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View Full Version : D&D 3.x Other A surprisingly playable Manakete race [3.5] [FE homebrew][Race and toys] [PEACH]



The-Mage-King
2016-04-26, 10:38 PM
Manakete
Once a proud and mighty race of dragons, the Manakete were slowly driven mad by their own power and longevity. Their sages, desperate for a solution, were finally able to stave off most of this madness by sealing away the majority of their draconic power, and taking the form of humanoids.

Though this maintained their sanity, this also restrained the majority of their power, requiring them to retake their original form to make use of any of it, albeit with a risk of being driven insane. This also greatly impacts their ability to rest normally, causing them to need significantly more sleep than other creatures do to function at full capacity, and occasionally forcing them into a hibernation-like slumber, should they push themselves too far.

Manakete tend to separate themselves from each other in 'tribes', along the lines of their type of breath weapon or particular subrace. It is not rare for a manakete to refer to themselves as being from 'The Fire Tribe' or similar when making an introduction, though many do see little reason to go through with that.

Personality: Manakete are long lived, and well known to remember old loves and grudges through the centuries. Their personalities tend to vary depending on their age- younger ones are more often carefree and adventurous, while older ones tend to be more calm and sagely or bitter and twisted, simply due to the number of lesser lived races that they interact with.

Physical Description: Manakete tend to age approximately the same as dragons, with their age category matching to the equivalent for a human in appearance. A "Wyrmling" looks roughly the same as a human toddler, and so on.
Manakete tend toward having bright and exotic hair colors while young, most often similar to the color of their scales in their dragon forms. The hair of older manakete loses its bright color, fading to white with enough centuries.
Most manakete have pointed ears, reminiscent of those of elves, though with a more sharp and elongated point.
While in dragon form, a manakete looks as you would expect for a roughly man sized dragon- four legs, a tail, wings, and a maw of sharp teeth. Their scales tend to be brightly colored, ranging in hue from bright reds to strong, soft blues, to sharp greens, and even some purples. A manakete's scale color has no relation to their alignment, though some tribes are known to be made up of those of a general family of colors.

Relations:Manakete, despite their long lives, get along quite well with humans, seeing them as the young race with the most potential, despite the human lifespan being so comparatively short. Several elvish and dwarven cities host manaketes as well, their shared longevity bringing them to an understanding. Manakete also enjoy the company of fey such as Killoren, and the psionic beings known as Elans, some having friendships that last over a millennium with these other quasi-immortal beings..

Alignment: Manakete, much like dragons proper, range greatly in alignment, dependant on their upbringing and philosophy. A good majority of young manakete tend towards Good, though, and the older of their people are as likely to be found as great and benevolent sages as they are to be fearsome monsters.

Language: Manakete, as they were once proper and full dragons, maintain their use of the Draconic language for typical conversation. They also tend to know the common tongues of the more mortal races that they live among. Many manakete speak old, long dead, languages as well, simply due to living while they were still being spoken.

Names: Unlike other dragons, Manakete names tend to be short and fairly quick to pronounce, perhaps due to their decision to live amongst humanoids. Names with more than two or three syllables are rare amongst their kind, usually meaning the Manakete was raised by members of another race.

Adventurers: A manakete adventurer is typically a younger member of the race, out exploring the world and slaking their youthful wanderlust. Older manakete tend to be aiding a comrade or friend in a personal quest, or seeking to complete some grander goal of their own.


Manakete Racial Traits


+2 Con, +2 Cha, -2 Dex
Medium: As Medium creatures, Manakete have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Dragon (Shapechanger): A Manakete, despite its usual guise in a humanoid shape, is a dragon. As such, they possess the following traits from the Dragon type, and are unaffected by spells that target Humanoids. They also possess the Shapechanger subtype.

o Darkvision out to 60 feet and low-light vision.

o Immunity to magic sleep effects and paralysis effects.
Racial Hit Dice: A Manakete begins with two levels of Dragon, albeit modified due to their weakened nature. These two special Dragon levels provide 2d12 Hit Dice, a base attack bonus of +1, and base saving throw bonuses of Fort +3, Ref +0, and Will +3.
Racial Skills: A Manakete's special Dragon levels give it skill points equal to 5x (4+Int modifier, minimum 1). Its class skills are Bluff, Disguise, Intimidate, Knowledge (History), and Swim.
Racial Feats: A Manakete's special dragon levels give it one feat.
Deep Sleeper: A Manakete's shapeshifting nature is exhausting, preventing them from resting as easily as other races. In order to recover spells, or anything similar that requires an 8-hour rest, a Manakete must have 12 hours of rest. This includes natural healing and recovering from Fatigue. If a Manakete becomes exhausted, they must spend 2 hours resting to recover to being fatigued instead of the normal 1 hour.
Alternate Form: A Manakete has a special version of the Alternate Form special ability, seen below.
A Manakete has a +2 bonus on saves against Fatigue and Exhaustion. However, they also suffer a -2 penalty on all saves against effects that would cause the Confused condition.
Automatic Languages: Common and Draconic. Manakete with a high Intelligence score may select any


Alternate Form (Su): A Manakete is a dragon that has taken the shape of a humanoid on a near permanent basis. Their humanoid guise is typically roughly equivalent to their age category's description would apply to a human. A manakete can change forms as a full-round action, and each counts as its 'natural' form, but cannot do so if she is wearing any armor.
Any equipment a manakete is wearing or carrying that cannot be worn on the dragon form merges with her body for the duration she remains in her dragon form.

The Manakete's dragon form is a quadruped, and has a pair of wings in addition to its four limbs and tail.
A manakete may safely remain in dragon form for a number of consecutive rounds equal to their racial hit dice (including their levels in the Manakete racial paragon class)+ their Constitution modifier, minimum 1. Each round after that, they must make a Will Save with a DC equal to 10+1/2 HD+Con or be confused until their transformation ends. Each round after the first one where, the DC of this save increases by 1.

