Showing posts with label genetics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label genetics. Show all posts
Monday, June 4, 2012
The "Race" Problem
So there's a language problem. The other day, I described this problem as "one of the oldest conundra of the fantasy genre". Which is, of course, hyperbole; the fantasy genre is older than any of the words involved, let alone the science involved.
The problem is this: in fantasy, we need a word for various groupings of individuals, e.g., elves, humans, orcs, dwarves, halflings, etc. "Race" is the usual one, though "species" sometimes gets used. But both have meanings in English, and neither meaning lines up very well with their usage in works of fantasy.
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Once upon a time, not really very long ago at all, "race" meant the same thing in fantasy as it does in modern English, but the meanings have diverged.
Nowadays in English, "race" means something like "ethnicity" or "skin color". We've got the "black race" and the "white race" and so on, and the various races are almost entirely indistinguishable, genetically. Even phenotypically, most human races are hard to tell apart, and individuals from one race are usually within the expected range of variation for every other race.
An orc and an elf are much more dissimilar than a dark-skinned human and a light-skinned human, so "race" has become an inappropriate term for this distinction.
Moreover, we might want to keep "race" in case we want to distinguish between fantasy ethnicities -- e.g., Men of Gondor, Men of Rohan, the various Men of the East and South under Sauron's dominion. Or, for that matter: Orcs of Mordor, Orcs of Isengard, and Orcs of Moria. Or Mirkwood Elves and Lothlorien Elves. And so on. Tolkien's actually pretty good about ethnicities/subraces/whatever.
Or take my setting's distinction between Shell humans, Omorashi humans, and Romus humans. (Side note: I was horrified the other day when I realized that I had neglected to include dark-skinned humans in my campaign setting. Then I realized that no, many or most Omorashi humans have dark skin -- the one way in which the Omorashi Empire deviates from a bog-standard wutai.)
Though, really, "ethnicity" does just fine for this usage, and I'd be completely okay with discarding the word "race" from the language -- both mundane and fantastical English -- altogether.
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"Species" is sometimes used as a backup, but it has an even more specific meaning than "race" does. Two individuals are members of the same species if they can breed and produce fertile offspring. The "half-dragon" template alone means that all living, corporeal creatures are the same species as True Dragons. Dragons and gelatinous cubes are the same species! This is of course a.) preposterous and b.) not useful.
Actually, there's another, slightly more technical meaning of "species". Basically, reckon how much DNA two individuals need to have in common in order to produce viable offspring. A species is any group that has that much DNA in common. This almost could work, if you use the percentage from our world (it's a very high percentage), but you then stipulate that D&D genetics works very differently and can produce viable offspring with a much lower percentage of DNA in common. So dragons and gelatinous cubes are different species but can interbreed.
But this hurts my head by how badly it misunderstands basic biology. Not least because D&D biology pretty clearly, if not quite explicitly, doesn't run on DNA at all. (See: Living Spells, elementals, and most or all Outsiders (created, not biologically, but from the very stuff of their native planes).) There's no way for DNA to do half the things that happen with genetics in D&D. Better to leave it out and say a wizard did it. And if we're leaving out Earth biology, we should leave out the jargon of Earth biology.
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So what's left? There are lots of options, many of which have been used. But I'm partial to one that dates back roughly to the time period D&D attempts to emulate but which hasn't since acquired a technical meaning -- or, really, any meaning at all (which comes up when creationists try to use the word without realizing how meaningless it really is). The word is "kind".
Elves and humans are different kinds. Omorashi humans and Romus humans are the same kind. Mordor orcs and Isengard orcs are the same kind.
If you want to get really technical, you could also throw in superkinds and subkinds. Orcs, goblins, and hobgoblins are different kinds, but the same superkind. Arctic orcs and aquatic orcs are the same kind but different subkinds. Humans, elves, halflings, dwarves, and gnomes are the same superkind but different kinds. And so on.
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We can even set up a fairly complete D&D taxonomy!
Kingdom: distinction between creatures and objects. A creature is anything with a wisdom and charisma score (other ability scores optional). An object is anything without a wisdom and charisma score.
Subkingdom: You can further differentiate between living and non-living objects, allowing you to be old-fashioned and make the distinction Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral. Normal, mundane plants and trees, as well as slimes, molds, and fungi, are living objects. Rocks and things are non-living objects. (Fun fact: disintegrate has no effect on living objects, only creatures and non-living objects.) You can also distinguish nonliving creatures (constructs, undead, deathless) and living creatures (all other creatures).
Supertype: One wants to put things like "canines" and "felines" in, but there are e.g. feliform Animals (cats, lions), Humanoids (catfolk, gnolls), Magical Beasts (displacer beasts, sea cats), Outsiders (rakshasas, hellcats), etc. So this is an example of a supertype. Since "Humanoid" is taken for a type, perhaps we shall use "anthropoid" as a Supertype to describe anything with two arms, two legs, a head, and a torso.
Type: Aberration, Animal, Construct, Dragon, Elemental, Fey, Giant, Humanoid, Magical Beast, Monstrous Humanoid, Ooze, Outsider, Plant, Undead, or Vermin. (Only creatures have Types.)
Superkind: Among Humanoids: reptilians, goblinoids, near-humans, gith-s, etc. Among Outsiders: demons, devils, archons, guardinals, etc. Among Elementals: fire, water, air, earth, etc. Among Constructs: golems, living constructs, etc. Among aberrations: Illithidae, beholderkin, etc.
Subtype: Some subtypes actually indicate kind (e.g. [human], [elf]). Some indicate superkind (e.g. [reptilian], [goblinoid].) Some are merely descriptive and can be possessed by any or many Types (e.g. [aquatic], [extraplanar], often the alignment and elemental subtypes). Some indicate relationship to some other Type (e.g. [dragonblood], [augmented]). Subtype, while useful, pertains to too many levels of the taxonomy to really be included. BUT, I want to include Tanar'ri, Obyrith, Baatezu, etc, and there's not really anywhere else to put them. So let's put them, probably bafflingly, below superkind.
Kind: Among near-humans: humans, elves, dwarves, etc. Among animals: horses, dogs, etc. Among tanar'ri: succubus, balor, etc.
Subkind: Arctic elves, fire elves, aquatic elves, etc. Ponies, war ponies, horses, war horses, etc. Dogs, riding dogs, etc.
This is incredibly messy, not even very useful, and unlike biological taxonomies (where there is a single correct taxonomy that can be derived from sufficient information), it's mostly a matter of opinion. It was just an exercise.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Reworking Mongrelfolk 2
In a previous post, I updated the mongrelfolk and gave them a bunch of new feats. Players don't generally like to play mongrelfolk, which is fine; I can still use these things for NPCs, because mongrelfolk are such very common NPCs.
Today, I would like to give them more feats. Effectively, I've gone through the list of types and subtypes, and given the mongrelfolk the ability to take feats to acquire any of the types or subtypes it would make sense for them to acquire.
Some of them are not powerful, or even effectively do nothing, and you would only take them to meet prerequisites. Some of them (mostly the specific races of Outsider: Angel, Baatezu, Tanar'ri, etc.) would be overpowered if they were just one feat, so I provide a number of extra feat chains to collect all the abilities of these subtypes.
The immunities are particularly powerful, but note that you need four feats before you can even get one immunity. Let's take acid immunity, for example:
1 - Outsider Mongrel, Celestial Heritage, Monstrous Mongrel, or something along those lines, to add an angel to your general heritage, to qualify for Angel Mongrel
2 - Angel Mongrel, to qualify for Mongrel Acid Resistance
3 - Mongrel Acid Resistance, to qualify for Mongrel Acid Immunity
4 - Mongrel Acid Immunity
Probably not worth it; I'm sure there are much easier ways to get these things. But I'd rather introduce weak options that nobody takes than introduce strong options that completely break the game.
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Aberrant Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, level 1 only
Benefit: Pick any any aberration. You are descended from that race for the purposes of your Emulate Race and Diffuse Blood racial traits.
In addition, you gain the Aberration type and the [Augmented Humanoid] subtype. You gain darkvision 60.
Air Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, descended from a creature with the [Air] subtype
Benefit: You gain the [Air] subtype. You gain a fly speed of 10 feet, with Clumsy maneuverability.
Angel Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, descended from a creature with the [Angel] subtype
Benefit: You gain the [Angel] subtype. You gain darkvision 60. You do not gain any other traits.
Archon Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, descended from a creature with the [Archon] subtype
Benefit: You gain the [Archon] subtype. You gain darkvision 60. You do not gain any other traits.
Baatezu Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, descended from a creature with the [Baatezu] subtype
Benefit: You gain the [Baatezu] subtype. You can see perfectly in darkness of any kind, even that created by a deeper darkness spell. You do not gain any other traits.
Chaotic Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, descended from a creature with the [Chaotic] subtype
Benefit: You gain the [Chaotic] subtype. Any effect that depends on alignment affects you as though you have a chaotic alignment, no matter what your alignment actually is. You also suffer effects according to your actual alignment. You overcome damage reduction as if your natural weapons and any weapons you wield are chaotic-aligned.
Cold Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, descended from a creature with the [Cold] subtype
Benefit: You gain the [Cold] subtype. You gain immunity to cold and vulnerability to fire.
Dragonblood Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race
Benefit: Pick any any dragon. You are descended from that race for the purposes of your Emulate Race and Diffuse Blood racial traits.
In addition, you gain the [Dragonblood] subtype.
Earth Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, descended from a creature with the [Earth] subtype
Benefit: You gain the [Earth] subtype. You gain a burrow speed of 5 feet. You can burrow only through substances with the consistency of loose dirt.
Eladrin Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, descended from a creature with the [Eladrin] subtype
Benefit: You gain the [Eladrin] subtype. You gain darkvision 60. You do not gain any other traits.
Evil Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, descended from a creature with the [Evil] subtype
Benefit: You gain the [Evil] subtype. Any effect that depends on alignment affects you as though you have an evil alignment, no matter what your alignment actually is. You also suffer effects according to your actual alignment. You overcome damage reduction as if your natural weapons and any weapons you wield are evil-aligned.
Fey Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race
Benefit: Pick any any Fey. You are descended from that race for the purposes of your Emulate Race and Diffuse Blood racial traits.
In addition, your type changes to Fey, and you gain the [Augmented Humanoid] subtype.
Fire Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, descended from a creature with the [Fire] subtype
Benefit: You gain the [Fire] subtype. You gain immunity to fire and vulnerability to cold.
Fully Aquatic Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Seafolk Heritage
Benefit: Your racial bonus to Swim checks is +8 (this replaces your bonus from Seafolk Heritage). You gain the [aquatic] subtype and a swim speed of 10 feet. You can breathe both air and water.
Goblinoid Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race
Benefit: Pick any any creature with the [goblinoid] subtype. You are descended from that race for the purposes of your Emulate Race and Diffuse Blood racial traits.
In addition, you gain the [Goblinoid] subtype.
Good Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, descended from a creature with the [Good] subtype
Benefit: You gain the [Good] subtype. Any effect that depends on alignment affects you as though you have a good alignment, no matter what your alignment actually is. You also suffer effects according to your actual alignment. You overcome damage reduction as if your natural weapons and any weapons you wield are good-aligned.
Guardinal Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, descended from a creature with the [Guardinal] subtype
Benefit: You gain the [Guardinal] subtype. You gain darkvision 60. You do not gain any other traits.
Lawful Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, descended from a creature with the [Lawful] subtype
Benefit: You gain the [Lawful] subtype. Any effect that depends on alignment affects you as though you have a lawful alignment, no matter what your alignment actually is. You also suffer effects according to your actual alignment. You overcome damage reduction as if your natural weapons and any weapons you wield are lawful-aligned.
