New Race: Tanuki

[Mike Myler]

Thoughts? Would you play a tanuki or allow them at your table?

 

[Blue]

Can you post the text? (Assuming it's yours.) That's really hard to read shrunk down like that.

 

[Mike Myler]

Absolutely sir!

Tanuki Traits
Your tanuki character has an assortment of inborn abilities, as much a part of you as your bushy tail.
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 1 and your Intelligence score increases by 1.
Age. A tanuki reaches adulthood at the age of 14 and generally live into the middle of his or her first century.
Alignment. Tanuki are chaotic by nature; those that live within the cities of Soburin tend to fall towards evil, while those in the Bunki-Mura of the forests gradually regain some of the benign nature they once embodied before the coming of the Kengen.
Size. Tanuki are usually between 3 and 4 feet tall, and weigh about 30 pounds. Your size is Small.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Climb. You have a climb speed of 20 feet. You must have at least one of your hands free in order to climb.
Ancient Talents. You learn the minor illusion cantrip, using Intelligence as your spellcasting attribute.
Brave. You have advantage on saving throws against being frightened.
Tail. You have a tail. You are unable to carry a weapon or shield with your tail, nor can you manipulate fine objects, but you gain advantage when passing secret messages or otherwise communicating using your tail.
Vulnerability. You gain vulnerability to acid damage.
Subrace. While the tanuki are still one race of sentient humanoids, there are important differences between those who live with the humans of Soburin and those who don’t.

Forest Tanuki
As a forest tanuki, you are part of a treetop Bunki-Mura and very much at home in the wilderness. Though most of your people are only now returning to the forest and the ways of your ancestors, the transition has been easier than expected.
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2 (instead of 1).
Keen Senses. You gain proficiency with Perception.

Urban Tanuki
As an urban tanuki, you’ve found a place somewhere in the cities of Soburin. During the Kengen occupation the Ceramians forced your ancestors into unnatural living conditions and they suffered discrimination (and worse). As a result you’ve inherited a talent for surviving in a thriving settlement, even when you are not wanted.
Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 2 (instead of 1).
City Slicker. You gain proficiency with Sleight of Hand.

 

[Blue]

Thanks for the quick response!

I like them. I'd like to see a little more flavor for them though that may just be on a different page. I don't yet have a great feel for if their mechanical aspects and their mechanical aspects line up, just what's under the alignment and subraces. For example, I don't know why they are vulnerable to acid.

Balance wise they look fine. Well within acceptable range, maybe slightly towards the back.

In terms of classes encouraged, Int + Dex is a rather specific pairing. Small size precludes Heavy weapons which cuts out some archers. Urban Taniuki are likely to be Wizards, Rogues (rapier or hand xbow) - especially Arcane Tricksters, Dex-based Fighters - especially Eldritch Knight. Forest Tanuki all of those plus many others - +2 dex works well with lots of builds.

If I had any criticism, it would be the very light one that I'd like some more mechanical difference between Forest and Urban Tanuki. They get mirror reflections of Int/Dex bonus, and each gets a skill. Changing it up a little or adding in small, different powers to each subclass. As a said, balance wise they look fine if not a touch weak, so there is room to add a bit.

A random stab in the dark would give Urban have advantage to stealth in urban environments (which helps offset their lower dex) and Forest can fall safely 30'. But you know the feel you want better.

Hope this is valuable to you.

 

[Mike Myler]

Thank you for the feedback!

The world information is behind-the-curtains for a few more weeks but aye, they aren't just naturally vulnerable to acid (at least not in common mythology) and that has to do with the Mists of Akuma.

Advantage on Stealth checks in Urban environments sounds keen and I think I'll make that tweak now (I'm passing on the 30 foot fall because there's some lofty business going on with tengu and crane hengeyokai, though I see the real world inspiration for it and salute you).

 

[Jediking]

Balance wise they look fine. Well within acceptable range, maybe slightly towards the back.

Yeah, I agree here. My only thing is that they (especially the Forest Tanuki) are too mechanically similar to the Forest Gnome and don't really have a core identity. At least from my layman's POV.

If one of my player's brought me this with a backstory of his Forest Gnome dad having an awkward encounter after using Speak with Small Beasts with a squirrel, I'd be fine rolling with it.

And no other race has any vulnerability. But if it fits the lore you are after it shouldn't really matter (acid is not very common, but YMMV).
You can also add in ribbon abilities that are more flavour than mechanical benefits (eg. like adapted to cold climates, see the Goliath's Mountain Born trait in the UA: EE).

 

[Mike Myler]

And no other race has any vulnerability. But if it fits the lore you are after it shouldn't really matter (acid is not very common, but YMMV).

