Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Shi'ar Morpheus 09-29-05, 01:15 AM	Hi, I needed some feedback on a new template I created for the Forgotten Realms. I wasn't sure where to post it and I figured here was as good a place as any. The template has many similarities to a half-vampire but it also has a few twists. You'll notice some cues from the ranger, as well, with combat styles. It allows characters to choose a specific style for their character. I was inspired by the bosses from the Metal Gear games and I was looking for a way to create some of those character types. I need more experienced players to help me tweak it. Finally, I need some values for the Challenge Rating and the Level Adjustment sections. I was hoping someone might know what those numbers should be for this template. Please help. NIGHT CHILD In his effort to subdue the entire Dragon Coast, the Night King of Westgate found it necessary to utilize special agents that were as capable and as loyal as his subjugated vampires, yet that were also able to operate during daylight. To this end, Orbakh applied his complete mastery of the arcane arts, often on unwilling subjects. The end result of these experiments are the night children, elite operatives gifted by their Night King with dark talents while simultaneously compelled into his service. CREATING A NIGHT CHILD “Night child” (plural, night children), is an acquired template that can be added to any giant, humanoid or monstrous humanoid. The creature (referred to hereafter as the base creature) must have an Intelligence of at least 6. A night child uses all of the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here. Size and Type: The creature’s size and type do not change. Hit Dice: Same as the base creature. Speed: Same as the base creature. Initiative: Same as the base creature. Armor Class: Same as the base creature. Attack: A night child retains all the attacks of the base creature. Full Attack: A night child retains all the attacks of the base creature. Damage: A night child uses all the damage values of the base creature. Special Attacks: A night child retains all the special attacks of the base creature. Additionally, a night child may also select one other special attack as described below. Saves have a DC of 10 + ½ night child’s HD + night child’s Charisma modifier unless otherwise noted. Blood Drain (Ex): Through close association to their vampiric hosts, some night children adapted the ability to suck blood from a living victim with their fangs by making a successful grapple check. If the night child pins the foe, it drains blood, dealing 1d4 points of Constitution drain each round the pin is maintained. A night child cannot drain more points of Constitution in a single hour than its Constitution score. When a night child drains a victim’s Constitution, it gains 5 temporary hit points, no matter how many points it drains. Temporary hit points gained in this way last for up to 1 hour. If a night child has this special attack, it also gains the blood dependency special quality described below. Frightful Gaze (Su): Three times per day, a night child can cast his dire gaze upon any single creature within 30 feet. The target must succeed on a DC 13 Will save or be dazed for one day, although remove curse or dispel evil can restore sanity sooner. In addition, an affected creature below 4 HD must succeed on a DC 10 Fortitude save or die from fright. Creatures with immunity to fear effects are not affected by a night child’s frightful gaze. If a night child has this special attack, it also gains the light blindness special quality described below. Kiss of the Night (Su): A night child commands the lesser creatures of the world and once per day can call forth 1d6+1 rat swarms, 1d4+1 bat swarms or 1d2+1 hornet swarms as a standard action. Hornet swarms are treated as locust swarms for all intents and purposes. (If the base creature is not terrestrial, this power might summon other creatures of similar power). These creatures arrive in 2d6 rounds and serve the night child for up to 1 hour. If a night child has this special attack, it also gains the fast healing special quality described below. Poison Blood (Ex): Corruption by darkness has tainted the blood of some night children with fiendish poison. This poison can be inflicted on others by a bite or scratch attack. To make a scratch attack, a night child must make a successful unarmed melee attack against the target. The target must succeed at a DC 10 Fortitude save or be drained of 1 point of Strength. To make a bite attack, a night child must make a successful grapple check. If the night child pins the foe, it delivers poison through it’s fangs. The target must succeed at a DC 13 Fortitude save or be drained of 1d4 points of Strength. The damage is stronger with a bite due to the amount of poison injected. Alternately, a night child may blood let itself in order to draw enough poison to coat a weapon. Each day enough poison may be drawn to coat up to three weapons, however, doing this thins the blood of the night child to the point that the use of the poison blood special attack is lost for 24 hours. The coated weapon retains the poison until it is used to make a successful attack against a target. If a night child has this special attack, it also gains the poison use special quality described below. Pounce (Ex): When a night child with this special attack makes a charge, it can follow with a full attack-including rake attacks if the creature also has the rake ability. If a night child has this special attack, it also gains the great leap special quality described below. Special Qualities: A night child retains all the special qualities of the base creature and also gains those described below. Blood Dependency (Ex): If a night child does not use its blood drain special attack against at least one living creature each day, it must make a DC 15 Fortitude save or become fatigued. Each day after the first that the night child does not drink blood directly from a living creature, the DC increases by 1 until it fails the save and becomes fatigued. After that it must make a DC 20 Fortitude save each week (with the DC increasing by 1 each week thereafter) that it does not use its blood drain or become exhausted. The fatigue or exhaustion caused by blood dependency cannot be eliminated by rest (though magic can offset the condition until the night child fails another save). Using its blood drain ability eliminates a night child’s fatigue immediately, or reduces exhaustion to fatigue. Only night children with the blood drain special attack (see above) gain this special quality. Combat Style (Ex): To create specialized members, every night child must choose a combat style. This