[3.5 Templates]Bishonen, Twilight Vampires, And More

Background- Basically, over the course of events that take place in my group's gaming sessions, there have been a few semi-free-form sessions where certain types of creature were made. As such, I've decided to officialize them by posting them on here with a few other creature template I've had ideas for. Enjoy!

Awakened

When thinking of innately psionic individuals, many think of naturally psionic races(like Elans), creatures with the Wild Talent feat, or Phrenic creatures. However, there exists another type of psionic creature: Awakened creatures. These creature have awakened their innate psionic potential in a way that allows them to be more versatile than most other innately psionic individuals.

Creating an Awakened Creature
The Awakened template may be applied to any non-mindless creature without the psionic subtype.

Type: The creature’s type does not change, unless it is an animal (in which case it becomes a magical beast [augmented animal]). It gains the psionic subtype.

Special Qualities: An Awakened creature has all the special qualities of the base creature, plus the following special qualities:

Inherently Psionic: An Awakened creature has 1 bonus power point per 1 HD it has, and is eligible to receive bonus power points for having a high Intelligence score, although it only receives half of these bonus power points(rounded up).

Talented: An Awakened creature has access to a number of level 1 powers equal to 1 + twice its Intelligence modifier, selected from any list.

Talent Transfer: This ability acts as the Bestow Power power, except that for every two power points you bestow, you may transfer knowledge of 1 1st level power with it.

Abilities: An Awakened creature gains a +2 Int bonus.

CR:+1
LA:+1

Bishonen

Men who are appealing are usually seen as cool and rugged, never beautiful, although some are described as beautifully rugged. However, out there exist men who are not only pretty, but are prettier than the prettiest princess. These are Bishonen.

Creating a Bishonen Creature
The Bishonen template may be applied to any creature of the Humanoid or Monstrous Humanoid type.

Special Attacks: A Bishonen retains all of the base creature's special attacks, and gains the following special attack:

Too Sexy for My Shirt: By removing its shirt, a Bishonen may dazzle the world with its beauty. This attack can be performed as a swift action once per day per 2 HD the creature has(minimum 1/day), and automatically affects all creatures with line of sight to it. This attack deals 1 point of untyped damage per 2 HD of the creature, and affects all creatures as though hit by the spell Daze, although the Daze effect affects all female creatures within range for an additional number of rounds equal to 1 + 1 per 5 HD the Bishonen has. Bishonen creatures are immune to the Too Sexy for My Shirt attack of other Bishonen.

Special Qualities: A Bishonen retains all special qualities of the base creature, and gains the following special qualities:

Charming: A Bishonen gains a +5 bonus to Charisma-based checks, which doubles should the check pertain to a female individual.

Eye Candy: Should a Bishonen take no actions for an entire round, regardless of reason, all female individuals within line of sight are Fascinated by him, although they may make a Will save with a DC equal to 10 + Bishonen's HD + Bishonen's Cha modifier each round they are affected to be freed from this effect. Once freed, they are not affected by this for another 24 hours.

Love at First Sight: All female individuals within 30 ft of the Bishonen that view the Bishonen for the first time have a percent chance equal to 10 + HD of falling in love with the Bishonen, treating this as an extraordinary ability that is equivalent to a Charm Person effect, with the Bishonen's caster level being treated equal to its HD. This effect may be renewed upon affected individuals by putting them in line of sight to the Bishonen before the duration expires. This ability never works in a combat setting.

Abilities: A Bishonen creature gains a +4 bonus to Charisma.

CR: +1
LA: +2

Skin-Walker

Skin-Walkers are a sort of creature to be feared. Just how a skinwalker is created is something not known even to specialists studying this kind of creature, current knowledge suggesting it has to do with the use of animal pelts at birth and ley lines. Skin Walkers are creatures who, while appearing humanoid most of the time, can assume the form of any animal they choose, amongst other things they are well-known for. While some Skin-Walkers are known to be good, all are uncontrolled, doing as they please on impulse, making them creatures to fear even without their fear-inspiring abilities.

Creating a Skin-Walker
The Skin-Walker template may be applied to any creature of the Humanoid or Monstrous Humanoid type.

Type: The Skin-Walker's type changes to Outsider, with the Native and Chaotic subtypes.

Speed: A Skin-Walker's land and climb speed(if already possessed) increase by 5 ft.

Special Qualities: A Skin-Walker retains the base creature's special qualities, and gains the following special qualities:

Mind-Reader: Skin-Walkers know their victim's thoughts. This ability mimics Detect Thoughts, except that the first round ability is always active.