Thank you for the feedback, Jediking! There'll be at least one page of fluffy bits before this appears in the book. The (current) headers for that section are:

Once of the Forest

Warped by Detainment

Bunki-Mura of Soburin

SIDEBAR: Betrayed But Forgiving


and as for the acid damage, it (as well as many other elements) will be more common than normal -- a lot of martial arts feats are currently in the works, this being one of them

Blight Stance
Prerequisites: Haitoku 13, Wisdom 14
You’ve learned to strike with a resonance that corrodes creatures and objects on a level beyond understanding, weakening virtually everything but the most impervious targets.

• Your unarmed strikes deal an additional 2 (1d4) acid damage (this damage does not multiply on a critical hit) and you gain resistance to acid damage.
• When this feat is selected a second time, the additional acid damage increases to 3 (1d6; this damage does not multiply on a critical hit) and you have advantage on checks made to grapple a foe or to avoid being grappled.
• When this feat is selected a third time, the additional acid damage increases to 4 (1d8; this damage multiplies on a critical hit) and you gain immunity to acid damage.

Mind you, that is almost certainly going to change a bit before all is said and done, but I've got more than a dozen similar feats locked and loaded for playtesting.

 

[Mike Myler]

Revised!

 

[GreenTengu]

The main problem you have here is.... you didn't make a Tanuki.

Tanuki are a real animal. It is an animal that doesn't climb, it is a burrower. It is pretty slow and clumsy as far as a predator goes. The folktales about Tanuki generally paint them to being pretty dim, wild, awkward and generally funny. Their most commonly cited traits are transforming themselves into objects by putting leafs on their heads and that they have giant inflatable, stretchable scrotums that they can use in a variety of ways such as drums, balloons, blankets, baskets, etc. Neither of which seems to fit the "minor illusion" power you put here.

Though they have tails, their tails are neither large enough nor flexible enough to make them any more worth mentioning than the Tieflings tail is. I don't imagine every race that has a tail needs it to have this particular trait.

I guess you could call the animal brave, although most tanuki myths involved them hiding from people using their magic because they get spooked so easily... affable, careless and generally relaxed would be better descriptive. And certainly nothing about their tails would make them out to be thieves. Beggars, perhaps, but not clever and deceptive thieves.

It feels like you saw they looked like Racoons and just assumed that everything about them must be exactly like the American image of a raccoon. But you couldn't be further off. They would be more comparable to a coyote or a badger. I really think you should spend more time figuring out what Tanukis are about and then give this another go.

But, as far as these stats go?... Hmmm....
Well, what I would suggest is that you put them aside. Are these going to be part of an east Asian themed world where you are going to have Kitsune and turtle-like Kappa and bird-headed Tengu and maybe Panda-folk and other "furries" for lack of a better term?

Because these would be fine for Raccoon folk OR, if you want to keep with the east asian theme, a race based on Red Panda. You could call them "Habre" or "Kaala" which are local Nepalese names for the animal and the only names for it that aren't multi-word terms calling them "bear cats" or "little red bears" or "little pandas". Because that animal does do a lot of climbing, does live in trees, does have a large tail, is dexterous and clever and could easily be envisioned as thieves.... though the brave part doesn't work as being things that are hunted by leopards, weasels and humans tend to be panicky and run away up the trees at the first sign of trouble.


But for proper Tanuki, think more a slow, prodding people that pretty much get along with everyone everywhere, have few cares in the world, love to indulge but are otherwise pretty common folk... focus on Constitution, Charisma, possibly maybe Wisdom or Strength. Make sure you hit on the "they can disguise themselves as objects, but they can't move or do anything else when they do so" and having a big flap of stretchable, inflatable skin that they can use in creative ways even if you don't feel comfortable explaining what skin that is... basically... make them tanuki, not Halfling/Gnomes.

 

[Mike Myler]

The main problem you have here is.... you didn't make a Tanuki.

Tanuki are a real animal. It is an animal that doesn't climb, it is a burrower. It is pretty slow and clumsy as far as a predator goes. The folktales about Tanuki generally paint them to being pretty dim, wild, awkward and generally funny. Their most commonly cited traits are transforming themselves into objects by putting leafs on their heads and that they have giant inflatable, stretchable scrotums that they can use in a variety of ways such as drums, balloons, blankets, baskets, etc. Neither of which seems to fit the "minor illusion" power you put here.

