Man-bat and Fleshraker, Funny Story....

[poignant123]

My friend and I are co-DMing a PbP campaign. It's been going great, cept we ran into trouble introducing a new character. The problem was, his character was an anthromorphic bat druid with a fleshraker animal companion.

We were more or less wondering how the heck we were supposed to introduce a character that was not going to fit in well in terms of his race. The other characters are all human, other than a dwarf NPC. Most of the other races seem okay, being humanoid and accepted. How do you introduce an anthromorphic bat with a fleshraker animal companion into the game without being too lame in terms of storyline?

Well, long story short, we introduce him being chased by a bunch of clerics who think he's a vampire and are trying to turn him. The party's meant to help him in some way but they stay back. The clerics are a lound bunch, running around screaming TURN UNDEAD and shooting off searing light at him and his animal companion (whom they think is a demon spawned from hell)

Mob gathers, they trample the fleshraker and the clerics beam it into unconsciousness. The man-bat, having been whacked to near unconsciousness, then decides to ABANDON his animal companion to the mob and fly off.

After this, my friend and I decide to bring the fleshraker back as an awakened fleshraker as an NPC character.

And we only just started this campaign recently.

[FinalJustice]

If you are not aware yet, there's someone trying to b0rk your game with Cheesed Druidzilla...

[jcsw]

Yeah I know. But it's not that bad, he just lost his animal companion. (yes, I *am* the other DM)

And we're still in the midst of "punishing" him for playing anthropomorphic bat, which he didn't explain the existence of. By sending vampire hunters after him.

[Tempest Fennac]

What's wrong with the guy playing an Anthromorphic Bat? Apart from the ridiculous Wis bonus for no LA (I think), I can't see a problem with it (admittedly, Ilike playing as half animals anyway).

[jcsw]

Yes, but we deliberately told players not to play weird half-races for the sake of optimizing their characters, and he didn't even explain how an anthropomorphic bat came about, not properly at least

With a Human for a mother and a Bat for a father (Don't ask how)
His explanation is as good as not having one in the first place. (Heck. It's even less believable than "A wizard did it")

And anyway, he literally put the plot-hook in front of us. Just like he did with leaving the dinosaur behind.

[mostlyharmful]

If you are not aware yet, there's someone trying to b0rk your game with Cheesed Druidzilla...

And apparently failing too which is quite impressive:smallwink:

[Tempest Fennac]

I can see your point. Isn't there a normal race of humanoid bats? I can't remember what they are called, but I think they have an LA.

[jcsw]

On a side note, does anyone have any ideas for advancing an awakened Fleshraker Dinosaur? We rolled a 15 (!!) for his intelligence, for when we were gonna make him an NPC, putting his intelligence above the druid's.

I was thinking Beast Claw swordsage.

[Tempest Fennac]

I'm not familiar with ToB classes. Would Duskblade work well? (I'm assuming Arcane Channeling could be used with natural weapons).

[Eldariel]

Tiger Claw is a great idea! Make it a Warblade (it has high Int, so this is a great class)/Swordsage (2-level dip or so; Wis to AC, wide variety of maneuvers)/Bloodclaw Master (Tiger Claw incarnate!). This would be very, very brutal. Then you could go ahead and describe all his maneuvers how the dinosaur pulls off whirlwind kicks and flurries and so on - could make for tons of amusement.

Alternatively, make it a Druid and have it get a Fleshraker companion :P Add Natural Bond (Complete Adventurer) and you're set. With the Shapeshifting-variant from PHBII, you'd get some use out of Wildshape too (that is, Strength-bonuses; awesome for Fleshrakers). Then you could use anything the Druid uses vs. you! Venomfire? Check! Extended Creeping Cold? Check! Greenbound Summoning? Check! Sure, you won't have as many spells or as high save DCs, but buffs will still be just as good and the Fleshraker's natural form kicks ass.

