[Zenois Paradox]

Ok I am really new at this, and have gotten some help making it from a more experienced DnDer. Any way I want to know what you guys think of this race.



Also I made this Class that I would like to know what you think of.

If you don't have excel you can use this to view it.

Excel Viewer

Attached File(s)

•  AotW.zip (9.45K)
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•  Garnite_Race.rtf (6.32K)
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This post has been edited by Zenois Paradox: 07 August 2007 - 03:05 AM

[Dthclaw]

Well, the race seems to work okay, but some thoughts:

You may want to remove the stipulation on racial bonus on Will saves versus fear. Limiting it to strictly non-magical fear pretty much makes the ability moot, and only immunity to fear is really a notable trait in that field.

A blanket -2 on Charisma based skill checks would be better served by listing out all the skills that they have a penalty in. But, on the subject, there's also the matter of why they would have difficulties with all those skills. Bluff, Disguise, Gather Information, Diplomacy... just because a race is culturally inclined to a more martial path doesn't mean that exceptions are completely inept naturally at doing something. Unless they're somehow genetically hardwired to have no social capacity?

Why do they have proficiency with small shields and tower shields? Shouldn't they just have Shield Proficiency as a bonus feat? And what happened to large shields?

The armor limitation feels... out-of-place. Creatures with stranger physiologies can wear armor without any problem, either wearing normal armor tailored to their physique or wearing barding in the case of non-humanoid creatures. Since this creature is of the Humanoid type, I'm finding the armor limitation to be unnecessary and, honestly, a little illogical.

The class... well, it needs to be written out in a standard format. At the moment I can hardly make heads or tails of it beyond the fact it seems to be something like a Barbarian/Druid/Lycanthrope gestalt.

[Raven Bloodmoon]

I'll second dthclaw. H seems to have hit all the points. I'd suggest looking at each item you mentioned there and asking "Why". That should help weed out or justify some of the weirdness.

[Zenois Paradox]

Ok well as far as the charisma check penalty goes I have that in there because they are sort of a gruff race when it comes to interacting with others. Least thats how people not of there race would view them. As for the armor my DnD friend put that in there. It was something he felt would give some balance to the race and keep them at a +2 level adjustment.

If the armor thing does not really work that well, what would you do to keep them at a +1 or +2 level adjustment? Also if the charisma check thing seems out of place also what would you change in that manner also.

As for the shields that is more along the lines if the class has the ability to use them or not more then the race gets them as a bonus feat.

As for the race it is sort of a cross between a Barbarian and a Druid. Its a Barbarian like class with a very limited Wild Shape that becomes their natural form at a high level. They can only turn into a hybrid of their base race and the totem animal spirit they worship.

Any what I am open to hearing more, and would like to know some things I can change to make stuff work better.

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•  Anointed_of_the_Wild.rtf (87.5K)
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This post has been edited by Zenois Paradox: 07 August 2007 - 11:10 AM

[Dthclaw]

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Ok well as far as the charisma check penalty goes I have that in there because they are sort of a gruff race when it comes to interacting with others. Least thats how people not of there race would view them. As for the armor my DnD friend put that in there. It was something he felt would give some balance to the race and keep them at a +2 level adjustment.

Well, having a penalty on skill checks is unusual enough as it is in terms of precedence. But to make a blanket penalty is even more unusual. The typical method of handling a situation like this one is to give them a Charisma penalty and then a racial bonus in the skills you want them to be at least average in. An ability score penalty would actually help keep the race balanced anyway.

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If the armor thing does not really work that well, what would you do to keep them at a +1 or +2 level adjustment? Also if the charisma check thing seems out of place also what would you change in that manner also.

Honestly? I'd give them a -4 Charisma penalty, dump the armor restrictions, and give them a +2 racial bonus on Intimidate and UMD. +2 level adjustment for a race whose only obvious advantages is high physical ability scores is perfectly reasonable. Scent isn't an overly powerful ability - indeed, you'd be surprised how often it's ignored or forgotten - and the racial proficiencies is no more powerful or beneficial than that of a +0 LA Elf.

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As for the shields that is more along the lines if the class has the ability to use them or not more then the race gets them as a bonus feat.

I understand the intent, but look at the Elf race as an example. They are stated as automatically receiving the Martial Weapon Proficiency feat for longbow, shortbow, longsword, and rapier. So, to parallel with your Garnite race, say they get Shield Proficiency as a racial feat.

[Zenois Paradox]

Ok so you would do something more along the lines of this then. I was wanting to put something in though that limited them from using armor. They as a race see it as a point of weakness to use body armor in battle feeling that one should rely on speed and skill instead. So what would you do to add something like that in? Also with a minuses like this would you drop the Level Adjustment to +1?

Attached File(s)

•  Garnite_Race.rtf (5.76K)
  Number of downloads: 1

[Dthclaw]

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I was wanting to put something in though that limited them from using armor. They as a race see it as a point of weakness to use body armor in battle feeling that one should rely on speed and skill instead. So what would you do to add something like that in?

Well, unfortunately, that seems like a cultural issue rather than a racial one. From what you're saying here, it's not that they can't use armor so much as they choose not to use armor. Putting mechanics in for culture is incredibly difficult to do, let alone justify - you would just have to trust that your players aren't going to abuse it too much (and, with a level adjustment, it's harder to abuse a race too much). I have yet to find a way to make reasonable mechanics to account for culture, so I'm sorry if I'm not being of much help on the matter.

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Also with a minuses like this would you drop the Level Adjustment to +1?

Well, you now have balanced ability scores, a nice but modest ability in Scent, normal racial skill bonuses, a single racial proficiency... in fact, the only thing keeping them from being a +0 LA race is the high natural armor. In its current state, a +1 LA is perfectly reasonable.

[Zenois Paradox]

Ok so if I was to only have one minus 2 to a start would it go back up to a level adjustment +2? And yeah I see what your saying about the armor thing. It would be more along the lines of the player and in some respect the DM the player was under to follow a rule like that.

[Dthclaw]

I think that it would be safe to get rid of one of the -2's and leave it a +1. Since the two stats that have penalties are not associated with what someone is going to pick this class for (melee combatant), getting rid of the Int penalty might be okay.