Why? This seems like a fine size for green. Does it need the drawback?

Just a paint more and you have Leatherback Baloth.

I don't know... 3/4 for 1GG without a drawback seems pretty damn good. I do admit, though, this restriction is a bit steep. Compare to Skittering Horror. I get the impression this bear should be a 4/4...

3/4 for is probably spot on as a vanilla these days. Remember used to get you Trained Armodon, but then they obsoleted that with Nessian Courser / Centaur Courser; I think adding +0/+1 for one paint is fine, especially given SM's point that another paint gives you a 4/5.

What if it was a ?

I mean I agree a 1GG for a 3/4 isn't overly strong, but this is a common...I don't know if I'd be okay with a straight up 3/4 for 3 cmc at common.

Well, you have to look at what this card is doing in both constructed and limited.

In constructed, commonality doesn't mean as much. In fact, good business cards that are either common or uncommon are desired, since they make good budget places to center one's deck around, and make fine FNM Promo cards. When looking at how your card looks in constructed, you need to keep in mind that it will be compared to some of the best cards that exist. Players must not only pass on using respected powerhouses like Viridian Shaman and Kitchen Finks, but the card is also competing with the usual 'fun' cards that people enjoy playing: Primal Forcemage, Imperious Perfect and Awakener Druid to name a few. This is an arguable statement, but since the ability is clearly in Spike's wheelhouse, you should realize that you are courting Spike, and respond in accordance.

In limited, however, this card is a very different creature. Except for some extreme crafted environments, you're almost guaranteed to have another creature in play when attacking with this creature... assuming that you weren't actively working around the drawback. The fact that this creature dies when you have 5 creatures on the table is suddenly relevant, where before, it was laughable. Normally, you need to cut back on the power level of commons in limited in order to make an environment fun, but you happened to have stumbled upon one of the very rare "better in 60 card decks" design spaces. You still have to be careful... you don't want to push this card so hard that you break draft... but you can push this card. Put another way, I would draft Gorilla Warrior over this card. I'd rather guarantee my 3 damage, and keep playing than try to work around this restriction in limited.

After talking about all this, I realize that there's one option that nobody mentioned, that makes a lot of sense with this card design: Pull it out of common. What you have here is a very good uncommon card design. It's not the sort of card you want to put 6 of in your draft deck, so don't give people that option. If you put it in uncommon, however, it probably could be a 4/4, 4/3 or 3/4 which still raises questions about constructed and still raises eyebrows in limited, but doesn't keep asking the same annoying question.