Some sort of catlike humanoid Non furry. More... feral.

[roushguy]

Title pretty much sums it up. I'm looking for a non-furry catlike humanoid, something along the lines of a werepanther, but without a LA. Hoping for shapeshift into some form of cat, dex buff, and catlike eyes. Hoping to make a sort of black cat assassin/burglar/hired muscle. My brother mentioned something about halflings that turn into cats... after he explained, I explained... NO FURRIES. Would appreciate help if this is in the wrong place. Thanks in advance, ENWorld!

-roushguy

 

[scruffygrognard]

Shifters from Eberron might work:
Races of Eberron Excerpt

 

[Ahnehnois]

Anthropomorphic animals from Savage Species might also fit the bill.

However, I'll second that shifters are probably the best solution. Some of that stuff is obviously going to have to come from class as well; Animal Lord (CAdv) might work.

 

[roushguy]

Awesome. Anthropomorphic creatures look almost exactly like what I'm after. Figures that the one book I didn't look in had exactly what I needed. Also, for the class-curious, he's going to be a rogue/shadowdancer/assassin. I love to be able to H.i.P.S. Thanks for the help! (goes to look up Animal Lord as a possibility)

 

[radmod]

This is so obvious you may not have thought about it. Make up your own! Talk to your DM and work out your own 'unique' creature.

"You were cursed/blessed as a child ..."

 

[Deset Gled]

Also, for the class-curious, he's going to be a rogue/shadowdancer/assassin. I love to be able to H.i.P.S.

Assassins get HiPS by themselves. You don't need to dip into Shadowdancer for it.

 

[roushguy]

Assassins get HiPS by themselves. You don't need to dip into Shadowdancer for it.

True, but shadowdancers can hide in the other PC's shadows... perfect for an assassin. Especially if he can study them, teleport behind them, and end them w/ a death attack.
Also, here's the statrolls for the curious:

Rolls: 15, 17, 14, 12, 18, 11

So... how best to optimize the idea? Should I just start taking levels in rogue or should I be a fighter w/ Move Silently and Hide? Or, should I break out the Assassin's Handbook and pray that the GM allows it? If not, should I be using melee weapons or a whole bunch of crossbows with poison bolts? (heavy, light, four hand, melee weapons) Or get up close and personal with melee? (Katar? Rapier? Scimitar?) Go TWF with twin weapons or TWF with a weapon and a claw?

 

[Deset Gled]

True, but shadowdancers can hide in the other PC's shadows... perfect for an assassin. Especially if he can study them, teleport behind them, and end them w/ a death attack.

The HiPS ability for an Assassin is the same as for a Shadowdancer, they just get it a bit later. Assassins also get Dimension Door as a spell. They can't use it as much as an equivalent level Shadowdancer could, but because they actually cast it they can use wands or scrolls for it (plus, Assassins get UMD as a class skill, so they could actually use Teleport if they needed to). Also, Shadowdancer has some really high entry costs to use it as a dipping class.

Bottom line: Shadowdancer ain't worth it.

 

[roushguy]

UMD... I have to admit that one never even crossed my mind. Any advice for the other stuff?

 

[Persiflage]

If you're going to be a pounce rogue type, dip Swordsage. The Tiger Claw and Shadow Hand disciplines have much to love. The Shadow Blade feat will let you add your Dex to damage whilst in a Shadow Hand stance (such as Assassin's Stance for an extra 2d6 sneak-attack goodness) and using a preferred weapon from Shadow Hand.

"Shadow Hand associated weapons include the dagger, short sword, sai, siangham, unarmed strike, and spiked chain," but I bet you could sweet-talk your DM into allowing "claws"

Depending on how you allocate your stats, Ninja 2 could be a worthwhile dip as well for the invisibility: particularly if you can persuade your DM that the Wis bonus to AC from Ninja stacks with the Wis bonus to AC from Swordsage.