Dreamscarred Press Announces - Bloodforge

[Lord_Gareth]

Not too long ago, Dreamscarred Press released Hybrids and Halfbreeds, a race-themed supplement emphasizing individuals of mixed blood. For various reasons, that release was pulled and canceled.

But now it's back!

For the last few months, Matt Medeiros and I have been working on retooling Hybrids and Halfbreeds into its new form, Bloodforge. It's on the cusp of release and we're extraordinarily excited about it! What can you expect out of Bloodforge? Well, among other things:

- More than 25 (!) new races, each of which claims mixed blood from two or more parents.
- New feats that emphasize unusual heritage or properties in monsters and PCs alike.
- 4 new prestige classes that emphasize heritage and blood sympathy
- Brand-new spells, magical items, and even templates!

Want a hint of what's coming? I've assembled a teaser document (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FGOiszN68QMuAmSRtnVO2YDSDxBxWgfTYWg3qcWLyoo/edit?usp=sharing) that contains some - but by no means all - of what will be in the final release.

It's been a helluva ride, working on this project, and I'm glad to finally be able to share it with all of you! Look to see Bloodforge available soon!

- Jade Ripley
Freelancer, Dreamscarred Press

[Ssalarn]

For anyone who's also picked up a copy of the Vizier (http://paizo.com/products/btpy99rj?Akashic-Mysteries-Vizier) or our Akashic Mysteries subscription (http://paizo.com/products/btpy99ri?Akashic-Mysteries-WorkinProgress), I did a little bit of work on this product as well and you'll find that several of the new races have favored class options or alternate racial traits drawing on the akashic materials.

[Akadzjian]

Howdy all! I'm Matt Medeiros and I really think we found a different angle on heritage and giving players and GMs alike a new way of spicing up character heritage without templates.

I can only hope that the new races and options inspire new stories to your characters and campaigns on gaming night!

Hope to hear from you!
Sincerely,
Matt Medeiros

[squiggit]

"Decataur" sounds silly, but it kinda lines up with some of the other stuff in their fluff.

Between the strength and int bonuses and the fast speed I kinda wanna make one a harbinger.

Grendle looks the coolest of the bunch to me, even if Imperious Bearing looks really really strong

[Prime32]

Seems kind of odd that there's no tie-ins to sorcerer bloodlines or the Eldritch Heritage (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/eldritch-heritage) feat (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/improved-eldritch-heritage) chain (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/greater-eldritch-heritage). Will there be some in the final product? I mean, "+2 effective Cha for sorcerer abilities if you have X bloodline" is really common in PF's existing mixed-heritage races.

On the feats:
The "and/or" listing in Blood Frenzy and Mighty Frame is potentially confusing; easier to say something like "one of the following types or subtypes: dwarf, giant, orc, dragon, magical beast, monstrous humanoid".
Similarly the list of types/subtypes in the prereqs of Mixed Blood is awkwardly long; it only really needs to say "one of the types or subtypes listed below". Letting it count as Skill Focus for the prereqs of Eldritch Heritage would also be cool.
Heritage feats in general seem like something that should be available to sorcerers and bloodragers as bonus feat options.

[Elricaltovilla]

these races seem a lot more powerful than other races in Pathfinder, although I don't know if I'd consider that a bad thing. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed for a good Elf/Orc hybrid, and enjoy abusing the Grendle's abilities to their fullest.

[Lord_Gareth]

these races seem a lot more powerful than other races in Pathfinder, although I don't know if I'd consider that a bad thing. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed for a good Elf/Orc hybrid, and enjoy abusing the Grendle's abilities to their fullest.

We were kinda looking at Human/Maenad/Forgeborn as our balance point, with references to some of the Eberron races that also get cool stuff (Shifters, Warforged, Changelings).

[Elricaltovilla]

Where are the Forgeborn located? I keep seeing them pop up on the boards here, but can't find them on the PFSRD.

[Ssalarn]

We were kinda looking at Human/Maenad/Forgeborn as our balance point, with references to some of the Eberron races that also get cool stuff (Shifters, Warforged, Changelings).

Have you met the dwarf lately?
I don't have the .pdf in front of me, but I don't recall anything in there that wouldn't have clicked right in (power-wise) with the "Uncommon Races" section of the ARG, alongside aasimar, tieflings, catfolk, etc.

[Lord_Gareth]

Where are the Forgeborn located? I keep seeing them pop up on the boards here, but can't find them on the PFSRD.

Ultimate Psionics, in the races section.

[torrasque666]

One thing I noticed was that Mossback Grendles don't trade anything out. Was that intentional? Or was that a typo?

[Lord_Gareth]

One thing I noticed was that Mossback Grendles don't trade anything out. Was that intentional? Or was that a typo?

Intended; you 'pay' for it with the acquisition of fire vulnerability. The Gillmen in Advanced Race Guide have a similar mechanic.

[LOTRfan]

Grendles are pretty awesome. I like it a lot more than the Half-Troll template from 3.5. And I have to say, I find the fact that the troll-half dominates whatever the other half is to be particularly thematically appropriate.

Not to sound to greedy, especially since you were nice enough to post this teaser, but is there any chance that you could say whether or not there will be dwarf-based hybrids? :smalltongue:

[Lord_Gareth]

Grendles are pretty awesome. I like it a lot more than the Half-Troll template from 3.5. And I have to say, I find the fact that the troll-half dominates whatever the other half is to be particularly thematically appropriate.

Not to sound to greedy, especially since you were nice enough to post this teaser, but is there any chance that you could say whether or not there will be dwarf-based hybrids? :smalltongue:

There are dwarf hybrids and dwarf-enabled hybrids, yes.

[Seerow]

Grendles are pretty awesome. I like it a lot more than the Half-Troll template from 3.5. And I have to say, I find the fact that the troll-half dominates whatever the other half is to be particularly thematically appropriate.

Not to sound to greedy, especially since you were nice enough to post this teaser, but is there any chance that you could say whether or not there will be dwarf-based hybrids? :smalltongue:

A half-dwarf half-earth elemental is something I'd be interested in seeing.


I share concerns that some of these races are really strong. Like with Dreigi as an option I can't imagine any core race competing for a melee brute. Powerful build, bonus AC, a special attack, and other perks, as well as good stats? For anyone even vaguely considering a melee character this blows most other options away.


btw I don't get the point of Heavy Frame. In either case you are sitting at 30ft movement speed when you are in heavy armor. You have the penalty of not being able to move faster when unarmored, but it doesn't really help you when armored.

[Lord_Gareth]

A half-dwarf half-earth elemental is something I'd be interested in seeing.

Supported ^_^



I share concerns that some of these races are really strong. Like with Dreigi as an option I can't imagine any core race competing for a melee brute. Powerful build, bonus AC, a special attack, and other perks, as well as good stats? For anyone even vaguely considering a melee character this blows most other options away.

Even in comparison to, say, half-giant (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/races/half-giant)?

[Seerow]

Even in comparison to, say, half-giant (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/races/half-giant)?


Yeah comparing the two

Half Giant gains:
+2 str/wis -2 dex
powerful build
low-light vision
+2 PP via Wild/Psionic Talent
+2 Saves against fire
1/day Stomp
+4 to survival checks

Dreigi gains:
+2 str/wis -2 dex
powerful build
Darkvision
Scaling bonus vs Fey and Chaotic/Evil Outsiders
+2 saves vs compulsion
Sunder Magewall
Child of Iron
+1 AC

Stats and Powerful Build cancel each other out. Dreigi's Darkvision is strictly better than low-light vision. Bonus to saves vs compulsion is strictly better than saves vs fire. But we'll have those cancel out. Child of Iron special ability is roughly equivalent to stomp.

