Well here's a conversion out of "Races of the Wild". My friends and I have always loved the Catfolk, despite their rather unfair +1 Level adjustment. I mean, come on, the D&D Dwarf in 3.5 sure as hell wasn't a 0 Level adjustment race. So when Pathfinder produced their new core races I said to myself, time to update the catfolk.
So here it is.
-Underpower, overpowered, you tell me.
-I think compared to the other PF standard races they certainly no longer deserve their +1 LA... Oh wait, what was that, PF doesn't use level adjustment... well I'll be damned, lol.
Enjoy
-AK
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Pathfinder Catfolk aka (Neko-jin)
Physical Description: The Catfolk resemble a cross between a large predatory cat (type does not matter), and a human, with the sleekly muscled and toned body of a humanoid. They all posses feline characteristics such as longer canines, slit-like eyes, and feline-like tapered ears. Other more uncommon features include characteristic feline markings such as those found on leopards, tigers, or cheetahs. While they do have thicker nails than most humanoids, they are not durable or powerful enough to be considered claws, and thus they make unarmed attacks just like humans, but they can choose between dealing bludgeon or slashing damage.
(Optional flavor) Feel free to use if you want.
Recently there has been a schism within Catfolk society, between those who wished to remain in the wild carrying on the tradition of their ancestors, and those who have encountered and come to enjoy the benefits of “civilized” society. This has resulted in two different catfolk cultures, the Wild Catfolk, who still carry on the nomadic traditions, and the City Catfolk, who have intergrated themselves into civilized society.
-The Wild Catfolk are much the same as they were printed in “Races of the Wild:. They are nomadic warriors, who are ruled by individual clan chiefs. They tend to have good relationships with other woodland creatures, especially the wood or wild elves. Their religious beliefs tend to lend towards those of the Druidic order and many healers amongst the tribes are druids themselves. Wild Catfolk tend to have a sense of disdain for large over populated cities, and have very little understanding for why other races would want to settle down in one area permanently. They view their city dwelling Catfolk cousins as bastards who have betrayed their heritage and often refer to them with a nickname, nenariiouss (nen-ari-ous-s), roughly translated meaning: Degenerates.
-The City Catfolk, on the other hand have embraced civilized society, even if civilized society has yet to embrace them. They tend to cluster into small communities, usually moving in and taking over a small section of a city, and then proceeding to open up shop. While they have rejected the wandering nomadic ways of their ancestors, the City Catfolk still maintain a semi-tribal social hierarchy, that has become more gang like than anything, with a commanding head of a large family, that in turn rules over the lesser families in the gang. Humans and other races have loving come to call this social structure, “The Catfolk mafia”, and most city dwellers tend to avoid the Catfolk's section of the city. The Catfolk, in turn, have decided that they are happy clustered into their own little sections of town, and once established, make few if any attempts to win over the opinions of the other civilied humanoid races. With regard to their wild kin, the city catfolk have created their own term of endearment, calling them, Deasst (De-ae-s-st), roughly translated meaning, backwards or savages.
Alignment and Religion: Any alignment. Catfolk tend to be free spirited people, living life for the moment, but do fall into a social hierarchy within the context of their own race. Wild Catfolk tend to worship forces of nature and lean more towards Druidic traditions.
Catfolk Names: Catfolk names tend to start with a D, M, or N and usually contain multiple s, or r sounds.
+2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, -2 Wisdom: Catfolk are exceptionally quick, and their Feline characteristics make them naturally attractive, while also granting them a rather exotic look. Unfortunately their curiosity tends to get the better of them.
Base land speed 40ft: Catfolk pride themselves on their speed and agility as they are faster and can cover more ground than most humanoids of similar size.
Lowlight Vision: Can see twice as far as a human in starlight, torchlight, moonlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. They retain their ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
Racial skills: +2 bonus on Perception Checks. +2 Bonus on Stealth Checks. Catfolk are highly preceptive of their environment and the world around them. They are also excellent ambush hunters, and can move about much more stealthily than other humanoids.
