Thilipit Contestant (Pathfinder Second Edition Archetype)
(art by Lownleinhigh on DeviantArt)
When it comes to athletics, one must learn to harness and use one’s whole body, even if the sport supposedly only calls for one activity.
What using your whole body means for various species and ancestries means, however, can vary, particularly when you have a tail or a long tongue.
Which is where the sport/martial art of thlipit comes into play. Originally invented as part of a game that a couple of tripkee came up with to make gathering fruit more fun. The sport has sense spread from the diminutive frogfolk to other species, particularly those that have tails like iruxi, who learn a modified version using that powerful extension of their body.
Now, I said before that Thlipit is also considered a martial art, and while the skillset has indeed been refined to be used in combat, it differs in that there is no asceticism or quest of enlightenment wrapped up in it. At least not culturally. The majority of thlipit practitioners instead view themselves as athletes and competitors, whether they use the skills for the martial arts side of things or its original use in fruit-gathering (or fruit-analogue ball gathering) games.
The fact that it can be used to great effect in combat, however, means that adventurers with a tail or tongue that live where the game is played can make good use of it in their travels, hence why this archetype exists, so let’s have a look!
The dedication for this archetype starts with training the contestant to use their tongue or tail as a weapon, giving them a weapon with reach and the ability to grapple foes, but being somewhat weak in damage output.
Given the nature of their “lash”, many thlipit practitioners demonstrate great ability to deter and disperse swarms with their attacks, slashing through them like a flyswatter (and occasionally snacking one a few).
Even if they don’t bind a foe, they can still potentially yank them closer as part of an attack, some even learning to use their low center of gravity to pull even bigger foes closer.
Some even learn to lunge forward with their bodies to increase the reach of their lash even further.
Others learn to deal more damage with their lashing appendage, building up momentum for stronger swings and even sweeping through foes.
The tongue of these warriors is a versatile tool, and with the right application it can serve as a humiliating weapon of defeat. With a strike and a sudden downward swing, they can yank a foe off their feet and down to the ground. With even more training, they can do so in one fluid motion that leave less room for failure.
The original use of the thlipit style was to snatch small objects in motion like fruit out of the air, and so some apply that to other fast moving objects, particularly incoming projectiles, deflecting them with flicking tongue or tail.
A solid anchor point and momentum are all these athletes need to swing through the air to get to where they need to go in style.
Those that specifically use a tongue can use it for it’s intended purpose, snatching things into their mouths, particularly potions and other consumables, either from their own inventory when their limbs are occupied, from willing allies, or outright stealing them from foes, spitting out the container afterwards.
Those with a tail instead use it to guard their flank, punishing foes that try to get into an advantageous position and driving them back.
Though not a full “Fastball Special”, some contestants that are more team players can use their lash to grab onto an ally as they move past and yank them forward, propelling them further and faster along their way.
While all can use their lash to both attack and grapple, with mastery they can do both in the same fluid action.
By grabbing from the side or wrapping the lashing limb around a foe several times, they can spin a foe like a top, disorienting them heavily.
True masters, however, are able to instead spin themselves, lowering their center of gravity and using their foe like a whirling bludgeon against nearby foes.
Now obviously a unarmed archetype like this fully expects you to play as a monk, but you can definitely use this with fighter, barbarian, or any sort of martial class, as well as plenty of physical builds with other classes. You might even dip into it with spellcasting classes if you wanted some sneaky way to surprise a foe that slips past the rest of the party and expects you to be easy pickings. Either way, this archetype proves to be a great way to manipulate the battlefield and take control away from your foes, as long as you’ve got a tongue, or more likely, tail that can work with it.
So a fun thing to note about the lore of this archetype is that they aren’t traditional monastic martial artists unless they actually train for that, which reflects how in the modern real world, martial arts are much less about asceticism and enlightenment than they used to be. I mean sure, absolutely the shaolin and other monastic lifestyles still exist, but if you hear someone’s a black belt in karate or any other style, your first thought is probably either competitions or paramilitary, depending on what style it is. This could open the door to homebrewed archetypes that are focused on other such styles divorced from the monk class, both the ones already included in the class and also new ones, sporting familiar and new feats exploring every aspect of the style.
Often called “Packs of One” by the locals, the swift spirit guides known as mirror wolves are a rare but well-regarded sight in Votora Woods. The lizardfolk dwelling there sometimes make bond with them, but the spirits rarely choose to bond with one that can already fend for themselves, making it a rare thing to see an iruxi master the art of the tail style and also be able to call upon one of these spirits.
Normally the path of thlipit is not available to those without a long whipping appendage. However, Kolgoss has found a way around that. The orc suli is a hydrokineticist, and has figured out how to sustain a stable whip of water from his body that can be used to master the style in his own unique way.
In the primeval valley of Undru, dinosaurs and other prehistoric beasts live untouched by the progress of evolution. In this place the local tripkee and iruxi live in relative peace, each having a rivalry about dance, art, and martial artistry, hosting competitions for all three every year.
