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View Full Version : D&D 3.x Other Review this (tiny) race I wrote up in 2015



Malapterus
2018-01-27, 02:34 PM
I wrote this up back in 2015 but never gave it a proper level adjustment. I may have gotten a little carried away with it.

Take a look & tell me what you think the LA should be. No racial hit dice.

LiGere

(Tiny Humanoid)

LiGere are about a foot tall and weigh about four pounds. Their skin color ranges from fair to medium. Aside from size, they resemble long-limbed Humans with stoutly pointed ears. They exhibit a human range of hair color, except a LiGere never has naturally black hair. They generally have very sharp facial features. Males grow odd facial hair that varies greatly between individuals, while females often decorate their faces with painted markings or adhered jewelry. Educated LiGere prefer to wear jewelry and fine clothes, whereas common LiGere prefer sturdy work clothes. The reach adulthood at around 15 years of age and tend to live for about 200 years.

LiGere are superintelligent, capable of storing and processing vast amounts of information in their tiny brains. They favor efficiency and invention, though not to the point of building contraptions like Gnomes. They appear to be rude and impatient with each other, though this is simply their efficient form of communication. They also appear to be rude and impatient with other races; this is genuine. They find other races to walk too quickly and think too slowly.

LiGere villages take advantage of their surroundings by carving structures into existing trees, rocks, and embankments. New structures are generally built of clay and can be several stories tall. Roads are paved with pebbles and lit with tiny torches or gas lamps. Outsiders are not welcome in town for logical reasons and business with larger races is done at the edge of town.

LiGere speak their own extremely fast language that requires an Intelligence of 14 or higher for non-LiGere to learn. They also generally know Common or Elven, depending on whether Humans or Elves are predominant near them. They often learn other languages as well.

Most LiGere encountered outside their tiny villages are Wizards in search of knowledge or Fighters trying to prove themselves.

Combat
LiGere spellcasters make full use of their wide selection of spells and tactical mindset to bombard and overwhelm their enemies with spells.
LiGere melee fighters face difficulties against Medium and Small opponents and prefer to use feats that provide them with additional attacks. For some reason they rarely use ranged weapons.

LiGere Traits (Ex)
LiGere possess the following racial traits.
• -4 Constitution, -4 Strength.
• +4 Charisma, +4 Wisdom, +4 Intelligence
• Tiny size. +2 bonus to Armor Class, +2 bonus on attack rolls, +8 bonus on Hide checks, -8 penalty on grapple checks, lifting and carrying limits 1/2 those of Medium characters.
• A LiGere’s base land speed is 15 feet.
• Weapon Familiarity: LiGere are proficient with the Longspear, Glaive, Guisarme, and Ranseur.
• +4 bonus to Climb and Jump checks.
• Automatic Languages: LiGere, Common, Elven. Bonus Languages: Any.
• Special Qualities: Magical Savant, Favored Spell, Extracurriculars.
• Favored Class: Wizard.

Magical Savant: LiGere spellcasters can cast any spell they know from memory without preparation as if they were a Sorcerer, so long as the level of the spell does not exceed the LiGere’s Intelligence bonus.

Favored Spell: A LiGere may choose one spell they know to become an at-will Spell-Like Ability. When the LiGere gains a level, they may change this spell to a different spell they know. This spell cannot be higher level than the LiGere’s Intelligence bonus and when casted in this way cannot be modified by Metamagic Feats. The Favored Spell may be chosen as a spell already modified by one or more Metamagic feats, however these feats must always be applied when it is used this way and the spell’s modified level cannot exceed the LiGere’s Intelligence bonus -2. The LiGere cannot choose a spell that requires an XP cost or costly material component. If the LiGere does not know any spells, they may select any one Level 0 spell for this ability.

Extracurriculars: A LiGere may choose two Skills to be Class Skills at character creation.

aimlessPolymath
2018-01-27, 03:05 PM
Level Adjustment:
The raw statistical bonuses place this at +1 minimum, for being "the best" at spellcasting.
Tiny size probably bumps it up to +2.
Magical Savant brings it to +3 or more, only held back by lack of HD- a PrC that gives this ability would be around 10 levels deep and give this as something like a capstone ability. Seriously. Mage of the Arcane Order.
Favored Spell is inappropriate for PC use, bringing this into the realm of LA -. For the purposes of CR assignment, it probably fits with Magical Savant, since opposing casters rarely run out of spells.
Extracurriculars doesn't make a difference at this point.

Results: Wildly inappropriate for PC use, CR +2 or +3 for NPCs.

brian 333
2018-01-27, 03:46 PM
I agree with the above assessment.

Some ideas:
Allow the PC version of this character to 'grow' into its power via a race specific class which uses Wizard as a template. I might suggest replacing craft item feats with the lower power traits, and replacing meta-magic feats with the more powerful traits. Then prerequisites may be attached to the powers which prevent PC abuse.

At early levels this creature as presented is too strong, but past level 10 it won't matter very much. Wizard meta magic feats start coming into their own about then anyway.

So, just as a suggestion: Extracurricular is available at level 1, Favored Spell at level 5, and Magical Savant at level 10.

Question: why would a race with a net damage penalty to strength specialize in melee? Especially a race of geniuses? This race is solidly in the rogue camp based on virtually everything presented, and they would be foolish to overlook this. While I can see some members of a team using polearms to extend their reach to 5', they would only be the ones who do not have a strength penalty. The rest would want a bit more distance between them and virtually anyone in combat.

Now, that is not intended to cause you to change your mind, but to explain what at first appears to be a logic error. It may be that they have poor depth perception, but this would affect ranged touch attacks as well.

Now I have a mental image of a tiny wizard mounted on his familiar.

Ooh! How about a squad mounted on a giant spider!