Would anyone like to possibly help me find a way to turn my race of shape shifters, the animagi, into a player class for a DnD game? I play under v3.5 rules, so that is obviously preferred. If you've read my story "Leaving the Pack" you know a bit about the animagi, if you haven't read it then shame on you. For convenience I will post a short description for those of you who haven't read it.

I'm aware a level adjustment would be required, no doubt about it, I've tried working out a 'monster' class using the doppelganger as a reference, but would much rather have a single HD race easily usable as a player race. A +3-4 LA though makes that a little hard to pull off. I've even tinkered with the idea of making animagi a class for DnD purposes, but it is too close to a druid with pure focus on wild shape with no spell casting, so most would probably choose druid anyway I would think..

As promised though, here is a paragraph describing the race; On the surface these proud forest dwellers appear human in every way, the only tell-tale difference being that every animagi has black hair streaked with silver, and many of the other races assume they were nothing more than uncivilized humans afraid of change. In actuality though, the animagi are much much more than human, they are shape shifters, more specifically, they all possess the extraordinary ability to assume the form and ability of any animal. This means that an animagi who assumes the form of a falcon gains the bird's amazing eye sight as well as the ability to fly, and one taking the form of a cheetah could run just as fast as any other cheetah, and one taking the form of a spider or scorpion would be able to poison those who threatened him with a bite or sting. Not only that, but an animagi can communicate perfectly with any animal while in the form of the same species, birds with birds, felines with felines, and so forth. It was these amazing abilities that had caused the animagi to go into a self imposed exile many, many generations ago, seeing their gift as a blessing from the powers of nature and change, but having the foresight to know that humanity is a jealous race and would be envious of these abilities, perhaps even afraid of them and seeing them as monsters. So for many ages the animagi have lived on the edge of an ever expanding human culture, moving as required to stay hidden for the most part, and the majority of them are more than happy to live this life.
basically, racial wild shape ability usable at will, probably a skill bonus to listen and spot similar to elves, I don't know if class restrictions would help with the LA at all, but no animagi takes levels in druid, EVER. The animagi gains the animal's physical scores (STR, DEX, CON) while keeping his/her own mental scores (INT, WIS, CHA). This translates to changes in HP, attack bonuses, AC, etc..
The animagi gains any special qualities, attacks, or skills of the animal, including but not limited to fly speed, swim speed, burrowing, scent, etc. The wild shape is not limited to what the MM calls animals either, this includes many mundane 'vermin' as well, spiders, scorpions, and other bugs as well but excludes dinosaurs and dire animals, as well as a couple other animals that aren't exactly natural. I'm thinking no ability bonuses, but perhaps a -2 penalty to CHA simply because they are a reclusive race and very naive/uneducated in the ways of most other races. (penalty with no countering bonus may even help lower the LA a bit). Favored class of Ranger, animagi train as hunters at a young age, though it is not uncommon for animagi to take levels as clerics of nature gods, arcane casters, and even the occasional barbarian.

I saw an article on playing as a lycanthrope in the most recent Kobold mag. I'll take a look at it again and see what I can make of it, since I just kinda skimmed it the other night.

You might want to use a name that J.K. Rowling hasn't used.

First of all, hello Wolf (or Raven, as the case may be). I don't think I've said hello before, but I've seen you around.

Introductions over, I can echo your plaintive cry ("Probably can't be done,") with a group of people that was originally a race, but then seemed more like class, and then shifted into a grey area, of mine. I suppose this just proves that Shapeshifters are one of humanity's more common fascinations.

My 'group of people' that I wanted to bring into D&D (let's call them the Asura for now, since that's what I used to call them) have the ability to transform into a single animal (the idea is that it is their 'spirit animal') based on what kind of person they were. Originally they were going to be a race that were essentially natural lycanthropes minus DR, curse, and alignment tendencies, but then I fell into and decided that I liked the idea of regular people being able to acquire these powers. Right now they sit in a grey area without even a name while I clarify a few things with them. Well, that's my story.

As for your Animagi, I don't have a whole lot of advice built up from my time hitting the Asuras with wrenches. Given that druids have to wait 5 levels before gaining the power to change into one of any animal for a few hours, a race that allows you to turn into an animal at any time would give them a serious advantage. Perhaps they begin with relatively low shifting power and build it up as they level up (which then makes it seem more like a class).

One way you could do things is by making Animagus a template that you can apply to humanoids that give them steadily increasing abilities to change their form the way Half-Celestials gain spell-like abilities (though again, we're talking a high level adjustment here). Come to think of it, the difference between the template and the race ideas is only that one involves multitudes of base creatures... so maybe scratch that, unless you think you like it.

If you have a way to access a Monster Manual II (3.5), I'd look up the Grimalkin. They are a small-sized cat-like creature that can assume the form of a medium-or-smaller animal (or a few other types, with errata eliminating humanoid forms, I think). Perhaps this could give you a few insights.

Anyway, to me, it sounds like a specially flavoured Druid-y class that focuses on minor shapeshifting, growing into more powerful forms (and perhaps bonuses to those forms' physical abilities so that the class isn't stuck with the Str of a CR 2 creature when at 20th level) sounds like the way to go, if indeed it can be done. They'd probably loose most if not all of their magical ability to not overpower the Druid class. Another thing to look into (if you haven't)
would be the Master of Many Forms (I forget which book, I think it's in the Complete Adventurer or Complete Warrior books) which gives a Druid the ability to focus on a much large cache of formes.

Oh yeah, and I remember seeing somewhere another PrC that gave a character with a high enough BAB (+7 I think) and who is primitive-orieted enough the ability to take on a single primitive-ish animal (DM's discretion: Dinosaur, Dire animal) into which it can 'Wild Shape' a couple times/day, but who can add the animal's scores onto their own (i.e., if they choose a beastie with 15 Str, they get +4 Str, which is good since the class is aimed at characters with already good psycial stats who wouldn't be happy about loosing a 16 Str to shift). The class focused on those who 'harkened back to their baser, more primitive and wilder sides' which gave them the ability to get hairy.

Anyway, I have probably timed out of the inn by now, but those are my thoughts. Good luck making your Animagi!

Thanks for the kind words, and I figured it would be hard to pull off without insane level adjustments, so I wasn't expecting anything huge out of this request.

As for the name, I've had this idea in my head for a very, very long time, well before Harry Potter came along I'd wager, because for the longest time I dreamed of being a game designer, for years I did nothing but think up characters, their stories, abilities, and other pertinent information. The character of Raven (my old namesake) was one such character, animagi started in my head as more of a spell caster (kinda like FF's Blue mage, but with shape shifting) than a race, but has evolved into a race over time.

Ironic, off topic fact, my dream to be a game designer is actually what got me started on DnD, my father, who used to play DnD when he was younger, suggested that I first try to translate my ideas into a table top game like DnD. Not putting my ideas into DnD, but making a new game with my ideas, it never went anywhere mind you, as I never seem to have the time to get anything else worked out, and as such I've decided to settle for trying to find a way to bring my favorite creation into my favorite past time...