thoroughlyS
2017-01-23, 11:10 PM
I'm about to be starting an E6 campaign that takes place in the Mario universe, and I thought the playground might enjoy some of the stuff I've created in preparation. The majority of the material that follows was created using v3.5 published material, using a Human (Mario) as the benchmark. I'll also provide explanations for everything I've created. Departures from RAW will be marked in red.
RACES
AVERAGE WORKER MYCONID
Small Plant
Hit Dice: 1d8
Speed: 30 ft.*
Natural Attacks: 2 slams 1d4+Str
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: —
Special Qualities: Plant traits, Low-Light Vision, Quick, Spores
Abilities: Dex +4, Con +2, Wis +2, Cha +2
Bonus Feats: —
Favored Class: ??
Level Adjustment: +2
Quick (Ex): Your base land speed increases by 10 feet (*reflected above). Subtract 1 from your hit points gained at each level, including 1st (a result of 0 is possible).
Spores (Ex): As a standard action, a myconid can release a cloud of spores. These spores come in several different varieties, as described below. As it enters each new stage of life (increasing its Hit Dice by 1), a myconid gains a new variety of spore but does not lose access to the previous varieties. Each type of spore can be used a number of times per day equal to the myconid’s Hit Dice. Spores can be released either in a 120-foot spread or as a 40-foot ray against a single target, as noted in the individual spore descriptions.
Distress: These spores alert all other myconids within the area that danger is near. They are released in a 120-foot spread.
Reproduction: These spores eventually germinate into new infant myconids. They are released as a 120-foot spread and have no detrimental effects on non-myconids.
Toads and Myconids are practically a 1:1 translation, but required a few moderate tweaks here and there. Firstly, to bring them up to speed with Mario, I gave the Quick trait (Unearthed Arcana) to the race as a whole. This is a tactic you'll see repeated for multiple races. The second change was reducing their Racial Hit Dice from 2 (which would be crippling in E6) to 1, which allows it to be traded out for a class level. Lastly, I allow them to talk, which I might end up regretting (https://youtu.be/ThE_6WqLhD8?t=31).
CHAMELEON ANTHROPOMORPHIC CAVE TYRANNOSAURUS
Medium Monstrous Humanoid (reptilian)
Hit Dice: 2d8
Speed: 40 ft., Climb 20 ft.
+2 natural armor
Natural Attacks: Bite Melee (1d6+1.5 Str), Tongue Melee Touch (see text)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Improved Grab, Swallow Whole
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., Low-Light Vision, Scent
Abilities: Str +6, Dex +4, Con +2, Int +0, Wis +6, Cha +4
Bonus Feats: —
Favored Class: ??
Level Adjustment: +1
Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, a cave tyrannosaurus must hit an opponent of up to one size smaller with its bite or tongue attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and can try to swallow the foe in the following round.
Swallow Whole (Ex): A cave tyrannosaurus can try to swallow a grabbed opponent of up to one size smaller by making a successful grapple check. A swallowed creature takes 1d8+Str points of bludgeoning damage and 6 points of acid damage per round from the cave tyrannosaurus’s gizzard. A swallowed creature can cut its way out by using a light slashing or piercing weapon to deal 20 points of damage to the gizzard (AC 11). Once the creature exits, muscular action closes the hole; another swallowed opponent must cut its own way out. A cave tyrannosaurus’s gizzard can hold 2 Small, 8 Tiny, or 32 Diminutive or smaller opponents.
Tongue (Ex): A chameleon creature has a tongue attack with 10 foot reach. This attack deals no damage, but it is especially useful for delivering touch spells.
Skills: A chameleon creature has a +10 racial bonus on Hide checks and a +4 racial bonus on Move Silently checks. Because it has a climb speed, a chameleon creature receives a +8 racial bonus on Climb checks and can always choose to take 10 on Climb checks even if rushed or threatened.
