ChudoJogurt
2022-02-21, 04:46 PM
I'm sort of doing a campaign with a lot of monsters-with-character-classes sort of thing.
And as is no secret to anyone who noticed the LA-assignment thread, rules for LA suck in D&D.
So I'm trying to homebrew lesser templates for vampires and were-things, that won't let me (or players, if they get them) to break stuff, and I need some help assigning LA and watching out for potential pitfalls.
It's largely based off Savage Progressions, but there are some editing liberties.
Please help out.
Weretouched creature
It's a template that can be applied to any humanoid of at most Large Size.
--Gain "Shapechnger" subtype. (Is that actually worth anything other than Warshaper early entry?)
--Gain +2 Wis
--Gain +1 Natural armor
--Gain vulnerability to silver (attacks with silver weapons deal 50% more damage)
--Gain 1 animal RHD.
--Gain ability to change into hybrid animal/humanoid form 1/day,
It's a Su ability, that acts as Alter Self, turning one into a Hybrid form of a Lycnanthrope (gives claw/bite, +2 to natural armor, +10 Speed) except as follows:
-- -- it lasts 1 hour/hd,
-- -- it grants the Scent ability
LA +0
Least Vampire
It's a template that can be applied to any humanoid of at most Large Size, and at least 3HD
--Gain Undead type (losing Constitution)
--Change alignment to Evil
--Change all HDs to d12
--Gain +2 to Dex
--Gain Resistance to Electricity 5, Cold 5
--Gain Darkvision 60ft
--Gain Turn Resistance +2
--Gain Dodge as Feat
--Wall Walker
As a move action, you can run up or down a vertical surface a total distance of up to half your speed without making a Climb check. You can use this ability only once per round (so you can't make a double move up or down a wall).
If you do not reach the top of the vertical surface or find a suitable hand- or foothold, you must make a Climb check appropriate to the surface. If you succeed on the check, you can use this ability again in the next round. Otherwise, you fall or make no progress, as determined by the check result.
You can't use this ability to traverse a ceiling or overhang
--Gain a +2 racial bonus on Bluff, Listen, Search, Sense Motive, and Spot checks.
--Least Blood Drain (Ex): Least vampire can attempt to bite a victim with his growing fangs and suck blood. If the vampire makes a successful grapple check and pins the foe, it sucks blood, dealing 1 point of Constitution damage each round that the pin is maintained. With each such successful attack, the vampire gains 1 hit point.
--Inescapable Craving (blood): A least vampire takes 1d4 Str damage each day, unless it either feeds (dealing at least 3 points of Con damage) or makes a successful DC 25 Will save.
--Light Sensitivity: Dazed by sudden sunlight, dazzled otherwise (like Orcs or Drow)
-- Vampiric Appearance: Tall, dark, pale, that sort of thing. Can be recognized as undead creature of the night with a Spot (DC 15) roll by anyone familiar with vampires. Can substitute a DC with a roll of Disguise, but receive -2 racial penalty.
LA +1
Lesser Vampire
AS Least Vampire.
Except can only be applied to creatures with at least 5HD
In addition:
--Gain additional +4 Str, +2 Cha, +2 Wis
--Gain Alertness, Improved Initiative as feats
--Gain Gaseous Form(Sp) (caster level 5, once/day)
--Gain Dominate Person (Su, gaze): Requires Standard Action, 1/day, Range 10ft.
--Lesser Blood Drain: same as Least, but deals 1d4 Con damage and grants 5 hp per round.
--Spider Climb (Su) permanent
--Coffin Sanctuary (Ex):A vampire chooses a coffin or similar small enclosed space as his primary resting place. Thereafter, if he is brought to 0 or fewer hit points (if undead) while outside the coffin, he is forced to assume gaseous form immediately and flee for his coffin so that he may heal. If the vampire cannot use his vampiric ability to assume gaseous form (for example, if he has expended all his daily uses of that ability), he cannot enter gaseous form under these circumstances and is destroyed immediately.
Any damage dealt to the vampire after he is forced into gaseous form has no effect. If the duration of his gaseous form ability expires before he reaches his coffin, or more than 2 hours pass after he is forced into gaseous form in this way, the vampire must assume his normal form at his current location. In that case, he is destroyed. If he succeeds in reaching his coffin, he is helpless for 1 hour, after which he heals 1 hit point and the helplessness ends. A nonhelpless vampire resting in his coffin has fast healing 1.
--Daylight Powerlessness (Ex): Lesser Vampires are utterly powerless in natural sunlight (not merely a daylight spell) and flee from it. A lesser vampire caught in sunlight cannot attack and can take only partial actions.
