Locathah

Locathah or "fishfolk" seem to be Nature's take on merfolk: humans with fish heads, gills, and long, webbed phalanges. They live in harbors and occasionally foray inland in "land boats" (carts) to hunt animals. Locathah can breath outside water but get increasingly uncomfortable on account of their scales seizing up. Many oil themselves or bathe frequently to overcome this problem. Communities which live near human settlements either communicate openly and trade with them, or get cheesed off by fishing nets tangling up their children and stealing their food source. Amusingly, most Locathah seen on land are invariably mounted upon donkeys. They regard these little beasts the same way we think of dolphins, and rely on their good-natured helpfulness (or their ingrained, resigned obedience) to get around. Note that riding a donkey does not make the Locathah incompatible with doorways, owing to the relative smallness of both creatures. Also recall that donkeys and mules will willingly go inside dungeons and deftly traverse awkward terrain, unlike horses.

Adventuring

Locathah adventurers are strong supporters, adding a little bit of casual ease to the atmosphere. They are good for overland travel as long as they have a donkey or at least a cart to ride upon; don't ask a fishfolk to waddle more than a furlong if you want to keep his friendship. If a river runs along your path of travel, your locathah pal is probably best suited to swim alongside the party. She can make better time, even upstream, and can scout ahead for you.

History

Locathah seem to have developed several different times, and always within reach of a known lowhut habitat. This leads researchers to believe that they are a derived and magically-corrupted variant of lowhuts. While they are a good bit taller, their toughness and homebody attitude seems to be a good sign of inheritance. Each original home of locathah is associated with an aquatic HMZ, and thus with a prime place for merfolk and water dragon habitation. Due to selection pressures from such underwater oppressors, locathah have long kept their shallow-water towns either hidden or mobile.

Culture

Floating locathah villages are not an uncommon sight in some ports, as the locals thereof tow their floating houses here and there for trade and socialization. There's a good community spirit among locathah, but this mostly stems from a natural interdependence the fishfolk share. Being open, honest, and trusting is more natural to locathah than to most other folk. Among more diverse populations, fishfolk typically take a back seat, acting as supporters and trying to go with the flow.

Stereotypes

People think of fishfolk as dimwitted and clumsy, which most actually are. Only, some unwise folk discount their value for these reasons. Those who know a few locathah learn to respect their steadfast persistence, even in activities for which they have absolutely no aptitude. Some coastline-dwellers habitually blame locathah for poor fishing catches, or for stealing their anchors when a boat drifts overnight. These stories are not completely unfounded, but once again the bad stories have more grip than the good.

Locathah Racial Traits

Locathah are clumsy and slow on land, but have a panoply of fishy quirks which can really come in handy. They are allotted the following racial ability adjustments and perks:

• -1 Int, -1 Dex, +2 Con ability score adjustments. Though slightly dense and clumsy in general, these fishy little people make up for their blundering with outstanding toughness.
• +3 to one intellectual (Int, Wis, Cha) ability score of your choice, reflecting the locathah penchant for specialization. They're beautiful on the inside.
• Natural armor bonus of 2, thanks to subcutaneous scales.
• +2 on Ride, Escape Artist, and Handle Animal checks, and these are always class skills for the locathah.
• Speed: 15 foot (10 in Med or Heavy armor) or swim 60 foot. Locathah may take 10 on any swim check, and receive a +8 racial bonus on all swim checks. Imagine walking around in swim fins all the time.
• The Locathah's aquatic adaptation and fin-hands and fin-feet make them all-round clumsy on land. This equates to a permanent Armor Check Penalty of 2, which stacks with whatever their armor causes. This penalty doesn't apply to Swim, Ride, or Escape Artist.
• +1 on attack rolls made with thrown weapons or any sort of spear or trident (+2 when throwing spears or tridents).
• Locathah benefit from a +1 Racial bonus on all Will and Fortitude saves. They've failed to develop means of avoiding danger, so they make up for it by taking their lumps like a boss.
• Locathah can respirate underwater using their gills, and their big googly eyes give them Low-Light Vision. They can also see normally down there without goggles, and salt water doesn't bother their eyes.
• One Permanent Mutation (see below).
• Locathah can withstand twice the normal dose of thaumic before they exhibit any symptom of thaumic radiation sickness.