Yoshis, on the other hand, are a little more complicated. The Cave Tyrannosaurus (Miniatures Handbook) fit together with the Anthropomorphic Animal template (Savage Species) to give a medium size result. I left the Racial Hit Dice intact, because as it stands Yoshi is a better grappler than any two levels you could throw together. Now I know what you're thinking: wouldn't Yoshi being medium prevent Mario from riding him? Well, there are rules for mounted combat in Dragon Magazine 304 that allow for some sweet medium on medium action, and I'm going to allow that! Throwing on the Chameleon Creature template (Underdark) gives Yoshis a tongue attack and allows them to be multicolored as a bonus. I nixed the Climb speed, but allowed the tongue to interact with Improved Grab, which I feel is a fair trade off. Note that the chameleon template normally only adds the Reptilian subtype to Humanoids, but I applied it to Yoshis, because I couldn't see any real harm.
WILD AWAKENED TREE (SMALL)
Small Plant
Hit Dice: 1d8
Speed: 25 ft.*
+2 natural armor
Natural Attacks: Slam 1d4 +1.5 Str
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: —
Special Qualities: Plant traits, Low-Light Vision; Hardness 5
Abilities: Str +2, Dex +2, Int -2, Cha -2
Bonus Feats: Ghost Hand
Favored Class: Ranger
Level Adjustment: +2
Ghost Hand: You can exert force upon an unattended object as if using the mage hand spell, except that the range of this ability is touch, and it does not require concentration. You can hold or move only one object at a time. Holding an item does not take an action.
Slow: Your base land speed is reduced by 10 ft. (*reflected above).
Skills: A wilderness-dweller loses any racial skill modifiers her ancestral race had (including the extra skill points a human gains at 1st level). She gains 1 extra skill point at each level because she must constantly train herself to stay one step ahead of the dangers that surround her. In addition, she gains a +2 racial bonus on Listen and Spot checks and a +4 racial bonus on Survival checks. Poorly suited to social interaction, a wilderness-dweller suffers a -2 racial penalty to Bluff, Diplomacy, and Sense Motive.
Goombas were tricky. I couldn't find any monsters that were shaped how a Goomba is, nor could I find a good way to replicate their limited range telekinesis. In the end, I went with the simple solution and used an Awakened "tree" which is really a mushroom—specifically the barrelstalk (Underdark)—which was the closest I could get in published material. (I quietly ignored the lack of Con score caused by bad editing, instead giving them the default 10.) The Ghost Hand feat pretty closely matched what I wanted for their telekinesis, but there was one problem... It's a ghost feat (Ghostwalk). RAW, living creatures can take these feats, but can't use them until they become ghostwalk ghosts. I decided to ignore that. What's more, I'm going to allow my players to act as if they had two regular hands and arms for everything (except maybe magic items). In order to get this feat onto every Goomba, I gave the whole race the Slow flaw (Unearthed Arcana), slightly changed so it only knocks off 10 feet of movement, which it should've been doing in the first place. Latly, I tacked on the Wild template (Dragon 306) to up their speed to 25 feet, so they were just slightly slower than a human. I actually stuck with 25 because it was how fast the Koopas ended up being (I made them first).
ANTHROPOMORPHIC MAGEBRED TURTLE
Small Monstrous Humanoid
Hit Dice: 1d8
Speed: 25 ft.*
+3 natural armor
Natural Attacks: Bite (1d6+1.5 Str)
Special Attacks: —
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60, Defensive Ball, Excellent Learner, Swift Breed
Str +2, Con +2, Wis +4, Cha -2
Bonus Feats: Improved Natural Attack (bite)
Favored Class: ??
Level Adjustment: +2
Defensive Ball (Ex): Rolls into a ball as a standard action, granting a +2 circumstance bonus on saves and AC. Unrolling is a free action.
Excellent Learner (Ex): A magebred animal can learn a maximum of eight tricks, and the DC for all Handle Animal checks involving a magebred animal is reduced by 2. In addition, the time required to train a magebred animal for a purpose is reduced by 1 week (to a minimum of 1 week).