So that leaves you with bonus power points vs scaling bonus against fey and outsiders; +1 AC vs +4 to survival checks, and Sunder Magewall as a special ability Half-Giant has no answer to.

I might consider the Half-Giant as a Psiwar or some other psionic gish for the extra PP and (I assume) favored class bonuses, but even then it's cutting it close, and will depend on what I expect to fight in the campaign. Dreigi are basically across the board Half-Giant++.


Like it's not bad enough it'll grossly imbalance the game. But it is the obvious go-to choice. Personally I'd remove Child of Iron while beefing up Sunder Magewall (just because it's IMO a cooler and more flavorful ability, even if it is more situational), and drop either the AC bonus or the favored enemy bonus. Dropped abilities rolled into alternate racial options.

[Bluydee]

The Grendel is really cool, especially Adrenaline, like the Guts ability from pokemon.

[Anlashok]

Yeah, they aren't gamewrecking but, for their particular niche it's really hard to compete against them because they have so many goodies.

Also, Imperious Bearing Grendle with Black Seraph's Glare gets to intimidate all enemies every round as long as he can hit someone. Which is pretty cool

[Dusk Eclipse]

I really like what I'm seeing, and I hope there are more genius bruiser races (+Str/+Int) in the final document since I feel they are under-represented in PF. One thing though, under the Dreigi Spurn Enslavement it only mentions spells and supernatural abilities, shouldn't it also mention Spell-like abilities to be completely clear?

[EisenKreutzer]

Elves have a peculiar sex-life...

[Lord_Gareth]

I really like what I'm seeing, and I hope there are more genius bruiser races (+Str/+Int) in the final document since I feel they are under-represented in PF. One thing though, under the Dreigi Spurn Enslavement it only mentions spells and supernatural abilities, shouldn't it also mention Spell-like abilities to be completely clear?

Will be fixed, thanks for the catch. Circumstances prevented open playtesting on this one, sadly, but Matt and I have done everything we can to clean up wording and balance. I can only hope that we've succeeded, 'cause this train's a-rolling.


Elves have a peculiar sex-life...

There is a long and bitter story behind this >.> Suffice it to say that the amount of elf in this book was not within my power to change.

[Milo v3]

This is cool, always like to see races that actually do something rather than a tiny bonus or two. Will definitely be getting this with Akasha once I get me some money's.

[Prime32]

So... decataurs.
First of all they have 45ft speed. I'm not sure there's ever been a race in 3.5 or PF with a speed not divisible by 10, so... this is weird. Maybe give them 40ft speed, and an additional +10ft speed while running or charging?
Academic grants +2 to two Knowledge skills and makes them class skills. While it's a minor thing, I'd prefer getting rid of the bonus and making all Knowledge skills into class skills, just because it's less to keep track of.
+1 caster level is pretty powerful at lv1. I figure it would be better to grant +2 effective Wisdom for determining druid, ranger and hunter bonus spells. Or maybe let them run their spellcasting on Intelligence instead of Wisdom, though that seems more of an archetype thing.
Finally, since centaur feats are a thing (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/natural-jouster-combat) that exist (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits/race-traits/centaur-vengeance-centaur), it would be nice to have an ability that lets them count as both elves and centaurs for prereqs.


Like it's not bad enough it'll grossly imbalance the game. But it is the obvious go-to choice. Personally I'd remove Child of Iron while beefing up Sunder Magewall (just because it's IMO a cooler and more flavorful ability, even if it is more situational), and drop either the AC bonus or the favored enemy bonus. Dropped abilities rolled into alternate racial options.Hmm... how powerful do you think Sunder Magewall would be if it applied to any magical construct, including summoned creatures? Since many of those are fey and outsiders, you could roll the fluff of Ancient Grudge into that. In any case it needs a note clearing up that you can't use it on walls of iron and other things that aren't magical after their creation.

[Greenish]

Elves have a peculiar sex-life...Well, as we've learned from BoEF, elves are universally appealing to any and all imaginable creatures.

[Jigawatts]

I would agree that these seem a little heavy on the power side, not to Incantatrix level, more like Radiant Servant of Pelor level.

[Anlashok]

Should probably add some ACG FCBs in there. Grendle look like they'd be great bloodragers or skalds, Dreigi seem born Warpriests.

Moss Back I can't see ever justifying taking though, even in a low-magic game where I can't be guaranteed to get Flight. The climb speed is certainly great... but damn near everything deals fire damage.

[Sartharina]

Are there any playable Dragon/Catfolk hybrids?

[Lord_Gareth]

Are there any playable Dragon/Catfolk hybrids?

That specific combination? No.

...Actually, just 'no'. There's a dragon-themed ART for one of the races but that's about the long and short of it.

[Dusk Eclipse]

No Dragonborn update? Aww that makes me sad, they were one of my favourite races in 3.5 and I was kinda hopping they'd get +Str + Int (though I guess Cha could work just as well).

Also another thing that just popped into my head, are you following the guidelines from the Advanced Race Guide or are you just winging it?

[Lord_Gareth]

Also another thing that just popped into my head, are you following the guidelines from the Advanced Race Guide or are you just winging it?

Advanced Race Guide was in no way a consideration during the design process. We tried to eyeball-compare to other races, to what is evidently varying degrees of success.

[Dusk Eclipse]

I see, that sounds reasonable, but you might want to put that somewhere in book so people know they can't expect them to conform to the race builder; I can already hear people crying "X race is OP it has 30 Race point!".

[Forrestfire]

It makes me really sad that that's even an issue. The Race Points system is already all sorts of broken, why do people feel the need to latch onto it like that :smallsigh:

[Dusk Eclipse]

Because it is official and AFAIK all races (made by Paizo) introduced after the ARG do conform to it, so I guess people are expecting some sort of consistency, even if the system isn't perfect.

[Forrestfire]

That... actually explains a huge amount of the issues with Pathfinder, actually. Caster-noncaster divide, martial feat nerfs...

Kinda depressing, really :smallfrown:

[deuxhero]

Grendle regain HP hourly? Should say the hour is an hour after injury and every hour after.

Do you have to pick Golden Lion or Scarlet Throne when you take the first 1/4th manuver from the Grendel Warlord favored class bonus? Can you trade these away like normal? What if, thanks to archetypes or traditions, don't have Golden Lion and/or Scarlet Throne?

[Ninjaxenomorph]

Could the Dreigi's Child of Iron ability work like caltrops?

[Ssalarn]

It makes me really sad that that's even an issue. The Race Points system is already all sorts of broken, why do people feel the need to latch onto it like that :smallsigh:

It's certainly a step from perfect. As I recall, dwarves are one of the highest RP races in the ARG, with something like twice the race points of catfolk... I could be recalling incorrectly though, I just remember being a bit flummoxed at the stated scores for various races when I first read it.

[Fax Celestis]

Well, and I feel like they weighted the RP of some abilities to make the core races have appropriate numbers.

[Drackstin]

I like the look so far, but I'm wondering why the Grendle doesn't have powerful build, but is as tall as a half-giant, is compared to a half-giant, and has the giant subtype. it only makes sense it would have powerful build. maybe make it an alternate feature.

the other things i'm hoping for in this is maybe a warforged/android hybrid that is playable in pathfinder, i really want to see how it would turn out, i have the Ironborn book and i love the customization it adds, but i would like to see something with a little more customization that's not only body and feats.

also a monster i was hoping they would make a playable race was the Vivisector from 3.5 MM5, its such an awesome concept and i wish it was remade as a race.

[Lord_Gareth]

I like the look so far, but I'm wondering why the Grendle doesn't have powerful build, but is as tall as a half-giant, is compared to a half-giant, and has the giant subtype. it only makes sense it would have powerful build. maybe make it an alternate feature.

