New Race: Half Gerivar [Archive] - Wizards Community

New Race: Half Gerivar [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Smite-Mo-Tron
07-16-07, 11:31 PM So, I was inspired by the Gerivar from Monster Manual 3 to create a race that captured the power and might of the Gerivar. For those of you unfamiliar with that monster, it is a Huge, Four-Armed Giant with armor-like skin and a penchant for destruction.

My thought on the origin of this race is much the same as the origin of the monster. It would have been invented by ancient wizards keen on creating a race of single minded shock troops.

I have two topics that I would especially like commentary on; balance of level and CR adjustment, and how well I have scaled the abilities of the Gerivar down into its current form. Suggestions on how I should go about tweaking this race are welcome, as well as any other comments that do not pertain to the topics I have established.

Half-Gerivar
• +10 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +4 Constitution, +2 Wisdom, +2 Charisma: Half-gerivar are tough, strong, and generally above average mental acuity and manual dexterity for members of a race of giants.
• Giant: Half-gerivar are not subject to spells or effects that affect humanoids only, such as charm person or dominate person.
• Large: As large creatures, half-gerivar have a -1 penalty to attack rolls and armor class, a +4 bonus on grapple checks, and lifting and carrying limits twice those of medium characters.
• Space/Reach: 10ft/10ft
• Half-gerivar base land speed is 50 feet.
• Low-Light Vision: A half-gerivar can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. He retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
• Racial Hit Dice: A half-gerivar begins with four levels of giant which provide 4d8 Hit Dice, a base attack bonus of +3, and base saving throw bonuses of fort +4 ref +1, and Will +1.
• Racial Skills: A half-gerivar’s giant levels give it skill points equal to 7 x (2 + Int modifier), minimum 1. Its class skills are Climb, Jump, Listen, Spot and Survival.
• Leap (Ex): Half-gerivar can always take 10 on Jump checks. Also, if a half-gerivar leaps down from a great height, a successful DC 15 Jump check negates the damage from the first 60 feet of the fall, as opposed to the first 10 feet.
• Half-gerivar have resistance to energy: fire 15, sonic 15; half-gerivar have a +4 racial bonus on saves against poison, disease, and mind-affecting spells and abilities.
• +6 Natural Armor: Half-gerivar have a thick blue-gray hide covered in thick, spiky armor plates.
• Multiple Limbs: Half-gerivar have four arms, and thus can take the Multiweapon Fighting feat instead of the Two-Weapon Fighting feat. Half-gerivar can also take the Multiattack feat.
•Natural Attacks: Half-gerivar can attack with four slams. The slams deal 1d8 pints of damage plus strength modifier. Only one of these attacks is considered to be the primary hand.
• Automatic Language: Common, Giant; Bonus Languages: Draconic, Gnoll, Ignan.
• Favored Class: Barbarian
• Level Adjustment: +4.

Gerivar-Blooded
• +4 Strength, +2 Constitution, +2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, +2 Charisma: gerivar-blooded are tough, strong, and generally above average mental acuity and manual dexterity for members of a race of giants.
• Giant: The gerivar-blooded are not subject to spells or effects that affect humanoids only, such as charm person or dominate person.
• Medium: As Medium creatures, the gerivar-blooded have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
• Gerivar-blooded have a base land speed of 40 feet.
• Low-Light Vision: The gerivar-blooded can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. He retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
• Leap (Ex): Gerivar-blooded can always take 10 on Jump checks. Also, if a gerivar-blooded leaps down from a great height, a successful DC 15 Jump check negates the damage from the first 30 feet of the fall, as opposed to the first 10 feet.
• Gerivar-blooded have resistance to energy: fire 5, sonic 5; Gerivar Blooded have a +2 racial bonus on saves against poison, disease, and mind-affecting spells and abilities.
• +2 Natural Armor: Gerivar-blooded have a thick blue-gray hide covered in thick, spiky armor plates.
• Multiple Limbs: Gerivar-blooded have four arms, and thus can take the Multiweapon Fighting feat instead of the Two-Weapon Fighting feat.
• Powerful Build: The physical stature of the gerivar-blooded lets them function in many ways as if they were one size category larger.
Whenever a half-giant is subject to a size modifier or special size modifier for an opposed check (such as during grapple checks, bull rush attempts, and trip attempts), the half-giant is treated as one size larger if doing so is advantageous to him.
A half-giant is also considered to be one size larger when determining whether a creature’s special attacks based on size (such as improved grab or swallow whole) can affect him. A half-giant can use weapons designed for a creature one size larger without penalty. However, his space and reach remain those of a creature of his actual size. The benefits of this racial trait stack with the effects of powers, abilities, and spells that change the subject’s size category.
• Automatic Language: Common, Giant; Bonus Languages: Draconic, Gnoll, Ignan.
• Favored Class: Barbarian
• Level Adjustment: +3
ArochanoX
07-17-07, 12:02 AM You should compare them to Ogres and Half-Ogres. I think that this creature should be large instead of powerbuilded medium. After that, comparsion to ogres should be easy. I can't remember the stats, but I think that your half-gerivar is more powerful than either of them.

