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Trace_Coburn
Learned Scribe
New Zealand
137 Posts |
 Posted - 24 Apr 2006 : 14:52:10
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Now, I've worked this up based on similar write-ups in Races of Faerun and some things I found on the WotC website. Unfortunately, Savage Species is one of the many texts I lack, so while I'm happy with the rest of the package (which is, after all, intended mainly for recurring villains and some expendable sword-fodder), I'm not sure if my Level Adjustment is even in the right neighbourhood. (I'm working on a proper RoF-style write-up, including a home region and everything like that, but I'd like to see if the stats gel properly before I bore you with ten pages of cultural fluff. When I release it, you'll also have to forgive my lack of references to canon materials about gnollish culture, mentalities and approaches; I'm pretty sure that my fluff text is going to bring loud shrieks of "heresy!" from nit-pickers.  )
Please look at the list below and tell me if this is balanced out correctly. (Basically, Reavers are to gnolls what tanarukks are to orcs, including the Underdark living.)
ABILITIES AND RACIAL FEATURES
Reavers all possess the following racial abilities.
* Strength +4, Constitution +2, Charisma -2. Reavers are incredibly strong and highly resilient, but their short tempers make them less than ideal spokespeople.
* Medium size. While they tend towards the slightly stockier frames of their predominantly-flind forebears, Reavers often stand more than seven feet tall and weigh over three hundred pounds.
* A Reaver’s base land speed is 30 feet.
* Darkvision up to 60 feet.
* Cold resistance 5, fire resistance 5.
* Damage reduction 5/magic, silver or good.
* Spell resistance 12 + class level.
* +2 natural armour bonus.
* Proficient with longsword and longbow; weapon familiarity with the spiked chain, allowing Reaver characters to treat it as a martial weapon. (These are all weapons favoured by the Living Ancestors, and thus by the Reaver culture as a whole. The once-prized flind-bar is now a curiosity weapon rather than a common one and Reaver characters treat it as the Exotic weapon it is – its weapon familiarity has been replaced by that with the spiked chain.)
* Outsider Hit Dice: A Reaver has 3d8 racial Hit Dice from his devilish heritage. A Reaver character receives maximum hit points for his first Hit Die, and rolls his other outsider Hit Dice normally. He rolls all Hit Dice from class levels and does not automatically get maximum hit points on his first class level Hit Die. A Reaver’s racial Hit Dice also provide a +3 base attack bonus and saving throws of Fort +3, Ref +3, and Will +3. Reavers with character levels add their base attack bonus and save bonuses to their racial attack bonus and saves.
* Outsider Skills: A Reaver’s outsider levels give him skill points equal to (8 + Int modifier) x6. Class skills are Hide, Intimidate, Listen, Move Silently, Spot and Survival. The character may also choose one of the following as a class skill, reflecting an apprenticeship served before he became an adventurer: Craft (armour-smithing), Craft (bow-making), Craft (weapon-smithing), or Profession (miner). A Reaver does not get the x4 multiplier for skill points acquired from his first class level.
* Outsider Feats: A Reaver’s outsider levels give him two feats. Most choose Alertness and Power Attack.
* Gnoll blood. Despite his devilish heritage, for all special abilities and effects, a Reaver is basically a gnoll. Thus Reavers can use or create gnoll weapons and magic items with racially specific gnoll powers as if they were ordinary gnolls.
* Outsider: Reavers are native outsiders.
* Automatic Languages: Infernal, Gnoll, home region. Bonus Languages: by region.
* Favored Class: Ranger
* Level adjustment: +3. Due to his racial Hit Dice, plus his spell resistance, energy resistances, damage reduction, natural armour and advantageous ability score modifiers, a Reaver has an effective character level of 6 plus his class levels. Thus a 2nd-level Reaver ranger would have an ECL of 8.
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D&D collection: Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, Monster Manual I, Complete Arcane, Arms & Equipment Guide.
FR sourcebook collection: Dragons of Faerûn, Faiths & Pantheons, FRCS, Lords of Darkness, Monsters of Faerûn, Player's Guide to Faerûn, Power of Faerûn, Races of Faerûn, Silver Marches.
I just got back into this, okay? Give me time (or better yet money) - I'll catch up soon enough.  |
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Kentinal
Great Reader
4693 Posts |
Posted - 24 Apr 2006 : 15:12:09
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| You might use this http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/shadows/Handbook/ECLcalc.html some appear to repect this site. |
"Small beings can have small wisdom," the dragon said. "And small wise beings are better than small fools. Listen: Wisdom is caring for afterwards."
"Caring for afterwards ...? Ker repeated this without understanding.
"After action, afterwards," the dragon said. "Choose the afterwards first, then the action. Fools choose action first."
"Judgement" copyright 2003 by Elizabeth Moon |
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Jindael
Senior Scribe
USA
357 Posts |
Posted - 24 Apr 2006 : 15:40:13
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LA, IMO, has a saturation point for each “point” that it goes up, and that saturation point is larger with each level. This isn’t the least bit cannon, but I find it to work better overall, versus “Power X is worth 0.7 LA, and Power Y is worth 0.35.”
That said, I think that +3 for your Reavers is a weak +3, but would be a far too powerful for a +2. I’d toss a little something extra in for them, perhaps even removing the charisma penalty and calling it a very solid +3 LA.
I’m going to assume that your fluff will cover this, but Longbow, Longsword and Spiked chain are all weapons that don’t really seem to lend themselves to fighting in the underdark, which is filled with cramped spaces and the like. The Longbow would be difficult to find materials for, the longsword is mostly okay, and the Spiked chain needs lots and lots of room to use properly. (Unless, of course, you decide to make a few interesting Feats that allows the Reavers to swing the chain around obstacles and the like, but that’s really reaching; you need some way of getting momentum behind the chain to do damage.)
