Fantasy Monster: Monastic Cat

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Monastic Cat

A big tomcat wearing a frock made of sack, walking on hindlegs.

CR 2; XP 600
CG Small Fey
Init +6; Senses low-light vision, scent; Perception +9

Defense
AC 14, touch 13, flat-footed 12 (+2 Dex, +1 natural, +1 size)
hp 21 (6d6)
Fort +2, Ref +7, Will +5
Defensive Abilities walking innocence; DR 5/cold iron

Offense
Speed 30 ft. (40 ft. on all four), climb 20 ft.
Melee bite +6 (1d4+1), 2 claws +6 (1d4+1)

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 6th, concentration +7)

1/day—create water, cure moderate wounds, erase, mending, prestidigitation, remove disease

Statistics
Str 12, Dex 15, Con 10, Int 13, Wis 11, Cha 13
Base Atk +3; CMB +3; CMD 15
Feats Improved Initiative, Nimble Moves, Run
Skills Acrobatics +11, Climb +9, Knowledge (local) +10, Knowledge (religion) +7, Perception +9, Profession (scribe) +6, Sleight Of Hand +11, Stealth +15

Languages Understand Common and Sylvan

SQ marked for posterity

Ecology
Environment monasteries
Organization solitary, pair, order (3–10)
Treasure standard

Marked For Posterity (Su) Markings left by a monastic cat on objects last forever,  and are very hard to remove even when one tries, be they scratches, gnaw-marks, pawprints, or... stains. The DC of any Craft or Profession skill checks made to remove them increases by 20. Any magical means of repairing or removing such markings need to succeed a caster level check against DC of 20+the cat's HD (they work fine to fix all other damage and issues on a failed check, only the monastic cat's markings are omitted). A monastic cat will always recognize markings of another monastic cat for what they are and will never remove markings of any monastic cat, even when magically compelled to do so.

Walking Innocence (Su) No one can be mad at a monastic cat for long, even if they witnessed the cat's shenanigans. A monastic cat gains +20 competence bonus to Bluff and Diplomacy checks made to avoid consequences of its errors, missteps, and mischief, or defuse anger and violence.

No one is certain if monastic cats are mundane animals thoroughly changed by the Otherworld, or faerie spirits that took shapes of earthly beasts to live among mortals. While scholars disagree on that matter, what is know, that monastic cats somehow find their ways into monasteries, covenants, and hermitages, where they live among monks, nuns, and anchorites, where they mimic the lives of mortals, in comedic, flawed, but dedicated way.

Many monks find them nuisance and distraction but others find them charming and genuinely helpful, even if the monastic cats tend to fail to grasp the essence of monasticism, and definitely are completely out of the line when it comes to ascetism.

While they lack opposable thumbs, their paws are surprisingly agile allowing them to aid the monks in everyday and not so everyday task. Or commit mischief, such as tampering with texts, misplacing holy objects, mixing foods in violation of religious restrictions and fasts, drawing silly graffiti on the walls, ceilings, and margins of the books.

A gossip goes that there are few monasteries that are fully composed of monastic cats only, trying their best at mimicking lives of mortal monks. Most actual monks think those stories a mere fairy tales, or parables at best, not expecting monastic cats to be able to keep their covenants running for long.

A monastic cat can potentially be kept as an Improved Familiar (caster level 7th).