Abyssal Merfolk race for DnD/PF

Abyssal Merfolk

Description
Abyssal merfolk are merfolk adapted for living in the deep sea. The females are in similar to common merfolk in size and build, but their skin is slimy and scaleless, their eyes are are large and they have disproportionally large mouths filled with long, sharp needle-like teeth. They also have light-producing organs called photophores, that they use to light their surroundings, communicate with each other, attract prey and scare off predators. Due to the scarcity of food in the deep sea they have adapted to be able consume even prey that is the same size or larger than themselves. They have hinged jaws and highly elastic stomachs, which allow them to easily swallow whole creatures over twice their size.
Males of the race are radically different looking, being only a foot long and barely humanoid. The male abyssal merfolk live solely to find and mate with a female, which is not an easy task given the size and emptiness of their habitat. Their jaws are underdeveloped and they lack a functional digestive system, but they have an extremely well developed senses that assists them in locating a female of the race, to whom they attach themselves and fuse themselves to her. The male then becomes dependent on the female host for survival by receiving nutrients via their shared circulatory system. In return, the female will always have a mate immediately available when she is ready to spawn.
The skin of abyssal merfolk of both genders is usually black, red or dark brown, but some rare individuals are fully transparent.
Unlike most abyssal fish, the abyssal merfolk are quite durably built and can survive being brought to surface conditions.

Habits/Society
Abyssal merfolk are solitary or live in small groups, usually of 10 females or less. These groups may be led by a druid or shaman. Females may have multiple parasitic males assimilated onto their bodies. Abyssal merfolk roam the deep sea and the abyssal plains looking for food, and fashion tools from material found in the ocean floor, such as shipwrecks and whale skeletons. They lack a complex society as their harsh environment means they lack the resources to sustain large groups of individuals and have little time for things not directly related to survival.
Abyssal merfolk are usually True Neutral.

Racial Traits (For Dnd 3.5 or PF)

Female:
A female abyssal merfolk is about 8 ft long from the top of the head to the end of the tail, and weighs about 300 pounds.
+2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution, -2 Intelligence
Monstrous Humanoid (Aquatic)
Medium sized
Base land speed 10 feet (2 squares), swim 30 feet (+8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. The creature can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line).

Darkvision (Ex) 60 feet
Light Sensitivity (Ex): Abyssal merfolk are dazzled as long as they remain in an area of bright light.
Amphibious (Ex): Abyssal merfolk can breathe both air and water.
Bioluminescence (Ex): Abyssal merfolk have bioluminescent photophores that allow them to produce light equivalent to that of a small lantern. The light can be turned on and off at will
Natural Attacks (Ex): Abyssal merfolk have a primary Bite attack, which deals damage equal to 1d6 + her Str bonus (bludgeoning, piercing and slashing). The abyssal merfork use their Dex modifier instead of Str modifier on attack rolls with this attack. If she hits a creature with the attack she gains +5 to grapple against that creature in the following round.
Swallow Whole (Ex): If the abyssal merfolk begins her turn grappling another creature, she can attempt a new combat maneuver check (as though attempting to pin the opponent). If it succeeds, she swallows the creature, and the  swallowed creature takes takes bite damage. She may attempt to swallow a creature of up to one size category larger than herself.
Being swallowed causes a creature to take 2d4 + the abyssal merfolk's Con modifier in acid damage each round.  A swallowed creature keeps the grappled condition, while the abyssal merfolk does not. A swallowed creature can try to cut its way free with any light slashing or piercing weapon (AC as if she was flat-footed). The amount of cutting damage required to get free is equal to 1/4 of the abyssal merfolk's total hit points. Alternatively the swallowed creature can just try to escape the grapple. If a swallowed creature cuts its way out, the abyssal merfolk cannot use swallow whole again until the damage is healed. If the swallowed creature escapes the grapple, success puts it back in the attacker’s mouth, where it may be bitten or swallowed again.
An abyssal merfolk's stomach can hold one creature of one size larger than herself, twice that of one size less than the maximum size, and so on. Once a creature has died in her stomach, she will digest the body over the course of the day.

Automatic Languages: Aquan
Abyssal merfolk with high intelligence scores can choose from these additional languages: Aboleth, Common, Undercommon.
Favored Class: Rogue
Level Adjustment: +1 (Advanced power level)
Effective Character Level: 2

Subraces: The abyssal merfolk race is based on a “generic deep sea fish” (although the parasitic males are actually unique to a few genuses of anglerfish; in most anglerfish, and many deep sea fish in general, the male simply dies shortly after mating). The following subracess are based on notable traits of particular types of deep sea fish. You may choose one of them during character creation.
Anglerfish: Anglerfish are well known for using a glowing lure (properly called an esca) to draw in prey. An abyssal merfolk with this subrace may use her bioluminescence to hypnotize creatures. She gains the following ability:
Hypnotic Lure (Su): Once per day, the abyssal merfolk can create a 20-foot-radius burst of bioluminescence that causes creatures within the aura's range that can see her to become fascinated with her (as the bard's fascinate bardic performance). Affected creature's may resist this effect by making a successful Will saving throw (DC 10 + 1/2 the user's character level + the user's Charisma modifier).

Black Swallower: The black swallower is able to swallow even larger prey relative to its size than most other deep sea fish, although doing so it risks having its stomach ruptured.
An abyssal merfolk with this subrace can use her Swallow Whole ability on a creature two size categories larger than herself. However if she does so she must make a Fortitude save. If she succeeds, the creature is swallowed as normal. If she fails the swallowed creature will be ejected from her stomach and the abyssal merfolk takes slashing damage equal to 1/4th of her maximum HP and is Nauseated for 1d4 rounds. She is then unable to use Swallow Whole until the damage is healed.

