Making a Playable Canine Creature

[PhantasyPen]

So fair warning, this started as a joke idea but the longer I sit on it the more I genuinely want to try this out, and to that end I'm putting together a serious attempt at a homebrew dog race that's actually playable (Meaning LA+1 or lower).

Revision 0.2

Caelesti Medium-sized Magical Beast (Good) Alignment: Any Good 40 ft base land speed Abilities: Dex +2 Int -2 Wis +2, Caelesti are more agile and have better senses than humans, but are also more prone to acting on their instincts rather than rational thought. Caelesti have low-light vision and the Scent extraordinary ability, but not darkvision. Any creature within range of the Caelesti's Scent extraordinary ability is considered to be also under the effect of the Detect Evil spell. Caelesti have a primary Bite attack, which deals 1d6 damage plus 1.5x their Strength modifier. Caelesti cannot speak in Common, however they do understand it, instead they use a unique dialect of Celestial which resembles barks, growls, and yips. Because Caelesti have no hands, they cannot cast any spells which require somatic components. Caelesti can automatically understand Common and Celestial.

So does it work? Does anyone have a more practical suggestion?

[Goaty14]

According to the way WotC does things, this is at least LA +1. Like, change the abilities of an Aasmiar and... you get this.

What magic item slots do they have? Do they get more than one boot slot? What else speaks and/or understands Canine?

[PhantasyPen]

WotC also overvalues a lot of things, but yeah... LA+1 feels about right for what I have so far...

As far as I'm aware however, the number and types of magic item slots you have does not change based on your body shape, so rings or something for the hands slot would probably get stuck on the front paws. As for other creatures that speak canine... all I can come up with are (Blink) Dogs, Wolves, and Lupinals off the top of my head.

[Demidos]

Honestly, seems a bit underwhelming. As a reference point, compare it to a human (with a bonus feat) with the divine minion template (LA +1) to turn into either a baboon or a hawk at will as well as immunity to fear. I think giving them detect evil at will wouldn't be broken -- to play into the celestial dog fluff, maybe they could be considered to have used detect evil on anyone they detect via scent? Also, compare to a lesser aasimar (+2 cha, +2 wis, 0 LA).

I'm struggling to think what direction I would take this character that could be overpowered compared to even a vanilla human -- it doesn't make a great face (can't communicate), or cleric (no somatic actions) or ranger (weapon styles are useless). Ironically, the best use I can come up with is using wild shape to turn into other things as a druid :P That's not to say the race is bad by any means, just that I don't see a reason to ever take it over a human for min/max-ing purposes, so I also can't think of a reason to not give it (as written) an LA of 0.

[PhantasyPen]

I quite like the idea that the detect evil ability could be tied to their scent ability, I'll definitely need to look into that for the next revision. As far as not being able to find a way to min/max it, I think that would be a good thing wouldn't it? Although since you asked, I was actually intending to try playing a psionic character (either Ardent or Psychic Warrior) using this race once it's refined enough.

[Gullintanni]

Inability to speak rules out verbal components and lack of hands rules out somatic. You pretty well can not play a spellcaster using this race.

That said, take a look at Blink Dogs -- they explicitly have a language, allowing you to work around that fairly well.

This character will have to use a lot of slotless magic items due to a lack of traditional gear slots, which means spending greater WBL in order to receive the same benefits as everyone else. Even with the net +4 to stats, this race is probably LA 0. They'd be strong as Tashalatora Monk//PsyWar due to unarmed attacks and natural weapons, so at least they have a niche.

[PhantasyPen]

...unarmed attacks and natural weapons...

Beware the kung-fu doggo!


... Sorry I couldn't resist.

[Man_Over_Game]

With all of the things going against it (not being able to wear armor properly, not being pretty much any kind of caster) I think it'd be better to make this a Warlock-esc familiar than a playable race.

Would be pretty cool. Pseudodragons are too...pretty. Imps are bastards, and we don't talk about the third option. A magical hyena, though? Hell yeah.

[rferries]

As written they're incapable of being either spellcasters or martials (and logically shouldn't be able to use Disable Device or other rogue skills either). Some suggestions:

1) Waive the spellcasting limitations. Naga don't have hands but they can cast spells perfectly well.

2) Design a racial weapon (a la dwarven urgosh) to enhance the bite attack, and/or to apply to their limbs to give them "claw" attacks (like a better version of spiked gauntlets).

3) Design some [Racial] feats to give them some extra "oomph", if necessary.

4) Let them speak intelligibly, both for spellcasting purposes and simply being able to talk to their adventuring companions.

5) Consider granting them an Intelligence penalty (animalistic), though that's more for flavour.

I adore the detect evil scent ability. :)

[Maat Mons]

Does anyone have a more practical suggestion?

Play as a dog hengeyokai?

