[Template] Every fallen sparrow... but one.

[The Vorpal Tribble]

That God Never Saw


There are those that were never meant to be. They aren't necessarily evil or unlovable, but they are simply an unforetold mistake. Not forgotten or invisible, they were never noticed to begin with. They were those that god never saw. As such they go through life like a shade, often without consequence, but some use this to their advantage, becoming an unknown force. Like the wind, only the results are seen, never the source.

How they came about at all is the biggest mystery. It is said by some that they are the offspring of vestiges, conceived beyond all eyes. Others say they are a mistake, a grain of sand that slipped through the crushing gears of fate. Both are possibly the case, and others beside, but however they came to be their existence is a somewhat disturbing occurrence to all.

Those That God Never Saw tend towards unhealthy appearances. Pale skin, lank hair, and lackluster eyes are commonplace. They have a wild, abandoned look and always seem a little haunted and disheveled, as if the lack of any higher notice has left them wilted like a plant without sunlight. Otherwise they are mostly normal, though with a disposition towards fierce independence. Nothing looks after them, and so they make their own decisions. Many have a 'live for the moment' attitude. It is as if they feel the overhanging reality that there will be no reward or punishment after life, so make what they can of the short time they have. Others cling to life like a limpet to a rock. They are hypochondriacs and phobia filled, horribly frightened of anything that may cut their life short. Many seek immortality in some fashion, to become famous or to discover a cure for aging. Others even seek out ways to become a deity themselves, and others seek to become a vestige of their own. Regardless of personality, they are always seen as eccentric and unnerving, those about them instinctively sensing their own mortality around these soulless souls.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Sample Creature That God Never Saw

Spoiler

Mirage, Dryad That God Never Saw
Medium Aberration
Hit Dice: 4d6 (14 hp)
Initiative: +4 Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 17 (+4 Dex, +3 natural), touch 14, flat-footed 13
Base Attack/Grapple: +2/+2
Attack: Dagger +6 melee (1d4/19–20) or masterwork longbow +7 ranged (1d8/x3)
Full Attack: Dagger +6 melee (1d4/19–20) or masterwork longbow +7 ranged (1d8/x3)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Killjoy, spell-like abilities
Special Qualities: Damage reduction 5/cold iron, noticed, one chance, rebel against nothingness, spurn deific touch, unaligned, wild empathy
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +8, Will +7
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 19, Con 11, Int 14, Wis 17, Cha 16
Skills: Bluff +5, Escape Artist +11, Handle Animal +10, Hide +17, Knowledge (nature) +11, Listen +10, Move Silently +11, Ride +6, Spot +10, Survival +10, Use Rope +4 (+6 with bindings)
Feats: Fade Into Violence(B), Great Fortitude, Weapon Finesse
Environment: Temperate Desert
Challenge Rating: 3
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Unaligned
Advancement: By character class

This woman is obviously a dryad, except her hair is colorless and spidery like the veins of a withered leaf. Her skin is withered and grey, with deep fissures and cracks that should be weeping blood but which looks dry as death, like weathered wooden shingles.

Mirage appeared one day, whistling from the bottom of a deep, waterless well in the midst of a desert. No one knows from where she came, and she only knows thirst and a horrible cold wind before she was pulled out. No trees are to be found for a hundred miles, yet she remains alive without her patron oak. She speaks no language, though is learning that of the wandering caravan that found her. They do not like keeping her within their midst, but secretly plan to sell her at the nearest opportunity.

Combat
Mirage just sits and takes any beating she is given until it brings her near death. She then suddenly leaps up with a scream of defiance and pummels her attacker with whatever is nearest at hand.

Behind the Scenes (Ex): Mirage is visible yet rarely noticed. She gains a +6 racial bonus on Hide and Bluff checks. As well she gains the benefits of Fade Into Violence even if she don't meet the prerequisites.

Against outsiders with an alignment subtype she is invisible as the spell.

