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Dragon Elite
2009-08-21, 08:54 AM
Flamer

This creature appears to be human, until you see its hands. They are ablaze with fire.
Flamers were created as an evil wizard, Scaliath, to use as henchmen, burning down the houses of people the wizard disliked. He used them as a symbol of power, quickly gaining control of a small city. Scaliath moved his army of flamers out, but got assassinated as soon as the flamers left. His magic power rushed to the flamers, heightening their awareness of what they had done. They wander the earth, some using the power Scaliath gave them when he died. The flamers work to help in forges, making more powerful weapons.
Size/Type: Medium Humanoid (Fire)
Hit Dice: 2d8+2 (11 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 30
Armor Class: 12, touch 12, flat-footed 10 (+2 dex)
Base Attack/Grapple: +1/+2
Attack: Punch (1d4+1)
Full Attack: Punch (1d4+1), Punch (1d4+1)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Flame
Special Qualities: Immunity to flames, Produce flames at will, +20 to Strength checks against obejects
Saves: Fort +1, Ref +5, Will +1
Abilities: Str 12, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 16, Wis 12, Cha 12
Skills: Climb +6, Craft(Weaponsmithing) +8, Craft(Armorsmithing) +8, Knowledge(local)+8, Knowledge(history)+8
Feats: Dodge
Enviroment: Warm Plains
Organization: Solitary, Group(2-7)
Challange Rating: 3
Treasure: No flammable items or meltable items.
Alignment: CN
Advancement: By Class Level
Favored Class: Sorcerer
Level Adjustment: —

Flame: Anytime a Flamer hits with a punch, they do 1d6 fire damage, too. This deals 5d6 flame damage every round to flammable objects.

Flamers As PC's
Most Flamers are sorcerers ,monks, or rogues.
Flamers have the following racial traits.
-- +2 Dex, +4 Int
-- Medium Size
-- 2 racial hit dice,BAB +1, 1 feat, Fort+0, Ref +3, Will +0
-- 1d6 fire damage on unarmed strikes
-- +4 on Intimidate and Craft checks with metal
-- Speed 30
-- Automatic languages: Common
-- Bonus languages: Any

What do you think?

The Rose Dragon
2009-08-21, 09:13 AM
If you don't mind me being honest (which you don't, since you said PEACH in the title), it's incredibly uninteresting.

It's basically a human with his hands on fire. It doesn't have anything going for it. Its mechanics are lackluster, its name is unimaginative and its description is almost non-existent.

You shouldn't take it as a personal attack, since I have a feeling that this is your first homebrew, but it just doesn't hold my interest much (enough that I thought I'd respond, that is).

Dragon Elite
2009-08-21, 09:38 AM
So how can I make it better? Adding new SQ & SA?

The Rose Dragon
2009-08-21, 09:42 AM
Basically, give it more than just a schtick. This guy's only selling point is that his hands are on fire. Not very engaging.

Think of what he's supposed to be. How he fits in the setting, how he's different from humans, how the culture is built (for example, they won't have any melting or flammable substances around their homes).

It has a listed Intelligence of 16. How does being mentally superior to humans affect their worldview?

Why do they have Wizard as a Favored Class? Do they come from a traditionally arcane background? How does being a wizard-dominant species affect their culture?

Dragon Elite
2009-08-21, 10:06 AM
I added some history, and made relevant changes to the Flamer.

Dragon Elite
2009-08-22, 10:47 AM
Anything else I should change?

imp_fireball
2009-08-22, 12:11 PM
Add a 'Flamers as PCs' section. It would up the 'interesting' factor.

Xallace
2009-08-22, 03:56 PM
I'll admit I thought this was going to be some internet commentary.

OK, so they're magically constructed arsonists. Did they also kill people the wizard didn't like, or was their sole purpose igniting buildings? Are their hands permanently in flames, or did the Flamers blend in until needed? Did the wizard have them work in groups or solitary (I see the encounter groups, I assume that's post-assassination)?

With the questions above in mind, there are a lot of things you could do here. Since burning buildings was their purpose above all else, a Flamer could gain bonus damage against objects and/or bonuses on breaking or bursting objects (if they got trapped under burning debris or simply as additional demolishing power).

If they worked in groups, perhaps the Flamers can contact other creatures (or just amongst themselves) telepathically?

DracoDei
2009-08-22, 04:14 PM
Or maybe just a secret code of fire pulses (like Morse-code(by activating and deactivating the fire in quick succession) or semaphore) that is silent and thus good for sneaking up on houses with people sleeping inside, even if it is quite noticable in its own way.

If they use Morse-like then that means that activating and deactivating it should both be free actions.

Djinn_in_Tonic
2009-08-22, 05:22 PM
To me, they still look just like people with their hands on fire. If anything, this looks like a template, since I assume from their similarities to humans, that they were ordinary humans before being experimented on. I'm also not sure why they're smarter than ordinary humans...

Anyway, here's my suggestion:


Child of the Bloodflame

Hundreds of years in the past, the evil archmage Scaliath seized a rural village, taking the inhabitants to his tower, where they were confined to his prison, awaiting a ransom from the king of the nation. The king, outraged at Scaliath's demands, refused payment, and so Scaliath determined to take a terrible revenge. He put each prisoner through a horrific series of experiments, eventually draining their bodies of human blood and replacing their vital fluids with a burning concoction of his own design, made of dark magic and the prisoner's very soul. The resulting monstrosity is the Child of the Bloodflame, turned mad by the constant burning within it's body, and driven to destroy all in its path.

