yaun-ti as a character [Archive] - Wizards Community

yaun-ti as a character [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
blue14mist
03-03-07, 05:24 PM so Im looking for a character in my campign that is willing to be a yaun-ti. the problem is that no one wants to be one. and I dont want to either. so the major question I have is would someone be willing to make me one? :coolcthul
Regular_K
03-03-07, 07:04 PM What do you mean? like, create a Yuan-ti type race for you, or just someone to play with you as one? Or do you want possible Yuan-ti class race things that work well together. Really, if you want someone to play as a Yuan-ti, but nobody want's to, you might as well play as one and just do it yourself. If you don't then it obviously can't be that important that you have one.
blue14mist
03-03-07, 10:00 PM I was looking for more along the lines of a yaun-ti that would work. that someone could create for me because I havent quite learned the character optimisation at a level jhigher than its orriginal level 1
Windbit
03-04-07, 08:39 PM I'm a noob, and I just bought the Monster Manual today, but can't you just take the info for Yuan-ti and use that for a race?
Bopple
03-04-07, 10:34 PM You want to create a yuan-ti character, but you don't know how to optimize it, right?

But first, you have to tell us what kind of character it would be.
Melee? Ranged? Arcane? Divine? Psionic? Gish?

And it's not yaun-ti, but yuan-ti.
Regular_K
03-04-07, 10:40 PM I'm a noob, and I just bought the Monster Manual today, but can't you just take the info for Yuan-ti and use that for a race?

No. For the ability scores, you minus 10 if it's an even number, minus 11 if it's an odd, and then you have the bonuses for your ability scores. So, say yuan-ti have a str of 16 (I'm not sure, just an example, really, I'm just too lazy to look it up.) Then, minus 10 from 16 and he has a +6 str. It's pretty much the same if it's a negative score, except you add on 10 or 11.

EDIT: Hey, Bopple! What is Gish???
Bopple
03-04-07, 10:49 PM Gish is a hybrid type character. Typically it refers to a warrior with spellcasting ability.
Lady_Dragon
03-04-07, 11:24 PM I'm a noob, and I just bought the Monster Manual today, but can't you just take the info for Yuan-ti and use that for a race?

Sort of. If you're building a Yuan-ti pureblood, the MM breaks the race down to be used as a PC race. They have 4 monstrous hit dice and +2 LA, so right off the bat they're effectively a 6th level character with no class levels.
If you want to do a halfblood or adomination, then you do have to extract their stat bonuses.
A Halfblood would have +4 STR, +2 DEX, +2 CON, +8 INT, +8 WIS, +6 CHA. They have 7 racial hit die and a +5 LA, making their ECL 12.
An Abomination would have +8 STR, +2 DEX, +6 CON, +10 INT, +10 WIS, +8 CHA. They have 9 racial hit dice and a +7 LA, making their ECL 16.
There's more to it that that, obviously, but that would get you started.
Windbit
03-05-07, 07:26 AM Couldn't you just get rid of the monstrous humanoid levels and replace them with class levels?
pegasuspaladin
03-05-07, 09:41 AM yes and then you just add the level adjustment to class level to find their ecl
nighttree
03-05-07, 10:13 AM Couldn't you just get rid of the monstrous humanoid levels and replace them with class levels?

You can only do that if the creature in question only has one racial HD.

So Yuan-ti would not qualify for that treatment....
Windbit
03-05-07, 05:23 PM Alright, so how do we go about making a Yuan-ti playable? I'd like to know, since I'd like to make versions of the Yuan-ti and the Slaad that could be balanced PCs.
Regular_K
03-05-07, 05:29 PM Alright, so how do we go about making a Yuan-ti playable? I'd like to know, since I'd like to make versions of the Yuan-ti and the Slaad that could be balanced PCs.

Well, they are playable, if they have a LA listed. Take that LA and add it to the number of hit die they have, and that's their ECL (effective character level).
Windbit
03-05-07, 08:07 PM Wouldn't that give them an unfair advantage against the basic races from the PHB? Forgive me if I'm asking stupid questions, I'm new to the game.
Lady_Dragon
03-05-07, 09:03 PM Wouldn't that give them an unfair advantage against the basic races from the PHB? Forgive me if I'm asking stupid questions, I'm new to the game.

