Question about monstrous PC characters in 3.5

[sage20500]

My friends were thinking about doing a gestalt one or two shot adventure in a little bit and I was wanting to play something different from what I normally do that would be both humorous and fun still. So my question is regarding rolling an animal as a pc, if I wanted to try and make a paladin/hexblade/or warlock ridding dog/elven hound, when creating the character am I allowed to roll all of its stats as normal or am I stuck using their initial stats that are given in the books they are found in?

[ranagrande]

The stats given are the standard array. For any stat that is an even number, subtract it from 10. Subtract odd numbers from 11. Then roll your stats and add on the numbers you obtained before as racial modifiers.

[Venger]

you'll need a headband of intellect or similar to boost your int to at least 3, since PCs aren't allowed to have an int lower than 3. on the plus side it means you're guaranteed at least 1 dump stat, since it'll be autodropped to 2 anyway.

if you're rolling a nonstandard starting race, urpriest's monstrous monster handbook (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?207928-Urpriest-s-Monstrous-Monster-Handbook) is very helpful to iron out all the weirdness that entails

[sage20500]

The stats given are the standard array. For any stat that is an even number, subtract it from 10. Subtract odd numbers from 11. Then roll your stats and add on the numbers you obtained before as racial modifiers.

So if I was wanting to make a riding dog as a PC, and I was hoping to be able to make him a hexblade, paladin, or warlock, I'd roll the stats and add +2 Strength, +2 Dex, +2 Con, -4 Int, +1 Wis, and -3 Cha and it'd be a pc with 2 Riding Dog hit dice and a +1 LA because it has Scent. Is that the correct way to do it?

[OldTrees1]

So if I was wanting to make a riding dog as a PC, and I was hoping to be able to make him a hexblade, paladin, or warlock, I'd roll the stats and add +2 Strength, +2 Dex, +2 Con, -4 Int, +1 Wis, and -3 Cha and it'd be a pc with 2 Riding Dog hit dice and a +1 LA because it has Scent. Is that the correct way to do it?

The Racial modifiers to your abilities are always even.
A Riding Dog in the Monster Manual has Str 15, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6
Subtract 10 from the even numbers and 11 from the odd numbers
+4 Str, +4 Dex, +4 Con, -8 Int, +2 Wis, -4 Cha

However I would honestly suggest giving it a higher Int for free and treat it as LA+0 (it lacks thumbs and that it a big disadvantage for a PC)

[Pan151]

The stat modifiers for a riding dog are Str +4. Dex +4, Con +4, Int -8, Wis +2, Cha-4. However, you would have to first Awaken it, replacing its Int with 3d6 and increasing its Cha by 1d3 (and also changing its type from animal to magical beast). As for the LA, it's entirely up to the DM, as by the rules a riding dog cannot be a PC at all.

[OldTrees1]

The stat modifiers for a riding dog are Str +4. Dex +4, Con +4, Int -8, Wis +2, Cha-4. However, you would have to first Awaken it, replacing its Int with 3d6 and increasing its Cha by 1d3 (and also changing its type from animal to to magical beast). As for the LA, it's entirely up to the DM, as by the default rules a riding dog cannot be a PC at all.

This would also give it 2 Racial Hit Dice (increasing its effective character level by 2 and thus robbing it of 2 class levels). Perhaps the DM would waive those RHD in this case.

[sage20500]

The stat modifiers for a riding dog are Str +4. Dex +4, Con +4, Int -8, Wis +2, Cha-4. However, you would have to first Awaken it, replacing its Int with 3d6 and increasing its Cha by 1d3 (and also changing its type from animal to magical beast). As for the LA, it's entirely up to the DM, as by the rules a riding dog cannot be a PC at all.

I looked up the Savage Species rules for it, because Riding Dog comes with scent, that's treated as a +1 LA ability,

[OldTrees1]

I looked up the Savage Species rules for it, because Riding Dog comes with scent, that's treated as a +1 LA ability,

Savage Species is a good guide for a maximum LA estimate (even by its own admission). However a fair LA is usually less than what Savage Species estimates.

[Venger]

Savage Species is a good guide for a maximum LA estimate (even by its own admission). However a fair LA is usually less than what Savage Species estimates.

yeah, scent's hardly a gamebreaker, and a number of LA 0 races come with it out of the box, such as tibbit, hengeyokai, and lupin.

[atemu1234]

Savage Species is a good guide for a maximum LA estimate (even by its own admission). However a fair LA is usually less than what Savage Species estimates.

Speaking of savage species, has the OP taken a gander at the Anthropomorphic Animals? Most make excellent druids and some make halfway decent paladins.