Aotrs Commander
2023-03-06, 07:45 PM
As I am preparing my Osirion mega-campaign, I got distracted completely sidetracked by looking up Garund and the southern bits beyond the Inner Sea Region. (I haven't gotten around to reading the 2E Lost Omens sourcebooks yet!)
Looking up Anadi mentined in the above, I was like "wait, spider-people! That's so cool!" I am not, in general, a fan of anthropamorphic animal people (lizard folk and not-Skaven, maybe), but the Anadi are Actually Spiders and that does and end run around my general distaste. ESPECIALLY as in my homebrew campaign world, I explictly have support for non-humanoid PC races (some of which have a dedicated monster class to not have 3.5's Level Adjustment).
So I thought, "sod, it, I HAVE to put those in as an option."
They are, however, apparently only native to 2E. Which required me to do some looking up on what the baseline stats for races/ancestries in 2E are.
And in doing so, I discovered SKELETONS ARE A PC RACE. Which is almost impressive enough to make me want to play 2E. It isn't, but it's right up there. (I've have killed to play an Actual Skelleington => Lich in Wrath of the Righteous instead of having to be *wince* something Vampire-Related. (Anyone who knows me can imagine how much that hurt...)) And at which point, it would I was honour-bound to have it in 3.Aotrs.
So I figured it would be worth having a little bit of a Sanity Check so see if this, sort of broadly fits in at about the level of PF1 races (at least on the sort of level of the slightly stronger ones like Aasimar et al). (I cross-posted this on the PF reddit as well.)
Suggestions would be appreciated.
So, presented below is an attempt to back-work Anadi to Pathfinder 1 (using some parts of my 3.Aotrs house rules-which-are-techically-its-own-edition, but which included here serve as a specific racial instance for everyone else). Commentary in italics.
Anadi
Species Traits:
Vermin (Anaid) type and subtype
I am leaning on giving them Vermin type not humanoid, given Aasimar and Tieflings are permitted to be Outsider, as an mentioned, on my other campaign world, I have no problems with nonhumanoid creatures being PC races. It also simplifies Change Shape via a vis Darkvision.
+2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, 2 Constitution
Medium Size.
Normal Speed: Anadi have a base speed of 30 feet. Anadi in spider form gain a Climb speed of 30 feet.
Extrapolated from the Climb speed of a Medium-sized spider monster.
Darkvision: Anadi can see in the dark up to 60 feet.
Vermin type.
Natural Weapons: Anasi gain one primary natural Bite attack (D6 plus one-and-a-half times the Anadi's Strength modifier) when in spider form.
Change Shape (Su): Anadi can change between spider form and humanoid form as a Standard action. The humanoid form can be of any humanoid species of Medium size. Each shape has a specific, persistent appearance that cannot be altered by the use of this ability. Gear worn in one form in one form will not meld into the body of the other, but if it cannot be worn or carried by the other form (such as armour without an appropriate enchantment), it falls to the ground in the Anadi's space.
Rules as extracted from my shapechanging tweaks (somewhere between 3.5 and PF1), and as set-up for dealing with nonhumanoid PCs. Most stuff will be fine, except stuff like armour or saddles or something (armour is noted in my rules as specifcally not being compatible between humanoid and nonhumanoid). As my default Change Shape rules are written, an Anadi that shifted into elf form would gain Low Light Vision, and a theorhetical humanoid that had Scent would also grant the Anadi Scent, but I feel in my games that would be functionally a non-existance occurance the point I'm not worried about the balance.
Lack of Manipulation: Because of their lack of hands, having only feet , Anadi in spider form cannot use objects easily. They suffer an effective 8 penalty to their Dexterity when attempting any tasks that requires fine manipulation (most craft skills, picking a lock, etc). This is in addition to any penalties for equipment of the wrong size. To pick up and manipulate an object of three size categories smaller than them requires DC 10 Dexterity check (each round when doing anything more than holding it). The DC rises by +3 for each size category smaller the object is. Directly ported from my rules for such in my homebrew campaign world rules for nonhumanoids.
Natural Spell: Anadi in spider form cast spells as if under the benefit of the Natural Spell feat. This does not apply to any other form they take via other means (such as Wild Shape). As Paizo intended, and neatly sidesteps Eschew Materials issues or anything like that.
