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View Full Version : [Update #2!]Hunger Given Form- Now with less upkeep! 3.5e/PF Base Class[PEACH]



LordotheMorning
2013-11-27, 12:16 PM
PREFACE: First off I want to say that this concept was not my idea. It came from a player in my current campaign. I wasn't so enthusiastic about allowing a totally homebrewed base class into my campaign, but the idea was an interesting one and it had a truly unique mechanic. I helped him polish it up as well as balance it, and now we've got something that I think we can be proud of. I'm hoping for the class to land comfortably somewhere in tier 3 or 4.



The Maw of Famine: Hunger Given Form
(still searching for a suitable picture...)


"Hunger can force a man to do extreme things. My hunger simply allows me to."

Description: “Maw of Famine” is a title reserved only for cursed individuals. It began as a powerful magical disease engineered by a vengeful Changeling prince, designed to take all the racial boons of the Changeling race and turn them against the body of the host. However, like the Changelings themselves, the disease proved ultimately too versatile, and it wasn’t long before a strain developed that could affect other humanoid races. After the initial outbreak, the disease mostly died out from civilized areas due to the fact that it quickly destroys its victims and that it is transmitted only by blood and only a small portion of non-Changelings are susceptible to it. This baneful affliction, known as the Mark of Famine, accelerates a creature’s natural processes to such an extent that their body must use a tremendous amount of energy just to sustain itself. Most victims of the Mark of Famine die of starvation shortly after they contract it, as they simply cannot keep up with their own metabolism. Most surviving Maws of Famine are outcast from society because they are known to become violent when the hunger becomes too great for them to bear. Some rare few manage to keep themselves alive by hunting in areas of dense wildlife. Some will even resort to cannibalism in an effort to feed themselves, which accounts for much of the sinister reputation of the Maws. Despite its dire effects, there are a rare few that purposefully seek to catch this disease, for doing so is a fast road to power, providing that one survives. Those that do survive find that their bodies take on seemingly impossible adaptations. They evolve. They regenerate. They grow into perfect predators. For that is the only purpose of a Maw of Famine: To consume.

A Maw of Famine is not necessarily easy to recognize. They look more or less like regular people, with two important exceptions: First, the Maw of Famine's teeth have extended into fine, razor-sharp points, and second, the Maw of Famine's body is riddled with strange and subtle mutations. It has muscles that connect joints that a normal person shouldn't have. It's skin is thick, and will sometimes twitch or move independently when it makes contact with foreign objects. These differences are subtler, and will go unnoticed unless a person makes close contact with them. In some cases, a curse mark will manifest on the abdomen of the victim. Why it appears in some cases but not all remains a mystery.

Role: The Maw of Famine excels at both taking damage and dealing damage. They have a lot of versatility in combat due to abilities like Reactive Stimulants and Purity of Form. They can adjust easily to suit the needs of the battle before them. They are excellent survivalists, but only so long as they can get enough food! The Maw of Famine thrives in scenarios where combat is frequent, and against enemies that the rest of the party don't mind if he eats. He is weak against enemies that are capable of adapting to the Maw's style of combat, and against enemies that are difficult to hit. Constitution is the most important ability for a Maw of Famine, because it affects the rate at which they recover Satiety, which is crucial for both survival and combat effectiveness. Strength and Dexterity are also important. The Maw of Famine must rely on both to make full use of his abilities.


Maw of Famine
{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special |
Bite Damage|
Reactive Stimulants|
Primal Instinct|
Bone Spear Damage

1st|+0|+0|+0|+0|Primal Instinct, Reactive Stimulants, Ravenous Bite, Satiety Dependence, Hunger|
1d4|
+2|
+1|
-

2nd|+1|+0|+0|+0|Bone Spears|
1d4|
+2|
+1|
1d4

3rd|+2|+1|+1|+1|Hunger Strike, Poison Resistance +4|
1d4|
+2|
+1|
1d4

4th|+3|+1|+1|+1||
1d6|
+2|
+1|
1d4

5th|+3|+1|+1|+1|Adrenaline's Fury 1/Day|
1d6|
+3|
+2|
2d4

6th|+4|+2|+2|+2|Gore Plate|
1d6|
+3|
+2|
2d4

7th|+5|+2|+2|+2||
1d6|
+3|
+2|
2d4

8th|+6/+1|+2|+2|+2|Gluttony's Fervor|
1d8|
+3|
+2|
3d4

9th|+6/+1|+3|+3|+3||
1d8|
+4|
+3|
3d4

10th|+7/+2|+3|+3|+3|Metabolic Maneuvers|
1d8|
+4|
+3|
3d4

11th|+8/+3|+3|+3|+3|Predator's Grasp|
1d8|
+4|
+3|
4d4

12th|+9/+4|+4|+4|+4|Adrenaline's Fury 2/Day|
1d10|
+4|
+3|
4d4

13th|+9/+4|+4|+4|+4|Acclimation|
1d10|
+5|
+4|
4d4

14th|+10/+5|+4|+4|+4|Purity of Form|
1d10|
+5|
+4|
5d4

15th|+11/+6/+1|+5|+5|+5|Poison Resistance +8|
1d10|
+5|
+4|
5d4

16th|+12/+7/+2|+5|+5|+5||
1d12|
+5|
+4|
5d4

17th|+12/+7/+2|+5|+5|+5|Feast or Famine|
1d12|
+6|
+5|
6d4

18th|+13/+8/+3|+6|+6|+6||
1d12|
+6|
+5|
6d4

19th|+14/+9/+4|+6|+6|+6|Adrenaline's Fury 3/Day|
1d12|
+6|
+5|
6d4

20th|+15/+10/+5|+6|+6|+6|Resilience of the Beast|
2d6|
+6|
+5|
7d4

[/table]
Alignment: Any
Hit Die: 1d8
Class Skills: Balance, Climb, Concentration, Disguise, Escape Artist, Heal, Hide, Intimidate, Spot, Listen, Move Silently, Survival, Swim, Sense Motive, Tumble, Jump, Knowledge (Arcana), Knowledge (Nature), Search
Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Int modifier) × 4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier

Special: When an individual takes a level in this class, he is infected by the Mark of Famine, a curse which permanently alters his destiny. The whereabouts and accessibility of the disease is up to DM discretion.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Maw of Famine is proficient with simple and martial weapons, as well as light armor. He is not proficient with shields.