choice defines the way battle is approached and determines a series of bonus feats granted the night child. This choice is usually defined by profession and includes: arcanist, a spellwielder blessed with Combat Casting, Empower Spell and Spell Penetration; archer, a ranged combatant that enjoys Far Shot, Point Blank Shot and Precise Shot; dualwielder, a twin-bladed terror gifted with Two-Weapon Defense, Two-Weapon Fighting and Twin Sword Style; and juggernaut, the quintessential brute empowered with Cleave, Combat Reflexes and Power Attack. Fast Healing (Ex): By drawing on the life-force of the lesser creatures of the night, a night child heals 1 point of damage each round so long as it has at least one hit point but less than half its full normal hit points. As long as the night child has more than half its full normal hit points, its fast healing does not function (but other forms of healing still function normally). Only night children with the kiss of the night special attack (see above) gain this special quality. Great Leap (Ex): A night child with this special quality gains the extraordinary ability to make a great leap. To make a great leap, the night child must make a successful Jump check (DC 25). If successful, the night child may leap up to a maximum of his movement plus the result of his Jump skill check. Further, the night child may choose to use this ability to make a devastating leap attack against his opponent, inflicting +4d6 bonus damage. When performing a great leap, the night child receives a +4 dodge bonus to AC and a +4 reaction bonus to reflex saves until his next action. The night child may only make one great leap per round. Only night children with the pounce special attack (see above) gain this special quality. Light Blindness (Ex): Abrupt exposure to bright light (such as sunlight or a daylight spell) blinds a night child for 1 hour. On subsequent rounds, they are dazzled while operating in bright light. Only night children with the frightful gaze special attack (see above) gain this special quality. Poison Use (Ex): A night child with this special quality is trained in the use of poison and never risks accidentally poisoning themselves when applying poison to a blade. Only night children with the poison blood special attack (see above) gain this special quality. Spider Climb (Ex): A night child can climb sheer surfaces as though with a spider climb spell. Abilities: Increase from the base creature as follows: STR +1, DEX +2, CHA +1. Skills: A night child gains 20 extra skill points to distribute at its discretion. Feats: A night child gains Blind-Fight, Improved Unarmed Strike and Lightning Reflexes, assuming the base creature meets the prerequisites and does not already have these feats. Environment: Any, as often as base creature. Organization: Solitary, or strike team (2-4). Challenge Rating: Same as the base creature +?. Alignment: Any evil. Level Adjustment: Same as the base creature +?.
Shi'ar Morpheus 09-29-05, 09:47 PM	Ok, I know no one really wants to read this thing thru, but I could really use some advice. Some one please give me some feedback!
Thysl 10-01-05, 02:55 AM	Olare! Hey man, you got a great start. Here are the things I suggest: 1) Frightful Gaze should have the variable save listed above (10+1/2 HD +Cha mod). Its consistant, its well within power limits (the ability itself is one of the least powerful of the choices), and it makes sense considering the 'gaze' is really an exertion of will. 2) Kiss of the Night (Su): (If the base creature is not terrestrial, this power might summon other creatures of similar power) Dump the 'non-terrestrial' thing. Its vague and not really 'D&D speak', besides the critters need to be standardized. Also the name doesn't jive with the power. Its ok to rip off the name of the vampire's ability on this on, what is it? Friend of the Night? 3) Alternately, a night child may blood let itself in order to draw enough poison to coat a weapon. Each day enough poison may be drawn to coat up to three weapons, however, doing this thins the blood of the night child to the point that the use of the poison blood special attack is lost for 24 hours. The coated weapon retains the poison until it is used to make a successful attack against a target. If a night child has this special attack, it also gains the poison use special quality described below. I don't like this at all, it's an awkard mechanic, if you ask me, the power is strong enough as it stands. If you do chang it add an addendum that states the poison loses it's viability when subjected to air. 4) Combat Style (Ex): To create specialized members, every night child must choose a combat style. This choice defines the way battle is approached and determines a series of bonus feats granted the night child. This choice is usually defined by profession and includes: arcanist, a spellwielder blessed with Combat Casting, Empower Spell and Spell Penetration; archer, a ranged combatant that enjoys Far Shot, Point Blank Shot and Precise Shot; dualwielder, a twin-bladed terror gifted with Two-Weapon Defense, Two-Weapon Fighting and Twin Sword Style; and juggernaut, the quintessential brute empowered with Cleave, Combat Reflexes and Power Attack. Drop this! if you need some specialized villians use class levels, that's what they are there for. No reason stcking more power on to a template, driving its CR up, when you can easily create a normal NPC then toss a simple, low CR template on it. 5) Abilities: Increase from the base creature as follows: STR +1, DEX +2, CHA +1. NO! There is no precedence(sp) for odd ability point modifiers in D&D. I read a compelling reason for this, but I can't quite remember what it is. Anyhow, Raise the +1 to a +2. 6) Skills: A night child gains 20 extra skill points to distribute at its discretion. BLAH! See reason #4. 7) Feats: A night child gains Blind-Fight, Improved Unarmed Strike and Lightning Reflexes, assuming the base creature meets the prerequisites and does not already have these feats. I would say no way on these (reason 4 again) but they arn't horrible, they certainly fit with the theme of the template. Get rid of the 'assuming the base creature meets the prerequisites and does not already have these feats' crud. They don't need the pre-reqs for these soft feats (Hell I think IUS is the only one of the three that has pre-reqs). As for CR and EL, I'm not really good at that. My guess? CR +3 or 4, EL +5 or +6.... Anyhow, hope this helps a bit. Remember that, if you think I'm all wrong, you have veto rights, don't be crestfallen because of what I said (I'm pretty dumb, honestly), and keep having FUN! :D Thysl in Silver
warlockco 10-01-05, 05:09 AM	Why not just use the Half-Vampire Template from Libris Mortis?