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Pathfinder 2 easy Tree

KITSUNE

ANCESTRY

UNCOMMON

HUMANOID

KITSUNE

Hit Points 8

Size Medium; Speed 25

Attribute Boosts Charisma, Free

Languages Common

Additional Languages equal to your Intelligence modifier (if positive). Choose from Elven, Gnomish, Goblin, Halfling, Dwarven, Sylvan, and any other languages to which you have access (such as the languages prevalent in your region).

Senses Low-Light Vision

Change Shape (concentrate, divine, kitsune, polymorph, transmutation) You transform into a specific alternate form determined by your heritage. If your heritage doesn’t list a form, your alternate form is a tailless form, which is a common Medium humanoid ancestry prevalent where you grew up (typically human). This form is the same age and body type as your true form and has roughly analogous physical traits, such as hair color. Using Change Shape counts as creating a disguise for the Impersonate use of Deception. You lose any unarmed Strikes you gained from a kitsune heritage or ancestry feat in this form. You can remain in your alternate form indefinitely, and you can shift back to your true kitsune form by using this action again.

Kitsune are a charismatic and witty people with a connection to the spiritual that grants them many magical abilities, chiefly the power to shapechange into other forms. Whether they pass unseen among other peoples or hold their tails high, kitsune are clever observers of the societies around them.

Kitsune are shapechangers with two forms: one of a fox-headed humanoid and one largely depending on where they were raised. Those raised in populated areas typically have what’s called a tailless form—a humanoid body without any fox features that resembles a more common ancestry, such as an elf or a human. In wooded or rural areas, their second form is more likely to be that of a fox. Though all-kitsune settlements exist, most live among people of other ancestries, granting them a degree of external insight into social rules or dynamics that others process only subconsciously. Kitsune enjoy subverting expectations as much as they do going along with them. Their fondness for jokes, stories, and wordplay, especially when the twist of a riddle hinges on the listener’s assumptions, reinforces their reputation as tricksters.

With dual forms and a connection to both the material and spiritual worlds, kitsune have diverse concepts of self and identity. Some even view their forms as separate individuals altogether, using them to explore different aspects of their personality.

If you want to play a character with innate magical talents and countless hidden facets, each revealed with a glint of the eye and a twisting grin, you should play a kitsune.

You Might...

  • Studiously observe the habits of those around you, taking mental notes on how to imitate them better.
  • Delight in jokes, clever wordplay, pranks, or unnecessarily complex plots.
  • Present a different, but authentic, side of yourself in each new situation.

Others Probably...

  • Are taken in by your magnetic personality and enigmatic nature.
  • Marvel at your many supernatural abilities.
  • Wonder what you aren’t telling them.

Physical Description

Kitsune have alert vulpine ears, pointed snouts, and short, semi-retractable claws on their fingers and toes. Their fur is dense, countershaded, and most often red, tan, black, or white in color. Kitsune have bushy tails that grow in number as they hone their innate magical abilities, to as many as nine.

Society

Kitsune are rarely the majority in whatever communities they inhabit, and many go their whole lives without meeting another kitsune beyond their family. Their society, as much as it exists, centers primarily around the commonalities that kitsune find as they pass among other peoples. The same social perspective that helps them imitate others also makes them quick to notice signs that someone may need help or a kind word. Due to this, kitsune often form strong interpersonal relationships and tend to anchor their social circles.

When two kitsune do meet, they may find themselves exchanging light verbal repartee, enjoying the sport of trying to outwit each other. While it’s considered a grave offense to outright give away another kitsune’s shapechanging nature, kitsune relish surreptitiously forcing another to “break character,” shocking the other into disrupting their transformation through a well-placed comment.

Alignment and Religion

Kitsune often have neutrality in their alignment from balancing their dual natures, though their instinct for stirring up trouble leads many to lean slightly toward chaos. Some possess the ability to control or bend the will of others, but even among those that do, only the evilest use these arts flippantly or selfishly.

The patron kitsune deity is Daikitsu, the goddess of crafting and agriculture. Though not all kitsune necessarily worship Daikitsu, most respect her as the purported source of their powers. Kitsune in Tian Xia often revere both Shizuru and Tsukiyo, seeing the duality of the sun and moon in their own multifaceted nature. A small sect of Avistani kitsune worship Sivanah, the goddess of illusion, respecting her position between perception and reality and believing the goddess’s true form to be that of a kitsune—hidden behind not seven veils, but nine.