Satiety Dependence (Ex): The Maw's available actions in combat are determined by the level of its Satiety. A Maw of Famine can have up to 10 points of Satiety. Every round the Maw acts in combat, his Satiety degenerates at a rate of 1 per round at the end of the Maw's turn. If his Satiety drops to 0, the Maw begins to starve and its body starts to metabolize itself. It enters a a starvation frenzy, desperately doing anything it can to find sustenance. While in this frenzy, the Maw gains a +4 Morale bonus to attack rolls, but may only use it's Ravenous Bite attack. The Maw may not use any attacks other than his Ravenous Bite, nor can he use abilities that would cost Satiety while in this state. The Maw's Satiety degeneration stops, but his Adrenaline's Fury ability immediately ends if it was active. Each round, the Maw takes damage equal to one half it's total character level (rounded down). This damage cannot be healed until the Maw once ends the starvation frenzy. Once the Maw has restored his Satiety to 10 by way of his Ravenous Bite, the Maw's frenzy ends and he stops taking damage, but he suffers 1d6 Strength and Dexterity Damage, as the episode has left a serious toll on its body. He may once against act normally, but this return to normalcy requires 5 Satiety, meaning he is left with five remaining after the starvation frenzy ends.

The Maw of Famine relies on his Ravenous Bite ability to recover Satiety. If his Satiety falls to zero and the Maw is unable to use Ravenous Bite in order to increase its Satiety, the Maw may make a Constitution check DC 17. If he succeeds, he may choose to enter a vegetative state in order to recover Satiety. This check may be made each round the Maw takes Constitution damage from starvation and is unable to use Ravenous Bite, and the DC decreases by 1 each time. While unconscious, the Maw regains a number of Satiety equal to its Constitution modifier every hour. Once the Maw has reached 10 Satiety, it regains consciousness. In this state, the Maw is considered helpless, but will reawaken if it takes damage, even if it has not reached 10 Satiety. If awoken before it reaches 10 Satiety, the Maw reenters the frenzied starvation state and does not stop until gaining 10 Satiety or falling unconscious again. This ability does not trigger if the Maw simply misses its Ravenous Bite, but only when circumstances render it unable to use Ravenous Bite or without a target for its Ravenous Bite.

Ravenous Bite (Su):A Maw of Famine may make a bite attack once each round. This bite attack is made as a part of the Maw's iterative attacks as opposed to being distinct from them. Generally, the first attack the Maw of Famine makes in a round, either as a standard action or as part of his full attack, the Maw uses its Ravenous Bite. For example, a Maw of Famine with 6 BAB would make two attacks as part of his full attack, the first of which would be his Ravenous Bite. His Ravenous Bite does not grant him an extra attack; it simply replaces one of his attacks. Whenever the Maw of Famine deals damage to a target with Ravenous Bite, the Maw gains Satiety equal to its Constitution modifier. This attack is considered an unarmed strike made with the Improved Unarmed Strike feat, although it deals piercing damage instead of bludgeoning, and he may never deal nonlethal damage with it. The Maw is considered to have the Improved Unarmed Strike feat for the purposes of meeting prerequisites. When the Maw is under the influence of Adrenaline's Fury, Ravenous Bite is usable as a swift action, though the Maw may still only make one Ravenous Bite attack per round. The Maw does not gain Satiety from biting inorganic foes. The Maw can consume flesh, plant, bone, and even the undead, but not dead wood, metal, stone, or glass. The Maw does not gain any benefit by dealing damage to constructs made of such material though he still does damage as normal. If the Maw elects to feed on creatures that are poisonous or toxic, he may do so, but he must make any relevant saves that must be made on exposure with that creature's ability or suffer their effects. For example, if the Maw chooses to use Ravenous Bite on a poisonous reptile, he must make a save against its poison or suffer the effects of the poison.

At level 7, the Maw’s Ravenous Bite is considered magical for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction and gains a +1 enhancement bonus to attack rolls, as though it were a masterwork weapon.

Hunger (Ex):The Maw of Famine requires much more sustenance than the average member of his species. He must eat roughly 7 times the amount of food than a normal character of his race. This means that for any item that provides a day's worth of food for a normal character, the Maw of Famine must consume 7 in order to be fed for the day. A Maw of Famine who eats less than this amount begins to starve. Every time the Maw would normally be forced to make a Constitution check against starvation, he instead loses three points of Satiety. In essence, he loses three Satiety per day of not eating his required amount. If the Maw of Famine consumes twice the amount of food he is required to eat in a day (for example, 14 trail rations), he recovers one point of Satiety in addition to feeding himself for the day. He may similarly recover two points of Satiety by consuming triple the amount, and so on.

Though a Maw of Famine is much easier sated when feeding upon live prey, he may also recover Satiety by consuming flesh that is already dead. The Maw of Famine may eat the corpse of any medium-size, once-living creature (this includes Undead creatures). Doing so provides him with enough food to sustain for one day. The Maw of Famine must spend one hour to consume a corpse and must do nothing else in that time. This time is considered restful for the purposes of recovering hit points or regaining spells. Creatures of a size other than medium provide twice the amount of sustenance and take twice as long to eat per size category larger than Medium, and 1/2 the amount per size category smaller.

A Maw may also scrounge enough food for the day to sustain itself with a survival check DC 22. This check functions as the "get along in the wilderness" use of survival mentioned in the Player's Handbook.


Primal Instinct (Ex):
Bonus: Lvl 1-4: +1, Lvl 5-8: +2, Lvl 9-12: +3, Lvl 13-16: +4, Lvl 17-20: +5
The need to feed drives the Maw to push its body to its limits. Whenever the Maw's Satiety drops to 4 or below, the Maw receives a Perfection bonus to attack and damage according to its class level. While under the influence of Adrenaline's Fury, Primal Instinct is considered always active. When the Maw's Satiety drops to 4 or below when Adrenaline's Fury is active, the bonus granted from Primal Instinct is doubled. At level 5, when Primal Instinct is active, the Maw of Famine gains the Scent (Ex) ability.

