Need Help Homebrewing Race/Class

[sscheib]

Hello, Homebrew board! I sort of lurk around this board in particular to find ideas on how to make my D&D experience a better one. It has inspired me to create a class and/or race all on my own.

I call it The Beastling. Essentially, this is a creature that can run at supernatural speeds and jump very high. It's rare and most people have only heard of them in legends or myths. It's extremely agile and it's reflexes are supposed to be catlike.

They act as guardians of the forests they live in and protect them at all costs.

We could never quite balance it out correctly, so I'll just list some things we gave it for combat purposes:

Spirit Attack: An attack in which the Beastling draws from within himself to give himself a bonus to attack and damage.

Burst Limit: This is supposed to make the Beastling enter into a state that boosts his stats for a short period of time and allows him to run insanely fast for a short period of time. After he has burst his limit, he is fatigued.

Regeneration: Due to his low hit-points and lack of armor class, we thought about giving the Beastling the ability to regenerate.

Other things we decided it should have are:

Increased base speed at certain levels, like a monk.

Low-light vision

Run

Stonetell, which is just sort of silly and random.

The ability to speak with plants.

We have tried very hard to make it 3.5, but we just can't. I was wondering if anyone would be willing to help us?

One more problem we had: We didn't know what parts of the Beastling should be included in the Race part and what should be part of the class. Can a class be race specific? Can a race be only one class? It seems like a Monster, but we wanted it to be playable.

I know this sort of seems sort of jumbled and random, but that's really what the Beastling is right now. It lacks organization and balance. Please help.

[Xallace]

Before homebrewing, have you considered Shifters? There's a form of the shifter race that can improve their Speed and Dexterity for a few rounds per day, and shifters in general are very into nature. Might be something like what you're going for. Try Races of Eberron, if you need the book. You could certainly whip up a prestige class of sorts for them to get the rest of the abilities.

[sscheib]

Well, I've got the actual story behind the Beastling worked out.

It's making the abilities that's difficult for me. I can't seem to figure out exactly how to make them balanced and useful while following the 3.5 template.

I was more or less looking for suggestions on how to handle the abilities.

[Kaishi]

Are you looking to make this a monster class, player class, NPC class, or a race? I'm a little confused.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

This looks like you're actually describing a variant Barbarian class put upon a base race.

--Spirit Attack and Burst Attack are Rage variants.
--Regeneration (or Fast Healing) is gained while raging.
--Trades Uncanny Dodge and Trap Sense for faster movement.
--Has taken the Run feat.

[sscheib]

Hmm.

Burst Limit does look like Rage, doesn't it? I could certainly adjust Rage to work towards the Beastling.

Spirit Attack is more like a weapon buff, though. He powers up his claws and then attacks with the added buff. Basically, it's Magic Fang/Magic Weapon. I'd like to increment the bonuses to his level, though.

Run I'd say would be a class feat, which is how we've been using it.

Here's what I've whipped up:

Nature's Guard
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|
+0|
+2|
+2|
+2|Fast Movement +10, Burst Limit 1/day

2nd|
+1|
+3|
+3|
+3|Run, Evasion

3rd|
+2|
+3|
+3|
+3|Spirit Attack +1

4th|
+3|
+4|
+4|
+4|Fast Movement +20, Burst Limit 2/day

5th|
+3|
+4|
+4|
+4|-

6th|
+4|
+5|
+5|
+5|Spirit Attack +2

7th|
+5|
+5|
+5|
+5|-

8th|
+6/+1|
+6|
+6|
+6|Fast Movement +30, Burst Limit 3/day

9th|
+6/+1|
+6|
+6|
+6|Improved Evasion, Spirit Attack +3

10th|
+7/+2|
+7|
+7|
+7|-

11th|
+8/+3|
+7|
+7|
+7|Greater Burst Limit

12th|
+9/+4|
+8|
+8|
+8|Fast Movement +40, Burst Limit 4/day, Spirit Attack +4

13th|
+9/+4|
+8|
+8|
+8|-

14th|
+10/+5|
+9|
+9|
+9|-

15th|
+11/+6/+1|
+9|
+9|
+9|Spirit Attack +5

16th|
+12/+7/+2|
+10|
+10|
+10|Fast Movement +50, Burst Limit 5/day

17th|
+12/+7/+2|
+10|
+10|
+10|Limitless Burst

18th|
+13/+8/+3|
+11|
+11|
+11|Spirit Attack +6

19th|
+14/+9/+4|
+11|
+11|
+11|-

20th|
+15/+10/+5|
+12|
+12|
+12|Fast Movement +60, Burst Limit 6/day, Hyper Burst Limit[/table]

Fast Movement: Bonus to speed.

Burst Limit: Basically rage. +4 Str, +4 Dex, speed doubled. I'd like to increase the AC here, though. As the Beastling is running around crazy fast, he should be harder to hit. Fatigued afterwards. Lasts round 3 +Con modifier.

Run and Evasion are regular abilities.

Spirit Attack: Not sure how to handle this. I'd like for them to be able to buff their attacks, but if they can do this over and over again, what's the point? Shouldn't there be a limit? I can't decide on what the limit should be.

Greater Burst Limit: Same as original, but +6 Str, +6 Dex.

Limitless Burst: No longer fatigued after bursting limit.

Hyper Burst Limit: Same as original, but +8 Str, +8 Dex, speed tripled.

So, he doesn't have a lot of abilities. I want him to be able to jump really high, as well. Is there any way of altering what dictates how high you can jump? I can't figure out how to make the Beastling jump high and land safely.

