Races

Iroa is a world dominated by the fera - anthropomorphic animal folk. Fera form the backbone of Iroan culture and are usually the most common denizens of any given polis, but this is not always true, and not every animal variety among the fera will ever be present in equal numbers. However, there are other sapients who make a living in the shadow of the fera, some with their own small civilizations.

As a marked contrast to base D&D and its published settings, cultural abilities have been stripped out of the races of this setting. There are very few monolithic monocultures in Iroa, and your race does not define the culture in which you were born and raised. The civilizations of Iroa are relatively integrated, and while not every race will always be widely present in every city, most will have a significant presence in any given polis. You still have cultural abilities, however, which are based on the polis most significant to your character's backstory, the chief place where they were raised or that made the biggest mark on them. For more details, see Origin.

Most races of Iroa technically have basic light natural weapons in their claws, fangs or other such features, but using them simply does unarmed strike damage (d4), counts as an unarmed strike for the purpose of proficiency, and usually does slashing damage (claws) or piercing damage (bite). Some races, however, actually have a Natural Weapon race or subrace feature, which increases your unarmed damage by one step when using that natural weapon, making base damage d6.

As a Monk or other character with an unarmed focus, such as a Cleric of Embrys, you can deal the damage type of your natural weapon with your monk unarmed attacks instead of bludgeoning damage. Such a character can also elect to use a different damage die for more consistent, less swingy damage that is less likely to either maximize or minimize: d6 to 2d3, d8 to 2d4, d10 to 2d5, and d12 to 2d6. You can make this determination on a case by case basis.

It's worth noting that while many characters can use bite attacks, there is a social stigma against biting in this way in most poleis - a stigma, however, that is far less prevalent in rural areas.