arnoldrew
2007-07-06, 07:28 PM
My brother came up with an idea for a world where all commonly domesticated animals were anthropomorphic and had names based off of various mythologies. Most of his ideas involved a mad scientist and a few thousand years. I'm thinking of creating a campaign setting based off of it, but I'm horrible at considering balance issues. I know that there's other things to consider besides the six ability scores, but I was wondering if anyone could weigh in to tell me if they think these are all really worthy of +0 LA, which is what I would like all starting races to be. Some races have the same stat modifiers since I couldn't really think of many differences between them, and most don't have any other abilities besides modifiers since I haven't thought of them yet.
Just a note: most of the DE penalties involve the fact that some of the races might still have paw (or hoof)-like hands.
Ogre (dog)
Ogres are probably the most diverse of these races. They range from European-style knights (beagles, German shepherds, Doberman pinchers), to Viking-like seamen (Newfoundlands, rottweilers, St. Bernards), to vaguely Native American warriors (chihuahuas, poodles, dachshunds).
+2 WI, -2 DE
Scent
Medium
Sphinx (cat)
Sphinxes generally live in deserts or tropical areas.
-2 CO, +2 DE, -2 WI, +2 CH
Giants
The Giants I'm particularly worried about. Is it even possible to have a +0 LA Large race?
Orc (pig)
Orcs have an IN bonus since pigs are some of the smartest animals in the world.
+2 CO, +2 IN, -2 CH, -2 DE
Large
Minotaur (cow), Centaur (horse)
+4 CO, -2 IN, -2 DE
Large
Elves
Dwarf (guinea pig), Kobold (gerbil), Sprite (mouse), Imp (rat), Gnome (hamster), Leprechaun (rabbit)
I can't think of a terrible amount of variety for these guys, although I was thinking of making the Leprechaun different, maybe giving them a WI penalty instead of ST and bumping them up to Medium-sized.
-2 ST, +2 DE
Small
Well, that's pretty much all I have for now. Any thoughts, concerns, questions? Any suggestions are appreciated!
Just a note: most of the DE penalties involve the fact that some of the races might still have paw (or hoof)-like hands.
Ogre (dog)
Ogres are probably the most diverse of these races. They range from European-style knights (beagles, German shepherds, Doberman pinchers), to Viking-like seamen (Newfoundlands, rottweilers, St. Bernards), to vaguely Native American warriors (chihuahuas, poodles, dachshunds).
+2 WI, -2 DE
Scent
Medium
Sphinx (cat)
Sphinxes generally live in deserts or tropical areas.
-2 CO, +2 DE, -2 WI, +2 CH
Giants
The Giants I'm particularly worried about. Is it even possible to have a +0 LA Large race?
Orc (pig)
Orcs have an IN bonus since pigs are some of the smartest animals in the world.
+2 CO, +2 IN, -2 CH, -2 DE
Large
Minotaur (cow), Centaur (horse)
+4 CO, -2 IN, -2 DE
Large
Elves
Dwarf (guinea pig), Kobold (gerbil), Sprite (mouse), Imp (rat), Gnome (hamster), Leprechaun (rabbit)
I can't think of a terrible amount of variety for these guys, although I was thinking of making the Leprechaun different, maybe giving them a WI penalty instead of ST and bumping them up to Medium-sized.
-2 ST, +2 DE
Small
Well, that's pretty much all I have for now. Any thoughts, concerns, questions? Any suggestions are appreciated!