Let us speak of foxes. Not just foxes, but coyotes and jackals as well. In any culture that has these canids, folklore and mythology invariably depicts them as cunning tricksters with sorcerous powers.
Japan went the extra mile with its kitsune, obviously.
How would you implement such a race of clever, magical scoundrels in a setting? Have you ever done so before? What sort of niche could they have among other fantastical races? How would they ever be trusted if they are renown for their slyness?
Could the arcanaloths of D&D, from the standard jackal to the Shemeshka-like fox, perhaps be based on such myths?
>How would you implement such a race of clever, magical scoundrels in a setting? The idea that every creature concept possible deserves a separate sentient race is cancer, and I don't know what people keep blindly adhering to it.
If I had to implement foxes, coyotes and jackals into my setting, I would implement them as animal totem spirits.
If I had to choose what fantastical concept to execute as a race, I'd probably stop on "sentient hivemind telekinetical rocks", probably.
There you go, there's your obligatory reply. Good job. Congratulations. Well done. Bravo.
Juan Hernandez
>Japan went the extra mile with its kitsune, obviously.
Not really, Japan simply took the classic trickster race and gave them a human body.
>How would you implement such a race of clever, magical scoundrels in a setting?
I've done so before, and I did it how you expect it would be done; they're a race of mercurial thrill-seekers and consummate tricksters who are as likely to steal your shit as they are to steal your heart. They aren't a race that has organized society or is well-known for living in towns or villages, but occasionally someone will get a fox-wife or a woman will be smitten by the dashing highwayman that stole naught but a kiss, and so their legend grows.
Parker King
Where I grew up, coyotes and mountain lions were the only large predators. I could do a pretty convincing howl as a kid that could get the pack howling back and forth with me.
Nothing to add to the thread, just wanted to share.
Joseph Rodriguez
If you think Native American mythology the coyote is the ultimate asshole, everything bad is the Coyote's doing, even if it not it is still the Coyote's doing.
Nicholas Russell
coyote isn't bad in most myths, he is usually just selfish and clever, which they didn't consider a bad thing, usually.
Andrew Young
This. Gotta get by.
Liam Nelson
Dogs = Man
Wolves = Orcs
Coyotes = Goblins
Foxes = Hobbits
Prove me wrong
William Torres
In Lakota mythology Coyote is a turbo rapist and pubescent girls wore bear amulets to keep Coyote from mind controlling them and luring them to his rape den. Because bear (God of love btw) is the only spirit he's afraid of.
Dominic Cooper
Foxes are elves, dingus.
Luke Hall
Nah, That'd be cats.
Isaac Russell
The kitsune is sourced from the huli jing. The whole transformation business was written about in China a millenium before it popped up in Japanese writing.
Carson Lewis
>Foxes are elves
Nigga u dumb
Foxes >quintessentially english countryside creatures >live in comfy holes >eat constantly >good at going unnoticed >not big fighters but capable of incredible courage when needed >small compared to the other canines >love blueberries
Eli Martin
Most Japanese culture is originally Chinese
Ryan Bell
Elves are obviously rodents of some kind. As are, most likely, dwarves.
>The kitsune, a race of fox-headed, humanoid shapechangers, are native to the continent of Tian Xia and are known for their trickery and love of beautiful things. Inveterate pranksters, they generally prefer harmless tricks in good fun, but these can become deadly when kitsune are angered, insulted, or fighting for their life.
To implement the others, all I would do, and have already done for my world, is simply make jackals and coyotes alternate kitsune ethnicities from notAmerica and notEgypt/Arabia.
Lincoln Edwards
I'd probably never make an entire race of something that's just well known for being clever assholes, but I often include a variant of the native american Coyote spirit into my campaigns.
90% of the time he's just there to annoy the hell out of my players so I can vent in-campaign over them being stupid assholes, but he's one hell of an ally during the few times my players haven't tossed him out of the party. Naturally, this usually involves someone yelling at the sky saying something along the lines of;
"Damn it Raven, come get your songdog back!"
Jace Murphy
I do the same but with werefoxes instead of kitsune.
William Baker
lomion.de/cmm/lycawefo.php >The female elven form of the foxwoman is extremely beautiful. She has silver or silver-streaked hair, including a widow’s peak. She dresses attractively in loose garments.
>Foxwomen serve their vanity by enslaving humanoid males. Those males become servants and companions.
>Each foxwoman is always accompanied by 1d4+1 charmed males.
>Foxwomen are barren. They must kidnap or adopt their children. There is a 10% chance that a foxwoman has a “daughter”. The foxwoman has stolen an elven girl, infected her with lycanthropy, and is raising her as a foxwoman. Such a child is be 1d8+5 years old. If she is 12-13, she is treated the same as a normal foxwoman; otherwise she is a noncombatant.
>Non-elven women who are afflicted with lycanthropy undergo a slow transformation that alters their normal form. Over a period of one to two years, such women turn into elven women; only their faces and odd marks (tattoos, birthmarks) provide faint proof of their old identities.
In AD&D 2e, you might encounter a beautiful twelve-year-old elf girl with attractive clothes and a gaggle of mind controlled males, and she is actually a fox.
Jose Sullivan
Please no furries, /pfg/.
Jaxson Scott
nothing on foxes at the moment, but in my own setting, I use dog-bolds.
Specifically kobolds are fairly large and unusually intelligent and well-organized canines. They look like domesticated dogs, but they've been seen seeing setting simple traps, operating non-natural obstacles such as doors, ambushing opponents by using their injured, hunting conservatively, and generally being three steps ahead of any hominid race that makes the assumption of them as just animals.
The only thing that checks them are the Nekomata who seem equally smart* and capable of creating a number of illusions at will.
*it's hard to tell if they're actually smart or if it's just because their illusions give them such an incredible advantage.
Samuel Ross
>Japan went the extra mile with its kitsune, obviously.
