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View Full Version : [Templates]Necros and Dragons and Ninjas! Oh,My!



Pyromancer999
2011-02-10, 08:59 PM
Background- Here's some templates I came up with just for fun.

Necrotic

Everyone knows of the stereotypical necromancer, usually leading an army of undead, or performing profane experiments with unlife. However, there is another type of individual that is frighteningly more adept at necromancy than even most necromancers: Necrotic creatures. These creatures are formed at birth, usually due to some kind of incident resulting in the baby almost dying. In those moments, death touches the infant and leaves it tinged with undeath, as well as many other heightened abilities involving undead.

Creating a Necrotic Creature
The Necrotic template may be applied to any living corporeal creature without the Swarm subtype

Type:The base creature's type changes to Half-Dead(See Dragon Magazine #313 for details.
Special Attacks: The base creature retains the special attacks of the base creature and gains the following special attacks
Touch of Unlife: Necrotic creatures know how to bring creatures closer to death. Once per two rounds, a Necrotic creature may make a touch attack to deal 1d6 negative energy damage per two HD it has.
Corpse Touch: A Necrotic creature knows how to animate the dead almost at will. By focusing on a corpse for 5 minutes, a Necrotic creature may animate it as though it had animated the Corpse through Animate Dead. Necrotic creatures may also use this ability to create undead of any other type of up to one less HD than they have, and all such undead are under their control.
Special Qualities:Necrotic creatures retain the special qualities of the base creature and gain the following special qualities:
Negative Energy Healing: Necrotic creatures lose the Half-Dead bonus against negative energy damage, and instead heal 1/4 of all negative energy damage that would otherwise be dealt to them.
Undead Horde: Necrotic creatures may have up to three times their HD under their control. Should Necrotic creature gain caster levels that would allow them to animate undead, this amount stacks with those levels. (ex. A Necrotic Human with 6 levels in Sorcerer could animate 30 HD of undead (6 HD x (2 from Sorcerer + 3 from template)= 30.
Ability Scores: Any creature with an Intelligence score of less than 10 has its Intelligence Score increased to 10.
CR: +2
LA: +3

Ninjas

Everyone knows that Ninjas are epic. They turn invisible, sneak everywhere, and know how to do other cool stuff. Many posers try to capture the epicness of ninjas by imitating them. However, what they don't know is that Ninjas are born, not trained.

Creating a Ninja Creature
The Ninja template may be applied to any corporeal creature with an Intelligence score
Type: The base creature's type changes to any one type chosen. Ninjas come in varied types.
Special Attacks: Ninja creatures retain all special attacks of the base creature and gain the following special attacks:
Ninja Shruiken: As a standard action once per round, a Ninja creature may produce a Shruiken out of nowhere and make a ranged attack with it.
Sudden Strike +1d6: Ninja creatures gain the Sudden Strike class feature as a Ninja. This stacks with other sources of Sudden Strike Damage.
Special Qualities: Ninja creatures retain all special attacks of the base creatures, and gain the following:
Invisiblity: For a number of rounds per day per HD the Ninja creature has, it may act as though under the effect of the Greater Invisiblity spell. These rounds need not be consecutive
Walks on Water: Ninjas may choose to be under the effect of the Water Walk spell for 1 minute per HD per day. These minutes need not be consecutive, but each use counts as 1 minute minimum.
Skills: Ninja creatures gain a bonus to Hide and Move Silently checks equal to 1 + their half HD. These skills are always class skills
Abilities: Ninjas gain a +6 bonus to Dexterity
CR: +2
LA: +3

Dragon-Blooded
Many know of Dragons, Half-Dragons, and Draconic creatures. They naturally assume that, somehow, Draconic creatures are just what results when Half-Dragons reproduce. This is somewhat true, but also somewhat false. Bridging the heritage gap betwen Half-Dragons and Draconic creatures are the Dragon-Blooded. These creatures are usually the offspring of Half-Dragons and another creature of their non-dragon parent's species, and usually continue to be produced for two or three generations more.

Creating a Dragon-Blooded creature
The Dragon-Blooded template may be applied to any corporeal living creature.

