more template help

Evilmonkeygod · Jun 28, 2010

so the following is a template designed to augment existing undead or to turn non-undead into powerful minions. It was created by my uber Necromancer Veldrin(200 lvls, Lesser Deity):

please forgive the shorthand as it's basically my notes

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ostbody; mso-style-unhide:no;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:10.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} --> </style>[FONT=&quot]Veldrath[/FONT][FONT=&quot] [/FONT][FONT=&quot]
this template can be applied to any corporeal creature and as a special template to existing undead as decreed by Veldrin

Size and Type: the creatures type changes to undead. do not change size.

Hit Dice: hit dice are increased to d12s

Speed: increase all speeds by 30ft

AC: the creature’s natural armor increases by +5 and they also gain a profane bonus to AC equal to their Wisdom Modifier. If the creature as no natural armor, such as incorporeal undead, they instead gain a +5 bonus to their deflection AC.

Special Attacks: the base creature retains all its special attacks and also gains the following:

Shadow Blast: a blast of swirling shadows strikes the target dealing 1d8 dmg/hd of the base creature. a fortitude saving throw(10+1/2 hd+Cha mod) halves the dmg.

also on a failed save the target is blinded for 1d6 hours and suffers 3d4 negative levels. these negative lvls fade after 24 hours and can never result in actual level loss. however if the victim dies from these negative lvls it rises as an undead under the Veldrath's control:

1-10 HD: Wraith
11-20 HD: Specter
21+ HD: Nightwalker

the Veldrath can automatically control up to 30 Wraiths, 15 Specters and 5 Nightwalkers, though it can also control more via normal means, such as spells, class features, etc.

Smite Living: this attack functions like Smite Evil except that it affects any living creature, adds the Veldrath's Cha bonus to hit and deals an extra amount of damage equal to the Veldrath's HD. Smite Living may be used a number of times per day equal to the Veldrath's Cha mod.

Spell-Like Abilities: the Veldrath can use the following Spell-Like Abilities. Caster level is equal to the Veldrath's HD. Saves are: 10+1/2 HD+Cha Mod.

At Will: Desecrate, Deeper Darkness, Know Vulnerabilities, Net of Shadows, Shadowfade

5/day: Fear, Revive Undead, Shadow Well, Vampiric Touch

3/day: Control Undead, Create Greater Undead, Harm, Shades

1/day: Avasculate, Mass Inflict Critical Wounds, Plague of Undead, Slay Living

Special Qualities: the base creature keeps its special qualities and also gains the following:

Dark Vision 180 ft and can see in magical darkness out to the same distance

Undead Traits

Immunity to Cold

a +30 bonus to its Acid, Electricity, Fire and Sonic resistances or 30 resistance to Acid, Electricity, Fire and Sonic

a + 15 bonus to its Damage Reduction and the Good and Epic components or Damage Reduction 15/Good and Epic

a bonus to its SR=to Charisma Modifier or SR 25+HD

Unholy Toughness

Unearthly Grace

Death's Grace

Ability Score Increases: increase ability scores by: Str+10
Dex+14, Int+20, Cha+22, Wis+18

[/FONT]so first of all, in it's current incarnation, what LA would this be??

Also, after reading Paradox's thread, i've decided to make this into more of an Ascension style template, though obviously not nearly as powerful as the uber templates featured there. Too, i plan on adding in some feats(Epic and non) and skill bonuses.

so suggestions on how to power this bad boy up??

Upper_Krust · Jun 29, 2010

Howdy Evilmonkeygod dude!

I like the idea of a template that makes undead 'even dead-er'.

However before you start messing about creating powers and abilities you might want to outline how powerful you want these things.

Given Veldrin is a Lesser God, its conceivable these things could be akin to his Aspects ~ equivalent to 50 HD Prophets (IIRC...?)

paradox42 · Jun 30, 2010

Perhaps more important is, what exactly does this template do, in the "monster theme" sense? I can see that it makes the base creature Undead, and a pretty powerful one at that, but what are these special undead used for? Why does this god create them at all, or more to the point, why are existing undead such as Vampires and Liches not good enough for his purposes? What exactly are Veldrath, by comparison with those?

Also, I don't know offhand what Unearthly Grace or Death's Grace do, as abilities; if they're from a book I have read, I'm not remembering it. I do recognize Unholy Toughness, of course; that's a really important thing for any high-CR Undead to have if it's to be properly competitive and worth the supposed challenge.

UK's suggestion of setting the power level goes hand-in-hand with mine; fitting the "theme" should immediately suggest the right power level to go for. If these things are supposed to be high-level divine minions, then the Aspect idea makes a lot of sense. Using the Prophet template (DR 2) as a guideline would then be an excellent way to go- possibly even Hero-Deity (DR 3), but that's really pushing it.

Evilmonkeygod · Jun 30, 2010

it's a divine minion template, one infused with incredibly negative energy as well as shadow power. Basically think of an incredibly more powerful version of the Evolved Undead template found in Libris Mortis.

Unearthly Grace allows a creature to add it's Cha bonus on saving throws and a deflection bonus to AC. Death's Grace adds a +1 profane bonus/3 HD to a creatures AC. that was added before i typed the AC bonus above, so it probably not necessary.

paradox42 · Jul 1, 2010

I don't have my books with me at the moment, so I'm just eyeballing it- but your current version of the template above looks to be roughly around the Hero-Deity level in terms of power- if we assume that two of the Divine Abilities chosen are the "Perfect Mind" and "Perfect Body" ones that grant the full +5 inherent bonus. I'm fudging that a bit, just to get ability points for the increases you list, because those increases are pretty high- higher than would be standard for a template at that level.

But going by that estimate, it'd be around CR +10, LA +15. The high ability increases- particularly to CHA, which becomes quite important to the templated critter after application of the template- may bump it further. I defer to others for more precise calculations.

Evilmonkeygod · Jul 11, 2010

The idea behind this template stems from the Chosen found in FR. Obviously this is a lot more powerful than those templates, but my game is insanely high powered itself.

Eventually, the goal is for Veldrin to ascend past Greater God, into something beyond(what exactly i'm not sure just yet). So while perhaps at the moment this template fits for his minions, i am looking to boost it's power to fit the favored of a being whose become more than a god.

Also,
while discussing template LAs, i need help with figuring out the LAs of the top tier undead templates found over at Dicefreaks, found here: Dicefreaks d20 Community • View forum - Certified Rules

more template help

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