Skin Thief: So long as it has an animal's pelt, or feathers in the case of birds, a Skin-Walker may use an effect similar to Wildshape, except that it turns into the animal whose pelt it is wearing, and the effects last until the Skin-Walker wishes for it to wear off. This ability can be used at-will as a full-round action.

Remembered Form: If a Skin-Walker assumes a certain animal's form often enough, it may assume its form without an animal skin. A Skin Walker may have a number of remembered forms equal to 1 + 1 per 5 HD it has.

Frightening Presence: All creatures within 30 ft of the Skin-Walker when initially seeing the Skinwalker or when it attacks must make a Will Save(DC 10 + 1/2 Skinwalker's HD + Cha modifier), or become shaken if possessing the same or up to 2 more HD than the Skin-Walker, or frightened if possessing less HD than the Skin-Walker.

Sound Imitation: Skin-Walkers can mimic any sound or voice they have heard. Listeners must attempt a Will Save(DC same as Frightening Presence) to detect a ruse.

Abilities: +2 Str, +2 Con, -2 Wis. Skin-Walkers are stronger and more durable than typical members of their race, but being a Skin-Walker reduces their relative level of sanity.

CR: +1
LA: +2

Twilight Vampire

Once, upon a moonlit night, a melancholy bard was reading his girlfriend a poem about how his love for her would transcend the void of death. During this reading, a vampire crept up upon the bard and bit him, draining him of blood. However, the bard had made use of his bardic abilities to help make the poem become a pure expression of his adolescent love, and after he had been drained, his overtly emotional girlfriend, St'fanae, prayed to a forgotten love god only known as The Myre to preserve her and her boyfriend's love. As her prayer was completed, it began to dawn upon the field they were in. The boyfriend rose once again, not as a normal vampire, becoming transformed by the power of teenage love and angst. He became the first Twilight Vampire.

Creating a Twilight Vampire
The Twilight Vampire template may be applied to any creature of the Humanoid Type.

Type: Changes to Half-Undead.

Speed: Twilight Vampires gain a +10 bonus to speed.

Special Attacks: Twilight Vampires retain all the special attacks of the base creature and gain the following:

Venom Strike: This acts as a sort of blood-draining ability, but injects the victim with what Twilight Vampires like to refer to as "love", a toxic venom that turns people into fellow Twilight Vampires, allowing them to spread fast. This works by making a successful grapple check. If the Twilight Vampire pins the foe, it drains blood, dealing 1 point of Constitution drain each round the pin is maintained. On each such successful attack, the Twilight gains 3 temporary hit points. After the hold is broken, "love" takes effect, dealing 1 point of Constitution damage intially, and an additional 1 point of Constitution damage each round after, with a successful Fortitude save negating any further affects. Should a victim die of "love", it transforms into a Twilight Vampire.

Angst: Twilight Vampires are notoriously emotional. This acts as the Rage of a 1st level barbarian, except that it can be activated as an immediate action when the Twilight Vampire's Fixation(See below) is attacked, or when someone criticizes them when they read their Emo Poetry(See below). This ability is useable once per day, and gains an additional use per 5 HD it has.

Emo Poetry: Twilight Vampires like to innately write poems about despair, loss of love, and the like. As such, people listening to such poems get depressed or bored to the point of insanity whenever such things get sprouted off. As such, a number of times per day equal to 1 + 1 per 4 HD it has. This ability is activated as a standard action and lasts a number of rounds equal to concentration + 1. When Emo Poetry is in use, the Twilight Vampire makes a Perform(Oratory) check. All foes within 30 ft are imposed with a penalty to all actions equal to the check's result/10.

Scream of Angst: Three times per day, as a standard action, a Twilight Vampire may channel its extreme angst into an almost primal screech of rage(Twilight Vampires tend to have high-pitched voices). This attack is treated as a ranged touch attack with a range of 30 ft that deals 6d4 sonic damage to all within range.

Special Qualities: Twilight Vampires retain the special qualities of the base creature and gain the following special qualities:

So Fast I'm Invisible: When using the Run Action, a Twilight Vampire automatically becomes Invisible, as the spell, except that this is an extraordinary effect.

Too Emotional: Twilight Vampires suffer a -4 penalty to all saves against Mind-affecting abilities. This also causes the Twilight Vampire to spend 1 round crying their first round after first time it is hit in combat. This makes them unable to take any actions for that round, and causes a -2 penalty to Spot checks for 1 minute after, as tears block their vision.