Mongrel Acid Resistance [Racial]
Prerequisite: Angel Mongrel or Baatezu Mongrel or Tanar'ri Mongrel
Benefit: You gain Resist 10 against acid.
Mongrel Acid Immunity [Racial]
Prerequisite: Angel Mongrel and Mongrel Acid Resistance
Benefit: You gain immunity to acid.
Mongrel Cold Resistance [Racial]
Prerequisite: Angel Mongrel or Baatezu Mongrel or Eladrin Mongrel or Guardinal Mongrel or Tanar'ri Mongrel
Benefit: You gain resist 10 against cold.
Mongrel Cold Immunity [Racial]
Prerequisite: Angel Mongrel and Mongrel Cold Resistance
Benefit: You gain immunity to cold.
Mongrel Electricity Resistance [Racial]
Prerequisite: Archon Mongrel or Eladrin Mongrel or Guardinal Mongrel or Tanar'ri Mongrel or Angel Mongrel
Benefit: You gain resist 10 against electricity.
Mongrel Electricity Immunity [Racial]
Prerequisite: Archon Mongrel or Eladrin Mongrel or Guardinal Mongrel or Tanar'ri Mongrel, and Mongrel Electricity Resistance
Benefit: You gain immunity to electricity.
Mongrel Fiendsummons [Racial]
Prerequisite: Baatezu Mongrel or Tanar'ri Mongrel
Benefit: 1/day, as a standard action, you may attempt to summon a Baatezu (if you have the [Baatezu] subtype) or a Tanar'ri (if you have the [Tanar'ri] subtype).
Each time you summon a creature, they will give you the opportunity to strike a deal with them. Devils are scrupulous about honouring their deals; demons are not. If the offered deal is not to the summoned creature's liking, they may counteroffer, leave, or attack you, so it is wise to be cautious about summoning creatures much stronger than you.
Each time you attempt to summon a creature, there is a limited probability that they will even appear.
Baatezu : chance of success
Lemure : 100%
Advespa : 33%
Bearded Devil (Barbazu) : 20%
Amnizu : 14%
Erinyes : 13%
Bone Devil (Osyluth) : 11%
Malebranche : 11%
Barbed Devil (Hamatula) : 9%
Ice Devil (Gelugon) : 8%
Horned Devil (Cornugon) : 6%
Xerfilstyx : 6%
Pit Fiend : 5%
Paeliryon : 5%
Tanar'ri : chance of success
Dretch : 50%
Jovoc : 20%
Babau : 17%
Arrow Demon : 14%
Succubus : 14%
Palrethee : 13%
Vrock : 11%
Hezrou : 9%
Kastighur : 9%
Glabrezu : 8%
Jarilith : 8%
Alkilith : 7%
Nalfeshnee : 7%
Marilith : 6%
Sorrowsworn Demon : 6%
Kelvezu : 6%
Balor : 5%
Myrmyxicus : 5%
Klurichir : 4%
Mongrel Fire Resistance [Racial]
Prerequisite: Baatezu Mongrel or Angel Mongrel or Eladrin Mongrel or Tanar'ri Mongrel
Benefit: You gain resist 10 against fire.
Mongrel Fire Immunity [Racial]
Prerequisite: Baatezu Mongrel and Mongrel Fire Resistance
Benefit: You gain immunity to fire.
Mongrel Lay On Hands [Racial]
Prerequisite: Guardinal Mongrel, Cha 12
Benefit: You gain the Lay On Hands ability as if you were a paladin whose level equal your HD.
Mongrel Magic Circle Against Evil [Racial]
Prerequisite: Angel Mongrel or Archon Mongrel, character level 5
Benefit: A magic circle against evil effect always surrounds you (caster level equal to your Hit Dice).
Mongrel Petrification Resistance [Racial]
Prerequisite: Angel Mongrel or Archon Mongrel or Eladrin Mongrel or Guardinal Mongrel
Benefit: You gain +4 on all saves against petrification effects.
Mongrel Petrification Immunity [Racial]
Prerequisite: Angel Mongrel or Archon Mongrel or Eladrin Mongrel or Guardinal Mongrel, and Mongrel Petrification Resistance
Benefit: You gain immunity to petrification effects.
Mongrel Poison Resistance [Racial]
Prerequisite: Tanar'ri Mongrel or Angel Mongrel or Archon Mongrel or Guardinal Mongrel
Benefit: You gain +4 on all saves against poison.
Mongrel Poison Immunity [Racial]
Prerequisite: Tanar'ri Mongrel and Mongrel Poison Resistance
Benefit: You gain immunity to poison.
Mongrel Sonic Resistance [Racial]
Prerequisite: Guardinal Mongrel
Benefit: You gain resist 10 against sonic.
Mongrel Speak With Animals [Racial]
Prerequisite: Guardinal Mongrel
Benefit: You may cast speak with animals at will.
Mongrel Teleportation [Racial]
Prerequisite: Archon Mongrel, character level 13
Benefit: You can use greater teleport at will, as the spell (caster level equal to your Hit Dice), except that you can transport only yourself and up to 50 pounds of objects.
Mongrel Tongues [Racial]
Prerequisite: Angel Mongrel or Archon Mongrel or Eladrin Mongrel, character level 5
Benefit: You can speak with any creature that has a language, as though using a tongues spell (caster level equal to your Hit Dice). This ability is always active.
Monstrous Mongrel [Racial]
Your blood contains traces of something weird. There is no need to speculate on the exact mechanics of how it got there.
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, level 1 only
Benefit: Pick any any aberration, animal, elemental, magical beast, monstrous humanoid, ooze, outsider, plant, undead, or vermin. You are descended from that race for the purposes of your Emulate Race and Diffuse Blood racial traits.
In addition, your type changes to Monstrous Humanoid, and you gain the [Augmented Humanoid] subtype. You gain no new traits or features.
Outsider Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, level 1 only
Benefit: Pick any any Outsider. You are descended from that race for the purposes of your Emulate Race and Diffuse Blood racial traits.
In addition, your type changes to Outsider, and you gain the [Augmented Humanoid] and [Native] subtypes. You gain Darkvision 60. You can be raised, reincarnated, or resurrected as other living creatures can be. You still need to breathe, eat and sleep.
Reptilian Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race
Benefit: Pick any any reptile or creature with the [reptilian] subtype. You are descended from that race for the purposes of your Emulate Race and Diffuse Blood racial traits.
In addition, you gain the [Reptilian] subtype.
Tanar'ri Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, descended from a creature with the [Tanar'ri] subtype
Benefit: You gain the [Tanar'ri] subtype. You do not gain any traits.
Water Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, descended from a creature with the [Water] subtype
Benefit: You gain the [Water] subtype. You can breathe both air and water. You gain a swim speed of 10 feet.
Today, I would like to give them more feats. Effectively, I've gone through the list of types and subtypes, and given the mongrelfolk the ability to take feats to acquire any of the types or subtypes it would make sense for them to acquire.
Some of them are not powerful, or even effectively do nothing, and you would only take them to meet prerequisites. Some of them (mostly the specific races of Outsider: Angel, Baatezu, Tanar'ri, etc.) would be overpowered if they were just one feat, so I provide a number of extra feat chains to collect all the abilities of these subtypes.
The immunities are particularly powerful, but note that you need four feats before you can even get one immunity. Let's take acid immunity, for example:
1 - Outsider Mongrel, Celestial Heritage, Monstrous Mongrel, or something along those lines, to add an angel to your general heritage, to qualify for Angel Mongrel
2 - Angel Mongrel, to qualify for Mongrel Acid Resistance
3 - Mongrel Acid Resistance, to qualify for Mongrel Acid Immunity
4 - Mongrel Acid Immunity
Probably not worth it; I'm sure there are much easier ways to get these things. But I'd rather introduce weak options that nobody takes than introduce strong options that completely break the game.
---
Aberrant Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, level 1 only
Benefit: Pick any any aberration. You are descended from that race for the purposes of your Emulate Race and Diffuse Blood racial traits.
In addition, you gain the Aberration type and the [Augmented Humanoid] subtype. You gain darkvision 60.
Air Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, descended from a creature with the [Air] subtype
Benefit: You gain the [Air] subtype. You gain a fly speed of 10 feet, with Clumsy maneuverability.
Angel Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, descended from a creature with the [Angel] subtype
Benefit: You gain the [Angel] subtype. You gain darkvision 60. You do not gain any other traits.
Archon Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, descended from a creature with the [Archon] subtype
Benefit: You gain the [Archon] subtype. You gain darkvision 60. You do not gain any other traits.
Baatezu Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, descended from a creature with the [Baatezu] subtype
Benefit: You gain the [Baatezu] subtype. You can see perfectly in darkness of any kind, even that created by a deeper darkness spell. You do not gain any other traits.
Chaotic Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, descended from a creature with the [Chaotic] subtype
Benefit: You gain the [Chaotic] subtype. Any effect that depends on alignment affects you as though you have a chaotic alignment, no matter what your alignment actually is. You also suffer effects according to your actual alignment. You overcome damage reduction as if your natural weapons and any weapons you wield are chaotic-aligned.
Cold Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, descended from a creature with the [Cold] subtype
Benefit: You gain the [Cold] subtype. You gain immunity to cold and vulnerability to fire.
Dragonblood Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race
Benefit: Pick any any dragon. You are descended from that race for the purposes of your Emulate Race and Diffuse Blood racial traits.
In addition, you gain the [Dragonblood] subtype.
Earth Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, descended from a creature with the [Earth] subtype
Benefit: You gain the [Earth] subtype. You gain a burrow speed of 5 feet. You can burrow only through substances with the consistency of loose dirt.
Eladrin Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, descended from a creature with the [Eladrin] subtype
Benefit: You gain the [Eladrin] subtype. You gain darkvision 60. You do not gain any other traits.
Evil Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, descended from a creature with the [Evil] subtype
Benefit: You gain the [Evil] subtype. Any effect that depends on alignment affects you as though you have an evil alignment, no matter what your alignment actually is. You also suffer effects according to your actual alignment. You overcome damage reduction as if your natural weapons and any weapons you wield are evil-aligned.
Fey Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race
Benefit: Pick any any Fey. You are descended from that race for the purposes of your Emulate Race and Diffuse Blood racial traits.
In addition, your type changes to Fey, and you gain the [Augmented Humanoid] subtype.
Fire Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, descended from a creature with the [Fire] subtype
Benefit: You gain the [Fire] subtype. You gain immunity to fire and vulnerability to cold.
Fully Aquatic Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Seafolk Heritage
Benefit: Your racial bonus to Swim checks is +8 (this replaces your bonus from Seafolk Heritage). You gain the [aquatic] subtype and a swim speed of 10 feet. You can breathe both air and water.
Goblinoid Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race
Benefit: Pick any any creature with the [goblinoid] subtype. You are descended from that race for the purposes of your Emulate Race and Diffuse Blood racial traits.
In addition, you gain the [Goblinoid] subtype.
Good Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, descended from a creature with the [Good] subtype
Benefit: You gain the [Good] subtype. Any effect that depends on alignment affects you as though you have a good alignment, no matter what your alignment actually is. You also suffer effects according to your actual alignment. You overcome damage reduction as if your natural weapons and any weapons you wield are good-aligned.
Guardinal Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, descended from a creature with the [Guardinal] subtype
Benefit: You gain the [Guardinal] subtype. You gain darkvision 60. You do not gain any other traits.
Lawful Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, descended from a creature with the [Lawful] subtype
Benefit: You gain the [Lawful] subtype. Any effect that depends on alignment affects you as though you have a lawful alignment, no matter what your alignment actually is. You also suffer effects according to your actual alignment. You overcome damage reduction as if your natural weapons and any weapons you wield are lawful-aligned.
