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SilverClawShift
2009-07-08, 09:01 PM
Fieldguard
A new player race for any ole place.

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x284/SilverClawShift/Fieldguard3.jpg

Once upon a time, Fieldguards were created to act as living sentries and simple workers for farms and fields. Their design was meant to be a simple and easily reproducible one, capable of surviving a few years of weathering in the open air while still remaining capable at performing their simple tasks. They were never meant to be anything more than cheap, short-lived and mindless golems.
It was the first day of autumn, in the 13th year after the first Fieldguard had been created, when they all suddenly became aware of their own existence simultaneously. The Fieldguards were all uncertain, frightened. Newborn minds. Unaware of the laws and mannerisms of the world they were suddenly called into and unsure of their purpose. Many of them destroyed their owners in fits of confusion. Many accidentally destroyed themselves in a variety of horrific ways. Many, many more were nailed down and burned to death when word spread of their actions. Of those who survived, sheltered by those who felt sorry for them, or simply hiding in the far off abandoned corners of the world, a slowly dawning understanding began to take hold. An understanding that they were creatures like no others.
How the Fieldguards came into sentience is a matter of great debate, though some of them have spoken to each other in hushed tones about "the Mistress of the Harvest". To date, no Fieldguard has ever explained who this enigmatic figure is, or if she is responsible for their self-awareness. Some of the more paranoid theorize that she is one of the Fieldguards herself, organizing some worldwide ambush. Most write such ideas off as nonsense, as the remaining Fieldguards do not seem naturally militant. The paranoid would tell you that's what they want you to think.

Fieldguards can still be created, but doing so is considered taboo by most, as their existence is often a sad and miserable one. Any newly crafted Fieldguard will be mindless golems like they all originally were. But any Fieldguard still functioning on the first day of autumn suddenly becomes aware of its own existence, and capable of making decisions for itself. But lacking any education or understanding of its surroundings, those decisions will almost inevitably be disastrous until the Fieldguard has learned more of the world around them.

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x284/SilverClawShift/Fieldguard1.jpg

Personality: Fieldguards personalities vary as much as any other races, with some being calm, excitable, virtuous or selfish in varying degrees. Most Fieldguards do come across as impersonal, viewing the world with the same kind of self-centered confused way that a small child often does.
Physical Description: Fieldguards vary wildly in appearance, but they do all share some physical similarities. They are all mostly humanoid in shape, with two arms, two legs, and a head. What material they are constructed from can vary depending on the region and supplies available, but the most common Fieldguards are made of sturdy wooden sticks inserted into a cloth outfit and stuffed with straw. Their faces are often formed in a similar manner, with a 'web' of sticks inside of a small bag, but some Fieldguards do indeed have pumpkin heads. Some have even been made with human or animal skulls.
Fieldguards can carefully change their appearance without damaging themselves, adding or removing simple materials to their form and assimilating it over the course of hours. Regardless of wether a Fieldguard makes themselves bulkier, skinnier, changes their shape in various ways, or even changes the outfit that is a part of their bodies, their physical statistics remain exactly the same.
Relations: Fieldguards do not interact on any grand scale with other races, so their relations with others are on a one-for-one basis more often than not. Many 'normal' races (such as humans and elves) distrust the Fieldguards. Those who are old enough to remember their initial 'awakening' often consider them all would-be-murderers just waiting for an opportunity to kill. Others view them with pity, finding their lot in life a depressing and struggling one. Fieldguards frequently express unhappiness with being 'pitied' for not being human.
Alignment: Fieldguards tend towards neutrality in a general sense, being born with a blank moral slate. In life, they may find themselves behaving according to an alignment either naturally, or through conditioning from their environment. Their alignments vary as much as a humans can.
Fieldguard Lands: Fieldguards have no nations or lands to call their own, and are not even considered 'people' in most locations. As such, they tend to migrate to areas that are off the beaten path, such as caves, abandoned farms, or ruins with little value to the common populace.
Religion: Fieldguards frequently revere nature. If asked who they honestly worship, the vast majority of Fieldguards would answer "the Mistress of the Harvest", but many are wise enough to not tell non-fieldguards that fact, preferring to keep whatever knowledge they have (or don't) of the enigmatic figure to themselves.
Language: Fieldguards learn the language of the land they are awakened in for lack of any other course of communication. Over time, Fieldguards may learn other languages that they find interesting or useful, for whatever reason.
Names: Fieldguards are rarely given names by their creators, as most were considered to be objects prior to their mass-awakening. Some younger Fieldguards may have been named, with their creators knowing they will soon become sentient creatures in their own right.
Fieldguards left to their own devices will select names for themselves or each other over time. Some have been known to insist they just be called "Scarecrow" or "Hollowboy" or similar names, using the fact that they are often considered unsettling mockeries to their advantage in intimidating their would-be detractors.
Adventures: Fieldguards simply do not fit in with their surroundings. They were originally built not to last, awakened for unknown reasons, and are now considered to be 'born only to die' by many. It's due to their inability to fit in that they often find themselves in adventuring parties, since those groups tend to have allready set aside prejudices and proven to be more open minded and daring than others. When a Fieldguard spies an unusual mis-match of races traveling far from civilization, they may have found the only group they'll ever be able to trust.

