REVISED TEMPLATE PROJECT
Summary
- Introduction
- Changing Templates
- Rules Interaction
- Aging and Mortality
- Class features
- Feats
- Other Templates
- Skills
- Spells, Powers and other effects
- Feats
- Template Feat
- Feat List
- Feat Descriptions
- Alternative Class Features
- Astral Aberrant (Bizarre Psychic Warrior)
- Balanced Elementalist (Energy Shugenja)
- Beast Soul (Wonderful Totemist)
- Disciplined Golem (Artificial Monk)
- Earth Emissary (Weed Druid)
- Fae Magician (Seelie Warlock)
- Feral Hunter (Divided Ranger)
- Herculean Leader (Oversized Marshal)
- Magical Burglar (Mundane Spellthief)
- Monstrous Rager (Savage Barbarian)
- Negative Manipulator (Unliving Dread Necromancer)
- Otherwordly Champion (Exiled Crusader)
- Swarm Shinobi (Arthropod Ninja)
- Thief Jelly (Slime Rogue)
- Wyrm Heart (Breather Dragonfire Adept)
- Prestiges Class
- Aligned Paragon (For Exiled)
- Black and White Master (For Unliving)
- Chimeric Warrior (For Savage)
- Dividing Ooze (For Slime)
- Evolutionist (For All)
- Insect Imitator (For Arthropod)
- Item Enhancer (For Artificial)
- Keeper of Titania’s Secret (For Seelie)
- Magic Eater (For Wonderful)
- Mutant (For Bizarre)
- Omnimal (For Divided)
- Paraenergiser (For Energy)
- Prince of Breath (For Breather)
- Seed of Rebirth (For Weed)
- True Giant (For Oversized)
- Universal Speaker (For Mundane)
- Magics
- Spells Summary
- Spells Description
- Powers Summary
- Powers Description
- Infusions Summary
- Infusions Description
Introductions
It’s been a little more than a year since I’ve finished working on the first version of my Template project. Since then it has been and still is being playtest in my pbp campaign. This as allow me to better evaluate my work and to realize that it was deeply flawed. The concept is sound but it lack elegance, finish and most importantly balance. I don’t know how I manage to think that the Exiled template was balance with the other for example, the Artificial and Wonderful template are both fine mechanically but they both are passive template, they grant a few benefit that you mark on your character sheet and that’s all, in short boring. This is why I decided to rework the project nearly from the ground up, you will find in this thread the result of this reworking. In addition to this rework, I’ve also add a lot of material, mostly in the form of alternate class feature and prestige class. This was done to give more option to the player and the DM that may wish to use my work. I hope you will appreciate my work and thank you in advance for reading it.
Sample Arthropod Creature:
Spoiler
This example use a Dryad as the base creature
Arthropod Dryad
Size/Type Female Medium Vermin
Hit Dice: 4d8 (18hp)
Initiative: +4
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares), climb 15 ft
Armor Class: 17 (+4 Dex, +3 natural), touch 14, flat-footed 13
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/+3
Attack: Poisonous Bite +7 melee (1d4 + poison)
Full Attack: Poisonous Bite +7 melee (1d4 + poison)
Space/Reach: 5ft/5ft
Special Attacks: Spell-like abilities, Poison application, Mindless defense (4/day)
Special Qualities: Damage reduction 5/cold iron, Tree dependent, wild empathy (+12), Darkvision 60ft, Tremorsense 60ft
Saves: Fort: +4, Ref: +5, Will: +3
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 19, Con 11, Int 14, Wis 15, Cha 18
Skills: Climb +12, Handle Animal +11, Knowledge (nature) +11, Ride +6, Survival +2 (+4 in natural above ground environment)
Languages Common, Elven and Sylvan
Feats: Improved Mindless Defense, Weapon Finesse
Environment: Temperate forests
Organization: Solitary or grove (4–7)
Challenge Rating: 4
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Advancement: By character class
Spell-like Abilities Abilities (CL 6th, Wisdom based)
At will: Entangle (DC 13), Speak with plants, Tree shape
3/day: Charm person (DC 13), Deep slumber (DC 15), Tree stride
1/day: Suggestion (DC 15)
Tree Dependent (Su): Each dryad is mystically bound to a single, enormous oak tree and must never stray more than 300 yards from it. Any who do become ill and die within 4d6 hours. A dryad’s oak does not radiate magic.
Wild Empathy (Ex): This power works like the druid’s wild empathy class feature, except that the dryad has a +6 racial bonus on the check.
Poison (Ex): Injury, Fortitude DC 12, initial and secondary damage vary. The save DC is Constitution-based. The dryad typically choose to use a poison dealing 1d4 Str damage.
Poison Application (Ex): Once per round, as a move action, an arthropod can lick a manufactured weapon it is holding to apply its poison to it. Any creature taking damage from the weapon is poisoned as normal. If an Arthropod use this ability its bite attack isn’t poisonous until the start of the next round.