Mongrel Acid Resistance [Racial]
Prerequisite: Angel Mongrel or Baatezu Mongrel or Tanar'ri Mongrel
Benefit: You gain Resist 10 against acid.
Mongrel Acid Immunity [Racial]
Prerequisite: Angel Mongrel and Mongrel Acid Resistance
Benefit: You gain immunity to acid.
Mongrel Cold Resistance [Racial]
Prerequisite: Angel Mongrel or Baatezu Mongrel or Eladrin Mongrel or Guardinal Mongrel or Tanar'ri Mongrel
Benefit: You gain resist 10 against cold.
Mongrel Cold Immunity [Racial]
Prerequisite: Angel Mongrel and Mongrel Cold Resistance
Benefit: You gain immunity to cold.
Mongrel Electricity Resistance [Racial]
Prerequisite: Archon Mongrel or Eladrin Mongrel or Guardinal Mongrel or Tanar'ri Mongrel or Angel Mongrel
Benefit: You gain resist 10 against electricity.
Mongrel Electricity Immunity [Racial]
Prerequisite: Archon Mongrel or Eladrin Mongrel or Guardinal Mongrel or Tanar'ri Mongrel, and Mongrel Electricity Resistance
Benefit: You gain immunity to electricity.
Mongrel Fiendsummons [Racial]
Prerequisite: Baatezu Mongrel or Tanar'ri Mongrel
Benefit: 1/day, as a standard action, you may attempt to summon a Baatezu (if you have the [Baatezu] subtype) or a Tanar'ri (if you have the [Tanar'ri] subtype).
Each time you summon a creature, they will give you the opportunity to strike a deal with them. Devils are scrupulous about honouring their deals; demons are not. If the offered deal is not to the summoned creature's liking, they may counteroffer, leave, or attack you, so it is wise to be cautious about summoning creatures much stronger than you.
Each time you attempt to summon a creature, there is a limited probability that they will even appear.
Baatezu : chance of success
Lemure : 100%
Advespa : 33%
Bearded Devil (Barbazu) : 20%
Amnizu : 14%
Erinyes : 13%
Bone Devil (Osyluth) : 11%
Malebranche : 11%
Barbed Devil (Hamatula) : 9%
Ice Devil (Gelugon) : 8%
Horned Devil (Cornugon) : 6%
Xerfilstyx : 6%
Pit Fiend : 5%
Paeliryon : 5%
Tanar'ri : chance of success
Dretch : 50%
Jovoc : 20%
Babau : 17%
Arrow Demon : 14%
Succubus : 14%
Palrethee : 13%
Vrock : 11%
Hezrou : 9%
Kastighur : 9%
Glabrezu : 8%
Jarilith : 8%
Alkilith : 7%
Nalfeshnee : 7%
Marilith : 6%
Sorrowsworn Demon : 6%
Kelvezu : 6%
Balor : 5%
Myrmyxicus : 5%
Klurichir : 4%
Mongrel Fire Resistance [Racial]
Prerequisite: Baatezu Mongrel or Angel Mongrel or Eladrin Mongrel or Tanar'ri Mongrel
Benefit: You gain resist 10 against fire.
Mongrel Fire Immunity [Racial]
Prerequisite: Baatezu Mongrel and Mongrel Fire Resistance
Benefit: You gain immunity to fire.
Mongrel Lay On Hands [Racial]
Prerequisite: Guardinal Mongrel, Cha 12
Benefit: You gain the Lay On Hands ability as if you were a paladin whose level equal your HD.
Mongrel Magic Circle Against Evil [Racial]
Prerequisite: Angel Mongrel or Archon Mongrel, character level 5
Benefit: A magic circle against evil effect always surrounds you (caster level equal to your Hit Dice).
Mongrel Petrification Resistance [Racial]
Prerequisite: Angel Mongrel or Archon Mongrel or Eladrin Mongrel or Guardinal Mongrel
Benefit: You gain +4 on all saves against petrification effects.
Mongrel Petrification Immunity [Racial]
Prerequisite: Angel Mongrel or Archon Mongrel or Eladrin Mongrel or Guardinal Mongrel, and Mongrel Petrification Resistance
Benefit: You gain immunity to petrification effects.
Mongrel Poison Resistance [Racial]
Prerequisite: Tanar'ri Mongrel or Angel Mongrel or Archon Mongrel or Guardinal Mongrel
Benefit: You gain +4 on all saves against poison.
Mongrel Poison Immunity [Racial]
Prerequisite: Tanar'ri Mongrel and Mongrel Poison Resistance
Benefit: You gain immunity to poison.
Mongrel Sonic Resistance [Racial]
Prerequisite: Guardinal Mongrel
Benefit: You gain resist 10 against sonic.
Mongrel Speak With Animals [Racial]
Prerequisite: Guardinal Mongrel
Benefit: You may cast speak with animals at will.
Mongrel Teleportation [Racial]
Prerequisite: Archon Mongrel, character level 13
Benefit: You can use greater teleport at will, as the spell (caster level equal to your Hit Dice), except that you can transport only yourself and up to 50 pounds of objects.
Mongrel Tongues [Racial]
Prerequisite: Angel Mongrel or Archon Mongrel or Eladrin Mongrel, character level 5
Benefit: You can speak with any creature that has a language, as though using a tongues spell (caster level equal to your Hit Dice). This ability is always active.
Monstrous Mongrel [Racial]
Your blood contains traces of something weird. There is no need to speculate on the exact mechanics of how it got there.
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, level 1 only
Benefit: Pick any any aberration, animal, elemental, magical beast, monstrous humanoid, ooze, outsider, plant, undead, or vermin. You are descended from that race for the purposes of your Emulate Race and Diffuse Blood racial traits.
In addition, your type changes to Monstrous Humanoid, and you gain the [Augmented Humanoid] subtype. You gain no new traits or features.
Outsider Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, level 1 only
Benefit: Pick any any Outsider. You are descended from that race for the purposes of your Emulate Race and Diffuse Blood racial traits.
In addition, your type changes to Outsider, and you gain the [Augmented Humanoid] and [Native] subtypes. You gain Darkvision 60. You can be raised, reincarnated, or resurrected as other living creatures can be. You still need to breathe, eat and sleep.
Reptilian Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race
Benefit: Pick any any reptile or creature with the [reptilian] subtype. You are descended from that race for the purposes of your Emulate Race and Diffuse Blood racial traits.
In addition, you gain the [Reptilian] subtype.
Tanar'ri Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, descended from a creature with the [Tanar'ri] subtype
Benefit: You gain the [Tanar'ri] subtype. You do not gain any traits.
Water Mongrel [Racial]
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race, descended from a creature with the [Water] subtype
Benefit: You gain the [Water] subtype. You can breathe both air and water. You gain a swim speed of 10 feet.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Bloodlines, Monster Classes, and Level Adjustment
As mentioned in earlier posts, I sometimes use the bloodline levels from Unearthed Arcana. I also disapprove of too much unnecessary cruft dragging characters down. Particularly in the case of the nearly-useless minor bloodlines - the only good reason to take them is RP.
So I use them slightly differently. In my game, each bloodline level isn't a level so much as it is a level adjustment. At certain intervals, instead of taking a bloodline level, you increase your level adjustment by one. It doesn't count as a class level for any purpose. However, because this is level adjustment, it can be reduced like any level adjustment.
Say you have a minor bloodline. When you ding 12th level, you need to increase your level adjustment instead of gaining a class level. But, since minor bloodlines count as a +1 LA, you may then spend 3,000, 6,000, or 11,000 experience (depending which LA reduction system you're using) to pay it off.
If you have an intermediate bloodline, then when you ding 6th and 12th levels, you need to take a level adjustment. At any time, you may reduce these level adjustments as if you were an LA+2 creature. Same goes for major bloodlines, except you gain LA at 3rd, 6th, and 12th level, and you may reduce them as if you were an LA+3 creature.
You may not, however, ever reduce your LA below +0.
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I also allow monster classes, as from Savage Species, Libris Mortis, and some of the Races of books.
Monster classes for creatures that have level adjustment include empty levels, where your effective character level increases and you gain some powers, but you gain no hit dice or skill points. HeroForge even represents these empty levels straightforwardly as level adjustment.
I allow these, too, to be reduced as level adjustment. The experience cost is determined by the total number of empty levels of the monster class, which is to say, the total LA of the final creature.
For example, take the myconid monster class I posted some time ago. The full progression includes 6 HD and 6 empty levels. Put another way, a full-power myconid sovereign has 6 HD and +6 LA. At any point, a myconid character may pay off its empty levels, reducing its ECL but losing no abilities, as if it were already a +6 LA creature.
Again, you may never reduce your LA below +0.
So I use them slightly differently. In my game, each bloodline level isn't a level so much as it is a level adjustment. At certain intervals, instead of taking a bloodline level, you increase your level adjustment by one. It doesn't count as a class level for any purpose. However, because this is level adjustment, it can be reduced like any level adjustment.
Say you have a minor bloodline. When you ding 12th level, you need to increase your level adjustment instead of gaining a class level. But, since minor bloodlines count as a +1 LA, you may then spend 3,000, 6,000, or 11,000 experience (depending which LA reduction system you're using) to pay it off.
If you have an intermediate bloodline, then when you ding 6th and 12th levels, you need to take a level adjustment. At any time, you may reduce these level adjustments as if you were an LA+2 creature. Same goes for major bloodlines, except you gain LA at 3rd, 6th, and 12th level, and you may reduce them as if you were an LA+3 creature.
You may not, however, ever reduce your LA below +0.
---
I also allow monster classes, as from Savage Species, Libris Mortis, and some of the Races of books.
Monster classes for creatures that have level adjustment include empty levels, where your effective character level increases and you gain some powers, but you gain no hit dice or skill points. HeroForge even represents these empty levels straightforwardly as level adjustment.
I allow these, too, to be reduced as level adjustment. The experience cost is determined by the total number of empty levels of the monster class, which is to say, the total LA of the final creature.
For example, take the myconid monster class I posted some time ago. The full progression includes 6 HD and 6 empty levels. Put another way, a full-power myconid sovereign has 6 HD and +6 LA. At any point, a myconid character may pay off its empty levels, reducing its ECL but losing no abilities, as if it were already a +6 LA creature.
Again, you may never reduce your LA below +0.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Merfolk and Tritons
You may have noticed, in my post on mongrelfolk, that the Triton's Ally feat had the prerequisite "Seafolk Heritage (Triton) or Triton-Descended Mer". Conspicuously, Triton-Descended Mer was absent from that list, because it is not a mongrelfolk feat.
Here's the story: tritons and merfolk live in close proximity to one another, and frequently interbreed. But there is no template or race for half-merfolk triton or half-triton merfolk. Instead, they are, mysteriously, so similar that the offspring of a triton and a merfolk is either a triton or a merfolk. These offspring then have the option to take the Mer-Descended Triton or Triton-Descended Mer feats, as appropriate.
Mer-Descended Triton [Racial]
There is more Merfolk blood in your lineage than that of most Tritons.
Prerequisites: Triton race, first level only
Effect: Your type becomes Humanoid and you lose the Native subtype. Your Outsider hit dice become Humanoid hit dice.
You lose your Darkvision but retain Low-Light Vision. Your Base Attack Bonus from racial HD drops from +3 to +2. Your base Reflex save from racial HD remains +3, but your base Fortitude and Will saves drop to +1. Your skill points from racial HD drops from 8+int per level to 2+int per level.
Additionally, your Level Adjustment drops from +2 to +1.
Triton-Descended Mer [Racial]
There is more Triton blood in your lineage than that of most Merfolk.
