[@ELGainsborough] I know I sound like a broken record here, but it will be up tonight (aka a few hours). I wasn't satisfied with what I had written before, and ended up re-writing the entire thing. I feel like it's much more in depth now, so hopefully it'll be able to answer as many questions as possible when people decide whether or not they want to join. Plus, it has some more races, so that's fun I think.

[@Bishop] I'm fairly certain those won't be options, for the most part. Teleportation, or any sort of instant travel, is not something I plan to incorporate. In my experience, it opens up way too many loopholes in stories, and I'd rather it just stayed out of the picture entirely. 

As for the animals, I will be including a magic school that includes altering the minds of creatures. Though, like any magic, it won't be permanent. It would last a couple hours at most. I also don't plan to include much physical alteration, such as turning invisible, or, as you suggested, adding spikes. I've been considering shapeshifting as a school, but that would ultimately lean more toward characters who want to use the shape of a pre-existing creature, for whatever purpose, like moving faster or something. It would also require vast knowledge of how that creature works, so the person can't just morph all willy-nilly.

That being said, however, if you want to play some sort of hunter, or ranger, or outdoorsy type, I have no qualms with that person having an animal buddy, similar to Drizzt Do'Urden or Minsc from the Forgotten Realms universe.