Type: The creature gains the (Dragonblooded) subtype
Natural Armor: Dragon-Blooded creatures usually have scales or tough skin, granting them a +2 bonus to Natural Armor.
Attacks: A Dragon-Blooded creature has two claw attacks,sized appropriately, in addition to any others the base creature possesses.
Special Qualities: A Dragon-Blooded Creature retains the special qualities of the base creature, and gains the following special qualities:
Energy Resistance: A Dragon-Blooded creature gains energy resistance to their dragon progenitor's energy type equal to 10 + twice its HD.(see Feats for details).
Special Slots: Dragon-Blooded creatures have a unique interaction with magic. If they have a Draconic Heritage feat that relies on sacrificing a spell slot in order to use an effect and have levels in an arcane spellcasting class, they gain a bonus spell slot of each spell level they can cast to use for this purpose. If they have a Draconic Heritage Feat that relies on sacrificing an arcane spell slot in order to use an effect and have levels in a divine spellcasting class, they may use divine spell slots for this purpose.
Feats: Dragon-Blooded creatures gain the Draconic Heritage feat and qualify for feats as though they were a Sorcerer.
Abilities: +2 Cha. Any base creature with a Charisma score lower than this has its Charisma score improved to 10 instead.
CR: +1
LA: +1

Holy

Many know of the celestial hosts that are featured in legends and church stories. These beings are essentially created by divine essence. However, sometimes a god or random chance will tamper with an infant in the womb, and infuse it with the same essence that spawns celestials. Sometimes, the particularly faithful are similarly infused.These are Holy creatures.

Creating a Holy creature
The Holy template may be applied to any good-aligned living corporeal being
Type: Changes to Native Outsider
Special Attacks: Holy creatures retain all special attacks of the base creature and gain the following special attacks:
Divine Power: A Holy creature may cast spells as a cleric of 1/2 its HD.
Special Qualities:Holy creatures retain all special qualities of the base creature, and gain the following:
Detect Evil: Holy creatures may continuously detect evil, as the spell.
Resist Evil: Holy creatures gain a +2 bonus on saves against negative energy and spells cast by evil creatures.
Feats: Holy creatures gain one Exalted feat, and are treated as having the Sacred Vow feat for meeting feat and prestige class prerequisites.
CR: +2
LA: +2

Aspected

Sometimes, a deity will come to a chosen infant in the womb, and bless that child so that it becomes a living aspect of one thing on the deity's portfolio. Sometimes, the universe just randomly decides to make an infant an embodiment of one thing. These are the aspected creatures.

Creating an Aspected creature
The Aspected template may be applied to any living corporeal being.

Special Qualities and Attacks: Aspected Creatures retain all special abilities and attacks of the base creature, and gain the following:
Aspect: Choose one Domain. The creature gains the chosen power of that domain, and may cast the its spells as spell-like abilities 1/day, as a cleric of its HD. Aspected creatures may not cast any spells a cleric of its HD could not.
Feats: The Aspected creature gains the Domain feat for its domain as a bonus feat.
CR: +1
LA: +1

All right, that's all for now. Please PEACH/comment, as I'm not sure about the LAs of these templates.

Pyromancer999
2011-02-11, 04:38 PM
Anyone want to comment/PEACH this?

Pyromancer999
2011-02-12, 02:00 PM
Aspected template added. Please PEACH!

Zaydos
2011-02-12, 02:31 PM
Well a first note is that CR increase should not be higher than LA increase (as CR is power boost for 1 encounter; LA is power boost) a perfect example of how and why is your necrotic creature which gains almost no advantages as a monster (as its undead it takes control of are normally still counted as individual for XP awards and EL determination) but very powerful ones as a PC.

For Necrotic I'd probably say +1 or 2 CR and +3 or 4 LA.

For Ninja I'd say +1 or 2 CR and +2 or 3 LA.

For dragon-blooded I'd remove demi-caster (as that wonks out the LA system even more; and allows an ECL 3 Fighter to cast 5th level spells as written) and just give it a +1 LA. At the minimum you need to work on demi-caster a little.

For holy I'm interested in how the clerical casting would work out. I might remove the ability to Turn Undead, though (to stop DMM tricks for one thing) as they look like a good solid LA +2 already (they compare interestingly to Mystic Theurge; their advantage is an ability to take levels in another PrC while they're at it).

For Aspected I'd say only +1 CR and I might say +2 LA. Also do you mean Devotion feat? Or else what's a Domain feat?

