DracoDei
2010-07-16, 11:19 AM
Heaven's Match
Mardun lay awake in his tent
"I can lead an army of ten thousand against the forces of Vecna, but I can't lead a woman to
the altar. What kind of sense does that make?"
"What is the weirdest thing I have encountered in my travels? Well... that is a hard one... I
have seen some things that near drove me out of my mind... but for just plain WEIRD I think not
much beats the feeling of hearing a blink dog and a winter wolf are making sweat, slow, romantic
love in a tent not 20 feet away."
Heaven's Match is a heritage template that can be added to any intelligent creature of good
alignment. Note that in may regards this template is applied to the specific creature the
Heaven's Match is intended for(know here-after as the base individual), while in others it is applied to that creatures default creature type (IE how it appears in the monster manual type entry or "X as player characters").
Size
As base creature.
Type
Changes to outsider. Subtypes retained. Gains Native Subtype. HD change to d8. All saves are good. BAB poor.
HD
Change to d8. Equal to specific base creature and increases and decreases with that creatures (to a minimum of 1) as time goes on. Recalculate BAB and Saves as indicated here.
Speed
As base creature.
AC
Add deflection bonus of +4 or increase existing deflection bonus by +4.
Attacks
As per bases creature but with Poor BAB.
Armor and Weapon Proficiency
As base race plus proficiency with simple weapons, and all armor and sheilds (including Tower Shields).
Space and Reach
As base creature.
Special Attacks
As base creature.
Special Qualities
As base creature plus spellcasting.
Share Fate, Share Spells, Empathic Link, Know Mate, Lay on Hands (self and mate only), Favored
Enemy (Succubi, Incubi, and Erinyes(plus similar at GM's discression))
1 HD or less Extended Disguise Self 1/day
2HD Extended Disguise Self 2/day
3HD Extended Disguise Self and Alter Self 1/day
4HD Extended Disguise Self and Extended Alter Self 1/day
5HD Extended Alter Self 2/day
6HD Extended Alter Self 2/day and one of the following each day: Bear's Endurance, Bull's Strength, Cat's Grace, Eagle's Splendor, Owl's Wisdom.
Saves
All Good.
Abilities Str (Racial+2) , Dex (Individual+0, or Racial+4 whichever is higher), Con (Individual+0, or Racial+4 whichever is higher), Int (Individual+0 or Racial+0 whichever is
higher), Wis (individual+0 or Racial+8 whichever is higher), Cha (individual+0 or Racial+8
whichever is higher)
Skills Class skills are: Craft(Any that the base Individual has Ranks in), Concentration, Diplomacy, Escape Artist, Knowledge(Any that the base Individual has ranks in), Profession (Any that the base Individual has ranks in), Sense Motive, Survival, Swim, Tumble, Use Rope
Feats 1 Plus 1 per 3HD, all of which must be from the following list: Acrobatic, Agile, Alertness, Athletic, Blind-Fight, Combat Casting, Combat Reflexes, Deflect Arrows, Diehard, Dodge, Exotic Weapon Proficiency, Great Fortitude, Greater Spell Penetration, Improved Counterspelling, Improved Initiative, Improved Unarmed Strike, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Martial Weapon Proficiency, Mobility, Mounted Combat, ?Natural Spell?, Negotiator, Quick Draw, Run, Self-Sufficient, Skill
Focus, Spell Focus, Spring Attack, Stealthy, Stunning Fist, Toughness, Weapon Finesse.
Environment
As base creature.
Organization Solitary plus Spouse
Challenge Rating +2
Treasure Standard
Alignment Always Good, otherwise as Base Individual
Advancement Unlimited by HD, never by class, size increases only if base race has size increase for gaining HD.
Level Adjustment +X
Bolting Candle Lizard: The first thing a casual observer might note about these 2 to 3 inch long creatures is their extreme speed and bravery. Not that they are particularly prone to attack, but rather that they will not hesitate to run around an aggressor to get to food and/or escape with it, then A particularly observant commoner who manages to kill one and picks up the body might note that they are actually warm (thus the "candle" part of the name).
One who hunts them frequently and with tenacity may note them occasionally dropping dead in mid-sprint.
When hiding places are rigorously searched for, a far greater number of them are found than a rat-hunter on another plane might expect based on the number of them glimpsed raiding stores.
Given these unusual traits and their pest status, research was undertaken long ago ((I am leaving Lanthsor wiggle room on the time frame in case he wants it, anywhere from 2 to 200 years works for me.)).
The first and most obvious discovery was made by a lowly functionary who reported that he worried that the samples the vermin-catcher had provided may have been drugged and that it "wasn't his fault!". It would turn out that Bolting Candle Lizards simply sleep an average of 22 hours out of every 24.
