Manticora

Scarred Lands Players Guide

Manticora

The manticora are a race of sentient lionfolk, a humanoid cross between great cats and humans. They hail originally from the Blood Steppes, and many still dwell there, but today they can be found elsewhere across Ghelspad, though particularly on the Perforated Plains and in the Haggard Hills. This race was once the chosen of Vangal, and the manticora fought ably beside their father during the Divine War. With the titans defeated and Vangal more or less having left them to their own devices, the manticora have begun to civilize themselves, engaging with the divine races and settling into semi-permanent towns and cities. They are a race in transition, ready to take the next step forward as a people.

ability score increase: Your Dexterity score increases by 2, and either your Wisdom or your Charisma score increases by 1.

age: Manticora mature in their late teens, and few live over a century.

alignment: Chaotic, usual Neutral or Evil. Chaotic Good are rare.

Size: Medium

speed: 30 ft, If hands are empty, can move on all fours at 40 ft.

Languages: Leonid and any one other language.

race features:

• Darkvision (60 ft.). Your catlike eyes can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
• Keen Senses. You have proficiency in the Perception skill. Manticora Combat Training. You have proficiency with claw gauntlets and shortbows.
• Natural Hunter. When you select skill proficiencies from your class during character creation, you add Stealth and Survival to your list of choices.
• Natural Weapons. You have fangs and claws you can use in combat. Both are finesse weapons with which you have proficiency. Your Bite attack deals 1d4 piercing damage, while your Claws attack deals 1d4 slashing. If you deal improved unarmed damage, such as from the monk’s Martial Arts class feature, you can deal your normal unarmed strike damage with your Claws attack instead.

Physical Description: The manticora are a graceful, yet fearsome combination of feline and human. They stand upright on two feet, with a long, lion’s tail swishing between their digitigrade legs. The torso is humanoid, and the whole is covered in tawny or russet-gold fur. The manticora’s head shares features of both species: catlike eyes and nose, but humanlike ears, and a foreshortened leonine snout filled with sharp feline teeth. Male manticora have a thick mane, while females have more fur covering the face than the males. Manticora wear rustic tunics and simple cloth robes for clothing, though being furred, they tend to wear as little clothing as possible, climate permitting.

Society: The manticora are a traditionally nomadic people. Each pride is led by the strongest male in the group (although some powerful females have turned this rule on its head). Some of the more civilized prides have begun to settle in the Haggard Hills, forming small towns and villages and engaging in regular trade with the other races. Some of the more violent manticora tribes of the Perforated Plains, still somewhat loyal to Vangal, have formed a loose union, or at least a peace pact, with the Bleak Savannah’s “proud” (a race of savage, centaur-like leonine creatures). Yet other manticora, particularly in the Blood Steppes, remain fiercely independent.

The manticora admire storytellers and keepers of history, perhaps because the race has not existed for a very long time relative to many others. Skalds and bards are common among them, valued by their prides. The manticora prefer oral traditions over written ones.

Relations: As a former servitor race to one of the gods (even if that god was Vangal the Reaver), the manticora do not face the same stigma as many of the Redeemed. That said, most other races still consider the catfolk to be dangerous and untrustworthy, citing stories of bloodthirsty manticora raids on settlements and villages all around the Blood Steppes, and even as far off as Vesh, New Venir, and Hollowfaust.
However, a number of contemporary manticora are making great strides to repair their tarnished reputations. The manticoras’ greatest success thus far has been with the Ganjus elves, who have established a number of treaties and trade agreements with peaceable factions among the lionfolk. Elsewhere, the manticora have established relations with the orcs of the Plains of Lede and the slitherin of the Walled Warren.
More than one sage has observed that the manticora must be related to the panther-like terali catfolk of Termana.