Nope. For the sake of illustration, you could have a yuan-ti pureblood with no class levels in a party of 6th level characters and it will be balanced. If you then add a level of, say, wizard, it would be effectively 7th level even though it's only a 1st level wizard, because of it's racial abilities. If you have a low level party, you COULD play the yuan-ti, but the character would not level until the rest of party hit 7th level collectively, which would not be for a very...long....time. I'd advise only adding this PC if the party is level 6 or, preferrably, higher.
Aywen
03-06-07, 08:56 AM so im wanting to play a yuan-ti in a game but ain't got a clue and i read and got some info from this but i want a pureblood and i think a cleric or psions any help would be nice thanks
The_Ditto
03-06-07, 11:20 AM so im wanting to play a yuan-ti in a game but ain't got a clue and i read and got some info from this but i want a pureblood and i think a cleric or psions any help would be nice thanks

Just to clarify to you and others ...
When you pick a race that has racial hit dice .. (like the Yuan-ti pureblood = 4 Hit Dice) ... think of it as a "pre-selected" class/level ..

So if you were a Yuan-ti pureblood, with 1 level of cleric, you'd be:

Monstrous Humanoid (??) 4 / Cleric 1
With a +2 LA ..

You'd be roughly equivilent to a:

Fighter 4 / Cleric 1
with a race that had a +2 LA (only - no Racial hit dice).

You'd both be considered a 7th level character.

I would not recommend going caster with Yuan-ti, however .. (or anything else with Racial hit Dice - since that subtracts from your caster levels).

I'd stick with the combat-oriented classes ... such as Barbarian, or fighter ... those racial hit dice usually work pretty good with a warrior-type build ...
(or heck, even rogue levels for some skills and sneak ...)

That being said, if you are not worried about "optimization" and are looking for some Role playing opportunities, I did play a Yuan-ti pureblood, Cleric 5 in a game with 11th level characters .. it was ok . but I certainly had to be careful about my spells .. as I was way behind the curve .. :tiphat:
Silversheen197
03-06-07, 11:28 AM A much easier way to play a yuan-ti type character is to use the "yuan-ti" template to play a yuan-ti tainted one. No racial HD (the template has to be applied to a human), and only a +1 LA. the only problem is that the teplate is in Savage Species, so, if you are a newbie to D&D, that book might be a bit hard to find (oh, and if you do find it, I would recommend adding a 1/day limit to the uses of the poison spell, and restrict the size (probably to Small) of the snake frms the tainted one can assume).

