Anime Homebrew

[Bluydee]

I have many ideas right now, and since many coincide with Japanese animation I thought I would just make one thread.

To start, here's some races.


THE SAIYAN

http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110603075118/dragonball/images/4/42/Vegeta-1.jpg
"We Saiyans get stronger every time we fight!" -Prince Vegeta

The saiyans are a true warrior race, born to fight, get stronger, and fight some more. Saiyans are mercenaries, subjugating countries and realms, before selling them to the highest bidder.

Personality:
Saiyans are naturally inclined to fight, and have a tendency to be hot-blooded. In most situations, they allow their emotions to dictate their actions, acting rashly rather than thoughtfully. Due to their warrior lifestyle, they have belief in survival of the fittest, usually being uncaring to the plight of others, even close family and friends. Death is mostly an afterthought, and in response to death Saiyans will merely scoff at their weakness.

Physical Description:
Saiyans look mostly like a human, and can easily pass as one, but they have a tendency to have more muscular builds. In addition, saiyans are almost always having black hair and black eyes. Once a saiyans hair grows as a child, it will stay that style for the rest of their lives, usually being spiky and long. In addition, saiyans also have tails like a monkey.

Relations:
Saiyans don't get along with any races, but will ally with any if promised with wealth and the chance to fight.

Alignment:
Saiyans are mostly neutral and evil, selling their strength to the highest bidder. Some good examples do exist, but are rare.

Saiyan Lands:
The saiyan's mainland is Vegeta, named after their king, who led them in conquering Tuffle, the very country which they now reside in.

Religion:
Saiyans tend to no race, believing in their strength alone.

Language:
Saiyans speak common, and have no language of their own.

Names:
Saiyan names are rather frank and literal, usually named after common objects and food and slightly altered, for example being Kakarot and Vegeta.

Adventurers:
Saiyan adventurers are numerous, for they live to fight and subjugating lands.

Saiyan Racial Traits

+4 Strength, +4 Dexterity, +4 Constitution, -4 Wisdom, -6 Charisma. Saiyans are truly powerful, born with strength, speed, and endurance. Despite this, they are usually reckless without thinking and are extremely hard to get along with.
Medium. As medium creatures, Saiyans have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Saiyan base land speed is 40 feet.
Zenkai: Saiyans gain power from fighting, and after recovering from near death they become stronger. After being reduced under 0 by a hostile enemy whose CR is at least 3 higher than your level, and recovering back to normal health through rest, Saiyans gain a +2 to dexterity, strength and constitution. This bonus stacks, but can only increase your ability scores up to half your level, rounded down to the nearest even number (minimum +2).
Perceptive: Saiyans have finely tuned senses, giving them a +2 to Spot and Listen.
Tail: Saiyans have a tail, which, while incapable of being used in fighting, can be used to manipulate small objects and levers. They also give a +2 competence bonus to Climb.
Great Ape: On the night of a full moon (or a simulated one), a saiyan can turn into a massive ape. They grow to huge size, applying all relevant modifiers, but without any modifiers to ability scores. Instead, they gain a +10 size bonus to strength and constitution, and a -4 to dexterity. They also have their intelligence and charisma revert to 1, and in this form cannot do anything requiring concentration, intelligence, or fine manipulation. They are treated as an animal during this form. The effect lasts for 1 minute per character level, and the saiyan cannot change back at will. Changing form (to ape) is a standard action and doesn’t provoke an attack of opportunity. Each time become a great ape, you regain lost hit points as if you had rested for a night. Any armor or clothes worn by the saiyan breaks and becomes nonfunctional. When the saiyan reverts to her true form, they are exhausted and fall unconscious.
Warrior Skill: Saiyans gain Improved Initiative and Power Attack as a bonus feat.
Automatic Languages: Common. Bonus Languages: Any (except secret languages, like Druidic.)
LA: +5



Saiyan Paragon

Saiyans are elite warriors, mercenaries that singlehandedly conquer kingdoms. They are the fighting race, exemplars of brutality and strength. The saiyan paragon takes this to the next level, unstoppable killing machines. When a saiyan paragon arrives in a kingdom, it is as good as sold.

Adventures:
Saiyan paragons are the elite of the saiyans, and seek to further the goals of the saiyans. Above all saiyan paragons look for a good fight, and may choose the chance to fight over any advantage the saiyans may get.

Characteristics:
Saiyan paragons are often arrogant, as well as rash and impulsive. They view themselves as the strongest warriors in the world, and very few times are they wrong.

Alignment:
Saiyan paragons can be any alignment, but due to their nature as mercenaries they oft are evil or neutral.

Religion:
Saiyan paragons aren't inclined to faith, like any other saiyan. They do, however, believe in the legend super saiyan, a extremely powerful saiyan, born every 1000 years. Most saiyan paragons believe they themselves to be this super-saiyan.