Swift Breed (Ex): One of the creature's modes of movement increases its speed by 10 feet (*reflected above).
Koopas are mostly what you'd expect, Anthropomophic Turtles (Savage Species, Dragon 323). But leaving them like that would've given them a land speed of 15 feet, which would be impossible to play with, so I threw on the Magebred template (Eberron Campaign Setting) to beef them up a touch and improve their speed. After crunching the numbers on their stats, I felt that a +2 LA suited them for E6.
MAGIC-BLOODED ANTHROPOMORPHIC MAGEBRED TURTLE
Small Monstrous Humanoid
Hit Dice: 1d8
Speed: 25 ft.*
Armor Class: +3 natural armor
Natural Attacks: Bite (1d6)
Special Attacks: —
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60, Defensive Ball, Excellent Learner, Spell-like Abilities, Swift Breed
Str +2, Con +2, Wis +2
Bonus Feats: Improved Natural Attack
Favored Class: Sorcerer
Level Adjustment: +2
Defensive Ball (Ex): Rolls into a ball as a standard action, granting a +2 circumstance bonus on saves and AC. Unrolling is a free action.
Excellent Learner (Ex): A magebred animal can learn a maximum of eight tricks, and the DC for all Handle Animal checks involving a magebred animal is reduced by 2. In addition, the time required to train a magebred animal for a purpose is reduced by 1 week (to a minimum of 1 week).
Swift Breed (Ex): One of the creature's modes of movement increases its speed by 10 feet (*reflected above).
Spell-Like Abilities: 1/day - detect magic, nystul's magical aura, nystul's undetectable aura, read magic (caster level equals spark’s character level).
Skills: A spark gains a +2 racial bonus on Knowledge (arcana) and Spellcraft checks because she spends her life devoted to magic. A spark can use Knowledge (arcana) and Spellcraft untrained.
This is the first subrace on the list, and is just the Koopa with Magic-Blooded tacked on. This allows Kamek to be a Sorcerer without penalty.
WILD AWAKENED SOULFUSED ANIMATED OBJECT (SMALL)
Small Construct (living construct)
Hit Dice: 1d10
Speed: 25 ft.
Armor Class: +2 natural
Full Attack: Slam 1d4 +1.5 Str
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: —
Special Qualities: Living Construct Traits, Brash, Essentia Pool, Hardness 8, Slow, Soulbound Resistance
Abilities: Str +2, Dex +4, Con +0, Int -2, Wis +0, Cha -2
Racial Skills:
Bonus Feats: Ghost Hand, Shape Soulmeld (Midnight Powder)
Favored Class: Ranger
Level Adjustment: +3
Brash: You suffer a -6 penalty to your Armor Class against attacks of opportunity.
Essentia Pool: The incarnum possessing the soulfused construct’s form gives it an essentia pool equal to 1 + 1 per 6 HD it possesses.
Ghost Hand: You can exert force upon an unattended object as if using the mage hand spell, except that the range of this ability is touch, and it does not require concentration. You can hold or move only one object at a time. Holding an item does not take an action.
Soulbound Resistance: A soulfused construct can invest its essentia in this special quality as if it were a soulmeld. Every point of invested essentia grants it a +1 resistance bonus on all saving throws. The maximum essentia capacity of this quality is as normal for a character of the construct’s character level.
Midnight Powder: While wearing midnight powder, your unarmed strikes, natural weapon attacks, and melee attacks with metallic weapons deal 1 point of fire damage in addition to their normal damage. You can use a standard action to release the soulmeld’s violent energy in a tumultuous blast, unshaping the soulmeld in the process. The blast deals 1d8 points of damage per essentia invested to all creatures within a 5 foot radius burst. A successful Fortitude save halves this damage. Essentia: Every point of essentia you invest in your midnight powder increases the bonus damage by 1 point and the radius of the burst by 5 feet.
