I Swear It's Not a Highlander Reference [Template]

[The Demented One]

Ageless
The Ageless are creatures imbued with almost limitless lifeforce. While they can die just as any other creature, they are amazingly hardy. Their skin turns asides blades, flame and spells, and they have all but conquered the slow death of age. The Ageless seem no different from other creatures of their kind. There are three ways to become an Ageless, detailed below.

Creating An Ageless
Ageless is an acquired template that can be added to any corporeal, living creature.

Size and Type
Size and type remain unchanged.

Armor Class
An Ageless’s natural armor bonus to AC increases by 5.

Special Qualities
An Ageless retains all the special qualities of the base creature and also gains the following qualities.

* Damage reduction: 1/- (If HD 6 or less), 3/- (If HD 7-11), or 5/- (If HD 12+)
* Immunity to non-magical poisons and diseases
* Resistance 5 to all energy types (If HD 6 or less), 10 to all energy types, (If HD 7-11), or 15 to all energy types (If HD 12+)
* Spell resistance equal to creature’s HD + 10 (maximum 35).

Improved Healing (Ex)
An Ageless heals 1 point of damage per level every hour rather than every day. (This ability cannot be aided by the Heal skill.) Nonlethal damage heals at a rate of 1 point of damage per level every 5 minutes. If an Ageless loses a limb, an organ, or any other body part, it is regenerated, as the spell, after 1d10 minutes.

Long-Lived (Ex)
While the Ageless die of old age, their lives can span centuries. An Ageless does not take penalties from aging, though any penalties accrued before the template is gained remain. In addition, his maximum age is ten times greater the normal maximum age of his race.

Abilities
Increase from the base creature as follows: Con +6

Challenge Rating
HD 5 or less, as base creature +1; HD 6 to 10, as base creature +2; HD 11 or more, as base creature +3.

Level Adjustment
Same as base creature +4.

Becoming an Ageless
There are three ways to become an Ageless. The first is to be born to an Ageless. The child of an Ageless and a mortal has a 1% chance to born as an Ageless, while the percentage rises to 20% for the child of two Ageless.

The second is through the use of the excise death spell or psionic excise death power, as detailed below. The third way is through use of the chalice of life triumphant, an artifact detailed below.

Excise Death
Conjuration and Transmutation [Healing]
Level: Clr 9, Drd 9, Sor/Wiz 9
Components: V, S, XP
Casting Time: 24 hours
Range: Touch
Target: Corporeal, living creature touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates (harmless)
Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless)

You overload the target’s body with life energy, transforming him into an Ageless. He immediately gains a +4 level adjustment, increasing the amount of xp needed for him to reach his next experience level.

XP Cost:
25,000 xp. In addition to the XP cost you must pay, the target of this spell must also pay the XP cost, assuming he fails his save.

Psionic Excise Death
Psychometabolism
Level: Psion/Wilder 9
Display: Olfacotry
Power Points: 17, XP

As excise death, except as above.

Chalice of Life Triumphant
The Chalice of Life Triumphant is a massive cup three feet in height carved from a single giant diamond. Once per decade, any corporeal living creature who drinks from the chalice after filling it with life-charged water gathered from the Positive Energy Plane becomes an Ageless, as the excise death spell.

Overwhelming Conjuration and Transmutation, CL 21st. Major Artifact.

[Fizban]

I take it you mean for it to be possible to kill them normally, just really difficult?

[Abd al-Azrad]

God, I love those bonuses! Sign me up today! I wanna be immortal!

DR 5, Energy resist 15, immunity to poison, +5 AC, good SR, and immunity to Vorpal attacks (your head gets immediately Regenerated when it is removed)!

[The Demented One]

I take it you mean for it to be possible to kill them normally, just really difficult?
Yep.


and immunity to Vorpal attacks (your head gets immediately Regenerated when it is removed)!
Not quite. Can't regenerate if you're dead.

[Abd al-Azrad]

Not quite. Can't regenerate if you're dead.

I know. I was just hoping. :'(

...I still wanna be one. Think I've accumulated 25K XP yet in my life?

[The Demented One]

I know. I was just hoping. :'(

...I still wanna be one. Think I've accumulated 25K XP yet in my life?
Forget that. You know the holy grail's really just a chalice of life triumphant? Find yourself that, and you're good to go.

[Abd al-Azrad]

Forget that. You know the holy grail's really just a chalice of life triumphant? Find yourself that, and you're good to go.


Really? Sweet! I've got, like, four of those already! Immortality, here I come!

...what the... this is Mountain Dew!

[ghost_warlock]

Really? Sweet! I've got, like, four of those already! Immortality, here I come!

...what the... this is Mountain Dew!
LOL! I'm pretty sure he said "life triumphant," not "eternal torment!"

[Fizban]

Yay, now we have an explanation for why casters always live for hundreds of years for no reason!
As in, it's always something like "magic makes it happen", but now we have the spell and template that tells us how.

