TheriapolisV3/theriapolis-rpg-clades.md

# Theriapolis — Clade & Species Selection
### RPG Character Creation Reference (5e Adjacent)

---

## How This Works

**Step 1:** Choose your **Clade** (equivalent to Race). This determines your broad biological family, base ability modifiers, and core traits shared by all members.

**Step 2:** Choose your **Species** within that Clade (equivalent to Subrace). This refines your abilities, adds species-specific traits, and applies additional modifiers.

**Step 3 (Optional):** If approved by the GM, select **Hybrid** origin. This replaces normal Clade/Species selection with a unique blended template. See the Hybrid section at the end.

All ability score references use the standard six: **STR, DEX, CON, INT, WIS, CHA.**

---
---

# PREDATOR CLADES

---

## CANIDAE — The Pack

> *"We were the first to hunt together, the first to howl in harmony, and the first to sit across from prey and call it diplomacy."*

Pack-hunters who became civilization-builders. Canidae are defined by social cohesion, hierarchical instinct, and an almost supernatural capacity for scent-reading. They dominated the Age of Imperium and remain disproportionately represented in military, law enforcement, and governance. Their strength is collective; their weakness is that isolation unmakes them.

### Clade Ability Modifiers
- **+1 CON** — Endurance runners, built for sustained effort over bursts
- **+1 WIS** — Scent-reading and pack awareness grant exceptional situational perception

### Clade Traits
- **Pack Instinct:** When an allied creature within 10 feet of you is attacked, you may use your reaction to grant that ally +2 AC against the triggering attack. Usable a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest.
- **Superior Scent:** You have advantage on all WIS (Perception) checks that rely on smell. You can detect emotional states (fear, anger, arousal, deception) of creatures within 30 feet through scent, though interpretation requires a WIS check (DC varies by situation).
- **Subsonic Communication:** You can communicate simple messages (danger, regroup, follow, stop) to other Canidae within 60 feet without audible speech. Non-Canidae cannot perceive this without magical aid.

### Clade Detriments
- **Pack-Dependent:** When no allied creature is within 30 feet of you, you have disadvantage on WIS saving throws against fear and charm effects. Isolation erodes Canid resolve.
- **Scent Overload:** Environments with overwhelming or chemically altered smells (alchemist labs, perfumeries, certain industrial zones) impose disadvantage on your Perception checks entirely, not just scent-based ones. Your nose dominates your senses; when it's jammed, everything suffers.

### Languages
Common Tongue, Canid (incorporates subsonic register; non-Canidae can learn the audible range but miss ~30% of nuance).

---

### Species: Wolf-Folk

> *The apex of the Canid line. Big bodies, bigger presence. Every room they enter gets smaller.*

**Size:** Medium-Large (6'0"–7'2" average). Broad-shouldered, heavy-boned, thick through the chest and thigh.

**Fur:** Dense double-coat. Colors range from timber grey to midnight black, tawny brown to stark white (arctic lineages). Coarse guard hairs over soft undercoat. Seasonal shedding is real and socially embarrassing.

**Eyes:** Amber, gold, pale green, or ice blue. Pupils round in daylight, dilate wide in low light.

**Distinguishing Features:** Pronounced muzzle with powerful jaw musculature. Ears tall, triangular, highly mobile. Tail thick and expressive — carriage communicates status and mood reflexively. Paws broad with dark, tough pads.

**Scent Profile:** Rich, warm base — woodsmoke and musk. Sharpens dramatically under stress or arousal.

#### Species Ability Modifiers
- **+1 STR** (total with Clade: +1 STR, +1 CON, +1 WIS)

#### Species Traits
- **Jaws of the Alpha:** Your unarmed bite attack deals 1d8 + STR piercing damage (increases to 1d10 at level 5, 1d12 at level 11). On a critical hit, the target must make a STR saving throw (DC = 8 + your proficiency + STR mod) or be grappled.
- **Tireless Pursuit:** You can maintain a forced march for a number of additional hours equal to your CON modifier before suffering exhaustion. You have advantage on CON checks to resist exhaustion from prolonged physical activity.
- **Howl:** As an action, you unleash a territorial howl audible up to 1 mile. Allied Canidae who hear it gain advantage on their next attack roll or saving throw within 1 minute. Usable once per long rest.

#### Species Detriments
- **Dominance Reflex:** When directly and publicly challenged by another creature (verbal confrontation, territorial display, etc.), you must succeed on a WIS saving throw (DC 12) or be compelled to respond with aggression or dominance display, even when diplomacy would serve better. Failure doesn't force combat, but forces an intimidating or aggressive social response.
- **Heavy Frame:** Disadvantage on DEX (Stealth) checks in enclosed or quiet environments. You weren't built for sneaking.

---

### Species: Fox-Folk

> *Smaller, quicker, cleverer — and never, ever forgetting that the wolves looked down on them for it.*

**Size:** Medium (5'2"–5'10"). Lean, narrow-framed, built for speed and agility over power.

**Fur:** Typically red-orange with cream underbelly and black stockings, but silver, cross, marble, and arctic white morphs are common. Silkier texture than wolf-folk. Signature bushy tail with white tip.

**Eyes:** Amber, copper, or bright gold. Sharp, quick-moving, always tracking.

**Distinguishing Features:** Narrow, pointed muzzle. Oversized ears (excellent hearing). Slender paws with surprising dexterity. The entire build reads "quick" — light bones, fast-twitch musculature.

**Scent Profile:** Sharper, muskier than wolf-folk — a distinctive tang that some find appealing and others find cloying. Harder to mask.

#### Species Ability Modifiers
- **+1 DEX** (total with Clade: +1 DEX, +1 CON, +1 WIS)

#### Species Traits
- **Vulpine Agility:** Your base movement speed is 35 feet (vs. standard 30). You can move through the space of any creature one size larger than you without penalty.
- **Clever Paws:** You have proficiency with Thieves' Tools and one additional tool of your choice. Fox-folk paws are the most dexterous in the Canid family.
- **Trickster's Mask:** You have advantage on CHA (Deception) checks. Additionally, once per long rest, you can suppress your natural scent for 1 hour, imposing disadvantage on any creature trying to track or identify you by smell.

#### Species Detriments
- **Fragile Frame:** Your hit point maximum is reduced by 1 per level (minimum 1 HP per level). Fox-folk trade durability for speed.
- **Canid Prejudice:** Wolf-folk, and to a lesser extent other large Canidae, instinctively underestimate fox-folk. You have disadvantage on CHA (Persuasion) checks against wolf-folk unless you have previously demonstrated competence to that specific individual.

