DracoDei
2013-01-13, 05:03 PM
I am helping a new player get into a game. He is relatively poor at the tactical (and mechanical?) aspects of the game, and so specifically wanted to play a low INT character. He referred me to a giant beetle from M:tG as what he would like to play, so I went with it, using a giant stag beetle (www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/giantStagBeetle.htm) as a starting point, and toning it down a bit. I am posting this to
This is designed to be competitive with ToB, or perhaps a bit lower, NOT in accordance with the LAs of published creatures, and also that "Fighter is a very fine NPC class". This is a quick job, and LAs are always hard. Note that the formatting is stripped down since this is a race. A link to the 32 point buy character is provided at the end.
I would like to know how balanced this is.
Lesser Giant Adephage
Size/Type: Large Magical Beast [Augmented Vermin, Thinking Vermin]
Hit Dice: 5d10+5*Con Mod
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares)
Armor Class: -1 size, +10 natural armor
Base Attack Bonus: +5
Attack: Bite 4d6+1.5xStrength Mod
Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: ?Trample 2d8+1/2xStr Mod? (Probably best to leave this out, OTOH it might provide some mobility options)
Special Qualities: ?Darkvision 60 ft.? (Include or exclude as necessary for balance, safest to leave it out.)
Base Saves: Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +1(+2 more from required Iron Will feat)
Abilities: Str +8, Dex -2, Con +6, Int -4, Wis +0, Cha -2 They do not get an additional ability score point for the 4th hitdie, but do count as having a single hit-die of progress towards further ability score increases.
Skills: 8x(2+Int Mod) skill points at creation, due to their 5 racial hit die.
The class skills for the racial hitdice of a Lesser Giant Adephage are Balance, Climb, Jump, Listen, Spot, Survival, and Swim
For this particular character I am thinking 2 points in Climb and 3 each in Spot and Listen.
Feats: 2 feats (plus 2 hitdie worth of progress towards a 3rd feat). Must take Iron Will During character creation, In this case I am thinking the classic for the other feat: Power Attack
LA: +1(almost tempted to say this should be no LA and 6 HD, because, again, Fighter is a perfectly good NPC class)
Proficient with natural weapons only, not proficient with any armor.
Thinking Vermin (Ex): These rare strains are said to be the products of extremely powerful versions of Awaken that can not only effect vermin, but also breed true into later generations. They lack the mindless quality, and many lack the Darkvision of their mindless cousins. Their minds are alien, but limited, meaning that they MUST take Iron Will at character creation.
They also count as "persons" rather than monsters for the purposes of mind-effecting effects. Thus Charm Person is capable of effecting them.
Foreclaws (Ex): They have fairly good manipulative ability with their foreclaws (equivalent to a humanoid of equal size), but their need to rear back to raise them off the ground means they count as flat-footed whenever using them, and their speed is halved for any movement while holding objects. This does not effect their ability to grapple.
32-point-buy character (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=497038).
EDIT: At GM's (Tavar's) suggestion I have changed them over from Vermin to Magical Beasts.
This is designed to be competitive with ToB, or perhaps a bit lower, NOT in accordance with the LAs of published creatures, and also that "Fighter is a very fine NPC class". This is a quick job, and LAs are always hard. Note that the formatting is stripped down since this is a race. A link to the 32 point buy character is provided at the end.
I would like to know how balanced this is.
Lesser Giant Adephage
Size/Type: Large Magical Beast [Augmented Vermin, Thinking Vermin]
Hit Dice: 5d10+5*Con Mod
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares)
Armor Class: -1 size, +10 natural armor
Base Attack Bonus: +5
Attack: Bite 4d6+1.5xStrength Mod
Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: ?Trample 2d8+1/2xStr Mod? (Probably best to leave this out, OTOH it might provide some mobility options)
Special Qualities: ?Darkvision 60 ft.? (Include or exclude as necessary for balance, safest to leave it out.)
Base Saves: Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +1(+2 more from required Iron Will feat)
Abilities: Str +8, Dex -2, Con +6, Int -4, Wis +0, Cha -2 They do not get an additional ability score point for the 4th hitdie, but do count as having a single hit-die of progress towards further ability score increases.
Skills: 8x(2+Int Mod) skill points at creation, due to their 5 racial hit die.
The class skills for the racial hitdice of a Lesser Giant Adephage are Balance, Climb, Jump, Listen, Spot, Survival, and Swim
For this particular character I am thinking 2 points in Climb and 3 each in Spot and Listen.
Feats: 2 feats (plus 2 hitdie worth of progress towards a 3rd feat). Must take Iron Will During character creation, In this case I am thinking the classic for the other feat: Power Attack
LA: +1(almost tempted to say this should be no LA and 6 HD, because, again, Fighter is a perfectly good NPC class)
Proficient with natural weapons only, not proficient with any armor.
Thinking Vermin (Ex): These rare strains are said to be the products of extremely powerful versions of Awaken that can not only effect vermin, but also breed true into later generations. They lack the mindless quality, and many lack the Darkvision of their mindless cousins. Their minds are alien, but limited, meaning that they MUST take Iron Will at character creation.
They also count as "persons" rather than monsters for the purposes of mind-effecting effects. Thus Charm Person is capable of effecting them.
Foreclaws (Ex): They have fairly good manipulative ability with their foreclaws (equivalent to a humanoid of equal size), but their need to rear back to raise them off the ground means they count as flat-footed whenever using them, and their speed is halved for any movement while holding objects. This does not effect their ability to grapple.
32-point-buy character (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=497038).
EDIT: At GM's (Tavar's) suggestion I have changed them over from Vermin to Magical Beasts.