[3.5] Playable Deathless

[Thurbane]

Hey all,

Sorry to spam new topics, but this one just popped into my head.

Are there any "playable" Deathless creatures?

AFAIK, this is the full list of official Deathless:


Ascendant Councilor: 25 RHD, LA -
Crypt Warden: 9 RHD, no listed LA?
Sacred Watcher: template, +5 LA
Undying Councilor: 12 RHD, LA -
Undying Soldier: 4 RHD, no listed LA?
Undying Wizard: 3 RHD, no listed LA?

And of course the truly awful Risen Martyr PrC.

So, your options are LA +5, or a horrible PrC. Were Crypt Warden, Undying Soldier or Undying Wizard ever given LA? Were there any more in Deathless in Dragon Mag?

I know it would be fairly easy to home-brew a variant form of Necropolitan that uses Deathless instead of Undead, but I wanted to look at RAw options first.

Cheers - T

[Feantar]

To my knowledge, these are all the deathless in the books. The closest thing to another canon deathless is Archlich, a variant lich from Monsters of Faerun(I think) which, while undead, is turned by evil clerics (like deathless) and is of good alignment. Homebrew is your only option, unless there's some extra obscure deathless in a Dragon magazine somewhere.

[Thurbane]

Thanks for pointing out the Archlich (and Baelnorn) (MoF p.90): while not Deathless, they are definitely in the same ballpark. http://www.giantitp.com/forums/images/sand/icons/icon_thumbsup.png

I checked Dragondex (https://www.aeolia.net/dragondex/articles-subject.html): no mention of Deathless, except for a cleric domain (Dragon # 319).

Sometimes there was stuff tucked away in Dungeon too; but I doubt there would be any new Deathless.

Would be good if there was any errata that listed LA for Crypt Warden, Undying Soldier or Undying Wizard. :smallconfused:

[Falontani]

Thanks for pointing out the Archlich (and Baelnorn) (MoF p.90): while not Deathless, they are definitely in the same ballpark. http://www.giantitp.com/forums/images/sand/icons/icon_thumbsup.png

I checked Dragondex (https://www.aeolia.net/dragondex/articles-subject.html): no mention of Deathless, except for a cleric domain (Dragon # 319).

Sometimes there was stuff tucked away in Dungeon too; but I doubt there would be any new Deathless.

Would be good if there was any errata that listed LA for Crypt Warden, Undying Soldier or Undying Wizard. :smallconfused:

or if Inevitability could get around to it (he's working so hard on it already though).

[Troacctid]

I mean, anyone can assign a level adjustment. Inevitability doesn't have a monopoly or anything.

[Troacctid]

Here, here's a racial class for the undying soldier.

Undying Soldier

Base racial traits:

Medium: As Medium creatures, undying soldiers have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Lesser Deathless: Undying soldiers have the deathless type. However, unlike most deathless, they have a Constitution score, and they are not immune to poison, sleep effects, paralysis, stunning, disease, death effects, mind-affecting effects, or nonlethal damage, nor do they ignore extra damage from critical hits or sneak attacks. Instead, they gain a +4 racial bonus to saving throws against such effects, and they have a 50% chance to negate extra damage from critical hits or sneak attacks.
Undying soldier base land speed is 30 feet.
Weapon Proficiency: Undying soldiers are proficient with all simple weapons.
Nonlethal Damage Reduction: Undying soldiers have damage reduction 5/lethal. Their deathless nature allows them to resist nonlethal damage.

An undying soldier can improve her racial abilities by taking levels in the undying soldier racial class. Taking this class is not required, and it never incurs a multiclass xp penalty.



Level
HD
BAB
Skill points
Class abilities


1
1d12
+0
4 + Int
Deathless traits, no Constitution score, damage reduction 2/targath


2
2d12
+1
4 + Int
Blind-Fight, +2 Strength, damage reduction 3/targath


3
3d12
+1
4 + Int
+2 Wisdom, +2 Charisma, damage reduction 4/targath


4
4d12
+2
4 + Int
+2 Strength, smite evil, damage reduction 5/targath



Deathless Traits: At 1st level, an undying soldier becomes a full deathless, losing her Constitution score and gaining all the benefits and drawbacks of the deathless type (see Eberron Campaign Setting, page 275). This replaces the Lesser Deathless and Nonlethal Damage Reduction traits.

Damage Reduction: A 1st level undying soldier gains damage reduction 2/targath. At each subsequent undying soldier level, this damage reduction increases by 1.

Blind-Fight: At 2nd level, an undying soldier gains Blind-Fight as a bonus feat.

Smite Evil: At 4th level, an undying soldier gains the ability to smite evil. Once per day, when making an attack against an evil creature, the undying soldier can gain a +1 bonus to the attack roll and a +4 bonus to the damage roll. If the soldier accidentally smites a creature that is not evil, the smite has no effect but is still used up for the day.

[thethird]

Would It be overpowering to make necropolitan deathless?

[Thurbane]

Would It be overpowering to make necropolitan deathless?

I don't think it would be too bad. It might be worthy of LA +1, since Deathless gain most of the same immunities as Undead, but can still benefit from Cure spells etc. A DM would need to re-fluff/home-brew an alternative ritual to crucimigration, which is decidedly eeeevil.

Another approach would be to tone down Sacred Watcher until it got to a more manageable LA +2; although to be honest, permanent etherealness/incorporeality is probably going to be problematic on a PC.

[Feantar]

I don't think it would be too bad. It might be worthy of LA +1, since Deathless gain most of the same immunities as Undead, but can still benefit from Cure spells etc. A DM would need to re-fluff/home-brew an alternative ritual to crucimigration, which is decidedly eeeevil.

Another approach would be to tone down Sacred Watcher until it got to a more manageable LA +2; although to be honest, permanent etherealness/incorporeality is probably going to be problematic on a PC.

I don't think you need additional LA for lacking an ability that you can gain by spending a feat (Tomb Tainted Soul).

On the etherealness / incorporeality issue, maybe just use the Ghost template from Ghostwalk and change the type to deathless?

[Yogibear41]

A deathless Necropolitan would actually be worse than a regular Necropolitan because deathless don't have as many immunities as undead do, nor can they be spam healed by a dread necromancer for free.

[Thurbane]

Unless a party is specifically built around healing Undead, Cures are generally a lot easier to come by/more common than Inflicts or similar.

Still, valid points.

[Kelb_Panthera]

On the etherealness / incorporeality issue, maybe just use the Ghost template from Ghostwalk and change the type to deathless?

Ghostwalk ghosts are incorporeal outside of the area in and around the city of Manifest.