Kitsune

The many-tailed spirit foxes called the kitsune are an ancient and magically powerful race, worthy of being considered an Epic race. Kitsune can be chosen as a race for characters with permission from their GM. Note that as an Epic race option, kitsune are extremely powerful, roughly equivalent to providing a character with an Epic racial feat or Epic subrace option (as detailed in chapter 5). The kitsune treat life like a game to be played, and we are their pieces. You might be their favorite pawn they shower with care and friendship. An ancient race blessed with mischievous fey magic, kitsune are a mercurial and nomadic people. They spread across the world in search of souls that intrigue and delight them. Each kitsune is a unique and elegant specimen. From a distance they appear as small humans with a tremendous amount of hair growing from their heads. Closer inspection reveals a set of foxlike ears protruding from the tops of their heads and a number of four-foot-long tails, anywhere from one to nine. Their hair can be a variety of colors; black, grey, white, and red are the most common. Many choose to paint or dye their hair to enhance their already otherworldly appearance or match their eyes. Kitsune are masterful tricksters, rarely revealing their true nature to others unless doing so would prove exceedingly entertaining.

Soul Hunters

Kitsune hunger for mortal souls, which instills in them a predatory mentality. They will readily comment on the appetizing nature of other creatures—an experience their friends find quite unsettling.

To a kitsune, the relationship between predator and prey is natural and even moral. They view their relationship with friends and allies as symbiotic and valuable, while their enemies are walking meals begging to be sampled. A kitsune judges the “tastiness” of a soul based on how different the creature’s experiences are from its own.

Beings from faraway lands or from backgrounds completely alien to the kitsune are a delicacy in its eyes, while similar creatures are bland and lack nutritional value.

Incorrigible Pranksters

The sight of another creature falling for a prank, especially an elaborate one, is one of life’s great delights for a kitsune. They are constantly on the lookout for opportunities to get the better of other creatures. The more a kitsune doesn’t like you, the more humiliating and dangerous their pranks become. Often these pranks are only funny to the kitsune, though it is wise to laugh along if the creature is particularly proud of its latest joke. Kitsune will rarely fail to act upon their humorous impulses. Even in dire conflicts against dangerous foes, kitsunes will always go out of their way to humiliate an enemy before finally slaying them. This catlike impulse to play with foes and food eclipses common sense and has led to the death of more than one kitsune who failed to go for the kill.

Fox Spirits

When threatened or bored, a kitsune can assume the form of a fey fox. In this shape, kitsune can reconnect with nature and avoid the gritty depredations of humanoid life. Some kitsune consider their fox form to be their true form. They appreciate the dangerous beauty of the wild and respect its magic. For this reason, many kitsune are welcome among fey or druidic communities. If forced to choose between the worlds of nature and the realms of “civilized” humanoids, kitsune rarely choose the latter. The longer they spend in their fox form, the wilder and more dangerous kitsune become, with some being near feral with little respect for humanoid life.

Kitsune Names

Kitsune adopt humanoid names appropriate for whatever culture they are exploring, but their birth names are something they share only with those they love or with whom they share a deep intimacy. When naming their children, kitsune parents receive a glimpse of that child’s future, and it is from that future their names are divined.

Kitsune Traits

A kitsune character has the following racial traits.

• Epic Humanoid. Your creature type is humanoid, and you are considered an Epic creature.
• Ability Score Increase. Choose either Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma. The ability score you chose increases by 2, and your maximum for that score is 30.
• Age. Kitsune live to be exactly 999 years old. When they turn 1,000, they die.
• Alignment. Kitsune are overwhelmingly chaotic, and more than a few possess an evil streak. Hunting for souls is something most civilized societies do not tolerate, which can force kitsune down an evil path. Lawful kitsune are disciplined socialites who have mastered high society, while good kitsune have turned their powers toward punishing villainy.
• Size. Your size is Medium. Kitsune are short and light. They are rarely taller than 5 feet and rarely weigh over 200 pounds.
• Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
• Language. You can speak, read, and write Common and Sylvan.
• Soul Eater. You gain no benefit from consuming food or drink. Instead you must consume the souls of mortal creatures. When you reduce a mortal creature to 0 hit points, you can cause the creature to become stable. By spending 10 minutes of strenuous activity administering to a creature at 0 hit points, you can feed upon the creature’s soul, killing it in the process. A creature slain in this manner cannot be restored to life by non-Epic means. A creature’s soul provides enough sustenance for 1 month.
• Nine-Tailed Fox. As you age, the number of tails you possess increases, which in turn expands your power. The benefits of the additional tails along with at what age you acquire them are detailed in the Kitsune Tails table. As you gain tails, you maintain the previous benefits.
  • Fox Form. As an action you can assume the shape of a fey fox. Your equipment is absorbed into your new shape, but otherwise you retain your statistics and traits except for the following:
    • Fox Physiology. Your speed is 40 feet, and you have darkvision out to a range of 120 feet.
    • Spirit Magic. You can cast spells without needing to provide material components, so long as you had said components on your person when you assumed your fox shape.

Kitsune Tails

Age	Number of Tails	Benefit
1–99	1	You can use your tail to cast spells with somatic components as if it were a free hand.
100–499	2–4	Your Charisma score increases by 2 to a maximum of 30.
500–899	5–8	When a creature charmed by you starts its turn and can see you, you can choose to make the creature spend its movement to move toward you by the most direct route possible.
900+	9	When a creature you can see succeeds on a saving throw against you, you can take a reaction to force it to reroll that saving throw.