4th Edition- Player wants to play as an animal

[doctorscraps]

So...Here's my situation.
A player of mine just came to me with a question about a character for my flagship 4th edition game. She wants to play as a Leopard, or similar animal, but alas, with the core three books, I do not see how I can make this possible for her.
Is she SOL, or has someone actually done this...?

[Tadanori Oyama]

Select class and race as normal.

Now call the player a leopard.

Problem solved.

4th edition makes reskinning amazingly simple. Just tell the player to pick powers and abilities that would fit with their vision of how a leopard would fight and put roleplaying restrictions on them. No thumbs so no picking anything up, no integration into society, and no speech. Unless their a magical leopard, which in D&D is pretty much assumed.

[doctorscraps]

Thanks. It's a little out of my comfort zone to think so out of the box when I'm still fresh to 4th edition, but hey...better now than never.

[Dom]

WHat about a longtooth shifter or a razorclaw shifter? (PHB2)

[doctorscraps]

I had suggested Shifter to her, but apparently she really wanted to be something of a four legged creature.
But before the grace of Gygax go I.

[Dom]

Or she could play a druid that spends most of her time shape-shifted as a leopard, or that has forgotten how to turn back as a druid. Druids in 4th ed have lots of shape-shifted powers, and it would also explain her having humanoid intelligence.

[Mckma]

Yeah, druid would work pretty well as you can just pick the powers with the beast keyword, and then never shift back...

[Moondog]

Pffshaw. Just use a Leopard with the Awakened template. As per standard quick-stat rules presented in SS, it would have modifiers of

+6 Strength, +8 Dexterity, +4 Constitution, +2 Wisdom, -4 Charisma (+1d3 due to Awakening) with Intelligence rolled as 3d6, +1 Natural Armor, Medium Size, a natural bite attack as a primary attack for 1d6 points of damage and two claw attacks as secondary, for 1d4 each, with Improved Grab, Pounce, and Rake as special attacks, with Low-Light Vision and Scent as special qualities, a base speed of forty feet, tack on their skill bonuses

Leopards have a +8 racial bonus on Jump checks and a +4 racial bonus on Hide and Move Silently checks. Leopards have a +8 racial bonus on Balance and Climb checks. A leopard can always choose to take 10 on a Climb check, even if rushed or threatened. *In areas of tall grass or heavy undergrowth, the Hide bonus improves to +8. 

, three natural hit dice, and two further hit dice (due to awakening). . .

Decide the level adjustment (+1 at most, while the natural attacks are potent and all, they deal less damage than a fighter with a longsword, and thus don't particularly matter, all it really has going for it is the ability modifiers and being a kitty, throw in the 5 natural hit dice, and no hands, and +1 LA should be perfect. If you're particularly kind, let them choose 5 levels of a character class with +1 LA instead of 5 animal hit dice, which just aren't that great).

Boom, d- oh wait, you mean 4e. I dunno then.

Edit: An awakened leopard rogue or scout (since it has Pounce) would be amazing. Particularly Scout. . .

[Fizban]

My first response was to say to them, "Stop being an ass, just play one of the bajillion choices you have from the books."

But I notice it's a she, so I guess you're boned.  In which case, I agree with Tadanori.  Make them a leopard, and give ownership of her to another member of the party.  Otherwise, why would a group of adventurers have a leopard walking around with them?

[clockworkjoe]

the main problem with doing a non humanoid race in 4E is equipment. She won't be able to use tools/weapons or shit like that without a lot of handwaving or coming up with new rules to handle this.

[Moondog]

the main problem with doing a non humanoid race in 4E is equipment. She won't be able to use tools/weapons or shit like that without a lot of handwaving or coming up with new rules to handle this.

Mouthpick Weapons, presented in Savage Species (terrible book, but it has SOME gems) should fix that. Just uh, tweak it for 4th edition appropriateness.

[Shallazar]

I had suggested Shifter to her, but apparently she really wanted to be something of a four legged creature.
But before the grace of Gygax go I.

So she walks on four legs. Who is to say that she can't as a shifter?
I support the idea of just repainting whatever race she chooses and swap out some flavor text to make it sound more animal.


Damn furies.

Edit:
Try this relevant link http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3367158

[Moondog]

I had suggested Shifter to her, but apparently she really wanted to be something of a four legged creature.
But before the grace of Gygax go I.

So she walks on four legs. Who is to say that she can't as a shifter?
I support the idea of just repainting whatever race she chooses and swap out some flavor text to make it sound more animal.


Damn furies.

Edit:
Try this relevant link http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3367158

Yeah, man. Screw those freakin' avengers of crime and kinslaying, what with their snake hair and blood dripping eyes ruining all the carpets. Goddamn furies. =3

[Fizban]

Furies can definitely be hell in roleplaying.  They can drive you mad!

[FuzzyDan]

Elf from PHB1, wave the magic DM wand, call it a leopard.  Maybe shift the racial bonuses to skills.

For magic equipment, use the level-based progression rules.  (Short version, make sure the character gets a +1 enhancement bonus to attack, AC, and NADs before level 5, +2 before 10, etc.)  Utilize boons and grandmaster trainings instead of rings/boots/helms/etc., just make sure your Elf/Leopard understands they will not be getting a typical cut of the treasure, as they are a leopard and the shopkeepers will shoo them away before they get a chance to spend any gold.

Have the character pick an armor type, and call it the natural armor bonus of this Adventurer Leopard.  Have them pick a weapon type, and it is now a claw attack.  If they want a bite, pick a different weapon, and tada, bite.  (Sidenote, you could also remove the elf racial power and give them quick draw as a bonus feat instead, to make it more plausible for the leopard to easily switch between attack types during combat.)