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Old 03-26-2020, 09:26 AM   #1
Shadekeep
 
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Default Demihuman Guidelines (WIP)

Pivoting off my early post on Were Variants, feedback indicated that these rules would be more useful for creating demihumans, which are animal-human hybrids. They are also known as anthropomorphs and furries. In the TFT universe the human side doesn't have to be human, of course, but can be elf, dwarf, orc, or any other intelligent race. The stat guidelines here use a human baseline, but can be easily modified for other races. Just compare the baseline here to the human 8/8/8 starting stats to get the base modification, and then apply those changes to the alternate race.

These rules are still VERY MUCH a work in progress, and if they come together in a decent way then they'll be included in The Book of Uncommon Beings.

In order to create broad guidelines, it's useful to think of animals in general groups. These provide basic attribute modifications and talents across a range of animals. The criteria I use for grouping are class (mammal, reptile, bird, etc), size, and diet. These seem to produce good general groups for animals.

The classes in these rules are Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, Amphibians, Fish & Molluscs, Arthropods, and Exotics. That last class includes those odd and uncategorized lifeforms that players may choose, such as slimes, as well as lifeforms outside of animals, like plants and fungi. The sizes range from small to megafauna. The diets are herbivore (vegetation-eating), carnivore (meat-eating), omnivore (versatile), and detritivore (scavenger).

It's possible for herbivore and carnivore demihumans to have a below-average IQ of 7. This has led to occasional presumptions of superiority among omnivores, some of whom see herbivores as dull-witted and carnivores as bestial. Detritivores are less inclined towards such biases, as they often face prejudice themselves regarding their eating habits.

This list shows the categories and the attribute baselines that apply to each. Note that the size refers to the size of the source animal, not the size of the demihuman itself. The demihumans are all assumed to be roughly of human size, whether hybridized with mouse or elephant. For actual differences in demihuman sizes, there is an adjustment chart below.

Herbivore
Common characteristics include alertness, good short-range distance, poor long-range distance, acute hearing, good sense of smell. Smaller herbivores are dextrous, large ones are fast, and huge ones are resilient.
Small: ST 4, DX 10, IQ 7, MA 10, 11 extra points; hedgehog, mole, rabbit, woodchuck, beaver, koala, sloth, songbird, pigeon, cardinal, iguana, turtle, seahorse, sea urchin, bee, butterfly
Medium: ST 6, DX 10, IQ 7, MA 10, 9 extra points; goat, sheep, llama, alpaca, gazelle, parrot, toucan, tortoise
Large: ST 8, DX 8, IQ 7, MA 12, 9 extra points; cow, horse, deer, moose, caribou, bison, zebra
Megafauna: ST 12, DX 6, IQ 7, MA 10, 7 extra points; elephant, mammoth, rhino, hippo, giraffe, giant moa, blue whale, basking shark

Carnivore
Common characteristics include quick response times, bichromatic vision that functions well in low light, keen ability to detect motion, acute hearing, excellent sense of smell. Nearly all carnivores are dexterous and many are swift.
Small: ST 6, DX 10, IQ 7, MA 10, 9 extra points; weasel, housecat, otter, shrike, falcon, starfish, viper, toad, newt/salamander, wasp, mantis, spider
Medium: ST 8, DX 10, IQ 7, MA 12, 9 extra points; cheetah, coyote, hyena, sea lion, eagle, hawk, heron, penguin, octopus
Large: ST 10, DX 10, IQ 7, MA 12, 5 extra points; lion, tiger, panther, dolphin, shark, squid, crocodile, anaconda
Megafauna: ST 12, DX 10, IQ 7, MA 10, 3 extra points; sabretooth, roc, killer whale, sperm whale, kraken

Omnivore
Common characteristics include adaptability, full color vision, average hearing, fair sense of smell, discriminating sense of taste. Omnivores are generally average, though tend to be a bit brighter than herbivores and carnivores.
Small: ST 4, DX 6, IQ 8, MA 10, 14 extra points; mouse, rat, badger, raccoon, opossum, jay, ant
Medium: ST 6, DX 8, IQ 8, MA 10, 10 extra points; dog, wolf, crow, duck, chicken, goose, seagull
Large: ST 8, DX 8, IQ 8, MA 10, 8 extra points; bear, ape, ostrich, cassowary
Megafauna: ST 12, DX 6, IQ 8, MA 10, 6 extra points; dragon

Detritivore
Common characteristics include high disease resistance, keen distance vision, average hearing, incredible sense of smell. Detritivores shade towards the strong side, but overall have average stats.
Small: ST 5, DX 6, IQ 8, MA 10, 13 extra points; crab, scarab, fly
Medium: ST 7, DX 8, IQ 8, MA 10, 9 extra points; vulture, condor
Large: ST 9, DX 8, IQ 8, MA 10, 7 extra points; komodo dragon
Megafauna: ST 12, DX 6, IQ 8, MA 10, 6 extra points; basilisk

Size Adjustments

If the demihuman is itself a different size than a human being, apply the following further attributes adjustments.

Miniscule - ST -4, DX +4, MA -2 (size of a butterfly or bat)
Very Small - ST -2, DX +2
Small - ST -1, DX +1
Large - ST +1, DX -1
Very Large - ST +2, DX -2 (maximal one-hex size)
Giant - ST +8, DX -4, MA -2 (three-hex size)

Class Adds

Herbivores - Can buy Alertness talent for 1 point.
Carnivores - Can buy Silent Movement talent for 1 point.
Omnivores - Can buy Naturalist talent for 1 point.
Detritivores - Can buy Toughness talent for 1 point.

