Caiveh
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Medium-size Humanoid (Caiveh)
Hit Dice: 2d8+2 (11 hp)
Initiative: +2 (Dex)
Speed: 50 ft
AC: 14 (+2 Dex, +2 natural)
Attacks: 2 claws +2 melee; or falchion +2 melee
Damage: Claw 1d4+1; or falchion 2d4+1
Face/Reach: 5 ft by 5 ft/5 ft
Special Attacks: Rage
Special Qualities: Scent
Saves: Fort +1 Ref +5 Will +0
Abilities: Str 13 Dex 15 Con 12 Int 11 Wis 10 Chr 9
Skills: Climb +8, Hide +4, Listen +7, Move Silently +4, Spot +7
Feats: Alertness
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Climate: Warm forest or mountains
Organization: Solitary, family (5-9), or pride (8-32)
Challenge Rating: 01
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Usually neutral good
Advancement: By character class
Caiveh are leonine humanoids that live in tropical regions. They resemble humans with strongly feline features, and are known as lion men by other cultures. Their bodies are nearly covered in long fur half an inch in length, and males will have a thick mane.
Caiveh society is egalitarian, though family life is strongly skewed in favor of the males. A male will typically dominate his family, and often has three or more mates and several cubs. Caiveh often hire themselves out as mercenaries to local human armies. In a military unit, the caiveh will use appropriate human weapons and equipment.
COMBAT
Caiveh are stealthy and well-disciplined fighters that know how to use their natural environment to their advantage. They work well within a group, even if they are cooperating with other races. Caivehs are typically armed with a falchion, handaxe, broad sword, or trident. About 1 in 10 caivehs have learned to go berserk in a similar manner to the barbarian's rage ability. Such a gifted caiveh is likely to go uncontrollably berserk when cornered by hostile foes, assaulted by psionics, or captured and taunted, though he can suppress this tendency with effort.
Rage (Ex): This ability functions for the caiveh as the barbarian rage ability, as if the caiveh were a barbarian 5 levels higher than his current level. If the caiveh is an actual barbarian, his Strength and Constitution bonuses increase by +4. A raging caiveh will disregard his weapons, using only his claws to attack.
Skills: Caiveh receive a +6 racial bonus to Climb checks, and a +4 racial bonus to Listen and Spot checks. * in warm forest or mountain regions, they receive a +10 racial bonus to Hide and Move Silently checks, and their bonuses for Climb and Listen checks improve to +8.
CAIVEH CHARACTERS
A caiveh's favored class is barbarian, and caiveh leaders tend to be barbarians or barbarian/rangers. Caiveh clerics can choose two of the following domains: Animal, Good, and Strength.
Originally found in Dragon Magazine #141 (1989, "The Dragon's Bestiary", Gregg Sharp).
OK, the caiveh is an excellent candidate for a PC race. They only have 2HD, so their ECL should make them fairly playable. We need to work up a “Caiveh Characters” section. I picked these creatures to do first since we hadn’t done a good PC race yet.
Do you think I handled the skill bonuses well in my original conversion?
I’m thinking of possibly changing up the Rage for something more like the bearded devil’s Berserk Fury ability.
