About Thorn (MM III)

[Heilmut Von L.]

Those creatures are really interesting, I've got a lot of idea for a future campaign but:


How can I create a Thorn character?
What about the "thorn" weapons? Someone knows their special qualities? are they described in some manuals?

[eggs]

Thorn doesn't have parameters for use as a PC, but it has cohort LA, meaning it can be used as an ally through the Leadership feat,starting at an effective level of 8 (6HD+2LA). It probably wouldn't be unreasonable to transfer that LA onto the Thorn for a player character, but it's a pretty poorly-designed race for a PC: it invests a lot of levels for a very small handful of bonuses and abilities (powerful as sleep arrows are, they're just one trick, and come with a common immunity).

The race would look like:

Strength +6. Dexterity +4, Constitution +4, Charisma +2
Small size, Fey type (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/typesSubtypes.htm#feyType)
20 ft move speed.
Proficient with all simple weapons, longswords, longbows, light armor. shields
Sneak Attack (Ex): +2d6
Sleep Arrows (Ex): Sleep effect disregards targets HD. DC = 10+.5*[Thorn's total HD]+Cha (per rules compendium)
DR 5/cold iron
Low-light vision
6 fey HD (see fey type), class skills: Diplomacy, Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Search, Sense Motive, Spot, Survival
2 LA
Starting effective character level: 8


If you want the race to be playable before level 8, Savage Species has guidelines for building playable monster classes from low levels, but the system is not known for its balance.

If you want to minimize the crappiness of the race at high levels, you'll probably want to look into Unearthed Arcana's LA buyoff system (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/reducingLevelAdjustments.htm) to eventually drop the race's level adjustment in exchange for faster experience progression.

I'm not aware of any other support for Thorns specifically, but I think the broadest support WotC gave fey in general was its Fey Feature (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/arch/fey) article series, and the WotC-endorsed Dragon Magazine #304's Guardians of the Wild issue.

[TuggyNE]

Strength +6. Dexterity +4, Constitution +4, Charisma +2
Small size, Fey type (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/typesSubtypes.htm#feyType)
20 ft move speed.
Proficient with all simple weapons, longswords, longbows, light armor. shields
Sneak Attack (Ex): +2d6
Sleep Arrows (Ex): Sleep effect disregards targets HD. DC = 10+.5*[Thorn's total HD]+Cha (per rules compendium)
DR 5/cold iron
Low-light vision
6 fey HD (see fey type), class skills: Diplomacy, Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Search, Sense Motive, Spot, Survival
2 LA
Starting effective character level: 8


That is, mechanically, surprisingly terrible, especially since you can get everything except the sneak attack, RHD, and ability score adjustments from pixie at just over half the starting ECL. (Also, flight, better DR, spell-likes, lack of mediocre RHD, and memory loss arrows arguably make up for all but the ability scores.)

[Heilmut Von L.]

Thanks for the tips. Nothing about the "thorn" property of the sword?

[Jeraa]

Thanks for the tips. Nothing about the "thorn" property of the sword?


Its not a special property. Just a special material. Really, its just a description of the weapon.


Thorns get their name from the unusual longswords they carry, which are made of thorns from carefully cultivated, enormous rose bushes in the faerie courts.

Basically, its just made of thorns, not metal. So it would be immune to anything that targets metal (like rust monsters), and vulnerable to anything that targets plant matter (like Warp Wood). It would have a hardness of 5, and 2 hitpoints. (A regular small longsword made from metal would have 10 hardness and 2 hit points.)


Sleep Arrows (Ex): Sleep effect disregards targets HD. DC = 10+.5*[Thorn's total HD]+Cha (per rules compendium)
You forgot the +2 racial bonus a Thorn gets to the save DC.