[The Demented One]

Yay, now we have an explanation for why casters always live for hundreds of years for no reason!
As in, it's always something like "magic makes it happen", but now we have the spell and template that tells us how.
I really see this not as a caster template. If a caster was to use this on himself, he'd gain a +4 LA and have to spend 50,000 xp--yikes! This is more something where a noble warrior seeks out a wizened archmage or powerful artifact hoping to become immortal--think Gilgamesh and Utnapishnim, or Arthur and the Grail.

[Fizban]

I really see this not as a caster template. If a caster was to use this on himself, he'd gain a +4 LA and have to spend 50,000 xp--yikes! This is more something where a noble warrior seeks out a wizened archmage or powerful artifact hoping to become immortal--think Gilgamesh and Utnapishnim, or Arthur and the Grail.

Well, sure, it's horrible for a PC, but what about the 1000 year old NPC? Not that the DM needs a reason, but now there's a template that can explain it, an it feels more legit cause the players could do it too if they wanted. Course, it'd still probly be a rare spell, requiring you to research it based on rumors or learn it from the oldest wizened sages.

Hey, you could make it into a caster PrC. It'd have to lose some casting levels, but it'd be better than going GSA, at least this way you get to keep your humanity.

[Lord Iames Osari]

MitP Vote: Yes

[LordOfNarf]

Well, sure, it's horrible for a PC, but what about the 1000 year old NPC? Not that the DM needs a reason, but now there's a template that can explain it, an it feels more legit cause the players could do it too if they wanted. Course, it'd still probly be a rare spell, requiring you to research it based on rumors or learn it from the oldest wizened sages.

Hey, you could make it into a caster PrC. It'd have to lose some casting levels, but it'd be better than going GSA, at least this way you get to keep your humanity.

Or you "discover' it through "independent research" at 17th level (Yes, the rules are broken)

MitP Vote: Yes

[Randomman413]

Ver, very nice.

MitP Vote: Yes

[Brickwall]

Perhaps you dould add a Material Component: blood of royalty, which must be imbibed by the spell target. If the target has royal blood, this may be ignored. This is not easily found, and has no market price.

[I_Got_This_Name]

Wouldn't it be an Acquired or Inherited Template if you can, y'know, acquire it?

[Brickwall]

As opposed to what? Those are the only two ways to get templates anyway. You acquire them or inherit them. No other way.

[Lord Iames Osari]

As opposed to being only inherited, I think.

[Fizban]

As for the royal blood requirement: one, that's not too hard. Any wizard worth his salt could get a hole of that with a little work (doesn't have to be the king, just a nice lesser noble), and two: if I'm reading it right, the caster will pay 50,000xp (25k to cast+25k for being the target). And gain a +4 level adjustment. I don't have my PHB handy, but what level will you have 50 thousand xp handy without losing a level?

[Brickwall]

Bleh, I meant nobility as in king, queen, prince, or princess. It should be that. Dukes and such don't count. They don't have the blood of kings inside them.

[Lord Iames Osari]

Bleh, I meant nobility as in king, queen, prince, or princess. It should be that. Dukes and such don't count. They don't have the blood of kings inside them.

Some of 'em do. In some cases, that's why they're Dukes in the first place.

[I_Got_This_Name]

Also, the Chalice is a bit hard to work. The Energy Planes are empty voids; they don't even have atmospheres, but provide pressure by the sheer amount of life/death in them.

That said, they are inner planes, and the Elemental Planes have pockets of other, even opposing, elements in them. It's not inconceivable that there would be a water pocket on the PeP. Still, having to find a pocket of another element in an energy plane makes it nigh-impossible, and artifacts that only work once/decade should be more easy to work, I think.

I don't have any suggestions for exactly what to replace it with, though. Ordinary water doesn't really work.

[The Demented One]

Also, the Chalice is a bit hard to work. The Energy Planes are empty voids; they don't even have atmospheres, but provide pressure by the sheer amount of life/death in them.

That said, they are inner planes, and the Elemental Planes have pockets of other, even opposing, elements in them. It's not inconceivable that there would be a water pocket on the PeP. Still, having to find a pocket of another element in an energy plane makes it nigh-impossible, and artifacts that only work once/decade should be more easy to work, I think.

I don't have any suggestions for exactly what to replace it with, though. Ordinary water doesn't really work.
3.5 has moved away from the "total void" approach to the energy planes, so there's nothing saying you couldn't have a fountain of life-charged water deep within the Positive Energy Plane. In addition, now that the Quasi-Elemental Plane of Steam is described as a border region between the Positive Energy Plane and the Plane of Water, you could potentially travel there and collect some of the mist, which could then be condensed into water.

[I_Got_This_Name]

The 3.5 DMG says nothing about it having any terrain; it's a subjective gravity plane, and none of those have any significant ground in them. I was going by the 3.0 MotP, because it gives a page (at a minimum) to each plane, anyway, and flavor updates straight across.

The plane of Steam works, though.

[The Demented One]

The 3.5 DMG says nothing about it having any terrain; it's a subjective gravity plane, and none of those have any significant ground in them. I was going by the 3.0 MotP, because it gives a page (at a minimum) to each plane, anyway, and flavor updates straight across.
Yes, but several sites in the Positive Energy Plane have been detailed in other sources, such as Magic of Incarnum's Bastion of Souls.