A manakete possesses the following racial traits, in addition to the ones above, while in its dragon form. In addition, she may gain the benefits of Wings, Breath Weapon, Natural Weapons, or Dragon's Hide while in her humanoid form, chosen at character creation. Once chosen, this cannot be changed.

+2 Str, -2 Dex (For a total of +2 Str, +2 Con, +2 Cha, -4 Dex)
Wings: A Manakete possesses a pair of weak wings while in dragon form. These wings also provide her with a +10 bonus on Jump checks, in addition the following special quality.

o Gliding (Ex): A Manakete can use her wings to glide, negating damage from a fall of any height and allowing 20 feet of forward travel for every 5 feet of descent. Manaketes glide at a speed of 40 feet (average maneuverability). Even if a Manakete’s maneuverability improves, she can’t hover while gliding. A Manakete can’t glide while carrying a medium or heavy load.
If a Manakete becomes unconscious or helpless while in midair, her wings naturally unfurl and powerful ligaments stiffen the wings. The Manakete descends in a tight corkscrew and takes only 1d6 points of falling damage, no matter what the actual distance of the fall.
Breath Weapon (Su): A manakete possesses a breath weapon, usable once per encounter at 1st level. Choose one of the Fire, Cold, Acid, Electricity, Sonic, or Force energy types at character creation. Once chosen, this cannot be changed.
This breath weapon can be used in one of two ways.

o First, it may be used as a 15 foot cone of the chosen damage type, dealing 1d6 points of damage per two HD the Manakete possesses, plus their Charisma modifier per die, with a reflex save (DC 10+1/2 HD+Con) halving that. If the Manakete's energy type is Sonic or Force, it deals 1d4 points of damage per three HD the Manakete possesses instead of 1d6 per two HD, minimum 1d4+Cha. If the Manakete's energy type is Fire or Cold, this deals an additional point of damage per die. The size of the cone increases to 30 feet if the Manakete has 9 or more HD, and to 60 feet if they have 15 or more HD.


o Second, it may be applied as a more targeted attack. The Manakete makes a ranged touch attack against a creature, with a range increment of 30 feet. If successful ,the target takes 1d8+Charisma modifier points of damage per two HD the Manakete possesses. If the Manakete's energy type is Sonic or Force, it instead deals 1d6+Cha modifier points of damage per three HD the Manakete possesses, minimum 1d6+Cha. If the Manakete's energy type is Fire or Cold, this deals an additional point of damage per die.
A Manakete may use this breath weapon one additional time per encounter when she has a total of 5HD, and again every 5 HD after that she gains.
Natural Weapons: 2 claws (1d4) and bite (1d6).
Dragonskin: A Manakete in dragon form has a tough hide. She gains a +3 natural armor bonus.


Level Adjustment: +1
Favored Class: Bard


Manakete and Metabreath feats

Despite their breath weapon's qualities, a manakete is able to take metabreath feats , and use them with it. Instead of increasing the wait time between uses, though, they reduce the number of times in the encounter that they may use their breath weapon by 1 for each round the metabreath feat adds.

This means that a Manakete with 10 HD that used Shape Breath, they would use up two of their uses of their Breath Weapon for the encounter. and have one left.

The-Mage-King
2016-04-26, 10:39 PM
Alternate Races, Half-breed, and aging rules


Earth Dragon Alternate Race

An Earth Dragon is a variant form of Manakete, which does not possess the Wings special quality while in his dragon form. He also cannot select it to gain the effects of while in humanoid form. In addition, an Earth Dragon does not possess the Deep Sleeper special quality.

An Earth Dragon's Racial HD are modified as follows.


Racial Hit Dice: An Earth Dragon Manakete begins with two levels of Dragon, albeit modified due to their nature. These two special Dragon levels provide 2d12 Hit Dice, a base attack bonus of +2, and base saving throw bonuses of Fort +3, Ref +0, and Will +3.

Favored Class: Barbarian



Mystic Dragon Alternate Race

A Mystic Dragon is a variant form of Manakete, with a deeper calling towards arcane magic than others of their race. A Mystic Dragon does not possess the Dragonskin or Natural Weapons special qualities a normal Manakete possesses while in their alternate form. They may only gain the Breath Weapon special quality while in their humanoid form. In addition, their ability bonus, Racial Hit Dice, and Racial Skills qualities are modified as follows.


+2 Cha, -2 Dex: This means that, while transformed, a Mage Dragon has +2 Str, +2 Cha, -4 Dex, unlike a normal Manakete. This replaces the standard ability score bonuses a manakete possesses.
Racial Hit Dice: A Mystic Dragon Manakete begins with one level of Dragon, albeit modified due to their nature. This special Dragon level provides 1d12 Hit Dice, a base attack bonus of +0, and base saving throw bonuses of Fort +2, Ref +0, and Will +2.
Racial Skills: A Manakete's special Dragon levels give it skill points equal to 4x (4+Int modifier, minimum 1). Its class skills are Bluff, Disguise, Intimidate, Knowledge (History), Knowledge (Arcana), and Spellcraft.

A Mystic Dragon gains the following special quality, in addition to the normal ones for the Manakete race.

Font of Magic: Each Racial Hit Die of a Mystic Dragon grants the Manakete a +1 bonus to his caster level, for all spellcasting classes he possesses. If a Mystic Dragon takes levels in the Manakete Racial Paragon class, he may count those levels as Racial Hit Dice for this special quality.
This increase is just to caster level for determining spell effects, and the Mystic Dragon does not gain any other benefits from advancing that class, such as spells known or spells per day.