First of all thank you for the in-depth consideration and feedback!
I can't say I agree with you that I did not make tanuki, but I will agree that I did not make your vision of tanuki and should you run some D&D in Mists of Akuma, I encourage you to modify them however you see fit to.
While there is absolutely a creature in the real world known as tanuki (that is to say, a Japanese raccoon dog), they have a strong popularity in Japanese mythology that has little to do with the actual animal -- it's not a disparity as big as Babe the Blue Ox, but obviously like any lore they have traits that the real animal does not (exaggerating many that they do have, like enlarged scrotums).
As I put this together, I read several websites to make sure I remained true to their mythology. Your assertion that tanuki are dim-witted might be true in some instances, but the most popular tanuki characters in folklore were famed for being clever and tricking others (see danzaborou-danuki, a sort of ghost tanuki popular in Japanese mythology). Danzaburou was well known for being a tricky character, one that used illusions (thus the minor illusion cantrip). In terms of burrowing vs. climbing, if you check out their mythologies by area you'll find two tanuki that were definitely climbers, so again I'm going to stick to my guns on that too.

Though they have tails, their tails are neither large enough nor flexible enough to make them any more worth mentioning than the Tieflings tail is. I don't imagine every race that has a tail needs it to have this particular trait.

I agree that not every race requires a trait to cover their tails, but I would argue that tails are far more important to tanuki in comparison to tieflings. One of their tenets is "a big tail that provides steadiness and strength until success is achieved" and to translate that into mechanics, I thought something about tricky communication (strengthening the theme I've set up with minor illusion) was appropriate.

I guess you could call the animal brave, although most tanuki myths involved them hiding from people using their magic because they get spooked so easily... affable, careless and generally relaxed would be better descriptive. And certainly nothing about their tails would make them out to be thieves. Beggars, perhaps, but not clever and deceptive thieves.

I don't disagree with that, but the thievery bit has to do with their subjugation in the recent past of Soburin (the last 150 years or so) and less to do with the original mythology that inspires this race. However, one of my team pointed out that they were a little too good so we dropped the bravery trait this morning.

It feels like you saw they looked like Racoons and just assumed that everything about them must be exactly like the American image of a raccoon. But you couldn't be further off. They would be more comparable to a coyote or a badger. I really think you should spend more time figuring out what Tanukis are about and then give this another go.

As a fellow with a minor in mythology I am a little bit hurt that you feel this way, but can only politely disagree and assure you that I definitely did due diligence while researching for the tanuki race. If I were just making straight up raccoon people (which might be worth pursuing) we'd be looking at something far, far more stealthy, although I cannot deny that they got a bit of treatment like that due to the century and a half of subjugation they've experienced in Mists of Akuma (though obviously you have no way of knowing that from this small one page preview .)

But, as far as these stats go?... Hmmm....
Well, what I would suggest is that you put them aside. Are these going to be part of an east Asian themed world where you are going to have Kitsune and turtle-like Kappa and bird-headed Tengu and maybe Panda-folk and other "furries" for lack of a better term?

Here's the full list of race options in Mists of Akuma: Humans (Soburi, Ceramian, and Ropaeo), Bakemono, Enjin, Hengeyokai (of the Cat, Dog, Monkey, Rat, Crane, Fox, and Spider varieties), Kappa, Mutants, Necroji, Oni-Touched, Psonorous, Pyon, Shikome, Steametic, Tanuki, Tengu, Umibozu.

Because these would be fine for Raccoon folk OR, if you want to keep with the east asian theme, a race based on Red Panda. You could call them "Habre" or "Kaala" which are local Nepalese names for the animal and the only names for it that aren't multi-word terms calling them "bear cats" or "little red bears" or "little pandas". Because that animal does do a lot of climbing, does live in trees, does have a large tail, is dexterous and clever and could easily be envisioned as thieves.... though the brave part doesn't work as being things that are hunted by leopards, weasels and humans tend to be panicky and run away up the trees at the first sign of trouble.

But for proper Tanuki, think more a slow, prodding people that pretty much get along with everyone everywhere, have few cares in the world, love to indulge but are otherwise pretty common folk... focus on Constitution, Charisma, possibly maybe Wisdom or Strength. Make sure you hit on the "they can disguise themselves as objects, but they can't move or do anything else when they do so" and having a big flap of stretchable, inflatable skin that they can use in creative ways even if you don't feel comfortable explaining what skin that is... basically... make them tanuki, not Halfling/Gnomes.

I like my tanuki and don't want to swap them for an obscure thing without mythological precedent -- I remember seeing red pandas at the zoo, but can't recall hearing any lore about them (though if you want to pitch me a red panda race for MoA, you are encouraged to do so!)
If you check out the links above you can see my reasoning for some of the traits you didn't feel are appropriate but as a point of fact, we have a Japanese scholar (a fellow who teaches mythology on the mainland even!) ready to evaluate the full Mists of Akuma book before it is published to make sure that we stay on point. I'll make sure that he gets a look at this thread so he can consider your thoughtful critique when it comes to the tanuki!

Thank you again for the feedback! While I can't say it compelled me to change a lot about the race, it is definitely good food for thought and I appreciate that you took the time to share your opinions.