D&D General why do we lack a canine race?

[MGibster]

In addition to the other reasons, it's probably because people want to have dogs, but they don't want to be dogs.

How does that explain Pugmire? What? Pugmire isn't popular? I withdraw my objections.

Other than Palladium Fantasy, who has a canine race that are part of a militant empire, most of the dog type characters I've seen are in science ficiton.

Rifts: Dogboys
Traveller: Vagr
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness: Mutant dogs.
Gamma World: Mutant dogs.

I am drawing a blank. I don't think I've ever saw a dog in TMNT or Gamma World and I've never played Traveller, but I've seen people play Dogboys in Rifts. Maybe you're right.

 

[Morrus]

In addition to the other reasons, it's probably because people want to have dogs, but they don't want to be dogs.

You think people want to be halflings and stuff?

 

[Vaalingrade]

You think people want to be halflings and stuff?

Take on the role of, portray on a personal level, embody, be in the guise of, what have you.

 

[Tonguez]

Back in 3.5 I made use of a Humanoid Template that converted Animals, Beasts and Aberrations into Humanoid form (Tendency to Medium (move 1 step towards Medium), and gain Bipedal form and Fine Manipulators (Hands) traits)

or it is possible to just recast Gnolls as Wolfkin

 

[Hussar]

Funnily enough, one of the first things to pop up on my DM's Guild site this morning was:

Dogfolk Player Race: "Goodest" (Plus NPCs and Artifact Weapon) - Dungeon Masters Guild | Dungeon Masters Guild

Dogfolk Player Race: "Goodest" (Plus NPCs and Artifact Weapon) - Who's the Goodest? Who is it? You are! Yes, you are! The 'Goodest' is a player race of Dogfolk for D&D Fifth Edition

www.dmsguild.com

A canine race. Slightly frightening that the algorithm caught that. My single post in a thread in EN World was enough to make that pop up in my DM's Guild feed. Yikes.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

As I found out designing a 3.5Ed PC, that edition had a few ways to play canid characters- Hengeyokai, anthropomorphic animals, Awakened animals, lupins, hound archons (or creatures descended from them), lycanthropes and probably more. I liked them all, but for that PC, I kinda liked the anthros & Hengeyokai over the others because I could more easily dovetail those races into a PC with a Fey heritage.

If I were designing a canid race, I’d want players to be able to incorporate elements of their favorite breeds. That might include a couple different size options, maybe selecting from a short list of abilities. IMHO, a “border collie” PC should play differently than a “pointer”, a “Doberman” a “beagle” or a “Tibetan mastiff”, for example.

 

[Tonguez]

As I found out designing a 3.5Ed PC, that edition had a few ways to play canid characters- Hengeyokai, anthropomorphic animals, Awakened animals, lupins, hound archons (or creatures descended from them), lycanthropes and probably more. I liked them all, but for that PC, I kinda liked the anthros & Hengeyokai over the others because I could more easily dovetail those races into a PC with a Fey heritage.

If I were designing a canid race, I’d want players to be able to incorporate elements of their favorite breeds. That might include a couple different size options, maybe selecting from a short list of abilities. IMHO, a “border collie” PC should play differently than a “pointer”, a “Doberman” a “beagle” or a “Tibetan mastiff”, for example.

As long as you give a choice of Small or Medium size, you can probably differentiate Canid PCs based on Skill choice and placement of Stat bonuses rather than needing entirely different types - A Collie is a Herding dog, a Pointer is a hunting dog and Doberman is a guard dog, but they’re all Medium size dogs with good constitution and intelligence. Beagle is Small and gets expertise in perception/Investigation (smell)

you may want to give the goliaths powerful build to Mastiff types

anyone who wants to play a chihuahua should be directed to Kobold

 

[Corinnguard]

It probably would be easier to make canine subraces based off of their breed groups (Sporting, Hound, Working, Etc.) than to do actual breeds of dog. Plus, it ought to be breeds native to the setting, if there are any in settings like Eberron and the Forgotten Realms.

 

[bedir than]

You think people want to be halflings and stuff?

Do people really want to just sit around smoking pipe weed, eating good food and read stories all day?

No. Not a one

 

[Corinnguard]

Do people really want to just sit around smoking pipe weed, eating good food and read stories all day?

No. Not a one

Only if it is a pub somewhere.