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Player > Races > Pahtra
Starfinder Alien Archive 2 p.95
Pahtras are Medium humanoids with the pahtra subtype.
Pahtras have darkvision with a range of 60 feet and low-light vision.
An off-kilter pahtra doesn’t gain the flat-footed condition or take the normal penalty to attacks, and she can steady herself as a swift action instead of a move action.
Pahtras gain a +2 racial bonus to Acrobatics checks, Stealth checks, and checks with one Profession of their choice.
Pahtras gain a +2 racial bonus against charm and compulsion effects.
Pahtras raised on planets with standard gravity often develop the powerful musculature of born predators and are sometimes nicknamed hunter-killers due to their lethal efficiency. A hunter-killer pahtra’s ability adjustment is +2 Strength.
The pahtra rebels known as the Krreyvash have turned to extreme methods in their fight against the Veskarium. The Krreyvash subject themselves to experimental bio-engineering that grants them exceptional strength and reflexes but ravages their bodies. A Krreyvash pahtra’s ability adjustments are +2 Strength, +2 Dexterity, –2 Constitution.
Certain pahtras show unusual insight or physical features that signify them as likely to receive wisdom from supernatural forces, according to pahtra tradition. These wise ones are given rigorous training regimes by elders and other wise ones in order to become strong in both body and mind. A wise one pahtra’s ability adjustments are +2 Constitution, +2 Wisdom, −2 Strength.
Some pahtras rely less on their vision, instead detecting their
environment via whiskers that are sensitive to air currents and
vibrations. A pahtra with this alternate racial trait has blindsense
(vibration) with a range of 30 feet and low-light vision.
This replaces pahtra senses.
Pahtras can develop especially deadly claws that rake and rend
with startling effectiveness. A pahtra with this alternate racial
trait has natural weapons that function like those of vesk (Core
Rulebook 52), except the pahtra’s natural weapons deal slashing
damage.
This replaces talented.
Some pahtras are sensitive to odors that indicate the presence of
invasive bodies. A pahtra with this alternate racial trait gains a +2
bonus to checks to detect, treat, or remove diseases and parasites
that infest another creature. As a full action, the pahtra can try to
determine if an adjacent creature it can smell is diseased with a
DC 30 Perception check. The DC of this check is reduced by 5 for
each step along the disease track the creature is.
This replaces nimble.
The catlike pahtras are one of
the most prominent species of
the Veskarium, natives of a lush
world they call Pulonis but that the
Veskarium designates as Vesk-6.
Their home planet’s relatively low
gravity and fast predatory species
resulted in the pahtras evolving into
a lean race with elongated humanoid
bodies and limbs. Pahtras’ fur ranges
in color from tawny brown to shades of
black and gray, while their eyes can be
virtually any color of the visible spectrum.
According to ancient traditions, a pahtra’s
unique facial pattern indicates her character
and potential for achievement. Some pahtra
societies still assign adolescent pahtras to a
specific social role after a reading of her face
patterns by a pahtra mystic. However, the
most recent generations of pahtras have begun
to resist this often-superficial classification,
especially as news reaches Vesk-6 of prominent
offworld pahtras who break their supposed type.
While the tradition of assigning status
based on facial fur patterns is fading,
similarly ancient rites requiring all
pahtras, regardless of status, to
participate in a dangerous, weeks-long competition in their
15th year are still very common. Such competitions involve
dividing the adolescents into groups of a dozen each and
sending them into the jungle. There, they face both natural
threats and their peers in survival challenges and war
games that result in more than a few casualties each year.
The performance of a pahtra in this rite often dictates the
trajectory of their social standing thereafter.
Most pahtras are asexual, and a relatively small number of
breeding couples bolster the population with litters of six to
eight kits at a time. While pahtras frequently form lifelong,
loving relationships with a single partner or small set of
partners, they cherish individualism above all else. From
their first steps, they strive to distinguish themselves
from their siblings by developing and perfecting a
unique ability. This inclination also makes pahtras
highly suspicious of conformism—including
that demanded by their vesk overseers—and
while they can be deeply distrustful of
strangers, they are also very protective
of those they consider friends.
Pahtra culture sees music and
battle as the two greatest
possible career paths, defining
all other activities by how they
relate to these callings. They
also see strong synergies in
the two pursuits, using music
not just for artistic expression
but also to coordinate battles and
intimidate their enemies. Pahtras have
perfect pitch and are natural musicians,
and their music plays a central role in
their society. They use arias, ballads, and
elaborate musicals to tell the stories of
their most legendary warriors, and they
play bass- and percussion-heavy music to
bolster their morale on the battlefield.
When the first wave of vesk forces
arrived on Vesk-6, pahtras were much less
advanced technologically, and though their
many nations had significant similarities
in culture, they were in no way united or
uniform. They were ultimately unable to resist
the vesk’s advanced weapons, starships,
and interplanetary empire, but their warrior
traditions, knowledge of local terrain, and
willingness to fight for their homelands ensured
the vesk conquest was neither swift nor easy.
Their bold resistance won the pahtras no small
amount of respect from the lizard-like race. While
some smaller pahtra collectives were destroyed in
the war, others formed coalitions and grew into
larger and more varied nation-states. In time,
all these major pahtra nations signed treaties
with the Veskarium, accepting vesk rule and
a host of Veskarium regulations in return
for largely maintaining self-rule in local
matters. Only the enormous Command 6
military base that serves as the capital
of Vesk-6 and base of operations for
the planet’s vesk high despot is ruled
entirely by vesk officers and officials;
more remote regions are generally
overseen by a consul who works with
local pahtra governments. While most
such consuls are retired vesk officers, a
few pahtra consuls also exist.
Vesk-6 and its people are now
unquestionably part of the
Veskarium, but most pahtra
uphold their cultural
traditions, trusting in
their ancient ways of
life to keep them
distinct (and often far away) from
the vesk ruling class. Some groups
seek to punish the vesk for their
conquest, even seeking to expel
their conquerors and reclaim Pulonis
as their own, but such efforts rarely
do more than draw the ire of legions
of Veskarium peacekeepers.
Most pahtras who refuse to
live under vesk rule instead take
advantage of the opportunities
presented by the Veskarium’s alliance
with the Pact Worlds, and travel far
from their home planet to try their
luck as explorers, mercenaries,
musicians, or seers.
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