Less complicated shifter rules?

[Desdichado]

I love the idea of shifters (of Eberron fame) as a flavor element. And I've played shifter characters and enjoyed them.

It occurs to me, however, that mechanically, they are way more complex than most races, and if I were to stack shifters up against, say, humans or half-elves for a homebrew, that 1) I'd have problems posting the rules because they're not open content, and 2) it's just too much friggin' work anyway.

So, what I really want to do is work with the same concept of shifters---animalistic humanoids, probably humans who have a touch of lycanthropy in their ancestry, but something that's mechanically more similar to the PHB races in terms of complexity.

Any ideas?

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

How simple should it be? Here are a couple thoughts, that may or may not be worth 2cp.

The easiest thing might simply be to reskin the half-orc as an animalistic human, swapping out darkvision for lowlight vision. Give him a claw/claw (1d4/1d4) natural attack (maybe make it to a swift action to de/activate it?) that can't be used if he's wielding a weapon.

A little more complicated approach could use a times-per-day mechanic to change form into something a fair bit tougher:

• Wildman
• +2 Str, -4 Int, -2 Cha;
• lowlight vision;
• +2 racial bonus on skills: Balance, Climb, Jump, Listen, Spot, Swim
• "Feral Form" (Su) - Once per day a wildman can take on brutish form that lasts 3+Con mod rounds, granting him +2 Str, +2 Dex, +10ft land speed, and two natural attacks (1d4 +1/5HD). These natural attacks can take any form (for example, claw/claw, or bite/claw, gore/bite, etc, with appropriate damage types), but once chosen they cannot be changed. The character may use manufactured weapons while in his Feral Form, if desired. The wildman gains one additional use per day of his Feral Nature at every 5th character level he attains.
• Automatic languages: Sylvan
• Bonus languages: Common, Elven, Goblin, Orc

This is a vague recollection of an attempt at something similar I started some time ago. It was supposed to be a race of tribal degenerates, the progeny of animals and men, inspired by the PHBII druid shapeshifting class feature. In any event, it's sort of along the lines of a Shifter. It's a bit less complicated, but it's obviously nowhere near as versatile.

Good luck working something out.

 

[Desdichado]

That's actually almost exactly the same direction I was headed. I had thought to have something like your feral form (nice label, by the way) that's like a Barbarian Rage Lite, but which stacks with rage (like current shifters do.) So pretty much exactly what you've got.

Except maybe with Scent too, and Survival always being a class skill for them, no matter their actual class. A few less racial bonuses on skills, and holy cow, your racial attribute modifiers seem particularly harsh. Was that maybe a typo on the Int? -2, sorta like the half-orc seems like a better way to go.

Even then, the half-orc was often criticized for having harsher than it needed to attribute modifiers; I may do just a -2 to Int and leave Cha alone.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

Yes, I thought being stackable with rage was pretty necessary, as the animalism meshes so nicely with the whole barbarian schtick. Scent and Survival definitely make sense; good call.

The -4 Int wasn't a typo. But the caveat is that when I made these guys, I wasn't really thinking of it in terms of a PC race; they were supposed to be an NPC race of brutes. Frankly, I"ve always had trouble balancing ability scores against other traits, then guessing an LA from that. It's not really a problem for an NPC race that will just show up as monsters, but I know that's a definite consideration for a well-constructed playable race.

In any event, I'd be curious to see what you end up with.

 

[Desdichado]

Ah, fair enough.

Here's my version of it. It's a bit more powerful than yours, without the ability score adjustments being quite so harsh, but I think it stacks up well in general to the 3.5 PHB races. I wouldn't give it an LA.

I liked your idea of having Common not even be a default language for these guys, but in my homebrew I've got my own language rules anyway, so it's a moot point.

There's a bit more commentary at the link, but I've posted the actual houserules themselves as they stand at the current time.

Dark•Heritage: Wildman houserules

Wildman (Vucari)
• +2 Str, -2 Int
• Lowlight vision
• Survival is always a class skill for wildmen, regardless of what class they actually take.
• Wildmen gain the Scent ability
• Feral Form (Su) - Once per day a wildman can take on brutish form that lasts a number of rounds equal to 3 + the character's Constitution modifer, granting him +2 Str, +2 Dex, +10 ft land speed, and two claw attacks (1d4 +1/5HD damage). The character may use manufactured weapons while in his Feral Form, if desired. While in his Feral Form, a wildman also gains the benefit of the Improved Unarmed Strike feat. This benefit only lasts while in the Feral Form, however. The wildman gains one additional use per day of his Feral Nature at every 5th character level he attains.
• Automatic languages: Sylvan
• Bonus languages: Common, Elven, Goblin, Orc

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

It does seem quite a bit more streamlined with all those skill bonuses swapped out for scent.

Just a minor quibble: since claws are natural weapons, he's considered armed while in feral form, so isn't "Improved unarmed strike" technically redundant? It's a little thing, and it admittedly adds clarity to the description.

In any event, it looks really nice. Thanks for sharing. Consider it yoinked next time I need a barbaric race of savages.

 

[ValhallaGH]

Just a minor quibble: since claws are natural weapons, he's considered armed while in feral form, so isn't "Improved unarmed strike" technically redundant?

Not really. It lets them punch (for taking prisoners), grapple, and trip without provoking, generally turning them into a race of once / day bad@ss barroom brawlers.
It's an odd thing to give them, one I wouldn't have if I'd been designing them, but it makes them extremely flexible and interesting when they are in that mode.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

Ah, that makes sense. I'd overlooked all the non-damaging kinds of attacks they maintain without sacrificing the ability to threaten. Flexible indeed!

 

[Desdichado]

Well, those benefits were unintentional. I had forgotten that they are considered armed, and therefore don't provoke AoOs.

 

[Desdichado]

OK, I've made a slight change, then. Instead of Improved Unarmed Attack, the Wildman will get the Pounce extraordinary ability when in his feral form. This is the same as the Monster Manual ability of the same name, and allows the wildman to make a full attack instead of just a single attack at the end of a charge.