Boojum
First Post
I was playing around with some ideas for my homebrew world, Shattered Skies, and thought that it would be nice to have a race that tied in in some way with the Devourer, the embodiment of the force of entropy in the world. With that in mind, I wanted to create a race that would really embody the mutable nature of chaos and be as adaptable as possible, but obviously less focused than other races. This is what I came up with. Normally, I don't have a problem eyeballing rules and having a decent idea whether they are balanced or not, but this is different enough from everything else I've seen that it seemed like a good idea to get some feedback to see what other people think of it. I'd like to get some opinions on both whether it's a cool concept that you would be interested in playing or using, and whether it is balanced. The hope, at least, is that although the limitless flexibility is a huge advantage, it should be balanced out by the stat penalties and the fact that magic items that are useful for one class often aren't useful for another, so switching would lead to having gear that is less effective than what a typical character of the same level would have. Anyway, let me know what you guys think.
Entropon: An entropon is a being that has had a close brush with the pure chaos and entropic force of the Devourer, and somehow survived, albeit forever infused with that energy. Some entropons were warped while on the surface, escaping from the Devourer’s minions at the last possible moment before death, while others were deliberately exposed to the energy by cults such as the Children of Oblivion. A few mad souls even expose themselves to it deliberately for the power they believe it grants them. Regardless of their origin, they are shunned in most societies, especially since the “taint” always breeds true.
Change is the only constant for an entropon. Their bodies and minds are forever warped by the power of chaos and are forever dissolving and reforming themselves into new patterns. An entropon retains the size and general appearance of whatever race he originally belonged to, but all other racial traits are lost. The height, weight, voice, and one distinctive facial feature remain stable, allowing others to recognize an individual, but all other aspects of appearance are constantly flickering among all the possibilities for an individual of the character’s original race, clearly marking him as an entropon.
• -2 Strength, -2 Dexterity, -2 Constitution, -2 Intelligence, -2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma. The power of chaos and entropy has weakened and destabilized both the body and mind of an entropon.
• Medium or Small: Entropons can be either Medium or Small. This choice is made at character creation, and reflects the race that the entropon originally belonged to. Medium entropons have no bonus or penalty due to their size, and move at a speed of 30 feet. Small entropons receive the normal size bonuses (+1 size bonuses to Armor Class and attack rolls, +4 size bonus to Hide checks), but move at a speed of 20 feet and receive an additional -2 Strength penalty for a total of -4.
• +2 racial bonus on Disguise and Use Magic Device checks.
• Entropons cannot be of lawful alignment. They are so infused with the power of chaos that they find it impossible to act in a completely consistent manner or rigidly stick to any code.
• Alone of all the races, the skills and training of an entropon are endlessly mutable. They can harness the power of chaos within them to alter their abilities in response to the needs or whims of the moment. A first level entropon begins with 4 hit points + Constitution modifier, and (2 + Intelligence modifier) X 3 skill points, with a maximum rank of 3. The class skills for these skill points are Climb, Concentration, Craft, Jump, Listen, Profession, Ride, Sense Motive, Spot, and Swim. Each additional level, an entropon gains a d4 hit die, but nothing else. These attributes are permanently fixed for the character, but everything else is chosen on a daily basis as described below.
• After eight hours of sleep, an entropon can open a mental conduit with the Devourer, allowing a deluge of the skills and abilities of everyone ever consumed by the Devourer to pour through their mind, choosing and mentally holding onto those that seem most useful at the moment. This ritual takes a different form for each entropon, some sitting utterly still and seeming to vacate their bodies, others leaping and gibbering wildly. It takes one hour to complete, and an entropon who starts it but is interrupted before finishing has the abilities of a commoner of their character level until it can be completed. Performing the ritual allows an entropon to completely resculpt his abilities, essentially making a new character of their total character level, with only the appearance, personality, base ability scores, and hit die rolls remaining constant. Whatever choices are made as to what to take are permanent until the entropon again begins to perform the ritual, at which point they are wiped clean. The exact effects are described below.
• The entropon can partially remold his personal attributes. Up to 4 points of ability scores can be transferred among ability scores as desired. The maximum number of points increases by one every odd level, so a 3rd level entropon can transfer 5 points, a 5th level can transfer a total of 6, and so on.
• The entropon can assign any ability boosts gained every four levels as desired.
• The entropon chooses any combination of class levels adding up to his character level. Everything is chosen at once, so there is no need to decide what order the classes were taken in. Any base classes or prestige classes can be chosen. The only exception to this is that no prestige classes can be chosen until reaching the minimum level that a character could qualify for that prestige class, so an entropon taking a prestige class that requires 8 ranks in a skill could not take it until 6th level and would have to have 5 levels of base classes. Because the entropon is siphoning the knowledge of consumed characters, he need not actually meet any membership or other non-game-mechanics requirements of prestige classes. Also because he simply absorbs the training, he need not meet alignment requirements. However, if a class is chosen for which the entropon does not meet the alignment requirement, he is immediately considered to have changed alignment, and faces all appropriate penalties according to the class (so an entropon who chooses paladin levels immediately becomes an ex-paladin, losing most of the class abilities). Finally, because skills and feats are absorbed en masse, an entropon can ignore any such requirements for a prestige class in this step. However, the requirements must be met when the entropon chooses skills and feats, or all class abilities other than Hit Points, Base Attack Bonus, and Base Save Bonuses are lost.