Prerequisite: Merfolk race
Benefit: Your type becomes Outsider and you gain the Native subtype.
You gain Darkvision 60 feet.
The sea races have also occasionally interbred with various surface races races, to various effects, including the following feats:
Part of That World [Racial]
Increased interactions and interbreeding with other races (particularly yuan-ti and the rare selkies) have given some merfolk the innate ability to, with practice, work minor transformations on themselves.
Prerequisite: Merfolk race
Benefit: An innate talent for magic grants you the following spell-like ability at a caster level equal to your hit dice: 1/day - alter self.
Special: You may select this feat multiple times. Each time you do, you may use the spell-like ability one additional time per day.
Land Legs [Racial]
Some seafolk, after spending a great deal of time on land, develop the strength and ability to stand and move better, allowing them to move faster on land.
Prerequisite: Dex 17, Dash, Aquatic or Water subtype.
Benefit: If you are wearing light armor or no armor and are carrying a light load, your land speed is an additional 5 feet faster (for a total of +10 with Dash). Land Legs has no effect on swim, fly, or burrow speed.
Here's the story: tritons and merfolk live in close proximity to one another, and frequently interbreed. But there is no template or race for half-merfolk triton or half-triton merfolk. Instead, they are, mysteriously, so similar that the offspring of a triton and a merfolk is either a triton or a merfolk. These offspring then have the option to take the Mer-Descended Triton or Triton-Descended Mer feats, as appropriate.
Mer-Descended Triton [Racial]
There is more Merfolk blood in your lineage than that of most Tritons.
Prerequisites: Triton race, first level only
Effect: Your type becomes Humanoid and you lose the Native subtype. Your Outsider hit dice become Humanoid hit dice.
You lose your Darkvision but retain Low-Light Vision. Your Base Attack Bonus from racial HD drops from +3 to +2. Your base Reflex save from racial HD remains +3, but your base Fortitude and Will saves drop to +1. Your skill points from racial HD drops from 8+int per level to 2+int per level.
Additionally, your Level Adjustment drops from +2 to +1.
Triton-Descended Mer [Racial]
There is more Triton blood in your lineage than that of most Merfolk.
Prerequisite: Merfolk race
Benefit: Your type becomes Outsider and you gain the Native subtype.
You gain Darkvision 60 feet.
The sea races have also occasionally interbred with various surface races races, to various effects, including the following feats:
Part of That World [Racial]
Increased interactions and interbreeding with other races (particularly yuan-ti and the rare selkies) have given some merfolk the innate ability to, with practice, work minor transformations on themselves.
Prerequisite: Merfolk race
Benefit: An innate talent for magic grants you the following spell-like ability at a caster level equal to your hit dice: 1/day - alter self.
Special: You may select this feat multiple times. Each time you do, you may use the spell-like ability one additional time per day.
Land Legs [Racial]
Some seafolk, after spending a great deal of time on land, develop the strength and ability to stand and move better, allowing them to move faster on land.
Prerequisite: Dex 17, Dash, Aquatic or Water subtype.
Benefit: If you are wearing light armor or no armor and are carrying a light load, your land speed is an additional 5 feet faster (for a total of +10 with Dash). Land Legs has no effect on swim, fly, or burrow speed.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Engineer Race
When the Inundation began to flood the caverns of the Underdark and all the races of stone were doomed, the dwarves and gnomes hatched a desperate plan. Combining the metalworking skill of the dwarves with the gnomes’ talents with complex machinery, the two races collaborated to build a fleet of metal submarines before the waters engulfed the world.
Ever since then, the two races have lived in these claustrophobic submarine vessels, as well as a handful of dank cavern cities inside undersea mountains, building and breeding until the two races merged into one. Occasionally there are throwbacks to one race or the other, but for the most part the race has settled into a stable form.
When the Subsidence came, the engineers found some of their claimed territory was now above the waves. Unlike the purely aquatic races, the engineers immediately claimed this land, calling it the Surface Holdings.
Personality: Engineers love to tinker and build above all else. This is important, because only their machines separate them from drowning or starvation.
Physical Description: Because bulk is a detriment in the narrow corridors and claustrophobic spaces of their submarines, engineers look more like gnomes than like dwarves, standing about 3 to 3-1/2 feet tall and weighing 40 to 45 pounds. Centuries of the murky depths of the ocean have paled the skin of the engineers, so their darkest skin tone is about the same as an average human. Their hair can be any shade from fair to black, and their eyes tend towards dark blue. They reach adulthood at the age of 40, and live to an average lifespan of 350, although some can live as long as 500 years. Males are slightly larger than females, and tend to prefer carefully-trimmed yet elaborately styled beards. Female engineers do not have facial hair.
Relations: Engineers tend to keep to themselves. They occasionally trade with humans and elves on the surface and with merfolk, tritons, and locathah in the sea, but they tend to avoid sahuagin and kuo-toa, who in turn are generally content to let the heavily-armored engineer submarines go unmolested.
The engineers have been officially in a state of war against Gus ever since an incident in the Chaotic Plane of Air 20 years ago.
The engineers tend to look on seaforged as property, which has occasionally caused resentment and rebellion among the less well-programmed seaforged, but society is usually stable between the two groups.
Alignment: Engineers tend towards lawful neutral. The small spaces of the submarines require strict adherence to law and social mores, and the dangerous waters of the murky deep leave little room for moral considerations.
Religion: Engineers ostensibly worship both Moradin and Garl Glittergold, as well as the lesser dwarf and gnome deities, but as both of these deities dwell in the distant elemental plane of Earth, their powers are feeble in the mortal realm. As such, most engineers are largely non-religious. Those few Engineer clerics who exist worship the concept of machines as often as they worship any god, and often take the Mechanus domain.
Language: The engineer language is a creole language combining dwarven, gnomish, and common. The word in this language that refers to both the engineers as a race and to the language itself is “dinlun”.
Names: Engineers have the gnomish predilection for multiple names, but these names are often traditional, passed down and reused through the generations. Often, two or more names will be combined, honoring two or more relatives, and of course combining gnomish and dwarven syllables in the manner of the dinlun language. An engineer’s clan name is usually either a traditional dwarf or gnome clan name. Nicknames are unique to each individual, and often prosaically descriptive. Each engineer will also identify himself with the submarine or city he is currently or was most recently affiliated with, which can change – there is extensive swapping and breeding between submarine crews, to stave off inbreeding.
Example Male Names: Boddyndd, Barenock, Broble, Dimttor, Ekin, Einble, Fonsark, Gimkil, Glim, Gerkar, Jeberik, Ruddo, Osbo, Narnlinn, Roondek, Seebon, Takfoodle, Tordar, Traubo, Ulfberk, Veit, Zook.
Example Female Names: Arnottin, Audmip, Blimpgga, Caral, Dagmil, Diewick, Duvarasa, Ellyde, Ellyin, Gunnjobell, Hlmottin, Ilnab, Liftwyn, Looploda, Mardsa, Roynal, Sannmil, Shahild, Tor, Waytin.
Example Clan Names: Balderk, Beren, Dankil, Daergel, Folkor, Garrick, Gorunn, Holderhek, Lodert, Lutgehr, Murnig, Nackle, Ningel, Raulnor, Rumnaheim, Scheppen, Strakeln, Torunn, Turen, Ungart.
Example Nicknames: Alespiller, Chickens, Deftfinger, Doc, Greataxe, Happy, Limper, Patchbeard, Purplethumb, Sleepy, Turtle, Yeller.
Example Ship Names: Alseg, Anpin, Arlydd, Baloaen, Baridin, Delgaer, Dolgal, Duerlond, Dwolun, Fallias, Glanydd, Gloriarum, Kilfaer, Marwed, Moribar, Nalarn, Norawynn, Ovuran, Thoraim, Thrawann, Werabere, Whureaus.
Politics: Engineer society runs like a well-oiled machine. Each engineer submarine and settlement answers to the rulership in Garzak, a council of learned elders.
Garzak: In the deep of the ocean’s floor, there is rumoured to be an engineer city built inside a submerged mountain, known as the First Anvil. A sophisticated ventilation system, possibly involving an actual portal to the Plane of Air, keeps all the inhabitants breathing. There are great dry docks where submarines are built and refit, and massive forges where the ore gathered by the submarines is refined and processed. Few other than engineers have ever visited.
Surface Holdings: The engineers have largely exploited their surface empire by setting up massive, polluting factories that are unfeasible in the tight confines of their submarines and undersea cities, where clean air is a precious resource. The continent is managed in Garzak’s name by Ulfdek “Silver” Valmikk.
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To come up with racial traits for the engineers, I chopped most of the numbers for each race in half, then added them together.
Ability score adjustments can't be anything other than multiples of 2. Gnomes and Dwarves both have +2 Con, so that's a gimme. Dwarves have -2 Charisma, gnomes have -2 Strength. Rather than choosing between the two, let's give engineers both, and make up for it with a +2 Int to represent the cleverness that engineer society values.
Dwarves, though Medium, are on the Small end of Medium, so crossing them with a Small race will result in a Small race:
Gnomes and dwarves are both humanoid, so that's easy. The rules on what subtypes a half-creature inherits are ill-defined. It seems half-elves have the (Elf) subtype and half-orcs have the (Orc) subtype, but the only subtype the mongrelfolk have is (Human), when by rights they should have all of them. Because the existing rules make no sense or are nonexistent, let's sweep them aside and say that engineers have the (Gnome) and (Dwarf) subtypes.
Gnomes and dwarves both have a land speed of 20. Easy.
Dwarves have darkvision 60, gnomes have low-light vision. Low-light vision is better than darkvision 0 (which would be no darkvision at all). It's probably not technically as good as darkvision 10, but let's use that for lack of better alternatives. (60+10)/2=35. That should at least be a multiple of 10; a multiple of 20 would be better. In D&D, you Always Round Down, but 30 is half of 60, which would be what you get when you breed a darkvision 60 race with a darkvision 0 race, and we already determined the gnomes have better than darkvision 0. So let's round up to 40.
Engineers can have all the weapon familiarities either of their parent races have, because those proficiencies are cultural rather than genetic, and we can assume the two races kept up the use of their racial weapons even as they merged.
Dwarves get stability +4, gnomes get nothing of the sort. Because this is not a very powerful ability, there are a couple +1 bonuses that just drop out of the combined race entirely, and engineers spend their lives on rolling submarines, I judged that engineers should get stability +3.
Dwarves get +2 on saves against poison, spells, and spell-like effects. Gnomes get +2 on saves against illusions. But anything pertaining to illusions is largely cultural, and I don't figure the engineers stuck with that particular cultural trait. So chop the dwarf saves in half and give them to the engineers.
Dwarves and gnomes get various bonuses against kobolds, goblinoids, orcs, and giants. But these are cultural techniques, which the engineers would have no reason to continue teaching, because kobolds, goblinoids, orcs, and giants are all virtually extinct.
Gnomes get a +2 bonus to listen checks, which I dropped because I didn't want to clutter up the engineer with too many +1s.
Gnomes get a bonus to alchemy due to their sensitive noses. Dwarves get a culture-related bonus to appraise and craft dealing with metal or stone. Engineers rarely deal with stone; their schtick is complex machinery. So let's call this a flat +2 to craft and appraise dealing with complex machinery, fine metalwork, and alchemy.
Gnomes can speak with burrowing mammals. Even if they retain this ability genetically, how would they know? Most of them are never going to meet a burrowing mammal in their life. So let's drop that out.
