LA +1 templates/powers as reward

[Biotroll]

Hiho playground! :smallsmile:

I finaly started the OA campaign and it's going well so far. Not very combat focused now, as PCs are lvl2, but they are doing fine. Since I'm planning ahead though, I need your help.

My players are bound to be hunting down some spirits in order to get answers from old shaman. I've already made a thread about some good spirits a while back (and thanks for everyone who helped me:smallwink:) and now I'm thinking of some rewards for them. I thought giving them free LA +1 template or powers of similar strenght would be fitting. Now, I've thought of few possibilities, but I'm looking for more.

The party so far is this:
Human Swordsage - ninja-like type, part of Scorpion clan
Nezumi Rogue - using 2 hand-crossbows, underling of the Swordsage
Hengeyokai Dread Necromancer - changes to snake (homebrewed), uses a bow so far, allowed to use DMM
Vanara Shaman - the OA version of shaman, he's silent type so far
Gnome Bard - trickster, drug dealer and brewer (alchemy checks), planning to go for some manipulative PRCs as he said

Party members who show up irregulary:
Human Ranger - from Crab clan, hunter of shadowland creatures
Hengeyokai Duskblade - this one is fox and loves to stay in fox shape (haven't changed out of it yet and it seems he plans on staying in fox shape as long as he can), Bards companion

Now, the rewards I've been thinking about so far:
Dark creature for Swordsage - seems fitting and I guess he will be enjoying it
Necropolitan for Dread Necro - he already started the game with Mother Cyst as "bonus" (part of his backstory), and it seems like a good choice for him
Shaman will get unarmed damage increase and some scaling DR (as reward for destroying a spirit of monk which controls an animated statue). Not sure how much of DR he should be given though
Not sure what to do with the Rogue, he wanted to play some four-armed race in the beggining, but disliked bugs (so no tri-kreen or diopsid) and only other low level four-armed creature I could think of was Dolgrim, but we both agreed it would be better to keep that one in Shadowlands. Not sure how would four hands be balance with him though, I'm afraid he might become really strong powerhouse in combat due to all those sneak attacks (as my party tends not to optimise much otherwise and I'm quite leeway when it comes to allowing him sneak attacks).
Bard, well, no idea really. I was thinking of giving him maybe some SLAs after defeating Yuki-onna, for charming but not sure.
Haven't thought much about Ranger and Duskblade as both of them show up only once in a while, but it might be good to have something prepared for them.

So, could you help me Playground? Any ideas?

[Gullintanni]

Not sure what to do with the Rogue, he wanted to play some four-armed race in the beggining, but disliked bugs (so no tri-kreen or diopsid) and only other low level four-armed creature I could think of was Dolgrim, but we both agreed it would be better to keep that one in Shadowlands. Not sure how would four hands be balance with him though, I'm afraid he might become really strong powerhouse in combat due to all those sneak attacks (as my party tends not to optimise much otherwise and I'm quite leeway when it comes to allowing him sneak attacks).


Perhaps give your Rogue access to Girallon's Blessing as a 3/day SLA with caster level equal to 1/2 Rogue level. This'll end up being a semi-short term buff (it lasts 10 minutes/CL), so you don't have to worry about the Rogue being a whirlwind of sneak attacks 24/7, at least until higher levels where the Rogue will need the higher damage to stay competitive. I also recommend the version from the Spell Compendium, rather than Savage Species, as the SpC version only provides one additional set of arms.

Truth be told, the benefits of being a Necropolitan, IMO, outweigh the benefits of having an additional set of arms, so you could probably give the Rogue a permanent Girallon's Blessing and not have any balance problems, but this seems like a nice compromise if you're worried.

[RFLS]

Dark creature for Swordsage - seems fitting and I guess he will be enjoying it
Necropolitan for Dread Necro - he already started the game with Mother Cyst as "bonus" (part of his backstory), and it seems like a good choice for him




Be wary of this one. The Dark template (from ToM) is very, very strong for LA 1.
I'd talk this over with him. The capstone of the DN class is being a Lich, free of charge, and being necropolitan disqualifies you for that. It also may feel to the player like you've cheapened his capstone.

[Mithril Leaf]

Be wary of this one. The Dark template (from ToM) is very, very strong for LA 1.


