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View Full Version : Immortality at Level One [3.5]



Baron Corm
2009-04-26, 12:51 AM
The title says it all. I'm looking for all of the ways to become immortal at level 1. There should not be any sort of experience loss involved. Note that I'm not talking about invincibility, or immunity to damage. I'm just talking about a lack of death from old age.

People sometimes cite the elan as being immortal, but after looking at the XPH they seem to have actual lifespans of 1000 + 1d100 years stated. Warforged are currently the only race I can think of.

The Glyphstone
2009-04-26, 12:54 AM
The XPH is a misprint I believe, the erratta fixed the Elans to have no maximum age.

Frosty
2009-04-26, 12:56 AM
Yeah go warforged. They are awesome

Kylarra
2009-04-26, 12:57 AM
Becoming a PC guarantees you immortality from death from old age.


:smallwink:


Taken to its logical conclusion, you'll either be dead or reach virtual godhood by the end of a year or two in-game time, so as far as old-age is concerned, you're immortal, since it is a non-factor barring DM fiat.

chiasaur11
2009-04-26, 01:02 AM
Yeah go warforged. They are awesome

Yes.

I mean, magic robots.

What's not to dig? Atomic Robo your way through life.

Baron Corm
2009-04-26, 01:03 AM
Just checked the errata, and you seem to be right. It's good that I have two options now, but I'm still looking for more. The current two options both have Charisma penalties, which means I'm a bit limited in class choices.

Tempest Fennac
2009-04-26, 01:11 AM
Killorens, detailed on page 43 of http://crystalkeep.com/d20/rules/DnD3.5Index-Races.pdf , reach Adult, Middle and Old ages at 10, 30 and 100 respectively, but they don't age beyond the Old catagory so they are immportal. They also lack any stat penalties or bonuses and they get some neat racial abilities.

Jack_Simth
2009-04-26, 01:12 AM
Just checked the errata, and you seem to be right. It's good that I have two options now, but I'm still looking for more. The current two options both have Charisma penalties, which means I'm a bit limited in class choices.

There's a lot of creatures that don't have aging tables - most of them have level adjustments, though.

Lycanthromancer
2009-04-26, 01:15 AM
Any (non-native) outsider. Neraphs, for example.

Though I don't recall if native outsiders have limited lifespans, or not...

Also, undead. Necropolitans, for example. If you start at level 3 and lose a level, then 1000 xp, you'll be back at level 1, and you'll never expire of old age.

AgentPaper
2009-04-26, 01:17 AM
I believe pun-pun is available at level 1, now, through use of pazuzu. If pazuzu and/or sarrukhs not in the setting, though, you're limited to the omniscifier. The latter gets bonus points for having literally infinite skills instead of pun-pun's mere near-infinite amount, though some interpretations of pun-pun allow him to make up his own abilities, which could include abilities that give him literally infinite amounts of things.

...Oh, wait, you just want to live forever? Well that's boring. :smalltongue:

Tempest Fennac
2009-04-26, 01:18 AM
Native Outsiders have set lifespans. I think the Planar Handbook gave ageing guidlines and maximum ages for the new races in the book which are full Outsiders, which is odd.

Baron Corm
2009-04-26, 01:45 AM
I remember looking at killoren a while ago and thinking they were pretty cool. Their racial abilities are a bit underwhelming though. The smite would be REALLY useful for the Charisma-based character I can't make with elans and warforged... if only it wasn't limited to 1/hour. They still have some good flavor behind them though, I like them.

Neraphim are a really good find, too. All of these immortal races seem to have great flavor. The denying Dexterity thing is awesome from both mechanical and flavor perspectives, and +2 natural armor for +0 LA is really good. If only they didn't, for some reason, look exactly like slaads. That makes me feel kind of not unique. I guess the designers poured all their awesome into the other aspects.

Necropolitan is no good, I actually was trying to avoid someone saying them with the "no experience loss involved" statement in my OP, heh.

Keep 'em comin', if there's any more. Thanks for the races so far.

