Coloth (3.5e Race)

The Coloth
Summary::They're four-armed, amphibious, squid-like folk.

Personality
The coloth welcome and accept other folk, only tending to be openly aggressive when hunting. However, coloth rely on body language as a key component of their communication and as such, find dealing with other races frustrating and difficult. Coloth emotions differ greatly from that of other races as well as their bodily signs, tending to make them appear socially dense and awkward when around non-coloth.

Unremarkably, with these social impediments, coloth have weak familial bonds and rarely form close relationships with others. Trusting is a rare quality in a coloth, treating family members and allies as mere acquaintances. This does lead to self-reliance and a perceptive outlook, occasionally using the measure of others as a measure for their own actions. This judgement is less trust of their companions and more a measure of predictability and habit.

This perception on the actions of others comes into play most often during hunting, an activity most all colothi savor, perhaps due to deep rooted instinctual nature. Though, when in areas where hunting for food isn't required for survival, "the hunt" turns into a challenge for any activity, and a coloth will pursue that end whole-heartedly.

Physical Description
The coloth appear much as if a squid were warped into the vague shape of a humanoid. Whatever great magic or deity allowed them exist is lost to time, as coloth lineage has been traced to primordial ages.

Standing on rubbery tentacles that serve as legs, a coloth stands roughly seven feet tall, with four, robust arm-like tentacles (two of these such limbs on each side of their body). Their arms each end in broad, elongated hands, each with three-fingers. Small suckers line their palms and fingers, allowing them to easily grasp and manipulate tools. Their legs end in broad, flattened feet with three small toes covered in small suckers. Due to whatever trick of their biology, they have lost the ability to grasp tools with their toes, and use these limbs for motility only.

Lacking joints and bones, colothi are supported by rings of flexible cartilage and strong ligaments.

Colothi heads greatly resemble an entire squid. Their head is dominated by two, great, bulbous eyes on each side. These eyes are typically brightly colored, ranging from luminous green hues, to sunburst yellows, sky blue and bright orchid. The coloth lack teeth, but not a bite, as they sport a rather powerful, dark beak, occasionally used in combat. Draping down their forehead, extruding from underneath the collar of their mantle, is a jet-like funnel used to syphon water and breathe. Two smaller funnels sit hidden behind each eye, often obscured by the wing-like flaps spreading across their mantle. The mantle itself extends to a point, and is supported by the only "bone" in their body, a calcium rich shell that encases their brain. From their head, dangling down around their beak, are an array of smaller tentacles, typically used to aid swimming and communication as well as to hold food while eating.

Colothi skin has a pronounced rubbery texture, and typically takes a shade of color similar to a sandy brown, light peach or pale gray. However, as part of their means of communication, as well as expression of emotion, colothi subconsciously alter their color mildly, tinting their skin with tiny splotches of pale blues, whites and maroon reds.

Most coloth simply go about naked, having no external genitalia, even humanoid folk find it hard to place prudish ideals of decency upon them. Those coloth that wear clothing, often do so to carry gear or protect themselves, rather than a need to stay warm, enjoy fashion or observe proper public nudity statutes. They can be seen carrying spears, darts and javelins.

When on land, the coloth often don clothing that helps to retain moisture and protect their skin from the sun, typically cloaks and robes with hoods. Due to the struggle of having to support their body on land, they appear to slump and sag as they walk, giving them a sickly appearance and compressing their height.

Relations
Most land-bound races are simply unaware of the existence of the coloth, as they rarely visit the surface, or even shallow waters. For those races that share their watery environment, such as sahuagin, kuo-toa and locathah, they have no longstanding grudge or alliance with. The coloth, being mostly unsocial, give other races their room so long as they are granted their own. However, there have been numerous instances where hunting parties from either coloth or neighboring races have gone outside their own territory and provoked disputes and savage combat.

Alignment
Living free-form, self-reliant lives, the coloth tend toward chaotic alignments, as they have a difficult time conforming themselves to rules and restrictions of law. Lawful coloth are certainly not unheard of, but not the norm of the race. Some coloth reflect upon this as a means to become more independent, to the point of selfishness and putting others at risk for their own whims, turning to evil alignments. Those that use their choices to benefit others, which in turn, benefit themselves, lean towards good. Coloth are a varied bunch, and as such, may be of any alignment.

