Post/Author/DateTime	Post
HernetheHunter 12-06-07, 05:13 PM	I have edited the below and added a little history... Halfling, Raxian Half-PseudoDragon/Halfling • Dragon type • Small (as Base creature) size • Movement: 20’ base speed, Fly 60’ (average)(See below) OR Climb 20’? • +4 Natural AC • Attacks: Sting 1d3 +poison; 2 Claws 1d3 • Special Attacks: Poison • Special Qualities: Darkvision 60’ Low-light vision Scent Immunity to Sleep and Paralysis Spell Resistance 10+Class Level Chameleon Skin +1 racial bonus on all saving throws +2 morale bonus on on saving throws against Fear +1 racial bonus on attacks rolls made with thrown weapons and slings +2 racial bonus on Balance, Climb, Jump, and Move Silently checks. +4 racial bonus on Hide checks. +8 in forested or overgrown areas. • Str 4; Dex 2; Con 2; Int 2; Cha 2 • CR 3 • LA +3 ¤ Fly (Ex): Flight is based on Hit Dice. Until you reach 6 HD you may only Glide (as the Extraordinary ability), between 6 HD and 12 HD you may Fly for a limited period of time equal to your Con Modifier x4. At 12 HD and above you may Fly at will. OR ¤ Climb 20’ ¤ Chameleon Skin(Ex): You can adjust the color of your skin to blend in with your surroundings. When not wearing armor, robes, or other covering clothing you gain a +4 racial bonus to Hide checks. This increases to +8 in Forests or overgrown areas. ¤ Poison (Ex): Injury, Fortitude save DC 10+1/2 Hit Dice +Con Mod, initial damage sleep for 1 minute, secondary damage sleep for 1d3 hours. ¤ Skills: +2 racial bonus on Balance, Climb, Jump, and Move Silently checks are mainly from the Wings and tail. Description: Standing around 3 feet tall these Halflings have a reddish-brown coloring with fine barely noticeable scales. They have barely noticeable canines that are slightly longer than normal and their slit-pupilled eyes give them a piercing gaze that seems to notice everything. Their clawed hands make them careful around softer skinned beings, but the most noticeable things are the bat-like wings sprouting from their back and the barbed six foot long flexible tail. Eberronian History: Two centuries before the Last War began a surge in the activities of the Lords of Dust was noticed by the Bloodsworn scattered across Galifar. The reports received by the Shulassakar in Krezent requested advice and aid, which was responded to with what limited resources were available. This story follows the request for aid from Zalanberg, Zilargo at the base of the Seawall Mountains. The reports indicated a creature was searching for an artifact discovered in the ruins of a city found in the Shadowcrags on the border of the Eldeen Reaches and the Demon Wastes by a research team from the Library of Korranberg. The aid sent was Kirva Ssrendt, a flametouched sorcerer/monk who had been successful on previous missions. Kirva tracked the murderous creature, but was too late to save its latest victim, the last member of the research team, or stop it from making off with the artifact. Kirva learned from the last explorer before his death that the artifact, a demonically crafted war hammer, had the power to break bindings. Armed with this information the monk tracked the demon with hired assistance and the help of a contracted Halfling “repossession” guild paid for by the Library of Korranberg. The Halflings had to swear an oath in order to travel with Kirva that bound them to the monks cause. Together they tracked the fiend to the north of Q’barra along the Endworld Mountains where they battled the demon at the ruins of a Couatl outpost and location of a seal that helped in the binding of an unknown Rajah. The half-fiend ogre mage known as the Ul’Gboe succeeded in destroying the seal and was basking and gloating in his success when one of the Halflings struck him unexpectedly snatching the hammer and running. The Halflings retreated, their contract with the Library half completed leaving Kirva alone. Kirva , unknowingly, in his final battle with the Ul’Gboe before the breaking seal, channels the power of the couatl, remaking the seal and binding the Ul’Gboe within the ruins. The next morning after the battle, the Halflings’ return to see what had happened. They find Kirva severely wounded and dying, his familiar Rax curled around his head. Kirva worried about the seal and his inability to report to others reminds them of the oath they swore and begs the Halflings to journey to Krezent and report the location of the ruins. The Halflings decline in order to fulfill their contract and receive their payment. Kirva feeling betrayed and in a rage gains Rax’s permission and binds the halflings souls to Rax’s and charges them with the protection of the ruins, the seal, and the furthering of the goals of eradicating the evil of Rakshasha. The binding resulted in the Rax. Thoughts ideas?
