Author Topic: [3.5]Improved monster classes: adapting creatures for player use-Taking Requests  (Read 392273 times)

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b100d_arrowz

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One of my player's has a request, the Shade (Shadovar) from Faerun (Races of Faerun)
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Nanshork

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Monster Blooded/ Hybrid make me happy.
My babies - A thread of random builds I've come up with over the years.
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Prime32

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My work
The tier system in a nutshell:
[spoiler]Tier 6: A cartographer.
Tier 5: An expert cartographer or a decent marksman.
Tier 4: An expert marksman.
Tier 3: An expert marksman, cartographer and chef who can tie strong knots and is trained in hostage negotiation or a marksman so good he can shoot down every bullet fired by a minigun while armed with a rusted single-shot pistol that veers to the left.
Tier 2: Someone with teleportation, mind control, time manipulation, intangibility, the ability to turn into an exact duplicate of anything, or the ability to see into the future with perfect accuracy.
Tier 1: Someone with teleportation, mind control, time manipulation, intangibility, the ability to turn into an exact duplicate of anything and the ability to see into the future with perfect accuracy.[/spoiler]

bkdubs123

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That Xixical is a gorram thing of beauty.

Flay Crimsonwind

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Beautiful work, and I love the drugs.
:whistle
Wow, that came out in a way other than I intended. I've gotta stop sniffing this ajax.

oslecamo

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I like what you've done so far, and I think I can use these for something in the future. If I may request the Troglodyte, from the first Monster Manual?

Sure! Just let me take care of the puppeteer.

Also any reports on how the monster classes play out in your games will be greatly apreciated!  ;)

Flay Crimsonwind:
Corrected it. Good to see another satisfied customer! :D

b100d_arrowz: One tecnical problem with the Shade. It has no listed CR change as far as I can see, only LA. One of the base rules of this project is making the monster classes with a number of levels equal to their CR, but obviously I cannot do so if I don't have a CR to convert.

So how many levels would you like the Shade to have? At first glance it seems like it would be at least 3 CR, specially with the crazy free-action long-range teleport trough shadows on top of all the other bonus. The more levels the class has, the more power I can cram on it.

the_shadowmind

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Any chance you could do the Sharn? The CR 8 mystic theurge-in-a-can.

Prime32

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Or the CR3 Deadly Dancer from Tome of Magic? Though that could be quite similar to the last class.
My work
The tier system in a nutshell:
[spoiler]Tier 6: A cartographer.
Tier 5: An expert cartographer or a decent marksman.
Tier 4: An expert marksman.
Tier 3: An expert marksman, cartographer and chef who can tie strong knots and is trained in hostage negotiation or a marksman so good he can shoot down every bullet fired by a minigun while armed with a rusted single-shot pistol that veers to the left.
Tier 2: Someone with teleportation, mind control, time manipulation, intangibility, the ability to turn into an exact duplicate of anything, or the ability to see into the future with perfect accuracy.
Tier 1: Someone with teleportation, mind control, time manipulation, intangibility, the ability to turn into an exact duplicate of anything and the ability to see into the future with perfect accuracy.[/spoiler]

oslecamo

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Puppeteer

[spoiler]
Hit Die:d4
LevelBABFortRefWillFeatures
1+0+0+0+2Puppeteer  body, Enthral, Parasite Brain, Hide Mind, Host Protection, Weak
Skills: 2+Int mod. Class skills are Bluff, Concentration, Diplomacy,  Intimidate, Listen, Sense Motive, Spot, PsyCraft.

Proficiencies: A Puppeteer  is proficient only with its natural weapons.

Features

Puppeteer BodyEnthral:Parasite Brain: The puppeteer has blindsense and telepathy 15 feet plus 5 feet per 2 HD, up to 60 feet at 18 HD. At 19 HD the blindsense becomes blindsight 60 feet.

In addition, the puppeteer may use Psionic charm and Detect Psionics as a PLA 3/day each, using Cha as its base stat, with a manifester level equal to its HD. At 5HD it may use mental barrier as a PLA 3/day as well.

Hide Mind:A puppeteer cannot be identified as psionic by divination spells or clairsentience powers.

