Cute bear people [3.5 monster] Please PEACH!

[Lord of Syntax]

Kuma
Small Monstrous Humanoid
Hit Dice: 6d8+18 (45 hp)
Speed: 25 ft. (5 squares)
Initiative: +3
Armor Class: 14 (-1 Dex, +4 Natural, +1 Size); touch 10; flat-footed 14
BAB/Grapple: +6/+2
Attack Claw +10 (1d6+3)
Full Attack 2 claws melee +10 (1d6+3) and bite +10 melee (1d8+1)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Spell-like ability, spells
Special Qualities: Cute, Darkvision 60 ft., Scent
Saves: Fort +5 Ref +4, Will +4
Abilities: Str 16, Dex 9, Con 17, Int 12, Wis 8, Cha 20
Skills: Diplomacy +22, Handle Animal +14, Knowledge (Nature) +10
Feats: Force of Personalty (B), Multiattack, Improved Multiattack, Improved Initiative
Environment: Forest
Organization: Solitary, Family (2-4), Scouting party (4-16), or Tribe (80-100)
Challenge Rating: 9
Treasure: Quarter standard; no gems or art
Alignment: Always Chaotic Good
Advancement: by Class; Favored Class Druid
Level Adjustment: +2

Spell-like Ability (Sp): At will, Kumas may speak with animals as the druid spell.

Cute (Ex): A kuma has a racial +8 bonus to Diplomacy.

Spellcasting (Su): A kuma casts divine spells as a 9th-level druid; the casting is charisma based.
Typical spells prepared (6/6/5/4/4/3, DC 15+Spell level):
0: 4x Know Direction, 2x Detect Poison.
1: 4x Calm Animals, 2x Charm Animal.
2: 3x Delay Poison, 2x Animal Trance.
3: 4x Neutralize Poison.
4: 4x Giant Vermin.
5: 3x Animal Growth.


Combat:

A single kuma will most likely send giant animals and vermin at an attacker.

A kuma scouting party will attack with their weapons and also use various druidic spells to assist in defeating the enemy.



The kuma live in small tribes of 80 to 100 members, scattered throughout the forest.

Each family lives in a small wooden hut, though tribes do sometimes work together to build large structures.

Their simple, natural way of life is by choice, a conscious communion with nature, despite their advanced technology.

To casually enter their world one would think them simple-minded and unadvanced, yet hidden from outside eyes is a thriving community of scientists and inventors.

The kuma are blessed with surprising physical strength; Especially considering their small stature and incredible cuteness,

Also, due to their powerful innate connection with nature they have strong magical abilities.

Physically, the kuma closely resemble living teddy bears of immense fluffiness and cuteness beyond compare. They actually look like living stuffed animals.

Full grown the average height is 3 to 4 feet, weight 50 to 80 pounds.

[Lord of Syntax]

Nobody?
PEACH!!!!

[Zom B]

Needs a physical description. Other than that, looks like you did your math legwork on it.

[Zexion]

Speak with animals (Sp): A kuma can use speak with animals at will with a CL equal to its HD.
The only Caster Level modifier for Speak With Animals is for length. If these creatures can cast Speak With Animals at will, it seems a bit redundant.

[Bhu]

I like this :smallcool:

I must use this to crush my players somehow...

[Lord of Syntax]

What would be a good ECL for these?

[Zexion]

These would not be usable as a player race. Too powerful.

[Lord of Syntax]

Really, the couatl (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/couatl.htm) is playable and is more powerful.

[Lord Vukodlak]

Just because they have an LA doesn't mean they are actually playable.

[FishAreWet]

Just because they have an LA doesn't mean they are actually playable....yes... it does. That's exactly what it means.

First note: Either drop some Druid levels or add more HD. Spellcasting advanced farther then HD gets strange with things like Polymorph. And with that low Wis, it can't use it's Druid spells!

I think this is playable as an ECL 11 creature. Maybe 10. How much of that HD and how much LA? I'm not sure.

[Lord of Syntax]

It casts off Cha

[Lord Vukodlak]

...yes... it does. That's exactly what it means.


You miss my meaning completely, by playable I mean its playable in a fashion that actually works and could be marginally effective. Plenty of things have an LA that simply and utterly fail as PC's

[Lord of Syntax]

You utterly fail as a PC! :smalltongue:

[Jack of Spades]

No matter what I do, I can't stop thinking "EWOKS!!!!" :smalleek:

Seriously, if you make their god a golden humanoid and put them in trees, I'll have to go raving mad and start talking to a lump of silly putty.