Favored Class: Sorcerer



Divine Dragon Alternate Race

The Divine Dragons are the strongest and most wise of the manakete subraces, and known for their raw power while dealing with others of their own kind. In addition, their power takes the form of apparent agelessness while in their humanoid guise, with some of the older of the subspecies still looking much like a mortal of thirty year or less, despite their age being measured in millennia, and even a small number of the younger of the subrace looking like children despite being centuries old.

A Divine Dragon Manakete possesses the following traits, in addition the normal ones unless noted.

+2 Con, +2 Wis, +2 Cha, -2 Dex. This alters the normal ability score bonuses a manakete recieves.
Racial Hit Dice: A Divine Dragon Manakete begins with three levels of Dragon, albeit modified due to their nature. These special Dragon levels provides 3d12 Hit Dice, a base attack bonus of +2, and base saving throw bonuses of Fort +3, Ref +1, and Will +3. This replaces the normal Racial Hit Dice of the manakete.
Racial Skills: A Manakete's special Dragon levels give it skill points equal to 6x (4+Int modifier, minimum 1). Its class skills are Bluff, Disguise, Intimidate, Knowledge (History), Knowledge (Religion), and Spellcraft. This replaces the normal Racial Skills of the manakete.
Wyrmsbane: Divine Dragon manakete are known most of all for their ability to fight others of their own kind. A manakete gains a +2 racial bonus to attack and damage rolls against creatures of the Dragon type while transformed.
Alternate Form: A Divine Dragon manakete's breath weapon deals Divine damage, instead of any of the normally selectable options, at the same rate of progression as the normal fire/cold/acid/electricity damage. In addition, a Divine Dragon manakete has DR 5/Evil while in dragon form.


Level Adjustment: +2
Favored Class: Cleric or Paladin






Half Manakete
The children of doomed unions between mortals and manakete, half-manakete are trapped between the two worlds of their parents. A half-manakete is either the inheritor of enough of their draconic parent's power that they are treated as a full bloded manakete in all respects, or of enough to grant them a long life and some abilities, but no draconic form.

A half-manakete who does not inherit sufficient power adds the following benefits to their base race, and ages at approximately half the speed their race would normally, doubling the length of time between age categories and even to their death of old age.

+2 Con. Half-manakete inherit some of the hardiness of their parent.
Dragonblood subtype: A half-manakete has the dragonblood subtype, in addition to the type and subtypes of its non-manakete parent.
+1 Natural Armor. Half-manakete tend to have tougher skin than normal members of their race, with small patches of scales that allow them to deflect some blows without harm.
+2 Racial bonus on Spellcraft checks, and Spellcraft is always a Class Skill. Their draconic parent's native magic flows through their blood, giving the half-manakete an instinctual grasp of magic few others have.
+2 racial bonus on saving throws against Fatigue, Paralysis, and Sleep effects. A half-manakete maintains some of the resistances their parent possesses.

Level Adjustment: +1



Special Note: As Manakete possess the Dragon type, they may take any feats that require the Dragonblood subtype. This includes Dragon Wings (RotD p100), and any other feats of that nature, provided they do not cause a conflict with existing qualities of the Manakete (Ex: Taking Dragon Wings if they possess the Wings quality, etc).



Manakete Age Categories

A manakete ages at roughly the same rate as a true dragon does, their humanoid form aging to match. They follow the rules found on pages 12-14 of Draconomicon, including the rules regarding a dragon's Twlight and eventual death. A manakete is treated as a chromatic dragon for determining the years until they reach twilight, with Divine Dragon manakete being treated as metallic dragons.

A manakete gains +1 point to their Int, Wis, and Cha scores at the Mature Adult, Very Old, and Wyrm age categories, and takes a -1 penalty to Str, Dex, and Con scores at the same. These bonuses and penalties are cumulative, making a Wyrm age manakete have +3 Int, Wis, and Cha, and -3 Str, Dex, and Con.

These bonuses and penalties are instead of the normal ones a playable race would gain and take for aging.

The-Mage-King
2016-04-26, 10:40 PM
Manakete Racial Paragon Class

LevelBABFort SaveRef SaveWill SaveSpecialClass FeaturesRequired HD
1+0+2+0+2Manakete Enhancement-----
2+1+3+0+3Enhanced Breath+1 level of existing class-
3+2+3+1+3Manakete Enhancement, Greater Alternate Form----8 HD
4+3+4+1+4Manakete Enhancement----8 HD
5+3+4+1+4Ability Boost (Con +2), Superior Alternate Form, Enhanced Breath+1 level of existing class12 HD

Hit Die: d12
Class Skills: The manakete paragon's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (History) (int), and Swim (Str)
Skill Points per level: 4 + Int modifier.
Required HD: Unlike normal Racial Paragon classes, a manakete paragon must meet certain prerequisites to take additional levels in this class.

Manakete Enhancement: At each level listed on the above table, you select one manakete enhancement from the following list. You may only select a given ability once, unless otherwise specified, and you must meet all prerequisites for the enhancement. If an enhancement modifies the special quality chosen for your humanoid form, you gain the benefits of that enhancement while in humanoid form.

Class Progression: At 2nd level and 5th level, you may advance an existing class's progression in class features. The specific class features you gain include spells per day (and spells known, if applicable), improved chance of turning or destroying undead, metamagic or item creation feats, bonus feats, monk special abilities, sneak attack progressions, and so on, depending on the class. You do not, however, gain the benefit of your previous class's Hit Dice, attack progression, skill points, or saving throws. If you had more than one class before becoming a manakete paragon, you must decide to which class to add each level for the purpose of determining class abilities.

Enhanced Breath (Su): At 3rd level, your breath weapon becomes more potent. The damage dice inflicted by it increase in size to d8s (d6s if the energy type is Sonic/Force) when being used as an area of effect, and you deal an extra point of damage per die when using it as a single-target attack. At 5th level in this class, your breath weapon increases to d10s (d8s for Sonic or Force) for area of effect, and the single-target version deals an additional 2 points of damage instead.