Fieldguard Racial Traits
: Living Construct Subtype (Ex): Fieldguards are constructs with the living construct subtype. A living construct is a created being given sentience and free will.
: A Fieldguard derives its Hit Dice, base attack bonus progression, saving throws, and skill points from the class it selects.
Traits: A Fieldguard possesses the following traits.
- Unlike other constructs, a Fieldguard has a Constitution score.
- Unlike other constructs, a Fieldguard does not have darkvision. They do still have low-light vision
- Unlike other constructs, a Fieldguard is not immune to mind-affecting spells and abilities.
- Immunity to poison, sleep effects, paralysis, disease, nausea, fatigue, exhaustion, effects that cause the sickened condition, and energy drain.
- A Fieldguard cannot heal lethal damage naturally, but can repair themselves slowly over time by assimilating natural materials such as hay, cloth, and 'bones' made of wood, stone, or even other creatures bones. When able to adapt such materials to their body, they recover hitpoints and ability damage twice as quickly as other creatures do via resting, and do not age. A Fieldguard who is prevented access to such materials will not be able to heal damage naturally, and will only survive for an additional 1+1d4 years before their body rots to the point it cannot support their mind any longer.
- Unlike other constructs, Fieldguard are subject to critical hits, nonlethal damage, stunning, ability damage, ability drain, death effects, and necromancy effects.
- As living constructs, Fieldguards can be affected by spells that target living creatures as well as by those that target constructs. Damage dealt to a Fieldguard can be healed by a cure light wounds spell or a repair light damage spell, for example, and a Fieldguard is vulnerable to disable construct and harm. However, spells from the healing subschool and supernatural abilities that cure hit point damage or ability damage provide only half their normal effects to a Fieldguard. Likewise, Inflict spells and sources of negative energy only do half their normal damage to a Fieldguard.
- The unusual physical construction of Fieldguard makes them extremely vulnerable to fire, causing them to take double damage from fire spells and effects. In addition, the Reflex save for a Fieldguard to avoid catching on fire is DC 30 (instead of DC 15 as normal).
- A Fieldguard responds slightly differently from other living creatures when reduced to 0 hit points. A Fieldguard with 0 hit points is disabled, as with a living creature. He can take only a single move action or standard action in each round, but strenuous activity does not risk further injury. When his hit points are less than 0 and greater than -10, a Fieldguard is inert. He is unconscious and helpless, and cannot perform any actions. An inert Fieldguard does not lose additional hit points unless more damage is dealt to him, however, as with a living creature that has become stable.
- As a living construct, a Fieldguard can be raised or resurrected.
- A Fieldguard does not need to eat, sleep, or breathe, but he can still benefit from the effects of consumable spells and magic items such as heroes’ feast and potions.
- Although living constructs do not need to sleep, a Fieldguard wizard must rest for 8 hours before preparing spells.
: +2 Dex, -2 Int. Fieldguards are more agile and quick than many races, but struggle to understand things without marked effort.
: Medium: As medium creatures, Fieldguards receive no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
: Base Speed is 40 feet owning to a light but strong construction and a naturally exaggerated gait.
: Soft Body: A Fieldguard ignores the first 3 points of damage from any source of piercing damage, as the attack does only superficial damage to their outer materials.
: Automatic Languages: Common. Bonus Languages: None. Fieldguards only begin life with a vague understanding of the Common language of those around them. Any additional languages must be learned deliberately.
: Favored Class: Scout. A multiclass Fieldguard's scout class does not count when determining wether it takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.

