3.5 new race, could use help.

[Druid_lord]

Hey, I made this race awhile ago, just rediscovered. It's probably going to need a lot of help to make it decent. I made some racial weapons but they were ridiculous, I might post them later.

There are many creatures who can turn themselves into animals; werebeasts, druids, and so on. But amongst shifters, there are people, called therianthropes, who are unique because what shifts, for them is not the body, but the mind.They truly become their spirit animal, thinking, smelling, and feeling as it does. A therianthrope walks a narrow line between man and beast, striving to maintain an equal balance.To lose control, to become nothing but the beast, is something that hunts all therianthropes. Therianthropes Awaken in their adolescence from all the races when they first shift their minds. After this, therianthropes usually live as outcasts. There are three main " species": Bear, Hawk, and Wolf.
CRUNCHTASTIC:+2dex, wis -2 chrs, int. +2 survival, move silently, spot, listen. Lupinthropes are naturally swift and cunning without shifting. Operating with an animals mind tends to make it harder to think in the terms of a civilized being, even after coming back from a shift. Many fear Lupinthropes, not distinguishing between them and werewolves. ( is this balanced for +0 LA? if not, how should I fix it?
Shifting (how many times a day, how should I representing struggling to control?) + 2 wis, - 2 chrs, +4 survival, move silently, +2 hide, - 4 diplomacy, disguise, -2 pick lock, all other Chr checks, + 4 to trip attempts, gain Scent.
Fluff is coming soon. I can has first thoughts, plz? is this workable?

[redmagus]

hmm an interesting concept, first of when considering racial ability adjustments, physical scores usualy rank higher than mental, so you could say (Random example, not a suggestion) get +2 dex -2str, or +2 dex -2 wis, int, but not +2dex -2 wis unless you have some other downside to balance it

as for controling the transformation i would look at the 'resist involentary change skill' on page 303 of the monster manual

for adjustments whill shifting just base it off what shifters get or traits of the animal,ie, wolves are naturally inclined to trip things and bears grapple, while they may not gain physical traits to aid in these you could still give a bonus on these checks representing instinct on such tactics

also just as a note charisma is usually abriviated as CHA

[mr.fizzypop]

Now what makes this different from regular lycanthropes? It has no LA, but there's been were-races before. The hengeyokai from Oriental adventures for example.

I also don't understand. Does it turn into the animal or just become a hybrid? I think it's a great idea but needs a little more work.

[Druid_lord]

Sorry, the explanations of what makes it different I think was sort of lost in the shuffle of fluff. What changes is their mind, they think like their spirit animal, with few physical changes.

[mr.fizzypop]

Okay now it makes sense. But will this transformation be voluntary? Will it take a will save to use it? Does any natural event trigger it?(such as full moon)

[Druid_lord]

I was going to have it be mostly voluntary, but have a few cases where it would be save dependent, but my ideas were all based on roleplaying, and would be at the discretion of the player and the DM, like extreme of emotions, ectera. Hmm, maybe have them make a save on the New Moon?