Jopustopin
2017-01-30, 04:28 AM
Camel's Handbook: A Hump for the Haters
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/Jopustopin/Camel%201_zpsahtp7e0x.png
Introduction
Camels are an obscure, often overlooked, race in the monster’s manual. They have the animal type. Any camel with a type other than animal is outside the scope of this handbook. With size large and a +8 strength you would think that every game the DM would be overrun with player’s arguing over who gets to play a camel. But this does not happen. This is due to several severe class flaws in the design of camels by WotC. They have a great strength score for an animal and large size (all good things) but unfortunately they do not have a primary natural attack. Basically this means that your strength score can only be used for carrying stuff around. They have three crappy HD worth of animal type and, most painfully, cannot advance. You read that right. When the DM awards experience to the group, go ahead and just stop keeping track when you hit level 3. The camel savage progression (as if there was such a thing) hits a hard level cap after 3 pitiful levels. In fact if I was the DM I would just let the player start out at level 3 as they won’t be contributing much of value to the group. Do we give up? No this is the Camel’s handbook and as such we will work around these design limitations to provide a critical look at this overlooked animal.
Weaknesses
You will feel extremely useless at lower levels, and as you “gain in power” you will continue to feel useless unless you are aware of the inherent weaknesses of this animal. We can talk all day about what they should have gotten, but they didn’t. Let’s just move on. Out of the box you have: No way to improve your BAB past +2, Only 6 skill points, only listen and spot as class skills, and no primary natural attacks. Fortunately with just the player’s handbook there is a way to break away from the pack. But we're not stopping there. We'll stop when we've crushed the Riding Dog into the earth and savagely consumed it's corpse.
Camel Advancement Options
Acquire a Druid Companion: With a druid companion at your side the world opens up in a way that very few camels has ever seen or experienced. With a druid by your side you have the possibility of getting up to 12 bonus HD from just being around her. If your game goes into epic, you could be an epic animal and go down in history as the most powerful camel to roam the material plane. All this for the price of hanging out with a companion that completely and utterly overshadows you at every point in the game. One last caveat you’ll want a half-orc druid companion. If she didn’t take the half-orc substitution levels pass on her and find a half-orc druid with an intelligence score above 6.
Acquire a ranger companion: It beats not having a companion in that you can gain some HD. But at some point the Ranger is going to realize that you suck and release you. When he does you lose all your HD, skills, and feats. If you’re lucky he’ll let you keep your saddle.
Find someone who likes animals: If you can find someone with the Wild Cohort feat all is not lost. This is marginally worse than hanging out with the Druid – and if the person who has the wild cohort feat is a commoner or a samurai you could possibly overshadow them. However there doesn’t seem to be any rules for epic progression. This is an unlikely option. Just go with the Druid.
Other: There is some trash 1 HD advancement in Sandstorm.
Races
DromedaryMM-The standard camel and one that you should pass on.
BactrianMM-This gem is found if you read the camel entry. Trade 10 ft. of speed for a +2 to constitution. Basically a camel has +2 Con for each hump and the Bactrians have two humps.
Feral BactrianCoR-Not the feral template from Savage Species. This template is found in Champions of Ruin and requires your druid companion to have a special feat in order to tame you. She'll need an entire feat in order to deal with your ****. Basically think rabies. All the time. But it’ll be like you’re half raging all the time. The template gives any animal companion a +2 Str and a +2 Con and the ability to spread Red Ache (DC 15 Fort). There will be some role playing involved as well as you're not easy to get along with.
Feral DromedaryCoR-Same as above but with only one hump.
Camel, DromedarySand-You don't want to play this camel. It has an Int of 1. Also, the player's handbook doesn't indicate you can have camels that have commas after the name followed by a word. If you can then scroll down to your Camel, War animal companion.
Camel, Two-HumpedSand-Again an Int of 1 means it's not worth it for whatever minor trade offs you get.
Camel, WarSand-If the DM allows you to have a war camel then you actually do have a tougher choice. The War Camel cannot take the Warbeast template. Thus side by side the War Camel has a much stronger natural attack progression and a+3 natural armor class. But you lose 4 points of strength and 1 point of constitution. If your druid companion has a good alignment then he's going to take Exalted Animal Companion for his first level feat. Scroll on down!
Exalted Camel, WarBoED- The full cheese. I need a color past gold for this camel.
Exalted BactrianBoED-More realistically a DM will allow this. You can't add feral or the warbeast template but you get an intelligence of 3. That opens up every feat in the game and you won't need tricks. But now Tome of Battle stances, bindings, incarnuum, you name it. The world is your desert.
