POLL: Furry Races

[Viktyr Gehrig]

Lizards and snake men with cold reptilian minds and occasional allegiances to Evil Powers are perfectly acceptable.

You just described half my PCs.

And the parts of your post I didn't quote just described my attitude exactly.

 

[LoneWolf23]

Well, I'm gonna come out of the closet as a furry here; I love furry and near-furry races, the more the better.

 

[jaerdaph]

You want to play a furry in my campaign? Fine, your PC just contracted lycanthropy!

 

[Eltharon]

Only Minotaurs and Gnolls, and suchlike. Cat people, anthro animals, etc make me angry.

 

[Gothmog]

Some furry races are well done, with complex societies that are part of a game world. Examples of this are yaun-ti and lizardfolk, gnolls, and Skaven and Beastmen (ghorr) from Warhammer.

I'm somewhat more ambivalent about minotaurs, and animal-people. For some inexplicable reason, I have a fondness for the yak-people and kenku- don't ask me why. However, the Giff (hippo-people) are just retarded, and the thri-kreen have gotten really obnoxious due to Drizzt-level munchkin fanboidom of the bug men (it has to be the 4 arms to work with, with one player asking if he could use two two-handed weapons ). There had better be a REALLY good reason for them, other than "they look kinda intersting and cool, and give me leet powerzz".

Lycanthropes and shapechangers? I love those. I usually present lycanthropy as a serious problem and a curse, and my campaigns have NO good-aligned lycanthropes.

However, any form of cat person (which includes lions, tigers, housecats, sabertooth people, etc), are not allowed. EVER. Call it bad experiences with the types of folks who like these cat-furries, but they will NEVER have a place at my table. Plus, cat-people are just lame.

 

[Robert Ranting]

I like sentient animals, and I like anthropomorphic, bipedal humanoids who resemble animals. Primarily, I like the idea of animals being "Uplifted" by magical or scientific means to relatively human intelligence as in David Brin's Uplift novels. I have no problem with a race that superficially resembles an Earth animal, such as the Kzinti from Larry Niven's Known Space. I see no problem with someone wanting to pattern a fantasy race off of an animal-headed Egyptian deity or Greek monster. I also have nothing against bipedal rodents like those in Brian Jacques' Redwall.

That said, the Anthro animals in Savage Species are not terribly well balanced, and I would look elsewhere for inspiration. Arcana Evolved has five anthro races (Lion and Jackal folk PCs, Vulture, Frog, and Goat men as monsters), and Oriental Adventures has two (Nezumi and Vanara) which are reasonably well balanced against those in the PHB.

As for the rest of the poll's options...

I do however have a problem with creatures that require me to juggle multiple statblocks as they shift between several forms, or worse yet, which can infect PCs with a template that grants them a level adjustment in the middle of the game. I especially dislike the idea of a disease that causes your moral outlook to shift drastically from bloodthirsty monster to stalwart champion of justice or vice versa just because the character was unfortuante enough to fail a fortitude save. I further dislike the notion of a PC who could theoretically infect, knowingly or unknowingly, dozens of people over the course of a campaign with such a life-changing condition. So, no, I don't like Lycanthropes or other Therianthropes.

I also object strongly to the notion that a person who has a disease mating with an uninfected human can produce a hybrid species that breeds true and carries on the beneficial traits of the disease with few negatives. I know that sometimes it can be beneficial to be a carrier of a disease (i.e. sickel cell anemia carriers can be resistant to malaria), but the animalistic traits of a Shifter are going a little too far. No thanks. If however, you come up with some better fluff for Shifters, they're fine.

I also have issues with the fact that every time anthropomorphic animals pop up in conversations, someone has to make a joke about the "Furry" sexual fetish, or else associates all such creatures with said fetish. There is nothing inherently sexual about letting an animal think and talk, or giving a humanoid creature animalistic features. There is nothing overtly sexual about a child watching the Ninja Turtles, or someone reading the Man-Kzin Wars. Certainly, people can go there and think that, but everything in existance is potentially someone's kink. Just because some people have a thing for footwear doesn't mean I'm going to stop wearing shoes, or make sex jokes every time someone brings up shoes in conversation. I'm not saying this to be accusatory, and I make no moral judgements about anyone's preferences, I'm just saying that I don't feel that way about anthropomorphic animals, and I don't see a reason to pooh-pooh the idea just because someone else does have a thing for them.

Robert "Greed, Wrath, Pride, Envy, Gluttony, & Sloth Are Welcome At My Game Table, But I Keep Lust In The Bedroom" Ranting

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

Heroes on the half-shell...

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

I checked both:
* I like shapechangers with animal, hybrid, & fully manlike forms (like in Oriental Adventures).
* I don't like any "furry" races.

I generally dislike races that are humanoids in furry suits.

I have a great fondness for old style fey-like beings.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Heroes on the half-shell...

Sounds yummy. Raw with a chianti, perhaps?

 

[GreatLemur]

I had to choose "other", because my position on the matter is full of ifs and excepts. For the most part, I'm kind of against "animal people" because they're just kinda dumb and bland (as are elves and dwarves, really). But, at the same time, I've got to confess a weakness for lizardfolk. I just kinda dig the whole reptile people angle, as long as they're not going to be presented as anthropomorphic iguanas or something. They've gotta be their own thing, no more lizards than humans are monkeys.

Also, there is nothing that makes a new arrival to the House Rules forum stand out as a somebody to be scorned faster than a "Check out my cat-people race! PEACH" thread*.

But when it really comes down to it, I don't violently dislike "furry" characters so much as furry players. I'm aware that there are sane furries out there, but their ratio to the completely intolerable furries is not a favorable one. My primary objection to playable animal people would simply be the danger of attracting more irredeemable nutjobs to D&D.

My favorite are the ones that have been killed by fire.
But any other dead furry is also acceptable.

Ha. I know your campaign has cultists who turn themselves into gnolls.


* "They have +2 to Dex and Cha, claws that do 1d6 damage, and are always Chaotic Good. They are somewhat flighty and always curious. The females of their race rarely wear clothing."