Requesting A 3.5 Template

[Obahai]

In the next week or so, I will be playing a Pain Devil (Fiendish Codex II) and am looking for a template to add a little extra to the build. The only catch is that right now the template cannot exceed more than 3 HD.

If anyone has any solid suggestions either post here or PM me.

Thanks

-Obahai

[Glimbur]

Hit dice? Or LA?

Half Dragon is +3 LA, ups your Racial Hit Dice (not class hit dice) by a size, might actually hurt your skills, and gives a bonus to almost every stat. It's considered underpowered because even all that isn't as good as three more levels, but if the LA is free...

Mineral Warrior, which can be found in a web excerpt, is widely considered one of the LA +1 templates worth taking. It hurts your mental stats though which might be an issue.

Draconic from Races of the Dragon is +1 LA and minor boosts to several things.

[Jack_Simth]

Phrenic can be a fun template.

[Flickerdart]

Dark and Feral are very popular templates: the first grants Hide in Plain Sight and the second Fast Healing. +1 LA each. +2 LA gets you the wonderful Half-Fey template.

[Obahai]

I'm still a little fuzzy on the exact details, but I know that a Pain Devil has 8 HD and that every player cannot exceed 10 HD.

So if I am understanding this correctly, I could stack as many templates as I wanted to? (as long as the DM, doesn't pass a kitten)

[Flickerdart]

I'm still a little fuzzy on the exact details, but I know that a Pain Devil has 8 HD and that every player cannot exceed 10 HD.

So if I am understanding this correctly, I could stack as many templates as I wanted to? (as long as the DM, doesn't pass a kitten)

Templates don't generally increase HD (Lycanthropy does, any others?) so you should be pretty safe. Do note that LA drives up your ECL: perhaps he meant ECL10, not 10 HD?

[Obahai]

This is from my DM

"You can play any critter that has a total of 10HD. If it is under the 10HD, add HD to bring it to par and if it is over 10HD, take off HD to bring it back to 10"


Where is the feral and dark template from?


Thanks for all of the quick and helpful response

[Kylarra]

Pretty sure that a pain devil would be more than LA +2, if only because it can greater teleport at will and gets stat mods of STR+6, Dex +4, Con +10, Cha +2


Anyway, if you're adding "HD" that means class levels, not templates generally.

[Animefunkmaster]

Did the dm say you could add templates?

[Obahai]

Pretty sure that a pain devil would be more than LA +2, if only because it can greater teleport at will and gets stat mods of STR+6, Dex +4, Con +10, Cha +2


Anyway, if you're adding "HD" that means class levels, not templates generally.

Its a monstrous campaign, and there are no standard class levels in this campaign. I would be playing a Pain Devil with 10HD and whatever template(s) I find and the DM allows.

For example, one of the other party member is going to be a Gelatinous Feral Behir and another player is going to be playing a Half Dragon Half Iron Golem

[Flickerdart]

This is from my DM

"You can play any critter that has a total of 10HD. If it is under the 10HD, add HD to bring it to par and if it is over 10HD, take off HD to bring it back to 10"


Where is the feral and dark template from?


Thanks for all of the quick and helpful response

Feral is from Savage Cheeses Species. Dark is, I think, Tome of Magic.

[Obahai]

Definitely going to add the Dark template, and I am allowed 2 more. The

A simple approach to this character build is to be able to garrote someone, bring them back, then extract information out of them. Also being able to detail a precision damage where it is needed most. It almost seems like I will have to take the half dragon template to improve my stats and get a d12 for HD

[Thrawn183]

Actually, I'm pretty sure you're supposed to just add outsider HD. The SRD has excellent rules for advancing monsters in this fashion.

[Kylarra]

Actually, I'm pretty sure you're supposed to just add outsider HD. The SRD has excellent rules for advancing monsters in this fashion.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/improvingMonsters.htm

[Darrin]

This is from my DM
"You can play any critter that has a total of 10HD. If it is under the 10HD, add HD to bring it to par and if it is over 10HD, take off HD to bring it back to 10"

Your DM is not being clear enough. Adding templates to a creature generally doesn't add HD (well, lycanthropy and warbeast do, but most don't). You need to ask him if he means HD or is talking about ECL (effective character level), which is HD + Level Adjustment. And if he gets confused after you ask him about ECL and LA, don't be surprised. It confuses just about everybody.

If he actually means just HD, then he may be in for a stupendously large world of hurt, since you can add dozens and dozens of templates to a base creature and keep the HD well below 10.

If he means ECL... then I think there's a way around that with the Tauric template, but I'm not sure exactly how it works... supposedly if you load the bottom half of your creature with templates, they don't count against your ECL (so long as they don't change the type of your bottom half to something else). You do get stuck with 2 racial hit dice since the Tauric template can't go below that, but that gives you 8 HD to play around with.

