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SecretlyaFish
2015-04-24, 06:53 AM
So, me and a friend are setting up a campaign in which we will put the predator as my player character and he will DM. I have been trying to make a powerful albeit balanced race, completely set apart from any of the tech and equipment a predator will receive as he/she levels up in the custom class I am also creating. I am creating all the tech, the class, the weapons etc, from scratch myself and its a lot of work. In same cases something may be overpowered, but I've tried to balance that out.

So to start, here is what I have so far. Edit - Forgot to mention, this is for 3.5

Predator starts with 5 levels of outsider, +5d8hp. Str +10, Dex +6, Con+10,Int+4,+Wis+6,Cha-6. The reason for the huge constitution and strength and dex increases are because, a predator in a one armed back handed attack managed to throw a 200+lb man about 20-30 feet away from him. In the comics they can break concrete with their blows and they can take bullets and slugs and about 10 grenades blowing up point blank and get up from it, so big con increase there. I was actually thinking of giving it a +12 increase, to make it more in line with a troll in terms of strength. Dex is at +6, it is a large heavy creature, typically being anywhere from 7-9 feet tall, and 300-500lbs, but can traverse trees easily and without making noise/disturbing birds.

Its meant to be a powerful race, and honestly guys, I would appreciate some input, but if you don't read the comics/aren't a big fan and know what the predator can really do, don't comment too much on the ability scores here. I am mainly putting my info here, to figure out what sort of level adjustment to give to the predator I created. Obviously the ability bonus's are powerful, and they have some other sweet ones, but I have some minuses as well.

Their bodies are resilient to damage, capable of recovering from multiple gunshot wounds with minimal or even no medical attention and surviving radiation doses which would be fatal to humans. They are also highly resilient to most bacteria and viruses. They are incredibly strong, easily capable of outmatching a conditioned adult human male in unarmed combat and able to land blows that can shatter solid concrete. They are capable of tearing a human's head and spine from the body with little effort, while some larger specimens have been capable of tearing a human body in half using only their bare hands. This strength evidently extends to their lower bodies as well, as Predators have been seen to jump up to three times their own height, and are capable of falling up to ten times their height and landing safely on their feet. They are also skilled climbers, and in fact appear to prefer moving at height through trees or across rooftops in pursuit of prey. Though capable of surviving exposure in Antarctic temperatures for an extended period of time, it is implied that Predators have a preference for hot equatorial climates. Their blood is luminescent phosphor green in color, and has the capacity to partially neutralise the acidity of Alien blood. It has also been shown to bestow significant life-giving properties on humans, capable of extending a person's lifespan beyond what would normally be possible. It is thought Yautja may be cold-blooded, hence their documented affinity for hot, humid conditions.

+5d8hp
Str+10-14, depending on if sub species is the super predator from Predators.
Dex+6
Con+10
Int+4
Wis+6
Cha-6
+5 to saves against poison/disease
+5 acid resist
+5 shock resist
+5 Fire resist
+5 Cold resist (with heat net on body)
+5 natural armor bonus
sneak attack as rogue while invisible or unnoticed. 1d6+1d6 every 3 levels.
Pounce - make full attack as part of a charge
Yautja's automatically gain weapon focus and weapon scecialization feats with their clan weapons
Can jump 3x height, and fall 10x height and take no damage
Predator takes twice as long to tire as a human
Can breath underwater for 10 minutes.
Feats - Improved unarmed strike, Evasion
Base speed 50 feet.
2 Claws 1d4
Base attack +5
Base Fort +5, Ref +5, and Will +5.
Can see as well in pitch darkness as during the day.

Balance+5
Climb +5
Heal +5
Hide +5
Jump +8
Listen +5
Move Silently +5
Search +5
Spot +5 Due to natural Infravision
Survival +5
Swim +5
Tumble +5
Tracking +5 Due to natural infravision.

Appraise -10
Bluff -10
Decipher Script -10
Diplomacy -10
Disguise -10
Gather Information -10
Handle Animal -5
Knowledge -5 (anything not pertaining to geography or to help it gain knowledge of hunting.)
Perform -20
Sleight of Hand -10

Yautja are not native to Faerun and have evolved based on their physicality, intelligence, and technology. May never learn or cast magic. Yautja have natural infravision and that is both a strength and a weakness for it. I figure up close anything that has a type of body heat would easily stand out to it, as well as blood and any sort of markings. But something of the same heat as everything else hiding could do a good job of hiding and would be tough to spot without the multiple vision modes of its mask. Its mask will need to be upgraded as it levels in my custom class in order to negate these weaknesses. Any input here would be welcome.

