AVENTI

Citizens of an ancient empire that sank beneath the ocean, the aventi adapted to their new home and now adventure both at sea and on land. A proud people who hold personal honor in high regard, the aventi can be found anywhere from the human-settled coasts to the deepest trenches of the ocean floor.

Long ago in the misty dawn of humankind, the mighty island nation of Aventus ruled the waves. The patron of this nation was a god of the sea, and it was only by this god's graces that the aventi exist today, for a terrible cataclysm befell that island nation. Some say that cataclysm was the working of a goddess who was the sea god's rival, while others claim that it was the result of the nation's own toying with terrible magics.

Regardless of the cause, Aventus was laid low by the cataclysm and the island nation sank beneath the waves. Though the sea god wasn't able to save the island, he transformed its people into the aventi, humans capable of breathing water.

Now aventi emerge from the sea only occasionally, for they are an insular people. In many cases, those who meet aventi do not know that they are dealing with a sea-dwelling creature, for the aventi do not look drastically different from humans and can easily pass for one in most cases. Those aventi who need to venture onto the surface world simply do so, engage in whatever trading they might need, and then go their way with few being any the wiser.

Personality: Aventi are, first and foremost, a very devout people - they literally owe their existence to their patron sea god, after all. Aventi are also a very proud people, sometimes to the extent of being considered prickly about things such as their honor. They are not quick to take insult, but they are very particular about their own honorable behavior. They expect less out of other races, though are pleasantly surprised when one of the land folk matches their standards for honor, courtesy, and duty.

Aventi culture is very tradition-bound and ordered. This sense of tradition is expressed among the aventi as the Twelve Virtues: honor, loyalty, bravery, piety, civility, strength, perseverance, dedication, humility, obligation (specifically, to the family), respect, and peacefulness. Of course, these are ideals to which individual aventi strive, but the assumption of these virtues as being the norm colors everyday aventi life.

Aventi culture is regimented enough that even rebels, misfits, exiles, and other adventurers tend to go about their daily routines in an organized, mindful fashion. Devout aventi undertake many small rituals of thanks and acknowledgement through their day, and nearly every aventi recites his or her lineage before going to sleep each night (even those who can't stand their families).

Physical Description: Aventi are little different from humans in appearance. Aventi usually stand from 5 feet to a little over 6 feet in height and weigh from 125 to 250 pounds, with men noticeably taller and heavier than women. Aventi coloration tends toward very pale, almost bluish skin to a lighter tan, with blue and green eyes and hair that ranges between a light brown to a very pale blonde. The calves and forearms of aventi feature small swimming fins that fold almost flat when the aventi leaves the water. Aventi dress is very plain and sparse - most wear just enough to maintain their modesty, and some wear less than that. They are fond of pearls and soft metals that can be worked without heat, such as gold. Aventi, like humans, reach adulthood at about age 15 and rarely live more than a century.

Relations: Aventi have excellent relations with merfolk, aquatic elves, and tritons, often banding together with them to fight off threats from land folk or aquatic threats. They are fascinated by the merfolk and their culture's apparent lack of structure, so unlike the aventi way. Aventi are dedicated enemies of the sahuagin and monstrous sea creatures such as merrows and scrags. Of all the sea-dwelling folk, the aventi are the most likely to engage in regular commerce and trade with coastal and seafaring land dwellers. Sometimes they conceal their true origins from the humans they deal with, appearing as mysterious sea traders who rarely venture far from the ocean. In other places aventi kings are staunch allies of human lords ruling over coastal cities, and the two races freely mix. Human-aventi marriages are not uncommon in such places; the children of these unions are aventi, although they might have features and coloration that are quite unusual for their race.

Alignment: Respectful of tradition and personal honor, aventi tend to be lawful. Aventi do not have any need for stringent legal codes and expansive laws. Each member of their society is assumed to act with honor and integrity, seeking the best outcome for the most people. Dishonorable behavior is dealt with on a familial level - a family is expected to deal appropriately with anyone in their midst whose behavior reflects badly on the community, whether through shaming them into proper behavior or ensuring that this family member makes amends and then keeping a close eye on him or her to prevent such behavior again.

