Tengu

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Tengu

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Origins

Of all the intelligent races, there are several that are aligned with animal spirits. The story of their origin is vague, but no matter where you go, the same general outline is agreed upon. That outline goes something like this:

In the Dawn Times, there were several civilized intelligent races. Who was the First Race is a matter of debate, but there is no doubt that there were Elves, Dwarves, and Humans very early, followed closely by Gnomes and Halflings. For a very long time, these were the dominant races.

After the Dawn Times but still very long ago, there were many animal Gods who wished to also have a race of intelligent creatures to worship them. As a result, there came to be hundreds of intelligent races, many of them aligned with animal spirits. This was a period of great strife and chaos as all the multitude of races strove among themselves.

Eventually, the Gods decided there would be a great contest, and from the hundreds of intelligent animal races there would be chosen five, to match the number of the First Races. The details of the contest can be found in thousands of myths all over the world, but in the end, there were indeed five animal races chosen to Bear the Spark of Civility.

Those five races exist to this day. The races that lost the contest were understandably bitter, as they were relegated to a lesser role. Some races, like the centaurs, moldered away into decline. Other races embraced their lesser status as a matter of pride, like the gnolls.

Of the five races who won that Great Contest, all are available as player races, as they have the Spark.

One of those races is the Tengu.

Starting Height and Weight

Gender	Base Height	Height Modifier	Weight	Weight Modifier
Male	3 ft. 9 in.	+2d4 in. (3 ft. 11 in. - 4 ft. 5 in.)	150 lbs.	+(2d8×7 lbs.) (164 - 262 lbs.)
Female	3 ft. 7 in.	+2d4 in. (3 ft. 9 in. - 4 ft. 3 in.)	120 lbs.	+(2d8×7 lbs.) (134 - 232 lbs.)

Starting Ages

Adulthood	Intuitive	Self-Taught	Trained
15 years	+1d6 years (16 - 21 years)	+2d6 years (17 - 27 years)	+3d6 years (18 - 33 years)

PC's

Tengu have no class or alignment restrictions.

Standard Racial Traits

All Tengu have the following Standard Racial Advantages:

• Attributes: Tengu may choose to gain one of the following ability score bonus sets when creating their character. No ability score may ever be modified above a 20 or below a 7.
  • +2 to two different stats, -2 to one stat
  • +2 to one stat, +1 to three different stats, -2 to one stat
  • +4 to one stat, -2 to two different stats

• Size: Tengu are Medium creatures and thus receive no bonuses or penalties due to their size.

• Type: Tengu have the Humanoid type, with the Tengu subtype.

• Base Speed: Tengu have a base speed of 30 feet, but their speed is greatly affected by weight if they are flying. Halve all of a Tengu's weight allowances to avoid encumbrance if they are using a Fly speed.

• Languages: Tengu begin play speaking Common and Tengu. Tengu with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: . See the Linguistics skill page for more information about these languages.

• Hawk Sight (Ex): Tengu need bright light to see without penalty, but in bright light, their vision is exceptional. All range modifiers applied to visual perception rolls in bright light are at -1 per fifty feet instead of -1 per ten feet.

• Winged (Ex): Even though Tengu do not always have a Fly speed, they always have wings.

Major Racial Traits

Choose one of the following Major Racial Traits:

• Soaring (Ex): must have winged racial trait) Gain a fly speed

• Stones in the Vase (Ex): Add +1 racial to Int

• Flashing Beak (Ex):

Minor Racial Traits

Choose one of the following Minor Racial Traits:

• Feathery Rush (Ex): When charging, a Tengu with this racial trait may select one creature on the battlefield. The Tengu does not provoke attacks of opportunity from that creature during his charge. The selected creature does not have to be the target of the charge attack.

• Cloak Adept (Ex): While wearing a cloak, a Tengu with this racial trait gains a +2 racial bonus on Bluff checks made to feint. Additionally, every time he successfully feints while wearing a cloak, he gains a +1 dodge bonus to his Armor Class until the start of his next turn.

• Opportunist (Ex): A Tengu with this racial trait adds a +1 racial bonus to attack rolls during attacks of opportunity.

• Dangerously Clever (Ex): A Tengu with this racial trait may put ranks into one Bailiwick skill that is not granted by his character class and add a +2 racial bonus to his checks. This bonus increases to +3 if they have 10 or more ranks in the skill, +4 if they have 20 or more ranks in the skill, and +5 if they have 30 or more ranks in the skill. This racial trait does not make the chosen Bailiwick skill a class skill, however.

• Shiny! (Ex): A Tengu with this racial trait gains the Appraise and Craft skills as class skills. At 1st level, he also adds a +2 racial bonus to all craft checks made with at least 1 rank if skill in them. This bonus increases to +3 if he has 10 or more ranks in the skill, +4 if he has 20 or more ranks in the skill, and +5 if he has 30 or more ranks in the skill. At 10th level, he gets to add a +2 racial bonus to Appraise as well, which also increases to +3 if he has 10 or more ranks in the skill, +4 if he has 20 or more ranks in the skill, and +5 if he has 30 or more ranks in the skill.