Background:
Saiyan paragons are rare, and are usually elite warriors, stronger than a normal saiyan. Despite this, it is possible to become a saiyan paragon through hard work and training

Races:
Saiyan paragons are always saiyans.

Other Classes:
Saiyan paragons rarely get along with other classes. Despite this, they respect barbarians, fighters, and warblades for their martial prowess, though this respect is not solid.

Hit Die: d12
Skill Points: 2+Intelligence Modifier
Class Skills: Balance, Climb, Intimidate, Jump, Listen,Search, Sense Motive, Spot, Survival, Swim, Tumble
Proficiencies: Saiyan Paragons are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, and with light armor and medium armor.


LevelBABFortRefWillSpecial
1st+1+2+2+2Monk Abilities, Natural Ki
2nd+2+3+3+3Blutz Ball, Infallible Zenkai
3rd+3+3+3+3Master Oozaru


Class Features:
All of the following are class features of the Saiyan Paragon.

Monk Abilities (Ex): Saiyan paragon levels stack with monk levels for determining the effects of Unarmed Strike Damage, AC Boost, and Fast Movement. For example, a saiyan with 3 levels of saiyan paragon has unarmed damage, ac bonus, and fast movement of a level 3 monk.

Natural Ki (Ex): At level 1, a saiyan paragon becomes attuned to ki, the natural life energy in living beings. They gain a Natural Ki pool, which holds a maximum of (Constitution Modifier+Strength Modifier+x2 character level) Natural Ki points (the pool's capacity is reset to this maximum by eight hours of rest). A saiyan paragon can expend ki points to gain a bonus equal to twice the points expended to any Climb, Tumble, Jump, or Balance checks. A saiyan paragon can also expend ki points to enhance their speed, increasing all of their forms of movement by 10 feet times the number of points expended for one turn.

In addition, a saiyan paragon can expend one point of Natural Ki to produce a blast of energy as a standard action. This manifests as either a 30-foot cone or a 60-foot line, as chosen by the Saiyan Paragon each time this ability is used. Creatures in the area of the blast take 1d6 points of damage for every 2 hit dice the Saiyan Paragon has, with a Reflex save for half damage (DC=10+Saiyan Paragon's Con modifier+1/2 Saiyan Paragon's HD). This damage is untyped, but does not affect incorporeal creatures or objects. They can also expend ki points to add +1 to either attack or damage rolls for one turn.

As long as a saiyan paragon has at least one point of ki left in their pool, they can fly at a speed equal to their land speed with good maneuverability. Saiyan paragons can recharge their pool as a full round action, gaining a number of points equal to their constitution modifier.

Infallible Zenkai (Ex): A saiyan paragon's zenkai now has a limit equal to level, rounded up to the nearest even number.

Blutz Ball (Su): At level 2, once a day a saiyan paragon can create a blutz ball, simulating a full moon, activating any abilities tied to the moon and triggering Great Ape form. This ball lasts for an hour.

Master Oozaru(Ex): At level 3, a saiyan paragon becomes truly in control of their Great Ape form. When in Great Ape form, a saiyan paragon's intelligence and charisma scores are not reduced. In addition, a saiyan paragon in Great Ape form can do anything they could do normally, being able to do actions that require concentration, intellignece, and fine manipulation, as well as being able to talk and think. The ability score modifiers in Great Ape form improve to +16 strength and +16 constitution, taking no penalty to dexterity. This form lasts for 10 minutes/character level, and can change back as a standard action.

Please state constructive criticism, or any typos I may have missed, or grammar that needs to be fixed.

[Bluydee]

Added saiyan paragon.

[Extra Anchovies]

Hm.

Zenkai: Saiyans gain power from fighting, and after recovering from near death they become stronger. After being reduced under 0 and recovering back to normal health through rest, Saiyans gain a +2 to dexterity, strength and constitution. This bonus stacks, but can only increase your ability scores up to half your level, rounded down to the nearest even number (minimum +2).
Easily abusable. During party downtime, have a party member send them into the negatives, somebody stabilizes them, and then they recover on their own over the next few days. I think this should either be removed or nerfed hard; doing so would balance them out and also knock the LA down to +3 or +4. Also, a question: is it the bonus that can't be greater than half your level, or is it the ability score itself (e.g. if you have a 10 or better in any of the above, nothing happens)? I get the impression that it's the former, but the wording is unclear.

