Anthropmorphic character

[trwb]

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

[Ævux]

Overall it has a bit too much power, and yet at the same time it really doesn't have anything.

Sent for example is typically something in 3.5 that increase a creatures LA +1. It is normally gotten around by putting in "If you have wisdom of at least X (usually 11 or 13) then you can take sent as a bonus feat"

Lupins from Dragon compendium got around it another way by give a few "sent" like abilities but not the full power of sent. You also took negatives for smell based attack, such as ghoul stink.

Natural armor is another one of those that tended to increase LA.

And the quadruped ability essentially gives them a +8 bonus to acrobatics when making a jump.

AT the same time they are weak because they don't really personify any one animal.

Right now, I'm currently working on a slew of races that are created after some work with the anthropomorphic animal spell myself. Cause I personally hate playing 7 different flavors of human.

[trwb]

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?

[Ævux]

As a half-orc, I could take the following bonuses

+2 str.
Bestial for a +2 perception.
Take the Orc feat for natural armor
and the Orc racial trait fora bite attack.

pretty much right there, I've duplicated most of the racial abilities except for quadruped. I can still take sent and if I pick natural weapons ranger, even gain the claw attacks.

Personifying the creature is more than just whats on the outside, but also the inside as well. Wolves tend to do pack hunting, or you might have a lone wolf. Cats tend to be considered curious. Owls are considered to be wise.

[trwb]

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

[Ævux]

Did they say what kind of anthropomorphic animals they wanted to play?

If they are all playing them, then there is no need to worry about one race being more powerful than the other, since they would all be the same. There isn't anything that really breaks DM vs Player interaction, (other than remembering about sent) and your players will end up all being on equal ground.