Manfish

Bastard John streaked past Tanner, startling him, and from hidden corners of the city’s underside, Tanner saw the silent menfish of Bask riding slip through the water toward the predator below.
-Chapter Fourteen, The Scar

Menfish are a peaceful race of salamander-folk who are almost entirely bound to the salty oceans. Even though menfish cannot operate effectively while out of the water, some oceangoing vessels retain one or more menfish for various tasks, such as underwater maintenance. Occasionally, a sort of underwater room will be grafted on to the outside of a large ship as quarters for a manfish. Menfish care for the natural order and balance of the ocean, and some may become involved in adventures to protect that balance.

Personality

Menfish are intelligent and contemplative, and often take longer than other races to weigh situations and assess the possible outcomes before acting. This is because menfish are deeply concerned with balance, seeking to maintain ecological stability in their territorial waters. Menfish hold community in the highest regard, never leaving a friend behind and often going to great lengths to retrieve a fallen companion. Menfish are social creatures who live a very human-like, albeit simple, lifestyle. Menfish work with stone, coral, and bone to produce the crude implements they use.

Physical Description

Menfish resemble humanoid salamanders. They have webbed hands and feet, bulging eyes, and broad mouths covered with thickets of fleshy tendrils. Their skin is slippery, and color varies wildly depending on the climate and terrain, from drab greens and grays to vibrant oranges and reds. Their long tails are instrumental in propelling them quickly through the water. The gills and thin skin of menfish must be immersed in saltwater almost constantly, or else they will quickly dry out. Freshwater does not suffice for this purpose. Menfish reproduce much like the average fish or amphibian, with females laying a large clutch of eggs, and males fertilizing them. These clutches are laid in a defensible area, and oftentimes the entire local community takes up the task of guarding them fiercely. Menfish take about 10 years to reach maturity.

Relations

Menfish communities are unobtrusive, and typically no oceanic power holds a grudge with them. Manfish Lands Unlike most of the other peoples of the deep, menfish do not form grand societies, but instead only make up small to medium-sized communities in whichever shallow waters are not claimed by other races.

Religion

Communities of menfish typically worship either general nature spirits, Crawfoot, or other deities typically associated with the craw or corokanth.

Language

Menfish have their own bubbling tongue, which can only be articulated properly while underwater.

Torque & Thaumaturgy (Magic)

Menfish settlements occasionally have a moderately gifted shaman, but that is the typical extent of their abilities.

Special Abilities

Size

Medium
As Medium creatures, menfish have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Manfish base land speed is 20 feet. Their swimming base speed is 30 feet.

Powerful Swimmers

Menfish have a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. They can always take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. Menfish can use the run action while swimming, provided they swim in a straight line. 

Gills

Menfish can only survive out of saltwater for a short period of time, 10 minutes per point of Constitution. After that, refer to the suffocation rules.

Surface Sensitivity 

Menfish operating out of the water suffer a -2 penalty on attack rolls, saves, and checks. 

Low-Light Vision 

While submerged in saltwater, a manfish can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. They retain the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.

Water Awareness

Menfish have an almost sixthsense while in the water, granting them a +1 racial bonus on all saves while submersed. 

Slippery

Menfish secrete an oily film that makes them difficult to grapple or snare. They gain a +2 racial bonus on checks to counter grapple attempts or to any check to escape being constrained.

Water Thaumaturgists 

Menfish spellcasters add +1 to the DC of any spells with the Water descriptor. 

Languages 

Automatic
Manfish Bonus 
Any (except secret languages, such as Druidic.) 

Difficulty Level 

6 (of 9). Their dependence on water makes land-based adventuring especially difficult for menfish.