[Debihuman]

Here are my corrections, not in any particular order:

Monstrous Humanoids have Darkvision 60 ft as a trait, not low-light vision. They also use d8 not d6. You should also indicate the bonus hit points in the statblock. The hit points were correct at 45.

You forgot the Size modifier [+1] to AC and Attack. Also, melee attack is Base attack bonus + Strength modifier + size modifier. Both the Claw and Bite should be at +10 melee not +6.

It has too many feats. One of the feats should be a bonus feat designated with a (B). It makes sense to have Force of Personality be the bonus feat.

I'm not sure why these have a +3 level to cast spells as a sorcerer, especially since that isn't their favored class. I recommend that they cast spells as a druid.

While you list their organization as solitary and scouting, you left off family (2-4) and tribe although you mention tribe in the text below.

The Cute special ability should be listed in the Special Qualities.

Skills: The max rank in a skill that creature can have is HD +3. Monstrous Humanoids get Skill points equal to (2 + Int modifier, minimum 1) per Hit Die, with quadruple skill points for the first Hit Die. These have Int +1 so they get 3x4 skill points (12) for their first hit die and 15 more (3x5) for a total of 27 skill ranks. They can have a max rank of 9 in each skill so they should have 3 skills with max ranks. You only gave them 2 skills. Diplomacy should be 22 [+9 ranks, +8 from Cute, + 5 Cha modifier], Handle Animal should be 14 [9 ranks + 5 Cha modifier] and you need a 3rd skill. I'd recommend giving them Knowledge (Nature) +10 [+9 ranks +1 Int modifier].

Speak with Animals should be listed as a spell-like ability entry. Are you sure that you don't want to give them another spell-like ability?

Saving Throws: Monstrous Humanoids have Good Reflex and Will saving throws. Fort is +5 [+2 for 6th HD plus +3 for Con modifier], Reflex is +4 [ +5 for 6 HD plus Dex modifier -1], Will is +4 [+5 for 6 HD plus Wisdom modifier -1]

What languages do they speak? For Int of 12, they only get 2 languages.

Here's the revised statblock (edited also for consistency).

*** New Revision ***

Kuma
Small Monstrous Humanoid
Hit Dice: 6d8+18 (45 hp)
Speed: 25 ft. (5 squares)
Initiative: +3
Armor Class: 14 (-1 Dex, +4 Natural, +1 Size); touch 10; flat-footed 14
BAB/Grapple: +6/+2
Attack Claw +10 (1d6+3)
Full Attack 2 claws melee +10 (1d6+3) and bite +10 melee (1d8+1)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Spell-like abilities
Special Qualities: Cute, Darkvision 60 ft., Scent
Saves: Fort +5 Ref +4, Will +4
Abilities: Str 16, Dex 9, Con 17, Int 12, Wis 8, Cha 20
Skills: Diplomacy +22, Handle Animal +14, Knowledge (Nature) +10
Feats: Force of Personalty (B), Multiattack, Improved Multiattack, Improved Initiative
Environment: Forest
Organization: Solitary, Family (2-4), Scouting party (4-16), or Tribe (80-100)
Challenge Rating: 9
Treasure: Quarter standard; no gems or art
Alignment: Always Chaotic Good
Advancement: by Class; Favored Class Bard
Level Adjustment: +2

Spell-like Abilities (Sp): At will, kumas may speak with animals ; 3/day kumas may calm animals (DC 16) and charm animal (DC 16); 1/day kumas may use animal trance (DC 17). The saves are charisma-based.

Debby

[Obrysii]

You miss my meaning completely, by playable I mean its playable in a fashion that actually works and could be marginally effective. Plenty of things have an LA that simply and utterly fail as PC's

This is untrue.

LA ("level adjustment") exists to give players the option to play creatures. In playing a creature with an LA, they accept that they will not have as many hit points as other members of the party.

Some things don't work well as PCs - but this bear-thing is not so unorthodox as to be unplayable (I'm looking at you, vampires).

To say simply that it is unplayable is relatively narrow-minded, which is ironic given the game we're all playing.

[I_am_an_undead]

What would be a good ECL for these?

In my opinion, it must at least be ECL 9. After all, it casts spells as a 9th level character. Beyond that... yeah, I'd personnally put it at ECL 9. It has a few other powers and abilities beyond spellcasting but it already would lose 3 HD, which isn't nothing. Anyway, that's just my opinion

[Starbuck_II]

Nah, 2 LA and 6 Racial is fine. Sure it cast like a Druid, but has no druid class features.