Greater Alternate Form: You have improved your shapeshifting ability, making it much quicker to change your shape. You may use your Alternate Form ability as a Standard action instead of a Full-Round action.

Ability Boost (Ex): At 5th level, your Constitution score increases by 2 points.

Superior Alternate Form: Your mastery over your form is nearly complete. You may use your Alternate Form ability as a Swift action.



Manakete Enhancements

Improved Natural Weapons- Your natural weapons become more menacing and dangerous. Your claws increase in damage to 1d6 each, and your bite increases to 1d8. In addition, the critical threat range for your natural weapons increases by one, and you may select one of Silver, Cold Iron, or Adamantine. Your weapons count as that material for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction.

Terrifying Roar- Your dragon form becomes more imposing. As a standard action, you may let out a bellow, Frightening all creatures within 10 feet of you that fail a Will save (DC 10+1/2 HD+Charisma modifier).
If you have 13 or more ranks in Intimidate, this increases to a 30 foot radius, and the DC increases by 5 for creatures within 10 feet of you.
This counts as a Dragon's Frightful Presence and is a [Mind Affecting] [Fear] effect.

Draconic Resistance- Your nature as a dragon allows you to shrug off elemental attacks that you are attuned to. You gain Energy Resistance 15 to the energy type of your breath weapon.
If you have 10 or more HD, this increases to Energy Resistance 25. If you have 15 or more HD, you become immune to that type of energy damage.

Improved Dragonskin- Your hide in dragon form becomes more resistant to damage and magic. You gain Damage Reduction/- equal to your Constitution modifier, and Spell Resistance equal to 10+ your Hit Dice while in your dragon form. This Spell Resistance only applies to hostile spells and similar abilities.
You must have the Dragonskin special quality to select this enhancement.

Superior Dragonskin- Your hide in dragon form further improves. Your damage reduction and spell resistance both increase by 5.
You must have 10 HD or more and the Improved Dragonskin special quality* to take this enhancement.

Size Increase- Your size in dragon form increases to Large. You gain a further +2 bonus to Str, and a further -2 penalty to Dex while transformed. In addition, your claw and bite damage increases one size category.
You must have 8 HD or more to select this enhancement.

Greater Size Increase- Your size in dragon form increases to Huge. You gain a further +2 bonus to Str, and a further -2 penalty to Dex while transformed, stacking with that of Size Increase. In addition, your claw and bite damage increase one more size category.
You must have 16 HD or more, and the Size Increase enhancement to select this enhancement.

Greater Wings- You can fly at a speed of 30 feet (average maneuverability). You can't fly while carrying a medium or heavy load or while fatigued or exhausted. You can safely fly for a number of consecutive rounds equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum 1 round). You can exert yourself to fly for up to twice as long, but then you're fatigued at the end of the flight. You are likewise fatigued after spending a total of more than 10 minutes per day flying. Because you can glide before, after, and between rounds of actual flight, you can remain aloft for extended periods, even if you can only use flight for 1 round at a time without becoming fatigued.
When you reach 12 HD, you have enough stamina and prowess to fly for longer periods. You can fly at a speed of 30 feet (average maneuverability), and flying requires no more exertion than walking or running. You can make a dive attack. A dive attack works like a charge, but you must fl y a minimum of 30 feet and descend at least 10 feet. You can make a dive attack only when wielding a piercing weapon; if the attack hits, it deals double damage. You can use the run action while flying, provided you fly in a straight line.
You must have 6 HD or more to select this enhancement.

The-Mage-King
2016-04-26, 10:41 PM
Dragonstones and YOUr roasted enemies


Craft Dragonstone
Prerequisites: Dragonblood subtype, 3HD
Benefit: You can store and refine your inherent draconic magic in a gem, allowing you to enhance your own abilities or those of another. By spending 250 gp and taking two points of Constitution burn, you may craft a basic dragonstone with one day of work. Furthermore, you may craft more potent dragonstones if you possess caster levels, following the wondrous item rules for costs of crafting.



Dragonstone Rules

A manakete has the ability to access stored draconic power and channel it, altering the properties of their dragon form when they do so. Most typically, such power is crystallized into a large gem known as a Dragonstone, and refined further with practice and crafting.

All dragonstones are magic items, which must be held while transforming in order for the Manakete to gain its benefits.

A basic Dragonstone costs 500 gp, and gives the manakete a +1 enhancement bonus on all attack rolls with natural weapons, including their breath weapon if applicable, much like a Masterwork weapon provides to other characters.

Much like a masterwork weapon, a Dragonstone can be enhanced further, to provide a further bonus on attack and damage rolls, as noted on the following table. The increased enhancement bonus also applies to the saving throw DC of their breath weapon, if applicable.

TypePrice
+1 Dragonstone3,500 gp
+2 Dragonstone10,500 gp
+3 Dragonstone23,000 gp
+4 Dragonstone40,500 gp
+5 Dragonstone63,000 gp


In addition, a dragonstone can have additional properties added, with each property having its own set cost. These can be applied to any dragonstone, though some may have additional prerequisites. A dragonstone may have one special property per point of enhancement bonus it possesses, minimum 1.


The dragonstone special properties are as follows. If a property has any prerequisites, the dragonstone must possess the enhancement bonus or special quality requirements to have that property added.