Lands
Rather than lands, it is waters that the coloth call home, taking readily to deep-sea and clear water ocean bottom. They build fortified cities of stone, often in defensible valleys and stoney outcroppings. Terrain advantage is important in settlement location, as they rarely employ an active guard force, and have little in the form of governmental structure. The coloth use cities as a means of enabling themselves to rest easy at night with safety in numbers.

Religion
Colothi cities are spread far and wide throughout the oceans, and culture ranges greatly between them. Some groups of coloth worship deities, while others may not. Though, when coloth do praise deities, it is typically those that hold value to the ocean, hunting or wisdom. Practices of religion may be merely more than saying a few words before a hunt or before rest. Other instances may result in an entire city being built around a deity's temple.

Language
Coloth speak their own language of Colothi, which is spoken with squeaks and clicks of their beaks, accented and completed by either subtle gesticulations of their smaller tentacles or greater movements of their arm tentacles. They have no written language and keep no written records, passing their knowledge down through oral traditions and storytelling.

The colothi also learn languages of those other sea-dwelling languages around them, as well as Aquan.

Names
Coloth are usually named for the first sound they make. Unfortunately, this makes pronouncing their names a troubling annoyance for other races. Thankfully, it has become common for a great number of colothi to simply adopt a common name used for dealing with other races. These names are often combinations of translatable nouns, typically body parts or actions paired with weapons, deeds or notable traits.

Example Names: Blackjet, Brunthead, Clingtack, Deatharm, Dragonbeak, Eyefire, Griprasp, Sharkcut, Spearbite, Wavepunch, Whitewrack

Racial Traits

 * : Coloth are unusual creatures, lacking the physical ruggedness of other races.
 * : The colothi can survive on land or under water. Coloth armor is calculated by the nonhumanoid cost.
 * Coloth base land speed is 20 feet.
 * Coloth swim speed is 30 feet. A coloth can move through water at his swim speed without making Swim checks. He has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. A coloth can always can choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. He can use the run action while swimming, provided he swims in a straight line.
 * Amphibious : Coloth can survive on land, breathing air, however, such a life is burdensome to their vitals. They do not regain HP while resting when on land. In addition, when on land, a coloth can go without water for 12 hours plus a number of hours equal to his Constitution score. After this time, the coloth must make a Constitution check each hour (DC 10, +1 for each previous check) or take 1d6 points of nonlethal damage.
 * Darkvision 60 feet. The bottom of the ocean is often pitch-black. Colothi eyes see in this gloom.
 * Four Arms: A coloth has four arms, and as such, is eligible to take the Multiweapon Fighting feat. However, before he has enough skill, he must first take Two-Weapon Fighting as a "prerequisite" feat. Taking Multiweapon Fighting once allows him the benefit for three hands. Taking the feat a second time allows him the benefits for all four of his hands.
 * Endure Chilling Depths : The icy depths of the ocean provide no discomfort to the colothi. They suffer no ill effects from environmental cold dangers when under water.
 * Burdensome Load: Coloth, without bones, find carrying heavy loads a burdensome chore. His carrying capacity is reduced by half.
 * Social Confusion: Coloth suffer a &minus;2 racial penalty on Bluff, Diplomacy and Sense Motive checks dealing with members of other races.
 * Jet Retreat : When making a withdrawal from combat while underwater, a coloth may move up to triple his swim speed, instead of double.
 * Grappling Bite : A coloth's unarmed damage increases to 1d6 (bludgeoning and piercing and slashing) damage with &times;3 on a critical hit against a target he is grappling.
 * Automatic Languages: Colothi.
 * Bonus Languages: Aquan, Kuo-Toa, Locathah, Sahaugin. See the Speak Language skill.
 * Favored Class:
 * Level Adjustment: +Level Adjustment::0
 * Effective Character Level: Effective Character Level::1
 * Effective Character Level: Effective Character Level::1