Top 10 Templates

[Azoth]

Sorry getting on the fun of top 10 lists here. I want to know what everyone's favorite templates are, whether for fluff or crunch. Lets see what we come up with. Mine are in no particular order.

1.dark
2.mineral warrior
3. Winged
4. Feral
5. Half fey
6. Phreneric
7. Necropolitan
8. Half-vampire
9. Tauric
10. Primordial Giant

[Bard for Kicks]

1. Half-Minotaur (is broken)
2. Half-Fey
3. Saint (If you get it, KEEP it)
4. Fire-Souled (Leadership, etc)
5. Vivacious (SUPER cleric)
6. Half-Dragon (fun fluff)
7. Monster of Legend (Apply to Dire Tiger. Destroy everything)
8. Radiant (is wicked powerful, if applied correctly)
9. Shadow (super sneaky)
10. Lolth-Touched

Astral Construct would be nice too, but I rarely use it on anything. I think most of the templates need to be applied as a combo.

[Jodah]

I will post in all of these...bwahahaha


Feral: It is one of the nice things that melee gets. Sure it is from one of the least balanced books ever, but it is fun.
Dark: I like skillmonkeys, skillmonkeys are often relegated to sneaks, sneaks always benefit from this.
Mineral Warrior: I like the flavor, especially for dwarves. Don't know what else to say.
Necropolitan: spell-stitched? And also it is just plain fun to be immune to crits (and fort saves in general). Go to the party, someone poisons the punch, watch them do it, then drink punch all day - special points if you are the official taster for a noble.
Fire souled: Had an evangelist variant cleric with this one once. Was exceedingly fun to play a character that was so fired up about his faith.
lycanthrope: I like shapechangers, I like the lore of lycanthropes in general, but most of all, I like being able to pick really random animals.
lich: my first BBEG as a DM. Hexim has a soft spot in my heart - though he turned out to be a real wimp when push came to shove and the party actually caught up to him.
Nagpa: I like this as a punishment for recluses - especially since many of them wouldn't care anyway. It is awesome to think of some wizard reluctantly going out into the market for his spell regents, hood drawn, but people still distinctly noticing the beak coming out.
Draconic: I use this frequently with bards. Grants a cha bonus + grants dragonblood = perfect.
Woodling: Don't know what I like plant people, I just do. These guys are pretty cool as far as plants go.

[Empedocles]

Half-Dragon. Absolute classic, and very useful for cool encounters.

Vampire. Another classic, although I prefer to use the template class.

Anthropomorphic. Gods! This is so abusable, but it opens up so many options that I can't help but put it on here.

Lyncanthrope. :smallwink:

Shade. From FF. Such a cool concept!

Ghost (Ghostwalk). A playable ghost race, with it's own two classes. You've got to love it!

Half-Fiend. Sooooooo many applications as a DM!

Those are really the only ones I absolutely love. If you want 10 though, I'm also a pretty big fan of the incarnate construct, half-construct, and spellstitched templates.

[Kuulvheysoon]

Hmmm.... In no particular order...

-Draconic (RotD)
-Dragonborn (RotD)
-Dark (ToM)
-Woodling (MM3?)
-Tauric (MM2? Now, if only there was an LA for it...)
-Half-Dragon (MM)
-Tainted One (SK)
-Titanic (MM2)
-Lycanthrope (MM)

And for the last one, I've got to agree with Bard:

-Monster of Legend: because it can be BRUTAL.

[Bard for Kicks]

Anthropomorphic. Gods! This is so abusable, but it opens up so many options that I can't help but put it on here.


Woah. Since when is Anthropomorphic X a template? I thought there was a set list near the end of Savage Species. Did I miss something?

[FMArthur]

I'm most fond of LA0 templates. They're the ones I actually use with regularity.

