[Eric Morton Presents] Animal Races (coming soon)

[Snorter]

Epic Meepo wrote:

I finished working on kobolds just the other day. Based on your speculation about them, I suspect kobolds are going to surprise you in more than one way. ;)

Given your avatar name, I thought those would be the ones you'd tackle first!

[Snorter]

Epic Meepo wrote:

I'm going to spend a few extra days making minor edits to Clan of the Rabbit, so expect it next week instead of this week. Clan of the Rabbit contains information that ties together fourteen other titles in the Animal Races series, so I want to double check that I'm describing the big picture correctly.

Please say it'll have a new foreword by Art Garfunkel.

[Epic Meepo]

VM mercenario wrote:

Hey Meepo, since you won't be doing insectile races, would you mind if I posted a vemin clan based on your model on the homebrew boards? I've been reading the Shadows of the Apt book series and the idea won't leave me alone.

Sure, go for it.

[VM mercenario]

Cool thanks. I still have to buy clan of the bat and clan of the pig to see how you did flying and aquatic races, but expect to see it around mid march.

[Zhayne]

Okay, got Clan of the Frog.

That was ... not what I was expecting.

At all.

Not saying I didn't like it, or that it wasn't a really cool take on the whole thing, it was awesome, I just had this moment of 'wat' when I looked it over the first time.

Our group generally doesn't use the tech rules, but hopefully the tech items can be easily reflavored into regular wondrous items or weapons.

[Ambrosia Slaad]

VM mercenario wrote:

Cool thanks. I still have to buy clan of the bat and clan of the pig to see how you did flying and aquatic races, but expect to see it around mid march.

Clan of the Bat just got updated with an additional two pages of new content. w00t!

[Epic Meepo]

Ambrosia Slaad wrote:

VM mercenario wrote:

Cool thanks. I still have to buy clan of the bat and clan of the pig to see how you did flying and aquatic races, but expect to see it around mid march.

Clan of the Bat just got updated with an additional two pages of new content. w00t!

Yep, Clan of the Bat now has two pages of new information about non-vampire Bats.

Also, Clan of the Bear, Clan of the Deer, and Clan of the Rabbit were all updated to add a scent ability that got lost in cut-and-paste limbo.

Clan of the Pig and Clan of the Turtle will receive a few cosmetic tweaks soon.

After that, I will be adding two additional pages to Clan of the Bear, since I have more to say about Cave Bears and Polar Bears, plus a new bloodline option for the bloodrager class.

Following those updates, I'll be moving on to some new releases, namely Clan of the Raptor and Clan of the Swan.

[Eric Hinkle]

Epic Meepo wrote:

Ambrosia Slaad wrote:

VM mercenario wrote:

Cool thanks. I still have to buy clan of the bat and clan of the pig to see how you did flying and aquatic races, but expect to see it around mid march.

Clan of the Bat just got updated with an additional two pages of new content. w00t!

Yep, Clan of the Bat now has two pages of new information about non-vampire Bats.

Also, Clan of the Bear, Clan of the Deer, and Clan of the Rabbit were all updated to add a scent ability that got lost in cut-and-paste limbo.

Clan of the Pig and Clan of the Turtle will receive a few cosmetic tweaks soon.

After that, I will be adding two additional pages to Clan of the Bear, since I have more to say about Cave Bears and Polar Bears, plus a new bloodline option for the bloodrager class.

On one hand, new stuff for bloodragers and others, which is good. And yay for Cave Bears and Polar Bears. On the other, I just printed copies of these out for my own reference, and now I'll have to do it again! Grumble...

Epic Meepo wrote:

Following those updates, I'll be moving on to some new releases, namely Clan of the Raptor and Clan of the Swan.

And we get some birds, unless you mean the scaly sort of raptors. Any hints on what sort of 'subclans' we can expect in these releases? I.e., eagles, hawks, swans, ravens, etc.?

And I like the new additions to the Bat Clans.

[Epic Meepo]

Eric Hinkle wrote:

And we get some birds, unless you mean the scaly sort of raptors. Any hints on what sort of 'subclans' we can expect in these releases? I.e., eagles, hawks, swans, ravens, etc.?

