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.

Unidentified Items

So D&D gives an elaborate set of procedures for identifying items -- detect magic plus a Spellcraft check, examine it for helpful clues, an epic Appraise check plus a Spellcraft check, an epic spellcraft check, casting Identify, or (inevitably the most common course of action) bringing it to the Mage's Guild to ask divination specialist apprentice wizard Beth to cast identify for 110gp. (But even these methods are unlikely to identify any cursey properties of an item, which generally come out in the normal course of play.)

But it doesn't give a lot of advice for dealing with unidentified items. I hit upon a technique that has worked pretty well for me. It involves a separate sheet in my Excel Document of Doom.

Basically, whenever players acquire a magic or otherwise special item (or occasionally a completely mundane item, just to throw off metagamers), I describe it, and then I give it a number, and I tell the players that, whenever they use the item or mention it to me, also mention the number, so I know which one it is.

The Excel sheet has four columns: the number; a description and all the properties of the item; a list of all the properties the characters have identified so far; and whoever currently possesses the item.

"I hit him with the big sword I found in that pile of dung. Item #6."
"Do you now? Excellent. As you fly into an uncontrollable rage, you discover that it wasn't just a +2 greatsword after all."

It works pretty well.

Items aren't removed from the list unless they're lost or broken or sold to an NPC. (Given to an NPC means it goes into the NPC's treasure. Sold means it goes into the master list of things that might eventually get rotated back into the world.)

Youth Draining Spells

This post will detail what my methodology is like when I create things, how I like to always have an existing framework, however rickety, to hang any homebrew on. It probably tells you more about me than about D&D.

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So imagine that I want to return negative levels from this:

• There are no negative levels. In place of each negative level bestowed, the victim immediately ages 3d10 years. The victim may immediately roll a fortitude saving throw at the same difficulty as removing the negative level; if this saving throw succeeds, the aging is halved. If the victim receives a restoration spell within 24 hours, the aging is reversed; otherwise, it is permanent.

...to being what they're supposed to be (which I kind of do, I've changed my mind about their badness), but I still want to include spells which prematurely age foes, so I don't have to rely on infinite ciruja plants and resurrection for all my aging effect needs.

My first instinct is to find spells that bestow negative levels, because I've already (sort of) balanced aging against negative levels. But I can find only one spell that permanently bestows negative levels: energy drain. There are several which do so temporarily, including enervation and Fell Drain anything (sonic snap, let's say). So let's briefly analyze:

• Fell Drain Sonic Snap: 1 temporary negative level. SL2.
• Enervation: 1d4 temporary negative levels. SL4.
• Empowered Enervation: 1d4*1.5 temporary negative levels. SL6.
• Maximized Enervation: 4 temporary negative levels. SL7.
• Repeat/Twinned Enervation: 2d4 temporary negative levels. SL7/8.
• Maximized, Empowered Enervation: 4+1d2 temporary negative levels. SL9.
• Energy Drain: 2d4 real negative levels. SL9.

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I was going to say that if we're casting with a caster level of 12 or more, we could extend the spell to raise its duration to 24+ hours (maximum 30), thereby making it potentially permanent. But these spells all have a duration of Instantaneous, and are thus not affected by Extend Spell. Nuts. Same with Persistent Spell. Nuts.

Permanent Emanation affects only emanations (i.e., cones and bursts), and anyway is [epic] and doesn't affect the spell level. Might be able to fiat that permanency can apply to enervation, but it's not metamagic, doesn't affect the spell level, and costs XP.

Oh well. Let's say this:

• The difference between twinned enervation and energy drain is real vs temporary negative levels, and 1 spell level. So the difference between temporary and real is 1 spell level.
• If Extend Spell worked on enervation, it would increase the spell level by 1 and make it permanent at a high enough caster level. So the difference between temporary and real is 1 spell level.
• If Persistent Spell worked on enervation, it would increase the spell level by 6 and make it permanent under all circumstances. So the difference between  temporary and real is 6 spell levels.

Let's take the average, then, and say the difference between a temporary and a real negative level is 2 spell levels.

We're already several levels of abstraction in, and we'll get even more abstract before we're done, because there's simply very little to compare to. That's okay; I just want there to be some basis, however remote, for what I'm doing.

Okay, so, applying this psuedo-metamagic thing that makes temporary negative levels into real negative levels:

• Realized Fell Drain Sonic Snap: 1 negative level. SL4.
• Realized Enervation: 1d4 negative levels. SL6.
• Realized Empowered Enervation: 1d4*1.5 (but let's pretend, as long as we're abstracting, that a roll whose possible results are 1,3,4,6 is a 1d6, so) = 1d6 negative levels. SL8.
• Realized Maximized Enervation: 4 negative levels. SL9.
• Realized Repeat Enervation: 2d4 negative levels. SL9.
• Energy Drain: 2d4 negative levels. SL9.

