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View Full Version : [3.5]Racial transition class- half-orc to half-giant to half-ogre, and more



Mayhem
2011-03-22, 01:01 PM
... Okay, so I lied. But for the most part it's true.

This is a race for a scandinavian-themed setting. I'm open to suggestions on the name, and I'm also looking for another name to separate the lesser "half-orc" guys from the "half-ogre" guys. I'd be nice to replace all three races in one fell swoop.

Jotunkin
"Jotunkin are those thought to be descended from giants. They have the potential to become great heroes and wicked villains."
Physical description: Young Jotunkin or those of a lesser bloodline can pass for tall, burly half-orcs with long arms and legs, though their skin tends more towards dull yellow and dull brown. Hair colour typically range from dark brown to black, though blonds and reds aren't unheard of especially during their youth. Older Jotunkin of a greater bloodline start to tower above humans, generally up to 8 feet tall.
Personality: Varies widely, some are good natured but crude, others are ignorant and obnoxious. They typically love simple pleasures, such as feasting, drinking, boasting, wresting, drumming and wild dancing. Many of them possess a wild wanderlust that drives them to exploring and adventure which finds many of them an ill-repute.
Relations: Because of their obviously beastial heritage, Jotunkin get a rough time and are poorly greeted by most folk. Jotunkin have an especially tough time getting along with dwarves and gnomes who view them as little better than giants. Each Jotunkin finds a way to gain acceptance from those who hate or fear them, most simply be so tough that tohers have no choice but accept them.
Alignment: Like their monstrous kin, they favour chaotic alignments but they favour neither good nor evil. Raised among monstrous humanoids and giants however turn most towards evil.
Names: Like the halforc, if choosing a name to be intimidating they pick a harsh gutteral name often of orc or giant origin. While fitting in to human lands they typically adopt a name suited to the area, often derived from a previous name modified to fit local colour.

Jotunkin racial traits:
+2str, -2 int, -2 cha
Size: medium
Darkvision: 60 feet
Intimidating stature: +4 bonus to intimidate
Vigor: +2 bonus to fortitude saves against cold weather, poison, and disease. Jotunkin are very tough.
Wyrd: +1 bonus on all saving throws.
Orc blood: For all effects related to race a Jotunkin is treated as humanoid(orc).
Automatic languages: Common. Bonus languages: orc, gnoll, giant, goblin, dwarf, elf, dragonic, abyssal.
Favoured class: Barbarian.

Transitional class:
All class levels are completely voluntary, and may be taken at any time. There is no XP penalty for multiclassing into this monster class.
{table="head;width=800"]Level | CR | Special
1st |
+1 | Str +2, Dex -2, Powerful build
2nd |
+1 | Str +2, Con +2, natural armour +2, Large size, Giant Blood, Speed +10ft
[/table]

Powerful Build: The physical stature of jotunkin lets them function in many ways as if they were one size category larger. Whenever a jotunkin is subject to a size modifier or special size modifier for an opposed check (such as during grapple checks, bull rush attempts, and trip attempts), the jotunkin is treated as one size larger if doing so is advantageous to him.
A Jotunkin is also considered to be one size larger when determining whether a creature’s special attacks based on size (such as improved grab or swallow whole) can affect him. A jotunkin can use weapons designed for a creature one size larger without penalty. However, his space and reach remain those of a creature of his actual size. The benefits of this racial trait stack with the effects of powers, abilities, and spells that change the subject’s size category.
Large size: Size becomes large(tall), reach increases to 10 feet. This ability replaces powerful build.
Giant blood: Jotunkin are not subject to spells or effects that affect humanoids only, such as charm person or dominate person.
Speed: Base land speed increases by 10ft.

-------------------------------------
Notes: Optionally, I could make a heritage feat that lets other races multiclass into them.

Edit: I realised giants are not affected by the enlarge person spell, so I made them orc and added the gaint blood after they reached large size.

Veklim
2011-03-25, 04:30 PM
If nothing else, I like the idea of this transitional class. The only trouble I have is that in many ways powerful build surpasses an actual change in size, so losing the powerful build for the sake of large size is almost a let down, I reckon I'd personally be tempted to only ever take the first level, avoiding the hassle of finding new armour, equipment, clothing, mounts, etc to fit my new size and having to keep a constant eye on whether I can fit in a place comfortably or effectively, not to mention all the penalties you take at large size which are negated if you have powerful build.
Others may disagree, but I'd say give the size increase in addition to powerful build, and give a minimum HD requirement for both levels.
Other than that one trouble, sweet as. Considering doing any others like this? Perhaps making more than one direction for a race to go in..? Sorry, just having ideas of my own now :smallamused:

Mayhem
2011-03-25, 05:19 PM
Thanks for the comments :smallsmile:.

