PDA

View Full Version : [Another LA Race] The Trueblooded



Phosphate
2011-09-15, 09:03 AM
TRUEBLOODED
http://i52.tinypic.com/zkk7zk.jpg
"What is flowing through your veins, it is not mere blood, my son. It is life! Your life eternal. May you defend it forever, to serve your race and enrich the earth with your countless footsteps."
- Basque Ehr, Trueblooded

Type: Medium/Large Humanoid (chosen at character creation)
Ages:

{table]Adulthood | Simple | Moderate | Complex
16 | +1d4 | +1d6 | +1d8[/table]
{table]Middle Age | Old | Venerable | Maximum Age
100 | 150 | 200 | no[/table]

Trueblooded stop aging in appearance after attaining middle age. Due to this, their stats change differently from other races. At every age category, Constitution increases by 1 instead of decreasing, and Charisma never changes (dex and str still decrease, int and wis still increase). Additionally, they do not have a maximum age, so after becoming Venerable they keep on living forever.

Height/Weight: Trueblooded are about 7'-7'5" tall on average, so members of their race that are treated as Large creatures are not unheard of. They are 20% slimmer than a Human of the same height.

Languages: Common
Bonus Languages: Any non-secret
Hit Dice: D12
Initiative: +0
Speed: 30 ft base land speed


We've all seen cliche vampires, undead dudes driven by negative energy, living an eternal unlife of evil and decadence. Some are so messed up their skin even started to sparkle. Trueblooded are not like that.

They are a race of humanoids whose veins contain the very essence of positive energy. Their blood, regarded as the Elixir of youth, prompted greedy tyrants to hunt them down and suck them dry, to preserve the life of themselves and other desperate nobles. And it really works. Even nowadays, there is nothing to disprove that several cruel rulers held Trueblooded captive in their prisons, making use of their blood every now and then. Due to this, most Trueblooded either hide or live in free countries with strong guards and patrols to cover their backs. Due to this way of living, there is no real "culture" attached to the race, whose nature is to blend in with the customs, style and fashion of others.


Names: Though Trueblooded have no real culture, they do regulate their breeding to a certain extent. A Trueblooded is a perfect and frail creation of nature genetic-wise, so its traits are never dominant. Due to this, if a Trueblooded breeds with another race, the resulted child will not be a hybrid, but a full member of the other race, missing any notable Trueblooded characteristics. There are few Trueblooded family names as a result, the most prominent and widely spread being Ehr, Froders, Asust and Quatti (it is likewise customary for Trueblooded that do choose to breed and live their lives with a non-Trueblooded, for whatever reason, to give up their names).

Appearance: Trueblooded are not much different from very tall humans, aside from some distinguishing features. Firstly, they all have red eyes, which they can make to glow at will. Secondly, their skin is rather pale, giving them a deathly look. This is necessary so they can absorb and use as much sunlight as possible for the photochemical processes in their skin. To complete the similarity with vampires, they have very sharp (though not sticking out) teeth and their canines are longer than normal, which is also a normal evolutionary tool they acquired to ease their frantic metabolism.

Racial Features:

+6 Constitution, -2 Charisma
Trueblooded have incredible vigor due to their miraculous blood, but take a hit to charisma for their off-putting appearance.

Scarlet Vision (EX): The Trueblooded can make his eyes glow with red light as a swift action, dimly illuminating everything in a 10 foot cone in front of him. While in this state, the Trueblooded has Darkvision out to 60 feet in front of him, and cannot gain any type of Concealment against non-blind opponents. Closing this racial ability requires a swift action.

Gift of Blood: Whenever a Trueblooded gains a level in a class, he rolls a dice that is 1 step better than the class hit die (d4 to d6, d6 to d8, d8 to d10, d10 to d12, d12 remains unchanged).

Frantic Appetite: The Trueblooded must eat much more than normal humanoids to keep himself healthy. Treat his requirement of food and water as if he was 2 size categories larger. If a Trueblooded gains a class feature that permits him to no longer require sustenance (like capstones that turn you into an outsider), he (reatroactively) loses all his racial bonuses (including the +6 to Con, but excluding the -2 to Cha).

Sublime (Su): The true nature of a Trueblooded is that of a pure being of light and vitality. Whenever someone looks at them while using True Seeing, they are stunned for 1 round and then blinded for a number of rounds equal to the difference in HD, 1 minimum.

Essence of Life (Su): Although it's a bit unintuitive, because Trueblooded are beings infused with positive energy, they actually cancel out negative energy that would affect them, but an imbalance of positive energy can bring them much harm. Therefore, they are immune to Negative energy but vulnerable to Positive energy, another thing which made people over the years mistake them for vampires.

