Changelog:[spoiler]-Changed Type prereq from 'humanoid, monstrous humanoid, fey, giant, or outsider' to 'any humanoid-shaped creature'
-Overhauled template using Senevri's recommendations
-Decided to allow the slam to be enchanted. I hate making players buy a separate item just for natural weapons to be made magic (necklace of natural weapons). Plus, there's plenty of support for a cute bruiser with flaming fists.
4/21/11:
Nerfed template a bit to, well, balance isn't the word. It is slightly less over-powered for it's LA, but once again, LA isn't an adequate or appropriate system to base this upon.
*Reduced Racial HD boost from d12 to d10
*Reworded section on natural attacks and damage to clarify interaction with Monk classes, referring to it as an 'affinity' for those classes
*Changed bonus attacks from extra per bonus Flurry attack to one extra at 8th level and one per 4 HD after that
*Removed clause allowing Cute Bruisers to wield weapons of larger sizes than them; Though flavorful and supported by the trope, Cute Bruisers fight with their fists. Other tropes exist for oversized weaponry.
*Changed 'Little Badass' DR. Now just flat 1/2 HD.
*Reduced starting Strength bonus, removed Con bonus; Cute Bruisers can often take a hit fairly well, but that can be left to class levels or stat arrangement. Left Cha bonus for synergy with natural armor bonus and skills, as well as flavor to help justify the 'Cute' in Cute Bruiser.
[/spoiler]
So, this obviously isn't the final version. It's the first template I've tried to create from scratch, and I'm sure I need to scale it back, and/or make other modifications.
Here are some issues I'm mulling over:
- Should the template be available to more than just Humanoids?
- Should the template change the creature type? To what? (Monstrous Humanoid? Outsider?)
- Are there any other abilities that would be more appropriate? Should they be added, or replace existing ones?
- Are existing abilities too far-fetched? How should the abilities be scaled back? What should just be removed?
- What LA should it be? Ideally it'd just be LA +1, because most templates over that aren't worth taking.
The point of the template is to make a character capable of emulating the
Trope, and even the special qualities are named after thematically similar tropes.
It's not meant for most serious games.The idea is to generate a small, even youthful character capable of being a melee powerhouse. Thus, they are capable of dumping strength and focusing on being charismatic and adorable, and thus capable of dealing damage in melee combat, grappling/tripping/etc even larger enemies, and even managing to pull off moderate tanking duties (as outlined in the trope article). The most relevant abilities as listed in the article are being able to "absorb and put out heavy damage," being capable of "some tanking abilities," and focusing on "Good Old Fisticuffs, a club, or martial arts that focus on direct blows to your opponent instead of pressure points or judo throws."
Other ideas for abilities might be some form of fast healing, better (even scaling) AC bonuses, scaling size bonuses (such as counting as even larger sizes for Pintsize Powerhouse at certain HD milestones), or anything else that can help them the Cute Bruiser do what it does best.
Any thoughts/ideas?