Reactive Stimulants (Ex):
Bonus: Level 1-4: +2, Level 5-8: +3, Level 9-12: +4, Level 13-16: +5, Level 17-20: +6
The Maw of Famine focuses his body on a single defensive aspect of his choosing at the cost of Satiety. As an Immediate action, the Maw can choose to spend 1 Satiety counter to improve his Fortitude, Reflex, or Will save by a bonus +2. This bonus lasts until the Maw chooses to change his bonus to affect a different save. This bonus improves by 1 every four class levels, to a maximum of +6 at level 17. When this ability is used more than once within the same minute, the satiety cost increases to 2.

Bone Spears (Su):
Damage: Lvl 2-3:1D6+Str Lvl 4-6: 2D6+Str Lvl 7-9: 3D6+Str Lvl 10-12: 4D6+Str Lvl 13-15: 5D6+Str Lvl 16-18: 6D6+Str Lvl 19-20: 7D6+Str
One of the most unnerving mutations of the Maw of Famine is the ability to rapidly generate bone material within its body for the purposes of protection, regeneration. This ability ironically finds its best use as a weapon. As a standard action, the Maw spews sharp bone that travels in a straight line and impales creatures in its path, dealing piercing damage to units in each square. This attack is resolved as a ranged attack made against every target within a 10 ft. line. If the attacks hit, the targets take damage according to the level of the Maw of Famine (see above chart). This ability costs 1 point of Satiety to use, and the cost increases by 1 for every round in which it is used consecutively. The Maw can reset the cost by not using Bone Spear for a round. The Maw can spend Satiety to increase the range of this ability at a rate of 10 ft. per Satiety spent. The Maw may also choose to double the damage dice of effect by paying one additional Satiety per square affected (starting at 2 for 10 feet). Although this ability is a ranged attack, it does not provoke attacks of opportunity.

While under the influence of Adrenaline's Fury, this ability no longer travels in a line. The Maw instead launches a hail of bone shards that hit all targets within a 5 foot radius of a targeted square. The Maw may target any square within 15 feet of it. This range can be increased by 15 ft. per 1 Satiety spent. Doubling the damage dice of while in Adrenaline's Fury has a cost of 3 Satiety that does not increase with range. The Maw of Famine makes a ranged attack roll against every creature within the area of the bone hail's effect, dealing bone spear damage to each one that is hit. Unlike the previous form of attack, this ability does provoke attacks of opportunity. If a Maw critically hits after spending satiety to double the dice of either Bone Spears or Bone Hail, the critical hit only modifies the base damage dice of the attack. For example, a Maw of Famine with Bone Spears that deal 4d4+Strength in damage opts to spend satiety to double the dice rolled for 8d4+Str in damage. If the attack critically hits, he doubles the base 4d4 plus strength, resulting in a total of 12d4+Strength x 2.

The Maw can also shape bone for use in melee combat. As a Standard Action, the Maw may create any simple piercing weapon that appears in the Player's Handbook out of bone (he may also create a club). Light and One-handed weapons costs 1 Satiety to create, and two-handed weapons costs 2. These weapons last for 24 hours, after which they become too brittle for practical use in combat. A DC 15 appraise check reveals to the person inspecting such a weapon their short lifespan, as well as the fact that they are made from bone of the Maw of Famine's creature race. At level 7, the Maw of Famine's bones are considered magical for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction and gain a +1 to attack rolls as though they were masterwork weapons.

Poison Resistance (Ex): The Maw of Famine develops a defense against poisons which would otherwise cause him great harm due to his ultra-high metabolism. He gains a +4 Perfection bonus on saves against poison. This bonus increases to +8 at level 15.

Hunger Strike (Su): As a standard action, the Maw expends 3 Satiety and makes a Ravenous Bite attack. If the attack is successful, he heals for an amount of damage equal to the damage dealt by the Ravenous Bite. While under the influence of Adrenaline's Fury, the Maw may use Hunger Strike as a swift action. This attack counts as the Maw of Famine's Ravenous Bite attack for that round. A Maw of Famine may recover Satiety as normal when using Ravenous bite in conjunction with this attack.

Adrenaline's Fury (Ex): Once per day the Maw can choose to enter a state of extreme energy and strength at the beginning of its turn as a free action. Abilities gain additional components, the Satiety costs for all abilities are divided by four (rounded up) unless otherwise noted, and the Maw's Ravenous Bite is usable as a swift action. For each round spent in this state, the Maw loses three Satiety at the end of its turn. Adrenaline's Fury can be deactivated at any time on the Maw's turn as a free action. After a number of rounds equal to 1 + half the Maw's class level, it becomes increasingly difficult to stay in this state. The Satiety degeneration of Adrenaline's Fury increases by 1 per round each round. For example, A level 6 Maw of Famine would suffer Satiety degeneration of 3 for 4 rounds. On the fifth round, the degeneration would increase to 4, then 5 and the sixth round, and so on. This ability can be used twice per day at 12th Level and three times at 18th. When halving Satiety costs, do not divide costs as they are added, but rather add up the total Satiety to be spent for the round before dividing. If the Maw makes use of abilities whose costs are not reduced by Adrenaline's Fury, such as Predator's Grasp or Metabolic Maneuvers, add their costs separately.

Gore Plating (Ex): A Maw of Famine's blood clots extremely quickly when mortally wounded, and the clotting is so thick that it works as protective armor. The Maw of Famine is immune to bleeding effects. Additionally, when the Maw of Famine falls below one half of its total hit points, he gains DR/- and a Natural armor bonus equal to the value of the bonus he gets from Primal Instinct for a number of rounds equal to its Constitution Modifier (Minimum 1). These bonuses are not doubled by Adrenaline's Fury. Gore Plate only functions once per round. If the Maw of Famine begins an encounter with already less than half of his total hitpoints remaining, the ability activates the next time he receives any amount of hit point damage.

Metabolic Maneuvers (Ex): As a swift action, the Maw of Famine may spend any number of Satiety and add 10 ft. movespeed bonus to its speed per Satiety spent up to a maximum of 30 ft. This ability's cost is not affected by Adrenaline's Fury, however while under the effects of Adrenaline's fury, there is no maximum limit to the movespeed bonus granted by this ability.