Killjoy (Ex): Creatures with souls instinctively sense the nature of Mirage and experience pangs of depression. Any morale bonuses they gain while within 20 feet of a her lessens by 1. This cannot produce a negative to their base saves. Those in this range also take a -4 penalty to saves against Crushing Despair.

Noticed (Ex): Mirage has a sixth sense in regards to actually being noticed. She can sense when she is the focus of a divination spell or clairsentient power. As well, if she is singled out of the crowd even by a pair of eyes she can sense she is being watched. This sense has no limit as long as the being watching for Mirage can see her.

One Chance (Ex): Mirage does not have a dual nature—her soul and body form one unit like an Outsider. If she is slain, no soul is set loose. Spells and Powers that restore souls to their bodies, such as psionic revivify, raise dead, reincarnate, and resurrection, don’t work on Mirage. It takes a different effect, such as bend reality, reality revision, limited wish, wish, to restore her to life.

Rebel Against Nothingness (Ex): Mirage may rage once per day as a 4th level barbarian. The rage ends once the time limit has passed or the attacker flees. At the end of this rage she is not fatigued but is instead affected as Crushing Despair.

Spell-Like Abilities: At will—entangle (DC 14), speak with plants, tree shape; 3/day— charm person (DC 14), deep slumber (DC 16), tree stride; 1/day—suggestion (DC 16). Caster level 6th. The save DCs are Wisdom-based.

Spurn Deific Touch (Ex): Mirage is immune to all divine spells and powers, be they harmful or harmless. As well, she cannot take levels in any divine spell-casting class or class that receives special abilities from a higher source or alternate plane.

Unaligned: Mirage is outside the pantheon of good and evil, law and chaos, even neutrality. She may have an inclincation towards any, but deep down at the spiritual level there is only void.

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.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Creating a Creature That God Never Saw

"Creature That God Never Saw" is an inherited template that can be added to any living creature except for elementals and outsiders, hereafter referred to as the base creature. It uses all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here.

Size and Type: Creature type changes to Aberration. Do not recalculate hit points, base attack or skills.

Special Qualities: A creature that god never saw has all the special qualities of the base creature, plus the following special qualities.

Behind the Scenes (Ex): A Creature That God Never Saw is visible yet rarely noticed. No matter how powerful they are, they seem to be a presence beneath notice. They gain a +6 racial bonus on Hide and Bluff checks. As well they gain the benefits of Fade Into Violence even if they don't meet the prerequisites.

Against outsiders with an alignment subtype they are invisible as the spell.

Double Life Span (Ex): The irony of a Creature That God Never Saw is they live much longer than others of their kind. They reach maturity at the same time as any... and from there on age only half as slowly as they would normally.

Noticed (Ex): A Creature That God Never Saw has a sixth sense in regards to actually being noticed. They can sense when they are the focus of a divination spell or clairsentient power. As well, if they are singled out of the crowd even by a pair of eyes they can sense they are being watched. This sense has no limit as long as the being watching them can see them.

One Chance (Ex): A Creature That God Never Saw does not have a dual nature—its soul and body form one unit like an Outsider. When a creature with this template is slain, no soul is set loose. Spells and Powers that restore souls to their bodies, such as psionic revivify, raise dead, reincarnate, and resurrection, don’t work on a Creature That God Never Saw. It takes a different effect, such as bend reality, reality revision, limited wish, wish, to restore it to life.

Spurn Deific Touch (Ex): A Creature That God Never Saw is immune to all divine spells and powers, be they harmful or harmless. Ongoing divine effects, such as Circle Against Evil, a Creature That God Never Saw may also ignore as long as they allow spell resistance.

As well, a Creature That God Never Saw cannot take levels in any divine spell-casting class or class that receives special abilities from a higher source or alternate plane. They keep any spell-like abilities they have, though if they cast spells as a druid, cleric, or other divine spellcaster they lose all those spells.

Unaligned: A Creature That God Never Saw is outside the pantheon of good and evil, law and chaos, even neutrality. They may have an inclination towards any, but deep down at the spiritual level there is only void.

