[Template]Woad Spirit

[LordOfNarf]

Woad Spirit

http://www.methos.org/fandom/images/mw99-revel05.jpg

As long as there have been warriors, there have been ways to prepare a soul for battle. One way for the fiercest warriors of the North was to cover their body in a dye made form the Woad plant, which stained their skin blue and raised their ferocity to incredible proportions. As the ferocity of the plant aided the warrior in battle, the warrior’s spirits fueled the plant, and it has become a potent source of ferocity and power.
In recent years, a strange thing has started happening. People have started seeing animals I the shade of the Woad, and this is troublesome because they are imbued with the ferocity of the warriors who gave the Woad though their departed souls. But also, the Woad has given the Animals even greater power than the warriors who use the Woad.
The most Distinctive Physical trait of a Woad Spirit is that from head to toe, they are either pure blue, or completely marked with intricate blue patterns and marks. They are physically powerful and muscular.

Sample Woad Spirits

Natural Woad Spirit Wolf
Magical Beast (Augmented Animal)
Hit Dice 2d8+6 (15 hp)
Speed 60ft ft. (12 squares)
Init: INITIATIVE
AC 17 (Dex +2, Natural +5) touch 12; flat-footed 15
Base Attack/Grapple +1/+3
Attack Bite +4 melee (1d6+2)
Full-Attack Bite +4 melee (1d6+2)
Space/Reach 5 ft/5 ft
Special Attacks Trip, Woad Fury
Special Qualities Low Light Vision, scent, DR 2/magic, Fast Healing 2 Darkvision 60ft, cold resistance 15
Saves Fort +6 Ref +5 Will +1
Abilities Str 13, Dex 15, Con 17, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6
Skills Hide +2, Listen +3, Move Silently, +3, Spot+3, Survival +1
Feats Track, Weapon Focus (bite)
Environment Temparate Forests
Organization Solotary, Pair, or pack (7-16)
Challenge Rating 3
Alignment Always neutral
Advancement 3 HD (Medium); 4-6 HD (Large)
Level Adjustment-

This apprears to be the same size as a normal wolf, but is coverd from head to tale in a splochy blue color, it growls as it attacks.

Combat

Woad Fury A Natural Woad Spirit Wolf Can go into a Woad fury once per day. It takes no time to enter a Woad fury, but the Woad spirit must do it on his turn. During a Woad fury, a the wolf's fast healing doubles, and all DR values are doubled and changed to /-. In addition, a the wolf gains a +2 Bonus to Str and Con for the duration of the Woad Fury. This Wolf's Woad fury lasts for 6 rounds. After the Woad fury, the Woad Spirit is nauseated for 1 hour.

Ra’ak Thallan Human Warrior 1 Acquired Woad Spirit
Medium Humanoid (Augmented, Human)
Hit Dice 1d8+6 (10)
Speed 40ft ft. (8 squares)
Init: +1
AC X (AC DETAILS) touch X; flat-footed X
Base Attack/Grapple +1/+5
Attack Handaxe +5 melee (1d6+4, x3)
Full-Attack Handaxe +5 melee (1d6+4, x3)
Space/Reach 5 ft/5 ft
Special Attacks Woad Fury
Special Qualities Darkvision 30ft, Cold Resistance 10, DR 1/magic, fast healing 1
Saves Fort +X Ref +X Will +X
Abilities Str 19, Dex13, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 8
Skills Climb +8, Ride +5
Feats Toughness
Environment Any
Organization Name (Number appearing)
Challenge Rating 2
Treasure Standard
Alignment Chaotic Neutral
Advancement by Character Class
Level Adjustment +2

Ra’ak Looks like a normal man, wearing armor and a battleaxe His most disturbing feature is the face that he is tattooed by a blue shade in intricate patterns on every inch of his skin.

Combat

Woad Fury Ra'ak Can go into a Woad fury once per day. It takes no time to enter a Woad fury, but the Woad spirit must do it on his turn. During a Woad fury, Ra'ak's fast healing doubles, and all DR values are doubled and changed to /-. In addition, Ra'ak gains a +2 Bonus to Str and Con for the duration of the Woad Fury. A Woad fury lasts for 6 rounds. After the Woad fury, Ra'ak is nauseated for 1 hour.