Gluttony's Fervor (Ex): You must declare that you are using this ability before you make an attack. Activating Gluttony's Fervor is a standard action allows the Maw of Famine to initiate a full-attack, spending 1 point of Satiety for each attack he makes. Should any of the attacks miss, the cost of any consequent attacks increases by 1 (this penalty stacks). A Maw of Famine may use his Ravenous Bite as part of this attack, so long as he does not Ravenous Bite more than once per round. A Maw of Famine may opt to end this attack if the Satiety cost becomes too great. While under the effects of Adrenaline's Fury, the Maw may choose to forsake the reduced Satiety cost he would normally benefit from to instead gain a +2 bonus to his attack roll. A Maw of Famine may use this ability as part of a charge attack, however the +2 bonus from charging counts only on the first attack.

Regeneration (Ex): Similar to its ability to rapidly grow bone, a Maw of Famine of sufficient experience and strength can replace lost limbs. By spending 5 Satiety, the Maw may replace any missing or damaged body parts as per the Regenerate spell. This process requires 2d10 rounds of concentration in which the Maw does nothing else, and does not confer any healing (unlike the spell). While under the influence of Adrenaline's Fury, the Maw of Famine may use this ability as a full round action. Adrenaline's Fury reduces the cost of this ability by 2 instead of halving it like normal.

Predator's Grasp (Ex): The Maw of Famine augments its own anatomy mid-combat, developing longer limbs with which to catch his prey. As a swift action, he may spend 1 Satiety point and increase his natural reach by 5 ft. This increased reach lasts until the beginning of his next turn. Increasing his reach in this way does not increase the range of the Maw's Ravenous Bite attack. He must still be in his normal melee range in order to use Ravenous Bite. The Satiety cost of this ability is not reduced by Adrenaline's Fury; however, under the influence of Adrenaline's Fury, the Maw of Famine may spend up to 3 satiety points and gain an increase on its natural reach equal to five ft. per Satiety spent.

Acclimation (Su): Whenever the Maw takes Fire, Acid, Electricity, Cold, or Sonic damage equal to or more than 1/10th its total hit points, its body quickly acclimates to the energy type, granting it Resistance equal to half the damage taken for the rest of the encounter. Multiple of instances of this ability for the same energy type do not stack, although if the Maw takes a greater amount of energy damage (before applying energy resistance), the amount of energy resist improves to half of the incoming damage. For example, if a Maw of famine with 100 hit points takes 10 fire damage, it develops energy resist 5. If it later takes 20 points of fire damage (before applying energy resistance), it would gain fire resist 10 instead. If the Maw takes enough damage from another energy type to activate this ability, its resistance changes to that energy type and it loses its previous resistance. This ability functions automatically regardless of the Maw’s will.

Purity of Form (Ex): The Maw of Famine's Body gains the ability to reshape its body to suit its needs. At the start of each day, the Maw may reallocate his physical ability scores. He may subtract points from any physical stat and add them to another. This process requires eight hours of rest, and the reallocation occurs once the time is finished. A Maw may not lower his ability scores below 10 with this ability. Any feats that require a certain ability score stop working if the Maw lowers itself below that number until the Maw once again regains the requisite ability score.

Feast or Famine (Su): The Maw of Famine learns to unleash the raw power of its eternal hunger and completely consume a creature in one fell swoop. In order to use this ability, a Maw of Famine targets a creature of its size or smaller within range of its Ravenous Bite attack. The target must have only a quarter or less of its maximum health remaining or else this ability does not work and the Maw wastes his action. As a full round action, the Maw forces the target to make a fortitude save with a DC of 10 + 1/2 The Maw of Famine's Level + The Maw of Famine's Strength modifier. If the target fails its save, its body is completely destroyed (but not any equipment it was wearing), and the Maw of Famine's Satiety is restored to 10. He also gains special bonus Satiety, which may increase his Satiety beyond its usual maximum of 10, equal to one half of the target's hit dice. If the target of this ability succeeds on his fort save, he is unharmed and the Maw instead loses 2 Satiety. While the Maw of Famine is under the influence of Adrenaline's Fury, the target makes this save at a -4 penalty.

Resilience of the Beast (Su): The Maw of Famine becomes immune to Ability Damage and Ability Drain from sources other than his own class abilities. In addition, whenever the Maw spends a point of Satiety, he heals for an amount of damage equal to his Constitution Modifier. Satiety points lost to degeneration are not considered "spent" for the purposes of this effect.

Changes:
12/1/13
-Added Evolution Feats
-Shifted the scaling on Bone Spears to make it more consistent
-Changed the damage dice on Bone Spears to d4's
-Modified Bone Spear interaction with critical hits
-Finally got a respectable class table.

12/10/13
-Drastically slowed the rate of Satiety Degeneration out of combat, made it work more clearly with pre-established eating rules, and also nerfed out-of-combat Satiety recovery mechanisms to compensate. Hunger (Ex) adds some clarification on out of combat Satiety mechanics.
-Removed Multiclass restriction.
-Feast or Famine is now usable at will, with a few other improvements as well.
-Adrenaline's Fury now reduces the satiety cost to 1/4th instead of 1/2. Still playing with math on this one.
-Hunger Strike text clarified in how it interacts with Ravenous Bite. Can recover Satiety while using Hunger Strike.
-Gore Plating activates at half total hp instead of one fourth.
-Removed hourly Satiety degeneration with the exception of bonus Satiety earned from Feast or Famine.
-Ravenous Bite can't deal nonlethal damage.
-A Maw of Famine can distinguish friend from foe even in a starvation frenzy.

LordotheMorning
2013-11-27, 04:47 PM
Feats/Equipment


Moon Marrow [Evolution]

Prerequisite: Bone Spear 1d6

Benefit: The Maw of Famine's bones and teeth count as silver weapons for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction. His Bone Spear, Bone Hail, Ravenous Bite, and weapons made from his bones all recieve this benefit.

Chill in the Bone [Evolution]

Prerequisite: Bone Spear 1d6

Benefit: The Maw of Famine's bones and teeth count as Cold Iron weapons for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction. His Bone Spear, Bone Hail, Ravenous Bite, and weapons made from his bones all receive this benefit.

