Is Doing Packages OK? Refining a Race-in-Progress

[Lazaryus]

The race was created when a wizard made a botched attempt at casting Baleful Polymorph against an intruder in his home. Rather than fizzling out, however, he inadvertently cast an alternate spell that layered some traits of the animal he desired to turn the target into (a rabbit, in this case) onto the target. Less than a week later, the spell became just another service of the Mages of Vanity(contains all kinds of spellcasters, not just wizards, but still does exactly what you'd expect). The race has a stigma attached to it, with it being considered a race of criminals and ne'er-do-wells. Indeed, such people are the most common buyers of this service, but they aren't the only ones to do so. Some may get the service to commemorate a cherished, animal-related memory, as part of a mid-life crisis, to follow a trend, as an attempt to understand the secret life of certain animals, or to infiltrate lycanthrope dens.
Below is the current write-up of the race, using a human as an example (feel free to ignore the human traits):

Animus(this is just a placeholder)
Type Humanoid(Human, Animus)
Size Medium
Speed Normal
Abilities Human Heritage
Languages Linguist
Racial Traits
Flexible Bonus Feat
Skilled
Bodily/Mental Enhancement (one Advanced Ability Bonus to highest ability score of animal)
One Movement Trait appropriate to animal from: Glide, Climb, Swim, Burrow, Fast (might downgrade Fast to Sprinter), and Jumper
Low-Light Vision (might drop)
Scent (might drop)
Animal Empathy and Animal Speech (as Rodent Empathy and Treesheech, but pertaining to animals related to animal, put these in tandem because if it is power-appropriate for them to interact with such animals just as though they were people, I will drop both for that ability, if not, I might just drop them anyway)

Any suggestions?

[Lazaryus]

I forgot to add the Natural Attack Trait:

One Natural Attack appropriate to animal from: Bite, Claw, Natural Attack

For example, let's go with a wolf:

Advanced Ability: roll d2 (1>Dex;2>Con)
Movement Trait: Fast
Natural Attack Trait: Bite
Low-Light Vision
Scent
Animal Empathy (Canines)
Animal Speech (Canines)

[Timebomb]

I'd say the race is on the strong side (being obviously better than human), but closer than most custom races.
Beyond the power level it seems to me like this is a race that is always magically created, and so you have to ask what happens to the modifiers from their old race? Do they lose their old racial stat bonuses before the Animus one applies? What about traits that reflect training? Do elfs forget how to use a bow, dwarves lose their hatred for orcs and goblins, gnomes become worse crafters? If they get to keep the old and new racial traits then I would hope that spell to transform them costs at least as much as a Wish, potentially much more.

I would change some things:

• Limit the bonus feat to the ones on the Animal Companion list, not much of a nerf but I think it's thematic.
  
• Change the movement trait from granting the movement type to giving the +8 racial bonus to the appropriate skill (Acrobatics, Climb, Fly or Swim)(I would be careful with new movement types: glide, swim, and jumper aren't bad but Climb is often about as good as fly before you have access to flight, Fast is just really nice to be able to run down just about any normal enemy, and Burrow is tricky even when you remember that default it doesn't allows movement through solid rock and the like [precedence set by Dire Badger's ecology notes]).
  
• Drop Animal Speech: even the animal master, the druid, doesn't get to speak with animals unless they use a spell or a feat, the latter being at least 6th level and only for minutes per day. And Animal Empathy still gives the effect you're looking for.
  
• Natural attack might be too strong too, it is a free secondary extra attack per round when full attacking after all, but I like giving martials some love. Also should include Slam in that list, for things like Apes.
  

Low Light vision, scent, Animal Empathy, and Skilled are all fine I think, nice little perks. Though if you're still concerned about balance Skilled could go too.

It would still be a strong martial race, but I assume that some shady wizard would need to cast the spell in the first place and I feel that's also the point of the race.

[Lazaryus]

The Animus race doesn't grant any racial qualities, Flexible Bonus Feat, or Skilled, which are a part of the base human. The race may be applied to any other race, who won't lose any of their base traits. After considering your suggestions, I've come up with a second write-up, with just the Animus traits this time:

Animus (still holding that place...)
Racial Traits
Advanced Ability (highest one of base animal)
+8 racial bonus to either acrobatics, climb, fly, or swim (as appropriate for base animal)
One Natural Attack: Bite, Claw, Natural Attack(includes slam and others). Having a high BAB doesn't grant extra natural attacks. Override: the natural attack is always considered a secondary attack and cannot be used if a member of this race possesses an manufactured weapon.(as appropriate for base animal)
Low Light Vision
Scent
Animal Empathy (animals related to base animal)

Now I'm trying to figure out a penalty to keep this from being a straight upgrade. Maybe a permanent, two-personality Multiple Personality Disorder, though that seems a bit harsh.

[Dox of the ParaDox twins]

You could have it lower a star based on the animal to balance it. And maybe a penalty to certain skills

[Lazaryus]

So some of the options on the table are:

-2 to one ability score(Int if base animal's Int score is 1, lowest ability score of base animal other than Int if base animal's Int score is 2)
Law-abiding, civilized people who didn't already know you before you became an Animus start with an attitude one step worse than normal
-4 to Disguise checks
-2 to Will Saves

[Timebomb]

If they get to keep all their stuff from the previous race then there isn't much you can do to make this not be a straight upgrade without the harsh penalties like you suggested. -2 to a stat more or less counterbalances the +2 from advanced ability. The roleplay penalties like the Law-abiding also work well as long as the player knows about it beforehand and the DM remembers and uses it occasionally. The Disguise penalty is directly proportional to how much the player wants to hide their race, if they don't care it's not a penalty. Will saves always hurt, but a -2 isn't unprecedented (crossblooded sorcerer).

You also might think of something like a resistance/immunity to the Transmutation school of magic (Enlarge Person, Bull's Strength, Haste, etc.) with the original transformation spell interfering in some way. That'd also be a decent penalty.
Other skills that could be effected might be Sense Motive/Diplomacy (the animalistic instincts make interacting with normal people a bit more difficult)

I think it's probably more or less balanced with the penalties as is, maybe still a tad strong. You just don't want to nerf it so hard that nobody would want to take it.

[Lazaryus]

Just gonna necromance to finalize the race:

Animus (not a standalone race: choose another race to go with this)
Racial Traits
Advanced Ability (highest one of base animal)
+8 racial bonus to either acrobatics, climb, fly, or swim (as appropriate for base animal)
One Natural Attack: Bite, Claw, Natural Attack(includes slam and others). Having a high BAB doesn't grant extra natural attacks. Override: the natural attack is always considered a secondary attack and cannot be used if a member of this race possesses an manufactured weapon.(as appropriate for base animal)
Low Light Vision
Scent
Animal Empathy (animals related to base animal)
-2 to one ability score(Int if base animal's Int score is 1, lowest ability score of base animal other than Int if base animal's Int score is 2)
Law-abiding, civilized people who didn't already know you before you became an Animus start with an attitude one step worse than normal
-2 to Will Saves, as well as Diplomacy, Disguise, and Sense Motive skill checks
Transmutation Interference (all transmutation spells cast on an Animus is subject to a DC 17 concentration check)