[namo]

Tiger Claw Sowrdsage or Warblade should work well indeed. Warblade has some abilities keyed off Int. I am AFB so I don't know the Fleshraker Wis.

Or make it a Druid !

edit: completely ninja'ed. :smallbiggrin: That's what I get for having too many tabs.

I do have another idea though : Wizard/Druid into Arcane Hierophant. Then the Fleshraker Familiar Companion is also intelligent. :smallamused:

[jcsw]

Tiger Claw Sowrdsage or Warblade should work well indeed. Warblade has some abilities keyed off Int. I am AFB so I don't know the Fleshraker Wis.

Or make it a Druid !

edit: completely ninja'ed. :smallbiggrin: That's what I get for having too many tabs.

I do have another idea though : Wizard/Druid into Arcane Hierophant. Then the Fleshraker Familiar Companion is also intelligent. :smallamused:

How are you gonna pull off Wizard AND druid? It already has 6 HD from having awaken cast on it. (And the PCs are all around level 6 right now).

It's stats now would be Str 17 Dex 19 Con 15 Int 15 Wis 15 Cha 13.

[Ionizer]

Depending on what level campaign it is, there is a precedent for bat-people. On page 62 in the Monster Manual II, you have the Desmodu. It's a large Monstrous Humanoid with a LA of +2. Unfortunately, it comes complete with 12 Racial HD. I think that's a suitable punishment for your wanna-be Druidzilla (A first level Druid with an ECL of 15, :smallwink:).

No idea what a Fleshraker is, though (some kind of dinosaur?). I suggest making it become a ranger with favored enemy (Bat-Person).

Good luck...

EDIT: Just saw the PCs are level 6. Maybe some sort of Monster level buy-off or something? Or you know, ignore my post :smallbiggrin:. After rereading it, it doesn't make much sense.

[Tempest Fennac]

Thanks, Ionizer (I'd heard of that race, but I don't know anything about their stats, and I couldn't remember their name). That would be a really poor choice for pretty much any player. I agree with the buy-off idea as well.

[Chronos]

Yeah I know. But it's not that bad, he just lost his animal companion.For today, at least. Part of the problem with the druid is that even if he does lose his animal companion, he can just get a new one 24 hours later. It's bad enough that a druid gets the equivalent of another whole character as a class feature, but when that other character is also completely expendable...

Now, you can mitigate this somewhat, by saying that continually sending your animal companion on suicide missions constitutes "failing to revere nature". But that's a pretty low-resolution punishment: Nothing at all happens to the druid, until he all of a sudden loses all of his class features. And it'll also inevitably lead to arguments over just what is and is not acceptable. Ideally, you'd want something smaller, that you can use as a warning.

[hamishspence]

bat men: nycter from MM3 is small, LA +2.

[Tempest Fennac]

I'd say that having him fall would be fair enough due to him abandoning his animal companion (the player must have seen that rule about Druids who fail to revere natur).

[Burley]

I'm pretty sure there is a race from the Character Compendium (I think) that are human with bat wings. Avian, or somethin...I don't remember. I know it's 3.0, but I found no reason why it shouldn't make a clean crossover into 3.5. I would not allow the racial prestige class, however. That is a wee bit b0rkened.

If you want this player to not have an advantage over the other players, I suggest looking up this race and asking the player to use it, instead of an anthromorphic bat. Having one character be special, while the others are mundane, is not fair (even if it is mechanically). The spotlight will always be drawn to the Man-Bat. Even when The Dwarf is trying to prove to his father that he is worthy to rule the kingdom, the Man-Bat is gonna steal the show.

[Tempest Fennac]

In regards to Nycters, would taking away their Sonic attack, HDs, and Natursl Armour while dropping their Dex bonus to +2 make them weak enough to get an LA of 0? I was just wondering due to how the 3 MH HDs and an LA of 2 would make them a really poor choice of race normally: page 37 of http://www.crystalkeep.com/d20/rules/DnD3.5Index-Races.pdf .