Animals Redone

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So animals really get a bad rap in D&D. They are confined to "realistic" archetypes (they get no DR-penetration at all, and even giant eagles get to be Magical Beasts), they can't get an intelligence score greater than 2 (making them prime for Intelligence ability damage), and as an even worse offense there are skills that let you domesticate (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/handleAnimal.htm), co (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/calmAnimals.htm)nt (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/animalMessenger.htm)rol (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/animalTrance.htm), or get free surprise rounds on (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/hideFromAnimals.htm) them at the lowest levels, without almost total exclusivity and no other chances to do the same for outsiders, giants, fey, etc. Add that to the fact that animals are usable almost exclusively as closet trolls, and you have a creature type that's basically at the butt of everyone's jokes.

Well that's going to end here. My long-unloved friends from Appendix I of the Monster Manual are back, and in style. These changes overhaul the animal type and things related to it--including dire animals, animal advancement, and overall animal uselessness. My goal is to make a customizable source from which you can draw up most any animal.

Warning on Balance

As a primer to this, a large amount of this content is not for player use without DM permission. 5 "levels" in the animal class can provide huge melee gains like +4 Str, pounce, and a size increase or 2 bonus hit dice. An animal without any WBL or magic is going to need those boosts to not get creamed and to stay interesting, but a player could use that a greatsword to make some insane builds. If you're going to use the animal class and animal race at all, make sure it's with the permission of your DM.

What's Inside

Animals are a relatively homogenous group, so it is should be relatively easy to generate them all from a single, adjustable source. As far as I know, animals don't get much tougher than CR 10 (at least in the SRD), so the following is a base "class" of 10 CR and an animal "race" that lets you write up animals in any way you need. Following that will be current animals rewritten so they're better and more interesting. I might include prestige classes for mounts, companions, and dire animals, but that's not the current priority.

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Kinds of Animals
There are two kinds of animals in D&D. This isn't a distinction of animal species or combat role, but more their usage in an adventure.

The first is animals as Traps. They're incredibly flimsy glass cannons that exist to basically get damage in and then get squished. Good examples of this are rats with filth fever and the tinier vipers with their dreaded Constitution poison. There's definitely an adventure-based niche for these, but Trap Animals don't have a place in the world of advancement and shouldn't really be considered for it. A black widow that advances into a Dire Black Widow should be just as easy to squish, but hit twice as often and deal twice as much Con damage.

The second type of animal is the Classic animal. These are the ones you find most of in the Monster Manual, and they're also the easiest for me to write up (which is why I'm statting them out first :smallcool:). Animals will have a standard trick or two that they perform regularly, some marginally interesting passive skill effects, and then otherwise will basically be a ball of numbers and damage.

Design Note: Feats and Attribute Increases by CR
The standard of character advancement has long been to use hit dice (or was it ECL?) for obtaining feats, BAB, saves, etc. This variation on animals provides bonus hit dice at the beginning and possibly further down the road, which can really cause a disparity when feats start kicking in. Since extra hit dice are so common in monster design and it would be a shame to lose them, feats are simply assigned to advance as CR does. So at CR 1, you gain 1 feat, and then you pick up another at CR 3, 6, etc. The same goes for attribute increases--once per 4 CR. Since these might get confused with the attribute increases derived from class levels, these are given a name: natural attribute increases.

Design Note: Bite Attacks
According to the SRD, bite attacks do slashing, piercing, and bludgeoning damage. I don't like that and I think it kind of hurts an optimizer's choices, so bites now do slashing damage only. If you want to change this, go ahead, but it works really well with the animal race setup below.

One More Thing!: Amphibious Creatures
Several important and iconic animals are either amphibious or capable of holding their breath for a very long time. In order to model this, you can do one of the following things:


If you want an animal to be amphibious, apply the amphibious template from Stormwrack but increase the swim speed to equal the fastest of the animal's other movement modes.

If you want the animal to hold its breath for long periods of time, decrease the speed of all movement modes by 10 feet, give it a swim speed equal to its previously fastest movement mode, and then give it the ability to hold its breath twice as long as normal.