Good idea of the half-gerivar though! I'd recommend giving them slightly smaller bonuses and name it Gerivar-touched, Gerivar-blooded etc. Make them then medium with powerful build and aim for LA +2.
Smite-Mo-Tron
07-17-07, 01:19 PM Well, I've thought about your suggestions, and decided to make two races. One should be fairly comparable with the ogre, and the other should compare well with the the various "half-" templates in the monster manual.

You should compare them to Ogres and Half-Ogres. I think that this creature should be large instead of powerbuilded medium. After that, comparsion to ogres should be easy. I can't remember the stats, but I think that your half-gerivar is more powerful than either of them.

Good idea of the half-gerivar though! I'd recommend giving them slightly smaller bonuses and name it Gerivar-touched, Gerivar-blooded etc. Make them then medium with powerful build and aim for LA +2.

I don't know how to get it down to a LA of +2; the DMG II says that the Aberrant limbs trait is +2 LA, though that also adds multiweapon fighting as a bonus feat. Honestly though, that seems a little weak for +2 LA.

Oh, and what book is the Half-Ogre race in?
Lord_Of_The_Abyss
07-17-07, 07:40 PM Sweet! The Geriviar has always been one of my favorite races of all time, i've always wanted to play as one (a younger, smaller one that is :D ), i personally think that the half-giant race should really be a template, then you could use this, and any other giant that tickles your fancy....hmmmmm......also, maybe you should add in some fast healing due to the fact that their geriviar parent has regeneration, that and maybe a little more strength because theirs is somewhat typical for a large creature with only two arms.
Drow64
07-17-07, 08:03 PM A Half-Giant? Really! YAY! GO HAGRID!!!
ArochanoX
07-18-07, 06:05 AM Ogre's stats for player characters:

From SRD

Ogre characters possess the following racial traits.
— +10 Strength, –2 Dexterity, +4 Constitution, –4 Intelligence, –4 Charisma.
—Large size. –1 penalty to Armor Class, –1 penalty on attack rolls, –4 penalty on Hide checks, +4 bonus on grapple checks, lifting and carrying limits double those of Medium characters.
—Space/Reach: 10 feet/10 feet.
—An ogre’s base land speed is 40 feet.
—Darkvision out to 60 feet.
—Racial Hit Dice: An ogre begins with four levels of giant, which provide 4d8 Hit Dice, a base attack bonus of +3, and base saving throw bonuses of Fort +4, Ref +1, and Will +1.
—Racial Skills: An ogre’s giant levels give it skill points equal to 7 x (2 + Int modifier, minimum 1). Its class skills are Climb, Listen, and Spot.
—Racial Feats: An ogre’s giant levels give it two feats.
—Weapon and Armor Proficiency: An ogre is automatically proficient with simple weapons, martial weapons, light and medium armor, and shields.
— +5 natural armor bonus.
—Automatic Languages: Common, Giant. Bonus Languages: Dwarven, Orc, Goblin, Terran.
—Favored Class: Barbarian.
—Level adjustment +2.

