Adding non-humanoid characters to a fantasy RPG?

[Almaz]

Trawling over the boards there's some pretty fervent discussion of playing non-humanoid characters. By which I mean characters that cannot be described by the humanoid standard of "a head, a torso, two arms, two legs." And no, adding a second head doesn't really count on its own, unless the two heads are their own characters, at which point I'm not sure what to think. Likewise most rule sets have managed to tackle adding another set of arms, though I wouldn't mind discussing those.

So I pose the question of what would be required to add non-humanoid characters to a fantasy setting? Because I've found that there actually is a subset of gamers that are uninterested in fantasy races unless they are wildly divergent from the norm, such as being completely nonhuman. Some elements that come to mind are...

Human Hax: The obvious set are those that can shapeshift, but they're almost cheating, because they don't have to be in their non-humanoid form, thus sidestepping the issues. So while shapeshifting and virtual shapeshifting (using telekinesis and illusions to act as if human) are possible, they're kind of cheating.

Grasping Ability: Almost all characters will be expected to be able to do some low-level manipulation of things with their, uh, paws? So while opposable thumbs can be fudged, if they do not have the ability to hold on to something, the game is over.

Setting/Game Assumptions: And, of course, the entire setting and/or game rules have to be written in such a way that these characters are allowed to be functional at all, but I don't think that is too hard if you are not attached to (pet system of choice). I'm not, at least. The main thing to keep in mind is how far from a "normal" (is there such a thing?) fantasy setting you are going, and that's the purpose of starting a thread... to go over how many steps you are deviating from the norm. For instance, "and now you can no longer have (most) dungeon adventures with the party that includes these" is an important qualifier, but depending on the game some may be willing to pay that price.

[mlangsdorf]

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy includes as standard races:
* Coleopterans (beetle-men with 4 arms and hard shells)
* Gargoyles (stone men with wings)
* Winged Elves (what it says on the tin)
* Pixies (8" tall winged elves)

Only the coleopterans are non-humanoid as you describe them, though the winged races are kinda non-human, with the extra limbs.

I could see opening up the design space to include amoeba-like blobs such as Star Frontiers' Dralsalites or Gamma World (7e)'s swarms.

I'd say the biggest issue is that it's mostly window dressing unless you have non-bipedal races, and the entire discussion about centauroids in the dungeon shows you were that goes.

[Eikre]

Well I think the tool manipulation is the biggest sticking point unless you just assume everyone playing the thing you're making is just going to be a Beholder reskin with arbitrary telepathy and a suite of fighting spells to make you not care.

So you could have an underwater adventure where some characters are cephalopods of various description. It would be like any other post-flight adventure but with more glubbing. If it was landborne, octopus guys could still be a thing as-is but cuttlefish guys would need a buoyancy ability.

It occurs to me that a creature needs to more or less be a single entity, if the system itself isn't making deep mechanical concessions so that you can run something that isn't.

But that still leaves you room to play, for example, a whole hive of driver ants whose species is a little less swarm-and-devour and a bit more ant-body-architecture. The character's agency would be contained in the hive-mind so his capacity to use individual drones for anything would be constrained, and playing a swarm of insects is still pretty fucking alien even if they all band together in the shape of a man so that they can wear armor. Racial ability would be discorporating to fit into tiny spaces and make hide checks. It writes itself, really.

[shadzar]

So I pose the question of what would be required to add non-humanoid characters to a fantasy setting?

How the creature works. Most animals are accepted in form or a cross because we can easily see how they work and function, so a bear standing up looks pretty human, etc. Then things like centaurs, winged creatures etc are all ok as well since the ones playing it can easily understand how it works.

Throw in a creature from spore that has 3 legs like a tripod on either side of a head and 4 arms in the middle, then it becomes hard to understand how it works in the real world having never seen it.

So basically a detailed understanding of how it works is all that should be needed.

[Eikre]

So you think people will play tapeworms and sea anemones, bearing in mind that the habits and biology of both of these things are extremely well understood, as compared to, say, the society of millennium-old humans with pointy ears?

[Anguirus]

So you think people will play tapeworms and sea anemones, bearing in mind that the habits and biology of both of these things are extremely well understood, as compared to, say, the society of millennium-old humans with pointy ears?

I don't post here often but the amazing douche-baggery of this post has drawn me out of hiding. Was "sapience and the ability to affect the game" not assumed? Fuck.

[sabs]

This is TGD, douche-baggery is expected.
It's much easier to say something flippy and inane than to actually have to think about produce a viable post.

The problem with non-humanoid pcs is that.. most people are incapable of roleplaying a sapient slug with innate magical abilities. Or a Sapient Warrior Beetle.

[erik]

I know beholders were already mentioned but I'm reminded of this image that I saw in the photoshack library from someone who posted here (I forget who). It took me a little scrounging to find it again.

Thanks to nwaldragon, whomever ye be.


And sabs, I think the point is that not only are people going to be challenged by playing a sapient slug with innate magical abilities, but it is just as challenging to be a centuries old wizard who has grown up in an entirely different culture to any you have ever known with powers that are unmatched in any reality you have ever known.

An insect person isn't much more of a stretch than that, and maybe people want to role play as something more alien, then sounds good to me.

[MGuy]

There are a number of intelligent yet alien creatures in the monster manuals as is. Aboleths immediately come to mind followed very shortly by Illithids.