Skilled: Anadi gain 1 additional skill rank at 1st level and 1 additional rank whenever they gain a level. Assuming Adaptive Anadi as a default, they need a bit more something than just not-human forms.
Skills: Anadi in Spider form gain +8 racial bonus on Climb checks may take 10 all Climb checks. Standard rules for having a climb speed. As they have a climb speed, they automatically don't lose their Dex when climbing anyway.
Languages: Anadi begin play speaking Common and Anadi.
Subraces
Assuming as written adaptive anadi are the default
Polychromatic Anadi Change Shape (Su): Polychromatic Anadis alternate form must be human.
Impressive Performance: Polychromatic Anadi gain Perfomance as a Class skill. In addition, they cane substitute a Performance check for a Diplomacy check. This replaces the Skilled ability.
Snaring Anadi Change Shape (Su): Snaring Anadis alternate form must be human.
Snaring Bite: In spdier form, the Snaring Anadis Bite weapon gains the Grapple and Trip special qualities. This replaces the Skilled ability.
Spindly Anadi Change Shape (Su): Spindly Anadis alternate form must be human.
Dash: Spindy Anadi gain Dash as a bonus feat. (In this instance this means +10 feet to all speeds with a light or less load, +5 feet to all reduced speeds with a medium or heavy load.) This replaces the Skilled ability.
Venomous Anadi Change Shape (Su): Spindly Anadis alternate form must be human.
Anadi Venom (Ex): Injury (Bite attack) (Fort DC 10+ ½ character level + Constitution modifier); frequency 1/round for 4 rounds (D2 Strength damage), cure 1 save..An venomous anadi can choose to apply the venom on a succesful hit. A venomous anadi can only generate a number of doses per day equal to their character level plus their Constitution bonus. This replaces the Skilled ability.
Basically again just cribbed Giant Spider venom, but given limit uses per day (and without the +2 racial bonus). Doses per day, because someone is going to figure "what about if we milk out mate for venom?" and I can't feasible say no...!
Beyond that, the web stuff is feat based so I can more or less just port that as racial feats.
Spirit-Bound Skeleton
"Spirit-Bound" to simply distinguish it from regular skeletons. What follows is essentially a slightly cut-down version of the PF1 skeleton template, with aspects of the Skeleton Champion templates added in. The Vuilnerabilieis section ratchets back some of the bit a little bit to bring it in line with what I suspect in PF2 is the lack of so many blanket immnuties, while also lining up with the Negative Survival thing thematically.
Species Traits: Undead (Augmented Humanoid) type and subtype. Spirit-Bound Skeletons gain all the standard abilities of the Undead type, except as noted below.
+2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, 2 Intelligence. As undead creature, Spirit-Bound Skeletons have no Constitution score. (To compensate for the lower number of stats to distrubute to, a Spirit Bound Skeleton is assumed to have had a Constitution of 10 in life, and subsequently receives 2 less stat points to assign.)
Medium: Spirit-Bound skeletons are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Normal Speed: Spirit-Bound Skeletons have a base speed of 30 feet.
Darkvision: Spirit-Bound Skeletons can see in the dark up to 60 feet.
Natural Armour: Spirit-Bound Skeletons have a +2 Natural Armour bonus. (From standard skeleton template, the race shouldn't be strictly worse than an animated skeleton.)
Natural Weapons: Spirit-Bound Skeletons gain two primary Claw attacks (D4 plus Strength modifier damage) (Ditto.)
Armour and Weapon Proficiencies: Spirit-Bound Skeletons are not proficient with any weapons or armour by default. (Clarification since Undead are stated be proficient wuith armour and weapons listed in their description; thus an Implied-but-not-Stated fix.)
Damage Reduction: Spirit-Bound Skeletons gain Damage Reduction 5/Bludgeoning (From standard skeleton template.)
Immunities: Spirit-Bound Skeletons gain Immunity to Cold. (From standard skeleton template.)
In my 3.Aotrs/house rules, they would also be immune to Shadow damage, which is explcitly, like, the darkness-inverse of radiant/laser damage, but That's Not A Thing in regular PF1.
Vulnerabilities: Unlike regular Undead, Spirit-Bound Skeletons gain a +4 bonus on saving throws against Mind-Affecting effects, but not are not Immune to them. They are further subject to Exhaustion, Fatigue and Paralysis effects that result from Mind-Affecting effects or that require a Will saving throw.