Elemental Attunement, Lesser: Select one of the energy types a manakete can choose for their breath weapon when this property is added to a dragonstone.. While this dragonstone is being used, the manakete can use that energy type instead of the one they selected. If the energy type is the same as the one the manakete selected, it instead increases the DC of their breath weapon by +2.
This property may be added multiple times, each time selecting a new energy type.
Price: 1,000 gp
Prerequisites: None
Faint evocation; CL 3rd; Craft Dragonstone, one of Acid Arrow, Blast of Force, Combust, Electric Loop, Ice Darts, or Shatter, based on the energy type chosen; creator must be a Dragon or have the dragonblood subtype

Overwhelming Breath: Select one of the energy types a manakete can choose for their breath weapon when this property is added to a dragonstone. When you use your breath weapon, you can ignore up to 5 points of energy resistance to that type for each point of enhancement bonus the dragonstone possesses.
Price: 4,000 gp
Prerequisites: +1 enhancement bonus.
Moderate evocation; CL 7th; Craft Dragonstone, one of [I]burst of flame, call lightning, chain missile, dissonant chord, greenfire, or hailstones, based on the energy type chosen; creator must be a Dragon or have the dragonblood subtype


Elemental Attunement: Select one of the energy types a manakete can choose for their breath weapon when this property is added to a dragonstone. This must be a type that was selected for the Lesser Elemental Attunement property. When you use your breath weapon, creatures affected suffer an additional effect based on the energy type selected for this property as seen on the below table, if they fail an additional saving throw. This effect lasts for one round per point of your Constitution bonus.


Energy TypeEffectSaving Throw
FireBlindedRef
ColdEntangledFort
ElectricityStaggered Fort
AcidSickenedFort
SonicDeafenedRef
ForceCheckedRef

The saving throw DC is calculated as the normal saving throw for your breath weapon, substituting your Charisma modifier for your Constitution modifier. If the dragonstone has multiple Lesser Elemental Attunement properties, select one of them when the stone is created, for the purposes of this property.
Price: 8,000 gp
Prerequisites: +2 enhancement bonus, Lesser Elemental Attunement.
Moderate evocation; CL 7th; Craft Dragonstone, one of burst of flame, call lightning, chain missile, dissonant chord, greenfire, or hailstones, based on the energy type chosen; creator must be a Dragon or have the dragonblood subtype

Elemental Attunement, Greater: Select one of the energy types a manakete can choose for their breath weapon when this property is added to a dragonstone. This must be a type that was selected for both the Elemental Attunement and Lesser Elemental Attunement properties. Whenever you use your breath weapon, you automatically overcome the Energy Resistance of any creature that has resistance to that type of energy. In addition, if the creature possesses Immunity to that type of energy, you deal half damage to it instead of none.
Price: 15,000 gp
Prerequisites: +3 enhancement bonus, Lesser Elemental Attunement, Elemental Attunement.
Strong evocation; CL 12th; Craft Dragonstone, one of acid storm, chain lightning, cone of cold, fire storm, forceful hand, or holy word/word of balance/blasphemy , based on the energy type chosen; creator must be a Dragon or have the dragonblood subtype

Defensive, Lesser: While in dragon form, you gain Damage Reduction 2/-, and a +1 enhancement bonus to natural armor. This damage reduction stacks with any gained from race or class.
Price: 3000 gp
Prerequisites: None
Faint transmutation; CL 3rd; Craft Dragonstone, shield otherr; Creator must be a Dragon or have the dragonblood subtype

Defensive: While in dragon form, your Damage Reduction increases to 5/-, and your enhancement bonus to natural armor increases to +3.
Price: 20,000 gp
Prerequisites: Lesser Defensive, +2 enhancement bonus
Moderate transmutation; CL 5th; Craft Dragonstone, shield other; Creator must be a Dragon or have the dragonblood subtype

Defensive, Greater: While in dragon form, your Damage Reduction increases to 10/-, and your enhancement bonus to natural armor increases to +5.
Price: 60,000 gp
Prerequisites: Defensive, Lesser Defensive, +4 enhancement bonus
Strong transmutation; CL 12th; Craft Dragonstone, shield other; Creator must be a Dragon or have the dragonblood subtype

Swift: Your mobility increases while transformed. You gain a +10 foot enhancement bonus to your land speed and, once per day as a free action, may avoid provoking an attack of opportunity when leaving a threatened square.
For every point of enhancement bonus after the first, your speed increases by a further +5 feet, and you may avoid provoking an additional attack of opportunity per day.
Price: 6,000 gp
Prerequisites: +1 enhancement bonus
Faint transmutation; CL 3rd; Craft Dragonstone, longstrider, creator must have the Combat Reflexes feat and be a Dragon or have the dragonblood subtype

Keen Talons: Your natural attacks are sharper and more dangerous than normal. The critical threat range of your racial claws and bite doubles. This does stack with similar bonuses from feats , but not spells.
Price: 5,000 gp
Prerequisites: +1 enhancement bonus
Faint transmutation; CL 3rd; Craft Dragonstone, keen edge, creator must be a Dragon or have the dragonblood subtype

Piercing Fangs: Your natural attacks are more able to deal with durable creatures and objects. When you make an attack with your claws or bite, you may ignore the first 5 points of damage reduction or hardness the target possesses.
If this property is on a dragonstone possessing an enhancement bonus of +3 or greater, you may ignore the first 15 points of damage reduction or hardness the target possesses, instead.
Price: 3,000 gp
Faint transmutation; CL 3rd; Craft Dragonstone, align fang, creator must be a Dragon or have the dragonblood subtype

Superior Piercing Fangs: Your natural attacks are more able to deal with durable creatures and objects. When you make an attack with your claws or bite, you ignore all damage reduction and hardness the target may possess.
Price: 10,000 gp
Prerequisites: +4 enhancement bonus, Piercing Fangs
Strong transmutation; CL 12th; Craft Dragonstone, vulnerability,creator must be a Dragon or have the dragonblood subtype

Belzyk
2016-04-26, 10:53 PM
This is amazing. I have a player in my group who's been wanting to play a nowi lol

The-Mage-King
2016-04-26, 10:56 PM
This is amazing. I have a player in my group who's been wanting to play a nowi lol

They'll love this. I put a weekend into it. :smallamused:

Belzyk
2016-04-26, 10:58 PM
They'll love this. I put a weekend into it. :smallamused:

Well I will be closely following the updates you make to this thread then. Once your finish I'll let them see it. I van totally work these guys and gals into my world.