Slow: Your base land speed is reduced by 10 ft. (*reflected above).
Skills: A wilderness-dweller loses any racial skill modifiers her ancestral race had (including the extra skill points a human gains at 1st level). She gains 1 extra skill point at each level because she must constantly train herself to stay one step ahead of the dangers that surround her. In addition, she gains a +2 racial bonus on Listen and Spot checks and a +4 racial bonus on Survival checks. Poorly suited to social interaction, a wilderness-dweller suffers a -2 racial penalty to Bluff, Diplomacy, and Sense Motive.
These things were a nightmare. I actually figured out how to make enemy Bob-Ombs pretty quickly. You just make animated explosive packs (Secrets of Sarlona), and keep their normal rules in play. Namely, if they take damage they arm. But making playable Bob-Ombs? That was an entirely new ballpark. There is exactly 1 template that creates living constructs, and its the Soulfused template (Magic of Incarnum). But then their mental stats were abysmal, so I layered on some awaken construct (Spell Compendium). And I know what you're thinking: doesn't that spell explicitly forbid targeting animated objects? No, it only forbids targeting temporary constructs like those created by animate objects, and the Monster Manual points out that there are multiple ways of creating animated objects. Bob-Ombs just happen to be the permanent type of animated objects, and thus are indeed valid targets for awaken construct. I re-used slow, ghost hand, and the wild template from the Goomba, to give Bob-Ombs the appropriate speed and manual ability. The only thing left to do was find a way to have them explode. And that is where I hit a wall. Believe it or not, there aren't that many ways to deal damage centered on you. I found a spell that was near perfect, called furnace within (Races of Eberron) but it was Dwarf only. Body of the sun (Spell Compendium) was also close, but just giving the Bob-Omb the Precocious Apprentice feat (Complete Arcane) just didn't feel right with that 1 point of essentia staring me at the face. I turned to the Shape Soulmeld feat (Magic of Incarnum) to solve my problem, but none of the premade soulmelds did what I wanted. In the end, I settled on creating a soulmeld that acted functionally identical to the furnace within spell. I also gave Bob-Ombs the Brash flaw to allow them the bonus feat.
More to come. Questions are encouraged.
RACES
AVERAGE WORKER MYCONID
Small Plant
Hit Dice: 1d8
Speed: 30 ft.*
Natural Attacks: 2 slams 1d4+Str
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: —
Special Qualities: Plant traits, Low-Light Vision, Quick, Spores
Abilities: Dex +4, Con +2, Wis +2, Cha +2
Bonus Feats: —
Favored Class: ??
Level Adjustment: +2
Quick (Ex): Your base land speed increases by 10 feet (*reflected above). Subtract 1 from your hit points gained at each level, including 1st (a result of 0 is possible).
Spores (Ex): As a standard action, a myconid can release a cloud of spores. These spores come in several different varieties, as described below. As it enters each new stage of life (increasing its Hit Dice by 1), a myconid gains a new variety of spore but does not lose access to the previous varieties. Each type of spore can be used a number of times per day equal to the myconid’s Hit Dice. Spores can be released either in a 120-foot spread or as a 40-foot ray against a single target, as noted in the individual spore descriptions.
Distress: These spores alert all other myconids within the area that danger is near. They are released in a 120-foot spread.
Reproduction: These spores eventually germinate into new infant myconids. They are released as a 120-foot spread and have no detrimental effects on non-myconids.
Toads and Myconids are practically a 1:1 translation, but required a few moderate tweaks here and there. Firstly, to bring them up to speed with Mario, I gave the Quick trait (Unearthed Arcana) to the race as a whole. This is a tactic you'll see repeated for multiple races. The second change was reducing their Racial Hit Dice from 2 (which would be crippling in E6) to 1, which allows it to be traded out for a class level. Lastly, I allow them to talk, which I might end up regretting (https://youtu.be/ThE_6WqLhD8?t=31).
