DanielLC
2007-08-23, 06:18 PM
Before I write this I'd like to add a dimension to alignments: Natural v. artificial. People of the natural alignment believe that there is something inherently beneficial about nature and everything about it should be preserved, while people of the artificial alignment believe there is nothing special about it, and a better artificial environment can and should be made and are perfectly willing to do unnatural things (such as animating dead). It's impossible to have three alignments (e.g. natural lawful good) because it ends up so washed-out it's essentially neutral. A druid must be natural, and a ranger must not be Artificial. Now I make a class that must be artificial.
"I don't hate nature, I just wish to improve upon it. It's cold, so I wear clothes. It's hard, so I sleep in a bed. It didn't give me enough arms, so I sewed on another pair."
Unnatural
Hit Die: d8
Requirements
Alignment: Any artificial.
Feats: Craft Wondrous Item.
Class Skills
Craft (Int)
Skill Points at Each Level
2+Spellcraft ability modifier modifier (see Magical Advancement)
Magical Advancement:
Unnaturals prefer to gain skill magically. Because of this, when gaining a level in unnatural, the skills gained are based on the ability score their spellcraft is based on rather than intelligence. If an unnatural has more than one magic-based class, he may choose the ability score from any magic class with at least three levels.
Craft Self (Su):
An unnatural can put any enchantment normally placed on a magic item on himself using 1.1 times the XP. Enchantments normally meant for weapons that only apply to a certain type of damage can only be done if the unnatural can deal that type of damage. A normal unarmed attack counts as bludgeoning.
Modify Self:
At the second level, an unnatural can add to his body in decidedly unnatural ways. Essentially, he adds an organ and any nerves, blood vessels, etc. needed to use it. Doing something like this requires taking the body part or parts needed It takes a week and 100XP to get the body part to work for a minor modification and 1,000XP and a month for a major one. If this isn't done, it will rot and fall off after a weak, and probably infect the unnatural, so don't cut corners on natural armor. You can count it as minor just to keep it alive, which is usually enough for natural armor, but you won't be able to feel or sweat with it. The actual results of the Modify Self aren't given until it is used. After all, you might be able to tell that an extra thumb on each hand would help you climb, but you wouldn't be able to tell how much it would help you, and you might not know that it would help keep you from being disarmed simply because it didn't occur to you.
Examples:
Extra arm (major):
You get an extra offhand attack when using two weapon fighting and +2 bonus on climb and grapple checks. This can only be done twice
Eye in the back of your head (major):
You don't get penalties for being flanked, and you get a +2 bonus on spot checks.
Natural Armor (major):
You gain the benefits of the natural armor from the creature you took it from. This can be taken multiple times. Each time it replaces the armor from the last.
Extra thumbs (minor):
You get a +1 bonus on climb checks. You get a +2 bonus to resist being disarmed. You can take this twice.
Natural Armor shield (minor):
You get a +1 shield bonus to your AC.
The DM may decide to change these, and add to them on circumstances that didn't occur to me. A good rule of thumb for if a modification is major or minor is if it's adding a simple appendage, like a thumb, or replacing one already there, like replacing an eye with one with darkvision, it's minor. If it's adding something complex, like an arm, or if it just requires change over a massive area, like natural armor, it's major.
Aberration:
After using modify self enough, an unnatural gains the aberration type. The amount necessary is up to the DM. It is based on how much it changes the unnatural rather than the number done, for example grafting a prehensile tail onto his arm would do much more than natural armor. A good rule of thumb is that when onlookers would cease to recognize him as a person, he is an aberration.
Leach Enchantment (Su):
At the third level an unnatural can leech the magic out of a magic item over the course of a week. Doing so uses one-tenth the XP used to make the item, lost through the course of the week. When this process is complete, the unnatural can use the enchantment formerly on the item. During the process, the unnatural must be using it, if possible (e.g. wearing a ring). If not possible, he must be holding it. This doesn't need to be continuous, an the unnatural can drop the item when he fights. The item can't be used by anyone except the unnatural after 7/10ths of a day, effectively allowing the unnatural to use this just to keep anyone else from using the item for one tenth the XP used to make it. If the unnatural wants to undo the process, it takes just as long as it took so far, but no XP. An enchantment can be put back into an object other than the one it was taken out of, so long as the second object can hold the enchantment, and the second item isn't already enchanted.
Craft Able Item:
At the fourth level, an unnatural can craft an item capable of doing anything he has a supernatural, spell-like, or psi-like ability for, whether he got it from his species or class, including this one, or even imbue with spell ability, but in the last one he can no longer use the ability and only makes a one-use item. The cost for this is up to the DM's discretion, but generally costs 1.5 times as much a similar magic or psionic item would cost normally.
Quasi-Lichdom:
At the fifth level, an unnatural no longer gains penalties with age, and can't die of old age. This process is so unnatural that it shifts the unnatural's alignment to artificial, if it isn't purely that already.
Ex-Unnaturals
If an unnatural changes to a prohibited alignment, he can't level up in this class until he changes back. He also probably won't use the abilities he gained. If he changes to a natural alignment, he is likely to attempt to undo anything he did to himself with these abilities.
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special
1st|
+0|
+2|
+0|
+0|Magical/Psyonic Advancement, Craft Self
2nd|
+1|
+3|
+0|
+0|Modify Self
3rd|
+2|
+3|
+1|
+1|Leach Enchantment
4th|
+3|
+4|
+1|
+1|Craft Able Item
5th|
+3|
+4|
+2|
+2|Quasi-Lichdom
[/table]
Note: this can be taken as a psionic-based rather than magic-based class. If this is done, everything changes to the psionic version of it. If the unnatural has at least three levels in both a magic and psionic class, he can do both magic and psionic versions.