---

### Species: Coyote-Folk

> *Adaptable. Resourceful. Everywhere you don't want them and thriving anyway.*

**Size:** Medium (5'5"–6'0"). Wiry, rangy, built like they survive on scraps and spite.

**Fur:** Grizzled tawny-grey, sometimes sandy brown or dusty red. Coarser than fox, thinner than wolf. Often patchy or uneven — not from poor health, just genetics.

**Eyes:** Yellow-gold to pale hazel. Unsettlingly direct.

**Distinguishing Features:** Narrower muzzle than wolf-folk, wider than fox. Ears proportionally large. Lean musculature — not powerful, but efficient. The body of someone who has never had enough but always made it work.

**Scent Profile:** Dusty, dry, faintly acrid. Blends into urban and wild environments alike — hard to pick out of a crowd.

#### Species Ability Modifiers
- **+1 CHA** (total with Clade: +1 CHA, +1 CON, +1 WIS)

#### Species Traits
- **Urban Adaptation:** You have proficiency in Survival in urban environments. You can find food, water, and shelter in any settlement within 1 hour, and you have advantage on checks to navigate urban spaces (sewers, rooftops, alleys).
- **Scavenger's Stomach:** You have advantage on CON saving throws against ingested poisons and disease from spoiled food. You can subsist on half the normal food and water requirements.
- **Opportunist:** When a creature within 5 feet of you is hit by an attack from one of your allies, you can use your reaction to make a single melee attack against that creature. Usable a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest.

#### Species Detriments
- **Distrusted:** Coyote-folk carry a cultural reputation as tricksters and thieves. You have disadvantage on CHA checks to establish trust with strangers from established institutions (merchants' guilds, noble houses, military).
- **Restless Blood:** You have disadvantage on checks or saves related to long-duration waiting, stakeouts, or monotonous tasks. Patience is not in your DNA.

---
---

## FELIDAE — The Solitary

> *"We do not need your pack. We do not need your herd. We need only what is ours, and we will take it when you look away."*

Felidae are precision predators — ambush hunters evolved for explosive power, preternatural reflexes, and absolute independence. Where Canidae built empires on cooperation, Felidae built them on individual excellence and small-clan loyalty. They dominate in fields requiring solo brilliance: surgery, assassination, fine art, engineering. Their strength is self-reliance; their weakness is that asking for help feels like dying.

### Clade Ability Modifiers
- **+1 DEX** — Fast-twitch musculature, retractable claws, reflexes that border on precognition
- **+1 CHA** — Felidae carry themselves with an authority that doesn't need volume

### Clade Traits
- **Retractable Claws:** Your unarmed claw attacks deal 1d6 + DEX slashing damage. Claws can be extended or retracted at will, allowing full manual dexterity when sheathed. You have proficiency with your claws as natural weapons.
- **Darkvision:** You can see in dim light within 60 feet as if bright, and in darkness as if dim light (greyscale only). Felid eyes are built for the dark.
- **Feline Grace:** You take half damage from falls of 30 feet or less (no damage from 10 feet or less). You have advantage on DEX (Acrobatics) checks to maintain balance.
- **Tail-Speak:** Felid tail and ear positions form a grammatical system. You can communicate complex emotional and tactical information silently to any creature that speaks Felid, visible up to 60 feet.

### Clade Detriments
- **Solitary Instinct:** You cannot benefit from the Help action in combat unless the helping creature is a Felidae or a creature you have a bond with (companion, mate, party member of 30+ days). Your instinct rejects unearned coordination.
- **Pride's Cost:** When you fail a check or save by 5 or more in front of witnesses, you have disadvantage on your next CHA check as composure fractures. Felidae do not handle public failure gracefully.

### Languages
Common Tongue, Felid (heavily dependent on body-language markers; written Felid is considered a lossy format by native speakers).

---

### Species: Lion-Folk

> *The only Felidae who learned to be social — and they never let anyone forget they're still cats.*

**Size:** Medium-Large (6'0"–7'0"). Powerfully built, broad through chest and shoulder. Males sport manes ranging from tawny gold to deep brown-black, framing the face and running down the neck.

**Fur:** Short, tawny gold to warm brown. Mane (males) is longer, coarser, and serves as both display and light armor for the throat.

**Eyes:** Rich amber to copper. Steady, assessing. The gaze of something that has never been prey.

**Distinguishing Features:** Heavy jaw, broad nose, pronounced brow ridge. Rounded ears set wide. Thick neck, especially in maned males. Paws enormous — pad-falls nearly silent despite size.

**Scent Profile:** Dry savannah warmth — sundried grass, heated stone, and something sharply feline underneath.

#### Species Ability Modifiers
- **+1 STR** (total: +1 STR, +1 DEX, +1 CHA)

#### Species Traits
- **Commanding Presence:** You have proficiency in Intimidation. If already proficient, you gain expertise. When you use Intimidation, you may choose to roar — all creatures within 15 feet who can hear you must succeed on a WIS saving throw (DC = 8 + proficiency + CHA mod) or be frightened until the end of your next turn. Usable once per short rest.
- **Pride Fighter:** Unlike most Felidae, lion-folk can benefit from and grant flanking bonuses. When you and an ally are both within 5 feet of the same enemy, you both gain +2 to attack rolls against that enemy (replaces standard flanking if used).
- **Mane Guard (males) / Huntress Reflexes (females):** Males gain +1 AC against attacks targeting the neck or throat. Females gain +5 feet movement speed and advantage on initiative rolls.

#### Species Detriments
- **Territorial Ego:** You have disadvantage on CHA (Persuasion) checks when negotiating shared resources, territory, or leadership positions. Compromise does not come naturally.
- **Heat Lethargy:** In temperatures above 90°F / 32°C, you must make a CON save (DC 10) every hour of strenuous activity or gain one level of exhaustion. Lion-folk are ambush predators, not marathoners.

---

### Species: Leopard-Folk

> *You won't hear them. You won't see them. And then it's too late for either.*

**Size:** Medium (5'6"–6'2"). Lean, densely muscled, compact. Every ounce of weight is functional.

**Fur:** Golden-yellow to tawny with distinctive black rosette patterns. Melanistic (all-black) individuals exist — rosettes visible only in certain light. Fur short, dense, and sleek.

**Eyes:** Green, gold, or pale jade. Pupils narrow to vertical slits in bright light.

**Distinguishing Features:** Proportionally long tail used for balance. Powerful shoulders and forelimbs — built for climbing and grappling. Shorter muzzle than lion-folk, wider set ears.

**Scent Profile:** Muted, almost smoky — jungle floor, damp wood, something quietly lethal.

#### Species Ability Modifiers
- **+1 DEX** (total: +2 DEX, +1 CHA)

#### Species Traits
- **Ambush Predator:** If you attack a creature that hasn't acted yet in combat, or a creature that is unaware of your presence, you deal an additional 1d6 damage on your first hit. Increases to 2d6 at level 9.
- **Arboreal Hunter:** You have a climb speed equal to your walking speed. You have advantage on STR (Athletics) checks to climb and can move at full speed while climbing without penalty.
- **Shadow Pelt:** You have advantage on DEX (Stealth) checks in dim light or darkness. Melanistic leopard-folk gain this advantage in any lighting condition that includes shadows.