Gulper Eel: Gulper eels have small teeth compared to most other abyssal fish, but have huge oversized jaws that can open extremely wide to help them swallow prey. An abyssal merfolk with this subrace loses her Bite attack but gains the Fast Swallow (Ex) ability (she can use her Swallow Whole ability as a free action at any time during her turn, not just at the start of her turn) and counts as one size category larger when making a grapple check to swallow a creature. This does not, however, increase the maximum size of creatures she can swallow.

Lanternfish: Lanternfish are among the most populous deep sea fish, and fish in general. While having large eyes and bioluminescent photophores, they lack some of the more extreme adaptions to deep sea life, like the ability to swallow prey their own size or bigger. They spend the day in the lightless depths and during the night rise closer to the surface to feed on small invertebrates.
An abyssal merfolk with with this subrace loses their Bite attack and Swallow Whole ability, but also loses their Level Adjustment. Additionally, the increased contact with the surface world means they get Common in addition ot Aquan as their automatic language.

Stoplight Loosejaw: The stoplight loosejaw is one of the few fishes that produce red bioluminescence. As most of their prey cannot perceive red light, this allows it to hunt with an essentially invisible spotlight. Their lower jaw is attached to their skull by a hinge and a modified tongue bone, and has no floor to reduce water resistance. This allows the fish to spring its jaw forward  and snap shut at a high speed to catch its prey.
An abyssal merfolk with this subrace can use its Bite attack as a Swift Action, and gains the following ability:
Invisible Light (Su): The abyssal merfolk can choose to  make the light of her bioluminescense invisible for creatures other than herself.

Viperfish: Even among deep sea fish, the viperfish is notable for the length of its needle-like teeth, which allow it to spear and immobilize its prey.
An abyssal merfolk with this subrace gains the Improved Grab (Ex) ability for her bite attack (if she hits with her bite attack she may attempt to start a grabble as a free action in addition to dealing damage). Unlike normally, she may use Improved Grab even against creatures that are not smaller than her.

Whalefish: Aside from having sexual dimorphism as extreme as the anglerfish, whalefish are notable for having tiny vestigial eyes and instead relying on a complex system of sensory pores to perceive their surroundings by detecting vibrations.
Abyssal merfolk with this subrace have Blindsight 60 feet instead of Darkvision.


Male (by anon):
A male abyssal merfolk is about 1 foot long from the top of the head to the end of the tail, and weighs about  1 pound.
-8 STR, -8 DEX, -8 CON,
Monstrous Humanoid (Aquatic)
Diminutive
swim 50 feet (+8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. It can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line).
Darkvision (Ex) 60 feet
Scent (Ex)
Lifesense (Su): His psionic abilites allow the male abyssal merfolk to notice and locate living creatures within 60 feet, just as if he possessed the Blindsight ability.
Light Sensitivity (Ex): Abyssal merfolk are dazzled as long as they remain in an area of bright light.
Water Dependency (Ex): Can survive out of water for 1 hour per two points in its Constitution score, after which it begins to drown (does not apply if assimilated to a female).
Parasitic mating (Ex): As they lack a digestive tract, males cannot eat and must locate and be assimilated by a female of it's species within 1 week of hatching or begin starving, while assimilated the male becomes a physical part of his mate and can take no action that requires movement, speech, or anything other than purely mental actions except for attempting to fertilize her, additionally the male lacks hp, size, AC, speed, saves, STR, DEX, and CON scores while it is assimilated, anything that would target the male affects his mate unless it is already doing so. Should the male somehow be separated from his mate, he immediately begins suffering the effects of starvation and suffocation until he is reassimilated
Favored Class: Psion
Level Adjustment:  +0

5th EDITION VERSION

Deep Sea Merfolk (Female) Traits

Deep sea merfolk share certain traits due to their adaption for living in the ocean depths. The skin of deep sea merfolk is usually black, red or dark brown, but some individuals are fully transparent.

Ability Score Increase: Your Constitution score increases by 2 and your Dexterity score increase by 1.

Age: Female deep sea merfolk reach physical maturity quickly, and can live for several hundred years, although very few survive long enough to die of old age.

Alignment: Deep sea merfolk society is concerned primarily with day-to-day survival, rather than any complex notions of good versus evil or order versus freedom. As such they tend to be neutral.

Size: Female deep sea merfolk are about 8 feet long from the top of the head to the end of the tail, and weight about 300 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 10 ft. You have a swimming speed of 30 ft.

Superior Darkvision: Accustomed to the darkness of the deep ocean, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 120 feet of you as if in bright light, and in darkness as if in dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Light Sensitivity: You have disadvantage on attack rolls and on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight when you are exposed to bright light.

Keen Senses: You have proficiency in the Perception skill.

Languages: You can speak, read and write  Common and Aquan.

Amphibious: You can breathe air and water.

Bite: You are proficient with your unarmed strikes, which deal 1d4 piercing damage on hit.

Photophores: You can use a bonus action emit dim light within 40-feet radius around yourself. The light lasts for one hour or until you use a bonus action to dismiss it.

Swallow: You may use an action to make one unarmed strike against a Large or smaller creature you are grappling. If the attack hits, the target is swallowed and the grapple ends.
The swallowed creature is blinded and restrained, it has total cover against attacks and other effects outside you, and it takes 1d6 + your Con modifier in acid damage at the start of each of your turns.
You can only have one creature swallowed at a time, and can't swallow another creature until after you finish a long rest.
If you take 1/4th of your maximum hit points (rounding down) or more damage in a single turn from the swallowed creature, you must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw at the end of that turn or regurgitate that creature, which falls prone in a space within 5 feet of you. If you die, a swallowed creature is no longer restrained and can escape from the corpse using 5 feet of movement, exiting prone.