Grendle are strong, yes, but many of them have the gangly, rubbery build of trolls. They can acquire powerful build, though, by taking the Mighty Frame feat.


the other things i'm hoping for in this is maybe a warforged/android hybrid that is playable in pathfinder, i really want to see how it would turn out, i have the Ironborn book and i love the customization it adds, but i would like to see something with a little more customization that's not only body and feats.

also a monster i was hoping they would make a playable race was the Vivisector from 3.5 MM5, its such an awesome concept and i wish it was remade as a race.

Noted, but not currently present. I, too, loved the vivisector.

[Drackstin]

Also is there anything in the works for a new Thri Kreen type race? i have homebrewed one for my home games but none of my players have ever wanted to play it (they all like elfs and humans :smallannoyed:) lol this is something i put together from the thri kreen but i never got much feedback on it.

Dynastian
Medium-Size Monstrous Humanoid
Hit Dice: 2d8 (12 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: land 40 ft. Fly 40 feet (average)
AC: 15 (+2 Dex, +3 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 13
Attacks: 4 claws +3 melee, gore +1 melee and bite +1 melee, or weapon +3 melee and bite +1 melee
Damage: Claw 1d4+1, bite 1d6, Gore 1d6 plus static charge
Special Attacks: static charge, shocking grasp, orb of electricity, lightning bolt
Special Qualities: Blindsence 60 ft., immunity to sleep, flight
Saves: Fort +0, Ref +5, Will +4
Abilities: Str 12, Dex 15, Con 11, Int 11, Wis 10, Cha 7
Skills: Balance +3, Climb +3, Hide +4*, Jump +31,
Listen +3, Spot +3
Feats: Hover (B) Multiattack
Climate/Terrain: Jungle or wooded area
Organization: Solitary or pack (3-5)
Challenge Rating: 2
Treasure: None
Alignment: Usually chaotic neutral
Advancement: By character class
Level Adjustment: +2

Dynastian, often called beetle warriors, are intelligent humanoids with insect like features.
A Dynastian looks like a bipedal rhinoceros beetles. Of the six limbs protruding from its midsection, two are used for walking, and each of the other four ends in a three-clawed hand. A metallic blue exoskeleton covers an adult Dynastian’s body. Its head is covered in a kabuto shaped shell with a crescent shaped horn on its top that renders the Dynastian completely blind, a complicated jaw structure that includes a pair of wicked mandibles protrude from an opening in the front of this shell.
The typical Dynastian wears a harness, belt, and slings for holding its equipment, but no clothing or armor.
They prefer jungle and forests areas, where they maintain a nomadic lifestyle as hunters. Permanent Dynastian communities are almost nonexistent; instead, packs of Dynastian range widely over their own territories, foraging and hunting for daily sustenance.
On rare occasions, two or more packs may come together to join their strength against especially dangerous intruders.
Dynastian speaks a language made up of clicks and snaps of their mandibles. Most Dynastian whose packs roam near humanoid civilizations also speaks Common.

Combat
While hunting, Dynastian’s use their natural abilities to subdue potential prey. Because of their speed and flying ability, Dynastians can close in on (and flee from it) targets more quickly than most of their foes. In combat Dynastians tend to use their spell like abilities to stun and electrocute, but also prefer to attack with claws and their horn.
Spell-Like Abilities (Ex): 3/Day - Shocking Grasp: Your successful melee touch attack deals 1d6 points of electricity damage per caster level (maximum 5d6). Orb of Electricity, Lesser: An orb of acid about 2 inches across shoots from your palm at its target, dealing 1d8 points of acid damage. 1/Day – Lightning Bolt: You release a powerful stroke of electrical energy that deals 1d6 points of electricity damage per caster level (maximum 10d6) to each creature within its area.
Immunity to Sleep (Ex): Since Dynastians do not sleep, they are immune to magic sleep effects. A Dynastian spellcaster still requires 8 hours of rest before preparing spells.
Hover (Ex): When flying, the creature can halt its forward motion and hover in place as a move action. It can then fly in any direction, including straight down or straight up, at half speed, regardless of its maneuverability. If a creature begins its turn hovering, it can hover in place for the turn and take a full-round action. A hovering creature cannot make wing attacks, but it can attack with all other limbs and appendages it could use in a full attack. The creature can instead use a breath weapon or cast a spell instead of making physical attacks, if it could normally do so. If a creature of Large size or larger hovers within 20 feet of the ground in an area with lots of loose debris, the draft from its wings creates a hemispherical cloud with a radius of 60 feet. The winds so generated can snuff torches, small campfires, exposed lanterns,and other small, open flames of non-magical origin. Clear vision within the cloud is limited to 10 feet. Creatures have concealment at 15 to 20 feet (20% miss chance). At 25 feet or more, creatures have total concealment (50% miss chance, and opponents cannot use sight to locate the creature).Those caught in the cloud must succeed on a Concentration check (DC 10 + 1/2 creature's HD) to cast a spell.
Normal Without this feat, a creature must keep moving whileflying unless it has perfect maneuverability.
Skills: *The exoskeleton of a Dynastian blends in well with jungle and forest terrain, granting it a +4 racial bonus on Hide checks in sandy or arid settings.

Dynastian Characters
A Dynastian character’s favored class is ranger, but a few prefer the path of the Fighter. A Dynastian character begins play with Hit Dice 2d8, which gives it a +2 base attack bonus; base saves Fort +0, Ref +2, Will +2; Hover as a bonus feat; one additional feat of choice; and skill points equal to (2 + Int mod) X5. Its class skills as a Dynastian are Balance, Climb, Hide, Jump, Listen. Many Dynastian also qualify for the monstrous feats Multiattack, Multidexterity, and Multiweapon Fighting and choose these in preference over other feats.
• Dynastian
• +2 Str, +4 Dex, -2 Int, -2 Cha.
• Medium Monstrous Humanoid
• Blindsense: The Dynastian naturally has blindsense starting at 40 ft, at 6 HD this increases to 80 ft, to a maximum of 120 ft at 12 HD.
• Speed: 40 ft.
• Flight: Equal to its base land speed with average maneuverability.
• Immunity: magical sleep.
• Resistance Electric 5
• Exoskeleton: The Dynastian's Exoskeleton is extraordinarily tough and grows with them over time. A Dynastian has a +2 Natural Armor; this grows harder at 6 HD to +4 Natural Armor and again at 12 HD to +6 Natural Armor and becomes Large.
• Multiple Limbs: 4 arms
• Natural Attacks: 4 secondary claws, 1 primary gore
• Static Charge (Ex): on a charge or dive, a foe damaged by your natural attacks make a Fortitude saving throw (DC 10 + 1/2 the Dynastian's HD + its Wis modifier), in addition to dealing damage normally. A defender who fails this saving throw is stunned for 1 round (until just before your next action). A stunned character can’t act, loses any Dexterity bonus to AC, and takes a –2 penalty to AC.
• Blindness (Ex): The Dynastian cannot see normally. All checks and activities that rely on vision (such as reading and Spot checks) automatically fail. It does not, however, suffer the penalties normally for blindness:
• Spell-Like Abilities: 3/Day - Shocking Grasp, Orb of Electricity, Lesser; 1/Day - Lightning Bolt. A Dynastian’s hit dice is counted as caster level for these Spell-Like Abilities.
• Racial Hit Dice: Two levels of Monstrous humanoid, 2d8 HD, +2 BAB, Fort +0, Ref +2, Wil +2.
• Racial Skills: 5x(2+int mod) class skills: Balance, Climb, Hide, Jump, Listen.
• Racial Feat: Hover (B) and one for its levels in monstrous humanoid, usually Improved Natural Attack (Gore), Improved Natural Attack (Claw), or Improved Initiative.
• Automatic Languages: Common, Dynastian. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Giant, Gnoll, Sylvan, and Thri-kreen.
• Favored Class: Ranger/Fighter
• Level Adjustment: +2

A Dynastian resembles a beetle in humanoid shape, with 4 dragonfly like wings without the normal shell covering. a hard protective shell with a crescent shaped horn protects it head but renders it blind, although it has adapted to this being able to use its other seances to pinpoint things around it. The Dynastian has 4 arms that end in 3 nailed claws, they normal stand about 7 feet tall and have a weight around 300 pounds. The Dynastian has also evolved to generates large electric currents by way of a highly specialized nervous system that has the capacity to synchronize the activity of disc-shaped, electricity-producing cells packed into a specialized electric organ. This allows it to store energy to use when needed.