The-Mage-King
2016-04-26, 11:32 PM
And it's complete. Go nuts with criticism.

~Corvus~
2016-04-27, 05:53 AM
First of all, well done on a very thought out and thoroughly fleshed piece of work! I have some questions and gentle suggestions, but I really like the vast majority of this. No one can come close to the work you've put into this.

My most important criticism: Why can't they breathe many times a day with a dragonstone?!? I WOULDN'T PAY ALL THAT MONEY TO BREATHE SOMETHING A FEW TIMES A DAY. MY MONEY GOES TO A SWORD I CAN SWING FOREVAH

If you can't use this breath as a standard more than the 1+1/5lvls with dragonstones, I think a Manakete will be a trap.

Skills from RHD: it would be really cool if they could perhaps CHOOSE to not apply the "first level bonus" to skills. Thus, the player's choice of 2x or 5x, and I'd 2x, they apply the multiplier to their first class level.

Deep Sleeper is a big flaw. Would you consider adding +1 hour to sleep and recovery times? This would effectively keep the flavor and wont cut a group out of 4 extra hours' adventuring time.

The lowering of Sonic and Force is so drastic it seems better to take Acid damage. Isn't a die size enough?

Really, d4 claws? That seems so sad...and with a -5 penalty for 2ndary attacks, is that worth it?

For a +2LA, Wyrmbane is very tame. Cmon, unless it's +2 damage PER DIE it's not good. At all. Dragons are niche enemies anyways. It would be cool if you could update it to Beast bane or Flier-bane, though.

Dragon stone enchantments: 9K for an added status is way too much.

Belzyk
2016-04-27, 06:56 AM
And it's complete. Go nuts with criticism.

Talking about critizyzem. Could you take a look at my homebew? I made a thread with Google doc links and would love some critisism

Belzyk
2016-04-27, 09:25 AM
Oh. The only problem is if they are true dragons they don't take -1 to dtr con and dex as they age. True dragons don't loose strength with age. So they can't be true dragons unless they are not loosening that. Also tiki in awakening is the only manekete that I know that sleeps all the time and that's because she's over 1k years old.

~Corvus~
2016-04-27, 09:54 AM
In awakening, Nah is revealed (in some supports) to be a heavier sleeper than most, but so is Stahl! I haven't found any about Nah, but she IS said to stay in reading more than many. Thus, she is "resting" for longer.

But I don't think it's such a significant difference that it's half again as much sleeping time.

Fizban
2016-04-27, 09:58 AM
Eerily similar to my own, though not surprising given the same source and medium. I didn't have as many subraces or a racial paragon class, but then I made it a flat LA+1 with no racial hit die so they weren't as necessary. Now I'm torn between giving suggestions for this or just posting my own since it'd feel cheap at this point. Mine's shall we say, more generous, with what Corvus is asking for- in exchange for other restrictions, but when compared to this is just looks like a gimme. Guess I shoulda done it back when I finished it.

ImperatorV
2016-04-27, 11:58 AM
Excellent work. It's rare to see a race with LA and RHD that is playable without shenanigans, but you pulled it off. Some notes, criticisms and questions:

As of now manaketes are locked out of metabreath feats. Is this intentional?

On the topic of breath weapons, fire and to a lesser extent cold are inferior damage types but have the same damage progression as electric/acid.

If a manakete takes the improved dragonskin, greater flight, ect. that apply to a trait that can be applied to their humanoid form, does the humanoid form also benefit from the enhancement?

Improved natural weapons currently seems weaker then the other paragon enhancements. Maybe have it increase critical threat range or grant an enhancement bonus to attack?

The-Mage-King
2016-04-27, 12:29 PM
First of all, well done on a very thought out and thoroughly fleshed piece of work! I have some questions and gentle suggestions, but I really like the vast majority of this. No one can come close to the work you've put into this.

My most important criticism: Why can't they breathe many times a day with a dragonstone?!? I WOULDN'T PAY ALL THAT MONEY TO BREATHE SOMETHING A FEW TIMES A DAY. MY MONEY GOES TO A SWORD I CAN SWING FOREVAH

If you can't use this breath as a standard more than the 1+1/5lvls with dragonstones, I think a Manakete will be a trap.

Their breath weapon is actually /encounter. They can breath 1/encounter at 1st, and 2/encounter at 5th, etc. The goal is to make the breath weapon "Solid", but not overwhelmingly good.



Skills from RHD: it would be really cool if they could perhaps CHOOSE to not apply the "first level bonus" to skills. Thus, the player's choice of 2x or 5x, and I'd 2x, they apply the multiplier to their first class level.

Might be good, but it wouldn't quite work, since there's no real precedent for that.


Deep Sleeper is a big flaw. Would you consider adding +1 hour to sleep and recovery times? This would effectively keep the flavor and wont cut a group out of 4 extra hours' adventuring time.

Might be more fair, but... Eh. It's kinda debatable. It needs to be a decent flaw, since I've already put in enough OOMPH to make up for it.


The lowering of Sonic and Force is so drastic it seems better to take Acid damage. Isn't a die size enough?

Really, d4 claws? That seems so sad...and with a -5 penalty for 2ndary attacks, is that worth it?

Sonic/Force have more bonuses. I may put down Sonic ignoring Hardness, just as one more thing in its favor.

The thing about them is, almost nothing is immune or really resistant to them.

As for the claws, that's the standard claw damage for a medium creature, and I offer cheaper enhancements to it.