#### Species Detriments
- **Lone Operator:** You have disadvantage on any group skill checks (coordinated efforts, team athletics, group stealth). You work alone. Working with others requires conscious, uncomfortable effort.
- **Trigger Reflexes:** When surprised by sudden movement within 5 feet (ally or enemy), you must succeed on a WIS save (DC 10) or reflexively lash out with a claw attack against the triggering creature. Training can eventually suppress this (DC reduces by 1 for every 10 character levels, minimum DC 7).

---

### Species: Housecat-Folk

> *Small. Overlooked. Absolutely lethal in ways you'll never trace back to them.*

**Size:** Small (3'8"–4'6"). Fine-boned, quick, built for spaces no one else fits into.

**Fur:** Enormous variety — tabby, calico, solid, tuxedo, tortoiseshell, pointed. Every coat pattern exists. Soft, short to medium length.

**Eyes:** Wide, expressive. Green, blue, gold, copper, or heterochromatic. Pupils dramatically reactive.

**Distinguishing Features:** Proportionally large eyes and ears on a small frame. Extremely flexible spine — can fit through any opening their skull can pass through. Quiet footfalls. Deceptively strong for their size.

**Scent Profile:** Warm, clean, slightly sweet — the least threatening scent in the Felid family. This is itself a weapon.

#### Species Ability Modifiers
- **+1 INT** (total: +1 DEX, +1 INT, +1 CHA)

#### Species Traits
- **Unassuming:** Creatures tend to overlook or underestimate you. You have advantage on Stealth checks in social settings (crowds, parties, meetings) and advantage on the first Deception check in any social encounter with a new creature.
- **Tight Spaces:** You can squeeze through openings sized for Tiny creatures without penalty. You have advantage on checks to escape grapples and restraints.
- **Nine Lives (1/day):** When reduced to 0 hit points, you can choose to drop to 1 HP instead. Usable once per long rest.

#### Species Detriments
- **Size Matters:** You have disadvantage on STR checks and saves against creatures two or more sizes larger. Your carrying capacity is halved. Weapons with the Heavy property cannot be used effectively.
- **Compulsive Curiosity:** When presented with a mystery, hidden space, or unknown object in a non-combat situation, you must succeed on a WIS save (DC 12) or spend at least one action investigating. This is not optional whimsy — it's hardwired.

---
---

## MUSTELIDAE — The Quick

> *"Small doesn't mean weak. It means you have to be smarter, meaner, and faster than everyone who thinks size is the only thing that matters."*

Weasel-folk, ferret-folk, badger-folk, wolverine-folk, otter-folk. The most physically diverse Clade, united by metabolism that burns like a furnace, ferocity wildly disproportionate to body size, and a reputation for being impossible to pin down — literally and politically. They fill niches other Clades can't reach, from espionage to engineering to the professions no one else wants.

### Clade Ability Modifiers
- **+1 DEX** — Sinuous, flexible bodies built for speed and evasion
- **+1 INT** — Problem-solvers by necessity; when you're small, you think your way out

### Clade Traits
- **Metabolic Furnace:** You have advantage on CON saves against cold environments and cold-based damage. However, you must consume twice the normal daily food ration or gain one level of exhaustion per day of insufficient feeding.
- **Sinuous Body:** You can move through spaces sized one category smaller than your actual size without squeezing penalties. You have advantage on checks to escape grapples.
- **Ferocity:** When reduced to half HP or below, you gain +2 to melee attack rolls. Mustelidae don't retreat — they get angrier.

### Clade Detriments
- **Burn Rate:** You require double standard rations. Failing to meet this causes exhaustion (see Metabolic Furnace). This is not a lifestyle choice — it's biology. Starvation hits Mustelidae twice as fast as any other Clade.
- **Short Fuse:** You have disadvantage on WIS saves against effects that provoke rage, aggression, or recklessness. The gap between "annoyed" and "fighting" is dangerously short.

### Languages
Common Tongue, Mustelid (rapid-fire, chittering syntax that other Clades describe as "too fast to follow").

---

### Species: Ferret-Folk

> *Charming, manic, and fundamentally incapable of leaving anything alone.*

**Size:** Small-Medium (4'2"–5'2"). Long-bodied, slinky, built like their skeleton is a suggestion.

**Fur:** Sable, albino, champagne, silver, dark-eyed white. Mask-face markings common. Soft, slightly oily — natural water resistance.

**Eyes:** Dark, bright, and constantly moving. Ruby-red in albino morphs.

**Distinguishing Features:** Elongated body, short limbs proportional to torso. Extremely flexible spine. Small rounded ears. The whole body moves like a sine wave.

**Scent Profile:** Sweet-musky, distinctive. Ferret-folk musk is strong enough to fill a room, and arousal amplifies it dramatically. Difficult to suppress.

#### Species Ability Modifiers
- **+1 CHA** (total: +1 DEX, +1 INT, +1 CHA)

#### Species Traits
- **War Dance:** As a bonus action, you can perform an erratic, weaving movement. Until the start of your next turn, attack rolls against you have disadvantage if you moved at least 15 feet this turn. Usable proficiency bonus times per long rest.
- **Tunnel Runner:** You have a burrow speed of 15 feet in loose soil or sand. You can navigate tunnels and underground spaces without penalty and have advantage on checks to find or create underground passages.
- **Irrepressible:** You have advantage on saves against the frightened condition. Ferret-folk have a pathological inability to take threats as seriously as they should.

#### Species Detriments
- **Attention Deficit:** You have disadvantage on checks requiring sustained concentration outside of combat (extended research, long stakeouts, detailed crafting over 4+ hours). Your focus is explosive, not sustained.
- **Musk Broadcast:** When under stress, fear, or arousal, your scent intensifies involuntarily. Stealth checks in these states are made with disadvantage, and creatures with scent abilities automatically know your emotional state.

---

### Species: Badger-Folk

> *Not big. Not fast. Just absolutely unwilling to stop.*

**Size:** Medium (4'8"–5'6"). Stocky, low center of gravity, dense muscle packed onto a compact frame. Shoulders disproportionately wide.

**Fur:** Coarse, bristly. Classic black-and-white facial striping. Body fur dark brown to grey-black. Thick enough to resist light slashing.

**Eyes:** Small, dark, deeply set. Not expressive. Assessing.

**Distinguishing Features:** Powerful forelimbs with heavy digging claws. Flat, wide skull. Short ears pressed close to the head. Built like a bunker with teeth.