• Based on class choices, additional Hit Points are added to the entropon’s base Hit Points. The amount added is equal to the difference between an average roll on a d4 (the entropon’s base die), and the class’s die (d4=0, d6=1, d8=2, d10=3, d12=4). The entropon’s Constitution increases his total Hit Points as normal. Any gain or loss in maximum Hit Points resulting from changing Constitution score or classes during the ritual also increases or decreases current Hit Points by the same amount (so an entropon with 5 points of damage at the beginning of the ritual will still have 5 points of damage at the end, regardless of how his maximum Hit Points fluctuate.)
• All skills, feats, and class abilities that must be chosen (such as cleric domains, sorcerer spells known or high-level rogue abilities) are assigned. They are absorbed en masse, all at once, and need not follow the rules as if they were chosen while advancing from first level. This means that all skill point totals are calculated using the entropon’s current Intelligence modifier, skill requirements for prestige classes may be met with skill points gained from levels in that prestige class, and multiple feats with a particular requirement (such as a particular Base Attack Bonus) may be chosen even if a character advancing from first level would not have gained multiple feats since attaining the requirement. Since the order of classes taken does not matter, an entropon does not get the X4 skill point modifier at first level (its place is taken by the permanent skills chosen), and a character may have class skills from different classes both at maximum ranks without paying a cross-class penalty. For example, Myrsha, a 5th level entropon with a 12 Intelligence, decides to take 3 levels of rogue and 2 of ranger on a particular day. She gains 27 skill points to spend as a rogue and 14 to spend as a ranger. She can have both Open Locks and Survival maxed out at 8 ranks without paying a cross-class penalty, despite the fact that this would be impossible if taking the levels sequentially.
• The spells from any spellcasting classes are chosen as if the character had just rested and prepared spells (this supercedes the normal requirement of divine casters to always pray at a particular time). A wizard (or similar class) is treated as if he has access to a spellbook with the minimum number of spells for a wizard of the appropriate level (all 0-levels + 3 1st level spells + 2 spells chosen for every level beyond first), though if an actual physical spellbook is at hand it may be used to supplement this. By allowing themselves to be replenished by chaos, entropon spellcasters ignore the rule that spell slots used in the last 8 hours cannot be used when preparing spells. Device-using classes are able to perform maintenance at the end of the ritual without adding to the time taken, but devices do not automatically appear for them to use. They know the minimum number of devices for a character of their level, and must make the devices from scratch or use found ones just like any other character.
• Favored Class: All. An entropon never takes an experience penalty based on class levels being out of balance.
Entropon: An entropon is a being that has had a close brush with the pure chaos and entropic force of the Devourer, and somehow survived, albeit forever infused with that energy. Some entropons were warped while on the surface, escaping from the Devourer’s minions at the last possible moment before death, while others were deliberately exposed to the energy by cults such as the Children of Oblivion. A few mad souls even expose themselves to it deliberately for the power they believe it grants them. Regardless of their origin, they are shunned in most societies, especially since the “taint” always breeds true.
Change is the only constant for an entropon. Their bodies and minds are forever warped by the power of chaos and are forever dissolving and reforming themselves into new patterns. An entropon retains the size and general appearance of whatever race he originally belonged to, but all other racial traits are lost. The height, weight, voice, and one distinctive facial feature remain stable, allowing others to recognize an individual, but all other aspects of appearance are constantly flickering among all the possibilities for an individual of the character’s original race, clearly marking him as an entropon.
• -2 Strength, -2 Dexterity, -2 Constitution, -2 Intelligence, -2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma. The power of chaos and entropy has weakened and destabilized both the body and mind of an entropon.
• Medium or Small: Entropons can be either Medium or Small. This choice is made at character creation, and reflects the race that the entropon originally belonged to. Medium entropons have no bonus or penalty due to their size, and move at a speed of 30 feet. Small entropons receive the normal size bonuses (+1 size bonuses to Armor Class and attack rolls, +4 size bonus to Hide checks), but move at a speed of 20 feet and receive an additional -2 Strength penalty for a total of -4.
• +2 racial bonus on Disguise and Use Magic Device checks.
• Entropons cannot be of lawful alignment. They are so infused with the power of chaos that they find it impossible to act in a completely consistent manner or rigidly stick to any code.
• Alone of all the races, the skills and training of an entropon are endlessly mutable. They can harness the power of chaos within them to alter their abilities in response to the needs or whims of the moment. A first level entropon begins with 4 hit points + Constitution modifier, and (2 + Intelligence modifier) X 3 skill points, with a maximum rank of 3. The class skills for these skill points are Climb, Concentration, Craft, Jump, Listen, Profession, Ride, Sense Motive, Spot, and Swim. Each additional level, an entropon gains a d4 hit die, but nothing else. These attributes are permanently fixed for the character, but everything else is chosen on a daily basis as described below.
