Post/Author/DateTime	Post
cybersavant 03-05-08, 11:48 AM	Hi. Has anyone created a racial template for characters that have a deity as a parent or ancestor? Like Hercules, Xena, etc. if so, could you point me to the sources that you used? I'm still a little confused on the whole template thing. Especially about adding ECLs to a character. thanks :cool:
ragoftag 03-05-08, 07:33 PM	No, but now you have whetted my imagination!
Saiyamantis 03-05-08, 11:52 PM	Check out the Godblooded template in MM5, although it's best suited to NPCs in my opinion- I don't much like the idea of expendable templates, especially ones with level adjustments.
cybersavant 03-06-08, 04:45 PM	re: MM5 Godblooded thanks. i've looked at that. Interesting. Any thoughts on adding one for Corellon Larethian? I want a divine progeny elf female favored soul of Corellon. I thought the favored soul class would work well with a character that has a god as a parent. Backstory basically is that the characters's mother so caught the eye of Corellon that he took on avatar form, came to the world and conceived a girl-child. I was thinking of a race with probably a +1 or +2 ECL. I was thinking of boosting charisma and 1 other stat, adding save bonuses, maybe attack/damage bonuses, +1 or +2 natural AC and some innate spells or supernatural ability. thanks for the input
Artifact 03-07-08, 07:38 PM	Purely for fun, here's a write-up of Hercules from classical myth as a "quasi-deity". I basically just gave him divine rank 0. I will most likely never use the template (which I call the Legendary Hero), but its "on paper" if needed ;). Heracles The Son of Zeus and a mortal woman, Heracles is strength personified. While still an infant, he strangled two huge snakes with his bare hands. Of course, Zeus’ wife, Hera, is jealous of the affair that begot Heracles and she is always conspiring to bring him harm. Heracles is a fearless hero whose many escapades are the stuff of legend. A robust, cheerful man, he has an appetite for food and women that almost equals that of his divine father. Although he visits Olympus from time to time, and has been known to aid the gods in their struggles, Heracles spends most of his time in the world of men. He is a stout man with a long beard, wearing a lion’s skin for clothing and carrying a massive club. Heracles is a dangerous fellow to deal with, for he will take offense at the slightest insult. He is very proud and more than a little vain. Heracles is ageless, and if tricked, swindled, or lied to, he seeks revenge even if it takes years for him to get even. HERACLES (Legendary Hero) CN male human, Barbarian 5, Fighter 15 Str 30 Dex 18 Con 20 Int 11 Wis 10 Cha 19 Armor Class 28 Hit Points 310 Fort +18, Ref+10, Will +6 Melee Attack +30/+25/+20/+15 (+10 Str) Ranged Attack +25/+20/+15/+10 (+5 Dex) Special: Rage 2/day, fast movement, trap sense +1, uncanny dodge (Dex bonus to AC, can’t be flanked). The following special qualities are due to Heracles’ status as a Legendary Hero: Maximum hit points for each hit die; deflection bonus to AC equal to his Charisma bonus; immunity from transmutation; immunity from energy drain, ability drain, ability damage; immunity from mind-affecting effects; damage reduction 10/epic, fire resistance 5, spell resistance 32. Feats: Alertness, Blind Fight, Cleave, Dodge, Far Shot, Great Cleave, Improved Initiative, Improved Unarmed Strike, Mobility, Point Blank Shot, Power Attack, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Shot on the Run, Weapon Focus (great club), Weapon Specialization (great club). Possessions: Heracles wears the skin of the Nemian lion, a legendary beast whose skin was impervious to cutting or piercing. The skin serves as a cloak. It provides the wearer a +10 armor bonus and reduces damage the wearer takes from piercing and slashing weapons by half. Caster Level: 20th; Weight: 2 lb. Special Note: This article presents Heracles as a “hero deity”, who has not yet ascended to full godhood. For a description of “Hercules” as a true deity, see page 122 of Deities and Demigods (updated in the v.3.5 Update Booklet). Creating a Legendary Hero “Legendary Hero” is an inherited template that can be added to any creature type (referred to hereafter as the “base creature”). The creature’s type changes to “outsider”. It uses all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities, except as noted here. Hit Dice: Same as the base creature. As a quasi-deity, the legendary hero receives maximum hit points for each Hit Die. Speed: The legendary hero’s base speed is depends on its form (biped or quadruped) and its size, as shown on page 26 of Deities and Demigods (and updated in the v.3.5 Update Booklet) AC: The legendary hero receives a deflection bonus to AC equal to his Charisma modifier (if any). Special Qualities: The legendary hero has all the special qualities of the base creature in addition to those listed below: Divine Rank (Ex): The legendary hero is, in essence, a quasi-deity with a divine rank of 0, granting the following special qualities: Immunity from Transmutation: The legendary hero is immune to polymorphing, petrification, or any other attack that alters its form. Immunity from Energy Drain, Ability Drain, Ability Damage: The legendary hero is not subject to energy drain, ability drain, or ability damage. Immune from Mind-Affecting Effects: The legendary hero is immune to mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects). Damage Reduction: The legendary hero has damage reduction of 10/epic. If the hero also has damage reduction from another source, such as barbarian class levels, this damage reduction does not stack with the damage reduction granted by divine rank. Instead, the legendary hero gets the benefit of the best damage reduction in a given situation. For example, a legendary hero with damage reduction 10/epic is also a 13th