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Elanith
Ok. Here is the scoop, we have a couple players in a couple games that want to play modified shape shifters, and actually they already are in 3rd. The problem is we will be upgrading to 4th soon, so we need to come up with how these shape shifters work in 4th Ed. The only real difference is they have a “crinos” form aka WWesque I’ve come up with something that I think will work, but all of us, including the GM would like to get your opinions, aka: Suggestions on how to make it better, more balanced, BP cost, ect.

Well here it is:

Stats:

Everything is based off the Human stats, with the other forms providing a bonus (current and max) while in that form. Here is the Min/Max for the Humanoid form:

Bod: 2/7 Agi: 2/7 Ref: 1/6 Str: 1/6 Cha: 1/6 Int: 1/6 Log: 1/5 Will: 1/6

Hybrid:

Bod: +1 Agi: +2 Ref: +2 Str: +1

Animal:

Bod: +2 Agi: +1 Ref: +1 Str: +2

Powers (All Forms): Regeneration (pg 290), Severe Allergy (Silver) (pg80), Dual Natured (pg 287), Enhanced Senses (Low-Light) (pg288), Cyberware/Bioware Rejection

Powers (Hybrid Form): MV: 10/40, Natural Weapon (Claws/Bite: DV: ½ STR + 3P, AP1) (pg289)

Powers (Animal Form): MV: 10/60, Natural Weapon (Claws/Bite: DV: ½ STR + 2P, AP0)

On how Animal and Humanoid stats where created

I put together the animal stat adj by assuming that if you take an average human 3’s across the board and then add the min bonus from human and animal together you will have the same base stats that are in the sr4 book. Example: Average body for a human is 3, the average humanoid stat for this race is a 4 (1 higher then a normal human) if you add the +2 body adjustment while in cat for you will have a Body 6, which is what is listed in the book.


On how Hybrid stats where created

Originally I had just increased those stats that where highest in animal form and just made the hybrid form stronger with a higher body. After some discussions with players, they where envisioning a more agile race, and so the current stat adjustments where born.

BP Cost:

The current thought is that the Shifter race will cost 75 BP, but it’s definitely not set in stone, just general gut feeling atm.

Well there it is, definitely looking forward to your responses.

Thanks in advance!
mintcar
This is not my thing at all. I don´t think my input will be very consturctive for the purpouse of your group.

But anyway, my feeling is that white wolf type shape shifters has very little place in Shadowrun. I would be much more comfortable with a shifter without combat form and with stats on a similar power level to the meta races. The 40 BP troll should be the maximum cost for race in my opinion. A 75 BP race just allows for to exceed the 200 BP for attributes limit way to much. And I don´t like the notion of a race being much better at everything, even if it does cost a lot of BP. A non-munchkin shifter would actually be interesting to play as the main reason for playing it would be that you are interested in the dynamic of playing an intelligent wild animal (regen makes that rather difficult not to rule, though wink.gif).

For cheetah I would maybe do something like your modifiers for the cat form, and maybe give a natural +2 bonus to running skill not effected by the skill cap (with the great cat running speed of 60 meters per turn, I believe it would then be possible for the cheetah to reach the speeds of 60 mph that they are able to in reality). But I would let the human form be human like, eccept for maybe a bonus to strenght and a limit to logic, or something. Also don´t forget to integrate the "uneducated" negative quality in the race package. Even a shifter that has had some education should have the difficulties that quality brings.



just 'cause I´m curious

Lets say strenght 5, running 5 (short distance +2) +2 cheetah speed = 14 dice (not even optimized)

5 hits average *2 added to 60 = 70 m/turn = 84 km/h = 52.5 mph... If you scored 10 hits for some reason the result would be exactly 60 mph.
Elanith
Thanks for your response, i actualy agree with a lot of what you said. I'm the guy in the background playing the human mage, hehe.

The reason why we where using the hybrid form was not to realy get a WWesque type of shifter in the game, and to be honest i probobly should have used a different title. We have two players that like to play anthromorphic creatures, ones playing a werefox, the other is the werecheeta. actualy the game the werefox is in it a lot of fun, for a while there my mage was going around with his "pet", who by the way is in a ninja clan (dont ask, hehe), and getting him close or inside places he might have had a harder time getting into, and then lettin him run wild. anyway back on topic.

When the subject of playing a hybrid form of shifter came up, the gm actualy was trying to base it more off of a Hengeyokai feel for the race. Unfortunately im far more used to WW, then any form of Oriental mythology. so that was why the title, im not realy looking for WW type character, just looking to find a way of making a shifter that has a humanoid, hybrid, and animal forms. Shoot im not even oposed to rewriting all the stats in all three forms, the person who is going to be playing the werecheeta doesnt like the fact that all big cats have the same stats anyway.

STATS
Ive thought about removing a lot of the bonuses that i was giving them in thier animal form, and instead of assuming those where the "average" for the race, assume most of the races performs "above average" aka. when the cat is creating this character it alocated a lot more points then average to its physical stats.

RUNNING
That was actualy something that came up in coversation with my group. I had even toyed with the idea of giving them twice the bonus when making a sprinting check, except have it have even less of a duration they can keep it up, something like 1/2 body before they started needing to make Fatigue Damage resistance tests. But i thought it might be getting a little too complex or just too much for the race, but the +2 dice modifier to running when sprinting might not be a bad idea.

UNEDUCATED
This im not so sure about, expecialy if we keep a higher BP cost, or even make it cost more, as players will already have less points to spend on skills as is, if they spend all 200 points they are alowed on stats, and if they dont and do put them too skills, then thier stats will suffer from it. Just not sure if an aditional penalty to BP is needed. But ill definately keep that in mind and look up some of the disads they have for skills, and see if any of them fit.

Thanks again, and definately looking to hear from more of you.

Spookymonster
Human form: max 6 on all attributes except Logic (which should have a max of 4) and Body (which should have a max of 8 ).

Hybrid: Agi-1, Ref+1, Str+1, Log-1. You are becoming more animal-like; your manual dexterity should get worse as your hands change into paws. You also rely more on the animal (instinctual) part of your brain.

Animal: Agi-2, Ref+2, Str+2, Log-2. Agility and logic take a hit again, for the same reasons.

Body stays the same in all cases; you get regen to balance it out instead. Damage for both forms should be 1/2 Str +2P, with the Hybrid form retaining the +1AP.

[edit]
Oh, and the cost should be 50BP.
mintcar
Most races get a bonus attribute point for free. So when calculating the cost you could add the attribute bonuses and minuses together remove one and multiply by 10. Make regen cost 40 BP and let dual natured remove 20 BP. Other negative qualities like allergy and uneducated (if you go with that), you have the points saved by those in the book. If the total seems cheap, increase by 10 just so that it doesn´t become a min-maxer race of choice. I´m against having race costs reflect demographics, but this is definetly not a race that should be objectively cheap.
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