Host Protection:A puppeteer in control of a host is treated as an attended magic item for the purpose of making saving throws, even if the puppeteer is specifically targeted. A puppeteer that is attached to its host is treated as a creature in a grapple for the purpose of striking at the puppeteer instead of the host (but the host is not considered grappled in turn).
 
Weak: Puppeteers are squishy minuscle creatures, attaching themselves to others to survive. After ability scores have been generated, the Puppeteer must take a total of -9 penalty between its physical ability scores, whitout reducing any of them to less than 1.

In addition, the puppetter doesn't receive a bonus feat at first level, neither can it take flaws or traits.

[/spoiler]

Comments:
[spoiler]
The Puppeteer was just one level long, but quite tricky. Fine size is really an essential part of the monster, so for the first time I allowed the monster to start at something smaller than small.

Then you get the quite powerfull ability to dominate creatures right from lv1 as long as you can charm them and  get near them. Then you're quite dificult to pull out. Also blindsense and telepathy, with the first eventually upgrading to blindsight (because blindsight 60 feet at 1st level whitout the puppeteer being blind itself was kinda ridiculous honestly). You're also hard to find out with divinations so hide behind some clothes and they may not even notice you're there!

In return you're taking a heavy penalty to ability scores, no starting feat, and really not much of a backup plan. Your special abilities don't scale as well as other monster classes.

Allowed to start with a minor NPC enthralled untill you can get your hands in something nastier, probably with the help of the party. Unlike other charmer monsters the puppeteer doesn't get to bypass immunity to mind affecting since it's just one level long.

This is a very specialized monster, with powerfull abilities and powerfull drawbacks, but hopefully it all balances out. Opinions specially welcome here.

As for what to take with your other levels, anything psionic probably should be good. Warlock would a powerfull synergy with the to-hit bonus of being fine sized.

So if you want to play the stereotypic dominating worm that attaches itself to other people's necks, the puppeteer's for you!

[/spoiler]


oslecamo

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Troglodyte

[spoiler]
Hit Die:d8
LevelBABFortRefWillFeatures
1+1+0+0+2Troglodyte Body, Bleding Hide, Cavern Vision, Stench, +2 Con
Skill Points: (4+Int modifier) per level, x4 at first level. Class Skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance(Dex), Climb (Str), Intimidate (Cha), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (Dungeoneering, Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Spot (Wis), and Swim (Str).

Proficiencies: The troglodyte is proficient with its natural weapons and simple weapons.

Troglodyte Body: The troglodyte loses all other racial bonuses and gains  Humanoid traits (basically nothing). It also gains the (Reptilian) subtype, wich means it's cold blooded and has scaly skin.  The troglodyte is a Medium humanoid with a base speed of 30 feet, possessing two primary claw attacks that deal 1d4 + Str mod damage each and a secondary bite attack that deals 1d4 + 1/2 Str mod damage. Troglodytes instictively know how to speak draconic, but they don't know how to read by default as their civilization is specially primitive. A Troglodyte can learn how to read by spending 2 Skill Points.

In addition, the Troglodyte gains a bonus to nat armor equal to its Con mod.

Blending Hide: The skin of a troglodyte can change color, blending into its surroundings like a chameleon, wich grants it a bonus on Hide checks equal to its HD. This bonus doubles in rocky or underground settings.

Cavern Vision: The Troglodyte has darkvision 60 feet, wich increases by an extra 5 feet for every 2 HD.

Stench: A Troglodyte can secrete an oily, musk-like chemical that nearly every form of animal life finds offensive as a swift action. All living creatures (except troglodytes) within 30 feet of the Troglodyte must succeed on a DC 10+1/2HD+Con mod Fortitude save or be sickened for  2 rounds per HD. This counts as a poison effect, so any immunity/resistance against poison apply against the Stench as well. The Troglodyte may have his Stench affect a smaller area than the maximum possible. The Troglodyte can keep up the stench for a number of rounds equal to it's Con mod per hour, wich may be divided among several uses. Ending it beforehand is another swift action. Creatures with the Scent ability take a -2 penalty on their saves against Stench.

For every 2 HD the Troglodyte has, it can increase the range of this effect by an extra 5 feet.

