How create a Bi-ped Timber Wolf Character

[treinke]

I am new to the game, but have played AD&D for many years. Trying to figure out how create a Timber Wolf Character. The Wolf will walk on it's hind legs and be able to use upper limbs just like a human would. All the things I have looked at to help are no help at all. This character will be from his own galaxicy with the rest of the race being of simialar form. Please help can't play until I figure this out......

[Dalillama]

There's stats for a wolf in Campaigns, or on lwcamp's Animalia page. Start with that, add a bunch of IQ, remove Qudruped, No Fine Manipulators, Mute, and Bestial and you're about good to go.

[treinke]

Would that be a base to start from? He also going to the commardor of a small milarty space squad.

[thulben]

Originally Posted by treinke

I am new to the game, but have played AD&D for many years. Trying to figure out how create a Timber Wolf Character. The Wolf will walk on it's hind legs and be able to use upper limbs just like a human would. All the things I have looked at to help are no help at all. This character will be from his own galaxicy with the rest of the race being of simialar form. Please help can't play until I figure this out......

Perhaps it's best to start at the beginning. The default assumption of the system is that you're building something with human characteristics (roughly 6' tall, bipedal, etc). You can build just about anything that you want, but any changes from that humanoid default are bought with Advantages and Disadvantages.

Outside of game terms, what Timber Wolf traits would this character have (and not have)? Some things to think about from the animal version in the Campaigns book: Discriminatory Smell, Night Vision, Sharp Teeth, Temperature Tolerance, Damage Resistance. Since you're designing the character, you can choose as many (or as few) of them as you want. And you're not even constrained to these!

Think about mental traits as well. For instance, dogs are naturally curious. Perhaps that qualifies your character for the Curious disadvantage.

Either way, a good approach to GURPS character building is to think about what you want and then model that within the framework of Advantages & Disadvantages. If you get stuck on a particular trait, ask away!

[trooper6]

Are you a player or a GM? If you are the player, your GM should really help you out with character creation as well!

[treinke]

That helps so much more when you say it that way. Now I have a way better understanding of how to do this thank you so much.

[simply Nathan]

I've been building variants of this for years. Since finding out about GURPS, actually.


The basics for the aesthetic are Blunt Claws[3], Sharp Teeth[1], Fur[1], Born Biter 2[0], and Tail[0]. That's 5 points if simply being a roughly-human character who looks like a wolf is what you want.

Then you decide what to take from the Advantages of being canine:
DX+2[40], HT+2[20], Per+2[10]
Discriminatory Smell[15], Ultrahearing[5], Acute Hearing and Acute Taste/Smell [2/level], DR 1[5] (from the fur being very thick), and one or two levels of Temperature Tolerance(Cold). Your 0-point comfort zone is probably a few degrees cooler.

Disadvantages depend on your interpretation of what an appropriately wolf-like personality would be and whether you want any medical drawbacks to making the character a wolf in humanoid form. Actual wolves have IQ-6[-120] (lumped with Per+8[40], Will+6[30] for a net of -50) and Bestial.

Various interpretations would have some combination of Bloodlust, Berserk, Chummy, Gregarious, Fanatacism, Sense of Duty, Quirk-level loyalty, or any of a dozen other Disadvantages.

[treinke]

So what would you use for say a lizard and Tiger/Panther... What would you think on those?

[GodBeastX]

Being a lizard or a tiger or any walking animal is nothing but a 0 point feature unless something changes to make them different than a human beyond "Looking like an animal".

For example, lizards have scales, are they tough enough to give DR? Are they cold blooded? Do they have a tail that does anything instead of just being vestigial? Sharp teeth? Glow in the dark eyes?

Unless something differs mechanically from being human, it's pretty much a 0 point feature. Kind of like those green alien chicks on Star Trek. Being green doesn't cost points as a species. And "Race looks like a lizard" doesn't either.

[thulben]

Originally Posted by GodBeastX

And "Race looks like a lizard" doesn't either.

That depends! You could have, for instance, the Monstrous disadvantage. You'd get points for it as a trade-off for the penalty to reaction rolls. But whether you get that or not is really a campaign switch; looking like a anthropomorphic lizard in today's world would almost certainly qualify you for the disadvantage whereas you wouldn't in a fantasy setting where such things are commonplace (and accepted).