CHAMELEON ANTHROPOMORPHIC CAVE TYRANNOSAURUS
Medium Monstrous Humanoid (reptilian)
Hit Dice: 2d8
Speed: 40 ft., Climb 20 ft.
+2 natural armor
Natural Attacks: Bite Melee (1d6+1.5 Str), Tongue Melee Touch (see text)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Improved Grab, Swallow Whole
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., Low-Light Vision, Scent
Abilities: Str +6, Dex +4, Con +2, Int +0, Wis +6, Cha +4
Bonus Feats: —
Favored Class: ??
Level Adjustment: +1
Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, a cave tyrannosaurus must hit an opponent of up to one size smaller with its bite or tongue attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and can try to swallow the foe in the following round.
Swallow Whole (Ex): A cave tyrannosaurus can try to swallow a grabbed opponent of up to one size smaller by making a successful grapple check. A swallowed creature takes 1d8+Str points of bludgeoning damage and 6 points of acid damage per round from the cave tyrannosaurus’s gizzard. A swallowed creature can cut its way out by using a light slashing or piercing weapon to deal 20 points of damage to the gizzard (AC 11). Once the creature exits, muscular action closes the hole; another swallowed opponent must cut its own way out. A cave tyrannosaurus’s gizzard can hold 2 Small, 8 Tiny, or 32 Diminutive or smaller opponents.
Tongue (Ex): A chameleon creature has a tongue attack with 10 foot reach. This attack deals no damage, but it is especially useful for delivering touch spells.
Skills: A chameleon creature has a +10 racial bonus on Hide checks and a +4 racial bonus on Move Silently checks. Because it has a climb speed, a chameleon creature receives a +8 racial bonus on Climb checks and can always choose to take 10 on Climb checks even if rushed or threatened.
Yoshis, on the other hand, are a little more complicated. The Cave Tyrannosaurus (Miniatures Handbook) fit together with the Anthropomorphic Animal template (Savage Species) to give a medium size result. I left the Racial Hit Dice intact, because as it stands Yoshi is a better grappler than any two levels you could throw together. Now I know what you're thinking: wouldn't Yoshi being medium prevent Mario from riding him? Well, there are rules for mounted combat in Dragon Magazine 304 that allow for some sweet medium on medium action, and I'm going to allow that! Throwing on the Chameleon Creature template (Underdark) gives Yoshis a tongue attack and allows them to be multicolored as a bonus. I nixed the Climb speed, but allowed the tongue to interact with Improved Grab, which I feel is a fair trade off. Note that the chameleon template normally only adds the Reptilian subtype to Humanoids, but I applied it to Yoshis, because I couldn't see any real harm.
WILD AWAKENED TREE (SMALL)
Small Plant
Hit Dice: 1d8
Speed: 25 ft.*
+2 natural armor
Natural Attacks: Slam 1d4 +1.5 Str
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: —
Special Qualities: Plant traits, Low-Light Vision; Hardness 5
Abilities: Str +2, Dex +2, Int -2, Cha -2
Bonus Feats: Ghost Hand
Favored Class: Ranger
Level Adjustment: +2
Ghost Hand: You can exert force upon an unattended object as if using the mage hand spell, except that the range of this ability is touch, and it does not require concentration. You can hold or move only one object at a time. Holding an item does not take an action.
Slow: Your base land speed is reduced by 10 ft. (*reflected above).
Skills: A wilderness-dweller loses any racial skill modifiers her ancestral race had (including the extra skill points a human gains at 1st level). She gains 1 extra skill point at each level because she must constantly train herself to stay one step ahead of the dangers that surround her. In addition, she gains a +2 racial bonus on Listen and Spot checks and a +4 racial bonus on Survival checks. Poorly suited to social interaction, a wilderness-dweller suffers a -2 racial penalty to Bluff, Diplomacy, and Sense Motive.
