Shoony

Diminutive humanoids who resemble squat, bipedal dogs, shoonies are sometimes mistaken for weak and insular pacifists. However, their sheer perseverance, incredible work ethic, and resourceful use of diplomacy make shoonies far from helpless.

Physical Description

Shoonies are squat, furry humanoids with flattened canid faces and wet, black eyes.

Their fur can be a variety of hues and patterns, with the most common colors being fawn or black, and their loose skin gives even the fittest shoony a pudgy appearance. Shoonies have short, curly tails that sometimes wag involuntarily when the shoony is content or particularly excited or pleased.

Like canines, shoonies cannot sweat; they pant to mitigate heat and exertion, and it is not uncommon to see a shoony with a perpetually lolling tongue.

A shoony reaches maturity after just 8 to 10 years, and the elders of their villages rarely reach the age of 50.

Little differentiates male and female shoonies except during the late stages of pregnancy, and as they age, both sexes develop graying facial fur, wrinkled skin, and frail joints. The average shoony is 3-1/2 feet tall and weighs 100 pounds.

Society

Despite the shoony drive toward communal living, most shoony settlements are farming villages with populations of no more than a hundred. Shoonies work hard to make their lands bountiful and recognize that large, dense populations can negatively affect the ecosystem. Monster attacks, natural disasters, and exploitation from stronger cultures have all also limited the spread of shoonies across the world.

Despite their short lifespans, shoonies are happy-go-lucky people with an irrepressible love for the land and their fellow shoonies, and remain optimistic even under the worst circumstances. The simple pleasures of living on this beautiful world, engaging in hard work, and surrounding themselves with loved ones motivate shoonies to push through the hardships that all too often befall their people.

Alignment and Religion

Most shoony societies encourage empathy and loyalty, so they’re rarely evil, but they’re also practical, traditional, and timid. Most shoony adventurers are neutral good or lawful good. Religion is a cornerstone of shoony village life; shoonies primarily worship deities with an emphasis on family, community, and living off the land. Noble shoonies— especially warriors—sometimes look to deities that are exemplars of integrity, hard work, and sacrifice.

Adventurers

Few shoonies willingly choose to leave their homeland and friends in favor of facing the unknown, and the circumstances that lead a shoony to adventure are often dramatic and life-altering, if not tragic. That said, some shoonies do travel the world in search of riches to bring back to their village or to avenge their kinfolk, and shoony adventurers who show bravery or ingenuity are sure to earn a place in the legends of their people.

Names

With their strong family values and emphasis on found friends, it’s no wonder that shoonies take particular pride in naming their children after other loved ones.

Shoony names are short, guttural, and often sound like loose strings of unassociated vowels and soft consonants to people of other ancestries. Shoonies value names and take great care to learn and speak the correct pronunciations of their friends’ names.

Shoony Racial Traits

  • Ability Score Modifiers: Shoonies are nimble and natural diplomats but tend towards frail joints. They gain +2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, and -2 Constitution.
  • Size: Shoonies are Small creatures and gain a +1 size bonus to their AC, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, a –1 penalty to their CMB and CMD, and a +4 size bonus on Stealth checks.
  • Type: Shoonies are humanoids with the Shoony subtype.
  • Base Speed: Shoonies have a base speed of 30 feet.
  • Languages: Shoonies begin play speaking Common and Shoony. Shoonies with high intelligence scores can choose from the following: Dwarven, Gnome, Goblin, Halfling, Terran, and the regional language prevalent in their homeland.
  • Blunt Snout: Shoonies have a small, blunt snout and labyrinthine sinus system that makes them resistant to phenomena that assail the nose. Shoonies gain a +2 racial bonus to saving throws against inhaled threats, such as inhaled poisons, gases, and the stench ability of monsters.
  • Always Underfoot: Shoonies gain a +2 racial bonus to Acrobatics checks made to move through threatened squares.
  • Good Boy: Shoonies gain a +2 racial bonus on Diplomacy and Bluff checks. In addition, when they use Diplomacy to shift a creature’s attitude, they can do so up to three steps up rather than just two.
  • Natural Scavenger: Shoonies gain a +2 racial bonus on Survival checks.
  • Improvisational Defender: Shoonies are always prepared for fights that disrupt seemingly peaceful times. Shoonies receive Catch Off-Guard as a bonus feat.
  • Low-Light Vision: Shoonies can see twice as far as humans in conditions of dim light.

Alternate Racial Traits

The following alternate racial traits may be selected in place of one or more of the standard racial traits above.

Consult your GM before selecting any of these new options:

Bloodhound Shoony: Bloodhound Shoonies are descended from famous trackers and carry in them that same gift of the hunt. Bloodhound Shoonies gain the scent ability. This racial trait replaces Blunt Snout and Improvisational Defender.

Paddler Shoony: Paddler Shoonies have lived long and successfully among the reeds and cattails of swamps and marshes and have adapted to the challenges of living near waterlogged areas. They can move through natural difficult terrain at their normal speed while within swamps. Magically altered terrain affects them normally. This racial trait replaces Always Underfoot.

