race idea: Lycanthrope (working name)

Started by NssOne, April 12, 2007, 03:13:24 AM

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Lycanthrope (or maybe just Lycans?)
+45%?

Strength   50-100
Intellect   45-90
Willpower   45-105
Agility    50-110
Health      30-95
Charm       40-80

Abilities: night vision +40 , tracking +25, speed +?

The only description I can think of so far is that these are humanoid creatures with canine (dog/wolf) features and that they are like the Nekojins in how they have both human and feral abilities. And also I think it would be interesting to implement a back story containing a feud between the Nekojins and Lycanthropes.

The main characteristic of this race that would make it unique from the others is the possible implementation of naturally high swing speeds. Although they would not have high agility for other attributes such as for dodge especially with the low charm stat I've suggested. The low charm stat is due to their ferocious-looking canine characteristics. Everything else seems somewhat fair and balanced by off-hand looks.

I guess the one drawback i do see is that almost any classes can become a poor man's ranger or ninja with the enhanced tracking ability. But since wolves/dogs are known to be such good natural trackers, I don't see how this race having this ability is out of the realm of feasibility.

So, I hope there won't be much need to deviate from what I've laid out, but of course it would be nice to hear opinions.

Quote from: NssOne on April 12, 2007, 03:13:24 AM
Lycanthrope (or maybe just Lycans?)
+45%?

Strength   50-100
Intellect   45-90
Willpower   45-105
Agility    50-110
Health      30-95
Charm       40-80

Abilities: night vision +40 , tracking +25, speed +?

The only description I can think of so far is that these are humanoid creatures with canine (dog/wolf) features and that they are like the Nekojins in how they have both human and feral abilities. And also I think it would be interesting to implement a back story containing a feud between the Nekojins and Lycanthropes.

The main characteristic of this race that would make it unique from the others is the possible implementation of naturally high swing speeds. Although they would not have high agility for other attributes such as for dodge especially with the low charm stat I've suggested. The low charm stat is due to their ferocious-looking canine characteristics. Everything else seems somewhat fair and balanced by off-hand looks.

I guess the one drawback i do see is that almost any classes can become a poor man's ranger or ninja with the enhanced tracking ability. But since wolves/dogs are known to be such good natural trackers, I don't see how this race having this ability is out of the realm of feasibility.

So, I hope there won't be much need to deviate from what I've laid out, but of course it would be nice to hear opinions.
I don't quite get the +speed ability, I would think on a race this would be shown by the Agility score.  I like the name Therion.  I dont have any issue with the stats they seem ok, although I havent looked them over with much mathematics yet.  I assume that the +25 on tracking is just some arbitrary value.  I could work with this though, I'd like for them to have stealth though.

April 12, 2007, 03:42:18 AM #2 Last Edit: April 12, 2007, 03:45:02 AM by NssOne
Well, I don't see the point to them having stealth, it kind of makes them a little too powerful and not unique enough. Also, I don't find the idea of a race such as this being all that stealthy. The tracking score isn't that arbitrary. According to the WIki, Nekos have +10 tracking. Granted, I'm not sure how that all really works, but I think this race should have stronger tracking abilities than Nekos. The NV +40 was also chosen so that they have a harder time in darker areas than most other NV capable races.

As far as +speed goes, I wanted to give them a unique combat ability. I understand the speed could be reflected in higher agility, but I wanted to hinder dodging abilities instead by not having quite so high of an agility or charm stat. So, I figured a higher natural swing speed would be a good way to balance that.

Depending on which mythos you subscribe to, would Lycanthrope be a race, a class, or something else entirely?  It sounds like the OP is thinking in terms of Underworld, where it indeed is a race, but if one were to approach it from another perspective, it could be a class or even a grouping of classes, as anyone of any race could potentially be one.

In most werewolf mythos, a potential "lycanthrope" becomes one via a curse, sometimes a magical curse, or sometimes the good old-fashioned "got-bit" curse.  In that setting, anybody could be one.

In the perspective of the Whitewolf world, it is merely a set of genes which may or may not be passed on to offspring, suggesting that it would be a race, but anyone who is one has their life reshaped and dominated by that fact, making it in effect more of a class.  In this setting it actually is a whole series of classes, as they have internally divided their lycanthropes, determined by what kind of moon the child is born under, into the equivalents of warriors  thieves, shamans, bards, and so on.

They were far more than just hairy brutes, as they adhered to a shamanistic / naturalistic form of magic, which different subclasses used differently to meet their particular needs.  It's been long enough that I can't remember specifically all the abilities which pertained to each subclass, though I could go look them up if anyone cared enough to want to know.

If one were to build on this logic, and assume original lycanthropes mixed among all the mud races, and not only humans, this could be interpreted into it's own set of subclasses, similar to the Priest/Missionary/Cleric/Paladin set.


Note - this deviates a bit from the origional post topic of a wolfish humanoid race which is something I'd like to see too. However I like the direction of the conversation so I'm going to have to drift with it.


I tend to go the route of it not being a race or class but rather a condition of a race when looking at how the myths could be played out in a game like this. For example a human vampire or a vampiric elf as races effected by a condition... In that you still have the properties given at character creation from the starting race but they are now altered by a post character creation condition that contains its own merits and flaws. (note - not that I'm deviating from the topic more but I look at both as being a condition and just have names already thought up for one and not the other.)

Going the route of a condition also allows you to maintain a class that is pre-existing in the game as well which does make things a little easier. However it also opens up the possibilities via prestige to have special off-shoot classes that are only attainable via certain combinations of class, race, and racial condition which could add some more unique flavors into the game as well as new character development routes.

For example what if we put in say gigantism as a half ogre condition and then a prestige condition for half ogre warriors with it that they can become a special class called juggernauts.

Each race or racial group could have a few chance conditions that they could pick up through-out the game.

BTW - I really do love necro-posting... feel free to do it more often.

I think its a good race idea, I would say that to represent the feral side, I think wisdom should be lower, maybe increase str slighting. I like the idea of a rivalry, maybe there tracking is +track necko only. Or they cant be tracked by necko.