Roo-kin

Short and extremely powerful most Roo-kin stand barely over three feet tall, and weigh around 50 lbs.

They have large feet and hands, a thick tail for balance, and an elongated face with pointed, cropped ears. Because of a naturally accelerated metabolism, Roo-kin rarely have excess body fat, however they require significant amounts of food on a daily basis to be at full strength. As a result of this, many Roo-kin have learned to train themselves at an early age to be able to survive long term fasting in case the significant amount of food their body needs isn’t readily available.

One of the more unique aspects of Roo-kin is that females have a front pouch used for child rearing that can hold two babies at one time. Many hybrids in Layna have learned that the most dangerous creature in the Seven Realms is a Roo-kin mother with a full pouch of babies.

The Roo-kin prefer to communicate in as few words as possible, and have developed a language based around lightly thumping their feet on the floor to do so. All words in this language, known simply as Thump, are tapped out with their feet, and are expressed by spelling them out.

Because of the spelling aspect of the language, it can sometimes take much longer than one would want to express themselves despite the incredible speed of their feet. To take the time to speak in Thump, means the message is important to the Roo-kin tapping.

One major issue with Thump stems from how quickly Roo-kin can tap their feet as other races often struggle to be able to keep up enough to understand without intense practice.

Roo-kin can only digest plant matter, however their energy levels are the result of an extremely fast metabolism that requires a significant amount of food every day to meet their nutrition requirements. As plants generally have smaller calorie content, Roo-kin often have to eat 6-8 full meals a day simply to maintain their own body weight.

Roo-kin Traits

• Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma: Roo-kin are agile, and have learned wisdom, but they spend so much time looking inward that they often struggle in social situations.
• Type: Roo-kin are Humanoids with the Marsupial subtype
• Senses: Low-light vision. Roo-kin can see twice as far as Humans in areas of dim light.
• Size: Small. Roo-kin gain a +l size bonus to their AC, a +l 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.
• Speed: Roo-kin have a base speed of 30 ft.
• Trained Athlete: Roo-kin are extraordinary athletes, with finely honed reflexes. They receive a +2 to Acrobatics, Climb, and Swim checks. In addition they are always treated as having a running start when making checks to jump.
• Monastic Order: Roo-kin society is divided among dozens monastic orders, each with vastly different approaches to achieving inner peace. A Roo-kin may gain the benefit of one monastic order.
• Weapon Familiarity: Roo-kin are proficient with all weapons with the “monk” special ability, as well as all weapons with the word “Roo-kin” in the name.
• Languages: Roo-kin know Thump and Common. Roo-kin with a high Intelligence score may learn the following languages: Thumper, Bleat-Speak, Yip-Yap, Meowori, and Moola.

Monastic Orders

The majority of roo-kin live separate from their Ruminant neighbors in secluded communities.

While each of these communities is unique, they share a desire to teach their members to achieve inner peace and harmony with the world. Below are some examples of monastic orders that exist in the Seven Realms, but players may wish to create their own, with GM approval.

Order of the Hidden Pouch

Focused on becoming one with the shadows, a member of this order teaches that true peace is achieved through blending into the background. A Roo-kin from this order gains a +2 bonus to Stealth checks and Darkvision 60 at level 1. At Level 5 they receive the feat Go Unnoticed.

Order of the Blazing Fist

Members of this order seek to bring peace to themselves by taming the wildest aspect of nature-fire. These Roo-kin have learned to summon, control, and manipulate flame. At level 1, a Roo-kin who selects this order may use the Fire Bolt ability, as per the cleric fire domain. At 5th level, the DC of fire spells he casts increases by +1. At 8th level add +l fire damage/4 levels to all weapon damage rolls (+2 damage at 8th level, +4 at 12th etc.). This additional fire damage stacks with other sources of additional fire damage.

Order of the Hopping Stick

Roo-kin of the Hopping-Stick believe that to master any weapon, one much fist master the Father of all weapons the quarterstaff. The Roo-kin train endlessly to become masters of the staff learning to use it for both offense and defense. At level 1, when Roo-kin of this order is wearing light or no armor and wielding a quarterstaff, he gains the feats Quarterstaff Master. At level 5 he adds +2 shield bonus to AC when wielding a quaterstaff.

Favored Class Bonuses

• Barbarian: Add +1 to the barbarian’s total number of rage rounds per day.
• Fighter: Add +l to the fighter’s CMD when resisting a bull rush or trip.
• Monk: Add +1/4 point to the monk’s ki pool.
• Rogue: The rogue gains +1/6 of a new rogue talent.