Exalted Two-HumpedBoED-Slightly better than the MM Camel now because that 1 intelligence turns into a 3. So you can enjoy the +1 natural armor class and sure feat ability.
The Warbeast Feral Bactrian
https://3.img-dpreview.com/files/w/TS560x560?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm3.static.flickr.com %2F2058%2F2353961238_11d71fd0b0.jpg&signature=ApQAUdqiZipSMSgyk3EvHHDpJck%3D
At level 3 your druid companion will be level 1.
If you got the right druid companion she should be good enough with animals to train you to be a Warbeast ASAP. This immediately gives you a free level! Like no xp needed. Broken right? With the retraining rules in the PHB II makes sure you retrain Alertness for Power Attack when you gain that level. At 4 HD bump up Str by 1. A typical druid starts with 50 gp. He should spend most of it on you. Leather Armor for a Camel cost 40 gp. When your Druid Companion is level 1, your stat block should look like this:
Joe Camel the Camel
male feral warbeast camel animal 4
TN large animal (camel)
Init +3; Senses Low-light vision, Scent; Listen +5, Spot +5
Languages Camel
AC 15 (-1 size, +3 Dex, +1 natural, +2 Armor), touch 12, flat-footed 12
HP 41/41 (4d8+23)
Fort +9, Ref +7, Will +2
Speed 50 Feet
Attack Bite +4 (1d4+3/x2) plus red ache (DC 15 Fort)
Power Attack Bite +1 (1d4+6/x2) plus red ache (DC 15 Fort)
Attack Unarmed Strikeprovokes an AoO +8 (1d4+7/x2 non-lethal)
Power Attack Unarmed Strikeprovokes an AoO +5 (1d4+10/x2 non-lethal)
Base Atk +3; Grp +13
Abilities Str 24, Dex 16, Con 21, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 4
Feats Light Armor Proficiency, Medium Armor Proficiency, Heavy Armor Proficiency, Toughness, Power Attack, Endurance
Skills Listen +5, Spot +5, Balance +3
Possessions Leather Armor
Tricks: Attack, Attack (All), Come, Guard, Down, Unarmed Strike, Power Attack
Yeah you'll notice the last two tricks are so that the DM can't cry that you shouldn't know when to power attack and when to unarmed strike. He'll claim you're "metagaming" because your Int is only 2. Now you can just wink at whoever is playing the druid companion across the table and then proceed to roflstomp everyone. Considering the riding dog can’t be a warbeast – you are blowing him out of the water with 41 hit points. Attack of opportunity? Who cares you have 41 hit points and you’ll be fighting level 1 mooks while you wait for your druid companion and his friends to catch up to you in levels.
Your druid companion hits level 3.
You know what that means? You immediately gain two levels of animal. Now this is really important. That jumps you from level 4 to level 6. We will be getting Improved Bullrush. You get two more skill points, both go into Balance (1.5 total). The druid can teach you another trick. I’d go with Spit because camels spit and by now everyone should be sick and tired of you and your druid companion. Alternatively you could teach him the trick Bullrush otherwise who knows when you’ll start doing it. Probably when it's appropriate... You could trade out Endurance but you might need it for Steadfast Determination. If you do trade out Endurance get Improved Sunder.
Your druid companion hits level 6.
You jump to level 8. You do get an ability score bump and it goes to Constitution! You get two more skill points (Balance 2.5). And another bonus trick. If you haven't been taught when to spit, now is the time to do so. Otherwise see if you can wait a bit until you have your weapon. You didn't think we'd be fighting unarmed for 15 levels did you?
Your druid should have been saving all his gold for your weapon. (Alternatively someone with a good alignment could take ancestral relic and let you use it). I mean, power attack? Stupid. Improved Bullrush? This is supposed to be a min/max guide and you still don’t have a way of attacking without provoking an attack of opportunity. Here is where you get good: +1 Gloryborn Mouthpick Jovar. Okay it doesn’t have to be a Jovar. It could be a spiked chain, a glaive, a scythe, or whatever other weapon you want your camel running around with. I like Gloryborn Jovars. You do you buddy. Skill Trick: Using a mouthpick weapon. That'll shut up the DM.
Your Druid hits level 9
You jump to level 10 (that companion of yours is catching up to you). You get a feat, two more skill points (Balance 3.5), and a bonus trick. Your feat will be Shock Trooper. Your skill is obviously: Heedless Charge.
Because of course Animal Growth. Best 5th level spell for you.