Creating a Woad Spirit
Woad Spirit is a template that can either be inherited (for any Animal, Dragon, Fey, Magical beast, Plant, or Vermin), and is considered a “natural” Woad spirit, or Acquired (for any Giant, Humanoid, or Monstrous Humanoid), and is acquired, and considered an “acquired” Woad Spirit. (Hereafter referred to as the “base creature”)
Size and Type the base creature gains the augmented subtype, and if it was an animal, it becomes a magical beast with the augmented animal subtype. Size is unchanged

Speed All Woad Spirits gain a bonus to base land and fly (if applicable, this template does not grant a fly speed if the base creature did not have one before) speed by 10ft

Armour Class a natural Woad spirit gains a +3 increase to natural armor, and an Acquired Woad Spirit gains a +2 increase.

Special Attacks All Woad Spirits retain all special attacks of the base creature, and gain Woad Fury.

Special Qualities All Woad Spirits retain all special qualities of the base creature, in addition, Natural Woad Spirits gain, Darkvision 60ft, and resistance to cold 15, Acquired Woad Spirits Gain Darkvision to 30ft, and resistance to cold 10. In addition, a Woad Spirit Gains abilities as per the table below.
{table=head]{colsp=3}Natural|{colsp=2}Aquired
HD|DR|Fast Healing|DR|Fast Healing
1-7|2/magic|2|1/magic|1
8-15|5/magic|4|2/magic|2
16+|8/magic|8|4/magic|4[/table]


Abilities A Woad raider is exceptionally Hardy and fierce. Increase from base creature as follows Str +4, Con +2.

Challenge Rating
{table=head]{colsp=2}Natural|Aquired
HD|LA|LA
1-7|+2|+1
8-15|+3|+2
16+|+4|+3[/table]

Level Adjustment Acquired As base creature +2

Woad Fury A Woad Spirit Can go into a Woad fury once per day. It takes no time to enter a Woad fury, but the Woad spirit must do it on his turn. During a Woad fury, a Woad spirit’s fast healing doubles, and all DR values are doubled and changed to /-. In addition, a Woad Spirit gains a +2 Bonus to Str and Con for the duration of the Woad Fury. A Woad fury lasts for a number of rounds equal to 3+the Woad Spirit’s Con modifier. After the Woad fury, a Woad spirit is nauseated for 1 hour.

[hr]

This is my first Entry into a contest, so comments and constructive criticism are welcome.

[Helgraf]

Creating a Woad Spirit

Amour Class/b] a natural Woad spirit gains a +3 increase to natural armor, and an Acquired Woad Spirit gains a +2 increase.

You're missing a closing bracket on your text bolding here, and it's either Armor or Armour Class ... unless you're playing some really out there variant .


[B]Special Qualities All Woad Spirits retain all special qualities of the base creature, in addition, Natural Woad Spirits gain, Darkvision0ft, and


Darkvision 0 ft? I presume that was meant to be 60?

Interesting theme. I'm not sure I like the doubling of the fast healing and DR and the shift to DR/- that's a very potent combination, but I need to look it over again in more depth before I can say whether I feel it's actually a broken one.

[Mike_Lemmer]

I'll critique it once you polish the formatting. Some of the fields are hard to read without more line breaks.

[LordOfNarf]

Aded more line breaks, though I can't see how that helps that much...

[Mike_Lemmer]

You'd be amazed.

Okay, first you might want to break up the special qualities into lists; that will improve readability even more. You can also shorten the CR listing by just saying "natural Woad templates add an additional +1 to CR". You could even simplify the Special Qualities by just saying natural Woads have double the DR & fast healing of an acquired Woad of the same HD.

Finally, I think that the CR scaling is too fast. I don't think the template would be worth +3 to 4 CR at HD 16+.

Other than that, it looks good.

[LordOfNarf]

I added Charts to make it easier to read, but I don't really want to change the CR around, CR is a measure of how much or a pain in the rear it is for the PC's to kill it, and something with decent DR AND Fast Healing is going to survive long enough to be a pain in the arse for the PC's

[Mike_Lemmer]

Unless they insta-kill it, of course. There's many save-or-die spells that make DR/fast healing a moot point. Besides, I'd say the damage PCs do per round at higher levels scales nicely with the DR/fast healing. Since the ratio is the same, the CR shouldn't change that much.