Engineers can, of course, speak their native tongue, Dinlun, a creole of dwarvish and gnomish. They can also speak Common, because everybody can speak Common. They might also learn dwarvish and gnomish, though they don't by default. Aquan is a bonus language for everybody now, it is to the sea races what Common is to the surface races and Undercommon is to the Underdark races. The engineers are unlikely to learn dead languages like orcish and giant, so in addition to Aquan, let's give the engineers as bonus languages everything their parent races have that isn't a dead language.
The engineer's schtick is steampunkery, and the most steampunky class is the Artificer, so that's their Favored Class.
And, of course, level adjustment remains the same.
So, the final product:
Engineer Racial Traits
+2 Constitution, +2 Intelligence, -2 Strength, -2 Charisma: Engineers have the small size and attendant weakness of gnomes and the gruffness of dwarves, but they are tough like both races, and tend to be cleverer than either.
Small: As a Small creature, an engineer gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but he uses smaller weapons than humans use, and his lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters those of a Medium character.
Type: Humanoid. Engineers have the Dwarf and Gnome subtypes, and as such qualify for any feats, classes, and other options that dwarves or gnomes qualify for.
Engineer base land speed is 20 feet.
Darkvision: Engineers can see in the dark up to 40 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight and engineers can function just fine with no light at all.
Weapon Familiarity: Engineers may treat dwarven waraxes, dwarven urgroshes, and gnome hooked hammers as martial weapons, rather than exotic weapons.
Stability: Engineers are exceptionally stable on their feet. An engineer gains a +3 bonus on ability checks made to resist being bull rushed or tripped when standing on the ground (but not when climbing, flying, riding, or otherwise not standing firmly on the ground).
+1 racial bonus on saving throws against spells, spell-like effects, and poison. Engineers are hardy and resistant to toxins, and have an innate resistance to magic spells.
+2 racial bonus on Use Magic Device checks. Engineers are familiar with magical items of all kinds.
+2 racial bonus to Craft and Appraise checks pertaining to complex machinery, fine metalwork, or alchemy. Engineers are especially capable in these areas.
Automatic Languages: Common and Dinlun. Bonus languages: dwarven, gnome, aquan, terran, undercommon, draconic, elven. Engineers learn the languages of their ancestors and their allies and enemies under the sea and on the surface.
Favored Class: Artificer (from the Eberron Campaign Setting). A multiclass engineer’s artificer class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.
Level Adjustment +0.
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In addition to dwarf-only and gnome-only feats, engineers also qualify for two engineer-only feats:
Enginesoul [Racial]
You have spent so much time in the engine rooms of submarines that repairing them is second nature to you.
Prerequisite: Engineer race
Benefit: An innate talent for magic grants you the following spell-like abilities as a 1st-level caster: 1/day – mending, repair minor damage, repair light damage.
Special: You may select this feat multiple times. Each time you do, you may use each spell-like ability one additional time per day.
Grounded [Racial]
Due to their dwarf heritage, engineers have a natural resistance to spells and spell-like abilities, as indicated by their racial bonus to saves. Occasionally, some fluke of engineer genetics causes this magic resistance to be more powerful than usual.
Prerequisite: Engineer race, base Fortitude save +5
Benefit: You gain spell resistance equal to 5 + your total hit dice.
If you already have spell resistance from some other source, your existing spell resistance increases by +2.
---
I'm sure some of you are saying right now, "But Ludus Carcerum, don't all the objections you made to the standard mongrelfolk also apply to the engineers? Not particularly powerful, not particularly interesting?" Well... yes, I suppose so. They do get the nice (and rare at LA+0) +2 to Intelligence, and they do qualify for anything a gnome or dwarf qualifies for, and they do have steampunk built into their race in a way that gnomes and dwarves do not (with the possible exception of tinker gnomes). They also make good wizards, for the obvious +2 Int reasons, as well as the +2 Con and +1 AC that will make them marginally less squishy than your standard wizard (even better than gray elves, who pair a +2 Int and +2 Dex with a -2 Con), but "they make good wizards" shouldn't be considered a positive trait - wizards don't need any more power.
But the steampunk bit is probably best. If you want to play a steampunk character, you should play an engineer, hands down. Maybe we should consider also allowing them to qualify for the Graft Flesh (Maug) feat or something like it, just to play that up even more.
Ever since then, the two races have lived in these claustrophobic submarine vessels, as well as a handful of dank cavern cities inside undersea mountains, building and breeding until the two races merged into one. Occasionally there are throwbacks to one race or the other, but for the most part the race has settled into a stable form.
When the Subsidence came, the engineers found some of their claimed territory was now above the waves. Unlike the purely aquatic races, the engineers immediately claimed this land, calling it the Surface Holdings.
Personality: Engineers love to tinker and build above all else. This is important, because only their machines separate them from drowning or starvation.
Physical Description: Because bulk is a detriment in the narrow corridors and claustrophobic spaces of their submarines, engineers look more like gnomes than like dwarves, standing about 3 to 3-1/2 feet tall and weighing 40 to 45 pounds. Centuries of the murky depths of the ocean have paled the skin of the engineers, so their darkest skin tone is about the same as an average human. Their hair can be any shade from fair to black, and their eyes tend towards dark blue. They reach adulthood at the age of 40, and live to an average lifespan of 350, although some can live as long as 500 years. Males are slightly larger than females, and tend to prefer carefully-trimmed yet elaborately styled beards. Female engineers do not have facial hair.
Relations: Engineers tend to keep to themselves. They occasionally trade with humans and elves on the surface and with merfolk, tritons, and locathah in the sea, but they tend to avoid sahuagin and kuo-toa, who in turn are generally content to let the heavily-armored engineer submarines go unmolested.
The engineers have been officially in a state of war against Gus ever since an incident in the Chaotic Plane of Air 20 years ago.
The engineers tend to look on seaforged as property, which has occasionally caused resentment and rebellion among the less well-programmed seaforged, but society is usually stable between the two groups.
Alignment: Engineers tend towards lawful neutral. The small spaces of the submarines require strict adherence to law and social mores, and the dangerous waters of the murky deep leave little room for moral considerations.
Religion: Engineers ostensibly worship both Moradin and Garl Glittergold, as well as the lesser dwarf and gnome deities, but as both of these deities dwell in the distant elemental plane of Earth, their powers are feeble in the mortal realm. As such, most engineers are largely non-religious. Those few Engineer clerics who exist worship the concept of machines as often as they worship any god, and often take the Mechanus domain.
Language: The engineer language is a creole language combining dwarven, gnomish, and common. The word in this language that refers to both the engineers as a race and to the language itself is “dinlun”.
Names: Engineers have the gnomish predilection for multiple names, but these names are often traditional, passed down and reused through the generations. Often, two or more names will be combined, honoring two or more relatives, and of course combining gnomish and dwarven syllables in the manner of the dinlun language. An engineer’s clan name is usually either a traditional dwarf or gnome clan name. Nicknames are unique to each individual, and often prosaically descriptive. Each engineer will also identify himself with the submarine or city he is currently or was most recently affiliated with, which can change – there is extensive swapping and breeding between submarine crews, to stave off inbreeding.
Example Male Names: Boddyndd, Barenock, Broble, Dimttor, Ekin, Einble, Fonsark, Gimkil, Glim, Gerkar, Jeberik, Ruddo, Osbo, Narnlinn, Roondek, Seebon, Takfoodle, Tordar, Traubo, Ulfberk, Veit, Zook.
Example Female Names: Arnottin, Audmip, Blimpgga, Caral, Dagmil, Diewick, Duvarasa, Ellyde, Ellyin, Gunnjobell, Hlmottin, Ilnab, Liftwyn, Looploda, Mardsa, Roynal, Sannmil, Shahild, Tor, Waytin.
Example Clan Names: Balderk, Beren, Dankil, Daergel, Folkor, Garrick, Gorunn, Holderhek, Lodert, Lutgehr, Murnig, Nackle, Ningel, Raulnor, Rumnaheim, Scheppen, Strakeln, Torunn, Turen, Ungart.
Example Nicknames: Alespiller, Chickens, Deftfinger, Doc, Greataxe, Happy, Limper, Patchbeard, Purplethumb, Sleepy, Turtle, Yeller.
Example Ship Names: Alseg, Anpin, Arlydd, Baloaen, Baridin, Delgaer, Dolgal, Duerlond, Dwolun, Fallias, Glanydd, Gloriarum, Kilfaer, Marwed, Moribar, Nalarn, Norawynn, Ovuran, Thoraim, Thrawann, Werabere, Whureaus.
Politics: Engineer society runs like a well-oiled machine. Each engineer submarine and settlement answers to the rulership in Garzak, a council of learned elders.
Garzak: In the deep of the ocean’s floor, there is rumoured to be an engineer city built inside a submerged mountain, known as the First Anvil. A sophisticated ventilation system, possibly involving an actual portal to the Plane of Air, keeps all the inhabitants breathing. There are great dry docks where submarines are built and refit, and massive forges where the ore gathered by the submarines is refined and processed. Few other than engineers have ever visited.
Surface Holdings: The engineers have largely exploited their surface empire by setting up massive, polluting factories that are unfeasible in the tight confines of their submarines and undersea cities, where clean air is a precious resource. The continent is managed in Garzak’s name by Ulfdek “Silver” Valmikk.
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To come up with racial traits for the engineers, I chopped most of the numbers for each race in half, then added them together.
Ability score adjustments can't be anything other than multiples of 2. Gnomes and Dwarves both have +2 Con, so that's a gimme. Dwarves have -2 Charisma, gnomes have -2 Strength. Rather than choosing between the two, let's give engineers both, and make up for it with a +2 Int to represent the cleverness that engineer society values.
Dwarves, though Medium, are on the Small end of Medium, so crossing them with a Small race will result in a Small race:
Gnomes and dwarves are both humanoid, so that's easy. The rules on what subtypes a half-creature inherits are ill-defined. It seems half-elves have the (Elf) subtype and half-orcs have the (Orc) subtype, but the only subtype the mongrelfolk have is (Human), when by rights they should have all of them. Because the existing rules make no sense or are nonexistent, let's sweep them aside and say that engineers have the (Gnome) and (Dwarf) subtypes.
Gnomes and dwarves both have a land speed of 20. Easy.
Dwarves have darkvision 60, gnomes have low-light vision. Low-light vision is better than darkvision 0 (which would be no darkvision at all). It's probably not technically as good as darkvision 10, but let's use that for lack of better alternatives. (60+10)/2=35. That should at least be a multiple of 10; a multiple of 20 would be better. In D&D, you Always Round Down, but 30 is half of 60, which would be what you get when you breed a darkvision 60 race with a darkvision 0 race, and we already determined the gnomes have better than darkvision 0. So let's round up to 40.
Engineers can have all the weapon familiarities either of their parent races have, because those proficiencies are cultural rather than genetic, and we can assume the two races kept up the use of their racial weapons even as they merged.
Dwarves get stability +4, gnomes get nothing of the sort. Because this is not a very powerful ability, there are a couple +1 bonuses that just drop out of the combined race entirely, and engineers spend their lives on rolling submarines, I judged that engineers should get stability +3.
Dwarves get +2 on saves against poison, spells, and spell-like effects. Gnomes get +2 on saves against illusions. But anything pertaining to illusions is largely cultural, and I don't figure the engineers stuck with that particular cultural trait. So chop the dwarf saves in half and give them to the engineers.
Dwarves and gnomes get various bonuses against kobolds, goblinoids, orcs, and giants. But these are cultural techniques, which the engineers would have no reason to continue teaching, because kobolds, goblinoids, orcs, and giants are all virtually extinct.
Gnomes get a +2 bonus to listen checks, which I dropped because I didn't want to clutter up the engineer with too many +1s.