Goombas were tricky. I couldn't find any monsters that were shaped how a Goomba is, nor could I find a good way to replicate their limited range telekinesis. In the end, I went with the simple solution and used an Awakened "tree" which is really a mushroom—specifically the barrelstalk (Underdark)—which was the closest I could get in published material. (I quietly ignored the lack of Con score caused by bad editing, instead giving them the default 10.) The Ghost Hand feat pretty closely matched what I wanted for their telekinesis, but there was one problem... It's a ghost feat (Ghostwalk). RAW, living creatures can take these feats, but can't use them until they become ghostwalk ghosts. I decided to ignore that. What's more, I'm going to allow my players to act as if they had two regular hands and arms for everything (except maybe magic items). In order to get this feat onto every Goomba, I gave the whole race the Slow flaw (Unearthed Arcana), slightly changed so it only knocks off 10 feet of movement, which it should've been doing in the first place. Latly, I tacked on the Wild template (Dragon 306) to up their speed to 25 feet, so they were just slightly slower than a human. I actually stuck with 25 because it was how fast the Koopas ended up being (I made them first).
ANTHROPOMORPHIC MAGEBRED TURTLE
Small Monstrous Humanoid
Hit Dice: 1d8
Speed: 25 ft.*
+3 natural armor
Natural Attacks: Bite (1d6+1.5 Str)
Special Attacks: —
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60, Defensive Ball, Excellent Learner, Swift Breed
Str +2, Con +2, Wis +4, Cha -2
Bonus Feats: Improved Natural Attack (bite)
Favored Class: ??
Level Adjustment: +2
Defensive Ball (Ex): Rolls into a ball as a standard action, granting a +2 circumstance bonus on saves and AC. Unrolling is a free action.
Excellent Learner (Ex): A magebred animal can learn a maximum of eight tricks, and the DC for all Handle Animal checks involving a magebred animal is reduced by 2. In addition, the time required to train a magebred animal for a purpose is reduced by 1 week (to a minimum of 1 week).
Swift Breed (Ex): One of the creature's modes of movement increases its speed by 10 feet (*reflected above).
Koopas are mostly what you'd expect, Anthropomophic Turtles (Savage Species, Dragon 323). But leaving them like that would've given them a land speed of 15 feet, which would be impossible to play with, so I threw on the Magebred template (Eberron Campaign Setting) to beef them up a touch and improve their speed. After crunching the numbers on their stats, I felt that a +2 LA suited them for E6.
MAGIC-BLOODED ANTHROPOMORPHIC MAGEBRED TURTLE
Small Monstrous Humanoid
Hit Dice: 1d8
Speed: 25 ft.*
Armor Class: +3 natural armor
Natural Attacks: Bite (1d6)
Special Attacks: —
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60, Defensive Ball, Excellent Learner, Spell-like Abilities, Swift Breed
Str +2, Con +2, Wis +2
Bonus Feats: Improved Natural Attack
Favored Class: Sorcerer
Level Adjustment: +2
Defensive Ball (Ex): Rolls into a ball as a standard action, granting a +2 circumstance bonus on saves and AC. Unrolling is a free action.
Excellent Learner (Ex): A magebred animal can learn a maximum of eight tricks, and the DC for all Handle Animal checks involving a magebred animal is reduced by 2. In addition, the time required to train a magebred animal for a purpose is reduced by 1 week (to a minimum of 1 week).
Swift Breed (Ex): One of the creature's modes of movement increases its speed by 10 feet (*reflected above).
Spell-Like Abilities: 1/day - detect magic, nystul's magical aura, nystul's undetectable aura, read magic (caster level equals spark’s character level).
Skills: A spark gains a +2 racial bonus on Knowledge (arcana) and Spellcraft checks because she spends her life devoted to magic. A spark can use Knowledge (arcana) and Spellcraft untrained.
This is the first subrace on the list, and is just the Koopa with Magic-Blooded tacked on. This allows Kamek to be a Sorcerer without penalty.
WILD AWAKENED SOULFUSED ANIMATED OBJECT (SMALL)
Small Construct (living construct)
Hit Dice: 1d10
Speed: 25 ft.
