Let`s stat "Kung Fu Panda" characters

[Eerie]

I`d like some help converting "Kung Fu Panda" characters to 3.5.

They are awakened animals, I suppose. But what class and level? Martial artists should be Monks, right? But the characters are very good at using weapons. They also exhibit various kinds of cheese, like tumble skill from hell (Tigress jumping the mountain, for example) and chi abilities (Shifu putting out candles, Tai Lung nerve attacks and the dreadful Wuxi Finger Hold, of course).

So, what could they be in D&D?

[Primal Fury]

Awakened animals? No. Their anthropomorphic animals, though I can't remember where to find that template. That way they have intelligence and are bipedal. As for the martial arts? Probably material from the Book of Nine Swords.

[Sereg]

This is not really the type of thing that belongs in homebrew.

That said I was actually wondering this just last night. Most of the characters work better as anthropomorphic animals than awakened animals. Also, they would probably work better as swordsages than monks.

[DracoDei]

I thought statting out movie characters (especially if they require special rules to do so, and the Wuxi Finger Hold DOES qualify even if it is just a highly modified Quivering Palm), was very appropriate for Homebrew... I mean if we have a mega-thread on Final Fantasy X, then...

[Starscream]

The anthropomorphic template is from Savage Species.

Unarmed Swordsage is probably your best bet as far as class goes. They get all sorts of cool techniques, and are much more powerful than monks.

If you really want a monk, however, Fax's variant is much much better than the version in the PHB.

In some cases using Awaken might be better than the Anthropomorphic template. Viper for instance seems to be an ordinary limbless snake, whereas the template would give her arms and legs.

[DracoDei]

Good point about Viper... that reminds me... there IS one thing non-standard about her that got defined in the extra's disk "Secrets of the Furious Five". She has a birth defect or mutation or something (it is medieval China or something... they can't tell the difference) that rendered her fangless. Ergo why she uses the "Stop hitting yourself" thing rather than just poisoning people (also... it is a kids movie... no on screen excuciating deaths even of mooks). Also, she has ranks in Perform(Ribbon Dancing). Like the ribbons they perform with as part of an Olympic Event... Rythmic Gymnastics I think?

[Debihuman]

Does anyone have panda stats? If so, which book has them. I think it would be fairly easy to throw the anthropomorphic animal template (pg. 214 Savage Species) on a panda and add a levels of monk.

Unfortunately, the anthropomorphic template doesn't work correctly for viper and I'm not sure about crane. Crane still has wings instead of arms and "hands" whereas the other creatures have hands that look like paws but really function as hands. Viper isn't at all humanoid. You'd need to go with Awakened Animal and add levels of monk for that. There's also a Talking Animal template in Folkloric Galllia by Dog Soul Publishing, which might also work for viper and crane. There also might be an appropriate template in either Green Ronin's Advanced Bestiary or Silverthorne's Book of Template.

Debby

[DracoDei]

Bhu's critter thread might have a panda, or maybe a dire panda that you could reverse engineer from.

For crane... maybe just add a special rule that he can't fly if he is holding anything with his wings (shifting things to his feet before taking off seems his style)? Maybe a move action that provokes AoO's to shift? Or maybe without the AoO?

[Starscream]

According to Wikipedia, pandas are even smaller than black bears (max weight 330lbs and 660 lbs respectively). You could just take a black bear's stats and reduce them accordingly.

No one seems to take the idea of a panda being a threat very seriously in the movie. Tai Lung is pretty aghast at the very concept. Strangely, he didn't seem at all taken aback by the idea of a Kung Fu mantis or crane.

Maybe all pandas are the chubby, clumsy, Jack Blacks of the KFP universe. We only ever met the one, so it's hard to tell how the species as a whole is regarded.

[elliott20]

well... his "species" would need to make room for a duck in it somewhere since apparently, his dad is a duck.

[DanielLC]

Perhaps he's adopted?

[DracoDei]

I think he was stated to be adopted.

[Starscream]

Not exactly. It was a joke. He says something along the lines of "Sometimes I can't believe I'm really your son" to his dad. His father then announces that he has something to tell him that he should have said long ago...the secret ingredient to the soup!

[Sereg]

I thought statting out movie characters (especially if they require special rules to do so, and the Wuxi Finger Hold DOES qualify even if it is just a highly modified Quivering Palm), was very appropriate for Homebrew... I mean if we have a mega-thread on Final Fantasy X, then...

Ok, point taken. I merely meant that builds aren't usually done in this forum.