Gnomes get a bonus to alchemy due to their sensitive noses. Dwarves get a culture-related bonus to appraise and craft dealing with metal or stone. Engineers rarely deal with stone; their schtick is complex machinery. So let's call this a flat +2 to craft and appraise dealing with complex machinery, fine metalwork, and alchemy.
Gnomes can speak with burrowing mammals. Even if they retain this ability genetically, how would they know? Most of them are never going to meet a burrowing mammal in their life. So let's drop that out.
Engineers can, of course, speak their native tongue, Dinlun, a creole of dwarvish and gnomish. They can also speak Common, because everybody can speak Common. They might also learn dwarvish and gnomish, though they don't by default. Aquan is a bonus language for everybody now, it is to the sea races what Common is to the surface races and Undercommon is to the Underdark races. The engineers are unlikely to learn dead languages like orcish and giant, so in addition to Aquan, let's give the engineers as bonus languages everything their parent races have that isn't a dead language.
The engineer's schtick is steampunkery, and the most steampunky class is the Artificer, so that's their Favored Class.
And, of course, level adjustment remains the same.
So, the final product:
Engineer Racial Traits
+2 Constitution, +2 Intelligence, -2 Strength, -2 Charisma: Engineers have the small size and attendant weakness of gnomes and the gruffness of dwarves, but they are tough like both races, and tend to be cleverer than either.
Small: As a Small creature, an engineer gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but he uses smaller weapons than humans use, and his lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters those of a Medium character.
Type: Humanoid. Engineers have the Dwarf and Gnome subtypes, and as such qualify for any feats, classes, and other options that dwarves or gnomes qualify for.
Engineer base land speed is 20 feet.
Darkvision: Engineers can see in the dark up to 40 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight and engineers can function just fine with no light at all.
Weapon Familiarity: Engineers may treat dwarven waraxes, dwarven urgroshes, and gnome hooked hammers as martial weapons, rather than exotic weapons.
Stability: Engineers are exceptionally stable on their feet. An engineer gains a +3 bonus on ability checks made to resist being bull rushed or tripped when standing on the ground (but not when climbing, flying, riding, or otherwise not standing firmly on the ground).
+1 racial bonus on saving throws against spells, spell-like effects, and poison. Engineers are hardy and resistant to toxins, and have an innate resistance to magic spells.
+2 racial bonus on Use Magic Device checks. Engineers are familiar with magical items of all kinds.
+2 racial bonus to Craft and Appraise checks pertaining to complex machinery, fine metalwork, or alchemy. Engineers are especially capable in these areas.
Automatic Languages: Common and Dinlun. Bonus languages: dwarven, gnome, aquan, terran, undercommon, draconic, elven. Engineers learn the languages of their ancestors and their allies and enemies under the sea and on the surface.
Favored Class: Artificer (from the Eberron Campaign Setting). A multiclass engineer’s artificer class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.
Level Adjustment +0.
---
In addition to dwarf-only and gnome-only feats, engineers also qualify for two engineer-only feats:
Enginesoul [Racial]
You have spent so much time in the engine rooms of submarines that repairing them is second nature to you.
Prerequisite: Engineer race
Benefit: An innate talent for magic grants you the following spell-like abilities as a 1st-level caster: 1/day – mending, repair minor damage, repair light damage.
Special: You may select this feat multiple times. Each time you do, you may use each spell-like ability one additional time per day.
Grounded [Racial]
Due to their dwarf heritage, engineers have a natural resistance to spells and spell-like abilities, as indicated by their racial bonus to saves. Occasionally, some fluke of engineer genetics causes this magic resistance to be more powerful than usual.
Prerequisite: Engineer race, base Fortitude save +5
Benefit: You gain spell resistance equal to 5 + your total hit dice.
If you already have spell resistance from some other source, your existing spell resistance increases by +2.
---
I'm sure some of you are saying right now, "But Ludus Carcerum, don't all the objections you made to the standard mongrelfolk also apply to the engineers? Not particularly powerful, not particularly interesting?" Well... yes, I suppose so. They do get the nice (and rare at LA+0) +2 to Intelligence, and they do qualify for anything a gnome or dwarf qualifies for, and they do have steampunk built into their race in a way that gnomes and dwarves do not (with the possible exception of tinker gnomes). They also make good wizards, for the obvious +2 Int reasons, as well as the +2 Con and +1 AC that will make them marginally less squishy than your standard wizard (even better than gray elves, who pair a +2 Int and +2 Dex with a -2 Con), but "they make good wizards" shouldn't be considered a positive trait - wizards don't need any more power.
But the steampunk bit is probably best. If you want to play a steampunk character, you should play an engineer, hands down. Maybe we should consider also allowing them to qualify for the Graft Flesh (Maug) feat or something like it, just to play that up even more.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Reworking Mongrelfolk
Mongrelfolk are among the most common races in my campaign. But, if you look at them, they're actually kind of weak, or at least uninteresting.
They're not SRD, so I'm toeing the legal line here, but let's consider what the mongrelfolk can do:
+4 Con, -2 Int, -4 Cha. This may be really good for a tanking character, especially one that uses extremely heavy armor. No penalties to physical stats, large bonus to constitution. That's about the nicest thing they have going for them. Interestingly, half-elves get a diplomacy bonus because of general likeableness, but half-everythings get a large charisma penalty because of horribleness.
Low-Light Vision isn't bad, but it's far from great. It rarely comes up.
Immunity to Sleep spells and effects. Good in theory, but I've never in my life seen anyone cast Sleep.
+2 on saving throws against any spell that targets or ignores a particular race from which the mongrelfolk is descended. Do any such spells even exist? Dance of Ruin ignores demons, but mongrelfolk aren't demons. I'm sure there are other spells like that, but they never get used, so that's not a useful ability.
+1 on saves against enchantment and illusion spells and effects. Not terrible, that at least applies to 2/9ths of spells, not that it's a particularly large bonus. Also, +1 saves against poison, which can be nice, lots of monsters have poison, but again, not a large bonus.
+1 to Appraise, Climb, Jump, Listen, Move Silently, Search, and Spot. Three skills people use frequently, three nobody ever does. Maybe a rogue can benefit from move silently. But again, small bonus. The little things add up, sure, but it's still not very interesting.
+4 to Hide and Sleight of Hand. At last, a super-useful bonus! ...for rogues. If you're not a rogue, this is crap-tastic, because you never use either of these skills.
Can automatically Emulate Race, as with Use Magic Device, provided the race is humanoid. +4 to emulating non-humanoids. This could be useful, if there were many magic items that required you to be a specific race. There aren't.
Can mimic any voice or sound they have heard. This has real potential, even if you don't allow the mongrelfolk to mimic, say, the Babble of an allip (as you probably shouldn't; Babble is a Supernatural ability, Sound Imitation is only Extraordinary).
---
In summary, aside from the con bonus and the Sound Imitation, most of the mongrelfolk abilities are "can do X slightly better, if there were ever any call to do X, which there isn't". And they all sort of fit thematically, but none of them (except Sound Imitation) are at all interesting, which is a major problem.
What can we do to fix this? Well, for one thing, why are mongrelfolk limited to being descended from human, halfling, dwarf, elf, gnome, goblin, and orc? Especially in an all-ocean world where sahuagin, tritons, merfolk, locathah, and kuo-toa are so common, and where virtually all the other races died out or interbred with mongrelfolk?
Well, first, because it makes no sense for a mongrelfolk to get mongrelfolk benefits from some things they're descended for and not from others, I add some clauses to Emulate Race and Diffuse Blood:
Where Diffuse Blood specifies "Mongrelfolk gain a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against any spell that targets a particular race or ignores a particular race, provided the selected race is part of their general ancestry (human, halfling, dwarf, elf, gnome, goblin, or orc)", I add "or any other race from which they are descended through feats, bloodlines, or templates".
Where Emulate Race specifies "A mongrelfolk can automatically emulate any humanoid race", I add "or any race from which they are descended". Where it gives a "+4 racial bonus on attempts to emulate nonhumanoid races", I specify "nonhumanoid races from which they are not descended".
Now the kicker, the actual major change that could make mongrelfolk a legit force to be reckoned with. I add to the list of mongrelfolk racial traits:
"Mongrelfolk may take heritage feats even if they do not meet the class restrictions (for example, you may take the Draconic Heritage feat even if you are not a sorcerer). If you take a heritage feat tree, choose a single race described by that heritage (for example, if you choose Fiendish Heritage, you may choose to be descended from any one demon or devil, for example a succubus). You are descended from that race for the purpose of your Emulate Race and Diffuse Blood racial abilities."
Boom, with one feat (Fiendish Heritage, specifying some specific demon), a mongrelfolk wizard can cast Dance of Ruin, doing 2d20 to every creature in the vicinity including himself, but get a +2 to save. Okay, yeah, that's still only okay.
---
The other thing I did, then, was to add a buttload of additional mongrelfolk-only feats, partially capitalizing on this new specification that a mongrelfolk is descended (for the purpose of his racial abilities) from anything from which it is descended (in general).
Balanced Heritage [Racial]
You are descended from a more balanced mix of races, so you are more comely but less hardy.
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race
Benefit: Your racial bonus to constitution and your racial penalty to charisma are both reduced by 2, bringing your racial modifiers to a total of +2 Constitution, -2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma.
Because I've all but eliminated gnomes and halflings and replaced them with engineers, there may be a bit of an open niche for Small races, so:
Small Heritage [Racial]
You are descended from kobolds, fey, or some other undersized humanoid.
Prerequisites: Mongrelfolk, 1st level only
Effect: Pick any Small or Tiny aberration, fey, giant, humanoid, monstrous humanoid, or outsider. You are descended from that race for the purpose of your Emulate Race and Diffuse Blood racial traits.
In addition, you are naturally Small sized. Your height is halved and your weight is divided by 8. You take a +1 size modifier to attack and armor class, -4 to Grapple, +4 to Hide, -2 to Strength (to a minimum of 1), +2 to Dexterity. Your unarmed strikes do 1d2 instead of 1d3damage. You use smaller equipment, which is correspondingly less expensive, but your weapons also do less damage because of their size.
Special: You may take this feat more than once. If you do, you may choose a second creature from which you are descended. You receive no other benefits for taking this feat more than once.
By analogy with Small Heritage, we should include a Large Heritage. Notably, this would be the only way to get a Large PC at anything less than +2 ECL, which is problematic. So it's worth more than Small Heritage, and should thus be an investment of two feats, both at first level (so you must take a flaw to take them). It's still marginally problematic, in that Powerful Build is in some ways better than actually being Large. But you can get Powerful Build at first level (by being a goliath), so that's not so terrible. Why would you want to take both feats, if you already get all the benefits of being Large and none of the penalties? Because Powerful Build doesn't stack with Monkey Grip, and legit Largeness does. Plus, Large Heritage gives you a permanent size bonus to Strength and penalty to Dexterity, which can be useful:
Built Heritage [Racial]
You are descended from giants, ogres, minotaurs, or some other oversized humanoid.
Prerequisites: Mongrelfolk, 1st level only
Effect: Pick any Large or Huge aberration, fey, giant, humanoid, monstrous humanoid, or outsider. You are descended from that race for the purpose of your Emulate Race and Diffuse Blood racial traits.
In addition, you have a Powerful Build. Whenever you are subject to a size modifier or special size modifier for an opposed check (such as during grapple checks, bull rush attempts, and trip attempts), you are treated as one size larger if doing so is advantageous to you. You are also considered to be one size larger when determining whether a creature's special attacks based on size (such as improved grab or swallow whole) can affect him. You can use weapons designed for a creature one size larger without penalty. However, your space and reach remain those of a creature of your actual size. The benefits of this trait stack with effects of powers, abilities, and spells that change the subject's size category.