Skeletal Consecration [Evolution]

Prerequisite: 2 Evolution Feats, Maw of Famine level 5

Benefit: A Maw of Famine can adapt to hunting extraplanar quarry. The Maw of Famine may choose one alignment property: good, evil, chaotic, or lawful, and his bones and teeth count as weapons of that alignment for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction. His Bone Spear, Bone Hail, Ravenous Bite all receive this benefit. Weapons made from the Maw of Famine's bones retain this alignment property for a number of minutes equal the Maw of Famine's level before fading. A Maw must be of a corresponding alignment to the alignment chosen for this feat. For example, a Neutral Good Maw of Famine may not take this feat and have Chaotically aligned bones. If the Maw's alignment changes such that the chosen alignment for this feat no longer matches his own alignment, he must spend a week meditating at least 8 hours each day, and he may change the alignment of his bones after this period.

Vacuum Stomach [Evolution]

Prerequisite: Maw of Famine 4

Benefit: It's no secret that the Maw of Famine consumes an inordinate amount of material on a daily basis, which makes it easy to conclude that their stomachs are bigger on the inside. With the proper training, a Maw of Famine may utilize the strange extradimensional properties of his stomach for purposes other than eating. A Maw of Famine who has taken this feat may treat his stomach as though it were a special bag of holding that weighs nothing, can hold up to 200 pounds and up to 30 cubic feet of material. Storing something in this space is a full-round action. Withdrawing requires a standard action, but the Maw may disgorge any number of objects as part of this standard action.

Consume Essence [Evolution]

Prerequisite: 3 Evolution Feats

Benefit: Even incorporeal creatures have of some sort of energy about them, meaning that a Maw of Famine who has adapted to do so may consume them for sustenance. A Maw of Famine with this feat may treat Bone Spear, Bone Hail, Ravenous Bite, and weapons crafted out of his bones as though they were Ghost Touch weapons. He may regain Satiety by using Ravenous Bite against an incorporeal creature.

Bone Sculpting [Evolution]

Prerequisite: Bone Spear 1d6

Benefit: A Maw of Famine who takes this feat has learned to produce more complicated tools and weapons out of his bone. He may produce any weapon with which he is proficient, so long as it does not have moving parts. Furthermore, a Maw of Famine may also produce these weapons and have them ready for combat as a move action instead of a standard action. A Maw of Famine with the Two Weapon Fighting Feat may produce two weapons with a single move action.

Acidic Saliva [Evolution]

Prerequisite: 2 Evolution Feats, Maw of Famine level 5

Benefit: The Maw of Famine's saliva becomes caustic, and can leave burns on those who come in contact with it. The Maw's Ravenous Bite deals an extra 1d6 points of acid damage as though it had the Corrosive property, as do Bone Spear and Bone Hail. Weapons that the Maw creates out of bone gain the Corrosive property for 2d6 rounds before they dry. As a free action, the Maw may spend 1 point of Satiety to give the Acidic Burst property to Ravenous Bite, Bone Spears, Bone Hail, and any weapons he makes out of bone for a number of rounds equal to his Constitution modifier. If the Acidic Burst property given to a bone weapon, it lasts for the normal duration of 2d6 rounds. In both cases, the Acidic Burst property overwrites and does not stack with the Corrosive Property. A Maw of Famine is immune to its own acid, but if another creature wields weapons made from his bone, he takes 1 point of acid damage each round as long as the corrosive property is on the weapon.

Poison Glands [Evolution]

Prerequisite: 3 Evolution Feats, Maw of Famine level 7

Benefit: The Maw of Famine's Ravenous Bite ability carries with it a deadly poison. A Maw of Famine who has taken this feat may, as a free action, spend 1 Satiety to secrete poison and the next creature damaged by Ravenous Bite within the next minute must roll a Fortitude Save DC 10 + 1/2 Character level + Constitution Modifier. If the target fails this save, he takes 1d4 points of ability damage to the physical stat of the Maw of Famine's choice. This poison may be milked from a willing Maw of Famine, and stays virulent for 24 hours afterward. A Maw may spend an additional point of Satiety when creating a melee weapon to apply the affects of its poison to the first creature struck by it in the next 24 hours. A Maw may furthermore spend an additional point of a Satiety when using it's Bone Spears (Ex) ability to apply the effects of its poison to the first creature hit by the attack. The type of ability damage dealt by the poison must be decided at the time of it's creation. A Maw of Famine is immune to it's own poison.

GlorinSteampike
2013-11-30, 02:30 AM
Would this qualify for Master of Many Forms or Warshaper with its Predator's grasp and stuff? since it shifts anatomy around? Or not because it never changes types?

LordotheMorning
2013-12-01, 01:49 PM
Would this qualify for Master of Many Forms or Warshaper with its Predator's grasp and stuff? since it shifts anatomy around? Or not because it never changes types?

Though the two classes are thematically similar, RAW the answer would be no. The Maw of Famine doesn't have the Shapechanger subtype, nor does it meet any of the other requirements. Though, come to think of it, the shapechanger subtype might be warranted due to it's Purity of Form ability at level 14. Though it doesn't take on anyone or anything else's form, it certainly does change its own.

As it stands currently, however, this class isn't something you can use to qualify for other classes. It follows a pattern similar to the Sacred Martyr class, where you cannot class out of it once you take your first level.

*Also, on an unrelated note I have added in some feats for the class which I'd like some feedback on. Mainly Acidic Saliva and Poison Glands. I'm worried they might be a tad on the powerful side. Keep in mind the class is designed to stay below tier 2.

ThirdEmperor
2013-12-01, 09:37 PM
I think you might want to seriously consider a total overhaul of the Satiety mechanic. Put simply, it's no fun. Any ticking timer on your ability to control your own character should at the very least be measured in days, not something you have to stop and attend to every few hours.

LordotheMorning
2013-12-01, 11:08 PM
I think you might want to seriously consider a total overhaul of the Satiety mechanic. Put simply, it's no fun. Any ticking timer on your ability to control your own character should at the very least be measured in days, not something you have to stop and attend to every few hours.