Names

While kitsune have some traditional names, they’re more likely to use names that are unremarkable in their local society, the better to pass unnoticed. Some have different names for each form: a kitsune name for their kitsune form, a regional name for a tailless form, and possibly no name at all for a fox form.

Sample Names

Hamako, Haohiko, Kitsukou, Kon, Kwan-la, Talaro

Kitsune Adventurers

Kitsune who live among others often have the charlatan, emissary, entertainer, fortune teller, merchant, noble, or nomad backgrounds. Those kitsune who strike out alone favor the acolyte, bandit, or hermit backgrounds.

Kitsune often excel as rogues, investigators, and bards. Kitsune who hone their magical abilities lean more toward sorcerers or oracles, and those who forge a stronger connection to the spirits may become witches.

Fox Families

Due to their shifting nature, kitsune often have mixed-ancestry family units. The children of a kitsune and a non-kitsune can inherit either of their parent’s lineages, though many assume that a human baby born to a kitsune is simply a kitsune that has yet to reveal their true form. This has led to the widespread misconception that all offspring of kitsune are themselves kitsune.

Kitsune Settlements

Though kitsune live all around the world, two major kitsune settlements exist on Golarion: Kihime in Tian Xia, and Angen in the Inner Sea region.

Kihime, the central settlement for Souko kitsune, is located in the Forest of Spirits and consists of low, thatched buildings in an intentionally ancient, though effective, design. Rather than torches, star orbs line the streets and glow with soft foxfire to light the darkness—legends state that these star orbs can be unified to cloak Kihime in illusions and abjurations in times of peril. Angen, in the Verduran Forest of Taldor, represents a more modern and cosmopolitan kitsune town, with buildings made in a variety of styles. Angen customs emphasize unity and collectivism, one of the best known being the Foxes’ Wedding. In this yearly festival, which occurs spontaneously on the first autumn day that rain falls from a blue sky, all kitsune who became betrothed in the last year are considered married. In celebration, rainbows formed from the mixed sunlight and raindrops are enhanced by kitsune illusions, becoming truly a sight to behold.

The Lady of Foxes

Though usually referred to with she/her pronouns, the goddess Daikitsu’s nature is fluid; her gender, age, and appearance change at her whim. Kitsune’s legends state that they were created when Daikitsu granted her original attendants, fox spirits known as the Nine Bright Grains, one of her own abilities: the power to dance between shapes.