[Xallace]

I'd probably do something like this:


Beastling

Humanoid (Beastling)
Medium Size
Base Land Speed 40 Feet
+2 Dexterity, -2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma. Beastlings are dexterous but lack understanding.
Low-Light Vision: Beastlings can see twice as far as humans in moonlight or torchlight.
Run: A beastling gains Run as a bonus feat.
Claws: A beastlings possess a pair of claws as a primary natural weapon. These claws deal 1d4 points of damage, plus the Beastling's Strength modifier.
Speed Burst (Ex): A beastling can unleash an incredible burst of speed a few times per day. As a swift action, the beastling moves up to its base land speed. The beastling can use this ability once per day at 1st level, plus one for ever four character levels.
Great Jumper (Ex): Beastlings are uncanny jumpers. They treat all jumps as though they had a running start.
Languages: Beastlings can speak Common and Sylvan. Bonus Languages: Elven, Halfling, Goblin, Giant.
Favored Class: Barbarian.


Beastling Barbarian Substitution Levels
A beastling barbarian may take the following in place of regular barbarian levels.
HD: d10
Skills: A beastling barbarian's class skills and skill points are identical to the regular barbarian.

{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fortitude|Reflex|Will|Special
1|+1|+2|+0|+0|Burst Limit, Illiteracy, Fast Movement +10
3|+3|+3|+1|+1|Spirit Attack +1
14|+14|+9|+4|+4|Blurring Speed[/table]

Burst Limit (Ex): Through sheer force of will, a beastling barbarian may push himself beyond his usual physical limitations- "Burst" his "limit," as it were. Once per day as a free action, the beastling barbarian gains a +4 bonus to his Strength and Dexterity scores, Fast Healing 2, and a +10 foot bonus to his base land speed.

While under the effects of this ability, the beastling barbarian takes a -2 penalty to Will Saves, cannot use any Charisma-, Dexterity-, or Intelligence-based skills (except for Balance, Escape Artist, Intimidate, and Ride), the Concentration skill, or any abilities that require patience or concentration, nor can he cast spells or activate magic items that require a command word, a spell trigger (such as a wand), or spell completion (such as a scroll) to function. He can use any feat he has except Combat Expertise, item creation feats, and metamagic feats.

These effects last for a number of rounds equal to 3 + the beastling barbarian's Constitution modifier. After the Burst Limit is finished, the beastling barbarian is fatigued for 1 minute.

This ability replaces the barbarian's ability to rage. When the barbarian would gain an additional daily use of rage, he gains an additional use of Burst Limit instead. At 11th level, using Burst Limit grants an additional +2 bonus to Strength and Dexterity, Fast Healing 6, and an additional +10-foot bonus to the beastling's base land speed. At 20th level, he gains an additional +2 bonus to Strength and Dexterity (for a total of +8), Fast Healing 10, and an additional +10-foot bonus to Base Land Speed (for a total of +30).

Spirit Attack (Su): By calling on inner reserves of feral might, the beastling can spiritually enhance his natural weapons. At 3rd level, the beastling's claws are considered magical for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction, and gain a +1 enhancement bonus on attack and damage rolls.

This ability replaces the barbarian's Trap Sense ability. When the beastling barbarian would normally gain a bonus to trap sense from barbarian levels, he instead gains an additional +1 bonus on attacks and damage rolls with natural weapons.

Blurring Speed (Su): When a beastling barbarian of 14th level or higher uses his Burst Limit ability, he becomes incapable of slowing his movement; even while seeming to stand still, the beastling's form shifts and moves constantly. While under the effects of Burst Limit, attacks against the beastling suffer a 50% chance of missing. This miss chance only applies against attacks directly targeting the beastling, and has no effect on area effects.

This ability replaces the barbarian's Indomitable Will class feature.

I imagine you could also do sub-levels for druid, to get the various "speaking with nature" powers down.

[sscheib]

Wow! Thank you Xallace! That is incredible and insanely accurate to my vision for the Beastling. I think with a little campaign-specific adjusting, this is exactly what I was looking for!

Do you think it's over-powered if the Spirit Attack gradually gets stronger?

[Xallace]

Do you think it's over-powered if the Spirit Attack gradually gets stronger?

Like how? As it is, the +X bonus goes up as you gain levels. Do you mean, additional abilities and such?

[sscheib]

I actually asked that question before realizing it became stronger as the Beastling levels up. My bad.

So, as is, do you think it's balanced? While I really like where this is going, it still seems a little lacking. What do you think about regeneration? Is that something that should be activated or a more subtle ability that works constantly? Or is that too much?

[Owrtho]

Not sure, but based on what you said originally, it seems that for that you should just lower the HD and give it fast healing 1 at level 1. Might make it increase every few levels as well.

Owrtho

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

So, as is, do you think it's balanced? While I really like where this is going, it still seems a little lacking. What do you think about regeneration? Is that something that should be activated or a more subtle ability that works constantly? Or is that too much?

It's definitely balanced against the Barbarian, although I'd make it a -2 Will penalty instead of a -3 penalty. Also, considering that that's still a net -4 compared to the Barbarian's rage, I'd throw in Fast Healing there.

Fast Healing 2 at first, Fast Healing 6 at the next level of Rage, and Fast Healing 10 at the highest level of Rage.

[Xallace]

Alrighty, updated my post with current suggestions.

[sscheib]

Awesome guys. Thanks for your help.