Giving them both powerful build and large size would make them larger than ogres which wasn't what I intended. But you do have a point in the first level being better than the second, although the size increase wasn't supposed to actually change their battlegrid space. Not changing their battlegrid space might be a bit silly though, and taking powerful build off them would prevent a caster buddy simply casting reduce(well, a variant on that) on them so they could continue. And powerful build+mountain rage gives a more berserker feel to it than large size I suppose.
But personally large size with powerful build doesn't quite fit the concept I'm going for and doesn't really work with the way they're intended to work in my setting, so I might just sweeten the large pot and cut out the natural armour on the powerful build level. Might change my mind later though as I think on it.


Go ahead and share your ideas, might as well make this a racial transition class thread :smallwink:. More than one direction for a race would be interesting.

Veklim
2011-03-27, 07:43 AM
That looks much better to me now, it's actually worth taking the 2nd level!
Still think you should have a HD minimum for each level, maybe 2 for 1st and 4 for 2nd, to represent the time it takes to grow and change that much?

I'm currently working on small quadrupeds based on Gnolls and figured they may well work for a multiple direction transition, trouble is I've no idea how to make a table thus far, same reason I haven't posted a few other things!
They start out like this though:

Gnolling.
+2 Dex, Con
-2 Int, Cha
Small size
Speed 30ft (reduced to 20 if they wish to use weapons or stand upright)
LLV
1 racial HD
Natural bite attack
Favoured class: Scout

Got an idea on making one transition for faster and sneakier and another for upright and more like a super-Gnoll.

Mayhem
2011-03-27, 11:09 PM
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{table] something | arghh
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[/table]


Races of wild has a gnoll progression, their racial traits are:
• +2 Strength, –2 Intelligence, –2 Charisma
• Medium size.
• A gnoll’s base land speed is 30 feet.
• Darkvision out to 60 feet.
• Automatic Language: Gnoll. Bonus Languages: Common, Draconic, Elven, Goblin, Orc.
• Favored Class: Ranger.

But yeah, progressions for a new gnoll race would be good. Here's how I think your one works so far.
Racial traits
• +2 Dex, –2 Int, –2 Cha
• Small size.
• A gnoll’s base land speed is 20 feet, or 30 feet while on all fours.
• Darkvision out to 60 feet.
• Automatic Language: Gnoll. Bonus Languages: Common, Draconic, Elven, Goblin, Orc.
• Favored Class: Scout.

{table="head;width=600"]
Level |
Hit Die |
Base Attack[br]Bonus |
Fort |
Ref |
Will |
Skills |
Special

1 |
1d8 |
+0 | +0 | +2 | +0 |
(2+int)x4 | feat, bite 1d4|
2 |
2d8 |
+1 | +0 | +3 | +0 |
2+int | +2 con|[/table]

Veklim
2011-03-28, 02:02 AM
Aye, that's about it. I'll do the divergent progression when I get back at lunch then! Had a chat with my co-DM and he's made a couple of suggestions.
I gave them LLV instead of Darkvision to make them more like hyenas, hunting in the twilight hours.

Mayhem
2011-03-28, 05:34 AM
Goblin to Hobgoblin to Bugbear

Goblin racial traits
-2 Strength, +2 Dexterity, -2 Charisma.
•Small size: +1 bonus to Armor Class, +1 bonus on attack rolls, +4 bonus on Hide checks, -4 penalty on grapple checks, lifting and carrying limits ¾ those of Medium characters.
•A goblin’s base land speed is 30 feet.
•Darkvision out to 60 feet.
•+4 racial bonus on Move Silently and Ride checks.
•Automatic Languages: Common, Goblin. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Elven, Giant, Gnoll, Orc.
•Favored Class: Rogue.

Bugbear transition class
{table="head;width=600"]
Level |
Hit Die |
Base Attack[br]Bonus |
Fort |
Ref |
Will |
Skills |
Special

1 |
1d8 |
+0 | +0 | +2 | +0 |
(2+int)x4 | Feat, +2 str |
2 |
2d8 |
+1 | +0 | +3 | +0 |
2+int | +2 str, +2 con, +1 natural armour, medium size |
2 |
2d8 |
+1 | +0 | +3 | +0 | - | +2 str, scent, +3 natural armour |
[/table]
Proficiencies: Light armour, shields, and simple weapons.
Class skills: Climb, Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Search, and Spot.
Feat: A bonus feat.
Natural armour: Natural armour bonuses provided from this class do not stack, the new value over rides the old.
Medium size: Size changes to medium.
Scent: Gains the scent feat from the monster manual.

Kobold to lizardfolk

Foreword- I'm going to work on this one some more, and incorporate the web enhancement kobold. But, all in good time.