Tempest Fennac
2009-04-26, 01:53 AM
Have you considered homebrewing a race if you had very specific requirements? Fluffwise, they could be Elans who use magic rather then Psionics to become immortal, or they could be another type of Outsider. (I can help with this if you're not that good at making races.)

Ganurath
2009-04-26, 01:59 AM
*looks at Aasimars and Tieflings*

Do Outsiders age?

Xefas
2009-04-26, 02:03 AM
Neraphim are a really good find, too. All of these immortal races seem to have great flavor. The denying Dexterity thing is awesome from both mechanical and flavor perspectives, and +2 natural armor for +0 LA is really good. If only they didn't, for some reason, look exactly like slaads. That makes me feel kind of not unique. I guess the designers poured all their awesome into the other aspects.


Not Unique? You're from Limbo, the D&D equivalent of a plane-sized /b/ board. There's not a single thing your character could possibly do that would make them more unique than being born in the plane of pure chaos made manifest.

Tempest Fennac
2009-04-26, 02:04 AM
Page 46 of http://crystalkeep.com/d20/rules/DnD3.5Index-Races.pdf lists the Aasimar's age catagories and it's the same for Tieflings. Also, I think he's refering to the fact that they look like Slaads rather then refering to personality.

Baron Corm
2009-04-26, 02:30 AM
Have you considered homebrewing a race if you had very specific requirements? Fluffwise, they could be Elans who use magic rather then Psionics to become immortal, or they could be another type of Outsider. (I can help with this if you're not that good at making races.)

I don't actually have specific requirements, or a game lined up. Just getting some options for the future. I don't think DMs really like brand new races introduced into their settings, so I'm trying to avoid homebrewing.


*looks at Aasimars and Tieflings*

Do Outsiders age?

I actually just checked the original MM1 entry on the Outsider type and the Native subtype, and it doesn't mention aging in either. Googling has led me to believe that common consensus is that Outsiders don't but Native Outsiders do. Even though, like Tempest said, Neraphim do have a maximum age listed. I'm going to just assume that was the same typo as the elan typo.


Not Unique? You're from Limbo, the D&D equivalent of a plane-sized /b/ board. There's not a single thing your character could possibly do that would make them more unique than being born in the plane of pure chaos made manifest.

The mental image is staggering. Somehow, a plane-sized /b/ seems a lot more chaotic than a plane of pure chaos. But yeah, I just meant compared to slaadi. Neraphs are also "chaos frogs". If I play one, though, I could just play up the "chaos humanoid beast with huge toothy maw" aspect.

Tempest Fennac
2009-04-26, 02:40 AM
I'd be tempted to have Outsiders as never ageing at all, which is a problem for ones which are born.* (Admittedly, I ban all half-breeds from my games so that would at least solve the problem of those disturbing badger/Dwarf crosses from the Beastlands). I'd probably have Native Outsiders as being perminantly Adult once they grow up due to thinking that their half-immortal side would protect them from deteriorating due to old age.


*I assumed that all non-Native Outsiders were just adult perminantly after the sould which formed the Outsider reached that plane before working his/her way up.

JackMage666
2009-04-26, 02:47 AM
Outsider's not aging doesn't make much sense.

If I remember correctly, Outsider merely means your origins are another plane. Yes, there's also the Extraplanar subtype, but we all know 3.5 can be kinda... Peculiar like that. An Outsider is ALWAYS native on his home plane. The native subtype is generally relative to the Material Plane, because that's where it's assumed you'll be spending most of your time. So, a Neraph is an Outsider (Native) when he's in Limbo, and a Tiefling is an Outsider (Native) when he's on the Material Plane, but switch those two around, and the native subtype is lost.

Zaq
2009-04-26, 03:39 AM
That's not quite right, JackMage. An Outsider has their essence tied to their native plane. While they might seem to have flesh and bone, they're really actually made of planar essence, much the same way that elementals are. That's why you can have native outsiders; they're creatures who are made out of the essence of the material plane.

