D&D 3.5 Tyranid Monster Class v0.2.3 - PEACH

[NecroticPunch]

Zoanthrope



"... Prepare to die, mortal!"

- A Tyranid Zoanthrope Adept

A general description of whatever the class is!

BECOMING A Zoanthrope
How you would normally become a member of this prestige class.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Base Attack Bonus: +5
Must be a Tyranid
Must have at least 5 HD levels as a Tyranid
Must have a ranged energy weapon

Class Skills
The Zoanthrope's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are....Autohypnosis, Balance, Concentration, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge( Psionics ), Listen, Psicraft, Search, Spot, Survival, Tumble, Use Psionic Device
Skills Points at Each Level: 4 + int

Hit Dice: Same as Tyranid HD

{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|

+1

|

+0

|

+0

|

+2

|Psionics, Warp Blast 1d6, Decay

2nd|

+1

|

+0

|

+0

|

+3

|Warp Blast 2d8, +2 Intelligence

3rd|

+2

|

+1

|

+1

|

+3

|Psyker Apprentice

4th|

+3

|

+1

|

+1

|

+4

|Psionic Advancement, Warp Blast 3d10, Levitate, Psionic

5th|

+3

|

+1

|

+1

|

+4

|Psyker Lord

6th|

+4

|

+2

|

+2

|

+5

|Warp Blast 4d12, +2 Intelligence, Telepathy

7th|

+5

|

+2

|

+2

|

+5

|Psyker King, Psionic Advancement

8th|

+5

|

+2

|

+2

|

+6

|Warp Blast 5d12, Psionic Treatise

9th|

+6

|

+3

|

+3

|

+6

|+2 Intelligence, Psionic Advancement

10th|

+7

|

+3

|

+3

|

+7

|Lord of All Psykers, Warp Blast 6d12, Psionic Treatise, Psionic Tyranid[/table]

Weapon Proficiencies: A Zoanthrope gains no new Weapon or Armor Proficiencies.

Psionics: A Zoanthrope gains power points per day, and powers known, at a rate equal to a Psion, of one level less than a Zoanthrope's level. Levels as a Zoanthrope are added to any levels as a Tyranid, and these combined, with a single level taken off, give you the Power Points per Day, Bonus Power Points, and Powers Known. ( Note: you do not need to take any level advancement to have Psionic Power. For example, an ECL 6, Tyranid 5/Zoanthrope 1, would Manifest as a Psion 5. )

Warp Blast: Warp Blast is a ranged energy touch attack, which replaces a Tyranid's standard ranged energy weapon. A warp blast deals force damage, and can be used 3 times per day, increasing by 2 at every class level past first. The standard damage for a Warp Blast is 1d6, at first level, which increases to 2d8 at second level, 3d10 at third level, and 4d12 at sixth level. Past sixth level, it increases the amount of dice rolled at eighth and tenth level.

Decay: At first level, a Zoanthrope's body starts to decay, causing all natural weapons to go down in damage, for example, a weapon that would deal 1d8 damage would be reduced to 1d6, and at every level, they get worse and worse. At fourth level, a Zoanthrope no longer has limbs, and it's only means of movement is levitating it's body forwards and backwards; up and down. At sixth level, a Zoanthrope's face falls off, and they become, essentially, a brain surrounded by a torso, and a chitinous shell.

Ability Enhancement: At second, sixth, and ninth level, a Zoanthrope's intelligence increases by 2.

Psyker Apprentice: At third level, a Psyker can choose a discipline to specialize in, out of the list given to a Psion at level one.

Psionic Advancement: At fourth, seventh, and ninth levels, a Zoanthrope gains power points equal to his Intelligence multiplied by half of his Intelligence Modifier.

Levitate, Psionic: At fourth level, a Zoanthrope gains a perpetual levitate effect on itself, which can be dispelled, but if it is dispelled, it will automatically reactivate in 5 turns. A Zoanthrope's levitation speed is equal to his Base Land speed.