Joe Camel the Camel
male feral warbeast camel animal 10
TN huge animal (camel)
Init +3; Senses Low-light vision, Scent; Listen +5, Spot +5
Languages Camel
AC 22 (-2 size, +3 Dex, +7 natural, +4 Armor), touch 11, flat-footed 19
HP 128/128 (10d8+83)
Fort +15, Ref +10, Will +4
Speed 50 Feet
Full Attack +1 Gloryborn Mouthpick Jovar +18/+13 (4d6+19/18-20)
Heedless Charge +1 Gloryborn Mouthpick Jovar +20 (4d6+33/18-20)
Base Atk +7; Grp +28
Abilities Str 35, Dex 17, Con 26, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 4
Feats Light Armor Proficiency, Medium Armor Proficiency, Heavy Armor Proficiency, Toughness, Power Attack, Endurance, Improved Bullrush, Shock Trooper
Skills Listen +5, Spot +5, Balance +5
Possessions mwk Chain Shirt
Tricks: Attack, Attack (All), Come, Guard, Down, Unarmed Strike, Power Attack, Spit, Heedless Charge, Whatever
Your druid companion has now hit level 12.
You also hit level 12. +1 Strength. That nets you a feat and we will go with either Steadfast Determination or Combat Brute. If the DM has figured out how to get rid of you by now take steadfast determination otherwise head for Combat Brute. Time to beef up that Will save. Balance 4.5. Your bonus trick will be: Uh... Momentous Swing!
Your Druid hits level 15 and you’re only 14.
The sad times begin. You don’t get a feat, or an ability score bump. You get a trick and… uh… 2 skill points (balance 5, Listen 1). Trick: Whatever man. Teach Joe Camel how to smoke.
Druid Level 18
You are at level 16. Both a feat and an ability bump (+1 Str). Combat Brute obviously. But if you picked up Steadfast Determination then you will probably want something stupid. I'll go with Powerful ChargeMiniature's Handbook. Skill Tricks for whatever magic items you get hooked up with this level. Your glory days are in the past, just be glad the Druid still has kept you around.
The Standard Spitter
[spoiler=Work in Progress[/spoiler]
Work in progress - As always I am open to ideas and other unexplored options. Next up is the feat Exalted Animal Companion - for those camels dwelling on the upper planes and the realms of good.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/Jopustopin/Camel%201_zpsahtp7e0x.png
Introduction
Camels are an obscure, often overlooked, race in the monster’s manual. They have the animal type. Any camel with a type other than animal is outside the scope of this handbook. With size large and a +8 strength you would think that every game the DM would be overrun with player’s arguing over who gets to play a camel. But this does not happen. This is due to several severe class flaws in the design of camels by WotC. They have a great strength score for an animal and large size (all good things) but unfortunately they do not have a primary natural attack. Basically this means that your strength score can only be used for carrying stuff around. They have three crappy HD worth of animal type and, most painfully, cannot advance. You read that right. When the DM awards experience to the group, go ahead and just stop keeping track when you hit level 3. The camel savage progression (as if there was such a thing) hits a hard level cap after 3 pitiful levels. In fact if I was the DM I would just let the player start out at level 3 as they won’t be contributing much of value to the group. Do we give up? No this is the Camel’s handbook and as such we will work around these design limitations to provide a critical look at this overlooked animal.
Weaknesses
You will feel extremely useless at lower levels, and as you “gain in power” you will continue to feel useless unless you are aware of the inherent weaknesses of this animal. We can talk all day about what they should have gotten, but they didn’t. Let’s just move on. Out of the box you have: No way to improve your BAB past +2, Only 6 skill points, only listen and spot as class skills, and no primary natural attacks. Fortunately with just the player’s handbook there is a way to break away from the pack. But we're not stopping there. We'll stop when we've crushed the Riding Dog into the earth and savagely consumed it's corpse.
Camel Advancement Options
Acquire a Druid Companion: With a druid companion at your side the world opens up in a way that very few camels has ever seen or experienced. With a druid by your side you have the possibility of getting up to 12 bonus HD from just being around her. If your game goes into epic, you could be an epic animal and go down in history as the most powerful camel to roam the material plane. All this for the price of hanging out with a companion that completely and utterly overshadows you at every point in the game. One last caveat you’ll want a half-orc druid companion. If she didn’t take the half-orc substitution levels pass on her and find a half-orc druid with an intelligence score above 6.