Of course LA does matter some on if you allow LA buy off (which is made to compensate on the designers intentionally setting LAs too high).

Pyromancer999
2011-02-12, 03:58 PM
Well a first note is that CR increase should not be higher than LA increase (as CR is power boost for 1 encounter; LA is power boost) a perfect example of how and why is your necrotic creature which gains almost no advantages as a monster (as its undead it takes control of are normally still counted as individual for XP awards and EL determination) but very powerful ones as a PC.

For Necrotic I'd probably say +1 or 2 CR and +3 or 4 LA.

For Ninja I'd say +1 or 2 CR and +2 or 3 LA.

Sounds right.


For dragon-blooded I'd remove demi-caster (as that wonks out the LA system even more; and allows an ECL 3 Fighter to cast 5th level spells as written) and just give it a +1 LA. At the minimum you need to work on demi-caster a little.

I've removed it for now, but basically it was just an attempt to make it be able to use Draconic Heritage feats, at least for the moment. I'm currently working on non-caster Draconic Heritage feats.


I might remove the ability to Turn Undead, though (to stop DMM tricks for one thing) as they look like a good solid LA +2 already (they compare interestingly to Mystic Theurge; their advantage is an ability to take levels in another PrC while they're at it).

Removed the Turn Undead.


For Aspected I'd say only +1 CR and I might say +2 LA. Also do you mean Devotion feat? Or else what's a Domain feat?

Domain feats are found in Complete Champion. They basically grant you an ability based on the domain they're taken for. So, there's a Death Domain feat, an Earth Domain feat, and so on.


Of course LA does matter some on if you allow LA buy off (which is made to compensate on the designers intentionally setting LAs too high).
Yeah, I don't really allow LA buyoff. I've tried it a couple times to compensate for tier differences, and it's worked out with mixed results.

Zaydos
2011-02-12, 04:04 PM
I've removed it for now, but basically it was just an attempt to make it be able to use Draconic Heritage feats, at least for the moment. I'm currently working on non-caster Draconic Heritage feats.

Domain feats are found in Complete Champion. They basically grant you an ability based on the domain they're taken for. So, there's a Death Domain feat, an Earth Domain feat, and so on.


Well you could get wordy (or table-y) and give them virtual spell-slots like you did for arcane casters. Also give them Dragontouched as a bonus feat, then (as it lets you take Draconic Heritage feats as if you had 1 level of sorcerer).

Okay, my Complete Champion calls them Devotion feats so they are what I thought they were. I like that it grants them, but it does make me sad as I'd like to have Time, or Elf, or Force, Nobility, or other non-PHB domain. That's not a flaw in the homebrew as much as the fact that I'm sad WotC didn't support all the cool domains they made.

Pyromancer999
2011-02-12, 08:12 PM
Well you could get wordy (or table-y) and give them virtual spell-slots like you did for arcane casters. Also give them Dragontouched as a bonus feat, then (as it lets you take Draconic Heritage feats as if you had 1 level of sorcerer).

Yeah, that's what Demi-Caster was all about. Basically, you know the bonus spells casters get for a high casting score? Turn them into spell slots, and you've pretty much got Demi-Caster. I also gave them 1 spell per level of spells so that spell-dependent effects could work.


Okay, my Complete Champion calls them Devotion feats so they are what I thought they were. I like that it grants them, but it does make me sad as I'd like to have Time, or Elf, or Force, Nobility, or other non-PHB domain. That's not a flaw in the homebrew as much as the fact that I'm sad WotC didn't support all the cool domains they made.
Oh, yeah, they're called Devotion feats. I think of them as Domain feats, so that's what I put them as. Still, for bonus feats you could house rule a certain feat as counting as the Devotion feat for that as the template, I guess.

Zaydos
2011-02-13, 01:26 AM
Yeah, that's what Demi-Caster was all about. Basically, you know the bonus spells casters get for a high casting score? Turn them into spell slots, and you've pretty much got Demi-Caster. I also gave them 1 spell per level of spells so that spell-dependent effects could work.

Oh, yeah, they're called Devotion feats. I think of them as Domain feats, so that's what I put them as. Still, for bonus feats you could house rule a certain feat as counting as the Devotion feat for that as the template, I guess.

