Burn for Freedom! [Template, PEACH]

[Eldan]

Asura

There are many ways to fall. Some archons forget mercy in the pursuit of justice, commit atrocities in the name of the light, and fall to evil. Others, however, begin to feel restricted in the hierarchy of celestia, and begin to move outside it, eventually falling to chaos.
They become the Asura, rebels, vigilantes and, eventually, outcasts among archons


Making an Asura
Assura is an acquired template that can be added to any lawful good outsider with the archon subtype.

Size and Type: The creature loses the Archon and Lawful subtypes and gains the Chaotic subtype. It also loses all the benefits of the archon subtype:

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Darkvision out to 60 feet and low-light vision.
Aura of Menace (Su): A righteous aura surrounds archons that fight or get angry. Any hostile creature within a 20-foot radius of an archon must succeed on a Will save to resist its effects. The save DC varies with the type of archon, is Charisma-based, and includes a +2 racial bonus. Those who fail take a -2 penalty on attacks, AC, and saves for 24 hours or until they successfully hit the archon that generated the aura. A creature that has resisted or broken the effect cannot be affected again by the same archon’s aura for 24 hours.
Immunity to electricity and petrification.
+4 racial bonus on saves against poison.
Magic Circle against Evil (Su): A magic circle against evil effect always surrounds an archon (caster level equals the archon’s Hit Dice). (The defensive benefits from the circle are not included in an archon’s statistics block.)
Teleport (Su): Archons can use greater teleport at will, as the spell (caster level 14th), except that the creature can transport only itself and up to 50 pounds of objects.
Tongues (Su): All archons can speak with any creature that has a language, as though using a tongues spell (caster level 14th). This ability is always active.

Alignment: Always chaotic good
Abilities: Change as follows from base creature: -2 STR, +2 DEX, -2 WIS, +4 CHA
Flames of Freedom: (ex) Every weapon an Asura wields, as well as all it's natural weapons, gains the flaming enchantment. Furthermore, it becomes immune to fire and petrification. If the Asura has 11 or more HD, all weapons also gain the flaming burst enchantment. At 16 HD they deal an additional 1d6 points of divine damage, which can not be prevented by damage reduction.
Burning Wind (su): As a standard action, an Asura can unleash a torrent of fire. This deals 1d6 points of damage, plus another 1d6 points per four hit dice the Asura has, to all creatures within a fifteen foot radius. Half this damage is fire damage, the other half is divine damage not subject to damage reduction.
Words of Fire (Su) Asura can speak with all creatures that have a language, as if under the effect of a tongues spell (caster level 14). They gain a +6 racial bonus to all intimidate and perform checks.
No chains shall bind me (ex): Asuras are immune to all effects that restrict their movement, as if under the effect of a Freedom of Movement spell. Furthermore, they are immune to all charms and compulsions. They can use greater teleport at will, as the spell (caster level 14th), except that the creature can transport only itself and up to 50 pounds of objects.
Damage Reduction: If the creature has damage reduction against silver or silver and another component, change it to damage reduction cold iron, or cold iron and said component.
Spell-like abilities: At will - Discern lies, protection from evil
CR ?

Example Creature:

Hound Asura

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Medium Outsider (Chaotic, Good)
HD 6d8+6 (33 HP)
Speed 40 ft. (8 squares)
Init: +4
AC 20; touch 11; flat-footed 19
(+9 natural, +1 dexterity)
BAB +6; Grp +7
Attack Bite +7 melee (1d8+1+1d6 fire) or Greatsword +7/+3 melee (2d6+1+1d6 fire/19-20)
Full-Attack Bite +7 melee (1d8+1+1d6 fire) and slam +2 melee (1d4+1+1d6 fire); or greatsword +7/+2 melee (2d6+2+1d6 fire/19-20) and bite +2 melee (1d8+1+1d6 fire)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks Spell-like abilities, Burning Wind
Special Qualities Change Shape, Damage Reduction 10/evil, Darkvision 60 ft., Immunity to fire and petrification, Scent, Spell resistance 16, No chains shall bind me
Saves Fort +5 Ref +7 Will +5
Abilities Str 13, Dex 12, Con 13, Int X, Wis 11, Cha 16
Skills Concentration +9, Diplomacy +5, Hide +10*, Intimidate +9, Jump +14, Listen +9, Move Silently +8, Perform (any) +9, Sense Motive +9, Spot +9, Survival +9* (+12 following tracks)
Feats: Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Track
Environment Any good-aligned plane
Organization Solitary, pair or band (3-6)
Alignment: Always chaotic good
Treasure: No coins; double goods; standard items
Advancement by TYPE; Favored Class
Level Adjustment +X

Spell-like abilities: At will—aid, continual flame, detect evil, discern lies (DC 14), message, protection from evil . Caster level 6th.

B]Burning Wind[/B] (su): As a standard action, the Hound Asura can unleash a torrent of fire. This deals 2d6 points of damage to all creatures within a fifteen foot radius. Half this damage is fire damage, the other half is divine damage not subject to damage reduction.

No chains shall bind me (ex): Hound Asuras are immune to all effects that restrict their movement, as if under the effect of a Freedom of Movement spell. Furthermore, they are immune to all charms and compulsions. They can use greater teleport at will, as the spell (caster level 14th), except that the creature can transport only itself and up to 50 pounds of objects.

Words of Fire (Su) Asura can speak with all creatures that have a language, as if under the effect of a tongues spell (caster level 14). They gain a +6 racial bonus to all intimidate and perform checks.

[unosarta]

Awesome template.

I feel like Flame of Freedom should be upgraded to Flaming Burst at 11 HD, and Fiery Blast at 21 HD, showing how their flames become more and more powerful.

Other that, they seem to be loosing quite a bit from the Archon template, and not getting much back. I mean, Darkvision, Aura of Menace, teleport at will, Magic Circle Against Evil for what, some extra fire damage? They both get Tongues, although the Asura does get some more oomph from it. Not much, though. Asura trades fire for electricity immunity, gains some ability score increases, freedom of movement, and... pretty much nothing else of note. None of their actual abilities are based on the ability scores being boosted, and they take a hit to an important combat score.

All in all, this seems actually worth a negative CR.

[Eldan]

It's really much more of a conversion to chaos than a clear upgrade.

Note, however, that they do gain Teleport back under No chains (any major outsider has that) and Darkvision is implicit in the outsider type anyway, I'm not even sure why the archon type lists it.

But the upgrade on Flames makes sense.

I based the Asura on the one in BoED. It's ability scores came from comparison to the 8HD archon a few pages before it, which had massively higher strength and constitution, but lower mental stats.

[Eldan]

Included the Hound Asura as a sample creature, and added the clause that Words of Fire also applies to perform checks. Might include Diplomacy as well.

[unosarta]

It's really much more of a conversion to chaos than a clear upgrade.

I understand, and the CR increase seems to follow that, being +0 or +1 at most.

Note, however, that they do gain Teleport back under No chains (any major outsider has that) and Darkvision is implicit in the outsider type anyway, I'm not even sure why the archon type lists it.

Oh, okay, that is fine. Teleport and other such transportation spells are important at higher levels, since they add maneuverability that no other ability can really make up for.

But the upgrade on Flames makes sense.

I based the Asura on the one in BoED. It's ability scores came from comparison to the 8HD archon a few pages before it, which had massively higher strength and constitution, but lower mental stats.

Okey dokie.