Playing a Fieldguard:
Fieldguards can vary so much from individual to individual that there is no one way to present them at the gaming table. They may be selfish and destructive, living up to the expectations of those who would bind and burn them, or they may be jovial and innocent natured, vaguely overwhelmed by a world that nothing prepared them for.
When a Fieldguard makes a mistake, or fails to understand something, they should remind the 'natural' races that they are only a few years old. A human would never expect a three year old to have a firm grasp on complicated situations, but most expect a newborn Fieldguard to understand as much as a full grown adult.
Of course, some older Fieldguards, particular the more devious of the original generation, may use such claims to their advantage, pretending to be confused innocents, when in reality they are interacting with humans far younger than themselves.


************************************************** **

This is actually my first solo-made player race, independant of my group. I'm not erally sure what inspired me to make them, as they aren't for a campaign setting or world, and I don't intend to play them. I just really liked the idea of a "soft" type of warforged, and these things popped in my head.

Images were shamelessly stolen from the internet.

Hope you enjoy them, thank you for taking the time to read it :smallsmile:

Ascension
2009-07-08, 09:12 PM
I really, really love this concept. In fact, I'd love to try a game with an all-Fieldguard party. They remind me of nWoD Prometheans.

SilverClawShift
2009-07-08, 09:17 PM
I'd love to try a game with an all-Fieldguard party.

I'm glad you like them :smallbiggrin:

But wouldn't you rather play in a party with a Wizard Fieldguard, a Barbarian Warforged, a Cowardly Rogue Catfolk, and a singing Bard female human with a small dog animal companion? :smallwink:
Make it in ravenloft for triple points. :smallamused:

Ascension
2009-07-08, 10:25 PM
But wouldn't you rather play in a party with a Wizard Fieldguard, a Barbarian Warforged, a Cowardly Rogue Catfolk, and a singing Bard female human with a small dog animal companion? :smallwink:
Make it in ravenloft for triple points. :smallamused:

Oh dear. :smallbiggrin:

Actually, the thing that got me wanting an all-Fieldguard party was your mention of "Hollowboy" as one of the nicknames for the race. That, of course, got me thinking of The Hollow Men (which I figure was your intent), especially the Apocalypse Now reading (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKuA3iee4-c) and Daniel Amos's Hollow Man (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFHvlGeq3sM), and nothing makes me want to start a campaign like a moving poem or a song.

Gorgondantess
2009-07-09, 12:24 AM
Very, very cool concept. Though intelligence and charisma penalties always annoy me. Also, it doesn't seem to have many features other than high movement, living construct and the wierd repair thing.

MisterSaturnine
2009-07-09, 12:50 AM
Very, very cool concept. Though intelligence and charisma penalties always annoy me. Also, it doesn't seem to have many features other than high movement, living construct and the wierd repair thing.

I agree with Gorgondantess. I love the concept--it's easily one of my favorite races, in general (fluff-wise)--but it seems a little lacking in the racial abilities department.

SilverClawShift
2009-07-09, 03:23 PM
The problem is, giving a living construct racial features is really dangerous, as they're allready skirting between LA +1 and LA 0. A lot of people argue that Warforged are actually +1 with a flimsy justification for ignoring it.