Negative Survival: Unlike normal undead, Spirit-Bound Skeletons aren't destroyed when reduced to 0 Hit Points. They gain a Death Threshold equal to that of a living creature and are otherwise treated as a living creature when reduced to 0 or less hit points (i.e. Staggered a 0 hit points, Dying at 2 hit points or less), substituing a Charisma check for a Consitution check where required. Note however, as undead creatures, they cannot be Stabilised by nonmagical outside means (e.g. a Heal check) or by effects which are based on positive energy or only work on living beings (e.g. the Stabilise spell). When the Spirit-Bound Skeleton reaches its Death Threshold, it is destroyed rather than killed like regular Undead.
"Death Threshold" is whatever point a creature is normally killd by hit point damage, i.e. negative Con in PF1 (for my rules, whichever is more favourable out of negative Con or half negative maximum hit points.)
Quiescence: As Undead, Spirit-Bound Skeletons do not require sleep, water or food. However, due to their special nature, they must have a period of four hours of quiescence per day.
The vulnerability to mind-affecting stuff seemed to be a way to keep them from being otherwise arguably A Bit Too Good for an essentially +0 LA equivalent. (I mean, 3.5 only had that one Necropolian and even THAT was RAW impossible to start at at level one, because you had to lose a level and 1000XP to gain the template, and if that reduced to 0 XP (like a starting 1st level character has) you were destroyed.)
In PF2, them having to have a period of torpor instead of sleep fitted with their flavour of a fractured mind. It also seemed a bit easier to thematically fit in than, say, reducing their DR or cold immunity.
(But I discarded the idea of them having any kind of food subsitute, since at the point you have a Con score, have to "sleep" for four hours and "eat" bones, are still subject to disease and poison, you're basically not REALLY Undead, you're just something with 3.5's Tomb-Tainted Soul and some artistic flavour.)
Gaining full Undead mind-affecting immunity also sounds like an ideal thing for a racial feat to add at some level (5/10?)
Subraces
Small Skeletons
Some Spirit-Bound Skeletons arise from smaller creatures, such as goblins or halflings.
Small Size: Size changes to Small. Speed is unchanged, but the Natural Armour bonus is reduced to +1, and the Claw Damage to D3.
Looking up Anadi mentined in the above, I was like "wait, spider-people! That's so cool!" I am not, in general, a fan of anthropamorphic animal people (lizard folk and not-Skaven, maybe), but the Anadi are Actually Spiders and that does and end run around my general distaste. ESPECIALLY as in my homebrew campaign world, I explictly have support for non-humanoid PC races (some of which have a dedicated monster class to not have 3.5's Level Adjustment).
So I thought, "sod, it, I HAVE to put those in as an option."
They are, however, apparently only native to 2E. Which required me to do some looking up on what the baseline stats for races/ancestries in 2E are.
And in doing so, I discovered SKELETONS ARE A PC RACE. Which is almost impressive enough to make me want to play 2E. It isn't, but it's right up there. (I've have killed to play an Actual Skelleington => Lich in Wrath of the Righteous instead of having to be *wince* something Vampire-Related. (Anyone who knows me can imagine how much that hurt...)) And at which point, it would I was honour-bound to have it in 3.Aotrs.
So I figured it would be worth having a little bit of a Sanity Check so see if this, sort of broadly fits in at about the level of PF1 races (at least on the sort of level of the slightly stronger ones like Aasimar et al). (I cross-posted this on the PF reddit as well.)
Suggestions would be appreciated.
So, presented below is an attempt to back-work Anadi to Pathfinder 1 (using some parts of my 3.Aotrs house rules-which-are-techically-its-own-edition, but which included here serve as a specific racial instance for everyone else). Commentary in italics.
Anadi
Species Traits:
Vermin (Anaid) type and subtype
I am leaning on giving them Vermin type not humanoid, given Aasimar and Tieflings are permitted to be Outsider, as an mentioned, on my other campaign world, I have no problems with nonhumanoid creatures being PC races. It also simplifies Change Shape via a vis Darkvision.
+2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, 2 Constitution
Medium Size.
Normal Speed: Anadi have a base speed of 30 feet. Anadi in spider form gain a Climb speed of 30 feet.