Kreistor2 12-07-07, 01:26 AM	Well, I for one would rather reply here. What follows is a race from a second ed homebrew that I have revamped for 3.5 after reading a post about pseudo dragon characters that jarred my memory. Halfling, Raxian Half-PseudoDragon/Halfling • Dragon type • Small (as Base creature) size • Movement: 20’ base speed, Fly 60’ (average)(See below) • +4 Natural AC • Attacks: Sting 1d3 +poison; 2 Claws 1d3, Tail slap 1d4? • Special Attacks: Poison • Special Qualities: Darkvision 60’ Low-light vision Scent Immunity to Sleep and Paralysis Spell Resistance 10+Class Level Chameleon Skin +1 racial bonus on all saving throws +2 morale bonus on on saving throws against Fear +1 racial bonus on attacks rolls made with thrown weapons and slings +2 racial bonus on Balance, Climb, Jump, and Move Silently checks. +4 racial bonus on Hide checks. +8 in forested or overgrown areas. • Str -4; Dex 4; Con 2; Cha 2 • LA +3/+4? ¤ Fly (Ex): Flight is based on Hit Dice. Until you reach 6 HD you may only Glide (as the Extraordinary ability), between 6 HD and 12 HD you may Fly for a limited period of time equal to your Con Modifier x4. At 12 HD and above you may Fly at will. ¤ Chameleon Skin(Ex): You can adjust the color of your skin to blend in with your surroundings. When not wearing armor, robes, or other covering clothing you gain a +4 racial bonus to Hide checks. This increases to +8 in Forests or overgrown areas. ¤ Poison (Ex): Injury, Fortitude save DC 10+1/2 Hit Dice +Con Mod, initial damage sleep for 1 minute, secondary damage sleep for 1d3 hours. ¤ Skills: +2 racial bonus on Balance, Climb, Jump, and Move Silently checks are mainly from the Wings and tail. Description: Standing around 3 feet tall these Halflings have a reddish-brown coloring with fine barely noticeable scales. They have barely noticeable canines that are slightly longer than normal and their slit-pupilled eyes give them an otherworldly aura that you don’t quite notice at first. Their clawed hands make them careful around softer skinned beings, but the most noticeable things are the bat-like wings sprouting from their back and the barbed six foot long flexible tail. History: No one knows the origins of the Sting-tailed Halfling tribe known as the Rax, that dwells in and claims the ancient Nauld forest as its own. This Halfling tribe first appears in an account that dates back 400 years ago shortly after new trade routes were being located and established through the Nauld forest*. The reports indicate that the first sightings were nights after road construction were construction equipment was vandalized or stolen and the night watch found deep asleep. After repeated happenings of similar incidents which escalated into violence, with a reported 20 men dead over 2 year period, and divinations not detecting an answer, efforts were given to other routes with less obstacles. Since that time stories abound of, ruined cities, towers, fey courts, and other “items” of interest found within the interior of the Forest of Nauld, which can also be found in later chapters of this volume. Also of note is a purported trade arrangement between the Rax and another Halfling tribe, whose exact name in the reports varies between several tribes and villages with Halfling populations. The trade is reported to consist of rare substances (Raxian poison a myth?) and some crafts including finely balanced weapons made of Eronite and spidersilk armors and shields. Stories also hint at travelers finding their way into the forest and waking days later with no memory of their time in the wood. Other accounts of men found hanging upside down along the trade road near the woods, asleep, screaming, or dead. Currently, the Baron of Westlake has sent couriers and a Herald to initiate peaceful contact with the Forests inhabitants. So far they have been found wandering in confusion on the trade road, Hanging by their feet from trees the next day after they entered the forest at the point of entry, and asleep in the alternate genders clothing around a fire. Okay, first, I wouldn't use the half-dragon template myself. This steps on one of the mystiques around Erandis d'Vol. Read up on the Blood of Vol before deciding to go this route. I myself don't stand against half-dragons in Eberron like others do, but I don't think they should be a breeding race. You could solve this merely by calling it a half-pixie or something, without referencing that you used the half-dragon as a basis. So, I have some questions, assuming you're going forward with the idea... 1. You say "meet these guys." Do you mean they will fight, befriend, or other? 