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View Full Version : [D&D 3.5E] The Dark Ones and the Turned



RandomFellow
2009-04-02, 05:14 PM
I think these balance out to LA +0 (ignoring the Dark One's healing ability which is balanced out by the fact that the other races gain a similar ability).

Thoughts?

Dark Ones
Dark Ones are essentially vampires. They serve as a check on the servants of the Darkness that Devours and therefore are openly tolerated in those nearest to the Darkness. Everyone else quietly lets them move cargo between various islands of mortal beings but refuses to let them get closer than the border with the Fog.

An individual Dark One appears to be a normal member of a common race (e.g. Humans, Orcs, Elves).

* No Constitution Score, +2 Charisma
* Type: A Dark One is an Undead (Cold) creature with all the Traits of such a creature. (e.g. Darkvision 30', don't need to sleep, no constitution score, d12 HD for all class levels and racial HD)
* Dark One's Darkvision, unlike normal Undead, is only 30'.
* Medium: As Medium creatures, Dark Ones have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
* Dark Ones base land speed is 30 feet. They move at half speed, in all forms of movement, when exposed to natural sunlight.
* 1 extra feat at 1st level.
* Thirst: A Dark One must feed upon 1 pint of blood (directly from a sentient being, in other words an int score of 4 or more for the base type) per day or go 'rabid'. An uncooperative individual must be rendered helpless (or killed) before feeding as Dark Ones have no natural bite attack. This feeding does not inflict any sort of damage but a sentient being will need to be magically healed to give blood on a daily basis. A rabid Dark One will attempt to kill and drain the blood from any living thing they encounter. Blood from a corpse is only 'good' for the first 5 minutes after the individual is killed.
* Sunlight Vulnerability: Natural sunlight causes great pain to Dark Ones. If a Dark One is exposed to natural sunlight he must make a Fortitude save against DC 15 or lose 3 hp per round until it finds cover. In addition, a Dark One's natural defenses are greatly weakened in natural sunlight. They take twice the normal damage from all damage types (that they are not immune to, such as cold) when exposed to sunlight.
* Silver Vulnerability: Damage from silver weapons deal an additional 3 damage.
* Darkness is Light (Su): A being Dark One sees natural darkness as if it was natural daylight. And vice versa. The spell Daylight and similar effects are treated as Darkness effects for the Dark One. And vice versa. Non-magical light sources do not effect the Darkness's vision. (e.g. In Natural Sunlight the Touched by Darkness can only use his undead darkvision of 30' to see. He can't see an object, say, 31' away during the day.) During the Night (or outside of Natural Sunlight and/or Magical Light) the Touched by Darkness can see as if it was daytime.
* A Dark One is a being filled with negative energy. They have a negative energy pool, which refreshes daily, equal to their Charisma modifier. A Dark One may expend any number of points from their negative energy pool to gain fast healing 5 for a number of rounds equal to the number of points expended. Activating this ability is a move action.
* Automatic Language: Dark Speech. Bonus Languages: Any (other than secret languages, such as Druidic). See the Speak Language skill.

Creating A Turned

Turned is an acquired template that can be added to any humanoid. This template is gained by the willing consumption of a Dark One's blood after the Dark One in question has drunk some of your blood.

