Intro: Animal Races in the Harengon Campaign

Background

The 2023-2024 “Warrens of the Harengon” campaign is based on anthropomorphic (anthromorph) player races as part of its theme. This fits with the Harengon rabbit race being the center of the story, and gives both players and GMs an opportunity to try new things. To help with that opportunity, 19 custom animal races have been created for the campaign, which may be freely chosen by the players.  

Definition of Animal Races

A question the GMs struggled with has been where to draw the line. What about lycanthropes? Changelings? Half-dragons? Any others that are sometimes animals or who can appear as animals?   The final answer was that it would be limited to only animal-primary races, with none of the "sometimes" races.
  • Lycanthropes have an animal-based spirit, but are still humans or humanoids who change into wolves, rats, bears or other animals. 
  • Changelings, while not humanoid, are also not animal-spirited
  • Half-dragons are not animals at all–they are part mystical creature
Part of that logic is that humanoids (humans, elves, dwarves, orcs, etc.) in the context of this story are viewed with an element of distrust or “other” ness. Not dislike, necessarily, but the story is about animals, with humanoids being the cause of the problems.   The other part is that the story has to do with a necromancer who is using animal spirits for her plans. In one case, anthromorph spirits are more suited for the kinds of magic she is looking to perform. But they are also less susceptible to necromancy itself. Humanoids offering to help are more likely to become part of the problem.

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