Acquire a ranger companion: It beats not having a companion in that you can gain some HD. But at some point the Ranger is going to realize that you suck and release you. When he does you lose all your HD, skills, and feats. If you’re lucky he’ll let you keep your saddle.
Find someone who likes animals: If you can find someone with the Wild Cohort feat all is not lost. This is marginally worse than hanging out with the Druid – and if the person who has the wild cohort feat is a commoner or a samurai you could possibly overshadow them. However there doesn’t seem to be any rules for epic progression. This is an unlikely option. Just go with the Druid.
Other: There is some trash 1 HD advancement in Sandstorm.
Races
DromedaryMM-The standard camel and one that you should pass on.
BactrianMM-This gem is found if you read the camel entry. Trade 10 ft. of speed for a +2 to constitution. Basically a camel has +2 Con for each hump and the Bactrians have two humps.
Feral BactrianCoR-Not the feral template from Savage Species. This template is found in Champions of Ruin and requires your druid companion to have a special feat in order to tame you. She'll need an entire feat in order to deal with your ****. Basically think rabies. All the time. But it’ll be like you’re half raging all the time. The template gives any animal companion a +2 Str and a +2 Con and the ability to spread Red Ache (DC 15 Fort). There will be some role playing involved as well as you're not easy to get along with.
Feral DromedaryCoR-Same as above but with only one hump.
Camel, DromedarySand-You don't want to play this camel. It has an Int of 1. Also, the player's handbook doesn't indicate you can have camels that have commas after the name followed by a word. If you can then scroll down to your Camel, War animal companion.
Camel, Two-HumpedSand-Again an Int of 1 means it's not worth it for whatever minor trade offs you get.
Camel, WarSand-If the DM allows you to have a war camel then you actually do have a tougher choice. The War Camel cannot take the Warbeast template. Thus side by side the War Camel has a much stronger natural attack progression and a+3 natural armor class. But you lose 4 points of strength and 1 point of constitution. If your druid companion has a good alignment then he's going to take Exalted Animal Companion for his first level feat. Scroll on down!
Exalted Camel, WarBoED- The full cheese. I need a color past gold for this camel.
Exalted BactrianBoED-More realistically a DM will allow this. You can't add feral or the warbeast template but you get an intelligence of 3. That opens up every feat in the game and you won't need tricks. But now Tome of Battle stances, bindings, incarnuum, you name it. The world is your desert.
Exalted Two-HumpedBoED-Slightly better than the MM Camel now because that 1 intelligence turns into a 3. So you can enjoy the +1 natural armor class and sure feat ability.
The Warbeast Feral Bactrian
https://3.img-dpreview.com/files/w/TS560x560?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm3.static.flickr.com %2F2058%2F2353961238_11d71fd0b0.jpg&signature=ApQAUdqiZipSMSgyk3EvHHDpJck%3D
At level 3 your druid companion will be level 1.
If you got the right druid companion she should be good enough with animals to train you to be a Warbeast ASAP. This immediately gives you a free level! Like no xp needed. Broken right? With the retraining rules in the PHB II makes sure you retrain Alertness for Power Attack when you gain that level. At 4 HD bump up Str by 1. A typical druid starts with 50 gp. He should spend most of it on you. Leather Armor for a Camel cost 40 gp. When your Druid Companion is level 1, your stat block should look like this:
Joe Camel the Camel
male feral warbeast camel animal 4
TN large animal (camel)
Init +3; Senses Low-light vision, Scent; Listen +5, Spot +5
Languages Camel
AC 15 (-1 size, +3 Dex, +1 natural, +2 Armor), touch 12, flat-footed 12
HP 41/41 (4d8+23)
Fort +9, Ref +7, Will +2
Speed 50 Feet
Attack Bite +4 (1d4+3/x2) plus red ache (DC 15 Fort)
Power Attack Bite +1 (1d4+6/x2) plus red ache (DC 15 Fort)
Attack Unarmed Strikeprovokes an AoO +8 (1d4+7/x2 non-lethal)
Power Attack Unarmed Strikeprovokes an AoO +5 (1d4+10/x2 non-lethal)
Base Atk +3; Grp +13
Abilities Str 24, Dex 16, Con 21, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 4
Feats Light Armor Proficiency, Medium Armor Proficiency, Heavy Armor Proficiency, Toughness, Power Attack, Endurance
Skills Listen +5, Spot +5, Balance +3
Possessions Leather Armor
Tricks: Attack, Attack (All), Come, Guard, Down, Unarmed Strike, Power Attack
Yeah you'll notice the last two tricks are so that the DM can't cry that you shouldn't know when to power attack and when to unarmed strike. He'll claim you're "metagaming" because your Int is only 2. Now you can just wink at whoever is playing the druid companion across the table and then proceed to roflstomp everyone. Considering the riding dog can’t be a warbeast – you are blowing him out of the water with 41 hit points. Attack of opportunity? Who cares you have 41 hit points and you’ll be fighting level 1 mooks while you wait for your druid companion and his friends to catch up to you in levels.
