Grell Wizards

[Geiger Counter]

Yeah, read'n lords of madness. Can sightless creatures be wizards?

[Toliudar]

Alternate spellbook formats - why not? Braille? Audio playback? Complex scents. It's just coding and decoding, right?

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Yeah, read'n lords of madness. Can sightless creatures be wizards?

Yep. There's even a discussion of some alternate spellbook formats Toliudar mentioned in Complete Arcane, so it wouldn't even be a houserule to allow it.

[nyjastul69]

I'd rule that their tentacles can act as a hand. Alternate spellbook no problem. I'd also rule that they can't target anything more than 60' away. I'm guessing there is a feat or somesuch that could increase the blindsense range.

[Sydonai]

They use Grell Alchemy to make non-euclidean braille, in weird-@$$ statue form.

[Lord Vukodlak]

Well no wizard can target something they can't see so a Grell Wizard being unable to target a creature beyond 60ft makes perfect sense unless they somehow expanded the range of their blindsight.

Considering a sample Grell on page 118 is a 5th level necromancer, I'd say that grell can be wizards.

Anyways Grell possess blindsight which means they can effectively see creatures out to that range. The would of course require an alternate form of a spellbook as they couldn't read.

[Inyssius Tor]

Alternate spellbook formats - why not? Braille? Audio playback? Complex scents. It's just coding and decoding, right?

Braille, audio playback, complex scents...

Etchings, knotted rope, direct telepathic feedback...

"The alien and disturbing arcane lore of the grell", comprising a sinister mix of alchemy, chemistry, natural science, arcane principles, and the alien natural laws and properties of the otherworldly sphere from which they hailed...

Hell, checking Lords of Madness again for details on their blindsense, it looks like there's absolutely no reason they couldn't use regular spellbooks as long as either the inks or paper used have even slightly electromagnetically-distinct properties.

[arguskos]

They use Grell Alchemy to make non-euclidean braille, in weird-@$$ statue form.

Best answer ever. /thread.

But yes, Grell totally rock and everyone should love them more. I mean, lightning lances? Totally awesome.

[Sydonai]

For beings who have a stated goal of "OMNOMNOM!" they are suprisingly complex.

[arguskos]

For beings who have a stated goal of "OMNOMNOM!" they are suprisingly complex.

One can make the same case for the Beholders, who as a race, have no goals beyond "Kill everything that doesn't look like me (for given values of me)." And yet, they tend towards the pretty sweet.

[rayne_dragon]

I've always wanted to run a game where the PCs are aberrations.

[Sydonai]

Elans, Daelkyr Half-bloods, Neogi.......thats about it for pcs and the Neogi are pushing the LA a bit

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Elans, Daelkyr Half-bloods, Neogi.......thats about it for pcs and the Neogi are pushing the LA a bit

That's it!? I think Beholder Mages and Illithid Savants would like to have a word with you.

[Sydonai]

The BM and IS are both over ECL7, I was talking about low-level pc races.
(And you are being unfair to the Aboleth and Tsochari)

[arguskos]

The BM and IS are both over ECL7, I was talking about low-level pc races.
(And you are being unfair to the Aboleth and Tsochari)

You can cheese your way into Beholder Mage and Illithid Savant fairly easily, IIRC.

Also, Aboleth's are hardly player races either, though the Tsochari could work out in theory. That'd be best if EVERYONE was a tsochar though.

[Sydonai]

If you allow a Beholder then Abloleths are fine, its when you allow Daelkyr that you know you've gone to far.

[hamishspence]

how about low-level ones?

Not a beholder, but a Spectator, or a Gauth? (Spectators are only 4HD)

While normal Neogi are 5HD, the Dwarf Neogi is 3 HD.

It would probably require the DM to estimate LAs for creatures that don't normally have one, though.

[rayne_dragon]

Well, obviously some serious tweaking would be required. Most likely it would involve homebrewing each of the creatures into a class or something and maybe ignoring a certain amount of LA. Or just ignore LA, since the game balance is decidedly off anyways. It might be easier with 4e except for the screwiness with magic items slots.

You guys also completely forgot to mention Grell which was the aberration that inspired me to want to do an aberration campaign. I don't think Lensmen ever got transferred into 3rd, but they'd probably work as a low LA beholder type.

[Sydonai]

The Grell want to eat things, and the Grell that don't want to eat things have a tendency to get eaten. The Philosephers tend to get p!$$ed off when someone acts like an individual, as opposed to a part of the hive.

edit: They do have LA+6 so you could play one, but thats an ECL11 character. The stats are in LOM, of course, but I suggest using a Sithilar character instead, they are MUCH stronger(ECL17), but they are a "good" race with an easy background.

[hamishspence]

There's also the Phaerimm.

However, I'd recommend playing them as per the Player's Guide to Faerun web enhancement, rather than Lost Empires of Faerun (In which the caster level rules are poorly worded, allowing for an incredibly overpowered interpretaton.)

Phaerimm without this kind of extreme cheese, might be workable.

[Volthawk]

edit: They do have LA+6 so you could play one, but thats an ECL11 character. The stats are in LOM, of course, but I suggest using a Sithilar character instead, they are MUCH stronger(ECL17), but they are a "good" race with an easy background.

Not to mention they get the grafting feat for free, and can POA as a supernatural ability. Only 9HD, though.

[Tetsubo 57]

I would think that the Grell would excel at Psionics rather than Arcane or Divine magic. I mean, they are a large brain...

[Yora]

Not really. That head of theirs holds their entire digestive system, the heart, and the lungs. There's not that much space left for brain.