New Bloodlines [3.5]

[EdroGrimshell]

Mongrel

{table=head]Level|Minor|Intermediate|Major
1st|||Knowledge (Local) +2
2nd||Knowledge (Local) +2|Racial Trait
3rd|||Constitution +1
4th|Knowledge (Local) +2|Racial Trait|Racial Trait
5th|||Racial Affinity +2
6th||Constitution +1|Racial Trait
7th|||Bluff +2
8th|Racial Trait|Racial Trait|Racial Trait
9th|||Strength +1
10th||Racial Affinity +2|Racial Trait
11th|||Racial Affinity +4
12th|Constitution +1|Racial Trait|Racial Trait
13th|||Sense Motive +2
14th||Bluff +2|Racial Trait
15th|||Dexterity +1
16th|Racial Trait|Racial Trait|Racial Trait
17th|||Racial Affinity +6
18th||Strength +1|Racial Trait
19th|||Autohypnosis +2
20th|Racial Affinity +2|Racial Trait|Racial Trait[/table]

Racial Traits: As the Mongrel progresses, their racial heritage starts to become more prominent, giving them access to racial traits of their ancestry. At 2nd level, the mongrel can only select the racial traits of LA +0 races with no racial hit die. Every 8 levels, they can select racial traits from races with an LA 1 higher. The Mongrel cannot select racial ability score bonuses. A Mongrel cannot select racial traits from construct or undead races.

Racial Affinity: The affinity bonus applies to any race that shares a racial trait with with the Mongrel.


Undying

{table=head]Level|Minor|Intermediate|Major
1st|||Survival +2
2nd||Survival +2|Inured to Pain
3rd|||Constitution +1
4th|Survival +2|Inured to Pain|Impact Resistance
5th|||Enduring Affinity +2
6th||Constitution +1|Fast Healing (50%)
7th|||Heal +2
8th|Inured to Pain|Impact Resistance|Ferocity
9th|||Strength +1
10th||Enduring Affinity +2|Withstand Damage
11th|||Enduring Affinity +4
12th|Constitution +1|Fast Healing (50%)|Damage Conversion
13th|||Autohypnosis +2
14th||Heal +2|Mettle of Body
15th|||Wisdom +1
16th|Impact Resistance|Ferocity|Call of the Undying
17th|||Enduring Affinity +6
18th||Strength +1|Vigor
19th|||Tumble +2
20th|Enduring Affinity +2|Withstand Damage|Reincarnation[/table]

Inured to Pain: The undying may ignore up to 1/4, 1/2, or 1x his class level in damage for the purpose of determining when he has to make Concentration Checks and the DC for a Concentration Check. Additionally, the undying only takes half damage from nonlethal damage.

Impact Resistance: The undying only takes minimum damage from falling.

Fast Healing: The undying gains Fast Healing 1. This fast healing is only active while the undying is below half health.

Ferocity: When below half health, the undying gains a +1 morale bonus to attack, damage, and saves as long as he is below half health. When below his character level in health, these bonuses increase to +3. When in negative hit points, these bonuses increase to +5. Additionally, the undying gains the Diehard feat.

Withstand Damage: The undying gains Damage Reduction equal to 1/4 or 1/2 his character level depending on his bloodline's strength.

Damage Conversion: As an immediate action, the undying may activate damage conversion. Subtract his Con Mod from any damage taken this round. He takes nonlethal damage equal to the damage negated by this ability. Additionally, the undying gains fast healing 1 that only affects nonlethal damage.

Mettle of Body: The undying gains mettle as a Hexblade except it only functions on effects that require a fortitude save.

Call of the Undying: It is very hard to kill an undying. The undying does not die at -10 hit points, instead, he dies when he reaches -50 Hit Points. The diehard feat allows him to function until he reaches -50 Hit Points, at which point he dies.

Vigor: Your fast healing extends to your full health. Additionally, once every hour, you can gain temporary hit points equal to your Character Level + your Con Mod. These temporary hit points do not stack.

Reincarnation: Once per month, should you die, you can come back to life as with the spell reincarnation.

[EdroGrimshell]

No interest in a natural born binder?

[Kazyan]

Cool, but, um, "vestigial" has a specific meaning. It makes this 'brew sound useless.

[EdroGrimshell]

Cool, but, um, "vestigial" has a specific meaning. It makes this 'brew sound useless.

I know that, it's a placeholder for now, though I just got one

[EdroGrimshell]

Anyone have anything to say one this? I'm rather interested if people like the mechanics behind it.

[Ammutseba]

I love all things binder and soul binding. I'm making a line of void heritor feats. I'm making an alternate binder class. I troll the internet for anything binder related.


However, this has missed the mark. It's well-written and clearly a great deal of thought went into it, but it simply does too much and goes too far. Honestly, what you have here is not a bloodline, but a base class. It would take only a tweak or two to go that way. If you presented it as a base class, then what you'd have is a more martial version of the binder, much as the soulborn was supposed to be a more martial version of the incarnate, except that it wouldn't be inherently bad design.

I see two avenues for this bloodline: scale it back to bring it on par with existing bloodlines, or make it a base class and scale it forward (just barely) to bring it on par with existing tier 3/4 classes.

Also, Vestige Fusion needs more explicit data, which means listing all of those combinations, and since you don't want to write an exhaustive list, it would probably be better to either work out a system to determine what happens, or to list a few things each vestige can do when fused to another vestige, give each possibility a "void genome tag" and then assign each vestige with a tessellating tag, so that any two fused vestiges would make clear which options become available.

