Sustinere

Physical Description: Sustinere are tall and sentient ursine who stand upright. Their fur varies in color, but the most common colors are black, white, and brown. It isn’t uncommon for a sustinere to have tufts of fur missing due to their battles, and battle scars are worn with pride. Their gruff and overall intimidating demeanor scares most away from interacting with them.

Society: Built upon war and honor, a male sustinere’s only choice for an occupation is as a soldier (magical or not), and a female is either a soldier as well, or a house wife (sometimes even both). The leaders of a sustinere society understand that pointless wars are not to be picked, and thus make sure that the war they are entering is either one they can win or one that is worth fighting.

Relations: Though not on bad terms most races, the sustinere tend to have fights more commonly with orcs, goblins, and drow. Despite these fights, they do join up in arms with their enemies from past battles if their interests align, agreeing to fight another day.

Alignment and Religion: The draw of battle makes people think the sustinere are an unlawful and ungraceful bunch, yet this is not the case. Honor and loyalty are what drives the sustinere, and their resilience for battle is because of their willingness to die in battle simply to defend what they love. Sustinere are commonly Lawful Neutral, and rarely stray into the realm of Chaos.

Adventurers: Because of their natural hardiness and tough bodies, sustinere make great Barbarians, Fighters, and other martial characters. Wizard and Sorcerer sustinere are a rare bunch, however Clerics of War are not unheard of.

Common Names: Brask, Horshar, Valkintor, Yrackdan

Family Last Names: Treesmasher, Rockcruncher, Duskbringer.

Standard Racial Traits

• Ability Score Modifiers: The sustinere are incredibly battle ready, but are hard to please and even harder to teach math to. They gain +2 Strength, +2 Constitution, +2 Wisdom, -2 Intelligence, and -2 Charisma.
• Size: Sustinere are Large sized, and thus gain a +2 size bonus to Strength and a –2 size penalty to Dexterity. Sustinere take a –1 size penalty to their AC, a –1 size penalty on attack rolls, a +1 bonus on combat maneuver checks and to their CMD, and a –4 size penalty on Stealth checks. A sustinere takes up a space that is 10 feet by 10 feet and has a natural reach of 5 feet.
• Type: Sustinere are monstrous humanoids with the sustinere subtype.
• Base Speed: Sustinere have a base speed of 20 feet, but their speed is never modified by armor or encumbrance.
• Languages: Sustinere begin play speaking Common and Susroa. Sustinere with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Dwarven, Orc, Goblin, Elven, Gnome, Halfling, and Sylvan. See the Linguistics skill page for more information about these languages.

Defense Racial Traits

• Tough as Nails: Sustinere gain a +2 bonus on all Fortitude saves, and an additional +2 bonus against poisons, disease, and substances they imbibe.
• The Call of War: Sustinere never turn away from a fight unwillingly. While engaged in battle, they are immune to any effect that would make them flee unless they willingly do so.
• Not Moving Away: Sustinere are immune to effects that would push them away from their enemy unless they willingly allow themselves to be pushed.

Feat and Skill Racial Traits

• Hard to Damage: Sustinere gain Toughness as a bonus feat.

Senses Racial Traits

• Darkvision: Sustinere can see perfectly in the dark up to 60 feet.

Offense Racial Traits

• Always Ready for Battle: Sustinere gain Improved Unarmed Strike and Catch Off Guard as bonus feats. If they already possess these feats from other classes, or if they take them later on, they gain a +2 bonus to attack when using unarmed strikes or improvised weapons.