"Stone" Template (Potential PEACH) [Archive] - Wizards Community

"Stone" Template (Potential PEACH) [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Zovc
10-08-07, 07:00 PM I'm looking for a good reference point for, and some PEACH-style evaluation when I get started, working on a 'Stone' template for characters in my campaign.

The template I have in mind is creatures that become petrified, animated, and infused with psionic energy. Creatures of this template are telepathically linked to a hierarchy, going from lower class members being told what to do by higher class members, all the way up to the template's deity.

Should I give this race no constitution score, or will this complicate gameplay? What is a good book I can reference creatures with 0 for constitution and how it affects them, I'd also like to know how having no constitution score would affect players.

Racial Traits A stone creature gets -2 to their Dexterity score, and a +4 to their Constitution score.
A stone creature’s size remains unchanged, their type changes to Construct (Living Construct).
A stone creature’s speed remains unchanged.
A stone creature gets +2 to their natural armor bonus.
Stone creatures gain the Psionic Talent feat, they receive any bonuses they would for taking this feat normally.
Stone creatures are able to manifest the power My Light. If the manifestor has no levels in a psionic class, they are treated as level one.*
Stone creatures have damage reduction of 2/Bludgeoning. (this means that the damage reduction is passed by only Bludgeoning damage, yes?)
Stone creatures favored class changes to Psionic Warrior.
Level Adjustment: +2?
*Does anyone else think I should change this to "the stone creature manifests this power as a manifestor of his character level"? I would incorporate the "Special" section that I added to My Light if I changed it to this.

Naturally Psionic
Stone creatures gain 2 bonus power points, which stack with any bonus power points the base creature has. This benefit does not grant them the ability to manifest powers unless they gain that ability through another source, such as levels in a psionic class.
My Light [Psychokinesis, light]
Level: Psion/wilder 1, psychic warrior 1
Display: Auditory and visual
Manifesting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Effect: 20-ft. cone of light emanating from you
Duration: 10 min./level (D)
Power Points: 1
Your eyes beam forth a 20-foot cone of light. You and other creatures can see normally in the light. If you walk into an area fi lled with psionic or magical darkness, my light goes dark while you stay within that area.
If my light is used in conjunction with elfsight, the cone of light extends out to 40 feet instead of 20 feet.
Augment: If you spend 2 additional power points, you can manifest this power as a swift action.
Special: If you have My Light as one of your powers known, and also have it as a racial ability, you may manifest the power for free. The augmentation, however, still costs 2 power points.
Mr_Arcane
10-11-07, 08:18 PM No. Creatures that have no Con score are considered dead and with out life. Though this grants immunity things such as death effects, things that require a fort save, Critical hits, but this also means that they do not get extra hit points for having a high Con. I would look at the Undead type entry in the MM for more infromation on those that lack a Con score on page 317.

I do like this idea and I did try to make something that revolved around the Soul Bind spell, but it petered out. If you are making a sort of living statue template, I would suggest having them keep their Con score, and giving them a bonus to Con (+4 possibly), take a penelty to dex (-2 maybe), giving them a lower speed (maybe a -10 ft), and some amount of damage reduction. For your flavor, maybe give them the Wild Talent feat and a sort of Hive Mind ability. For the type, they should have Construct (Living Construct) and anything else that I might have forgotten. I think there's a template like the one you are looking for in the Forgotten Realms book Underdark.
Zovc
10-11-07, 10:20 PM Thank you very much for replying to my thread, it seems like no one likes to do so. Not sure if it's because I ask tough questions, vague ones, or stupid ones.

Regardless, I think you're right, I should keep their constitution score. I don't know about a +4 to constitution, surely +2, however. A penalty to dexterity also makes sense, Natural armor still seems like a good idea to me. I decided to deal with the hive mind sort of thing by using RadicalToast's (http://forums.gleemax.com/member.php?u=326782) Society Mind (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=506284) class, and making, basically, a psionic intranet (the appropriate term for this use) of sorts. If I get the chance, probably will tonight, I'll make a rough draft, feel free to help me assign an appropriate level adjustment, and to suggest any changes that might make this template play better or more logically.