For a +2LA, Wyrmbane is very tame. Cmon, unless it's +2 damage PER DIE it's not good. At all. Dragons are niche enemies anyways. It would be cool if you could update it to Beast bane or Flier-bane, though.

Dragon stone enchantments: 9K for an added status is way too much.

It's Wyrmbane AND +2 Wis, AND Divine damage at /encounter rate. It might be worth it for the RHD I upped it, but... Better safe than sorry.

As for the status effect, it probably is too much. I might make it Con mod rounds of status, instead of 1. But the effect has a solid DC, causes enough trouble, and is usable multiple times per encounter when that's available.



Oh. The only problem is if they are true dragons they don't take -1 to dtr con and dex as they age. True dragons don't loose strength with age. So they can't be true dragons unless they are not loosening that. Also tiki in awakening is the only manekete that I know that sleeps all the time and that's because she's over 1k years old.

Entirely fair, but since they're not True Dragons, but just age like that....

And Tiki sleeps all the time because she's Tiki, not being about 2500 years old. :smalltongue:


Eerily similar to my own, though not surprising given the same source and medium. I didn't have as many subraces or a racial paragon class, but then I made it a flat LA+1 with no racial hit die so they weren't as necessary. Now I'm torn between giving suggestions for this or just posting my own since it'd feel cheap at this point. Mine's shall we say, more generous, with what Corvus is asking for- in exchange for other restrictions, but when compared to this is just looks like a gimme. Guess I shoulda done it back when I finished it.

Go on and post it. The more available, the better. :smalltongue:

The paragon class was obligatory, because I felt I couldn't get the full power of a Manakete into a race. May as well give people options, y'know?


Excellent work. It's rare to see a race with LA and RHD that is playable without shenanigans, but you pulled it off. Some notes, criticisms and questions:

As of now manaketes are locked out of metabreath feats. Is this intentional?

Thank you!

Now, for that, "Not really". I'm considering how to reword and allow it.

Maybe a sidebar: "Manakete and Metabreath feats"? :smalltongue:


On the topic of breath weapons, fire and to a lesser extent cold are inferior damage types but have the same damage progression as electric/acid.

I really probably should up them, honestly, because everything else with an option for energy type does the same.



If a manakete takes the improved dragonskin, greater flight, ect. that apply to a trait that can be applied to their humanoid form, does the humanoid form also benefit from the enhancement?

A good question, that I've been considering, honestly. Right now, I'd say "Yes", since it won't be too broken. I'll make the edit.


Improved natural weapons currently seems weaker then the other paragon enhancements. Maybe have it increase critical threat range or grant an enhancement bonus to attack?

Threat range sounds good. Maybe counts as one material for overcoming DR, too.

The-Mage-King
2016-04-27, 12:55 PM
Did some tweaks and updates.

Fire/Cold are now +1 damage/die for breath weapons, the status effect property has more time and a reduced cost, improved natural weapon got buffed. Metabreath feat functionality added, and properties have been tweaked too.

Belzyk
2016-04-27, 01:11 PM
Did some tweaks and updates.

Fire/Cold are now +1 damage/die for breath weapons, the status effect property has more time and a reduced cost, improved natural weapon got buffed. Metabreath feat functionality added, and properties have been tweaked too.

But if they are a dragon (shapeshifter) they are true dragons....I'm not trying to bust ya chops. You may wanna put their main type as a shapeshifter not dragon if you don't want them being a dragon. Also considering they age as dragons do they are doubly a true dragon same as a dragonwrought kobold. So may wanna work out different wording if you don't want people to abuse age modifiers like that on them

The-Mage-King
2016-04-27, 01:13 PM
But if they are a dragon (shapeshifter) they are true dragons....I'm not trying to bust ya chops. You may wanna put their main type as a shapeshifter not dragon if you don't want them being a dragon. Also considering they age as dragons do they are doubly a true dragon same as a dragonwrought kobold. So may wanna work out different wording if you don't want people to abuse age modifiers like that on them

Except the type is Dragon, and Shapechanger is only a subtype. :smalltongue:

The wording can get updated with "This is instead of the normal aging bonuses and penalties.", I suppose.

Belzyk
2016-04-27, 01:49 PM
Except the type is Dragon, and Shapechanger is only a subtype. :smalltongue:

The wording can get updated with "This is instead of the normal aging bonuses and penalties.", I suppose.

I'm just saying if you want them to become physically weaker as they age they can't be dragons. Maybe monstrous humanoids? Idk but as a dragon they won't.

~Corvus~
2016-04-27, 02:58 PM
I'm just saying if you want them to become physically weaker as they age they can't be dragons. Maybe monstrous humanoids? Idk but as a dragon they won't.

Yes. AND you give bad reflex*, AND the breath weapon is x/encounter, not on a recharge, AND you even mention that they become part not-dragon, which means that although they have dragonblood they ain't dragons. *Humanoids and shapechangers and dragons are supposed to have good reflex.


The augmented subtype is always paired with the creature’s original type. A creature with the augmented subtype usually has the traits of its current type, but the features of its original type.

Augmented Monstrous Humanoid (dragonblood, shapechanger) is much more accurate.

~Corvus~
2016-04-27, 03:30 PM
Their breath weapon is actually /encounter. They can breath 1/encounter at 1st, and 2/encounter at 5th, etc. The goal is to make the breath weapon "Solid", but not overwhelmingly good. The DFA breath weapon is solid, not overwhelmingly good. The DFA ability to change shape into humanoids is overwhelmingly good. This ability is only redeemed by the ability to enhance the occasional attack with money enhancements.



