The Traders:
Mysterious, blue-skinned mariners who travel the seas in powerful merchant vessels and bring trade to the many countries of the world. Very little is known of their culture, as they tend to morph to the various port cultures of the nations that they visit, and disclose nothing of their origins.
Personality:
Most Traders are cheerful individuals who revel in the many cultures of the world.
Physical description:
Traders have pale skin- usually tinted some shade of blue. Females tend to wear their dark hair long or bound up in pony tails. Men wear militaristic styles, short cut or often bald. Both genders favor light, tight fitting clothing, or (in the case of exceptionally wealthy females) loose, flowing dresses. Neither gender is fond of overly flashy jewelry, but they do like brightly colored clothing.
Physically, Traders are very similar to humans, but notable differences besides their skin color are easy to spot. Their eyes are larger and much more widely set, almost resting on the sides of their faces, and the majority of their teeth are naturally sharp- a visual reminder that these jovial people are marine predators. In addition to their eyes and teeth,
Traders feature a set of gills on their neck that naturally seal when out of water, and webbed hands and feet that allow them greater maneuverability when underwater.
Racial Traits:
Attributes: +2 Cha, +2 Int, -2 Str, -2 Con
Traders are easy going and likeable and their contact with many cultures grants them much knowledge of the world, but their amphibious heritage makes them uniquely vulnerable to physical damage.
Type: Medium Humanoid Fey (aquatic)
For the purposes of spells, Traders are of the Aquatic type.
Speed: Traders have a base land speed of 15, and a swim speed of 40.
Vision: Traders have 60 ft darkvision and 120 ft low light vision. They retain lose the ability to discern colors when utilizing dark vision, but retain it in all other cases.
Racial Bonuses: Traders gain a +8 Racial Bonus to any movement-related check while swimming. This includes checks such as Tumble to move past hostile targets. Traders also have the ability to take 10 on any swim check that would not be considered part of an exceptional situation (I.E. A Trader cannot take 10 to escape the pull of a whirlpool, for example.) Finally, Traders take a racial penalty of −4 to all Balance checks while on land. Traders can breathe freely in both fresh and salt water as well as out of water.
Elemental Resistance: Traders have cold resistance 5.
Elemental Affinity: Trader sorcerers with the Elemental (water) bloodline treat their Charisma score as 2 points higher for all sorcerer class abilities. Trader clerics with the Water domain cast their Water domain powers and spells at +1 caster level.
Automatic Languages: Common, Aquan. Traders gain one additional bonus language at level 1, in addition to any bonus languages gained by a high Int bonus.
Favored Class: ? Sorcerer? Rouge? What do you think?
The creature does not have the Amphibious trait as part of its skills. Aquatic subtype must also include the fact that they can breathe underwater for clarity.
I'm going to use Darfellan and other viable Aquatics to tell you that the land speed is a bit slow... Gaining a Swim Speed is not optimal unless you are spending a LOT of time in the water, but in that case they should move at least as quickly as a Dwarf.
The creature cannot hunt reliably in a group, so it doesn't make much sense as a predator type... Their Strength and Constitution drain are enormous hindrances for the benefit of 1 skill point/level and benefits to Leadership and Charisma based checks. Aventi already have a power (Water Power I actually think it is called) that provides +1 CL bonus to spells with the Water description... And the benefit provided to Sorcerers is way out of whack
. Also we have placed them into a creature type that is there for flavor but abuseable in weird ways (no Charm Person, able to morph into any Fey-type of 5HD or less for Alter Self at the level...)...
So let us adjust what we have here to a bit better writeup: We want a marine predator known for sharp teeth, good people skills, and talents in the water.
Type: Humanoid (Aquatic). While foreign in their appearance and inscrutable culture, Traders will die if you stick a sword in the usual places. The Traders also have webbed feet and a small gill-like pouches within their mouths that allow them to filter water to usable oxygen.
Stats: +2 Cha, -2 Str. The Trader is a jovial and strong-minded individual, but due to their aquatic nature has delicate musculature in comparison to landlubbers.
Medium: As Medium creatures, Traders have no special
bonuses or penalties due to their size.
• Aquatic: Traders are aquatic humanoids, and have the
aquatic and human subtypes.
• Amphibious (Ex): Traders can breathe water or air equally
well, without limitation.
• Trader base land speed is 20 feet. Trader base swim
speed is 40 feet. Traders have a +8 racial 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. Traders can use
the run action while swimming, provided they swim
in a straight line.
• Water Spell Power (Ex): The call of their forgotten homelands
calls to the Trader's wise men in mysterious ways.
As a result, spellcasting Traders have enchanced ability
with water magic. An Traders’s effective caster level is +1
for spells with the water descriptor.
Favored Class: Sorcerer. The Trader homelands call to many, and their talents with spellcraft help them to harness the powers of wave and wind.
This is a change of Adding Stat bumps, Favored Class, and changing speeds to -10/+10 off of Aventi. Oh, and I actually swapped out the Aventi name
. I also removed the Energy Resistance as that is going to push you into LA +1 territory.
This includes all of your powers, makes the creatures not die as easily (that Con hit hurts) and allows for the race not to be defined as a completely physically weak creature. Personally if you want to represent a weakened Constitution and heightened Intelligence RE: knowledge score I would put the following:
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Bound to the Surf (Ex, Weakness): Trader physiology requires constant access to water. If the Trader is unable to submerge themselves in water for a period lasting longer than 1 hour a day or drink 5x a normal ration of water they must pass a Constitution check (DC: X +1 per day missed) or take 1 point of Constitution damage. This ability may be countered through the use of a Trader wetsuit (see the Still Suit wannabes (Hydration Suit) in Sandstorm).
Whispers of the Seas: The Traders have an eerie ability to know things beyond mortal ken. When within 100 miles of a source of water that touches the Trader's home ocean the Trader gains a +1 to Knowledge checks. This bonus increases to +2 when they are within 100 miles of the actual body of water.
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I went with internal gill-like protuberances as the tightly-gripped teeth would allow the Trader to filter krill AND oxygen at the same time! DUN DUN!
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Goblins who like technology and are good at it... Aren't those Kobolds?
.
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I believe there is an XPH race that is pretty much the Elves you describe.
Overall? Unless I'm spending more than 60% of the time underwater AND cannot get ahold of some sort of underwater breathing device... I'm still going Human over either version of Trader. While they are within LA 0... The abilities they have are so situational as to be useless... But TOO good to just let them ALL go along with other powers. Welcome to the paradox of creature development
.
Slainte,
-Loonook.