Spells higher than level 9 don't matter and are ignored.

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So now we have a kludgy, hacked-together, abstracted sense of how many negative levels it's appropriate for a spell of a given level to do:

• SL4: 1 NL
• SL6: 1d4 NLs
• SL8: 1d6 NLs
• SL9: 2d4 (or 4) NLs

Long ago, we made calculations and concluded that one negative level ≈ 14.6 years. So if we wanted to create a line of spells that drain youth, we could convert:

• SL4: 14.6 years
• SL6: 1d4 x 14.6 ≈ 36.5 years
• SL8: 1d6 x 14.6 ≈ 51.1 years
• SL9: 2d4 x 14.6 (or 4 x 14.6 ) ≈ 65.7 years

We could come up with a straightforward years/SL number, but spells are exponential in power, not linear: a level 8 spell isn't just the same as two level 4 spells, and a level 4 spell isn't just the same as two level 2 spells, and so on. We need a more complicated formula.

At this point, I vaguely remember from high school algebra how to tell my graphing calculator to do this, but I don't know how to tell Excel or Google or anything else to do it. To the fresh batteries cabinet to bring my graphing calculator back to life!

I asked it for a quadratic regression, because I couldn't remember what a quadratic regression is, and it gave me a terribly ill-fitting one. Then I asked it for an exponential regression, and it gave me one that fits very well: y=5.199*1.335^x, where y is years drained and x is the spell level.

• SL0: 5.20 years
• SL1: 6.94 years
• SL2: 9.27 years
• SL3: 12.4 years
• SL4: 16.5 years
• SL5: 22.0 years
• SL6: 29.4 years
• SL7: 39.3 years
• SL8: 52.5 years
• SL9: 70.0 years

Certainly not terrible. But hm: I kind of don't want there to be a cantrip that can age a person at all, and I kind of want the lowest level aging spell to take 1 year. So I'm going to finesse the numbers a bit and wind up with...

• SL0: 0.50 years
• SL1: 2.54 years
• SL2: 5.32 years
• SL3: 9.14 years
• SL4: 14.4 years
• SL5: 21.5 years
• SL6: 31.4 years
• SL7: 44.8 years
• SL8: 63.3 years
• SL9: 88.5 years

...good enough!

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Now, some fiddling to match these numbers up with dice... Consider this chart:




The coloured numbers indicate how many of that size die would be needed to average out to approximately the desired number of years. They are colour-coded: red is most accurate, orange less accurate, yellow even less accurate, and blue least accurate of all. We could just use all the red ones, substituting for orange ones when there isn't a red one at that level, but that winds up with an ugly and inelegant progression of 1d10, 2d8, 4d6, 4d10, 7d8, 10d8, 6d20, 16d10.

Imagine we want to use all the same size dice. If so, you can clearly see that the d8 column is the most accurate.

But I don't want to use all the same size dice, because I'm biased against rolling large numbers of dice at once. We could, oh, say, start at d4, and bump up a die size every time we'd be rolling more than 6 dice at once. Then let's smooth them out a little when the die size would jump 2 at once, or would stay the same for 3 levels in a row.

Instead, we will consider that many spells vary in effective based on caster level. Oho! Everything suddenly got really complicated all up in this joint.

Let's pretend that the average caster has a minimum caster level of twice the spell level, minus 1. Then let's cap each spell's effectiveness at, oh, let's say, approximately twice that. Let's aim for the spell reaching its target effectiveness halfway between when it can first be cast and when it caps out.

To simplify slightly, the SL2 version can just be a flat 1d4. And let's just skip a couple spell levels where they make it particularly awkward.

So let's go with this:

SL1: 1 year
SL2: 1d4 years
SL3: 1d8 years per 4 caster levels, up to 3d8
SL5: 1d8 years per 3 caster levels, up to 6d8
SL7: 1d8 years per 2 caster levels, up to 12d8
SL9: 1d8 years per caster level, up to 24d8

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Negative levels automatically take effect, but you can save against them becoming permanent 24 hours later. Moreover, the relevant spells and abilities always call for an attack roll. So let's have, oh, let's say the ability to defend against it with a Fortitude save. No need for any of that touch or ranged touch stuff.

But then the question arises: why would a character ever cast any of these spells? If your target is already old, or you use the very high level ones, it might kill them. Otherwise, you might advance them an age category or two. I suppose 1, 3, or 6 irreversible damage to three ability scores is nothing to sneeze at. Even so, the level 1 and 2 versions will never do enough aging with one application to actually advance the target an age category.