Originally, Satiety would only degenerate in combat, and the Satiety counter would simply reset at 5 at the beginning of each encounter. I personally enjoy resource management challenges, which is why I changed it to allow for both degeneration and replenishing out of combat. It may also be relevant to note that this class is designed for high-combat campaigns. You raise a valid concern, but it would be far too easy to keep Satiety maxed out at all times if degeneration occurred on a daily basis instead of hourly. The class is about hunger, and I'd rather not compromise the theme because it's not everyone's cup of tea.

I think what I may simply do is provide an alternate rule that reverts back to the 5-at-the-start-of-each-encounter idea for players in campaigns with less combat and players who do not want to keep track of out of combat Satiety. Alternatively, I can lower the amount of time it takes for a Maw of Famine to eat a creature out of combat so that he doesn't hold up the party and he can keep his satiety in check as long as encounters are semi-frequent.

Amechra
2013-12-02, 10:29 AM
I take it you've never been hungry.

I say this because consuming a pound of food a minute is reasonable if you aren't starving.

I've seen people eat a pound of food in half a minute.

Also, I would not play this class, for the same reason that classes that use your HP (i.e. your not dying pool) as fuel for class features (i.e. the cool stuff you can do.)

Also, you've left out a couple of vital details:

1. What happens if you do not have to eat? I.e., something changes your type to Outsider, or you grab a Ring of Sustenance?

2. What happens if you have some effect that modifies how much you need to eat? In other words, what if you have another class feature or special ability that says you need to eat twice as much?

Additionally, a few comments:

3. Put all the information on Satiety Dependence in one ability. Don't have information on the coma you go into if you can't feed under a different ability. It is really confusing.

4. An ability that you can use once a week? Really? That is just awful on so many levels.
a. If they succeed on the save, I wasted my once-a-week "cool thing."
b. The ability is actually really weak. You could hand that out at-will, and it would still be balanced.
c. The cost is highly variable. If I'm at 2 Satiety, I lose 1. If I'm at 10 Satiety, I lose 5.
d. The one cool part about the ability is the cap-breaking Satiety. Which, to be honest, you could hand out a lot sooner and nothing would break.

5. The ratio of "these points keep me from going CRAZY" to "these points let me do cool things" is skewed way towards the first. Especially since going crazy means you pull out the friendly fire.
a. Do you know how many groups say no to people wanting to play Frenzied Berserkers or other "Potentially attack other members of the party" characters? Most of them. And this class is much harder to calm down.
b. Actually, strike that. By the RAW, if no one is within 30' of them when they enter a frenzy, they drop into a coma.

6. Why oh WHY do you have a multiclassing restriction. There is no mechanical reason; I can kinda see a thematic reason, but that thematic reason is kinda vague; leaving the class represents you not capitalizing on your enforced hunger, but instead only grabbing just enough power to cope.
a. Multiclass restrictions are also a really lazy way to get people to play your class 1-20, because it means you don't actually have to come up with cool class features to keep them in, and you can toss dead levels around with abandon! Woo! Seriously awful idea.

To be perfectly honest, Satiety would fit in better with the rest of the system if instead it was a modification on how much you need to eat before you start taking Nonlethal damage for starving.

You could make it be a meal every hour, with the capacity to store up to 10 meals at a time, and have abilities spend meals. To keep consistency, just throw the following ability on them:

Eternal Hunger (Ex): You are so very, very hungry. All the time.

Whenever a Maw of Famine kills a creature in combat, they must make a DC 15 Will save or stop fighting to eat. They are flat-footed while eating, and may take no actions other than feasting on the newly-made corpse. <Insert boilerplate based on how many rounds this takes, and how many meals they recover by giving in.>

Even if you aren't going to go that route, I hope you keep in mind that the way you are swinging it would be actively disruptive to the rest of the party at best.

LordotheMorning
2013-12-02, 06:17 PM
I take it you've never been hungry.

I say this because consuming a pound of food a minute is reasonable if you aren't starving.

I've seen people eat a pound of food in half a minute.

The current rate that I have is 1 pound per minute. If you're trying to say that it should be faster than that, I understand and I already considered doing so in the post above. The main resource is food, not time, and as such it is feasible to go as far as to double the rate.


Also, I would not play this class, for the same reason that classes that use your HP (i.e. your not dying pool) as fuel for class features (i.e. the cool stuff you can do.)


That sounds like an opinion to me. I don't mean to offend your sensibilities with this class, but surely you don't mean to suggest that every mechanic that involves using one's own HP to do extraordinary things is objectively flawed?


Also, you've left out a couple of vital details:

1. What happens if you do not have to eat? I.e., something changes your type to Outsider, or you grab a Ring of Sustenance?

2. What happens if you have some effect that modifies how much you need to eat? In other words, what if you have another class feature or special ability that says you need to eat twice as much?

Good catch. Effects that enable to you to go without food would necessarily be ineffectual. As an outsider he would still have to eat, although the Ring of Sustenance could simply interact with the class in a unique way. I might say that if a Maw of Famine were to put on a Ring of Sustenance, his Satiety would be locked at 5 when not in combat, which would offer better long-term survival options (as ThirdEmperor raised a concern about) without undermining the point of the class.

An ability like the Shadowcaster's Sustaining Shadow is another beast altogether. I'll have to think on that and take another look at Tome of Magic.



3. Put all the information on Satiety Dependence in one ability. Don't have information on the coma you go into if you can't feed under a different ability. It is really confusing.

It was hard to make reference to Satiety without making reference to Ravenous Bite, but I'll go back and try to de-mistify it a bit.


4. An ability that you can use once a week? Really? That is just awful on so many levels.
a. If they succeed on the save, I wasted my once-a-week "cool thing."
b. The ability is actually really weak. You could hand that out at-will, and it would still be balanced.
c. The cost is highly variable. If I'm at 2 Satiety, I lose 1. If I'm at 10 Satiety, I lose 5.
d. The one cool part about the ability is the cap-breaking Satiety. Which, to be honest, you could hand out a lot sooner and nothing would break.

