Help with a feline player race

[Jurble]

The Dragonstar Galactic Races book has a cat-race called the Pershala (and, this one is OGC, so I can post it)

+2 Dex, -2 Wis, -4 Cha
Medium size
Speed 30'
Natural attack: 2 claws (1d4 + Str mod), 1 bite (1d4 + 1/2 Str, at -5 attack)
Low-light vision
Slow fall 20' (as a monk)
+4 racial bonus to Balance, Climb, and Freefall *
+2 racial bonus to Jump, Move Silently, and Pilot *
Favored class: Pilot *
Level Adjustment: +0

(* Dragonstar is fundamentally D&D in Space, so some of these aren't entirely applicable to a more traditional fantasy setting)

I can see that minutely changed to fit what im looking for. maybe a +2str, -2int in there as well and no loss to wis but how do you balance that? -3int -4cha? is the negative always 2 lower than the positive additions? While i can see where i want to take it im abit worried about "uberising" the species which i really dont want but i think str and wis fits for them coz they are tribal (instictual understanding of dealing with other races etc so the wis, but not intellectuals so negative to int) and strong/nimble hence a bump in str and dex. scary looking though so the negative cha.

Other than that id probably just swap pilot for tracking and it would fit perfectly! if i could balance it that is

 

[kenobi65]

I is the negative always 2 lower than the positive additions?

Yup; it's because the bonuses / penalties on stats change every 2 points. If you had an odd-numbered negative adjustment (say, -1 Wis), a savvy player can effectively neutralize it by taking an odd-numbered stat.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

ahh so if you match ECL to other characters (say you want all lvl12 chars youd match with ECL 12 not LA12) have i got that right?

Yes.

Also with hit die, you have a racial/class hit die right? (so the type of die you roll for HPs) and the amount of those you have increases with lvl (so a lvl 5 might get 5d8 or something?)

Some creatures have racial HD. Ogres, for example, treat each HD as a level of giant (so, Med. BAB, Good Fort, poor Refl and Will, d8 HP). Those are added to his class levels to determine his final BAB, saves, hit points, feats, skills, etc.

Most PC races do not have racial hit dice.

by upping hit die (amount OR type?) it increases your ECL?

Hit dice are a function of the base creature, and are typically only modified by templates.

The *number* of dice can rise, if the base creature allows it. Humanoids, Monstrous Humanoids, and Giants typically don't, but most Outsiders and Dragons do.

The size of the die (d4, d6, etc.) changes pretty much only when a template is applied. For example, slapping the half-dragon template on a Monstrous Humanoid increases his HD from d8s to d10s (but doesn't change the BAB or saves, see the template description for details).

Can playing with ability modifiers effect ECL if you keep them balancing positives with negatives?

Yes. There are guidelines for it in Savage Species, but, really, there's a lot of guesstimating to it.

Brad

 

[Jurble]

I know its abit of guess work but can anyone give me an opinion on this build? Mainly the attribs im worried about but even a variant based on this setup would work fine

+2 Str +2 Dex, -4 Int, -4 Cha
Medium size
Speed 30'
Natural attack: 2 claws (1d4 + Str mod), 1 bite (1d4 + 1/2 Str, at -5 attack)
Low-light vision
Slow fall 20' (as a monk)
+4 racial bonus to Balance, Climb, and Freefall *
+2 racial bonus to Jump, Move Silently, and Tracking*
Favored class: Ranger *
Level Adjustment: +0

i think ill avoid large size for the problems an ECL adjustment would cause. thanks for all the help with the ECL and stat stuff!!!

Marc

 

[Nifft]

Personally, I'd drop Halflings from the setting, and use small cat-people with identical stats.

-- N

 

[kenobi65]

+2 Str +2 Dex, -4 Int, -4 Cha

I'm not sure you need the -4 on both Int and Cha. Maybe -2 on one, -4 on the other.

+4 racial bonus to Balance, Climb, and Freefall *
+2 racial bonus to Jump, Move Silently, and Tracking*

Freefall is a Dragonstar skill, which lets you operate well in zero-g environments. Unless you plan on having a lot of those in your game , I'd just drop it from the list.

"Tracking" should be "Survival", since that's the actual skill that the Track feat applies to.[/QUOTE]

 

[woodelf]

The Catfolk race appears in Races of the Wild, as well as in the Miniatures Handbook (but, since neither of those are OGL sources, posting their stats is probably not wise.)
)

pshaw! Ideas can't be copyrighted, and neither can game rules. And, even if the game stats qualify as copyrightable (doubtful), such a small excerpt, in the context of telling someone about the content of a book, is almost definitely well within the realm of fair use. Or, to put it another way, you can generally quote a sentence or two, properly cited, from a 100+p book, in personal correspondence, even on a public forum, with impunity.

 

[Felon]

I know its abit of guess work but can anyone give me an opinion on this build? Mainly the attribs im worried about but even a variant based on this setup would work fine

+2 Str +2 Dex, -4 Int, -4 Cha
Medium size
Speed 30'
Natural attack: 2 claws (1d4 + Str mod), 1 bite (1d4 + 1/2 Str, at -5 attack)
Low-light vision
Slow fall 20' (as a monk)
+4 racial bonus to Balance, Climb, and Freefall *
+2 racial bonus to Jump, Move Silently, and Tracking*
Favored class: Ranger *
Level Adjustment: +0

i think ill avoid large size for the problems an ECL adjustment would cause. thanks for all the help with the ECL and stat stuff!!!

Marc

So you're trying to do a kzinti here? The bonuses to both Str and Dex make it questionable as a +0 LA, but with the 3 natural attacks, this is pretty handily a +1 LA build.

Note that just sacking Int and Cha more heavily doesn't balance boosting up physical stats. From the point of view of optimization, a player choosing this race has already given up on charm and finesse. If you don't want to have the race subjected to any physical limitations, just go ahead and resign yourself to a LA greater than 0.

 

[Felon]

pshaw! Ideas can't be copyrighted, and neither can game rules. And, even if the game stats qualify as copyrightable (doubtful), such a small excerpt, in the context of telling someone about the content of a book, is almost definitely well within the realm of fair use. Or, to put it another way, you can generally quote a sentence or two, properly cited, from a 100+p book, in personal correspondence, even on a public forum, with impunity.

Very true. For the record:

+4 Dex, +2 Cha
+1 natural armor
Speed of 40 feet
+2 on Listen and Move Silenty checks
Low-light vision
+1 LA

Not really much to it.

 

[Charwoman Gene]

So you're trying to do a kzinti here? The bonuses to both Str and Dex make it questionable as a +0 LA, but with the 3 natural attacks, this is pretty handily a +1 LA build.

I love how many people are always trying to make kzinti without knowing what kzinti are...