Blinklings

Blinklings love to debate about their origins. Every tribe and village of them has a different song to sing; some tell sweeping romances that tell of the love between a halfling ranger and a valiant blink dog. Others say that they were made as foot-soldiers in an ancient fey war, where their cunning ended the conflict without further blood on both sides; some call their race the creation of a god, and some odd tribes even claim they are the spawn of shapeshifters. They get together every so often for storytelling competitions, and these tales get told like any of the others. Blinklings aren’t too worried about where they came from, so much as who they are.

Blinklings claim heritage from both halflings and blinkdogs, however it happened. These canine humanoids combine the curiosity and fearlessness of halflings with the responsibility and loyalty of their blink dog forebears. They gather in tribes and villages, or spread through halfling society as striking, active citizens. Naturally inclined to somewhat more martial activities, blinklings find fulfilling careers as hunters, trappers, scouts, woodsmen, and couriers.

## Appearance

Blinklings resemble halflings, but with canine features; a slight muzzle, wide eyes, soft fur all over their bodies and thick, blunt nails. Blinklings have furred, expressive tails that help them balance and run, and tend to have extremely broad smiles.

Aside from having to have all of their pants and armor custom made (blinklings joke that tails are expensive), blinklings tend to dress for their jobs, favoring practical clothing that’s easy to move in and light armor that won’t restrict them. Blinklings have a strong preference for melee weapons but are also not fools—they offset their small size with weapons like spears and spiked chains that let them stay out of harm’s way. Braiding or dyeing their fur is a common method of self-expression among blinklings, especially young ones.

## Demeanor

Sensible optimism” is a good way to describe the blinkling attitude to life. They enjoy the world and the things in it, but temper their eagerness with a sense of responsibility and a certain innate understanding that evil exists and will always exist. Blinklings love and cherish their friends and families and love spending time with and around other people, even if all the blinkling is doing is reading quietly in the same room. Blinklings smile freely and often, and share love of jokes with their halfling forebears.

On the job—adventuring or otherwise—blinklings enjoy a combination of teamwork, athletic challenge, and new experiences. Blinklings tend towards quiet competence, preferring to do their job well and be rewarded rather than trying to strive for fame or glory. Blinklings know when to be serious about their duties and can get annoyed when people break up solemn discussions with humor; they love a joke as much as anyone else, but not when there are things to do!

## Backgrounds

Blinklings grow up in large extended families and develop a strong communal instinct early on, which they carry with them through their lives —a blinkling’s friends, co-workers, and often their nation become part of this extended family, to be loved and protected just as fiercely. Blinklings are encouraged to find a trade that calls to them, and if there is no market for it in their home community —or no one to teach—they’re often taken by a friend or relative to somewhere they can pursue their dreams. As a result, blinklings tend to grow up as happy people, with a belief that responsibility and personal fulfillment don’t have to be separate ideas.

Blinklings tend to fall into one of two scenarios —they found what they wanted to do with their life early on and have been doing it ever since, or they experimented with a lot of different careers before finally settling down. Both approaches are treasured, though the jacks-of-all-trades are often handier to have around. At the same time, those tend to be the blinklings that become adventurers or settle into the communities of other races, so within blinkling society itself specialists are over-represented

## Adventures

Blinklings often become adventurers for the challenges that adventuring provides —outdoor work, new and interesting problems, team -based employment, and new experiences appeal to them quite a bit. Their sense of responsibility tends to lead them to join adventuring parties that accomplish goals above and beyond personal wealth and power, which is not to suggest that blinklings work for free. Blinklings often embrace martial classes such as ranger and stalker, though clerics and druids are not uncommon amongst them. Blinkling wizards have a talent for transmutation spells that puts them in demand higher than the available supply. Blinklings care less about race or class in their companions and more about concerns like emotional compatibility and personal goals, and tend to judge people as individuals removed from their professional capacities.

## Racial Traits

* **Ability Score Adjustments:** +2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, -2 Strength: Blinklings are quick of foot and wit, but small
* **Small:** Blinklings are small creatures and gain a +1 size bonus to their AC, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, a -1 penalty to their Combat Maneuver Bonus and Combat Maneuver Defense, and a +4 size bonus on Stealth checks
* **Humanoid (beastblood, halfling):** Blinklings are humanoids with the beastblood and halfling subtypes
* **Hounding Stride:** Blinklings are faster than most other creatures of their size; their base land speed is 30 ft.
* **Low-light Vision (Ex):** Blinklings can see twice as well as humans in dim light
* **Darkvision (Ex):** A blinkling has darkvision out to 60 ft.
* **Scent (Ex):** A blinkling has heightened olfactory ability, gaining the scent ability
* **Reactive Blur (Su):** Blinklings cannot freely manifest their namesake’s blinking powers but may blur themselves for a short time in response to an attack. Three times per day, as an immediate action, the blinkling gains concealment until the end of his turn. This may be used after an attack has been rolled, but before its results have been declared.
* **Ethereal Sight (Su):** Blinklings can perceive beings on the ethereal plane as though they were material. This includes being able to smell and hear them.
* **Languages:** Blinklings begin play speaking Common and Halfling. Blinklings with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Dwarven, Elven, Giant, Gnoll, Gnome, Goblin, or Sylvan

## Alternate Racial Traits

**Agile Dog (Ex):** A very few blinklings’ magical ability manifests in an odd manner. Whenever they move at least half their movement speed over the course of their turn they are affected by a blur effect, as the spell. This functions once the movement begins, protecting them from attacks of opportunity, ending when they reach their destination. This racial trait replaces reactive blur.

**Halfling Luck (Ex):** Some blinklings’ instincts lend themselves to surviving the material rather than the ethereal. These blinklings gain a +1 racial bonus on all saving throws. This replaces ethereal sight.

**Shadow Dog (Su):** Blinklings with this racial trait have mutated in an unusual way; they are always considered to have the Robe of the Forgotten Deity veil shaped and do not count it against their total veils shaped. This replaces the reactive blur racial trait.

**Sharp Eyes (Ex):** Some blinklings more closely resemble a normal halfling than a blinkling. They lack the canine nose of a blinkling but have the keen eyes of a halfling, gaining a +2 racial bonus on Perception checks. This replaces scent.

**Wardog (Ex):** Some blinklings have a broader snout with a stunted nose and dog-like fangs that grant them a bite attack that deals 1d4 damage. This racial trait replaces scent.

## Subraces

You can combine various alternate racial traits to create blinkling subraces or variant races, such as the following.

**Houndling:** Some blinklings exult in the chase. They’re known to bay as they hound their prey. These houndling have the wardog and agile dog alternate racial traits.

## Favored Class Options

* **Cryptic:** –1-ft. penalty to the movement speed of creatures struck by the cryptic’s disrupt pattern ability. This penalty lasts for a number of rounds equal to the cryptic’s Intelligence modifier.
* **Daevic:** Increase the essence capacity of your Passion by +1/6.
* **Druid:** Gain a +1 bonus on wild empathy checks to influence canine-like creatures.
* **Harbinger:** +1-ft. of movement for ill-tidings (only increasing the distance every 5 levels).
* **Rogue:** Gain a +1 bonus on one of the following: Acrobatics, Climb, Perception, or Stealth.
* **Sorcerer:** Increase miss chance gained from magical effects by 1%.
* **Stalker:** +1/4 ki point per level.
* **Wizard:** Increase the DC to dispel wizard’s transmutation effects by 1