1. Dragonborn: customizable options, makes dragon characters less terrible
2. Necropolitan: offers unique stuff, improves the game with variety and options
3. Magic-Blooded ("spark"): Rare charisma bonus there. Free SLAs simply added to your racial abilities makes me a little uncomfortable (these others get by at LA0 because they are trades involving actual losses), but none of them are really significant.

I honestly don't like the Quarter-Bull and Not-Housebroken templates and kind of wish they weren't there at all.

[Empedocles]

Woah. Since when is Anthropomorphic X a template? I thought there was a set list near the end of Savage Species. Did I miss something?

I suppose it isn't technically speaking, but it's very similarly done and I'm pretty sure it can be applied outside of the set list.

EDIT: The way I think of it, anthropomorphic is a template applied to the animals on the table...so I'm not sure if it really counts

[Azoth]

Oh come on...who doesn't love a lolth touched feral half minotaur half giant mineral warrior water orc? Sure he is ugle as sin, dumber than a rock, of severely questionable parenternity, but he hits like a mac truck and has enough con you will barely notice the lost hit dice.

[Bard for Kicks]

Oh come on...who doesn't love a lolth touched feral half minotaur half giant mineral warrior water orc? Sure he is ugle as sin, dumber than a rock, of severely questionable parenternity, but he hits like a mac truck and has enough con you will barely notice the lost hit dice.

HAHA I completely agree. Being a barbarian with 60-90 str is the true meaning of power. Why play a wizard when you can cause earthquakes with your foot stomps? Also, wielding collosal weapons usually leads to the party water orc picking up a tree and swinging it around, which is by far, the most amusing party trick.

[Narsis]

some of my favs:

-dark
-mineral warrior
-saint
-godblooded (specifically vecna blooded)
-gravetouched ghoul
-half dragon
-dragonborn


there's plenty of others that are cool but those are the ones i've actually used myself before.

[AslanCross]

I rarely apply templates to PCs, so these are more for monsters.

1. Spellwarped (Mutant creatures from the Mournland, bwahaha)
2. Half-Dragon
3. Shadow
4. Elder Eidolon (This is an ancient Cthulhu mech. Yes, it gets freaky powers)
5. Pseudonatural (non-epic)/Half-Farspawn
6. Living Spell. Somewhat different from most templates, but insanely cool.
7. Voidmind (Yes, this troll has a tentacle sticking out of its head. Yes, it is somehow firing psionic powers at you.)
8. Mistling (Making fey even creepier and more insane. Apply to Redcap for total freakout)
9. Dracolich (mostly down here because I never get to use it)
10. Pseudonatural (epic; never get to use it, but it's just so cool)

[Wings of Peace]

1. Incarnate Construct (What really needs to be said?)
2. Symbiotic (A printed license to abuse rules)
3. God Blooded (Vecna variety. The fact you can lose the template but keep the best perk is hilarious.)
4. Half-Minotaur (Fantastic for +1 LA, especially when combod with Incarnate Construct)
5. Half-Ogre (The template not the race. Same Principle as Half-Minotaur)
6. Dragonborn (Ex wings on any race I want? Yes please!)
7. Ghost (Ghostwalk version)
8. Magic-Blooded (Like FMArthur said, it's a gem)
9. Arctic (+2 Con for -2 Cha? Yes please! Just don't start calling me a dwarf.)
10. Necropolitan (Undeath isn't always the answer, but when it is it's usually the best answer.)

[Taelas]

The classics (fluff, not crunch, no particular order):
-Vampire
-Half-Dragon
-Lycanthrope
-Lich (demilich, dracolich)

Crunch:
-Half-Minotaur
-Feral
-Lolth-touched
-Saint

Can't really think of more that I honestly like.

[hex0]

Vampire Lord (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mm/20021018a) End Thread :smallamused:

[Meianleader]

1. Dark
2. Half-fey
3. Feral
4. god-blooded (vecna)
5. ghostwalk ghost
6. dragonborn
7. vampire
8. wraith
9. lich
10. umbral creature