[Leperflesh]

The spells do something you can't even accomplish with a Wish. I think they should be epic-level, even with that XP cost.

DnD rules make it very, very difficult to live beyond your natural age, sub-Epic. I think they do it for a reason, so this makes me a bit nervous.

Also, the english pedant in me dislikes the name - these folks are not immortal, if their lifespans are simply increased a set amount. They are and remain mortal. Maybe call them Long-Lived, or Gilgameshes, or something?

-Lep

[ShipWrecked]

Maybe call them Long-Lived, or Gilgameshes, or something?
lol

can see this in a few campaigns, looks fun names all wrong, like he said cant be immortal if you can die.

MITP VOTE: YES

[The Demented One]

The spells do something you can't even accomplish with a Wish. I think they should be epic-level, even with that XP cost.

DnD rules make it very, very difficult to live beyond your natural age, sub-Epic. I think they do it for a reason, so this makes me a bit nervous.
Seeing as there is a LA +0 race that actually is immortal, I think it's fine.


Also, the english pedant in me dislikes the name - these folks are not immortal, if their lifespans are simply increased a set amount. They are and remain mortal. Maybe call them Long-Lived, or Gilgameshes, or something?
-Lep
Perhaps Ageless would work better?

[ShipWrecked]

Seeing as there is a LA +0 race that actually is immortal, I think it's fine.

Perhaps Ageless would work better?
which race is this O.o

[Lord Iames Osari]

Two, actually. Elans (XPH) and Warforged (Eberron).

[ShipWrecked]

Two, actually. Elans (XPH) and Warforged (Eberron).
but the warforged can technically "die" in some way right? wether it be run down break down etc.

[The Demented One]

but the warforged can technically "die" in some way right? wether it be run down break down etc.
Yes, but not by aging.

[LordOfNarf]

Yeah, immortal, but by blade or bow.

Don't forget the killoren (RotW) get that too, and they don't even get venerable, should thay choose, I can't remember their LA right now, but ist low.

[Caelestion]

I think this is an interesting idea. I'm not sure that it's worth +4 - maybe only +3. It does however seem to be very useful.

[Leperflesh]

Well, I guess if there is precedent for avoiding death by picking another race...

Still don't like it. But OK.

Like the name (Ageless). It's the sort of thing other (mortal) races might call them.

MitP Vote: Yes

-Lep

[StickMan]

10 times the age is not that much for a human it only takes you up to like a 1000 years. Normal elfs live longer. I would just make them imortal it offers no real in game benift.

[Leperflesh]

It does make one important difference, though, StickMan: if members of the race are truly immortal, then there should be members of that race around who are thousands of years old. There might even be members who were there when their race was first created. And they've been learning things and levelling up all this time? It begs certain questions. Like why the earth hasn't become covered with them, if they have any kind of normal reproductive capability.

Not that these questions are insurmountable, of course; but they do have to be addressed, so, that can make a difference.

-Lep

[The Vorpal Tribble]

Very cool template. Had to pick on this though ;)


Psionic Excise Death
Psychometabolism
Level: Psion/Wilder 9
Display: Olfactory

[The Demented One]

Very cool template. Had to pick on this though ;)

Huh?

[Luircin]

Huh?



So what's the smell of someone becoming "immortal"?

[The Demented One]

Ah. It smells, in my mind, like death. Their very mortality is taken from their body, and its grave-scent lingers in the air.

[LordOfNarf]

I could never understand why there was even bothered to wast the ink on Olafactory displays, its got to be one of the most useless things to note.

[Bob_the_Mighty]

MitP vote: Yes

[Zombie pixe]

nice Template :smallsmile:

[EvilElitest]

This is one of my favorite by far
from
EE

[jagadaishio]

I call shenanigans on this act of thread necromancy.

[Solo]

Good template, but it needs just one limitation to it.



THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!

[Fortuna]

Brilliant concept!

Can someone explain to me the meaning of MiTP?

[LordZarth]

Brilliant concept!

Can someone explain to me the meaning of MiTP?

EDIT: Oops, I didn't realize you were new! The post below explains well.

I do find it hilarious that this thread was subject to thread necromancy. :smallbiggrin:

[RTGoodman]

Random_person, you're new here, so here's some advice: Read the Forum Rules (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/announcement.php?a=1) (they're at the top of every page), and especially this part:



Please Don’t
These are offenses that will not typically result in an Infraction or banning upon the first offense, thus being issued as Warnings. However, repeated violations will eventually result in an Infraction. In some cases a Mod may edit a post or post an in thread message saying “Please don’t do that,” or (more likely) issue you a Warning under the "Please Don't" category. Please Don’t offenses have a 6 month expiration, and are worth 25 points when issued as an Infraction.

[...]

Thread Necromancy
Bringing a thread back from “the dead.” If a thread has fallen to page three and hasn’t been posted in for a month and a half, don’t post to it. Start a new topic if you want to discuss the subject.

So, check the dates on threads before you post.

[Fortuna]

Ok. Sorry. Won't happen again. <averts eyes in abject shame>