--Vampire Aversions: Creatures carrying garlic, holy symbol, anointed by (or just wet with) holy water are considered to be under the effect of Protection Against Evil in regards to the vampire or effects produced by his vampiric powers (thus Dominate person produced by the above ability is supressed, for example)
--Vampire Prohibitions:
Vampires need to make a Will save (DC 15) to cross a stream of running water or Will Save (DC 15+HD of highest inhabiting creature) to enter a their dwelling uninvited.
--Lose Inescapable Craving, and gain Diet Dependent for the same instead (mechanically the same, except Will DC is 15 and every 3 days)
--Disguise penalty increases to -5
LA+2
Feel that's bit much for +2. Should I make it +3 instead?
Vampire Vampire
As Lesser Vampire.
Except can only be applied to creatures of at least 10HD
In addition:
--Gain additional +4 Dex, +2 Cha (for a total of +4 Str, +6 Dex, +4 Cha, +2 Wis)
--Gain Damage Resistance 5/magic and silver
--Cold damage deals nonlethal damage instead of decreasing hp (despite being undead, Vampires are not considered immune to this nonlethal damage)
--Electricity Resistance increases to 10
--Dominate person at will, but no more than 1 dominated person per vampire's 2 HD at any one time. If attempting more Dominates, every Dominated person gets additional Will Save every hour, until the number of active Dominate Person effects goes below the limit of 1 dominated person per 2 HD of the Vampire.
--Gaseous Form at will, with indefinite duration
--Greater Blood Drain: same as Least, but deals 1d4 Con damage or 1 stackable Negative level, and grants 5 hp per round. If Vampire's HP are full, he may get temp hp instead, stacking up to 3 temporary hp per HD.
These temp HP last until next sunrise.
--Gain Lightning Reflexes and Combat Reflexes as Bonus Feats
--Gain additional +4 Turn Resistance.
--Gain additional +4 racial bonus on Bluff, Listen, Search, Sense Motive, and Spot checks.
--Gain +6 bonus to Diplomacy, Intimidate, Move Silently, Hide
--Gain Dimension Door as (Sp) Move action, to a range of 10ft per 2HD
--Fast Healing increases to 5 when in coffin
--Vampiric Aversions: As Lesser, except creatures (and even corresponding unattended objects) are considered to be under the permanent effect of Magic Circle Against Evil instead. The Vampire needs to make a Will save DC 15 to get closer than 10ft to those objects or creatures holding them.
--Vampiric Prohibitions: DC increases to 25
--Daylight Vulnerability: Instead of Daylight Powerlessness and Light Sensitivity, the Vampire loses 1/2 of his maximum hit points for every round in direct sunlight. If this decreases them to below 0 hit points, they are immediately destroyed.
--Lose Diet Dependency.
LA+3 (or +1 compared to Lesser Variant)
Maybe LA +2/+4/+5 makes more sense?
Vampire, Alchemical
(this is a sort of setting-necessary thing, that is derived from this homebrew idea:
https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?632345-The-Curse-of-the-Dead-River-Help-me-tune-my-idea
Can be applied to any humanoid creature.
--No changes to size, type, etc, except:
--Command (SU, as spell, at will)
--Gain +2 Dex,
--Gain +2 natural armor,
--Gain Dimension Hop as Su ability once every 5 rounds.
--Increase HD by one step. If HD is d12, gain +1 hp per level instead.
--Power of Blood: The alchemical vampire experiences hunger for raw meat, and any time he eats raw, non-dried meat or drinks blood, he heals 1hp and gains 1d8+1 temporary hit points that last until next sunrise.
if they eat of a still-living thing (which is an Evil act) they gin a +2 profane bonus to Strength for 2 hours per HD of the source creature.
--Alchemical Vampire cannot be healed by positive energy. They are still harmed by negative energy, as any living creature.
--Whenever in direct sunlight they receive 1d6 damage per round. The damage is a direct result of their curse, and thus cannot be fixed with Resist Elements, element resistance, and the like. If they have temporary HP gained by Power of Blood they receive 2d6 damage per round instead.
--Diet Dependent: If an alchemical vampire goes a week without feeding (as per Power of Blood) they must roll Fortitude (DC 18). If they win, nothing happens. If they don't, they lose their Command ability, decrease max hp by 1 per HD, lose bonuses to Dex and Natural Armor, and receive 1d6 Str damage. If they fail by more than 10, they lose this template (as if losing a level, that subsequently cannot be restored by any means) and instead gain Stage 3 Curse of Eternal Hunger.
LA+1
This is a bit... haphazardly written, but I hope it still makes sense.
Would be much obliged if someone would note anything vampire-y (or werewolf-y respectively) that I missed, anything unclear, anything broken, and, of course, whether the LA estimations make sense.
