Anachu pictures and converting (3.5 + earlier editions).

[Tempest Fennac]

I found a race of humanoid foxes called Anachus the other day and I thought they sounded interresting due to being similar to a race I made called Vulpines. The problem is that the 3.5 conversion, http://www.enworld.org/cc/converted/view_c.php?CreatureID=851 , has an LA of 2, which I'd sooner not have if I was using the race myself. Would you guts say +2 Dex, -2 Cha, Scent, 1d4 Bite attack, low-light vivion and the "speak with canids" ability would be balanced as an LA 0 race? Also, does anyone know of any pictures of this race? If you do, please could you give me a link to them? (I'm curious about what they look like exactly).

[Swooper]

I'd call that a balanced LA0 race. Not a particularly strong one, even - from an optimization standpoint, I'd rather play a human in most cases, unless I specifically needed scent or that bite attack.

[Tempest Fennac]

Thanks. A couple of people just told me Scent was powerful enough to give it an LA. (I'd probably still sooner use my Vulpine race if I wanted a humanoid fox race, but I thought this could be a neat alternative.)

[Rad]

Scent worth LA is what Wizards seemed to think when they published savage species. Unfortunately they were very, very wrong (people say that nothing in that book was well balanced). As things are the race seems to be a bit underpowered I think.
Personally I would add other stuff that advances tracking, from giving Track for free or making survival always a class skill.

EDIT: we are talking medium size, right?

[Tempest Fennac]

They are a medium race. You meant adding Track to my version, right? Would adding +1 Natural Armour instead of Tracking work as well if you think they are underpowered as they are? (To be honst, WotC overestimating the usefulness of someting isn;t surprising).

[Hunter Noventa]

I think WotC puts Scent up there with Blindsense/sight in terms of usefulness. It's really not. hell, there's a whole stand in toB that gives scent, I've never touched it.

As for the Natural Armor, the only low LA race I can think of off the top of my head with that is Catfolk which is a +1LA race, but they have other bonuses, making them a powerful race for 1LA. I think +1 Nat Armor isn't that bad.

[Tempest Fennac]

Kobolds have +1 NA at all but I tend to use a variant which I made in my games due to how weak I consider the normal ones to be. (I use +2 Dex and Cha, -2 Str and Con. Small, 30' Movement, +1 NA, Darkvision 60', +2 to all Trapmaking, Search and Mining checks.)

[TomKatt]

Technically a +1-4 ac bonus is considered LA 1 but thats according to wotc

[Swooper]

Thanks. A couple of people just told me Scent was powerful enough to give it an LA.
If Scent was worth LA, warblades, swordsages and anyone who takes the Martial Stance feat should get LA :smalltongue:

I'd say NA+1 is more universally useful than Track, which is more situational. I'd call them balanced with either.

[Tempest Fennac]

Thanks, Swooper.:smallsmile: (I really like using this sort of half animal race but it's awkward when they have LA.)

[Teron]

Let's see... with the bonus to dexterity and extra attack, I'd say your version is best suited to being a rogue. A bit better than most races in that role, but not terribly so, and not overly impressive at anything else. I think it's fine without LA. I don't think it's too weak, either, but if you add anything it should probably be something that benefits warrior or caster types more to keep it from being a one-class wonder.

[Tempest Fennac]

I thought mine was best suited for Rangers to be honest (admittedly, the extra Bite attack could help any melee combatant). If my version is balanced, I'd sooner keep it as it is without adding anything else.

[Teron]

Rogues love extra attacks. A 1d4 bite isn't worth much on its own, but for rogues it's another potential application of sneak attack damage. Incidentally, ranger/rogue multiclassing is pretty solid for the same reason, and this race would be as good for that as any. Straight rangers, however, don't have that much use for dexterity unless they're archers, and scent-based tracking isn't that useful in practice.

[Tempest Fennac]

I always saw Dex as being useful for a slight AC boost for Rangers (I also tend to think that there's always a chance that even a weak extra attack could drop an enemy).

[Teron]

Certainly, both traits can benefit a ranger, especially with the right build. They're just better for a rogue.