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SmileyFaceOfRom
2012-02-29, 12:45 AM
This race was designed rather quickly for a game I played with some friends recently. It was based off of Solaris' Space Marine from Warhammer 40k.
That said, some of the bits and pieces were changed just to bring the LA down to +1. Please let me know what you think!

The Godsborn Racial Traits
Godsborn are typically 6' 9" tall, with the shortest among them being 6' 3". They weigh anywhere from 250 to 320 lbs.
- Ability Modifiers: +2 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +4 Constitution. Vat-grown by the Empire's finest sages, the Godsborn have had their biological scrolls meshed with that of their God-King.
- Medium-Sized: As Medium creatures, Godsborn have no special bonuses or penalties due to size.
- Speed: A Godsborn's base land speed is 30 feet.
- Type: Monstrous Humanoid. Unlike other monstrous humanoids, Godsborns do not gain any proficiencies or darkvision.
- Racial Hit Dice: 1 HD. A Godsborn's monstrous humanoid levels give him a BAB of +1, +1 Reflex and Will saves, +1 Fortitude save, one feat, and (1 + Int modifier) x 2 skill points. A Marine's class skills (and the key ability for each) are Climb (Str), Jump (Str), and Swim (Str).
- God Stone: In each Godsborn's chest is a mass of cartilage filled with tiny sacks and nodules. This God Stone is required to create another Godsborn.
- Hadriman's Redoubt (Ex): This peculiar organ is a choice conglomerate of troll and ogre scrollwork. Named for its creator, Hadriman's Redoubt steadily releases chemicals into the Godsborn's bloodstream that fool the body into thinking the additional organs are native. Losing the Redoubt will reduce the Godsborn's Strength and Constitution both by 2 points, and causes the Godsborn to become violently ill as his body rejects all other organs.

Implant Rejection
-DC22 Constitution check every 4 hours. (Con. mod + 1d20)
-5 successful Constitution checks in a row are necessary to 'cure' Implant Rejection.
-If more than 1 week passes without 5 successive made Con. checks, the Godsborn suffers 2 points of perm. Constitution damage and 1 random organ dies, with the Godsborn suffering all the negative effects associated with that.
- Heretical Heart (Ex): A blasphemy of hermetic manipulation, the Heretical Heart is the result of a demonic heart vat-grown in the biological slush of hundreds of worshippers of the God-King. The Godsborn gains a +5 increase to his massive damage threshold and, once per day, the Godsborn may postpone all damage for (Con. mod) rounds. Damage is still dealt to him, however his hitpoints do not actually suffer the damage until this effect is completed, at which point the Godsborn takes x1.5 the accumulated damage and is exhausted for 2 days.
- Lopaemen (Ex): Grafting of additional musular tissue along with regular injections of distilled musular fluids grants the Godsborn the Powerful Build trait.
- Krython's Chamber (Ex): This nodule near the Godsborn's heart releases microscopic symbiots into the bloodstream where they clot blood and repair damaged tissue. He regains 1 hitpoint every minute (10 rounds) and stops bleeding in half the normal time.
- Ethajak Node (Ex): These nodules are located in the head and show as a barely noticeable bumps above both eyes. They grant a +1 bonus on any vision-based check and grant low-light vision.
- Voliothan Gland (Ex): A strange organ in the stomach that exudes a coating similar to acid gives the Godsborn a +8 racial bonus on Fortitude saves against negative food effects (such as food that is rotten or otherwise inedible, NOT against any kinds of poison.)
- Trachiatic Filter (Ex): This enables the Godsborn to breathe toxic vapors with no ill effect, granting him a +4 bonus on Fortitude saves against inhaled poisons.
- Automatic Languages: Common. Bonus Languages: Any.
- Favored Class: Soldier.
Level Adjustment: +1. A Godsborn has an ECL of 2 before class levels.

Whenever a Godsborn suffers either a critical that knocks him unconcious or receives more than half his massive damage threshold AND is knocked unconcious due to the same effect, he must roll a d100 and check the following table.

{table=head]d100 | Organ
1-9 | Hadriman's Redoubt
10-35 | Heretical Heart
36-59 | Trachiatic Filter
60-79 | Krython's Chamber
80-90 | Ethajak Node
91-100 | Voliothan Gland
[/table]

The rolled organ is then considered destroyed: the Godsborn loses all effects described for that organ and loses 2 Constitution points.

Shadow Lord
2012-02-29, 10:55 AM
This is... extremely powerful for one level adjustment. Not to mention it's pretty much a SPESS MEHREN put into D&D.

It needs a bit of balance :/

SmileyFaceOfRom
2012-02-29, 02:03 PM
Level Adjustment: +1. A Godsborn has an ECL of 2 before class levels.

For an ECL of +2?
Ethajak Node: The elf has +2 to spot and low-light vision (Dwarves actually get darkvision 60ft.), so those shouldn't be considered as grounds for an LA.

The Voliothan Gland grants a +8 vs. negative food effects ONLY. Not poison, but the effects of eating rotten or otherwise inedible food. I'll clarify that in the original post.

Heretical Heart: While the 'postpone damage' ability IS powerful, it's offset by the fact that you probably will die from the use, as its meant to resist massive amounts of damage for that heroic "last stand". Then you die. I'd consider changing it to x2 damage though, but don't expect this to let you wipe out all your enemies...

Trachiatic Filter: While +4 vs. inhaled poisons sounds useful, consider the +2 vs. ALL poison the dwarf gets, and the +2 vs. all spells. Poisoned weapons are more common than gaseous poison, except from spells or special abilities.

Not to mention that other races cannot lose their special abilites: this one can, along with 2 Constitution.

Also, the racial HD kinda sucks.

Honestly, the level adjustment is really only to account for the +1 hitpoint per minute, the +4 Con, and the lack of a -2 stat.

Edge
2012-02-29, 06:30 PM
For an ECL of +2?

Problem is that they don't. Creatures with only 1 racial hit die swap it out for their first class level as soon as they pick up a class. Throw on an additional HD for ECL 3, and the race seems fairly balanced.

Worth noting that as far as I can tell, the Voliothan Gland does nothing, since I'm not aware of any rules for spoiled food. It'd probably be better as a +4 racial bonus on Fortitude saves made against diseases contracted through ingestion. If you have house rules for spoiled food, I'd still drop the bonus to +4. A +8 bonus, even on something so niche, on a low ECL race just strikes me as... iffy.

Ziegander
2012-02-29, 07:10 PM
This race is actually unplayably weak, because of the following:


Whenever a Godsborn suffers either a critical that knocks him unconcious or receives more than half his massive damage threshold AND is knocked unconcious due to the same effect, he must roll a d100 and check the following table.

{table=head]d100 | Organ
1-9 | Hadriman's Redoubt
10-35 | Heretical Heart
36-59 | Trachiatic Filter
60-79 | Krython's Chamber
80-90 | Ethajak Node
91-100 | Voliothan Gland
[/table]

The rolled organ is then considered destroyed: the Godsborn loses all effects described for that organ and loses 2 Constitution points.

The above will trigger often, and every time it does, not only do you permanently lose one of your racial abilities, you suffer permanent loss of 2 points of Constitution. That is an immense drawback. After occurring just three times you're roughly comparable to a human. If it triggers any more than three times, and it certainly will, then you're just too weak.