D&D 3E/3.5 Oozeforged!

Dralasites for D&D
Updated with all the stuff from this thread.

Dralasite -- Medium Ooze (Sentient)

+2 Con, -2 Str, -2 Dex -- Dralasites are tough, but not particularly strong or dextrous.
Base speed: 20 ft. (but see below)
+1 Natural armor bonus

Amorphous: You cannot wear armor, vestments, helmets, or normal clothing.

Sentient: As a sentient being, the Dralasite does not have a normal Ooze's immunity to mind-affecting effects. Dralasites are not humanoids -- and are thus immune to charm person and the like -- but they have no other innate immunity to mental effects.

Elasticity (Ex): The Dralasite's oozyness gives it several advantages.
- +8 racial bonus on Escape Artist checks.
- No Head: Dralasites are immune to beheading.
- Moderate Fortification: Dralasites have a 50% chance to negate a critical hit (or precision damage, like sneak attack). This functions as (and thus does not stack with) the armor special abiltiy of the same name.
- Flexible Profile: Dralasites can squeeze through a space as though it were Small. They can "flow" through an opening a small as a four-inch diameter circle, but doing so takes one minute, and the Dralasite is considered helpless until he is entirely on one side or the other.


Alternate Forms (Ex): Dralasites are not fixed in their forms. They can ooze around as a pool of slime, form themselves into a writhing tangle of pseudopods, or emulate a vaguely humanoid form. Switching between forms is a standard action that provokes an AoO. If you were wearing an item that you cannot wear in your new form, the item is absorbed into your body. You automatically re-equip these items when you change into a form that allows their use.

• Ooze Puddle: You are 10 ft. in diameter, and two to four inches thick. You count as size Large for grapple, trip and bull rush attempts. Your reach increases to 10 ft.
  - 10 ft. move (land, climb and swim). You cannot run.
  - Immunity to trip and bull rush.
  - You have one natural attack (Slam, 1d8 + 1.5x Str).
  - You cannot wear or use items of any type in this form, including material components.
• Humanoid: You are about 3 ft. in diameter and about 4 ft. high. You have two "arm" pods and two or three "foot" pods.
  - 20 ft. move (land)
  - Hands: Can wield weapons and a shield, and can use somatic components.
  - You have no natural attacks in this form.
  - You can wear: bracers, 2 rings, 2 gloves, boots, a cloak, an amulet and a belt.
• Tentacle Mass: You are a thin core with many, many tentacles.
  - 20 ft. move (land)
  - Tentacles: You can use somatic components, but you cannot wield weapons or a shield.
  - You have two natural attacks (Tentacle Rake, 1d4 + Str) in this form. You gain an additional Tentacle Rake attack in this form when your BAB is +6, +11, and +16 (up to a total of 5).
  - You can hold and use items in this form, except weapons and shields (which you can only hold, not use to attack or defend). You can hold up to 3 + Dex bonus items (wand, torch, potion, etc.) and still use somatic components and/or make all of your normal natural attacks (you have a lot of tentacles).
  - You can wear: bracers, 2 rings, and an amulet.

Dralasites are also qualfied for several racial feats. (Only a Dralasite can take a [Dralasite] feat. This should be obvious.)

Scent [Dralasite]
Benefit: You gain the Scent special ability.

Blindsense [Dralasite]
Prerequisite: Blind-Fight
Benefit: You gain Blindsense out to 10 ft.
Special: You can take this feat up to three times, increasing the radius of your Blindsense by 10 ft. with each additional feat.

Tough Membrane [Dralasite]
Prerequisite: Any other [Dralasite] feat
Benefit: Your racial natural armor bonus improves by +1/2 the number of [Dralasite] feats you have.

Water Adaptation [Dralasite]
Prerequisite: Swim 4 ranks
Benefit: You can extract oxygen from water as well as you can from air. You gain a swim speed of 20 ft. in all forms, a +8 racial bonus on swim checks, and you are not subject to drowning.

Oozy Fortification [Dralasite]
Prerequisite: Great Fortitude
Benefit: You gain the benefits of heavy fortification (instead of your normal moderate fortification).

Oozy Mind [Dralasite]
Prerequisite: Iron Will
Benefit: You gain a bonus to your saves against [Mind-Affecting] effects equal to the number of your total [Dralasite] feats.

Oozy Body [Dralasite]
Prerequisite: Base Fort save 4+
Benefit: You gain acid resistance 10, +5 per additional [Dralasite] feat you possess.

