Anthropomorphic Animal PCs!

[cignus_pfaccari]

Yeah. The anthropomorphic animal template from Savage Species was terrific. If a race to match your vision didn't already exist, you could easily make it. I'm hoping the Anumi from Alluria's Remarkable Races series will prove as versatile.

BTW, it worked pretty damn well with dinosaurs, too. Assuming you don't count them as dire animals.

Brad

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Assuming, in such a campaign, you began as a small awakened forest animal. What sort of animal would you choose and what would be your expectations in such a game?

I'd have a problem deciding between an Awakened Aardvark Barbarian named Cerebus or an Awakened Wolverine Barbarian named Logan.

Actually, I have a PC concept that is designed for either a gnome or halfling (I haven't decided which)- the PC is a barbarian who uses claw bracers, wears spiked armor, and lobs trog-stink grenades.

IOW, he's a combo of badger/wolverine, porcupine and skunk.

That anthro wolverine (or porcupine or skunk) would get me there too.

 

[AngeltheTechrat]

I don't have ideas.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Brings up a question all around, though.. in a setting where all the PCs are small animals, what are the animal companions, familiars, spirit guides, etc..?

"Bugs, Mr. Rico! Zillions of 'em!"

 

[AngeltheTechrat]

sorry.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Most PCs could take out a familiar with one shot if they hit it as well.

As for intent...well, just use more unpalatable bugs- bombardier beetles, cyanotoxin-exuding millipedes, etc.

You could also have them use small "swarm familiars" instead, with each HP of the caster's swarm-familiar represented by a discrete bug.

Or you could go the "spirit guide" route, and just have ancestor spirits fill the role.

And for "animal companions" use bigger critters- say, a "Bird-Eating" Tarantula or a particularly toxic scorpion.

 

[SKyOdin]

M
Or you could go the "spirit guide" route, and just have ancestor spirits fill the role.

The first thing I thought off when I read that is "Mufasa".

Though thinking about it, the Lion King isn't a bad thing to rip off of if you are going the awakened animals route.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Though thinking about it, the Lion King isn't a bad thing to rip off of if you are going the awakened animals route.

80% of Disney and most of American animation wouldn't be a bad thing to rip off for awakened animals.

Then there's things like Mouse Guard, etc.

There is also the sci-fi take on such things as found in the comic We 3, Marvel's New Men (anthro animals) on Wundagore Mountain (home of the High Evolutionary), and David Brin's Uplift novels, to name but a few.

Then there is this gem:

First of all two words - magical mice. Why? Because "magical mice" is just fun to say...

Okay, so, for a plot...

He's still young, and doesn't know it yet, but the kitten is actually The Golden Cat, a prophesied cat hero who has his own quest, and will save the world for all catkind. There will be a string of events throughout the campaign that the party will thoroughly misunderstand, where the cat's adventures impinge upon the human world.

Just like a human hero, along the way he'll pick up his own companions that start showing up and hanging around (these may include any mounts or Animal Companions the PCs may have - they think they have Human Companions...). You get the idea. One always talks about how the PCs are not the only adventuring party in the game world, right? Well, in a magical world, why do they all have to be human?

Read Tad Williams' Tailchaser's Song, or Gabriel King's The Wild Road and The Golden Cat for references.

Someone else on these boards- I regretfully cannot remember who- suggested that the awakened animals could have humans, demihumans, etc. as their familiars/companions in kind of a "tail wags dog" setup. The humans believe that they're going where they want to go and bringing their pets, when the reality is actually the obverse.

 

[AngeltheTechrat]

Most PCs could take out a familiar with one shot if they hit it as well.

As for intent...well, just use more unpalatable bugs- bombardier beetles, cyanotoxin-exuding millipedes, etc.

You could also have them use small "swarm familiars" instead, with each HP of the caster's swarm-familiar represented by a discrete bug.

Or you could go the "spirit guide" route, and just have ancestor spirits fill the role.

And for "animal companions" use bigger critters- say, a "Bird-Eating" Tarantula or a particularly toxic scorpion.

I'm sorry.

I shouldn't have asked that.

I'm sorry.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I shouldn't have asked that.

I thought it was a good question- it made me think about it seriously from a GM's perspective, after all.