And as is no secret to anyone who noticed the LA-assignment thread, rules for LA suck in D&D.
So I'm trying to homebrew lesser templates for vampires and were-things, that won't let me (or players, if they get them) to break stuff, and I need some help assigning LA and watching out for potential pitfalls.
It's largely based off Savage Progressions, but there are some editing liberties.
Please help out.
Weretouched creature
It's a template that can be applied to any humanoid of at most Large Size.
--Gain "Shapechnger" subtype. (Is that actually worth anything other than Warshaper early entry?)
--Gain +2 Wis
--Gain +1 Natural armor
--Gain vulnerability to silver (attacks with silver weapons deal 50% more damage)
--Gain 1 animal RHD.
--Gain ability to change into hybrid animal/humanoid form 1/day,
It's a Su ability, that acts as Alter Self, turning one into a Hybrid form of a Lycnanthrope (gives claw/bite, +2 to natural armor, +10 Speed) except as follows:
-- -- it lasts 1 hour/hd,
-- -- it grants the Scent ability
LA +0
Least Vampire
It's a template that can be applied to any humanoid of at most Large Size, and at least 3HD
--Gain Undead type (losing Constitution)
--Change alignment to Evil
--Change all HDs to d12
--Gain +2 to Dex
--Gain Resistance to Electricity 5, Cold 5
--Gain Darkvision 60ft
--Gain Turn Resistance +2
--Gain Dodge as Feat
--Wall Walker
As a move action, you can run up or down a vertical surface a total distance of up to half your speed without making a Climb check. You can use this ability only once per round (so you can't make a double move up or down a wall).
If you do not reach the top of the vertical surface or find a suitable hand- or foothold, you must make a Climb check appropriate to the surface. If you succeed on the check, you can use this ability again in the next round. Otherwise, you fall or make no progress, as determined by the check result.
You can't use this ability to traverse a ceiling or overhang
--Gain a +2 racial bonus on Bluff, Listen, Search, Sense Motive, and Spot checks.
--Least Blood Drain (Ex): Least vampire can attempt to bite a victim with his growing fangs and suck blood. If the vampire makes a successful grapple check and pins the foe, it sucks blood, dealing 1 point of Constitution damage each round that the pin is maintained. With each such successful attack, the vampire gains 1 hit point.
--Inescapable Craving (blood): A least vampire takes 1d4 Str damage each day, unless it either feeds (dealing at least 3 points of Con damage) or makes a successful DC 25 Will save.
--Light Sensitivity: Dazed by sudden sunlight, dazzled otherwise (like Orcs or Drow)
-- Vampiric Appearance: Tall, dark, pale, that sort of thing. Can be recognized as undead creature of the night with a Spot (DC 15) roll by anyone familiar with vampires. Can substitute a DC with a roll of Disguise, but receive -2 racial penalty.
LA +1
Lesser Vampire
AS Least Vampire.
Except can only be applied to creatures with at least 5HD
In addition:
--Gain additional +4 Str, +2 Cha, +2 Wis
--Gain Alertness, Improved Initiative as feats
--Gain Gaseous Form(Sp) (caster level 5, once/day)
--Gain Dominate Person (Su, gaze): Requires Standard Action, 1/day, Range 10ft.
--Lesser Blood Drain: same as Least, but deals 1d4 Con damage and grants 5 hp per round.
--Spider Climb (Su) permanent
--Coffin Sanctuary (Ex):A vampire chooses a coffin or similar small enclosed space as his primary resting place. Thereafter, if he is brought to 0 or fewer hit points (if undead) while outside the coffin, he is forced to assume gaseous form immediately and flee for his coffin so that he may heal. If the vampire cannot use his vampiric ability to assume gaseous form (for example, if he has expended all his daily uses of that ability), he cannot enter gaseous form under these circumstances and is destroyed immediately.
Any damage dealt to the vampire after he is forced into gaseous form has no effect. If the duration of his gaseous form ability expires before he reaches his coffin, or more than 2 hours pass after he is forced into gaseous form in this way, the vampire must assume his normal form at his current location. In that case, he is destroyed. If he succeeds in reaching his coffin, he is helpless for 1 hour, after which he heals 1 hit point and the helplessness ends. A nonhelpless vampire resting in his coffin has fast healing 1.
--Daylight Powerlessness (Ex): Lesser Vampires are utterly powerless in natural sunlight (not merely a daylight spell) and flee from it. A lesser vampire caught in sunlight cannot attack and can take only partial actions.