Special Attacks: A creature that god never saw has all the special qualities of the base creature, plus the following special qualities.

Killjoy (Ex): Creatures with souls instinctively sense the nature of a Creature That God Never Saw and experience pangs of depression. Any morale bonuses they gain while within 20 feet of a Creature That God Never Saw lessens by 1. This cannot produce a negative to their base saves. Those in this range also take a -4 penalty to saves against Crushing Despair.

Rebel Against Nothingness (Ex): A Creature That God Never Saw may rage once per day as a barbarian at the same level as their HD. The rage ends once the time limit has passed or the attacker flees. At the end of this rage are not fatigued but are instead affected as Crushing Despair.

Abilities: Adjust from the base creature as follows: Wis +2, Cha -2
Challenge Rating: Same as the base creature.
Level Adjustment: Same as base creature +1.

[SilverClawShift]

This is amazingly flavorful. I'm incredibly tempted to bug my DM to let me play someone with this template.

[Yora]

I really like it, and think I really might use that. It's very well made, and obviously doesn't cause balance problems ;)
I think I might use it for an annonymous informant, who only communicates in letters, because it's to troubelsome to try to talk to someone for more than two or three sentences. And there might be many more of them, as you never notice their presence. But they are very aware of anyone else. Really has a lot of great potential.

The only things I have to say on the negative side are that I don't think the rage fits that well with the creature. And the Killjoy ability has to few an impact to make it worth keeping track of it. It applies only very rarely and even if it does, has almost no impact.

[Icewalker]

Very cool, very cool. I like it. Rather scary, lots of adventure potential in there. I'm interested in the concept of a druid that god never saw who doesn't have the spellcasting but just the wild shape and some other class abilities as an NPC.

...you really do make the most awesome templates. Great concept.

[Limos]

I like the fluff and concept, but is there any way to shorten the name? "that God never saw" seems a little awkward.

[The Dark Fiddler]

Killjoy seems a bit underpowered... but then again, its only LA +1, so maybe its not.

It might be hard to play as this character if you were an up front melee type though, since no diving spells = much less healing.

I do like that its a + Wisdom, that seems so rare, but no divine spells means Druid can't benefit from it... oh well.

[Anxe]

So how does the Unaligned ability work with Unholy Blight and such?

[The Dark Fiddler]

Originally Posted by Anxe

So how does the Unaligned ability work with Unholy Blight and such?

I'd imagine that since the person That God Never Saw isn't good*, and isn't Neutral*, they wouldn't take damage, as only Good and Neutral characters are affected it. Same with Detect/Smite spells, not Good/Evil/Lawful/Neutral*, doesn't take extra damage/isn't detected.

*Deep down, that is.

[Flickerdart]

It's immune to Divine spells, anyways, so it wouldn't matter.

[The Vorpal Tribble]

Originally Posted by Yora

The only things I have to say on the negative side are that I don't think the rage fits that well with the creature.

Get around a manic depressive and you'll change your tune.

And the Killjoy ability has to few an impact to make it worth keeping track of it. It applies only very rarely and even if it does, has almost no impact.

What, negating a good chunk of divine spells? Morale bonuses are very commonplace.

is there any way to shorten the name? "that God never saw" seems a little awkward.

You can if you like, but I kinda liked it.

It's immune to Divine spells, anyways, so it wouldn't matter.

Give that man a prize.

[Icewalker]

Question: what is the quote in the title referencing, if anything?

@V: Ah. Right.

[The Vorpal Tribble]

Originally Posted by Icewalker

Question: what is the quote in the title referencing, if anything?

Matthew 10:29

[Anxe]

Originally Posted by Flickerdart

It's immune to Divine spells, anyways, so it wouldn't matter.

Oops. You're right. Moot point. What about Protection from Evil and such though? There are non-divine versions of those.

[Kaihaku]

Spurn Deific Touch (Ex): A Creature That God Never Saw is immune to all divine spells and powers, be they harmful or harmless. As well, a Creature That God Never Saw cannot take levels in any divine spell-casting class or class that receives special abilities from a higher source or alternate plane. They keep any spell-like abilities they have, though if they cast spells as a druid, cleric, or other divine spellcaster they lose all those spells.