Aventi Lands: Most aventi know the place where their original homeland sank beneath the waves. However, a generation or so after their transformation they were forced to abandon it. Some say it was because disease spread among them, while others claim that the sahuagin armies of a mighty kraken lord claimed the great city.

Currently, aventi live in small enclaves of up to a thousand members. Each enclave is ruled by a king, who is often a paladin or cleric of the sea god. These enclaves are guarded by a militia led by the elite Order of the Pearl. Once a decade, the kings of all the settlements gather for a Royal Moot hosted by one of the kings, wherein the kings reaffirm their treaties and alliances with one another.

Religion: Most aventi revere the mighty sea god Aventernus as their patron and savior, for it was by his hand that they did not perish in the long-ago catastrophe that befell their kingdom. The temple hierarchy of Aventernus is a pillar of any aventi community, and high priests often serve as the principal advisors to aventi kings and lords. Evil aventi are sometimes lured by the promises and power offered by sinister deities such as Sekolah or Umberlee.

Language: Aventi speak Common, as well as the languages of those civilizations around them. Many Elven words have found their way into the aventi Common, due to the inf luence of the aquatic elves on aventi civilization. Additionally, many aventi learn the Aquan tongue, often with a merfolk accent.

Names: Aventi keep the names they are given at birth, even after marriage. When among other races, aventi do not give their family names, instead taking the name of their settlement as a substitute surname (as in "Ralin of Deepingpearl" rather than "Ralin Ubanishol"). Given names among aventi always begin with consonants, while family names always begin with vowel sounds.

Male Names: Boral, Damash, Daneth, Kanal, Ghenor, Nimor, Ralin, Relvin, Tagren.

Female Names: Boshira, Dahara, Daratha, Ganelle, Janna, Naliatha, Nimora, Paranna, Shara.

Family Names: Adirishol, Anayasha, Eriskan, Iricha, Olbareth, Ubanishol, Uvarilith, Ygranneth.

Adventurers: Most aventi adventurers undertake missions on behalf of their family or aventi community - reestablishing connections among the widely scattered aventi settlements, fighting bitter blood feuds against rival families, or rediscovering lore lost in the great cataclysm that transformed the aventi race. But other aventi adventurers are more independent. There's a long tradition in aventi society - a cultural safety valve of sorts - where aventi who don't fit in choose a period of self-exile, during which they wander the seas.

Taken as a whole, aventi are as likely to become adventurers as any other race, though land folk rarely hear of their exploits. Many aventi adventurers perform mighty exploits below the waves but only rarely venture out of the sea. Those who undertake those adventures that lead them out of the ocean are likely to find fellow adventurers who are more familiar with the surface world.

AVENTI RACIAL TRAITS

• Medium: As Medium creatures, aventi have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.

• Aquatic: Aventi are aquatic humanoids, and have the aquatic and human subtypes.

• Amphibious (Ex): Aventi can breathe water or air equally well, without limitation.

• Aventi base land speed is 30 feet. Aventi base swim speed is 30 feet. Aventi 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. Aventi can use the run action while swimming, provided they swim in a straight line.

• Water Spell Power (Ex): The magical ties that connect the aventi to Aventernus persist, untold ages since the sea god saved the aventi from extinction. As a result, spellcasting aventi have enchanced ability with water magic. An aventi's effective caster level is +1 for spells with the water descriptor.

• Human Blood: For all effects related to race, an aventi is considered a human. Aventi are just as vulnerable to special effects that affect humans as humans are, and they can use magic items that are only usable by humans.

• Automatic Languages: Common. Bonus Languages: Aquan, Elven, Sahuagin.

• Favored Class: Any.