In addition, with ten minutes work and comining inexpensive raw materials normally found in the wilderness with it's own musk, it may create 1d6 doses of anti-musk. Anyone who eats the anti-musk (a fullround action) becomes immune to that Troglodyte's stench for 24 hours. This was initially developed by Troglodytes to keep domestic animals and warbeasts, but is also used by adventuring troglodytes to don't hinder their allies.

Troglodyte Skill:
At 5 HD, 10 HD, 15 HD and 20 HD the Troglodyte may choose one of the following abilities to gain.

Nauseating Stench: Creatures failing the save against the Stench are now Nauseated for 1 round if they fail the save. Even if they make their initial save, they're still sickened for 1 round.

Stench Cloud: As a standard action, a number of times per day equal to its Con mod, the Troglodyte can create a persistent cloud of musk with a radius of 5 feet per HD centered on himself. Anyone entering it suffers the effects of Stench. This cloud doesn't provide concealment and lasts 10 minute/HD.

Corrupting Stench: Now the Troglodyte's stench can affect creatures normally immune to its effects (except creatures who took the anti-musk), but they gain a +5 bonus on their saves.

Coating Stench: The Troglodyte learns how to apply its musk to any manufactured or natural melee/thrown weapon, or 10 ammunition of any kind. Creatures striken by that weapon or ammunition are affected by the Trolodyte's stench. Coating is a swift action that can be used a number of times per day equal to the Troglodyte's Con modifier, and it lasts 1 hour/HD.

Blinding Stench: Creatures affected by the Troglodyte's Stench must also make a Reflex save with the same DC or be Blinded for 1 round.

Greater Blending Skin: The Troglodyte now has permanent cover, granting it a 20% miss chance and allowing it to hide whitout actually having anything to hide behind. Neither true seeing or see invisibility negate this effect.

Simple is Best:
Any simple weapons wielded by the Troglodyte deal damage as if they were one size category bigger. At 10 HD, and every 5 HD thereafter, they deal damage as if they were one extra size category bigger.

In addition, simple thrown weapons from the Troglodyte ignore adverse wind conditions, including magic ones like Wind Wall and the like.

Shaman:While the Troglodyte has its normal Stench activated, its caster/manifester level increases by 2.

Ability Score Increase: The Troglodyte gains a permanet +2 to Con.
[/spoiler]

Comments
[spoiler]
The Troglodyte is literally a foul monster, able to release a foul stench able to cripple its oponents. And allies. And anyone else who's passing by that's not a troglodyte. No wonder they have such bad reputation.

So of course after the base abilities had been stablished, I added a simple way of the Trolodyte not screwing over its own party.

Then in the tradition of all the other 1-level monsters, I added a bunch of improvements to keep your base abilities viable. Most of them based on Stench, but then Shaman as well for some troglodyte caster love.

So if you want to play a  cave lizardman, the troglodyte's for you!
[/spoiler]

b100d_arrowz

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Quote
b100d_arrowz: One tecnical problem with the Shade. It has no listed CR change as far as I can see, only LA. One of the base rules of this project is making the monster classes with a number of levels equal to their CR, but obviously I cannot do so if I don't have a CR to convert.

So how many levels would you like the Shade to have? At first glance it seems like it would be at least 3 CR, specially with the crazy free-action long-range teleport trough shadows on top of all the other bonus. The more levels the class has, the more power I can cram on it.

Hmmmm that would be a problem, I'd also say it pops on a good 3 CR at min, given the complete freedom it offers you to move, although perhaps less given those silly light restrictions it offers up as balance.


And several of my players tried out your classes at the end of our last session, they partnered up with a gnome messing with the forces of creation  :plotting and put a stop to a barbarian invasion powered by dragon orbs  :D Special thanks from my players for the Concordant Killer and Gloom especially.



Another fun monster, the Phaerimm (not sure on spelling) from monsters of Faerun. They are nowhere near as awesome in the text as the books unless fully advanced, make them mo betta please  :D
I'm delirious from lack of sleep, but am sustained by the power of the Gatling Gun!

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oslecamo

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Shade(template)

[spoiler]Prerequisites

To become a Shade, the character must meet the following requirements:
-Must be a non-outsider corporeal living being of nongood Alignment.
-Must have 5HD or more.
-Must have performed an important task for another Shade, wich then will perform a 24 hour ritual on the character.
 