[Thurbane]

You could also add two levels of a class or PrC...

[Obahai]

Pretty sure that a pain devil would be more than LA +2, if only because it can greater teleport at will and gets stat mods of STR+6, Dex +4, Con +10, Cha +2


Anyway, if you're adding "HD" that means class levels, not templates generally.

How did you figure out those scores?

[Kylarra]

How did you figure out those scores?

You look at their given stats and subtract the 10/11 array to get even numbers remaining for the mods.

[Starbuck_II]

You look at their given stats and subtract the 10/11 array to get even numbers remaining for the mods.

Reading is fundamental. Monster Manual says to do just that. Surprised more people don't know that rule.

[Obahai]

That's true, but at the same time, when the Monster Manual's are opened up for us to play with, we normally use monsters that already have the ability modifications already listed out and such.

Thanks to everyone who has helped me out and here is the build I am running with

Pain Devil + Half Troll + Monster of legend + Feral + Dark + Woodling.
More importantly my critter is weak to force and sonic energy damage only

[bosssmiley]

Tome of Fiends

Base and Prestige fiendish classes designed to scale by level. Just slap enough levels onto your base monster to bring it up to the required HD/CR.

--- Base ---
True Fiend
Fiendish Brute
Conduit of the Lower Planes
Summoner

--- Prestige ---
Hellwalker
Seer of the Tempest
Initiate of the Black Tower
Barrister of the Nine
Boatman of the Styx (incomplete, completed in the Tome pdf collection)

[sofawall]

"You can play any critter that has a total of 10HD. If it is under the 10HD, add HD to bring it to par and if it is over 10HD, take off HD to bring it back to 10"

HOLY CRAP. Solar, Black Ethergaunt. HOLY MOTHER OF CHRIST!

I must assume your DM hasn't a clue what he is doing. Also, play the Tarrasque.

[Obahai]

HOLY CRAP. Solar, Black Ethergaunt. HOLY MOTHER OF CHRIST!

I must assume your DM hasn't a clue what he is doing. Also, play the Tarrasque.

Oh he does know what he is getting himself into, the whole idea of the campaign is a call to arms for monsters to do the work of an aspiring minor god.

Also where is the Solar and Black Ethergaunt from?

[Random832]

Also where is the Solar and Black Ethergaunt from?

Monster Manual and Fiend Folio, respectively (or, if you prefer, Celestia Any good-aligned plane and the Ethereal Plane)

If you've got any alignment requirements for this, you should mention it now - Ethergaunts are (IIRC) NE, Solars are (Any) Good. [For the record, The Tarrasque is Neutral.]

[Kylarra]

Solar


Ethergaunts are Fiend Folio.

[Random832]

Ethergaunts are something of a meme, since they have wizard spellcasting above not only their HD but (IIRC) even their ECL (but they can't specialize and don't get a familiar, so it's okay, right? )

[Kylarra]

Ethergaunts are something of a meme, since they have wizard spellcasting above not only their HD but (IIRC) even their ECL (but they can't specialize and don't get a familiar, so it's okay, right? )

Above HD, yes, ECL no. (At absurdly high levels where you can buy off your LA, then yes it could be above ECL)

[Kallisti]

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You can play any monster you want? Any at all? Although if it has more than 10 HD you reduce it to 10? Screw the Tarrasque, buy the Epic Level Handbook! Play a LeShay...or a Great Wym Prismatic dragon...or a Hechatoncheires...the possibilities are endless...

Although it sounds like your DM means HD, not ECL, so you'd add two outsider HD and no templates. How's the guy playing the Behir get his templates? Ask your DM...

[Obahai]

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You can play any monster you want? Any at all? Although if it has more than 10 HD you reduce it to 10? Screw the Tarrasque, buy the Epic Level Handbook! Play a LeShay...or a Great Wym Prismatic dragon...or a Hechatoncheires...the possibilities are endless...

Although it sounds like your DM means HD, not ECL, so you'd add two outsider HD and no templates. How's the guy playing the Behir get his templates? Ask your DM...

This is the direct response from our newest facebook group to organize and orchestrate this campaign

Rules are simple. Tenth level, any non base race. No more than ten hit die. Get creative, very creative. We already have at least one person who has stacked three templates.
No minions, cohorts, hirelings, followers, family, or additional personalities.
Equipment will not be planned. You are monsters. You don't go buy **** in a store. The only posessions you have will be determined randomly by the treasure that the monster is listed as having in their entry.



The guy playing the behir build said that it was a combination of a drunken wizard fraternity + a trip to the planes of madness for a souvenir or three