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

[Corinnguard]

So is a dog, a redeemed wolf?

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I get the werewolf angle in a sense that to me it would be weird and thematically confused to have werewolves and regular wolf/dog people in the same setting. But I don't actually think that this is what has stopped WotC as they don't really care about thematic clarity like that, and in any case D&D is a toolkit so it would be fine to have rules for both even if people wouldn't use them together.

 

[Minigiant]

I think one way that could differentiate werewolves and a canine race is a focus on howling.

A canine race with a thunder or psychic howl as a breath attack would separate them from the teeth and nails of the werewolf.

I mean, people love dragonborn.

 

[Hussar]

Meh, they tried to add anthropomorphic animals to D&D with the Ardlings. That got shot down pretty quickly. Trying to get a new race into D&D is HARD. It took how many years just to get tieflings and dragonborn into core?

As far as a dog race goes, wouldn't simply using a Tabaxi mechanically do the trick? Reskin a tabaxi as a dog and you're largely good to go.

 

[Corinnguard]

I think one way that could differentiate werewolves and a canine race is a focus on howling.

A canine race with a thunder or psychic howl as a breath attack would separate them from the teeth and nails of the werewolf.

I mean, people love dragonborn.

I am not sure how useful that trait is going to be given that the Level Up's Garoul has this feature:

HUFF AND PUFF​

Choose one of the following: cone of cold , conjure elemental (air only), or wind wall . Once between long rests , you can use this trait to cast the chosen spell as a 6th level spell with no material components. Your spellcasting ability for this spell is Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma (whichever is higher).

Imagine a Garoul character breathing out a cone of cold, an air elemental or a wind wall. This is a 10th level Paragon gift.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I think one way that could differentiate werewolves and a canine race is a focus on howling.

A canine race with a thunder or psychic howl as a breath attack would separate them from the teeth and nails of the werewolf.

I mean, people love dragonborn.

It's not just about differentiation, I just don't think turning into a horrific half human, half wolf monster works in a setting where regular half-canine people just walk about every day and it is perfectly normal.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Meh, they tried to add anthropomorphic animals to D&D with the Ardlings. That got shot down pretty quickly. Trying to get a new race into D&D is HARD.

They kinda tried to smash together two separate concepts thus ending up not pleasing the fans of either.

 

[Corinnguard]

Plus WoTC was ignoring the idea of Guardinal descended Aasimar when they came up with the Ardlings.

 

[Minigiant]

It's not just about differentiation, I just don't think turning into a horrific half human, half wolf monster works in a setting where regular half-canine people just walk about every day and it is perfectly normal.

Why. Dogs and wolves exist in real life.

People might be able to tell the difference between a canine race and a canine monster.

I might we can tell the difference between a human and dwarf even through in looks dwarfs are just shorter wider humans.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Brings us back to shifters, who have both lupine and canine variants.