That said, I'll go over them again with that constructive critiscism in mind :smallsmile:

Lert, A.
2009-07-09, 03:51 PM
They do seem a bit weak. Warforged may appear a bit too strong, but this may be going too far.

Advantages over the warforged:
- can repair self naturally, albeit slowly.
- slightly faster base move speed

Disadvantages:
- fire vulnerability is far more dangerous than warforged vulnerabilities to heat metal, rust, etc. Fire damage is easily encountered and the DC seem far too high (my level 8 barbarian was killed by a commoner with a torch :smallfrown: )
- no slam attack. Minor point but should be pointed out.
- no armor bonus
- no fortification
- reduction to Int more devastating overall than the other mental stats but still has another negative on top this


Suggestions (and that is all they are. I'm not a "do this!!" type of person):
- lower save to catch fire to at most 25
- add a slam attack or something to replace it
- add minor fortification or something to replace it (DR vs piercing or somesuch)
- I would consider removing the penalty to Cha. Removing the Int penalty would shift the class to a bit more powerful, but Cha would be better balanced.


And that's how I sees it....

Lysander
2009-07-09, 10:03 PM
Maybe balance their weakness to fire by giving them resistance to piercing attacks? A narrow stab or spike wouldn't really disturb their hay. Either that or resistance to some other form of damage.

Also, maybe to compensate for healing spells being less effective, what if they could naturally heal twice as quickly as normal, as long as they have enough replacement hay. Negative energy should also only hurt them half as much.

Iferus
2009-07-10, 03:26 AM
How about +2 wis to balance things out? I'd say that by design, they'd have to be quite observant and in touch with nature. Or perhaps grant it a bonus to spot, intimidate, bluff and / or balance as those skills would correspond with their designed behaviour.

Madra Rua
2009-07-10, 12:13 PM
this is just my opinion, but i would give them DR5/bludgeoning. The ideas posted above about half damage from negative energy and +2 Wis seem to balance it out some more. I like this race. Very unique. :smallbiggrin:

DracoDei
2009-07-10, 12:28 PM
Have you looked at both of the flesh-based living constructs? One of them was the Soul Stitched (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6310251&postcount=21) by Lappy9000*, and one is part of Tears of Blood.

*Not 100% sure that is the most recent and up-to date version of that, since I found it in a campaign thread.

SilverClawShift
2009-07-10, 03:06 PM
I was actually looking all over for the Soulstitched! I forgot their name, just remembered that they were a living construct made of flesh. Thanks a million, I'm adding that to our groups list of available player races and allready envisioning characters :smalltongue:

DracoDei
2009-07-10, 04:26 PM
Yeah... I don't THINK Lappy has a post on the homebrewer's extended signature page, and he certainly doesn't have a link to any such in his actual signature.

Lappy9000
2009-07-10, 05:13 PM
Have you looked at both of the flesh-based living constructs? One of them was the Soul Stitched (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6310251&postcount=21) by Lappy9000*, and one is part of Tears of Blood.

*Not 100% sure that is the most recent and up-to date version of that, since I found it in a campaign thread.


I was actually looking all over for the Soulstitched! I forgot their name, just remembered that they were a living construct made of flesh. Thanks a million, I'm adding that to our groups list of available player races and allready envisioning characters :smalltongue:You guys are freakin' awesome, you know that? :smallbiggrin:

And, yes, that's the latest version, and I highly doubt I'll be changing it any further, lest someone finds some cheese.

SilverClawShift, keep in mind that those races are a bit more powerful than the standard D&D races. If you want, I'll gladly send you the 3.5 stats :smallcool: (the reason why I don't post them if 'cause they aren't as cool without the Natural Talent. However, they can be incorporated pretty easily if you want to keep them as-is)

Edit: Oh, and by the way, the campaign setting page always had the most up-to-date versions. If you find the original thread, it's full of horrible grammar and awful formatting. It hurt my eyes to look at it :smallsigh:
Just about all I homebrew goes into the setting, and there's a snazzy table of contents that lists everything.