Atmospheric Intolerance: Yautja breathe a different gas mix to humans. They can adapt to earth's natural gasses, but it could only last for 1 week at the most. After which, for every 30 minutes for which a Yautja breathes without using a breather, their physical attributes reduce by 1. Spending 10 rounds on a breather will return 1 point lost from each of the physical attributes. If any of these are reduced to zero, the Yuatja Dies.

Native Outsider: A Yautja does not count as a 'person' for the purposes of certain spells and psionic effects. Yautja can hold their breath for twice as long as normal. Energy resistance 5 to electrical, acid, fire, and all forms of radiation. Due to their hardy nature, they also get a +5 bonus to all saves vs natural poison, and disease.

No Wealth: Yautja have no concept of wealth. Their superior technology is earned, not bought.

It is a powerful race for sure, but, it doesn't have the magical abilites or psionics to truly be a hindrance and cause the GM headaches, for example, a troll can regenerate from anything, and an ogre mage and fly and go into gaseous form at will, and a mind flayer has incredible psionic powers as well as its spell like abilities. Rakshasa as well, and all these races except the troll have insane spell resistence. The troll has a +5 lvl adjustment and the rakshasa and ogre mage have +7, and I think mind flayer is +7 or 8.

The Predator gets no spell resistance, no magical abilities of any kind, cannot learn any sort of magic, cannot regenerate. I was thinking of maybe putting in 2-3 damage reduction just to accentuate how tough they are, able to shrug off hits that would cause some harm to other creatures. Still might not sure. As it stands now however, what would my race be in terms of level adjustment?

danzibr
2015-04-24, 03:03 PM
Huh. Well, I like the idea a lot. I have a thing or two to say.

First, they shouldn't be outsiders. They're from a different planet, but not a different plane. In fact, the humanoid type should be just fine.

Second, the racial hitdice cripples them as PC's. If you want to play as one, strip all RHD. Or, well, if you want to first stat them up as a monster, use 1 RHD, which can be replaced by a class level.

The more I think about it, they remind me a lot of Goliaths. Definitely Medium but with Powerful Build. I think their current Str bonus is too great. Hmm, same could be said of other bonuses. And if you think of their technology as magical devices, their UMD should be high. Which clashes with the huge Cha hit. And actually, I don't think they should get such a Cha hit, thinking of Cha as force of personality.

SecretlyaFish
2015-04-24, 05:03 PM
The idea we had was that, they would open a sort of tech portal and it just so happened to open it into a strange land for w/e reason. The predators are not from that plane of existence and are therefore treated as outsiders. One idea we were playing with.

The technology is not only not magical, it cannot be enchanted in any way, the Predator as it goes up in levels unlocks new technology as it goes along. The whole idea of the campaign was that, the Predator is a hunter, and it uses its superior weapons and technology, along with its physical attributes to kill things, instead of using magic. In fact, for my campaign, my predator will not even use magic rings or amulets, as for my predator, doing so would imply its own ability, and the technology of its race is not good enough to overcome the obstacles it faces in this new world, like magic, something beforehand it would not have been able to understand.

So, its weapons, technology etc, is very powerful. But its still very vulnerable to magic, and other sorts of things. Plasma castor, the yautja maul, smart disk, speargun, just a few examples of some extraordinary weaponry that will give it an edge against something like your standard archer or fighter. The class for the Predator is pretty crazy. It has 5 attacks at 18th level. The idea is that, all Predators progress down this path, and at about 10th level or so, I am going to make a sort of sub class. You get to choose what type of gear you want to specialize in, are you a long range hunter, do you like to brawl, or do you like to set bombs and elaborate traps and have a creature play right into your hand. Its a ton of work, still haven't even finished the base class or given all the weapons stats yet. For example, the smart disk, ignores some damage reduction, and depending how how advance it and the masks targeting system is, with a single throw you could hit 3 or 4 monsters and have it return back, not magical, all technology.