So I'm thinking one of two things: either you gain X temporary hit point for each Y years you drain, or your age is reduced by 1 for each Y years you drain.

I don't really want youthening to be so easy, so I'm inclined towards the temporary hit point thing. Usually, you get 5 temporary HP per point of thing you do, but this does a somewhat greater number of points of things, so I'm inclined to say one per one.

Let's next consider what spell lists this line is appropriate for. Let's go with... Cleric, Blackguard, Blighter, Dread Necromancer, Hexblade, Mortal Hunter, Sor/Wiz. The classes with only 4 levels of spells don't get the weakest or the strongest one.

Soooo...

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Youth Drain, Least
Necromancy [Evil]
Level: Clr 1, Blighter 1, Dread Necromancer 1, Sor/Wiz 1
As youth drain, except the target ages only 1 year.Material Component: Any manmade object greater than 1 year old.

Youth Drain, Lesser
Necromancy [Evil]
Level: Clr 2, Blackguard 1, Blighter 2, Dread Necromancer 2, Hexblade 1, Mortal Hunter 1, Sor/Wiz 2
As youth drain, except the target ages only 1d4 years.
Material Component: Any manmade object greater than 5 years old.In addition, you gain 1 temporary hit point for each year the target loses. These temporary hit points last for 1 hour.

Youth Drain
Necromancy [Evil]
Level: Clr 3, Blackguard 2, Blighter 3, Dread Necromancer 3, Hexblade 2, Mortal Hunter 2, Sor/Wiz 3
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Short (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target: One living creature
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates
Spell Resistance: Yes
You point at your target and years evaporate from their lifespan. They age 1d8 years per 4 caster levels (maximum 3d8 years). This is never beneficial to the target.
In addition, you gain 1 temporary hit point for each year the target loses. These temporary hit points last for 1 hour.
Material Component: Any manmade object greater than 10 years old.

Youth Drain, Greater
Necromancy [Evil]
Level: Clr 5, Blackguard 3, Blighter 5, Dread Necromancer 5, Hexblade 3, Mortal Hunter 3, Sor/Wiz 5
As youth drain, except the target ages 1d8 years per 3 caster levels (maximum 6d8 years).Material Component: Any manmade object greater than 25 years old.

Youth Drain, Grand
Necromancy [Evil]
Level: Clr 7, Blackguard 4, Blighter 7, Dread Necromancer 7, Hexblade 4, Mortal Hunter 4, Sor/Wiz 7
As youth drain, except the target ages 1d8 years per 2 caster levels (maximum 12d8 years)Material Component: Any manmade object greater than 75 years old.

Youth Drain, True
Necromancy [Evil]
Level: Clr 9, Blighter 9, Dread Necromancer 9, Sor/Wiz 9
As youth drain, except the target ages 1d8 years per caster level (maximum 24d8 years).Material Component: Any manmade object greater than 250 years old.

Multiclass Experience Penalties and Racial Favored Classes

So I've been convinced by the arguments that that multiclass penalties don't accomplish what they're intended to accomplish.

The idea behind multiclass penalties and racial favored classes is twofold: first, Frankenstein builds full of 1- and 2-level dips are inelegant and should be disincentivized; and second, there should be some mechanical indicator of a character's cultural predilections.

The second point is good and sound and a reason to preserve racial favored classes in some form, and I'll come back to it.

The first point falls apart in two ways: alpha, that the system currently penalizes a build full of nothing but your favored class and 1-level dips not at all, instead penalizing you if you have, say, lots of levels in two classes and a dip in one other; beta, that high-tier characters (usually spellcasters, whose prime directive is Thou Shalt Not Lose Caster Levels) are only hurt by dips, while low-tier characters (usually mundane combat) can stand to benefit greatly from dips. Multiclassing penalties are one more instance of Melee Can't Have Nice Things.

So we dump the multiclassing penalty system like a sack of soggy garbage.

But wait! That second reason! There needs to be some mechanical indicator of a character's racial predilections! Because almost everyone underestimate the power of culture to a ludicrous extent. Let alone built-in biological instinct! So that hardcore needs to be a thing.

But hey, when I first created the Versatile Alignment feat, I said to myself, "maybe this is something that characters should get as a bonus feat with respect to their racial favored class". Because that would make sense.