Animal: The Race
+2 Strength or Dexterity, -2 Intelligence or Charisma
Animal: For all the woe and sadness it entails. At least someone has to specifically prepare charm animal to get you at level 1.
Medium or Small: Upon character creation, choose one of these sizes. If you are small and it is appropriate at some point if your animal career to become medium, you may do so at any point in which you gain a feat.
If medium, you gain a land speed of 30 ft. If small, you gain a land speed of 20 ft.
You gain 1 natural weapon, dealing 1d6 damage for a medium creature, usable as a primary or secondary weapon. It is either a gore (piercing), a bite (slashing), or a slam (bludgeoning).
You gain a racial bonus to some skills, chosen at character creation. This racial bonus doubles in your natural environment:

+2 to Hide and Move Silently
+2 to Jump, Climb, Swim
+2 to Escape Artist, Tumble, and Balance
+2 to Spot and Search
+2 to Spot and Listen

No language: Animals are unable to learn any language, which them unsuited for player characters. They can overcome this by becoming awakened.
Animals have 1 racial (d8) hit die. This sticks around even after they take class levels, and grants them Medium (3/4) base attack bonus, good reflex and fortitude saves, and poor will saves.
You can only take classes specifically allowed for animals. Like the Animal class below (what a coincidence!)

Further Customizing Animals
Some animals go a bit further than normal, and thus require a few more changes. While the current set-up and class (below) can make most of the furry things we know and love, some of the more fragile options still can't be emulated.

During creation, an animal can choose to sacrifice its inherent racial hit die and instead gain one of the following. They can choose to lose this any time they would gain a feat or a natural attribute increase, which also grants them back their racial hit die:
Burrow or Climb: Any animal can choose this. They gain a burrow or climb speed equal to their land speed. Animals large or larger gain burrow or climb speeds equal to half their land speed.
Flight: Any animal can choose this. Their land speed changes (unless the listed speed is lower than the animal's current speed), and they gain a fly speed with maneuverability according to the table below:
{table]Size|New Land Speed|Fly Speed|Maneuverability
Tiny or smaller|10 ft.|40 ft.|Good
Small|10 ft.|30 ft.|Average
Medium|20 ft.|30 ft.|Poor
Large or larger|30 ft.|30 ft.|Clumsy
[/table]
Poison: Any animal with a bite or claw attack can choose this--if they do not have a claw attack and permanently (not from magic, any kind of transformation, or graft) gain one they may choose to select this benefit despite not having it upon creation. It is an injury poison and deals 1d6 initial and secondary damage to any ability score (chosen at creation), but can only be transmitted through a single permanent natural weapon, such as a single claw or a single bite. If the animal picks Strength of Dexterity to damage, the poison can be inflicted through multiple permanent natural weapons. The DC to resist this poison is 10 + 1/2 your hit dice + your Constitution modifier, and a given creature can only be forced to make a save against your poison once per round.
Size Decrease: Only small animals can choose this. They become tiny, without any change in attributes and a 10 ft. decrease in speed. Growing in size from tiny to small and small to large cannot occur in the same level, and also grants no change in attributes.

Animal: The Class

{table]CR|Special
1|Stat Boost, Claw Attack or Bigger Weapons
2|Passive
3|Specialization
4|Stat Boost, Claw Attack or Bigger Weapons
5|Bigger Threat, Passive
6|Stat Boost, Bigger Weapons
7|Feral Specialization, Passive
8|Bigger Threat, Stat Boost
9|Specialization, Bigger Weapons
10|Bigger Threat, Stat Boost
[/table]

Skill Points: 2 + Intelligence modifier, x4 at 1st level.
Skills: Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Escape Artist (Dex), Handle Animal (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (any one) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex)
Animals also have automatic ranks in whatever skills they have a racial bonus to equal to their CR + 3.

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: An animal gains no proficiencies with armor, shields, or weapons save the natural weapons it has.

Stat Boost: At level 1, 4, and every 2 levels thereafter, an animal may increase one of its physical stats (Str, Dex, or Con) by 2 permanently as though having gained several levels.

Claw Attack: At levels 1 and 4 the animal gains a claw or talon attack as appropriate to what it is (talon for birds, claws for most other animals). This is a slashing and piercing weapon that deals 1d4 damage for a medium creature and can be used as a primary or secondary weapon.

An animal can forgo this ability and instead choose Bigger Weapons, listed below. Whatever option an animal chooses at level 1, they must choose the same option at level 4.