HD:d8
LevelBABFortRefWillSpecial
1st
+0
+0
+2
+2
Shade Body, Light Unpowering, Shadow Speed, Night Field, Control Light, Dark Healing, Shadow Magic (Lesser), +1 Con
2nd
+1
+0
+3
+3
Dark Blow, Shadow Stride, Black Blessing, Shadow Magic(Intermidiate), +1 Cha
3rd
+1
+3
+3
+3
HandFang, Black Canopy, Shadow Magic (Greater), +1 Con, +1 Cha
Skills: 4+int mod. Class skills are bluff, hide, intimidate, listen, knowledge(arcana) knowledge(the planes), move silently, sense motive, spellcraft, and spot

Proficiencies: A Shade gains no new proficiencies.

Features:

Shade Body:
Unlike other monster classes, the Shade doesn't lose his racial ability modifiers, but he does gain native outsider traits (basically darkvision 60 feet). Their life spans are increased by a tenfold.

Light Unpowering: Unless otherwise noticed, none of the below Shade abilities apply in a well illuminated area, be it actual daylight or a Daylight spell.

Shadow Speed: The Shade gains a 20 feet bonus to all his movement speeds.

Night Field: The Shade gains a Deflection bonus to AC equal to his Cha mod, a bonus on Hide and Move Silently Checks equal to his HD, and a bonus on Spot and Listen equal to half his HD.

Control Light: The Shade can decrease the levels of light whitin a 100 feet radius by a factor of 10% per HD (up to 100%, can decrease less than maximum). For beings depedent on light to see, this decreases the effective range of vision for them by the same percentage. For each 25% decrease in light, anyone whitin the area gains a +1 circumstance bonus on Hide checks.

Dark Healing: the Shade gains Fast Healing equal to half his HD.

Shadow Magic: The Shade can use the following SLAs a certain number of times per day depending on his HD.

HD RequiredShade Magic RequiredSpellUses per day
6LesserInvisibility1/HD
7LesserMirror Image1/2HD
9IntermediateTeleport(to shadowy areas only)1/5 HD
12IntermediateShadow Walk1/6HD
13IntermidiateGreater Teleport (to shadowy areas only)1/7 HD
14GreaterShadow Conjuration, Greater1/8HD
18GreaterShades1/9HD
If he multiclasses for an arcane/divine class he can count his Half-fiend levels as levels of that class for purposes of CL and for the purposes of learning new spells and geting new spell slots. So for example, a Shade 3 who took 1 level of sorceror could choose to have CL 4, get 3 2nd level spell slots, 1 1st level spell slot, 1 2nd level spell known and 1 0th level spell known. He wouldn't get the spell knowns and spell slots of a sorceror 3 however. He would get the familiar ability, but half-fiend levels wouldn't count for it

Dark Blow: The Shade adds his Cha mod as a competence bonus on damage rolls.

Shadow Stride: At 2nd level as a move action, the Shade can vanish and reappear in any shadowy position whitin 20 feet per HD. Once this is ability is used, the Shade must way 2 rounds before being able to use it again.

Black Blessing: At 2nd level the Shade gains SR equal to 11+HD. He may lower or rise it as a free action at any time even if it isn't his turn.

HandFang: Shadow Canopy: At 3rd level 1/day the Shade may create  a field of shadow filling a diamater of 100 feet plus 50 feet per HD, and an equal height. It must be centered in a point of space, an object or a creature. Unwilling targets and their worn equipment get a Will saving throw with DC 10+1/2HD+Cha mod to resist this. The outer surface of the fields is impenetrable to normal vision and dark vision, granting total concealment to creatures and objects whitin the spell's area. This includes even special darkvision abilities like those of a devil.

The interior of the field casts a deep shadow on everything whitin it. Light, including sunlight cannot penetrate the field. Creatures that would normally be adversely affected by sunlight are able to fuction normally whitin the field, including the shade himself. This ability may be activated even if the Shade is currently affected by light. It lasts 1 hour/HD.

Light spells of a level equal to or less than 1/2 your HD cannot be cast inside the Shadow Canopy, and any such effects that were inside the field or enter it later are automatically supressed. A light spell of a level higher than 1/2 your HD can counter or dispel Shadow Canopy however.
[/spoiler]

Comments
[spoiler]
Because there clearly weren't enough dark things lurking in D&D's shadows.