2. If fight, how many? 3. Are the dino-riding halflings of the Talenta plains not good enough for the job? 4. Have you read about the Age of Demons? What happened then bears significant resemblance to what you're trying to do here, so with a few mods you can Eberronize this right into the timeline. Just change the species type of the Ogre and the Fey and you wind up with a Rakshasa and Couatl. Okay, suggestions: Sting and Tail Slap shouldn't occur in the same creature if the sting comes from a tail attack. You don't normally get more than one attack with a particular limb unless you're using a weapon. You're trying to get two. Limit the Poison for use against players. Give them 2 or 3 uses per day. Low level characters have weak saves, and you could find the party all losing due to a couple missed saves very early in the fight. Their abilities and special attacks stack poorly. With -4 Str, their natural weapons are weak and hit softly. That even affects their archery, so the only good weapon for them is the Crossbow. You could give them all Weapon Finesse, but that still doesn't boost damage up to anything worth mentioning. A Fighter version with a greatsword is only doing 1D8+3 with an 18 in Str before racial mods. You haven't listed a CR. I wouldn't put them above a CR2. With no Str to mention, they aren't going to crank out damage. Their AC is naturally too high for a CR1, though (16 with a base 10 Dex), Are they a threat? Well, sort of. You can put them in the right environment with concealment and everything they need and TPK the party, or you can put them in an environment where there is no cover and the PC's will walk all over them. It'll be hard to make this a balanced challenge, especially for a bunch of kids that have no experience. Do they know that you can kick someone awake after being put to sleep, or will they assume it's a drugged sleep that they can't come out of? I'd just be careful to ensure that this enemy doesn't bear murderous intent toward the players, in case things go south.
HernetheHunter 12-07-07, 01:18 PM	Thanks for the Reply 1. You say "meet these guys." Do you mean they will fight, befriend, or other? A combination of all three. The PC's will be led here as part of an expedition from Morgrave, searching for the sources of legends and rumors about the forest and it's interior. The lead scholar in charge will be being effected by the BBEG imprisoned in the wood. 2. If fight, how many? Haven't worked out all the encounters yet. I picture a small tribe of the critters with a village in the interior. 3. Are the dino-riding halflings of the Talenta plains not good enough for the job? Normally I would say yes. But I am thinking of placing this near Q'barra and letting my story be effected more by Eberron than my Homebrew and dropping the Fey (major force in my Homebrew) as the original guardian and placing an advanced Pseudo Dragon in its place. Changing the story more later. 4. Have you read about the Age of Demons? What happened then bears significant resemblance to what you're trying to do here, so with a few mods you can Eberronize this right into the timeline. Just change the species type of the Ogre and the Fey and you wind up with a Rakshasa and Couatl. Yes indeed. I have all but the Dragons of book and I think I will use an ogre mage though and maybe make it a Rakshasa servant. Make it to draw the PC's in to a larger adventure later. As it is the ogre mage is looking to be CR 11 in a material state. A servant that was attempting to free the fiends in Hraak'tovhaak(Sp?)? As for the rest I just took the most direct route to what I had in my Homebrew. I see your points and will modify what I have later to reflect them. I will be posting the adventure story line more completely either later tonight or tomorrow. Thanks for the help.
Cuaglar 12-08-07, 12:32 AM	Normally I would say yes. But I am thinking of placing this near Q'barra and letting my story be effected more by Eberron than my Homebrew and dropping the Fey (major force in my Homebrew) as the original guardian and placing an advanced Pseudo Dragon in its place. Changing the story more later. If you want the original guardian to be draconic, I would still stick with a couatl, or at least a true dragon. A pseudodragon, as I have always seen it, is playful yet capricious, like a cat. A most unsuitable guardian, even an advanced one. Also, the Talenta halflings are practically right next door to Q'barra, and indeed chased the lizardfolk that live there out of the Plains and into the Jungle. So some halflings might remember this, and feel they have some reason to have a foothold in Q'barra. And the spelling is Haka'torvhak. :)
Kreistor2 12-08-07, 03:20 AM	Ah, good ol' Haka'torvhak. I know it well. My PC's went through there around L5, and will probably go through again around L22. I lovely place. Enough reminiscing. Despite what Cuaglar says, you are not required to retain alignment, and therefore personality archtypes, of standard DnD monsters. You can have a mean, ol' nasty Pseudo-dragon if you want one. If you're modeling it somewhat on Rhashaak, then give her the half-fiend template too, absorbed from proximity with a major evil jsut as Rhashaak gained the template in that manner. Parallel development and all that. It sounds like you're swaying towards a more Eberron approach to this, so I'm not going to push on anything, since I think you'll get there on your own. Your idea melts into Eberron quit nicely, and I think you'll get there just fine. If you want anything more specific, just ask.
twelvedrunkenmonkeyz 12-08-07, 08:21 AM	Instead of going with half-dragon or halflings, you can go with the Shalasakar (i.e. the couatl based yaun-ti).
