Thought I needed to start a fresh thread, from my 'Ajani' thread over in homebrew, as this would be a shift in subject from the original thread.
My question is if anyone knows where the catfolk primarily live/habitate? An initial answer was someone thought they were generally in southern Garund &/or Casmaron, but he didn't seem very sure.
I'm asking because I'm trying to work up a background for a catfolk fighter/barbarian pc, & it's kinda hard without even knowing where they usually hail from. We'll be running a RotRL campaign, so wherever he's from, I need to figure out how to get him to Sandpoint. My concern is the distance from those locales to Varisia.
I'll also probably be using some alternate racial traits I created to allow some catfolk to more closely resemble lions/tigers and other larger felines, instead of the housecats they usually seem to be depicted as. (That's the general question in the homebrew thread).
If anyone has any more info on the home regions for the catfolk, as well as any suggestions for background to get him to Sandpoint, I'd really appreciate the help.
(polite) bump...
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I think you're over-thinking this. Catfolk seem to settle in both wilderness areas and more urban/civilized areas. Just pick something that makes sense and build your background from that. If you want him to be from Magnimar, then maybe he's only one of a couple dozen catfolk (maybe 3-4 families) who live in Magnimar. Sandpoint doesn't list any catfold in residence, but your PC could be from a tribe in the nearby wilderness.
To my knowledge, catfolk haven't been given and "official" presence in Golarion. So, until we get a "Catfolk of Golarion" book, you can fit them in where ever you like.
A good rule of thumb would be anywhere that big cats might be found, you could have catfolk.
So, forests, hills, mountains, and plains.
Yes, I know the Bestiary doesn't list any big cats in hills or mountains, but I live in Colorado. Trust me, we have mountain lions. In fact, there's a mountain lion that hunts in my neighborhood!
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James Jacobs has explicitly stated, several times, that they live in Southern Garund. They might show up other places, but that one's pretty set in stone (though not, I think, listed in any books).
And coming from there to Sandpoint by way of the Mwangi Expanse and then shipping out through the Shackles as a guard on a merchant ship that was headed for Varisia makes a fair bit of sense. Just as a suggestion.
And, for the record, caring about the way the setting is built and not just plopping a weird-race character into things with no good justification is the kind of thing that I require when GMing, and I also really appreciate when people think of it before I ask. Saying 'you don't need to worry about that' does not suit all styles of game.
To my knowledge, catfolk haven't been given and "official" presence in Golarion. So, until we get a "Catfolk of Golarion" book, you can fit them in where ever you like.
Yeah, that is usually the problem with discussion of them on the boards. We have the info listed in ARG, and the rest are either vague memories of some scattered mentions from...somewhere.... or a vague memory of someone else's vague memories
For example, I am going to add here using the latter: I remember hearing from....someone.... that there are two main racial groups of catfolk. The first are your anime-esque women with cat ears, tails, and way way too much flexibility, and the other are the ones with straight up cat heads. Where does this bit of fluff comes from? Who knows, I certainly don't. I would love for someone to point to where this comes from (if it is in fact true) so I can have another source to forget.
Funny thing is though: even if you aren't making your own group, there are plenty of other sources of 'cat people' that might be able to fit your flavor (and oddly, they all det +2 dex -2 wis, +2 cha). There are the Rakshasha born tieflings and the weretiger-kin. Making a small tribe of either of these could easily allow you to place them anywhere, and they can easily be given a more beastial nature based off of big cats
I think you're over-thinking this. Catfolk seem to settle in both wilderness areas and more urban/civilized areas. Just pick something that makes sense and build your background from that. If you want him to be from Magnimar, then maybe he's only one of a couple dozen catfolk (maybe 3-4 families) who live in Magnimar. Sandpoint doesn't list any catfold in residence, but your PC could be from a tribe in the nearby wilderness.
Certainly not the 1st time I've been told I overthink things, lol.
Sometimes, I still have trouble with the idea that a 1st level pc can have a history & traveled before they became "a heroic pc" character type. Going off to see the world and have an adventure doesn't necessarily mean you're 1st level as soon as you walk out the door. It happens when your actions become the focal point of the story, when what you do is what matters. If the pc left his tribe/clan/family/whatever to seek adventure, his 'adventure' starts whenever we decide to start his story- when we decide it matters...
So the pc can be from anywhere we want, and I should just get on with it.
That said, I admit I kinda like the idea of catfolk having different subspecies based on where they live geographically (Vudrani tigerfolk, lionfolk of the Mwangi, etc), so maybe I'll play with that some... with all respect to Mr. Jacobs. :)
Thanks for the feedback.
Okay, so Southern Garund.
That got me thinking. I don't have my Dragon Empires Gazetteer handy, but I vaguely recall that the "nation" that's a jungle (and mostly monsters) might have listed catfolk in the inhabitants section...
If that's the case, there's work as a caravan guard traveling from the Dragon Empires to Varisia.
They are listed as a primary race in the Valashmai Jungle of southern Tian Xia (in the Dragon Empires Primer- I don't have the Gazetteer).
There you go. Southern Garund and the Valashmai Jungle are good places for your catfolk to hail from.
Cheers!