Sample Locathah by Oogalook

Physical Characteristics

Average Height

4'4"

Average Weight

100 lbs

Skin Colors

Anything you might see on a trout

Eye Colors

Pale grey, blue, or green

Average Lifespan

55 years

Preferred Classes

Cleric work is pretty common among locathah. They have the kind of easygoing peace which makes connection to the Gods more easy, and their ability to focus on Wis-based skills helps as well.
Ranger fishfolk can rove the land or waters as advanced scouts. They're much faster one way than the other, but their endurance and toughness make them quite comfortable roughing it in the wild.
Bard employment attracts a quite a few locathah, increased in appeal by the challenge of operating an instrument with flippers for hands.

Naming Traditions

Names are decidedly ordinary, but remind one of the Locathah's habitat: Aquadan, Aquafran, Wet William, Dampened Steve, Submerged Sarah

Parent ethnicities

• Lowhut

Permanent Mutation

You or your ancestor didn't cover up properly in an HMZ, or got buffeted by some thaumic pulse which has baddly widdled your genetic code. You have a congenital trait which is very silly and embarrassing at parties.
 Prerequisites: Screwbro subrace or a past or ancestral case of thaumic anatomical rebellion
 Benefit: When you gain a Permanent Mutation, roll 2d20, compare each result to the table, and select one or both. It's now a permanent feature of your character.

1. One of your eyes wanders, scanning the horizon when you want to focus. -1 on ranged attack rolls, +1 on Spot checks to notice movement.
2. Your skin/scales/exoskeleton is a slightly embarrassing color.
3. You cannot read unless the text is very large or red in color. However, you are not enraged by sensationalized headlines in newspapers.
4. Your left hand passes right through liquids and cannot get wet.
5. All of your hands and feet have 1 fewer digits than normal.
6. You have too few teeth, and it makes your smile look goofy.
7. Your perspiration smells like buttered popcorn. Everything else that comes out of you smells like mustard.
8. You cannot see the color purple, and purple objects appear transparent.
9. Squirrels think you are a squirrel. Rats think you are a rat. Birds think you are a tasty corn-on-the-cob, but can be frightened off by non-corn life forms.
10. Your eyebrows glow in the dark.
11. You occasionally sneeze luminous clouds of bubbles.
12. You are addicted to mothballs. When you eat one, smoke pours from your ears. You can make a cloud like Obscuring Mists in about 6 seconds (a full-round action) if you eat enough to make you Sickened for 1 minute.
13. You cannot distinguish between green and red, nor between butter and dead crabs.
14. When caught by a gust of wind, you are pushed the wrong way.
15. Your right hand has 1 more finger than normal. Also, you have an urge to kill swordsmiths, and are otherwise abnormally cowardly.
16. You are uncontrollably hairy. Hair grows all over your body. Wow.
17. You have an extra ear growing on the top of you head which hears thoughts regarding food.
18. You have a small, useless arm or leg growing off your body. It waves energetically at strangers. This can be removed by a simple surgery before the start of the adventure.
19. A small plant is growing from the top of your head. If you have a head ear, the plant has that ear as a leaf.
20. You can hear twice as far in darkness as other members of your race, but cannot hear well in bright light: +4 or -4 to Perception made to hear things, respectively. "You'll have to speak up, it is pretty bright in here."

 Normal: To become more normal, you can have the mutation epigenetically suppressed if you get a powerful clerc or transmuter wizard to take a look at it. This normally takes about a week and around 1000 GP worth of materials, in addition to whatever the doctor charges. The trait remains in your genome, though, and may affect your genetic progeny.