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I've had my copy of Howl of the Wild for a couple weeks now but I still want to express my appreciation for the Wild Mimic and Swarmkeeper archetypes, grafts, new Ranger feats and Devourer of Decay Witch Patron. There's like a ton of other stuff in this book I'd love to play and will never get the chance to but for a book that is only half player options and doesn't even bring a new class, this still feels equivalent to a full character option book to me. I have been cautiously hoping for an official Paizo book to let me recreate the PF1 Psychodermist and y'all delivered it to me in spades and got the Putrefactor Witch as a bonus plus a bunch of other fun surprises. Thank you, again, to the entire Paizo staff for another great product!
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I am pretty happy about the Hydras. I love having more hydra options. I really like the habits and details sections too. Thank you.
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I have been wanting and waiting for PC awakened animals for DECADES!
THANK YOU SO MUCH PAIZO!!! MUCH LOVE FOR YOUR WORK!!!
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I can't wait to play a Bear Exemplar forest protector
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While part of me is a little miffed that the cayhound still has yet to be updated to 2e, I take solace in the fact that with Awakened Animal's Late Awakener feat and the Nephilim versatile heritage (Musetouched, specifically), I can BE the chaotic good boy I wish to see in the world!
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I've been working on monster options for PCs for the last year (originally for another system, long story, lots of typing). This book is great for pace setting for me, and rather reduces the gaps I would even need to address. It's like someone did half my homework for me and gave me a cheat sheet for the rest. If they had gone just a few steps further and built a class I'd be moving on to a different project.
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I just had a hilarious/horrifying thought: how much chaos could an awakened weasel cause if they got their paws on the infamous Bag of Weasels?!
I have been wanting and waiting for PC awakened animals for DECADES!
May I ask why awakened animals specifically versus the existing animal-like ancestries?
Catfolks, ysokis, gripplis, kitsunes, nagajis, shoonies, tengus, strixes, gnolls, vanaras, lizardfolks, anadis, kashrishis, now minotaurs and merfolks... What are those missing that the awakened animal now possesses?
No judgement, I'm just curious.
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What are those missing that the awakened animal now possesses?
No judgement, I'm just curious.
Because now you can literally play as a cat and you couldn't before.
Like there's a difference between "anthropomorphic animals" and "actual animals."
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1) Awakened Animal gives rules to create pretty much any type of animal.
2) There is a very different flavor between "Species that is its own thing, with history, culture and etc" compared to "Actual animal critter given sentience due to a unique occurrence."
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Adding my thanks.
I was able to finish the centaur druid concept I had for Wardens of Wildwood and it worked even better than I hoped (Ironhoof heritage, Steelhoof and Trample, Skilled Herbalist and Herbal Forager).
I am also elated over the options with the minotaur/talos (Ferrosoul, Precious Alloys) monk concept I have for Triumph of the Tusk (Goring Charge, Into the Labyrinth).
I'm debating on trying an awakened chetamog (see Wardens of Wildwood AP 201, Pactbreaker) at some point, but that may be a bit much for some groups...
1) Awakened Animal gives rules to create pretty much any type of animal.
2) There is a very different flavor between "Species that is its own thing, with history, culture and etc" compared to "Actual animal critter given sentience due to a unique occurrence."
Ok, so it's mostly a "background" reason.
This is something that apparently isn't talked about in the book: How regular animal ancestries see awakened animals. That would have been nice to know. I doubt that there would be any animosity between the two, but still, the ritual of awakening within those other ancestries could have been an interesting tidbit of info.
I mean, I could see Orision awakening animals in memories of their Ancient Pantheon, or vanaras offering pet monkeys to Sun Wukong in a special ceremony, with the best one being awakened in his image.
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I think we see things very differently. Or perhaps I am just reading assumptions in what you are saying and If so I do apologize. But backgrounds... how you came to be and what you are are ultimately pretty important aspects of a character and how they view the world.
That being said, I feel like that type of interaction between ancestries that are authethically simillar to animals and there relations to awakened animals would be more likely to be written in a lost omens book. The larger rulebooks tend to have to keep this fairly broad. Especially if let's say you have the space and you talk about Vanaras and monkeys you might have people ask why there wasnt room for cat folk and cats, or rat folk and rats and lizardfolk and the various reptiles they tend to be associated with despite the name just being lizard. Idk if just seems like something you would want to include in a place where you can go in depth into the culture of those ancestries and not let's say awakened animals themselves.
The thing is that 99% of awakened animals are created, not born.
SOMEONE cast Awaken to bring them to life, versus the other ancestries, which were born after who knows how many years of evolution. Granted, several ancestries were created by deities, but still ^^;
The thing is that 99% of awakened animals are created, not born.
SOMEONE cast Awaken to bring them to life, versus the other ancestries, which were born after who knows how many years of evolution. Granted, several ancestries were created by deities, but still ^^;
I'll have you know that my Mother was born, not made. ;PThe thing is that 99% of awakened animals are created, not born.
SOMEONE cast Awaken to bring them to life, versus the other ancestries, which were born after who knows how many years of evolution. Granted, several ancestries were created by deities, but still ^^;
The original spider was born from a regular egg, but her being awakened means that she was created ;)
Here's how I see this:
- If born naturally, it's an organic birth.
- If created with a spell, it's an artificial birth.