DARFELLANS

The darfellans were once a peaceful race of hunter-gatherers who lived among the surf and sea stacks of forbidding coastlines. Then the sahuagin discovered them, beginning a century-long struggle that almost ended in the extinction of the darfellan race. The remaining darfellans are brooding wanderers who crave the chance to exact a final measure of vengeance against the sahuagin who wiped out their kin.

Repeated hunts from the sahuagin have reduced the darfellan population to scattered villages and isolated families on remote stretches of coastline. Once the darfellans had a rich, vibrant, clan-based culture. But now most of those clans are just names known to a few darfellan elders, and much darfellan art and history exists only in the memories of the oldest darfellan survivors.

Personality: Darfellans tend to brood on the tragic history of their race, regarding it with equal parts pride and sorrow. You might be embittered by your lot in life, or you can make a point of behaving nobly no matter how dire the situation.

At its height, darfellan society was a complex caste-based culture, but now too few survivors remain for a caste system to work. Still, darfellans are apt to categorize people by their occupation or function; learning someone's job is more important than learning someone's name.

Physical Description: A typical darfellan has a hulking, muscular build with a broad back, powerful arms, and a wide neck and head. A darfellan stands not much over 6 feet tall and weighs nearly 200 pounds.

A darfellan's most striking feature is his or her jet-black skin, glossy and hairless, broken by varied white markings. The size, shape, and location of the white areas distinguish family groups and quickly identify an individual's heritage to other darfellans and those who know how to read darfellan markings. Occasionally individuals are born who are entirely black or, much more rarely, wholly white. Such births are always seen as portentous, and the children are destined to hold positions of importance among the people - whether they are so inclined or not. The appearance of an entirely white darfellan is taken as a sign of great events, and the people's history is filled with stories of the upheavals that followed such births.

Relations: Tribes of darfellans like to keep themselves hidden, but sometimes a darfellan community will develop a trading or mutual defense relationship with nearby merfolk, coastal humans, or aquatic elves. But such relationships rarely blossom into outright friendship because of secrecy on the darfellans' part; they tend to be businesslike arrangements where the two races remain at arm's length.

Alignment: Darfellans can be of any alignment. Many younger darfellans have an affinity for chaotic alignments because they've never lived in an ordered society.

Darfellan Lands: Darfellan communities once dotted the coastlines of the world. From the ice floes of the arctic to the tropical archipelagos, darfellans could be found wherever ocean and land meet. Some darfellans even lived among the land dwellers, but the urge to swim among the crashing waves drew most back to their ocean home.

A typical darfellan settlement is hidden in cliffside sea caves, some above the tide line and some below. Nearby is a dependable food source, often a kelp forest, a river with periodic salmon runs, or a coral reef rich with marine life. While the sahuagin have stopped organized hunts of the darfellans, the darfellans are still careful to keep their lairs concealed from those who would hunt them. Darfellans wandering the seas of the world are careful to say little of their shoreline homes.

The darfellans are a race of refugees; no remaining power groups exist among them. Many darfellans have retreated to their sea caves, where they live hidden away from the sahuagin and other dangers. Others roam the seas in small hunting bands, looking for sahuagin to slay. Either way, the darfellans are organized like a tribe, with a single chieftain or shaman making all the important decisions.

Darfellans believe that tribal organization will continue until a darfellan known in prophecies as the Deep Dweller emerges to restore the race to vitality. His or her appearance would immediately draw the allegiance of darfellans gathering from far and near, because the remaining darfellans regard tales of the Deep Dweller with messianic fervor.

Religion: Darfellans tend to worship one of the gods of the sea - if they haven't turned their backs on religion entirely. Many darfellans feel that their prayers and supplications went unanswered during the sahuagin's genocidal attacks, so they believe that the gods themselves have spurned the darfellan race.

Language: The Darfellan language has many compound and multisyllabic words, so it can take a long time to say something. A mix of aggressive consonants, long vowels, and clicks gives the Darfellan tongue an animated, heavily enunciated quality.

Names: Akilu, Ekitilooit, Fee'itii!, Keitilili, Likiki!ta, Ootiliktik, Shooki!alui, Silooti!oo, Weililkoo.

