PC Race - Perinin: Cunning Warrior Hares

Last week d20 Despot brought you togbins, a fierce race of cold-dwelling tortoise-men who love to hunt.  This week, continuing my collaboration with Kent Hamilton in celebration of his graduation from concept design school, we bring you perinin, the brave and cunning race of hares that are the togbins' favorite prey.

Kent Hamilton Concepts

Well, as you can see from the above picture, perinin are clearly not the timid prey that togbins wish they were.  Perinin are agile and cunning, and they use their natural knack for tactics to outsmart and overwhelm their physically superior adversaries.

Read on for more information about this Pathfinder-compatible playable race.



The following text in gold is available as Open Game Content under the OGL. Open Game Content is (C)2014 Jonah Bomgaars.

Perinin       (10 RP)

The perinin are a short and swift race of anthropomorphic hares.  They are natural tacticians, and rely on speed and intelligence to take on otherwise overwhelming threats.  Perinin are shrewd and cultured, despite their seemingly rustic lifestyles.  They are naturally cautious - some might call them paranoid - but very warm to those who have earned their trust.  Perinin live in temperate to cold climates, preferring hills and open grasslands to the confines spaces of a forest or city.   

   Physical Description: Perinin stand a little over 3 ft. tall, not including their long, leporine ears, which they often fold down under helmets during battle.  Their bodies are broad and stout, almost dwarflike, but with longer and more agile limbs.  Although their entire bodies are covered with short, fine fur, there are patches where it grows longer and thicker; male perinin pride themselves on their well-sculpted mustachios  or similar facial hair. 

   Society: Perinin live in closely-knit clans based on family ties.  Clans often have close relations with other neighboring clans, with whom they can band together for mutual defense or share social and economic ties.  Perinin clans are ruled by a matriarch, who oversees nearly all matters of concern to the clan.  A rigid hierarchy is maintained within the clan structure, though officers are generally given leeway to act on their own judgment if the occasion calls for it.  Ingenuity is encouraged and rewarded, but disobedience is punished severely, with major violators often sentenced to a period of exile.  Perinin take great pride in their clan and their place within it, and are distrustful of outsiders, though tending toward polite scrutiny than outright hostility. 

   Relations: Togbins take great pleasure in hunting perinin, and perinin in turn pride themselves on slaying the marauding tortoise-men.  Perinin are equally hostile toward any race that repeatedly threatens them, often including orcs and kobolds.  They maintain good relations with halflings and humans, with whom they often trade.  They respect dwarves for their well-ordered societies, but rarely interact with them.  Perinin generally see elves and gnomes as overly frivolous and undisciplined. 

   Alignment and Religion: Perinin value order and balance.  They tend toward neutrality, and are usually lawful.  Most perinin worship their own goddess, Houmnith, the Warren Mother.  Those that don't tend to prefer matronly godesses focused on home and hearth, or warrior deities. 

   Adventurers: Though they value order and structure, even the most lawful perinin have had a rebellious streak.  Many perinin have wandered the world alone, in temporary exile from the clan.  Others leave by choice for a period of self-imposed exile, either to find themselves or find a new clan.  Still others may be sent on 'extended patrol', ordered to venture out into the world to gather intelligence and ensure the safety of the clan from afar.  Perinin prefer to keep their foes at a distance, fighting with ranged weapons or with polearms.  Perinin tend toward classes like ranger, fighter, swashbuckler, and paladin, and perinin spellcasters are usually wizards, alchemists, or magi. 

   Male Names: Abernach, Cernudh, Gaolith, Lleustyth, Rastabor, Taernan

   Female Names: Amercy, Branwidha, Chella, Gwenthyn, Siaorithe, Viella

Perinin Racial Traits

+2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, -2 Strength: Perinin are agile and clever, but not physically imposing.

Small: Perinin are Small creatures and gain a +1 size bonus to their AC, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, a -1 penalty to their Combat Maneuver Bonus and Combat Maneuver Defense, and a +4 size bonus on Stealth checks. 

Normal Speed: Perinin have a base speed of 30 feet.

Low-Light Vision: Perinin can see twice as far as humans in conditions of dim light. 

Defensive Training: Perinin get a +2 dodge bonus to their AC against monsters of the togbin subtype. 

Intuitive Tactician: Perinin can gain the benefit of any teamwork feats known to their allies, so long as they meet the prerequisites for that feat. 

Naturally Cautious: Perinin receive a +2 bonus to Perception and Sense Motive checks. 

Quick Reactions: Perinin receive a +1 racial bonus to their Initiative checks.  

Languages: Perinin begin play speaking Common and Perinin.  Perinin with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Dwarven, Halfling, Goblin, Orcish, Sylvan, Terran, Trojum.

Perinin            CR 1/2

XP 200

Perinin fighter 1

LN Small humanoid (perinin)

Init +4; Senses low-light vision; Perception +5

DEFENSE

AC 16, touch 14, flat-footed 13 (+3 Dex, +2 armor, +1 size, +2 vs togbins)

hp 7 (1d10+2)

Fort +4, Ref +3, Will +2

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft.

Melee glaive +4 (1d6+1/19-20) or shortsword +3 (1d4+1/19-20)

Space 5 ft.; Reach 10 ft. (with glaive)

Ranged javelin +5 (1d4+1) 30ft.

STATISTICS

Str 13, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 15, Wis 14, Cha 10

Base Atk +1; CMB +1; CMD 14

Feats precise strike, weapon focus (glaive)

Skills Intimidate +4, Perception +5, Sense Motive +5, Stealth +8, Survival +5; Racial Modifiers +2 Perception, +2 Sense Motive, +4 Stealth

Languages Common, Halfling, Perinin, and Trojum

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Intuitive Tactician (Ex)

Perinin gain the benefit of any teamwork feats known to their allies, so laong as they meet the prerequisites for the feat.

ECOLOGY

Environment cold or temperate hills and plains

Organization solitary, patrol (3-8), warren (10-20 plus 25% noncombatants), clan (25+ plus 50% noncombatants, 1 lieutenant of 3rd level for every 15 adults, 1 or 2 majors of 5th level, and a matriarch spellcaster of 6th-8th level)

Treasure NPC gear (glaive, shortsword, 3 javelins, leather armor, other treasure)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm not going to lie: I really like perinin.  Maybe I read too much Redwall as a kid.  I don't usually go for the anthropomorphic animal races in my campaign settings, but these guys and the togbins are definitely going in.  The emphasis on tactics and defense is key to using perinin in combat.  In the stat block above, I gave them Precise Strike as a teamwork feat, which encourages them to go for a flank in order to deal extra damage, but you can replace that with any other teamwork feat like Pack Attack or Paired Opportunists.  I imagine each clan of perinin has their own teamwork feat that they specialize in.

And as with togbins, I can already imagine a number of alternate racial traits for perinin.  But that will have to wait for another time.  Speaking of another time, it looks like I mentioned above that many perinin are swashbucklers.  And I'm not talking about the rather boring and unambitious rogue archetype.  Yes, I think I mentioned that I've got a couple homebrewed classes in the works for this year...

-your leporine d20 despot