Kobold racial traits
•-4 Strength, +2 Dexterity, -2 Constitution.
•Small size: +1 bonus to Armor Class, +1 bonus on attack rolls, +4 bonus on Hide checks, -4 penalty on grapple checks, lifting and carrying limits ¾ those of Medium characters.
•A kobold’s base land speed is 30 feet.
•Darkvision out to 60 feet.
•Racial Skills: A kobold character has a +2 racial bonus on Craft (trapmaking), Profession (miner), and Search checks.
•Racial Feats: A kobold character gains feats according to its character class.
•+1 natural armor bonus.
•Special Qualities (see above): Light sensitivity.
•Automatic Languages: Draconic. Bonus Languages: Common, Undercommon.
•Favored Class: Sorcerer.
•Level adjustment +0.

{table="head;width=800"]
Level |
Hit Die |
Base Attack[br]Bonus |
Fort |
Ref |
Will |
Skills |
Special

1 |
1d8 |
+0 | +0 | +2 | +0 |
(2+int)x4 | Feat, claws 1d3, bite 1d3, str +2 |
2 |
2d8 |
+1 | +0 | +3 | +0 |
2+int | +2 str, -2 dex, +2 con, +3 natural armour, medium size, bite 1d4, claws 1d4 |
2 |
2d8|
+1 | +0 | +3 | +0 | - | +2 str, +2 con, hold breath, +5 natural armour |
[/table]
Racial Skills: A lizardfolk’s humanoid levels give it skill points equal to 5 × (2 + Int modifier, minimum 1). Its class skills are Balance, Jump, and Swim. Lizardfolk have a +4 racial bonus on Balance, Jump, and Swim checks.
Racial Feats: A lizardfolk’s humanoid levels give it one feat.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A lizardfolk is automatically proficient with simple weapons and shields.

Claws: Gains 2 claws as natural secondary attacks.
Bite: Gains bite as a natural primary attack.



Yeah LLV sounds cool, maybe one path gets darkvision.

Veklim
2011-03-28, 05:41 AM
Nice, I like the Kobold-Lizardfolk idea especially. Was looking at Goblin to Bugbear myself but was thinking of getting Hobgoblin in on the act too, being the 3rd of the 3 goblinoids.
Gonna try a table this afternoon, wish me luck! Using your table for the Gnollings as a base, one goes into Gnoll(ish) like normal and the other stays quadruped and gets a bigger bite. It'll make more sense once it's down on screen methinks!

Veklim
2011-03-28, 12:33 PM
Here we go...

Gnolling
+2 Dex, -2 Int, -2 ChaSmall sizeBase land speed 20ft (30ft on all fours)Low Light VisionAutomatic language: Gnoll. Bonus languages: Common, Draconic, Elven, Goblin, OrcFavoured class: Scout

Note: Whilst on all fours a Gnolling may move faster, but he cannot weild any maufactured weapons, nor hold any sheild or equipment whilst doing so. Bucklers are the only exception to this rule as they leave the hand itself free. Switching between bipedal and quadrupedal movement is a swift action which does provoke attacks of opportunity.

{table] Level | HD | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Skills | Special
1 | 1D8 | +0 | +0 | +2 | +0 | 4x(2+Int) | Feat, Bite Attack 1D4
2 | 2D8 | +1 | +0 | +3 | +0 | 2+Int | Body Path I, +1 NA
3 | 2D8 | +1 | +0 | +3 | +0 | - | Body Path II, Speed +10ft
[/table]

Class Skills: Climb, Hide, Jump, Listen, Move Silently, Spot

Proficiencies: Simple weapons, Battleaxe, Shortbow. Light armour, shields (except tower shields)

Body Path: At 2nd level, the Gnolling must choose to either become stealth or combat specialised. Due to the extreme changes which take effect in the body, this decision once made may never be changed.
I:(Stealth) The Gnolling gains +2 Dex but loses the ability to stand upright effectively in combat. Henceforth he may not wield melee weapons in combat, he may still wield a ranged weapon but cannot move in a round whilst doing so (he may still use a move action to hide as part of a sniping attempt however).
(Combat) The Gnolling gains +2 Con but loses the ability to move effectively on all fours.
II:(Stealth) The Gnolling gains +2 Dex. His bite attack becomes 1D6 and may make multiple attacks in a round due to a high BAB (a Gnolling with BAB +7 and 14 Str would have 2 bite attacks in a round with the bonuses; +9/+4). The Gnolling also gains the scent ability.
(Combat) The Gnolling becomes a medium sized creature and gets +4 Str, -2 Dex. Additionally he loses forever the ability to make bite attacks (although a DM may rule that he can still chew through hemp ropes and the like, just not effectively enough to be used as a weapon). The Gnolling also gains Darkvision 60ft

Well, that ended up a little more complex than was my intention, but there you are. Probably needs simplifying, what you think?