Minion #6
2010-12-30, 06:15 AM
Original Post
I've been thinking on dwarves for a bit. Thing is, I don't like my stuff too... Tolkien. Not that I'm disrespecting the man, but it's been done to death. So, I was thinking of adapting the Dwarf Fortress fortress dwarves - the cat-loving, manic-depressive alcohol fueled little guys.
So, in terms of mechanically, what'd I do? I'm thinking, of course, favoured class as barbarian, for the Rage. Anyone who's played the game will know what I'm talking about. But, as for other things, I'm stuck? Bonus to thrown weapons? Having drawbridges that double as atom smashers (no, really - look up "Dwarven Atom Smasher")? Help a guy out here.
---------------
So, the traits so far...
Fortress Dwarf Traits (Ex)
Only changes to the base dwarf traits are listed
Fortress dwarves possess the following racial traits.
* +2 Constitution, -2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma
* Alcohol Dependency: A dwarf must imbibe at least one unit of alcohol per day (1 cup of beer, half a glass of wine, a shallow tumbler of spirits) or begin suffering alcohol withdrawal. Each day spent without alcohol, the dwarf suffers 1 point of temporary Wisdom damage. This damage is erased the moment a dwarf is able to drink any alcohol at all, but if a full unit has not been drunk by the end of the day he will begin suffering withdrawal again.
* Alcohol Resistance: Dwarves have a natural +4 to saving throws against the effects of alcohol.
* Cave Adaptation: Dwarves who spend at least six months continuously out of natural sunlight or the daylight spell gain 100ft darkvision but suffer a -1 morale penalty to all attacks, checks and saves in full daylight thereafter.
* Iron Stomach: Fortress Dwarves are immune to nausea due to their usually poor personal hygiene
* No Common Sense: each day, a Fortress Dwarf, must make a Wisdom check against DC20. Failure means they missed a commonsense activity - such as bathing, sharpening their weapons, etc. - as determined by the DM.
* Thrown Power: A dwarf can throw any weapon or object weighing up to 40lbs with a range increment of 20ft. This does lethal damage, with the normal penalties for converting to non-lethal. Any object which should logically do no damage still does a minimum of 1d6+STR damage, and has a critical multiplier of x3.
* Evade Physics
+3 competence bonus to any Craft or engineering checks that require the dwarf to kick the laws of physics in the nuts and run away giggling to succeed. Make a seperate check with the same modifiers against DC35 for each physical law the dwarf intends to break.
When the dwarf reaches 5HD, the competence bonus to avoiding physical limitations from Evade Physics rises to +6.
When the dwarf reaches 10HD, the competence bonus to avoiding physical limitations from Evade Physics rises to +9.
When the dwarf reaches 15HD, the competence bonus to avoiding physical limitations from Evade Physics rises to +12.
Fortress Dwarf Feats
Cancels Task
Urist McDominated cancels Attack Allies: Could Not Find Path
Prerequisite: Fortress Dwarf, Base Will Save +2
Benefit: During any turn in which another character attempts to control your actions through a spell or effect, roll 1d4. On a 1, some detail of the command fails to take hold, and you may act freely as you normally would for the rest of the round. On a 2 or 3 you are distracted and take no action this round. On a 4, the controlling effect works as normal.
Strange Mood
Urist McArtist has been taken by a fey mood!
Prerequisite: Fortress Dwarf, Craft(any) 5 ranks
Everyday, dwarf must roll a d100, adding 1 for everyday since his last strange mood, up to 75 (standard system) or 50 (DF item qualities - see miscellany). On a roll of 100 or more, he is taken by a strange mood, rolled at random on a d6
1 Fey Mood
2 Secretive
3 Possessed
4 Fell
5 Macabre
6 DM's choice
During a strange mood, the dwarf crafts a non-magical masterwork item, using any materials they can get their hands on. Treat this as a Craft(*item*) check, with a +5 untyped bonus. Any day they have access to their materials, they must work on the item, otherwise they are confused. Only the base material cost need be paid for, not the masterwork component or up to two other item templates.
If the dwarf has no ranks in the requisite craft skill, treat it as a trained check with a number of ranks equal to ranks in his highest Craft skill, retaining the +5 bonus. The mood lasts until the item is completed.
If you are using the DF item qualities, as below, the process is somewhat different. You still pay only base material costs, but you automatically apply the Artifact template.
Martial Trance
Urist McFighter has entered a martial trance!