So let's do that. Indeed, let's go slightly further and pull in Monastic Training and Knight Training:

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Characters take no experience penalties for multiclassing. Instead, they gain a bonus feat related to their racial favored class, even if they do not meet the feat's prerequisites.
Any character may choose the Versatile Alignment feat with respect to their racial favored class.
A character whose racial favored class is Monk may choose between Versatile Alignment(Monk) or Monastic Training from the Eberron Campaign Setting.
A character whose racial favored class is Paladin may choose between Versatile Alignment(Paladin) or Knight Training from the Eberron Campaign Setting.
A character whose racial favored class is "any" may choose between Versatile Alignment (with respect to any one class of their choice), Monastic Training, or Knight Training.

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This leaves characters with favored classes that have no alignment requirement slightly disenfranchised. I don't want to give them anything with any actual power, only something that opens up more options. Maybe a choice between Knight Training (your favored class) and Monastic Training (your favored class)? Meh, maybe. I'll have to look through feats and find some of the ones that are mostly fluff, which no sane person would normally choose to take but might accept if handed for free.

Adjucating Aging Effects

So, as I said a few posts ago, I kind of like my solution to the problem of how annoying negative levels are to to be inflicted with.

But I'm pretty confident that my negative-levels-are-aging system isn't actually balanced against real negative levels, and inherently couldn't possibly be. And, though it makes the game easier and simpler for people who don't already know how negative levels work, it does make it more complicated for people who do. So I'm considering going back to the original negative levels system.

But I love aging effects, and want to them to matter in the game as much as possible. I've already got the rule that every time you're resurrected, you gain some age, but resurrection doesn't happen all that often.

There are only two monsters I know of (from sourcebooks I allow) that have age-increasing powers:

• The phane, an epic-level (CR25) monster which has the ability, after putting characters into temporal stasis, to age them at a rate of 1d4 years/round, no save. It specifies that targets take the physical, but not mental, effects of aging.
• The ciruja plant (CR3) from Dragon Compendium. After a fairly complex and reasonably easy-to-avoid process of paralyzing the victim then burrowing into their flesh, it starts draining youth at a rate of 1d10 years/round, no save. It, too, specifies that "this has no positive benefits for the victim", specifically calling out things that "might grow more powerful with age" (e.g., True Dragons).

Obviously, there's going to be an epidemic of ciruja plants growing everywhere in my campaign world very shortly.

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But this brings up a good point: I really should have rules for adjudicating harmful aging effects in general. Obviously, you shouldn't ever gain any benefit from being prematurely aged.

I'm going to immediately discard the possibility of "you advance an age category without gaining the benefits, but you could gain the benefits next time you advance an age category".

Instead, I propose this solution: characters, once they've been subject to such an effect, track their physical age and their mental age separately.

If you advance an age category in physical age, you gain the physical penalties. If you advance an age category in mental age, you gain the mental benefits. You can't die of old mental age, but once you hit Venerable you stop benefiting. You can die of old physical age once you pass Venerable.

Harmful effects, like the phane, the ciruja, or being resurrected, only ever advance your physical age. Beneficial effects, like reincarnate or any potion-of-youth type effects we might choose to include (probably necessary if age is to be an important thing, though I could be really mean and make them apply to both physical and mental aging at once), also only ever reduce your physical age.

This has the side benefit of doing away with the "age to Venerable. get reincarnated. repeat." cycle of infinite mental score increases.

I suppose it also means True Dragon advancement is mental, but that's unlikely to ever matter in a session.

It's one extra number to keep track of somewhere on your sheet, but it's worth it.

Custom Reincarnate Tables 3: Monstrous Humanoids

If you are looking for (or wish to return to) the central list of my updated Reincarnate tables, click here.

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Roll 1d200.

