Pingu (3.5e Race)

Pingu
Summary::In the frozen lands in the south lie a noble race of flightless avians, awakened and evolved from penguins. They are the pingu, and they take pride in their frozen homeland and brave spirits.

Personality
Pingu society is a proud one that views itself as heroic and noble-minded. They're homeland possesses a monarchy government and promotes the ideas of nobility, civility, and honor. However rather than enforcing castes, all subjects are encouraged to excel and the resulting freedom of movement helps prevent social uprisings. Even so, not all pingu are pure of heart. Rebels against society and the dishonored are often exiled, and the strong focus on honor leads some desperate dishonorable villians to use underhanded means, hiring assassins, and using trickery. As long as they are never caught, they can maintain their fascade of civility while being a terrible influence.

Physical Description
At first glance one may not realize the difference between penguins and pingu, save one sometimes wears clothing. They are similar in appearance and are only slightly larger than your average penguin. However the pingu has small but strong claws and thumb upon their flippers, allowing them to use and operate humanoid items. They also have a fluffier body, further giving the appearance of largeness as well as insulating them from the freezing cold.

Pingu are omnivorses, greatly prefering seafoods over other dishes. They lay eggs and tend to be monogamous in their relationships.

Relations
Due to pingu society's emphasis on civility and honor, pingus tend to at least sound agreeable even in the worst of times. They tend to get along with all benign races equally, with a respect for lawful societies. The more annoying chaotic or hostile civilizations are also treated well, but only in lip service. If their enemy is particularly dishonorable, they find it a fine point to lord their moral superiority over their foes.

They have had most trouble dealing with the sahaugin. Their needs bring them underwater often, and the sahaugin prove to be a dangerous and numerous thorn in their sides.

Alignment
Pingu are neutral, trending lawful and slightly good.

Lands
Pingu live in the frozen lands of the world, particularly in their southern kingdoms. They can survive freezing temperatures that would kill a normal man, and use the land as a natural defense against invaders. They live in places where they can obtain seafood, usually along cold ocean waters.

Religion
Pingu are not held to worship any one particular being, but they have a fine respect for gods of the sea. Without the sea, they could not eat. And within the sea lies their greatest predators. The sea is worthy of their respect.

Language
Pingu speak their native tongue of Auk, and Common. Curiously, Auk sounds much like a dialect of halfling leading some to wonder about its origins.

Names
Pingu names vary, but typically end in a vowel, or the K sound. For example, Issabella, Pentaro, Pingi, Laupauk, and Waimanu.

Racial Traits

 * , : Pingu's short legs makes evading difficult, but they are a hardy sort able to take quite a lot of punishment.
 * Type::Magical Beast: Pingu are not far off from their penguin cousins.  Some speculate they evolved from awakened penguins.
 * Pingu base land speed is 20 feet. They have a swim speed of 40 ft.
 * Slide : Pingu can glide over non-rough surfaces such as snow, a grease spell, or a polished floor.  As long as they move in a straight line, they double their movement speed while sliding over these surfaces.  If they make a charge attack while sliding, they get a +4 bonus to the attack roll instead of +2.
 * Arctic Stability : A pingu gains a +4 bonus on ability checks made to resist being bull rushed or tripped when standing on the ground (but not when climbing, flying, riding, or otherwise not standing firmly on the ground).  In addition it never needs to make balance checks due to ice or snow.
 * Endure Cold : Pingu live in the arctic.  They are treated as always being under endure elements (cold only).  In addition they have cold resistance equal to 1/2 their HD (gaining cold resist 1 at 2 HD).  Unlike most resistances, this cold resistance stacks with other sources.
 * Waterfowl : Pingu are much more agile in the water, gaining a +4 bonus on Dexterity while swimming.
 * Pingu get a +2 on Appraise and Knowledge Nobility. Both skills are always considered class skills, and they may make Knowledge Nobility checks untrained.
 * Pingu get a +8 racial bonus on Swim checks and can take 10 even in stressful situations. They also recieve a +6 bonus on Jump checks, as they prove to be at least average leapers in spite of their slower movement rate.
 * Automatic Languages: Auk, Common.
 * Bonus Languages: Aquan, Elven, Giant, Halfling, Sahaugin, and Sylvan.
 * Favored Class: and.
 * Level Adjustment: +Level Adjustment::0
 * Effective Character Level: Effective Character Level::1
 * Level Adjustment: +Level Adjustment::0
 * Effective Character Level: Effective Character Level::1