balancing a lychantrop

[Gokken]

Hey guys
I am dming my first D&D game
and one of the Pc's is a ranger who worships this very feral lychantrop diety

and he did alot of stuff for him, so naturally i wanted to reward that and he roleplayed it very well

so i thought the most obvious thing was to turn him into a werewolf.

I don't wanna give him all the stats it has in the book with that whopping+3 level adjustment

I was thinking of giving it +1 natural ac and +1 to handle animal +1 to hide +1 listen +1 move silently +1 spot and +1 survival

Feats: Scent

and maybe +2 wisdom
and control form skill starting with 1/4 of the maximum rank they have in a skill now.

also claw attacks and bite in form and 5 damage reduction in form.

do you think this will unbalancen the system totaly?
I do not have alot of experience with balacing things.

when you put it in math is that + 1/20 more ac and 1 more to will saves?


he will not get the stats/health/Base attack of the were wolf
because that is down right rediculess

Thoughts on this boon?

[Pilo]

Do not give him the wisdom bonus nor the animals hit dices and make it usable a limited times and hours a day, it would be enough.

[Gokken]

so he could use the form like twice a day, where he would get 2 claw attacks with highest base attack and a bite with lowest base attack.

and damage reduction 5

the rest of the time he would get +1 ac and the skills?

[Urpriest]

It might be better to use something that already exists. For example, you could swap the guy's race for Shifter (Eberron, or MMIII).

What sort of value are you aiming for? This is a boon, what amount of treasure is it replacing?

[Gokken]

some really boss level 8 item

[Urpriest]

some really boss level 8 item

Items don't really have levels like that in 3.5, that's more a 4e thing. If you mean an item someone could get in a treasure at 8th level, does that mean you're looking for about a 3,000gp value?

[Marnath]

Items don't really have levels like that in 3.5, that's more a 4e thing.

The magic item compendium disagrees with your assertion. :smallwink:

[Gokken]

yea urpriest that would be it,

[awa]

So something equal to 3000 gold?

thats not a lot dr/5 silver even once a day would probbaly cost more particularly if it last a whole fight.

+2 wisdom is like 4000 right there

[Marnath]

I'm interested to know how Ur-Priest factors into this discussion.

It probably has to do with the fact that Urpriest asked him a question, doesn't it?:smallconfused:


Items don't really have levels like that in 3.5, that's more a 4e thing. If you mean an item someone could get in a treasure at 8th level, does that mean you're looking for about a 3,000gp value?

On topic, I would +1 the suggestion of making the character a shifter.

*edit: This post looks weird without the post I was responding to.:smalltongue:

[Mishkov]

Depending on the other character's power too...

Ranger is not very strong. You could give him dr 5/sliver and an extra bite attack at all times, give him claw attacks a certain amount of times a day and physical characteristics and that'd be fine.

A better option might be to kind of gradually give him things as long as he keeps on this path. Scent then physical characteristics, then a bite, then claws, maybe 2 wisdom. At high levels, for a ranger, the entire lycan template is not going to break your game.

At low levels, with casters in the group, the lycan template will not break your game if you gave it to him for free but taking the animal HD. And you could always give other people goodies too.

What level is he and what does the rest of the group look like?

[Gokken]

Mishkow

They are a level 6 Half-orc barbarian

and a level 5 tiefling rogue/wizard

the barbarian is proberly the strongest atm with a strength of 20 and constituion of 16
dex 12 or 14 and wisdom 14

the ranger is level 6

I gave the all the same stats which were 18/17/16/16/12/10

[Mishkov]

Those are nice stats...

I'd weave a story into it. Maybe give him scent for free, he's already tracking and stuff, it isn't that broken unless you really like your sneaky ambush possibilities.

Then maybe give him a bite attack but he has to make a control shape (give it to him as a class feature) to enable it. A bite on top of TWF shouldn't make much difference, it'd like an extra 4 damage to his output? Maybe some animal empathy points too. Or any combination of the above.

After that have him gain things as he goes along. Giving him the full template at this point might make him outclass the barb pretty fast.

Watch the rogue/wizard, he'll outclass everyone within the next 5 levels by a mile though if he knows what he's doing.

[limejuicepowder]

I would model the benefits after the predator form for the shapeshifting druid ACF. I never liked the feel of the werewolf in DnD - not only do they get screwed on HD and level adjustment, I never liked the hybrid form. Giving him access to the predator form on a limited basis would be the path I would take.

This would have the added benefit of being easy to scale as he gains levels. Increase availability, increase the stat bonuses, give him a trip attack, that sort of thing.

[Gokken]

what do you mean when you say outclass?

I did it so he is always one level lower than the rest of the group

I also did it so the all gain the same experience, so they don't jump on solo adventures and kill mobs on there own 24/7