I am trying to figure out a good official player race to reskin for a humanoid maned wolf. I have attached a link here so you can see what they look like.
Basically tall Tim burton looking fox hounds. They live and hunt alone and are very nimble and stealthy hunters. I am looking at tabaxi because of the nimbleness and what the trait feline agility offers or bugbear due to the Physical ability score modifiers and the long limb feature. Shifter could work but the idea is that he would be in this form indefinitely (like a tabaxi). DM won’t let me hombrew, but likes the visual. Up to me to make it work with official content. I have backstory all figured out, just need most appropriate mechanics. Thoughts?
Based on what I now of the Maned Wolf, I'd say they favor Dex over Str. Many canid hunters tend to be more cunning, rather than smart (though exceptions definitely exist, not sure where Maned Wolf falls), so probably Wis over Int. Or is it more like a Hyena, somewhere between canine and feline? Not sure. I do know that, from seeing video, the way they move is downright sinister on those slender legs. Gives me the heebie jeebies. But they are also rather majestic, so they would probably have relevant Cha, definitely proficient in Intimidation.
I would definitely say Tabaxi would be your best bet for a simple reskin. Bugbear could work, but I'm not sold on tall/slender equalling Powerful Build and Surprise Attack.
Thanks for the heads up on the link. I posted a new one from wiki. They are actually a species of their own. They are not related to hyenas at all (though it make sense if they were). They aren’t wolves or foxes but are closest related to the Bush Dog, makes no sense visually lol. If I could homebrew it, ideally I would essentially combine tabaxi and bugbear traits together. It would look something like:
Ability Score: +1 to Dex, Str (or Wis) and Cha
Alignment: Maned Wolves are usually isolationists who rely on wit to survive and their tall presence to intimidate real threats or impose a false pretense of noble social stature. They are very loyal to their families and those who though prove loyal to them. As such they lean toward neutral alignments, but are rarely ever evil.
Age: Maned Wolves mature quickly, usually reach adult hood by 13 years of age, they live to be the same age as humans.
Size: Maned Wolves are much taller on average than humans and relatively slender. Your size is Medium.
Traits: Dark Vision, Long Limb, Erie Hunter (proficiency in Stealth and Intimidation) much like “Cats Talent”, Bite instead of “Cats Claw”, Surprise Attack (or a burrowing speed of that seems unbalanced).
I think with the species they are too unique to use an official race to feel like it will serve is true justice, but that’s my own fault lol. I might scrap this idea for this campaign, but if I move forward I would agree that tabaxi does make the most sense.
Shifter from eberron is the only other one that comes to mind.
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"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
You mentioned your DM won't let you homebrew, but would they allow you to use someone elses's? Outside of that I'd just be repeating what was said before.
Shifter from eberron is the only other one that comes to mind.
It was a thought definitely! I had asked him if I could stay shifted indefinitely (as the long tooth and swiftstride are kind of underwhelming) but that was a reasonable no.
You mentioned your DM won't let you homebrew, but would they allow you to use someone elses's? Outside of that I'd just be repeating what was said before.
No he would not, I suggested using some houmd archon hombrew and other canine ones that had been used a lot. But he advised that would also be a no. He said it will be easier for him if we kept everything AL official content for him to manage as we are doing Zoom and we have like 6 (maybe 7) players he will have to keep track of. I’m going to take his offer to reskin. But I have created a hombrew for the next campaign. I am still going back and forth on bugbear and tabaxi now that I decided to be a Ancients Paladin Polearm so the bugbear stats will help with that and I love the long limb trait, but tabaxi edges out on the more appropriate/relatable race to an actual maned wolf.
it is absolutely fair for him to keep it as simple as possible, so with the shifter you wouldn't always have access to the bite attack. Is that a deal breaker? You can always still look very feral unshifted and just have the teeth get longer when you go full wolf and maybe hair gets longer kinda scenario. Other than that I could see the lizardfolk stat block being another option. maybe just ask to drop the water breathing for a bumping in the bite damage, or like 5 extra feet of movement. I don't think either of those is a huge deal but it is up to him as much of this is to keep things as simple as possible.
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"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
Yeah that would be pretty reasonable. Hadn’t thought of lizardfolk, but the stats and traits could make sense. I just found out since my last post it might be 8 people lol. I think it will just be easier for him to keep it official. He’s a really good DM and he has allowed hombrew in the past, but he’s probably going to get overwhelmed since 4 others (that I know) of asked about hombre race or weapons. I’m just going to lock in the bugbear for now. We start in a couple days so I might change it. Backstory is after I made my Oath to the Ancients a fey deity changed my appearance as a sign of favor.
I meant a mane, not a name. Like you could just say your tabaxi has big hair that looks like a mane. That's not exactly what you were talking about though, so I guess what I mean is since this seems like an entirely cosmetic distinction I would definitely greenlight it at my table.
Ahh I see. Yeah that would be less invasive way in terms of mechanics. I reskinned a tabaxi once so it was fox using this idea. It was super fun and what I was about to do for this, but given the class selection it made less sense this time around.
I feel like shifters are described vaguely for purposes just like this. The actual appearance change between humanoid and hybrid animal is totally fluff, so you can just be in hybrid form all the time, and your shifting feature can be more of a mental/emotional state rather than a physical change.
The shifters were also (like the tabaxi) not very invasive mechanically, but they are also very weak IMO. I didn't want to compromise too much just to make the flavor fit if that makes sense. If I didn't already have a Cleric in the group I might have considered the wildhunt subrace for the wisdom stat boost and proficiencies and gone Nature Cleric, but the group has no tank and only 1 front liner (as I know of right now).