Bigger Weapons: At levels 1 and 4, an animal increases the die step of all of its natural weapons by 1. Natural weapons obtained after the animal has gained this class feature also benefit from the die step increase retroactively.

Animals also gain Bigger Weapons at levels 6 and 9—they have no option to trade this out.

Passive: An animal at levels 2, 5, and 7 chooses one of the abilities from the following list. You can select an ability more than once unless otherwise specified:

Double the current racial bonus to all skills or gain a new set of racial skills from the animal race. These racial bonuses still double in your native environment. Selecting this multiple times can increase the skill bonus by itself again (triple the 2nd time, quadruple the 3rd time) or allow for a new skill bonus choice.
+5’ to the speed of all movement modes, plus 5' per 2 CR of the animal, regardless of class. Selecting this multiple times stacks it.
A source of natural armor equal to the animal's CR. Selecting this a second time increases that natural armor by 1 per 2 CR of the animal, and selecting it a 3rd increases that natural armor by 1 per 3 CR of the animal.


Specialization (Ex): At level 2, and every 3 levels thereafter, an animal may choose one ability form the following list and permanently gain it. You cannot select an ability more than once unless otherwise specified:

You gain the pounce (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#Pounce) special ability.
You gain a rend attack: When you hit with both claw attacks, you latch onto the opponent’s body and tear the flesh, automatically dealing an extra d6 damage for a medium creature plus 1.5 x your Strength. The damage can be improved as if it were a natural attack.
You gain a constrict (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#constrict) attack that deals 1d3 for a medium creature plus 1.5x your Strength modifier. This damage can be improved as if it were a natural attack.
You gain a rake (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#rake) attack that you can either use in grapple as a normal rake attack or in a pounce attack (choose 1 when taking this ability). These deal damage as per your weapons from Claw Attack or your natural claws if you have any. If you do not have natural claw attacks and did not take the Claw Attack class feature, you cannot choose a rake attack.
You gain the powerful charge ability (like the rhinoceros (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/rhinoceros.htm)), which allows you to deal double damage on a successful charge attack with your natural weapons. This does not stack with spirited charge.
You gain the Improved Grab (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#improvedGrab) ability, which allows you to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity after making a successful attack with one of your natural weapons. You may only use this on creatures one size smaller than you or smaller.
You gain the trip ability similar to the wolf (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/wolf.htm), allowing you to make a trip attempt against a creature as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity or making a touch attack, immediately after hitting them with an attack from one of your natural weapons. You may only use this ability to make 1 trip attempt per round.
You increase the DC of any injury poison that you transfer with natural attacks by 2 and increase its secondary damage by 1 die. You can extract samples of your poison for use on other weapons. This process takes 1 hour and can only be done once per day. Samples last for a number of days equal to your Constitution modifier upon extraction, after which they decompose into uselessness.



Bigger Threat (Ex): At levels 5, 8, and 10, you may choose one ability from this list. You can choose an ability more than once, unless otherwise specified.
Tough: Gain 2 animal hit dice (2d8), plus one additional hit die per time you have selected Tough.
Hide in Plain Sight: You can use the hit skill even while being observed. You cannot select this ability more than once.
Speed: During a surprise round, you get a move action in addition to whatever action you would normally receive. You always enter surprise rounds. If there is no surprise round in a combat, you create one and get only the move action in it. You cannot select this ability more than once.
Towering: You increase by 1 size category, and gain natural armor equal to the size penalty you accrue.
Big and Strong: Your gain the Powerful Build ability and half the hit dice you would normally gain if you chose Tough at this level. If you take this a second time, you instead lose both instances of Big and Strong and gain one instance of Towering and one instance of Tough.


Other Animals

Some animals can't be modeled by these rules. Those are the bigger and tougher animals (dire dinosaurs, battletitans, legendary animals) and the incredibly squishy animals suitable only as traps or scouts. The latter is pretty quick, so let's write something up for it first:

The Weaker Animals
The weaker animals follow an easy template. Because they're so far on the weakness end of the spectrum, they are not suited for transformation abilities like polymorph or lycanthropy. All of their basic statistics are listed here:

{table]Stat|Value
Size|Tiny
Speed|10ft.
Hit Points|1
Attack Bonus|+0
Armor Class|15
Flat-footed AC|12
All Saves|+2
CR|1/2[/table]

Weaker animals do not have attribute scores--if they take a single point of ability damage (including Constitution) or hit point damage they fall to 0 hit points and become helpless. A second instance of damage or ability damage kills them. A weaker animal's touch AC is equal to it's regular AC, and all animals get only 1 natural weapon.