Since Scaliath's death, his control over these creatures has waned, allowing them some modicum of free will. Usually, however, they are still the twisted abominations they once were.


A Child of the Bloodflame gains the following qualities on top of its existing racial abilities:

*-2 Constitution: The Children's body is wracked with heat and pain, weakening their health.
*Immunity to disease: No disease can withstand the temperatures within a Child's body.
*Fire Resistance 15, Cold Resistance 15
*Burning Blood: Any creature that successfully damages the Child with a melee weapon (natural or otherwise) takes 1d6 points of Fire damage per 2 character levels.
*Burning Touch: The touch of a Child inflicts terrible pain. As a melee touch attack, the Child can deal 1d6 points of Fire damage per 4 character levels to his target. He also adds 1d6 fire damage per 4 character levels to all his unarmed strikes. A creature damaged by this effect must make a Reflex save (DC 15) or catch fire.

Level Adjustment: +1

imp_fireball
2009-08-22, 06:21 PM
To me, they still look just like people with their hands on fire.

Aren't the 80+ some odd demi-humans races out there intriguing?


The Children's body is wracked with heat and pain, weakening their health.

To me that translates to 'continuous fire damage'. Although it could really only mean heart conditions and short life spans (in addition to the CON penalty).

In an attempt to bring them down to LA +0, you could include some other interesting penalizations such as the inability to wear or hold anything unless it is specifically fireproofed. A flamer wizard will obviously struggle if every spell they try to scribe ends up burning of the parchment - they'd also have difficulty working with materials without melting important little things, so they usually must employ a non-flamer to fireproof items for them - also, if they find a new treasure that they realize will melt in their hands, they must establish great trust with the rest of the party over what they've 'reserved' until they can get the item fireproofed. Realistically, this would be a major fall to being a flamer and enough to reduce it to LA +0 IMO.

Xallace
2009-08-22, 06:34 PM
I like both Djinn_in_Tonic's ideas and Imp_Fireball's ideas, and I do believe Draco_Dei's idea is genius. I can concur with a change of name as well.

I'm pretty into the idea of Flamers having been used as "sleeper cells" by Scaliath; that they remained their previous selves until the wizard needed their services, at which point they would mutate into his mindless arson machines.

Then when Scaliath dies, the hold is broken and you end up with hundreds of regular folk with no idea why they can turn into horrible fire-beasts.

EDIT: or why they have been turned into horrible fire-beasts. I like the "always on fire" flaw.

DracoDei
2009-08-22, 08:16 PM
So, there hands aren't quite hot enough to glow when they don't have it "turned on"? Or are you saying that when they use "firefly code" that it is the size or are you thinking that the somatic language is the one they use?

Also: with that flaw sleeping in an inn becomes impossible...

blazinghand
2009-08-23, 05:43 AM
With the "hands always on fire" flaw make sure these guys are immune to fire or at least have fire resistance 6, or else they will have a very introverted culture (no shaking hands or hugging, and it would be tough to make each new generation...) at least.

Specify what kind of hit dice you're giving them. Humanoid? List the class skills and skill points per level. Bonus languages Any seems a bit uninteresting. Maybe go with Draconic, Ignan, Giant and Goblin, to represent their related races and those with whom they speak the most?

The thought of a flustered Flamer trying to turn the pages of a spellbook without lighting it on fire amuses me. Get a section in there about Flamer culture if you can. Change it from a statblock to a people.

Pie Guy
2009-08-23, 01:04 PM
The only issue with having them have the "light everything on fire" as their flaw, it wouldn't take that much effort to coat gloves with asbestos.

DeadEnded
2009-08-23, 04:40 PM
I like the idea, but I agree that it would make a better template than a race in and of itself.

I don't like the on fire all the time. It makes it very hard to deal with any other culture other than something on or from the elemental plane of fire.... Or one of the Hells now that I think about it.

Most normal races and cultures aren't going to have anything to do with these people if only because they burn everything they'd touch, and eventually slag even the most sturdy adamantine weapon.

Djinn's idea of:
*Burning Blood: Any creature that successfully damages the Child with a melee weapon (natural or otherwise) takes 1d6 points of Fire damage per 2 character levels.
*Burning Touch: The touch of a Child inflicts terrible pain. As a melee touch attack, the Child can deal 1d6 points of Fire damage per 4 character levels to his target. He also adds 1d6 fire damage per 4 character levels to all his unarmed strikes. A creature damaged by this effect must make a Reflex save (DC 15) or catch fire.
would work well if you take the leveled bonuses away. That would lessen the need of a +1 LA to the race. a little fire damage goes a long way.

and what about this idea instead of one of the above:
*A child of bloodflame may heat their weapon in combat dealing an extra 1d6 points of heat damage. This deals one point of damage to the weapon that bypasses hardness, but can be repaired by anyone with the Craft(weaponsmithing) skill.

This would go towards your description of them being excellent smiths basically because they'd need to be to keep there stuff together. It would require the ability to turn the flaming hands on and off though, which would make the morse code flashing a more viable option.

DE~