What, exactly, were you referring to when you said something in Underdark might help me?
Zovc
10-11-07, 10:48 PM Alright, here's what I came up with, don't quite know how I feel about that, but how about you guys tell me how that would adjust a character's level?

I doubt it's a +2 or +3, but in the end, that's what I'd like to end on.

Racial Traits
A stone creature gets -2 Dexterity to their dexterity score, and to their +2 Constitution score.
A stone creature’s size remains unchanged, their type changes to Construct (Living Construct).
A stone creature’s speed remains unchanged.
A stone creature gets +2 to their natural armor bonus.
Stone creatures gain the Psionic Talent feat, they receive any bonuses they would for taking this feat normally.
Stone creatures are able to manifest the power My Light. If the manifestor has no levels in a psionic class, they are treated as level one.
Stone creatures favored class changes to Psionic Warrior.
Level Adjustment: +?
Psionic Talent [Psionic]
Benefit: Whenever you take this feat the first time, you gain 2 power points.
Special: You get one extra power point for each time after the first you take this feat (You get 3 points the second time, 4 the third, etc.).
Khabuem
10-12-07, 01:35 AM Psionic Talent has a prereq of pre-existing power points, which these guys wouldn't necessarily have. I'd suggest something along the lines of this:

Naturally Psionic: Stone creatures gain 2 bonus power points, which stack with any bonus power points the base creature has. This benefit does not grant them the ability to manifest powers unless they gain that ability through another source, such as levels in a psionic class.

As for the my light, how many times a day is it usable? Once, thrice, at will?

Right now, I'd say the template's +1, and only because of the natural armor bonus. It definitely needs some more bonuses before it's in the +2 or +3 range. A +4 to Con would be a good step. Maybe some bonuses to Will saves to represent the strength they draw from their hive mind?
Zovc
10-12-07, 02:01 PM I intended My light to be manifested through the character's class, if they are lacking, a psionic class, they can manifest the power as a level 1 manifestor, using the points gained through this template.

How much closer does that extra +2 to Con make them to a +2 LA?

Racial Traits A stone creature gets -2 Dexterity to their dexterity score, and to their +4 Constitution score.
A stone creature’s size remains unchanged, their type changes to Construct (Living Construct).
A stone creature’s speed remains unchanged.
A stone creature gets +2 to their natural armor bonus.
Stone creatures gain the Psionic Talent feat, they receive any bonuses they would for taking this feat normally.
Stone creatures are able to manifest the power My Light. If the manifestor has no levels in a psionic class, they are treated as level one.
Stone creatures favored class changes to Psionic Warrior.
Level Adjustment: +1?
Naturally Psionic
Stone creatures gain 2 bonus power points, which stack with any bonus power points the base creature has. This benefit does not grant them the ability to manifest powers unless they gain that ability through another source, such as levels in a psionic class.
bahamut920
10-13-07, 03:27 AM Normally, creatures with innate spell-like abilities (and no racial Hit Dice) cast them at a level equal to their character level (not ECL; their total class levels). I don't know if it works the same way with psionic abilities, and since you're actually giving them manifesting ability, that further complicates matters.

I can't really help you with the LA, especially as it relates to ability scores, but I don't think that the additional +2 Con the second version gets would push it up to LA +2; drow have a net +4 bonus to ability scores and SR and are only LA +2, and aasimar have a net +4 and energy resistances for only +1 LA.
Zovc
10-13-07, 02:52 PM A very helpful post, Bahamut920, Thanks! How do you feel adding damage resistance affects the LA?

I'm also thinking about giving them a natural torchlike glow, I picture creatures of this template as having runes on their shoulders and a few other places, depending on their status, I was thinking that could also be gear, however. This glow would be suppressable, but other stone creatures always see eachother's glow.

Another thought I had was to give them a +1 insight bonus to all attack and damage rolls when a stone creature is telepathically connected with another creature involved in combat with them. This represents their ability to function better when they can communicate telepathically.