Shades are the elite of a society who went into the plane of Shadow and found out a way of turning their best members in elite shadows trough some secret process reserved only for the top ones.

Now the obvious weakness is sunlight. Even a daylight spell shuts down your powers. But the rest of the time, you get several goodies between fast healing, SLAs, extra speed, two good saves, Cha to damage, SR and whatnot.

The twin capstones are based on two obscure Shade-only spells from the same sourcebook, wich I decided to grant by default. Handfang is a nice combat trick for keeping oponents busy, Shadow Canopy almost completely nullifies your big weakness, but you're still vulnerable if you find some Pelor cleric higher level than you.

So if you want to give a touch of Shadow to your character, the Shade's for you!
[/spoiler]

oslecamo

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And several of my players tried out your classes at the end of our last session, they partnered up with a gnome messing with the forces of creation  :plotting and put a stop to a barbarian invasion powered by dragon orbs  :D Special thanks from my players for the Concordant Killer and Gloom especially.
You're all welcome.  :)

Another fun monster, the Phaerimm (not sure on spelling) from monsters of Faerun. They are nowhere near as awesome in the text as the books unless fully advanced, make them mo betta please  :D

I didn't really read the Faerun books. Could you go in a little more detail on what they're suposed to do please? I remember in the crunch they're basically big nasty monsters with sorceror casting that everybody else and their mother in Faerun seems to hate.

Mushroom

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I didn't really read the Faerun books. Could you go in a little more detail on what they're suposed to do please? I remember in the crunch they're basically big nasty monsters with sorceror casting that everybody else and their mother in Faerun seems to hate.
[/quote]

They would have destroyed Faerun had it not been for the Sharn. They're so powerful that they almost(they were in the process of actually doing) "ate" an Elven Mythal. They're also so manipulative that they command Illithids and Beholders to work for them.


They're probably the most HOSS race next to the sharn.

oslecamo

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Well, see, uber-powerfull isn't something I can really work with here. That's why pretty much all the monsters here have reduced ability scores in relation to the originals, to make room for abilities. And I'm already  nerfing the Sharn untill its something remotely balanced, but at least the Sharn has some themes going for it (dual caster+create holes+lots of natural weapons+batshit insane and chaotic).

So the phaeryn, they're sorcerors with lots of natural weapons as well and aparently very manipulative. Anything else?

Mushroom

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So the phaeryn, they're sorcerors with lots of natural weapons as well and aparently very manipulative. Anything else?
They, in the fluff, can drain magic from damn near anything. They created Aunaroch(sp?) the giant ass desert and ripped Netheril's floating cities out of the sky. They also almost drained the Elven City of Everska of its Mythal. They're DR in the novels make it seem damn near impossible to break through, they had to use shadowstriking(ToM) swords in one book to actually harm them.

oslecamo

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Sharn

[spoiler]
HD:d4
LevelBabFortRefWillFeature
1+0+0+0 +2Sharn Body, Hex Portal, Fixed Shape, +1 Cha
2+1+0+0 +3Chaos Field, Multi-Strike, +1 Cha
3+1+1+1 +3Chaos Soul, Screw the Rules
4+2+1+1 +4Dual Nature
5+2+1+1 +4Growth
6+3+2+2 +5Evasion, Chaos Essence
7+3+2+2 +5Tri-Force
8+4+2+2 +6Indepedent Action
Skills: 2+int modifier per level, quadruple at 1st level.Proficiencies:its own natural weapons, plus one martial weapon of their choice.

Features:
Sharn body: At 1st level, the Sharn loses all other racial bonus and gets aberration traits (darkvision 60 feets basicaly). It's a medium sized aberration creature with base speed 10 feet. It has three arms each with a natural claw attacks dealing 1d4+ half Str mod damage each, and one head with bite attack dealing 1d6+half Str mod damage each. The claws are able to perform fine manipulation, including wielding weapons. It has no normal eyes on the head, instead it has multiple minuscle eyes around its claws. Holding a weapon with two claws allows the Sharn to add twice his full Str mod to damage rolls with that weapon. This is cumulative, so each extra claw used to hold a weapon allows the Sharn to add extra damage equal to half its Str mod.