Extrapolated from the Climb speed of a Medium-sized spider monster.
Darkvision: Anadi can see in the dark up to 60 feet.
Vermin type.
Natural Weapons: Anasi gain one primary natural Bite attack (D6 plus one-and-a-half times the Anadi's Strength modifier) when in spider form.
Change Shape (Su): Anadi can change between spider form and humanoid form as a Standard action. The humanoid form can be of any humanoid species of Medium size. Each shape has a specific, persistent appearance that cannot be altered by the use of this ability. Gear worn in one form in one form will not meld into the body of the other, but if it cannot be worn or carried by the other form (such as armour without an appropriate enchantment), it falls to the ground in the Anadi's space.
Rules as extracted from my shapechanging tweaks (somewhere between 3.5 and PF1), and as set-up for dealing with nonhumanoid PCs. Most stuff will be fine, except stuff like armour or saddles or something (armour is noted in my rules as specifcally not being compatible between humanoid and nonhumanoid). As my default Change Shape rules are written, an Anadi that shifted into elf form would gain Low Light Vision, and a theorhetical humanoid that had Scent would also grant the Anadi Scent, but I feel in my games that would be functionally a non-existance occurance the point I'm not worried about the balance.
Lack of Manipulation: Because of their lack of hands, having only feet , Anadi in spider form cannot use objects easily. They suffer an effective 8 penalty to their Dexterity when attempting any tasks that requires fine manipulation (most craft skills, picking a lock, etc). This is in addition to any penalties for equipment of the wrong size. To pick up and manipulate an object of three size categories smaller than them requires DC 10 Dexterity check (each round when doing anything more than holding it). The DC rises by +3 for each size category smaller the object is. Directly ported from my rules for such in my homebrew campaign world rules for nonhumanoids.
Natural Spell: Anadi in spider form cast spells as if under the benefit of the Natural Spell feat. This does not apply to any other form they take via other means (such as Wild Shape). As Paizo intended, and neatly sidesteps Eschew Materials issues or anything like that.
Skilled: Anadi gain 1 additional skill rank at 1st level and 1 additional rank whenever they gain a level. Assuming Adaptive Anadi as a default, they need a bit more something than just not-human forms.
Skills: Anadi in Spider form gain +8 racial bonus on Climb checks may take 10 all Climb checks. Standard rules for having a climb speed. As they have a climb speed, they automatically don't lose their Dex when climbing anyway.
Languages: Anadi begin play speaking Common and Anadi.
Subraces
Assuming as written adaptive anadi are the default
Polychromatic Anadi Change Shape (Su): Polychromatic Anadis alternate form must be human.
Impressive Performance: Polychromatic Anadi gain Perfomance as a Class skill. In addition, they cane substitute a Performance check for a Diplomacy check. This replaces the Skilled ability.
Snaring Anadi Change Shape (Su): Snaring Anadis alternate form must be human.
Snaring Bite: In spdier form, the Snaring Anadis Bite weapon gains the Grapple and Trip special qualities. This replaces the Skilled ability.
Spindly Anadi Change Shape (Su): Spindly Anadis alternate form must be human.
Dash: Spindy Anadi gain Dash as a bonus feat. (In this instance this means +10 feet to all speeds with a light or less load, +5 feet to all reduced speeds with a medium or heavy load.) This replaces the Skilled ability.
Venomous Anadi Change Shape (Su): Spindly Anadis alternate form must be human.
Anadi Venom (Ex): Injury (Bite attack) (Fort DC 10+ ½ character level + Constitution modifier); frequency 1/round for 4 rounds (D2 Strength damage), cure 1 save..An venomous anadi can choose to apply the venom on a succesful hit. A venomous anadi can only generate a number of doses per day equal to their character level plus their Constitution bonus. This replaces the Skilled ability.
Basically again just cribbed Giant Spider venom, but given limit uses per day (and without the +2 racial bonus). Doses per day, because someone is going to figure "what about if we milk out mate for venom?" and I can't feasible say no...!
Beyond that, the web stuff is feat based so I can more or less just port that as racial feats.
Spirit-Bound Skeleton
"Spirit-Bound" to simply distinguish it from regular skeletons. What follows is essentially a slightly cut-down version of the PF1 skeleton template, with aspects of the Skeleton Champion templates added in. The Vuilnerabilieis section ratchets back some of the bit a little bit to bring it in line with what I suspect in PF2 is the lack of so many blanket immnuties, while also lining up with the Negative Survival thing thematically.
