Art by Brian Brinlee
With Book of Heroic Races: Advanced Merfolk coming out soon (probably Thursday), we wanted to share with you what you can expect in inside. Lets start with the basic racial stats and a pair of alternatives to the traditional merfolk itself.
First up we have the basic Merfolk Racial Traits.
+2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution, +2 Charisma: Merfolk are graceful, hale, and beautiful.
Medium: Merfolk are medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Slow Speed: Merfolk have a base speed of 5 feet. They have a swim speed of 50 feet.
Aquatic: Merfolk are humanoids with the aquatic subtype.
Amphibious: Merfolk are amphibious, but prefer not to spend long periods out of the water.
Low-Light Vision: Merfolk have low-light vision.
Armor: Merfolk have a +2 natural armor bonus.
Legless: Merfolk have no legs, and cannot be tripped.
Languages: Merfolk begin play speaking Common and Aquan. Merfolk with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Aboleth, Aklo, Draconic, Elven, and Sylvan.
Next up, we have the angufolk, a variant of merfolk that live in the deepest sees, where sunlight dares not tread.
Except as noted below, the angufolk are treated as merfolk.
+2 Constitution, +2 Wisdom, –2 Charisma: Angufolk are heardy creatures that can withstand the pressures of the deep sea and perceive their prey in the great dark, but they lack a forceful personality.
Type: Angufolk are aberrations with the aquatic subtype.
Darkvision: Angufolk have darkvision with a range of 60 feet.
Bite: Angufolk have long sharp teeth, granting a bite attack. This is a primary natural attack that deals 1d4 points of piercing damage.
Deep Dwellers: Angufolk do not take pressure damage from being in very deep water, nor do they take the nonlethal damage from hypothermia or exposure.
Lighted Lure: Angufolk are immune to light-based blindness and dazzle effects and are treated as one level higher when determining the effects of any light based spells or effects they cast (including spell-like and supernatural abilities). Angufolk with a Wisdom score of 10 or higher gain the following spell-like ability: at will—light.
Water Dependency: Since Angufolk are from deep waters, exploration on shore wears on them. They take 1 point of Constitution damage after every hour out of the water.
Languages: Angufolk begin play speaking Aquan. Angufolk with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Aboleth, Aklo, Common, Draconic, and Undercommon.
Replaced Traits: Angufolk merfolk lose the following racial traits: humanoid type, amphibious, armor, legless, low-light vision
Last up, we have the octopi merfolk. This variant merfolk have the top half of a humanoid and the bottom half with eight tentacles.
Octopi have the same racial traits as merfolk except as noted below.
+2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution: Octopi are graceful and hale like most merfolk but lack their enchanting beauty.
Base Speed: Octopi merfolk have a base speed of 15 feet. They have a swim speed of 30 feet.
Type: Octopi are monstrous humanoids with the aquatic subtype.
Darkvision: Octopi have darkvision with a range of 60 feet.
Watersense: Octopi can sense vibrations in the water, granting them blindsight 30 feet against creatures that are touching the same body of water.
Octopod: Octopi merfolk gain a +12 racial bonus to CMD against overrun and trip attempts.
Ink Cloud (Ex): One per day, an octopi merfolk can release an ink cloud. Treat this as an underwater obscuring mist using the octopi merfolk’s character level as her caster level.
Camouflage: Three times per day, an octopi merfolk can adjust the color of her body to blend in with her surroundings, granting a +4 racial bonus to Stealth checks. The octopi merfolk can make Stealth checks without cover or concealment when using this ability, but cannot move more than 5 feet per round
Replaced Traits: Octopi merfolk lose the following racial traits: humanoid type, armor, legless, low-light vision
