Kercpa

Kercpa

Deep in the forests live the kercpa, a reclusive society of sentient squirrels. They are shy and elusive, preferring their own company and those of other non-sentient animals to that of other sentient life. Their villages are hidden among the branches of great trees and obscured from prying eyes by both magical and mundane means.

Physically, they are taller than their non-sentient cousins, standing about a foot and a half tall and weighing just over a pound. Also, unlike typical squirrels they have intelligent humanoid eyes, colored blue or green. They dress in rustic attire, using many raw materials they find in their trees or around them to clothe themselves. Many prefer to not cover their hands, feet, or bushy tails as it precludes them from climbing or at the very least they wear easily removable attire there.

Socially kercpa are rather pastoral, agreeable, and communally focused, but paranoidly shy of strangers. They will go out of their way, to extremes sometimes, to avoid contact with other species. This is because of an inborn fear that they will hurt them. While they are a peaceful, preferring to avoid fights even at great personal loss, they will fight tooth and nail if pressed. They live, eat, and work in a communal fashion, almost like a hive of ants. There is very little family separation and a community raises everyone in it. In times of strife this is also true, moving as a single swarm to overwhelm their foes.

Strangely, the kercpa have a close bond with elven societies. This, flying the face of the rest of their natural paranoid tendencies with dealing with other races. This bond goes back to their earliest legends when it is said that an elven god or wizard king gave the gift of mind to their first kercpa for a squirrel's kindness to him.

If you find a kercpa adventuring, there is normally a sad story behind them. Exiled kercpa often starve or go insane due to the lack of close proximity to other creatures, though they sometimes find work as adventurers. Rarely will one strike out on their own of their own accord. Those eccentric few are a rare breed, but they do exist and they often are such extraordinary individuals that history does not soon forget them. On some occasions a kercpa who has a particularly strong bond with an elf will accompany them on their adventures, though they are often quite terrified of the mortal danger they find themselves in while adventuring.

## Racial Traits

* Ability Score Racial Traits\* (0): Kercpa are flighty, agile, sagacious, but possessive of a baser level of academic intelligence. They gain +2 Wisdom, +2 Dexterity, but -2 Intelligence.
* Size (4): Kercpa are tiny creatures and thus gain a +2 size bonus to Dexterity and a –2 size penalty to Strength. Tiny races gain a +2 size bonus to their AC, a +2 size bonus on attack rolls, a –2 penalty on combat maneuver checks and to their CMD, and a +8 size bonus on Stealth checks. Tiny characters take up a space of 2-1/2 feet by 2-1/2 feet, so up to four of these characters can fit into a single square. Tiny races typically have a natural reach of 0 feet, meaning they can't reach into adjacent squares. They must enter an opponent's square to attack it in melee. This provokes an attack of opportunity from the opponent. Since they have no natural reach, they do not threaten the squares around them. Other creatures can move through those squares without provoking attacks of opportunity. Tiny creatures typically cannot flank an enemy.

* +

* Adjusted Ability Score: When you factor in the adjustments due to size a kercpa has the following ability scores: +4 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, -2 Strength, -2 Intelligence.
* Type (3): Kercpa are monstrous humanoids.
* Base Speed (-1): Kercpa have a base speed of 20 feet.
* Languages (1): Kercpa begin play speaking Elven and Kercpa. Kercpa with high Intelligence scores can choose from Sylvan, Common, Gnoll, Gnome, Goblin, Orc, or Terran.
* Treeborn (4): Kercpa have a climb speed of 40 feet, and gain the +8 racial bonus on Climb checks that a climb speed normally grants.
* Frantic (-2): When a kercpa rolls a natural 1 on an attack roll, skill check during combat, or other d20 roll made under stress where a critical failure would be possible, they must make a Will save (DC 15) or be shaken for until the end of their next turn. This is a mind affecting fear effect.
* Half Pint, Full Heart (1): Kercpa gain a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against fear and despair effects.

Racial Points: 10

## Alternate Racial Traits

* Flying Squirrel (-1): Some clans of kercpa have stretched membranes between their limbs, allowing them to glide. Those with this racial trait take no damage from falling (as if subject to a constant non-magical feather fall spell). While in midair, a flying squirrel can move up to 5 feet in any horizontal direction for every 1 foot they fall, at a speed of 60 feet per round. A flying squirrel cannot gain height with these wings alone; it merely coasts in other directions as it falls. If subjected to a strong wind or any other effect that causes a creature with gliding wings to rise, it can take advantage of the updraft to increase the distance it can glide.

* + This replaces the treeborn racial trait.
* Ground Squirrel (0): Those kercpa who are from clans who have evolved to live on the ground lose their ability to climb trees but are far stronger and are far more adept at moving across the ground. They gain a +2 bonus to their Strength score (effectively offsetting their penalty from their size) and their movement speed increases to 30 feet.

* + This replaces the treeborn racial trait.
* Ratatoskr (+3): There exist a clan of kercpa who serve as messengers for the gods, though they themselves are but mortals. They appear to be kercpa with an exotic assortment of coat colors (blues, reds, oranges, snow white, even reflective silvers), and golden eyes. Once per day per Wisdom bonus they have they may cast animal messenger as a spell-like ability. In addition, whenever a ratatoskr moves between planes of existence (such as by plane shift) or via a teleportation spell and there is a chance for arriving off-target, they roll twice and take the result they prefer. This also applies to such spells cast on them by another creature, though the ratatoskr rolls the second dice and picks which result he likes.

* + This replaces their treeborn and half pint, full heart racial traits.

## Elven Ally

Prerequisite: BAB +3, Knowledge (local) or (nature) 3 ranks

Benefit: A kercpa gains a +1 morale bonus on attack rolls when adjacent to an allied creature with the eleven subtype. If the kercpa has at least 6 BAB this bonus improves to a +2. At 12 BAB it improves to a +3 and at 18 BAB it becomes a +4 bonus on attack rolls. This bonus is never granted as a result of being next to a drow or drow-affiliated creature (driders for example).

## Random Kercpa Starting Ages

(16-19) | +1d6
(16-21) | +2d6

1 This category includes barbarians, oracles, rogues, and sorcerers.

2 This category includes bards, cavaliers, fighters, gunslingers, paladins, rangers, summoners, and witches.

3 This category includes alchemists, clerics, druids, inquisitors, magi, monks, and wizards.

## Random Kercpa Height and Weight

(0’11 -1’8) | 1 lb. | +(0 lbs.)
(0’8-1’2) | 1 lb. | +(0 lbs.)

## Favored Class Options

The following favored class options are available to all kercpa characters who have the listed favored class, and unless otherwise stated, the bonus applies each time the favored class reward is selected.