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
blue14mist 03-03-07, 05:24 PM	so Im looking for a character in my campign that is willing to be a yaun-ti. the problem is that no one wants to be one. and I dont want to either. so the major question I have is would someone be willing to make me one? :coolcthul
Regular_K 03-03-07, 07:04 PM	What do you mean? like, create a Yuan-ti type race for you, or just someone to play with you as one? Or do you want possible Yuan-ti class race things that work well together. Really, if you want someone to play as a Yuan-ti, but nobody want's to, you might as well play as one and just do it yourself. If you don't then it obviously can't be that important that you have one.
blue14mist 03-03-07, 10:00 PM	I was looking for more along the lines of a yaun-ti that would work. that someone could create for me because I havent quite learned the character optimisation at a level jhigher than its orriginal level 1
Windbit 03-04-07, 08:39 PM	I'm a noob, and I just bought the Monster Manual today, but can't you just take the info for Yuan-ti and use that for a race?
Bopple 03-04-07, 10:34 PM	You want to create a yuan-ti character, but you don't know how to optimize it, right? But first, you have to tell us what kind of character it would be. Melee? Ranged? Arcane? Divine? Psionic? Gish? And it's not yaun-ti, but yuan-ti.
Regular_K 03-04-07, 10:40 PM	I'm a noob, and I just bought the Monster Manual today, but can't you just take the info for Yuan-ti and use that for a race? No. For the ability scores, you minus 10 if it's an even number, minus 11 if it's an odd, and then you have the bonuses for your ability scores. So, say yuan-ti have a str of 16 (I'm not sure, just an example, really, I'm just too lazy to look it up.) Then, minus 10 from 16 and he has a +6 str. It's pretty much the same if it's a negative score, except you add on 10 or 11. EDIT: Hey, Bopple! What is Gish???
Bopple 03-04-07, 10:49 PM	Gish is a hybrid type character. Typically it refers to a warrior with spellcasting ability.
Lady_Dragon 03-04-07, 11:24 PM	I'm a noob, and I just bought the Monster Manual today, but can't you just take the info for Yuan-ti and use that for a race? Sort of. If you're building a Yuan-ti pureblood, the MM breaks the race down to be used as a PC race. They have 4 monstrous hit dice and +2 LA, so right off the bat they're effectively a 6th level character with no class levels. If you want to do a halfblood or adomination, then you do have to extract their stat bonuses. A Halfblood would have +4 STR, +2 DEX, +2 CON, +8 INT, +8 WIS, +6 CHA. They have 7 racial hit die and a +5 LA, making their ECL 12. An Abomination would have +8 STR, +2 DEX, +6 CON, +10 INT, +10 WIS, +8 CHA. They have 9 racial hit dice and a +7 LA, making their ECL 16. There's more to it that that, obviously, but that would get you started.
Windbit 03-05-07, 07:26 AM	Couldn't you just get rid of the monstrous humanoid levels and replace them with class levels?
pegasuspaladin 03-05-07, 09:41 AM	yes and then you just add the level adjustment to class level to find their ecl
nighttree 03-05-07, 10:13 AM	Couldn't you just get rid of the monstrous humanoid levels and replace them with class levels? You can only do that if the creature in question only has one racial HD. So Yuan-ti would not qualify for that treatment....
Windbit 03-05-07, 05:23 PM	Alright, so how do we go about making a Yuan-ti playable? I'd like to know, since I'd like to make versions of the Yuan-ti and the Slaad that could be balanced PCs.
Regular_K 03-05-07, 05:29 PM	Alright, so how do we go about making a Yuan-ti playable? I'd like to know, since I'd like to make versions of the Yuan-ti and the Slaad that could be balanced PCs. Well, they are playable, if they have a LA listed. Take that LA and add it to the number of hit die they have, and that's their ECL (effective character level).
Windbit 03-05-07, 08:07 PM	Wouldn't that give them an unfair advantage against the basic races from the PHB? Forgive me if I'm asking stupid questions, I'm new to the game.
Lady_Dragon 03-05-07, 09:03 PM	Wouldn't that give them an unfair advantage against the basic races from the PHB? Forgive me if I'm asking stupid questions, I'm new to the game. Nope. For the sake of illustration, you could have a yuan-ti pureblood with no class levels in a party of 6th level characters and it will be balanced. If you then add a level of, say, wizard, it would be effectively 7th level even though it's only a 1st level wizard, because of it's racial abilities. If you have a low level party, you COULD play the yuan-ti, but the character would not level until the rest of party hit 7th level collectively, which would not be for a very...long....time. I'd advise only adding this PC if the party is level 6 or, preferrably, higher.
Aywen 03-06-07, 08:56 AM	so im wanting to play a yuan-ti in a game but ain't got a clue and i read and got some info from this but i want a pureblood and i think a cleric or psions any help would be nice thanks
The_Ditto 03-06-07, 11:20 AM	so im wanting to play a yuan-ti in a game but ain't got a clue and i read and got some info from this but i want a pureblood and i think a cleric or psions any help would be nice thanks Just to clarify to you and others ... When you pick a race that has racial hit dice .. (like the Yuan-ti pureblood = 4 Hit Dice) ... think of it as a "pre-selected" class/level .. So if you were a Yuan-ti pureblood, with 1 level of cleric, you'd be: Monstrous Humanoid (??) 4 / Cleric 1 With a +2 LA .. You'd be roughly equivilent to a: Fighter 4 / Cleric 1 with a race that had a +2 LA (only - no Racial hit dice). You'd both be considered a 7th level character. I would not recommend going caster with Yuan-ti, however .. (or anything else with Racial hit Dice - since that subtracts from your caster levels). I'd stick with the combat-oriented classes ... such as Barbarian, or fighter ... those racial hit dice usually work pretty good with a warrior-type build ... (or heck, even rogue levels for some skills and sneak ...) That being said, if you are not worried about "optimization" and are looking for some Role playing opportunities, I did play a Yuan-ti pureblood, Cleric 5 in a game with 11th level characters .. it was ok . but I certainly had to be careful about my spells .. as I was way behind the curve .. :tiphat:
Silversheen197 03-06-07, 11:28 AM	A much easier way to play a yuan-ti type character is to use the "yuan-ti" template to play a yuan-ti tainted one. No racial HD (the template has to be applied to a human), and only a +1 LA. the only problem is that the teplate is in Savage Species, so, if you are a newbie to D&D, that book might be a bit hard to find (oh, and if you do find it, I would recommend adding a 1/day limit to the uses of the poison spell, and restrict the size (probably to Small) of the snake frms the tainted one can assume).