I was reading through some submissions and noted to myself that I've never seen anybody stick with a Wemic for very long. There have been plenty of very well RPed ones I met, but those characters get abandoned very quickly. When looking through the stats for them on Lore, I can understand why.
Racial Qualities:
* +2 Constitution, +2 Wisdom, -2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma (ESA +2 CON, +2 WIS, -2 INT, -2 CHA)
* +2 to Listen, Spot and Search checks
* +2 Animal Empathy
* -2 AC from the size of the overall animal
* -2 Concentration
* -2 Appraise
* -2 Persuade
* Starting class restrictions:
o Druid
o Rogue
o Ranger
o Barbarian
o Sorcerer
o Bard
* Barbarian Fast Movement
* ECL: 2
when looking at stats, they are balanced with a +2,+2 vs. -2,-2. Skills have a +2 overall bonus with +2,+2,+2,+2 vs. -2,-2,-2. barbarian Fast movement is a plus, but the class restrictions easily balance that out. Then there's a ECL: 2 on par with a dark elf... ouch. Add to this that they receive -2 AC from a size large (Size large being usually a -1 ac according to D&D mechanics)... ouch ouch and then on top of all of that, they are restricted to not only never use heavy armors, but also never to use any medium armors as well as they are all made of worked metal. And add to that they don't even know common. They are also stricken from using any finished metal weapons according to Ed, which is a huge disadvantage considering one of the perks is that they can use large weapons one-handed. And they're supposed to use short bows as they're lower tech than longbows, which brings to mind the very hilarious image of a size large creature using a bow designed for a gnome.
I understand the desire to make them rare, but the total stats come out to a -1 ECL in that without the skin, they'd actually get more bang for the buck. The double-whammy of -2 dodge ac and being limited to only light armor means that a starting wemic with a NICE DEX, say 16 would still have a 14 AC in Hide Armor, and even then they are discouraged from wearing armor unless in combat, which makes them sitting ducks for ambushes with an 11 AC. With an average DEX of 10, that's 11 AC in battle and 8 AC when not.
I'd suggest one or more of the following changes: (and please add more ideas as you see fit!)
1. Some Natural Armor AC Bonus: as they aren't allowed to use anything but light armor. If you're a massive lion, that hide must add SOME protection, aye? It would also make for interesting RP as they would refuse most barkskin which would mess up their manes.
2. Lighten up on the banned weapons: If your perk is size large weapons can be used one handed, then let them use some size large weapons other than spear and quarterstaff which only do 1d8/x2 which is worse than a longsword. Let them use falchions, greataxes, halberds and the like. Not to mention scimitars which are already allowed for druids who shun metal weapons (or falchion, the wemic-sized scimitar
).
3. Lower the -2 dodge ac to -1 in line with Size Large Creatures. How do giantkin get +2 bonus dodge when they're large, while wemics with cat-feat get -2 dodge? Wouldn't four cat feet with great leaping power and fast movement be a better dodger than a two-legged giant of the same size? As the news has shown us, normal tiger can scale 8 foot tall walls and eat kids making fun of them at zoos with a single bound. They could also have at least a -1 to attack from being size large.
4. Scent Feat Automatically: Why take the feat manually later when they already were born with the nose attached to their face? Maybe specify that they MUST take this witht he human quick-to-master feat.
5: Low Light Vision: On par with the LORE description which points out that they see well in the dark having feline eyes.
6: Add +2 or +4 STR since they are size large with 4 feet and massive arms
7: Improved Unarmed Strike: as LORE states that they have large hands with retractable claws.
8: or just lower the ECL
Thank you for your time considering these proposals and please anybody interested add some feedback on your own wemic experiences and your ideas for improvement. if you've made a wemic before but don't play it often, why not?