Scarlet Restoration: The open wounds of Trueblooded, just like their blood, glow with a dim yet easily noticeable shade of dark red. The positive energy in their body, by seeping out, reinvigorates and heals their wounds. A Trueblooded keeps track of Slashing and Piercing damage separately from other types of lethal damage, and has Fast Healing 2 against these types of damage only. Additionally, a dying Trueblooded is always stable.

Wailing Blood (EX): The Trueblooded put great value in their own lives and go to great lengths to ensure their own survival. Any Trueblooded below 1/4 his max hit points, rounded up, instantly becomes conscious if he wasn't and gains the ability to communicate telepathically with all intelligent creatures up to 1 mile away from him. Those he contacts cannot answer him back, but become aware of his current location. However, this is not a compulsion, and they may come and help him only if they want to.

Channel Energy (Su): When touching an opponent, a Trueblooded can infuse him with his own Positive Energy, in large, harmful quantities. A touch attack is required for this to succeed, and the target takes energy damage equal to xd4, where x is the Trueblooded's HD. If used on an undead, apply xd6 instead. Then, the target becomes immune to this ability for 24 hours, and the Trueblooded becomes fatigued for a number of rounds equal to the number of times he used Channel Energy that day. While fatigued or exhausted, a Trueblooded may not use Channel Energy.

Religion: None. Trueblooded find no reason to turn away from the power they have within and towards a deity.
Favored Class: the class in which they have the most levels, like Humans do

Level Adjustment: +1

silver spectre
2011-09-15, 10:54 AM
This is definately an interesting idea. What prompted it?


Hit Dice: D12
Is this a pathfinder thing?
I am only familiar with HD being from class or race and I see no mention of racial HD.



They are a race of humanoids whose veins contain the very essence of positive energy. Their blood, regarded as the Elixir of youth, prompted greedy tyrants to hunt them down and suck them dry, to preserve the life of themselves and other desperate nobles. And it really works.
I'd love to know how that works.



+6 Constitution, -2 Charisma
Trueblooded have incredible vigor due to their miraculous blood, but take a hit to charisma for their off-putting appearance.
That's a pretty major bonus for any LA +1 race, but you have some hefty drawbacks as well, so...



Scarlet Vision (EX): The Trueblooded can make his eyes glow with red light as a swift action, dimly illuminating everything in a 10 foot cone in front of him. While in this state, the Trueblooded has Darkvision out to 60 feet in front of him, and cannot gain any type of Concealment against non-blind opponents. Closing this racial ability requires a swift action.
Interesting take on this. Put's a fair sized cramp on stealthy types.



Gift of Blood: Whenever a Trueblooded gains a level in a class, he rolls a dice that is 1 step better than the class hit die (d4 to d6, d6 to d8, d8 to d10, d10 to d12, d12 remains unchanged).
I'm always curious about arbitrary dice cut offs. It seems like it would be simpler to just give a bonus hitpoint (the average increase with a dice size increase) per level and it would avoid the need for a seemingly arbitrary cap.



Frantic Metabolism: The Trueblooded must eat much more than normal humanoids to keep himself healthy. Treat his requirement of food and water as if he was 2 size categories larger.
I like this, but it is a really group specific thing. If a group ignores food requirements then this isn't really a drawback at all. If the group does track it, that adds up to a lot of upkeep.
Maybe a special material food requirement instead like an ounce of silver (a pure element) per day instead?



If a Trueblooded gains a class feature that permits him to no longer require sustenance (like capstones that turn you into an outsider), he (reatroactively) loses all his racial bonuses (including the +6 to Con, but excluding the -2 to Cha).
So they have no favored class, but they have a racial feature that completely destroys the worth of some class features.
How does it work with magic that removes or alters sustenance needs?



Essence of Life (Su): Although it's a bit unintuitive, because Trueblooded are beings infused with positive energy, they actually cancel out negative energy that would affect them, but an imbalance of positive energy can bring them much harm. Therefore, they are immune to Negative energy but vulnerable to Positive energy, another thing which made people over the years mistake them for vampires.
This I really like, and it is a major drawback with magic healing.
How does it work with other positive energy effects (turning undead, hallowed areas, etc...)?



Scarlet Restoration: The open wounds of Trueblooded, just like their blood, glow with a dim yet easily noticeable shade of dark red. The positive energy in their body, by seeping out, reinvigorates and heals their wounds. A Trueblooded keeps track of Slashing and Piercing damage separately from other types of lethal damage, and has Fast Healing 2 against these types of damage only. Additionally, a dying Trueblooded is always stable.
More tracking to do. Why not a some form of damage reduction (maybe 2/bludgeoning) instead?