So for your half-gerivar, the LA seems to be okay. No big deal there. Though the gerivarblooded has maybe too many nice abilities for their LA +3. I suggest reducing the jump abilities to "mere" 30 ft and the take ten ability to "take 5". Also the ability modifiers seems to be a little too good. I suggest removing the dex and charisma bonuses as they are small even on a half-gerivar. And for the multiple limbs ability, I suggest removing the ability to use all four limbs without any penalties. Give them an addintional -4 penalty if he uses all four limbs in combat or in some other hectic situation. After these changes, the gerivarblooded's LA could be even a nice +2.
Smite-Mo-Tron
07-18-07, 12:52 PM Well, I just can't bring myself to cut the stat bonuses to dexterity and charisma. All four armed creatures I have found at medium size have a very high bonus to dexterity, and the Gerivar actually has a bonus to dexterity, that's pretty rare for giants and for huge creatures. As such, I feel that removing that bonus would go against the flavor of the Gerivar race. As for charisma, honestly I don't think it will be of much use to the characters that are gerivar-blooded, because none of them should be playing a spellcaster. Aside from that, Gerivar possess the wisdom of a powerful cleric, and the charisma of a powerful sorcerer. I'd say those bonuses are like the intelligence and charisma bonuses of the half dragon template; no one would take that template becase of charisma or intelligence, they do it for the +8 strength.

I will go ahead and cut back on the leap ability, down to 30ft, but I just can't cut "take 10" down to "take 5." I mean, 10 is already a slightly below average roll, but 5 is a down right bad roll.