Species Traits: Undead (Augmented Humanoid) type and subtype. Spirit-Bound Skeletons gain all the standard abilities of the Undead type, except as noted below.
+2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, 2 Intelligence. As undead creature, Spirit-Bound Skeletons have no Constitution score. (To compensate for the lower number of stats to distrubute to, a Spirit Bound Skeleton is assumed to have had a Constitution of 10 in life, and subsequently receives 2 less stat points to assign.)
Medium: Spirit-Bound skeletons are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Normal Speed: Spirit-Bound Skeletons have a base speed of 30 feet.
Darkvision: Spirit-Bound Skeletons can see in the dark up to 60 feet.
Natural Armour: Spirit-Bound Skeletons have a +2 Natural Armour bonus. (From standard skeleton template, the race shouldn't be strictly worse than an animated skeleton.)
Natural Weapons: Spirit-Bound Skeletons gain two primary Claw attacks (D4 plus Strength modifier damage) (Ditto.)
Armour and Weapon Proficiencies: Spirit-Bound Skeletons are not proficient with any weapons or armour by default. (Clarification since Undead are stated be proficient wuith armour and weapons listed in their description; thus an Implied-but-not-Stated fix.)
Damage Reduction: Spirit-Bound Skeletons gain Damage Reduction 5/Bludgeoning (From standard skeleton template.)
Immunities: Spirit-Bound Skeletons gain Immunity to Cold. (From standard skeleton template.)
In my 3.Aotrs/house rules, they would also be immune to Shadow damage, which is explcitly, like, the darkness-inverse of radiant/laser damage, but That's Not A Thing in regular PF1.
Vulnerabilities: Unlike regular Undead, Spirit-Bound Skeletons gain a +4 bonus on saving throws against Mind-Affecting effects, but not are not Immune to them. They are further subject to Exhaustion, Fatigue and Paralysis effects that result from Mind-Affecting effects or that require a Will saving throw.
Negative Survival: Unlike normal undead, Spirit-Bound Skeletons aren't destroyed when reduced to 0 Hit Points. They gain a Death Threshold equal to that of a living creature and are otherwise treated as a living creature when reduced to 0 or less hit points (i.e. Staggered a 0 hit points, Dying at 2 hit points or less), substituing a Charisma check for a Consitution check where required. Note however, as undead creatures, they cannot be Stabilised by nonmagical outside means (e.g. a Heal check) or by effects which are based on positive energy or only work on living beings (e.g. the Stabilise spell). When the Spirit-Bound Skeleton reaches its Death Threshold, it is destroyed rather than killed like regular Undead.
"Death Threshold" is whatever point a creature is normally killd by hit point damage, i.e. negative Con in PF1 (for my rules, whichever is more favourable out of negative Con or half negative maximum hit points.)
Quiescence: As Undead, Spirit-Bound Skeletons do not require sleep, water or food. However, due to their special nature, they must have a period of four hours of quiescence per day.
The vulnerability to mind-affecting stuff seemed to be a way to keep them from being otherwise arguably A Bit Too Good for an essentially +0 LA equivalent. (I mean, 3.5 only had that one Necropolian and even THAT was RAW impossible to start at at level one, because you had to lose a level and 1000XP to gain the template, and if that reduced to 0 XP (like a starting 1st level character has) you were destroyed.)
In PF2, them having to have a period of torpor instead of sleep fitted with their flavour of a fractured mind. It also seemed a bit easier to thematically fit in than, say, reducing their DR or cold immunity.
(But I discarded the idea of them having any kind of food subsitute, since at the point you have a Con score, have to "sleep" for four hours and "eat" bones, are still subject to disease and poison, you're basically not REALLY Undead, you're just something with 3.5's Tomb-Tainted Soul and some artistic flavour.)
Gaining full Undead mind-affecting immunity also sounds like an ideal thing for a racial feat to add at some level (5/10?)
Subraces
Small Skeletons
Some Spirit-Bound Skeletons arise from smaller creatures, such as goblins or halflings.
Small Size: Size changes to Small. Speed is unchanged, but the Natural Armour bonus is reduced to +1, and the Claw Damage to D3.