Mindless Defense (Ex) Four times per day, when target by a mind-affecting effect, an arthropod can, as an immediate action, choose to briefly become mindless. This grant it immunity against the effect in question and most likely void it completely. This dryad arthropod is not staggered after using this ability.
Skills: An arthropod gain a +8 racial bonus on Climb check, it can take 10 on Climb checks, even if rushed or threatened, and it can use its Dexterity modifier instead of its Strength modifiers on Climb checks.
Creating an Arthropod Creature: Arthropod is a template that can be applied to any non-vermin (referred to hereafter as the base creature).
An arthropod has all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
Size and type: The creature’s type change to vermin. Recalculate base attack bonus, saves, or skill points as appropriate (further detail below). Size is unchanged.
Hit Dice: All racial Hit dice (including those gain after the application of this template) become d8
Speed: The creature gain a Climb speed equal to half is base land speed, minimum 5 feet.
Base Attack/Grapple: The creature base attack bonus derived from it’s racial Hit Dice is changed to average (3/4, as a cleric of it’s level), recalculate it if necessary. The arthropod’s grapple bonus uses its attack bonus and modifiers for Strength and size as normal.
Attack: The creature gain a poisonous bite attack as a primary natural weapons. If the base creature can use weapons, the arthropod retains this ability. If the base creature posses more than one heads, it gain one bite attack per heads, all primary natural weapon.
Full attack: An arthropod fighting without weapons uses its bite and any other natural weapons it may posses when making a full attack. If armed with a weapon, it usually uses the weapon as its primary attack and its bite as a natural secondary attack.
Damage: Arthropod have a bite attack. If the base creature does not have one, use the damage values in the table below. Otherwise, use the values below or the base creature’s damage values, whichever are greater.
{table=head]Size|Bite Damage
Fine|1
Diminutive|1
Tiny|1d2
Small|1d3
Medium|1d4
Large|1d6
Huge|1d8
Gargantuan|2d6
Colossal|3d6
[/table]
In addition any creature taking damage from the bite is poisoned.
Poison (Ex): Once per day by taking one minute of concentration an arthropod can choose what type of poison its bite attack will deliver for the rest of the day, it’s always an injury poison with a save DC equal to 10 + 1/2 arthropod’s HD + arthropod’s Con modifier
{table=head]Initial|Secondary|
1d4 Str1d4 Str|
1d4 Dex1d4 Dex|
1d4 Con1d4 Con|
1d3 Int1d3 Int|
1d3 Wis1d3 Wis|
1d3 Cha1d3 Cha
[/table]
Special attacks: An arthropod retains all the base creature special attacks and gains those describe below.
Poison Application (Ex): Once per round, as a move action, an arthropod can lick a manufactured weapon it is holding to apply its poison to it. Any creature taking damage from the weapon is poisoned as normal. If an Arthropod use this ability its bite attack isn’t poisonous until the start of the next round.
Mindless Defense (Ex) Three times per day, when target by a mind-affecting effect, an arthropod can, as an immediate action, choose to briefly become mindless. This grant it immunity against the effect in question and most likely void it completely. Once an arthropod as used this ability it is staggered for one round.
Special qualities: An arthropod lose all the trait from it’s previous type but otherwise has all the base creature special qualities, plus darkvision out to 60 feet and tremorsense out to 60 feet.
Tremorsense (Ex): An arthropod can detect and pinpoint any creature or object within 60 feet in contact with the ground.
Saving Throws: The creature base save bonus derived from racial Hit dice change as follow, an arthropod Fortitude’s save change to good (equal to two plus half Hit dice round down), while its Reflex and Will’s saves become poor (equal to one third Hit dice round down), recalculate them if necessary.
Abilities: Unchanged, unlike most vermin arthropod aren’t Mindless unless the base creature was. If this template is applied to a creature that did not posses a Constitution score before, it gain one equal to 3d6.
Skills: An arthropod gain skill points equal to (2 + Int modifier, minimum 1) per racial Hit dices (four times that at first level), recalculate the creature skill rank if necessary. Any skill given in the creature description is a class skill for the arthropod. In addition Climb and Knowledge (nature) are always class skills for an arthropod.
Also an arthropod gain a +8 racial bonus on Climb check, it can take 10 on Climb checks, even if rushed or threatened, and it can use its Dexterity modifier instead of its Strength modifiers on Climb checks.
Challenge Rating: +1
Level adjustment: +3
Cosmetic change: When the base creature become an arthropod it’s skin change into a chitin like material often in dark green or brown color but more vibrant color such yellow or red also exist. Its mouth change into a pair of mandible. Its hands, feet or paws often take on a more segmented appearances. It’s eyes become multifaceted and a little bulbous. Finally if it possess wing they become translucent.
Change Log:
Spoiler
- The wording of the template had been clarified.
- The Poison can now only deal ability damage, the fatigue and sleep option were useless.
- Add the Mindless defense ability, it does has a small drawback but it’s minor and flavorful.