Oozy Metabolism [Dralasite]
Benefit: You can eat anything organic (grass, dirt, paper, wood, bones, etc.). Furthermore, you gain a +2 racial bonus to Fort saves against poison, +1 per additional [Dralasite] feat you possess.

Improved Oozy Body [Dralasite]
Prerequisite: Oozy Body
Benefit: Your natural attacks deal +1d6 acid damage.

Hexapod Form [Dralasite]
Benefit: You gain access to an additional form: that of a centaur-like quadruped. It has the following features:
- Base move 30 ft.
- Two arm-pods (as humanoid form)
- Four leg-pods (increased carrying capacity, +4 bonus to resist trip and bull rush)
- You can wear: bracers, 2 rings, 2 gloves, 2 pairs of boots, a cloak, an amulet and a belt.
Feats which benefit your Humanoid form grant a similar benefit to this form.

Morph Master [Dralasite]
Prerequisite: Base Reflex save 6+, Escape Artist 12 ranks
Benefit: You can shift between forms as a move action (which provokes an AoO). Additionally, you gain the (Shapechanger) subtype, with all associated immunities.
Normal: Shifting between forms is a standard action.

Pseudopod Master [Dralasite]
Prerequisite: BAB 6+
Benefit: You gain an extra pseudopod in all your forms.
- Humanoid / Quadrupod: You gain an additional pseudopod that acts as a tentacle (tentacle secondary natural attack 1d4 + Str, can hold and use items except weapons or shield).
- Puddle: You gain a second slam attack.
- Tentacle Mass: You gain one additional tentacle attack, and you can hold one additional item over your normal limit.




Dralasite Paragon: You are the main ooze. You're like oozy oozeborn.

Not all Dralasites take levels in their Paragon class; those that do don't always take all the levels, or take them all at once.

Benefits:
HD: d8
BAB: 3/4 (as Rogue)
Good Save: Fort
Skill Points: 4 + Int
Class Skills: Climb, Craft, Escape Artist, Hide, Intimidate, Knowledge (Dungeoneering, History, Local, Nature), Listen, Move Silently, Sense Motive, Sleight of Hand, Spot, Survival, Swim

• Bonus Feat: You gain any [Dralasite] feat.
• Con Increase: This ability increase is treated as though gained through level advancement.

Continued from the last thread--yeah, the extra pseudopod feat is what makes it edge on a possible LA +2 with the feats. Otherwise I think it is a fair LA +1 in total. As for the stats, I think you forgot the +2 Con when you told me I was wrong on the Point Buy, but I could still be wrong--here's my calculations:

14 Str (10 points)
14 Dex (10 points)
16 Con (6 points)
10 Int (2 points)
10 Wis (2 points)
10 Cha (2 points)

Rystil Arden said:

Continued from the last thread--yeah, the extra pseudopod feat is what makes it edge on a possible LA +2 with the feats. Otherwise I think it is a fair LA +1 in total. As for the stats, I think you forgot the +2 Con when you told me I was wrong on the Point Buy, but I could still be wrong--here's my calculations:

14 Str (10 points)
14 Dex (10 points)
16 Con (6 points)
10 Int (2 points)
10 Wis (2 points)
10 Cha (2 points)

Click to expand...

Oh, str-dex-con, right. In that case, it's hardly broken, because you were not qualified for the Extra Pseudopod feat. I figured the 16 was for Dex. Anyway, I knew something was wrong!

Again, I'm not married to the Extra Pseudopod feat. Not at all.

Cheers, -- N

Nifft said:

Oh, str-dex-con, right. In that case, it's hardly broken, because you were not qualified for the Extra Pseudopod feat. I figured the 16 was for Dex. Anyway, I knew something was wrong!

Again, I'm not married to the Extra Pseudopod feat. Not at all.

Cheers, -- N

Click to expand...

Ah, oops! Missed that in the number-crunching. Well, it's certainly not going to affect him much to lose 2 Charisma and 1 Int to take the feat though.

So if he starts

Str 14
Dex 15
Con 16
Int 9
Wis 10
Cha 8

and then goes to level 4 as a Ftr1/Rogue3 (raising Dex)

He'll wind up with six attacks at +4 for 1d6+2 and 1d4+1, with 2d6 sneak attack each. Then at level 7, he can do Ftr3/Rog4 and wind up with 14 attacks per round. And when he qualifies for Dervish, he gets scarier still

Rystil Arden said:

He'll wind up with six attacks

Click to expand...