Fixation: If not having a current Fixation, whenever a Twilight Vampire looks at a previously unknown member of the opposite gender, there is a 20% chance it automatically falls in love with them. This is treated as though the Fixation had cast Charm Person on the Twilight Vampire, with infinite duration. This love takes the form of following them everywhere(whether the Fixation knows it or not), trying to find out everything about them, removing the competition(any member of the Twilight Vampire's gender that is not family that talks to the Fixation), and of course, turning them into a Twilight Vampire, which makes the Twilight Vampire the subject of their beloved's Fixation ability, should the turning be successful.

So Pretty: A Twilight Vampire gains a +5 bonus to Charisma-based checks involving members of the opposite gender.

So Shiny: A Twilight Vampire sparkles, resulting in a -2 penalty to Spot checks to all within 30 ft, so long as light has contact with their skin.

Young Forever: Upon transformation, the Twilight Vampire no longer ages, and in fact reverts to the Young Adult category, retaining the mental bonuses of aging, but not being able to gain their benefits or penalties any more.

Feats: A Twilight Vampire gains Run and Lightning Reflexes as bonus feats.

Abilities: Twilight Vampires gain the following ability increases: +4 Charisma, +2 Con, +2 Dex, +2 Str, -4 Wis. Twilight Vampires are tougher, charismatic, dextrous, and strong, but don't tend to be to wise about what to do.

CR: +2
LA: +3

Twilight Vampire Weaknesses
Although not entirely proven, many an eyewitness account has said that a Twilight Vampire is repelled and usually flees in the sight of "something scary".

Unseeing Eye

In certain customs, individuals block use of their eyes in order to gain new abilities. This is true of Unseeing Eyes. By going through a ritual that binds cloth around their eyes, Unseeing Eyes gain new eyes of sorts and enhanced divination abilities.

Creating an Unseen Eye
The Unseeing Eye template can be applied to any creature with eyes.

AC: An Unseeing Eye gains a +2 Dodge bonus to AC

Special Attacks: An Unseeing Eye retains the special qualities of the base creature, and gains the following special attacks:

Eyeblast: You may fire a blast from one of your Eyes. This deals 1d6 damage of one energy type(selected upon gaining the template: acid, cold, electricity, or fire) per three HD you have(minimum 1d6). This is activated as a standard action and is treated as a ranged touch attack with a range of 30 ft.

Precognition Strike: Whenever you succeed on a save against an ability that requires a Reflex save, you may use Eyeblast as an immediate action against the target.

Special Qualities: An Unseeing Eye retains the special qualities of the base creature, and gains the following:

Unseeing: At all times, the Unseeing Eye must completely restrict its seeing through its natural eyes to gain the benefit of this template. Should its sight become unrestricted, it loses the benefit of this template, but regains it upon restricting its sight once more.

Eyes: An Unseeing Eye may have restricted its natural eyesight, but it's not lacking for want of seeing. You gain a number of Eyes equal to the number of natural eyes you have. These Eyes act as Arcane Eyes, except that they do not require concentration to use, and may travel to any plane of existence that you do. These eyes may be used for anything the base creature's natural eyes could be used for, including gaze attacks and low-light vision. When using these eyes, the Unseeing Eye gains Darkvision 60 ft(or adds 30 ft to existing darkvision) and Low-Light Vision.

Blindsight: An Unseeing Eye has Blindsight out to 5 feet.

Seer: An Unseeing Eye gains a +2 bonus to caster level checks to cast Divination spells. It also gains one spell level per HD it has, and knows a number of spells equal to 1 + 1/4 its HD, none of which may exceed the highest level spell a sorcerer of level equal to half its HD could cast.

CR: +1
LA: +2

Well, that's all for now! Please PEACH.

You know, despite being tongue-in-cheek, the Twilight Vampire template is actually pretty good, both for staying true to the lore presented in the books and being mechanically interesting. I'm impressed.

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Originally Posted by Domriso

You know, despite being tongue-in-cheek, the Twilight Vampire template is actually pretty good, both for staying true to the lore presented in the books and being mechanically interesting. I'm impressed.

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Thanks. Whenever I made something for fun, I also try to make it functional. That said, I did deviate slightly from the actual Twilight Vampire, as apparently some have superpowers or something, but that was mainly in the interest of tidying this up a bit. Also, I made it a little closer to the actual Twilight Vampire than I originally intended because some abilities of the Twilight Vampire are genuinely interesting.

Anyone else want to comment/PEACH this?