--Vampire Aversions: Creatures carrying garlic, holy symbol, anointed by (or just wet with) holy water are considered to be under the effect of Protection Against Evil in regards to the vampire or effects produced by his vampiric powers (thus Dominate person produced by the above ability is supressed, for example)
--Vampire Prohibitions:
Vampires need to make a Will save (DC 15) to cross a stream of running water or Will Save (DC 15+HD of highest inhabiting creature) to enter a their dwelling uninvited.
--Lose Inescapable Craving, and gain Diet Dependent for the same instead (mechanically the same, except Will DC is 15 and every 3 days)
--Disguise penalty increases to -5
LA+2
Feel that's bit much for +2. Should I make it +3 instead?
Vampire Vampire
As Lesser Vampire.
Except can only be applied to creatures of at least 10HD
In addition:
--Gain additional +4 Dex, +2 Cha (for a total of +4 Str, +6 Dex, +4 Cha, +2 Wis)
--Gain Damage Resistance 5/magic and silver
--Cold damage deals nonlethal damage instead of decreasing hp (despite being undead, Vampires are not considered immune to this nonlethal damage)
--Electricity Resistance increases to 10
--Dominate person at will, but no more than 1 dominated person per vampire's 2 HD at any one time. If attempting more Dominates, every Dominated person gets additional Will Save every hour, until the number of active Dominate Person effects goes below the limit of 1 dominated person per 2 HD of the Vampire.
--Gaseous Form at will, with indefinite duration
--Greater Blood Drain: same as Least, but deals 1d4 Con damage or 1 stackable Negative level, and grants 5 hp per round. If Vampire's HP are full, he may get temp hp instead, stacking up to 3 temporary hp per HD.
These temp HP last until next sunrise.
--Gain Lightning Reflexes and Combat Reflexes as Bonus Feats
--Gain additional +4 Turn Resistance.
--Gain additional +4 racial bonus on Bluff, Listen, Search, Sense Motive, and Spot checks.
--Gain +6 bonus to Diplomacy, Intimidate, Move Silently, Hide
--Gain Dimension Door as (Sp) Move action, to a range of 10ft per 2HD
--Fast Healing increases to 5 when in coffin
--Vampiric Aversions: As Lesser, except creatures (and even corresponding unattended objects) are considered to be under the permanent effect of Magic Circle Against Evil instead. The Vampire needs to make a Will save DC 15 to get closer than 10ft to those objects or creatures holding them.
--Vampiric Prohibitions: DC increases to 25
--Daylight Vulnerability: Instead of Daylight Powerlessness and Light Sensitivity, the Vampire loses 1/2 of his maximum hit points for every round in direct sunlight. If this decreases them to below 0 hit points, they are immediately destroyed.
--Lose Diet Dependency.
LA+3 (or +1 compared to Lesser Variant)
Maybe LA +2/+4/+5 makes more sense?
Vampire, Alchemical
(this is a sort of setting-necessary thing, that is derived from this homebrew idea:
https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?632345-The-Curse-of-the-Dead-River-Help-me-tune-my-idea
Can be applied to any humanoid creature.
--No changes to size, type, etc, except:
--Command (SU, as spell, at will)
--Gain +2 Dex,
--Gain +2 natural armor,
--Gain Dimension Hop as Su ability once every 5 rounds.
--Increase HD by one step. If HD is d12, gain +1 hp per level instead.
--Power of Blood: The alchemical vampire experiences hunger for raw meat, and any time he eats raw, non-dried meat or drinks blood, he heals 1hp and gains 1d8+1 temporary hit points that last until next sunrise.
if they eat of a still-living thing (which is an Evil act) they gin a +2 profane bonus to Strength for 2 hours per HD of the source creature.
--Alchemical Vampire cannot be healed by positive energy. They are still harmed by negative energy, as any living creature.
--Whenever in direct sunlight they receive 1d6 damage per round. The damage is a direct result of their curse, and thus cannot be fixed with Resist Elements, element resistance, and the like. If they have temporary HP gained by Power of Blood they receive 2d6 damage per round instead.
--Diet Dependent: If an alchemical vampire goes a week without feeding (as per Power of Blood) they must roll Fortitude (DC 18). If they win, nothing happens. If they don't, they lose their Command ability, decrease max hp by 1 per HD, lose bonuses to Dex and Natural Armor, and receive 1d6 Str damage. If they fail by more than 10, they lose this template (as if losing a level, that subsequently cannot be restored by any means) and instead gain Stage 3 Curse of Eternal Hunger.
LA+1
This is a bit... haphazardly written, but I hope it still makes sense.
Would be much obliged if someone would note anything vampire-y (or werewolf-y respectively) that I missed, anything unclear, anything broken, and, of course, whether the LA estimations make sense.