So... How does this work, exactly? Are they only immune to effects that target them specifically or is it everything? If, say, a Wizard That God Never Saw attempted to use Magic Jar on a divinely protected creature, would it ignore those defenses? How about a Divine Protection from Alignment? Could a Creature That God Never Saw that is capable of possession possess a character protected by such? There's a lot of gray area here.

This should probably only apply to Divine effects that allow spell resistance in the same way as a Golem's Spell Immunity.

[Gorgondantess]

Wow... this is intensely flavorful, but... are you sure it's LA +1? The strict limits on resurrection, the incapability to being healed... it seems rather underpowered. Also, it gains a bonus to an ability that will be rarely useful outside of psionics, and an ability penalty... also, from the description, it surprised me that it had a charisma penalty- seemed like it would be a charisma bonus. "Fiercely Independent" screams force of personality to me.
Other than that, though.... very, very cool. I'd love to give it a spin.

[Belobog]

I think Behind The Scenes could use a little ramping up with regard to outsiders. Invisible still means you can be detected by other means; you can still be heard, still be scried, still be found. Instead, I think the being should be imperceptible by all means to an outsider, and that that should be spelled out. A kind of 'No matter what they do, no outsider or deity will ever register their presence, as that is how they are' kind of deal.

The type restriction feels a little off in a 'why should it matter what the base creature is' kind of way. I could see outsiders fitting into this template, adding to the mystery of exactly what makes a thing so forsaken...but it's a minor nitpick, and I can understand the restriction, even if I don't agree with it.

[Kaihaku]

Originally Posted by Belobog

I think Behind The Scenes could use a little ramping up with regard to outsiders. Invisible still means you can be detected by other means; you can still be heard, still be scried, still be found. Instead, I think the being should be imperceptible by all means to an outsider, and that that should be spelled out. A kind of 'No matter what they do, no outsider or deity will ever register their presence, as that is how they are' kind of deal.

Even if they were an Epic character aiming to kill said Outsider? I think Outsiders should still be able to detect their presence by some means or have some sort of balancing defense against them.

Touching back on my previous query, what qualifies as a Divine power? If an entity has Divine Ranks does a Creature That God Never Saw bypass all of its abilities?

[Anxe]

Originally Posted by Gorgondantess

Wow... this is intensely flavorful, but... are you sure it's LA +1? The strict limits on resurrection, the incapability to being healed... it seems rather underpowered. Also, it gains a bonus to an ability that will be rarely useful outside of psionics, and an ability penalty... also, from the description, it surprised me that it had a charisma penalty- seemed like it would be a charisma bonus. "Fiercely Independent" screams force of personality to me.
Other than that, though.... very, very cool. I'd love to give it a spin.

I think the Charisma penalty was because they have a hard time influencing other people when the other people ignore them all the time.

[Haarkla]

Originally Posted by The Vorpal Tribble

Unaligned: Mirage is outside the pantheon of good and evil, law and chaos, even neutrality. She may have an inclincation towards any, but deep down at the spiritual level there is only void.

I do not like this ability at all. Good, evil, chaos and order are philosophical concepts not dependent on any particular deity or pantheon.

[Belobog]

Originally Posted by Haarkla

I do not like this ability at all. Good, evil, chaos and order are philosophical concepts not dependent on any particular deity or pantheon.

To me, this is the ability that makes the template. Good, Evil, Chaos, and Law are not just philosophical concepts in the DnD universe, they're laws of existence in the default game. But Those That God Never Saw are not part of existence as defined by the powers that made it, and thus, are outside alignment. Just my two cents, though.

[The Vorpal Tribble]

Originally Posted by Kaihaku

This should probably only apply to Divine effects that allow spell resistance in the same way as a Golem's Spell Immunity.

Good idea, will adjust.

Also, it gains a bonus to an ability that will be rarely useful outside of psionics, and an ability penalty...