Wailing Blood (EX): The Trueblooded put great value in their own lives and go to great lengths to ensure their own survival. Any Trueblooded below 1/4 his max hit points, rounded up, gains the ability to communicate telepathically with all intelligent creatures up to 1 mile away from him. Those he contacts cannot answer him back, but become aware of his current location. However, this is not a compulsion, and they may come and help him only if they want to.
I like this, but it is definately a two edged. Some of those other creatures might like having an easy target. I like this, but


Channel Energy (Su): When touching an opponent, a Trueblooded can infuse him with his own Positive Energy, in large, harmful quantities. A touch attack is required for this to succeed, and the target takes energy damage equal to xd4, where x is the Trueblooded's HD. Then, the target becomes immune to this ability for 24 hours, and the Trueblooded becomes fatigued for a number of rounds equal to the number of times he used Channel Energy that day. While fatigued or exhausted, a Trueblooded may not use Channel Energy.
I would never use this, but given that this is a positive energy effect, shouldn't it have greater efect on undead.

Phosphate
2011-09-15, 11:56 AM
This is definately an interesting idea. What prompted it?

Well I hate vampires. So making an anti-vampire was the logical conclusion. Point is, vampires are (this is RW mythological, not D&D material, but still) out there drinking the blood of others because, being dead, their own is rotten and they have to refresh it. So an anti-vampire would have SUPERblood, which NORMAL people would want to drink :D.

Also with the reproduction. It is common knowledge that if a vampire bites someone, he's vampirified. As a nice anti-vampire, our Trueblooded friend can't even pass on his genes through a non-Trueblooded.


Is this a pathfinder thing?
I am only familiar with HD being from class or race and I see no mention of racial HD.

It is racial HD. Thought it was evident.


I'd love to know how that works.

1/10 liter of Trueblooded blood stops your aging for a month. It can't make you become younger, however.



Interesting take on this. Put's a fair sized cramp on stealthy types.

Not really. You're not forced to keep it on.


I'm always curious about arbitrary dice cut offs. It seems like it would be simpler to just give a bonus hitpoint (the average increase with a dice size increase) per level and it would avoid the need for a seemingly arbitrary cap.

Wait, so instead of having d6 instead of d4 a Warlock should have d4+1 hit points per level? Maybe I misunderstood what you said.


If a group ignores food requirements then this isn't really a drawback at all.

That is not really my problem. Foreseeing what homebrewing rules a group may use to work around them is not only a messy task, but also not really the point. If a group uses the AC as damage reduction alternate mechanic does that mean that a level 12 class feature that doubles all DR from nonmagical sources is broken? No, it means it is broken if used by that group. If a group doesn't take difficult terrain as a penalty to movement, does that mean that a level 1 class feature that lets you ignore difficult terrain is useless? Of course not! AND if a group plays without multiclassing penalties, do Humans instantly become weaker? Again, no.

I just assume my races/classes will be used with the formal, base 3.5 mechanics. If I wouldn't assume that, I would use my own homebrewed rules, not others' anyway.


Maybe a special material food requirement instead like an ounce of silver (a pure element) per day instead?

I fail to see how that fits in flavor.


So they have no favored class, but they have a racial feature that completely destroys the worth of some class features.

Yup. It's not that Trueblooded can play ALL classes well, it is that there is no single class that really represents them.


How does it work with magic that removes or alters sustenance needs?

If it is permanent, they lose racial benefits. If not, no.


This I really like, and it is a major drawback with magic healing.
How does it work with other positive energy effects (turning undead, hallowed areas, etc...)?

If an ability SPECIFICALLY works only on undead, Trueblooded are immune to it. If an ability works on everyone, but is stronger on undead, then Trueblooded are affected as if they are undead.


More tracking to do. Why not a some form of damage reduction (maybe 2/bludgeoning) instead?

Because that is much, MUCH weaker than what I gave them. It's basically "if you take damage from a non-bludgeoning source you heal 2 hit points" as opposed to "if you take damage from a non-bludgeoning source you heal 2 hit points per round until there is nothing left to heal".

And it's pretty easy to track. Say you have 100 hit points, and you took 36 damage from a rapier and 22 damage from a mace. You have 42 hit points, and you also have Fast Healing 2 for 36/2 rounds.

I've seen much more complicated systems and abilities than that.