Dice	Creature	Src
1-5	Aarakocra	MoFae-11
6-7	Alaghi	MoFae-14
8	Annis	MM-143
9-10	Arkamoi	MM5-184
11-12	Blackspawn Raider	MM4-130
13	Bluespawn Godslayer	MM4-140
14-16	Boggle	MM2-33
17	Braxat	MM-37
18-20	Centaur	MM-32
21-24	Chitine	MoFae-26
25-27	Chosen One	MoFae-27
28-30	Crazed Kuo-Toa	MM5-94
31-34	Crow-Headed Tengu	OA-194
35-38	Dekanter Goblin	MoFae-53
39-41	Derro	MM-49
42	Desmodu	MM2-62
43-45	Doppelganger	MM-67
46-48	Dragonkin	Draco-150
49-50	Dusk Hag	EbCS-284
51-53	Equiceph	MHb-61
54	Ethereal Doppelganger	MM2-94
55-58	Firenewt	MoFae-48
59-61	Frost Folk	FrostB-130
62-63	Gargoyle	MM-113
64	Gloom	ELHb-192
65-67	Goatfolk	MM3-63
68	Greathorn Minotaur	MM4-100
69	Green Hag	MM-143
70-72	Greenspawn Sneak	MM4-148
73	Greenspawn Zealot	MM5-74
74-77	Grimlock	MM-140
78-80	Groundling	MoFae-57
81	Hadrimoi	MM5-185
82-83	Hannya	OA-166
84-85	Harpy	MM-150
86	Hebi-No-Onna	OA-167
87	Human-Headed Tengu	OA-194
88	Jackal Lord	FFolio-105
89-91	Kappa	OA-169
92-94	Khaasta	FFolio-115
95	Kopru	MM2-134
96-98	Kuo-Toa	MM-163
99	Kuo-Toa Exalted Whip	MM5-95
100-103	Lashemoi	MM5-186
104-106	Loxo	MM2-144
107	Marzanna	FrostB-144
108-109	Meazel	MoFae-65
110	Medusa	MM-180
111-112	Minotaur	MM-188
113-114	Nagatha	MM4-102
115-117	Nycter	MM3-112
118-120	Ophidian	FFolio-133
121	Ormyrr	MM2-167
122-124	Quaggoth	MoFae-75
125	Queen Abeil	MM2-22
126	Redspawn Arcaniss	MM4-152
127	Redspawn Berserker	DMagic-118
128-129	Rhek	BoED-181
130-132	Rokuro-Kubi	OA-190
133-135	Sahuagin	MM-217
136	Scaled Stalker	MHb-68
137	Scorpionfolk	MM2-221
138-139	Sea Hag	MM-144
140	Skindancer	MM3-158
141	Soldier Abeil	MM2-22
142	Spell Weaver	MM2-187
143	Spelleater Sarkrith	FFolio-145
144-145	Stinger	MoFae-80
146	Thane Sarkrith	FFolio-146
147	Thoon Infiltrator	MM5-109
148-151	Thri-Kreen	MM2-195
152-154	Tigbanua Buso	OA-148
155	Tsuno	OA-197
156	Turlemoi	MM5-187
157-159	Vassal Abeil	MM2-22
160-162	Wemic	MoFae-84
163-166	Whitespawn Hordeling	MM4-156
167-168	Whitespawn Hunter	MM4-158
169-170	Yak Folk	MM2-200
171-173	Yeti	FrostB-162
174-176	Yeti	OA-199
177	Yuan-Ti Abomination	MM-264
178	Yuan-Ti Halfblood	MM-264
179	Yuan-Ti Ignan	MM4-188
180-182	Yuan-Ti Pureblood	MM-262
183-186	Yurian	FFolio-198
187	Zern	MM4-195
188-189	Zern Blade Thrall	MM4-198
190-191	Aberration	reroll
192-193	Fey	reroll
194-195	Giant	reroll
196-197	Humanoid	reroll
198-200	Other	reroll

Custom Reincarnate Tables 3: Aberrations

If you are looking for (or wish to return to) the central list of my updated Reincarnate tables, click here.

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Roll 1d200.