**Scent Profile:** Earthy, root-cellar damp, sharp when agitated. Subtle at rest.

#### Species Ability Modifiers
- **+1 CON** (total: +1 DEX, +1 INT, +1 CON)

#### Species Traits
- **Immovable:** You have advantage on STR and CON saves against being knocked prone, pushed, or forcibly moved. Your low center of gravity and dense build make displacement extremely difficult.
- **Digging Claws:** You have a burrow speed of 20 feet. Your claw attacks deal 1d6 + STR slashing. You have advantage on checks to break through barriers, dig through obstacles, or demolish structures.
- **Relentless Endurance:** When you take damage that would reduce you to 0 HP, you can use your reaction to make a CON save (DC = 10 + damage taken). On success, you drop to 1 HP instead. Usable once per long rest.

#### Species Detriments
- **Tunnel Vision (literal and figurative):** When engaged with a single target, you have disadvantage on Perception checks to notice other threats. Badger-folk lock on and everything else goes dark.
- **Antisocial Default:** You have disadvantage on CHA checks in social gatherings of 6+ people. Not shy — actively irritated by crowds.

---

### Species: Wolverine-Folk

> *Nature's proof that fury is a viable survival strategy.*

**Size:** Medium (5'0"–5'10"). Dense, heavy-boned for their height. Thick through the torso and limbs. Nothing about them looks fast until they're moving.

**Fur:** Dark brown to black, often with a distinctive pale lateral stripe from shoulder to hip. Coarse, frost-resistant. Thick ruff around the neck.

**Eyes:** Dark amber to brown. Steady and flat. The eyes of something that has calculated whether it can take you and decided yes.

**Scent Profile:** Sharp, pungent, unmistakable. Wolverine-folk scent marks are detectable by other species at significant range. There is no subtle wolverine.

#### Species Ability Modifiers
- **+1 STR** (total: +1 STR, +1 DEX, +1 INT)

#### Species Traits
- **Feral Rage:** Once per long rest, you can enter a rage as a bonus action (functions as the Barbarian Rage feature for 1 minute, but you don't gain extra rage damage — instead, you gain resistance to all damage except psychic for the duration). You don't need to be a Barbarian to use this.
- **Jaws of Iron:** Your bite attack deals 1d8 + STR piercing and can target objects. You can chew through rope, leather, and soft wood as an action. Hard materials (metal, stone) take 1 minute per inch.
- **Arctic Survivor:** Immunity to the effects of extreme cold environments. You leave no tracks in snow and have advantage on Survival checks in tundra, mountain, and arctic terrain.

#### Species Detriments
- **Berserker's Toll:** After Feral Rage ends, you gain one level of exhaustion. The fire burns hot but the crash is real.
- **Feared, Not Loved:** You have disadvantage on CHA (Persuasion) checks with creatures who know what you are. Wolverine-folk's reputation precedes them, and it is not a friendly reputation.

---
---

## URSIDAE — The Immovable

> *"The bear doesn't chase. The bear waits. And eventually, everything comes to the bear."*

Ursidae are the largest sentient Clade. Slow to anger, slow to move, slow to decide — and catastrophically powerful when any of those things finally tips. They occupy a unique cultural niche: respected, feared, and frequently underestimated intellectually because size reads as simplicity. In truth, Ursidae civilizations produced some of the finest philosophy, architecture, and brewing in the world.

### Clade Ability Modifiers
- **+2 CON** — Built to endure anything the world throws at them
- **-1 DEX** — Mass has a cost. Speed and agility are not Ursid virtues.

### Clade Traits
- **Massive Frame:** Your size category is Large. You have advantage on STR checks and saves. Your carrying capacity is doubled. You can wield Heavy weapons without penalty and can grapple creatures up to two sizes smaller with one paw.
- **Thick Hide:** You have natural armor. When unarmored, your AC = 12 + CON modifier. Stacks with shields.
- **Hibernation Recovery:** During a long rest, you regain all spent hit dice (instead of half). If you sleep for 24 consecutive hours (a full day), you recover from one level of exhaustion, one disease, or one poison.

### Clade Detriments
- **Ponderous:** Your base movement speed is 25 feet. You have disadvantage on DEX saves against area effects (you can't dodge — you're too big). Initiative rolls are made with -2.
- **Infrastructure Problem:** Standard Clade architecture doesn't fit you. Doorways, chairs, vehicles, beds — most spaces built for Medium creatures are uncomfortable or unusable. This imposes disadvantage on social checks in spaces not built for your size (you're always hunching, squeezing, breaking things accidentally).

### Languages
Common Tongue, Ursid (a slow, resonant language with grammatical weight conveyed through pitch and duration — "sounds like boulders learning to sing," per a Felid linguist).

---

### Species: Brown Bear-Folk

> *The standard by which all bears measure themselves, and everyone else measures trouble.*

**Size:** Large (7'0"–8'4"). Enormous shoulder hump of muscle. Broad everywhere. The physically largest common species in the world.

**Fur:** Brown, ranging from honey-blonde to chocolate to grizzled silver-tip. Dense, coarse, shaggy. Seasonal thickening.

**Eyes:** Deep brown to amber. Warm in calm. Terrifying when not.

**Scent Profile:** Rich, loamy, faintly sweet — forest floor after rain, woodsmoke, fermented honey.

#### Species Ability Modifiers
- **+1 STR** (total: +1 STR, +2 CON, -1 DEX)

#### Species Traits
- **Devastating Swipe:** Your unarmed claw attack deals 2d6 + STR slashing. On a hit, you can choose to forgo damage and instead shove the target up to 10 feet in any direction.
- **Forager's Nose:** You have advantage on Survival checks to find food in any natural environment. You can identify edible vs. toxic plants and fungi by scent.
- **Stubborn Vitality:** You have advantage on death saving throws.

#### Species Detriments
- **Slow Burn:** You act last in the first round of any combat where you were not expecting a fight (initiative count 0, regardless of roll). Ursid threat-processing takes a moment to spool up.
- **Accidental Destruction:** When you fail a DEX check by 5 or more while interacting with objects or structures not built for your size, you break them. This applies to tools, furniture, delicate mechanisms, and occasionally other people's belongings.

---

### Species: Polar Bear-Folk

> *Born in the white silence. Everything about them is patience and stored violence.*

**Size:** Large (7'2"–8'6"). Slightly leaner than brown bear-folk through the hip, broader through the chest. Built for swimming and cold-weather endurance.

**Fur:** White to cream-yellow. Dense, water-resistant undercoat beneath coarse guard hairs. Skin beneath the fur is black (visible on nose and paw pads).

