Kijin (Key-gin)
Appearance
Kijin tend to be tall and svelte, with light colored skin, pointed ears, and a mane of vibrantly colored hair. The Kijin are often confused for the much more common, Tiefling, due to their single or pair of slender horns. While their horns may, on first blush, look similar to some tieflings, Kijin horns appear to meld to their skin, rather than puncturing through. About halfway up a Kijin's horns, the color will often gradually shift from skin toned, to a darker tone, normally black or red. While Kijin hair comes in nearly all colors of the pastel spectrum, their eyes tend to be golden, amber, or green.
There are four distinct types of Kijin, which share most of their traits, but vary slightly; The Toranku, Yanagi, Kokage, and Komorebi.
Toranku Kijin tend to have darker skin tones, from grey to brown, and are much stronger than other Kijin, sometimes having a taller and more muscular build than the other types, or being lythe but powerfully strong.
Yanagi Kijin are tall and svelte, tending towards pink or red skin colors.
Kokage Kijin tend towards a lithe build, with dark colored hair and lighter skin colors.
Komorebi Kijin are similar in build to Yanagi, tall and lithe with lighter skin and gold, white, or silver hair on average.
Demeanor
Kijin are a careful people, slow to trust and slower still to befriend, though fircely loyal to those they would call friend. Kijin tend to be a serious lot in public, keeping quiet and watching others as they go about their business. Though, when the days work has been finished, Kijin relish the oportunity to unwind in the company of their friends and kin, it is rare to find Kijin loudly drinking in a tavern, rather more common for them to keep to lower tones when in a common room and save the jovility for the privacy of closed doors.
Kijin's tendancy towards quiet observance has led to them being some of the most prized investigators, scouts, and ninja in Wu. Though their presence is low in other parts of the world, they often work as ataches to dignitaries of Wu, always in pairs.
Some describe the Kijin as warrior poets for their tendancy to be skilled in battle and to choose their words in conversation, never speaking without thinking about the content first.
Toranku Kijin are often seen as gentle giants, their great strength tempored equally by strength of will.
Yanagi Kijin are oftern viewed as calm and intelligent people, who are just as skilled in magic as they are with a blade.
Kokage Kijin are veiwed as ethereal and mysterious, and both feared and respected for their porowess with shadow magic and martial skill.
Komorebi Kijin are seen as elegant and wise, regarded for their stratigic mind and determined spirit.
Backgrounds
Kijin hail from a small mountainous region north of Wu, where they have numerous small villiages dotted through the high valleys and peaks. The Kijin live in clans, with each clan controlling small territories within the mountains acting as independant city-states. Some Kijin clans have formed alliances with other clans, or with powerful Wu kingdoms, where their people have the oportunity to work with those allies..
Those who leave their idealic homneland, often venture out in search of wealth and experiance, often working in and for the dynasty of Wu.
Kijin monster hunters also range out from their homeland, seeking to slay threatening monsters before they become an issue, though they normally return home after their job is completed.
Adventures
Kijin adventure for many reasons, but like most, it is often in the pursuit of experience and levels. Since Nerele is governed by game like systems, most adventurers are out for exp or money, though some Kijin are driven to protect their homeland, or simply enjoy working in the Wu civil service.
Racial Traits
Ability Score Adjustments
Toranku Kijin have a +2 Strength and +2 Wisdom, being both strong and bearing a powerful will.
Yanagi Kijin have a +2 Dexterity and +2 Intelligence, being agile with a blade and quick witted.
Kokage Kijin have a +2 Dexterity and +2 Wisdom, combining agility and wisdom.
Komorebi Kijin have a +2 Intelligence and +2 Charisma, having a stratigic mind and elegant bearing.
Size
Medium: Kijin are Medium creatures and thus have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Type
Humanoid (elf, giant): Kijin are humanoids with the elf and giant subtypes. Unlike other creatures of the giant subtype, kijin do not have racial Hit Dice
Other Racial Traits
Speed: Kijin have a base speed of 30 feet. Innate Sorcery (Sp): Kijin have magic from their oni blood; they gain three zero level arcane spells as spell-like abilities usable at will, and a single first level arcane spell usable 2/day, using their character level as their caster level.
A Kijin who has gains an arcane casting class instead adds their chosen spells to their known spells if they're a spontaneous caster, or to their spellbook if a prepared caster. If the kijin is a prepared caster, they may cast these racial spells spontaneously, as if they are prepared. Kijin with an arcane spellcasting class add 4 racial spell pointes to their total, rather than having castings per day.