That's also why outsiders can't be raised. There's no soul in the way that a humanoid or a fey has a soul; they simply meld back into the plane from which they sprang. At least, that's my understanding.

PrGo
2009-04-26, 03:48 AM
Yeah, but I think that when they're killed on another plane that's not their native, they are merely banished back home for a certain period of time. At least I read that way somewhere... :smalltongue:

Sinfire Titan
2009-04-26, 03:58 AM
Native Outsiders have a life span as listed in Races of Destiny, IIRC. They just tend to live longer than Humans.

Claudius Maximus
2009-04-26, 09:17 AM
Yeah, but I think that when they're killed on another plane that's not their native, they are merely banished back home for a certain period of time. At least I read that way somewhere... :smalltongue:

That's only summoning spells. If the outsider is actually physically present on another plane (like from a calling spell), it can die for real.

Xenogears
2009-04-26, 09:44 AM
That's not quite right, JackMage. An Outsider has their essence tied to their native plane. While they might seem to have flesh and bone, they're really actually made of planar essence, much the same way that elementals are. That's why you can have native outsiders; they're creatures who are made out of the essence of the material plane.

That's also why outsiders can't be raised. There's no soul in the way that a humanoid or a fey has a soul; they simply meld back into the plane from which they sprang. At least, that's my understanding.

Then how does the spell Raise Outsider from Manual of the Planes work? It specifically revives outsiders. Also I'm fairly certain that at some point I read somewhere that if an outsider spends long enough on a plane he becomes native to that plane. So if he was made up of say Limbo then is he suddenly made up of Material Plane? What if it was Mechanus? A being of pure chaos suddenly shifts to being made of lawfullness and there are virtually no changes? Also most outsiders can be born. Therefore they can age. Likely they can die too. Not sure though. I mean just cuz they don't list ages doesn't mean they don't age.

imp_fireball
2009-04-26, 10:03 AM
If you want a non-RAW example:

- Be incredibly rich (hundreds of millions of GP)

- Be incredibly intelligent and incredibly charismatic (at least 18 in both)

- Write out plans for technological progression, write novels, acquire research and accounts from adventurers with MONEY. Use it all to increase your reputation (the RP involved might cause you to level up but assuming it doesn't since the GM doesn't swing that way...)

- After a few decades of doing all this which includes preserving all heavy documentation, a league of powerful golems to defend your fortress and land, some techno-babble to allow all of this to operate autonomously to any non-godly threat, etc.; hire a wizard to preserve your level 1 pathetic form in stasis via magic

- Wake up centuries later to hope that technology has progressed

- Proceed to start business in industrialized world/nation

- Research into highly exotic science

- Come up with a formula that may or may not cure cancer (and does not result in rampaging zombies you hope), and that enables un-life through life (or immortality since your not undead in any way whatsoever)

- Sell the drug and profit (obviously)!

Bayar
2009-04-26, 11:06 AM
I dont think that the OP was thinking about THAT...

You could...umm...be a mere human, get killed, the cleric makes you a skeleton or a zombie, and after a while, when you/he levels up, he can cast awaken undead on you so that you can act on your own.

Animate dead scroll: 625 GP
Awaken undead scroll: 2650 GP (assuming that a cleric with the Deathbound domain scribed it)

This is not the most practical way, but it could be one of the more bizzare ways.

Flickerdart
2009-04-26, 11:24 AM
Ask your DM if you can re-fluff the Elan and shift the CHA penalty elsewhere. CHA being "the dump stat", you're actually weakening yourself, so there shouldn't be a problem with that.

Tetsubo 57
2009-04-26, 11:55 AM
Yes.

I mean, magic robots.

What's not to dig? Atomic Robo your way through life.

I am friends with Scott Wegener, the artist that does Atomic Robo. This makes me smile.

