New Race: Draeman [PEACH]

[Legoman]

The Draeman are a new race of dragonkin that I'm creating as an enemy for my next campaign. Please analyze and critique honestly; I'm going for one of these things as a fighter 2 being a formidable challege for 5 Level 3 characters with high, but organically rolled stats.

This is my first new race, so if I've grossly missed the mark or power-level, please let me know.

Draeman Racial Traits:

Hit Dice: 2d8
+2 STR, +4 Con, -2 INT, -2 CHA ; Draeman are powerful and reslient, and their strength is in their sheer physical prowess, not intelligence or cunning.
Medium: As Medium creatures, Draeman have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Draeman base speed is 40 ft, with most of a Draeman's strength in it's legs, it moves faster than normal speed.
Natual Armor Bonus: +6 (Draeman have hard, scaly skin and a wiry musculature underneath.)
Natural Weapons: A Drawman has four claws, two on each hand. The claws are treated as one for the purpose of attacks. A sucessful melee attack (with one pair of claws[IE: One hand]) deals 2d6 + Str Bonus
Feats: Draeman get a bonus feat at first level.
Skills – Draeman have a +2 racial bonus on jump checks, due to their proportionally larger legs.
Languages – Draconic. Bonus Languages: any.
Favored Class: Fighter.
Level Adjustment: +2



Sample monster:

Skarrak, Blackened Claw (Lieutenant) of the Draeman Legion.

CR 5
Fighter 1, Monstrous Humanoid (2 HD)

HP: 33 (10 [fighter]+ 8[racial] +12[CON Bonus] +3 [Toughness Feat])

AC: 25 (10+6 [Natural Armor] +1 [Dex Bonus] +8[Plate Mail])
DR: 4/-- (Roll with it Feat, taken twice [Savage Species])
Initiative +0
Speed (40 Ft)
Base Attack: +2
Attack: Claw +5 Melee (2d6 +3)
Full Attack: 2 claws +5 Melee (2d6+3)
Saves: +7 Fort, +2 Ref, +0 Will
Abilities: STR 16, DEX 13, CON 20, WIS 8, INT 8, CHA 8.

Feats: Toughness, Roll with it, Roll with it.

Gear:

Full Plate, Necklace of Fireballs Type 1, Cloak of Resistance +1.

Tactics:

Skarrak has been sent specifically to deal with the party, so he will attempt to get the drop on the party and engage them from a distance.

Round 1: Use the 5d6 fireball to attempt to drop the party's caster, or whoever poses the biggest threat.

Round 2-3: Close to melee, and attack whoever looks the most un-damaged.

Round 4: If all members of the party look within range of death, Skarrak breaks from melee and uses his second fireball to attempt to drop multiple members.

Round 5: Claw down whoever is standing.

Skarrak is determined to fulfill his mission or die trying. However, if he does fall on the battlefield, his body will likely be rescued, and his conciousness spliced into an arrakki construct, to get revenge.

[BelkarsDagger]

I'd say make it a LA +3, +6 Natural Armor is alot.

[Gyrfalcon]

I'd suggest adding monsterous humanoid levels to the LA you gave them - as it is, they're more powerful then I think their LA warrants.

Something to note is that when a species has one HD, their HD is generally replaced with their first class level.

1) Int and Cha are dump stats anyway for fighter-types, so dumping those for equal bonuses to Str and Con is in this race's favor
2) They have a natural speed of 40ft, which goes to 50ft if you roll one as a barbarian.
3)Their natural armor bonus is pretty high - better then an Amulet of Natural Armor could provide.
4)Their natural weapons preclude the need for weapons. Each attack does as much damage as a greatsword, and they get two attacks.
5)They also get a free feat - in addition to the one as a first level character and the one as a fighter.

Your example creature is decent, but giving it wealth as an ECL4 character would make it much more dangerous - slapping fullplate on it would bring its AC up to 25 for example.

[ghost_warlock]

Technically, critters with only a single racial hit die lose that HD when they take their first class level.

BTW - lizardfolk have +5 natural armor and have 3 natural attacks (2 claws and bite) and are only LA +1 with 2 racial HD. Statistically, and physiologically, the two races are very similar. Compare (http://d20srd.org/srd/monsters/lizardfolk.htm)

The claw attack mechanics are kind of funky - they attack with both hands as one attack? Otherwise, I'd up the racial HD to 2 and drop the LA to +1.

[Gyrfalcon]

Lizard folk don't hit for 2d6 though.

I'd say 2 racial HD and +2 LA.

[Fizban]

2 claw attacks for 2d6 each? crazy. LA +3, maybe with 2 manditory racial hit die.
Edit: ^ said LA+2 and 2 hit die, sounds good.

[Legoman]

Alright, original post edited. He's CR 5 now due to the hit-die increase, totes Full Plate, A necklace of fireballs, and a cloak of resistance to attempt to protect him from Will-save based attacks.

Everyone think this would be a hard, but fair fight? With an AC of 25 and DR 4/--, I can't imagine this guy being easy to take out, especially since he hits like a truck. On the flip side, the abyssmal will save means that the casters on the party have the possibility of messing him up with fear effects and the like.

[Gyrfalcon]

I'd say it's going to be a major problem for them honestly. At level 3, a fighter has +3 BAB, +3 from Str, guessing, +1 Weapon Focus.

so +7 to hit, maybe +8 with a +1 weapon, so they'll need to roll 17-20 to hit.

As you suggested, the casters have the best chance against it, but there's a halfway decent chance that the spellcasters will go down, dead or dying with the first fireball in an ambush. (5d6 - average damage 17.5, casters would have 12-20 HP at this level), so if you roll at all high for the fireball, most of the casters will be down or in serious need of healing.

If you want to test it, if you have access to your player's character sheets, run it with yourself playing both sides and see how many people go down - if this is a boss battle, you probably want at least one down but not dead, and that's a fine line to tread.

[Legoman]

I guess the problem isn't the race then, it's the equipment.

If I drop the full plate, then it's roughly 50/50 hit chance, and if I drop the necklace of fireballs, then the casters aren't likely to get toasted first round.

Should I give this guy any equpment at all? If so, what would be good? Maybe not run it against them until the party's level 4?