Post/Author/DateTime	Post
DonThelonious 11-11-07, 08:16 AM	Okay, I have had a little bit of luck with building some interesting monsters, now I am going to try my hand at building a race. I statted it out as a monstar first though, because that just makes it easier later when I am ready to convert it over. Be brutal please, I want to eventually get thing into being a playeable race with a starting ECL lower than 5. Thanks Skitskiirin, 1st-Level Warrior Size/Type: Small Monsterous Humanoid Hit Dice: 1d8 (4 hp) Initiative: +5 Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares), Climb 20 ft. (4 squares), Fly 40 ft. (Average) (8 squares) Armor Class: 18 (+5 Dex, +2 Natural, +1 Size), touch 16, flat-footed 13 Base Attack/Grapple: +1/-2 Attack: Spiked Chain +7 melee (1d6+1/x2) or Darts +7 ranged (1d3/×2 + Poison) Full Attack: Spiked Chain +7 melee (1d6+1/x2) or Darts +7 ranged (1d3/×2 + Poison) Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft. Special Attacks: None Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., Tremorsense, Wide Vision Saves: Fort +2, Ref +5, Will +1 Abilities: Str 13, Dex 21, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 8 Skills: Climb +18, Hide +13 , Listen +3, Search +1, Spot +5 Feats: Weapon Finesse Environment: Underground Organization: Squad (2-4), company (11-20 plus 2 3rd-level sergeants and 1 leader of 3rd-6th level), or band (30-100 plus 150% noncombatants plus 1 3rd-level sergeant per 10 adults, 5 5th-level lieutenants, and 3 7th-level captains) Challenge Rating: 1 Treasure: Standard Alignment: Usually neutral Advancement: By character class Level Adjustment:+3 Skitskiirin are a race of small, flying, humanoid insects. They have four arms and are covered in a thick chitinous shell, the color of which ranges from solid black to various shades of green and red. The rarest specimens sport shells of iridescent purple and green. Their wings are insectile and appear much like those of a regular beetle. When not in use the fragile wings fold up under the shell to protect them from damage. The average skitskiirin is 3½ feet tall and typically weigh just less than 25 pounds. The males are usually more brightly colored than the females and sport large mandibles (the mandibles are for show and are useless in combat). They live mostly on meats, though they supplement this diet occasionally with various fungi and lichens that grow rampant in their subterranean homes. Due to the way their bodies are designed, skitskiirin are unable to wear any armor without losing their ability to fly. They also are unable to wear most clothing. Skitskiirin speak Skittish, a complex language that involves a lot of clicks, body language, whistles and pheromone scents. It is impossible for a non-Skitskiirin to speak Skittish with any proficiency. Occasionally the more intelligent members of a tribe may also know Common, Terran, or Undercommon. Most Skitskiirin encountered outside their homes are warriors which act as hunters; the information presented here is for one of 1st level. Combat Skitskiirin are cautious warriors and take time to analyze their opponents and the location of the fight if at all possible, maximizing their advantage by using ambushes, snipers, and camouflage. They prefer to fire their poisoned darts from cover and retreat before they are found, repeating this maneuver until all of their enemies are unconscious. Skitskiirin prefer spiked chains and darts over any other weapons. In melee, skitskiirin are graceful and deadly, using complex maneuvers and tactics that incorporate large swarms, as well as their flying ability and their ability to cling to walls and ceilings out of reach for most melee fighters. Skitskiirin are never met alone. They will always travel in at least pairs. The exception to this is the occasional skitskiirin who feels the need to venture outside his clans home territory, though often these loners will band with other like minded creatures. Tremosense (EX): A Skitskiirin can automatically sense the location of anything within 60 ft. that is in contact with the ground. Creatures with cover retain that bonus unless the Skitskiirin has line of sight on them. This ability on functions when the skitskiirin is also