Like cats with their similar (but less extreme) sleep patterns, and rabbits with their duel-pass digestive systems, they make up for this limited time of activity with their extremely efficient usage of their food-gathering hours.
In fact, they are not, strictly speaking, reptiles... or at least not all the time.
Their bodies contain transmutation magics that allow them to function as mammals while active, but slow their systems to the efficiency of a lizard in normal conditions, or to that of a python digesting a large meal if foraging is especially good.
They do not drop dead of hear failure, but rather acute starvation if a pursuer is dogged enough to keep after them for several tens of minutes while keeping them from both food and their safe haven.
Their havens are especially safe given that they are also capable of enhancing their claws and teeth to allow them to burrow though even granite, albeit at the rate of a mere 1/2 inch per average day (much of the waking hours will be consumed with foraging). Their bites are not especially injurious, but (as the chargrinned people who had to catch them after they gnawed their way out of iron cages discovered) are the equivalent of magical adamantine when so empowered.
The can also magically alter their excrement to emit a smell that only the individual and their close blood relatives can detect. They share the behavior of some species of rats of other planes in that they use their excrement to mark the locations of good feeding ground.
Their diet is usually herbivorous and scavenging, but if they can't find food within about 30 minutes they grow hungry enough to hunt creatures smaller than themselves, and there are poorly documented reports of a potential sub-species that will group up to form a swarm to attack larger creatures when similarly hungry. Most scholars accept that the incidents in question actually happen, but suggest the confounding variable that someone may have created a spell to mind-control them for such a purpose. Certainly such a swarm would be a potent weapon, being composed of too many creatures to strike at with physical weapons, and capable of taking down many varieties mighty magical beasts and most golems.
Naturally such a prospect is worrisome to some, but perhaps an even more valid concern is the fact that several alterationists are attempting to magically enhance their intelligence in hopes of rendering them able to be directed as a precise and powerful tool/workforce to carve stone and metal. More cautious researchers seek to achieve the same ends by devising a breed that can be trained to simply chew at whatever lies beneath lines of some material that could be painted onto the surface to be worked. This second project would use this substance (whatever it might turn out to be) in the opposite way from which wax is used when using acid to etch a pattern into a material.
@Lanthsor I assume that will do for "fiendish mouse eyeball source replacement".
To use an anachronistic term they burn calories like crazy when awake to power a wide variety of magical powers. So having both Low-Light and 60' Darkvision fits with that.
Mardun lay awake in his tent
"I can lead an army of ten thousand against the forces of Vecna, but I can't lead a woman to
the altar. What kind of sense does that make?"
"What is the weirdest thing I have encountered in my travels? Well... that is a hard one... I
have seen some things that near drove me out of my mind... but for just plain WEIRD I think not
much beats the feeling of hearing a blink dog and a winter wolf are making sweat, slow, romantic
love in a tent not 20 feet away."
Heaven's Match is a heritage template that can be added to any intelligent creature of good
alignment. Note that in may regards this template is applied to the specific creature the
Heaven's Match is intended for(know here-after as the base individual), while in others it is applied to that creatures default creature type (IE how it appears in the monster manual type entry or "X as player characters").
Size
As base creature.
Type
Changes to outsider. Subtypes retained. Gains Native Subtype. HD change to d8. All saves are good. BAB poor.
HD
Change to d8. Equal to specific base creature and increases and decreases with that creatures (to a minimum of 1) as time goes on. Recalculate BAB and Saves as indicated here.
Speed
As base creature.
AC
Add deflection bonus of +4 or increase existing deflection bonus by +4.
Attacks
As per bases creature but with Poor BAB.
Armor and Weapon Proficiency
As base race plus proficiency with simple weapons, and all armor and sheilds (including Tower Shields).
Space and Reach
As base creature.
Special Attacks
As base creature.
Special Qualities
As base creature plus spellcasting.
Share Fate, Share Spells, Empathic Link, Know Mate, Lay on Hands (self and mate only), Favored
Enemy (Succubi, Incubi, and Erinyes(plus similar at GM's discression))
1 HD or less Extended Disguise Self 1/day
2HD Extended Disguise Self 2/day
3HD Extended Disguise Self and Alter Self 1/day
4HD Extended Disguise Self and Extended Alter Self 1/day
5HD Extended Alter Self 2/day
6HD Extended Alter Self 2/day and one of the following each day: Bear's Endurance, Bull's Strength, Cat's Grace, Eagle's Splendor, Owl's Wisdom.
Saves
All Good.