If that's the desire the wording needs some work. How it was originally worded it seemed to give non-casters full casting. Wording it is difficult due to PrC shenanigans (I'm not sure what shenanigans but I know there are some). I'll think about it.

Yeah, the Devotion feats need some house ruling anyway which makes me sad, but like I noted before that's nothing wrong with this project and it's nice to see them included here.

Pyromancer999
2011-02-13, 09:21 AM
If that's the desire the wording needs some work. How it was originally worded it seemed to give non-casters full casting. Wording it is difficult due to PrC shenanigans (I'm not sure what shenanigans but I know there are some). I'll think about it.

How about this wording:
Demi-Caster: Should the Dragon-Blooded not be able to cast spells, it gains bonus spell slots for a high Charisma score as a spellcaster would. This does not give access to the spellcasting of any class, and does not allow the Dragon-Blooded to qualify for feats or Prestige Classes as a spellcaster would. The Dragon-Blooded knows one spell of each level.


Yeah, the Devotion feats need some house ruling anyway which makes me sad, but like I noted before that's nothing wrong with this project and it's nice to see them included here.
Ah, that's good. I've actually been thinking of making Devotion feats for additional Domains for some time, and may actually make them in the future. No promises, though, as I've had some trouble figuring out how they'd work out.

Zaydos
2011-02-13, 11:42 AM
How about this wording:
Demi-Caster: Should the Dragon-Blooded not be able to cast spells, it gains bonus spell slots for a high Charisma score as a spellcaster would. This does not give access to the spellcasting of any class, and does not allow the Dragon-Blooded to qualify for feats or Prestige Classes as a spellcaster would. The Dragon-Blooded knows one spell of each level.

Do the Draconic Heritage feats actually require spells known or just spell slots? I thought it was the latter. Even so the bolded line should stop shenanigans. You do need to state what happens if you gain spellcasting while in that class.


Ah, that's good. I've actually been thinking of making Devotion feats for additional Domains for some time, and may actually make them in the future. No promises, though, as I've had some trouble figuring out how they'd work out.

That would probably be awesome. I remember your grim reaper feats which were really cool and your holiday feats as well (although a little too humorous for me in a real campaign; that and my irrational fear/hatred of more diplomacy boosting feats).

Pyromancer999
2011-02-13, 12:19 PM
Do the Draconic Heritage feats actually require spells known or just spell slots? I thought it was the latter. Even so the bolded line should stop shenanigans. You do need to state what happens if you gain spellcasting while in that class.

Different feats require different things. Some require that you just expend spell slots, while others only take effect after you cast a spell. Forgot to add that they lose this benefit if they gain spellcasting from other sources.


That would probably be awesome. I remember your grim reaper feats which were really cool and your holiday feats as well (although a little too humorous for me in a real campaign; that and my irrational fear/hatred of more diplomacy boosting feats).

Yeah. I'll try to see if I can do it when I have a chance to really sit down for a while and see if I can make some Devotion feats. And thanks for the compliment. Just so you know, a fear of Diplomacy boosts isn't irrational. In a one-shot, one of the people in my group made a Diplomacy-focused character and pretty much had NPCs doing as he wished. However, my feats have turned out to be mostly fine, so long as the character doesn't focus on Diplomacy too much.

Zaydos
2011-02-13, 12:30 PM
Different feats require different things. Some require that you just expend spell slots, while others only take effect after you cast a spell. Forgot to add that they lose this benefit if they gain spellcasting from other sources.

Okay it's been a while since I've built a Draconic Heritage focused character.



Yeah. I'll try to see if I can do it when I have a chance to really sit down for a while and see if I can make some Devotion feats. And thanks for the compliment. Just so you know, a fear of Diplomacy boosts isn't irrational. In a one-shot, one of the people in my group made a Diplomacy-focused character and pretty much had NPCs doing as he wished. However, my feats have turned out to be mostly fine, so long as the character doesn't focus on Diplomacy too much.

I call it irrational because I know how to make the highest diplomacy checks you ever need RAW at 5th level without any more than I've already got access to and I don't know if RAW diplomacy exists making it much less of a problem (I've known one person that demanded it did; but he didn't use RAW diplomacy as a DM... and he broke the rules for synergy bonuses as a player).