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Shadowbane
2009-11-13, 10:13 PM
Darkness surged in his flesh. Shadow pumped through his veins instead of blood, and the Shadowplague, evil and darkness incarnate withered his body even as it strengthened his arm and drove his mind towards the brink of madness.

He closed his eyes as flowers of agony bloomed inside his skin.

He felt...strong.

The Shadowplague is no ordinary disease. It is the physical personification of evil, an illness that strengthens the body even as never-ending agony heralds that increase of strength. A Shadowplagued man or woman no longer bleeds blood, they bleed darkness.

But the Shadowplague cannot make a being evil. It can only break them, force them to that point through other means, such as pushing them towards madness with the agony that comes along with the disease. Then it is only a matter of time until a tragedy snaps that man or woman's soul.

The Shadowplague is not a universally fatal disease. One with great charisma, a great force of personality, can overpower the disease with sheer force of will, though the effort is certainly exhausting and requires fortitude of the body as well.

And that is where the template comes in:

The Shadowplague Template:

Prerequisites: 14 Charisma, 14 Constitution

Ability Score Bonuses: +2 Strength, +2 Dexterity

Level Adjustment: +0

Other Bonuses: Special abilities, +10 to your base speed.

Special Abilities:
-Gift of Darkness: The Shadowplague is a powerful thing, and can be harnessed as such. A being with the Shadowplague template can increase his Strength, Dexterity and Constitution Scores by 6 for 5 rounds + his charisma modifier per day. Using this ability is a free action, and coming out of it is also a free action. If a character with 20 charisma only stays in Gift of Darkness for 5 rounds instead of the 10, then he can use it once more for 5 rounds. Every time the Shadowplagued user deactivates the Gift, he is exhausted for a number of rounds equal to the time spent in the Gift.

-Shadow Step: The Shadowplagued user can teleport his base land speed as a free action 1/encounter.

Other: The Shadowplagued user takes 1d6 damage at the beginning of every round when he is using Gift of Darkness. This increases to 2d6 when the user has 5 or more HD, 3d6 at 10 HD more more, 4d6 at 15 HD or more, and 5d6 at 20 HD or more. The Fortitude Save DC to avoid this damage is (10+Total HD-1/2 Charisma Modifier;) (e.g. a 6th level paladin with 20 charisma would have a DC 14 fortitude save.)

In addition, the Shadowplagued user must make a fortitude save every 1d4 rounds (beginning in the first round of combat) to avoid becoming sickened. The save DC is the same as the damage DC.

If the Shadowplagued user is reduced to 0 or -1 HP, she dies instead of being reduced to unconsciousness.

When the Shadowplagued user is killed, their body reanimates 1d4 days later as a Spectre.

Feats: All these feats have the Shadowplague template as a prerequisite.

Master of the Plague:
Add an extra 10 feet to your base speed.

Master of Sun and Shadow:
-Prerequisite: 1 level of Auradin. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=109210)
-You can exchange your smite evil d6s for sneak attack d6s when a sneak attack bonus would apply.

Mastery of Darkness:
The Shadowplague user gains the ability to use Darkness as a spell-like ability 3 times a day.

Mastery over Shadow:
The Shadowplague user becomes immune to the effects of the Darkness spell. He can see right through it as if it did not exist.

The Source of the Plague:
Prerequisites: Mastery of Darkness, Mastery over Shadow, Master of the Plague OR Any of those two and Mastery of Sun and Shadow

The Shadowplague user adds 4 to each of his DCs to avoid being sickened or damaged. He also doubles the d6 damage amount he takes if he fails his damage save. He gains the ability to use Gift of Darkness for 10 + (Charisma modifier x 2) rounds per day and gains another +2 to strength and dexterity. (e.g. a paladin with 20 charisma would be able to use Gift of Darkness for 30 rounds a day.)

Shadow Step Master:
The Shadowplague user can sacrifice one of the rounds he could spend in Gift of Darkness to give himself an extra use of Shadow Step. This can only be used once per encounter.

Spectral Plague:
Prerequisites: The Source of the Plague feat
The Shadowplagued user can become ethereal as a free action for rounds per day equal to his Gift of Darkenss. (E.g. if he can use Gift of Darkness for 30 rounds a day, he can become ethereal for 30 rounds a day.) He can become ethereal as a free action and become material again as a free action.

Toughness Born of Agony:
The Shadowplagued user can sacrifice rounds of Gift of Darkness in order to grant himself Damage Reduction equal to 2 x the number of rounds sacrificed.

DracoDei
2009-11-13, 11:01 PM
I assume the hitpoint damage only applies in combat?
That could be explained by an adrenaline reaction with the disease, but... I still think it is kinda forced. Also, I am not sure about scaling the DC directly with the HD rather than the traditional 1/2 HD)

Shadowbane
2009-11-13, 11:09 PM
The disease is sentient. It's trying to kill the person with the disease, so it starts hurting them in combat. Plus, I want the special abilities this class has (Gift of Darkness, the higher speed) to have a major downside as befits such a terrible disease, so a 1 HD scaling seems to work?