Shocking Grasp
(Player's Handbook v.3.5, p. 279)
Evocation [Electricity]
Level: Sorcerer 1, Wizard 1, Warmage 1, Duskblade 1, Sha'ir 1, Jester 1, Death Master 1,
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Creature or object touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: Yes
Your successful melee touch attack deals 1d6 points of electricity damage per caster level (maximum 5d6).
When delivering the jolt, you gain a +3 bonus on attack rolls if the opponent is wearing metal armor (or made out of metal, carrying a lot of metal, or the like).

Orb of Electricity, Lesser
(Complete Arcane)
Conjuration (Creation) [Electricity]
Level: Sorcerer 1, Wizard 1, Warmage 1,
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Effect: One orb of electricity
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fortitude partial
Spell Resistance: No
An orb of acid about 2 inches across shoots from your palm at its target, dealing 1d8 points of acid damage.
For every two caster levels beyond 1st, your orb deals an additional 1d8 points of damage: 2d8 at 3rd level, 3d8 at 5th level, 4d8 at 7th level, and the maximum of 5d8 at 9th level or higher.
You must succeed on a ranged touch attack to hit your target.
In addition, a creature wearing metal armor struck by an orb of electricity must make a Fortitude save or be entangled for 1 round.

Lightning Bolt
(Player's Handbook v.3.5, p. 248)
Evocation [Electricity]
Level: Sorcerer 3, Wizard 3, Warmage 3, Adept 3, Sha'ir 3,
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: 120 ft.
Area: 120-ft. line
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Reflex half
Spell Resistance: Yes
You release a powerful stroke of electrical energy that deals 1d6 points of electricity damage per caster level (maximum 10d6) to each creature within its area.
The bolt begins at your fingertips.
The lightning bolt sets fire to combustibles and damages objects in its path.
It can melt metals with a low melting point, such as lead, gold, copper, silver, or bronze.
If the damage caused to an interposing barrier shatters or breaks through it, the bolt may continue beyond the barrier if the spell's range permits; otherwise, it stops at the barrier just as any other spell effect does.

Granted this is a 3.5 race so it would need some tweaking for pathfinder, but i thought it would be something cool to let people try.

[ArchangelAzrael]

Decataur Racial Traits review


+2 Strength, +2 Intelligence, -2 Constitution: A decataur is strong and intelligent, but their elven heritage shows in their lack of stamina and endurance.

Comments: Str/Int combo is hard to find and only few class need it (warden comes to mind) but the con penalty is harsh (especially for a warden). Other class that might be interest it the +2 int +2 str are the ones that favor one and dumb the other as it allows to put a 7 in the latter for more points in the point buy but again the constitution penalty makes this trick kinda meh… all in all the stats seems to me neutral/slight negative gain.

Medium: Decataur are medium creatures and thus have no bonuses or penalties for size.

Comments: being medium instead of large has its merits nothing really to say here except that powerful build would have been nice…. But we can get that with a feat.

Monstrous Humanoid (elf): Decataur are monstrous humanoids with the elf subtype.

Comments: Not sure if in pathfinder it makes you untargetable by some spells but I think it does… a double edge sword.

Fast Speed: Decataur can move at an amazing pace. They have a base speed of 45 feet.

Comments: Awesome! Valuable to casters range combatants and melee I don’t mind the fact that its 45 instead of a round number. With heavy armor this drops to 30 feet. First feature that I really like.

Hooves (Ex): Decataur possess two hoof attacks that 1d4 damage each.

Comments: Strong at lvl 1 but there are other races that gives similar number of natural attacks. Range combatants can still threaten an area, melee classes that full attack can use them easily. Initiators are the ones that will have the less use out of this when they initiate a strike and of course its indifferent to a magic user.

Careful Step (Ex): Decataur ignore movement and skill check penalties caused by difficult terrain (damaging terrain, such as lava, still harms them).

Comments: Another top notch trait for a melee character (or a range one that doesn’t want to get caught) More useful at lower levels before flight but I can see this one being used a lot till then.

Nature Magic (Su): Decataur are finely tuned to the druidic and shamanistic ways of nature. They increase their caster level for all druid and ranger spells by 1.

Comments: Hm… For a ranger this one is really nice and I don’t mind at all (especially considering the racial stat bonuses).For the druid I don’t really see the reason. Aside from fluff I can hardly see this race mechanically as druid material. Still I don’t think its op considering that the druid will not use all the racial traits to their fullest.

Quadruped (Ex): Decataur are quadrupeds. This increases their carrying capacity for their strength by x1.5 and increases their CMD vs. trip maneuvers by 4.

Comments: … This one needs more text perhaps in a side bar. Since it means they have unusual form it should be stated that their armor cost twice as much ( or otherwise if that’s not the case). And then we go to the whole am I considered mounted… or not? Can an ally use me as a mount? What happens rule wise if he does? Can I use a mount (logically no)? what magic equipment can I use? Boots? Horseshoes? Can I use two pairs of boots? How does it interact with skill usage such as climb or swimming? Logically it should have some penalties at some skills and perhaps bonuses to some (like jumping). I know that most have been bundle together but still the less the dm has to figure for himself the better.

Academic (Ex): Decataur value knowledge above most things. Choose 2 knowledge skills; These skills become class skills for you, and you enjoy a +2 racial bonus to checks made with them.

Comments: Cool trait. Useful to any class that has skill points to spare but really more of an afterthought than anything else.

Darkvision (Ex): Decataur can see in the dark out to 60 feet.

Comments: I know most don’t seem to mind this racial trait, but I love it. As lower levels it means you don’t need a source of light, making room in your inventory at level 1 and enabling ambushes as a tactic should all party member have it. Always a plus in my books.

Languages: Decataur begin play speaking Common and Elven. Decataur with high intelligence scores can choose from the following: Dwarven, Giant, Gnoll, Gnome, Goblin, or Sylvan. See the Linguistics skill page in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook for more information about these languages.

Comments: not much to say here moving on.


Alternate Racial Traits
The following alternate racial traits may be selected in place of one or more of the standard racial traits above. Consult your GM before selecting any of these new options.


Heavy Frame (Ex): Some decataur have broader frames. They possess a 30 ft. base land speed and ignore movement speed reduction caused by armor or encumbrance. This replaces fast speed.

Comments: as it has been said I don’t see a reason for this trait. I can’t think of a reason to have it. Perhaps if the speed was 35 or you gained powerful build in addition. As it is now I think it’s a waste of ink…sorry.

Natural Charger (Ex): Some decataur gain the ability to surge across the battlefield while retaining their grace and sense, they take no penalties while charging and deal an extra 1d6 damage. This racial trait replaces Hooves.

Comments: Cool trait. I can see some characters opting for this one instead of the natural attack. On an initiator it might be better.

Satyrkin (Ex): Some decataur aren’t quadruped, instead resembling satyr. These decataur are even more nimble than usual, gaining a +4 racial bonus on Acrobatics checks. This replaces quadruped.

Comments: this depends a lot on how quadruped works to value. Aside from that I don’t like it as it doesn’t mesh well with the visual of the race but I can understand why you have it or why it could be reasonable for this race.