But yeah, I understand how you mean but for my campaign, the predator stays medium sized, so in order to do the physical feats it does in the comics and movies, it truly does need that strength bonus. A medium character with 30 strength cannot lift the same amount as a large character with 20 strength for example. Its meant to basically be a monster in physical combat.

Other things are subject to change, with the current layout, i was thinking either +4-5 level adjustment. Something on par with a troll but no magical abilities to make it ridiculous.

SecretlyaFish
2015-04-25, 06:08 PM
So, would this be a +4 or +5 level adjustment? Its a pretty simple question and someone looking for maybe 2 minutes could probably give me an answer....

Ancalidormis
2015-04-25, 06:31 PM
Someone had previously worked out a race for this that I rather like.




+6 Str, -2 Dex, +4 Con, -6 Cha: Yautja are extremely strong and tough, but are less agile because of their size, with their beliefs focus around honour and the hunt; but they are extremely silent towards outsiders, viewing them as potential prey, a possible challenge and enemy.
Type: Medium Monstrous Humanoid.
Powerful Build: The physical stature of Yautja lets them function in many ways as if they were one size category larger. Whenever a Yautja is subject to a size modifier or special size modifier for an opposed check (such as during grapple checks, bull rush attempts, and trip attempts), the Yautja is treated as one size larger if doing so is advantageous to him. A Yautja is also considered to be one size larger when determining whether a creature’s special attacks based on size (such as improved grab or swallow whole) can affect him. A Yautja 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.
Immunities: immune to heat and cold effects as endure elements, fatigue and exhaustion.
Energy Resistance: Acid 5. The blood of a Yautja is base, resisting acidic damage slightly.
Infra-vision (Ex): This ability allows the predator to detect sources of heat with his eyes. These sources may range from ambient temperature to the heat of a powerful fire. Any such source of heat possesses an aura with a myriad of colors ranging from red to white, called a heat signature. Accordingly, the predator gains a competence bonus to Spot checks involving such sources corresponding to the severity of the heat signature's color. The most 'severe' color is always closest to the source of the heat signature, and may be surrounded with less severe colors as the heat diminishes the further it gets from the source.

Table: Infra-vision



Signature Color
Source Temperature
Example
Spot skill bonus


Red
less than 70°F
interior of a house during winter
+2


Orange
70°F to 120°F
living human body
+3


Yellow
120°F to 210°F
a geyser
+4


White
210°F or over
a fire
+6




Note: This ability cannot detect heat sources with a temperature below that of the current ambient temperature.

Light Blindness (Ex): Yautja with light blindness are blinded for 1 round if exposed to bright light, such as sunlight or the daylight spell. Such creatures are dazzled as long as they remain in areas of bright light.
Hold Breath (Ex): The creature can hold its breath for a number of minutes equal to 6 times its Constitution score before it risks drowning.
Speed: 40 ft. The Yautja are faster on average than most humanoids.
Climb: 30 ft. The Yautja may take 10 on acrobatics checks to climb, even when rushed.
Skill Bonuses: +2 Racial bonus on all Acrobatics and Survival checks.
Starting Languages: Yautja. Bonus Languages: Any
Favored Class: Predator Racial Class
CR: +2

SecretlyaFish
2015-04-25, 11:17 PM
Someone had previously worked out a race for this that I rather like.




+6 Str, -2 Dex, +4 Con, -6 Cha: Yautja are extremely strong and tough, but are less agile because of their size, with their beliefs focus around honour and the hunt; but they are extremely silent towards outsiders, viewing them as potential prey, a possible challenge and enemy.
Type: Medium Monstrous Humanoid.
Powerful Build: The physical stature of Yautja lets them function in many ways as if they were one size category larger. Whenever a Yautja is subject to a size modifier or special size modifier for an opposed check (such as during grapple checks, bull rush attempts, and trip attempts), the Yautja is treated as one size larger if doing so is advantageous to him. A Yautja is also considered to be one size larger when determining whether a creature’s special attacks based on size (such as improved grab or swallow whole) can affect him. A Yautja 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.
Immunities: immune to heat and cold effects as endure elements, fatigue and exhaustion.
Energy Resistance: Acid 5. The blood of a Yautja is base, resisting acidic damage slightly.
Infra-vision (Ex): This ability allows the predator to detect sources of heat with his eyes. These sources may range from ambient temperature to the heat of a powerful fire. Any such source of heat possesses an aura with a myriad of colors ranging from red to white, called a heat signature. Accordingly, the predator gains a competence bonus to Spot checks involving such sources corresponding to the severity of the heat signature's color. The most 'severe' color is always closest to the source of the heat signature, and may be surrounded with less severe colors as the heat diminishes the further it gets from the source.