I had already cut the slams out of the Gerivar-Blooded, so it has no natural weapons. An additional -4 penalty to the use of multiple limbs in combat seems a little too severe. It would make it so that you might as well just play a thri-kreen. As is, you can't actually use all the limbs of a Gerivar-Blooded character without a weapon or shield in each hand.
Smite-Mo-Tron
08-02-07, 10:49 PM Though I don't like doing this, bump.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Smite-Mo-Tron 07-16-07, 11:31 PM	So, I was inspired by the Gerivar from Monster Manual 3 to create a race that captured the power and might of the Gerivar. For those of you unfamiliar with that monster, it is a Huge, Four-Armed Giant with armor-like skin and a penchant for destruction. My thought on the origin of this race is much the same as the origin of the monster. It would have been invented by ancient wizards keen on creating a race of single minded shock troops. I have two topics that I would especially like commentary on; balance of level and CR adjustment, and how well I have scaled the abilities of the Gerivar down into its current form. Suggestions on how I should go about tweaking this race are welcome, as well as any other comments that do not pertain to the topics I have established. Half-Gerivar • +10 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +4 Constitution, +2 Wisdom, +2 Charisma: Half-gerivar are tough, strong, and generally above average mental acuity and manual dexterity for members of a race of giants. • Giant: Half-gerivar are not subject to spells or effects that affect humanoids only, such as charm person or dominate person. • Large: As large creatures, half-gerivar have a -1 penalty to attack rolls and armor class, a +4 bonus on grapple checks, and lifting and carrying limits twice those of medium characters. • Space/Reach: 10ft/10ft • Half-gerivar base land speed is 50 feet. • Low-Light Vision: A half-gerivar can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. He retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions. • Racial Hit Dice: A half-gerivar begins with four levels of giant which provide 4d8 Hit Dice, a base attack bonus of +3, and base saving throw bonuses of fort +4 ref +1, and Will +1. • Racial Skills: A half-gerivar’s giant levels give it skill points equal to 7 x (2 + Int modifier), minimum 1. Its class skills are Climb, Jump, Listen, Spot and Survival. • Leap (Ex): Half-gerivar can always take 10 on Jump checks. Also, if a half-gerivar leaps down from a great height, a successful DC 15 Jump check negates the damage from the first 60 feet of the fall, as opposed to the first 10 feet. • Half-gerivar have resistance to energy: fire 15, sonic 15; half-gerivar have a +4 racial bonus on saves against poison, disease, and mind-affecting spells and abilities. • +6 Natural Armor: Half-gerivar have a thick blue-gray hide covered in thick, spiky armor plates. • Multiple Limbs: Half-gerivar have four arms, and thus can take the Multiweapon Fighting feat instead of the Two-Weapon Fighting feat. Half-gerivar can also take the Multiattack feat. •Natural Attacks: Half-gerivar can attack with four slams. The slams deal 1d8 pints of damage plus strength modifier. Only one of these attacks is considered to be the primary hand. • Automatic Language: Common, Giant; Bonus Languages: Draconic, Gnoll, Ignan. • Favored Class: Barbarian • Level Adjustment: +4. Gerivar-Blooded • +4 Strength, +2 Constitution, +2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, +2 Charisma: gerivar-blooded are tough, strong, and generally above average mental acuity and manual dexterity for members of a race of giants. • Giant: The gerivar-blooded are not subject to spells or effects that affect humanoids only, such as charm person or dominate person. • Medium: As Medium creatures, the gerivar-blooded have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size. • Gerivar-blooded have a base land speed of 40 feet. • Low-Light Vision: The gerivar-blooded can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. He retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions. • Leap (Ex): Gerivar-blooded can always take 10 on Jump checks. Also, if a gerivar-blooded leaps down from a great height, a successful DC 15 Jump check negates the damage from the first 30 feet of the fall, as opposed to the first 10 feet. • Gerivar-blooded have resistance to energy: fire 5, sonic 5; Gerivar Blooded have a +2 racial bonus on saves against poison, disease, and mind-affecting spells and abilities. • +2 Natural Armor: Gerivar-blooded have a thick blue-gray hide covered in thick, spiky armor plates. • Multiple Limbs: Gerivar-blooded have four arms, and thus can take the Multiweapon Fighting feat instead of the Two-Weapon Fighting feat. • Powerful Build: The physical stature of the gerivar-blooded lets them function in many ways as if they were one size category larger. Whenever a half-giant is subject to a size modifier or special size modifier for an opposed check (such as during grapple checks, bull rush attempts, and trip attempts), the half-giant is treated as one size larger if doing so is advantageous to him. A half-giant is also considered to be one size larger when determining whether a creature’s special attacks based on size (such as improved grab or swallow whole) can affect him. A half-giant can use weapons designed for a creature one size larger without penalty. However, his space and reach remain those of a creature of his actual size. The benefits of this racial trait stack with the effects of powers, abilities, and spells that change the subject’s size category. • Automatic Language: Common, Giant; Bonus Languages: Draconic, Gnoll, Ignan. • Favored Class: Barbarian • Level Adjustment: +3