Clan of the Raptor will feature Eagle, Hawk, Owl, and Vulture clans. (Ravens have their own book.)

Clan of the Swan will feature Peacock and Swan clans, plus lots of fey and samsarans.

[Eric Hinkle]

Thanks for that list of clans, Epic Meepo.

[Epic Meepo]

A note for customers who haven't checked their email lately:

If you purchased Clan of the Pig, Clan of the Raccoon, or Clan of the Turtle prior to this week, a new version of your PDF with some minor corrections should be available for you to download.

If you purchased Clan of the Bear prior to this week, a new version of your PDF with two full pages of new (and critically acclaimed) content should be available for you to download.

Enjoy.

[Endzeitgeist]

Thanks for the linkage (and the awesome update)! :)

[Barong]

Loved the additions to Clan of the Bear :).

Also, Eric, I hate to ask because others keep requesting things, but have any plans for a 'Clan of the Goat'? I think goat-folk would be cool.

[Epic Meepo]

Barong wrote:

Loved the additions to Clan of the Bear :).

Also, Eric, I hate to ask because others keep requesting things, but have any plans for a 'Clan of the Goat'? I think goat-folk would be cool.

I plan on making Clan of the Goat my Halloween release this October.

In the mean time, some information about the Goat Clans appears in the Zodiac Council section of Clan of the Rabbit. Also, brief mention of their deity is made in Clan of the Cat and the upcoming Clan of the Raptor (search either for "the Eye of Ra").

[Barong]

Oh dear, Halloween. That, and the name of their god I just looked up, really points to them being evil. I hope that's not the case.

[Epic Meepo]

Barong wrote:

Oh dear, Halloween. That, and the name of their god I just looked up, really points to them being evil. I hope that's not the case.

As noted in the Zodiac Council section of Clan of the Rabbit, there are entire clans of lawful good Goat therians. There are also entire clans of Goat therians who think lawful good Goats are brainwashed conformists because lawful good isn't metal enough. Both groups of Goats blame the other Goats for all of the world's problems.

[Epic Meepo]

The harshest critique the Animal Races series has yet received still managed to squeak in at four out of five stars. As the reviewer correctly observes, as a race that can fly unaided at 1st level, Bats are not perfectly balanced against the standard core races.

As a matter of fact, Bats are balanced against wyrwoods and wyvarans, a pair of 0-HD races you can read about on the linked pages of the PRD. If exotic races like wyrwoods and wyvarans would work in your campaign, Bats and other flying animal races will, too. If wyrwoods and wyvarans are outside the scope of your campaign, consider instead sticking to animal races based on non-flying animals. Non-flying animal races make up the majority of the Animal Races series and have capabilities similar to members of core races with access to APG feats like Aspect of the Beast and Keen Scent.

[Eric Hinkle]

Sorry to be a pest, but any word on how much longer until the next entry in this magnificent series is released?

[Epic Meepo]

Eric Hinkle wrote:

Sorry to be a pest, but any word on how much longer until the next entry in this magnificent series is released?

As of this post, maybe 48 hours.

[Eric Hinkle]

Looking forward to it!

[Epic Meepo]

I won't have time to upload Clan of the Raptor to stores this afternoon, but it is done, so expect it in the near future.

Next month's release, Clan of the Swan, is also well underway.

After that, Clan of the Raven for all the tengu fans out there.

[Silver Griffin]

Have you thought about as a possible future project doing a print compilation (once you have finished the zodiac)? I would love to see this in print (yeah I know I can print out the individual PDFs) & I know a lot of DMs that won't consider adding something in that is only available in PDF. It might even give you a chance to adding some things that you have thought of but didn't fit anywhere else.

[Barong]

Silver Griffin wrote:

Have you thought about as a possible future project doing a print compilation (once you have finished the zodiac)? I would love to see this in print (yeah I know I can print out the individual PDFs) & I know a lot of DMs that won't consider adding something in that is only available in PDF. It might even give you a chance to adding some things that you have thought of but didn't fit anywhere else.