Racial Traits A stone creature gets -2 to their Dexterity score, and a +4 to their Constitution score.
A stone creature’s size remains unchanged, their type changes to Construct (Living Construct).
A stone creature’s speed remains unchanged.
A stone creature gets +2 to their natural armor bonus.
Stone creatures gain the Psionic Talent feat, they receive any bonuses they would for taking this feat normally.
Stone creatures are able to manifest the power My Light. If the manifestor has no levels in a psionic class, they are treated as level one.*
Stone creatures have damage reduction of 2/Bludgeoning. (this means that the damage reduction is passed by only Bludgeoning damage, yes?)
Stone creatures favored class changes to Psionic Warrior.
Level Adjustment: +2?
*Does anyone else think I should change this to "the stone creature manifests this power as a manifestor of his character level"? I would incorporate the "Special" section that I added to My Light if I changed it to this.

Naturally Psionic
Stone creatures gain 2 bonus power points, which stack with any bonus power points the base creature has. This benefit does not grant them the ability to manifest powers unless they gain that ability through another source, such as levels in a psionic class.
My Light [Psychokinesis, light]
Level: Psion/wilder 1, psychic warrior 1
Display: Auditory and visual
Manifesting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Effect: 20-ft. cone of light emanating from you
Duration: 10 min./level (D)
Power Points: 1
Your eyes beam forth a 20-foot cone of light. You and other creatures can see normally in the light. If you walk into an area fi lled with psionic or magical darkness, my light goes dark while you stay within that area.
If my light is used in conjunction with elfsight, the cone of light extends out to 40 feet instead of 20 feet.
Augment: If you spend 2 additional power points, you can manifest this power as a swift action.
Special: If you have My Light as one of your powers known, and also have it as a racial ability, you may manifest the power for free. The augmentation, however, still costs 2 power points.
Zovc
10-15-07, 02:54 PM Bump?
Aleolus
10-15-07, 03:47 PM Looks good to me. You should edit the opening post to include the current version of the template, though, so that people can see what it is you're talking about just from reading the one post.
Zovc
10-15-07, 03:55 PM Looks good to me. You should edit the opening post to include the current version of the template, though, so that people can see what it is you're talking about just from reading the one post.

What, exactly is looking good to you, if I may ask. :)

And I updated the first post with a sblock containing the current stats.
Aleolus
10-15-07, 04:38 PM Well, I like the template, though I'm not too clear on where they originate from, and what brings them about. If you could clear that up, that'd be helpful.
Zovc
10-15-07, 05:36 PM In all honesty, I'm not too clear on where they originate, either. Here is basicly what I can translate into text of what is floating around in my head.

The way you acquire the template, however is by petrifaction, not like a medusa, however, that's just what the ritual is called. Normally, you're captured by stone creatures. Once they drag you to the depths of their lair, they take you to an altar of sorts. More than likely, you're not coherent as this occurs, but you're infused with pure psionic energy. Now, the "science" of this is still something I'm debating, but it ends with you basically being composed of stone and psionic energy.

Creatures of this stone 'race' literally have stone skin, males almost always lose their hair; females often do too. For those who keep their hair, it can either look like stiff strands of grey clay, or wavy strings of neon (the same color as their runes) mud. Stone creatures do not age, they are preserved in the state they are petrified. Every stone creature has runes spread along it's shoulders, these runes are all unique, but look more and more similar among less powerful stone creatures. As a stone creature grows in power, their runes expand to cover more and more of their arms, their collars, and possibly their chests and backs. Runes also begin to display themselves on parts of the body that are utilized more, for example, fast runners would have runes on their legs, and powerful psions would have runes on their heads. As a stone creature's runes expand, they become more and more distinct. It is worth noting that the skin of stone creatures has a very limited spectrum of color; truly, the only variety is in the shade of grey they are. Contrary, the runes of a stone creature can be any bright color. After petrifaction, as soon as a color surfaces in the form of a rune, all runes following will be that color. The eyes of a stone creature are also the same color as their runes.