• After eight hours of sleep, an entropon can open a mental conduit with the Devourer, allowing a deluge of the skills and abilities of everyone ever consumed by the Devourer to pour through their mind, choosing and mentally holding onto those that seem most useful at the moment. This ritual takes a different form for each entropon, some sitting utterly still and seeming to vacate their bodies, others leaping and gibbering wildly. It takes one hour to complete, and an entropon who starts it but is interrupted before finishing has the abilities of a commoner of their character level until it can be completed. Performing the ritual allows an entropon to completely resculpt his abilities, essentially making a new character of their total character level, with only the appearance, personality, base ability scores, and hit die rolls remaining constant. Whatever choices are made as to what to take are permanent until the entropon again begins to perform the ritual, at which point they are wiped clean. The exact effects are described below.
• The entropon can partially remold his personal attributes. Up to 4 points of ability scores can be transferred among ability scores as desired. The maximum number of points increases by one every odd level, so a 3rd level entropon can transfer 5 points, a 5th level can transfer a total of 6, and so on.
• The entropon can assign any ability boosts gained every four levels as desired.
• The entropon chooses any combination of class levels adding up to his character level. Everything is chosen at once, so there is no need to decide what order the classes were taken in. Any base classes or prestige classes can be chosen. The only exception to this is that no prestige classes can be chosen until reaching the minimum level that a character could qualify for that prestige class, so an entropon taking a prestige class that requires 8 ranks in a skill could not take it until 6th level and would have to have 5 levels of base classes. Because the entropon is siphoning the knowledge of consumed characters, he need not actually meet any membership or other non-game-mechanics requirements of prestige classes. Also because he simply absorbs the training, he need not meet alignment requirements. However, if a class is chosen for which the entropon does not meet the alignment requirement, he is immediately considered to have changed alignment, and faces all appropriate penalties according to the class (so an entropon who chooses paladin levels immediately becomes an ex-paladin, losing most of the class abilities). Finally, because skills and feats are absorbed en masse, an entropon can ignore any such requirements for a prestige class in this step. However, the requirements must be met when the entropon chooses skills and feats, or all class abilities other than Hit Points, Base Attack Bonus, and Base Save Bonuses are lost.
• Based on class choices, additional Hit Points are added to the entropon’s base Hit Points. The amount added is equal to the difference between an average roll on a d4 (the entropon’s base die), and the class’s die (d4=0, d6=1, d8=2, d10=3, d12=4). The entropon’s Constitution increases his total Hit Points as normal. Any gain or loss in maximum Hit Points resulting from changing Constitution score or classes during the ritual also increases or decreases current Hit Points by the same amount (so an entropon with 5 points of damage at the beginning of the ritual will still have 5 points of damage at the end, regardless of how his maximum Hit Points fluctuate.)
• All skills, feats, and class abilities that must be chosen (such as cleric domains, sorcerer spells known or high-level rogue abilities) are assigned. They are absorbed en masse, all at once, and need not follow the rules as if they were chosen while advancing from first level. This means that all skill point totals are calculated using the entropon’s current Intelligence modifier, skill requirements for prestige classes may be met with skill points gained from levels in that prestige class, and multiple feats with a particular requirement (such as a particular Base Attack Bonus) may be chosen even if a character advancing from first level would not have gained multiple feats since attaining the requirement. Since the order of classes taken does not matter, an entropon does not get the X4 skill point modifier at first level (its place is taken by the permanent skills chosen), and a character may have class skills from different classes both at maximum ranks without paying a cross-class penalty. For example, Myrsha, a 5th level entropon with a 12 Intelligence, decides to take 3 levels of rogue and 2 of ranger on a particular day. She gains 27 skill points to spend as a rogue and 14 to spend as a ranger. She can have both Open Locks and Survival maxed out at 8 ranks without paying a cross-class penalty, despite the fact that this would be impossible if taking the levels sequentially.
• The spells from any spellcasting classes are chosen as if the character had just rested and prepared spells (this supercedes the normal requirement of divine casters to always pray at a particular time). A wizard (or similar class) is treated as if he has access to a spellbook with the minimum number of spells for a wizard of the appropriate level (all 0-levels + 3 1st level spells + 2 spells chosen for every level beyond first), though if an actual physical spellbook is at hand it may be used to supplement this. By allowing themselves to be replenished by chaos, entropon spellcasters ignore the rule that spell slots used in the last 8 hours cannot be used when preparing spells. Device-using classes are able to perform maintenance at the end of the ritual without adding to the time taken, but devices do not automatically appear for them to use. They know the minimum number of devices for a character of their level, and must make the devices from scratch or use found ones just like any other character.
• Favored Class: All. An entropon never takes an experience penalty based on class levels being out of balance.
