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Houndings
Houndings were the first attempt of the Sascrian Wizards to create companion beastfolk who would serve as personal slaves. It was a simple decision to draw upon the domestic dog for source-material and information. What was unexpected was how utterly charming and loveable
Personality
Houndings are the most socially adept Beastfolk, and tend to integrate seamlessly into most Human cultures.
Physical Description
Houndings have diverse appearance, depending on the type of domesticated dog they were derived from. The majority, however, are literally hound-ish. Houndings are around the same height as the average Human, but tend to be heavy-boned.
Relations
Houndings were designed to be like domestic dogs - they really want to get along with everyone, and the do.
Alignment and Religion
Houndings tend toward the Good. They natrually tend toward cooperation.
Adventurers
Houndings tend to be either filled with wanderlust or complete homebodies. They tend to gravitate toward the Bard class, making the most of their social abilities, or the Ranger, since they are natural, peerless trackers.
Names
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Houndings Racial Traits
+2 Constitution, -2 Intelligence, +2 Charisma. Houndings are tireless and charming, but long generations of domestication of the dogs from which they were created has dulled them a bit.
[4pts] Best Friends: As dogs were domesticated, they became the most adept animals at reading Human emotions and at making their emotions clear to Humans in turn. Houndings gain a +2 racial bonus to Sense Motive checks and Humans gain a +2 racial bonus to Sense Motive when dealing with Houndings. Houndings also gain a +2 racial bonus to Diplomacy, Gather Information and Perform.
[1pt] Bestial Nature: Houndings can communicate with domestic and wild dogs at will. They do not, however, speak wolf.
[1pt] Sharp Senses: Houndings receive a +2 to all Perception checks
Languages
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Note: Dropped Charm, but added racial skill bonuses to make them super-smooth operators. Down to 10pts, so no Level Adjustment needed. This means that Houndings get 5 (count 'em) skill bonuses - basically loads of skills and the Scent ability.
Comments
Charming
What statistic does the Hounding use to calculate the save DC of the Charming ability? Charisma seems like the way to go but just confirming.
Best Friend, should humans gain a +2 to Sense Motive against Houndings as well? It makes sense. To balance that (minor) penalty, you could give them a +2 to Animal Handling only when dealing with canines.
Added both - that Charisma is
Added both - that Charisma is the mod for Charming and also that Humans gain a +2 to Sense Motive when dealing with Houndings. I don't really see that as a significant (point-worthy) penalty; it's more of a very rarely-applicable perk of being a Human :)
Sorry for not posting earlier
These are the special abilities I used for Houndings at Gen Con. Feel free to take or leave it. Although I think the Charm Person one might be good to replace with the "Reputation for Loyalty" one.
Keen Senses - Works the same as the core races that have it. Gives +2 bonus to Perception
Improved Trip - Effectively get the feat for free. This one is suspect
Dogspeak - Can speak with and understand dogs and other canines
Reputation for Loyalty - Generally known for their loyalty due to their affinity with dogs. +2 racial bonus to Diplomacy. Could also be Bluff potentially
Scent - Same as the regular racial ability
I added the bonus to
I added the bonus to Perception - I agree that the free trip feat is suspect :) - and dropped the bonus to Intimidation.
I like the bonus to Sense Motive, just based on my own reading on dog training and brain development and that kind of stuff.
Scent definitely fits.
I also like the Charm Person effect.
If they were converted to the
If they were converted to the skill bonuses instead of the charm effect, would that eliminate the LA?
Also wondering if we might make the Charm ability a trait that replaces one or more of the other abilities so that the base can be without a LA.
Charm could be dropped as a
Charm could be dropped as a spell-like ability and changed to bonuses to 3 social skills and that would bring the point total down to 10. So Charm could be dropped, and then "Best Friends" Could have an additional +2 racial bonus to Diplomacy, Gather Information and Intimidation (?). Or it could just be the bonus to Diplomacy and Gather Information (Bluff and Intimidation don't fit in my mind - maybe Performance?) and it would be down to a 9pt build. Basically, one +2 racial bonus to a Skill = 1 pt in the build system.
Thinking about it, I actually like the bonus to Diplomacy, Gather Information and Perform.
Scent also has no point total - I guesstimated, deciding it was kind of like a Feat. But I thought that if Hobgoblins have a +1 LA, we should be really strict so that we don't make Hobs obsolete.