Might be more fair, but... Eh. It's kinda debatable. It needs to be a decent flaw, since I've already put in enough OOMPH to make up for it.
its a crippling flaw. That's 1/4 an adventuring day lost to sleep or no powers. Would you watch a TV show that only airs 30 minutes instead of 45, and spends the rest making you wish you were asleep? Maybe, but I seriously doubt it.
We hardly have tolerance for commercials as is.



It's Wyrmbane AND +2 Wis, AND Divine damage at /encounter rate. It might be worth it for the RHD I upped it, but... Better safe than sorry
The only great part is divine damage, which is great. Weapon Specialization is hardly a gold feat: compare to Battle Jump, or the pounce ability. BUT this is weapon Specialization when fighting dragons. Its far too niche. +2 Wis? Yeah, but half of anything that wants Wis would rather have SAINT template for that LA (which also has no mandatory RHD). Wis is hardly any long-term consolation, the way Pounce is (more attacks), or 2 damage per die of damage, which increases the value of that LA.

You give a lot of abilities that look good on paper, but the RHD and LA bring significant diminished returns for levels 12+ which is when someone might go "oh balls this isn't good enough"

ImperatorV
2016-04-27, 03:44 PM
I dunno about the type debate. I like how they have true dragon age categories though, so try to keep that.

In other news I've been looking at the subraces and while earth dragon is solid (pun intended) I have concerns about the other two.

Mystic dragon doesn't seem to do it's job very well. A full caster will not want to lose spell levels even if they keep caster levels, and the mystic dragon loses the combat-focused racial features that a gish would like. Perhaps add an additional magic-related ability to make the lost spell progression worth it for a full caster? Also what's with the breath weapon thing? I clearly remember mage dragons in dragon form using breath weapons in Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon.

For divine dragons I'm unsure if the upgrades are worth +1 LA +1 RHD. For the price of 1.5 levels (I think the RHD is worth half a level). They get untyped breath weapon, dr5/evil, +2wis and wyrmsbane. Not sure if the trade is worth it, especially as all manaketes can get Dr/- from the racial paragon class. I'd suggest making them RHD4 LA1 instead of RHD3 LA2, or add an extra bonus of some sort.

Fizban
2016-04-28, 07:05 AM
I have posted my thread, you may find it here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?486403-Manaketes-from-Fire-Emblem-Crouching-Human-Hidden-Dragon-%28LA-1-no-RHD-see-how!%29&p=20719411), or check the main homebrew page for the shameless clickbait title.

The-Mage-King
2016-04-28, 10:10 AM
I'm just saying if you want them to become physically weaker as they age they can't be dragons. Maybe monstrous humanoids? Idk but as a dragon they won't.


Yes. AND you give bad reflex*, AND the breath weapon is x/encounter, not on a recharge, AND you even mention that they become part not-dragon, which means that although they have dragonblood they ain't dragons. *Humanoids and shapechangers and dragons are supposed to have good reflex.

Honestly, the debate here is irrelevant. There are exceptions to rules in D&D, and always have been. \


Augmented Monstrous Humanoid (dragonblood, shapechanger) is much more accurate.

By the suggestion you're making, it'd actually be "Monstrous Humanoid (Augmented Dragon, shapechanger)", though, and even then the type pyramid doesn't let that really happen.


The DFA breath weapon is solid, not overwhelmingly good. The DFA ability to change shape into humanoids is overwhelmingly good. This ability is only redeemed by the ability to enhance the occasional attack with money enhancements.

Perhaps it needs a change or two, then. /encounter at first, with a gradual cooldown amount. I can make a little chart.


its a crippling flaw. That's 1/4 an adventuring day lost to sleep or no powers. Would you watch a TV show that only airs 30 minutes instead of 45, and spends the rest making you wish you were asleep? Maybe, but I seriously doubt it.
We hardly have tolerance for commercials as is.

Perhaps it'll get reduced to 10 hours, or so. But they don't NEED the whole rest, unless they're an arcane caster, or lack healing magic. The fatigue and exhaustion


The only great part is divine damage, which is great. Weapon Specialization is hardly a gold feat: compare to Battle Jump, or the pounce ability. BUT this is weapon Specialization when fighting dragons. Its far too niche. +2 Wis? Yeah, but half of anything that wants Wis would rather have SAINT template for that LA (which also has no mandatory RHD). Wis is hardly any long-term consolation, the way Pounce is (more attacks), or 2 damage per die of damage, which increases the value of that LA.

You give a lot of abilities that look good on paper, but the RHD and LA bring significant diminished returns for levels 12+ which is when someone might go "oh balls this isn't good enough"

Then I suppose Divine needs a change. I'll bat around ideas.


I dunno about the type debate. I like how they have true dragon age categories though, so try to keep that.

In other news I've been looking at the subraces and while earth dragon is solid (pun intended) I have concerns about the other two.

I intend to keep the age categories. It's more fitting than most other things.

Onto the rest, though...


Mystic dragon doesn't seem to do it's job very well. A full caster will not want to lose spell levels even if they keep caster levels, and the mystic dragon loses the combat-focused racial features that a gish would like. Perhaps add an additional magic-related ability to make the lost spell progression worth it for a full caster? Also what's with the breath weapon thing? I clearly remember mage dragons in dragon form using breath weapons in Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon.

Hm. A fair choice. Time to figure something out. The breath weapon thing was that, for the choice of free ability from dragon form, they would only have access to the breath weapon, though.

Might need a rework.


For divine dragons I'm unsure if the upgrades are worth +1 LA +1 RHD. For the price of 1.5 levels (I think the RHD is worth half a level). They get untyped breath weapon, dr5/evil, +2wis and wyrmsbane. Not sure if the trade is worth it, especially as all manaketes can get Dr/- from the racial paragon class. I'd suggest making them RHD4 LA1 instead of RHD3 LA2, or add an extra bonus of some sort.

I value LA lower than RHD, actually, since you can buy it off. Divine is in for some tweaks, regardless.