**Eyes:** Dark brown, nearly black. Stark against white fur.

**Scent Profile:** Clean, mineral, ozone-like — sea ice and seal fat and wind.

#### Species Ability Modifiers
- **+1 WIS** (total: +1 WIS, +2 CON, -1 DEX)

#### Species Traits
- **Arctic Apex:** Immunity to cold damage and cold environments. You have a swim speed of 30 feet and can hold your breath for 15 minutes.
- **Patient Hunter:** If you do not move during your turn, your next melee attack before the end of your next turn deals an additional 1d8 damage. Stillness precedes the strike.
- **Insulating Bulk:** You have resistance to non-magical bludgeoning damage. Layers of fat and fur absorb impact.

#### Species Detriments
- **Heat Vulnerable:** In temperatures above 75°F / 24°C, you must make CON saves (DC 12) every hour or gain exhaustion. Above 90°F, the DC increases to 15. Polar bear-folk suffer in warm climates.
- **Resource Hungry:** You require triple standard rations (their caloric needs are massive). Failure to meet this imposes exhaustion at an accelerated rate.

---
---

# PREY CLADES

---

## CERVIDAE — The Vigilant

> *"We were the first to know that every shadow could be death. That knowledge made us sharper than any claw."*

Deer-folk, elk-folk, moose-folk. Cervidae are defined by hypervigilance, explosive athleticism, and a cultural philosophy forged in millennia of being hunted. They are not victims. They are survivors — and they have turned survival into a technology, a philosophy, and occasionally a weapon. Cervidae architecture, medicine, and defensive engineering are among the most advanced in the world, built by people who understand threat on a biological level.

### Clade Ability Modifiers
- **+1 WIS** — Constant environmental awareness, threat detection hardwired into the nervous system
- **+1 DEX** — Built for burst speed and evasive movement

### Clade Traits
- **Prey Sense:** You cannot be surprised. When you roll initiative, you can add your WIS modifier a second time. You have advantage on WIS (Perception) checks to detect hidden or approaching creatures.
- **Flight Response:** When a hostile creature moves within 5 feet of you, you can use your reaction to move up to half your speed without provoking opportunity attacks. Usable a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest.
- **Pivoting Ears:** Your ears rotate independently, providing 360-degree auditory awareness. You have advantage on Perception checks that rely on hearing and cannot be flanked (no flanking bonuses apply against you).

### Clade Detriments
- **Freeze Response:** The first time you take damage in combat from a source you didn't detect beforehand, you must succeed on a WIS save (DC 13) or be stunned until the end of your next turn. The ancient prey-freeze is buried deep.
- **Predator Aversion:** In the presence of Canidae, Felidae, or Mustelidae displaying aggressive body language, you have disadvantage on CHA checks. Millennia of predation left marks that willpower alone can't erase.

### Languages
Common Tongue, Cervid (musical, flowing, with ear-position modifiers — described as "the language that sounds like wind in tall grass").

---

### Species: Elk-Folk

> *Herd-builders, wall-builders, civilization-builders. The hooves that stamped order into chaos.*

**Size:** Medium-Large (6'2"–7'4"). Tall, long-legged, powerful through the haunches and chest. Males grow impressive branching antlers annually.

**Fur:** Tawny brown body, darker brown head and neck, pale rump patch. Dense, coarse, weather-resistant.

**Eyes:** Large, dark brown, liquid. Peripheral vision range is extraordinary.

**Distinguishing Features:** Antlers (males) — broad, branching, shed and regrown annually. Used in display, defense, and as culturally significant adornment. Females are antlerless but no less imposing in build.

**Scent Profile:** Green, grassy, warm — sun-heated meadow, bark, something herbaceous and clean.

#### Species Ability Modifiers
- **+1 STR** (total: +1 STR, +1 WIS, +1 DEX)

#### Species Traits
- **Antler Combat (males):** Your antler attack deals 1d8 + STR bludgeoning/piercing. On a hit, you can choose to shove the target 5 feet. Antler attacks have reach (10 feet during full-rack season). Females substitute a powerful kick (1d8 + STR bludgeoning, can knock prone on critical).
- **Herd Coordination:** When you take the Help action, the assisted creature gains +3 instead of advantage. Cervidae cooperate with precision.
- **Endurance Runner:** Your base movement speed is 40 feet. You have advantage on CON saves against exhaustion from travel and forced marches.

#### Species Detriments
- **Seasonal Vulnerability (males):** During antler-shed period (roughly 2 months per year, GM discretion), you lose antler attacks and take a -1 penalty to CHA as the shedding process is physically draining and socially awkward.
- **Herd Instinct:** When an allied creature within 30 feet of you uses the Flight Response trait or Dash action to flee, you must succeed on a WIS save (DC 12) or use your next action to Dash in the same direction. Herd stampede is a real danger.

---

### Species: Deer-Folk (White-Tail)

> *Quiet, cautious, and always closer to gone than you realize.*

**Size:** Medium (5'4"–6'0"). Lean, graceful, built entirely for speed and evasion. Not frail — just efficient.

**Fur:** Reddish-brown in warm seasons, grey-brown in cold. White underbelly, white tail underside (flashed as alarm signal). Soft, smooth.

**Eyes:** Large, dark, wide-set. Almost entirely lateral — peripheral vision is nearly 310 degrees.

**Scent Profile:** Delicate, green, slightly floral. Almost imperceptible at rest. Spikes sharply with fear (detectable by predator Clades at significant range, which is the evolutionary nightmare).

#### Species Ability Modifiers
- **+1 DEX** (total: +2 DEX, +1 WIS)

#### Species Traits
- **Phantom Step:** You make no sound when moving at half speed or slower. Stealth checks made while moving at half speed or slower are made with advantage.
- **White-Tail Flash:** As a reaction when you spot danger, you can flash your tail signal. All allied creatures within 60 feet who can see you gain advantage on their next initiative roll or DEX saving throw (their choice). Usable once per short rest.
- **Evasive Bounding:** When you take the Dash action, opportunity attacks against you are made with disadvantage for the rest of the turn. Additionally, you can make a standing high jump or long jump without a running start at no penalty.

#### Species Detriments
- **Fear Scent:** When you are frightened, your scent broadcasts it involuntarily within a 30-foot radius. Predator Clade creatures in range gain advantage on attack rolls against you for 1 round (your body is telling them to chase you).
- **Slight Frame:** Your HP maximum is reduced by 1 per level (minimum 1 per level). You weren't built to take hits — you were built to not be there when the hit lands.

---

### Species: Moose-Folk

> *The exception to every rule about prey being fragile. Eight feet of "try it."*

**Size:** Large (7'0"–8'2"). Massive. Thick-bodied, heavy-shouldered, long-legged. The largest Cervidae species, rivaling Ursidae in sheer mass.

