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The Katara

• Type is Humanoid (Katara)
• Small size (+1 size bonus to AC/Attack, +4 size to hide)
• Katara Land Speed is 20 feet.
• +2 Dex, +2 Cha, -2 Str, -2 Con
• Keen Ears - +2 racial bonus to Listen,
• Natural Grace - +2 racial bonus to Move Silently, Balance, and Tumble. Balance is always a class skill.
• Incredible Leap - +8 racial bonus to Jump
• Wandering Mind - -1 save vs enchantment/charm effects, -2 racial penalty to sense motive and concentration checks (Katara are extremely curious and as a result, their minds often wander, overlooking dangers most might otherwise see)
• Lowlight vision
• Favored Class: Bard

Description:
The Katara have features that are both humanoid and feline. Their legs are fairly cat like, but stable to stand on with more human like feat, and leathery pads on the bottom. Their torso is a bit more cylindrical than some humanoids, but is still has some shoulder and pectoral proportion to it. Their arms and hands are very human like, though with slightly thicker fingers and a leathery palm. Their heads are a bit wider than a normal human's, with a more cat like maw, nose, and eyes, but definitely drawn out in a somewhat human way, and their head sits perched on a fairly normal humanoid neck.

Like this picture here here, though with a more cat-like face (a bit more rounded, ears closer to the top of their head)

The Katara are a race that traces their origins to smaller wild cats, though scholars debate which ones in particular. Unlike their wilder feline cousins, the Katara do not have claws, nor are their teath as sharp as their wilder bretherin. Katara fur comes in a variety of colors and patters, and stripe or spot patterns are usually distinctive of a particular clan. Some clans have more noticable human fiacial and head hair, and some others have what resembles a mane (and in rare cases, both).


Society:
The Katara are a curious and social race. Many Katara will spend several years exploring and experimenting till they find something they enjoy doing and finaly stick with it, and even they they find ways to experiment and explore within their chosen craft. The Katara enjoy social occasion, and have been known to celebrate numerous holidays regularly.

The Katara look curiously upon the other races. They marvel at their accomplishments, and often seek to explore other cultures. Visitors to a Katara settlement might find themselves often asked about their travels, their culture, and their histories. The Katara have no qualms about borrowing from other cultures (particularly celibratory holidays) enough to where some scholars might say they have no true culture of their own, but the Katara blend these cultures togeather in ways that make them unique.

The Katara are a clan oriented society. Your clan is your family, however extended they might be. Most clans have strong ties to each other, and clan names and legacies are passed down maternaly, with the husband joining his wife's clan. Clan names, used as last names, are often based around some distictive feature fairly unique to the clan (examples, Whiteboot, Blackstripe, Greycoat, etc...). First names are drawn from many different cultures, that there is no true Kataran first names. They do tend towards using human or halfling names over others.

Background:

The Katara originate from the Kanatisis region, located far to the east of Orussus. The region extends from the desert in the "lands of fire" to the south, to the inland Bantala Sea to the north, and bordered by a mountain range to the east, and hills to the west. The region is generally overrun by flora, often with the tall trees creating a canopy several hundred feet from the ground. Towards the south, the region tends to be a bit more tropical or rainforest like. Towards the north, the flora thins out a bit as the grounds gets sandy towards the sea. To the east, as you get closer to the mountains the temperature tends to drop a bit, and you see more pine trees among the flora. And the canopy all but disappears the closer you get towards the hills to the west. The river running down from the mountains splits many times as is passes through the region, leaving few places without a river near by, but also leaving few rivers large enough for any boat larger than fairly small watercraft.

The Katara are from somewhere in that region, though their legends never specify exactly where. However, the Katara clans with longer hair tend to be from the colder areas in the east, while the short haired Katara tend to be from the warmer regions of Kanatisis. And while a clan my have a few members in different regions, they tend to settle down more locally in their region of origin.

The Katara are small in stature, and have learned to take to the trees to avoid the larger predators that are native to their lands. The Katara have built huge treetop villages in the immense canopy of Kanatisis. They consist of huts or other buildings built around the trunk of the tree, with suspension bridges and ladders built between them. Many Katara simply jump around on branches cut in a staircase like manner to move around as well. There are even small farming platforms built between some of the sturdiest trees, with dirt brought up from the ground below. The Katara do not herd animals in general, so they hunt for most of their meat and leather.

The Katara have had limited contact with the outside world for a long time. They have traded on occasion with the Dwarves of the mountains to the east, or the men of the desert in the south, but not often, and generally trading more to examine what these other cultures make, or to gain access to materials (such as metal) that are generally scarce in their region. However, the more they learned about other races, the more curious they became. Many curious Katara have begun to set out from their homes to explore other societies and learn what they can. Those that have returned have often had a huge cultural impact in their local area, where the Katara would try to integrate some of these other societal practices into their way of life. Over time, these ideas and practices are integrated more seamlessly and spread through Kanatisis. The Katara are particularly interested in celebrations, and as a result have managed to integrate several Human, Elven, Dwarven, Gnome, Halfling, and even a few Orc and Goblin celebrations into their culture. Often, a holiday will be a strange amalgamation of several different celebrations or traditions, such as the traditional wine drinking and axe throwing contest, where contestants will drink a glass of wine, and then hurl an axe at a target, continuing one of the contestants misses.