Tactician’s Reflexes (Ex): Some decataur are quick to grasp any situation and respond accordingly, these decataur lack the agility of hoof. They add their Intelligence modifier to their Initiative modifier in addition to their Dexterity modifier. This replaces careful step

Comments: Holy Storm…. You saved the best alternative racial trait for last. I can see many cases that players would want this. But you lose an equal important trait. For mundane chars this is close to a fair trade. For intelligent based magic users this is a no brainer. Warden also giggles in his dreams… perhaps now he could stomach the – 2 con…. Perhaps.

All in all a cool race one that I would both play and allow to be played as a Dm. If the Con penalty was something else perhaps a dex penalty or charisma I would definitely consider playing it for a warden instead of a human. More Feat support for this race would be nice but I assume this is something for the future after all this is but a draft.




Favored Class Options
The following favored class options are available to all characters of this race who have the listed favored class, and unless otherwise stated, the bonus applies each time you select the favored class reward.

Cavalier: Add +1/4 to the cavalier’s tactician daily uses.
Fighter: Increase the modifier from armor training by +1/6.
Magus: Add +1/4 to the magus’ arcane pool.
Ranger: The ranger gains +1/5 of a new combat style feat.
Tactician: Add +1/4 to the tactician’s strategy daily uses.
Warder: +1/3 additional use of armiger’s mark.
Warlord: +1/3 extra maneuver recovered when running a gambit.
Zealot: Add +1/4 to the zealot’s conviction pool.

Comments: can say much about those. They seem balanced and I would consider the trade of hitpoints for them a fair trade.

[Akadzjian]

Decataur Racial Traits review



Comments: Str/Int combo is hard to find and only few class need it (warden comes to mind) but the con penalty is harsh (especially for a warden). Other class that might be interest it the +2 int +2 str are the ones that favor one and dumb the other as it allows to put a 7 in the latter for more points in the point buy but again the constitution penalty makes this trick kinda meh… all in all the stats seems to me neutral/slight negative gain.


Comments: being medium instead of large has its merits nothing really to say here except that powerful build would have been nice…. But we can get that with a feat.


Comments: Not sure if in pathfinder it makes you untargetable by some spells but I think it does… a double edge sword.


Comments: Awesome! Valuable to casters range combatants and melee I don’t mind the fact that its 45 instead of a round number. With heavy armor this drops to 30 feet. First feature that I really like.


Comments: Strong at lvl 1 but there are other races that gives similar number of natural attacks. Range combatants can still threaten an area, melee classes that full attack can use them easily. Initiators are the ones that will have the less use out of this when they initiate a strike and of course its indifferent to a magic user.


Comments: Another top notch trait for a melee character (or a range one that doesn’t want to get caught) More useful at lower levels before flight but I can see this one being used a lot till then.


Comments: Hm… For a ranger this one is really nice and I don’t mind at all (especially considering the racial stat bonuses).For the druid I don’t really see the reason. Aside from fluff I can hardly see this race mechanically as druid material. Still I don’t think its op considering that the druid will not use all the racial traits to their fullest.


Comments: … This one needs more text perhaps in a side bar. Since it means they have unusual form it should be stated that their armor cost twice as much ( or otherwise if that’s not the case). And then we go to the whole am I considered mounted… or not? Can an ally use me as a mount? What happens rule wise if he does? Can I use a mount (logically no)? what magic equipment can I use? Boots? Horseshoes? Can I use two pairs of boots? How does it interact with skill usage such as climb or swimming? Logically it should have some penalties at some skills and perhaps bonuses to some (like jumping). I know that most have been bundle together but still the less the dm has to figure for himself the better.


Comments: Cool trait. Useful to any class that has skill points to spare but really more of an afterthought than anything else.


Comments: I know most don’t seem to mind this racial trait, but I love it. As lower levels it means you don’t need a source of light, making room in your inventory at level 1 and enabling ambushes as a tactic should all party member have it. Always a plus in my books.


Comments: not much to say here moving on.





Comments: as it has been said I don’t see a reason for this trait. I can’t think of a reason to have it. Perhaps if the speed was 35 or you gained powerful build in addition. As it is now I think it’s a waste of ink…sorry.


Comments: Cool trait. I can see some characters opting for this one instead of the natural attack. On an initiator it might be better.


Comments: this depends a lot on how quadruped works to value. Aside from that I don’t like it as it doesn’t mesh well with the visual of the race but I can understand why you have it or why it could be reasonable for this race.



Comments: Holy Storm…. You saved the best alternative racial trait for last. I can see many cases that players would want this. But you lose an equal important trait. For mundane chars this is close to a fair trade. For intelligent based magic users this is a no brainer. Warden also giggles in his dreams… perhaps now he could stomach the – 2 con…. Perhaps.

All in all a cool race one that I would both play and allow to be played as a Dm. If the Con penalty was something else perhaps a dex penalty or charisma I would definitely consider playing it for a warden instead of a human. More Feat support for this race would be nice but I assume this is something for the future after all this is but a draft.





Comments: can say much about those. They seem balanced and I would consider the trade of hitpoints for them a fair trade.




Thanks for the insightful review, Archangel. My mentality with "Heavy Frame" (as it was my idea - for better or worse) was that they can't be slowed down movement speed-wise at all, pushing through such encumbering or entangling effects i.e. webs but I overlooked that detail in the rewriting of it.
I hope it over-all gave a positive impression?

Edit: To all who are hoping for any specific combinations that this book lacks, Andreas already mused over a sequel of sorts if this one does well, it'd have psionic races in it (which is where I'd fit the Thri-Kreen and probably make a vivisector ART much as I have done with a few of the other oddities).

So this current book doesn't have everything in it, but here's hoping that Jade and I will /really/ get to cut loose and make some more really outrageous combinations.

I wanted to thank all of you for your time in looking over this preview, hope to hear what you think of the entire book! We've got creepy and dastardly to ridiculous and strange. I'll admit that there aren't too-many "down to earth" hybrid races in the book but I hope you enjoy them as much as I've enjoyed working on them with Jade- er... Lord Gareth.

[ArchangelAzrael]

Thanks for the insightful review, Archangel. My mentality with "Heavy Frame" (as it was my idea - for better or worse) was that they can't be slowed down movement speed-wise at all, pushing through such encumbering or entangling effects i.e. webs but I overlooked that detail in the rewriting of it.
I hope it over-all gave a positive impression?

Overall it gave a good impression with the exception of stats ( I Find it really hard to find a class which the stat array is perfect for, but i guess that means they are balanced...(con penalty still hurts very much)). And the text on the Quadruped as it obvious need more detailed explanation. On that note could you answer some of those questions
This one needs more text perhaps in a side bar. Since it means they have unusual form it should be stated that their armor cost twice as much ( or otherwise if that’s not the case). And then we go to the whole am I considered mounted… or not? Can an ally use me as a mount? What happens rule wise if he does? Can I use a mount (logically no)? what magic equipment can I use? Boots? Horseshoes? Can I use two pairs of boots? How does it interact with skill usage such as climb or swimming? Logically it should have some penalties at some skills and perhaps bonuses to some (like jumping). I know that most have been bundle together but still the less the dm has to figure for himself the better. .

The reason i choose to review this one was cause I liked it the most out of all the races in the teaser I liked this the best. So its in a good spot. It just has to compete with "sky blue" races like humans at least in one class (ok i would settle with "blue" which is not that far off I think).

On another note can we have a half-elf/half-orc Race? pretty please ? it has been done nicely by Empedocles
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?238557-Voldur-Half-elf-half-orc-%283-5%29-If-you-read-it-you-ll-want-to-play-it-Promise

[Seerow]

On another note can we have a half-elf/half-orc Race? pretty please ? it has been done nicely by Empedocles


I'm pretty sure the implication throughout this thread has been the book is already done, and out to print/finalization stages. So not much in the way of suggestions or requests is going to make it in.

