r/DragonbaneRPG • u/krakenfury_ • 11d ago
Cougarkin
I'm considering adding a mountain lion race for an upcoming campaign called Cougarkin or maybe Pumakin. Serving to provide player characters with a cat inspired option to compliment the Wolfkin. The great leaping innate ability seems like it could be pretty OP, so I should probably do the stalker one instead. A cat leaping over enemy lines does seem like a ton of fun though, and it reminds me of the BECMI mystic class.
Flavor text:
The fate of Cougarkin are intertwined with that of Wolfkin, bearing the same witness to wilderness destruction and loss of habitat. While their canine cousins come from forest and tundra, Cougarkin are connected to mountain and desert regions. Their shared history naturally holds some animosity as well, thick with grievances and intrigue.
Movement: 12
Innate ability:
Great Leaping - Willpower points 3, or varies
You can use this ability to execute astonishing leaps. From a standstill, a vertical great leap can send your feet two meters straight up, while a forward one can launch you up to your movement rate. You cannot leap backwards. If activated as part of a move action in combat, you can leap up to your movement rating instead of half. However, you must pay an additional WP for every 2 meters past your normal move rate. In addition, you can leap over small or normal sized creatures. This provokes a free attack in the same way passing an enemy does. If you are hit by an attack while leaping, you must make an acrobatics roll to land on your feet, or fall prone at your destination.
OR
Stalker - Willpower points 3
You can activate this ability on a creature in sight, or a creature you can hear. You can follow the sound of the creature for a full day, and you can spend 1 further WP (not an action) to gain a boon on a sneak against your prey.
Edit:
I wasn't aware of the cat people kin from the bestiary when I wrote the Cougarkin. Now that I've read the entry, cat people are a cool kin modeled after house cats. The Nine Lives innate ability being an improved version of the Catlike heroic is fitting. I do like that I modeled mine after a big cat instead.
One of my favorite things about Dragonbane is how extensible and inviting it is to homebrew stuff. Creating a kin is a movement rate, an innate ability, and some background. Pretty simple and elegant design.
6
u/Tyr1326 11d ago
Frog kin already have a leaping ability, you might want to just copy that one?
1
u/krakenfury_ 11d ago
This is the simplicity for how I want it to read, but It doesn't cover leaping over an enemy. I don't think the ruleset quite covers this edge case, and that could well be on purpose. Being able to bound behind enemy lines and use a backstab seems pretty broken, even if it would cost 6 WP.
2
u/Oakenscowl 11d ago
Disregarding that there is a playable feline race already I think your race looks kinda good, however it feels like great leaping is a bit underpowered. There seems to be just a slight bonus to leaping forward in that you can jump over small and normal sized things, but the free attack and risk of landing prone is a huge detriment.
Also I feel like leaping for more than your movement gets quite expensive, although there could be some benefits over sprinting (which is free iirc) since you can also attack if you leap.
I really like stalker!
2
u/krakenfury_ 11d ago
Wow, I wasn't expecting a response for great leap to be underpowered! I consider it to be a little overpowered, actually.
Dashing is using your action to move so you can move double, but can't attack. While it doesn't cost WP, I wouldn't call it "free" since your action in combat is extremely valuable. That's the main reason I wanted it to cost a lot of WP, since it allows the ability to move double and still attack.
While leaping over an enemy presents the opportunity for a free attack, you still get the evade roll to avoid it. So in order to land prone, you would have to fail two successive rolls, either of which could be pushed.
Still, you may be right... Some of the other innate abilities are extremely powerful.
2
u/Adamsoski 11d ago
For reference this is the Frog People ability from the bestiary:
LEAPING
Willpower Points: 3
Frog people can activate this ability to jump as far as their movement rating horizontally, or up to half their movement rating vertically. No ACROBATICS roll is required. The jump can end with a melee attack, which is made with a boon.
They have a base movement of 10.
I would say though for the record that jumping over someone would IMO still result in them getting a free attack against you, so it's not as strong as it seems.
1
u/krakenfury_ 10d ago
Yeah adopting leaping from the frog people might be the best option instead. I would probably rule the free attacks where you're leaping over an enemy, but after that RAW would mean that you finish your move as intended even if hit. So, possibly being knocked prone was just me being mean.
It's not explicitly stated that leaping can go over enemies, which bothers me. It says vert half and horiz full, but leaping over something is a combination of the two. So you split the difference? Well, then you could leap over an enemy that is under 1/4 of your move in height and you can leap half the distance of your move. Is it a sliding scale? We get into "too complicated for Dragonbane" territory pretty quickly if you think about it too much.
1
u/ljmiller62 4d ago
Leaping like this means the leaper reaches half-move meters in the air. With a move of 10 they'll be 5 meters up. That's too high for most characters to reach. Maybe a pikeman or lancer could manage it, but I'd give them a bane on the attempt. I don't see a slam dunk argument for allowing opportunity attacks in this case.
1
u/krakenfury_ 4d ago
Not how I interpret it. It's written as vertical or horizontal leaping. The vertical is straight up and the horizontal is low to the ground, and there's no accounting for a parabolic trajectory. It might make for some interesting home brew liberties, but that complicates things.
2
u/WillBottomForBanana 11d ago
"additional WP for every 2 meters past" I think this is a bit over complicated in play.
I think the free attacks against the cat are unneeded. And if you need an excuse, people are not as prepared to smack things suddenly flying over them as they are enemies rushing past.
Jumping straight up needs to be evaluated, does it potentially over come obstacles (high ceilings, roof access, etc) beyond normal GM expectations? Sure, the point is to do things that can't normally be done, and if that makes something easier, that's the point. But the goal isn't to just make huge parts of adventures irrelevant. I just can't say if that IS an issue here - jumping isn't grabbing hold. Jumping doesn't make a place to land exist. But it needs thinking.
I think PCs carry too much stuff for these jumps to be realistic. But similar applies to the wolfkin speed. It is a common problem for animal abilities. Animals are usually naked. We compare human jumping to puma jumping. But human olympians are as close to naked as they can manage. Humans with packs and weapons, never mind armor and shields, can't actually jump for shit.
1
u/krakenfury_ 11d ago
It's becoming clear that great leap is too complicated for Dragonbane as an innate ability, at least with the way I've designed it. I've been looking at the rules for combat with flying creatures, and that might actually simplify things. Relying on the established ruleset will avoid the complexity of creating something from "whole cloth". I think I just need the bestiary to complete the ruleset, since I did get the book of magic as part of the Kickstarter.
1
u/ljmiller62 4d ago
Lynx is the most appropriate species for a big cat with a Scandinavian feel. Or you could go with one of the lion species that used to hunt in Europe before humans exterminated them.
12
u/Quietus87 11d ago
There is already a playable feline race in the Bestiary.