Despite their curiosity and willingness to integrate other cultures into their own, the Katara are fiercely independent. Trade between villages happens, but is limited to basic necessities, and generally a community prides itself on what it does not need to trade for more than what it has to trade. As individuals, clan pride is important, and clans within a community will often try to out produce each other in strange pseudo-competitions simply for the right to say they are better. While clans do not tend to stick to any one trade, individual families do, so pride and tradition run deep in these trades. Despite their intense curiosity, often at least one of each generation will take on the mantle of the family trade, though most young children are encouraged to explore their options to indulge in their curious nature.


-Created by Bront

Important notice: The exact third level benefits of the outrider class are still under discussion.

Outrider
The Outriders are renowned warriors, masters of mounted combat. Originally a Halfling tradition, other races have learned the skills of the outrider and have formed their own ranks. Outriders are valued as cavalry, as well as lone scouts who can ride quickly to and from enemy lines. Many villages value an outrider as a necessary part of the town guard.

Outrider
Hit Die: d10.
Requirements
To qualify to become an Outrider, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
Base Attack Bonus: +5
Skills: Handle Animal 8 ranks, Ride 8 Ranks
Feats: Mounted Combat, Ride by Attack

Class Skills
The Outrider’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Ride (Dex), and Survival (Wis).
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Class Features
All the following are Class Features of the Outrider prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: An Outrider is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, light armor, medium armor, and heavy armor, and all shields(Except Tower).
Mount Bonding (Su): An Outrider forms a tight bond with their mounts that becomes almost supernatural or spiritual. If the Outrider has the Special Mount class feature, or uses an Animal Companion as a mount, their outrider levels add to their effective level for any special bonuses that these animals may get. (So, an 8th level Ranger/ 3rd level Outrider is considered 7th level for their animal companion if it is their mount) Otherwise, the mount can be any mount the Outrider can use. This special bond takes one month to form, and lasts until the mount dies, or the Outrider is without the mount for 6 months, though the bond with an ex-mount can be recovered in only a week instead of the usual month.
Empathic Link (Ex): A Outrider can handle her mount as a free action, or push it as a move action, even if she doesn’t have any ranks in the Handle Animal skill. The Outrider gains a +4 circumstance bonus on all wild empathy checks and Handle Animal checks made regarding a mount.
Share Spells (Ex): At the Outrider’s option, she may have any spell (but not any spell-like ability) she casts upon herself also affect her animal companion. The animal companion must be within 5 feet of her at the time of casting to receive the benefit. If the spell or effect has a duration other than instantaneous, it stops affecting the mount if the mount moves farther than 5 feet away and will not affect the mount again, even if it returns to the Outrider before the duration expires.
Additionally, the Outrider may cast a spell with a target of “You” on her mount (as a touch range spell) instead of on herself. An Outrider and her mount can share spells even if the spells normally do not affect creatures of the companion’s type (animal).
Evasion (Ex): If a mount is subjected to an attack that normally allows a Reflex saving throw for half damage, it takes no damage if it makes a successful saving throw.
Iron Will: A mount gains the feat Iron Will. If the mount already has Iron Will, the mount then gains a feat of his or her choice
Improved Speed (Ex): A mount gains a +10 bonus to it’s base speed.
Improved Evasion (Ex): When subjected to an attack that normally allows a Reflex saving throw for half damage, a mount takes no damage if it makes a successful saving throw and only half damage if the saving throw fails.

Ride Proficiency (Ex): An outrider may add his outrider level as a competence bonus to any ride checks.
Stand in the Saddle (Ex): An outrider may stand in the saddle of his mount even if the mount is moving and receives no penalties. Ride checks made while standing in the saddle are made at a -5. For all other purposes, the rider is treated as still sitting in the saddle. This grants the benifit of allowing the Rider to jump higher since he starts from a standing position on the horse, gives him possable hight advantages from standing on his mount over sitting, and allows him to mount to or dismount from a standing position.
Mounted Full Attack (Ex): An outrider may make a full attack from the back of their mount even if their mount moved up to one full move. This may not be done when charging or making a double move.
Improved Mount Control (Ex): An Outrider may make a single turn of up to 90 degrees while charging, though the mount must move at least 10 feet after the turn for it to be considered a charge. To do this, the rider must make a ride check with a DC of 30. If the check fails, the mount continues on for 10 feet beyond where it tried to turn and stops, loosing the rest of its actions.
- Created by Bront

MOUNTED CLEAVE [GENERAL]
Prerequisites: Str 13+, Power Attack, Cleave, Mounted Combat, Ride-by attack, 5 Ranks Ride skill
Benefit: If you gain an oppertunity to cleave while charging on a mount, you may instead continue your charge into another opponent in line with your current charge. This attack is considered a charge in every respect, and all feats and bonuses involved in the charge work as normal (Spirited Charge, Ride-by Attack, Lance charging damage bonus, etc.). You may not excede your normal movement restrictions on a charge. You can use this ability as often as you may normaly cleave (once with normal cleave, as many times as otherwise legaly available with Great Cleave).
Special: A fighter may select Mounted Cleave as one of his fighter bonus feats.
Example: Sir Joe is charges a goblin 20' on his horse, and kills it with his attack. He may continue to charge the second goblin 10' directly in line of his charge. If the goblin was 40' behind the first one, he could not charge since he would be moving farther than his allowable charge distance. Likewise, he could not charge a goblin that would require him to change the direction of his charge.

- Created by Bront