* Type: A Turned's type changes to Undead (Cold) creature with all the Traits of such a creature. (e.g. Darkvision 30', don't need to sleep, no constitution score, d12 HD for all class levels and racial HD)
* Dark One's Darkvision, unlike normal Undead, is only 30'.
* Stats: No Constitution score.
* Thirst: A Turned must feed upon 1 pint of blood (directly from a sentient being, in other words an int score of 4 or more for the base type) per day or go 'rabid'. An uncooperative individual must be rendered helpless (or killed) before feeding as Turned have no natural bite attack. This feeding does not inflict any sort of damage but a sentient being will need to be magically healed to give blood on a daily basis. A rabid Turned will attempt to kill and drain the blood from any living thing they encounter. Blood from a corpse is only 'good' for the first 5 minutes after the individual is killed.
* Sunlight Vulnerability: Natural sunlight causes great pain to Turned. If a Turned is exposed to natural sunlight he must make a Fortitude save against DC 15 or lose 3 hp per round until it finds cover. In addition, a Turned's natural defenses are greatly weakened in natural sunlight. They take twice the normal damage from all damage types (that they are not immune to, such as cold) when exposed to sunlight.
* Silver Vulnerability: Damage from silver weapons deal an additional 3 damage.
* Darkness is Light (Su): A being Turned sees natural darkness as if it was natural daylight. And vice versa. The spell Daylight and similar effects are treated as Darkness effects for the Turned. And vice versa. Non-magical light sources do not effect the Turned's vision. (e.g. In Natural Sunlight the Turned can only use his undead darkvision of 30' to see. He can't see an object, say, 31' away during the day.) During the Night (or outside of Natural Sunlight and/or Magical Light) the Turned can see as if it was daytime.

Pyrusticia
2009-04-04, 04:54 AM
I'm not the best at balancing, but these seem to be all right. You've got some nice advantages, but some distinct disadvantages, too. My only real concern is that most of the disadvantages center around daylight, which means that these guys might be overpowered in a campaign that didn't involve any daylight (for instance, one held in the Underdark). This is especially true for Darkness is Light:


* Darkness is Light (Su): A being Turned sees natural darkness as if it was natural daylight. And vice versa. The spell Daylight and similar effects are treated as Darkness effects for the Turned. And vice versa. Non-magical light sources do not effect the Turned's vision. (e.g. In Natural Sunlight the Turned can only use his undead darkvision of 60' to see. He can't see an object, say, 61' away during the day.) During the Night (or outside of Natural Sunlight and/or Magical Light) the Turned can see as if it was daytime.

This essentially means that if the character is in the Underdark, they have perfect vision at virtually all times, since unless I'm missing something, the first light spell with a radius over 60' is Sunburst, an 8th level spell. This might be considered a little strong for a LA 0 ability. It might be more reasonable to tone down their darkvision to 30', so that they are more easily blinded by light.

RandomFellow
2009-04-04, 12:36 PM
I'm not the best at balancing, but these seem to be all right. You've got some nice advantages, but some distinct disadvantages, too. My only real concern is that most of the disadvantages center around daylight, which means that these guys might be overpowered in a campaign that didn't involve any daylight (for instance, one held in the Underdark). This is especially true for Darkness is Light:

There is no Underdark. And going into places natural light doesn't reach is a very, very bad idea. Basically, this is for a homebrew where every sane person is afraid of dark places and for good reason.

But ya, if I was running it in some place like FR that might make sense.

The Dark Ones pretty much fit into 4 categories:
1) Ones who live in societies near the Darkness that Devours and serve as nighttime guardians against their opposite number (Touched by Darkness which have similar abilities).
2) Dark Ones acting as traders between cities.
3) Members of the Society of Blood who are waging a cold war with the Touched by Darkness and other CE creatures. They usually disguise what they are since they need to operate where they aren't welcome and practice makes perfect.
4) Raiders who sweep in at Night and wipe out entire villages. (Rare since most Dark Ones realize their long term survival is not in favor of hanging out with their fellow 'Hide in the Dark' folks. Dark Ones were created by a LN god, pretty much all the others were created by CE gods.)



This essentially means that if the character is in the Underdark, they have perfect vision at virtually all times, since unless I'm missing something, the first light spell with a radius over 60' is Sunburst, an 8th level spell. This might be considered a little strong for a LA 0 ability. It might be more reasonable to tone down their darkvision to 30', so that they are more easily blinded by light.
"The spell Daylight and similar effects are treated as Darkness effects for the Dark One" So Darkvision wouldn't let them see through any Light-type spell (including the Light cantrip). But I shrunk their Darkvision anyway. :P I'll just use the 'Daylight or higher' interpretation rather than my original one.

RandomFellow
2009-04-06, 03:24 PM
I'll give this its once in 48 hours bump. :P