The Sharn also gets a Nat armor bonus equal to its Con mod.

When it reaches 6 HD, the Sharn becomes able to fly at a speed of 40 feet with perfect maneuverability.

Hex Portal: A Sharn can first maintain one miniature portal-ethereal windows-trough wich it can see, cast spells, andeven launch a melee attack. Each portal is a translucent hexagonal window of purple light, 3 feet in diameter.

As a fullround action, the Sharn can form one portal anywhere whitin 20 feet of its body, each portal coalescing out of a swirl of purple motes. Thereafter, each separate hex portal can move indendently  up to 20 feet per round as a free action before the Sharn takes its regular action.

The hex portal does not block movement, line of sight, or missile fire. A character can occupy the same space as a hex portal with no penalty besides exposing himself to the Sharn's attacks (see below). The Sharn can dismiss the portal as a free action. Any portal that ends up 20 feet per HD or more away from the Sharn instantly disappears.

Sharns can launch melee attacks trough portals whitout any penalty.  This includes attacks of oportunity and contributing to flanking. A Sharn can flank with its own Hex portal. Opponents cannot strike back trough the hex portal, but they can ready an action to attack the Sharn's limb when it comes out to strike. The Sharn gets +10 to AC and +4 bonus to reflex saves against such readied attacks.

At 4 HD, and every three HD from there, the Sharn can create up to one extra portal whenever it uses this ability. Two at 4 HD, three at 7 HD, Five at 10 HD, ect.

Fixed Shape: Sharns cannot polymorph themselves or be changed by others, including shapechange, alter self, gaseous form, petrification, and any such other spells and effects.

Ability Score Increase: The Sharn gains +1  and Cha at first and second levels, for a total of +2 Cha at 8th level.

Chaos Field: At 2nd level the Sharn gains DR/cold iron or lawfull equal to half its HD and SR equal to 11+HD. The Sharn may rise or lower it's SR at any time as a free action even if it isn't its turn.

Multi-Strike: At 2nd level the Sharn gains Multiattack and Multiweapon fighting as bonus feats, even if it doesn't meet the prerequisites.

Chaos Soul: At 3rd level the Sharn becomes able to cast spells both as a sorceror of its Sharn level -2, except it receives double the spells slots and spells known. Half of those spell knowns must be taken from the cleric list instead of the sorceror list, and half the spell slots can only be used to cast those cleric spells (the other half of spell slots can only be used for the spells learned from the sorceror list). If the Sharn takes cleric or sorceror levels they stack, but the Sharn also stops gaining double the amount of spell slots and spells known and now gains them at normal rate (and in the case of cleric continues advancing as sorcero casting for spell slots and number of spells known). If the Sharn takes a dual-casting prc like Mysthic Theurge, it can keep advancing at double rate, counting its Sharn casting for both the divine and arcane advancement.

Screw the Rules: At 3rd level the Sharn can cast any spell that has a material component or focus costing 1 gp or less without needing that component. If the spell has a material component or focus costing 1 gp or more, the Sharn can replace it with any object at hand wich has the same gp value, including any money you have.

Dual Nature: At 4th level the Sharn grows one extra head and three extra arms, granting it one extra bite attack and three extra claw attacks. They do not allow the Sharn to take more actions per turn than normal, besides more attacks in a fullattack.

Growth: At 5th level the Sharn grows one size category.

Evasion:At 6th level the Sharn gains Evasion as the standard rogue ability.

Chaos Essence:at 6th level the Sharn becomes immune to mind-affecting effects and gains regeneration equal to 1/3 its HD, wich can be bypassed only by lawfull attacks and spells.

Tri-Force:At 7th level the Sharn grows a third head and three more arms, granting it one extra bite attack and three extra claw attacks for a total of three bites and nine claw attacks. They do not allow the Sharn to take more actions per turn than normal, besides more attacks in a fullattack.

Independent Action:At 8th level, the Sharn's heads start becoming able of more independent coordination. 1/day for every 8 HD, the Sharn may take 3 standard actions plus one move action or one fullround action plus one standard action.

Either way, the Sharn cannot cast more than one cleric spell and one sorceror spell in a single round when using this ability.

