Hengeyokai are spirit creatures with material bodies and animal identities. They are born either to a Hengeyokai mother of the same animal type or when a spirit inhabits an animal and awakens it to higher sentience. Each Hengeyokai chooses one animal type.
| Form | Benefits |
|---|---|
| Humanoid | The chosen +2 ability bonus only. Animal-type traits, movement, senses, and natural attacks are suppressed. Appearance grants no other ancestry’s mechanics. |
| Hybrid | The chosen +2 ability bonus, natural attacks, and the partial sensory benefits listed below. No animal-form movement or non-sensory animal traits such as skill bonuses or natural armor. |
| Natural animal | The chosen +2 ability bonus and the full animal-type package, including movement, senses, skill traits, natural armor if listed, and natural attacks. No additional Polymorph ability-score or natural-armor adjustments. |
The animal-type traits below apply in natural animal form. Humanoid form suppresses them; hybrid form gains only the partial sensory benefits and natural attacks listed below.
| Hengeyokai type | Animal type | Animal-type traits |
|---|---|---|
| Wolf | Wolf | Scent with a 30-ft range for passive detection and active tracking; +2 Racial bonus to Perception checks relying on hearing |
| Neko | Cat | Low-Light Vision; +2 Racial bonus to Acrobatics and Stealth |
| Kappa | Turtle | +1 Natural Armor AC; +2 Racial bonus to Survival |
| Tanuki | Raccoondog | Low-Light Vision; +2 Racial bonus to Disguise, Investigation, and Persuasion |
| Bear | Bear | Scent with a 30-ft range; +2 Racial bonus to Intimidate |
| Tengu | Raven | Low-Light Vision; +2 Racial bonus to sight-based Perception; Poor Flight, 20 ft. |
The profiles use each animal’s characteristic movement and senses as inspiration, without applying general ability-score or natural-armor adjustments from a Polymorph effect. The listed movement speeds are fixed for natural animal form regardless of the Hengeyokai’s Size; apply normal armor and encumbrance speed reductions.
| Type | Land speed | Other movement | Natural-form senses | Hybrid sensory benefits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wolf | 40 ft. | — | Scent 30 ft.; +2 Perception to hear | Scent 15 ft.; +1 Perception to hear |
| Neko | 30 ft. | Climb 20 ft. | Low-Light Vision | None; Low-Light Vision is binary |
| Kappa | 20 ft. | Swim 20 ft. | None | None |
| Tanuki | 30 ft. | Climb 20 ft. | Low-Light Vision | None; Low-Light Vision is binary |
| Bear | 40 ft. | — | Scent 30 ft. | Scent 15 ft. |
| Tengu | 20 ft. | Poor Flight 20 ft. | Low-Light Vision; +2 Perception by sight | +1 Perception by sight; no flight |
The Hengeyokai’s Size and ability scores do not change between forms. In hybrid form, halve numeric sensory ranges and bonuses; round ranges down to the nearest 5 ft. and bonuses down to a whole number. Binary senses such as Low-Light Vision are only gained in natural animal form. A Turtle’s +1 Natural Armor AC applies only in natural animal form. Scent uses the shared Scent rules. Poor Flight uses the shared Flight Rules, including its airborne penalties.
The natural attacks below are available in both hybrid and natural animal forms. Use the Hengeyokai’s current Size column in the weapon damage by size table, using the Medium base damage shown below. Each attack occupies the listed weapon slot. Apply the shared natural-weapon critical profile, damage types, and Strength modifiers from Combat Scaling.
| Hengeyokai type | Weapon slot | Medium base damage | Damage types |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wolf | Bite (main hand) | 1d6 | Blunt, piercing, and slashing |
| Wolf | Claw 1 (off hand) | 1d4 | Piercing and slashing |
| Wolf | Claw 2 (off hand) | 1d4 | Piercing and slashing |
| Neko | Claw 1 (main hand) | 1d4 | Piercing and slashing |
| Neko | Claw 2 (off hand) | 1d4 | Piercing and slashing |
| Neko | Bite (off hand) | 1d3 | Blunt, piercing, and slashing |
| Kappa | Bite (main hand) | 1d4 | Blunt, piercing, and slashing |
| Kappa | Claw 1 (off hand) | 1d3 | Piercing and slashing |
| Kappa | Claw 2 (off hand) | 1d3 | Piercing and slashing |
| Tanuki | Bite (main hand) | 1d4 | Blunt, piercing, and slashing |
| Tanuki | Claw 1 (off hand) | 1d3 | Piercing and slashing |
| Tanuki | Claw 2 (off hand) | 1d3 | Piercing and slashing |
| Bear | Claw 1 (main hand) | 1d6 | Piercing and slashing |
| Bear | Claw 2 (off hand) | 1d6 | Piercing and slashing |
| Bear | Bite (off hand) | 1d8 | Blunt, piercing, and slashing |
| Tengu | Beak (main hand) | 1d4 | Blunt, piercing, and slashing |
| Tengu | Talon 1 (off hand) | 1d4 | Piercing and slashing |
| Tengu | Talon 2 (off hand) | 1d4 | Piercing and slashing |