Free LA+2 what to choose?

[Aurosman]

So, I've been told by my DM that he is giving us a free LA+2 template of our choosing and I'm having a hard time trying to find something good.

My character is a lvl 9 necropolitan dread necromancer, focusing on a few strong minions and going for maximizing/twin spells like enervate and such.

So far I've only really found the evolved undead template that is +1 so I can get 2, also phrenic might be good but we have been avoiding psionics cause nobody has played with them.

Anyone have any suggestions? Or a link to a list of all templates. Anything official is good to use. (And I have downloaded a PDF on templates, just hoping there are more)

[Vizzerdrix]

Winged.
Dark (only +1)
That psionic one.
Evolved undead (only +1)
Primordial giant (+0 la)
Mineral warrior
Greensnake naga (+1 race)

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Shadow Creature from Lords of Madness is pretty good, in anything less than full daylight you're effectively invisible (opponents have a 50% miss change on attack rolls, they don't have line of sight for spell targeting) plus a few other benefits.

Draconic Creature from the Draconomicon is +1 LA and has some decent stat bonuses.

Quasilycanthrope (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mb/20040721a) is +1 LA for DR 10/Silver and you can have cat ears/tail, if you're into that.

Dark Creature in Tome of Magic is +1 LA and it's comparable to Shadow Creature.

Phrenic is probably your best choice, just read the powers and remember that since they're psi-like abilities, they're always augmented up to your character level's worth of power points, but don't actually cost any power points. Use magic=psionics so the power resistance applies to spells and SR applies to your psi-like abilities. You'll be able to gain a psionic focus (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/skills/concentration.htm) and take psionic feats (http://www.d20srd.org/indexes/psionicFeats.htm), or don't and you're not missing out on anything.

[Troacctid]

Mulhorandi Divine Minion hasn't been mentioned; it's +1 and quite good.

Insectile is great at +2 if you can swing the Multitasking feat to get 3 standard actions a round, but that can be iffy.

I would probably go Half-Fey or Phrenic. Lots of extra magic and a nice boost to your primary stat. Half-Celestial is also great if your DM lets you use the +2 version from Book of Exalted Deeds.

[bekeleven]

Vecna-blooded is my goto LA+1 template. It gives stuff you can't get anywhere else. MM5.

[ZamielVanWeber]

Divine Minion is +1 or +2 depending on what god you serve. A small Argent spider entomanothrope is going to ping you for 2 RHD, but give you a 30 foot teleport as a free every round alongside other small goodies.

[Aurosman]

Just realized I forgot to say I am also a necropolitan if that changes anything. Will change it in the post.

I don't know if he will allow race templates anymore since my character is already created, but some of those have interesting stuff.

I do kind of like the ability to fly myself, but I just got myself a zombie dragon at the end of our last outing, so I have that covered I guess.

[Remuko]

Cant evolved undead be applied more than once or am I misremembering? If it can just have it twice.

[flappeercraft]

Cant evolved undead be applied more than once or am I misremembering? If it can just have it twice.

It can be stacked all you want

[The Viscount]

You can apply evolved undead twice, though there's diminishing returns.

Orcus-Blooded is LA+1 and thematic, if rather plain.

Multiheaded for one more head is LA +2 and opens up the avenue for Multivoice, which is very strong.

Rockdeworld has an excellent organized list here if you want to browse. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?281882-3-5-Master-Template-List-(sorted))

[Zancloufer]

Going to second Half-Fey as a solid Template. -2 Con doesn't matter for Necropolitian, +4 Cha is very good for Dread Necromancer and +2 Dex/Wis is solid. Getting good x2 base speed Ex flight on it's own is almost worth an LA. Not to mention a pile of 1 or 3/day Illusion/Enchantment SLAs some of which you can change day to day. Also at will Charm Person.

[ATHATH]

Thirding Half-Fey. Fluff it as a (demonic/diabolic?) ritual or something. I think there's a template class for it as well, if you're interested in that.

Phrenic is really good, as mentioned above. Since PLAs are automatically augmented up to your ML (which is equal to your HD for the Phrenic template) minus the base cost of the power, pretty much all of them will remain level-relevant.

For example, if you have 6 HD, your Brain Lock PLA can receive up to 3 PP's worth of augments (6-the base PP cost of the power (3)). You could affect affect animals, fey, ect. with it, but not aberrations or dragons (until you reached 7 HD).

[haplot]

could try for an evolved undead template twice? From Libris Mortis.

+2 AC, two random spell like abilities, fast healing 6, +4 str, and +4 Cha, and +2 turn resistance.

Although my lovely other half would say bother the template, could I just have them as class levels please?

:smile:

[lbuttitta]

Spellstitched?

[Vizzerdrix]

could try for an evolved undead template twice? From Libris Mortis.

+2 AC, two random spell like abilities, fast healing 6, +4 str, and +4 Cha, and +2 turn resistance.

Although my lovely other half would say bother the template, could I just have them as class levels please?

:smile:

I never knew if the fast healing stacked or not.

Also, spellstitched is amazing.

[Aurosman]

Ok, I've narrowed it down to phrenic or half-fey(if he allows it). Any drawbacks to either that anyone could think of?

Also will be getting spell stitched sometime in the futture, just awaiting for a bit more wisdom.

Also, for phrenic. Do I get my HD in power points every time I cast one of the abilities? Or do I just have so many per day?

[Troacctid]

Also, for phrenic. Do I get my HD in power points every time I cast one of the abilities? Or do I just have so many per day?
You only have 1 power point. That's it.

Luckily, psi-like abilities do not require you to expend any power points.

[Aurosman]

You only have 1 power point. That's it.

Luckily, psi-like abilities do not require you to expend any power points.

So if I used mind thrust, the max I could do with it would be 2d10? The normal 1d10 + another 1d10 if I use my extra power point?

[Troacctid]

No, psi-like abilities do not require power points at all—not to manifest, and not to augment. They are automatically augmented to the max that your ML allows. If you are 3rd level, your Mind Thrust deals 3d10 damage and has +1 to its save DC. If you are 19th level, your Mind Thrust deals 19d10 damage and has +9 to its save DC. Either way, it can be used 3 times per day and does not require any expenditure of power points.

[Aurosman]

Ok, that just made up my mind, psi-like abilities are alot better than I understood. Thanks for all the help everyone!

[Dagroth]

Yeah, PLAs are generally better than SLAs because of that built-in scaling.

[unseenmage]

My sig has a list of every playable thing, creatures and templates include, sorted by ECL.

Hope it helps.

[Metahuman1]

Note: There's a 1st level feat out there, name escapes me, that allows creatures with the Fey type to use CHA to HP. Might be worth looking at if Retraining is also on the table.

[TheBrassDuke]

Half-Fey all the way, my friend!

[ZamielVanWeber]

Note: There's a 1st level feat out there, name escapes me, that allows creatures with the Fey type to use CHA to HP. Might be worth looking at if Retraining is also on the table.

Faerie Mysteries Initiate is Int to HP which may help. Beauty's Bounty is Cha to HP at level one and then works a bit wonky from there.