Adventurers: As a typical darfellan adventurer, you were probably raised in a hidden community on a forbidding ocean shore somewhere, only to lose kith and kin in a savage sahuagin attack. Now you wander the coastal waters seeking vengeance for your family and to honor the memory of the fallen darfellans. If your home community still survives, you might be its representative to the outside world, or an exile who can't come home until a particular wrong is righted. Darfellans hold hunters in great esteem, especially those who battle sahuagin. If you can explain your adventuring career in terms of fighting sahuagin or hunting, other darfellans will laud your career choice.

DARFELLAN RACIAL TRAITS

• +2 Strength, -2 Dexterity: Darfellans have a powerful physique but are somewhat clumsy, especially out of the water.

• A darfellan's base land speed is 20 feet; darfellan webbed feet are more suited for moving through water than on land.

• A darfellan's base swim speed is 40 feet. A darfellan has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. A darfellan can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. A darfellan can use the run action while swimming, provided he swims in a straight line.

• Hold Breath (Ex): A darfellan can hold his breath for a number of rounds equal to 8 × his Constitution score before he risks drowning. For a typical darfellan, this is 96 rounds, or almost 10 minutes.

• Natural Attack: A darfellan has a natural bite attack that deals 1d6 points of damage. If fighting without a weapon, a darfellan uses his bite as a primary attack, adding 1-1/2 times his Strength bonus to damage. If armed with a weapon, he can use his bite or weapon, as he chooses. When making a full attack, a darfellan normally uses the weapon as his primary attack along with the bite as a natural secondary attack (at -5 attack). If the darfellan gets extra attacks by virtue of a base attack bonus of +6 or higher, he gets them only with his primary attack.

• Echolocation: In the water, a darfellan can emit a series of whistles, then instinctively pinpoint nearby creatures by hearing the echo. Darfellans have blindsense out to 20 feet, but the blindsense doesn't extend beyond the water.

• Racial Hatred: A darfellan normally exudes a brooding calm, but the mere presence of a sahuagin is enough to send the darfellan into a blood-mad fury. Darfellans gain a +2 racial bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls when fighting sahuagin.

• Automatic Languages: Darfellan. Bonus Languages: Aquan, Common.

• Favored Class: Barbarian.

AQUATIC ELVES

Although surface elves are renowned as daring and skillful seafarers above the waves, the greatest legacy of elves and sea lies below the surface of the ocean. The nations of the aquatic elves are as ancient and powerful as those of their land-dwelling cousins. The children of Deep Sashelas, aquatic elves dwell in the shallower parts of the ocean, usually within a few miles of a coast, for the deeper parts of the sea tend to be not only too cold and lightless for their taste, but also home to their blood enemies, the sahuagin.

Personality: Aquatic elves tend to be seen as standoffish creatures hesitant to trust outsiders, and this is true to some extent. Aquatic elves understand the value and importance of community in their survival beneath the waves. They are very suspicious of strangers, especially those who come from the surface world. Nonetheless, they know the value of a strong alliance and, once their fears are allayed, make staunch compatriots.

Physical Description: Aquatic elves are very striking in appearance, with skin that ranges between a light blue to a dark green. They usually have black hair and their eyes are oddly colored, ranging from an iridescent blue to gold to a white-silver hue that shines like mother-of-pearl. Their hands and feet are webbed and they boast a set of gills that runs along their collarbones and down their ribcages.

Relations: Aquatic elves have long memories and they do not trust quickly. However, they have long maintained alliances with the honorable aventi. They are more than happy to allow tribes of merfolk to wander into their territories and even stay for a while, but locathah and other such beings are not permitted within a day's swim of aquatic elf cities.

Alignment: Like most elves, aquatic elves maintain a love of freedom and personal expression, considering most laws and governments to simply be methods of control. They favor good and chaotic alignments.

