The World of Abadonya

Island-Born Wanderers

The Catfolk of Abadonya trace their oldest communities to the Isle of Letharis, one of Oriander's island realms. Generations of life among cliffs, forests, coves, hidden trails, and changing coastal weather have produced a people comfortable with movement, exploration, and self-reliance.

Although the Isle of Letharis remains their cultural homeland, Catfolk are among the Oriander peoples most likely to travel. Merchants, sailors, hunters, performers, scouts, explorers, and adventurers regularly leave the island and return with stories, tools, songs, curiosities, and new ideas.

Many Catfolk distinguish between the family into which they were born and the family they deliberately choose. Close companions can be treated with the same loyalty as blood relatives once trust has been earned.

Built for Speed and Balance

Catfolk are lithe, slender humanoids with distinctly feline features. They possess soft fur, rounded catlike ears, slit pupils, sleek tails, and nimble hands ending in small retractable claws.

Coat patterns vary greatly between families and may resemble solid-colored cats, tabbies, spotted wildcats, striped hunters, pale coastal cats, or darker forest-dwelling breeds. Whiskers are common but not universal, and eye color can range through gold, green, blue, amber, copper, gray, and other shades.

Oriander Catfolk favor clothing that does not restrict movement. Light armor, layered cloth, fitted leather, travel coats, scarves, belts, jewelry, charms, and practical packs are common, especially among those who climb, hunt, sail, or travel between islands.

Home Among the Island Paths

The Isle of Letharis is the ancestral homeland of the Catfolk in Abadonya. Its varied terrain rewards agility, caution, good hearing, and the ability to move quickly through difficult ground.

Catfolk settlements tend to feel open and communal rather than rigidly divided. Extended families, hunting bands, neighborhood groups, trade crews, and chosen companions often overlap in ways outsiders may initially find difficult to follow.

Homes frequently make use of elevated spaces, narrow stairs, terraces, balconies, tree platforms, cliff paths, rooftops, and other areas that take advantage of Catfolk balance and climbing ability.

Every Path Leads Somewhere

Curiosity is one of the defining traits of Catfolk culture. New places, unfamiliar objects, strange customs, hidden ruins, unexplored islands, and unusual people are all potential sources of interest.

This curiosity is not limited to geography. Catfolk scholars, artists, spellcasters, philosophers, craftsmen, and storytellers often approach their disciplines with the same restless desire to test assumptions and discover something overlooked.

A Catfolk may spend years mastering a skill and then abruptly pursue something entirely different simply because a new question has become impossible to ignore.

Individuality Without Isolation

Catfolk place a high value on self-expression, but personal ambition is expected to exist alongside responsibility to family and community. Individual skill is admired most when it contributes to the well-being of others.

Leadership is usually practical rather than purely hereditary. Competence, judgment, courage, social trust, and the ability to settle disputes matter more than impressive titles.

Among travelers, close friends and adventuring companions can become a chosen tribe. Once that bond is accepted, Catfolk loyalty can be remarkably strong.

Natural Trackers

Catfolk possess strong instincts for hunting, stalking, navigation, and observing their surroundings. On the Isle of Letharis, these talents are useful not only for finding game but also for watching dangerous coastlines, locating hidden paths, and moving safely through unfamiliar terrain.

Scouts often travel ahead of larger groups, marking hazards and watching for movement. Hunters value patience as much as speed, knowing that a single well-timed burst of action can matter more than constant effort.

These same instincts make Catfolk effective explorers, messengers, thieves, rangers, sailors, and wilderness guides throughout Oriander.

A World Worth Exploring

Catfolk spiritual traditions often emphasize the living world, family bonds, personal growth, curiosity, and respect for places that sustain a community.

Trentula attracts hunters, wilderness guides, and those concerned with the natural world, while Rivera is especially important to Catfolk whose lives revolve around Oriander's seas and island communities. Mandella appeals to messengers, storytellers, and seekers of knowledge, while Rashtala draws magically inclined explorers.

Catfolk may follow any alignment or deity. Curiosity and community are cultural tendencies rather than restrictions on individual belief.

Standard Pathfinder 1e Racial Traits

Ability Score Modifiers: Catfolk gain +2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, and –2 Wisdom.

Type: Catfolk are humanoids with the catfolk subtype.

Size: Catfolk are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to size.

Base Speed: Catfolk have a base speed of 30 feet.

Languages: Catfolk begin play speaking Common and Catfolk. Catfolk with high Intelligence scores can choose Elven, Gnoll, Gnome, Goblin, Halfling, Orc, and Sylvan as bonus languages.

Cat's Luck (Ex): Once per day when making a Reflex saving throw, a Catfolk can roll twice and take the better result. The decision to use this ability must be made before the saving throw is attempted.

Natural Hunter: Catfolk gain a +2 racial bonus on Perception, Stealth, and Survival checks.

Sprinter: Catfolk gain a 10-foot racial bonus to their speed when using the charge, run, or withdraw actions.

Low-Light Vision: Catfolk can see twice as far as humans in conditions of dim light.

Race Points: 9 RP.

These are the standard Pathfinder 1e Catfolk racial mechanics used for Catfolk characters in Abadonya.

Selected Alternate Racial Traits

Cat's Claws: Some Catfolk possess stronger claws that function as two primary natural attacks dealing 1d4 damage. This replaces Natural Hunter.

Clever Cat: Gain a +2 racial bonus on Bluff, Diplomacy, and Sense Motive checks. This replaces Natural Hunter.

Climber: Gain a climb speed of 20 feet and the normal bonuses associated with a climb speed. This replaces Sprinter.

Curiosity: Gain a +4 bonus on Diplomacy checks to gather information, and Knowledge (history) and Knowledge (local) become class skills. This replaces Natural Hunter.

Jungle Stalker: Gain a +2 racial bonus on Acrobatics checks and ignore the first square of difficult terrain caused by foliage each round. This replaces Cat's Luck and Sprinter.

Nimble Faller: Always land on your feet when taking lethal falling damage and gain a +1 bonus to CMD against trip attempts. This replaces Sprinter.

Scent: Gain the scent ability. This replaces Low-Light Vision.

Selected Favored Class Options

Alchemist: Gain 1/6 of a bonus discovery.

Bard: Add +1/2 to the bard's bardic knowledge bonus.

Druid: Add +1 hit point to the druid's animal companion.

Hunter: Gain 1/6 of a bonus teamwork feat.

Ranger: Choose an eligible weapon and add +1/2 on critical confirmation rolls with that weapon, to the listed maximum.

Rogue: Add +1/2 on Bluff checks to feint and Sleight of Hand checks to pickpocket.

Sorcerer: Increase the daily uses of one qualifying 1st-level bloodline power.

The Island Is Home, Not a Boundary

Catfolk adventurers often leave the Isle of Letharis because remaining in one place eventually feels like ignoring too much of the world.

Rangers, druids, rogues, bards, sorcerers, hunters, monks, investigators, slayers, and other mobile or exploration-focused classes fit naturally, though Catfolk can pursue any class.

An Oriander Catfolk might search for a missing island expedition, chart forgotten sea routes, investigate ruins hidden in jungle growth, carry messages between distant communities, collect stories from every region of Abadonya, or simply follow a mystery because nobody else has answered it yet.

Return to the Races of Abadonya index to browse other ancestries.