Dice	Creature	Src
1	Aboleth	MM-8
2	Ahuizotl	FFolio-14
3	Athach	MM-21
4	Avolakia	MM2-28
5	Balhannoth	MM4-15
6	Beast of Malar	MoFae-20
7	Beholder	MM-25
8	Beholder, Bleeder	DrgCmp-174
9	Beholder, Gauth	MM-25
10	Beholderkin, Death Kiss	MoFae-22
11	Beholderkin, Director	LoM-137
12	Beholderkin, Eye of the Deep	LoM-138
13-16	Beholderkin, Eyeball	MoFae-23
17	Beholderkin, Gouger	MoFae-24
18	Beholderkin, Hive Mother	LoM-135
19	Beholderkin, Overseer	LoM-139
20	Beholderkin, Spectator	LoM-140
21	Boneleaf	HoH-143
22	Carrion Crawler	MM-30
23	Catoblepas	MM2-41
24	Chaoswyrd	DrgCmp-183
25	Chilblain	FrostB-114
26-27	Choker	MM-34
28	Choldrith	MoFae-27
29	Chuul	MM-35
30	Chwidencha	FFolio-34
31	Cildabrin	LoM-141
32	Cloaker	MM-36
33	Cloaker Lord	MoFae-28
34	Cloaker, Shadowcloak Elder	LoM-142
35	Corruption Eater	HoH-144
36	Dark Umber Hulk	ToM-160
37	Darktentacles	MM2-54
38	Darkweaver	FFolio-39
39	Deadly Dancer	ToM-80
40	Deepspawn	MoFae-32
41	Delver	MM-39
42	Destrachan	MM-49
43	Dharculus	PlnrHb-112
44	Dokufu	OA-151
45-46	Dolgaunt	EbCS-281
47-49	Dolgrim	EbCS-282
50	Doppelganger, Greater	MoFae-35
51	Drider	MM-89
52	Dustblight	SandS-160
53	Elder Brain	LoM-144
54	Ephemeral Hangman	ToM-161
55	Ethereal Defiler	MM5-54
56	Ethereal Filcher	MM-104
57	Ethergaunt, Black	FFolio-65
58	Ethergaunt, Red	FFolio-66
59	Ethergaunt, White	FFolio-67
60	Ettercap	MM-106
61	Fihyr	MM2-100
62	Fihyr, Great	MM2-100
63	Garbler	ToM-267
64	Ghaunadan	MoFae-49
65	Gibbering Mouther	LoM-150
66	Gibbering Orb	ELHb-191
67	Glasspane Horror	DrgCmp-205
68	Grell	LoM-108
69	Grick	MM-139
70	Gulguthydra	MoFae-58
71-72	Hag, Bog	OA-147
73	Hagunemnon (Protean)	ELHb-196
74	Ha-Naga	ELHb-195
75	Harpoon Spider	MM3-80
76-79	Hengeyokai	OA-168
80	Hook Horror	MM2-126
81	Hound of the Gloom	LoM-153
82-84	Howler Wasp	MM4-74
85	Howler Wasp Queen	MM4-74
86	Illithidae, Embrac	LoM-154
87	Illithidae, Kigrid	LoM-155
88	Illithidae, Saltor	LoM-156
89-91	Ixitxachitl	MM2-128
92	Ixitxachitl, Vampiric	MM2-128
93	Julajimus	MM2-133
94	Kython, Adult	BoVD-179
95	Kython, Impaler	BoVD-180
96	Kython, Juvenile	BoVD-179
97	Kython, Slaughterking	BoVD-180
98	Kython, Slaymaster	BoVD-180
99	Lodestone Marauder	MM4-90
100-101	Lurking Strangler	MM3-100
102-103	Mad Slasher	MHb-64
104	Mageripper Swarm	MM4-98
105	Malasynep	FrostB-142
106	Malaugrym	MoFae-64
107	Mamono	OA-172
108	Maulgoth	FFolio-123
109	Meenlock	MM2-146
110	Mimic	MM-186
111	Mind Flayer	MM-186
112	Mind Flayer, Ulitharid	LoM-157
113-115	Mindshredder Larva	MM3-102
116	Mindshredder Warrior	MM3-103
117	Moonbeast	MM2-149
118	Morkoth	MM2-152
119	Naga, Bright	MHb-55
120	Naga, Dark	MM-191
121	Naga, Guardian	MM-191
122	Naga, Sprit	MM-191
123	Naga, Water	MM-193
124	Neh-Thalggu (Brain Collector)	ELHb-206
125	Neogi, Adult	LoM-90
126	Nothic	MHb-65
127	Nyth	MoFae-68
128	Ocularon	FFolio-132
129	Odopi	MM3-114
130	Odopi, Elder	MM3-115
131	Otyugh	MM-204
132	Otyugh, Lifeleech	MM3-119
133	Phaerimm	MoFae-70
134	Phasm	MM-208
135	Phiuhl	FFolio-135
136	Psurlon, Average	LoM-163
137	Psurlon, Giant	LoM-164
138	Pterafolk	MoFae-74
139	Ragewing	DrgCmp-210
140	Ripper	CtyS-131
141	Roper, Prismatic	MM3-141
142	Rot Reaver	MM3-142
143	Rukanyr	FFolio-144
144	Runehound	MM3-145
145	Rust Monster	MM-216
146	Seryulin	MM3-149
147	Seryulin, Greater	MM3-149
148	Shivhad	FrostB-152
149	Shrieking Terror, 10-headed	MM3-154
150	Shrieking Terror, 5-headed	MM3-154
151	Silthilar	LoM-168
152-153	Skum	MM-228
154	Skybleeder	FFolio-155
155	Slasrath	FFolio-158
156	Snowcloak	FrostB-153
157-158	Spark Lasher	MHb-70
159	Spectral Lurker	FFolio-158
160	Spirrax	MM5-166
161	Squamous Spewer	Draco-193
162	Stonesinger	MM3-168
163	Susurrus	MM3-170
164	Swarm, Abyssal Ant	FFolio-166
165-167	Symbiont, Living Breastplate	EbCS-299
168-170	Symbiont, Tentacle Whip	EbCS-300
171-173	Symbiont, Tongueworm	EbCS-300
174-175	Tako	OA-193
176	Tall Mouther	MoFae-81
177	Thoon, Elder Brain	MM5-121
178	Thoon, Madcrafter of	MM5-114
179	Thoon, Shadow Flayer	MM5-107
180	Thorciasid	ELHb-220
181	Tooth Beast	ToM-88
182	Tsochar	LoM-121
183	Tunnel Terror	FFolio-179
184	Uchuulon (Slime Chuul)	StormW-163
185	Umber Hulk	MM-248
186	Urophion	LoM-170
187	Vermiurge	ELHb-226
188	Vivisector	MM5-200
189	Will-O'-Wisp	MM-255
190	Windghost	MM2-198
191	Worm that Walks	ELHb-228
192	Wyste	MM2-200
193	Yuan-Ti, Anathema	FFolio-193
194	Zern Arcanovore	MM4-197
195	Zeugalak	LoM-171
196	Magical Beast	reroll
197	Outsider	reroll
198	Monstrous Humanoid	reroll
199	Undead	reroll
200	Other	reroll