In addition to their generic statblock, weaker monsters get 1 big trick and 2 little tricks, which help to distinguish them from other weaker animals of their kind. Tricks, despite their name, are persistent properties about the animal such as speed or save boosts. Tricks cannot be selected twice unless otherwise specified. This is a replacement for feats--weaker animals do not gain feats.

Little Tricks:
+2 Reflex
+2 Fortitude
+10' to one movement mode. An weaker animal can take this ability twice, but only on different movement modes.
+5' to all movement modes.
+1 to all AC
+1 to hit
A climb speed of 10', with all associated bonuses for climbing
A swim speed of 10', with all associated bonuses for swimming
A racial skill bonus from the Animal race above, but doubled. A weaker animal can take this ability twice, but racial bonuses do not stack.

Big Tricks:
Injury poison for 2 primary and no secondary ability damage to any ability score (chosen upon creation), Fort DC 10. If the chosen ability is Strength or Dexterity, increase the DC by 2.
A fly speed of 20'
Dimunitive Size, granting +2 AC (including flat-footed), +2 to hit, and -5' to speed and -1 to saves.
Any two benefits from the small tricks list

Advancing Weaker Animals: To increase the challenge rating on a weaker animal give it two values that scale to its CR. In effect, choose the CR you want your animal to be and then modify attributes to that value:
Increase saves and AC (including flat-footed) by 1/2 the animal's CR, rounded up
Add +1 to the animal's attack bonus
Increase move speeds by 5' at every even CR of the animal
Give the animal a damage threshold equal to twice its CR + 1
The animal does not fall unconscious unless it takes ability damage equal to its CR


Sidebar: Damage Thresholds
The damage threshold is a new mechanic, similar to damage reduction and energy resistance. Any time a creature with a damage threshold takes damage, if that damage is not equal to or greater than the value of the creature's threshold, it is entirely ignored. This can be combined with relatively low hit point totals to make management of lots of 'tough' monsters easy.

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Weaker Monsters

Animal Companions

Paladin's Mounts

Familiars

Dire Animals

_____

ANIMALS AS PCs:

Lycanthropes

Anthropomorphic Animals

Shifters, Hengeyokai, and Animalistic Races

[eftexar]

I await. Animals really did get the short end of the stick. Even vermin could get considerably powerful in comparison. Anyways, here are a few concepts I think need redone or added:
I don't think underwater capabilities, or lack thereof, or constriction are handled very well.
I'm tired of poison dealing boring ability damage instead of other useful debilitating effects (why no nausea or acid damage over rounds).
And I think animals that fight in packs, such as wolves, should gain some sort of innate bonuses while flanking other creatures.

[LordErebus12]

ive been employing this as a rule for my racial classes. I used the type as the base progression, then add abilities for each level, based on the creatures overall theme.

P.S. I'm willing to help in any way I can.

[DracoDei]

Random thoughts off the top of my head:

It is sort of a chicken and egg problem. Animals are weak, and thus spells that specifically effect them are balanced, and also there are two spellcasting classes in core and one domain that are supposed to specifically have dominion over them.

I await. Animals really did get the short end of the stick. Even vermin could get considerably powerful in comparison. Anyways, here are a few concepts I think need redone or added:
I don't think underwater capabilities, or lack thereof, or constriction are handled very well.
Light snarking follows:
Oh, yes, Constriction is entirely overpowered compared to if it was realistically modeled on its real-life counter-part (at least in snakes), which usually requires the victim to suffocate... which takes forever in combat, meaning that the other party members have plenty of time to kill it.

That having been said, what do you see as the problems with each of those things?


I'm tired of poison dealing boring ability damage instead of other useful debilitating effects (why no nausea or acid damage over rounds).
Nausea I could see... if there are any animals that work that way. I guess you could model pain as nausea? I think hemotoxins may kill mostly through shock induced by the pain? That could be modeled as a combination of nausea(or whatever symbol of pain does) and Con Damage.

