How to qualify for Restless Prey

[Minruned]

The Restless Prey template, from the MMVI Web Enhancement, comes with a whole slew of powerful special abilities, the most notable of which is gaining a plus two profane bonus to Charisma for every other Restless Prey within thirty feet, with no limit.
The most notable problem with exploiting this, (deliberately setting aside the matter of acquiring other Restless Prey) is the the type requisite for the template: Animal, Vermin, or Beast. The only remotely playable race that I could find that met these criteria was the Hairy Spider (from the MoF Web Enhancement), but I'm puzzled as to how to give it an Intelligence score without changing its type from Vermin beforehand, which would disqualify it from Restless Prey.
A post-mortem Awaken Undead spell also doesn't allow the theoretical Undead Hairy Spider to gain an Intelligence score, because Awaken Undead caps you at the race's average Int score, which, in our case, is —. The only method directly of Awakening a Vermin that I know of, the Verminlord's aptly-named Awaken Vermin ability would require DM fiat to roll into the character's backstory. Are there any other methods of somehow giving our Hairy Spider an Int score without changing its type? Any other LA+0 candidates for Restless Prey? Or is it simply not possible?

[Saintheart]

I don't have a direct answer for this, but Uncle Kitty's Master List of Templates (https://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=12219.0) might be of some assistance, maybe.

About the only point I'd add is that while Restless Prey's qualifying types include "Beast", that type doesn't exist at 3.5 - it likely could be read as Magical Beast instead. Not all Magical Beasts are at INT 3 or less - Unicorns are one such exception.

[pabelfly]

I don't have a direct answer for this, but Uncle Kitty's Master List of Templates (https://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=12219.0) might be of some assistance, maybe.

About the only point I'd add is that while Restless Prey's qualifying types include "Beast", that type doesn't exist at 3.5 - it likely could be read as Magical Beast instead. Not all Magical Beasts are at INT 3 or less - Unicorns are one such exception.

If we can apply it to magical beast, I think the lowest ECL Magical Beast is Abrian from Fiend Folio, with 1 LA and 2 HD.

[Maat Mons]

I’m skeptical of applying the template to Magical Beasts, since Magical Beast was already a type in 3.0. But, if it’s allowed, Beguiler (the creature, not the class) has an LA of +0 (cohort). There are also the Primeval and Whitehorn prestige classes, to change your type to Magical Beast.

[GeoffWatson]

I don't have a direct answer for this, but Uncle Kitty's Master List of Templates (https://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=12219.0) might be of some assistance, maybe.

About the only point I'd add is that while Restless Prey's qualifying types include "Beast", that type doesn't exist at 3.5 - it likely could be read as Magical Beast instead. Not all Magical Beasts are at INT 3 or less - Unicorns are one such exception.

Beasts in 3.0 became Animals in 3.5 - they were just animals that didn't exist in the real world.

[Tzardok]

Beasts in 3.0 became Animals in 3.5 - they were just animals that didn't exist in the real world.

Most, like dinosaurs and rocs, did, but some instead were deemed too fantastical and became magical beasts, like hippogriphs and owlbears.

[Inevitability]

There's an argument, similar but slightly stronger than the one for unseelie fey being +0 LA, that wolves have +2 LA.

Unapproachable East has the Telthor template, which is +2 LA and otherwise unimportant. However, the sample creature is a telthor wolf, which inexplicably has been given +4 LA. Conclusion: a wolf is a 2 RHD, +2 LA creature.

Something you will have to determine is whether Unapproachable East has the authority to make that claim at all. On the one hand, it was printed after the MM and can thus theoretically update MM material. On the other, it's less of a primary source.

However you want to spin it, it's certainly not the only time an unplayable monster got assigned a LA in a later book; medusas in PGtE are a notable example, and there making them playable is unambiguously the authors' intent.

[Rebel7284]

Anyone have a link to this web enhancement? I can't seem to find it (and as far as I know, web enhancements are completely fair game for sharing)

edit: found it: https://web.archive.org/web/20161101074219/http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20030531a

[ShurikVch]

Possible variants:

Entropic Creature sets minimum Int 3 - thus, you got Int 3 while staying Undead; LA +2

Fiendish Creature (say, via Vile Death spell) - the same case as above (don't sure if active spell effect should affects LA or not)

Restless Prey Mineral Warrior Hairy Spider - since Mineral Warrior says "–2 Int (minimum 1)", it can be interpreted as "even previously-mindless Mineral Warrior still got Int 1"; to add 2 more Int should be relatively simple - like Prodigy Unique NPC Ability (Dungeon Master Guide II), Deep "template" racial variant from Dragon #306, or Warp Touch disease in the backstory which gave you +2 deformity bonus to your Int (Book of Vile Darkness); Mineral Warrior itself is LA +1, Prodigy - +2, Deep - +1, and Warp Touch don't increase LA

"Backward justification": It's a PC - thus it have Int 3. "How it happened?" is a mystery even for the Hairy Spider

Fang of Lolth capstone gives Vermin type


Also, if 3rd-party Ravenloft stuff is OK, then:

Wolfwere (Denizens of Dread): it's not a Humanoid who're turning into a Wolf, but a Wolf who're turning into a Humanoid :smallamused:; their Type is Animal; 5 HD and LA +4

Feral Rearing 1st-levle feat (Champions of Darkness): your Type change to Animal, you got +4 on Handle Animal and Wild Empathy checks, and constant nonmagical Speak with Animals effect for one kind of normal Animals

[Rebel7284]

I may be misunderstanding, but Restless Prey doesn't have an LA or a "Restless Prey as character" section, which would likely make it impossible to add to a PC. Am I missing something? I know some tables/pathfinder use CR to approximate LA. but that's not RAW.

[Beni-Kujaku]

I may be misunderstanding, but Restless Prey doesn't have an LA or a "Restless Prey as character" section, which would likely make it impossible to add to a PC. Am I missing something? I know some tables/pathfinder use CR to approximate LA. but that's not RAW.
There is a RAW technicality that templates that do not specifically have the "Level Adjustment : --" line are LA+0 because of the fact that templates do not modify what they do not list. The OP probably uses that.


There's an argument, similar but slightly stronger than the one for unseelie fey being +0 LA, that wolves have +2 LA.

Unapproachable East has the Telthor template, which is +2 LA and otherwise unimportant. However, the sample creature is a telthor wolf, which inexplicably has been given +4 LA. Conclusion: a wolf is a 2 RHD, +2 LA creature.
If I had to give an LA to a wolf that is as official as possible, I think the best candidate is the list of LAs published in Dragon #293 (so, still published by WotC and technically 1st party) who are prototypes for the LAs we eventually got in the 3.5 version of the MM1 (almost all LAs in MM1 were unchanged from the Dragon equivalent, but a lot of them, including the LA for all animals, were removed in the final product). In there, an awakened wolf is listed as LA+1 (ECL 3).

[Chronos]

Anything that a template doesn't specify is the same as the base creature. So if you manage to find a valid base creature with an LA, then the creature with the template has that same LA.

RAW, at least. Of course, a DM is likely to rule otherwise.