Edit: Just read the edit from the other post saying they may be doing a sequel book. Nevermind this then.

[torrasque666]

Thanks for the insightful review, Archangel. My mentality with "Heavy Frame" (as it was my idea - for better or worse) was that they can't be slowed down movement speed-wise at all, pushing through such encumbering or entangling effects i.e. webs but I overlooked that detail in the rewriting of it.
I hope it over-all gave a positive impression?


Hey man, I like my quadrupedal Dwarves. Faster movement and larger carrying capacity. Pop up strength, and your team might very well never even need magical storage.

"LOAD UP THE SADDLEBAGS!"

[Lord_Gareth]

This one needs more text perhaps in a side bar. Since it means they have unusual form it should be stated that their armor cost twice as much ( or otherwise if that’s not the case). And then we go to the whole am I considered mounted… or not? Can an ally use me as a mount? What happens rule wise if he does? Can I use a mount (logically no)? what magic equipment can I use? Boots? Horseshoes? Can I use two pairs of boots? How does it interact with skill usage such as climb or swimming? Logically it should have some penalties at some skills and perhaps bonuses to some (like jumping). I know that most have been bundle together but still the less the dm has to figure for himself the better.

I'm sorry to say that I used the same amount of explanations and rulings that Paizo did/has for other quadrapedal races. The information was hard to dig up and left a lot of these holes, but I'll answer what I can.

Magic Items: Your number of magic item slots does not change. I imagine magic boots would need to be refluffed as magic horseshoes, and chances are you can wear magical horseshoes that already exist.

Skills: Other quadrapedal races do not have bonuses or penalties to skills for their unusual forms. Circumstance penalty and/or bonus rules may apply.

Mounts: Not even touching this one. DSP has a pair of mount experts on hand who may be asked to write something to address this, but for now you have the information Paizo's provided...which is absolutely nothing.

Armor: Technically, yes, you have to pay more for armor. I didn't mention this because I don't want it enforced >.> DMs are of course free to follow the letter of the rules.

I'd be honored if you chose to review the other presented races, but there's no pressure. I hope I was able to clear up at least some of the questions, and I greatly appreciate the feedback.

[Gemini476]

I think that the only requirements for mounting something are that your mount must be a size larger than you and be able to carry your weight. Don't quote me on that, though.

So since the decataur is medium sized the rider would have to be small or smaller. So a halfling, for example. I'm not entirely sure if Powerful Build and the like would let them carry medium creatures.

Halflings riding the shoulders of human barbarians and wildshaped druid bears riding dire bears while summoning bears are the classic examples, I think.

But to be honest the mounted combat rules are so fragmented and weird that I have no clue what you can actually mount by RAW.

[PsyBomb]

I think that the only requirements for mounting something are that your mount must be a size larger than you and be able to carry your weight. Don't quote me on that, though.

So since the decataur is medium sized the rider would have to be small or smaller. So a halfling, for example. I'm not entirely sure if Powerful Build and the like would let them carry medium creatures.

Halflings riding the shoulders of human barbarians and wildshaped druid bears riding dire bears while summoning bears are the classic examples, I think.

But to be honest the mounted combat rules are so fragmented and weird that I have no clue what you can actually mount by RAW.

There is a recent feat that was published (forget the name) allowing one to use a mount of their same size, likely intended to allow Medium PCs to use Mounted abilities inside normal buildings. Net result is that your Decataur Warder can carry a mounted Human Barbarian, if said barbarian has the feat.

[Drackstin]

This came up in a thread i made about a Synthesist summoner. because you can take a build called centaur for your summon, this gives it the abilities a centaur has in pathfinder, meaning he is large but can only use medium weapons. 3.5 had the better ruling on this, that was lost in translation. by 3.5 SDR a centaur can use normal weapons for its size, and also acts as mounted when charging so it gets double damage on a charge when using a lance. i was hoping these would carry over to pathfinder but they did not. as for extra cost for armor, this only apples to non-magic armor. since magic armor re-size to fit the user. arguably you can say this works with foot slot items if you take a class with hooves.


There is a recent feat that was published (forget the name) allowing one to use a mount of their same size, likely intended to allow Medium PCs to use Mounted abilities inside normal buildings. Net result is that your Decataur Warder can carry a mounted Human Barbarian, if said barbarian has the feat.

that feat is called "undersized mount" it also works if you are already small so yo can gain a small flying mount, that is quite easy to do also.

[ArchangelAzrael]

+2 Strength, +2 Wisdom, -2 Dexterity: Dreige are strong and wise, but their large size makes them clumsy.

Comments: This is a good stat array for str based characters. The – 2 to dex + 2 str makes it clear for which characters it is aimed and the +2 wis can either be used to improve the secondary stat you class cares about or if you have it as a dump stat allow to put a 7 there to free some points for the point buy. All in all I would say this looks promising.

Medium: Dreigi are medium creatures and thus have no bonuses or penalties for size.

Comments: Nothing to say here

Humanoid (giant): Dreigi are humanoids with the giant subtype.

Comments: I was kinda surprised it was not monstrous humanoid but that I Think is a pathfinder change no? Anyway as I Said in the previous review it comes been monstrous is a double edge sword so I can’t complain.

Darkvision (Ex): Dreigi can see in the dark out to 60 feet.

Comments: Will always like darkvision build in in a race another plus in my books for this race.

Powerful Build (Ex): The physical stature of dreige lets them function in many ways as if they were one size category larger.
Whenever a dreige is subject to a size modifier or special size modifier for a Combat Maneuver Bonus or Combat Maneuver Defense (such as during grapple checks, bull rush attempts, and trip attempts), the dreige is treated as one size larger if doing so is advantageous to him.
A dreige is also considered to be one size larger when determining whether a creature's special attacks based on size (such as grab or swallow whole) can affect him.
A dreige can use weapons designed for a creature one size larger without penalty. However, his space and reach remain those of a creature of his actual size. The benefits of this racial trait stack with the effects of powers, abilities, and spells that change the subject's size category.

Comments: Me likes my powerful built! This race looks more and more, well suited for a melee class. Take note that since you have a feat that can give that this is basically a free feat.

Ancient Grudge (Su): Dreigi labor under a mighty oath of revenge against those who destroyed their culture and scattered them to the winds; they benefit from a +2 bonus on attack rolls, damage rolls, and saving throws made against fey and outsiders with the chaotic and/or evil subtypes. This bonus increases by +1 every 4 character levels.

Comments: Another strong ability but more for the higher levels I think. I don’t remember fey being all that often opponents but outsiders tent to be common at higher levels... and it scales. This is perhaps a tad too strong if situational compared to what other races get. On the other hand If the Grudge other race got scaled perhaps it would not be traded out as often as it does :P. I think the scaling should be cut off just to be in line with the other Grudges feature and perhaps drop the save bonus. I mean I would not mind buffing all the other grudges to reach the level of this one but sadly I don’t think that’s an option.
Reject Fey Guile (Ex):
Dreigi gain a +2 racial bonus on saving throws vs. compulsion effects.

Comments: Seems reasonable and well within the fluff of the race I have no proplem with this one but note that it makes easier to dump the wisdom to 7 to benefit from the point buy system.

Sunder Magewalls (Ex): Dreigi ignore hardness when attacking magical barriers (such as that created by wall of force) and deal additional damage equal to their character level to such barriers.
Comments: Hm… this one is really strong if specific… It’s basically a plus 30 damage against a wall of force spell plus your char lvl meaning you prety much auto destroy it but how often does a player come across the need to break one and it gives mundanes a tool to use that mages already got. I am kind of torn on this whether it is too powerful or just strong. I mean it could have easily been a class feature. Considering all other bonuses this race gives I would shy away from this or take perhaps the grudge off. I can’t see being useful every session but when it is you will be ecstatic to have it.