touching the ground. Wide Vision (EX): Because of its multiple eyes and wide angle of vision, a Skitskiirin has a +4 racial bonus on Spot checks and cannot be flanked. Poison Use: Skitskiirin are trained in the use of poison and never risk accidentally poisoning themselves when applying poison to a weapon. Most often times they will apply it to their darts to help take down larger prey. Skitskiirin Poison: Injury DC14; Initial 1 Con; Secondary Unconsciousness Skills: Skitskiirin have a +8 bonus on Climb checks, and a +2 racial bonus on Climb checks. A Skitskiirin can always choose to take 10 on Climb checks, even if rushed or threatened. Skitskiirin use their Dexterity modifier for Climb checks. The skitkiirin warrior presented here had the following stats before racial adjustments: Str 13, (11+2); Dex 21, (13+8); Con 10, (12-2); Int 10, (10); Wis 13, (9+4); Cha 8, (8) Skitskiirin Characters Skitskiirin adventurers are very rare. Most never even see the light of day in their entire lives. Those that do though usually go for the same reasons standard races do: for power, adventure, and money. Skitskiirins favored class is Ranger, though they may also take levels as Barbarians and Sorceres. Skitskiirin Clerics worship Sootch~T’kiir, a beetle of immense size and great power. Sootch~T’kiir’s domains are Earth, Luck, Protection, and Travel. +2 Strength, -2 Constitution, +8 Dexterity, +4 Wisdom, -4 Charisma: Skitskiirin are strong and very quick. They are much wiser than one would anticipate, but they lack in social graces and they are still insects, which most races find very disconcerting. The penalty to Charisme only applies when dealing with non-insect races, such as the Thrikreen or Dromite. Small: As a Small creature, a skitskiirin gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but it uses smaller weapons than humans use, and its lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character. Skitskiirin base land speed is 20 feet. Skitskiirin have a climb speed of 20 feet. Skitskiirin have a +8 bonus on Climb checks. A Skitskiirin can always choose to take 10 on Climb checks, even if rushed or threatened. Skitskiirin use their Dexterity modifier for Climb checks. Skitskiirin can fly at a speed of 40 feet. They have average maneuverability. A skitskiirin cannot fly if it is carrying a light or greater load. Natural Armor +2. Due to the way they are built, Skitskiirin cannot wear any type of armor or clothing or they lose their natural flight capabilities. Darkvision: Skitskiirin can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight, and skitskiirin can function just fine with no light at all. Tremosense (EX): A Skitskiirin can automatically sense the location of anything within 60 ft. that is in contact with the ground. Creatures with cover retain that bonus unless the Skitskiirin has line of sight on them. This ability only functions so long as the skitskiirin is also in contact with the ground. Wide Vision (EX): Because of its multiple eyes and wide angle of vision, a Skitskiirin has a +4 racial bonus on Spot checks and cannot be flanked. Poison Use: Skitskiirin are trained in the use of poison and never risk accidentally poisoning themselves when applying poison to a weapon. Most often times they will apply it to their darts to help take down larger prey. Skitskiirin Poison: Injury DC14; Initial 1 Con; Secondary Unconsciousness +2 racial bonus on saves against poison +2 racial bonus on climb checks. Skitskiirin are natural climbers, their insectile hands and feet easily finding purchace on most things. Automatic Languages: Skitskiirin. Bonus Languages: Common, Terran, and Undercommon. Level Adjustment: +4 Favored Class: Ranger. A multiclass skitskiirin’s ranger class does not count when determining whether it takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing
Tema69 11-11-07, 08:30 AM	I like the concept. But +10 Dex, 30 ft. movement, 20 ft. perfect fly, 30 ft climb, and 60 ft Darkvision and Tremorsense is quite alot of abilities. Are you sure it's balanced? I don't know much about balancing though. I hope someone good at that'll have a look at it.. ;)
Grod_The_Giant 11-11-07, 11:12 AM	The +4 LA seems a bit excessive...as does the +10 dexterity.
