4,388
edits
Changes
added a comment
::No one has objected here and you put messages up on the author's page (who isn't registered, but meh) and gotten nothing back. So go ahead and just adopt it already FK; worst case we have to revert something (oh noes!) - [[User:Tarkisflux|Tarkisflux]] <sup>[[User talk:Tarkisflux|Talk]]</sup> 03:02, 15 June 2012 (UTC)
==Mechanics==
Everyone has seen cat-based races before. Making this stand out and be cool, offering something that other catfolk don't offer is gonna be a problem. I'm just gonna post some fake mechanics below as an example and explain as I go. Things won't be formatted or worded professionally for expediency purposes. Also, because there is a lot of stuff, all of it is likely to be "too much". This is just for example purposes.
* +2 Dex, -2 Cha: Ability modifiers. Whatever.
* Humanoid (Feline): Type and subtype. Whatever.
* Medium: Size. Whatever.
* Base land speed 30: An unarmed pantheren may get on all fours, granting it a base land speed of 40. Note the "unarmed" part. This is important because otherwise there's no drawback to not having 40 speed all the time and might just as well be posted as 40 flat out. If it even matters to make that distinction. Alternately, as 40 speed is pretty sweet, you could go with the 30 and an alternate ability, something like:
* Haul Ass: A pantheren is treated as having Fast Movement 10 on his land speed when making only a move action or double move action. This is probably a bit complicated and not worth it for whatever reasons of playability.
* Low-light Vision: Cats see good. Whatever.
* Cat Sense: A pantheren is a bundle of crazy senses. A pantheren can use Spot checks in place of Listen checks to detect Invisible or Ethereal creatures. Ethereal creatures being treated as being invisible. A useful ability, if situationally limited.
* Cat Fall: A pantheren can make Jump check to reduce fall damage, reducing the damage taken by 10 feet an starting at a DC of 10. For every additional 5 points he beats this DC by, he subtracts another 10 feet from his falling damage. Typical races start the Jump down DC at 15 and don't get bonus increments of success. Allows the ability some usefulness as the character levels, encourages skill point investment in Jump.
* Cat Skills: Pantheren gain the following skills as Class skills for all classes: Balance, Climb, Hide, Jump, Listen, Move Silently, Spot, Tumble. In addition, a pantheren gains 2/4/X skill points per HD to spend exclusively on these skills. Spot and Listen were added from the previous list for the purposes of being better at the "lead man" or "scout" style characters. Additionally, the skill points instead of bonuses keeps them in the same expected success of other characters will increasing the likely hood that any given pantheren character is good at that skill at least moderately, like the race implies.
* Rowr: Pantheren can chat with cats, like the spell ''speak with animals'', except that it is limited to cats and other cat-creatures. This is actually mentioned in the flavor text of the article, but currently isn't present in the mechanics, though it is somewhat implied with the Feline language.
* Sneak Attack: This bothers me a bit. First, as currently written, it doesn't actually say they get the Sneak Attack ability (just bonus damage when sneak attacking). Second, it really just serves as aim to peg them into a one-class-race, which is lame. Other "Our ambush tactics are practiced and superior!" abilities might be something like:
* Predatory Instincts: Pantheren, if given the chance, are brutal killers and know instinctually where to land blows, slice bodies and pierce organs for maximum effect to take their prey down. They get a +4 bonus to confirm critical hits -''or''- They automatically confirm critical hits on rolls of a natural 20 -''or''- They may treat any single attack made in a round against a flat-footed opponent (determined after rolling) as a possible critical hit.
* Blah blah blah other stuff at the bottom. Favored Class is pretty pointless. That rule shouldn't even exist other than as a "suggestion" on what class/classes a race might excel at. That's a rant for another time however.
So yeah, as is, it may have "enough", but not anything that's particularly unique/fun/engaging/tempting. Place some priority on rules that don't require having to look up stuff. I'd love to hear some thoughts from people on that big ol' list of catstuffs and other possible revision ideas. --[[User:Ganteka Future|Ganteka Future]] 21:05, 15 June 2012 (UTC)