Child of Iron (Su): Dreigi swore a mighty oath with iron itself to gain their revenge; their attacks count as being made with cold iron weapons in addition to their other materials for the purposes of bypassing damage reduction. Once per day, as a standard action, the dreige may call upon iron to aid them and slam their weapon into the ground, producing a 10 ft. burst of iron shards (centered on the dreige) that settle into the ground. That area is treated as difficult terrain by all non-dreige creatures for a number of rounds equal to the dreige’s character level. Non-dreige creatures that move through that area during this time suffer 1d4 points of damage per 5 ft. moved.

Comments: Another strong ability now this race is definitely “sky blue” for str based char. The once per day somehow reins it in but at level 1-3 this can end an encounter if well placed. I would say the peak is at level 2 and it loses steam at the level where flight is common. On the other hand having your weapons count as cold iron is nice until you can get an enchantment bonus on your weapon that trivializes this. All in all I would keep this ability but the very good racial’s are really starting to pile up. It also seems to be missing any save to negate the damage.

Gianthide (Ex): A dreige’s thick skin increases its natural armor bonus by +1.

Comments: A plus 1 will make the difference at some point. Cool to have it but nothing to write home about. Still another plus that everyone is going to enjoy.

Languages: Dreigi begin play speaking Common and Giant. Dreigi with high intelligence scores can choose from the following: Dwarven, Elven, Giant, Gnome, Halfling, or Sylvan. See the Linguistics skill page in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook for more information about these languages.

Comments: Nothing to see here moving on.

Alternate Racial Traits
The following alternate racial traits may be selected in place of one or more of the standard racial traits above. Consult your GM before selecting any of these new options.

Spurn Enslavement (Su): Some dreigi have an innate ability to punish those who would try to enslave them with sorcery. Whenever a dreige succeeds a saving throw against a mind-affecting spell or supernatural ability, the source of that spell or ability must succeed at a Will save (DC 10 + ½ the dreige’s character level + the dreige’s Wisdom modifier) or suffer damage equal to the dreige’s character level, as well as a -2 penalty to their caster level for a number of rounds equal to the dreige’s Wisdom modifier. This replaces the child of iron racial trait.

Comments: Unlike child of iron this can be useful at all levels of play but it requires you to care for wisdom. I can see some certain builds making the trade as it is always on scales with lvl and is overall nice.

Mark of the Horsemen (Su): Rare and unlucky dreigi are born with the brand of their ancient enemy, the Horsemen that shattered their culture. They gain a +2 bonus on saving throws against disease, poison, and death effects, as well as a +2 racial bonus on attack rolls made against giants and outsiders with the good and/or lawful subtypes. This bonus increases by +1 for every 4 character levels. This replaces the ancient grudge racial trait.

Comments: A good alternative and feature but I think it’s a bad trade as even evil characters (that are the ones most interested in this trade) have many fights against other evil opponents and it is not often you get to fight good giant/outsiders. I also find the +2 on saves from the Grudge to be kind of stronger than this one. This will most likely rarely see play.

Favored Class Options

The following favored class options are available to all characters of this race who have the listed favored class, and unless otherwise stated, the bonus applies each time you select the favored class reward.

Barbarian Add +1 to the barbarian’s total rounds of rage per day.
Cleric Add +1/2 to damage dealt with spells against fey.
Daevic: Increase your racial bonus to natural armor by +1/6.
Guru: Increase the bonus from your Reject Fey Guile racial ability by +1/5.
Magus Add +1/4 point to the magus’s arcane pool.
Stalker: Add 1/6 of a new stalker art.
Warlord: Add a +1/4 bonus to battle prowess

Comments: Favored class options seems Balanced and could be worth the trade of hitpoints or skillpoints. If you want to make the class an even better contestant for barbarian (since it does have to compete with the human bonus on superstition) I would suggest a +1/6 rage power

Overall Comment: This race seems to me Strong if specialized for a certain spec of characters. I would easily see it as a “sky blue race” competing with humans on fair ground. I am definitely expecting to see a player to choose this race at some point if he is building a str based char.

[Greenish]

There is a recent feat that was published (forget the name) allowing one to use a mount of their same size, likely intended to allow Medium PCs to use Mounted abilities inside normal buildings. Net result is that your Decataur Warder can carry a mounted Human Barbarian, if said barbarian has the feat.Is there a rule that states that a mount has to be quadruped? Because otherwise the same applies to any character with sufficient carrying capacity.

[Dusk Eclipse]

3.5 had the clause a mount should be willing and suitable, putting a giant as an unsuitable but willing mount, so there is that; not sure if PF kept that.

[Akadzjian]

3.5 had the clause a mount should be willing and suitable, putting a giant as an unsuitable but willing mount, so there is that; not sure if PF kept that.
I remember reading that somewhere, but it MAY have been a 3.5-ism that I read on the pfsrd. I believe the exact wording was willing and able, so while a giant may be willing and a tiger is able, they are likely not both.

[Agent 451]

3.5 had the clause a mount should be willing and suitable, putting a giant as an unsuitable but willing mount, so there is that; not sure if PF kept that.

I'm not sure about in 3.5, but the 3.0 book Arms and Equipment Guide has this to say about humanoid mounts:


Pushing the bounds of what could be called a mount, some humanoid-shaped creatures can be ridden. Because of their shape and carrying capacity, such mounts are usually two size categories larger than their riders.

It goes on to describe the saddle as basically being a glorified baby carrier.

[Ninjaxenomorph]

On the race points topic... I would be a little less hesitant if this book had them. I mean, the subsystem might not be perfect by any means, but it exists, and is fairly prominent.

[PsyBomb]

Notes on first read-through:

Decataur:
Does the bonus die of damage for Natural Charger apply to only one attack, or all attacks at the end of a Charge? This matter hugely to Pounce builds and many Initiators.
Monstrous Humanoid might have repercussions when it comes to spell targeting, you probably want to drop that.
The -2 Con is important, and it says something that these guys still feel strong with that.

Driegi:
Sunder Magewall needs some clarification, since most magical "walls" aren't really attackable objects. As it stands, it's just a cool bit of fluff that makes them impossible to Forcecage.

Grendle:
Con/Cha is an odd combo, one which may be uniqie in the game. Might be fun to try out.
Thick Skinned is VERY strong for a racial! +1 is probably where it should be at.
Trollblood means they heal more than twenty times faster than a Human. If they barely survive a fight at dawn, at -9 HP with all stats other than Con damaged to 0, they will be at full health by midnight without magical help.
Imperious Bearing is basically Dazzling Display for free, with any weapon. Very powerful!
Adrenaline makes it actively beneficial for you to make yourself Shaken as long as you aren't a Barbarian.
Overall, Grendles are VERY high on the power scale, probably would be in the 22-27 RP range if added up with equivalents. They won't be allowed at most tables.

[Ninjaxenomorph]

Gnomes have bonuses to Con and Charisma, so Grendles aren't unique on that respect. I agree, they do seem very powerful; what are the downsides of them?

[Qwertystop]

First thing I thought of seeing the name was a Bloodline-equivalent - some way to have a template-like thing that grows with character progression. Welknair (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=10951428&postcount=115)'s done some good ones.

[ArchangelAzrael]

Grendle Racial Traits

+2 Constitution, +2 Charisma, -2 Intelligence: Grendles are tough and have fierce personalities that others may find intimidating, but tend to neglect education in favor of martial training.

Comments: The +2 constitution can help any class making viable to all but Int based characters like the wizard or the warden (the following features might change that, at least for the warden).The +2 to charisma makes them excellent summoners (especially synthesists), sorcerers and warlords. Gnomes already have a similar baggage and I see nothing wrong with them.

