Character Concept: Lou Pine, Freeborn Dog Boy-Magic User

[Hotrod]

Someone on the Rifts Reddit was asking about how to make a lower-powered werewolf-like shifter, and my mind went wandering, and now I feel like I need to roll up yet another character I'll probably never use.

Background: Lou Pine was born to a pair of experimental wolf-breed Dog Boys who escaped from Lone Star a few decades ago. Early in his puphood, a hit squad of CS troops tracked them down and killed them. A friendly Wolfen magic user took in the young freeborn Dog Boy, raising him and training him as an apprentice.

As a freeborn Dog Boy, Lou Pine is a master psychic who can sniff out magic and the supernatural. He's also a trained magic user.

My initial plan was to make him a shifter (like in the Reddit prompt) and bind him to a supernatural force of... nature (I love that little oxymoron in the Shifter class) to allow Lou Pine to shapeshift into a wolf at will, but I'm wondering, which magic classes and abilities would be particularly well-paired with the supernatural sensing powers of this freeborn dog boy?

Specifically, which classes might be well-suited for a generally good-ish player character? Which might be better suited to write up Lou Pine as a villain?

Limitations: As a Dog Boy, Lou Pine is already a master psionic with defined powers, so he can't be a Mystic. Since he could have the physical psionics mutant abnormality, he could be a techno-wizard.

Edit: *Bonus points if you can think up a punnier name for this character*

[Marcethus]

LLW would work. Temporal Wizard would work as possible villain especially the 10 year apprentice.

[ShadowLogan]

Someone on the Rifts Reddit was asking about how to make a lower-powered werewolf-like shifter, and my mind went wandering, and now I feel like I need to roll up yet another character I'll probably never use.

Well Dogboy isn't your only option (want to say also that it seems out of place for them). IIRC were-wolfs can't select an OCC (at least the ones in Canda can't). Race wise the most likely fit would be the Septumbran Witch Wolves D-Bee (WB30 pg177-9) with a full 25% of the 50% that practice magic being Shifter.

Wolfen (CB1r, PF2E) might also work for a low-powered werewolf-like race.

If shape-shifting is required perhaps a Zenith Moon Wrapper (WB12 or WB30) who has made a witch-pact, they have some magic spells automatically but they can't take an OCC. The witch-pact might have to be "home brew" though.

The only other Canine-like-Race that comes to mind is the Darkhound (WB12 or WB30), and they can't even touch magic, and the Arkhon (WB9) while they can it is presented as "might" as the practice/belief was "lost millennia ago".

Maybe a mutated wolf/canine either via ley lines (WB7 has ley line mutants for aquatics, which might provide some guidance here) or more mundane like HU/ATB mutant animals coming to Rifts Earth or a genetic engineering experiment (gene splicers, lonestar, south american powers) or magical experimentation. Or just roll up an alien from DB2/PW/HU and make some selections instead of rolling for them.

[Hotrod]

Someone on the Rifts Reddit was asking about how to make a lower-powered werewolf-like shifter, and my mind went wandering, and now I feel like I need to roll up yet another character I'll probably never use.

Well Dogboy isn't your only option (want to say also that it seems out of place for them). IIRC were-wolfs can't select an OCC (at least the ones in Canda can't). Race wise the most likely fit would be the Septumbran Witch Wolves D-Bee (WB30 pg177-9) with a full 25% of the 50% that practice magic being Shifter.

Wolfen (CB1r, PF2E) might also work for a low-powered werewolf-like race.

If shape-shifting is required perhaps a Zenith Moon Wrapper (WB12 or WB30) who has made a witch-pact, they have some magic spells automatically but they can't take an OCC. The witch-pact might have to be "home brew" though.

The only other Canine-like-Race that comes to mind is the Darkhound (WB12 or WB30), and they can't even touch magic, and the Arkhon (WB9) while they can it is presented as "might" as the practice/belief was "lost millennia ago".

Maybe a mutated wolf/canine either via ley lines (WB7 has ley line mutants for aquatics, which might provide some guidance here) or more mundane like HU/ATB mutant animals coming to Rifts Earth or a genetic engineering experiment (gene splicers, lonestar, south american powers) or magical experimentation. Or just roll up an alien from DB2/PW/HU and make some selections instead of rolling for them.

Your line of thinking parallels a lot of the replies on that reddit discussion. The OP was looking for a lower-power werewolf-like solution.

I know this character is out-of-place as a dog boy magic user, and that's kind of the point of the concept I'm going for: a freeborn who's a misfit among other dog boys and embraces the supernatural that most of them avoid. I'm just wondering if there are any particular synergies to exploit for a magic user who has exceptional abilities to track down other magic users, psychics, and the supernatural?

