentaquine has lived a life of loneliness. Her fans, worshippers, servants, and advisors are always near, but none provide her companionship. With each great act the distance between herself and them only grows.

Her greatest desire is to one day meet another horse who will love her. This might seem an immature dream for a divine queen, but it is nonetheless her greatest want—she desires another on whom she can rest. She is cursed with a distinctly mortal inability to see her own future. It is not her current longing which brings such deep despair; it is not knowing if it will end.

Using Pentaquine in Your Game

Pentaquine always appears with a padre of other horses—some higher, some lower. While her amazingness is legitimate, she is not unapproachable. She might be found nearly anywhere on the surface of the world where there is room for horses to run across the landscape. 

Pentaquine is ever on the lookout for ways to prove herself deserving of her title, and can be persuaded to assist characters in glorious acts. She will however demand a gift up front of 5x the amount of apples, carrots, and other horse treats a normal horse would desire. She also desires the rights to the glory of the accomplishment.

If Pentaquine is to providing a quest for the party—it must be something boring and unexciting. If it were interesting, she would do it herself, or ask one of her favored horses to accomplish it.

Some game stuff to properly reimburse you for your attention

d20 High Horses

1. Verlia, a 2-dimensional horse. She can see religion represented in one-dimensional forms.
2. Archlord Brob Gravitank, duke of Wompus and fine-tent critic. His gravikinetic cavalry units are renowned for their many victories in battle against the Nezzomere Necrostate.
3. Derigible, a mini-mini horse with no legs and a hover pace of 4. He is very friendly, and talks about his disability so openly that it actually makes those around him more uncomfortable.
4. Troy, a horse of wood that stands 40' tall. His hooves and charred by fire and stained by blood. He is a keeper of secrets and riddles. Threatening disposition. Similar in many ways to a Sphinx.
5. Iron Steeple. Part horse, part church, all vigil.
6. Muzzlebluff, who speaks only lies, but the lies are beautiful and partially binding.
7. Hesperadel the Unshod, who claims the earth herself is her hoof. Hesperadel cannot be ridden by any creature except other horses.
8. Cymbrial, the Deep-Furred, who hides the light of stars in her undercoat.
9. Panopticine, she sees all the deeds of equine shame. One eye weeps continually while the other is turned blind.
10. Hayzen. He is stitched together from a dozen prize-winning bloodlines. He is brilliant and mad.
11. A stillborn colt with no name and which never decays. Whose ghost is a high horse in the incorporeal stables under the moon.
12. Wickermane. Her body is of woven reeds, filled with bees, answers questions only through interpretive swarming.
13. Cantrope. Cannot or will not speak. Nearby mundane animals often develope minor magical powers over which they exert no control.
14. Shalea. Unconsciously speaks your secrets at inopportune times. She never remember's speaking them.
15. Golden Glue, who's hairless coat exudes a sticky white adhesive. Not a pleasant personality. Makes lots of off-color jokes.
16. Fralde Shane. Her coat appears totally different to every person who sees her. None can agree on what she looks like. She loves attention, and will be obnoxious to get it.
17. Tackless Wonder. Cannot be saddled, bridled, or emotionally manipulated. Very talented therapist. Tries providing therapy in subtle ways.
18. Embermane the Herald. Runs before the sun's solar flares. A witness to the sun god's judgement. All fear her path.
19. Dr. Horse. Medical degree confirmed. Refuses to treat anyone. Does not practice horse medicine.
20. Horse Mode Activated, who has other modes which have never been witnessed by any except Pentaquine herself. Doesn't like to talk about himself and is extremely self-conscious. 

d6 High Horse Storyhooks

1. A mad scientist has discovered evidence that all horse brains are exactly the same (this is true). He is willing to pay top dollar for the fresh, undamaged brain of a high horse of exceptional prestige in order to prove his hypothesis, win a research prize, and pay off his debtors. Those he is indebted to will try to steal or destroy the brain.
2. Pentaquine needs human dancers for specific parts of her impending 21-part ballet by which she hopes to make peace with The Horses of Excellent Mental Endowment Club. These parts, while scripted, will be demanding and dangerous. 
3. A mare has birthed a new foal with five heads. She wishes for the party's help in bringing it secretly to the Horse Celestium Clubhouse, to Petraquine. She fears what the other high horses might do if they learn of her filly.
4.  A donkey has broken the sound barrier. It desires a neutral party to lobby on its behalf for entrance into The Horse Celestium Club.
5. A cursed golden horseshoe grants any horse the ability to speak perfect legalese. Now, a legal horse cult has formed, suing farmers for emotional bridling. The farmer's have placed a hefty bounty one the cult leader's head.
6. The Horses of Excellent Mental Endowment Club has begun astrally kidnapping foals and testing them for "unacceptable levels of instinct." They are forming a think tank.