Psyker Lord: At fifth level, a Zoanthrope's effective Manifester Level increases by one, but he does not gain power points or powers known due to this increase in Manifester Level.

Telepathy: At sixth level, a Zoanthrope gains the ability of Telepathy, which works in a way similar to how Mind Flayers communicate.

Psyker King: At seventh level, a Zoanthrope gains power points and powers known that would make him equal in those aspects when compared to a Psion of an equivalent Manifester Level. Or, in a simpler wording, it is as if a Zoanthrope leveled up twice on this level, and is now on par with other full progression manifesters.

Psionic Treatise: At eighth and tenth level, a Zoanthrope can create any DM-approved Power that he would like, without paying any sort of expense.

Lord of All Psykers: At tenth level, a Zoanthrope's effective Manifester Level increases by one, and makes it so that he is effectively one lever higher in the Zoanthrope class, for the interest of determining Power Points for day, Bonus Power Points per day, and Powers Known. This stacks with Psyker King.

Psionic Tyranid: At tenth level, a Zoanthrope learns how to change his body structure, and due to this, a Zoanthrope can, one per month, repick
all of his Tyranid abilities.

PLAYING A CLASS NAME
Brief description on how to play the class you are designing.
Combat: A Zoanthrope has a myriad of different combat abilities, as well as utility powers and ways to shape the battle field, to call upon, which allows it to easily occupy many different positions in an army, or adventuring group.
Advancement: As they advance in power, a Tyranid might decide to go down the path of a Psion, to further increase his Psionic Powers, or he might decide to further his Tyranid abilities.
Resources: About as much as the Hive Mind allow him.

Zoanthrope IN THE WORLD
Those bugs... they ain't the kind that you smash with your boot. If'in you make 'em angry, you ain't gonna live m'ch longer.

Most Zoanthrope live in secret; they occupy little burrows under ground, following the orders of the Hive Mind. However, you can sometimes encounter a Zoanthrope wandering above ground, most likely doing some work for the Hive Mind.
Daily Life: On a normal day, a Zoanthrope will go about and do anything that the Hive Mind commands it to do, with little to no resistance. It can be said, however, that Zoanthropes do, in fact, make an attempt to be more powerful than his peers, so that he can become more powerful than all other ' Psykers ', their name for Psions.
Notables: Ura'lid is the only true notable of the Zoanthrope, due to her extreme power, rivaling even some of the great psions in their control over the power of the mind. In fact, Ura'lid has been known to be able to take out an entire army, with only a small squadran of troops to assist her.
Organizations: The Zoanthrope are members of the Hive Mind, and that is all they are members of.

NPC Reaction
Most people are afraid of Zoanthropes, because of their immense power, and, in some countries, Zoanthrope are considered threats, and are actively hunted. However, Zoanthrope have no care for these reactions, because they know that they can easily defeat those who would hunt them, and the people who could defeat them are too careful to hunt a powerful " Psyker. "

Zoanthrope IN THE GAME
Zoanthrope can fit the same role as a blaster, and as a off-caster.
Adaptation: All you would really need to do is introduce the Tyranid, which would be easy if you read their history.
Encounters: They would simply see them going about their own business, though sometimes this business could be illegal and seemingly evil, which might lead to encounters with a Zoanthrope.

[NecroticPunch]

Sorry for double post but...

Eek, this is gonna take me a while to finish :/

[Lix Lorn]

{table=head]Person|Regeneration|One Class Progression|Two Class Progression
whoiam|+1|+1|+3
Lix Lorn|+1|+2|+4
[/table]

I've been doing a character sheet for an ECL 10 tyranid. I may have ignored the lawful restriction, but I gave a reason and everything, so whoop.
Just finishing appearance and I'll give a link.

Edit:...and I totally forgot I'd just posted.
What I said was: Format Error: press Enter before skill points.
Oh, and, Knowledge (psionics)?