I suppose it could be useful in tracking down creatures who might make useful PPE sacrifices for high-cost ritual magic.

[Marcethus]

For a more combat oriented mage you could go for Temporal Warrior, especially combining the Hunter aspect of the Dog-boy.

[Grazzik]

Not sure if the normal form of the PC has to be canine-like, as the flip side of a werewolf is a human form. So will try to give options that work for both...

A couple low power ideas for the PC named "Miwan Skratchums":

• A dog boy or even a psychic human who is not anything special, just has a TW wolf metamorphosis device in the form of a dog collar or similar accessory that was passed down as an family heirloom... if they have to be a magical OCC, see below for options
• Monster-shaping tattoos for transforming into what looks like a werewolf or fenry demon... note if they have to be a dogboy to start and the GM agrees with the following, then argue that dogboys are sufficiently made up of enough human-like DNA for magic tattoos to work on them using Ogres as an example of genetic drift allowing the tats to work... bit of a stretch but an interesting twist since we really don't have genetic details in the books as to the Golden Age bioengineering tech they use... but only if the GM is okay with it
• A Super Spy (Mercenaries) with a HU super power similar to wolf metamorphosis
• A modified version of the Totem Warrior (WB15) for a wolf totem
• A Conjurer (WB16) who conjures up a really bad and obviously fake Halloween wolf costume... maybe the costume's fake fur falls off in patches
• No psychic abilities, but is actually a Nightbane with a giant wolf morphus (depending on how you play NB, the story re the parents could be a cover story re Nightbane not having parents, but that is a debate for another thread)... technically a freeborn dogboy might actually be a Nightbane using the Between the Shadows rules if you can spin a good backstory

[Ace, TW]

A wolf or Husky type dog boy free born could work.

Palladium Fantasy Wolfen and Coyle(humanoid coyotes) could work as well.

There are also 7 canine races in the Aliens Unlimited book. Canis (who have color coded white mages and brown psychics) and look like Dobermans, Dergins(barbarian with bony parts), Latran (who can transform into 4 legged wolves) who seem to have a shamanistic/mystic culture, Lupis who are techies, Toyocs who survived nuclear war and are magic/psi/super powers vs techies like on Rifts, Vulpese who have psi, magic, and tech but have a big problem with a "big brother" govt, and the Wulfs who all have pyrokinesis as a psi ability.

I'd shy away from Dark Hounds. AFAIK they are supposed to be magically tortured and brainwashed dog boys turned evil and sent back against the Coalition.

If you don't want a full on were wolf (which are normally evil and dangerous) I would personally suggest a Latran.

[Curbludgeon]

I wouldn't necessarily exclude Mystic from a Dog Boy just because of their native psionics. I probably need more than caffeine to check, but would bet WB30 or HUAU has something to lend credence. Given the Dog Boy's (deliberately?) limited life span I could see one spontaneously becoming a Psi-Mystic over studying for years.

A fun alternative would be a Dog Boy Priest of Xolotl (RCB2 pg 25). The god is described as visiting Lone Star, being interested in having mutant canines as worshipers, and has a focus in magic which could be reflected in his priests.

[Plane]

LLW would work. Temporal Wizard would work as possible villain especially the 10 year apprentice.

if a Temporal Raider had done their due diligence into uncovering the lower lifespans of certain species I don't know if they would want to spend a decade of training on a creature if they'd get fewer decades of possible future allies out of it

Or do you think they just kind of aim for the 'service during training' and assume they will run off afterwards in which case lower lifespans is good since it's the competition dying off?

[Marcethus]

LLW would work. Temporal Wizard would work as possible villain especially the 10 year apprentice.

if a Temporal Raider had done their due diligence into uncovering the lower lifespans of certain species I don't know if they would want to spend a decade of training on a creature if they'd get fewer decades of possible future allies out of it

Or do you think they just kind of aim for the 'service during training' and assume they will run off afterwards in which case lower lifespans is good since it's the competition dying off?

I tend to think it's a service during training thing. Temporal Raiders probably don't care one way or the other about the life span of their trainees.

[ShadowLogan]

Someone on the Rifts Reddit was asking about how to make a lower-powered werewolf-like shifter, and my mind went wandering, and now I feel like I need to roll up yet another character I'll probably never use.

Well Dogboy isn't your only option (want to say also that it seems out of place for them). IIRC were-wolfs can't select an OCC (at least the ones in Canda can't). Race wise the most likely fit would be the Septumbran Witch Wolves D-Bee (WB30 pg177-9) with a full 25% of the 50% that practice magic being Shifter.

Wolfen (CB1r, PF2E) might also work for a low-powered werewolf-like race.

