Natalupe (3.5e Race)

=Natalupes=

Personality
Summary::Natalupes are monstrous, terrifying predators of the coast. At least, for the longest time natalupes were considered no better than brutish beasts. It is a relatively recent phenomena, the last 200 years, in Aquiter that Natalupes were elevated to people in the eyes of the civilized world as a whole. Their giant and frightening figure and the violent culture which they possessed helped perpetuate the idea that they were brutes. They are very focused on physical abilities and are proud of their predatory nature. The hunt and the glory that comes with it permeates their thinking. Perhaps due to this drive to hunt and win, they have become excellent athletes in games in the civilized world.

Pride is the typical defining trait of a natalupe. They are proud of something, or they are worthless.

Physical Description
Natalupes are large, though their height seems to vary on land, as they slouch slightly for purposes of comfort, and their tails, while large, do not contribute to their height. They stand 6-8 feet tall, but their body length, including tail and lack of a slouch, brings them to 10-16 feet. They have long arms with oversized clawed hands, digitigrade feet, a coat of slick fur which is oiled like an otter, a long horizontally broad tail for swimming, and a very long and sleek snout. Their head, ears, and their general appearance seems wolf-like in design, but the snout has been extended like a crocodile, and filled with rows of sharp teeth. Natalupes are predators indeed.

Fur color ranges from grays, to various blue, greens, and whiles, and rarely black. They spend a great deal of time swimming in the water, and their body colors are meant to blend into such environments.

Natalupes, by default, are without gender. They have a mating season where prevailing environmental conditions will turn them into a male or female for a short time. Afterwards, short of pregnancy, the natalupe reverts until the next cycle. While male and female mindsets exist, they are irrelevant to the actual gender, or lack of it.

The standard natalupe is known as the river natalupe or natalupe-ripa. There are also the tropical island natalupes (natalupe-guyot), arctic natalupe (natalupe-nord), and arid natalupes (natalupe-arere).

Relations
Natalupes are in two camps concerning other races. Either other races are weak and not worthy of natalupe respect, or they care nothing for other races, either negatively or positively. They sympathize with &lsquo;rejected&rsquo; races and as such find themselves in the same camp of other races shunned from others. As such, they are usually met with a bit of caution from others ... and the caution is sometimes returned.

Alignment
Natalupes may be of any alignment. The fact they are brutal and meat-headed does not prevent concepts of honor or law.

Lands
Natalupes are coastal creatures, who live on land but hunt in the sea.

Religion
Classic natalupe religions are a curious thing, not worshiping a &lsquo;god&rsquo; so much as a worshiping a group of transfinite, unnamed spirits of the world. Thanks or curses are given to &lsquo;spirits of the hunt&rsquo; or &lsquo;spirits of disaster&rsquo;. Collectively they call those spirits Ao-Mundi.

With the social acceptance of natalupes as a whole, other religions have begun to seep into their culture. Deities of war, honor, and strength are common.

Language
Natalupes speak Common and Divetongue. The latter is a language few others can speak as it consists of growls and mutters for the natalupe vocal cords. This language is what is spoken underwater, for they are ultimately air breathing creatures and cannot vocalize normally below water.

There is a feat they can take to be able to cast spells when speaking Divetongue, Divetongue Casting. Divetongue is not a written language.

Names
Names are given twice. There is a name in common and a name in Divetongue, the latter which is considered their &lsquo;real&rsquo; name Although the Divetongue name would not be easy to write down to the nature of the language, their real names tend to be a combination of normal names (first names) and descriptive last names, such as &lsquo;Seahunter&rsquo; or &lsquo;Largegrip&rsquo;. A natalupe chooses his own common name.

Racial Traits

 * ,, , : Strong and durable, but somewhat lumbering on land due to their bodies being made for grace in the water, and somewhat primal in mindset.
 * : Natalupes are the least humanoid of all of Aquiter's common races.
 * : As a large-sized creature, a natalupe has a -1 size penalty to Armor Class, a -1 size penalty on attack rolls, and a -4 size penalty on Hide checks, but receives +4 to grapple.  They use larger weapons than humans use, and his lifting and carrying limits are double of those of a Medium character.  They take up 10 ft. of space in battle.
 * Natalupe base land speed is 30 feet: Natalupe swim speed is 40 feet due to their long powerful tails.  In addition, they have no problems and walking on all fours, and it increases their land speed to 40 feet.  However, their reach is reduced to that of a large (long) creature (5 feet) and they cannot hold items in their hands.  They can make claw attacks (if they possess them) normally.  Switching movement modes is a move action.
 * +2 racial bonus on Climb checks.
 * +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. It can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line.
 * Deep Breath (Ex): Natalupes have powerful lungs and can hold their breath a very long time.  They can hold their breath for three times their Constitution score instead of twice.
 * Keen Scent (Ex): A natalupe has the Scent ability to a range of 60 feet and can detect blood for up to 400 feet, though it only works in water.  As a feat, they can take Scent for non-aquatic environments, at a range of 60 feet only.
 * Natural Weapons (Ex): Natalupes have one primary bite attack that deal 1d8 points of piercing damage plus Strength bonus, and a secondary tail slap attack that deals 1d6 points of bludgeoning damage plus Strength bonus and is treated as a secondary attack.  While Natalupes have claws, they are more suited for climbing than combat.
 * Automatic Languages: Common, Divetongue.
 * Bonus Languages: Aquan, Giant, Goblin, Gnoll, Orc.
 * Favored Class:
 * Level Adjustment: +Level Adjustment::1
 * Effective Character Level: Effective Character Level::2