Does that help any? :D

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Zovc 10-08-07, 07:00 PM	I'm looking for a good reference point for, and some PEACH-style evaluation when I get started, working on a 'Stone' template for characters in my campaign. The template I have in mind is creatures that become petrified, animated, and infused with psionic energy. Creatures of this template are telepathically linked to a hierarchy, going from lower class members being told what to do by higher class members, all the way up to the template's deity. Should I give this race no constitution score, or will this complicate gameplay? What is a good book I can reference creatures with 0 for constitution and how it affects them, I'd also like to know how having no constitution score would affect players. Racial Traits A stone creature gets -2 to their Dexterity score, and a +4 to their Constitution score. A stone creature’s size remains unchanged, their type changes to Construct (Living Construct). A stone creature’s speed remains unchanged. A stone creature gets +2 to their natural armor bonus. Stone creatures gain the Psionic Talent feat, they receive any bonuses they would for taking this feat normally. Stone creatures are able to manifest the power My Light. If the manifestor has no levels in a psionic class, they are treated as level one.* Stone creatures have damage reduction of 2/Bludgeoning. (this means that the damage reduction is passed by only Bludgeoning damage, yes?) Stone creatures favored class changes to Psionic Warrior. Level Adjustment: +2? *Does anyone else think I should change this to "the stone creature manifests this power as a manifestor of his character level"? I would incorporate the "Special" section that I added to My Light if I changed it to this. Naturally Psionic Stone creatures gain 2 bonus power points, which stack with any bonus power points the base creature has. This benefit does not grant them the ability to manifest powers unless they gain that ability through another source, such as levels in a psionic class. My Light [Psychokinesis, light] Level: Psion/wilder 1, psychic warrior 1 Display: Auditory and visual Manifesting Time: 1 standard action Range: Personal Effect: 20-ft. cone of light emanating from you Duration: 10 min./level (D) Power Points: 1 Your eyes beam forth a 20-foot cone of light. You and other creatures can see normally in the light. If you walk into an area fi lled with psionic or magical darkness, my light goes dark while you stay within that area. If my light is used in conjunction with elfsight, the cone of light extends out to 40 feet instead of 20 feet. Augment: If you spend 2 additional power points, you can manifest this power as a swift action. Special: If you have My Light as one of your powers known, and also have it as a racial ability, you may manifest the power for free. The augmentation, however, still costs 2 power points.
Mr_Arcane 10-11-07, 08:18 PM	No. Creatures that have no Con score are considered dead and with out life. Though this grants immunity things such as death effects, things that require a fort save, Critical hits, but this also means that they do not get extra hit points for having a high Con. I would look at the Undead type entry in the MM for more infromation on those that lack a Con score on page 317. I do like this idea and I did try to make something that revolved around the Soul Bind spell, but it petered out. If you are making a sort of living statue template, I would suggest having them keep their Con score, and giving them a bonus to Con (+4 possibly), take a penelty to dex (-2 maybe), giving them a lower speed (maybe a -10 ft), and some amount of damage reduction. For your flavor, maybe give them the Wild Talent feat and a sort of Hive Mind ability. For the type, they should have Construct (Living Construct) and anything else that I might have forgotten. I think there's a template like the one you are looking for in the Forgotten Realms book Underdark.
Zovc 10-11-07, 10:20 PM	Thank you very much for replying to my thread, it seems like no one likes to do so. Not sure if it's because I ask tough questions, vague ones, or stupid ones. Regardless, I think you're right, I should keep their constitution score. I don't know about a +4 to constitution, surely +2, however. A penalty to dexterity also makes sense, Natural armor still seems like a good idea to me. I decided to deal with the hive mind sort of thing by using RadicalToast's (http://forums.gleemax.com/member.php?u=326782) Society Mind (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=506284) class, and making, basically, a psionic intranet (the appropriate term for this use) of sorts. If I get the chance, probably will tonight, I'll make a rough draft, feel free to help me assign an appropriate level adjustment, and to suggest any changes that might make this template play better or more logically. What, exactly, were you referring to when you said something in Underdark might help me?
