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View Full Version : [3.5] A template for a game I'm running - "Lost Ones"



Yuki Akuma
2011-09-26, 12:00 PM
Lost Ones are children from humanoid races, that have become tainted by fey energies and transformed. They're generally not trusted by humanoids, due to their ability to link their souls to humanoids and control them. Therefore, they generally require humanoids to trade for them and such... necessitating that they must bind a humanoid to them.

On the plus side, any humanoid bound to them becomes functionally immortal.

"Lost One" is a template that can be added to any humanoid that produces children (herafter referred to as the base creature). This is an acquired template.

Size and Type
The base creature's type becomes Fey, and they retain whatever subtype they had as a humanoid (Human, Elf, Orc, etc.). They are treated as a member of their former race to determine all effects that don't depend on creature type.

Their size changes to one smaller than their base creature's size (Medium to Small, Small to Tiny, etc.).

Hit Dice and Hit Points
Any racial hit dice change to d6s.

Speed
The base creature's speed is reduced by 10 feet, down to a minimum of half their standard base speed.

Armor Class
A Lost One adds its Charisma bonus as a Deflection bonus to AC.

Special Attacks
Same as the base creature, plus the following.

Oathbind (Su): Lost Ones are most well known for their ability to bind their souls with those of a single humanoid. The Lost One must touch the target, and the target must be willing. After a period of seven days, the recipient gains a mystical bond with the Lost One.

The Lost One and the recpient are capable of communicatingly empathically at any distance, and can communicate telepathically when within one mile of each other. This telepathy is just like talking face to face in all respects, and can also transmit images at about the same speed as the 'speaker' could draw them. Thanks to this link, the Lost One gains a +4 bonus on all Charsima-based checks against their humanoid, and gains a +2 bonus to save DCs on any Enchantment spell they choose to cast on them.

Once per day, the Lost One is capable of summoning their humanoid, as long as they are on the same plane. This is a Conjruation (Calling) effect.

The greatest power of this link, however, is its ability to bring the humanoid back to life. The humanoid will die shortly after reaching middle age, through some conflux of events. After a period of seven days, they are reincarnated as an infant from a random humanoid race (25% chance to reincarnate as their original race). They retain their memories, mental ability scores and class levels, but their physical ability scores are changed depending on the race they reincarnate as, taking racial ability modifiers into account. During the seven-day period, they can be raised from the dead as normal, although in another month fate will conspire to kill them again, and so on.

If they are killed before they reach middle age, their souls pass to whatever afterlife awaits them, until the point at which they would have reached middle age, at which time they are reincarnated as normal. During this period, the Lost One gains a number of negative levels equal to the hit dice of his humanoid. A DC 25 Fortitude save can reduce these negative levels to half (round up).

If the Lost One is slain, his humanoid must make a DC 25 Fortitude save or immediately die. Until his Lost One is resurrected in some way, the humanoid may only be brought back to life through the use of a Miracle, Wish, or similar magic.

If a humanoid child is given this 'blessing', he will acquire the Lost One template after a period of seven months, after which the link is severed.

Only one link can exist at a time. If the link is somehow severed, the Lost One may reestablish it after a period of a year and a day, or alternatively link with another humanoid instead.

Spell-like abilities: At-will - Charm Person, 1/day - Dominate Person. CL equal to HD. Saves are Charisma-based.

Special Qualities
As the base creature, plus the following. Any special qualities that rely on the base creature's size (such as Powerful Build) are downgraded to the next lower size.

Immortality (Ex): Lost Ones do not age, and do not die from old age.

Telepathy (Su): Lost Ones may speak telepathically with any Lost One within a range of one mile, or any being within 100 feet that has a language.

Damage reduction 5/cold iron.

Ability Scores
Lost Ones are frail and fey, but the magic coursing through them makes their personality more vibrant. -4 Str, -2 Con, +4 Cha

Challenge Rating
+1?

Level Adjustment
?!

This template is mostly plot-based, but I'd like for it to be... 'balanced'. A bit.

Mr.Bookworm
2011-09-26, 06:20 PM
Letsee. Positives:

Cha to AC, Charm Person at-will, Dominate Person 1/day, telepathy, DR 5/cold iron, and +4 Cha.

Negatives:

Fey type (because you also count as a member of your old race), -10 speed, -4 Str, and -2 Con.

Going down a size is kind of a wash; there are benefits and downsides. Oathbound is more of a plot-thing and I wouldn't factor it into the LA.

I'd call it a solid +1 LA in that it's probably worth a character level. Maybe bump it up +2 if you allow buy-off.

...though after seeing Oathbound, I'm curious about this homebrew world of yours.

Yuki Akuma
2011-09-26, 06:31 PM
The world is designed as a "generation" game, of sorts - the players help build up the world and watch it change over a period of a few thousand years.

The immortality is designed to facilitate that~

Mythologically, this is what happens to lost children in this world.