Eric said this earlier in the thread on page 2:

Eric Meepo wrote:

I won't be compiling all of the information from the Animal Races PDFs into a single product. If and when I produce a hardcover entry in this series, it will reprint a small percentage of the content found in the PDFs, but will then move on to present entirely new material not found anywhere else.

That being said, I do have plans to eventually organize the PDFs in this series into product bundles (possibly in late 2015 or early 2016). That will allow folks to download groups of related PDFs all at once, as if they were chapters in a single book that has been broken into multiple PDF files for ease of viewing

Anyway, you're trying to do the Chinese zodiac, Eric? We'll see a clan of the rat, dragon, and cow eventually?

[Eric Hinkle]

Barong wrote:

Silver Griffin wrote:

Have you thought about as a possible future project doing a print compilation (once you have finished the zodiac)? I would love to see this in print (yeah I know I can print out the individual PDFs) & I know a lot of DMs that won't consider adding something in that is only available in PDF. It might even give you a chance to adding some things that you have thought of but didn't fit anywhere else.

Eric said this earlier in the thread on page 2:

Eric Meepo wrote:

I won't be compiling all of the information from the Animal Races PDFs into a single product. If and when I produce a hardcover entry in this series, it will reprint a small percentage of the content found in the PDFs, but will then move on to present entirely new material not found anywhere else.

That being said, I do have plans to eventually organize the PDFs in this series into product bundles (possibly in late 2015 or early 2016). That will allow folks to download groups of related PDFs all at once, as if they were chapters in a single book that has been broken into multiple PDF files for ease of viewing

Anyway, you're trying to do the Chinese zodiac, Eric? We'll see a clan of the rat, dragon, and cow eventually?

In the PDF for Clan of the Rabbit, they mention several clans yet to be released, including ones for the Rat and the Ox.

[Epic Meepo]

Eric Hinkle wrote:

Barong wrote:

Anyway, you're trying to do the Chinese zodiac, Eric? We'll see a clan of the rat, dragon, and cow eventually?

In the PDF for Clan of the Rabbit, they mention several clans yet to be released, including ones for the Rat and the Ox.

There is also a Dragonfish Clan, so you have Rats, Dragonfish, and Oxen.

For now, though, the latest release is Clan of the Raptor, currently available here. It should also appear in the Paizo store any time now.

[Epic Meepo]

Animal Races: Clan of the Raptor is now available in the Paizo store.

[White Unggoy]

Sorry if this has been asked already, and I feel like I know the answer to this because your wording is fairly precise, but to feed my curiosity, for clans like the Owl Clan, when it says you can use Wisdom instead of Charisma for the oracle class, are we to believe that they can use whichever they prefer, and that this is a selection that should be made at 1st level (as opposed to whichever is the highest at any given moment)?

[Epic Meepo]

White Unggoy wrote:

Sorry if this has been asked already, and I feel like I know the answer to this because your wording is fairly precise, but to feed my curiosity, for clans like the Owl Clan, when it says you can use Wisdom instead of Charisma for the oracle class, are we to believe that they can use whichever they prefer, and that this is a selection that should be made at 1st level (as opposed to whichever is the highest at any given moment)?

Ultimately, it's whatever interpretation the GM makes that matters.

Taken literally, you can use whichever score is highest at the time as your effective Charisma score for the purpose of oracle class abilities. Note that this effect alters your Charisma score, not the text of the oracle class itself. All of your oracle class features are still Charisma-based; you just get the option of setting your Charisma score equal to Wisdom score for the purpose of those Charisma-based features.

That last point is important because the Core Rules say ability damage "does not actually reduce an ability, but it does apply a penalty to the skills and statistics that are based on that ability." Since your oracle class features are still technically Charisma-based, Charisma damage would penalize your oracle class features even if you are using your Wisdom score as your effective Charisma score. (Conversely, Wisdom damage would not penalize your oracle class features, because those features, as listed in the class description, are not Wisdom-based, despite your racial trait.)

On the other hand, ability drain and enhancement bonuses do change your ability scores. You apply ability drain and enhancement bonuses to your ability scores before deciding whether or not to use your (adjusted) Wisdom score in place of your (adjusted) Charisma score. So, if you invest in both Wisdom and Charisma, you end up getting a bit of a buffer against Charisma drain (but not against Charisma damage).

