The Awakened badger

[Angafirith]

I'm currently working on creating a grouping of races for use in my campaign: Awakened Beasts. I tried using the SRD Badger's data to some extent, though I simplified the ability modifiers and things. I was thinking of having the badger's weapons cost 3 times the normal amount (as they lack humanoid hands). As to why I would want to create a weird race like this, mushrooms and snakes may have been involved. Ideally, I'd like to see this as an LA +0 race, but have no idea how to simplify it while keeping the Badger's abilities largely intact. In truth, I don't even really know how to figure out LA. Any ideas?

Long ago, a mighty druid traveled through the forests of the world, looking for creatures worthy of sentience. The Badger was one of the first to be successfully awakened. As time passed, badgers adapted to their newfound sentience. Badger customs include special coming of age rituals that involve the dulling of their claws and teeth. Their sense of smell has also faded, as it is not as necessary as it was. Non-sentient badgers still exist and are more common than sentient Badgers in the wild. They generally avoid Human towns, preferring to mingle with elves.

* CON +2, INT -2
* Small: As a Small creature, a badger gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but they use smaller weapons than humans use, and must purchase weapons specialized for their use. Their lifting and carrying limits are 3/4 of that of a normal medium creature.
* A badger's base land speed is 30 feet. Additionally, a badger can burrow 10 feet.
* A badger gets a +1 natural armor bonus to Armor Class
* +4 on Escape Artist checks
* Badgers get a +2 Racial Bonus on Fortitude and Reflex saves.
* Automatic Languages: Common and Sylvan. Bonus Languages:
* Favored Class: Fighter. The strength and constitution of the mighty badger make them excellent warriors.
* Racial Special Qualities: Low-light vision
* Racial Special Attacks: Rage (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/badger.htm). The Badger must make a DC 15 Will Save for any combat damage they take when their HP is less than half. This save can be intentionally failed. A Badger can intentionally throw itself into a rage once per day.


Note: I've modified the race heavily since I first posted it. Thus, if something seems out of line with one of my early comments, it's because I changed my mind based on the input I received.

Additional resources:
Badger badger badger (http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/badgers/)

[Hunter_Rose]

You should really put a link to badger badger badger in your post.

[Angafirith]

Suggestion accepted :smalltongue:

[Earthstar_Fungus]

Perhaps the badger society could have magical mushrooms that increase their size, strength, or that summon snakes. :)

[Angafirith]

At a friend's suggestion, I changed the rage ability to have a Will Save.


Perhaps the badger society could have magical mushrooms that increase their size, strength, or that summon snakes. :)
I was planning on creating a Mushroom Harvester racial base or prestige class for them later on.

[Eighth_Seraph]

I assume that the -2 to strength the badger has comes from it being small-sized, but why the +2 Dex? If anything, a badger should have a leg up in Constitution due to it being a pretty hardy animal for its size, as well as any connections to the element of earth and implications thereof.

Well, looking back at the monster entry, a 17 Dex and a 15 Con...No, I would still go with a bonus to constitution, since I could completely see a badger in fullplate with a greatsword, but I have more trouble visualizing one in leather armor with lockpicks.

[Orzel]

Rage has no options!
Badgers rage and cannot end their rage voluntarily!!

I'd give them another +2 DEX +2 CON, -2 STR and make them auto-rage on damage greater than their HD.

[Angafirith]

I suppose that Rage meshes better with the idea of a Fighter or Barbarian (since I'd kinda like the involuntary rages to stack with the Barbarian Rage), but I didn't want to rework them to be too different from the SRD's badger. I'd be happy to give them CON +2 in addition to what I've got up there. Do you think that'll help?

[MandibleBones]

since I could completely see a badger in fullplate with a greatsword, but I have more trouble visualizing one in leather armor with lockpicks.

That's just because you've read Redwall.

...

But I agree wholeheartedly. Badgers should definitely have more CON.

[Angafirith]

I've changed it to STR +2, CON +2, INT -2. Additionally, I'm changing the favored class to Fighter.

I had, to some extent, wanted to make a Badger Paladin. This should actually be more conducive to it.

[Tim4488]

Redwall Badgers are definitely the coolest thing of all time.

LA +1? Unbalanced ability scores, rage, and natural armor. And... why weapon finesse? They have a strength bonus. I understand keeping in line with the MM badger, but this thing has evolved separately for a long time, obviously.

[Angafirith]

Redwall Badgers are definitely the coolest thing of all time.

LA +1? Unbalanced ability scores, rage, and natural armor. And... why weapon finesse? They have a strength bonus. I understand keeping in line with the MM badger, but this thing has evolved separately for a long time, obviously.