Zovc 10-11-07, 10:48 PM	Alright, here's what I came up with, don't quite know how I feel about that, but how about you guys tell me how that would adjust a character's level? I doubt it's a +2 or +3, but in the end, that's what I'd like to end on. Racial Traits A stone creature gets -2 Dexterity to their dexterity score, and to their +2 Constitution score. A stone creature’s size remains unchanged, their type changes to Construct (Living Construct). A stone creature’s speed remains unchanged. A stone creature gets +2 to their natural armor bonus. Stone creatures gain the Psionic Talent feat, they receive any bonuses they would for taking this feat normally. Stone creatures are able to manifest the power My Light. If the manifestor has no levels in a psionic class, they are treated as level one. Stone creatures favored class changes to Psionic Warrior. Level Adjustment: +? Psionic Talent [Psionic] Benefit: Whenever you take this feat the first time, you gain 2 power points. Special: You get one extra power point for each time after the first you take this feat (You get 3 points the second time, 4 the third, etc.).
Khabuem 10-12-07, 01:35 AM	Psionic Talent has a prereq of pre-existing power points, which these guys wouldn't necessarily have. I'd suggest something along the lines of this: Naturally Psionic: Stone creatures gain 2 bonus power points, which stack with any bonus power points the base creature has. This benefit does not grant them the ability to manifest powers unless they gain that ability through another source, such as levels in a psionic class. As for the my light, how many times a day is it usable? Once, thrice, at will? Right now, I'd say the template's +1, and only because of the natural armor bonus. It definitely needs some more bonuses before it's in the +2 or +3 range. A +4 to Con would be a good step. Maybe some bonuses to Will saves to represent the strength they draw from their hive mind?
Zovc 10-12-07, 02:01 PM	I intended My light to be manifested through the character's class, if they are lacking, a psionic class, they can manifest the power as a level 1 manifestor, using the points gained through this template. How much closer does that extra +2 to Con make them to a +2 LA? Racial Traits A stone creature gets -2 Dexterity to their dexterity score, and to their +4 Constitution score. A stone creature’s size remains unchanged, their type changes to Construct (Living Construct). A stone creature’s speed remains unchanged. A stone creature gets +2 to their natural armor bonus. Stone creatures gain the Psionic Talent feat, they receive any bonuses they would for taking this feat normally. Stone creatures are able to manifest the power My Light. If the manifestor has no levels in a psionic class, they are treated as level one. Stone creatures favored class changes to Psionic Warrior. Level Adjustment: +1? Naturally Psionic Stone creatures gain 2 bonus power points, which stack with any bonus power points the base creature has. This benefit does not grant them the ability to manifest powers unless they gain that ability through another source, such as levels in a psionic class.
bahamut920 10-13-07, 03:27 AM	Normally, creatures with innate spell-like abilities (and no racial Hit Dice) cast them at a level equal to their character level (not ECL; their total class levels). I don't know if it works the same way with psionic abilities, and since you're actually giving them manifesting ability, that further complicates matters. I can't really help you with the LA, especially as it relates to ability scores, but I don't think that the additional +2 Con the second version gets would push it up to LA +2; drow have a net +4 bonus to ability scores and SR and are only LA +2, and aasimar have a net +4 and energy resistances for only +1 LA.
Zovc 10-13-07, 02:52 PM	A very helpful post, Bahamut920, Thanks! How do you feel adding damage resistance affects the LA? I'm also thinking about giving them a natural torchlike glow, I picture creatures of this template as having runes on their shoulders and a few other places, depending on their status, I was thinking that could also be gear, however. This glow would be suppressable, but other stone creatures always see eachother's glow. Another thought I had was to give them a +1 insight bonus to all attack and damage rolls when a stone creature is telepathically connected with another creature involved in combat with them. This represents their ability to function better when they can communicate telepathically. Racial Traits A stone creature gets -2 to their Dexterity score, and a +4 to their Constitution score. A stone creature’s size remains unchanged, their type changes to Construct (Living Construct). A stone creature’s speed remains unchanged. A stone creature gets +2 to their natural armor bonus. Stone creatures gain the Psionic Talent feat, they receive any bonuses they would for taking this feat normally. Stone creatures are able to manifest the power My Light. If the manifestor has no levels in a psionic class, they are treated as level one.