Don't know about acid damage. I think giant ants get it, which sounds about right. Other than that, not sure how realistic it is. Also, would Delay/Neutralize Poison help against that just as well as Resist Elements?

Ability score damage is actually LESS boring to me than hitpoint damage, plus being harder to heal, keeping them more relevant at higher levels. Still, I could see the case for variety if it adds realism.

And I think animals that fight in packs, such as wolves, should gain some sort of innate bonuses while flanking other creatures.
Maybe, and/or some way of controlling the movements of fleeing prey... not that that is going to come up often in D&D.

[LordErebus12]

And I think animals that fight in packs, such as wolves, should gain some sort of innate bonuses while flanking other creatures.

How about something in the line of:


Pack Hunters (Ex)
Wolves are intelligent pack hunters, and each member has a duty to protect and defend the pack from attacks. Wolves gain a +4 bonus on spot and listen checks while within hearing range of the pack. As long as one wolf is aware of a threat, all wolves within hearing range are aware. If one wolf is not flat-footed, none are.

naturally, this could apply to many animals.

[drew2u]

does anyone remember this document or still have it:

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36047

they listed specific stats for dozens of animals and it was really cool! Unfortunately the document links no longer worked, but it went a long way in addressing boring animals in DnD.

[eftexar]

Constriction could fatigue people by knocking the wind out of them, give free disarm attempts, or could even crush armor dealing a bit of damage to it each round. I just think something more threatening than "I deal damage each round" is called for.

I think underwater creatures need special maneuverability. That and eels, for example, should have an electrical ability that works only underwater (not that you'd see them outside water much). Jellyfish could gain concealment for being clear and you could have a hide plain sight for coral or seaweed for some creatures.

I think nausea simulates pain quite well, because creatures immune to nausea would probably be immune to the effects of pain anyway. How about hallucinations, confusion, fatigue/exhaustion, immobilization from deterioration of muscles?
I think that the resist poison effect applies regardless of whether or not it is ability damage.

I think that ability would work perfectly, LordErebus12. It makes wolves as terrifying as they should be. After all many heroes in stories I've read have fled from wolves but have fought monsters that are seemingly worse individually.

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In order:

Underwater
Underwater combats are past the scope of what I want to do with this project. I usually just play all my combats on the ground anyways.

Constriction
This is a special attack defined in the monster manual, so I don't want to rough it up here. I've also never actually used constriction attacks in a game before, so I'm more likely to be a bull in a china shop than anything else. If ever there is a change to constriction that I find and like, I'll pop it in an "Optional Rules" section at the bottom of each monster entry.

Poison
This is also a pretty standard attack, and while poison (and disease) is something that needs a re-think, I'm probably not going to change it drastically. Expect a Trap monster with status-inflicting poison, though.

B]Special Tactics (e.g. Pack hunting)[/B]
I think this kind of stuff should be covered by feats. There's no actually good pack hunting feat tree, and there should be, but that's going to be a tertiary priority. I hear that Ziegander sometimes shows up and writes feats if you speak his name three times and sacrifice a chicken though.

Animals are Weak
I think this problem is actually exacerbated by the plethora of easy ways to beat the crap out of them. I mean, animals are already failing to beat DR and nonstandard movement modes, do we really need to hand out level 2 AoE SoL effects to druids and bards?

That Awesome Animals Document
No, I don't have it. But that thing was so cool.

[LordErebus12]

I think animals need a further categorization, some division of overall power between truly adapted predators and average critters, rather than just raising or lowering its hit dice. Each type could have a different progression of power and abilities.


perhaps divide all animals into one of two types: Rogue or Pack, then given a subtype with each having two or three abilities that are unique to that subtype.

Animal Types

Rogue Animals

not sure what to put in this section.

Pack Animals

Watchful Eyes (Ex)
Each pack animal has a duty to protect and defend others in its pack from potential threats. All pack animals gain a +4 bonus on spot and listen checks while within hearing range of the pack. As long as one animal is aware of a threat, all animals within hearing range are aware. If one animal is not flat-footed, none are.

------

Animal Subtypes

Dinosaur

Mega-Fauna

Grazer

Hunter



Edit: that wolf ability would be a pack thing, not so much a lone animal ability, so it would be under potential pack abilities.