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I am trying to figure out a good official player race to reskin for a humanoid maned wolf. I have attached a link here so you can see what they look like.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maned_wolf
Basically tall Tim burton looking fox hounds. They live and hunt alone and are very nimble and stealthy hunters. I am looking at tabaxi because of the nimbleness and what the trait feline agility offers or bugbear due to the Physical ability score modifiers and the long limb feature. Shifter could work but the idea is that he would be in this form indefinitely (like a tabaxi). DM won’t let me hombrew, but likes the visual. Up to me to make it work with official content. I have backstory all figured out, just need most appropriate mechanics. Thoughts?
Link -- Page Does Not Exist!
Based on what I now of the Maned Wolf, I'd say they favor Dex over Str. Many canid hunters tend to be more cunning, rather than smart (though exceptions definitely exist, not sure where Maned Wolf falls), so probably Wis over Int. Or is it more like a Hyena, somewhere between canine and feline? Not sure. I do know that, from seeing video, the way they move is downright sinister on those slender legs. Gives me the heebie jeebies. But they are also rather majestic, so they would probably have relevant Cha, definitely proficient in Intimidation.
I would definitely say Tabaxi would be your best bet for a simple reskin. Bugbear could work, but I'm not sold on tall/slender equalling Powerful Build and Surprise Attack.
Thanks for the heads up on the link. I posted a new one from wiki. They are actually a species of their own. They are not related to hyenas at all (though it make sense if they were). They aren’t wolves or foxes but are closest related to the Bush Dog, makes no sense visually lol. If I could homebrew it, ideally I would essentially combine tabaxi and bugbear traits together. It would look something like:
Ability Score: +1 to Dex, Str (or Wis) and Cha
Alignment: Maned Wolves are usually isolationists who rely on wit to survive and their tall presence to intimidate real threats or impose a false pretense of noble social stature. They are very loyal to their families and those who though prove loyal to them. As such they lean toward neutral alignments, but are rarely ever evil.
Age: Maned Wolves mature quickly, usually reach adult hood by 13 years of age, they live to be the same age as humans.
Size: Maned Wolves are much taller on average than humans and relatively slender. Your size is Medium.
Traits: Dark Vision, Long Limb, Erie Hunter (proficiency in Stealth and Intimidation) much like “Cats Talent”, Bite instead of “Cats Claw”, Surprise Attack (or a burrowing speed of that seems unbalanced).
I think with the species they are too unique to use an official race to feel like it will serve is true justice, but that’s my own fault lol. I might scrap this idea for this campaign, but if I move forward I would agree that tabaxi does make the most sense.
Tabaxi is your best option without homebrew. To be honest they're a strong option period.
I like a DM that'll let me reflavor anything as long as I stay within the original game mechanics/rules.
Shifter from eberron is the only other one that comes to mind.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
You mentioned your DM won't let you homebrew, but would they allow you to use someone elses's? Outside of that I'd just be repeating what was said before.
It was a thought definitely! I had asked him if I could stay shifted indefinitely (as the long tooth and swiftstride are kind of underwhelming) but that was a reasonable no.
No he would not, I suggested using some houmd archon hombrew and other canine ones that had been used a lot. But he advised that would also be a no. He said it will be easier for him if we kept everything AL official content for him to manage as we are doing Zoom and we have like 6 (maybe 7) players he will have to keep track of. I’m going to take his offer to reskin. But I have created a hombrew for the next campaign. I am still going back and forth on bugbear and tabaxi now that I decided to be a Ancients Paladin Polearm so the bugbear stats will help with that and I love the long limb trait, but tabaxi edges out on the more appropriate/relatable race to an actual maned wolf.
it is absolutely fair for him to keep it as simple as possible, so with the shifter you wouldn't always have access to the bite attack. Is that a deal breaker? You can always still look very feral unshifted and just have the teeth get longer when you go full wolf and maybe hair gets longer kinda scenario. Other than that I could see the lizardfolk stat block being another option. maybe just ask to drop the water breathing for a bumping in the bite damage, or like 5 extra feet of movement. I don't think either of those is a huge deal but it is up to him as much of this is to keep things as simple as possible.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
Yeah that would be pretty reasonable. Hadn’t thought of lizardfolk, but the stats and traits could make sense. I just found out since my last post it might be 8 people lol. I think it will just be easier for him to keep it official. He’s a really good DM and he has allowed hombrew in the past, but he’s probably going to get overwhelmed since 4 others (that I know) of asked about hombre race or weapons. I’m just going to lock in the bugbear for now. We start in a couple days so I might change it. Backstory is after I made my Oath to the Ancients a fey deity changed my appearance as a sign of favor.
I wouldn't even say it's not a tabaxi really. As far as I'm concerned a tabaxi can always have a name.
Do you mean a tabaxi can alway have a (sub)species?
I meant a mane, not a name. Like you could just say your tabaxi has big hair that looks like a mane. That's not exactly what you were talking about though, so I guess what I mean is since this seems like an entirely cosmetic distinction I would definitely greenlight it at my table.
Ahh I see. Yeah that would be less invasive way in terms of mechanics. I reskinned a tabaxi once so it was fox using this idea. It was super fun and what I was about to do for this, but given the class selection it made less sense this time around.
I feel like shifters are described vaguely for purposes just like this. The actual appearance change between humanoid and hybrid animal is totally fluff, so you can just be in hybrid form all the time, and your shifting feature can be more of a mental/emotional state rather than a physical change.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
The shifters were also (like the tabaxi) not very invasive mechanically, but they are also very weak IMO. I didn't want to compromise too much just to make the flavor fit if that makes sense. If I didn't already have a Cleric in the group I might have considered the wildhunt subrace for the wisdom stat boost and proficiencies and gone Nature Cleric, but the group has no tank and only 1 front liner (as I know of right now).