I like this, but it is definately a two edged. Some of those other creatures might like having an easy target. I like this, but

Again, nobody forces you to use it. If a Wizard disguises himself and goes to a crowning, he does have the choice to Baleful Polimorph the new monarch. Even if then his hundreds of soldiers will slaughter him, he still has that choice.


I would never use this, but given that this is a positive energy effect, shouldn't it have greater efect on undead.

I wonder why you'd never use it. Damage too low? Fatigue too high? Either way, you're right, I'll change it so that it does more damage to undead.

silver spectre
2011-09-15, 01:14 PM
It is racial HD. Thought it was evident.
So they have one racial HD?


Not really. You're not forced to keep it on.
No doubt of that, but sneaking around in the dark is harder when you can't see. It was just a thought. I like the fact that a tactical choice is required.



Wait, so instead of having d6 instead of d4 a Warlock should have d4+1 hit points per level? Maybe I misunderstood what you said.
Any time you go up one hid dice, the average increase is only going to be one point.
The average roll of a d4 = 2.5
The average roll of a d6 = 3.5
The average roll of a d8 = 4.5
The average roll of a d10 = 5.5
The average roll of a d12 = 6.5
A net increase on average of one point at each die size increase from d4-d12.




I just assume my races/classes will be used with the formal, base 3.5 mechanics. If I wouldn't assume that, I would use my own homebrewed rules, not others' anyway.
Makes sense.




If it is permanent, they lose racial benefits. If not, no.
Then I'm guessing that a template addition would do the same



I've seen much more complicated systems and abilities than that.
No doubt. I'm just used to DMing for guys that have math as an 8th language. I usually end up being the group calculator.



Again, nobody forces you to use it. If a Wizard disguises himself and goes to a crowning, he does have the choice to Baleful Polimorph the new monarch. Even if then his hundreds of soldiers will slaughter him, he still has that choice.
Belive me, I like ability. Abilities that can have "unforeseen" consequences are fun for mixing things up.
It could also be a great way to get an adventuring party started.


I wonder why you'd never use it. Damage too low? Fatigue too high?
Just personal experience. Anytime I've ever played a PC (in multiple groups over the years) with an ability that enduces fatigue, I've ended up getting hammered after actually using it.
Mechanically it makes sense as he is giving up his personal energy to accomplish the effect.

Phosphate
2011-09-15, 02:31 PM
So they have one racial HD?

If you encounter an NPC Trueblooded, he will have an additional racial HD, yes. If you take it as a PC class for yourself, no.


No doubt of that, but sneaking around in the dark is harder when you can't see. It was just a thought. I like the fact that a tactical choice is required.

Human rogues can't see in the dark either.


Any time you go up one hid dice, the average increase is only going to be one point.
The average roll of a d4 = 2.5
The average roll of a d6 = 3.5
The average roll of a d8 = 4.5
The average roll of a d10 = 5.5
The average roll of a d12 = 6.5
A net increase on average of one point at each die size increase from d4-d12.

Maybe it's just me having an outrageous lack of luck, but generally I consider adding an average superior to adding a die. For instance, if there would be a Metamagic Feat that would increase the spell slot by 1, and make the damage of the spell always be average, yes, even if rounded down, I would use it on ALL my spells.



Then I'm guessing that a template addition would do the same

Yes. No loopholes.


No doubt. I'm just used to DMing for guys that have math as an 8th language. I usually end up being the group calcualtor.

In my opinion, ability formulas and usage should be as simple as possible, but mechanical balance > players rolling a couple extra dice.

It's like when I introduced that martial ability Jousting (if you move before landing an attack as a standard action on an opponent, you deal 5% more damage for every 5 feet of movement, capped at 100%. Damage is rounded up). It was critiqued for being overly complicated to calculate, but there wasn't any change pertinent enough to not drastically depower it via simplification.


Belive me, I like ability. Abilities that can have "unforeseen" consequences are fun for mixing things up.
It could also be a great way to get an adventuring party started.

It's also useful with your current party, if unexpected stuff happens.

For instance, say you are all sleeping at a tavern, in different rooms. Some assassin sent after you decides to finish you off one at a time, and decides to start with your room. Now a normal humanoid would just shut up and die, but as a Trueblooded, you can just go "OH MY GOD IT HURTS SWEET JESUS SOMEBODY SAVE ME WHY GOD WHY?!!" and the rest of the party will probably wake up and save you.


Just personal experience. Anytime I've ever played a PC (in multiple groups over the years) with an ability that enduces fatigue, I've ended up getting hammered after actually using it.
Mechanically it makes sense as he is giving up his personal energy to accomplish the effect.

But, IS the damage balanced or not? I wanna know.