trwb's page

You have correct there is a lot more to playing an anthropomorphic character then the outside aesthetic, there are the inner mannerisms, which are really down to how the player plays the character. My players are exceptionally good at role playing animal mannerisms and tendencies, you seem to have assumed I have not taken this into consideration.

My players wish to play anthropomorphic characters in my Pathfinder role playing game, the closest option is Lycanthropes which come with a +1 challenge rating and so trying to simplify the qualities of the the Lycanthropes hybrid form into a base anthropomorphic race.

Which is the same size as the base creature, I am aiming for medium size for simplicity, speed as a base creature, the generic movement of a medium creature is 30 feet.

The base creature's natural armour increases by +2, so granting 2 natural armour to represent the aesthetics noted above.

The damage reduction silver is only relative to the lycanthropy myth, so ignore that.

For melee they gain the natural attack of the base animal, however for a generalised approach I consulted the natural attack table in the bestiary for a medium sized creature so 1d4.

Now here is where I encounter the problem, the special attacks, qualities and abilities of the the base animal in hybrid form, makes it difficult to incorporate a generalised approach for easy character creation.

In the universal special qualities of a lycanthropy low light vision and scent are noted which is why I included them in the design. Change Shape, Curse of Lycanthropy and Lycanthropic Empathy are again for the lycanthropy myth, so not relative to an anthropomorphic race, however I was contemplating including a skill bonus to diplomacy for the relative animal.

Final the ability scores, a -2 charisma for the animal characteristic, +2 wisdom for the natural instincts with an increase to a relative physical ability score would be appropriate. However I did not want to limit my players too much, so a +2 to any ability score like the human, half elf and half orc as this race is kind of half human, half animal, seems appropriate

I did review the savage species anthropomorphic, creatures of the same base size had a consistent speed and the natural armour was within a similar margin

So reviewing my design approach forgetting about including special movement for now, though I wish to include a special quality to recreate the animal characteristics at some point just need to final an easy general approach, include another natural attack for a bite or gore and remove keen sense to balance it out.

Type: Humanoid
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Ability Scores: +2 Any one Ability Score
Special Qualities
Low Light Vision
Scent
Natural Attack 1d4 x2
Natural Attack 1d6
Natural Armour 2

Hope this helps you understand the logic behind my approach now

I have been researching into other base races that have animal traits as a reference

My friend did suggest removing scent as not all animals have it, I think I will take that recommendation, as low light vision and keen senses light the elf and half elf are acceptable

The personification of the animal comes down to the ability score the player chooses, strength of a bear, the dexterity of a cheetah, the constitution of a bison, the intelligence of a elephant, the wisdom of the owl, the charisma of a peacock.

The natural attack will depend on the animal, talons of an eagle, the hooves of a horse, the claws of a tiger. Though on a medium humanoid scale they are not as lethal as the actual animal, so I think 1d4 is reasonable.

The natural armour again depends on the animal, fur from the wolf, hide of the rhino, carapace of an insect, feathers of a hawk and so on, however I think this is one of the overpowered points. So natural armour 0 to allow the player to take the improved natural armour feat.

Final the quadruped/aquatic/flight special movement option, x2 base speed in one type of movement will encourage the player to follow the theme of the animal they are creating. Thank you for bringing it to my attention about the acrobatics skill, a +12 to acrobatics for jumps is a respectable bonus compared to flight movement.

I appreciate your feed back, what do you think of my amendments and explanations?

Type: Humanoid
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Ability Scores: +2 Any one Ability Score
Special Qualities
Low Light Vision
Scent
Keen Sense
Natural Attack 1d4 (claws, hooves, talons)
Natural Armour 2 (hide, fur, scales)
Quadruped: while on all fours the character gains +20 feet to base speed

I would like to include alternative options for Quadruped for aquatic and flight animals, maybe the same mechanic however it is base speed +20 feet for flight average maneuverability or +20 feet for swim speed. I have contemplated using the simple formula of base speed x2, however I felt this could be a bit overpowered

Your feedback please

Is there a maximum natural armour a medium sized character can have?

I have generated a human half dragon lycanthrope werewolf using the wolf stats with the simple advanced template and it has resulted in a +10 natural armour in hybrid form. In my current campaign the advanced wolf is justified, but I am not sure if there are any specific limits to size

A concept for a Race, a weakened version of the Lycanthrope, could be regarded as a variant on the Eberron race the Shifter. The Therianthrope or Therian for short could be regarded as half Lycanthrope or some cousin in the setting.

The Therians are Medium sized creatures, speed 30 feet, low light vision, keen senses, +2 to one ability score (same as the human, half elf and half elf) and scent.

It has the racial ability known as hybrid. Using a similar system as the Alchemist Mutagen special ability however with some limitations, the Therian can assume an anthropomorphic hybrid form as a move action.

First option the player chooses either to have +2 Strength and -2 Intelligence, +2 Dexterity and -2 Wisdom or +2 Constitution and -2 Charisma while in hybrid form.

Second option the player chooses one physical ability to gain +2 and one mental ability to lose for a bit more freedom.

Either option this becomes set after character creation.

Finally the Therian has a natural attack while in hybrid form

Here are some feat option ideas for this race

Swift Hybrid: Assume hybrid as a free action

Improved Hybrid: Improve +2 to +4 hybrid physical bonus

Greater Hybrid: Requirement Improved Beast - Improve +4 to +6 hybrid physical bonus

Extra Hybrid: Gain an extra new hybrid option.

Extra Natural Attack: Gain an extra natural attack - bite, gore, tail, etc.

Feedback on this concept would be appreciated

It seems someone has already touched on what I was going to put foward, that Craft and Profession go hand in hand. Craft gives the character the understand on how to craft items for trade and Profession gives the character the knowledge on how to supply and sell these items. Very closely intertwined, I only really take profession or craft to meet the requirements for prestige classes or when I play a Warforged so my character can self repair. Saying that I would not like to see these sort of skills disappear, as they add some flavour to the character. I am not too fond on what they have done with craft and profession in 4th edition, pushing them into the background of other skills or ability checks, but at least they are still vaguely there. As vast and vague as craft and profession are, I do not see much can be done bout them except maybe consolidating them under one skill, which I am not sure will work or having ranks in these have a greater impact on other game mechanics, which might result in a more restricted list being developed.

They have climb, they have swim, they now have fly, all of these come of strength and are tests of the character's athletic ability. Why not do what they did with other skills and consolidate them into a single skill like athletics.

I really do not like the addition of a fly skill for druid, sorcerer and cleric with a passion. A druids ability comes off their physical prowess, but a sorcerers and wizards ability comes off their weaving of magic to fly so a spellcraft check would be more relative if you really need to make a skill check.

I understand why they added this skill, same reason we have the climb and swim skill, some people will be better at it then others. I think a better approach would be to seperate movement from skills and establish feats for them, which they have done with flight, for examples consult races of dragons. I really like what they have done with those feats and I think they could take the same approach with climb, swim, burrow or whatever type of movement you can come up with.

I would of posted this as a new thread, but cannot seem to find the new thread button, sorry this is my first post, let's hope this first post of mine does not get a wand of disintergrated pointed at me.

respectable feedback would be welcome on my approach