Martial Prowess (Ex) Kijin begin play with knowledge of three martial maneuvers, of first level, which can be from a discipline based on their Kijin type: Toranki can choose Iron tortoise or Primal fury; Yanagi can choose from Golden Lion or Scarlet throne; Kokage can choose from either Veiled moon or thrashing dragon; and Komorebi can choose from either Silver crane or Radiant Dawn.
The Kijin may ready two of their maneuvers, and may recover an expended maneuver as a standard action.
If the character has a martial class, they can choose to swap one of their known disciplines for the discipline they chose from this ability. (ex. a Toranku Kijin who choses to begin play with three Iron tortoise maneuvers, who becomes a Mystic, could swap out their access to Shattered mirror for Iron tortoise.)
A kijin character with a martial class may add 1 to their readied maneuvers.
Sin Harvest (Su) The kijin gains 2 temporary hit points whenever it deals damage to a non-good creature, which increases to temporary hit points equal to its hit dice (minimum 3) if that creature is evil. These temporary hit points last for up to 1 minute and do not stack with themselves.
Darkvision (Ex) Kijin can see in the dark up to 60 feet.
Low-light Vision (Ex) Kijin can see twice as far as humans in dim light.
Languages: Kijin begin play speaking Kijin and a regional language.
Alternate Racial Traits
Arcane Heritage (Ex): Some kijin retain the arcane aptitude of the elf. They get a +2 racial bonus to caster level checks made to overcome spell resistance. In addition, they receive a +2 racial bonus on Spellcraft checks made to identify the properties of magical items. This replaces darkvision. Evil’s Bane (Su): Some kijin are so vindictive towards evil that their malice affects their physical tools. The kijin increases his weapon’s enhancement bonus by +1 when attacking evil-aligned creatures, and deals an additional 2 damage with weapon attacks against such creatures. This replaces sin harvest. Invisibility (Sp): Some kijin are blessed with subtlety rather than sorcerous might; they cast invisibility as a spell-like ability once per hour, as a sorcerer of their character level. This replaces innate sorcery. Dream Speaker (Su): A few kijin have the ability to tap into the power of sleep, dreams, and prescient reverie. Kijin with this racial trait add +1 to the saving throw DCs of spells of the divination school and sleep effects they cast. In addition, Kijin with Charisma scores of 15 or higher may use dream once per day as a spell-like ability (caster level is equal to the kijin’s character level). This racial trait replaces sin harvest.
Fey Magic (Su): Through a strong connection to their elven blood, the character has a mystic connection to one terrain type, selected from the ranger’s favored terrain list. The character selects three 0-level druid spells and one 1st-level druid spell if the character has a Charisma score of 11 or higher, when in the selected terrain, she gains these spells as spell-like abilities that can be cast at will. The caster level for these effects is equal to the user’s character level. The DC for the spell-like abilities is equal to 10 + the spell’s level + the user’s Charisma modifier. These spells are treated as being from a fey source for the purposes of the druid’s resist nature’s lure class feature and similar abilities. This trait replaces inate sorcery.
Fey-Sighted (Su): A strong connection to your elven ancestors grants the kijin detect magic as a constant spell-like ability, with a caster level equal to your character level. This racial trait replaces dark vision.
Shadowhunter (Su): Characters with this trait deal 50% weapon damage to incorporeal creatures when using non-magical weapons (including natural and unarmed attacks), as if using magic weapons. They also gain a +2 bonus on saving throws to remove negative levels, and recover physical ability damage from attacks by undead creatures at a rate of 2 points per ability score per day (rather than the normal 1 point per ability score per day). Kijin can take this trait in place of inate sorcery.
Favored Class Options
Aegis: Add +1/4 to the aegis’ customization points.Guru (Sineater): Add +1/3 to the amount of essence burn restored by your Devour Sin ability.
Inquisitor: Add +1/4 uses per day of the judgement class feature.
Magus: Add +1/5 of a new magus arcana.
Oracle: Gain 1/6 of a new revelation.
Paladin: Increase the paladin’s smite evil bonus to damage by +1/2.
Rogue: Increase sneak attack damage by +1/2 against evil outsiders and undead.
Sorcerer: Add one spell known from the sorcerer spell list. This spell must be at least one level below the highest spell level the sorcerer can cast.
Stalker: Gain +1/6 of a new stalker art.
Warlord: Add +1/5 bonus to the warlord’s battle prowess.
Martial Class: Add +1/4 of a new maneuver from their chosen racial discipline.
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