[PhantasyPen]

As written they're incapable of being either spellcasters or martials (and logiclly shouldn't be able to use Disable Device or other rogue skills either). Some suggestions:

1) Waive the spellcasting limitations. Naga don't have hands but they can cast spells perfectly well.

2) Design a racial weapon (a la dwarven urgosh) to enhance the bite attack, and/or to apply to their limbs to give them "claw" attacks (like a better version of spiked gauntlets).

3) Design some [Racial] feats to give them some extra "oomph", if necessary.

4) Let them speak intelligibly, both for spellcasting purposes and simply being able to talk to their adventuring companions.

5) Consider granting them an Intelligence penalty (animalistic), though that's more for flavour.

I adore the detect evil scent ability. :)

I'll definitely be looking into implementing some of these. (I think I'll keep the lack of proper speech and inability to use somatic components though, it forms a fairly decent penalty to counteract all the bonuses they get.)

In particular, I like the idea of making a small line of racial feats that improve their abilities, this probably would work out to be a fun cohort race ala Blink Dogs

Play as a dog hengeyokai?

The point is to be an actual dog, not just something that turns into a dog (otherwise why not just be a druid?)

[Goaty14]

(I think I'll keep the lack of proper speech and inability to use somatic components though, it forms a fairly decent penalty to counteract all the bonuses they get.)

Though isn't the inability to use somatic components more of a limitation on what classes you can/can't play though? It isn't even a penalty, it's either "Oh you wanna play a wizard? Have fun preparing the only 1-3 spells you can actually cast " or "Oh, you'd like to play a psion instead? What penalty are you talking about, again? "

Basically either a hit or miss limitation, but not a penalty. A penalty would be something numeric and have possibility. At least the Buoman (I think I spelled that right?) could speak if he wanted to (but would take an actual penalty if he tried).

The point is to be an actual dog, not just something that turns into a dog (otherwise why not just be a druid?)

Because being a druid uses class levels?

[PhantasyPen]

Though isn't the inability to use somatic components more of a limitation on what classes you can/can't play though? It isn't even a penalty, it's either "Oh you wanna play a wizard? Have fun preparing the only 1-3 spells you can actually cast " or "Oh, you'd like to play a psion instead? What penalty are you talking about, again? "

Basically either a hit or miss limitation, but not a penalty. A penalty would be something numeric and have possibility. At least the Buoman (I think I spelled that right?) could speak if he wanted to (but would take an actual penalty if he tried).

What would you say is a penalty that could be applied then?

[rferries]

What would you say is a penalty that could be applied then?

For PC races, penalties should usually just be penalties to ability scores (usually just -2 to a particular score). If you're dead-set on hampering their spellcasting though, you could give them an inherent % chance of spell failure, which could be mitigated by taking racial feats.

[PhantasyPen]

Version 0.2 is now up, I think I'll try the racial feats in a separate post, I'm just trying to figure out what to do with them. Currently I'm thinking:

• Something to upgrade their Bite attack, so that it scales a bit better
• An additional rider effect for their Scent ability (limited Blindsense maybe?)
• Possibly some Spell-like abilities, usable at-will (I'm thinking CLW, and maybe a low-level damage spell like Magic Missile...)
• Some kind of Halo, possibly paired with an Aura, as (Su) abilities

[rferries]

Something I just whipped up (the outsider bit is probably too good and could be downgraded to magical beast features, and the spellcasting bit could be downgraded to simply allowing spellcasting without directly granting any).

Other feat ideas could include supernatural barks/howls, letting smaller creatures ride you, Improved Trip a la wolves, etc.

Celestial Canine [Caelesti]
You are blessed with inherent spellcasting powers.

Prerequisites
Caelesti, any good alignment, must be selected at character creation.

Benefits
Your type changes to outsider, and your first class level is replaced with a single outsider racial Hit Die (d8 Hit Dice, full base attack bonus, all good saves, 8 + Int modifier skill points with quadruple skill points at first level). You gain the [Extraplanar] and [Good] subtypes.

You cast spells as a 1st-level favoured soul. This stacks with any levels you take in the favoured soul class. You may cast spells (favoured soul or otherwise) even though you cannot speak intelligibly and lack human-like hands.

Special
Caelesti with this feat are marked from birth for some divine purpose, and typically exhibit supernatural features - pure white or ebon fur, luminous golden eyes, unusual fur markings on their brows, or similar.

[PhantasyPen]

Alright, here goes my first try at a racial feat.


Holy Presence [Caelesti]
Prerequisites: Caelesti, any good alignment
Benefit: Your connection to the outer planes is strong, even among others of your kind, manifesting as a halo of light that floats above your head. This halo produces bright light out to 20 feet, and dim light out to 40 feet. All allied creatures gain a +2 sacred bonus on ability checks and saving throws, so long as they remain inside the radius of the light from the halo. You may suppress the halo and its effects as a free action, or reignite it as a move action on your turn.
Special: The bonus to saving throws increases by +1 for every [Caelesti] feat the user has besides this one.