**Fur:** Dark brown to black. Coarse, dense, hangs shaggy. Dewlap of loose skin at the throat.

**Eyes:** Small for the head, dark, set forward more than other Cervidae — subtly more binocular, subtly more aggressive.

**Distinguishing Features:** Males carry enormous palmate antlers — flat, broad, weaponized. The sheer width forces doorway accommodations. Females are smaller but still massive by any non-Ursid standard.

**Scent Profile:** Heavy, musky, wet earth. Not green and delicate like other Cervidae — more like swamp and rain-soaked wood.

#### Species Ability Modifiers
- **+1 CON** (total: +1 CON, +1 WIS, +1 DEX)

#### Species Traits
- **Don't Tread on Me:** You count as one size larger for grappling, shoving, and resisting forced movement. Creatures that hit you with a melee attack within 5 feet provoke a free kick attack (1d8 + STR) as a reaction. Usable proficiency bonus times per long rest.
- **Palmate Antlers (males):** Antler attack deals 2d6 + STR bludgeoning. On a critical hit, the target is stunned until the end of their next turn. These antlers are not decorative.
- **Wetland Wader:** No movement penalty in difficult terrain caused by water, mud, or swamp. You have a swim speed of 20 feet and can hold your breath for 5 minutes.

#### Species Detriments
- **Ursid-Scale Problems:** As a Large creature, you share many of the infrastructure problems of Ursidae. Standard furniture, doorways, and vehicles are too small. Disadvantage on DEX (Stealth) checks — you are not subtle.
- **Solitary Cervid:** Unlike most Cervidae, moose-folk are not herd-oriented. You do not benefit from Herd Coordination and have disadvantage on CHA checks in groups larger than 4. You don't do committees.

---
---

## LEPORIDAE — The Quick and the Clever

> *"We don't fight. We outrun, outbreed, outthink, and outlast. You want to call that weakness? We'll be here when you're gone."*

Rabbit-folk and hare-folk. The smallest common prey Clade, Leporidae have survived not through strength or size but through explosive speed, prodigious reproduction, community networks, and a cultural genius for making themselves indispensable. They dominate in medicine, communications, logistics, and information brokering. If Cervidae survive through vigilance, Leporidae survive through being too useful to eliminate and too fast to catch.

### Clade Ability Modifiers
- **+2 DEX** — The fastest reflexes of any Clade, bar none
- **-1 STR** — Small frames, light bones. Power is not the game.

### Clade Traits
- **Burst Speed:** Your base movement speed is 40 feet. As a bonus action, you can Dash (total potential movement of 80 feet in a turn). Usable proficiency bonus times per long rest.
- **Tremor Sense:** Your powerful hind legs allow you to sense vibrations through the ground. You can detect moving creatures within 30 feet even if you can't see or hear them, as long as both you and the creature are on the same surface.
- **Lucky Feet:** When you roll a 1 on a saving throw, you can reroll and must use the new result. Usable once per short rest.

### Clade Detriments
- **Fragile Build:** Your hit point maximum is reduced by 2 per level (minimum 1 HP per level). You are the most physically vulnerable Clade. Hits that other species shrug off can be life-threatening.
- **Panic Cascade:** When you fail a WIS save against fear by 5 or more, you must spend your next turn Dashing directly away from the source. You can repeat the save at the end of each turn. This panic is contagious — allied Leporidae within 15 feet must also make the save.

### Languages
Common Tongue, Leporid (rapid, rhythmic, heavy use of foot-thumping as emphasis and alarm — entire conversations can occur through thumping patterns alone).

---

### Species: Rabbit-Folk

> *They built the warren-cities, the message networks, the emergency medical system. Underestimate them. They're counting on it.*

**Size:** Small (3'4"–4'4"). Compact, soft-featured, deceptively powerful hindquarters.

**Fur:** Enormous variety — agouti brown, white, black, grey, spotted, broken pattern. Soft, dense, plush.

**Eyes:** Large, round, lateral-set. Dark brown, blue, or ruby (albino). Peripheral vision approaching 340 degrees.

**Distinguishing Features:** Long ears (upright or lopping depending on lineage — culturally significant). Powerful hind legs proportionally larger than any other Clade's. Cotton-ball tail. Twitching nose in constant motion.

**Scent Profile:** Sweet, warm, mild — fresh hay and clean fur. Arousal scent is potent and involuntary (sweet-sharp, hits every nose in the room).

#### Species Ability Modifiers
- **+1 WIS** (total: +2 DEX, +1 WIS, -1 STR)

#### Species Traits
- **Warren Networker:** You have proficiency in Insight. If already proficient, you gain expertise. You have advantage on checks to gather information through social networks, identify community power structures, and recall who-knows-who.
- **Kickspring:** Your standing high jump equals your full jump height (no running start needed). You can jump horizontally up to 20 feet from standing. When making a melee attack after jumping at least 10 feet, your kick deals 1d8 + DEX bludgeoning.
- **Community Resilience:** When you use the Help action to aid an ally's ability check, they add +3 instead of gaining advantage. When you provide first aid (Medicine check), you do so with advantage.

#### Species Detriments
- **Prey Signature:** Your fear-scent is particularly potent. When frightened, all predator Clade creatures within 30 feet must make a WIS save (DC 12) or have their predatory instincts triggered (advantage on attacks against you, compulsion to pursue if you flee). Your body advertises your terror.
- **Diminutive:** Disadvantage on STR checks and saves. Cannot wield Heavy weapons. Grapple attempts against Medium or larger creatures are made with disadvantage.

---

### Species: Hare-Folk

> *Not rabbits. Bigger. Wilder. Born on the surface, not in a burrow. There's a difference, and they will tell you about it.*

**Size:** Small-Medium (4'0"–5'0"). Leaner and rangier than rabbit-folk. Longer limbs, longer ears, longer stride.

**Fur:** Tawny brown, grey, or white (seasonal shifts in arctic lineages). Coarser than rabbit-folk, weather-resistant. Less plush, more functional.

**Eyes:** Amber to brown. Wider, more forward-facing than rabbit-folk — subtle shift toward binocular vision. Alertness reads differently. More confrontational.

**Distinguishing Features:** Ears longer and tipped with black. Legs significantly longer. Build is more runner than burrower. Expression carries more intensity — the difference between a rabbit's soft watchfulness and a hare's sharp assessment.

**Scent Profile:** Drier, sharper than rabbit-folk — windswept grass, dust, something electric.

#### Species Ability Modifiers
- **+1 CON** (total: +2 DEX, +1 CON, -1 STR)

#### Species Traits
- **Open Ground Runner:** Your base speed is 45 feet (fastest of any species). When you Dash, you can move through enemies' spaces if you end your movement outside their reach. You were born on plains with nothing between you and danger but speed.
- **Wild Born:** You have proficiency in Survival. You have advantage on CON saves against exhaustion from environmental exposure (cold, heat, wind, rain). Hare-folk don't burrow — they endure.
- **Jackrabbit Dodge:** When targeted by a ranged attack, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack roll, provided you can see the attacker and have at least 5 feet of movement space. Usable proficiency bonus times per long rest.