At 20th level, it would be a DC 30 fortitude save - 1/2 your charisma modifier, which is admittedly a nasty save to pass unless you're a paladin. Should I change it to 1/2 HD?

DracoDei
2009-11-14, 12:02 AM
The disease is sentient. It's trying to kill the person with the disease, so it starts hurting them in combat. Plus, I want the special abilities this class has (Gift of Darkness, the higher speed) to have a major downside as befits such a terrible disease, so a 1 HD scaling seems to work?

At 20th level, it would be a DC 30 fortitude save - 1/2 your charisma modifier, which is admittedly a nasty save to pass unless you're a paladin. Should I change it to 1/2 HD?

Eh.... try 3/4 for play test purposes... either that will work, it will be too high and you can go to 1/2 or it will be too low and you can go back to full.... simple.

Temotei
2009-11-14, 12:43 AM
If the Shadowplagued user is reduced to 0 or -1 HP, she dies instead of being reduced to unconsciousness.

Just reword this to say 0 or lower HP. This could be interpreted as "if they get 0 or -1 HP, they die, but -2 to -9 is okay...not that I did. I'm just saying. :smallwink:


Mastery over Shadow:
The Shadowplague user becomes immune to the effects of the Darkness spell.

One spell? Does becoming "immune" to it let you see through the darkness, or does it dispel it...or something similar?


Master of the Plague:
Add an extra 10 feet to your base speed.

This is how Dash should be.


In addition, the Shadowplagued user must make a fortitude save every 1d4 rounds (beginning in the first round of combat) to avoid becoming sickened. If the save is failed once, subsequent failures result in the Shadowplagued character being made helpless.

How long does each effect last?

Finally, the LA should be listed. (+0 most likely)

Teutonic Knight
2009-11-17, 11:30 PM
(Btw, please change my name in your sig to Teutonic Knight. Tanks.)

First question:

"If the save is failed once, subsequent failures result in the Shadowplagued character being made helpless."

What happens on the first turn if you fail it?

I believe it's good in theory, like if you were to roleplay this in a story or something, I don't know. :smallwink: But imagine actual gameplay:

Roll initiative.

Roll 1st Fortitude.

(Fail. Take damage.)

Roll Fort for sickened.

(Save.)

Roll for 1d4 rounds.

(1.)

Next round, roll Fort for damage.

(Fail. Take damage.)

Then roll Fort for sickened.

(Fail. Sickened.)

Enemy attacks.

(Hit, roll Fort for stagger. Fail)

Your turn again. Roll for damage.

(Fail. Already sickened and helpless.)

Enemy attacks again.

And the cycle continues. :smallbiggrin:

Caldarin
2009-11-18, 02:21 PM
Here's a thought- scrap the base increases to stats and keep "the gift of darkness" feature, and make the damage and all that only apply when they're using it (and when they use the teleport feature). That way they're not totally ****ed every time they walk into combat

I currently have something similar for one of my characters- he's got a bit of an archfiend implanted inside of him, and can get a whole bunch of stat increases for a bit, but he takes 2d6 points of damage each round he's using it.
He can use it for 3 rounds/day without issue. Longer than that, he has to make a fortitude save each round (base DC 15+1/round used). If he fails that, he takes 5d6 points of damage and the ability ends for the day.'

He can, however, suppress and resume the ability as a free action (until he fails the save for the day)

- side note, why is archfiend in the dictionary while teleport isn't? teleportation isn't either...

Milskidasith
2009-11-18, 02:55 PM
Anybody with this template would die if they ever slept because it would kill them (you fail saves while helpless).

Even without it, you'd still need constant cleric support to not die due to natural 1s. Every two minutes you get hurt, woo!

Tackyhillbillu
2009-11-18, 03:58 PM
I wonder if you could use this Template to enter Telflammar Shadowlord?

Shadowbane
2009-11-18, 07:08 PM
Here's a thought- scrap the base increases to stats and keep "the gift of darkness" feature, and make the damage and all that only apply when they're using it (and when they use the teleport feature). That way they're not totally ****ed every time they walk into combat

I currently have something similar for one of my characters- he's got a bit of an archfiend implanted inside of him, and can get a whole bunch of stat increases for a bit, but he takes 2d6 points of damage each round he's using it.
He can use it for 3 rounds/day without issue. Longer than that, he has to make a fortitude save each round (base DC 15+1/round used). If he fails that, he takes 5d6 points of damage and the ability ends for the day.'

He can, however, suppress and resume the ability as a free action (until he fails the save for the day)

- side note, why is archfiend in the dictionary while teleport isn't? teleportation isn't either...

I'm gonna do something like that.

I'll have this done...keep the base stats, scrap the save when damaged, and for the damage save put that in when the character is Gift of Darkness or Shadow Stepping only. I'll also remove the helpless portion.