Kappa
Kappa are small, roughly three feet tall, turtlelike humanoids, complete with a shell who are native to the east. They possess webbed hands and feet, and large, beaklike noses. Despite their appearance, they are warm-blooded, quasi-mammalian creatures whom some scholars speculate may be vaguely related to goblins. Their most curious feature is the bowl atop their heads which holds water within it.
Known for their strange practice of holding water on their head, many develop strange bowl-like crevices on their heads as they grow older (their version of balding) and believe water that builds up there is their life force and they die as more water leaves it. Thus why Kappa prefer to live near the water to continually replenish themselves.
CREATURE TRAITS (15 XP)
- Types Size 4 Sapient Bipedal Organism (Humanoid, Kappa, Yokai)
- Reach 5 feet
- Speed Land 20 feet
ATTRIBUTES (0 XP)
- +2 Constitution, -2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom
LANGUAGES (0 XP)
- Starting Languages: Common, any other common language of their choice.
- Bonus Languages: Any common language.
INNATE ABILITIES (15 XP)
- Hold Breath (2 XP): Kappa can hold their breath three times longer than normal.
- Innate Armor (2 XP): Kappa have Innate Armor 1.
- Kappa Weakness (-3 XP): Each kappa has an indentation on the top of its head which holds water. This water will not tip out in the normal course of events, including when making Acrobatics checks and during combat. A kappa may voluntarily drain his own water, or another may attempt to force it out. Those who successfully grapple a kappa may, as a full-round action, attempt a Combat Maneuver which will drain some of the kappa’s water. Each such successful imposes 1 stage worse of the Clumsy, Demoralized, Distracted, Sickened, Stupefied and Weakened condition on the kappa, going away only after they take a short rest and refill it. If this worsens beyond stage 4, it immediately reduces the Kappa to 0 HP or deals 1d6 bleed damage to them if already at 0 or lower.
- Nightvision (4 XP): Kappa have Nightvision 1 with the Thermographic upgrade applied.
- Powerful Build (4 XP): Kappa are treated as one size larger than they are for the purposes of carrying capacity and combat maneuvers. This doesn't stack with other effects that treat them as larger.
- Shell (4 XP): When attackers flank a kappa, a kappa can use a free action to designate one of them as facing their shell. The kappa's innate armor increases by 4 against that foe's attacks.
- Slow (-2 XP): Kappa have only a 20-foot land speed.
- Swimming (4 XP): Kappa have 30-foot swim speed and +4 innate bonus to Swim rolls.
- Yokai (0 XP): Kappa are part of the fomorians of the east, often referred to as yokai.
VARIANTS
Soft-shelled (-4 XP cost): Some kappa have a softer shell and don't have the Shell Trait.
Goblin Nature: Scholars think there is goblin blood in the kappa race and kappa with this trait seem to prove the theory. Kappa with this racial trait have the goblinoid subtype have the following attribute adjustments instead of the normal ones: -2 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Cha.
ADDITIONAL ABILITIES
Kappa begin with their innate traits and can gain additional traits from the following list as feats.
AMPHIBIOUS MYSTIC (4 XP)
Prerequisites: Kappa.
Benefits: You cast spells with the water descriptor at +1 caster level. You gain create water with the hydraulic push upgrade as a tier 2 innate primal power.
BOWL GUARD (2 XP)
Prerequisites: Kappa.
Benefits: You gain a +2 racial bonus to CMD and Fortitude saves against effects that would drain or spill your head water (including Kappa Weakness maneuvers). This bonus increases to +4 if you are at least partially submerged in water.
Special: This feat can be taken multiple times; its effects stack.
COURTEOUS BOW (3 XP)
Prerequisites: Kappa, Diplomacy 1 rank.
Benefits: You can bow as a standard action, granting you a +2 innate (racial) bonus on Diplomacy rolls for 1 minute. If a creature bows in return, they also gain the bonus to Diplomacy but you additionally gain a +1 innate (racial) bonus on attack rolls and saving throws against that creature for 1 minute.
CEREMONIAL POLITENESS (3 XP)
Prerequisites: Kappa, Lore (society) 1 rank.
Benefits: You gain a +2 innate (racial) bonus on Sense Motive and Lore (society) rolls. You also gain Empathy 1 as an innate primal power.
CAPITALIZED FEAT NAME (# XP)
Prerequisites: Kappa.
Benefits:
CLAWS (1 XP)
Prerequisites: Kappa.
Benefits: You gain an innate claw attack on each hand that deals 1d4 + Str slashing damage.
DRAIN ESSENCE (6 XP)
Prerequisites: Kappa, Bite, Claws, Shell Wrestler.
Benefits: You gain Vampiric Touch as a tier 3 innate power. Your version has the "grapple only" downgrade, meaning it only works on a target that is grappled, pinned, off-guard 3 or 4, or helpless.
HYDRIC REGENERATION (4 XP)
Prerequisites: Kappa, Con 15.
Benefits: When fully submerged in water and possessing hit points lower than half your normal maximum, you gain Fast Healing 2.
KAMI-FRIEND (4 XP)
Prerequisites: Kappa.
Benefits: Some kappa are more attuned to the spiritual world than others. You gain dancing lights, ghost sound, pass without trace, and prestidigitation as tier 1 innate primal powers.
RIPPLING LEAP (3 XP)
Prerequisites: Kappa.
Benefits: You gain Jump and Water Walking as tier 2 innate primal powers. You have the Flickering upgrade applied to Water Walking but can only activate these powers while submerged in water and their duration ends if you're further than 25 feet from a large water source such as a lake, pond, or river.
RIVER TRICKSTER (2 XP)
Prerequisites: Kappa, Stealth 1 rank.
Benefits: You gain Camouflage with water being the chosen terrain. As long as you are submerged or adjacent to water, you gain the camouflage benefits.
SHELL WRESTLER (4 XP)
Prerequisites: Kappa, Claws or Slam.
Benefits: You gain both Improved Unarmed Strike and Improved Grapple.
WATER BOWL RESERVOIR (4 XP)
Prerequisites: Kappa, Con 13.
Benefits: Once per short rest, when drained via Kappa Weakness, you can instantly reduce the stage of the conditions inflicted by it by half or by 1, whichever is more to a minimum of 0.
WEAPON FAMILIARITY (1 XP)
Prerequisites: Kappa.
Benefits: You gain Exotic Weapon Proficiency for "kappa" and "yokai" weapons.