[Xanth]

First, must apologise to Joy. I merged two of her posts, not realising one was a guest-mistake. Teach me to pay closer attention to the asterisks in future. (I edited out the copied bit, but it's still there so if you want me to edit it back in, just let me know, and again, sorry about that!)

Second, of course I didn't lie! I'd never lie about cookies! *shoves plate into middle of group*

Moving on... I've been looking at the numbers because I've updated the census today. This mostly goes to Grace's point that Therians are unpopular, but I'd have to disagree. Of the six races (not counting human since they have special requirements), Therians have the biggest number at 28 (the next biggest, just to give you an idea of how popular they are, is Anyeli and Vari with 20 each). Of the 20 who chose a base, only 7 chose animal. (Granted, we're not talking about active characters but, historically, Therians are really popular and I believe have only declined recently because I've been asking for other races.)

Now, I've slowly come to the conclusion during EF's development that, just because the numbers favour one race or class doesn't mean they're not worth having (I've been having a similar debate about Groved/Roving Nymphs, for example), which is why I wanted to open this discussion and get some ideas of where you want Therians to head. But, I have to say these numbers tip the balance for me and I am leaning towards removing the animal path.

Joy's idea is kind of what we have now, except that morphing currently doesn't become available until adolescence. I like the idea of having a sort of initiation. I'm not sure how we'd deal with Grace's concerns, although if I understood Joy's second post properly, then it would only be for a very limited period (possibly something that happens off-screen before the character is created?) so it doesn't actually affect the level?

Jarratt - don't worry, I'm not ignoring your post, I'd just like to focus on this question of human/animal for the time being. ^^

I feel like I'm forgetting something...

[Aiden]

Xanth, on Jun 8 2009, 10:59 PM, said:

If I understood Joy's second post properly, then it would only be for a very limited period (possibly something that happens off-screen before the character is created?) so it doesn't actually affect the level?

That's exactly what I meant. Sorry for not being clearer. ^__^; (and it's okay, it's my fault for playing with the guest-post feature )

If we decide to maintain the animal/human-based groups, I think my idea would explain why there are animal-based shifters and human-based ones that are equally intelligent beings. However, the more I look at Jarratt's ideas, the more I'm liking them too. With it we wouldn't have to worry about making sure that lvl 1-3s aren't staying in animal form for too long, or shifting too fast, etc.

[Eivyonydd]

Xanth, on Jun 9 2009, 05:59 PM, said:

Jarratt - don't worry, I'm not ignoring your post, I'd just like to focus on this question of human/animal for the time being. ^^

Don't worry I don't feel ignored. I was mostly trying to show ways where the animal/human thing could be ignored. I just think mechanically having a human base is better. The rest is trying to be helpful, even if you don't use any of the ideas. Brainstorming is good.