Large Heritage [Racial]
You are descended from giants, ogres, minotaurs, or some other oversized humanoid.
Prerequisites: Mongrelfolk, Built Heritage, 1st level only
Effect: Pick any Large or Huge aberration, fey, giant, humanoid, monstrous humanoid, or outsider. You are descended from that race for the purpose of your Emulate Race and Diffuse Blood racial traits.
In addition, you lose your Powerful Build, but you are now naturally Large sized. Your height is doubled and your weight is multiplied by 8. You take a -1 size modifier to attack and armor class, +4 to Grapple, -4 to Hide, +2 to Strength, -2 to Dexterity (to a minimum of 1). You have a space of 10 feet and a natural reach of 10 feet. Your unarmed strikes do 1d4 instead of 1d3 damage. You use larger equipment, which is correspondingly more expensive, but your weapons also do more damage because of their size.
Seafolk Heritage [Racial]
You count one of the races of the sea among your ancestors. This can manifest even late in life.
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race
Benefit: Pick one of Merfolk, Triton, Locathah, Sahuagin, or Kuo-Toa. You are descended from that race for the purpose of your Emulate Race and Diffuse Blood racial traits.
In addition, you gain +2 to Swim checks to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. You can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. And you can use the run action while swimming, provided you swim in a straight line.
Special: You may take this feat more than once. Each time you do, you are descended from an additional seafolk race, and you gain an additional +2 to your Swim checks, to a maximum of +6.
Seafolk Amphibious [Racial]
You have inherited gills from your seafolk ancestors.
Prerequisite: Seafolk Heritage
Benefit: You can breathe both air and water.
This is a fairly powerful feat, but it does take a two-feat investment.
Triton’s Ally [Racial]
Due to your triton ancestry, you have the ability to summon a water elemental.
Prerequisite: Seafolk Heritage (Triton) or Triton-Descended Mer.
Benefit: An innate talent for magic grants you the following spell-like ability at a caster equal to your hit dice: 1/day – summon nature’s ally III, water elementals only.
Special: If you have the ability to gain a familiar, you may lose the spell-like ability and gain a Small Water Elemental familiar instead. Like a familiar chosen from the Improved Familiar list, this familiar does not gives you a bonus to a check for proximity.
If you have the ability to gain a special mount, you may lose the spell-like ability and gain a Water Elemental instead. If you are Small, your mount is a Medium Water Elemental; if you are Medium, your mount is a Large Water Elemental; if you are Large, your mount is a Huge Water Elemental. You can “ride” within the elemental as if you were riding on a solid mount. You can ride your elemental mount even if it is in vortex form: you remain in the same orientation with respect to your surroundings.
If you have the ability to gain an animal companion, you may lose the spell-like ability and gain a Water Elemental companion instead. You may select from the following list, depending on your effective druid level. Stronger elementals gain abilities as though you were a druid the indicated number of levels lower, as on page 36 of the Player’s Handbook.
Size : Required Level : Adjustment
Small : - : -
Medium : 7th : -6
Large : 10th : -9
Huge : 13th : -12
Greater : 16th : -15
Sahuagin Blood Frenzy [Racial]
Like your sahuagin ancestor, you can fly into a frenzy when you take damage.
Prerequisite: Seafolk Heritage (Sahuagin)
Benefit: Once per day, if you take damage, you can fly into a frenzy in the following round, attacking madly until either you or your opponent is dead. You gain +2 Constitution and +2 Strength and take a -2 penalty to Armor Class. You cannot end your frenzy voluntarily.
Special: If you have access to the Barbarian Rage class feature, you may gain an additional use of rage per day instead of your frenzy.
Sahuagin Four Arms [Racial]
Sahuagin have a small chance of being born with four arms, and you have acquired this trait from your sahuagin ancestry.
Prerequisite: Seafolk Heritage (Sahuagin), 1st level only
Benefit: You have four arms and may use extra weapons. You do not gain sahuagin claws.
Sahuagin Sharktongue [Racial]
You have inherited the ability to speak with sharks from your sahuagin ancestry.
Prerequisite: Seafolk Heritage (Sahuagin)
Benefit: You can communicate telepathically with sharks up to 150 feet away. The communication is limited to fairly simple concepts such as “food,” “danger”, and “enemy.”
Additionally, you can use the Handle Animal skill to befriend and train sharks.
Mongrel Specialization [Racial]
One of the races from which you are descended is more powerfully expressed than others.
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race
Benefit: Choose one of the races from which you are descended for the purpose of your Diffuse Blood racial trait. For the purpose of feats and prestige classes, you may consider yourself a full-fledged member of that race.
Special: You may take this feat more than once. Each time you do, it applies to a different race.
Kuo-Toa Keen Sight [Racial]
You have excellent vision thanks to the two independently focusing eyes you inherited from your kuo-toa ancestors.
Prerequisite: Seafolk Heritage (Kuo-Toa)
Benefit: Your eyesight is so keen that you can spot a moving object or creature even if it is invisible or ethereal. Only by remaining perfectly still can such objects or creatures avoid your notice.
Kuo-Toa Slippery [Racial]
Thanks to your kuo-toa ancestry, you secrete an oily film that makes you difficult to grapple or snare.
Prerequisites: Seafolk Heritage (Kuo-Toa)
Benefit: Webs, magical or otherwise, don’t affect you, and you gain +4 to all Escape Artist checks.
They're not SRD, so I'm toeing the legal line here, but let's consider what the mongrelfolk can do:
+4 Con, -2 Int, -4 Cha. This may be really good for a tanking character, especially one that uses extremely heavy armor. No penalties to physical stats, large bonus to constitution. That's about the nicest thing they have going for them. Interestingly, half-elves get a diplomacy bonus because of general likeableness, but half-everythings get a large charisma penalty because of horribleness.
Low-Light Vision isn't bad, but it's far from great. It rarely comes up.
Immunity to Sleep spells and effects. Good in theory, but I've never in my life seen anyone cast Sleep.
+2 on saving throws against any spell that targets or ignores a particular race from which the mongrelfolk is descended. Do any such spells even exist? Dance of Ruin ignores demons, but mongrelfolk aren't demons. I'm sure there are other spells like that, but they never get used, so that's not a useful ability.
+1 on saves against enchantment and illusion spells and effects. Not terrible, that at least applies to 2/9ths of spells, not that it's a particularly large bonus. Also, +1 saves against poison, which can be nice, lots of monsters have poison, but again, not a large bonus.
+1 to Appraise, Climb, Jump, Listen, Move Silently, Search, and Spot. Three skills people use frequently, three nobody ever does. Maybe a rogue can benefit from move silently. But again, small bonus. The little things add up, sure, but it's still not very interesting.
+4 to Hide and Sleight of Hand. At last, a super-useful bonus! ...for rogues. If you're not a rogue, this is crap-tastic, because you never use either of these skills.
Can automatically Emulate Race, as with Use Magic Device, provided the race is humanoid. +4 to emulating non-humanoids. This could be useful, if there were many magic items that required you to be a specific race. There aren't.
Can mimic any voice or sound they have heard. This has real potential, even if you don't allow the mongrelfolk to mimic, say, the Babble of an allip (as you probably shouldn't; Babble is a Supernatural ability, Sound Imitation is only Extraordinary).
---
In summary, aside from the con bonus and the Sound Imitation, most of the mongrelfolk abilities are "can do X slightly better, if there were ever any call to do X, which there isn't". And they all sort of fit thematically, but none of them (except Sound Imitation) are at all interesting, which is a major problem.
What can we do to fix this? Well, for one thing, why are mongrelfolk limited to being descended from human, halfling, dwarf, elf, gnome, goblin, and orc? Especially in an all-ocean world where sahuagin, tritons, merfolk, locathah, and kuo-toa are so common, and where virtually all the other races died out or interbred with mongrelfolk?
Well, first, because it makes no sense for a mongrelfolk to get mongrelfolk benefits from some things they're descended for and not from others, I add some clauses to Emulate Race and Diffuse Blood:
Where Diffuse Blood specifies "Mongrelfolk gain a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against any spell that targets a particular race or ignores a particular race, provided the selected race is part of their general ancestry (human, halfling, dwarf, elf, gnome, goblin, or orc)", I add "or any other race from which they are descended through feats, bloodlines, or templates".
Where Emulate Race specifies "A mongrelfolk can automatically emulate any humanoid race", I add "or any race from which they are descended". Where it gives a "+4 racial bonus on attempts to emulate nonhumanoid races", I specify "nonhumanoid races from which they are not descended".
Now the kicker, the actual major change that could make mongrelfolk a legit force to be reckoned with. I add to the list of mongrelfolk racial traits:
"Mongrelfolk may take heritage feats even if they do not meet the class restrictions (for example, you may take the Draconic Heritage feat even if you are not a sorcerer). If you take a heritage feat tree, choose a single race described by that heritage (for example, if you choose Fiendish Heritage, you may choose to be descended from any one demon or devil, for example a succubus). You are descended from that race for the purpose of your Emulate Race and Diffuse Blood racial abilities."
Boom, with one feat (Fiendish Heritage, specifying some specific demon), a mongrelfolk wizard can cast Dance of Ruin, doing 2d20 to every creature in the vicinity including himself, but get a +2 to save. Okay, yeah, that's still only okay.
---
The other thing I did, then, was to add a buttload of additional mongrelfolk-only feats, partially capitalizing on this new specification that a mongrelfolk is descended (for the purpose of his racial abilities) from anything from which it is descended (in general).
Balanced Heritage [Racial]
You are descended from a more balanced mix of races, so you are more comely but less hardy.
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race
Benefit: Your racial bonus to constitution and your racial penalty to charisma are both reduced by 2, bringing your racial modifiers to a total of +2 Constitution, -2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma.
Because I've all but eliminated gnomes and halflings and replaced them with engineers, there may be a bit of an open niche for Small races, so:
Small Heritage [Racial]
You are descended from kobolds, fey, or some other undersized humanoid.
Prerequisites: Mongrelfolk, 1st level only
Effect: Pick any Small or Tiny aberration, fey, giant, humanoid, monstrous humanoid, or outsider. You are descended from that race for the purpose of your Emulate Race and Diffuse Blood racial traits.
In addition, you are naturally Small sized. Your height is halved and your weight is divided by 8. You take a +1 size modifier to attack and armor class, -4 to Grapple, +4 to Hide, -2 to Strength (to a minimum of 1), +2 to Dexterity. Your unarmed strikes do 1d2 instead of 1d3damage. You use smaller equipment, which is correspondingly less expensive, but your weapons also do less damage because of their size.
Special: You may take this feat more than once. If you do, you may choose a second creature from which you are descended. You receive no other benefits for taking this feat more than once.
By analogy with Small Heritage, we should include a Large Heritage. Notably, this would be the only way to get a Large PC at anything less than +2 ECL, which is problematic. So it's worth more than Small Heritage, and should thus be an investment of two feats, both at first level (so you must take a flaw to take them). It's still marginally problematic, in that Powerful Build is in some ways better than actually being Large. But you can get Powerful Build at first level (by being a goliath), so that's not so terrible. Why would you want to take both feats, if you already get all the benefits of being Large and none of the penalties? Because Powerful Build doesn't stack with Monkey Grip, and legit Largeness does. Plus, Large Heritage gives you a permanent size bonus to Strength and penalty to Dexterity, which can be useful:
Built Heritage [Racial]
You are descended from giants, ogres, minotaurs, or some other oversized humanoid.
Prerequisites: Mongrelfolk, 1st level only
Effect: Pick any Large or Huge aberration, fey, giant, humanoid, monstrous humanoid, or outsider. You are descended from that race for the purpose of your Emulate Race and Diffuse Blood racial traits.