I laughed as I read the Twilight Vampire Template. My gf read the books - and obviously dragged me to see the films - so I have to concur with Domriso in that you did a great job in adapting those emo freaks into DnD. Also, the Bishonen template seems to be quite good.

Overall, I would allow both of these templates in my campaigns just for the sake of laughs.

I really like the Skinwalker's mechanics. So much so, in fact, that I'd really like to borrow them to turn into a shape-shifting class. If you permit it, I plan to stretch it out to fill 20 levels. I've been trying to come up with some way to allow a shape-shifter class to turn into anything without it becoming broken, and the requirement that it must first kill that thing is a really good balancing mechanism.

Once again, a fantastic template with very well-designed mechanics. Kudos.

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Originally Posted by Almagesto

I laughed as I read the Twilight Vampire Template. My gf read the books - and obviously dragged me to see the films - so I have to concur with Domriso in that you did a great job in adapting those emo freaks into DnD. Also, the Bishonen template seems to be quite good.

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Thanks.

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Overall, I would allow both of these templates in my campaigns just for the sake of laughs.

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What else did you think they were there for? :smallbiggrin: Although one other DM I know has already incorporated Twilight Vampires into a serious mystery-themed campaign of his. His current adventure involves a pack of Twilight Vampires and a missing woman. The pack is currently suspected of kidnapping the woman, as a few had her as the subject of their Fixation special quality. Quite well done if I say so myself.

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Originally Posted by Lyndworm

I really like the Skinwalker's mechanics. So much so, in fact, that I'd really like to borrow them to turn into a shape-shifting class. If you permit it, I plan to stretch it out to fill 20 levels. I've been trying to come up with some way to allow a shape-shifter class to turn into anything without it becoming broken, and the requirement that it must first kill that thing is a really good balancing mechanism.

Once again, a fantastic template with very well-designed mechanics. Kudos.

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Sure, no problem. It'd be interesting to see a class made based on the Skin-Walker. Feel free to go ahead.

Thank you very much. I'll send a link your way once it's up. It's up here.



So long as I'm posting, I wanted to let you know that the Unseeing Eye is very cool. I'm not sure where I'd use it, but it seems like it would make for a very memorable encounter, and it's masterfully crafted on top of that. I especially like the Seer ability.

I think the AC bonus should probably be changed to a Dodge bonus instead of a Dex bonus, since I don't think I've ever heard of the latter. That's pretty much all I noticed that's wrong with it, and you might've done that on purpose. :smallredface: Well done.

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Originally Posted by Lyndworm

I think the AC bonus should probably be changed to a Dodge bonus instead of a Dex bonus, since I don't think I've ever heard of the latter.

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I concur with Lyndworm. If the bonus to AC is granted by increased reflexes, it's probably Dodge.

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Originally Posted by Lyndworm

Thank you very much. I'll send a link your way once it's up. It's up here.

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Um....it's almost identical to the template, except for expansion of types and an improved frightened presence...... You might want to put a little more stuff into that.

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So long as I'm posting, I wanted to let you know that the Unseeing Eye is very cool. I'm not sure where I'd use it, but it seems like it would make for a very memorable encounter, and it's masterfully crafted on top of that. I especially like the Seer ability.

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Thanks. It was based off the concept of oracles and such losing their eyes and gaining power to tell the future and such. It was also inspired by a certain type of Page in the Bibliography webcomic, which has similar abilities.

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I think the AC bonus should probably be changed to a Dodge bonus instead of a Dex bonus, since I don't think I've ever heard of the latter. That's pretty much all I noticed that's wrong with it, and you might've done that on purpose. :smallredface: Well done.

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Thanks. It probably should be changed to that. Done.

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Originally Posted by Pyromancer999

Um....it's almost identical to the template, except for expansion of types and an improved frightened presence...... You might want to put a little more stuff into that.

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I plan to do that, thank you. I'm trying to come up with a few abilities to sprinkle throughout it to set it apart from both your template and the MoMF. I've an idea brewing but it's not quite ready to put to paper yet. In all honesty I should likely not have posted the class just yet. That's a bell I can't quite unring, though, so there it sits, half-finished. I feel bad about it, now, and about posting so much about my thread in your thread, so I'll leave it at that.

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Originally Posted by Pyromancer999

Thanks. It was based off the concept of oracles and such losing their eyes and gaining power to tell the future and such. It was also inspired by a certain type of Page in the Bibliography webcomic, which has similar abilities.