Aquatic Elven Lands: Aquatic elf cities are wonders to behold, crafted as they are of living coral just as many elf cities on land are made from still-living trees. They gleam with mother of pearl and shells scoured bright, and among them swim fish of a thousand colors. The borders of these cities are guarded by soldiers with tridents, spears, and nets, as are the hunter-gatherer parties sent out to retrieve food among the fish and carefully cultivated fields of food plants nearby.

Aquatic elves are ruled by a loose feudal system, with clans of aquatic elves swearing fealty to noble houses who take oath to protect those clans beneath them. All it takes to confer nobility upon a clan is to have another clan swear fealty to it, so most clans have had times in their histories when they were considered nobility.

Religion: Aquatic elves revere Deep Sashelas first and foremost. His temples, usually built of solid stone and decorated by everyone in the community, serve not only as centers of faith but as the heart of aquatic elf communities. Deep Sashelas's clergy serve as the advisors of the aquatic elf people, often acting as counselors, healers, mediators, and defenders of their communities.

At some point in an aquatic elf's adult life, she is expected to undertake an endeavor for the local temple where her adulthood celebration was held. Each aquatic elf chooses her own endeavor, one that either relates to that elf's vocation or something that symbolizes her personality. These endeavors aren't about doing something the temple needs to have done. They are about allowing the elf to express her sense of uniqueness in a way that directly benefits the temple and reaffirms her choices in life. Language: Aquatic elves speak Elven, though they have borrowed many words and inflections from the Aquan tongue, so that their speech tends to seem oddly accented to others who speak the language.

Names: Each aquatic elf clan has a name that is often translated into Common around non-elves, similar to the surnames of other elves. Personal names are given at birth and maintained throughout the life of the aquatic elf.

Male Names: Arvastan, Balthonlis, Barishlin, Deran thil, Ervastath, Kerithlan, Perilastanor, Poldanlin.

Female Names: Avashtana, Bihalisha, Deirastane, Firiashe, Iridansa, Tiliashanna, Xiphalia, Yrashiae.

Clan Names: Anterome (Bright wave), Danlianthol (Silver pearl), Garinlastil (Scarlet leaf), Gyrashiil (Joybringer), Iandaal (Brightwhisper), Leriantol (Kinwatcher), Oromae (Silvercoral), Perlantasil (Night water).

Adventurers: Aquatic elf adventurers are often driven by a need to discover more about the other peoples and creatures in the world, for aquatic elf culture is very insular. They find themselves among strange races and cultures that they never dreamed possible. Most look forward to the day when they can return to their own people once more to tell the stories they have lived. Some begin a life of adventuring after undertaking an extended quest away from their homes on behalf of a temple of Deep Sashelas as part of their acknowledgement of adulthood.

AQUATIC ELF RACIAL TRAITS

• +2 Dexterity, -2 Intelligence. These adjustments replace the high elf's ability score adjustments. Aquatic elves are as swift and coordinated in their movements as their land-based kin. While more sturdily built than most of the other elf subraces, they have little use for study.

• Aquatic: An aquatic elf is a humanoid with the aquatic and elf subtypes.

• An aquatic elf has a swim speed of 40 feet. An aquatic elf has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. It can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line.

• Immunity to magic sleep effects, and a +2 racial saving throw bonus against enchantment spells or effects.

• Gills: Aquatic elves can survive out of the water for 1 hour per point of Constitution (after that, refer to the suffocation rules).

• Proficient with trident, longspear, and net. This replaces the standard elf proficiency with longsword, rapier, and bow.

• Superior Low-Light Vision (Ex): Aquatic elves can see four times as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of low illumination. This trait replaces the high elf's low-light vision.

• +2 racial bonus on Listen, Search, and Spot checks. An aquatic elf who merely passes within 5 feet of a secret or concealed door is entitled to a Search check to notice it as if she were actively looking for it. An elf's senses are so keen that she practically has a sixth sense about hidden portals.

• Automatic Languages: Common and Elven. Bonus: Aquan, Draconic, Giant.