Pentaquine stats for SWADE

Pentaquine

Attributes: Agility d12+2, Smarts d8, Spirit d12, Strength d10, Vigor d10

Skills: Athletics d10, Battle d6, Faith d12, Fighting d8, Persuasion d8

Pace: 12 (Running d12), Parry: 4, Toughness: 10, Size: 3

Hinderances: Ruthless

Edges: Command Presence, Inspire, Holy, Strong Willed, Champion

Powers: Horse Resurrection, Mass Hands to Hooves, Biting Grain Rain, Gastrocrush, Galesong, Greater Galesong

Neanderthals

Ten good neanderthal words: stocky, stolid, instinct, keen, hurl, launch, grapple, punch, leathery, urge

Where the many races of modern humanity first came from is lost to history, but we know the neanderthals were there to see it happen. Their dumb, heavy brows were probably furrowed perpetually at the audacity of those first dwarves or founders as they started using tools to make tools. After all, it's the tool-on-tool applications which these brutes never figured out, keeping them trapped in the past.

Neanderthals now are just as they were way back then. They live in small familial groups and make ape noises. The neanderthal brain, although technically larger than most human brains, is missing a lot of the really neat parts that make humans so intelligent, such as the language processing part. So their grunts are, yeah, just grunts. Its not some highly nuanced and contextual language—its weird throat sounds with no thought behind them, just urge. The church once invested a great deal of research-based prayer into teaching a family of neanderthals to speak Wompi, but to no avail. The idiots remained such.

There is something dramatic about this race of almost-humans. The way they swing their long arms slowly behind their gait, like 5' giants, and the way they plant each step before them as if some vindictive wind was always attempting to bring an end to their traversal (this is possible, since wind is very vindictive.) They are creatures unhindered by philosophy or religion of any kind.

If you encounter Neanderthals, keep this one thing in mind: shortcomings in their intelligence is often more than made up for by their very large instincts (instincts are contained in the appendix by the way, and neanderthals have a massive appendix. That's why humans can't figure out what their's do, since theirs are so shrunken.) Neanderthals can make formidable foes when underestimated. Many an adventurer has thought to trick or out-maneuver a neanderthal only to find that the brute's instinct gave them an unpredictable advantage. 

Aesthetics

Neanderthals are older than beauty. They do not understand the concept. They understand good and bad (insomuch as something is useful—it is good,) but they do not understand beauty—either in aesthetics or in the soul. They choose mates through availability and pick caves based on its appropriate size. No neanderthal has ever looked at something and thought, "I like how that makes me feel." Never. Their psychology predates the luxuries of non-survival-related feeling.

Technology

Neanderthal technology is very limited. This is what makes them interesting. It can be tempting as a a game master to go the Dave the Barbarian route and give them tools of modernity with a stone-age flare. Don't do it.

Fire

Neanderthals have figured out how to maintain fire they find, left by lightning strikes, humans, pyrosaurs, time+dimension-warped WWII trench criminals, victims of spontaneous combustion, and pheonix feathers. They cannot create fire themselves. Tending the family fire is a serious task—often a job given to the children, who are generally good at finding sticks and bad at fighting tigers. Lots of neanderthal encounters can revolve around their protection, or loss, of the family flame.

Knapped Stone

I learned this word from ChatGPT; roughly, "knapping" just means chipping stone to make tools. Neanderthals do that. In my games, I would not make their weapons any less dangerous, but I would make them more likely to break, and mostly ineffective versus metal enemies.

Medicine

Of all areas, neanderthals are most advanced in medicine, (which feels weird.) Their knowledge of natural remedy is vast. They aren't about to cure Mordenkainen's Stinky Feet, but they can speed up the natural healing of wounds and they know how to make splints for broken bones.

String

Short, tough, string. Good enough for lashing a shard of stone to a stick, but nowhere near thick or long enough for scaling ravines.

However, neanderthals cannot sew. No clothes. They do have the tools to scrape hide, so the best it's gonna get is ponchos. 

Cave manifestations

Neanderthals have one mode of magic. 

[In the World of Pyre this should probably go in the technology section, but I don't care and want it to have its own heading. I've read enough NSR blogs to know not to use good organization. I'm already writing sentences that are too normal in composition. I'll have to work on that if this blog is to gain any traction.] 

The things they draw on their walls happen. Its impossible to know if it is prophecy or manifestation, but they never seem to predict that their whole family will die in a brutal mudskipper swarm attack, so manifestation seems more likely. 