Lappy9000
2009-07-10, 05:23 PM
Leave it to me to de-rail the thread :smallsigh:

I love the look of these guys (as a side note, Scarecrow is my favorite Batman villain), and their stats are neat as well, although somewhat lacking. Personally, I'm with Madra Rura with some minor DR and negative energy resistance (although it may seem redundant if you play these guys with Wastelings). Great job!

AngryRussian16
2009-07-10, 08:10 PM
I really like this idea, I have been struggling for a new idea for a player race in my new campaign and this fits very well. I might take it, if you don't mind :smalltongue:

I doubt I would ever have thought of this, so I appreciate things like this

SilverClawShift
2009-07-12, 07:43 AM
Great job!

Thanks :smallsmile:


I might take it, if you don't mind :smalltongue:

Go for it, that's the point of posting things online, isn't it? :smallsmile:

I made some minor changes to it. They now heal twice as fast as normal due to rest, receive only half damage from inflict spells and negative energy, lost the CHA penalty (but they're keeping the INT penalty regardless), and gave them Damage Reduction 3/Piercing.

And I'm kicking around some ideas for racial feats for them, so I'll post those if any of em seem viable.

DracoDei
2009-07-12, 08:11 AM
Gah... I would think you would know better than to follow a silly typo like that Silver Claw Shift...

Piercing is what they SHOULDN'T take damage from. Make it "3/Bludgeoning or Slashing" if you want them to be resistant to Piercing. Although if you ask me, "3/slashing" would work even better.

SilverClawShift
2009-07-12, 08:33 AM
God, that's even what I was THINKING, but it's too early for mechanics. I meant for them to ignore piercing, not be vulnerable for it.

Admiral Squish
2009-07-12, 08:38 AM
Now I have to make a character with this.

I think you got the DR backwards. Isn't the after-slash information supposed to be what overcomes the DR? I'd say it should probably be DR/slashing, as such a lightweight body without an anchor and covered with hay padding would be very difficult to bludgeon apart.

EDIT: Ninja'd.

SilverClawShift
2009-07-12, 08:41 AM
as such a lightweight body without an anchor and covered with hay padding would be very difficult to bludgeon apart.

Yeah, but their actual 'body' is basically a bunch of barely protected sticks. Connecting with a hammer or club with a good hit and you'll probably snap their 'spine' clean in two.

Not that that would stop them outright, being constructs it'd be a relatively minor blow, but that is the type of damage that builds up to them falling apart :smalltongue:

Eerie
2009-07-12, 08:42 AM
What`s next, a race of living mannequins?

"Forced to demonstrate clothes in shopwindows, they rebelled against their masters..."

Eerie
2009-07-12, 08:43 AM
Yeah, but their actual 'body' is basically a bunch of barely protected sticks. Connecting with a hammer or club with a good hit and you'll probably snap their 'spine' clean in two.


Can`t they replace it with something harder to break? Adamantine sticks, perhaps? :smallsmile:

Admiral Squish
2009-07-12, 08:54 AM
Can`t they replace it with something harder to break? Adamantine sticks, perhaps? :smallsmile:

...Ironwood, anybody? Would that affect the straw, too?

Adumbration
2009-07-12, 09:07 AM
I have an idea for a feat...

Lit eyes. [Fieldguard]

On construction, a magical light was added inside their lights. This provides them with an ever-present illumination, improved eyesight and an affinity for light spells.

Prerequisites: Fieldguard, 1st level only.

Benefit: The area around you is lit as with an everburning torch, clearly illuminating a 20-foot radius and providing shadowy illumination out to a 40-foot radius. You also gain low-light vision: a fieldguard can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. She retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.

A fieldguard with this feat can light or extinguish this light as a full-round action, but when unlit, the fieldguard gains no benefits of this feat.