Medium: Grendles are medium creatures and thus have no bonuses or penalties for size.

Comments: nothing here moving on.

Humanoid (giant): Grendles are humanoids with the giant subtype. Unlike other giants, grendles do not have racial hit dice.

Comments: What I said about the Dreige apply here as well. All in all not bad moving on.

Humanoid Heritage: At first level a grendle must choose a humanoid subtype from the following list: dwarf, elf, goblinoid, human, orc, or reptilian. They gain the chosen subtype in addition to any other subtypes they possess.

Comments: This gives them some penalties and some bonuses pretty balanced but it does open a lot of feats and favorite options.
Free of Despair (Ex):
Grendle don’t fear pain as others do, as they are used to healing quickly. This grants them a +2 racial bonus on saves against fear or despair effects.

Comments: A minor benefit and nothing to write home about… still useful when it applies. The race still looks balanced.

Thick-skinned (Ex): A grendle’s thick skin increases its natural armor bonus by +2.

Comments: the first really good racial feature + 2 to ac will definitely save your hide especially at the start of your carrier at some point. Still considering it’s the first real treat this race offers (aside from stats) I don’t see a problem yet. The race starts to be “blue” for some specific classes

Trollblood (Ex): A grendle regains hp every hour as though they rested for 8 hours. They also regrow any lost limbs in 1d4 days.

Comments: I can see many people having problem with this one as it basically means that after a full night rest your char is good to go again (mostly) but I don’t. It’s not that useful till you actually stop to rest so it should not change the dynamic of the 4 to 6 encounters per day that much and it takes some burden from your healer. At lvl 1 its really nice afterword’s it saves you some gold ( from wants of infernal healing). Realy nice feature well balanced, me likes it.

Mock Effort (Ex): Whenever a grendle is struck they may mock their enemy, belittling that enemy’s prowess. As an immediate action in response to being hit by an attack, the grendle can make an Intimidate check with a +2 circumstance bonus to demoralize their attacker.

Comments: Hm… Its nice for certain but it eats your immediate action and many things at higher lvl have immunity to fear. For an initiator its ok for a melee that doesn’t have an immediate action in his disposal is better. Cool feature but I think it might be easy to escalate the fear effect when other character resources come into play. I can see it synergizing well with some warden feats. Strong but not overly so. The race so far is still in the “blue” category in my books.

Darkvision (Ex): Grendle can see in the dark out to 60 feet.

Comments: Yey! If you read the previews 2 reviews you know I like this feature.

Languages: Grendle begin play speaking Common and Giant. Grendle with high intelligence scores can choose from the following: Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Gnoll, Gnome, or Goblin. See the Linguistics skill page in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook for more information about these languages.

Comments: Nothing to say here moving on.
Alternate Racial Traits
The following alternate racial traits may be selected in place of one or more of the standard racial traits above. Consult your GM before selecting any of these new options.

]Adrenaline (Ex): Some grendle know how to use fear to push their limits. If the grendle would be panicked or cowering, they are shaken instead. Additionally, they increase their morale bonus to Strength by +4 while they are shaken or sickened (even if they don’t have a morale bonus to Strength). This replaces free of despair.[/QUOTE]

Comments: My first reaction was that this was way better than “free of despair” but then I checked what shaken condition entails. So basically you negate the attack penalty and add some damage. Also you can’t be Panicked or cowering (did you mean Frightened? It seems more reasonable but I guess you might still want the character to be frightened.) Not sure why sickened comes in to the equitation. I would still most likely make the trade every time. Perhaps it needs to be toned down especially as it synergies well with the courageous enchantment.

Claws: Some grendle lack the troll’s thick skin and instead have claws, which deal 1d4 damage each. This racial trait replaces thick-skinned.

Comments: I can see some builds wanting to make the trade but since its claws it reduce the usefulness perhaps bite would be better. As it is I would not make the trade for the majority of times.

Imperious Bearing (Ex): Some grendle are more accustomed to using negative reinforcement than others. These grendle target all hostile creatures within 30 feet when using the Intimidate skill to demoralize their enemies (rather than only one enemy) and benefit from a +2 competence bonus to Intimidate checks. This replaces mock effort.

Comments: this is too strong! It needs one feat to make free intimidated attempts every time you power attack and with this oh boy! Is there a similar effect that can provide this? Anyways I would always make the trade as it if I was planning to remotely use fear via intimidate and would steer most melee builds in that direction. With this one the race might go “sky blue” for some concepts.

Moss-back (Ex): Some grendle are related to the secluded moss trolls. These grendle have a climb speed of 30 feet and are especially vulnerable to fire, taking 50% additional damage from exposure to it in any form.

Comments: TRAP! Trap detected! I can’t really see a reason to grab this. The vulnerability to fire is a serious draw back. Consider as a penalty to drop the movement speed (normal and climbing) to 20 (or 25) as a drawback/benefit instead. Alternative (and perhaps better) trade the humanoid heritage and drop the drawback.

Scrags (Ex): Some grendle are related to the aquatic trolls, the Scrags, and gain a swim speed of 40 feet. Their healing only occurs if they are fully submerged in water for at least 1 hour each day, and they lose their Darkvision trait.

Comments: Can they breath underwater? If not I can’t seem to see an easy way to trigger the healing: P perhaps breathing through straws. Losing darkvision seems wrong as it has uses underwater and the Scrags have it. Dropping the land speed to 20 seems more fitting. Giving them the aquatic and amphibious subtype and taking away the human heritage also works.


Favored Class Options
The following favored class options are available to all characters of this race who have the listed favored class, and unless otherwise stated, the bonus applies each time you select the favored class reward.

Alchemist: Increase the mutagen or cognatogen’s ability score bonus by +1/5.
Barbarian: Increase the barbarian’s will save bonus from his rage class ability by +1/4.
Bard: +1/6 to the bonuses granted when the bard uses inspire courage.
Cavalier: Add +1/4 to the cavalier’s challenge daily uses.
Cleric: Add +1/4 when healing hit point damage with spells.
Fighter: Add +1/2 on rolls to confirm critical hits.
Inquisitor: Add +1/4 uses per day of the inquisitor’s judgement.
Tactician: Add +1/4 daily uses of tactician’s strategy ability.
Vitalist: Add +1/2 to the damage dealt from the vitalist’s steal health class ability.
Warlord: Add +1/4 maneuvers known from the Golden Lion or Scarlet Throne disciplines. These maneuvers must be at least one level below the highest level of maneuvers the warlord can learn.

Comments: Seem balanced. The warlords as already been stated needs more text explaining how you treat those maneuvers ( as it is you can trade them normally for others and you can still get them even if you have traded the school). The fighters I think can scale more than the feat with the same effect and it stacks (and doesn’t count as pre-requirement). I think you could say that it caps at 4 and have it count as Critical Focus feat).

Overall I think its balanced and the best of the teaser document mechanically with the big offenders being Imperious Bearing, Adrenaline and Moss-back. A little poke here n’ there and you have a very functioning race.

[Taveena]

This is out now. Hurrah. Powerful build for everyone.

[Akadzjian]

Hello everyone! So I'll be drafting some minor errata that seemed to be overlooked, while I've made a list of all the errors I've noticed, I'll be taking what you've pointed out into consideration for this errata on a "power balance" concern. While Jade and I will be seriously considering all of what you've said (some of it was, quite honestly, mind-blowingly obvious once it was said) but we won't necessarily use everything - a number of the decisions we made were for a reason and I'd rather stand by the ones that remain than be known as someone who flippingly changes their work and views "just because." I mean no offense, I value everyone's input and I appreciate all the support you've all shown thus far and hope to hear what you think of the errata!

Sincerely,
Matt Medeiros

[Roland St. Jude]

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