Potential Alternative To Savage Progression?

So, I kind of like my solution to the problem of how annoying negative levels are to to be inflicted with:

But I also kind of like an idea that I came across where, instead of using savage progressions (or for characters where a savage progression is inappropriate), you can start out as a monster with all the relevant abilities and powers, but you have enough negative level adjustments (similar to, but not actually, negative levels) to bring you down to effective level 1. Every time you level up, instead of leveling, you lose a negative level adjustment, until you don't have any more negative level adjustments.

---


First, let's analyze the idea of using negative level adjustments, or even just negative levels, instead of savage progressions to see to what extent it has merit.

A normal negative level gives:

• -1 on all skill checks, ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws
• -5 hit points
• -1 effective level
• -1 highest level available spell slot

The suggested negative LA drops the -5 hp, the lost spell slots, and the reduced effective level, but adds the following:

• -1 DC for all abilities which call for a saving throw
• -1 to any constant Armor Class bonus granted by race
• Level adjustment is reduced by 1

I kind of want to test each. And I kind of want to see if it could work at all for creatures that do have racial hit dice, which would normally be the domain of savage progressions. (You see, I'd be okay with doing away with savage progressions altogether, if there's a simpler replacement system available. (I actually very much doubt that this will work out so nicely, but let's give it a try.)) So we'll test traditional negative levels and fancy negative levels on, oh, let's say a drow and a drider.

A drow with 2 traditional levels, enough to bring it down to ECL1, gets:

• +2 Dexterity, -2 Constitution, +2 Intelligence, +2 Charisma
• Land speed 30 feet.
• Darkvision 120 feet.
• Spell resistance 11.
• +2 racial bonus on Will saves against spells and spell-like abilities.
• Dancing Lights, Darkness, Faerie Fire 1/day, CL1.
• Weapon Proficiency: hand crossbow, rapier, short sword.
• Light blindness
• Miscellaneous elf traits
• -2 to all skill checks, ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws
• -10 hp
• -1 highest level available spell slot
• ECL 1

That's, um... A barbarian (or knight or warblade) will have 2+con HP. A fighter needs to have at least 16 constitution before racial modifier to have more than 1 HP. Any class with a d8, d6, or d4 hit die will always have 1 HP. Super-fragile.

Aside from that, not too awful, could be balanced.

The variant negative LA leaves the character with their full normal hp, but otherwise the same. Again, could be balanced.

Let's see a drider with 9 traditional negative levels:

• Large (Space/Reach 10'/5')
• 6 Aberration hit dice, but loses 45 HP, leaving him probably close to 1 HP
• +4 Strength, +4 Dexterity, +6 Constitution, +4 Intelligence, +6 Wisdom, +6 Charisma
• Land speed 30 feet, climb speed 15 feet
• Darkvision 60
• +6 natural armor
• Poison DC 10 + con
• Spell Resistance 17
• Casts as a 6th-level cleric, wizard, or sorcerer, but loses 9 spell slots.
• 1/day: dancing lights (DC 10+cha), clairaudience/clairvoyance, darkness, detect good, detect law, detect magic, dispel magic, faerie fire, levitate, suggestion (DC 13+cha)
• +4 Hide and Move Silently. +8 Climb, can always take 10 on Climb checks.
• -9 on all skill checks, ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws
• -9 effective levels

As a sorcerer, he could cast 6 cantrips and 5 1st-level spells/day, but he only knows 5 cantrips. As a cleric, he can cast 5 orisons and 2 1st-level spells/day. As a wizard, he can cast 3 cantrips/day.