[NecroticPunch]

Anybody else wanna help me out with this XD I'm not that good at describing what the abilities do...

[Lix Lorn]

Finished ECL10 Character Sheet!

Hmm. Not sure. Why don't you try, and then we can fix it?

[Duskranger]

By the way, you know that natural weapons only get one attack?

[whoiam]

From the limbs section on the first page:

During a Full Attack, a Tyranid may make an attack with each limb at its full BAB, plus up to three reduced BAB iterative attacks with a limb (or weapon held in a limb) of the Tyranid's choice. During a standard attack action, a Tyranid may make a single attack with each limb not used for movement during that round, but takes an attack penalty of -1 on all attacks for each limb used beyond the first.

[Duskranger]

That creates off course some more possibilities. Sorry for the former comment in that case.

[Lix Lorn]

Does anyone know how much money an ECL of 10 gets you?

[Volthawk]

Does anyone know how much money an ECL of 10 gets you?

49 thousand.

[Duskranger]

Does anyone know how much money an ECL of 10 gets you?

WBL is stated in DMG page 135. That's all I know.

[NecroticPunch]

Alright, I added class abilities, I am now requesting, PEACH.

[whoiam]

Alright, I added class abilities, I am now requesting, PEACH.

This being my first public homebrew and all... mind telling me what PEACH actually stands for?

[NecroticPunch]

This is my first homebrew ever XD. But it stands for Please Evaluate and Critique Honestly

[whoiam]

Well, while I wait for tonight's sport to finish before I settle down to the serious reading, two things:

Firstly Necrotic and Duskranger need to vote on the LA costs;)

Secondly, Lix - why NG? I would have used an almost identical line to justify the jump from the typical LN up to LG. I honestly don't see why a commitment to put Lirian's friends above any implied or extant 'Laws of Combat' counts as a non-lawful act. Lawful alignments don't have to blindly obey everything just because it's convention or dictated by authority...

[Duskranger]

{table=head]Person|Regeneration|One Class Progression|Two Class Progression
whoiam|+1|+1|+3
Lix Lorn|+1|+2|+3
Duskranger|+1|+3|+5
[/table]

The reason for the high LA is the fact that any other way you can bump up the casting. And casting is overpowered. The regeneration on the other hand has multiple weaknesses and therefore is justified with 'only' la +1

[NecroticPunch]

I give my stamp of approval on this.


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[Lix Lorn]

Secondly, Lix - why NG? I would have used an almost identical line to justify the jump from the typical LN up to LG. I honestly don't see why a commitment to put Lirian's friends above any implied or extant 'Laws of Combat' counts as a non-lawful act. Lawful alignments don't have to blindly obey everything just because it's convention or dictated by authority...

Essentially? I don't like playing Lawful characters. Also, I didn;t put it in, but the bit about acting in the m

Also, Thanks Volthawk!

[NecroticPunch]

No one has reviewed the PrC I just made. I'm so very sad now.

[whoiam]

No one has reviewed the PrC I just made. I'm so very sad now.

It's coming. I'm waiting for the Vuvuzela noise from downstairs to die down before I do any heavy reading...

[Duskranger]

Go Holland. 1-0 for us .

Sorry for being sidetracked. The PrC seems okay, but since I am totally unknowledgable about psionics I can only say that some abilities seem to be a little at the strong side.

I do enjoy the Psionic Tyranid ability though, but to make it a capstone ability. Not as much.

[NecroticPunch]

I couldn't really come up with anything, and Lord of all Psyker is the cap stone ability - it makes it so that you are always better than a Psion of the same level.

[Duskranger]

As far as I know psionics are almost as powerfull as magic so it seems to me it's a bit too much. For the same reason I put the LA for a full caster at minimum +5

[whoiam]

Actually, you won't always be superior to a Psion - you'll be carrying either some LA or some Tyranid HD that don't advance Psion Powers Known.