That's like how I consider "artificial intelligence" as "you just have a circuit board instead of a fleshy brain, but you are still intelligent."
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"Animal folk" ancestries have always been super boring to me. Always felt like a human cosplaying an animal, and their cultures rarely go beyond putting a coat of animal themed paint on human scaffolding.
Being an actual animal is a whole lot more interesting to me. It also makes it less awkward deciding how much you lean into the animal side of your character's roleplay compared to "animal folk". A catfolk who likes to bat at cat toys can make people roll their eyes, but a cat that does that is normal.
Always felt like a human cosplaying an animal
Isn't that what you're literally doing playing an 'actual animal' though?
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Always felt like a human cosplaying an animalIsn't that what you're literally doing playing an 'actual animal' though?
Add in another degree of separation. Instead of playing a human cosplaying an animal you can be the human who cosplays the animal without putting another human in the middle.
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1) Awakened Animal gives rules to create pretty much any type of animal.
2) There is a very different flavor between "Species that is its own thing, with history, culture and etc" compared to "Actual animal critter given sentience due to a unique occurrence."
Ok, so it's mostly a "background" reason.
This is something that apparently isn't talked about in the book: How regular animal ancestries see awakened animals. That would have been nice to know. I doubt that there would be any animosity between the two, but still, the ritual of awakening within those other ancestries could have been an interesting tidbit of info.
I mean, I could see Orision awakening animals in memories of their Ancient Pantheon, or vanaras offering pet monkeys to Sun Wukong in a special ceremony, with the best one being awakened in his image.
For the Human example, see Planet of the Apes.
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Altered not created.
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Always felt like a human cosplaying an animalIsn't that what you're literally doing playing an 'actual animal' though?
I took Waterslethe to mean that when as a human** player you are playing let’s say…a kholo, it can feel like your character is merely a “human cosplaying a hyena” with ears and and a tail, and that their culture is a riff on pop-culturally derived hyena-land.
But an awakened hyena can totally be physically still a hyena, however altered, and not have to feel like a “human with a funny head”. *And* be free of any cultural expectations. Or…cling to them if they wish, possibly seeing some of the motifs as physiologically informed. Or whatever.
** (because, one can never tell who is playing, especially in PbP)
I think it's because how "girly" mermaids/mermen/merfolks are seen in medias thanks to a certain animated movie ^^;
Then again, the original myth often depicted merfolks as "beautiful women with fish tails" :p
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"Animal folk" ancestries have always been super boring to me. Always felt like a human cosplaying an animal, and their cultures rarely go beyond putting a coat of animal themed paint on human scaffolding.
Being an actual animal is a whole lot more interesting to me. It also makes it less awkward deciding how much you lean into the animal side of your character's roleplay compared to "animal folk". A catfolk who likes to bat at cat toys can make people roll their eyes, but a cat that does that is normal.
I feel like lot of that is bias tbh. Like, people in general have harsher expectations of "animal folk portrayal" than say elf or dwarf portrayal and its often kinda excuse to just dismiss players interested in them as furries or something. And people have strong bias of how "animals" should or shouldn't act (either pro them having stereotypical traits or anti them sharing habits with real life animals) in way that would be uncomfortable if we weren't talking about animal stereotypes.
Like as xenofiction fan, I do think its great when you can convincingly portray non-human culture, but in setting where every playable ancestry isn't that dissimilar mentally, it feels weird to single out cat people being too human when compared to halflings/gnomes/elves/dwarves. It also feels very dismissive on lot of exploration by writers on said cultures, like I think goloma from mwangi expanse culture are fairly alien and kholo culture is well explored. Lizardfolk also aren't usually portrayed like human cultures, but that is kind of because of D&D tradition as treating them neutral aligned monsters rather than people unfortunately.
(yeah this was excuse to talk about how paizo has done great job with them xD)
with the Dauntless background :p ?
Just realized I need to create an Awakened dog Investigator.
Who enjoys eating a lot.
"Take a bite out of crime!"
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I know not a lot of folks were enthused by it…
But I’m really happy Merfolk are finally added into the game (with all the various support to play it).
Been wanting to play one in PF2e ever since I first tried out PF1e, so…yay!
I just had a bit of inspiration last night on how to roleplay Ariel from the Disney movie: with her gadgets and gizmos aplenty and her dubious understanding of their functions and meanings, she'd make a perfect thaumaturge! :P
Yes, bard is the class almost everyone thinks of when discussing singing merfolk PCs, but like Ember Green states in this video essay on reading Ariel as more feminist than people assume, as well as neurodivergent, Ariel's singing voice is something OTHERS value, but she herself doesn't really value, which is why she's okay with giving it up to achieve what she wants, and she manages to get Eric to like her just fine without it (thaumaturges DO have high charisma!). So maybe take a few of the singing related feats but then the Shore Legs feat instead of the Siren song, and of course a familiar to get your non-flounder Flounder sidekick, and you've got an adventuring Ariel! You can even tie it in to some elements of the short-lived prequel TV show where Ariel herself dabbles in magic from various sources like a magic cave or a wish-granting starfish (usually causing some kind of trouble)!
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Sebastian, in turn, would be an awakened animal (tiny, aquatic) Commander.
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Sebastian, in turn, would be an awakened animal (tiny, aquatic) Commander.
I am not sure I want to know how the "Kiss the Girl" tactic works though.