Grin and Bear It

Back in the 1980s, teddybear-like races seemed to be everywhere in fantasy and science fiction media, particularly in cartoons aimed at younger fans. First came Return of the Jedi (1983), which introduced the Ewoks. These furry folk returned in two Ewok movies and a short-lived cartoon over the next couple of years. The Dungeons & Dragons (1983-1985) episode "The Traitor" featured cloud bears, who were obviously based on Ewoks, but with better technology and language skills. Then in 1985, Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears debuted, featuring a family of cute talking bears with access to a unique magical recipe. (The Care Bears also appeared in this decade, but that franchise never appealed to me, as they were overly saccharine and clearly aimed at a much younger audience.)

I was introduced to role-playing games just a year or two before Jedi, and the mid-to-late-'80s were my teen years. Therefore it was inevitable that I would try to work out game mechanics for my own small ursine humanoid race. I called them cloud bears after the D&D cartoon, but deliberately designed them to serve just as well for Ewoks or Gummi Bears. Those notes no longer survive, having gone the way of all my other juvenile RPG adaptations (like Voltron and Thundercats).

I was reminded of that old project by a thread at The Piazza asking members whether they used Ewoks in their Star Wars campaigns. Both my favored systems and my game design skills have changed dramatically in the past 30 years, so I decided to try to recreate that old idea using my current system of choice. The Race Builder rules in the Pathfinder RPG Advanced Race Guide made this exercise quite easy. You'll need a copy of that book (or follow the link to the online Pathfinder SRD) for full details of the traits listed below.

Bearfolk

Bearfolk are a race of small furry humanoids with soft, rounded features that often cause larger races to dismiss them as cute and harmless. The bearfolk usually encourage such erroneous thinking for their own safety. They are approximately the size of halflings or gnomes, but tend to be somewhat more stockily built. All are covered by a dense layer of fur that gives them some additional protection from enemies and the weather.

Most bearfolk dwell in forests, where they can find food and building materials in abundance. Isolated family groups build camouflaged homes in caves, hollow trees, or hidden dells. Larger communities take to the trees themselves, building their homes on platforms high in the canopy, connected by rope and plank bridges. Crude elevators hung from cranes or winches give access to and from the forest floor, while allowing the bearfolk to withdraw out of reach of ground-bound threats.

Bearfolk leaders are chosen for their skills at surviving in the wilderness, efficiently organizing their people to solve problems, and negotiating with outsiders. They tend to belong to socially-oriented classes such as bards or charismatic rogues.

• Type
• Humanoid (bearfolk) (0 RP)
• Size
• Small (0 RP)
• Base Speed
• Slow (-1 RP)
• Ability Score Modifiers
• Standard (-2 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Cha*) (0 RP)
• Languages
• Standard (Bearfolk, Common) (0 RP)*
• Racial Traits
• Defense Racial Traits
• Bond to the Land (2 RP)
• Lucky, Lesser (1 RP)
• Natural Armor (1 RP)
• Stubborn (2 RP)*
• Feat and Skill Racial Traits
• Skill bonus (+2 Climb) (2 RP)
• Gregarious (1 RP)*
• Senses Racial Traits
• Low-light Vision (1 RP)
• Total: 9 RP

At least two subraces of bearfolk have been identified. Members of those subraces replace the bonus to Charisma and the Stubborn and Gregarious traits (marked with an asterisk [*] above) with the new traits listed below. The total Race Points remain unchanged. Feral bearfolk also replace the Standard language trait.

Feral Bearfolk

These bearfolk are superstitious and highly suspicious of all other races, because so many of the creatures native to their forest or jungle homelands are bigger and more dangerous than they are. Some adventurers describe them as backwards and quaint, but endearing; others paint them as bloodthirsty cannibals. Most tribes are limited to stone age weapons, but they are far from stupid, and often quite ingenious in rigging traps to protect their homes.

Their leaders are typically rangers, druids, or shamans, whose deep knowledge of the natural world helps the tribe survive and flourish.

• Ability Score Modifiers
• Standard (-2 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Wis) (0 RP)
• Languages
• Xenophobic (0 RP)
• Racial Traits
• Feat and Skill Racial Traits
• Camouflage (1 RP)
• Stalker (1 RP)
• Offense Racial Traits
• Swarming (1 RP)

Witch Bears

These clever bearfolk live in smaller groups than others of their race, typically in individual dwellings or tiny settlements consisting of a single extended family. They are known for experimenting with alchemy and magic, with each family claiming an ancestor who invented or discovered one or more new alchemical substances or magical rituals. (The bouncy body spell-like ability listed below is just one example of a secret recipe handled down within a family.)

Witch bear leaders are typically alchemists, wizards, or witches dedicated to preserving and perfecting their family's unique traditions. Individual characters often pursue archetypes that grant alchemical powers (such as mutagens) to classes that normally lack them.

• Ability Score Modifiers
• Standard (-2 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Int) (0 RP)
• Racial Traits
• Feat and Skill Racial Traits
• Skill Bonus (+2 to any one Craft) (2 RP)
• Magical Racial Traits
• Spell-like Ability, Lesser (1/day--bouncy body [Monster Codex 105]) (1 RP)