[White Unggoy]

That answer is fair and sensible enough. So follow up question, is that how YOU would run it in your home game/should this be default assumption?

I ask because as I rolled up my new Eagle Clan paladin for Emerald Spire to replace my cleric that was killed this previous Monday, I ended up getting sidetracked and programmed almost the entire race into Hero Lab. So I figured I'll finish what I've started and release it to the community (or to you, as you prefer), but I wanna make sure abilities as such work as intended by you, the guy who puts together these wonderful gems for us. :-)

[White Unggoy]

Rolling ahead with implementing abilities with that explanation, I do have a completed HL file for Clan of the Raptor; I just want your blessing before I put it up to share anywhere (in case you'd rather see it first to look over, or include it in the file to download or whatever -- I'm just looking for other people to get some use out of what I made).

[Epic Meepo]

White Unggoy wrote:

Rolling ahead with implementing abilities with that explanation...

You are correct that my previous post was how I would rule this in my game.

I have sent you a private message regarding sharing your HL file.

[White Unggoy]

So anyone who desires the HL file for Clan of the Raptor that I created, it can be found here. Just download the file and open it, and it should install automatically; then just activate the Clan of the Raptor source to use it.

I have also contacted Tim Shadow, who runs the community repository of HL files, so that it hopefully get included in the next update of the third-party pack.

[Epic Meepo]

Coming in the next few days, Animal Races: Clan of the Raven, which is all about shapechanging tengus.

And after that, dinosaurs...

[Eric Hinkle]

Looking forward to your take on the tengu.

[Epic Meepo]

Last month: Dinosaurs.
Next month: Minotaurs.

Expect Animal Races: Clan of the Ox in August.

I'm not scheduling a July release this year due to some uncertainty regarding my day job. That situation should be resolved, one way or another, by the end of the month.

[Eric Hinkle]

Looking forward to seeing what you do with the minotaur.

[Epic Meepo]

Animal Races: Clan of the Ox was just about ready to go... Then I decided to add some cool stock art and another two pages of content. I hope to have it finished and posted by Monday (August 31st, 2015).

[Eric Hinkle]

Epic Meepo wrote:

Animal Races: Clan of the Ox was just about ready to go... Then I decided to add some cool stock art and another two pages of content. I hope to have it finished and posted by Monday (August 31st, 2015).

This is great news! I was beginning to wonder if the series was dead.

[Epic Meepo]

I've been a bit slow about uploading Animal Races: Clan of the Ox, but it's done and should be available in stores in a day or two. I'll be sure to announce it when it goes live.

Next up after that, Animal Races: Clan of the Goat.

[Epic Meepo]

Animal Races: Clan of the Ox is now available here in the Paizo store and here.

In other news, Animal Races: Clan of the Cat recently became the first Eric Morton Presents product to sell 100 copies! Several other titles should hit that mark soon, and the rest are still going strong.

So a big "thank you" is in order to all my customers. I appreciate all your support for my humble product line, and I will do my best to keep cranking out interesting content for you to add to your gaming libraries.

[JiCi]

So... what's next? After Goats, I mean...

Horses? Cetaceans? Snakes? Lizards? Rats? Fishes?

[Lorathorn]

Will we ever see a crane, perhaps?

[Eric Hinkle]

Epic Meepo wrote:

I've been a bit slow about uploading Animal Races: Clan of the Ox, but it's done and should be available in stores in a day or two. I'll be sure to announce it when it goes live.

Next up after that, Animal Races: Clan of the Goat.

Great, than I can make a Goat cohort for that Ox skald who urges his fellow PCs onto battle with his nonstop Oratory. (Fans of a certain animated show will probably get who I mean.)

But I am really looking forward to the Goat Clan and their Sheep relations. Hopefully we get the Horse Clan soon, and I'm eager to see what you do with the Elephant Clan. Anthro elephants are not very common in fantasy to the best of my knowledge, so the series will be breaking new ground there.

[Epic Meepo]

JiCi wrote:

So... what's next? After Goats, I mean...