Max Octavious Xavier 11-11-07, 01:29 PM	Lets compare it with another +4 LA race, half-fiends. HALF-FIEND No matter its form, a half-fiend is always hideous to behold, having dark scales, horns, glowing red eyes, bat wings, a fetid odor, or some other obvious sign that it is tainted with evil. CREATING A HALF-FIEND “Half-fiend” is an inherited template that can be added to any living, corporeal creature with an Intelligence score of 4 or more and nongood alignment (referred to hereafter as the base creature). A half-fiend uses all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here. Size and Type: The creature’s type changes to outsider. Do not recalculate Hit Dice, base attack bonus, or saves. Size is unchanged. Half-fiends are normally native outsiders. Speed: A half-fiend has bat wings. Unless the base creature has a better fly speed, the creature can fly at the base creature’s base land speed (average maneuverability). Armor Class: Natural armor improves by +1 (this stacks with any natural armor bonus the base creature has). Attack: A half-fiend has two claw attacks and a bite attack, and the claws are the primary natural weapon. If the base creature can use weapons, the half-fiend retains this ability. A half-fiend fighting without weapons uses a claw when making an attack action. When it has a weapon, it usually uses the weapon instead. Full Attack: A half-fiend fighting without weapons uses both claws and its bite when making a full attack. If armed with a weapon, it usually uses the weapon as its primary attack and its bite as a natural secondary attack. If it has a hand free, it uses a claw as an additional natural secondary attack. Damage: Half-fiends have bite and claw attacks. If the base creature does not have these attack forms, use the damage values in the table below. Otherwise, use the values below or the base creature’s damage values, whichever are greater. Size Bite Damage Claw Damage Fine 1 — Diminutive 1d2 1 Tiny 1d3 1d2 Small 1d4 1d3 Medium 1d6 1d4 Large 1d8 1d6 Huge 2d6 1d8 Gargantuan 3d6 2d6 Colossal 4d6 3d6 Special Attacks: A half-fiend retains all the special attacks of the base creature and gains the following special attack. Smite Good (Su): Once per day the creature can make a normal melee attack to deal extra damage equal to its HD (maximum of +20) against a good foe. Spell-Like Abilities: A half-fiend with an Intelligence or Wisdom score of 8 or higher has spell-like abilities depending on its Hit Dice, as indicated on the table below. The abilities are cumulative. Unless otherwise noted, an ability is usable once per day. Caster level equals the creature’s HD, and the save DC is Charisma-based. HD Abilities 1–2 Darkness 3/day 3–4 Desecrate 5–6 Unholy blight 7–8 Poison 3/day 9–10 Contagion 11–12 Blasphemy 13–14 Unholy aura 3/day, unhallow 15–16 Horrid wilting 17–18 Summon monster IX (fiends only) 19–20 Destruction Special Qualities: A half-fiend has all the special qualities of the base creature, plus the following special qualities. —Darkvision out to 60 feet. —Immunity to poison. —Resistance to acid 10, cold 10, electricity 10, and fire 10. —Damage reduction: 5/magic (if HD 11 or less) or 10/magic (if HD 12 or more). —A half-fiend’s natural weapons are treated as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. —Spell resistance equal to creature’s HD + 10 (maximum 35). Abilities: Increase from the base creature as follows: Str +4, Dex +4, Con +2, Int +4, Cha +2. Skills: A half-fiend gains skill points as an outsider and has skill points equal to (8 + Int modifier) x (HD + 3). Do not include Hit Dice from class levels in this calculation—the half-fiend gains outsider skill points only for its racial Hit Dice, and gains the normal amount of skill points for its class levels. Treat skills from the base creature’s list as class skills, and other skills as cross-class. Challenge Rating: HD 4 or less, as base creature +1; HD 5 to 10, as base creature +2; HD 11 or more, as base creature +3. Alignment: Always evil (any). Level Adjustment: +4. Skitskiirin Characters Skitskiirin adventurers are very rare. Most never even see the light of day in their entire lives. Those that do though usually go for the same reasons standard races do: for power, adventure, and money. Skitskiirins favored class is Ranger, though they may also take levels as Barbarians and Sorceres. Skitskiirin Clerics worship Sootch~T’kiir, a beetle of immense size and great power. Sootch~T’kiir’s domains are Earth, Luck, Protection, and Travel. +2 Strength, +10 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, and -2 Charisma: Skitskiirin are strong and very quick. They are much wiser than one would anticipate, but they lack in social graces and they are still insects, which most races find very disconcerting. HF have +16 spread across all 6 stats, good for MAD builds, but Sk have +12 concentrated in the very useful dex stat (and with the often used chr as a dump stat). IMO Sk 1, HF 0 Small: As a Small creature, a skitskiirin gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but it uses smaller weapons than humans use, and its lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character. Skitskiirin base land speed is 30 feet.HF can be small and there are some small races with 30' move, but most don't. This puts Sk into the better small races. IMO Sk 2, HF 0 Skitskiirin have a climb speed of 30 feet. Skitskiirin have a +10 racial bonus on Climb checks. A Skitskiirin can always choose to take 10 on Climb checks, even if rushed or threatened. Skitskiirin use their Dexterity modifier for Climb checks. Skitskiirin can fly at a speed of 20 feet. They have perfect maneuverability.HF probably have a better fly speed than Sk, but Sk have perfect maneuverability and a climb speed. IMO Sk 3, HF 0 Darkvision: Skitskiirin can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight, and skitskiirin can function just fine with no light at all. Tremosense (EX): A Skitskiirin can automatically sense the location of anything within 60 ft. that is in contact with the ground. Creatures with cover retain that bonus unless the Skitskiirin has line of sight on them. Wide Vision (EX): Because of its multiple eyes and wide angle of vision, a Skitskiirin has a +4 racial bonus on Spot checks and cannot be flanked.HF also have darkvision, but Sk Tremorsense is a huge ability. IMO Sk 4, HF 0 Poison Use: Skitskiirin are trained in the use of poison and never risk accidentally poisoning themselves when applying poison to a weapon. Most often times they will apply it to their darts to help take down larger prey. Skitskiirin Poison: Injury DC14; Initial 1 Con; Secondary Unconsciousness +2 racial bonus on saves against poison.HFare immune to posion. IMO Sk 4, HF 1 Racial Weapon: Skitskiirin treat the Spiked Chain as a martial weapon. Automatic Languages: Skitskiirin. Bonus Languages: Common, Terran, and Undercommon. Level Adjustment: +4 Favored Class: Ranger. A multiclass skitskiirin’s ranger class does not count when determining whether it takes an experience point penalty for multiclassingYou forgot to add; +2 natural armor, can't wear armor and type is aberration. HF +1 na and native outsider, Sk +2 natural armor and type is aberration. HF have natural (magic) attacks, Sk get a free "EWP(spiked chain) feat". HF smite good, spell-like abiities, resistance 10 vs everthing but sonic, DR/magic, SR IMO Sk 5, HF 5 They seem to compare favorably to each other, so +4 LA seems about right. Somethings I would change (your mileage may vary); - reduce the flying from perfect to average (or poor) and can't use if more than lightly loaded - -4 chr - +4 natural armor - can only use Tremosense when in contact with the ground - Give them a bite attack (1d4 + str)
AttritionFTW 11-11-07, 01:47 PM	As the Skitskiirin are insectile creautes I believe they would either be properly classified as Vermin or if they posses magical capabilities Magical Beasts, I think the Aberration type is generally only applied to creatures that dont resemble anything from the real world or mythology in any way.