* Stone creatures have damage reduction of 2/Bludgeoning. (this means that the damage reduction is passed by only Bludgeoning damage, yes?) Stone creatures favored class changes to Psionic Warrior. Level Adjustment: +2? *Does anyone else think I should change this to "the stone creature manifests this power as a manifestor of his character level"? I would incorporate the "Special" section that I added to My Light if I changed it to this. Naturally Psionic Stone creatures gain 2 bonus power points, which stack with any bonus power points the base creature has. This benefit does not grant them the ability to manifest powers unless they gain that ability through another source, such as levels in a psionic class. My Light [Psychokinesis, light] Level: Psion/wilder 1, psychic warrior 1 Display: Auditory and visual Manifesting Time: 1 standard action Range: Personal Effect: 20-ft. cone of light emanating from you Duration: 10 min./level (D) Power Points: 1 Your eyes beam forth a 20-foot cone of light. You and other creatures can see normally in the light. If you walk into an area fi lled with psionic or magical darkness, my light goes dark while you stay within that area. If my light is used in conjunction with elfsight, the cone of light extends out to 40 feet instead of 20 feet. Augment: If you spend 2 additional power points, you can manifest this power as a swift action. Special: If you have My Light as one of your powers known, and also have it as a racial ability, you may manifest the power for free. The augmentation, however, still costs 2 power points.
Zovc 10-15-07, 02:54 PM	Bump?
Aleolus 10-15-07, 03:47 PM	Looks good to me. You should edit the opening post to include the current version of the template, though, so that people can see what it is you're talking about just from reading the one post.
Zovc 10-15-07, 03:55 PM	Looks good to me. You should edit the opening post to include the current version of the template, though, so that people can see what it is you're talking about just from reading the one post. What, exactly is looking good to you, if I may ask. :) And I updated the first post with a sblock containing the current stats.
Aleolus 10-15-07, 04:38 PM	Well, I like the template, though I'm not too clear on where they originate from, and what brings them about. If you could clear that up, that'd be helpful.
Zovc 10-15-07, 05:36 PM	In all honesty, I'm not too clear on where they originate, either. Here is basicly what I can translate into text of what is floating around in my head. The way you acquire the template, however is by petrifaction, not like a medusa, however, that's just what the ritual is called. Normally, you're captured by stone creatures. Once they drag you to the depths of their lair, they take you to an altar of sorts. More than likely, you're not coherent as this occurs, but you're infused with pure psionic energy. Now, the "science" of this is still something I'm debating, but it ends with you basically being composed of stone and psionic energy. Creatures of this stone 'race' literally have stone skin, males almost always lose their hair; females often do too. For those who keep their hair, it can either look like stiff strands of grey clay, or wavy strings of neon (the same color as their runes) mud. Stone creatures do not age, they are preserved in the state they are petrified. Every stone creature has runes spread along it's shoulders, these runes are all unique, but look more and more similar among less powerful stone creatures. As a stone creature grows in power, their runes expand to cover more and more of their arms, their collars, and possibly their chests and backs. Runes also begin to display themselves on parts of the body that are utilized more, for example, fast runners would have runes on their legs, and powerful psions would have runes on their heads. As a stone creature's runes expand, they become more and more distinct. It is worth noting that the skin of stone creatures has a very limited spectrum of color; truly, the only variety is in the shade of grey they are. Contrary, the runes of a stone creature can be any bright color. After petrifaction, as soon as a color surfaces in the form of a rune, all runes following will be that color. The eyes of a stone creature are also the same color as their runes. Does that help any? :D