• Favored Class: Fighter.

HADOZEE

A race of simianlike humanoids, hadozee are often referred to as "winged deck apes." It's easy to see where they would come by such a moniker: they are covered in light brown fur, with a slightly stooped posture, a shaggy mane, and a fanged muzzle. And they have flaps of skin that hang beneath their arms that enable gliding, if not true flight. Because they're also good climbers and balancers, hadozee are particularly suited for life aboard a ship sailing the seas of adventure.

Many hadozee remember these communal homes from their childhoods as happy places constantly playing host to new hadozee with interesting stories. Unhappy is the hadozee sailor who visits a strange port and discovers there are no other hadozee there. When faced with such an option, most hadozee simply remain aboard their ships.

Hadozee have long been hired on as sailors, for they are known as hard workers and skilled warriors. They like working on elf ships or alongside an elf crewmate. Hadozee are rarely found aboard ships that remain in arctic or temperate conditions, for they prefer warmer, tropical climates.

Personality: Hadozee tend to be very active and curious. Even in dire straits, you're more likely to crack a joke than despair, although your humor can be black and acerbic if the situation warrants it.

Hadozee are known as very intense, prone to expressing themselves exuberantly - when a hadozee is enjoying herself, she is likely to chuckle or even whoop aloud; when angry, she bares her fangs and snarls. In general, though, they are a very peaceable folk who fight only when they must. Hadozee enjoy working aboard ships and do not consider their shipboard chores as inconveniences, often actually looking forward to them. Some unscrupulous captains take undue advantage of this trait, but for the most part, hadozee are well thought of and highly sought after as crew by the majority of captains.

Physical Description: Hadozee stand at about 5-1/2 to 6 feet tall, though they always seem slightly shorter due to their natural stooped posture. They tend to weigh between 200 and 250 pounds, most of that weight being solid muscle. Their eyes are black and glitter brightly, and their fur can range in color from a light tawny golden brown to a deep chocolate. Hadozee do not really need clothing due to their fur covering, though many who work aboard ships wear harnesses and belts for their tools and weapons. Hadozee generally have about the same lifespan as humans, though they are considered adults a little earlier.

Most fascinating of all, however, is a hadozee's patagial flaps - flaps of skin between legs and arms, similar to those of a flying squirrel. With these patagia, the hadozee can launch herself into the air and glide for significant distances. It is not uncommon for hadozee in the rigging of ships not to bother climbing down, but simply throw themselves into the air and glide to another part of the ship.

Relations: Hadozee genuinely adore elves, almost to the point of fawning over them. They get along well with most other races, though they dislike those races who, for whatever reason, seem incapable of putting in an honest day's work on deck. Hadozee and wavecrest gnomes who work together on the same ship often form very strong bonds, and hadozee are fascinated with the wavecrest gnome's ability to speak with sea birds.

Alignment: Hadozee have little room in their lives for higher philosophies of morality and ethics. They simply wish to be left alone to do their work and enjoy their lives, and prefer to leave others alone to do the same. Hadozee tend toward neutrality as a result.

Hadozee Lands: Although the hadozee do have a homeland, they no longer know (or care) where it is. As far as any of them can remember, they have simply always traveled among other races, working aboard their beloved ships and seeing what the horizon held. Accordingly, they're almost always found near the coasts and at sea.

In port cities where hadozee can be found, they live communally whenever possible. New mothers, those recovering from injuries, and anyone temporarily between berths keep up the local Hadozee House and raise whatever young have been left there.

Religion: The hadozee are not particularly religious, though moderately respectful of those gods of the sea whom they learn about from other sailors. A shipboard cleric of a sea god can sometimes leave quite an impression on a hadozee - a hadozee who worships and swears by only one god is likely the result of such a meeting.

Language: The Hadozee tongue is composed primarily of hoots, barks, and low vocalizations, with minimal and easily learned body language. Hadozee are capable linguists, however, and delight in learning new languages, though they react positively when they meet nonhadozee who have learned their tongue.