I have to admit I don't much of a defense for this criticism. Feast or Famine's once per week allowance is an artifact of the original draft that didn't really get examined. There are number of ways I can fix it, and I invite you to give your input on them:
a. Keep the once per week restriction, make it a no-save ability, and instead of 25% hp, change it to a static "below 101 hp" a la Power Word Kill.
b. Make it an at will ability and set the cost of failure at a static 2 Satiety.
c. Make it a once per day ability, increase the penalty to the target's fortitude save, and remove Satiety loss for failure.


5. The ratio of "these points keep me from going CRAZY" to "these points let me do cool things" is skewed way towards the first. Especially since going crazy means you pull out the friendly fire.
a. Do you know how many groups say no to people wanting to play Frenzied Berserkers or other "Potentially attack other members of the party" characters? Most of them. And this class is much harder to calm down.
b. Actually, strike that. By the RAW, if no one is within 30' of them when they enter a frenzy, they drop into a coma.

5. I think you're underestimating the ability of the Maw of Famine to recover Satiety. Assuming you could reach a minimum of 16 Con by level 5, when things really start to get rolling, you could maintain a steady gain of 2 Satiety per round out of Adrenaline's Fury. As a matter of fact, you can miss 2 out of 3 times and still maintain your Satiety, and anything more gives you surplus points to spend on abilities. This ratio rapidly increases with high Constitution scores. At 20 Constitution, you could fully replenish your Satiety from 0 in two rounds. Also keep in mind that because Adrenaline's Fury doesn't bring Satiety below 3 on the first round, it is extremely useful in a bad situation. If the Maw has low Satiety and is worried about reaching 0, he can activate Adrenaline's Fury, spend up to 3 Satiety on abilities, which is halved and rounded down to 1, and then make a swift action Ravenous Bite with a doubled bonus from Primal Instinct, meaning it is unlikely to miss. He can then end Adrenaline's Fury before having to pay the increased Degeneration cost on his next turn. Overall, I see a smart player being able to effectively avoid hitting 0 Satiety in combat, barring extremely bad luck.
a. A Frenzied Berserker can make full attacks against his allies, and his allies also have to make sure that he doesn't die when he comes out of his frenzy. A Frenzied Berserker also relies on the ability that makes him attack his allies to be effective. A Maw of Famine does none of these things. While starving, it makes no attacks other than it's Ravenous Bite, which means it's only making a single attack. A Maw of Famine wants to avoid starvation in the first place, and as I have reasoned above, he should be fairly effective in that endeavor. Furthermore, because the Maw of Famine relies on biting it's enemies to maintain combat effectiveness, it will be more likely to place itself adjacent to an enemy rather than to an ally, meaning it will probably end up attacking its enemies even while in this state.
b. The coma is voluntary. The text says "may". That clause is designed to help Maws of Famine that end up getting stuck with nothing to Bite, not to force further penalties on them.


6. Why oh WHY do you have a multiclassing restriction. There is no mechanical reason; I can kinda see a thematic reason, but that thematic reason is kinda vague; leaving the class represents you not capitalizing on your enforced hunger, but instead only grabbing just enough power to cope.
a. Multiclass restrictions are also a really lazy way to get people to play your class 1-20, because it means you don't actually have to come up with cool class features to keep them in, and you can toss dead levels around with abandon! Woo! Seriously awful idea.

Can you please refrain from such heavy use of sarcasm? I appreciate your feedback, but you sound kind of hostile here. Tone aside, I cannot argue. My original justification for the multiclass restriction was because I thought that the class was too niche and too specific to be a standard base class. I see now that that is completely arbitrary. Satiety Dependence alone will ensure that anyone wanting to multiclass with Maw of Famine will have to make heavy considerations for it. I will remove the restriction.


To be perfectly honest, Satiety would fit in better with the rest of the system if instead it was a modification on how much you need to eat before you start taking Nonlethal damage for starving.

I will reread the rules on starvation, but I don't think I'm likely to make this change. Especially because this:


Eternal Hunger (Ex): You are so very, very hungry. All the time.

Whenever a Maw of Famine kills a creature in combat, they must make a DC 15 Will save or stop fighting to eat. They are flat-footed while eating, and may take no actions other than feasting on the newly-made corpse. <Insert boilerplate based on how many rounds this takes, and how many meals they recover by giving in.>

is a terrible idea. You're proposing I turn a penalty that should almost never come into play into a penalty that has at least a 5% (natural 1) chance of essentially stunning the Maw of Famine every time he downs something! And to be realistic, the odds are much higher than that. At low levels, the class would be altogether unplayable, and at higher levels the Maw still isn't likely to have a high enough will save modifier to ensure a reasonable rate of success without being forced to constantly relegate his Reactive Stimulants to his Will save.


Even if you aren't going to go that route, I hope you keep in mind that the way you are swinging it would be actively disruptive to the rest of the party at best.


I disagree on the level of disruption, as I said earlier, but I think that ultimately play-testing is going to be the only true way to measure just how hard it is to avoid bottoming out on Satiety. I have one such a play-tester in my current game, and I rest assured I will watch carefully.

Thank you very much for your input, by the way!

Amechra
2013-12-03, 12:59 AM
Alright, something I noticed looking back over the class:

Ravenous Bite makes all other methods of regaining Satiety utterly pointless.

Why? Because you can deal nonlethal damage with it without a penalty (part of the basic rules for Improved Unarmed Strike), and you recover Con Mod Satiety with each successful bite.

So you buy a cow. Let's call her Bessie. You keep her tied up in the back of a wagon.

You are feeling peckish; you are at 5 Satiety, let's say.

Now, you could spend X amount of time eating 100 pounds of meat to recover that Satiety... or, if you have Con 20 (which, to be fair, you can start off with), you can just go back to Bessie, bite her for nonlethal, and be at full.

As you reach higher levels, just replace Bessie with a tougher animal (or, heck, one of your party mates) - voila, out of combat Satiety needs are taken care of.

The other issue I have, reviewing your actual class features, is that this class is really boring for the amount of effort you need to take not to go into a hunger frenzy. I'm going to ignore the class features that don't cost Satiety for this, because this is specifically about the utility of things that have a Satiety cost.

Reactive Stimulants: Alright, at 1st level, I can give myself a bonus to saves. That is the limit on the fun things I have been given at 1st level.