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I'm not familiar with the comic, but I like the connection to the "blind seer" archetype. It's a lot of flavor packed into a small entry, and it's really cool.

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Originally Posted by Pyromancer999

Thanks. It probably should be changed to that. Done.

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Hurray! I'm helping.

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Originally Posted by Lyndworm

I plan to do that, thank you. I'm trying to come up with a few abilities to sprinkle throughout it to set it apart from both your template and the MoMF. I've an idea brewing but it's not quite ready to put to paper yet. In all honesty I should likely not have posted the class just yet. That's a bell I can't quite unring, though, so there it sits, half-finished. I feel bad about it, now, and about posting so much about my thread in your thread, so I'll leave it at that.

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It's fine. Still, I'd suggest granting the class a bit of spellcasting ability, as Native American Skinwalkers, who inspired the template, were rumored to be witches, amongst other things, maybe granting a few Transmutation spells, fear effect spells, and a thing or two more. Also, I'd suggest researching Skinwalkers yourself to give you more ideas for the class.

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I'm not familiar with the comic, but I like the connection to the "blind seer" archetype. It's a lot of flavor packed into a small entry, and it's really cool.

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The comic's quite good and I'd recommend reading it. It's cool. And thanks, getting the Blind Seer archetype was the aim.

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Hurray! I'm helping.

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Yes. Yes you are. :smallbiggrin:

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Originally Posted by Pyromancer999

It's fine. Still, I'd suggest granting the class a bit of spellcasting ability, as Native American Skinwalkers, who inspired the template, were rumored to be witches, amongst other things, maybe granting a few Transmutation spells, fear effect spells, and a thing or two more.

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I'm afraid of granting them too much spellcasting, to be honest. I think they might become too similar to the druid (in appearance, if not function). However, a small list of spells chosen by me might really make this class stand out, and then I can cut back on the class features a little (I don't mind dead levels quite so much on a spellcaster). It was a thought I'd had myself, but for reasons unknown even to me I waved it off pretty early on. Now that you've suggested it I'm giving it more serious thought, and may well go that route. Thank you for your help.

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Originally Posted by Pyromancer999

Also, I'd suggest researching Skinwalkers yourself to give you more ideas for the class.

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I know a little bit about them, but nothing too concrete. I'll definitely look them up (probably on Wikipedia). Do you know of any good sources of information?

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Originally Posted by Lyndworm

I'm afraid of granting them too much spellcasting, to be honest. I think they might become too similar to the druid (in appearance, if not function). However, a small list of spells chosen by me might really make this class stand out, and then I can cut back on the class features a little (I don't mind dead levels quite so much on a spellcaster). It was a thought I'd had myself, but for reasons unknown even to me I waved it off pretty early on. Now that you've suggested it I'm giving it more serious thought, and may well go that route. Thank you for your help.

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No problem. Just stating stuff from myths. I didn't include spellcasting in the template because it wasn't exactly one of the more stressed abilities.

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I know a little bit about them, but nothing too concrete. I'll definitely look them up (probably on Wikipedia). Do you know of any good sources of information?

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Just use Google. Works just fine. Also search for Navajo myths.

What is this "Half-Undead" type of which you speak?

I believe it's from Libris Mortis. Also, see the half-vampire template in there - it could be the basis from which he developed it.

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Originally Posted by Almagesto

I believe it's from Libris Mortis. Also, see the half-vampire template in there - it could be the basis from which he developed it.

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It's from Dragon#313. It's described in there. Basically, it's sort of what Living Construct is to the Construct type. Loss of undead mental immunities, plus some reduced benefits of the Undead type.

Also, did not draw any inspiration from the Half-Vampire template there.

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Originally Posted by Pyromancer999

It's from Dragon#313. It's described in there. Basically, it's sort of what Living Construct is to the Construct type. Loss of undead mental immunities, plus some reduced benefits of the Undead type.

Also, did not draw any inspiration from the Half-Vampire template there.

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Oh, really? Hmmm did you consider it when creating the templates? The Half-Vampire template is suited for some of the adjustments you did, in my opinion.

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Originally Posted by Almagesto

Oh, really? Hmmm did you consider it when creating the templates? The Half-Vampire template is suited for some of the adjustments you did, in my opinion.

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Yeah, the Half-Undead type is good for when you want to make something with a strong tie to the Undead, but isn't necessarily Undead itself.

Also, while I occasionally look at existing material for little things when using it in homebrew(like Frightful Presence as a base for Frightening Presence), I try to make my stuff as original as possible, hence why I did not take a look at the Half-Vampire template for this.