ArochanoX 07-17-07, 12:02 AM	You should compare them to Ogres and Half-Ogres. I think that this creature should be large instead of powerbuilded medium. After that, comparsion to ogres should be easy. I can't remember the stats, but I think that your half-gerivar is more powerful than either of them. Good idea of the half-gerivar though! I'd recommend giving them slightly smaller bonuses and name it Gerivar-touched, Gerivar-blooded etc. Make them then medium with powerful build and aim for LA +2.
Smite-Mo-Tron 07-17-07, 01:19 PM	Well, I've thought about your suggestions, and decided to make two races. One should be fairly comparable with the ogre, and the other should compare well with the the various "half-" templates in the monster manual. You should compare them to Ogres and Half-Ogres. I think that this creature should be large instead of powerbuilded medium. After that, comparsion to ogres should be easy. I can't remember the stats, but I think that your half-gerivar is more powerful than either of them. Good idea of the half-gerivar though! I'd recommend giving them slightly smaller bonuses and name it Gerivar-touched, Gerivar-blooded etc. Make them then medium with powerful build and aim for LA +2. I don't know how to get it down to a LA of +2; the DMG II says that the Aberrant limbs trait is +2 LA, though that also adds multiweapon fighting as a bonus feat. Honestly though, that seems a little weak for +2 LA. Oh, and what book is the Half-Ogre race in?
Lord_Of_The_Abyss 07-17-07, 07:40 PM	Sweet! The Geriviar has always been one of my favorite races of all time, i've always wanted to play as one (a younger, smaller one that is :D ), i personally think that the half-giant race should really be a template, then you could use this, and any other giant that tickles your fancy....hmmmmm......also, maybe you should add in some fast healing due to the fact that their geriviar parent has regeneration, that and maybe a little more strength because theirs is somewhat typical for a large creature with only two arms.
Drow64 07-17-07, 08:03 PM	A Half-Giant? Really! YAY! GO HAGRID!!!
ArochanoX 07-18-07, 06:05 AM	Ogre's stats for player characters: From SRD Ogre characters possess the following racial traits. — +10 Strength, –2 Dexterity, +4 Constitution, –4 Intelligence, –4 Charisma. —Large size. –1 penalty to Armor Class, –1 penalty on attack rolls, –4 penalty on Hide checks, +4 bonus on grapple checks, lifting and carrying limits double those of Medium characters. —Space/Reach: 10 feet/10 feet. —An ogre’s base land speed is 40 feet. —Darkvision out to 60 feet. —Racial Hit Dice: An ogre begins with four levels of giant, which provide 4d8 Hit Dice, a base attack bonus of +3, and base saving throw bonuses of Fort +4, Ref +1, and Will +1. —Racial Skills: An ogre’s giant levels give it skill points equal to 7 x (2 + Int modifier, minimum 1). Its class skills are Climb, Listen, and Spot. —Racial Feats: An ogre’s giant levels give it two feats. —Weapon and Armor Proficiency: An ogre is automatically proficient with simple weapons, martial weapons, light and medium armor, and shields. — +5 natural armor bonus. —Automatic Languages: Common, Giant. Bonus Languages: Dwarven, Orc, Goblin, Terran. —Favored Class: Barbarian. —Level adjustment +2. So for your half-gerivar, the LA seems to be okay. No big deal there. Though the gerivarblooded has maybe too many nice abilities for their LA +3. I suggest reducing the jump abilities to "mere" 30 ft and the take ten ability to "take 5". Also the ability modifiers seems to be a little too good. I suggest removing the dex and charisma bonuses as they are small even on a half-gerivar. And for the multiple limbs ability, I suggest removing the ability to use all four limbs without any penalties. Give them an addintional -4 penalty if he uses all four limbs in combat or in some other hectic situation. After these changes, the gerivarblooded's LA could be even a nice +2.
Smite-Mo-Tron 07-18-07, 12:52 PM	Well, I just can't bring myself to cut the stat bonuses to dexterity and charisma. All four armed creatures I have found at medium size have a very high bonus to dexterity, and the Gerivar actually has a bonus to dexterity, that's pretty rare for giants and for huge creatures. As such, I feel that removing that bonus would go against the flavor of the Gerivar race. As for charisma, honestly I don't think it will be of much use to the characters that are gerivar-blooded, because none of them should be playing a spellcaster. Aside from that, Gerivar possess the wisdom of a powerful cleric, and the charisma of a powerful sorcerer. I'd say those bonuses are like the intelligence and charisma bonuses of the half dragon template; no one would take that template becase of charisma or intelligence, they do it for the +8 strength. I will go ahead and cut back on the leap ability, down to 30ft, but I just can't cut "take 10" down to "take 5." I mean, 10 is already a slightly below average roll, but 5 is a down right bad roll. I had already cut the slams out of the Gerivar-Blooded, so it has no natural weapons. An additional -4 penalty to the use of multiple limbs in combat seems a little too severe. It would make it so that you might as well just play a thri-kreen. As is, you can't actually use all the limbs of a Gerivar-Blooded character without a weapon or shield in each hand.
Smite-Mo-Tron 08-02-07, 10:49 PM	Though I don't like doing this, bump.