Since when was Wisdom a psionic-type? Most of psionics has nothing to do with wisdom aside from will saves and that's useful for everyone.

also, from the description, it surprised me that it had a charisma penalty- seemed like it would be a charisma bonus. "Fiercely Independent" screams force of personality to me.

They are independent because deep down they don't believe anyone is looking out for them. Mainly though, as mentioned by Anxe, it's because they don't really get along well with anyone. In fact, they make them nervous.

I do not like this ability at all. Good, evil, chaos and order are philosophical concepts not dependent on any particular deity or pantheon.

Yup, but depending on alignment even non-believers can go to that plane. They resonate with it to a degree, and as such a deity can know of them. Deities are spawned by the planes in some fashion in most D&D. These guys do not even have that much of a tie to it. They, for some reason, came about without any natural tie to a higher order, even if it's purely philosophical.

Belobog hits it on the head. By the rules of standard existence they have no soul.

[Gorgondantess]

Originally Posted by The Vorpal Tribble

Since when was Wisdom a psionic-type? Most of psionics has nothing to do with wisdom aside from will saves and that's useful for everyone.

My point is wisdom won't be useful to them unless they take levels in ardent or psywarrior; the only other things it's good for is skills, will saves and divine spellcasting- they can't use the 3rd, and the 1st two are relatively minor. (Well, except for a few kindof esoteric things, maybe. I may be wrong, and if so, please noone barrage me with dozens of links on how wisdom is useful outside of this.).

They are independent because deep down they don't believe anyone is looking out for them. Mainly though, as mentioned by Anxe, it's because they don't really get along well with anyone. In fact, they make them nervous.

Ah. Well, I was really going more for force of personality charisma than charisma charisma....
Anyhow... my point is, they're not very powerful to justify LA+1.

[Debihuman]

Not sure that I like the dryad without her tree. Even with this template, she should be dead since she's without her tree. I don't mind a template adding a supernatural ability but there's nothing in the template that suggests Tree Dependency should be removed. Rather, I envision such a dryad with a withered husk of a tree or a least a branch from it that she's forced to take with her wherever she goes.

Debby

[SilverClawShift]

It's not completely uncommon for a specific templated creature to be slightly unique above and beyond what the template creates. Sometimes things need to be tweaked for power of flavor, and in this case, the flavor fits (a being of such an unnatural origin that even Deities don't recognize them not being anchored to the natural world makes perfect sense).

Like, say, a Dragon That God Never Saw not having a color type, not having a vulnerability to an element and having a breath weapon that simply caused untyped damage.
It's not explicitly described in the template that that's what happens when you apply it to a dragon, but it only serves to amplify the otherworldlieness of it.

And a colorless Dragon The God Never Saw would make a fantastic BBEG.

[The Dark Fiddler]

Originally Posted by Gorgondantess

Anyhow... my point is, they're not very powerful to justify LA+1.

Aren't most/all templates LA'd so you can't just endlessly stack them?

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Originally Posted by The Dark Fiddler

Aren't most/all templates LA'd so you can't just endlessly stack them?

No, many templates are LA'd because the devs think playing anything but the basic races with no modifications should be punished somehow. The powerful ones deserve it, but I can think of several templates not even worth half their LA.

[The Vorpal Tribble]

Actually, the +1 LA was going to the fact that they are immune to divine magic. They may not be able to be cured by them, but you still got Bards and the psionic classes, as well as potions.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Originally Posted by The Vorpal Tribble

Actually, the +1 LA was going to the fact that they are immune to divine magic. They may not be able to be cured by them, but you still got Bards and the psionic classes, as well as potions.

I wasn't referring to this template in particular, just the general trend of overvaluing "weird" monsters or abilities. I think the LA is justified in this instance.

[The Vorpal Tribble]

Originally Posted by PairO'Dice Lost

I wasn't referring to this template in particular, just the general trend of overvaluing "weird" monsters or abilities

Yeah, such as Blues being a +1... gah.