Sstoopidtallkid
2009-04-26, 12:42 PM
Kobolds. Everything's better with Kobolds. Take Dragonwrought, that makes your max age 120+10xCha Mod, and if you are Venerable, allows you to start with 21 Cha and take Epic feats. At that point, your max age is 170. At level 4, it's 190. 200 if you take Great Charisma. 285 if you take Extended Lifespan instead. Now all you have to do is level faster than you age, which really shouldn't be too hard. I recommend playing a Sorcerer or Dread Necro to take advantage of the Cha. Sorc also opens up G Draconic Rite of Passage and Loredrake, which is always nice.

Tempest Fennac
2009-04-26, 12:51 PM
If he was a Dread Necromancer and he could get to level 20 before he died, he would be immortal anyway due to becoming a Lich.

Mephit
2009-04-26, 12:56 PM
If he was a Dread Necromancer and he could get to level 20 before he died, he would be immortal anyway due to becoming a Lich.

Well, Dragonwrought Kobolds are Dragons (that allows them to get Epic feats), so they can't become undead.

monty
2009-04-26, 12:58 PM
Kobolds. Everything's better with Kobolds. Take Dragonwrought, that makes your max age 120+10xCha Mod, and if you are Venerable, allows you to start with 21 Cha and take Epic feats. At that point, your max age is 170. At level 4, it's 190. 200 if you take Great Charisma. 285 if you take Extended Lifespan instead. Now all you have to do is level faster than you age, which really shouldn't be too hard. I recommend playing a Sorcerer or Dread Necro to take advantage of the Cha. Sorc also opens up G Draconic Rite of Passage and Loredrake, which is always nice.

And then once you're epic enough, you take that one dragon prestige class that makes you actually immortal.

chiasaur11
2009-04-26, 02:06 PM
I am friends with Scott Wegener, the artist that does Atomic Robo. This makes me smile.

You are?

Tell him he's a god among men for me, will you?

He's really good.

Tetsubo 57
2009-04-26, 02:25 PM
You are?

Tell him he's a god among men for me, will you?

He's really good.

I am indeed. I was at his wedding and his wife conducted my wedding ceremony.

chiasaur11
2009-04-26, 02:32 PM
I am indeed. I was at his wedding and his wife conducted my wedding ceremony.

Nifty keen.

Chronos
2009-04-26, 03:35 PM
I've a hunch that the OP wants to make a character with a gazillion-year-long backstory, so methods involving "level up faster than you age" or the like won't work.

Baron Corm
2009-04-26, 10:10 PM
The idea was actually to just not lose anything mechanically for doing this. So taking a lifespan-extending feat every chance I get is definitely out of the question. Why do I want my character to be immortal? I guess it's a living vicariously thing :P

I've decided I'm probably going to go with warforged, though. After finally reading the Eberron books and seeing the warforged juggernaut class... yeah. Batman may be able to utilize stun, paralyze, energy drain, ability damage, dominate, confuse, but oh, wait. This class rocks. You even become immune to nonlethal damage without losing your Constitution score... even though I wasn't looking for it, adding regeneration to this character will make you completely invincible. *Refuses to check for errata*

imp_fireball
2009-04-27, 02:25 AM
I'm pretty sure that the OP was looking for ways to become immortal at level one, not necessarily set yourself up at level one for immortality and then let it take effect 'later'.

Even the solution that involved having yourself resurrected as a zombie means having to level up so that you can be awakened. Alternatively, you don't necessarily need to be human (I can't see how that is never necessary to become a 'perfect' zombie); you could have your level 1 cleric raise you from the dead and then get your friendly cleric buddy to hire a higher level NPC cleric to awaken you.

If you don't have enough gold, have the same cleic get (for humorous roleplaying purposes) profession: butcher and profession: taxidermist (for chopping your zombie self up, putting it in cold storage and then sewing it up when the time comes) and then using those professions to save up money.

Knowledge: Local would also be a useful skill for the cleric. It also makes sense from a logical perspective that a particularly charismatic cleric would have connections. So, it's a team effort. So what? Your immortal at level one, not level ten or later.

There's thousands of ways to become immortal at higher levels, so I'm sure that the solution certainly can't be that.