I hate cat-people, dog-people, lion-people, etc

[Doug McCrae]

Does it really bother you? Some of these people do naturally purr. It's a part of their personality.

No, it's an affectation.

 

[Jdvn1]

No, it's an affectation.

You could argue that the majority of human behavior consists of affectations.

 

[barsoomcore]

You could argue that the majority of human behavior consists of affectations.

Well, that implies that the majority of human behaviour is puerile, annoying and pointless.

Which sounds about right to me.

So yep, affectation it is.

 

[Jdvn1]

Well, that implies that the majority of human behaviour is puerile, annoying and pointless.

Which sounds about right to me.

So yep, affectation it is.

Um, doesn't imply that at all.
Affectation: Behavior that is assumed rather than natural.

Our behavior is learned from our parents (initially) and our peers. As well as from media. Sure, it might also be puerile, annoying, and pointless, but that's beside the point.

 

[Felon]

I've always figured they should just be a general class of monster, like Warhammer's "beastmen." Some kind of template.

There is one, in Savage Species. It boils down all the various animal-men into an anthropomorphic template. Of course, a lot of them don't turn out so well that way--e.g. horsemen have a -4 Str penalty.

 

[kenobi65]

Hmmm ... Should I? I feel I must.

Well, the tip of my lightsaber is bent, too.

ba-dum-BUMP!

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

There is one, in Savage Species. It boils down all the various animal-men into an anthropomorphic template. Of course, a lot of them don't turn out so well that way--e.g. horsemen have a -4 Str penalty.

Yep. Never will you see horse-men in a game, unless they're the Equicephs from Miniatures Handbook. I mean, really.

I'll freely admit that I chose a Tiger-man for my character in Planescape because of the nice stat package. However, I'm not completely shameless; I came up with a background for why anthropomorphic animals might actually exist*, and used that to come up with some hooks for him**.

OTOH, the jokes are endless. "I pet the tiger-man." "Faster, Iskander, kill, kill!" "The giant attempts to distract you with a ball of yarn."

Brad

* - A bunch of arcane casters with really deviant tastes went to an abandoned Material plane and decided to make playthings.

** - Sex with any other species is BAD. Like, REALLY BAD.

 

[Buttercup]

Some of these people do naturally purr. It's a part of their personality.

I know you believe that. I don't. The kindest spin I can put on it (and the only one I will put on it here at EN World) is to say I think it's an affectation.

 

[Wolv0rine]

Yes, it is. Hands are not paws and people do not naturally purr. Those affectations are just as annoying as if someone went around talking in a Ren Faire accent and flourishing his arms all the time.

<poor British accent>Why yes, good sir! I *would* like to super-size my meal, ha HA!"</life>

:\

Posh, I naturally purr and always have. And I do not consider myself a 'furry'. Although I have affected fur, tail, and claws online on occasion, it was not out of some goofy sexual kink.

And I think that'd be a hillarious way to order fast food. I'd hope the accent would be good, though.

But hey, I'm the sort who would actually walk around in leather boots, a blousy shirt, a cloak, and a sword on my hip (were that legal) had I the money for such clothing.

As to the topic, I like animal races if they are done well, with lots of thought into why you're doing it. My own world has about half a dozen sub-races of feline humanoids (ranging from lions to panthers to lynx) and I've spent a very, very long time on why I made them, how I did it, and what I wanted to achieve with them.

 

[woodelf]

Wait, wait... yak folk are drawn from and/or inspired by real world mythology? Because that is officially the next mythology on my list to explore.

Demiurge out.

Now i'll have to dig a bit, and see if my recollection is correct. However, my recollection was that tehy came from somewhere in the Fertile Crescent/Middle East/Afghanistan area--you know, where yaks are a big deal. If you don't want to wait for me (and it's likely i'll forget before i get around to doing enough digging, since i don't have an appropriate reference handy), i'd (1) check Arabic, Persian, Afghani, or other similar mythologies, or (2) peek in Stith Thompson's Motif Index of Folk-Literature. Though, off the top of my head, i don't know how far it strays from Europe, so you might need a different motif index. Anyway, i'd expect any large college library to have a copy.

Now, as to how close they are to the source material--if my recollections have any reliability, the fact that they're evil bogeymen, live far off, and maybe the burrowing into your skin/soul, is about the extent of it. I expect they're about as close to the source mythology as D&D dwarves are to Norse legends--at best.