Armor Class: +2 natural
Full Attack: Slam 1d4 +1.5 Str
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: —
Special Qualities: Living Construct Traits, Brash, Essentia Pool, Hardness 8, Slow, Soulbound Resistance
Abilities: Str +2, Dex +4, Con +0, Int -2, Wis +0, Cha -2
Racial Skills:
Bonus Feats: Ghost Hand, Shape Soulmeld (Midnight Powder)
Favored Class: Ranger
Level Adjustment: +3
Brash: You suffer a -6 penalty to your Armor Class against attacks of opportunity.
Essentia Pool: The incarnum possessing the soulfused construct’s form gives it an essentia pool equal to 1 + 1 per 6 HD it possesses.
Ghost Hand: You can exert force upon an unattended object as if using the mage hand spell, except that the range of this ability is touch, and it does not require concentration. You can hold or move only one object at a time. Holding an item does not take an action.
Soulbound Resistance: A soulfused construct can invest its essentia in this special quality as if it were a soulmeld. Every point of invested essentia grants it a +1 resistance bonus on all saving throws. The maximum essentia capacity of this quality is as normal for a character of the construct’s character level.
Midnight Powder: While wearing midnight powder, your unarmed strikes, natural weapon attacks, and melee attacks with metallic weapons deal 1 point of fire damage in addition to their normal damage. You can use a standard action to release the soulmeld’s violent energy in a tumultuous blast, unshaping the soulmeld in the process. The blast deals 1d8 points of damage per essentia invested to all creatures within a 5 foot radius burst. A successful Fortitude save halves this damage. Essentia: Every point of essentia you invest in your midnight powder increases the bonus damage by 1 point and the radius of the burst by 5 feet.
Slow: Your base land speed is reduced by 10 ft. (*reflected above).
Skills: A wilderness-dweller loses any racial skill modifiers her ancestral race had (including the extra skill points a human gains at 1st level). She gains 1 extra skill point at each level because she must constantly train herself to stay one step ahead of the dangers that surround her. In addition, she gains a +2 racial bonus on Listen and Spot checks and a +4 racial bonus on Survival checks. Poorly suited to social interaction, a wilderness-dweller suffers a -2 racial penalty to Bluff, Diplomacy, and Sense Motive.
These things were a nightmare. I actually figured out how to make enemy Bob-Ombs pretty quickly. You just make animated explosive packs (Secrets of Sarlona), and keep their normal rules in play. Namely, if they take damage they arm. But making playable Bob-Ombs? That was an entirely new ballpark. There is exactly 1 template that creates living constructs, and its the Soulfused template (Magic of Incarnum). But then their mental stats were abysmal, so I layered on some awaken construct (Spell Compendium). And I know what you're thinking: doesn't that spell explicitly forbid targeting animated objects? No, it only forbids targeting temporary constructs like those created by animate objects, and the Monster Manual points out that there are multiple ways of creating animated objects. Bob-Ombs just happen to be the permanent type of animated objects, and thus are indeed valid targets for awaken construct. I re-used slow, ghost hand, and the wild template from the Goomba, to give Bob-Ombs the appropriate speed and manual ability. The only thing left to do was find a way to have them explode. And that is where I hit a wall. Believe it or not, there aren't that many ways to deal damage centered on you. I found a spell that was near perfect, called furnace within (Races of Eberron) but it was Dwarf only. Body of the sun (Spell Compendium) was also close, but just giving the Bob-Omb the Precocious Apprentice feat (Complete Arcane) just didn't feel right with that 1 point of essentia staring me at the face. I turned to the Shape Soulmeld feat (Magic of Incarnum) to solve my problem, but none of the premade soulmelds did what I wanted. In the end, I settled on creating a soulmeld that acted functionally identical to the furnace within spell. I also gave Bob-Ombs the Brash flaw to allow them the bonus feat.
More to come. Questions are encouraged.