[I_am_an_undead]

Nah, 2 LA and 6 Racial is fine. Sure it cast like a Druid, but has no druid class features.

Yes, but it also has very favorable ability bonuses (+6 str, -2 dex, +6 con, -2 wis, +10 Cha, I think), as well as natural weapons and armor. I don't know, I'm just opposed to the idea of a character casting as someone of a level above them. Maybe you're right, I never was good at balancing things anyways, so I'll refrain from debating this any further.

What would happen if a Kuma takes levels in the druid class? Does he add his own spellcasting level to the druid? if he does, what would be the stat that he uses for his spells? He uses charisma normally, but the druid uses wisdom.

[Lord of Syntax]

he would cast off charisma and he would add his druid levels into the build in casting.

[Eurus]

I don't really like the idea of even having higher spellcasting than your hit dice, let alone your ECL (mainly because some campaigns do allow LA buyoff). It has precedent, though, and a lot of campaigns don't allow LA buyoff, so I won't complain too much. But an ECL 8 character who casts spells as a level 9 druid with a +10 to its primary casting stat (and a pretty good bonus feat) just seems like too much. Druid spells aren't quite as awe-inspiringly godlike as sorc/wiz spells, but they're still pretty impressive, and you've got a character who's capable of casting 5th-level spells when the rest of the party is stuck with 4ths (or 6ths when they've got 5ths, or whatever).

[Debihuman]

I have to agree with some of the complaints listed. When you are making a PC playable race you should look at what it has as bonuses and abilities and compare them to a standard PC.

Their wisdom isn't high enough for them to cast druid spells. They should probably lose their ability to cast druid spells other than spell-like abilities. They don't have impressive spells to start so you can give them more spell-like abilities in place of some of the spells. However, their favored class should probably should be bard rather than druid. That makes much better use of their charisma bonus. This makes a difference when you consider the DC of the saving throws of the spells. You left off the DC of the spells. Considering the negative Wisdom, the DCs were very low.


A saving throw against your spell has a DC of 10 + the level of the spell + your bonus for the relevant ability (Intelligence for a wizard, Charisma for a sorcerer or bard, or Wisdom for a cleric, druid, paladin, or ranger). A spell’s level can vary depending on your class. Always use the spell level applicable to your class.


Here's my recommendation:

Spell-like Abilities (Sp): At will, kumas may speak with animals ; 3/day kumas may calm animals (DC 16) and charm animal (DC 16); 1/day kumas may use animal trance (DC 17). The saves are charisma-based.

It is not necessary that the spells calm animal and charm animal are not on the bard list since these are now spell-like abilities.

I also recommend that they lose innate spells and have to gain them by taking a class.

Debby

[Scow2]

Their wisdom isn't high enough for them to cast druid spells

Their WIS is irrelevant to casting... they use CHA instead.

I think their type should be changed to Fey, considering the nature of their abilities (lowlight vision instead of Darkvision, for example) HD size, and saves. That technological competance comes of as a "lolwut?" out of nowhere

And nothing should have higher casting ability than it's HD, though it's possible to use specific spell-like abilities as though it were a higher level.

[Debihuman]

I respectfully disagree. ALL druids depend on Wisdom to cast their spells. It makes no sense to have them cast spells based on Charisma.

From the section on Druids in SRD:


To prepare or cast a spell, the druid must have a Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a druid’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the druid’s Wisdom modifier.

Technically, this creature CANNOT cast any druid spells because its Wisdom is too low. It needs a minimum of Wis 10 to cast Druid spells. It has Wis 8.

I addressed this earlier. See my new revisions in my previous post.

Debby

[The Dark Fiddler]

I respectfully disagree. ALL druids depend on Wisdom to cast their spells. It makes no sense to have them cast spells based on Charisma.

Except this creature specifically states that it casts from Charisma instead of Wisdom. There's no reason it can't do this, really. If I remember correctly, there are some monster somewhere that change the casting stat when they cast as class x. Might even be a core monster.

Even if there wasn't, though, this is homebrew, so again I state there's no reason they shouldn't be able to, since its casting Druid spells off of Charisma is a homebrew ability.

Edit: And technically it's a case of specific trumps general too.

[Debihuman]

No, he's a homebrewer who is LEARNING to make a monster and he's asked for help.

This creature has a lot of good potential, but it needs to fit the frame of the rules. Sure, you can say it uses it's Charisma to cast Druid spells, but then it should have a corresponding Special Ability that allows it to do so. THAT is what is missing.

For balance, it makes more sense to give the kuma more spell-like abilities rather than giving it druid spells. See what I've done above to see whether this improves things or not.

Debby