level barbarian with damage reduction 3/-. If the hero is attacked with a weapon of +5 or less, the hero uses its damage reduction 10/epic. If the same hero is attacked with an epic weapon (+6 enchantment bonus or more), the legendary hero uses damage reduction 3/-, because the barbarian’s damage reduction is not negated by an epic weapon. Fire Resistance: The legendary hero has fire resistance 5. Spell Resistance: The legendary hero has spell resistance 32. Immortality: A legendary hero is naturally immortal and cannot die from natural causes. The hero does not age, and does not need to eat, sleep, or breath (although they must rest normally in order to be able to prepare or ready spells). Abilities: Determine the ability that most directly relates to the parent deity; that score (only) receives a +8 racial bonus; all other abilities receive a racial bonus of +4. Skills: The legendary hero has 8 skill points, plus its Intelligence modifier, per Hit Die. Treat skills from the base creature’s list as class skills and other skills as cross-class skills. If the base creature has a class, it gains skills for class levels normally. Feats: The legendary hero has one feat for every four levels or the base creature’s total of feats, whichever is greater. Challenge Rating: Same as the base creature +4. Level Adjustment: Same as base creature +6. Alignment: Any, but usually matches parent deity.
Crouch 03-08-08, 06:27 PM	Off Topic: has anyone noticed that this is the 999999th thread? Awesome!
cybersavant 03-10-08, 05:03 PM	Creating a Legendary Hero “Legendary Hero” is an inherited template that can be added to any creature type (referred to hereafter as the “base creature”). The creature’s type changes to “outsider”. It uses all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities, except as noted here. Hit Dice: Same as the base creature. As a quasi-deity, the legendary hero receives maximum hit points for each Hit Die. Speed: The legendary hero’s base speed is depends on its form (biped or quadruped) and its size, as shown on page 26 of Deities and Demigods (and updated in the v.3.5 Update Booklet) AC: The legendary hero receives a deflection bonus to AC equal to his Charisma modifier (if any). Special Qualities: The legendary hero has all the special qualities of the base creature in addition to those listed below: Divine Rank (Ex): The legendary hero is, in essence, a quasi-deity with a divine rank of 0, granting the following special qualities: Immunity from Transmutation: The legendary hero is immune to polymorphing, petrification, or any other attack that alters its form. Immunity from Energy Drain, Ability Drain, Ability Damage: The legendary hero is not subject to energy drain, ability drain, or ability damage. Immune from Mind-Affecting Effects: The legendary hero is immune to mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects). Damage Reduction: The legendary hero has damage reduction of 10/epic. If the hero also has damage reduction from another source, such as barbarian class levels, this damage reduction does not stack with the damage reduction granted by divine rank. Instead, the legendary hero gets the benefit of the best damage reduction in a given situation. For example, a legendary hero with damage reduction 10/epic is also a 13th level barbarian with damage reduction 3/-. If the hero is attacked with a weapon of +5 or less, the hero uses its damage reduction 10/epic. If the same hero is attacked with an epic weapon (+6 enchantment bonus or more), the legendary hero uses damage reduction 3/-, because the barbarian’s damage reduction is not negated by an epic weapon. Fire Resistance: The legendary hero has fire resistance 5. Spell Resistance: The legendary hero has spell resistance 32. Immortality: A legendary hero is naturally immortal and cannot die from natural causes. The hero does not age, and does not need to eat, sleep, or breath (although they must rest normally in order to be able to prepare or ready spells). Abilities: Determine the ability that most directly relates to the parent deity; that score (only) receives a +8 racial bonus; all other abilities receive a racial bonus of +4. Skills: The legendary hero has 8 skill points, plus its Intelligence modifier, per Hit Die. Treat skills from the base creature’s list as class skills and other skills as cross-class skills. If the base creature has a class, it gains skills for class levels normally. Feats: The legendary hero has one feat for every four levels or the base creature’s total of feats, whichever is greater. Challenge Rating: Same as the base creature +4. Level Adjustment: Same as base creature +6. Alignment: Any, but usually matches parent deity.[/QUOTE] ====================== Hi. thanks for this. I'm having a real tough time figuring out templates and i can't seem to find the answers i need. I'm still trying to figure out how to determine the level adjustment of a template. In you example above you have a +6LA /ECL How di you get that number? In other words, where would i look for info on how much bonus stats, etc per ECL/ LA? Say for example i have deity offspring running around in my world. They're better than normal, but not as powerful as Heracles. Say Corellon became mighty smitten with on of his Elven clerics and took avatar form, came to earth and then conceived a child with her. Let's say she had a daughter who eventually becomes a favored soul of Corellon. Now, the child will not necessarily know her parentage, but i envision something like: +2 cha [just for the divine blood] plus 1 other stat bonus [appropriate to Corellon], maybe better healing/hps, +1 or 2 natural AC? maybe a supernatural ability or 2 or innate spells? Where do i find the rules to create this template and figure out the ECL cost? thanks [i checked wizards- trying to find where i can post to the Ask Us part, but ....]
