Tengu

The crow-like tengus are known as a race of scavengers and irrepressible thieves. Covetous creatures predominantly motivated by greed, they are vain and easily won over with flattery. Deceptive, duplicitous, and cunning, tengus seek circumstances in which they can take advantage of the situation, often at the expense of others, including their own kind. They can be highly competitive, but impulsive and rash. Some claim their behavior is innate, while others believe their selfish mannerisms are cultural and developed as a learned adaptation that has enabled their people to endure through centuries of oppression.
Tengus are natural survivalists. For many, only theft and guile have afforded them the temporary luxuries other races take for granted. Many tengu scavenged for survival, scraping for food in the shadows of cities or living as subsistence hunters and gatherers in the wild. Their descendants now struggle to find their place in contemporary society, often competing against negative stereotypes or driven to embrace them, and they rely on thievery and swordplay to get by in a harsh and unforgiving world.
Physical Description: Tengus are avian humanoids whose features strongly resemble crows. They have broad beaks and both their arms and their legs end in powerful talons. Though tengus are unable to fly, iridescent feathers cover their bodies—this plumage is usually black, though occasionally brown or blue-back. Their skin, talons, beaks, and eyes are similarly colored, and most non-tengus have great difficulty telling individuals apart. Tengus who wish to be more easily identified by other humanoids may bleach certain feathers or decorate their beaks with dyes, paint, or tiny glued ornaments. Though they are about the same height as humans, they have slight builds and tend to hunch over. A tengu’s eyes sit slightly back and to the sides of his head, giving him binocular vision with a slightly more panoramic field of view than other humanoids. Like many avians, tengus have hollow bones and reproduce by laying eggs.
Society: Tengus live in close-knit communities in which they keep to themselves. In urban centers, they tend to group in communal slums, while those living in rural areas establish isolated settlements. Overall, they remain secretive about their culture, which is a combination of old traditions laced with newer bits of culture scavenged from the races common in the neighboring regions. Cultural scavenging also extends to language, and regional dialects of Tengu are peppered with terms and colloquialisms from other languages. Unsurprisingly, tengus have a knack for language and pick up new ones quickly.
Most tengu communities tend to follow a tribal structure. Tribal rules remain loose and subjective, and tribe members settle any conflicts through public arbitration (and occasionally personal combat). While every tengu has a voice in her society, in most settlements, tengus still defer to their revered elders for wisdom and advice.

Starting Ages

Adulthood	Intuitive	Self-Taught	Trained
15 years	+1d4 years (16-19 years)	+1d6 years (16-21 years)	+2d6 years (17-27 years)

Height and Weight

Gender	Base Height	Height Modifier	Base Weight	Weight Modifier
Male	4 ft. 0 in.	+2d6 in. (4 ft. 2 in. – 5 ft. 0 in.)	65 lbs.	+(2d6×3 lbs.) (71 – 101 lbs.)
Female	3 ft. 10 in.	+2d6 in. (4 ft. 0 in. – 4 ft. 10 in.)	55 lbs.	+(2d6×3 lbs.) (61 – 91 lbs.)

Standard Racial Traits

• Ability Score Racial Traits: Tengus are fast and observant, but relatively fragile and delicate. They gain +2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, –2 Constitution.
• Type: Tengus are humanoids with the tengu subtype.
• Size: Tengus are Medium creatures and receive no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
• Speed: Tengus have a base speed of 30 feet.
• Languages: Tengus begin play speaking Common and Tengu. Tengus with high Intelligence scores can choose any languages they want (except for secret languages, such as Druidic). See the Linguistics skill page for more information about these languages.

Feat and Skill Racial Traits

• Sneaky: Tengus gain a +2 racial bonus on Perception and Stealth checks.
• Gifted Linguist: Tengus gain a +4 racial bonus on Linguistics checks, and learn 2 languages each time they gain a rank in Linguistics rather than 1 language.

Offense Racial Traits

• Swordtrained: Tengus are trained from birth in swordplay, and as a result are automatically proficient with sword-like weapons (including bastard swords, daggers, elven curve blades, falchions, greatswords, kukris, longswords, punching daggers, rapiers, scimitars, short swords, and two-bladed swords).
• Natural Weapons: A tengu has a bite attack that deals 1d3 points of damage.

Senses Racial Traits

• Senses: Tengus have low-light vision allowing them to see twice as far as humans in conditions of dim light.

Origin/Ancestry

Eighth Crossing

Lifespan

90