Beacon of Chaos
2015-07-24, 02:55 PM
http://pathtogolarion.wdfiles.com/local--files/part-5/Zern.jpg
The Zern are a monsterous race from the 3.5 edition Monster Manual 4. They are evil shapeshifters who see themselves as the only true sentient species, and all others as mere playthings to be experimented on. They use their mastery of transmutation magic to warp other creatures in an attempt to find the perfect form.
In other words, they are not very nice. :smalltongue:
I've always thought they were pretty cool though, so I cobbled together a quick 5th edition playable template for them. Took me about 15 minutes, so it's probably not balanced, but see what you think.
Zern Traits
Ability Score Increase: Your Consititution score increases by 2 and your Intelligence score increases by 1. Zern bodies are naturally tough and their minds are sharp from studying magic and biology.
Size: Zerns are tall, lanky humanoids, standing around 6 feet tall and weighing 170 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30ft.
Alignment: Zerns see themselves as the only true sentient creatures in the cosmos. They experiment on other beings in the same way that a child plays with toys. Supremely self-centered, zerns are usually neutral evil.
Darkvision: You have darkvision out to 60ft.
Adaptive Defenses: A zern’s ever-changing physiology allows it to shrug off effects that attack its endurance or disrupt its bodily functions. You have proficiency in Constitution saves, and advantage on all saves against transmutation spells and poison.
Enhanced Healing: With a little concentration, a Zern can will its own wounds to close and heal. When you spend one or more hit dice to regain HP, you may roll each hit die twice and take the better result. Additionally, you can regrow lost limbs over the course of a month.
Malleable Form: A zern can rapidly alter its metabolism, internal structures, organs, and other bodily systems to cope with a variety of environments and situations. As a bonus action, you gain one of the following benefits. Each benefit has an unlimited duration. When a zern uses a bonus action to gain one of these forms, it loses the benefits of the form it previously held. All changes are non-magical in nature and do not require concentration to maintain.
Adrenal Surge: The zern’s upper-body muscles bulge and grow with enhanced power. Add your proficiency bonus to damage rolls with melee and thrown weapons.
Boneless Form: The zern’s body seems to melt into a puddle of goo as its bones liquefy. You gain advantage on Dexterity checks to escape bonds or squeeze through small spaces.
Impervious Hide: The zern’s skin shifts into plates of armor. Damage you take from non-magical bludgeoning and slashing weapons is reduced by 3. This does not stack with similar abilities, such as the Heavy Armor Master feat.
Size Shift: As the spell, Enlarge/Reduce, except you can only target yourself and it does not affect your weapons or equipment.
Speed Burst: The zern’s legs lengthen and its lower body muscles bulge and grow. Its base speed increases by 10 feet and it can dash as a bonus action.
Shifting Guise: You shift your form to mimic the shape of any small or medium humanoid form you have seen, or a humanoid form of your own design. You gain no abilities, attacks, or movement modes of the assumed form.
Transmutation Affinity: When a zern is affected by a non-harmful transmutation spell that targets it, it gains HP equal to the level of the spell slot used.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Common and Zern.
Notes:
Enhanced Healing and Transmutation Affinity replace the zern's fast healing ability. I nerfed as many as the zern's other abilities as much as I could, to try and bring them down to player level. I wasn't sure about Warping Energy, the natural attack zerns have. It seemed like it just wasn't necessary, so I left it out.
I think this is fairly balanced, except maybe for Size Shift and Impervious Hide.
The Zern are a monsterous race from the 3.5 edition Monster Manual 4. They are evil shapeshifters who see themselves as the only true sentient species, and all others as mere playthings to be experimented on. They use their mastery of transmutation magic to warp other creatures in an attempt to find the perfect form.
In other words, they are not very nice. :smalltongue:
I've always thought they were pretty cool though, so I cobbled together a quick 5th edition playable template for them. Took me about 15 minutes, so it's probably not balanced, but see what you think.
Zern Traits
Ability Score Increase: Your Consititution score increases by 2 and your Intelligence score increases by 1. Zern bodies are naturally tough and their minds are sharp from studying magic and biology.
Size: Zerns are tall, lanky humanoids, standing around 6 feet tall and weighing 170 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30ft.
Alignment: Zerns see themselves as the only true sentient creatures in the cosmos. They experiment on other beings in the same way that a child plays with toys. Supremely self-centered, zerns are usually neutral evil.
Darkvision: You have darkvision out to 60ft.
Adaptive Defenses: A zern’s ever-changing physiology allows it to shrug off effects that attack its endurance or disrupt its bodily functions. You have proficiency in Constitution saves, and advantage on all saves against transmutation spells and poison.
Enhanced Healing: With a little concentration, a Zern can will its own wounds to close and heal. When you spend one or more hit dice to regain HP, you may roll each hit die twice and take the better result. Additionally, you can regrow lost limbs over the course of a month.
Malleable Form: A zern can rapidly alter its metabolism, internal structures, organs, and other bodily systems to cope with a variety of environments and situations. As a bonus action, you gain one of the following benefits. Each benefit has an unlimited duration. When a zern uses a bonus action to gain one of these forms, it loses the benefits of the form it previously held. All changes are non-magical in nature and do not require concentration to maintain.
Adrenal Surge: The zern’s upper-body muscles bulge and grow with enhanced power. Add your proficiency bonus to damage rolls with melee and thrown weapons.
Boneless Form: The zern’s body seems to melt into a puddle of goo as its bones liquefy. You gain advantage on Dexterity checks to escape bonds or squeeze through small spaces.
Impervious Hide: The zern’s skin shifts into plates of armor. Damage you take from non-magical bludgeoning and slashing weapons is reduced by 3. This does not stack with similar abilities, such as the Heavy Armor Master feat.
Size Shift: As the spell, Enlarge/Reduce, except you can only target yourself and it does not affect your weapons or equipment.
Speed Burst: The zern’s legs lengthen and its lower body muscles bulge and grow. Its base speed increases by 10 feet and it can dash as a bonus action.
Shifting Guise: You shift your form to mimic the shape of any small or medium humanoid form you have seen, or a humanoid form of your own design. You gain no abilities, attacks, or movement modes of the assumed form.
Transmutation Affinity: When a zern is affected by a non-harmful transmutation spell that targets it, it gains HP equal to the level of the spell slot used.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Common and Zern.
Notes:
Enhanced Healing and Transmutation Affinity replace the zern's fast healing ability. I nerfed as many as the zern's other abilities as much as I could, to try and bring them down to player level. I wasn't sure about Warping Energy, the natural attack zerns have. It seemed like it just wasn't necessary, so I left it out.
I think this is fairly balanced, except maybe for Size Shift and Impervious Hide.