HernetheHunter 12-13-07, 05:18 PM	I need to work out the stats for the Ul'Gboe in a corporeal form and as a possessor type critter.
Kreistor2 12-14-07, 03:36 PM	You'll find Possession on page 100 of the ECS, but you probably know that already. Possessing outsiders don't really have stats except for mental ones. Unless you're concerned about your PC's getting into the ethereal plane, the ethereal form doesn't need to be developed. Developing Ul'Gboe himself requires only deciding at what level you want the PC's to finally encounter him. He's going to be the boss fight at the end of it all, unless you want him to release something bigger. Ogre Mage starts at CR8. Half-fiend template adds at least +2, which puts it to CR10. Subtract 3 and the party should meet him at L7. However, I find that the templates are often overrated. The SLA's don't do much than give him another option no more powerful than what he can already do, so it's not powerful. The bonus abilities and NAC are nice, but they don't crank any stat by more than +4. And flight is often limited by setting. The new claws won't be used, and the Bite will be at -5 to his BAB, so it should rarely hit, and at 1/2 Str damage won't hurt much. I'd call the base creature CR 9 at most. If they have overcome Invisibility at the time they meet him, maybe even less than CR 8. Further, with only 5HD, this guy is horribly soft. He's got 42HP (37 base +5 from fiendish Con boost). One Orb of Force ignores his SR and has no saves deals 7D6 damage for average 24, and he's down to 18. He has DR 5/magic, which any L7 PC can overcome. In short, he's a softie. So you could give him a few class levels. Unfortunately, this is a bad situation for Sorcerer levels. He's going to be slinging 1st and 2nd level spells at characters that are throwing 3rd and 4th back. Ul'Gboe casts Magic Missile and you take, whoa, 7 damage. Wow, scary. Not! Time to be unfair. Treat the Ogre Mage's 5 racial HD as sorcerer levels, and when he takes his first sorc level, give him full Sorc spell progression for L6. I'd give him 3 sorc levels which puts him to L8 and 4th level spell slinging. Further, I'd bump some of his 1/day SLA's to 2 or 3, and maybe add another couple at SL5 or 6 at 1/day. Nightmare and Acid Fog (he's got Acid resist 10) are cute. For stats, I wouldn't put too much into Str or Cha, though it's really tempting. You can overdesign him. If your PC's are overdesigned, well, go nuts, but if they play middle of the road characters, putting top stats in Str and Cha might TPK. With class levels comes the elite array, so you've got 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8 to go with. Ability bonuses are Str +14, Dex +4, Con +10, Int +8, Wis +4, Cha +8. I'd probably do Str 13+14-27, Dex 15+4=19, Con 14+10=24, Int 8+8=16, Wis 10+4=14, and Cha 12+8=20. If you used point buy or some other method for choosing stats besides the DMG standard Roll 4D6, drop lowest, place where you want technique, then you should be using your method, notthe elite array, to determine stats for this honcho. The elite array matches the 4D6 method, but to retain challenge, you should be designing stats to your players' stats. Next up? Equipment. An EL10 encounter should have 5800GP in rewards; however, you can up that if you short rewards in previous (and/or later) fights. Maybe it's just me, but I like to put good equipment on tough fights. Players feel they earned it, especially if they have to fight against it. We've got a caster, so make sure there is some caster loot there. Don't forget to give him a couple wands and a few scrolls. (Some intended not to be used so your Wizard has something to scribe into his book... so many modules completely ignore giving out arcane scrolls, and so the flexibility of the Wizard in spell selection is often nonexistent.) Armour is a problem for this character: sorcerer has ASF problems. The Ogre Mage wears a chain shirt, so he's proficient with light armour, but even a mithril chain shirt has ASF 10%, and rolling that ASF gets annoying for the DM: you need to cut out every die roll you can, just to make certain you don't forget it. Give him Greater Mage Armor instead. Giants are proficient with all martial weapons, so that's covered. Give him a wicked weapon. I like to give creatures with regen weapons with the Vicious quality for extra meanness. I like to give large flying creatures reach weapons, just to be really effective. Glaive is the obvious choice. It adds an element of cruelty. Some parties overdesigned for melee will have a problem with this style. You should prep them for ranged combat long before this ever comes up. Make certain fighters know that they are actually proficient wiht