Prerequisites: Fortress Dwarf, Proficiency with all martial weapons, BAB+3
3 times per day, the dwarf can enter a martial trance. This grants a +1 dodge bonus to AC against all opponents, a +1 circumstance bonus to all attack and damage rolls, and a +1 morale bonus to will saves. At the end of the encounter, the dwarf is fatigued, or if they would otherwise be fatigued (such as from a barbarian rage) they are exhausted.
DF Monsters and Templates
Serial Killer Beast Template
This template can be applied to any animal or vermin.
+6 STR
+4 DEX
+6 CON
+5 to attack and damage rolls against sentient life.
+2 to will saves.
Serial Killer(Ex): Must make a will save against DC40 to not attack and attempt to kill any creature with an INT of 3 or more
Aura of Docility(Su): Creatures that fail a will save (DC=10+HD of the templated creature+WIS) feel no fear in approaching the creature, irrelevant as to whether or not the creature looks threatening.
The creatures alignment becomes chaotic evil.
SAMPLE
Serial Killer Elephant
STR 36
DEX 14
CON 27
INT 2
WIS 13
CHA 7
Slam +21 melee (2d6+15) and 2 stamps +16 melee (2d6+10); or gore +21 melee (2d8+20)
Trample (Ex): Reflex half DC 28. The save DC is Strength-based.
Serial Killer(Ex): Must make a will save against DC40 to not attack and attempt to kill any creature with an INT of 3 or more
Aura of Docility(Su): Creatures that fail a will save (DC=10+HD of the templated creature+WIS) feel no fear in approaching the creature, irrelevant as to whether or not the creature looks threatening.
Carp, Undead
Coming as soon as I can figure it out...
Miscellany
DF Item qualities
This is a WIP, feel free to suggest. The basic idea I have right now is to introduce more levels of item craft quality. This would be quite good for a low magic campaign, which if you are using DF dwarves, would be likely.
Well-crafted DC +3
Fine DC +6
Superior DC +9
Exceptional DC +12
Masterful DC +15
Artifact Can only be created in a strange mood
Artifacts can be divided up into a futher few categories
Fey +2 to Diplomacy checks?
Secretive +2 to Bluff checks?
Possessed +2 to saves against Enchantment?
Fell +2 to saves against Necromancy?
Macabre +2 to Intimidate checks?
DM's option +2 to something?
Anything else anyone can think of?
I've been thinking on dwarves for a bit. Thing is, I don't like my stuff too... Tolkien. Not that I'm disrespecting the man, but it's been done to death. So, I was thinking of adapting the Dwarf Fortress fortress dwarves - the cat-loving, manic-depressive alcohol fueled little guys.
So, in terms of mechanically, what'd I do? I'm thinking, of course, favoured class as barbarian, for the Rage. Anyone who's played the game will know what I'm talking about. But, as for other things, I'm stuck? Bonus to thrown weapons? Having drawbridges that double as atom smashers (no, really - look up "Dwarven Atom Smasher")? Help a guy out here.
---------------
So, the traits so far...
Fortress Dwarf Traits (Ex)
Only changes to the base dwarf traits are listed
Fortress dwarves possess the following racial traits.
* +2 Constitution, -2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma
* Alcohol Dependency: A dwarf must imbibe at least one unit of alcohol per day (1 cup of beer, half a glass of wine, a shallow tumbler of spirits) or begin suffering alcohol withdrawal. Each day spent without alcohol, the dwarf suffers 1 point of temporary Wisdom damage. This damage is erased the moment a dwarf is able to drink any alcohol at all, but if a full unit has not been drunk by the end of the day he will begin suffering withdrawal again.
* Alcohol Resistance: Dwarves have a natural +4 to saving throws against the effects of alcohol.
* Cave Adaptation: Dwarves who spend at least six months continuously out of natural sunlight or the daylight spell gain 100ft darkvision but suffer a -1 morale penalty to all attacks, checks and saves in full daylight thereafter.
* Iron Stomach: Fortress Dwarves are immune to nausea due to their usually poor personal hygiene
* No Common Sense: each day, a Fortress Dwarf, must make a Wisdom check against DC20. Failure means they missed a commonsense activity - such as bathing, sharpening their weapons, etc. - as determined by the DM.
* Thrown Power: A dwarf can throw any weapon or object weighing up to 40lbs with a range increment of 20ft. This does lethal damage, with the normal penalties for converting to non-lethal. Any object which should logically do no damage still does a minimum of 1d6+STR damage, and has a critical multiplier of x3.