For the Psionic Tyranid ability, remember to state that the new selection of Tyranid Features should hold the same LA as the original set did. An ability that lets you change LA monthly would be... complicated.

[NecroticPunch]

Read the end of psionics - it stacks with Tyranid for the purpose of determining stuff. And yeah, I sould go do that. And I would like everyone to wait it like this, and then put your critique.

Flavor /20

Balance /20

Impressiveness /20

Chance to win against a wizard /20

Awesomeness /20

[whoiam]

The point was that a LA+0 Tyranid will advance power points, but not powers known or highest level powers known. A LA+1/2 Tyranid can, but holds a LA. So one way or another you're going to be behind.

If you meant that that ability duplicates something a Tyranid would normally be paying LA for without costing LA... then I'd say you may want to think again about that one. If the species is being balanced by LA, then it's not a great idea to start providing loopholes to avoid the LA.

[NecroticPunch]

I wanted to make it that way because it is one of the major reasons to even go through the class.

[whoiam]

Flavor -/20
The 'General Description of the class' is still missing.
I'd also suggest removing references to Kerrigan from the class fluff. For two reasons: A)People may recognise she's from Starcraft instead of Warhammer 40K, and B)Referring to specific individuals does tend to tie a class to a specific setting that includes said individual. It's like the Radiant Servant of Pelor PrC from CDiv. It has to include footnotes reminding people it doesn't have to be used for worshippers of Pelor;)

Balance 16/20
I was going to savage the class on this point, but then I remembered that the more powerful abilities require you to sacrifice 10 Tyranid HD to get it - that's half the potential thickness of the carapace, half the energy resistance, half the resistance bonus on saves, half the enchantment bonus on the limbs... Plus you technically get greater ability bonuses by sticking with Tyranid HD (+10 against +6, but only half of the ten can go into Int).

I'm not sure how well I'd balance it against WoTC Material in general, but it's not so terribly overpowered compared to the 'stock' Tyranid.

Impressiveness 10/20
I'm not entirely sure what you want me to rate in here. I'm giving it moderate marks - it has some nice mechanical effects, but the way it's written, a Zoanthrope will typically be indistinguishable from a regular Tyranid (save for the limited uses Force attack).

Personally, I'd find a closer clone of the 3rd/4th ed Zoanthrope more impressive - where the limbs slowly wither as you advance through the class, but your Force attack improves and you gain an eerie, silent float speed and some form of permanent conversational telepathy. You know... something that really *feels* unique compared to the other Tyranids, even if you aren't looking at the numbers on the character sheet.

Chance to win against a wizard 9/20
As I recall, the 'official' rating is that a Psion's two great weaknesses versus a Wizard are in the fact that they don't cast spells (most suppliments bring cool new arcane spells, but few add extra powers), and the inflexibility caused by their limited powers list. I don't really see this PrC doing anything to redress those limits - except for the two free researched powers the Zoanthrope gets. With the Int bonus from the class and the Tyranid HD required to qualify for it, I would say you will probably go into such a fight with the higher Int (and correspondingly, the higher DCs and the most spellcasting stamina), but it's probably still not enough to give the Psion victory more than 50% of the time.

Awesomeness 7/20
Not sure where Awesomeness, Chance to win against a Wizard and Impressiveness are actually different from one another... Anyway, I suppose the one part that's fairly awsome is if you were playing a LA+3 or LA+4 Tyranid, and every month or so you could emerge an entirely new being...

[NecroticPunch]

Thank you. I'll get to work on changing stuff around, and have Fluff up in a few days. I'm also working on the way that the limbs are effected, and stuff like that. I'll say when It's done.

Edit: And my god, man, you DON'T need to spend level adjustment to get this. I specifically worded it so that you would understand. I'll work on making it easier to read right now.

[whoiam]

I didn't say you would - this time. Just pointed out that it means 10 levels of Tyranid that you can't take because you're taking Zoanthrope instead.