+1 Dodge Bonus to Armor Class: Catfolk possess an amazing sense of timing, and have incredible reflexes. They gain a +1 dodge bonus as a racial ability (not as a bonus feat). As this is a dodge bonus, it stacks with other dodge bonuses, unlike most other bonuses. And like other dodge bonuses, a situation that causes you to lose your dexterity modifier also causes you to lose your dodge bonus to AC.
Automatic Languages: Common, Feline
Bonus Languages: Draconic, Gnoll, Halfling, Sylvan
I have the same feeling that I had with the splat book. Needs a better name and a better background.
Hey I work with what I got. We prefer calling them the Neko-jin. And a good friend of mine was the one who thought it would be a great idea to have the cats get into organized crime and become the D&D medieval equivalent of "The Mob". It was actually a stroke of genius, as the Catfolk really lend themselves to that roll.
such famous lines as
Eh-o-meow-eh (The Fuzz)
Are you looking at me, meow! (Raging Cat)
and if you go with the Neko-jin name you can call their little section of a city:
Neko-town. Its like a weird cross between China-Town and Little Italy.
I agree with you, they need a better name, and I refer to them as the "Catfolk" so that people know what I'm talking about.
As far as their background goes, I'm not all for it, but I'm not against it. I honestly like the fact that its rather wide open, as it leaves me without predetermined stereo types, like those associated with dwarfs and elves, and as you can see allows players and myself to take the race in some rather interesting directions.
Firstly, I have to say that I love catfolk, but always found them unplayable in 3.5 because my group considered them well overpowered for their +1 LA. I approve of fixing them for PF.
+1 Dodge Bonus to Armor Class: Catfolk possess an amazing sense of timing, and have incredible reflexes. In combat they are able to designate any one foe as a free action as a target of this dodge bonus. A catfolk who has the dodge feat can actually designate two different targets for his dodge bonuses, one from the feat, the other from his racial ability, or he can combine them against the same opponent. As this is a dodge bonus, it stacks with other dodge bonuses, unlike most other bonuses.
I just notice that since the pathfinder Dodge feat gives a flat +1 dodge bonus to AC all the time, this is an unnecessary reversion to the old complicated rule. Maybe just make it another +1 AC, although that could be slightly too powerful.
Firstly, I have to say that I love catfolk, but always found them unplayable in 3.5 because my group considered them well overpowered for their +1 LA. I approve of fixing them for PF.
+1 Dodge Bonus to Armor Class: Catfolk possess an amazing sense of timing, and have incredible reflexes. In combat they are able to designate any one foe as a free action as a target of this dodge bonus. A catfolk who has the dodge feat can actually designate two different targets for his dodge bonuses, one from the feat, the other from his racial ability, or he can combine them against the same opponent. As this is a dodge bonus, it stacks with other dodge bonuses, unlike most other bonuses.I just notice that since the pathfinder Dodge feat gives a flat +1 dodge bonus to AC all the time, this is an unnecessary reversion to the old complicated rule. Maybe just make it another +1 AC, although that could be slightly too powerful.
I would say just leave it then as a +1 dodge bonus to AC. Dodge bonuses stack, and you still lose them if you're denied your dexterity bonus. so its not as overpowered as +1 Natural Armor. (not that +1 natural armor is that powerful anyway...)
AK
(PS: Changing ability text neow)
The race doesn't have "too much", the problem is that racial bonuses are placed all too conveniently. Dex bonus + Stealth bonus + AC bonus is bound to raise suspicious brows among several GMs. All the advantages of a textbook-Rogue race without any of the drawbacks... and with increased speed to boot.
Speaking of racial bonuses, I wouldn't call cats "charismatic" given how your average cat has the same degree of domestication as a tiger and, by the same token, granting a Perception bonus while inflicting a Wisdom penalty is rather contradictory. A build needs congruence.
The race doesn't have "too much", the problem is that racial bonuses are placed all too conveniently. Dex bonus + Stealth bonus + AC bonus is bound to raise suspicious brows among several GMs. All the advantages of a textbook-Rogue race without any of the drawbacks... and with increased speed to boot.
Speaking of racial bonuses, I wouldn't call cats "charismatic" given how your average cat has the same degree of domestication as a tiger and, by the same token, granting a Perception bonus while inflicting a Wisdom penalty is rather contradictory. A build needs congruence.