Its seems that only full-blooded neanderthals can conjure these effects from their cave walls. Its unfortunate that all they decide to manifest are big beasts to kill and eat. Imagine if they'd scribble a stack of mature treasury bonds—their lives would improve greatly.

As a game master, you can use the discovery of a cave wall in all kinds of interesting foreshadowing, or as a way to explain the history of the cave's dwellees.

Violence

Neanderthals live violent lives. Nearly everything they want to eat wants to eat them too. It is a curiosity that they so often select to hunt formidable foes. Perhaps it is an ancient rivalry with nature, a way to prove to her that making neanderthals different was a mistake. Perhaps they are angry at being smart enough to feel fear, but not smart enough to conquer their fears. Perhaps not. Perhaps this is simply a projection of our society onto theirs.

But nature's beasts are not their only foe. Neanderthals tend to war with each other, and with humans who fail to give them a wide-enough birth. In contest, a neanderthal is often stronger and more durable than one might expect. The power of their attacks and their resilience in the face of injury makes them extra dangerous. They will, however, flee if they feel they are near to taking a debilitating injury. A neanderthal who cannot hunt cannot survive.

History—Vampire Neanderthals

As said previously, neanderthals have been here for a long time. In that great span the world has changed many times. The neanderthals have not, except for one generation. The vampire neanderthals.

The last ice age was particularly fierce, so fierce that there was no warmth hidden away in caves or campfires or shawls. The neanderthals adapted in a very simple way: they froze solid. Sometimes for a single night, sometimes for decades, the neanderthals became dead—though nearly alive. They could outlast the age of ice by becoming ice themselves. 

They soon learned that freezing with food in their guts was sometimes a death sentence, and always dreadful. Their meal's final revenge. They also discovered though that they could stomach blood. And so they did. They became the vampire neanderthals, sometimes dead and always bloodthirsty. They did not have fangs, and relied on their knapped tools from their youth, when the stone could be touched and was not shielded by feet of ice. Their "vampirism" is not so dramatic that they would somehow be drawn to the blood of humans—to the contrary—beasts like bison or wooly mammoths were safer targets than whatever freak bipeds they shared the world with.

When the world eventually thawed, so did many of the VN. They returned to giving birth, and their children did not know the sole taste of blood.

But there are still others, others who remain frozen in the northern reaches. Others who still thaw to drink the blood of victims, and then return to ice.Await the return of quieter times.

Some game stuff to properly reimburse you for your attention

d6 Neanderthal NPCs

1. Has an eagle, left forearm, shoulder, and his head is covered in talon scars. Hunting a baboon troop and using the eagle to kill off their young.
2. Shaman, smells of flowers. He is waist-deep in the hole he is digging to find a certain root.
3. His arms are in splints designed to ritualistically deform him. The breaks are still new, and he is prone to accidents. Right now he is stuck in a tree.
4. Covered head to toe in swollen bee stings, bearing a great hunk of honeycomb. He is suspicious the party wants his prize, and will fight to the death to protect it.
5. A neanderthal stalks the party to steal their mounts.
6. He killed a paladin, and wields her bayonetted rifle like a luxurious spear. The weapon has no ammo, but would be worth a pretty penny.

d6 Neanderthal Encounters

1. The party enters a cave to evade a storm, they find a cave painting that depicts themselves being attacked by pterosaurs. One party member is drawn with only one arm. 
2. Rest is interrupted by a small neanderthal child's sucky attempt at sneaking in to steal a burning brand from the cookfire. He fell asleep by the family flame and he'll be banished if his parent's find out.
3. Half-hidden by the opaque frost on a wall of ice, the squiggly point of a neanderthal blade pokes out. The vampire's eyes are open, and his lips a still red.
4. This neanderthal family has kept their flame burning so long it has become sentient. The flame is distraught at being surrounding by such unintelligent creatures.
5. A necromancer searches the jungle for the remainder of the neanderthal family. Neanderthals' brain structure and strong bodies make them ideal zombie servants. He attempts to lure them to his camp with flames of many colors.
6. A group of neanderthals travels past—but one is not like the others—a minstrel, kidnapped and forced to live with them. He is no longer wishes to be rescued. 

Neanderthal Ancestral Stats for SWADE.

I am current running the SWADE system for my campaigns, so I am going to be using SWADE stats for my articles on this blog. They are generally generic enough that you can easily adapt them to your own system.

Neanderthal

Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d4-1, Spirit d6, Strength d10, Vigor d8

Skills: Athletics d10, Fighting d6, Healing d6, Survival d8

Pace: 6, Parry: 5, Toughness: 6

Edges: Brute, Danger Sense.