[EdroGrimshell]

Well this is based on Welknair's Bloodlines more than the regular ones in UA, and they're naturally stronger. But I see your point. This is definitely something like a Barbarian version of a Binder, with the vestiges acting as a pseudo-rage. Hm, you have given me an idea for a project, making this into a pact magic class. I'll work on that over the next few days and see if I can't make something workable.

As for this, I'd have to completely rework the thing in order to remove the OP features.

[Ammutseba]

Sorry for this late reply, but I'm glad I could help. I'm really looking forward to seeing this as a class.

[EdroGrimshell]

Sorry for this late reply, but I'm glad I could help. I'm really looking forward to seeing this as a class.

I'm also going to revamp this one, I have a few ideas for this one as well as two other bloodlines based on the ability to just keep on going no matter what (DR, fast healing when below half health, higher HP threshold for death, ability to convert damage to nonlethal damage, etc) and having a diverse racial ancestry but not a mudblood.

Not sure what I'm going to do with the Voidbound Bloodline yet, so I'll be replacing it with the Undying and the Mongrel bloodlines for now.

[Ammutseba]

That certainly dismisses my confusion about why my post appeared in a thread with a title I'd never seen before.

Seriously, though. If you add a third vestige bind to the major voidbound bloodline and call it a class instead, you'll quite nearly have an entire base class there. Matter of fact, if you PM that to me, I can start working into one for you right now, and I'll send you back the marginally incomplete version.

[Amechra]

Mongrel bloodline... I like it.

Namely, because it allows for some real mix and match. And it allows your random <insert race here> both Slight Build and Powerful Build, which is always fun times.

[inuyasha]

Do you mind if I post some blood lines here soon? I can't seem to get peaches.

[EdroGrimshell]

Do you mind if I post some blood lines here soon? I can't seem to get peaches.

I'd prefer you not.

[inuyasha]

ok then :) worth a shot

[Ammutseba]

Fast Healing: The undying gains Fast Healing 1. This fast healing is only active while the undying is below half health.

...

Damage Conversion: As an immediate action, the undying may activate damage conversion. Subtract his Con Mod from any damage taken this round. He takes nonlethal damage equal to the damage negated by this ability. Additionally, the undying gains fast healing 1 that only affects nonlethal damage.

Withstand Damage: The undying gains Damage Reduction equal to 1/4 or 1/2 his character level depending on his bloodline's strength.

Mettle of Body: The undying gains mettle as a Hexblade except it only functions on effects that require a fortitude save.

Call of the Undying: It is very hard to kill an undying. The undying does not die at -10 hit points, instead, he dies when he reaches -50 Hit Points.

Vigor: Your fast healing extends to your full health. Additionally, once every hour, you can gain temporary hit points equal to your Character Level + your Con Mod. These temporary hit points do not stack.

Would you try any of the following?

Swift Recovery: While at half his maximum hit points or below, the undying gains fast healing 1.

Tenacity of Iron: At the beginning of each of the undying’s turns, he heals 1 hit point of nonlethal damage, in addition to any hit points he gains from fast healing or regeneration. This healing does now allow the undying to regrow or reattach lost body parts, and does not restore hit points lost from starvation, thirst or suffocation.

Additionally, the undying may strengthen his resistance to injury for 1 round as an immediate action, suffering the first number of points of hit point damage equal to his Constitution modifier as nonlethal damage instead of normal damage.

Withstand Damage: If the character has a major undying bloodline, he gains damage reduction 6/-. This damage reduction increases by 1 at levels 14, 16, 18 and 20, for a maximum of 10/- at level 20.

If the character has an intermediate undying bloodline, he gains damage reduction 5/-.

Mettle of Body: An undying can resist magical and unusual attacks with his great fortitude. If he makes a successful Fortitude save against an attack that would normally have a lesser effect on a successful save (such as any spell with a saving throw entry of Fortitude half or Fortitude partial), he instead completely negates the effect. An unconscious or sleeping undying does not gain the benefit of this effect.

Cling to Life: Even when critically injured, an undying is very difficult to kill off. Instead of dying when he reaches -10 hit points, the undying does not die until he reaches -50 hit points. Effects which refer to a character having -10 hit points as a point of death are changed in the case of the undying to accommodate his increased resistance to death.

Vigor: The undying benefits from the fast healing granted by his Swift Recovery ability at any time that he has any hit point damage. Additionally, once every hour, he can gain temporary hit points equal to his character level plus his Constitution modifier as a swift action. These temporary hit points last until they are lost normally.




For note, there's no reason to say that Vigor's temp hp don't stack with themselves because that's the way temp hp work: those gained from the same source don't stack unless the effect explicitly states they do. Now, if you meant that they don't stack with temporary hit points gained from other sources, then that is something that should be clarified and spelled out.

Also, I'm a bit confused by the differences between the intermediate and major levels of the undying bloodline. It looks like intermediate gains "damage reduction" at 20th level, whereas major gains "damage conversion" at 10th level. Damage reduction seems like it should be the withstand damage ability, but the major bloodline doesn't gain that until 12th level, so it shouldn't appear on the intermediate bloodline at all. Nonetheless, the description of the ability itself describes two different levels at which it can function.

Should it be that intermediate undying grants the damage conversion ability instead of the one that provides damage reduction, instead, and that the text should be modified to suit the most up-to-date information?