Abilities Str (Racial+2) , Dex (Individual+0, or Racial+4 whichever is higher), Con (Individual+0, or Racial+4 whichever is higher), Int (Individual+0 or Racial+0 whichever is
higher), Wis (individual+0 or Racial+8 whichever is higher), Cha (individual+0 or Racial+8
whichever is higher)
Skills Class skills are: Craft(Any that the base Individual has Ranks in), Concentration, Diplomacy, Escape Artist, Knowledge(Any that the base Individual has ranks in), Profession (Any that the base Individual has ranks in), Sense Motive, Survival, Swim, Tumble, Use Rope
Feats 1 Plus 1 per 3HD, all of which must be from the following list: Acrobatic, Agile, Alertness, Athletic, Blind-Fight, Combat Casting, Combat Reflexes, Deflect Arrows, Diehard, Dodge, Exotic Weapon Proficiency, Great Fortitude, Greater Spell Penetration, Improved Counterspelling, Improved Initiative, Improved Unarmed Strike, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Martial Weapon Proficiency, Mobility, Mounted Combat, ?Natural Spell?, Negotiator, Quick Draw, Run, Self-Sufficient, Skill
Focus, Spell Focus, Spring Attack, Stealthy, Stunning Fist, Toughness, Weapon Finesse.
Environment
As base creature.
Organization Solitary plus Spouse
Challenge Rating +2
Treasure Standard
Alignment Always Good, otherwise as Base Individual
Advancement Unlimited by HD, never by class, size increases only if base race has size increase for gaining HD.
Level Adjustment +X
Bolting Candle Lizard: The first thing a casual observer might note about these 2 to 3 inch long creatures is their extreme speed and bravery. Not that they are particularly prone to attack, but rather that they will not hesitate to run around an aggressor to get to food and/or escape with it, then A particularly observant commoner who manages to kill one and picks up the body might note that they are actually warm (thus the "candle" part of the name).
One who hunts them frequently and with tenacity may note them occasionally dropping dead in mid-sprint.
When hiding places are rigorously searched for, a far greater number of them are found than a rat-hunter on another plane might expect based on the number of them glimpsed raiding stores.
Given these unusual traits and their pest status, research was undertaken long ago ((I am leaving Lanthsor wiggle room on the time frame in case he wants it, anywhere from 2 to 200 years works for me.)).
The first and most obvious discovery was made by a lowly functionary who reported that he worried that the samples the vermin-catcher had provided may have been drugged and that it "wasn't his fault!". It would turn out that Bolting Candle Lizards simply sleep an average of 22 hours out of every 24.
Like cats with their similar (but less extreme) sleep patterns, and rabbits with their duel-pass digestive systems, they make up for this limited time of activity with their extremely efficient usage of their food-gathering hours.
In fact, they are not, strictly speaking, reptiles... or at least not all the time.
Their bodies contain transmutation magics that allow them to function as mammals while active, but slow their systems to the efficiency of a lizard in normal conditions, or to that of a python digesting a large meal if foraging is especially good.
They do not drop dead of hear failure, but rather acute starvation if a pursuer is dogged enough to keep after them for several tens of minutes while keeping them from both food and their safe haven.
Their havens are especially safe given that they are also capable of enhancing their claws and teeth to allow them to burrow though even granite, albeit at the rate of a mere 1/2 inch per average day (much of the waking hours will be consumed with foraging). Their bites are not especially injurious, but (as the chargrinned people who had to catch them after they gnawed their way out of iron cages discovered) are the equivalent of magical adamantine when so empowered.
The can also magically alter their excrement to emit a smell that only the individual and their close blood relatives can detect. They share the behavior of some species of rats of other planes in that they use their excrement to mark the locations of good feeding ground.
Their diet is usually herbivorous and scavenging, but if they can't find food within about 30 minutes they grow hungry enough to hunt creatures smaller than themselves, and there are poorly documented reports of a potential sub-species that will group up to form a swarm to attack larger creatures when similarly hungry. Most scholars accept that the incidents in question actually happen, but suggest the confounding variable that someone may have created a spell to mind-control them for such a purpose. Certainly such a swarm would be a potent weapon, being composed of too many creatures to strike at with physical weapons, and capable of taking down many varieties mighty magical beasts and most golems.
Naturally such a prospect is worrisome to some, but perhaps an even more valid concern is the fact that several alterationists are attempting to magically enhance their intelligence in hopes of rendering them able to be directed as a precise and powerful tool/workforce to carve stone and metal. More cautious researchers seek to achieve the same ends by devising a breed that can be trained to simply chew at whatever lies beneath lines of some material that could be painted onto the surface to be worked. This second project would use this substance (whatever it might turn out to be) in the opposite way from which wax is used when using acid to etch a pattern into a material.
@Lanthsor I assume that will do for "fiendish mouse eyeball source replacement".
To use an anachronistic term they burn calories like crazy when awake to power a wide variety of magical powers. So having both Low-Light and 60' Darkvision fits with that.