Flying demihumans with working wings get a second MA for flying, at twice their walking MA.
Nocturnal demihumans get permanent Dark Vision as per the spell. They take double effect from the Dazzle spell and flash bombs.
Venomous demihumans have poisonous bites the same as described for snakes or spiders in ITL.
Aquatic or amphibious demihumans can purchase Swimming & Diving talents together for 1 point.

Mammals

Those with fur get 1 point of armor protection from it.
Bats get Acute Hearing talent.

Avian

Avians can purchase the Mimic talent at any IQ level.
Raptors (birds of prey) and avian detritivores get permanent Far Vision, as per the spell.

Reptiles

Those with scales get 1 points of armor protection. Those with shells get 3 points of armor.
Reptile demihumans are at -2 DX in extremely cold settings. On the plus side, they can usually go longer between meals than other types.

Amphibians

Amphibians can purchase Swimming & Diving talents together for 1 point.
Some may have glands that produce toxins or chemicals with unusual properties (irritants, hallucinogens, etc).

Fish & Molluscs

Automatically get the Swimming & Diving talents, unless the player deliberately wants a "fish out of water" type of character.
Can breathe water as well as air, again unless the player doesn't want this for whatever reason.

Arthropods

Those with a hard carapace get 4 points of armor protection.
Spider demihumans may be able to produce webbing equivalent to the Rope spell.

Exotics

Their abilities vary by the nature of the source animal.
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Old 03-26-2020, 08:13 PM   #2
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Default Re: Demihuman Guidelines (WIP)

With regard to size adjustments, I would argue that 'giant' figures would actually get +2 MA due to their increased stride length (Giants are an anomaly IMO) and 'small' figures (which I refer to as half-hex) have -2 MA for the opposite reason assuming they are each bipedal.
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Old 03-31-2020, 06:58 AM   #3
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Default Re: Demihuman Guidelines (WIP)

I can see the argument there. Giants in TFT don't seem to have an explicit MA, which probably means the humanoid standard of 10 MA. So giant demihumans could have no MA adjustment. I gave them a -2 because I was basing it on large lumbering beasts like bears, which have 8 MA. Very large bears are two-hex creatures.

Conversely, rats have a 10 MA, and scum bunnies a 12 MA, so I don't think very small demihumans would have a penalty. I gave minuscule ones a minus because they are so small that the relative distance is just a lot more ground to cover at their scale. But it's a general guideline and could be adjusted by type. A minuscule arthropod demihuman might be pretty quick.
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Old 03-31-2020, 09:49 AM   #4
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Default Re: Demihuman Guidelines (WIP)

Not sure holding bears up as an example is the best idea, though. Many (myself included) believe that 8 MA is not a realistic portrayal since every source I've ever seen agrees that "you CAN'T outrun a bear" no matter what the terrain.

Also, there's a difference inherent in bipedal locomotion as well as metabolism that you may not be considering when comparing MA in small animals to your demihuman templates (which I assume are also primarily bipedal).

For example, there is a diminutive (half-hex size) race that replaces Halflings in my campaign. At that size, only 3 ft tall, their MA would normally be 8, but I have given them a racial trait called 'quickness' that bumps it up to 10 to balance them with other PC races.
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Last edited by TippetsTX; 03-31-2020 at 01:43 PM.
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Old 04-06-2020, 07:31 AM   #5
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Default Re: Demihuman Guidelines (WIP)

Yah, like I say, I can see it argued either way. And quadrupedal versus bipedal motion does have an impact, with demihumans presumed to be bipedal unless otherwise stated (like a centaur-type demihuman or some such). These are still just general guidelines and I'll likely revise them a few times. If the biggest conflict over them is regarding MA values, that will make a nicely simplistic change from the debates over my other house rules. ^_^
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Old 04-08-2020, 07:13 AM   #6
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Default Re: Demihuman Guidelines (WIP)

After some consideration, definitely dropping the MA reduction for giant demihumans. I also should provide some hard numbers for what I mean by each size category, too. Thanks for the feedback!
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Old 04-08-2020, 07:36 AM   #7
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Default Re: Demihuman Guidelines (WIP)

Here's my size modifiers:

https://www.hcobb.com/tft/house_rules.html#Weight
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Old 04-17-2020, 10:23 AM   #8
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Default Re: Demihuman Guidelines (WIP)

I think once I lock down what I mean by my size adjectives this will be ready for inclusion into Uncommon Beings. I would like to further expand specific bonuses too, but not to the point where it becomes a 64-page guide to every conceivable animal. ^_^

I also intend to cover special cases, such as centaur-based demihumans. Yes, I know centaurs are technically already half-animal, but players may want centaur-forms of other animals, like a human/panther who has a full panther lower half with four legs and such. Or a snake human demihuman that is more like a lamia or naga than a snake-looking person, or an octopus/human demihuman with tentacles for the lower half.
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Old 04-17-2020, 11:42 AM   #9
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Default Re: Demihuman Guidelines (WIP)

Goblin Snakes (small one-hex)
ST 6 (max 12), DX 8, IQ 8 (max 12), plus 8 attribute points, MA 6
Bite(HTH only 1d, plus 1d poison if 3/ST health save not made.), or weapons.
Tough skin(1), snaky evasiveness(-3 DX to hit)

Not actually related to goblins or Earth snakes they are mostly humanoid above the waist and snake-like below. They can use shields but not armor. They roll two fewer dice than humans to resist poisons.
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Old 04-17-2020, 12:27 PM   #10
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Default Re: Demihuman Guidelines (WIP)

Quote:
Originally Posted by hcobb View Post
Not actually related to goblins or Earth snakes they are mostly humanoid above the waist and snake-like below. They can use shields but not armor. They roll two fewer dice than humans to resist poisons.
So small nagas or lamia?
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