Table: Infra-vision



Signature Color
Source Temperature
Example
Spot skill bonus


Red
less than 70°F
interior of a house during winter
+2


Orange
70°F to 120°F
living human body
+3


Yellow
120°F to 210°F
a geyser
+4


White
210°F or over
a fire
+6




Note: This ability cannot detect heat sources with a temperature below that of the current ambient temperature.

Light Blindness (Ex): Yautja with light blindness are blinded for 1 round if exposed to bright light, such as sunlight or the daylight spell. Such creatures are dazzled as long as they remain in areas of bright light.
Hold Breath (Ex): The creature can hold its breath for a number of minutes equal to 6 times its Constitution score before it risks drowning.
Speed: 40 ft. The Yautja are faster on average than most humanoids.
Climb: 30 ft. The Yautja may take 10 on acrobatics checks to climb, even when rushed.
Skill Bonuses: +2 Racial bonus on all Acrobatics and Survival checks.
Starting Languages: Yautja. Bonus Languages: Any
Favored Class: Predator Racial Class
CR: +2


That is indeed pretty cool, and I might take that table he used. But the stats are simply way off. -2 Dex? The creature can jump tree to tree without startling and scaring birds, or breaking branches etc despite its heavy weight. I think there is a big stigma here about creating races that seem too powerful. Also, they should certainly be smarter than the average human, and the wisdom bonus I have given is mostly for great hunting skills like track and survival and other sorts of skills. Their technology is far beyond anything we have today, in a D&D world, its so advanced it would be indistinguishable from magic.

I think i will incorporate some of the things from this class for sure, some great ideas here. Especially that vision table. Very cool idea indeed. I think I am going to set mine as 5th level.

Thank you so much for showing me that, I was struggling with how to incorporate its natural infravision, it has its good points but certainly could have its weaknesses, example, a drow hunting party hunting monsters that specifically see in infravision, and using spells etc to disguise their body heat. Could be very problematic for the predator, even with his mask, unless he has other vision modes he is able to switch to.

SecretlyaFish
2015-04-28, 05:11 PM
I like how still, nobody has managed to give me a real level adjustment, despite asking numerous times. Wish I could change the title. Only thing I want here is a ballpark level adjustment alongside races like the rakshasa and ogre magi, which are both +7. What does the race I have created come to?

Is it really THAT hard for someone to do? Damn, so far one of the most unhelpful forums I have ever been on. You'd think at least the mods would try to be polite and answer a few questions/help out. Guess not.

jiriku
2015-04-30, 04:28 PM
Rudeness and sarcasm will get you precisely nowhere on this forum. Or anywhere else, for that matter.

Have you looked at the astral stalker from MM3? It's essentially d&d's answer to the predator in a nice monster package, and the stats are posted publicly in several places on the internet if you lack the book.

themourningstar
2015-04-30, 06:14 PM
Avoiding the overblown sense of entitlement that is screaming to be cut apart and dissected, why do they have infravision? I have read quite a few of the Predator novels, and the Alien one, as well as played the video games... They did not have infravision. Their masks gave them several different ways to view the world. Is there something in the comics that shows them having infravision? Im genuinely curious, I love the Aliens and Predators, but have never read the comics.

Jeraa
2015-04-30, 09:16 PM
Avoiding the overblown sense of entitlement that is screaming to be cut apart and dissected, why do they have infravision? I have read quite a few of the Predator novels, and the Alien one, as well as played the video games... They did not have infravision. Their masks gave them several different ways to view the world. Is there something in the comics that shows them having infravision? Im genuinely curious, I love the Aliens and Predators, but have never read the comics.

I believe more than once in the movies we see through the predators eyes without their mask, and the vision is infravision. The masks just make their natural vision better in addition to giving them additional forms of vision.

Ancalidormis
2015-05-01, 12:07 AM
I believe more than once in the movies we see through the predators eyes without their mask, and the vision is infravision. The masks just make their natural vision better in addition to giving them additional forms of vision.

Correct. EVERY predator movie shows their natural vision to be an poor version of what their mask provides.