Names: Hadozee take great pride in the ships that they serve aboard, and will often incorporate part of that ship's name into their own. Thus, Garsh, who has served aboard the Dream of the Night, might call himself Garsh Nightdream. This "ship-name" often binds hadozee together in ways that family or clan names do for other races - a hadozee who meets another hadozee who has served aboard the same ship feels more of a bond with that hadozee than with her own blood kin.

Male Names: Bansh, Darsh, Falth, Garsh, Grath, Groh, Harth, Krath, Marn, Polth.

Female Names: Bahasha, Bannithi, Dashi, Kalla, Kasha, Mara, Risha, Yasha, Yetha.

Ship-Names: The following names are examples of some ship-names known among hadozee, including (in parenthesis) the name of the ship they served aboard to get that name. When the name of the ship includes a term that denotes a woman, hadozee ship-names replace it with some form of "son" or "child" or "daughter," indicating that they feel some kinship to the ship, as a child might to a mother. Hadozee don't change their name for every ship that they serve aboard - the captain, crew, or adventure must be of such a quality as to inspire such a name change. Dawnwarrior (The Dawn Warrior), Midnightchild (The Midnight Lady), Nightdream (The Dream of the Night), Pearldaughter (The Lady of the Pearl), Swiftson (The Swift Lady), Swordstorm (The Sword in the Storm), Wavedancer (The Wave Dancer).

Adventurers: As a hadozee, you have a natural wanderlust, and you're always eager to sail beyond the horizon. You regard your life as well lived if you see and experience as much as you possibly can. For some hadozee, this wanderlust is of a more focused sort. You might travel the world seeking out arcane secrets, the lost lore of ancient empires, or vast piles of pirate treasure. Hadozee adventurers are hardly out of the ordinary among their people; after all, most hadozee feel the call to the high seas at some point in their lives. Certainly, those hadozee who choose to go adventuring away from the ocean are looked upon oddly by their fellows, but "to each their own," the hadozee say.

HADOZEE RACIAL TRAITS

• +2 Dexterity, -2 Charisma.

• Medium: As a Medium creature, a hadozee has no special bonuses or penalties due to her size.

• Hadozee base land speed is 30 feet.

• Gliding: Hadozee can use their arm-flaps to glide, negating damage from a fall of any height and allowing them to travel 20 feet horizontally for every 5 feet of descent. A hadozee glides at a speed of 40 feet (average maneuverability).

• +4 racial bonus on Balance and Climb checks: Hadozee are natural climbers and have no fear of narrow pathways. A hadozee does not lose her Dexterity bonus to AC while climbing and can climb unimpeded while holding something in one hand.

• Automatic Languages: Common, Hadozee. Bonus Languages: Aquan, Elven, Halfling.

• Favored Class: Rogue.

SEACLIFF DWARVES

Some clans of dwarves settled not in the mountain delves favored by most of their race but in the tall, impregnable cliffs that overlook the sea. These seacliff dwarves are considered by other dwarves to all be salt beards, though in truth most of them prefer the safety and security of their subterranean homes as much as any other dwarf. The difference is that those rare few among them who would be salt beards don't have far to go.

All seacliff dwarves are good swimmers, as behooves folk whose lower passages can fill with seawater during major storms. Living areas and the like are always situated well above even the highest such waterline.

Seacliff dwarves are identical to dwarves, except as noted below.

• Strong Swimmers: Seacliff dwarves gain a +2 racial bonus on Swim checks. Additionally, a seacliff dwarf doubles his Constitution score for the purposes of determining how long he can hold his breath before he must begin making checks against suffocation.

• Seacliff dwarves do not gain the +1 racial bonus to hit orcs and goblinoids that most dwarves do, since they have not encountered these creatures nearly as often as their mountain-dwelling cousins.