I'll get back to you once I know what artwork I have available for November and beyond.

Lorathorn wrote:

Will we ever see a crane, perhaps?

Cranes will appear in Animal Races: Clan of the Shorebird along with ibises and related birds.

Eric Hinkle wrote:

I'm eager to see what you do with the Elephant Clan.

Animal Races: Clan of the Elephant is one of my favorite upcoming products. I have several other titles I want to release before that one, though.

[JiCi]

Epic Meepo wrote:

I'll get back to you once I know what artwork I have available for November and beyond.

Please excuse my ignorance, but... you need the artwork before writing the text? I always thought that you could write your text and then add the artworks after.

Also, by what you're saying, you have... a truckload of artworks for multiple booklets in the assembly line. You mean to tell me you have a bunch of them already planned?

Damn... I'm impressed, I tell you that ;)

[Epic Meepo]

JiCi wrote:

Epic Meepo wrote:

I'll get back to you once I know what artwork I have available for November and beyond.

Please excuse my ignorance, but... you need the artwork before writing the text? I always thought that you could write your text and then add the artworks after.

Also, by what you're saying, you have... a truckload of artworks for multiple booklets in the assembly line. You mean to tell me you have a bunch of them already planned?

Damn... I'm impressed, I tell you that ;)

Most of the rules text for this series is already written, and I have about 80% of the artwork I need lined up. Getting a product in this series ready for release involves selecting appropriate artwork, writing the exact amount of flavor text needed to fill any space not devoted to graphics, and some editing passes.

[JiCi]

Epic Meepo wrote:

JiCi wrote:

Epic Meepo wrote:

I'll get back to you once I know what artwork I have available for November and beyond.

Please excuse my ignorance, but... you need the artwork before writing the text? I always thought that you could write your text and then add the artworks after.

Also, by what you're saying, you have... a truckload of artworks for multiple booklets in the assembly line. You mean to tell me you have a bunch of them already planned?

Damn... I'm impressed, I tell you that ;)

Most of the rules text for this series is already written, and I have about 80% of the artwork I need lined up. Getting a product in this series ready for release involves selecting appropriate artwork, writing the exact amount of flavor text needed to fill any space not devoted to graphics, and some editing passes.

Oh, so this is how it works for you ;)

[Epic Meepo]

In case you missed it, Animal Races: Clan of the Goat is now available in the Paizo store and here.

Instead of releasing a PDF in November, I'm going to add some Animal Races material to d20pfsrd.com so I have some free, sample crunch I can point to if anyone wants to see it.

For December, I'm working on Animal Races: Clan of the Seabird so folks will have penguins in time for Christmas: cute penguins; umbrella-toting crime boss penguins; giant, Lovecraftian, albino penguins. Also, albatrosses and ghost ships.

My first few releases in 2016 will be:
Animal Races: Clan of the Shorebird (the last of the birds),
Animal Races: Clan of the Hyena (gnolls), and
Animal Races: Clan of the Lizard (lizardfolk).

[Epic Meepo]

Just a heads up: I've been under the weather the past few weeks, so I'm running a bit behind on this product line. Unfortunately, as a publisher with no employees, I don't have any coworkers to pick up slack while I'm busy navigating America's incompetent health care system. (Is it too late to move to Canada? Canada is looking mighty appealing right now.)

While I'm getting caught up on Animal Races, feel free to check out the latest product from Eric Morton Presents, the Custom Class Builder Preview. I'm currently soliciting feedback on that product in this playtest thread.

Thanks for your patience. I hope to have new Animal Races products for you soon.

[Epic Meepo]

It's been called to my attention that I have been out of touch with my customer base for a few months, so here's an update:

Since the 5th Edition SRD and the Dungeon Master's Guild dropped a few months ago, I've been taking a detour from the Animal Races product line to familiarize myself with the options those new licenses make available to small publishers. Over the next few months, I'll be doing some playtesting and market research related to that other game system.

Once that's finished, I plan on returning to the Pathfinder-compatible Animal Races product line and releasing new titles. I may also begin releasing 5th Edition conversions of old Animal Races titles, but that's a discussion for a thread in another sub-forum.