Bloodsoul 03-10-08, 09:16 PM	I recall the DMG II had a whole slew of templates for NPCs, one of them refererring to deity ancestry (like.. way, way, way far back ancestry). +2 LA for a couple of decent bonuses; actually had to use that for a couple of hero-deities, since it seemed kinda odd that their children and their childrens children would get a particular ability that they themselves would lack.
Artifact 03-11-08, 01:47 AM	Hi. thanks for this. I'm having a real tough time figuring out templates and i can't seem to find the answers i need. I'm still trying to figure out how to determine the level adjustment of a template. In you example above you have a +6LA /ECL How di you get that number? In other words, where would i look for info on how much bonus stats, etc per ECL/ LA? You're welcome, cybersavant ;)! To answer your question: As I understand it, determining level adjustments for things like templates is not an exact science. As far as the Legendary Hero goes, I basically just made my best guess. That's what anyone has to do essentially. There will likely never be agreement about how much or how little of a level adjustment to give such a template ;). There are a few homemade "systems" out there that help to make the guesswork a bit less challenging but in the end its still anyone's best guess. For instance, there's YabbaTheWhat's Feature Points (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=667683) that helps with determining the LA for races. Say for example i have deity offspring running around in my world. They're better than normal, but not as powerful as Heracles. Say Corellon became mighty smitten with on of his Elven clerics and took avatar form, came to earth and then conceived a child with her. Let's say she had a daughter who eventually becomes a favored soul of Corellon. Now, the child will not necessarily know her parentage, but i envision something like: +2 cha [just for the divine blood] plus 1 other stat bonus [appropriate to Corellon], maybe better healing/hps, +1 or 2 natural AC? maybe a supernatural ability or 2 or innate spells? Where do i find the rules to create this template and figure out the ECL cost? There aren't any hard and fast rules for template creation (as far as I know ;)). Everyone has their own idea of how to go about it. My best advice is to simply have fun. Your Favored Soul of Corellon sounds exciting. If I were to do it myself, I'd prolly tweak the half-celestial template, adding a bit of elven flavor. My philosophy: Why re-invent the wheel if I don't have to? For example, here's a unique-ish character I wrote-up early in 3.5 who uses a "re-flavored" half-fiend template ("The Nature of the Beast"). The ultimate goal was to have fun, not necessarily reflect good game design: Baalfas is a stunningly handsome man with a powerfully muscled, golden-skinned body. He has auburn hair and dark brown eyes. For all his outward beauty however, Baalfas is haunted by a sinister heritage; he is the offspring of a mortal man and a succubus, a demonic tempter and destroyer of men who assumes the form of a beautiful woman. Baalfas has many imperceptible traits that mark him as something other than human; he is unable to reproduce, his presence causes unease in animals, and his prolonged touch withers plant life. Rather than actively proclaim his demonic origins, Baalfas usually allows others to believe he is human, since his great beauty often blinds others to his true nature. He hates deception and will not actually deny the truth however, and in the past, has even lost personal friendships after revealing his sinister heritage. Those who have known Baalfas and who become aware of his true nature are often driven away by the shock of such a revelation. Baalfas has spent the last several years searching for his mother, the fiend Asmra. He believes that destroying her will remove some of the taint of evil from his soul. Little does Baalfas realize that Asmra has plans of her own and is secretly awaiting a confrontation with her wayward son. It is believed that Asmra is a personal servant to the Queen of the Succubi herself, the demon Malcanthet. While Baalfas was still a child, Asmra murdered his father. He never knew his father as an adult, but the spirit of his deceased parent sometimes visits him. The spirit of his father appears as a geist that only Baalfas can see and hear. Unfortunately, the geist is not a living, growing being. For example, the spirit has a heavily impaired short-term memory: Only rarely does the spirit recall previous visits with Baalfas. Also, the geist falls easily into repetition, often repeating phrases and nervous actions. Baalfas Male half-fiend/half-human, CN Rogue 4, Sorcerer 1, Bard 3 Str 18 Dex 16 Con 16 Int 16 Wis 10 Cha 20 Armor Class 20 Hit Points 27 Fort+5, Ref +10, Will +6 Melee Attack +9 (+4 Str) Ranged Attack +9 (+3 Dex) Special: Bardic music (countersong, fascinate, inspire courage +1), bardic knowledge, evasion, inspire competence, metamagic specialist, sneak attack +2d6, trapfinding, trap sense +1, uncanny dodge. Fiendish Abilities: Darkness 3/day, desecrate, unholy blight, poison 3/day. These abilities are usable once per day unless otherwise noted. In combat, Baalfas can manifest a bite attack (1d6+4) and a claw attack (1d4+2). Baalfas teeth elongate like fangs and his claws unsheathe like a cat’s (this is a free action), otherwise it is not apparent that he has such physical traits. Baalfas’ bat-like wings operate on a similar principle; when he needs them, they’re there (he can manifest them as a free action), otherwise they are “absorbed” into his body, where they remain unseen. Feats: Darksoul, Haunted, Keeper of Forbidden Lore, Otherworldly Countenance. The following feats are ported for this article: The Haunted feat is presented in the d20 Ravenloft Campaign Setting (v.3.0) and ported for this article. The Darksoul feat is presented in Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss as the Evil Brand feat; it is renamed for this article. Unlike the Evil Brand feat, Baalfas has no patron; the Darksoul feat simply reflects the fact that evil creatures automatically recognize Baalfas’ demonic heritage. Due to his unique alignment considerations (see below), Baalfas is an exception to the rule that only evil aligned characters can use vile feats. Keeper of Forbidden Lore and Otherworldly Countenance are abyssal heritor feats also presented in Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss. Spells per Day: 6/6. Base DC= 15 + spell level. Caster level 2nd. Spells Known: 0- dancing lights, detect magic, ghost sound, light, read magic; 1st- cause fear, charm person. The spells Baalfas know reflect the nature of the conflicts in his soul. For instance, he knows not only charm person but also cause fear (he can be both charming and terrifying, often at the same time). Signature Possessions: Baalforge (+1 bane vs. evil outsiders longsword), chain shirt, large steel shield. Baalforge was left behind by Baalfas’ father after his murder at the hands of Asmra and later found by his son. This beautiful but deadly sword was crafted specifically to aid Baalfas in the struggle against Asmra. When used in combat against evil outsiders, Baalforge pulses with a crimson light. Languages: Common, Alpharian, Ancient Alpharian, Abyssal, Celestial. Ability Increases: Cha 19 (4th), Cha 20 (8th). The Nature of the Beast: The half-fiend template has been cosmetically modified for use by Baalfas as follows: Baalfas is beautiful; unlike the typical half-fiend, he does not have the physical traits typical of someone tainted with evil. The darkness of his soul is evidence enough of his evil.Baalfas is not overtly evil. See below, for his unique alignment considerations. Darksoul: Baalfas is chaotic neutral with good tendencies. The half-fiend must always struggle with a dark side however; if he ever falters in this fight, then Baalfas is capable of terrible evil. Baalfas is most often tempted by strong evil in others and is driven to vanquish such evil, heedless of the cost to his own soul. He will not for example, allow a child to be harmed or abused; in one such instance, a father who molested his own daughter was later slowly tortured by Baalfas. Baalfas also easily succumbs to the adoration of others; he would give anything for true acceptance. In times past, he has committed evil acts simply to gain the attention of an adoring companion. As a result of these inner conflicts, Baalfas has the taint of evil and is marked by the Darksoul feat (described above). As an optional (recommended) way to keep track of the good and evil that Baalfas commits, use the rules in “Temptation and Redemption: Betraying Your Evil Nature” (by Eric Cagle, presented in Dragon Magazine #306). This article uses “Redemption” and “Temptation” points to determine if a conflicted character’s alignment should shift to one more befitting the character’s actions. Beauty Above All: Baalfas is the epitome of male physical beauty; he cannot be scarred or disfigured. He can be hurt just like anyone else, however such damage never leaves scar tissue, nor does it disfigure Baalfas in any way. Physical wounds simply fade and disappear within seconds. This immunity does not apply when magical weapons inflict the damage or from magical attacks however; such attacks can scar and even disfigure Baalfas. There are no scars upon his body at this time. Concerning Sex: With his great beauty, Baalfas is often drawn into intimate encounters. Although his demonic origins might indicate that he would be driven by sexual desires, such emotions are actually alien to Baalfas. He is instead intrigued, approaching sex with more curiosity than lust. He displays no definite sexual preference and has been with both women and men.