User:IGTN/Feral Libram/Chapter 4

=Rawr= General talk about animals

Animal and Magical Beast Types
The Animal and Magical Beast types are inseparable from eachother. Put simply, animal-like creatures are Magical Beast type if they have any magical powers, have an intelligence score above 2, or are freaky mutants like Owlbears or Griffins. Everything else is an animal (unless it's a biological robot, in which case it's Vermin).

The three things that drop animals into the Magical Beast type are actually fairly arbitrary.

Magical Powers
Rant about how there isn't a real difference between (ex) and (su) abilities

Intelligence Score
Two-part rant about how animals are actually pretty smart at times, and how, in a world with animistic religion, there isn't actually a clear line between animals and animal spirits that can be bartered with and spoken to.

Freaky Mutants
This one is entirely a matter of opinion. Bring up real-world freaky animals (Caterpillar Fungus, Mantis Shrimp, Mimic Octopus, whatnot)

Solution
Now that I've ranted for a bit, do something about it. Maybe combine the types into one. Most likely do that.

Races
Write up a bunch of animal races as a base template for animals and magical beasts. With the right class levels, these should grow into Unicorns, Girralons, and that thing that just crawled out of the animal recombinator's growth tank oh my gods kill it with fire. These probably aren't meant for PC use, but fine for cohorts.

Currently, the list of ideas for race bases looks like this:
 * Quadrupedal Mammal (includes Lion, Elk, Unicorn)
 * Avian (includes Eagle, Ostrich, Gryffinne, and maybe even Bats)
 * Serpent
 * Fish and Cetacean (see if there's a way to do these as one race. Differences in aquaticness might mean going to two)
 * Reptile (see if we can maybe include turtles and tortoises)
 * Cephalopod (Squid, Octopus)
 * Actual Giant Bug (Spider, Ant)

Maybe I can combine some of them or something, or make body layout selection simpler.

Templates:
 * Intelligent Animal (most of these have int 2, but sometimes you want a smart one)
 * Small (a Medium base size is as good as anything else, but sometimes you want something small)

Classes
Write up a bunch of animal/magical beast classes. Figure out how to slice it, first:
 * Strength, Dexterity, Magical
 * Herbivore, Predator, Magical
 * Some other lines to slice it along

Peddling Your Weres
Rant about werecreatures

Lycanthrope Template
. . .that doesn't make us cry
 * No level adjustment
 * No need for weak animal hit dice (probably just take a few levels of animal

Furries

 * Rant about the Monstrous Humanoid and Humanoid types
 * Some stuff about existing furries (Gnolls, Centaurs, Minotaurs, and so on)
 * Maybe some stuff about making new furries (anthro template that doesn't suck?)

Example Animals and Magical Beasts
Example Animals, Magical Beasts, Werecritters, and Furries go here.