Great Ape: On the night of a full moon (or a simulated one), a saiyan can turn into a massive ape. They grow to gargantuan size, applying all relevant modifiers, but without any modifiers to ability scores. Instead, they gain a +10 size bonus to strength and constitution, and a -4 to dexterity. They also have their intelligence and charisma revert to 1, and in this form cannot do anything requiring concentration, intelligence, or fine manipulation. They are treated as an animal during this form. The effect lasts for 1 minute per character level, and the saiyan cannot change back at will. Changing form (to ape) is a standard action and doesn’t provoke an attack of opportunity. Each time become a great ape, you regain lost hit points as if you had rested for a night. Any armor or clothes worn by the saiyan breaks and becomes nonfunctional. When the saiyan reverts to her true form, they are exhausted and fall unconscious.
What does "or a simulated one" mean? Can they just carry around a drawing of the moon? May want to simplify this to "on the Xth day of each month", so it can't be abused in settings with multiple moons.
Also, Gargantuan creatures are very very difficult to maneuver on a battle map. It would probably be better if they only grew to Huge size; they'd still be about three or four times their normal height (look at PHB page 150 [which is, btw, one of my favorite D&D illustrations], compare the human to the storm giant). It's highly situational, though, so this isn't significant enough to be too important.

All in all, I think the only thing keeping them from being a significantly lower LA is Zenkai, and possibly the scale of the ability score adjustments. I recommend the following: LA +3, +4 Str, +4 Dex, +2 Con, -4 Wis, -4 Cha, all of the racial traits of the +5 version except for Zenkai. I'm aware that the Zenkai is one of their defining abilities, but permanent bonuses are too much. In my next post (about the Saiyan Paragon class) I give a suggestion for a way to include Zenkai, as a level 1 Saiyan Paragon ability.

[Extra Anchovies]

Now, my thoughts on the Saiyan Paragon:

d12 hit die, good bab, all good saves: lightning warrior, much? :smalltongue: I'd say reduce hit die to a d10. Also, maybe balance the good bab/saves by giving them only 2+Int skills; they're warriors, first and foremost.

Monk abilities: Sure. Always nice to have a good BAB class with monk stuff.

Infallible Zenkai: Makes the Zenkai even more easily abused. A free total of +20 to all three physical stats by level 20 is way too much to provide for a one-level dip. I suggest removing this, along with the innate racial version. Suggested replacement:

Zenkai: Saiyans gain power from fighting, and after recovering from near death they become better able to defeat their foes. A Saiyan Paragon who is reduced to negative hit points by an enemy gains a permanent morale bonus to attack and damage rolls against that enemy equal to one-half the Saiyan Paragon's hit dice.

Blutz Ball: I now understand what a "simulated full moon" is. Never mind my earlier question about it, then. I like this ability, but again, Gargantuan is hard to use in, say, a dungeon. Huge is a lot easier, because they can still squeeze through 10-foot corridors.

Natural Ki: This probably shouldn't be (Ex); I would recommend (Su) instead. Regardless, at-will flight and two at-will breath weapons (with uncapped 1d6/level damage, to boot) is way too much for an ability that can be gained at second level. Uses/day would be balanced, though, especially if it scaled. Suggested revision:

Natural Ki (Su): At level 2, a saiyan paragon becomes attuned to ki, the natural life energy in living beings. they gain a Natural Ki pool, which holds a maximum of (Con modifier+character level) Natural Ki points (the pool's capacity is reset to this maximum by eight hours of rest).

A Saiyan Paragon can expend one point of this Natural Ki as an immediate action to gain a fly speed equal to his base land speed (with good maneuverability) for one round. This ability can be kept active for multiple consecutive rounds if the Saiyan expends one additional point of Natural Ki at the start of each round in which they wish to use this ability.

A Saiyan Paragon can also expend one point of Natural Ki to produce a blast of energy as a standard action. This manifests as either a 30-foot cone or a 60-foot line, as chosen by the Saiyan Paragon each time this ability is used. Creatures in the area of the blast take 1d6 points of damage for every 2 hit dice the Saiyan Paragon has, with a Reflex save for half damage (DC=10+Saiyan Paragon's Con modifier+1/2 Saiyan Paragon's HD). This damage is untyped, but does not affect incorporeal creatures or objects.

Master Oozaru: The duration is too much. 2 minutes/level (double the normal duration) would probably be better; remember, they can get this ability at level 3 (ECL 8, or ECL 6 if you choose to use my Zenkai-less revision).

[Bluydee]

Thanks for critiquing. As for your points:

I added a clause in Zenkai allowing it only to activate if you were reduced under 0 by a hostile enemy 3 CR higher than your level. Now it only can be abused if the DM is throwing monsters far above your actual strength, and you survive fighting something like that. In a situation where a DM throws far higher CR creatures at you repeatedly, you get stronger to deal with it.

I changed Great Ape so it becomes huge, instead of gargantuan.

I changed their skills down to 2+int. I didn't change any others, mainly as a saiyan would be, at minimum, an ECL 6 character and need all the help get, having only one hitdie.

Your idea for natural ki inspired me. I moved it to level 1 instead of zenkai, but increased the number of points received, and the situations where it can be applied. I disagree about at will flight being too strong, however. The ability can be gotten, at minimum, ECL 6. At level 6, spellcasters can start fly, and as a martial character (or, for that matter, a monk), a saiyan can freely fly to keep up with them.

Master Oozaru was supposed to have no change, but I think I ended up putting that in there on accident. I like your suggestion better, however.