Thickcoat Shoony: Thickcoat Shoonies hail from colder climates. They have cold resistance 5. This racial trait replaces Natural Scavenger.

Shoony Favored Class Bonuses

  • Alchemist: Gain 1/6 of a bonus discovery.
  • Arcanist: Add 1/3 to the number of times per day the arcanist can use the consume magic items exploit.
  • Barbarian: Add 1/5 to the armor bonus granted by hide armor or bone armor the barbarian wears (maximum +4).
  • Bard: Add a +1/2 bonus on Bluff checks to lie and Diplomacy checks to shift a creature’s attitude.
  • Bloodrager: Add 1/5 to the armor bonus granted by hide armor or bone armor the bloodrager wears (maximum +4).
  • Brawler: Add 1/4 to the brawler’s effective level to determine their unarmed strike damage.
  • Cavalier: Add 1/4 to the cavalier’s banner bonus.
  • Cleric: Add +1/2 to the cleric’s channeled energy total when healing creatures of the animal, plant, and magical beast types.
  • Druid: Add a +1/2 bonus to wild empathy checks.
  • Fighter: Add +1/2 to damage rolls the fighter makes with weapon attacks against an opponent they are flanking or an opponent that is denied its Dexterity bonus to AC.
  • Gunslinger: Add a +1/2 bonus on initiative checks when the gunslinger has at least 1 grit point.
  • Hunter: Gain 1/6 of a bonus teamwork feat.
  • Inquisitor: Add 1/2 to the inquisitor’s track bonus.
  • Investigator: Add 1 to the bonus provided to a single skill (maximum +2) by inspiration. This skill must be one the investigator can already apply inspiration to. The investigator can select a different skill each level.
  • Kineticist: Increase the amount of burn cost reduction when using the kineticist’s gather power ability by 1/6 point (the minimum burn cost of 0 still applies).
  • Magus: The magus gains 1/6 of a new magus arcana.
  • Medium: Add 1/5 to the bonus allies gain from shared seance. This doesn’t increase the medium’s seance boon.
  • Mesmerist: Gain a +1/2 bonus on Acrobatics checks to move through a threatened area and Bluff checks to feint.
  • Monk: Add 1/4 to the monk’s effective level to determine their unarmed strike damage.
  • Occultist: Add a +1/3 bonus on any skill check attempted as a part of an occult ritual.
  • Oracle: Reduce the penalty for not being proficient with one weapon by 1. When the non-proficiency penalty for a weapon becomes 0 because of this ability, the oracle is treated as having the appropriate Martial or Exotic Weapon Proficiency feat for that weapon.
  • Paladin: Add +1/5 to the morale bonus on saving throws provided by the paladin’s auras.
  • Psychic: Add a +1/4 bonus to AC when flatfooted, to a maximum of what the psychic’s AC would be if not flat-footed.
  • Ranger: Add 1 foot to the range of the ranger’s hunter’s bond ability when granting a bonus to allies. This option has no effect unless the ranger has selected it 5 times (or another increment of 5).
  • Rogue: Reduce the penalty for not being proficient with one weapon by 1. When the non-proficiency penalty for a weapon becomes 0 because of this ability, the rogue is treated as having the appropriate Martial or Exotic Weapon Proficiency feat for that weapon.
  • Shaman: Add 1/2 to the shaman’s effective class level for the purpose of determining their spirit animal’s natural armor adjustment, Intelligence, and special abilities.
  • Shifter: Add a +1/2 bonus to wild empathy checks.
  • Skald: Gain a +1/2 bonus on Acrobatics checks to move through a threatened area and Perform checks while performing a raging song.
  • Slayer: Gain a +1/2 bonus on Bluff checks to feint and Diplomacy checks to gain information.
  • Sorcerer: Choose a terrain type from the ranger’s favored terrain list. When casting sorcerer spells in the chosen terrain, add 1/3 to the effective caster level of the spell, for the purpose of determining the spells’ duration.
  • Spiritualist: The spiritualist’s phantom gains 1/6 of a bonus feat. The phantom must meet all prerequisites of the selected feat.
  • Summoner: Add 1/4 to the eidolon’s evolution pool.
  • Swashbuckler: Increase the number of times the swashbuckler can use charmed life by 1/4.
  • Vigilante: Gain 1/6 of a new social talent.
  • Warpriest: Add +1/2 to the warpriest’s channeled energy total when healing creatures of the animal, plant, and magical beast types.
  • Witch: The witch gains 1/6 of a new witch hex.
  • Wizard: Add +1/2 to the wizard’s effective class level for the purposes of determining their familiar’s natural armor adjustment, Intelligence, and special abilities.
Section 15: Copyright Notice

Shoony: Pug People for Pathfinder 1st Edition, © 2021, Michael Mars, Author Michael Mars Russell

scroll to top