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JaminDM
2015-01-30, 03:31 PM
I am in the process of creating a new setting for d&d 3.5 and one of the races is going to be these "Animal-Folk", or Natured as they call themselves. (Basically Catfolk but not just cats.)

They were originally elves, elflings (elf-halflings), gnomes, halflings and humans.

The fluff:

They were given a magic stone (the nature stone, one of many power stones) by some of the last fey. This stone made them look like animals. The fey then tasked them with protecting the last fey forest.

The type of animal (e.g. canine) is judged by their personality and physical attributes and the power (Tiger vs house cat) is based on how much they cared for nature. The transformation begins at a ceremony on their 6th birthday and takes 2 years for the physical changes; the mental ones happen during puberty.

They look like their base race except for slight changes that make them look more like the animal. The most noticable of these are: fur covering the whole body, short tails, changes to ears, changes to noses, height, paw like hands and feet and occasionally walking on all-fours.

They also act more animal-like.

(All monstrous humanoid)



GenderBase HeightHeight ModifierBase WeightWeight Modifier

Male
3'11"
+1d6
68 lb
x (1d5) lb

Female
3'11"
+1d6
63 lb
x (1d5) lb




AdulthoodStarting age modifiersMiddle AgeOldVenerableMaximum Age

83
+1d20/3d8/4d12
133
200
266
+3d%


Their tail lengths are their height (in inches) x (0.2 + 1d10/100)

+1 Dexterity, -1 Constitution, -4 Intelligence, +1 Wisdom, -2 Charisma
Size:Medium
Speed:35ft
Claws:+2 damage to unarmed attacks
Bite: 1d3+Str mod damage
Lowlight vision
Scent
+1 vs enchantment
+1 spot
+2 Climb, hide, move silently
+4 jump, balance
+5 listen
-1 search
In heavy undergrowth hide bonus increases to 4
Can use dexterity instead of strength for jump and climb
+2 reflex
-1d6 fall damage
-2 to all checks using thumbs (includes attack bonus with weapons)
Stealthy or Weapon Finesse
They can survive for twice as long without water
Have a 20% chance to become sickened if they eat plant matter.
Languages: Sylvan, Cat
Bonus Languages: Common, All other animal languages, Elven
Favoured Class: Rogue
L.A. +2




GenderBase HeightHeight ModifierBase WeightWeight Modifier

Male
2'8"
+2d4
29 lb
x1 lb

Female
2'6"
+2d4
24 lb
x1 lb




AdulthoodStarting age modifiersMiddle AgeOldVenerableMaximum Age

16
+1d4/6/2d6
39
59
79
+7d10


Their tails lengths are their height (in inches) x (0.1 + 1d10/100)

+3 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Constitution, -4 Intelligence, +1 Wisdom, -2 Charisma
Size:Small
Speed:30ft
Bite: 1d2+Str mod damage
Lowlight vision
Scent
+1 Climb, Move Silently
+2 Spot
+3 Listen, Jump
+10 survival when using scent to track
-2 Concentration, Search
Small size. +1 bonus to Armor Class, +1 bonus on attack rolls, +4 bonus on Hide checks, –4 penalty on grapple checks, lifting and carrying limits 3/4 those of Medium characters.
+1 racial bonus on all saving throws.
+1 morale bonus on saving throws against fear. This bonus stacks with the +1 bonus on saving throws in general.
-2 to all checks using thumbs (includes attack bonus with weapons)
Alertness or Track
Can be poisoned by chocolate, garlic and onions.
Languages: Sylvan, Dog
Bonus Languages: Common, all other animal languages
Favoured Class: Ranger
L.A. +2




GenderBase HeightHeight ModifierBase WeightWeight Modifier

Male
2'9"
+1d10
34 lb
x (1d4) lb

Female
2'8""
+1d10
32 lb
x (1d4) lb




AdulthoodStarting age modifiersMiddle AgeOldVenerableMaximum Age

30
+2d8/1d20/2d20
133
77
155
+2d%


Their tail lengths are their height (in inches) x (0.06 + (1d6)/100)
-2 Strength, +4 Dexterity, +2 Constitution, -4 Intelligence, +1 Wisdom, -2 Charisma
Size: Small
Speed: 25ft
5ft burrow speed
Claws +2 damage to unarmed attacks
Rage (As 1st level Barbarian but with all numbers halved)
Scent
Lowlight vision
+2 escape artist
-2 search
+1 Listen
Agile, Track or Weapon Finesse
+1 vs illusions
+1 to the dc of illusions casted by them
-2 to all checks using thumbs (includes attack bonus with weapons)
Spell-like abilities as gnomes but only gets speak with animals + two more.
Languages: Badger, Sylvan
Bonus Languages: All other animal languages, Common, Gnome
Favoured Class: Barbarian
L.A. +2




GenderBase HeightHeight ModifierBase WeightWeight Modifier

Male
5'6"
+2d12
110 lb
x (3d5) lb

Female
4'6"
+1d20
86 lb
x (1d8) lb




AdulthoodStarting age modifiersMiddle AgeOldVenerableMaximum Age

12
+1d3/5/8
29
43
57
+3d10


Medium
+1 skill point per level
+4 strength +1 dexterity +2 constitution -4 intelligence +1 wisdom -2 charisma
35ft
Speed: Claws +2 damage to unarmed attacks
Bite 1d3
Lowlight vision
Scent (x2 power)
+2 fort
+2 swim
+1 listen search spot
-2 to all checks using thumbs (includes attack bonus with weapons)
Endurance or run
This race starts with 1 level in monstrous humanoid
Favoured Class: Barbarian
L.A +2


Please comment!