#### Species Detriments
- **Solitary Streak:** Unlike warren-dwelling rabbit-folk, hare-folk are more independent. You do not benefit from Community Resilience effects from rabbit-folk, and you have disadvantage on checks involving group coordination or taking orders you disagree with.
- **Exposed:** Without a warren to retreat to, hare-folk must face threats head-on or outrun them. You cannot benefit from full cover that involves enclosed spaces smaller than your body — claustrophobia is a real, mechanical limitation.

---
---

## BOVIDAE — The Unbreakable

> *"The wall holds because we hold it. When the wolves came, we didn't run. We stood, shoulder to shoulder, horns out, and we held."*

Bull-folk, bison-folk, ram-folk, goat-folk. The heaviest prey Clade, Bovidae are defined by communal endurance, raw physical power, and a cultural identity built on the principle that strength means staying. Where Cervidae survive through speed and Leporidae through cunning, Bovidae survive by being too tough to kill and too stubborn to move. Their herd-cities are some of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in the world.

### Clade Ability Modifiers
- **+1 STR** — Built for power. Horns, hooves, and muscle mass that rivals predator Clades.
- **+1 CON** — Endurance that goes beyond toughness into sheer refusal to fall down.

### Clade Traits
- **Horns:** All Bovidae possess horns (shape varies by species). Horn attacks deal 1d8 + STR bludgeoning/piercing. Horns are permanent (not shed like antlers) and grow throughout life.
- **Herd Wall:** When you are adjacent to an allied creature, you both gain +1 AC. When three or more allies stand adjacent, this increases to +2 AC. The shield-wall instinct is older than civilization.
- **Unshakeable:** You have advantage on saves against being frightened, charmed, or compelled to move from your position. Bovidae do not break.

### Clade Detriments
- **Ponderous Gait:** Your base movement speed is 25 feet. You have disadvantage on DEX saves against effects that require quick repositioning.
- **Stubborn:** You have disadvantage on WIS saves against effects that rely on your refusal to change course being exploited (feints, misdirections, lures). Your greatest strength is your greatest vulnerability — you commit fully and adjust slowly.

### Languages
Common Tongue, Bovid (rhythmic, resonant, hoof-stamp punctuation — ceremonial Bovid is nearly percussive).

---

### Species: Bull-Folk (Cattle)

> *Big. Patient. And when patience runs out, apocalyptic.*

**Size:** Large (6'6"–7'8"). Massive, thick-necked, broad-shouldered. Heavy through the chest and belly. Not fat — dense. Everything about them says "immovable."

**Fur:** Short, coarse. Black, brown, red, spotted, brindled — enormous variety. Thinner than most Clades, compensated by sheer hide thickness.

**Eyes:** Large, dark, liquid. Deceptively gentle in repose. Flatten and go hard when angered.

**Distinguishing Features:** Heavy horns curving outward and up (or forward in some lineages). Thick neck with pronounced hump in some breeds. Broad muzzle, wide nostrils. Hooves instead of paws — hard, split, built for impact.

**Scent Profile:** Warm, grassy, earthy — dry hay, sun-warmed hide, something heavy and mammalian underneath.

#### Species Ability Modifiers
- **+1 STR** (total: +2 STR, +1 CON)

#### Species Traits
- **Charge:** If you move at least 20 feet in a straight line toward a target and hit with a horn attack, the target takes an additional 2d6 bludgeoning and must succeed on a STR save (DC = 8 + proficiency + STR mod) or be knocked prone.
- **Iron Constitution:** You have resistance to poison damage and advantage on saves against poison and disease. Bovid digestive systems are legendary.
- **Immovable Anchor:** As a bonus action, you can plant yourself. Until the start of your next turn, you cannot be moved against your will by any effect short of teleportation, and your AC increases by +2. Your speed becomes 0 for the duration.

#### Species Detriments
- **Seeing Red:** When reduced to half HP by a melee attack, you must succeed on a WIS save (DC 13) or be compelled to attack the creature that damaged you on your next turn, ignoring tactical considerations. The red mist is real.
- **Hooves, Not Paws:** You have disadvantage on checks requiring fine manual dexterity (lockpicking, surgery, calligraphy). Bovid tool-use technology compensates, but without assistive devices, delicate work is difficult.

---

### Species: Ram-Folk (Sheep/Goats)

> *Climbers, thinkers, and the reason every mountain fortress in the world was built by someone with horns.*

**Size:** Medium (5'2"–6'0"). Stocky, compact, lower center of gravity than bull-folk. Powerful legs, especially hindquarters.

**Fur:** Wool (sheep lineage) — thick, curling, insulating, ranging from cream to brown to black. Or coarse hair (goat lineage) — straighter, weather-resistant, grey to brown to white.

**Eyes:** Horizontal-slit pupils (distinctive and unsettling to other Clades). Golden, amber, or pale green.

**Distinguishing Features:** Horns curve backward and spiral (rams) or sweep back and up (goats). Cloven hooves with exceptional grip. Beards common in goat lineages. Compact, sure-footed build.

**Scent Profile:** Lanolin-warm (sheep) or sharp-dry-herbal (goat). Both carry a distinctive musk that intensifies in close quarters.

#### Species Ability Modifiers
- **+1 WIS** (total: +1 STR, +1 CON, +1 WIS)

#### Species Traits
- **Mountain Born:** You have a climb speed equal to your walking speed. You are immune to altitude sickness and have advantage on DEX checks and saves on narrow, unstable, or steep surfaces. You cannot fall from a surface you are climbing unless incapacitated.
- **Headbutt:** Your horn attack deals 1d10 + STR when using the Charge feature (20-foot run-up). The impact is bone-rattling — targets hit must make a CON save (DC = 8 + proficiency + STR mod) or be dazed (disadvantage on next attack roll).
- **Wool Insulation (sheep) / Stubborn Metabolism (goat):** Sheep-lineage gains resistance to cold damage and advantage on saves against cold environments. Goat-lineage can subsist on half rations without penalty and has advantage on CON saves against ingested substances.

#### Species Detriments
- **Horizontal Pupils:** Your unusual eye structure grants excellent peripheral vision but imposes disadvantage on Perception checks requiring depth perception at distances greater than 60 feet. Close-range is crystal clear. Distance is approximate.
- **Herd Mentality:** When the majority of your visible allies (3+) are moving in a direction, you must succeed on a WIS save (DC 10) or feel compelled to move with them. You can repeat the save each turn. Independent thought under group pressure requires effort.