If shape-shifting is required perhaps a Zenith Moon Wrapper (WB12 or WB30) who has made a witch-pact, they have some magic spells automatically but they can't take an OCC. The witch-pact might have to be "home brew" though.

The only other Canine-like-Race that comes to mind is the Darkhound (WB12 or WB30), and they can't even touch magic, and the Arkhon (WB9) while they can it is presented as "might" as the practice/belief was "lost millennia ago".

Maybe a mutated wolf/canine either via ley lines (WB7 has ley line mutants for aquatics, which might provide some guidance here) or more mundane like HU/ATB mutant animals coming to Rifts Earth or a genetic engineering experiment (gene splicers, lonestar, south american powers) or magical experimentation. Or just roll up an alien from DB2/PW/HU and make some selections instead of rolling for them.

Your line of thinking parallels a lot of the replies on that reddit discussion. The OP was looking for a lower-power werewolf-like solution.

I know this character is out-of-place as a dog boy magic user, and that's kind of the point of the concept I'm going for: a freeborn who's a misfit among other dog boys and embraces the supernatural that most of them avoid. I'm just wondering if there are any particular synergies to exploit for a magic user who has exceptional abilities to track down other magic users, psychics, and the supernatural?

I suppose it could be useful in tracking down creatures who might make useful PPE sacrifices for high-cost ritual magic.

I did some checking recently, and the concept combination would seem to fall under the heading of "not possible" (maybe "improbable" would be more accurate) by RAW as per RUE pg147 in the DogBoy description (the most recent I have) states "Magic: None. Even most 'feral' and 'free born' Dog Boys tend to distrust and avoid magic and magic items, including weapons."

Personally I do think the wording here leaves a little bit of wiggle room, especially when factoring in mutation abnormalities for a genetic fluke resulting in a Magically inclined Dog-Boy (whom if it exists the CS likely would destroy so such an anomaly likely wouldn't be on the table).

I'm not sure about synergies for a magic user, but wouldn't such features combine well with a psychic Psi-Warrior or Psi-Slayer (WB12) class? I want to say Ley Line Walker (who gets additional sensing abilities) or maybe the CS "light" LLW Clone in WB11 (perhaps the CS transferred such an anomaly postulated previously to the this division). The only other thing that comes to mind is that the Dog-Boy "warped" the Shifter (or Summoner from PF2E) for the task (this class does attempt to put SN/CoM in its "place" so to speak) perhaps even with a custom "God" they made contact with (like a Canine God).

EDIT: Psi-Slayer is out (racial restrictions, though the Gene-Splicers might be able to make it work), but I think I did find an option for magic user: Japan's Demon Queller OCC (WB8).

[Hotrod]

Fair point on the Dog Boy description in RUE. I used the Lone Star p39 passage where it says, "Most mutant canines, male and females, have
an innate distaste for magic and avoid the mystic O.c.c.s."

"Most" and "avoid" are not absolute or exclusive words. That said, RUE is more recent... though it seems to duplicate the Dog Boy R.C.C. language in Lone Star.

[Warshield73]

Fair point on the Dog Boy description in RUE. I used the Lone Star p39 passage where it says, "Most mutant canines, male and females, have
an innate distaste for magic and avoid the mystic O.c.c.s."

"Most" and "avoid" are not absolute or exclusive words. That said, RUE is more recent... though it seems to duplicate the Dog Boy R.C.C. language in Lone Star.

This is how I run everything. If it says no, not possible, or anything like that than it's not allowed. If it says things like avoid or most than a player needs a really good backstory for it and I may not allow if it screws up a campaign.

A fun alternative would be a Dog Boy Priest of Xolotl (RCB2 pg 25). The god is described as visiting Lone Star, being interested in having mutant canines as worshipers, and has a focus in magic which could be reflected in his priests.

I created this a while ago. I had her set up as almost messiah like figure to a cult of escaped and freeborn dogboys working to bring down the CS and free the mutant animals. It is on my list of NPCs that I am reskinning into pre-gens for convention games.

[Marcethus]

Fair point on the Dog Boy description in RUE. I used the Lone Star p39 passage where it says, "Most mutant canines, male and females, have
an innate distaste for magic and avoid the mystic O.c.c.s."

"Most" and "avoid" are not absolute or exclusive words. That said, RUE is more recent... though it seems to duplicate the Dog Boy R.C.C. language in Lone Star.

This is how I run everything. If it says no, not possible, or anything like that than it's not allowed. If it says things like avoid or most than a player needs a really good backstory for it and I may not allow if it screws up a campaign.

This is how I also run things, and I can be really picky on what I consider 'good' backstory if I am hesitant to allow it.