-Hey, everyone loves my cat. XP
-And while it does seem contradictory to hit the with a WIS penalty while granting them a bonus to perception, this simply reflects the fact that a Cat can hear and spot things with amazing accuracy, and yet quickly gets distracted by said things, and forgets what he was doing before.I make no illusions about this race being Rogue-Tastic. Hell even the original race in Races of the wild has "Play a rogue" written all over it, despite the favored class being Ranger.
In general, this is a very gross over generalization of cats. No two cats are the same. No 2 PCs are going to be the same. But they are all build off the same common themes and its up to the player to make Catfolk A differ from Catfolk B.
Lose the extra dodge bonus and IMO that looks like a PC-appropriate race.
(I do find Charisma appropriate. Not because of inherent grace or beauty, but because cats just know they're the coolest people in the room.)
I've always liked the catfolk. Not the ones from the miniatures book, too penalized IMHO for what they got. I do agree a dex bonus to ac is more appropriate than NA. And I agree with the stat block (cats is kind of flighty). :)
The fluff is decent, and you did what you could with what you had to work with. I think it's a decent conversion.
I got so tired of having to modify the old 3.5 versions I wrote up my own catfolk, mainly because I wanted some differentiation between a 'lionesque' and a 'cheetahesque' type. The final version I'm using in my own games is here if you are interested. I also gave them a different name than catfolk my self, as that seemed a little insulting honestly. We don't call elves 'vulcanfolk' after all, at least not to their face. ;)
I also gave them a different name than catfolk my self, as that seemed a little insulting honestly. We don't call elves 'vulcanfolk' after all, at least not to their face. ;)
A friend of mine and I came up with a joke about star trek.
Gene was out one night playing D&D with GaryHe still hadn't come up with any good sci-fi faces
Then it hit him.
-Make the Dwarves taller, meaniner, uglier, cross them with half orcs and presto: Klingons
-Make the Elves cold and emotionless, look its a Vulcan
-And just cover a gnome or halfling in fur, stick a gag in their mouth, and OMG its tribble.
It was funny at the time.
AK
Does that make Romulans pigment-challenged Drow? lol
YES!!!
I love the catfolk, and i'm going to use the name from above for them. this is something i put together. tell me what you think.
Neko-Jin
Neko-Jin are defined by their class levels—they do not possess racial Hit Dice. All Neko-Jin have the following racial traits.
+2 Dexterity, –2 Intelligence , +2 Wisdom: Neko-Jin are quick, and vigilant but it has never been within their society to emphasize learning.
A Neko-Jin's base land speed is 40’
Low-Light vision: Neko-Jin can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions.
Racial Skills: Neko-Jin have a +2 racial bonus on Perception and Move Silently Checks.
Dagger Trained (Ex): Neko-Jin are trained to use daggers in pairs as part of their hunting traditions. All Neko-Jin have two-weapon fighting with daggers only, they gain improved two-weapon fighting, with daggers, if their base attack bonus exceeds +5, and greater two-weapon fighting, with daggers, if their base attack bonus exceeds +10.
Automatic Languages: Common, Feline. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Gnoll, Halfling, Sylvan.
I love the catfolk, and i'm going to use the name from above for them. this is something i put together. tell me what you think.
Neko-Jin
Neko-Jin are defined by their class levels—they do not possess racial Hit Dice. All Neko-Jin have the following racial traits.
+2 Dexterity, –2 Intelligence , +2 Wisdom: Neko-Jin are quick, and vigilant but it has never been within their society to emphasize learning.
A Neko-Jin's base land speed is 40’
Low-Light vision: Neko-Jin can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions.
Racial Skills: Neko-Jin have a +2 racial bonus on Perception and Move Silently Checks.
Dagger Trained (Ex): Neko-Jin are trained to use daggers in pairs as part of their hunting traditions. All Neko-Jin have two-weapon fighting with daggers only, they gain improved two-weapon fighting, with daggers, if their base attack bonus exceeds +5, and greater two-weapon fighting, with daggers, if their base attack bonus exceeds +10.
Automatic Languages: Common, Feline. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Gnoll, Halfling, Sylvan.
Though I like the idea of Catfolk, both of these races seem a bit too powerful for a specific build.
