Cala'diel (3.5e Campaign Setting)/Races/Catfolk

Catfolk
Cunning and quick witted, catfolk have been amazonian hunters since before the Great Divide and their culture reflects this. After the Great Divide they were driven by their curiosity to explore everything the newly formed Cala'diel had to offer. Now it is common to see them on all five continents and living in all types of places, even in large cities.

Personality
Like all cats, the catfolk have great energy and curiosity, and are stereotyped as energetic mischief makers. It is this same curiosity that lead them to the other continents of Cala'diel. Still, their inherent curiosity often gets them into trouble. Catfolk are not particularly strong, brilliant, or designed for taking hits, but due to their outstanding dexterity and agility, they are ideal for classes such as ranger, bard and particularly rogue. These traits have caused them to be stereotyped as a race of thieves and cheats. This is why they are sometimes treated with disdain and suspicion by the other races.

Catfolk are also known to be very persuasive. They have very strong and magnetic personalities. Their energetic behavior and general playfulness is very contagious. This results in high Charisma scores.

Aside from their Dexterity and Charisma, catfolk have fairly average statistics and will be seen as almost any class. It is not uncommon to find groups of catfolk exploring dungeons together using a wide variety of classes.

Physical Description
The catfolk are a predominantly female race of hunters who live on all the continents of Cala'diel. They are easily identified by their characteristic ears and long tails. They are known for their energy, curiosity, and their penchant for causing playful mischief.

The tails of the catfolk give them an excellent sense of balance that no other race seems to be able to compare with. Catfolk use their tails in many different ways, giving them a high Dexterity score. Their high curiosity and general friendly/playful personality results in a high Charisma score. Catfolk are also known for being excellent fishermen.

Alignment
The majority of catfolk tend to favor neutrality. However, like most races you can always find exceptions. Thus, catfolk are not limited to any alignment.

Lands
Catfolk form tribal communities, with each tribe overseen by a Chieftainess. Furthermore, these tribes are answerable to a single Tribal Chieftainess who acts as the society's ruler, governing the entire catfolk community.

The catfolk homeland nation was originally on the continent of Ibrna, but now they can be found all over Cala'diel. The catfolk built and maintained a society on Ibrna's island chains. The island chains are known by the catfolk as "the motherland", and it is a peaceful place ruled by a wise and beautiful queen.

The city of Jeuno currently houses the most catfolk on the continent of Athlon. Catfolk can still be found living in most cities across Athlon, the fewest number being in Shyruduin.

Language
Catfolk speak Purrmesian along with Common.

Names
The catfolk are a race of hunters, and their names are designed to accommodate this. Examples include "An Shanaa", "Hanaa Punaa", and "Fo Mocorho", catfolk names include a first name and a family name.

While hunting, they call each other by their first names ("An", "Hanaa", and "Fo") whenever they are closing in on prey or in a tense situation. Their short, easy to pronounce names allow them to speak fast and easily during such times. One might surmise that, if their names were as long and elegant as those of the Elves, they might bite their tongues while trying to call each other, and whatever they were chasing would slip away.

Racial Traits

 * +2 Dexterity, −2 Constitution, −2 Wisdom, +2 Charisma.
 * Humanoid(Catfolk)
 * Medium: As a Medium creature, a Catfolk has no special bonuses or penalties due to size.
 * Catfolk base land speed is 30 feet.
 * Low-Light Vision: Catfolk can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. They retain the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
 * Weapon Proficiency: Catfolk receive the Martial Weapon Proficiency feats for the longsword, rapier, longbow (including composite longbow), and shortbow (including composite shortbow) as bonus feats.
 * +4 racial bonus on Listen, Balance, Jump and Spot checks. These skills are also treated as class skills for all their classes.
 * +4 racial bonus on ability checks made to resist being tripped.
 * Uncanny Balance(Ex): A catfolk may move over (fallen objects, trees and similar terrain) or across (narrow bridges, cliff edges, railings, broken stairs and similar terrain) most obstacles at full movement speed.
 * Nimble(Ex): A catfolk may squeeze into a space atleast half as wide as its normal space and still move its normal speed. They only suffer a −2 penalty on attack rolls and −2 penalty to AC.
 * Automatic Language: Purrmesian, Common
 * Bonus Languages: Draconic, Gnoll, Gnome, Goblin, Orc, and Sylvan.
 * Favored Class: Bard. A multiclass catfolk Bard class does not count when determining whether they take an experience point penalty for multiclassing.
 * Level Adjustment: +0
 * Effective Character Level: 1