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View Full Version : D&D 3.x Other Animalism [Skill]



Stratovarius
2015-06-10, 09:19 AM
So, I created this skill as a way to allow a large number of characters access to low level shapeshifting and character flavouring without requiring them to take levels in the Druid (or similar) classes. And without allowing Natural Spell and similar shenanigans.

I realize it's probably on the upper end of the skill powerset, but I don't think it's actually breakable.

Thoughts on the skill?

Skills

Animalism
Many creatures and races within the boundaries of Arhosa find themselves tied closely to the land and to the animals that inhabit it. Some, most notably the Cyfnewid of the Whispering Woods, are not so much tied closely to the lands as they are a part of it, integral to its very fabric and tightly bound into its rhythms. They have, indeed, adapted in such a way that they are quite capable of not only interacting with animals in close proximity, but actually becoming them for a certain period of time, long enough that they are accepted within the animal realm. Not weres or lycanthropes, the enlightened creatures are still their own race, but infinitely adapted to becoming others.

Animal Form: The most prominent use of these talents is to change shape, taking on the form of an animal in order to interact with creatures of that kind. This allows you to change shape into a chosen animal form, replacing all of the PC's statistics with those of the animal as it appears in its stat block, except for hit points, saves, and mental ability scores, which are retained if higher for the character. The DC of the check is 10 + 3 per hit dice of the chosen animal form, and the duration is 1 minute, plus 1 minute for every 5 points of the check result. The character can not choose to become an animal whose hit dice are greater than his own. Regardless of failure or success, it cannot be retried for 1 hour. Using this ability takes 1 minute, and ending it a standard action.

Wild Trait: Sometimes, those creatures closely tied to nature do not wish to give up their natural form, but rather to utilize the talents of the natural world, utilizing it to their advantange and to protect the wilds. To do this, they will take on aspects of the animals they love, hoping that the skill of an animal would allow it to protect them. They choose a single special quality belonging to an animal, and attempt to emulate it. The DC of the check is 10 + 4 per hit dice of the chosen animal form, and the duration is 1 minute, plus 1 minute for every 5 points of the check result. The character can not choose to emulate an animal whose hit dice are greater than his own. Regardless of failure or success, it cannot be retried for 1 hour. Using this ability takes 1 minute, and ending it a standard action.

Defending the Wild: At the last, it is sometimes necessary to fight to defend to defend the wild, or the prey from the predator. In order to do so, the Cyfnewid and others have learned to allow their body the grace of the wolf, the claws of the tiger. Using these gifts, they can protect their home from those who would seek to despoil it. They choose a single natural attack and a single special attack belonging to an animal, and attempt to emulate them. The DC of the check is 10 + 6 per hit dice of the chosen animal traits, and the duration is 1 minute, plus 1 minute for every 5 points of the check result. The character can not choose to emulate an animal whose hit dice are greater than his own. Regardless of failure or success, it cannot be retried for 1 hour. Using this ability takes 1 minute, and ending it a standard action.

Synergy: If you have 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (Nature), you get a +2 bonus on Animalism checks. If you have 5 or more ranks in Animalism, you get a +2 bonus on Knowledge (Nature) checks. If you have 5 or more ranks in Handle Animal, you get a +2 bonus on Animalism checks. If you have 5 or more ranks in Animalism, you get a +2 bonus on Handle Animal checks. If you have 5 or more ranks in Animalism, you get a +2 bonus on wild empathy checks.
Untrained: This skill cannot be used untrained.
Ability: Animalism relies upon the Wisdom of its user.

Nevershutup
2015-07-15, 02:22 PM
This looks like lots of fun to me. A few questions:

Is this skill restricted to people from a specific region, because the fluff looks that way.

Can you take ten on this skill?

How do you get this as a class skill?


Overall, this seems to fill the exact niche you wanted it to. It's not super powerful and while the Defending the Wild and Wild Trait uses seem to have high DC checks to emulate features of high HD animals, lots of those features can be found on lower HD animals. I like this a lot, well done.