Your druid companion hits level 3.
You know what that means? You immediately gain two levels of animal. Now this is really important. That jumps you from level 4 to level 6. We will be getting Improved Bullrush. You get two more skill points, both go into Balance (1.5 total). The druid can teach you another trick. I’d go with Spit because camels spit and by now everyone should be sick and tired of you and your druid companion. Alternatively you could teach him the trick Bullrush otherwise who knows when you’ll start doing it. Probably when it's appropriate... You could trade out Endurance but you might need it for Steadfast Determination. If you do trade out Endurance get Improved Sunder.
Your druid companion hits level 6.
You jump to level 8. You do get an ability score bump and it goes to Constitution! You get two more skill points (Balance 2.5). And another bonus trick. If you haven't been taught when to spit, now is the time to do so. Otherwise see if you can wait a bit until you have your weapon. You didn't think we'd be fighting unarmed for 15 levels did you?
Your druid should have been saving all his gold for your weapon. (Alternatively someone with a good alignment could take ancestral relic and let you use it). I mean, power attack? Stupid. Improved Bullrush? This is supposed to be a min/max guide and you still don’t have a way of attacking without provoking an attack of opportunity. Here is where you get good: +1 Gloryborn Mouthpick Jovar. Okay it doesn’t have to be a Jovar. It could be a spiked chain, a glaive, a scythe, or whatever other weapon you want your camel running around with. I like Gloryborn Jovars. You do you buddy. Skill Trick: Using a mouthpick weapon. That'll shut up the DM.
Your Druid hits level 9
You jump to level 10 (that companion of yours is catching up to you). You get a feat, two more skill points (Balance 3.5), and a bonus trick. Your feat will be Shock Trooper. Your skill is obviously: Heedless Charge.
Because of course Animal Growth. Best 5th level spell for you.
Joe Camel the Camel
male feral warbeast camel animal 10
TN huge animal (camel)
Init +3; Senses Low-light vision, Scent; Listen +5, Spot +5
Languages Camel
AC 22 (-2 size, +3 Dex, +7 natural, +4 Armor), touch 11, flat-footed 19
HP 128/128 (10d8+83)
Fort +15, Ref +10, Will +4
Speed 50 Feet
Full Attack +1 Gloryborn Mouthpick Jovar +18/+13 (4d6+19/18-20)
Heedless Charge +1 Gloryborn Mouthpick Jovar +20 (4d6+33/18-20)
Base Atk +7; Grp +28
Abilities Str 35, Dex 17, Con 26, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 4
Feats Light Armor Proficiency, Medium Armor Proficiency, Heavy Armor Proficiency, Toughness, Power Attack, Endurance, Improved Bullrush, Shock Trooper
Skills Listen +5, Spot +5, Balance +5
Possessions mwk Chain Shirt
Tricks: Attack, Attack (All), Come, Guard, Down, Unarmed Strike, Power Attack, Spit, Heedless Charge, Whatever
Your druid companion has now hit level 12.
You also hit level 12. +1 Strength. That nets you a feat and we will go with either Steadfast Determination or Combat Brute. If the DM has figured out how to get rid of you by now take steadfast determination otherwise head for Combat Brute. Time to beef up that Will save. Balance 4.5. Your bonus trick will be: Uh... Momentous Swing!
Your Druid hits level 15 and you’re only 14.
The sad times begin. You don’t get a feat, or an ability score bump. You get a trick and… uh… 2 skill points (balance 5, Listen 1). Trick: Whatever man. Teach Joe Camel how to smoke.
Druid Level 18
You are at level 16. Both a feat and an ability bump (+1 Str). Combat Brute obviously. But if you picked up Steadfast Determination then you will probably want something stupid. I'll go with Powerful ChargeMiniature's Handbook. Skill Tricks for whatever magic items you get hooked up with this level. Your glory days are in the past, just be glad the Druid still has kept you around.
The Standard Spitter
[spoiler=Work in Progress[/spoiler]
Work in progress - As always I am open to ideas and other unexplored options. Next up is the feat Exalted Animal Companion - for those camels dwelling on the upper planes and the realms of good.