Contrariwise, the negative LA system would let him keep all his spells and spell slots (and all his HP), but the DC of any spell that has a save (and the two such SLAs) is reduced by 9, and he loses his natural armor. He regains the 1/2 his racial HD to his poison's save DC, but then loses 9, for a total DC of 4 + con.

---

In conclusion, this system was, for very good reason, not intended for use with creatures that have racial hit dice and high LAs, and cannot reasonably be adapted to their use.

But even when applied properly, to creatures with 1 class level and a level adjustment, both versions of the system are only so-so. I don't anticipate incorporating either into my game.

Custom Reincarnate Tables 3: Vermin

If you are looking for (or wish to return to) the central list of my updated Reincarnate tables, click here.

---

Roll 1d200.

Dice	Creature	Src
1	Astral Kraken	PlnrHb-109
2	Bloodfiend Locust Swarm	FFolio-170
3	Bonespear	FFolio-24
4-5	Brine Swimmer	SandS-195
6	Centipede Swarm	MM-238
7	Century Worm	FFolio-30
8	Chelicera	MM3-27
9	Colossal Monstrous Centipede	MM-286
10	Colossal Monstrous Crab	StormW-142
11	Colossal Monstrous Scorpion	MM-288
12	Colossal Monstrous Spider	MM-288
13	Devastation Beetle	ELHb-178
14	Devastation Centipede	ELHb-178
15	Devastation Scorpion	ELHb-178
16	Devastation Spider	ELHb-178
17-19	Dire Maggot	LibMor-95
20	Gargantuan Monstrous Centipede	MM-286
21	Gargantuan Monstrous Crab	StormW-142
22	Gargantuan Monstrous Scorpion	MM-288
23	Gargantuan Monstrous Spider	MM-288
24	Giant Ant Lion	SandS-196
25-28	Giant Bee	MM-284
29-31	Giant Bombardier Beetle	MM-284
32-35	Giant Dragonfly	A&EG-90
36-39	Giant Fire Beetle	MM-285
40-44	Giant Firefly	A&EG-91
45-48	Giant Leech	StormW-154
49-50	Giant Praying Mantis	MM-285
51-53	Giant Queen Ant	MM-284
54-57	Giant Queen Termite	SandS-198
58-60	Giant Solder Termite	SandS-198
61-63	Giant Soldier Ant	MM-284
64	Giant Stag Beetle	MM-285
65-66	Giant Wasp	MM-285
67-70	Giant Worker Ant	MM-284
71-74	Giant Worker Termite	SandS-197
75-79	Hairy Spider	MoFae-79
80-84	Hoard Scarab	Draco-168
85	Hoard Scarab Swarm	Draco-168
86-88	Huge Monstrous Centipede	MM-286
89	Huge Monstrous Crab	StormW-142
90	Huge Monstrous Scorpion	MM-287
91	Huge Monstrous Spider	MM-288
92	Jellyfish Swarm	StormW-161
93	Knell Beetle	MM3-88
94-97	Large Monstrous Centipede	MM-286
98	Large Monstrous Crab	StormW-142
99-100	Large Monstrous Scorpion	MM-287
101-103	Large Monstrous Spider	MM-288
104-106	Large Snow Spider	FrostB-154
107-110	Leech Swarm	StormW-162
111	Leechwalker	MM2-135
112-113	Locust Swarm	MM-239
114-118	Medium Monstrous Centipede	MM-286
119-121	Medium Monstrous Crab	StormW-141
122-125	Medium Monstrous Scorpion	MM-287
126-129	Medium Monstrous Spider	MM-288
130-133	Medium Snow Spider	FrostB-154
134	Megapede	MM2-148
135	Plague Ant Swarm	FFolio-167
136	Rapture Locust Swarm	FFolio-170
137	Rot Grub Swarm	DngnS-106
138	Ruin Swarm	ELHb-213
139	Scarab Beetle Swarm	FFolio-171
140	Siege Beetle	MM5-152
141	Siege Crab	MM3-157
142-144	Small Monstrous Centipede	MM-286
145-149	Small Monstrous Crab	StormW-141
150-154	Small Monstrous Scorpion	MM-287
155-159	Small Monstrous Spider	MM-288
160-164	Small Snow Spider	FrostB-154
165-168	Spider Swarm	MM-239
169	Sword Spider	MoFae-79
170-171	Tiny Monstrous Centipede	MM-286
172-174	Tiny Monstrous Scorpion	MM-287
175-177	Tiny Monstrous Spider	MM-288
178-180	Wasp Swarm	FFolio-172
181-184	Animal	reroll
185-188	Magical Beast	reroll
189-192	Ooze	reroll
193-196	Plant	reroll
197-200	Other	reroll