TABLE 1: KITSUNE HERITAGES
Exclusive Heritages Description
celestial envoy kitsuneLOAG Whether due to Daikitsu’s grace or faithful forebears, you have a strong connection to the divine, affording you certain protections.
dark fields kitsuneLOAG You can exert your unsettling presence to subtly Demoralize others.
earthly wilds kitsuneLOAG You are a creature of the material world, with an affinity closer to the wilds than urban society.
empty sky kitsuneLOAG Your spirit is open to the secrets of beyond, granting you greater access to kitsune magic.
frozen wind kitsuneLOAG Your ancestors crossed the Crown of the World or resided on snowy peaks.
palace echoes kitsuneLOTXCG You descend from kitsune who possessed such compelling powers of persuasion that they could walk into a palace at sunrise and end up as the power behind the throne by nightfall.
Versatile Heritages Description
AphoriteLOAG You were born with a connection to Axis, the Plane of Law.
ArdandeRE Your elemental heritage is reflected in the oils and fragrances of plants, in tree resin that fossilizes into amber, or in the gentle smell of a flower.
BeastkinLOAG The blood of a beast flows through your veins, granting you the ferocity and might of animals.
ChangelingPC Your mother was a hag.
DhampirPC2 You are the scion of a vampire, half living and half undead, gifted with uncanny charm and grace, a bloodless pallor, and elongated incisors.
DuskwalkerPC2 Thanks to an ancient bargain, your soul has been reborn as a duskwalker, a planar scion with a connection to psychopomps and the Boneyard.
GanziLOAG Your blood is touched by primal chaos.
IfritLOAG You descend from fire elementals or bear the mark of the Inner Spheres, and your features illustrate the influence that elemental fire has over you.
OreadLOAG An earth elemental ancestor has influenced your bloodline, and your features highlight this elemental planar connection.
ReflectionDA You were created as a duplicate of another creature, intentionally or accidentally, though you might not know of your origins.
SuliLOAG You are descended from a janni or otherwise embody a dichotomy of opposing elemental planar forces.
SylphLOAG You are descended from air elementals or were born under the element’s influence.
TalosRE Your physical features reflect the influence a zuhra or other metal elemental has had over your bloodline.
UndineLOAG A water elemental ancestor influences your bloodline.
TABLE 2: KITSUNE ANCESTRY FEATS
Level 1 Kitsune Feats Prerequisites Benefits
FoxfireLOAG — A crack of your tail sparks wisps of blue energy.
Kitsune LoreLOAG — You excel at navigating social situations and keeping secrets.
Kitsune Spell FamiliarityLOAG — You’ve picked up a few magical tricks.
Retractable ClawsLOAG — You gain a claw unarmed attack that deals 1d4 slashing damage.
Seven Changes PerformanceLOTXCG trained in Performance While kitsune are known for their magical illusion powers, you’re skilled at stage magic, especially costuming and quick changes.
Shapechanger’s IntuitionLOAG — A lifetime of experience helps you see through disguises.
Star OrbLOAG — Your magic has crystallized into a spherical stone.
Level 5 Kitsune Feats Prerequisites Benefits
rFey InfluenceLOIL — You have been exposed to powerful fey magic.
Hybrid FormLOAG — When you Change Shape, you retain elements of your kitsune form, allowing you to speak in a fox form, use kitsune unarmed attacks in a tailless form, or gain a tail in your tailless form to use abilities that require one.
Kitsune Spell MysteriesLOAG at least one innate spell from a kitsune heritage or ancestry feat You know more kitsune magic.
Myriad FormsLOAG — With a bit of self-discovery, you find a new form.
Rekindled LightLOTXCG Star Orb You temporarily drain your star orb familiar’s energy to save an ally.
Shifting FacesLOAG tailless alternate form You wear many faces, even those that don’t belong to you.
Vulpine ScamperLOTXCG fox alternate form You’re especially nimble while in your full fox shape.
Level 9 Kitsune Feats Prerequisites Benefits
rDrain EmotionLOIL Fey Influence You touch an adjacent creature and attempt to draw out its excess emotion.
rFey AscensionLOIL Fey Influence The fey influence on your form and features grows even more powerful and notable.
Fox ArsonLOTXCG Foxfire When you critically hit with a foxfire Strike, the target takes an additional 1d4 persistent damage of the same type as the foxfire.
Fox TrickLOAG — You always have time for a joke or prank.
Many GuisesLOTXCG Shifting Faces You can use Shifting Faces three times per day instead of once per day.
Level 13 Kitsune Feats Prerequisites Benefits
rCannibalize MagicLOIL Fey Influence The fey magic inside of you is a vital part of your body, and you can steal other sources of magic to replenish yours.
rEldritch CalmLOIL Fey Influence Your fey heritage has altered your mindset to more resemble the uncanny perspective of the fey.
rGlamourLOIL Fey Influence You unlock a new level of fey power and can manipulate the perceptions of others using a font of First World magic.
Killing StoneLOAG Star Orb Your star orb hides a deadly miasma.
Kitsune Spell ExpertiseLOAG Kitsune Spell Mysteries Your tails show your magical mastery.
Larger Than LifeLOTXCG Shifting Faces When you Change Shape, you can assume the form of a creature that’s Large or Huge in size.
Level 17 Kitsune Feats Prerequisites Benefits
rFey TranscendenceLOIL Fey Influence You become a powerful fey creature, gaining strengths tied to the First World but also some of the weakness against which all fey must contend.
uFox PossessionLOTXCG — You can project a spiritual form to possess another.
Rampaging FormLOAG Change Shape with a fox alternate form Once per day, when you Change Shape into a fox, you can instead gain the effects of both the canine form of 5th-level animal form and 7th-level fiery body for 1 minute or until you shift back, whichever comes first.