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"You don't have a Soul. You are a Soul. You have a body."
-- C.S. Lewis |
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Arivia
Great Reader
Canada
2965 Posts |
Posted - 24 Apr 2006 : 19:00:16
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ECL 5; LA +2.
@Jindael: You're right on it being a weak +3, and a very strong +2; in cases of racial hit dice you can err a bit low; +2 fits pre-existing examples and the general monster power curve better. |
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Trace_Coburn
Learned Scribe
New Zealand
137 Posts |
Posted - 25 Apr 2006 : 13:19:14
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quote:
Originally posted by Jindael
That said, I think that +3 for your Reavers is a weak +3, but would be a far too powerful for a +2. I’d toss a little something extra in for them, perhaps even removing the charisma penalty and calling it a very solid +3 LA.
I'd actually be more inclined to tack on a +2 Dex bonus to offset the Cha penalty than delete it outright - that would reflect how much faster Reavers are than 'baseline' gnolls while still reminding all involved that their communication skills generally consist of "Kiss my axe!"
Given Arivia's comments, though, I'd be happy to leave the stats adjustments as-is and drop the LA to +2. I guesstimated a +3 to start with mainly to err on the side of caution. 
quote:
I’m going to assume that your fluff will cover this, but Longbow, Longsword and Spiked chain are all weapons that don’t really seem to lend themselves to fighting in the underdark, which is filled with cramped spaces and the like. The Longbow would be difficult to find materials for, the longsword is mostly okay, and the Spiked chain needs lots and lots of room to use properly. (Unless, of course, you decide to make a few interesting Feats that allows the Reavers to swing the chain around obstacles and the like, but that’s really reaching; you need some way of getting momentum behind the chain to do damage.)
Yeah, those preferences go to fluff - the devils that organised (and participated in) the breeding programme believed in 'hands on' management, both then and afterwards. The spiked chain is a niche weapon - they don't use it much in tunnel-fights, but in defence of their own city or on surface raids....
And as regards the longbow: granted, there's a dearth of wood in the Underdark, so they're sucking wind for conventional longbows. But composite bows can be built from laminated horn and/or bone (per the PH, anyway), and hey, gnolls are carnivores, so they're not likely to run out of either.
(Hmm: nice little character-concept, too: a Reaver who smoked a big beastie and had it made into his longbow and armour. A smallish deep dragon, maybe?  [sigh] Sometimes it seems that few of my mid-/high-level characters carry equipment that isn't almost all trophies from foes they have felled....) |
D&D collection: Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, Monster Manual I, Complete Arcane, Arms & Equipment Guide.
FR sourcebook collection: Dragons of Faerûn, Faiths & Pantheons, FRCS, Lords of Darkness, Monsters of Faerûn, Player's Guide to Faerûn, Power of Faerûn, Races of Faerûn, Silver Marches.
I just got back into this, okay? Give me time (or better yet money) - I'll catch up soon enough. |
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Jindael
Senior Scribe
USA
357 Posts |
Posted - 25 Apr 2006 : 14:21:05
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quote:
Originally posted by Trace_Coburn
I'd actually be more inclined to tack on a +2 Dex bonus to offset the Cha penalty than delete it outright - that would reflect how much faster Reavers are than 'baseline' gnolls while still reminding all involved that their communication skills generally consist of "Kiss my axe!"
Given Arivia's comments, though, I'd be happy to leave the stats adjustments as-is and drop the LA to +2. I guesstimated a +3 to start with mainly to err on the side of caution.
Trust in the Lady Arivia. She just opened up my eyes to the allowance of a higher saturation per point of LA once you add racial HD. And it keeps your race the way you want it. (Not that I really agree with the entire LA system to begin with: a 18hp ECL 5 critter still seems underpowered to me)
quote:
Originally posted by Trace_Coburn
Yeah, those preferences go to fluff - the devils that organised (and participated in) the breeding programme believed in 'hands on' management, both then and afterwards. The spiked chain is a niche weapon - they don't use it much in tunnel-fights, but in defence of their own city or on surface raids....
And as regards the longbow: granted, there's a dearth of wood in the Underdark, so they're sucking wind for conventional longbows. But composite bows can be built from laminated horn and/or bone (per the PH, anyway), and hey, gnolls are carnivores, so they're not likely to run out of either.
(Hmm: nice little character-concept, too: a Reaver who smoked a big beastie and had it made into his longbow and armour. A smallish deep dragon, maybe? [sigh] Sometimes it seems that few of my mid-/high-level characters carry equipment that isn't almost all trophies from foes they have felled....)
Okay, that makes sense. But bear in mind that biggest advantage of the longbow (range) is mostly nullified in the underdark.
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"You don't have a Soul. You are a Soul. You have a body."
-- C.S. Lewis |
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Arivia
Great Reader
Canada
2965 Posts |
Posted - 25 Apr 2006 : 18:11:30
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quote:
Originally posted by Jindael
Trust in the Lady Arivia. She just opened up my eyes to the allowance of a higher saturation per point of LA once you add racial HD. And it keeps your race the way you want it. (Not that I really agree with the entire LA system to begin with: a 18hp ECL 5 critter still seems underpowered to me)
Tip: If it has no racial HD and a level adjustment, build it as suggested in Savage Species. If it has racial HD, break it out as a monster class and make that look right before doing anything else. I'm too tired to comment on the ECL bit.
EDIT: The worship bit was fun. Thanks. *watches it go right to her head* |
Edited by - Arivia on 25 Apr 2006 18:12:50 |
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Please help me balance a new race