In addition, you have a Powerful Build. Whenever you are subject to a size modifier or special size modifier for an opposed check (such as during grapple checks, bull rush attempts, and trip attempts), you are treated as one size larger if doing so is advantageous to you. You are also considered to be one size larger when determining whether a creature's special attacks based on size (such as improved grab or swallow whole) can affect him. You can use weapons designed for a creature one size larger without penalty. However, your space and reach remain those of a creature of your actual size. The benefits of this trait stack with effects of powers, abilities, and spells that change the subject's size category.
Large Heritage [Racial]
You are descended from giants, ogres, minotaurs, or some other oversized humanoid.
Prerequisites: Mongrelfolk, Built Heritage, 1st level only
Effect: Pick any Large or Huge aberration, fey, giant, humanoid, monstrous humanoid, or outsider. You are descended from that race for the purpose of your Emulate Race and Diffuse Blood racial traits.
In addition, you lose your Powerful Build, but you are now naturally Large sized. Your height is doubled and your weight is multiplied by 8. You take a -1 size modifier to attack and armor class, +4 to Grapple, -4 to Hide, +2 to Strength, -2 to Dexterity (to a minimum of 1). You have a space of 10 feet and a natural reach of 10 feet. Your unarmed strikes do 1d4 instead of 1d3 damage. You use larger equipment, which is correspondingly more expensive, but your weapons also do more damage because of their size.
Seafolk Heritage [Racial]
You count one of the races of the sea among your ancestors. This can manifest even late in life.
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race
Benefit: Pick one of Merfolk, Triton, Locathah, Sahuagin, or Kuo-Toa. You are descended from that race for the purpose of your Emulate Race and Diffuse Blood racial traits.
In addition, you gain +2 to Swim checks to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. You can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. And you can use the run action while swimming, provided you swim in a straight line.
Special: You may take this feat more than once. Each time you do, you are descended from an additional seafolk race, and you gain an additional +2 to your Swim checks, to a maximum of +6.
Seafolk Amphibious [Racial]
You have inherited gills from your seafolk ancestors.
Prerequisite: Seafolk Heritage
Benefit: You can breathe both air and water.
This is a fairly powerful feat, but it does take a two-feat investment.
Triton’s Ally [Racial]
Due to your triton ancestry, you have the ability to summon a water elemental.
Prerequisite: Seafolk Heritage (Triton) or Triton-Descended Mer.
Benefit: An innate talent for magic grants you the following spell-like ability at a caster equal to your hit dice: 1/day – summon nature’s ally III, water elementals only.
Special: If you have the ability to gain a familiar, you may lose the spell-like ability and gain a Small Water Elemental familiar instead. Like a familiar chosen from the Improved Familiar list, this familiar does not gives you a bonus to a check for proximity.
If you have the ability to gain a special mount, you may lose the spell-like ability and gain a Water Elemental instead. If you are Small, your mount is a Medium Water Elemental; if you are Medium, your mount is a Large Water Elemental; if you are Large, your mount is a Huge Water Elemental. You can “ride” within the elemental as if you were riding on a solid mount. You can ride your elemental mount even if it is in vortex form: you remain in the same orientation with respect to your surroundings.
If you have the ability to gain an animal companion, you may lose the spell-like ability and gain a Water Elemental companion instead. You may select from the following list, depending on your effective druid level. Stronger elementals gain abilities as though you were a druid the indicated number of levels lower, as on page 36 of the Player’s Handbook.
Size : Required Level : Adjustment
Small : - : -
Medium : 7th : -6
Large : 10th : -9
Huge : 13th : -12
Greater : 16th : -15
Sahuagin Blood Frenzy [Racial]
Like your sahuagin ancestor, you can fly into a frenzy when you take damage.
Prerequisite: Seafolk Heritage (Sahuagin)
Benefit: Once per day, if you take damage, you can fly into a frenzy in the following round, attacking madly until either you or your opponent is dead. You gain +2 Constitution and +2 Strength and take a -2 penalty to Armor Class. You cannot end your frenzy voluntarily.
Special: If you have access to the Barbarian Rage class feature, you may gain an additional use of rage per day instead of your frenzy.
Sahuagin Four Arms [Racial]
Sahuagin have a small chance of being born with four arms, and you have acquired this trait from your sahuagin ancestry.
Prerequisite: Seafolk Heritage (Sahuagin), 1st level only
Benefit: You have four arms and may use extra weapons. You do not gain sahuagin claws.
Sahuagin Sharktongue [Racial]
You have inherited the ability to speak with sharks from your sahuagin ancestry.
Prerequisite: Seafolk Heritage (Sahuagin)
Benefit: You can communicate telepathically with sharks up to 150 feet away. The communication is limited to fairly simple concepts such as “food,” “danger”, and “enemy.”
Additionally, you can use the Handle Animal skill to befriend and train sharks.
Mongrel Specialization [Racial]
One of the races from which you are descended is more powerfully expressed than others.
Prerequisite: Mongrelfolk race
Benefit: Choose one of the races from which you are descended for the purpose of your Diffuse Blood racial trait. For the purpose of feats and prestige classes, you may consider yourself a full-fledged member of that race.
Special: You may take this feat more than once. Each time you do, it applies to a different race.
Kuo-Toa Keen Sight [Racial]
You have excellent vision thanks to the two independently focusing eyes you inherited from your kuo-toa ancestors.
Prerequisite: Seafolk Heritage (Kuo-Toa)
Benefit: Your eyesight is so keen that you can spot a moving object or creature even if it is invisible or ethereal. Only by remaining perfectly still can such objects or creatures avoid your notice.
Kuo-Toa Slippery [Racial]
Thanks to your kuo-toa ancestry, you secrete an oily film that makes you difficult to grapple or snare.
Prerequisites: Seafolk Heritage (Kuo-Toa)
Benefit: Webs, magical or otherwise, don’t affect you, and you gain +4 to all Escape Artist checks.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Genetics in D&D
I'm a big fan of genetic heritage. D&D has a number of different rules for dealing with heritage, and it's never entirely easy to decide what way is best. Between templates, bloodlines, and feats, how do you choose? A little while back, I drew up some simple guidelines for myself. These are mostly based on the relative LA of each option. I count major, intermediate, and minor bloodlines as +3, +2, and +1, respectively.
But they are only guidelines. If anything in a specific case fails to make utmost sense, adjust it until it does.
---
If one of the parents is an X, use a half-X race, if an available one is appropriate. For example, if an orc breeds with a human, use the half-orc race. But if an orc breeds with an elf, find something else.
Otherwise, use a half-X template. For example, if a fiend breeds with a human, apply the half-fiend template to a human.
If there are no available half-X races or half-X templates available in splatbooks, Dragon magazine, or on the web, take X, chop all its stats in half, chop the other parent's stats in half, and combine them.
If one of the parents is a half-X, use the strongest available X bloodline (from Unearthed Arcana). For example, if a half-vampire breeds with a human, use a human with the major vampire bloodline.
If there is no available bloodline, use X heritage feats. For example, if a half-fiend and a human breed, and you're missing that page of UA, use a human with the fiendish heritage feat and as many or as few feats from that feat tree as you desire.
If there are no such heritage feats, make an X bloodline using the guidelines provided in UA.
If one of the parents has a major X bloodline, use the Xish/ic template. For example, if a human with a major celestial bloodline breeds with a human, apply the Celestial template to a human.
If there is no such template, use the intermediate X bloodline.
If one of the parents has an intermediate X bloodline, use a planetouched race. For example, if one parent has an intermediate fiendish bloodline and the other is a human, use the tiefling race.
If no such race exists, use a minor X bloodline.
If one of the parents has an Xish/ic template, use a planetouched race, if appropriate. For example, if one parent has the celestial template and the other is a human, use the aasimar race. If one parent has the celestial template and the other is a dwarf, use something else.
If no such race exists, use a minor X bloodline.
If no such bloodline exists, use X heritage feats.
If no such feats exist, make a minor X bloodline using the guidelines provided in UA.
If one of the parents has a minor X bloodline, is X planetouched, or has X heritage feats, use X heritage feats.
If one of the parents has X werecreature template, use an X werecreature template.
If one of the parents is a mongrelfolk, use a mongrelfolk. Half-mongrelfolk is always mongrelfolk.
---
In theory, these rules can be applied successfully no matter how bizarre and convoluted a character's ancestry is. Consider a situation where one parent is a nixie and the other is a half-vampire tiefling with draconic heritage feats and an intermediate celestial bloodline:
One parent is pureblood fey, so the offspring will have the half-fey template.
One parent is a half-vampire, so the offspring will have the major vampire bloodline.
One parent is a tiefling, so the offspring will have fiendish heritage feats.
One parent has draconic heritage feats, so the offspring will have draconic heritage feats.
One parent has an intermediate celestial bloodline, so the offspring will be aasimar.
Thus, the offspring will be an aasimar with the half-fey template, the intermediate vampire bloodline, and fiendish and draconic heritage feats.
But they are only guidelines. If anything in a specific case fails to make utmost sense, adjust it until it does.
---
If one of the parents is an X, use a half-X race, if an available one is appropriate. For example, if an orc breeds with a human, use the half-orc race. But if an orc breeds with an elf, find something else.
Otherwise, use a half-X template. For example, if a fiend breeds with a human, apply the half-fiend template to a human.
If there are no available half-X races or half-X templates available in splatbooks, Dragon magazine, or on the web, take X, chop all its stats in half, chop the other parent's stats in half, and combine them.
If one of the parents is a half-X, use the strongest available X bloodline (from Unearthed Arcana). For example, if a half-vampire breeds with a human, use a human with the major vampire bloodline.
If there is no available bloodline, use X heritage feats. For example, if a half-fiend and a human breed, and you're missing that page of UA, use a human with the fiendish heritage feat and as many or as few feats from that feat tree as you desire.
If there are no such heritage feats, make an X bloodline using the guidelines provided in UA.
If one of the parents has a major X bloodline, use the Xish/ic template. For example, if a human with a major celestial bloodline breeds with a human, apply the Celestial template to a human.
If there is no such template, use the intermediate X bloodline.
If one of the parents has an intermediate X bloodline, use a planetouched race. For example, if one parent has an intermediate fiendish bloodline and the other is a human, use the tiefling race.
If no such race exists, use a minor X bloodline.
If one of the parents has an Xish/ic template, use a planetouched race, if appropriate. For example, if one parent has the celestial template and the other is a human, use the aasimar race. If one parent has the celestial template and the other is a dwarf, use something else.
If no such race exists, use a minor X bloodline.
If no such bloodline exists, use X heritage feats.
If no such feats exist, make a minor X bloodline using the guidelines provided in UA.
If one of the parents has a minor X bloodline, is X planetouched, or has X heritage feats, use X heritage feats.
If one of the parents has X werecreature template, use an X werecreature template.
If one of the parents is a mongrelfolk, use a mongrelfolk. Half-mongrelfolk is always mongrelfolk.
---
In theory, these rules can be applied successfully no matter how bizarre and convoluted a character's ancestry is. Consider a situation where one parent is a nixie and the other is a half-vampire tiefling with draconic heritage feats and an intermediate celestial bloodline:
One parent is pureblood fey, so the offspring will have the half-fey template.
One parent is a half-vampire, so the offspring will have the major vampire bloodline.
One parent is a tiefling, so the offspring will have fiendish heritage feats.
One parent has draconic heritage feats, so the offspring will have draconic heritage feats.
One parent has an intermediate celestial bloodline, so the offspring will be aasimar.
Thus, the offspring will be an aasimar with the half-fey template, the intermediate vampire bloodline, and fiendish and draconic heritage feats.
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