Let's drop the six attacks thing, since he can't do that any more.

Anyway. Let's look at a Human Rogue with some Aberrant feats from Lords of Maddness.

Str: 16, Dex: 14, Con: 16, Int: 14, Wis: 8, Cha: 8

1: Rogue 1 -- Aberrant Blood (+2 grapple), Durable Form (+2 hp per Ab. feat)
2: Rogue 2 -- Evasion
3: Rogue 3 -- Deepspawn (2 tentacle attacks, 1d4/1d4)
- - -
The Human has a better chance to hit (higher Str), better hit points (equal Con, plus six from feats), faster movement (30 ft. vs. 20 ft.), a better grapple check (+9 total, vs. +2 total), but they lose one attack. His primary attack can be at full attack bonus, and he can use a two-handed weapon. The Human's skills are going to make him an actually useful Rogue, too, while your Dralasite is going to have only 7 skills... up until he takes a Fighter level, when he gets one skill point. Yikes!

What is your guy doing for armor, anyway? His stand-and-deliver tactics won't last him very long, even with his nice Con bonus. Since his movement is going to suck, how does he keep people from using the withdraw action? (Or even the attack-once-and-move action?)

Anyway, let's bump the human up a level:

(was Rog3)
4: Ftr 1 -- Str +1, Power Attack
- - -
The human now has an option! He can charge and do some good damage on the first round of combat, even when he does not have initiative.

5: Rog 4 -- (skills)
6: Ftr 2 -- Combat Expertise, Improved Trip
7: Rog 5 -- (skills)
8: Rog 6 -- Str +1, (skills)

Meh, I'm gettting bored. Post your full build and I'll see if I can beat it at each level.

* * *

Let's check against a Lizardfolk Rogue (3 HD + 1 LA). I'm going to use the LoM feats again.

Base: Str: 16, Dex: 14, Con: 16, Int: 14, Wis: 8, Cha: 8
Modified: Str: 18, Dex: 14, Con: 18, Int: 12, Wis: 8, Cha: 8

1: Liz 1 -- Aberrant Blood (+2 grapple), Multiattack
2: Liz 2 --
3: (LA +1)
4: Rog 1 -- Durable Form (+2 hp per Ab. feat)

Fantastic hit points, fantastic natural armor, and three attacks! That's gonna leave a mark. Now let's advance him a bit:

5: Rog 2 -- (evasion, +1 Str)
6: Rog 3 -- +2d6 SA
7: Rog 4 -- Deepspawn (2 tentacles 1d4/1d4, +2 grapple) <-- FIVE attacks!
8: Rog 5 -- +3d6 SA
9: Rog 6 -- (+1 Str)
10: Rog 7 -- +4d6 SA, Power Attack

* * *


Anyway, my point is: I think there are probably better ways to get the same trick ("if you stand right here, between me and my friend, you are dead.") (Lizardman is hardly considered a broken race, and they do this really quite well.)

The low base move of the Dralasite combined with its inability to pull this trick in armor (unlike the lizardman) mean that you will be the quintessential Rogue: very dangerous, but very fragile.


I would like to see your numbers, though. I'll provide more detail on my "acid test" builds, too.

Thanks, -- N

I'd rather not work with an all-feats-are-open platform or else it will probably just become an exercise in finding the most powerful feats (I mean, if we're allowing everything, then all the fighters we can possibly build will be outclassed by someone using something ridiculous like Wraithstrike, for instance).

Anyway, you said you're removing the six attacks option (and thus that feat) from consideration, right? In that case, let's examine the lower-level case--this is the case where an LA +1 race should really shine if it was allowed to be LA +0. Does it?

With the Drasalite, you're going to be looking at a Drasalite Rogue or Drasalite Fighter, most likely. A typical build might be 14 14 16 10 10 10, and a combat-oriented more min-maxed build might be 14 16 16 8 8 8. Another decent choice is to go Str 12 and Con 18 and pick up Weapon Finesse.

A level 2 Drasalite Fighter1/Rogue1 would thus have Two-Weapon Fighting and another feat of the Drasalite's choice. If it was something simple like Weapon Focus or Weapon Finesse (rather than a LoM feat or something), it will be easier to work with, though obviously not totally maximised. So we're looking at ballpark +3 (+4 if he's picked up any MW weapons) to hit with 4 attacks. It could be 1 or 2 higher with another Fighter level rather than Rogue, but the Sneak Attack damage is too tempting.