The badgers have also undergone another kind of evolution: When I first posted this thread, I gave the Badgers a DEX Bonus. I'm going to take Weapon Finesse out, since they no longer have this bonus.

Actually, I figured that Rage could be a bit of a handicap. If you're low on HP, you might not want to fly into a frenzy. You might want to drink a healing potion or withdraw.

Edit: Additionally, I removed the STR bonus to balance the ability scores.

[Baron Corm]

if you want to follow the srd badger's entry, then why are you giving it strength and constitution bonuses? the badger has 17 dex and the feats Agile and Weapon Finesse. i would make it as follows:

* DEX +2 CHA -2

if he wants to be the fighting badger type that the srd entry is, he will choose a fighter-type class and give himself high constitution. an awakened animal gets 3d6 intelligence; this is the normal roll for a character, so no penalty is necessary. he gets 1d3 charisma from a base of 6, so a CHA penalty is more appropriate

* Small: As a Small creature, a badger gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but they use smaller weapons than humans use, and must purchase weapons specialized for their use. Their lifting and carrying limits are 3/4 of that of a normal medium creature.

* A badger's base land speed is 30 feet. Additionally, a badger can burrow 10 feet.

* A badger gets a +1 natural armor bonus to Armor Class

* +4 on Escape Artist checks

* I have no idea why you gave him a bonus on Fortitude and Reflex saves... I'd take that out

* Automatic Languages: Common and Sylvan. Bonus Languages: Any
(depends on where they were awakened, could be anywhere)
* Favored Class: Barbarian. The innate anger and lithe movements of the species make barbarian a natural choice.

* Racial Special Qualities: Low-light vision

* Racial Special Attacks: Rage. The Badger must make a Will Save (DC = damage dealt) for any combat damage they take. This save can be intentionally failed. The badger gains +4 Strength and Constitution and a -2 to Armor Class, and may not end his rage until he or his opponent is dead. The ability score bonuses granted by this do not stack with the barbarian's Rage, but grants an extra usage per day. A badger barbarian may willingly end his rage.

I'd take out the "HP less than half" clause because that would make a Dexterity-based character think twice before choosing the badger as a race, though it would still be an attractive option, just like any race should be.

[Angafirith]

The reason that the Badger is so different from the SRD is that I liked certain suggestions from this thread. My original post was more like the SRD badger.

I'm thinking that I'm going to split things up: I'll have a Badger race and a Dire Badger race. Since the Dire Badger actually has CON higher than DEX, it should work out pretty well with a minor modification to the original stats.

Awakened Dire Badger
* CON +2, INT -2
* Like Badgers, Dire Badgers do not have opposable thumbs, so conventional humanoid weapons are not effective for them. Additionally, their unusual shape means that normal armor does not work either. They can still wear armor and wield weapons, but they must be customized for animals. Magic armor and arms can be converted for animal use for 50% of their base cost. Normal armor and arms cost 100% more (twice the original price).
* A dire badger's base land speed is 30 feet. Additionally, a dire badger can burrow 10 feet.
* Dire Badgers get a +1 Racial Bonus on all saves.
* Automatic Languages: Common and Sylvan. Bonus Languages:
* Favored Class: Fighter. The strength and constitution of the mighty dire badger make them excellent warriors.
* Racial Special Qualities: Low-light vision
* Racial Special Attacks: Rage (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/badger.htm). A Dire Badger must make a DC 10 Will Save for any combat damage they take when their HP is less than half. This save can be intentionally failed. A Dire Badger can intentionally throw itself into a rage once per day.

Badger
* DEX +2, STR -2
* Small: As a Small creature, a badger gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but they use smaller weapons than humans use, and must purchase armor and arms specialized for their use. Specialized animal armor and arms for a creature of this size costs twice the normal price. Their lifting and carrying limits are 3/4 of that of a normal medium creature.
* A badger's base land speed is 30 feet. Additionally, a badger can burrow 10 feet.
* +4 on Escape Artist checks
* Badgers get a +1 Racial Bonus on Fortitude and Reflex saves.
* Automatic Languages: Common and Sylvan. Bonus Languages:
* Favored Class: Rogue. Badgers are cunning and dexterous, making them ideal thieves
* Racial Special Qualities: Low-light vision, Weapon Finesse
* Racial Special Attacks: Rage (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/badger.htm). The Badger must make a DC 10 Will Save for any combat damage they take when their HP is less than half. This save can be intentionally failed. A Badger can intentionally throw itself into a rage once per day.

I'll do a write up on the customs and such of these two races later on. Do they look good as they currently stand? I took out the natural armor to make them a little bit weaker. I don't want to take too much away and risk having them underpowered, though.