TL;DR: Half-Kitsune race: Formerly Human person that suddenly changed into Kitsune form and can't change back. Note: If you want a race like this where the human doesn't change shape, just play as a human.
A while back, I decided that for at least a while I was only going to make Kitsune/Fox-people characters... so when a campaign came up DMed by a friend that was going to be set in 12th Scottland (Basic plot: Magic is suddenly coming into the world. Divine and Arcane magic is suddenly being given out like candy to about every 1 in 10000 people. And yes. The Pope is a cleric, moving on.) I quickly came up with a concept for a race that was basically a human that had been overcome by sudden Fey magicks and turned into a anthromorphic fox person. The DM said okay and now I have a Druid that's a fox person.
And then a while later another campaign came up on the Giant In The Playground forums that had the warning: [Heavy Houserules]. (Dark Sun + a smidgen of Dragon Mech. Going to be playing a Gunslinger/Coglayer.) Being bored I clicked on it and asked if I could be a Kitsune. He said if I wanted to have it be a sudden genetic mutation because the Cleansing Wars would mean there would be no Kitsunes left. I said I had a custom race for just that scenario and decided to re use the race from the 12th century setting.
So after a while I've been thinking.... what about a character who has Kitsune ancestry that suddenly awakened one day that caused him to change shape? What if I made a Half-Kitsune race?
So this is where I'm at now, my idea for this race is that a member of this race has ancestors that are Kitsunes that one day suddenly was activated and they changed shape involuntarily and suddenly he/she can't change back? How would that look like mechanically? Would they still have the Bonus Feat that a human gets? Would they still get a +2 CHA? Or how about the +2 to any ability score but still with -2 STR because their Kisune forms are frail? Is that even possible common sense wise? And so on.
I'm looking to create a Half-Kitsune/Kitsune-Descendant race for the Dark Sun setting, because Kitsunes probably existed at one point. As a note to whether or not this would be viable for a Kitsune and a Human to have children together. In Japanese folklore (according to Wikipedia) it was possible.
Anyways, text walls aside. Here is the race I made for the 12th century setting for those who are interested/want the details.
Type: Humanoid (Fey) 2 RP
Size: Medium. 0 RP
Base Speed: Normal. 0 RP
Ability Score Modifiers: Standard (-2 STR +2 DEX +2 CHA). 0 RP
Lanuages: Any. 1 RP
Racial Traits:
Feat and Skills: Flexible Bonus Feat. 4 RP
Offensive: Bite 1d4. 1 RP
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8 RP (Yes, I know that it's an 8 RP race, that was semi-intentional, but now it looks stupid to do that in hind sight)
The reason why I'm asking you guys is because I'm sure a community of people with more experience than me would know how to balance a race like this. So using above as a base, (minus the Fey part, that's just there mostly for justification for the existence of the race for the setting it's in.) I want suggestions on how I should throw this together.
I would have thought kitsune were more native outsiders than fey, but maybe that's just me.
The total RP of a race isn't necessarily a reflection of how powerful or weak it is. A good set of mods and some nice bonuses go a long way.
It has -2 str but a bite attack? I don't see much point in giving them mechanical features they work against one another. Although, agile +4 (I think that's right) AoMF for bite would be amusing... and expensive.
Changing form generally doesn't alter mental stats, only physicals. It also doesn't take away any feats granted from the original race (conversely, it doesn't add new feats from the new race). The reincarnate spell might give you most of what you want to know.
I would swap -str to -con, and possibly +cha to +int.
I believe it's only small races that get a penalty on strength, could be wrong though.
For the rest it looks quite okay, ability scores as usual, and the rest balanced a bit like a human. Is the flexible bonus feat one that you can pick, like humans have it? If it is more restrictive perhaps give them some cantrips they can cast once per day with the necessary charisma.
Mhm.... I see...
So how would you price these Ability Score Modifiers?
-2 STR +2 DEX +2 Any Mental
My justification is that your new Kitsune form is weaker than your used to, but also more dexterous than your used to and that only people that end up going into some kind of magical class would end up activating their Kitsune ancestry. This would probably lead to a lot of Sorcerers and similar classes where their magical ability spontaneously develops.
I guess I can also put in an Alternate Racial Trait for a regular +2 Any Ability Score Modifier for half human races.
I'm going to leave the bite attack in because it's like a perpetual backup dagger.
Well if you're going to leave in the bite it should be 1d6 (since the Foxman is medium), not 1d4. Though, this is for casters and they dump str and the not relevant mental stat and that primary natural attacks add 1.5 str bonus; it will basically be dealing 1 point of non-lethal any time you use it and you can't coup de grace with a bite attack.
As to how to price those modifiers, the problem is that the freely allocated +2 is Human subtype only instead of a RP cost. There's also nothing like +2 dex, -2 str, +2 only in a mental stat so it's difficult to price. I'd probably say 1RP for the power creep. The only real difference between this and a human is no extra skills, no human feats, bite attack and low light vision. I think it'd be good to give it a fluffy mechanic, kind of like how the native outsiders have spell-likes and caster level bonus or bonus cha for their bloodline/domain. Something that ties in with the heritage of the race.
(This kind of feels more like a template that can only be applied to a human who puts their +2 in a mental stat.)
Yeah, it kinda is. The Foxman race is just there for people who want to see what I made for the 12th century campaign.
Hmm... in thinking this over, you're right, you're absolutely right. This is just looking a lot like a template for a human. I need to step away from that idea and build this from the ground up. That might mean no Human Bonus feat. But I also don't want to make just a human with fur. So they inherit things from both sides of their family... but the only thing I'm going to throw in is that they can't change from their Kitsune form. They would probably also end up looking like a more buff Kitsune.
Type: Humanoid (Human, Kitsune) 0 RP
Half Kitsunes inherit both Human and Kitsune traits from their parents but are locked in one form, that of a Kitsune.
Size
Medium 0 RP
Base Speed: Normal 0 RP
Ability Score Modifers: Human heritage 0 RP
They gain the varied nature of their human parents and often look like a bigger than average Kitsune.
Languages: Linguist 1 RP
Racial Traits
Feat and Skill
Agile (Skill Bonus: Acrobatics) 2 RP
Half Kitsunes usually find their new Kistune forms being more Agile than there previous human forms and receive a +2 racial bonus to Acrobatics checks
[Custom] (Need Name): 1-3 RP
Half Kitsunes receive a +5 racial bonus on Disguise checks made to appear Human when wearing clothes that hide their non-human features and Disguise is always a Class Skill.
Magical
[Custom-ish]Kistune Magic, Lesser 2 RP
Half Kitsunes add +1 to the DC of any saving throws against enchantment spell that they cast. Half Kistune with a Charimsa score of 12 or higher gain the following spell-like ability: 3/day dancing lights.
Offense
[Custom-ish] Large Bite 2 or 3 RP
The jaws of a Half Kitsune are often larger than a Kistune's. Half Kitsune receive a Bite attack that deals 1d6 damage.
Senses
Low-Light Vision 1 RP
Other
Kitsune Blood 0 RP
Half-Kitsunes count as both Kitsunes and Humans any effect related to race. This does not mean a Half-Kitsune can take Kitsune racial feats.
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Total: 9-11 RP
New people to the thread/those people who were VERY involved in the Advanced Race Guide playtest, I want your opinions!