Oh, you probably forgot the +1 Size bonus to hit, so when you said the Human had a better chance to hit up there, it would actually be equal, not better.

Looking at the Human as a level 2 Rogue against the Drasalite, if I can't convince you not to use those LoM feats and to just do something simple like Weapon Focus, then the Drasalite actually has a high bonus (+5) to hit ordinarily and slightly lower (+3) when multiweapon fighting. He attacks 4 times to the human's 1 (this is at level 2), although he does slightly less damage with each hit (about 2 less on average per hit, though the human could use a two-hander and do a bit more per hit). He has a formidable 3 higher AC (higher Dex, Natural Armour, size Small). In a straight-up duel, he has the added advantage of being 50% immune to Sneak Attacks and Critical Hits. His grapple penalty compared to the human is fairly immaterial because he has +8 to Escape Artist checks.

Rystil Arden said:

Oh, you probably forgot the +1 Size bonus to hit, so when you said the Human had a better chance to hit up there, it would actually be equal, not better.

Click to expand...

You're right. That is a bad thing. Okay, they're like Dwarves (Medium, but slow).

Thanks, -- N

Alright, that lowers the AC by and the to hit by 1, though it increases damage by 1 as well. Still, they are definitely weaker now than they were before (since the removal of the Grapple penalty isn't a big deal thanks to the Escape Artist bonus). I would still peg them at LA +1 thanks to those extra two attacks and other cool abilities (like Medium Fort) though (and if they absolutely must go fast, they can get up to 30 movement at the cost of the attacks).

Rystil Arden said:

I'd rather not work with an all-feats-are-open platform or else it will probably just become an exercise in finding the most powerful feats (I mean, if we're allowing everything, then all the fighters we can possibly build will be outclassed by someone using something ridiculous like Wraithstrike, for instance).

Click to expand...

The LoM feats were what I had in mind as my baseline for the Dralasite feats. They are a mixed bag, and they do not appear regularly in the WotC CharOpt board, so I don't think they're overpowered. (Unlike Leap Attack and wraithstrike, which are regular features.) Thus, I think it's a valid point of comparison.

Another valid point of comparison would be the [Draconic] feats that Sorcerers could get, or the racial feats in one of the race books.


But to focus on your main point: how exactly are you getting all these full attacks? Your guy has:
- Low speed
- Poor AC
- No "pounce" ability

Maybe his best class mix is PsiWar / Rogue... hmm.


Anyway: let's put him in a cage with a Warforged of my design, and see who walks out.


Clunk, Warforged Stomper
Str: 16, Dex: 12, Con: 17, Int: 14, Wis: 11, Cha: 6
1: Ftr 1 -- Adamantine Body, Weapon Focus (Greatsword)
2: Ftr 2 -- Power Attack
3: Ftr 3 -- Improved DR
4: Ftr 4 -- Weapon Spec (Greatsword)
5: Ftr 5 -- (I cry tears of oil.)
6: Ftr 6 -- Improved Fortification, Improved Initiative

These feats are NOT optimal. Note the lack of spiked chain, or any special ability to trip / disarm / sunder. This is a naive, obvious build, balanced between offense and defense.


And I wager you it's better in melee than your guy. In PvP (not really a test) or in combat vs. 10 goblins.


Note that I'm using Warforged and LoM feats NOT because they're stronger, but because they are a better direct comparison to the abilities of the Dralasite.

Cheers, -- N

Remember before when I said I didn't want to compare to Warforged, though? Warforged are acceptable as LA +0 if necessary for Eberron-specific games, but they are more powerful than just about any LA +1 race out there. Turn the Hobgoblin into LA +0 and put it in a cage with the Warforged and the Warforged mauls it every time.

I fully agree that the Warforged is better at the end of that build in PvP (which you correctly determine is not a good test) due to DR and total fortification making the multiple attacks less useful.

After magic items, though, the Dralasite would possibly gain more ground. The key is that the four arms are going to lead to tons of attacks (exactly twice as many as a human TWFer), so the Dralasite exploits that by taking things that add to damage per attack. This means that once you have enough +damage on your attacks (at a sufficiently high level), the Dralasite should be able to consistently outperform the Warforged, who will need to Power Attack and give up his to-hit advantage to even come close in damage output.

Admittedly, it doesn't quite work like this, but essentially the Dralasite's extra arms give an ability similar to the ability "while using two-weapon fighting, all your attacks deal double damage".