1) The first Cat-Folk need to drop the +1 AC (Dodge). Wayyyy too powerful at low levels. The Stealth Bonus is stackable with the DEX, but it does fit well for a cat.
2) The Neko-jin listed above isn;t bad, but the 40' move is VERY overpowered (keep it at 30') and the automatic two-weapon fighting is unbalanced, basically granting them 2 free feats (one at 1st level and one at 5th level) that normally have a Stat requirement. And it's not really a racial thing, more of a cultural thing. Maybe go for a catfall sort of thing (-10' falling) or a +2 to Jump and Climb?
Though I like the idea of Catfolk, both of these races seem a bit too powerful for a specific build.
1) The first Cat-Folk need to drop the +1 AC (Dodge). Wayyyy too powerful at low levels. The Stealth Bonus is stackable with the DEX, but it does fit well for a cat.
yeah it was the first thing i dropped.
2) The Neko-jin listed above isn;t bad, but the 40' move is VERY overpowered (keep it at 30') and the automatic two-weapon fighting is unbalanced, basically granting them 2 free feats (one at 1st level and one at 5th level) that normally have a Stat requirement. And it's not really a racial thing, more of a cultural thing. Maybe go for a catfall sort of thing (-10' falling) or a +2 to Jump and Climb?
i disagree about the movement rate, but i do like the idea of -10 for falling or the jump and climb mods.. i'll have to think about it some more.
this is why i post here, good ideas's.
instead of 40 foot speed, what about some sort of sprinting ability usable 1 or a very few times/day?
I like the +2 dex, +2 wis, -2 int stat array
IMO drop the AC thing and just give dodge as a bonus feat. Most of the other races have built in feats.
I'm not feeling it with draconic as an available language. I like gnoll though. woof!
I like the Dodge as a bonus feat idea. (Keeps 'em from stacking too much...the +2 Dex already gives them another +1 normally).
I still don't like the 40' move.
Cats (and Dogs, rabbits, etc.) move that fast because ther bodies are built for chasing, not standing upright and using tools...
40' Move is a massive bonus to things like combat and chases...
I have the same feeling that I had with the splat book. Needs a better name and a better background.
COUGHNa'viCOUGH :)
so after some agreement with suggestions, hows this?:
Neko-Jin
Neko-Jin are defined by their class levels—they do not possess racial Hit Dice. All neko-jin have the following racial traits.
+2 Dexterity, –2 Intelligence , +2 Wisdom: Neko-jin are quick, and vigilant but it has never been within their society to emphasize learning.
A neko-jin’s base land speed is 40’
Low-Light vision: Neko-jin can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions.
Racial Skills: Neko-jin have a +2 racial bonus on Perception and Move Silently Checks.
Always Land on Your Feet: A Neko-Jin subtracts 10’ from any fall distance when calculating damage, and add +2 on all jump checks.
Claws: Neko-Jin have sharp retractable claws. They count as armed and do 1d3 slashing damage with this natural attack, they also add +2 to all climb checks.
Automatic Languages: Common, Feline. Bonus Languages:Elven, Gnoll, Halfling, Sylvan.
Drop the 40' move and the claws that do damage and I like it.
Otherwise, just too many advantages to make this a "balanced" race.
Giving claws to a core race that can get class levels gives it too many munchkin-abusable variants.
I have the same feeling that I had with the splat book. Needs a better name and a better background.COUGHNa'viCOUGH :)
Link says there is no Na' entry in wikipedia.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Scarred lands had an interesting solution to clawed cat-people.
Essentially give them claws, but they're not trained in them (explained as they've atrophied due to being civilized) If they took improved unarmed strike, then they got a claw attack that did 1d3 slashing, or a punch that did 1d3 bludgeoning.
I'd also point out that some cats (Lions) normally only swipe with one paw.
Scarred lands had an interesting solution to clawed cat-people.
Essentially give them claws, but they're not trained in them (explained as they've atrophied due to being civilized) If they took improved unarmed strike, then they got a claw attack that did 1d3 slashing, or a punch that did 1d3 bludgeoning.
yeah that's what i was shooting for, the claws are supposed to make the damage slashing instead of bludgeoning, that's all.
note: i'm keeping the 40' move, you can remove it if you wish.