* Evade Physics
+3 competence bonus to any Craft or engineering checks that require the dwarf to kick the laws of physics in the nuts and run away giggling to succeed. Make a seperate check with the same modifiers against DC35 for each physical law the dwarf intends to break.
When the dwarf reaches 5HD, the competence bonus to avoiding physical limitations from Evade Physics rises to +6.
When the dwarf reaches 10HD, the competence bonus to avoiding physical limitations from Evade Physics rises to +9.
When the dwarf reaches 15HD, the competence bonus to avoiding physical limitations from Evade Physics rises to +12.
Fortress Dwarf Feats
Cancels Task
Urist McDominated cancels Attack Allies: Could Not Find Path
Prerequisite: Fortress Dwarf, Base Will Save +2
Benefit: During any turn in which another character attempts to control your actions through a spell or effect, roll 1d4. On a 1, some detail of the command fails to take hold, and you may act freely as you normally would for the rest of the round. On a 2 or 3 you are distracted and take no action this round. On a 4, the controlling effect works as normal.
Strange Mood
Urist McArtist has been taken by a fey mood!
Prerequisite: Fortress Dwarf, Craft(any) 5 ranks
Everyday, dwarf must roll a d100, adding 1 for everyday since his last strange mood, up to 75 (standard system) or 50 (DF item qualities - see miscellany). On a roll of 100 or more, he is taken by a strange mood, rolled at random on a d6
1 Fey Mood
2 Secretive
3 Possessed
4 Fell
5 Macabre
6 DM's choice
During a strange mood, the dwarf crafts a non-magical masterwork item, using any materials they can get their hands on. Treat this as a Craft(*item*) check, with a +5 untyped bonus. Any day they have access to their materials, they must work on the item, otherwise they are confused. Only the base material cost need be paid for, not the masterwork component or up to two other item templates.
If the dwarf has no ranks in the requisite craft skill, treat it as a trained check with a number of ranks equal to ranks in his highest Craft skill, retaining the +5 bonus. The mood lasts until the item is completed.
If you are using the DF item qualities, as below, the process is somewhat different. You still pay only base material costs, but you automatically apply the Artifact template.
Martial Trance
Urist McFighter has entered a martial trance!
Prerequisites: Fortress Dwarf, Proficiency with all martial weapons, BAB+3
3 times per day, the dwarf can enter a martial trance. This grants a +1 dodge bonus to AC against all opponents, a +1 circumstance bonus to all attack and damage rolls, and a +1 morale bonus to will saves. At the end of the encounter, the dwarf is fatigued, or if they would otherwise be fatigued (such as from a barbarian rage) they are exhausted.
DF Monsters and Templates
Serial Killer Beast Template
This template can be applied to any animal or vermin.
+6 STR
+4 DEX
+6 CON
+5 to attack and damage rolls against sentient life.
+2 to will saves.
Serial Killer(Ex): Must make a will save against DC40 to not attack and attempt to kill any creature with an INT of 3 or more
Aura of Docility(Su): Creatures that fail a will save (DC=10+HD of the templated creature+WIS) feel no fear in approaching the creature, irrelevant as to whether or not the creature looks threatening.
The creatures alignment becomes chaotic evil.
SAMPLE
Serial Killer Elephant
STR 36
DEX 14
CON 27
INT 2
WIS 13
CHA 7
Slam +21 melee (2d6+15) and 2 stamps +16 melee (2d6+10); or gore +21 melee (2d8+20)
Trample (Ex): Reflex half DC 28. The save DC is Strength-based.
Serial Killer(Ex): Must make a will save against DC40 to not attack and attempt to kill any creature with an INT of 3 or more
Aura of Docility(Su): Creatures that fail a will save (DC=10+HD of the templated creature+WIS) feel no fear in approaching the creature, irrelevant as to whether or not the creature looks threatening.
Carp, Undead
Coming as soon as I can figure it out...
Miscellany
DF Item qualities
This is a WIP, feel free to suggest. The basic idea I have right now is to introduce more levels of item craft quality. This would be quite good for a low magic campaign, which if you are using DF dwarves, would be likely.
Well-crafted DC +3
Fine DC +6
Superior DC +9
Exceptional DC +12
Masterful DC +15
Artifact Can only be created in a strange mood
Artifacts can be divided up into a futher few categories
Fey +2 to Diplomacy checks?
Secretive +2 to Bluff checks?
Possessed +2 to saves against Enchantment?
Fell +2 to saves against Necromancy?
Macabre +2 to Intimidate checks?
DM's option +2 to something?
Anything else anyone can think of?