Help homebrewing a template

[Gilda]

Hi everyone,

My Greek mythology campaign is about to hit a snag. The PCs are on a quest in Tartarus and are Level 13-15. The geography I'm using calls for them to lose track of the River Acheron and crawl through a dungeon level before finding it flowing through a limestone cave on its way to join the River Styx.
Now you all remember the boon Achilles's mom gave him, right? So I think if they submerge in Styx, they'll get a template that gives them a LOT of natural armor. How should I assign the LA to such a thing?
Also I am aware that most templates aren't worth the LA, especially for casters. I don't want to spoil every twist by discussing them OOC, so I think when they find the Acheron again, they'll find text carved into stone that reads "Know thyself before accepting the experience of Styx water." Thoughts?

[Inevitability]

Do you want the template to give NA only? How much? 'A LOT' can be interpreted in quite a few ways. Should they still be hittable?

[Gildedragon]

Well what DR are you thinking on?
Also the Achilles mechanic is a bit... Odd for dnd with the whole "hit the weak spot and die" bit.
I'd maybe go for regeneration? Use the troll blooded template or something the like

[Gilda]

Inevitability: I'm thinking a template of nothing but LA, of at least +15. This amount ties into the fact that the "kakodemons" I'm having them encounter are Beholders (think Doom :p ), Barbed Devils, Horned Devils & Pit Fiends, so the first +15 of their natural armor can be explained as Styx baths. They should still be hittable by high-level foes.
For this reason and DR being so easy to overwhelm with the massive damage a charger can do, I definitely want to use AC rather than DR.

Gildedragon: Well, the PCs wouldn't get the weak location, because Achilles was being held by the heel by Mom, while the PCs will fully submerge if they don't choose to avoid it. That solves the problem of D&D not supporting hit locations.
Regeneration sounds like an interesting alternative though.

[ATHATH]

The geography I'm using calls for them to lose track of the River Acheron
https://i.imgflip.com/xhss9.jpg

Seriously, you expect your players to lose track of the river and not try to backtrack, use divinations, etc. to try to find it again?

[Gilda]

You're missing the point: the Acheron flows into the Styx, so even if they follow it all the way and skip the dungeon, they'll reach the Styx and submerging in it means Surprise Template.

[ATHATH]

You're missing the point: the Acheron flows into the Styx, so even if they follow it all the way and skip the dungeon, they'll reach the Styx and submerging in it means Surprise Template.
Well, yeah, I'm just saying that building an entire dungeon for an event that might happen is generally a bad idea. A suggested fix would be to insert the dungeon (possibly refluffed) into a later location if the players missed it the first time (don't tell them that you're doing this, of course).

[the_david]

Funny thing about the Styx and D&D:

"Those who taste or touch the waters of the Styx must succeed on a DC 17 Fortitude saving throw or be affected by total amnesia. Treat the victim as if feebleminded (as the feeblemind spell). Even those who make their saves lose all memory of the events of the past 8 hours. Prepared spells remain in memory, although the victim might not realize they’re prepared. Evil outsiders with the aquatic subtype are immune to the memory-draining effects of the River Styx."

Ofcourse, this is a major departure from mythology. It would be a nasty surprise though.

[Gildedragon]

Funny thing about the Styx and D&D:

"Those who taste or touch the waters of the Styx must succeed on a DC 17 Fortitude saving throw or be affected by total amnesia. Treat the victim as if feebleminded (as the feeblemind spell). Even those who make their saves lose all memory of the events of the past 8 hours. Prepared spells remain in memory, although the victim might not realize they’re prepared. Evil outsiders with the aquatic subtype are immune to the memory-draining effects of the River Styx."

Ofcourse, this is a major departure from mythology. It would be a nasty surprise though.

Yeah isn't it the Lethe that does that in the myths?

[ZamielVanWeber]

Yes. Lethe is the river of memory. What exactly do you want your players to have is a big question? Unhittable? Invulnerable? And how strong do you want them to be, since you will need to challenge them after they get buffed.

[Caelestion]

Achilles's invulnerability is probably DR x/- with a specific exception for his heel, similar to that of rakshasa DR.

If you recall the myth however, Thetis did a whole bunch of complicated stuff with ambrosia and a brazier, so it's unlikely to be as simple as skinny-dipping in Hades.

[Pleh]

Getting away from the myth and into the crunch, the best way to homebrew is to find something close to what you want and modify it as necessary.

Do some research on what templates already exist and play with their numbers a bit.