[/spoiler]

Comments
[spoiler]
Well for a change the Sharn has no lack of abilities to fill its eight levels.

So the first level grants the iconic ability to create portals and four natural weapons. You'll notice I make the number of portals scale with HD so eventually you can go over the vanilla 3 portals at the same time. You start quite slow but your hex portals allow you to strike and
threaten at range. And eventually the Sharn can fly by itself.

At third level you get the Sharn's infamous dual casting progression, out of a single stat, but since they're both based on sorceror progression (wich also implies really low number of spells know), it isn't so bad.

Three standard actions per turn at will is just now. You're geting it 1/day at 8th level, twice per day at 16th level and that's already plenty if you ask me.

Meanwhile you're also geting a simply horrendous number of natural weapons, ability to improvise spell components and focus on the fly, evasion, growth, regeneration

The obvious path once all levels are taken is mystyhic theurge to keep progressing your dual casting.

With all of these goodies, the Sharn only gets 1d4 HD, bad skill points, one single good save, and a couple ability score increases.

So if you want to play a...A... Whatever the hell is a three headed nine clawed snake-bodied cleric-sorcerer, the Sharn's for you!  
[/spoiler]

the_shadowmind

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Any reason for choosing the 3.0 CR 6 Monster's of Fearun version instead of the arguably weaker 3.5 CR 8 Anauroch: The Empire of Shade version? Not having the book is understandable.

If don't have the book: these were the changes"
[spoiler]
Given an ECL of 9 (4HD +5LA)
From 7th Sor+5th Cleric to 6th Sor+6th Favored Soul(loses turn undead)
DR 10/+3 to DR 10/cold iron or lawful
Natural Armor from 1 to 5
Loses haste, and the +4 AC from it
Instead of haste gets Independent Action (Ex) which is 3standard+move, Full round+stand, Full round+move each round, but limited to one spell per list as before.
 3.5 version has Alterness, Multiattack, and Multiweapon Fighting as bonus feats.
 3.5 version can wield weapon, but they count as 1 size smaller for wielding weapons
 Fixed shape clarified to apply against polymorph, petrification, gaseous form,
and transformative attacks.
3.5 if gains a familiar then the sharn HD stacks for it, but the HD doesn't grant one.
3.5 no longer gains free casting levels from HD, only from RHD.
[/spoiler]



oslecamo

  • Grape ape
  • *****
  • Posts: 1940
Any reason for choosing the 3.0 CR 6 Monster's of Fearun version instead of the arguably weaker 3.5 CR 8 Anauroch: The Empire of Shade version? Not having the book is understandable.
Geez, excuse me for not having every adventure D&D book ever printed.   :p

But if you want a diferent version of the monster as base that works for me too.
Given an ECL of 9 (4HD +5LA)
From 7th Sor+5th Cleric to 6th Sor+6th Favored Soul(loses turn undead)
DR 10/+3 to DR 10/cold iron or lawful
Natural Armor from 1 to 5
Loses haste, and the +4 AC from it
Instead of haste gets Independent Action (Ex) which is 3standard+move, Full round+stand, Full round+move each round, but limited to one spell per list as before.
 3.5 version has Alterness, Multiattack, and Multiweapon Fighting as bonus feats.
 3.5 version can wield weapon, but they count as 1 size smaller for wielding weapons
 Fixed shape clarified to apply against polymorph, petrification, gaseous form,
and transformative attacks.
3.5 if gains a familiar then the sharn HD stacks for it, but the HD doesn't grant one.
3.5 no longer gains free casting levels from HD, only from RHD.
-Don't really care about LA around here, only CR.
-Favored soul casting? I can work with that.
-Indepedent action implemented as capstone with some nerfing.
-Nobody cares about alertness. Multi stuff added at 2nd level.
-Melees deserve nice things. I won't punish the Sharn for wanting to use pointy sticks.
-Added the extra clarification for Fixed Shape.
-Double casting is already strong enough with all the other abilities, not gonna add familiar progression.
-Did you really think I was gonna put the broken free casting from any HD? That was the first ability of the monster thrown out the window.

Well, the adventure module version is ready now. If anybody else wanted to see the 3.0 version say something and I'll repost it again.