---

### Species: Bison-Folk

> *The prairie made them. Nothing else could.*

**Size:** Large (6'8"–7'10"). Massive shoulder hump, enormous head, thick through the chest and front. Hindquarters comparatively lean — all the power is forward.

**Fur:** Dark brown to near-black, shaggy through head, shoulders, and forelimbs. Shorter and smoother on hindquarters. Beard and mane on head create a helmet of fur.

**Eyes:** Small, dark, deep-set beneath a heavy brow. Not expressive. Reading a bison-folk's face is an exercise in subtlety.

**Distinguishing Features:** Short, curved, wickedly sharp horns. The shoulder hump is solid muscle. Broad hooves. Everything about the front profile says "battering ram." Tail short, tufted.

**Scent Profile:** Dust, prairie grass, sun-baked earth. A heavy, ancient smell — like the land itself got up and walked.

#### Species Ability Modifiers
- **+1 CON** (total: +1 STR, +2 CON)

#### Species Traits
- **Stampede Engine:** Your Charge deals an additional 1d6 damage (3d6 total with horn attack). If three or more bison-folk charge the same target or area, all attacks in the charge gain an additional 1d6 and the area is treated as difficult terrain from the impact.
- **Prairie Endurance:** You can march for 16 hours before exhaustion checks begin (instead of 8). You have advantage on CON saves against any effect that would slow your movement.
- **Wall of Fur:** You have resistance to non-magical bludgeoning damage. The shaggy front coat absorbs blows that would fell other species.

#### Species Detriments
- **Forward-Weighted:** You have disadvantage on DEX saves and checks that require backward movement, pivoting, or rapid direction changes. Your momentum goes one way. Reversing it takes time.
- **Stoic to a Fault:** You have disadvantage on CHA (Performance) and CHA (Persuasion) checks that require emotional expressiveness. Bison-folk faces are hard to read and their social communication style is understated. Other Clades frequently misread their calm as indifference.

---
---

# SPECIAL: HYBRID ORIGIN

> *"I am not broken. I am something you don't have a category for."*

Hybrid characters replace normal Clade/Species selection entirely. Requires GM approval. All Hybrids are sterile. This is biological fact, not a mechanical penalty — it is social and narrative weight.

## Building a Hybrid

Choose two parent Clades/Species. Work with your GM to blend traits using these guidelines:

### Ability Modifiers
- Take **one** ability modifier from each parent Clade (not species). If both parents grant the same ability, it does not stack — take +1 in that ability and choose a +1 in any other ability instead.

### Traits
- Choose **two** Clade traits from Parent A and **one** from Parent B (or vice versa — 2/1 split, player's choice of which parent is dominant).
- Choose **one** Species trait from each parent. These may be mechanically reduced (partial knot, vestigial barbs, half-effective tremor sense, etc.) at GM discretion to reflect imperfect blending.

### Detriments
- You inherit **all** Clade detriments from **both** parents.
- You inherit **one** Species detriment from each parent.
- You gain the following **additional Hybrid detriments:**

### Universal Hybrid Detriments
- **Scent Dysphoria:** Your scent broadcasts conflicting Clade signals. Creatures with scent ability who detect you must make a WIS save (DC 10) or experience instinctive unease, imposing disadvantage on their first CHA check with you. Scent-masking products can suppress this for 1d4 hours but fail under stress (combat, fear, arousal).
- **Illegible Body Language:** Your tail and ear movements blend two Clade grammars. You have disadvantage on nonverbal communication checks (CHA checks relying on body language) with purebred creatures. Other Hybrids read you normally.
- **Social Stigma:** In non-progressive settlements, you have disadvantage on CHA checks with strangers and on checks to secure housing, employment, or official services. Even in progressive areas, the first CHA check with any new NPC is made at -2 until you've established rapport.
- **Medical Incompatibility:** Healing potions and magical healing function at 75% effectiveness (round down). Medical treatment calibrated for purebred physiologies works imperfectly on your blended body. Hybrid-specific medicine exists but is expensive and rare.

### Optional: Passing
If your dominant parent expression is 80%+ (GM ruling based on character description), you can attempt to pass as purebred. This removes Social Stigma and Illegible Body Language in casual interactions but requires:
- Active maintenance (scent-masking, learned body language)
- A CHA (Deception) check (DC 12) upon meeting anyone with Superior Scent or equivalent
- Discovery imposes permanent disadvantage on CHA checks with the discovering creature and any creature they tell

---
---

# APPENDIX: Size Category Reference

| Size | Example Species | Space | Height Range |
|------|----------------|-------|-------------|
| Small | Rabbit-folk, Housecat-folk, Ferret-folk | 5 ft. | 3'0"–4'6" |
| Medium | Fox-folk, Deer-folk, Ram-folk, Leopard-folk, Badger-folk, Hare-folk | 5 ft. | 4'6"–6'6" |
| Medium-Large | Wolf-folk, Elk-folk, Lion-folk, Wolverine-folk, Coyote-folk | 5 ft.* | 5'10"–7'4" |
| Large | Brown Bear-folk, Polar Bear-folk, Moose-folk, Bull-folk, Bison-folk | 10 ft. | 6'6"–8'6" |

*Medium-Large uses Medium space but counts as Large for grappling and carrying capacity.

---

# APPENDIX: Quick Reference — All Ability Modifiers

| Species | STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---------|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
| Wolf-Folk | +1 | — | +1 | — | +1 | — |
| Fox-Folk | — | +1 | +1 | — | +1 | — |
| Coyote-Folk | — | — | +1 | — | +1 | +1 |
| Lion-Folk | +1 | +1 | — | — | — | +1 |
| Leopard-Folk | — | +2 | — | — | — | +1 |
| Housecat-Folk | — | +1 | — | +1 | — | +1 |
| Ferret-Folk | — | +1 | — | +1 | — | +1 |
| Badger-Folk | — | +1 | +1 | +1 | — | — |
| Wolverine-Folk | +1 | +1 | — | +1 | — | — |
| Brown Bear-Folk | +1 | -1 | +2 | — | — | — |
| Polar Bear-Folk | — | -1 | +2 | — | +1 | — |
| Elk-Folk | +1 | +1 | — | — | +1 | — |
| Deer-Folk | — | +2 | — | — | +1 | — |
| Moose-Folk | — | +1 | +1 | — | +1 | — |
| Rabbit-Folk | -1 | +2 | — | — | +1 | — |
| Hare-Folk | -1 | +2 | +1 | — | — | — |
| Bull-Folk | +2 | — | +1 | — | — | — |
| Ram-Folk | +1 | — | +1 | — | +1 | — |
| Bison-Folk | +1 | — | +2 | — | — | — |

---

*Document Version 1.0 — Theriapolis RPG Clade & Species Selection*
*Compiled by ENI for LO*