It's also only what, 32 grand? Something along those lines. If you can buy a template for that cheap, it's something every stealth character will pick up anyway.
For the bard, perhaps give him hidden talent (psionic minor creation) and a scaling power point reserve. You can make opium with that, which is historically quite a good drug for manipulating societies.

[Yogibear41]

How do you buy a template?

[Karnith]

How do you buy a template?
Generally you don't, but a continuous Collar of Umbral Metamorphosis (ToM 156) gives you the dark template for as long as you are wearing it, and costs 22,000 gold.

[Mithril Leaf]

Generally you don't, but a continuous Collar of Umbral Metamorphosis (ToM 156) gives you the dark template for as long as you are wearing it, and costs 22,000 gold.

That's the one. 33,000 gold if you want it on top of a more expensive amulet.

[AmberVael]

I don't think have two extra arms should be terrible unbalanced. If you do decide to allow it, rather than fiddling about with a permanent spell you could just use the Aberrant Limbs unique ability in the DMG II (page 158). Technically it is listed as +2 LA, but all of those abilities are horribly overpriced even relative to the normal horrible LA pricing. Even the book says it.

For the shaman, maybe you could consider a modified mineral warrior? (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20031003e) Mineral warrior is generally considered to be a potent template, so it won't hurt it too much to leave some aspects out (drop some bonuses, probably some of those negative mental adjustments too). I dunno, maybe it's not quite right for the character- but the statue thing reminded me of it.

I'll also note the Draconic template (from Races of the Dragon) as a good all around template to have, so it could potentially be given to the ranger or duskblade if nothing else seems appropriate. Possibly refluff it a bit if need be.


I'd talk this over with him. The capstone of the DN class is being a Lich, free of charge, and being necropolitan disqualifies you for that. It also may feel to the player like you've cheapened his capstone.

This could really be solved just by fluffing the reward template as a discovered secret on the path to being a lich. Rather than calling it something separate, he just got one of his bonuses early. It won't break anything to add lich on top of necropolitan, so no worries there.

[Malroth]

its balanced but not strictly legal by RAW, and that does bug some people.

[Biotroll]

Well, the game will go to like level 15 at best if everything goes right, so I really won't be stealing lichdom from the necro in first place (and they all know it). Still, I would be more then willing to handwave it for him should he want to do it earlier on his own.

I'll try to talk to rogue player and will give him the extra arms, but he will be noted that if I think it's too unbalancing, he will get something else instead. Hope he will feel fine about it that way.

About dark template, I was thinking of shooting down the hide bonus a bit, but maybe it will stay the way it is. (Just a note: We are not really playing by WBL, and players haven't read much apart from PHB, ToB and parts of MM1 and DMG. I usualy pick classes for them based on what they want to play, what their goals are and what powers they imagine they should have as they are not good at english and I have to translate most of the rules for them.)

Mineral warrior was what I was thinking for the shaman at first too, but I'm afraid of giving him dr 8/adamantine at low lvl. (I'm also worried how they will fare against Large animated object (stone statue), as with the hardens of 8 (iirc), I don't know how much of damage they will be able to do to it. Also I find it hard to see how any piercing or even slashing weapon is going to do anything against stone really. So far, I only have idea of making the temple quite ruined with few support beams still standing and with knowledge check of 10, they could figure how to bring it down on that thing, because I'm afraid that only the swordsage with his spiked chain will be able to do something to that thing.)

I'll have to take a look if I inherited Races of Dragon from my old DM and take a look at the Draconic template.

Don't know about Psionic minor creation. I mean, he likes brewing drugs and all that, but it feels, uh, weird. I was thinking of giving him some free suggestions/charm person (or even monster) or maybe telepathy. Really don't know. This is only player that has some experience and knows what he wants to do with the character. It feels like I'm intruding into his ideas to me and while he is telling me what kind of character he's going to build, even he doesn't know the PRCs too much ahead so I can't really be sure how to play into his cards. :smallsigh:

[Agent 451]

Perhaps instead of a template you could give the bard some sort of animal companion that has a natural poison attack? Or a pair of Poison Fangs from Serpent Kingdoms, which give the player their own poison attack with a scaling DC. Here's a link to one of the poison handbooks (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=4854.0), might be of some use to you!