WAVECREST GNOMES

Unlike their cousins, wavecrest gnomes are naturally drawn to the sea. Dwelling on small islands and beside hidden lagoons, wavecrest gnomes consider the sea their natural heritage. Though they love ships, as a people they rarely craft anything larger than a barge. Wavecrest gnomes would rather sign aboard one of the mighty, majestic ships of the larger folk.

Wavecrest gnome settlements are made up of roundtopped buildings half buried in the sand of a secluded coast or shore. When threatened, these gnomes are skilled fighters with gaff hooks and thin-bladed daggers, but they prefer to go about their lives peaceably. Rare is the wavecrest gnome settlement that needs regular patrols, for the sea birds that live among them have learned that the gnomes reward with tasty treats those birds who warn them of approaching strangers.

Wavecrest gnomes are identical to gnomes, except as noted below.

• +1 racial bonus on attack rolls against locathah and sahuagin. Wavecrest gnomes have had to fight off raiding parties of these creatures for generations, and have developed skills against such creatures. This bonus replaces the gnomes' normal racial attack bonus against kobolds and goblinoids.

• Spell-Like Abilities: 1/day - speak with animals (sea birds only, duration 1 minute). A gnome with a Charisma score of at least 10 also has the following spell-like abilities: 1/day - dancing lights, know direction, prestidigitation. Caster level 1st; save DC 10 + wavecrest gnome's Cha modifier + spell level. These replace the normal spell-like abilities of gnomes.

AQUATIC HALF-ELVES

Coastal communities found near aquatic elf settlements occasionally have one or more half-elves. Despite the greenish or blue coloration inherited from their aquatic elf parents, the human blood runs strong, and these halfelves aren't able to breathe water. Aquatic half-elves can also sometimes be found among the raft folk, humans who live intimately with the sea around them and might come into contact with the aquatic elves.

Such children might long for the sights of their aquatic heritage, perhaps even taking up the study of magic in order to one day experience those things and visit their elf parent's home. They prefer to live near the ocean when they can, so that they might hear the roar of the waves.

• An aquatic half-elf has a swim speed of 15 feet. An aquatic halfelf has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. He can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. He can use the run action while swimming, provided he swims in a straight line.

• An aquatic half-elf does not receive any bonus on Diplomacy or Gather Information checks. Unlike other half-elves, who move easily between many other folk, aquatic half-elves are more comfortable with their own company and are not as affable and outgoing as their fellows.

• Sea Longing: An aquatic half-elf who remains out of sight of the sea for more than a week longs for the sea, taking a -1 penalty on Wisdom-based checks until he returns to the shore.

• Automatic Languages: Common and Elven. Bonus Languages: Any (except secret languages, such as Druidic).

• Favored Class: Any.

SHOAL HALFLINGS

In the greenwater parts of the sea, those middle areas between land and true bluewater deep ocean, there can be found communities of shoal halflings, a subrace of amphibious half ling folk. Capable of breathing both water and air, shoal halflings dwell in the waters that lie between sandbars off a coast. Their homes are constructed of natural building materials along the bottom of these areas. The homes themselves are constructed as domes that end up covered in sand and coral, disguising them quite well.

Shoal halflings are a freckled tan, allowing them to blend quite well with sand patterns in the shallows where they dwell. Their hair is dark, ranging between a deep black to a dark greenish hue, and their eyes tend to be bright blue. Other than a slight webbing between their toes and fingers, shoal halflings can easily pass for normal halflings.

Shoal halflings are identical to halflings, except as noted below.

• Aquatic: Shoal halflings are humanoids with the aquatic and halfling subtypes.

• Shoal halfling swim speed is 20 feet. A shoal halfling has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. He can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. He can use the run action while swimming, provided he swims in a straight line.

• Amphibious (Ex): Shoal halflings are amphibious, capable of breathing water and air equally.

• Shoal halflings do not gain the +1 racial bonus on attack rolls with thrown weapons and slings of other halflings, since such things aren't common among shoal halflings.

• Shoal halflings do not gain any racial bonus on Climb, Jump, or Move Silently checks, since they have little opportunity to become proficient in these skills in their aquatic homes.