In addition, you gain +2 bonus to caster level when casting spells with a Light descriptor.

***

What do you think?

Eerie
2009-07-12, 09:08 AM
...Ironwood, anybody? Would that affect the straw, too?

If they are immune to piercing, they can add anything.

In fact, evil Fieldguard can use a mind-controlled Warforged as a skeleton. :smallamused:

Adumbration
2009-07-12, 09:16 AM
Sticks and Stones. [Fieldguard]

On construction, stone and ironwood was incorporated in the bones of the fieldguard with this feat.

Prerequisites: Fieldguard, 1st level only.

Benefit: Your damage reduction improves to 3/bludgeoning, as slashing weapons are hindered by the stone and ironwood in your bones. You also gain +1 Natural Armor.

***

I hope you don't mind? These are all just suggestions, of course.

EDIT: Added ironwood. I really hope I'm not intruding, it's just so fun to come up with these...

Admiral Squish
2009-07-12, 09:22 AM
I just noticed the 'bones of other creatures' kicker. How creepy would it be to have a fieldguard necromancer/warlock who was specifically trying to replace all his bits and pieces with bones and hide and things like that? Maybe it would end up like some weird hybridization of construct and undead. That would be really fun to describe... Calls himself 'the harvester' or something.

Eerie
2009-07-12, 10:15 AM
Undead Golem would be a Nekron, isn`t it? :smallwink:

SilverClawShift
2009-07-12, 10:17 AM
What do you think?

I think the lit eyes one is a little more sci-fi than their normal flavor, but still pretty interesting (not to mention creepy, and therefor good). But they allready have low-light vision, if it's going to improve their sight it needsto give them darkvision.

Sticks and Stones should give them Damage Reduction 3/slashing. It won't hinder slashing weapons from shredding their exterior and making their stuffing spill out wildly (their skeleton isn't the only part of them that makes them what they are, after all, it's a whole 'frame integrity' thing).
Ironwood skeletal structure would make them more resistant to getting cracked when smacked around with clubs, but slashing weapons would still work normally on them. That said, it's a good feat for them.


I just noticed the 'bones of other creatures' kicker. How creepy would it be to have a fieldguard necromancer/warlock who was specifically trying to replace all his bits and pieces with bones and hide and things like that?

Yeah, Fieldguards can be made of (or graduate to) any simple materials, which means there's a lot of possibilities for their body and origins. You could have a fieldguards stuffed with cotton or feathers, held together with anything ranging from canvas to leather to silk (actually, a leather feat that made them gave them DR Slashing/2 wouldn't be uncalled for I think).

I like the fact that they're pretty much always creepy representatives of the uncanny valley though. Made from stitched up hide and bones, or made from canvas and cotton with big button eyes, they're still pretty much the same level of unsettling.

Adumbration
2009-07-12, 10:33 AM
Updated feats:
Sticks and Stones. [Fieldguard]

On construction, stone and ironwood was incorporated in the bones of the fieldguard with this feat.

Prerequisites: Fieldguard, 1st level only.

Benefit: Your damage reduction improves to 3/slashing, as bludgeoning weapons are stopped by the stone and ironwood in your bones. You also gain +1 Natural Armor.

***

Lit eyes. [Fieldguard]

On construction, a magical light was added inside their heads. This provides them with the ability to see in the dark.

Prerequisites: Fieldguard, 1st level only.

Benefit: You gain darkvision: fieldguards can see in the dark up to 30 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight, and fieldguard can function just fine with no light at all. The downside of this ability is the fact that their eyes shine in the dark. This gives them -10 to hide checks while using concealment provided by darkness or shadows.

A fieldguard with this feat can enable or disable this ability as a full-round action. When disabled, the fieldguard gains no benefits or penalties provided by this feat.

In addition, you gain +1 bonus to caster level when casting spells with a Light descriptor.


Changed the Lit Eyes feat to give darkvision 30 instead. Thinking about more feats at the moment.