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

[Michael Tree]

I don't mind them when they're an NPC race and have a unique culture. But for some reason, it bugs me when they're a PC race. It also bugs me when they're animalistic for no good in-game reason.

For example, as much as I love AU/AE, the there's something about the Litorians (lion men) that I dislike. Having a race hat happens to look exactly like lions for no discernable reason harms the verisimilitude for me. However, the Sibbecai (anthro jackal/dog men) don't bother me at all, because they're actually magically-altered jackals given intelligence, raised to be a servitor race to the giants.

 

[xrpsuzi]

Many of the complaints against furries seem to stem from lack of unique background/development or poor/questionable/"lazy" execution of the idea behind animal-men hybrids.

Although I'm not all about playing furries, I don't see playing them any different than people preferring to play a certain class all the time. I tend to play rogues because I am not graceful or dextrous in real life and it's nice to role-play someone that is. So if someone wants to play a cat-person for similar reasons (finding entertainment from playing someone with cat-like qualties), it's just apple and oranges--we are different but we're all still fruit.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

I like them depending, my one specific complaint is that they all tend to look exactly like their animal inspirations and they tend to all look the same.

The idea of a humanoid group created by the gods or what not to be the ultimate humanoid form of predatorness is cool.

The idea of a humanoid group that was evolved by another powerful humanoid group from their faithful pets is cool.

What is not cool is that somehow their appearances don't really reflect that so much as their imagery of their real world antecedents. I don't like it when I can recognize the breed since I assume that the humanoid version of the species would be a different breed entirely.

Ratmen and Mickey Mouse are cool, because Mickey looks like some sort of bizarre distortion or reduction of Mouseness cast into an upright and pants wearing mold. Ratmen are cool because they look like the demonic version of Mickey Mouse.

And I guess the reason I hates it so much is because I want to be adventuring alongside my own valiant comrade in arms, not someone else's too much beloved pet.

 

[FireLance]

I also wrote (and was published) a paladin PClass that essentially becomes a were-lion.

OT, but this sounds pretty cool. Where did this PrC appear?

 

[Gundark]

My players found them quite disturbing, especially when they were doing their sacred fertility dances, wiggling their udders suggestively.

Not sure if I want to laugh or be sick . The Dawnforge game that we're in right now has one of the players playing female minotaur wearing a chainmail bikini....very disturbing.....

 

[Gundark]

For example, as much as I love AU/AE, the there's something about the Litorians (lion men) that I dislike. Having a race hat happens to look exactly like lions for no discernable reason harms the verisimilitude for me. However, the Sibbecai (anthro jackal/dog men) don't bother me at all, because they're actually magically-altered jackals given intelligence, raised to be a servitor race to the giants.

That is the thing that turned me off of AU when I first flipped thru it. I was like "oh animal people" yuk.....that and the whole "we don't have halflings but we have things that look almost like halflings"....

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

I like the animal races better than the elf-dwarf-halfling-gnome standard. At least they're a different set of cliches.

 

[Severion]

Makes me miss the ... what were they called? ... oozy-rock characters from Star Frontiers. They were somewhat original.

Unless you call them rock-people.

Dralisites, they were reprinted in D20 future, need better art.

 

[Banshee16]

I like them, personally, but have rarely used them. i've rolled up an anthropomorphic tiger to try out, but haven't got around to it yet.....

Palladium RPG had the "wolfen" which were pretty cool. They were more Roman in their feel than "stereotypical wolflike".

How are anthropomorphic animals any lazier than humans with pointy ears, short humans with beards, or humans that are half the height of real humans?

Banshee

 

[Turjan]

That is the thing that turned me off of AU when I first flipped thru it. I was like "oh animal people" yuk.....that and the whole "we don't have halflings but we have things that look almost like halflings"....

This was exactly what happened to me. I'm not very fond of animal people, if they look like humans with animal heads screwed on. Those female litorians and sibeccai with their human-style breasts fall into that category.

However, on a second read, I found the race idea behind the sibeccai intriguing: a race that has been elevated to awareness by another race. I liked that idea so much that I re-used it for some nezumi-style ratmen (from OA), which for whatever reason don't bother me at all .