Hanuman
2015-01-30, 08:40 PM
Have you looked at the animal shapeshifters from oriental adventures?

JaminDM
2015-01-31, 07:36 AM
Have you looked at the animal shapeshifters from oriental adventures?

No, what are they like?

JaminDM
2015-01-31, 12:45 PM
I've had a look at the animal shapeshifters and... Nah.

Hanuman
2015-01-31, 11:02 PM
I like that you added claws as adding damage to unarmed attacks instead of being a natural weapon, that's an interesting concept... but I'd change that to +1 to unarmed attack damage as that's an extra roll on a die that doesn't actually exist to determine the fate of 1 damage. How I'd do it would be to make a single class for all animal folk then give choices on what bonuses people want, for the natural weapon-ish feel I'd grant their choice of a single natural attack and always consider it primary and it always deals 1D4 damage between a single choice of pierce/bludge/slash, then allow +damage equal to [ 1 + 1/4th BAB + Non-Class Hit Die] once per round to any natural or unarmed attack. The pre-math is a lot more complicated but the end result is way more flexible, balanced and the table-time is reduced because instead of rolling a die you're just adding flat damage. You're also not rewarding multi-hit unarmed builds which are pretty bad anyway, you're rewarding anything that has a natural or unarmed attack evenly.

I'm not addressing the general balance of the races you've made, I'm just suggesting a different methodology.

aspekt
2015-02-01, 09:09 AM
Somewhere floating out there on the interwebz is a mod called The Beastfolk for d20 that you might find helpful.

JaminDM
2015-02-01, 09:22 AM
The way I'm making them is halving all abilities that both races have and putting them together, except for size which is only 1/4 the animal. If there is rounding to be done I usually lean towards the best possible as the fey would want their protectors to be powerful

JaminDM
2015-02-01, 09:25 AM
I like that you added claws as adding damage to unarmed attacks instead of being a natural weapon, that's an interesting concept... but I'd change that to +1 to unarmed attack damage as that's an extra roll on a die that doesn't actually exist to determine the fate of 1 damage.


Added this, considering other comments.

Thanks!

JaminDM
2015-02-01, 01:29 PM
How I'd do it would be to make a single class for all animal folk.

I have considered this and decided that it doesn't match what I want.
However, I think paragon classes are in order!

Debihuman
2015-02-12, 10:42 AM
This sounds a lot like the anthropomorphic template from Savage Species. Of course it would need to be updated to 3.5 but that's pretty simple to do.

Debby

JaminDM
2015-02-12, 01:38 PM
This sounds a lot like the anthropomorphic template from Savage Species. Of course it would need to be updated to 3.5 but that's pretty simple to do.
Debby

I prefer mine.

Debihuman
2015-02-12, 05:02 PM
I prefer mine.

That's fine; I wasn't casting aspersions on your races. Are these races Humanoid or Monstrous Humanoid?

Here's a problem Cat/Elf is too short at 3 foot 10 to be a Medium race. Medium starts at 4 feet and goes to 8 feet. Base height should be at least 4 feet tall. Elves start at 4 foot 5. I'd deem this to be only slightly smaller than standard elves. See standard races here: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/description.htm. A normal cat's speed is 30 feet. Why would this race be that much faster than both its standard races? This should have a land speed of 30 feet.

If you want them to run on all fours, they can't be holding anything in their paws (hands?). Creatures without thumbs should take a penalty to Sleight of Hand checks.

Beagle folk are also too fast. Dogs have a land speed of 40 feet and halflings have a land speed of 20 feet. At best you could give them 30 feet but because they are Small, they should have a land speed of 25 feet at best. Smaller creatures move slower not faster.

Badger/Gnome is also too fast. Badgers have 30 ft. land speed and Gnomes have a 20 ft. land speed. This should also be 25 feet.

Debby

JaminDM
2015-02-12, 06:11 PM
That's fine; I wasn't casting aspersions on your races. Are these races Humanoid or Monstrous Humanoid?

Monstrous Humanoid, I have now changed the racial levels the bearfolk has to that.



Here's a problem Cat/Elf is too short at 3 foot 10 to be a Medium race. Medium starts at 4 feet and goes to 8 feet. Base height should be at least 4 feet tall. Elves start at 4 foot 5. I'd deem this to be only slightly smaller than standard elves.
I have raised it to 3'11" as this means that they cannot be shorter than 4ft.



A normal cat's speed is 30 feet. Why would this race be that much faster than both its standard races? This should have a land speed of 30 feet.

Beagle folk are also too fast. Dogs have a land speed of 40 feet and halflings have a land speed of 20 feet. At best you could give them 30 feet but because they are Small, they should have a land speed of 25 feet at best. Smaller creatures move slower not faster.

Badger/Gnome is also too fast. Badgers have 30 ft. land speed and Gnomes have a 20 ft. land speed. This should also be 25 feet.
Thanks, don't know what I was thinking there!



If you want them to run on all fours, they can't be holding anything in their paws (hands?). Creatures without thumbs should take a penalty to Sleight of Hand checks.


This is included under the penalty to everything using thumbs, but I have now raised the penalty to -2.

Thanks for the feedback!