bos, even if they aren't designed for ranged combat. To deal with a Fly-by from 20' (the reach on a large glaive), a meleer would need to be Enlraged with a reach weapon himself, and then ready an action to attack the creature when it gets close enough to hit. Without all those elements, the meleer has to pull the bow. Whereever they encounter Ul'Gboe, he will need airspace. Round him out with some potions of Cure. For feats, I think Improved Flyby and Improved Maneuverability are obvious. For the last, I like some of the Reserve feats from Complete Mage. Pick your flavour of feat for whatever type of spells you select for the sorc. Racial Skills include Spot and Listen, so you can keep those up to speed. Other than that, Concentration and Spellcraft are all you've really got to work with. Kinda bites, yeah. For running the fight, I'd run a standard Threat AI for most of it. Attack whoever has dealt Ul'Gboe the most damage or caused him the most trouble. Ignore ineffective characters. Force the party to try to control him, rather than attacking randomly. (Wizards in my campaign that Fireball on round one find they don't survive in the long run.) In the absence of a clear threat, go after whichever seems to have the lightest defences. So, HP will be 5D8+4+2D4+8x5= 72. That's a lot harder to make trivial: he should have good AC and SR to lengthen the fight, since you don't want this one over in a round or two. He's going to be chucking 4th level spells and some 5th and 6th level SLA's. The party is intended to be 7th level, so this will be a tough, but fun, fight.
HernetheHunter 12-15-07, 01:43 AM	I'm thinking the Ul'Gboe will be more of a challenge. I'm planning on it escaping in it's weakened condition to be hunted by the PC's. Maybe lead them to Xen'drick or through Droam to the Demon Wastes. I may also hijack a friend to play a Shulassakar that dies in fighting while they escape a prison. A few ideas circling my mind. I have been wondering whether I should drop the Raxian Flight and give it a climb speed. I think the PC's will meet them again on a side adventure that will assist them in the long run. Now admittedly I am worried about trying to get these kids to visualize the bigger picture in this game, any suggestions for playing with younger players?
Kreistor2 12-15-07, 02:05 AM	None. I never played in high school, and never DM'ed for anyone under 19. It's okay to add HD and class levels to monsters as you progress through the story. If you want to have a running series of encounters, well, that's easy to arrange. What you want is for Ul'Gboe to be heading to one ancient temple after another seeking to increase his power. White Wolf has a particular character run through its various systems. It went something like this (and I am not certain I have all of this in the right order or ifeven all elements are correct). The guy began in Werewolf as a jealous relative of a werewolf clan that hadn't become one. He first slew five werewolves and using a horrid ritual bound their pelts to his own, thereby making him a full werewolf. He then sought the blood of an older generation vampire, and drew on that power. He then sought training in the magical arts, and once he had it, he sought a tree important to the druidic mages and ripped off a branch which acted as a staff that allowed him to bypass the normal magical rules. And then from there he sought to gain the blood of a very ancient vampire, but that, well, enough spoilers for anyone that might play that series. Anyway, my point is that he should have a different goal in each place, and gain a different sort of power. The players need to fail most of the time, but it should never feel like they failed. Most of the time you want him to escape without them having the chance to land a single blow. (Ie. Make sure they know it's part of the plot, not their own fault they didn't get to him.) But I would be careful about too much of this. i'm not sure how a bunch of kids are going to take that kind of lack of resolution. You may find you need to back off on the stress somewhat. I could be wrong, of course. Personally, I wouldn't worry about your Raxian too much. I know it's a personal thing, but if your players don't wind up appreciating them as much as the amount of work you put into it deserves, then you're going to be the disappointed one. When I create a new race, I just grab one that already exists that has many of the characteristics I want, and then modfy it for the details I want. That way I do much less work and have the same result. A not too different creature is the Nycter in the MM3 or MM4. Small and flies. Most of the other details in your list the players will never know about.