Primal Instinct: I can only trigger this by dropping below 4 Satiety... which when I get it means a +1 to attack and damage.

Bone Spears: Cool, I get to attack people at a range. Or I can give myself another way to attack people close up.

Hunger Strike: I can take a -3 to the amount of Satiety I regain to heal a small amount. This is the first class feature that seems to work in any sort of tactical consideration.

Adrenaline's Fury: 1/day, I can lose 2 extra Satiety a round to:
a. Halve all Satiety costs except two. No real comment here.
b. Most abilities get a boost (so far, we get a doubling of Primal Instinct, or a fan of bone spears.)
c. Ravenous Bite can be used as a swift action.

Metabolic Maneuvers: 1 Satiety for +10' move speed, maximum +30', Adrenaline's Fury removes the cap.

Gluttony's Fervor: An upgraded Pounce; appropriate for the level you get it at, at least.

Regeneration: An ability that is pretty darn useless if you aren't in Adrenaline's Fury; if you are at 10 Satiety, you have 5 rounds before you immediately stop regrowing your limbs to go off and eat something, which, given the current duration, gives you a 10% chance of using it successfully outside of Adrenaline's Fury.

You might as well have this be an ability that they can only use in Adrenaline's Fury.

Predator's Grasp: Gives you +5' reach for 1 Satiety; Adrenaline's Fury ups the cap from 1 point spent to 3.

Feast or Famine: A death effect without that descriptor. If you implement one of the fixes your thinking of (I am partial to B, in which case you should restrict the -4 to the save to when you are in Adrenaline's Fury.)

In all, your class features either give you bigger numbers, give you a slightly different way to attack, or make it easier for you to get to people to attack them.

I really feel like that is selling the concept short; at this point, you might as well make the class a Prestige Class. In all honesty, there are a ton of class features you could go with that would be cool and fitting.


You could give them Swallow Whole; let them count as having eaten any creature that dies in their stomach.
You could hand them free evolution feats; it would be minor, but it would be a step up.
Give them class features that expand what they can eat; I'd love to see an evolution or something that would let them eat metal or stone.
Give them bonuses based off of what they ate; Kellus' excellent Connosieur (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=232699) has the Favored Feast ability, which might make a nice supplement for Predatory Instincts.

Ethereal Gears
2013-12-03, 05:22 PM
First off, I do like the flavor of this class, to fall immediately into an inescapable pun. It's a very niche theme, of course, but in the right sort of horror-y campaign I can definitely see it working. In fact, I might use this as a racial class for an evil ghoul culture in a campaign I might be running down the road. I am not great when it comes to pure mathematical crunch balancing, but here's two things:

* Would it be completely off to rename Predator's Grasp, like, Predator's Lunge or something and have it apply to Ravenous Bite as well? I just think the imagery of the Maw leaping maniacally after potential snacks to bite into fits the theme very much. Merely an opinion, of course.

* Secondly, I must say I somewhat agree with one of Amechra's comments. In a lot of ways, although it has a fair share of class features, the general narrowness of theme of this seems like it'd lend itself better to being a prestige class? I don't mean to be too presumptuous, as clearly you've imagined it as a full-fledged base class. But it does strike me that with some slight tweaking to a few mechanics this could work as a PrC without too much overhaul. I mean, even the gaining of the mark in the beginning sort of sounds exactly like a PrC prereq. I could definitely see an antipaladin or barbarian or, hell, even a ranger or druid go into a prestige class gaining some of these abilities without it being unbalanced or anything. I'm not sure how open you are to considering such a radical change; I just think it's more appropriate for the class' abilities and theme, or at least would be in most campaign settings.

LordotheMorning
2013-12-04, 05:56 PM
Managed to do a bit of play-testing yesterday. So far I think I'm definitely going to further reduce Satiety degeneration while the Maw is sleeping. My campaign tends to to things per hour, and the party spends a lot of time traveling overland, but for campaigns that aren't formatted in that way, I can see how the hourly degeneration could quickly become a hassle. I will likely also be lowering the amount a Maw of Famine needs to eat to recover Satiety from 20 pounds to 10 or 5, and also potentially allowing for a standard meal as listed in the PHB to recover one point of Satiety. The rule of thumb I think I'll be going for is that a Maw of Famine eats roughly 8x the amount of a normal human, and more if they have to perform extreme physical exertion like combat. Other things I noticed:

-Adrenaline's Fury and Primal Instincts were a very effective combination.
-The class is weak to crowd control effects. Our Maw of Famine was actually dazed with 1 Satiety left, and ended up hitting 0. The biggest penalty to this ended up not being able to use his other attacks (this Maw went for the TWFing option).
-Acidic Saliva might be such a good option that it ends up being mandatory.
-The Maw is in trouble when it misses its bite too many times, which was obvious, but I saw it happen yesterday.
-I need to clarify what happens when the Bite attack is used for an attack of opportunity.

I have another session tomorrow, after which I will likely be updating the class in some pretty significant ways. I've been thinking about adding in a hibernation mechanic of some sort for when food is really hard to come by.

LordotheMorning
2013-12-11, 01:46 AM
Alright gents! I've updated with a fix that I think should make the class much more manageable.

I've caved. I agree that yes, dealing with hourly Satiety degeneration is too hardcore to deal with when the party has other things they want to be doing other than feeding their pet Maw. I've come up with a solution that I think will still put the fear of Starvation into the Maw without letting it completely disrupt the game. Check Hunger (Ex) for details.

After examining some of the math of Adrenaline's fury, I discovered that it was mostly useless in terms of actually lower satiety costs, because the increased satiety degeneration was rendering it moot. I've fixed that and a number of other things, as you'll see in my change log.

I'm still looking for a fix that would prevent the Maw of Famine from biting willing allies, who would then simply receive healing from their cleric. It kind of undermines the point of EATING A LOT. Thus far, I've been thinking that maybe Ravenous Bite's wounds could require some sort of save or caster check to heal, similar to Mummy Rot's healing effect, but that has a lot of potentially nasty implications, so I won't be incorporating that until I've had time to think about it a little more, and there are probably other methods I can use. Input very welcome on this subject.

Keep the peaches coming!