Making a Cat Sí and cat-based traps

[Jeff the Green]

As I mentioned in this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=320135) thread, I'm going to be DMing a one-shot for my newbie cousins and my only slightly less newbie brothers at some point during the holidays. It's a very not-serious game, and after the first encounter with a very generic set of orcs, they will encounter a village of were-cats that want to sacrifice the ambassador they're protecting to their 'god', a Cat Sí.

So first I need to make a Cat Sí (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_s%C3%ACth). I'm perfectly happy cribbing from another creature, or even flat-out refluffing. Here are the traits it needs:

As large as a dog (so small to medium)
Intelligent
Capable of cursing people
Some sort of soul-stealing ability


Second, I need some cat-based traps. So far I've got a pit trap filled with rotting fish, spoiled milk spray, giant yarn ball Indiana Jones-style, and jittering red light that leads them into an ambush. Any other ideas?

(Yes, I've seen this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=291326), but most of the traps there are a bit high-level for that.)

[Red Fel]

Tibbit Soul Eater?

Tibbit gets you a shape-shifting cat/little person. Perfect for one of the Wee Folk.

Soul Eater is a PrC that lets you bestow negative levels with a touch. Perfect for an unarmed or natural weapons fighter, particularly because the class requires Weapon Focus (claws). The negative levels bestow positive benefits on the Soul Eater, so you get both your "curse" and "soul-stealing ability" in one.

Oh, you can also later steal a victim's shape, or raise them as a wight. Because, hey, seriously evil fun-times for all.

[JeminiZero]

Some sort of soul-stealing ability

Soul-stealing in D&D is generally modelled as Energy Drain (which can also be considered a curse if you look at it from a newbie perspective since it penalizes everything). You could apply the Wight template [Savage Species] to any humanoid.

To get a humanoid cat, you could go with small Anthropomorphic Cat [also Savage Species] or Tibbits.

[Afool]

You might want to go with an Anthropomorphic Cat or Tibbit Witch X, with a custom ability or ritual for the soul steal part.

[Greenish]

Cheshire Cat (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fools/20030401c) is small fey that casts as a sorcerer. You could slap some more sorcerer levels on it for curses and soul-stealing.

[(Un)Inspired]

My vote goes to anthropomorphic cat witch. Witches have hexes that could conceivably fit the "curse" bill you're looking for. Anthro-cat is the exact size you're looking for and they're really cool if not particularly strong.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Jeff the Green
Second, I need some cat-based traps. So far I've got a pit trap filled with rotting fish, spoiled milk spray, giant yarn ball Indiana Jones-style, and jittering red light that leads them into an ambush. Any other ideas?

Needs more furballs.

:smalltongue:

[Waker]

How about using a Barghest as the base? It's already a medium-sized shapeshifter with SLAs that gets stronger by eating corpses. Refluff the Feed ability a bit, change a few SLAs, maybe give him an Aura of Misfortune that grants him a Miss Chance to avoid attacks or maybe that when the players roll a Natural 1 or 2, it's an automatic failure.

As for traps, I would have the Running Light Trap include a Confusion effect, where if they roll a certain percentage, they need to spend their turn chasing after it. A brazier might be trapped that passing near it induces a strong desire to lay in front of the fire for a quick nap (Sleep effect).

[Palanan]

Also, not quite a trap, but maybe you could incorporate a tressym somehow?