Bahumut 11-11-07, 05:38 PM	As the Skitskiirin are insectile creautes I believe they would either be properly classified as Vermin or if they posses magical capabilities Magical Beasts, I think the Aberration type is generally only applied to creatures that dont resemble anything from the real world or mythology in any way. im gonna go with monstrous humanoid. Monstrous Humanoid Type Monstrous humanoids are similar to humanoids, but with monstrous or animalistic features. They often have magical abilities as well. also, my input on the race. you should probably change the racial bonus for climb to +8, unless they get +8 for having a climb speed, and then get another +2 racial bonus. might just be me being wierd though. also, this might work better if it has some monster HD. a +4 LA race that has no CON bonus goes splat faster than a kobold in a bar fight. i was thinking 2 HD and a +2 LA (overpowered +2, possibly a balanced +3 from tremorsense), and as above, i believe they should probably be monstrous humanoids...abberations are usually warped into the form they are, come from the Far Realms, or just generally defy the natural order of things. this race just strikes me as an anthropomorphic beetle, the same way the thri-kreen is an anthropomorphic praying mantis.
DonThelonious 11-12-07, 01:44 AM	Thank you Max Octavious Xavier, for doing such a thorough comparison with the Half-Fiend. I have taken some of your advice and changed a few things, the edits are in red. As for a bite attack, well, I just didn't want one (I have issues with the Thrikreen for this reason). -- Bahumut: You are absolutley right this is a monsterous humanoid, and I have changed it over. Thank You. As for the racial HD, I am going to have to say no. I don't want them to have HP, I want them to be more of a "Hit and Run" type.
Bahumut 11-12-07, 02:35 AM	As for the racial HD, I am going to have to say no. I don't want them to have HP, I want them to be more of a "Hit and Run" type. ahh, gotcha. i only really mentioned the racial HD to help lower the LA, in case you wanted to use these for PCs. as a player, i would HATE to run into a swarm of these things!
Finfreeze 11-12-07, 11:02 PM	In the comparison between half-fiends and skitskiirin, I think one important point has been missed: that half-fiend is a template. In other words, not only do you get the template's bonuses, but you also need to apply the base race's bonuses. Not to mention that half-fiends may themselves be not worth a LA +4. Both versions are not worth LA +4, to be honest. Pixies get overall better flight with no real restrictions, are always invisible, have DR 10 and better stats, as well as a host of spell-likes and special arrows to fall back on. I think the old one could probably fit as LA +3, but it really depends on what power level you want the base race to be. Hm...Maybe the new one could make it in as an LA +2 race. Major powers are movement types, dexterity, limited tremorsense, and inability to be flanked. But flight is restricted and eventually outclassed by overland flight, you have to be on the ground to use tremorsense, you get a net penalty on opposed strength checks like grapple and bull rush, and you take a constitution penalty. I'd have to think about it though.
Max Octavious Xavier 11-13-07, 02:01 PM	In the comparison between half-fiends and skitskiirin, I think one important point has been missed: that half-fiend is a template. In other words, not only do you get the template's bonuses, but you also need to apply the base race's bonuses. Not to mention that half-fiends may themselves be not worth a LA +4. Both versions are not worth LA +4, to be honest. Pixies get overall better flight with no real restrictions, are always invisible, have DR 10 and better stats, as well as a host of spell-likes and special arrows to fall back on. I think the old one could probably fit as LA +3, but it really depends on what power level you want the base race to be. Hm...Maybe the new one could make it in as an LA +2 race. Major powers are movement types, dexterity, limited tremorsense, and inability to be flanked. But flight is restricted and eventually outclassed by overland flight, you have to be on the ground to use tremorsense, you get a net penalty on opposed strength checks like grapple and bull rush, and you take a constitution penalty. I'd have to think about it though.Good points, though I'm not sure about +2. I think a comparison between a pixie and a Sk would be useful to do. Maybe I wil do so. We will see.
DonThelonious 11-13-07, 05:35 PM	I think a +3 LA is a lot more reasonable.
Bahumut 11-14-07, 01:40 AM	the only 1HD small race i know of with +3 LA is the svirneblin (sp?). try a comparison against that for a +3 LA judgement.
Finfreeze 11-14-07, 08:55 AM	Nixies are small and have a +3 LA, too. Not nearly as mouth-watering as pixies, but good spell resistance, great dexterity and charisma modifiers, as well as fairly hard-to-beat damage reduction are nothing to sneeze at...at least, compared to hobgoblins and blues.