"I don't hate nature, I just wish to improve upon it. It's cold, so I wear clothes. It's hard, so I sleep in a bed. It didn't give me enough arms, so I sewed on another pair."
Unnatural
Hit Die: d8
Requirements
Alignment: Any artificial.
Feats: Craft Wondrous Item.
Class Skills
Craft (Int)
Skill Points at Each Level
2+Spellcraft ability modifier modifier (see Magical Advancement)
Magical Advancement:
Unnaturals prefer to gain skill magically. Because of this, when gaining a level in unnatural, the skills gained are based on the ability score their spellcraft is based on rather than intelligence. If an unnatural has more than one magic-based class, he may choose the ability score from any magic class with at least three levels.
Craft Self (Su):
An unnatural can put any enchantment normally placed on a magic item on himself using 1.1 times the XP. Enchantments normally meant for weapons that only apply to a certain type of damage can only be done if the unnatural can deal that type of damage. A normal unarmed attack counts as bludgeoning.
Modify Self:
At the second level, an unnatural can add to his body in decidedly unnatural ways. Essentially, he adds an organ and any nerves, blood vessels, etc. needed to use it. Doing something like this requires taking the body part or parts needed It takes a week and 100XP to get the body part to work for a minor modification and 1,000XP and a month for a major one. If this isn't done, it will rot and fall off after a weak, and probably infect the unnatural, so don't cut corners on natural armor. You can count it as minor just to keep it alive, which is usually enough for natural armor, but you won't be able to feel or sweat with it. The actual results of the Modify Self aren't given until it is used. After all, you might be able to tell that an extra thumb on each hand would help you climb, but you wouldn't be able to tell how much it would help you, and you might not know that it would help keep you from being disarmed simply because it didn't occur to you.
Examples:
Extra arm (major):
You get an extra offhand attack when using two weapon fighting and +2 bonus on climb and grapple checks. This can only be done twice
Eye in the back of your head (major):
You don't get penalties for being flanked, and you get a +2 bonus on spot checks.
Natural Armor (major):
You gain the benefits of the natural armor from the creature you took it from. This can be taken multiple times. Each time it replaces the armor from the last.
Extra thumbs (minor):
You get a +1 bonus on climb checks. You get a +2 bonus to resist being disarmed. You can take this twice.
Natural Armor shield (minor):
You get a +1 shield bonus to your AC.
The DM may decide to change these, and add to them on circumstances that didn't occur to me. A good rule of thumb for if a modification is major or minor is if it's adding a simple appendage, like a thumb, or replacing one already there, like replacing an eye with one with darkvision, it's minor. If it's adding something complex, like an arm, or if it just requires change over a massive area, like natural armor, it's major.
Aberration:
After using modify self enough, an unnatural gains the aberration type. The amount necessary is up to the DM. It is based on how much it changes the unnatural rather than the number done, for example grafting a prehensile tail onto his arm would do much more than natural armor. A good rule of thumb is that when onlookers would cease to recognize him as a person, he is an aberration.
Leach Enchantment (Su):
At the third level an unnatural can leech the magic out of a magic item over the course of a week. Doing so uses one-tenth the XP used to make the item, lost through the course of the week. When this process is complete, the unnatural can use the enchantment formerly on the item. During the process, the unnatural must be using it, if possible (e.g. wearing a ring). If not possible, he must be holding it. This doesn't need to be continuous, an the unnatural can drop the item when he fights. The item can't be used by anyone except the unnatural after 7/10ths of a day, effectively allowing the unnatural to use this just to keep anyone else from using the item for one tenth the XP used to make it. If the unnatural wants to undo the process, it takes just as long as it took so far, but no XP. An enchantment can be put back into an object other than the one it was taken out of, so long as the second object can hold the enchantment, and the second item isn't already enchanted.
Craft Able Item:
At the fourth level, an unnatural can craft an item capable of doing anything he has a supernatural, spell-like, or psi-like ability for, whether he got it from his species or class, including this one, or even imbue with spell ability, but in the last one he can no longer use the ability and only makes a one-use item. The cost for this is up to the DM's discretion, but generally costs 1.5 times as much a similar magic or psionic item would cost normally.
Quasi-Lichdom:
At the fifth level, an unnatural no longer gains penalties with age, and can't die of old age. This process is so unnatural that it shifts the unnatural's alignment to artificial, if it isn't purely that already.
Ex-Unnaturals
If an unnatural changes to a prohibited alignment, he can't level up in this class until he changes back. He also probably won't use the abilities he gained. If he changes to a natural alignment, he is likely to attempt to undo anything he did to himself with these abilities.
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special
1st|
+0|
+2|
+0|
+0|Magical/Psyonic Advancement, Craft Self
2nd|
+1|
+3|
+0|
+0|Modify Self
3rd|
+2|
+3|
+1|
+1|Leach Enchantment
4th|
+3|
+4|
+1|
+1|Craft Able Item
5th|
+3|
+4|
+2|
+2|Quasi-Lichdom
[/table]
Note: this can be taken as a psionic-based rather than magic-based class. If this is done, everything changes to the psionic version of it. If the unnatural has at least three levels in both a magic and psionic class, he can do both magic and psionic versions.