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So this may well be my favorite race. But I feel like it could be expanded upon greatly with new types of Skinwalkers. So here is a quick list of some that I'd love to see:
Deer-Kin: She would be fast and agile though relatively weak physically. I would give her minuses to fear effects but bonus to perception
Turtle-Kin: This comes from watching a bit too much Kung-Fu Panda but with this I might give a +1 to AC. Maybe a +2 on AC if going full defense. I might make them slower.
Rabbit-Kin: Fast and agile so similar to the Deer-Kin. Perhaps small sized in Hybrid form.
Gorilla-Kin: Strong and aggressive perhaps reflected in bonuses to Str and Con. Bonus to Intimidate (hopefully with chest beating at game tables). Could even play a bit with King Kong themes and have them susceptible to enchantments from the preferred gender.
Racoon-Kin: Nocturnal and curious. So dark vision. Minuses to illusion spells. Because they are quite tricky I would suggest bonuses to Disable Device and Escape Artist.
Swan-Kin: Graceful and majestic is how I imagine them. So bonuses to Dex and Chr perhaps offset by minus to strength. I might give them a bonus to Diplomacy and knowledge Nobility.
Any thoughts or animals you might like to see anthropomorphized as well?
How many of these can be achieved with re-flavoring existing subtypes? really what you are looking at is a combination of stat adjustments and some special forms...
A general template for skinwalkers would be good, a + to this stat pairs to a - to this one, apply a floating +2 when in beast form. pick X points of beast benefits, Movement +, Natural Attack +, skill bonus, etc.
Well to an extent that could be helpful. But by making specific types of Skinwalker, racoon-kin or Owl-Kin it then opens up design space to new archetypes, rage powers, or panache that fit new skinwalker flavourfully and mechanically. This is what we have seen so far with some of the original ones. I just think it would be interesting to expand upon it.
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Especially the Gorilla-Kin. Then I could play Gorilla Grodd and plot to turn all of Golarion into talking Gorillas!Given how blood of the moon portrays shifted skinwalkers you'd be less gorilla grodd and more just a really hairy person, but I guess that's what refluffing is for.
You must be a member of the Super Friends for trying to foil my plot with your rules!!!
GORILLAS RISE!!!!
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My only issue is that if you look at the sub-species we have of skinwalker they are almost all predatory animal based. I'm trying to picture the actual lycanthropes these skinwalkers would be descended from and all I can picture is the easter bunny with rabies for a were-rabbit. A were-swam I'm pretty sure would just be laughed at for looking rediculous. A were-gorilla I could see, though I would mostly think of it as a reskin of the were-bear, but for a more jungle environment.
I suppose it boils down to artistic interpretation. I see a Swan-Kin as more of a long lithe person with light feathering. More like a slightly off ballet dancer.
The Rabbit-Kin could fit into so many variations of anthro-rabbit forms I've seen before. Even in Paizo's own Harrow deck with its Rabbit Prince.
But sure, it won't be for everyone.
Were-Badgers would be very interesting. I'm not quite so certain about the Earth Worm though. How about a Were-Lobster!
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Seal-kin, definitely, for that Selkie vibe.
Other than that, I'm not sure. Thematically, I'd want to stick to predatory (or at least omnivorous, like bears and boars) animals, and not herbivores like deer or rabbits, but that's just personal preference, and a deer or horse or bull-shifter could be very cool.
Having certain races be more commonly different types of were, such as elves being more likely to be were-eagles, and were-vipers (and wolves and panthers), and gnomes more likely to be were-raccoons, were-otters and were-badgers, could be one way to mix things up.
Giant insect/vermin shifters could be a route not normally explored. In Golarion, elven were-wasps or wasp-shifters would fit thematically with Calistria-worship. Orcs who serve Rovagug going into were-centipede or centipede-shifter could be a similarly Golarion-flavored tie.
I love the idea of the Seal-Kin, especially as there are mythological roots to that one, as there are with the deer and swans.
I think the idea of vermin-kin would add for some truly creepy options.
Also wasn't there once a Jackal-were? Is that from a previous edition?
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I still have a bunch of half-written ideas for skinwalkers left over from a Wayfinder article and a 3PP project before I got severe writer's block:
- werebadger-kin (greydiggers, the mujina)
- werecoyote-kin (slyboots)
- werehyena-kin (bonecrushers, bultungin)
- wereserpent-kin (slitherkith, icchadhari)
- selkie-kin (sleekskins, finfolk)
- swanmay-kin (haughtyhearts, cygnin)
I think the idea of vermin-kin would add for some truly creepy options.
The entothrope (an arthropod-based therianthrope, I assume) is confirmed for the upcoming Bestiary 6, so who knows?
Also wasn't there once a Jackal-were? Is that from a previous edition?
Yeah, they are in Bestiary 3.
It is very unfortunate but after thinking up new skinwalkers my mind last night dreamed up people with glowing rear ends (fire fly skin walkers).
MDC
The Shadowrun setting has insect spirits who manifest in this world by possessing and (usually) transforming the host into an insect/humanoid hybrid. One of those was fireflies, so your brain wasn't the only one to go there.
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The only race I really have written-out (3/4's complete) at this point are the araneoi, a race of reverse-biomagically engineered spiderfolk created by the forgotten magisters of Nurvatchta, the aranea. The aranea created them a) to help bolster their ranks in the Spider-Xill War and 2) simply because the aranea have the knowledge, mastery, and curiosity to do it. The araneoi currently fall into two subraces, the Medium araneos ("webrunners") and the Small salticios ("freehunters"). There is a third, more horrifying subrace, the [REDACTED], that is also beginning to emerge; they have decided to push their own evolution even further, with the goal of invading the Ethereal and totally exterminating the xill at any cost.
Wow, I love all those ideas, but particularly the were-spider-kin dudes! White Wolf tied their spider-shifters to the legend of Anansi, and had them be blood-drinking tricksters, which was a neat tack to take. Aranea might be more populous in southern Garund, in which case that might be a cool thematic association (the connection to African lore/Anansi, not the blood-drinking, necessarily...) for a spider-shifter-kin as well.
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I still have a bunch of half-written ideas for skinwalkers left over from a Wayfinder article and a 3PP project before I got severe writer's block:I also figured that the Immortal Fey Powers That Be would have created skinwalkers as a test run for a new race (post-gnome exodus), the síbairn. The only two síbairn I started working up were:
- werebadger-kin (greydiggers, the mujina)
- werecoyote-kin (slyboots)
- werehyena-kin (bonecrushers, bultungin)
- wereserpent-kin (slitherkith, icchadhari)
The only race I really have written-out (3/4's complete) at this point are the araneoi, a race of reverse-biomagically engineered spiderfolk created by the forgotten magisters of Nurvatchta, the aranea. The aranea created them a) to help bolster their ranks in the Spider-Xill War and 2) simply because the aranea have the knowledge, mastery, and curiosity to do it. The araneoi currently fall into two subraces, the Medium araneos ("webrunners") and the Small salticios ("freehunters"). There is a third, more horrifying subrace, the [REDACTED], that is also beginning to emerge; they have decided to push their own evolution even further, with the goal of invading the Ethereal and totally exterminating the xill at any cost.
- selkie-kin (sleekskins, finfolk)
- swanmay-kin (haughtyhearts, cygnin)
That sounds awesome and like a 3PP I would buy. My best advice to get over writers block is a trick I used in Grad School, get drunk then start writing. Edit it up the next day and hopefully you'll have some usable points.
Hope that helps, now get back to work!