Animal PCs?

[JPL]

I'm going to host a one-shot for my young nephews and their dad. One of the notions I had was for the boys to play elf or eladrin brothers and their dad could play . . . the dog. Or wolf, or sidthe-hound. Something like that.

My thought is to use all of the "beast form" keyworded druid powers, maybe with a few ranger abilities to fill some blanks.

Any thoughts?

 

[Jack99]

Its gonna be one mean dog, but I do not see why not. If you want a "character" that is more or less at par with the others but doesn't do the whole interaction thing, the druid (only in animal shape) will do quite well.

 

[Katemare]

There is a nice third-party booklet about an animal-headed race: Remarkable Races - Anumus. They are companion animals that were given new life via magical substance. Fluff is done really well, pictures are inspiring, and mechanics looks fine (although I'm not expert on 4E mechanics). The fluff, I think, sets great opportunities for role-play and story-driven game. I wish all 4E was like that.

 

[Fanaelialae]

Another option would be to give him some kind of racial weapon (Bite +3; 1d10 damage, or whatever is appropriate) and let him play as a weapon reliant class. He could easily play as a fighter, ranger, rogue, or even warlord (with a careful selection of powers). I'd base the Bite stats off of an appropriate weapon for the class (two hander for a fighter or warlord, "dual wielding" claws for a ranger, and light weapon for a rogue).

Technically, there is nothing outright stopping him from being a magic-user (assuming the animal has human intelligence), though that doesn't sound to me like the direction you intend.

Though your idea isn't a bad one I suspect that, stripped of it's features and spell casting, the Druid might be somewhat bland/boring to play.

YMMV.

 

[Imperialus]

Though your idea isn't a bad one I suspect that, stripped of it's features and spell casting, the Druid might be somewhat bland/boring to play.

YMMV.

I'd say this really depends. After all it's a one shot and the guy playing the dog is going to be the kids father anyhow. He's probably not going to be all that interested in spending a lot of time in the spotlight.

How old are the kids? If they're pretty young (under 9 or so) I'd almost suggest just sitting down with your brother (in law?) ahead of time and put the dog in a pure helper-fixer (to steal a literary term) role. If you outline the plot with him ahead of time you can have him help keep the PC's on target and keep the pace up. Give him 'abilities' specifically geared towards helping the kids PC's. Maybe if he licks them it heals their wounds, or his bark scares away the BBEG when he attacks them in the beginning, stuff like that. Don't give him an ability that will take anything away from the brothers, just abilities (even if they're pure plot devices) that help them.

 

[NMcCoy]

Reflavoring can do a huge amount in 4e; I've played a blink dog character that worked wonderfully, and felt spot-on for how playing a blink dog *should* feel in combat. The character was essentially mechanically identical to a two-weapon elf ranger - I picked every power I could that let me shift and described the shifting as a teleport, and voila - crazy teleporting striker dog that's impossible to pin down.

My advice is figure out what combat role you want the character to fill, based on concept, then choose class and powers accordingly, looking at effect rather than flavor (of the powers themselves - you fill in your own flavor instead).

(Also from experience reskinning: Druids make awesome werewolves.)

 

[Raven Crowking]

I wrote an article on the topic (complete with rules for 3.5 awakened animal PC paragon classes) that I hoped would appear in Issue #3 of Dragon Roots, but it has been pushed back.


RC

 

[Alzrius]

The Noble Wild, by Skirmisher Publishing, is a sourcebook devoted to the concept of animal PCs (in a 3.5 game). It's a great resource, and was nominated for an ENnie last year.

 

[Aeolius]

One of these days... Nature of the Beast

 

[cdrcjsn]

The best way is to just make a character as normal.

That would balance the PC with the others.

Then just describe him as an animal. Weapons become fangs/claws. Armor becomes barding, etc.