Potestas: a D&D3E supplement

Races

Merfolk (humanoids)

The merfolk are playful, marine-dwelling people. They have the upper bodies, arms, and heads of a land-dwelling humanoid race, but the lower parts of a fish or a cetacean.

Merfolk is an inherited template that can be added to any humanoid. The creature (referred to hereafter as the base creature) does not have to meet any characteristic minimums. It uses all the base creature's statistics and special abilities except as noted here.

Racial Traits

• Aquatic Subtype (Ex): Merfolk characters who are part-fish must choose during character creation whether they breathe air or breathe water without difficulty. Merfolk who are part-cetacean always breathe air.
• Low-Light Vision (Ex): Merfolk can see twice as far in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. If the base creature already had low-light vision, they can now see three times as far in conditions of poor illumination.
• Base Speed: 5 ft, swim 40 feet.
• Skills: Merfolk have a +8 bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. They can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. Merfolk can use the run action while swimming, provided they swim in a straight line.
• Underwater Breathing (Ex): Merfolk who breathe water cannot breathe air without recourse to magic of some kind, such as the breathe spell or shapechanging.
• Hold Breath (Ex): Merfolk who breathe air can hold their breath for a number of rounds equal to 4 x their Constitution score before they risks suffocating or drowning.
• Automatic Language: Merfolk automatically speak the local language and the language of either fish or cetaceans.
• Level Adjustment: +0.

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