Help with a were-lynx

[moireth]

Hey guys, I'm going to be making a Were-Form (Lynx) character for a campaign, and since It's my first time doing so, I wanted to run this by you and get some feedback for the Echoes power.

Powers:

Echoes Of The Beast [-1]
Beast Trappings: open for suggestion.

Beast Sense: +1 Alertness when sight/hearing is a factor. (considered adding smell here as well but wasn't sure)
Beast Friend: Feline

Beast Change [-1]

Human Form [+1]

Natural Weaponry (Claws) [-1]

Inhuman Speed [-2]

Cloak of Shadows [-1]

Total Refresh Cost:
-5

How does this look to you guys? Any improvements would be appreciated.

EDIT: Added Cloak of Shadows as per MadAlchemist's suggestion which leaves my Beast Trapping open.

[Cadd]

Echoes is always the hardest part for me, and I'm a bit peeved at how rarely OW actually stats out what they think it does for various NPCs. They just add the power and an animal name at most, but no info on what the bonuses are for that creature. One single NPC (Korrick) gets a note specifying a +1 to Athletics when the animal nature could benefit him. This is out of 8 different beings in What Goes Bump (counting all were-beings as one, and both types of BCV as one) and 6 individual NPC stat blocks.
Aaaanyway, excuse the rant...


For a Lynx, I think what you have is completely valid. I could also see something like:
Beast Trappings: Lynx are stalking predators; +1 to Stealth when Shadowing
Beast Senses: Lynx are nocturnal; Ignore up to 2 shifts of increased difficulty due to darkness.
Beast Friend: Feline

[Shaft]

You might want to add some psychic powers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynx_(mythology)

The lynx, a type of wildcat, has a prominent role in Greek, Norse, and North American mythology. It is considered an elusive and mysterious creature, known in some American Indian traditions as a 'keeper of secrets'. It is also believed to have supernatural eyesight, capable of seeing even through solid objects. As a result, it often symbolises the unravelling of hidden truths, and the psychic power of clairvoyance.

Inhuman Strength and Cloak of Shadows might be other appropriate powers to add.

[Taran]

You might want to add some psychic powers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynx_(mythology)

The lynx, a type of wildcat, has a prominent role in Greek, Norse, and North American mythology. It is considered an elusive and mysterious creature, known in some American Indian traditions as a 'keeper of secrets'. It is also believed to have supernatural eyesight, capable of seeing even through solid objects. As a result, it often symbolises the unravelling of hidden truths, and the psychic power of clairvoyance.

Inhuman Strength and Cloak of Shadows might be other appropriate powers to add.

Maybe take The Sight.  That would be pretty cool.  And it does a lot for -1 refresh...You'd need pretty good Lore and discipline, but you could have that on your human form.

Human form:
+4 Random skill (social?)
+3 Lore; Discipline; Random skill
+2;+1 etc...

Lynx:
+4 Stealth; Fists
+3 Alertness; Athletics
+2 Discipline; Lore
+1....

[Mr. Death]

You might want to add some psychic powers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynx_(mythology)

The lynx, a type of wildcat, has a prominent role in Greek, Norse, and North American mythology. It is considered an elusive and mysterious creature, known in some American Indian traditions as a 'keeper of secrets'. It is also believed to have supernatural eyesight, capable of seeing even through solid objects. As a result, it often symbolises the unravelling of hidden truths, and the psychic power of clairvoyance.

Inhuman Strength and Cloak of Shadows might be other appropriate powers to add.

Wolves have a lot of connotations and roles in mythology, too, but werewolves don't have psychic or magic powers beyond their strength, speed, and recovery.

If moireth is just looking for someone who turns into a mundane lynx the way the Alphas turn into mundane wolves, The Sight and other psychic powers don't fit.

[Cadd]

"mundane" wolves... They are a bit more than mundane wolves in the later books, but none of the symbolic connections, true.

[Taran]

It doesn't mean you can't take it if you think it fits.  The Alphas were human turning into wolves.  You could also go lynx who turns into a human...which would be neat too.

[dragoonbuster]

It doesn't mean you can't take it if you think it fits.  The Alphas were human turning into wolves.  You could also go lynx who turns into a human...which would be neat too.

A player of mine played a PC ocelot who'd been experimented on by warlocks and gained near human-level intelligence, telepathy, and among other things, she could turn into a human.

Fun PC type if you're up for a challenge.

[Haru]

A player of mine played a PC ocelot who'd been experimented on by warlocks and gained near human-level intelligence, telepathy, and among other things, she could turn into a human.

Did she need a prosthetic leg to escape?

It doesn't mean you can't take it if you think it fits.  The Alphas were human turning into wolves.  You could also go lynx who turns into a human...which would be neat too.

Or you could be possessed by the ancient spirit of the lynx. There's tons of cool ways to get powers, especially shapeshifting ones.

"mundane" wolves... They are a bit more than mundane wolves in the later books, but none of the symbolic connections, true.

Yeah, I think they are described as being a bit taller and meaner. Like Dire Wolfs or something. At least the Alphas, there could be others, of course.

[Quantus]

I like the idea of giving them the Sight as part of the Lynx package, as opposed to it coming simply from the wizard schtick. One big question is How exactly this Were-Lynx got their abilities.  Was it magical training under somebody like LTW or did they get training from a more supernatural source, not unlike the Alphas.  One idea would be to make it more of a Granted ability rather than a Learned skill, a totem spirit thing or some such.  From the wiki link above, there was a mythological material associated with the lynx: Lyncurium.  This was a mystical stone that a Lynx could create.  Int eh DV Context, I could see a character gaining Lynx shapeshifting from such a stone if given by some Lynx totem-spirit or some such.  The character might have eaten it in their past as a one-time ritual to unlock the abilities, or might even still carry it as an IoP that grants the Were-abilities (if such a thing interests you).

Lyncurium

In medieval times, the lynx was said to produce a gem. According to many bestiaries, the lynx would urinate in a hole that it had dug in ground, and then cover it with dirt. After a number of days, the urine would harden into a gem that resembled a carbuncle. It was believed that the Latin name for amber, 'Lyncurium', was derived from this superstition. However, other medieval scholars pointed out that this amber was mined extensively in Lyguria, which may hint at a more plausible etymology.[7]

[moireth]

Okay, couple things.
1. This is going to be set in the past, somewhere between the 1200s and 1500.
2. The power level is Feet In The Water.
3. My character, along with another PC, are going to be guardians of nature. (the psychic power could work actually, that might be fun)
4. My character prefers his lynx form over his human form and will be spending 75% of his time lynxed out. (So being a lynx that got granted intelligence to better guard nature and could into a human would work as well.)

[Quantus]

It might be worth investing an ability or two to anthropomorphize your lynx form a bit, if you expect it to be your primary form.  Human speech and thumbs come to mind.

[moireth]

It might be worth investing an ability or two to anthropomorphize your lynx form a bit, if you expect it to be your primary form.  Human speech and thumbs come to mind.

I wasn't really gonna worry about that. It's gonna be a multi person party so hopefully I won't need to be human for a lot of it.

[Quantus]

I wasn't really gonna worry about that. It's gonna be a multy person party so hopefully I won't need to be human for a lot of it.

Cool.  What culture/region we talking about?

[moireth]

Cool.  What culture/region we talking about?

Right now it's supposed to be 1200-1500s somewhere in the UK. We haven't got everything 100% yet.