The Pau’ans were a species of gaunt humanoids with gray, furrowed skin, and sunken eyes. Their arms ended in long, pentadactyl hands with an opposable thumb and sharp nails. Being carnivores with a preference for raw meat, they also had sharp, jagged teeth. In addition to those intimidating features, Pau’ans were tall—Tion Medon, a Port Administrator during the Clone Wars, stood at about 2.06 meters. Pau’ans had two stomachs. They had hypersensitive hearing, which prompted them to wear special coverings to protect their fragile ears. Their life-span was measured in centuries, which earned them the nickname of “Ancients”.

The Pau’ans were sentient beings, capable of intelligent thought. Although they often appeared fearsome to outsiders, most of them were peaceful and amiable. On their homeworld of Utapau, they preferred to dwell in darkness rather than light, and their cities were built within the planet’s many sinkholes.

Pau’ans shared Utapau with at least three other species, namely the Utai, the Sugi, and the Amani. The Utai were a fellow indigenous species on Utapau, with whom the Pau’ans had a symbiotic relationship. The two races were collectively referred to as Utapauns. Like the Utai, the Pau’ans built their cities and buildings in the Ossic architectural form. The primary Pau’an settlement and spaceport on Utapau was Pau City, which was administrated by various officials including the Governor, the Police Inspector, and the Port Administrator.

The Pau’ans’ native language was Utapese, but they were also capable of speaking Galactic Basic Standard. Some Pau’an’s, such as Gen Tri of the Spice Runners of Kijimi, used the gender-neutral singular pronoun “they, them”.

It was typical for creatures to be freshly slain every day for meals on Utapau, rather than being killed and then cooked or stored for later consumption, due to the Pau’an preference for raw meat. They domesticated the fast-paced varactyl to use as mounts.