[Ashtagon]

I'm not sure what the point of this project is. A housecat doesn't level up to eventually become a sabre tooth tiger any more than a kobold can level up into a bugbear. An animal "class" just doesn't make sense to me.

Now, 3e does introduce some visible formulas in the background that can be used to derive monster stats (such as how I came up with my HD for dinosaurs and other prehistoric fauna). But each creature is still unique enough to have its own special abilities, and creatures with more HD won't necessarily have more special abilities related to their physical form than a low-HD creature (they have more feats, but that's already accounted for in the system formulas).

[Erik Vale]

I'm not sure what the point of this project is. A housecat doesn't level up to eventually become a sabre tooth tiger any more than a kobold can level up into a bugbear. An animal "class" just doesn't make sense to me.

No, But a baby sabre tooth tigre definately equates to kitten, and then levels up. Perhaps think of it more like a special type of Racial hit dice, actually think Dragon. When [If] you let players play as dragons, they give over levels for powers, and can advance in dragon hitdice/monster classes based on them ageing up, but for all other levels need to pick some other class. For the purposes of this, animals would be restricted to a maximum number or a small range of levels. For example, a wolf might only get 1-4 levels in animal before having to pick a different class, where as yonder great eagle may get the whole 10 levels before multiclassing. [Not referring to the SRD for their actual levels at the moment, but that's not the point.]

[Ashtagon]

For the sake of the catgirls, I'd better leave this thread.

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Erik's got it right. There will be advancement caps on the CR of each animal type, and then an associated writeup at that cap, but the existence of the class will allow you to write up weaker versions of animals in case you want to start your adventure with an adolescent tiger or something.

EDIT: ERMAGERD CATGERLS! That reminds me, I can probably add anthropomorphic animal rules to this, and I need to rewrite awaken.

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So it's been about 5 years since I posted in this particular thread, which is good a time as any to perform some necromany.

Animals and XP
We are sort of handwaving XP gain by animals here. Mostly that is because the players will never see an animal level up and pokevolve into a large form or grow extra claws. That would be weird and metagamey.

Unlike us, animals get to "level up" by growing older. Lions aren't scary because of how many Zebras they hunted. They're scary because their teeth and claws are sharp, and they weigh 400 pounds.

So if your players peer behind the curtain and ask how on earth a Bear grows 5 feet around at level 5, don't feel like you need to justify it. These rules are a framework for designs and nothing more.

Players & Advancing Animals

Sometimes a PC will need to grow their animal. When a Druid hits level 6, a normal Wolf isnt' going to cut it. But how does she choose between following the Wolf's build path or growing her class tree? What about all those feats?

I think the best solution to all this is also the least friendly to optimizers. Now I love charop (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?388569-Handbook-of-Death-The-Ebon-Initiate-Handbook-(WIP)), but in this case it just gets too messy. Animal companions with soulmelds is just too bizarre.

I have two key rules here:


Animals do not advance along their build path once they are part of a PCs story. Any exceptions to this rule are DM discretion.
Animals do not get feats outside of their statblock. Animals also cannot retrain class features (also outside of DM discretion).


Some Build Paths
Here are a few build paths for various kinds of creatures. This needs to be built out... a lot.

Apes
R: +2 Str, -2 Cha
Medium
Bite
+2 Jump, Climb, Swim
Climb 15'
1: +2 Str, Claw 1d4
2: Natural Armor
3: Rend d6
4: +2 Str, Claw 1d4

Feats
0:
1:
3:

Bears
R: +2 Str, -2 Int
Small
Bite
+2 Jump, Climb, Swim
Keep HD
1: +2 Str, Claw Attack
2: Natural Armor
3: Improved Grab
4: +2 Str, Claw Attack
5: Towering, Racial Skills

Feats
0:
1:
1* switch to medium size
3:

Cats
R: +2 Dex, -2 Cha
Small
Bite
+2 Hide, Move Silently
Tiny
1: +2 Dex, Claw Attack
2: +Speed
3: Pounce
4: +2 Dex, Claw Attack
5: Towering, Natural Armor
6: +2 Dex, Bigger Weapons
7: Rake

Feats
0: Weapon Finesse
1:
1* switch to small size
3:
3* switch to medium size
6: