Toon (template)

[arkanis]

Highly experimental idea. Very sleepy. Dizzy. Critics?

TOON
CREATING A TOON
“Toon” is an acquired template that can be added to any nonlawful living creature with at least 3 Intelligence (referred to hereafter as the base creature).
Size and Type: The creature’s type does not change but it does gain the chaotic subtype and its alignment becomes chaotic if it was not already so. Do not recalculate base attack bonus, saves, or skill points. Size is unchanged.
Hit Dice: A toon always gains maximum hit points from all its Hit Dice.
Speed: Same as the base creature +10 feet if Small-sized or smaller or -10 feet if Large-sized or larger. If the base creature only has a land speed the toon also gains one additional speed equal to their base land speed from the following list: burrow, fly (average), swim*. Creatures gaining a swim speed also gain a +8 racial bonus to swim checks and the ability to always take 10 on Swim checks even when threatened or endangered and the ability to charge and run while swimming so long as they do so in a straight line.
Armor Class: A toon adds its Charisma modifier as a luck bonus to its AC (see Ridiculous Grace).
Attack: A toon retains all the attacks of the base creature and also gains a slam attack if it didn’t already have one. If the base creature can use weapons, the toon retains this ability. A creature with natural weapons retains those natural weapons. A toon fighting without weapons uses either its slam attack or its primary natural weapon (if it has any). A toon armed with a weapon uses its slam or a weapon, as it desires.
Full Attack: A toon fighting without weapons uses either its slam attack (see above) or its natural weapons (if it has any). If armed with a weapon, it usually uses the weapon as its primary attack along with a slam or other natural weapon as a natural secondary attack. A toon may switch between lethal and nonlethal damage with its slam attack. A toon almost always uses nonlethal damage unless their attacker attempts to use ink on them or if their assaults do not appear to have any effect.
Damage: Toons have slam attacks. If the base creature does not have this attack form, use the appropriate damage value from the table below according to the toon’s size. Creatures that have other kinds of natural weapons retain their old damage values or use the appropriate value from the table below, whichever is better.
{table]Size|Damage
Fine|1
Diminutive|1d2
Tiny|1d3
Small|1d4
Medium|1d6
Large|1d8
Huge|2d6
Gargantuan|2d8
Colossal|4d6[/table]
Special Attacks: A toon retains all the special attacks of the base creature and gains one of those described below. Saves have a DC of 10 + 1/2 toon’s HD + toon’s Cha modifier unless noted otherwise.
Humorous Antics (Ex): A toon can make one extra move or standard action per round so long as it does not attack or cast a spell or use a spell-like ability. When using this ability a toon never threatens attacks of opportunity for moving into or out of threatened squares.
Inventory (Su): Once per day per hit dice, a toon can magically manifest a nonmagical item as a move action. The item can be up to one size larger than the toon, but cannot cost more than (Toon’s HD x Toon's HD) x 10 in gold pieces. This item vanishes after 1 hour of use or whenever the toon decides it does not need it anymore.
Gravity Unawareness (Su): At will a toon may act as if under the effects of the airwalk spell. However, should a toon ever look down or otherwise become aware they are using this ability, it immediately ends and the toon plummets to the ground normally. Every round this ability is used the toon must succeed on a Will save DC10 + number of rounds they've been using the ability. The moment the toon fails this save they look down and lose the benefits of this ability for 24 hours.
Luck of the Titans (Su): When a toon rolls a 1 or 20 on any d20 roll, they gain the effects of a wish spell. If the toon rolls a 1, this negatively affects the toon while if the toon rolls a 20 it positively affects the toon. This ability cannot be used to directly kill or destroy any creature or object or leave any affect upon any creature, object, or terrain outside a 30-foot radius around the toon. The DM must decide the exact outcome of such rolls.
Spell-Like Abilities: Toons cast spells as a bard except all the spells they cast are spell-like abilities although the Spells Known and Spells Per Day work the same as noted in the Bard class. Treat the toon's hit dice as its effective bard level up to a maximum of 6th level.
Stunning Blow (Ex): Once per day per hit dice a toon can declare a melee attack it makes a stunning blow. A victim of a stunning blow must make a Fortitude save or become stunned for 1 round. A toon can only use this ability while dealing nonlethal damage and can only use this ability once per round.
Toony Performance (Su): Once per round a toon can make a Perform (comedy) check as a free action and replace any one attack roll or save they made that round with the check or replace their AC with this check for 1 round even if their perform check turns out to be lower than the actual roll or AC. A toon must declare using this ability before they make the actual Perform (comedy) check.
Special Qualities: A toon retains all the special qualities of the base creature and gains those described below.
Evasive (Ex): A toon gains the uncanny dodge, improved uncanny dodge, and evasion abilities like a Rogue if it did not already have them. Treat its total Hit Dice as its effective Rogue level for these abilities.
Ink Vulnerability (Su): Ink, paint, pastels, chalk, and similar tools of art deal damage to a toon as if they were acid. One vial of ink deals 1d6 acid damage to a toon and one flask of ink deals 2d6 acid damage to a toon. Full submersion in ink deals 40d6 acid damage to a toon. These materials deal permanent damage to a toon. A toon reduced to a permanent 0 hit points or less is truly destroyed, usually letting off some humorous last words. When a toon finally dies in this fashion it has a 10% chance of leaving behind a minor artifact.
Regeneration (Su): A toon heals 1 point of damage every round. Acid, fire, and damage caused by spells and spell-like abilities deal normal damage to a toon (except for magical bludgeoning damage which is always nonlethal to a toon). This ability is temporarily disabled for 24 hours each time the toon takes damage from ink (see Ink Vulnerability).
Ridiculous Grace (Su): A toon adds its Charisma modifier as a luck bonus to all its saves, Initiative rolls, and Armor Class (even if it’s a negative modifier). The bonus to AC does not function against nonlethal attacks, bludgeoning weapons, or thrown weapons.
Second Wind (Ex): Once per day as a standard action, a toon can recover as if they had a full night's rest.
Toons Don’t Die (Su): If a toon is reduced to 0 hit points or less or if a toon is destroyed by a death effect, it transforms into an inanimate object of choice to best resemble its death (turning into a pile of ashes with eyes, turning into a tombstone, transforming into a pool of watery liquid, etc.). The inanimate object, regardless whether it is destroyed or not, becomes the marker for where the toon will reappear 1d10 hours later. On rare occasion, if a toon’s death was particularly morbid or just not funny, the toon will reanimate as an undead (usually a ghost or ghoul). Only ink or a wish or miracle spell made to keep the toon dead once destroyed can truly kill a toon (see Ink Vulnerability).
Abilities: Increase from the base creature as follows: Dex +4, Con +4, -4 Wisdom, Cha +4.
Skills: Toons have a +2 racial bonus on all Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma-based ability checks and skill checks except for Perform (comedy) which they have a +8 racial bonus into. Also, a toon can use the Disguise, Escape Artist, Sleight of Hand, and Tumble skills untrained.
Feats: Toons gain Dodge, Mobility, Improved Feint, and Run as bonus feats if it did not already have them.
Environment: Any, usually same as base creature.
Organization: As the base creature.
Challenge Rating: As the base creature +1 per 2 Hit Dice (minimum +1, maximum +3)

[Tyonisius]

This is... dare I say it... toontastic!!! Love the idea.

[BisectedBrioche]

I like it. I don't understand where the slam attack comes from though (IIRC isn't that just hitting something with your arms).

[Illiterate Scribe]

I'd probably kill the L.A. It would be very powerful for a PC to acquire, especially as you could use the bard spellcasting + sublime chord to get up to 9th level spell casting, which would be horrendous with all the Cha-synergy.

[Dorizzit]

Oh god, no! Why would anyone do this????

...

On second thought, that's actually pretty cool.

[DracoDei]

Hmmm.... major creation or maybe even Minor Creation by a knowledgable mage might be instant death for one of these... Just create a few cubic feet of ink right above their head... other than that I agree... LA would be really hard to make work for one of these...

[BisectedBrioche]

Hmmm.... major creation or maybe even Minor Creation by a knowledgable mage might be instant death for one of these... Just create a few cubic feet of ink right above their head... other than that I agree... LA would be really hard to make work for one of these...

Couldn't said mage just as easily create a few cubic feet of acid above someone's head?

[arkanis]

You're probably right. This shouldn't be a playable template.

Perhaps I should make ink deal more damage than acid?

Slam attack was there just in case the creature didn't have a natural attack and as we all know toons often times smack someone upside the head.

If a mage figures out a way to easily kill this things, that's fine by me. Lots of things have weaknesses that when exposed make them hardly a challenge to defeat. I think a character would need a Knowledge (the planes) check DC?? to recognize that its a toon. Suggestions on the DC?

[Debihuman]

Interesting. I was just remembering "Roger Rabbit." Didn't the toons disolve permanently if dipped in acid? I imagine they'd be vulnerable to erasure as well.

Debby

[arkanis]

Indeed, Roger Rabbit was the inspiration for this template.

Does anyone know a good plane for this to originate? The only chaos plane I could think of was the everchanging chaos of limbo but I was hoping for a different planar origin for these cartoons of chaos.

[Telonius]

Such an insane thing as this could only have one possible origin: Gnomes. Garl Glittergold had to have something to do with this one.

EDIT: I would also add one ability, Air Walk at will. The effect is broken if the Toon looks down for any reason. If anything at all occurs that might make the Toon aware of the fact that it's airborne, it must make a DC 25 will save to avoid looking down. If this happens, the Air Walk effect is broken, and the Toon plummets to the ground at the normal rate (not the slower rate described in the Air Walk spell). The Toon never takes any direct damage from falling, but is instead stunned for 1 round per 100 feet of fall.

[Lochar]

Indeed, Roger Rabbit was the inspiration for this template.

Does anyone know a good plane for this to originate? The only chaos plane I could think of was the everchanging chaos of limbo but I was hoping for a different planar origin for these cartoons of chaos.

To steal a Plane from Everquest, I'd suggest the Plane of Mischief.

[arkanis]

That's a good idea. I've added the ability.

[Balkash]

If you have a good roleplayer, than this is a great template. I would warn you though that if you have a powergamer, or a munchkin, they will abuse that airwalk ability to no end. So if you DM with a Toon, make sure they either don't abuse it, or if they do, hit them with the old "rocks anvils fall, you die."

[Rigon]

I'm sold. can the i use the toon template on a DM?

note: the charisma modifier for AC is mentioned twice (at Armor Class and at Ridiculous Grace), is that intentional? with my bad english i can't decide if the AC mod is made twice or if it's just mentioned twice but still applied only once.

Just in case: I love this template but i would increase challenge rating.

As for airwalk: will save per turn, on fail look down automatically.

[arkanis]

Changes
-AC bonus mentioned properly
-Ridiculous Grace now only affects saves and AC
-Luck of the Titans more clearly defined
-Regeneration now disabled when hit with ink
-Gravity Unawareness now has a Will save to avoid falling
-Dodge and Mobility bonus feats added
-Challenge Rating per HD increased but maximum decreased
-Inventory gold maximum reduced
-Racial skill bonuses reduced to +2 but now apply to more skills
-Toons can use Disguise, Escape Artist, Sleight of Hand, and Tumble untrained

Yes, anything I post in a public forum is welcome to be used for fun. The only time I'd expect to be credited is if someone tried to sell my work in which case I'd at least like to have my name listed as an author.

Rocks and anvils do indeed fall on toons though this usually only happens when they roll a "1". See Luck of the Titans.

[TheLogman]

With regards to the table, you can add a line in between your two values instead of an Underscore by putting a |, that's shift \, just above the enter key.

As for the monster template itself, a little silly, but very nice. Probably should not be a player-available race (No LA), and DM should watch out when determining CR.

A whole adventure with these could be very dangerous and very scary, very nice.

[arkanis]

Thank you so much for the table tips. I've been searching forever to find out how tables are done on this site.

[Triaxx]

Horrid thought #1: Toon Kobold.

Horrid thought #2: Toon Tarrasque.

Horrid thought #3: Toon Pun-Pun.

That is the most awesome idea I've seen in months.

[MrEdwardNigma]

Sounds a lot like GURPS Toon.

[arkanis]

I made a sample monster for you all to enjoy. 10 points to the first person to guess who it is.

Anthropomorphic Rabbit (toon template)
{table]Size/Type | Small Monstrous Humanoid (chaotic)
Hit Dice | 1d8+1 plus 5d6+5 (44)
Initiative | +11 (+4 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative, +3 luck)
Speed | 30ft. (land), 30 ft. (burrow)
Armor Class | 18 (+1 size, +4 Dex, +3 luck), Touch 18, Flat-footed n/a
BAB/Grapple | +4/+0
Attack | Bite +4 melee (1d4) or Slam +4 melee (1d4) or Large Mallet -5 melee (2d6+0)
Full Attack | Bite +3 melee (1d4-1) and Slam +3 melee (1d4-1) or Large Mallet -5 melee (2d6+0 plus 3d6 sneak attack)
Space/Reach | 5ft./5ft.
Special Attacks | Humorous antics, gravity unawareness, inventory, luck of the titans, spell-like abilities, toony performance, 5th level rogue abilities
Special Qualities | Evasive, ink vulnerability, regeneration, ridiculous grace, second wind, stunning blow, toons don’t die
Saves | Fort +5, Refl +13, Will +5
Abilities | Str 8, Dex 19, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 9, Cha 16
Skills | Balance +17*, Climb +13*, Disguise +10*, Hide +17*, Jump +23*, Listen +2, Move Silently +15*, Perform (comedy) +16*, Sleight of Hand +10*, Spot +2
Feats | Weapon finesse, dodge*, mobility*, run*, improved feint*, sprint, improved initiative
Environment | Temperate forests
Organization | Solitary
Challenge Rating | 8
Advancement | By character class
Level Adjustment | -
[/table]
Skills
Rabbits have a +4 racial bonus on Climb, Hide, and Move Silently checks and a +8 racial bonus on Jump checks. Rabbits have a +8 racial bonus on Balance checks. They use their Dexterity modifier instead of their Strength modifier for Climb and Jump checks. *In areas of tall grass or heavy undergrowth, the Hide bonus rises to +8.
Toons have a +2 racial bonus to all Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma-based ability checks and skill checks except for Perform (comedy) which they have a +8 racial bonus into.
Spell-like abilities: 0-level spells 6/day-Daze, flare, ghost sound, lullaby, mending, prestidigitation; 1st-level spells 4/day-Charm person, lesser confusion, hideous laughter, sleep; 2nd-level spells 3/day-Calm emotions, enthrall, suggestion.
Rogue Abilities: Rogue proficiencies, Trapfinding, Trapsense +1, Sneak attack +3d6, Evasion, Uncanny Dodge, Improved Uncanny Dodge.

I know I'm going to get a lot of criticism but please, take into account its a first try.