Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Sunblast 08-30-07, 06:05 PM	I'm currently working on a hound archon knight using the hound archon monster class from the Planar Handbook. However, the feats system in there is seriously confusing the life out of me. It says to use the table for level dependant benefits from the PHB, but that doesn't actually tell me anything. So, what I want to know is how to determine the number of feats for monster classes, specifically hound archons (Mine has 4 levels of hound archon). I mean, they also get bonus feats at a few levels, so that just makes it all the more confusing.
Salla 08-30-07, 09:08 PM	You get a feat at your 1st hit die, then every 3 (1,3,6,9). If I'm reading you right, and you have 4 Hit Dice, you have two; one at 1st 'level', 1 at 4th.
runestar 08-31-07, 12:01 AM	Note that the bonus feat entry in the hound archon table is misleading - they are actually referring to the feats you would normally accrue for your 1st, 3rd and 6th HD. It would be better to just disregard them.:)
imakuni67 08-31-07, 12:38 AM	I never liked the monsters classes, though probably more because they are labeled badly. >.< That and because you are supposed to be powerful as a "monster", though I guess you could say you are starting out as a younger creature and are still growing, but how long does that take? You know what I'm saying?
Sunblast 08-31-07, 12:11 PM	Ah, OK. So they gain feats by hit dice, not by their "class level." And the bonus feats in their class features are really supposed to be telling you when to get your feats. Man, this stuff is badly labeled. Thanks for your help, guys! Oh, and I agree, imakuni67. It seems weird to play a weaker version of a powerful race, but I'm not one of those people who starts out with nearly epic characters. I'm always pretty low level, so this is really the only way I'll get to play out such a character. And I really wanna. ;)
Jaxgaret 08-31-07, 02:14 PM	Ah, OK. So they gain feats by hit dice, not by their "class level." And the bonus feats in their class features are really supposed to be telling you when to get your feats. Man, this stuff is badly labeled. Thanks for your help, guys! Oh, and I agree, imakuni67. It seems weird to play a weaker version of a powerful race, but I'm not one of those people who starts out with nearly epic characters. I'm always pretty low level, so this is really the only way I'll get to play out such a character. And I really wanna. ;) Once you get the hang of it (i.e. you've created one or two of these suckers to a level of campaign playability), the monsters-as-PCs rules are actually pretty easy to follow. WotC took a difficult problem - how to let players play monsters as characters without letting them overpower the PHB races - and did the best they could with it. It's really not that bad at all. It's one of their better works in 3e, anyway. Aside from the occasional brain fart.
runestar 08-31-07, 10:43 PM	That and because you are supposed to be powerful as a "monster", though I guess you could say you are starting out as a younger creature and are still growing, but how long does that take? You know what I'm saying? I understand - but I don't think it is feasible to play a monster who starts off at an infant and "grows" into maturity. This could easily take years or even decades, possibly even centuries for some. This can be very hard to co-ordinate with the rest of the party. Draconomicon did something similar with their dragons. I suppose it could work for monsters with shorter lifespans/maturity ages. I agree that it seems ludicrous how an ogre infant can somehow reach adult age in a few months just by adventuring really hard during this time. But at the moment, this seems to be the best way of allowing powerful races from 1st lv onwards (by breaking it up into lv-sized progressions). In the absence of a better alternative, I guess we will have to stick with it. Or see what 4e does to rectify this.:P