Arcanaloth as Starting Char

[Akhelos]

Hello, me and my Friends wanted to start a new D&D Game starting on one World but later Jumping trough Sigil and the Planes. I wanted to play an Arcanaloth but a real young one, under Level 5, as we want start low level. I searched a lot of sites but did not find an leveling Scheme from Level 1-20 for them, at least not as an regular Race and Class.
So I tried to build something myself, but as I have never done such a thing before, as I am normally only playing and I am no developer, perhaps someone can help me please with balancing it, as it should give the feeling of an Arcanaloth but also being balanced against other Player Characters.

Here you Go:

Born Arcanaloth
You look like an Anthromorphic Jackal, Fox or comparable Species.

You are the Child of two Arcanaloths or Ultroloths, raised by your Mother which taught you how to be as cruel, evil and manipulative as her. Otherwise, you were set out as a small child, either in the Wild or in a City, forced to survive on your own, to show that you deserve the power running through your Veins.
Race-Mod: INT +4, WIS +2
Medium: Arcanaloth are medium sized Creatures
Type: Monstrous Humanoid
Natural Weapons: Two Claw Attacks 1w4 and also one Bite 1w6
Natural Armor: +3
Senses: She gets Low-Light-Vision and Darkvision with an Range of 60 Feet.
Languages: Common, Yugoloth + any it gets as INT-Bonus.
Telepathy: Can speak telepathically with every Creature in 100 feet Radius that she can Understand
Alignment: Normally Neutral Evil, could be different depending how she grew up but if she deviates too much she will not be capable to touch into her racial heritage.
Preferred Class: Arcanaloth


Arcanaloth
Race: Must be a born Arcanaloth
Alignment: Any Evil, normally Neutral Evil, as Arcanaloths are never good and detest the Impurity of Law and Chaos, because they are representing pure untainted evil.
Special: She must start with this Class on Level 1 and cannot Multiclass till she reaches Level 20.
Class Skills: Bluff, Concentration, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Intimidate, Knowledge (Arcana, Planes), Listen, Profession (Scribe), Search, Sense Motive, Spellcraft, Spot.
Hit-Die: See Table. This are the TOTAL Hit-Die you posses on that Level, not the ones you get.
Skills: 4+INT
Weapons & Armor: An Arcanaloth is proficient with all simple and martial Weapons. She is not proficient with any Armor or Shields. If she wears Armor she gets a spell failure Chance exactly like Sorcerer/Wizards

Level ----HitDie-----BAB ----------Fort/Reflex/Will -------- Special
1 ----------- 1d8 ------ +1 ---------------- +2 -------------------- Arkanist // Mind of the Tower
2 ----------- 2d8 ------ +2 ---------------- +3
3 ----------- 3d8 ------ +3 ---------------- +3 -------------------- Claws of Ghenna // Arcana-Spells
4 ----------- 4d8 ------ +4 ---------------- +4
5 ----------- 4d8 ------ +4 ---------------- +4 -------------------- Ironfur //Arcana-Spells
6 ----------- 5d8 ------ +5 ---------------- +5
7 ----------- 5d8 ------ +5 ---------------- +5 -------------------- Surge // Arcana-Spells
8 ----------- 6d8 ------ +6/+1 ------------ +6
9 ----------- 6d8 ------ +6/+1 ------------ +6 -------------------- SR // Arcana-Spells
10 ---------- 7d8 ------ +7/+2 ------------ +7 ------------------- Ironfur
11 ---------- 7d8 ------ +7/+2 ------------ +7 -------------------- Arcana-Spells
12 ---------- 8d8 ------ +8/+3 ------------ +8
13 ---------- 8d8 ------ +8/+3 ------------ +8 -------------------- Surge // Arcana-Spells
14 ---------- 9d8 ------ +9/+4 ------------ +9
15 ---------- 9d8 ------ +9/+4 ------------ +9 -------------------- Ironfur // Armor Mercenary // Arcana-Spells
16 ---------- 10d8 ----- +10/+5 ---------- +10
17 ---------- 10d8 ----- +10/+5 ---------- +10 -------------------- Arcana-Spells
18 ---------- 11d8 ----- +11/+6/+1 ------ +11
19 ---------- 11d8 ----- +11/+6/+1 ------ +11 -------------------- Surge // Hand of the Wastes
20 ---------- 12d8 ----- +12/+7/+2 ------ +12 -------------------- Ironfur // Force of Ghenna

Arkanist: All Arcanaloths are very talented Sorcerers OR Wizards. You make that Choice at First Level and can not Change it later. Your Sorcerer/Wizard Level is identical to your Base Attack Bonus, but only with this Class. BABs from other classes DONT count. You get a Casterlevel, Spells per Day and Spells known as your Chosen Class would get on that Casterlevel. Should you later Choose to multiclass in the Casterclass you have chosen at first Level, both Classes stack.

Mind of the Tower: Beginning with Level 1 her Mind starts to synchronize with the racial Memory of the Arcanaloths, giving her an +3 Misc Bonus on all Class Skills if she has at least 1 Rank in that Skill.

Arcana-spells: She can use the Following Spells as spellike Abilities at her full Caster-Level.
With Level 3 she can use magic missile 1/Day as spelllike Ability.
With Level 5 she can use Darkness 1/Day and Invisibility (self only) 1/Day as spelllike Ability.
With Level 7 she can use Fly 1/Day and Major Image 1/Day as spelllike Ability.
With Level 9 she can use Fear 1/Day as spelllike Ability.
With Level 11 she can use Telekinesis 1/Day as spelllike Ability.
With Level 13 she can use Warp Wood 1/Day and Heat Metal 1/Day as spelllike Ability
With level 15 her use of Fly changes from 1/day to at Will.
With Level 17 she can use Shapechange (Small and Medium sized / Humanoids & Animals / self only) 1/Day as spelllike Ability.

Claws of Ghenna: Beginning with Level 3 her Claws are at Will coated in Poison. This poison has an Fortitude save DC of 10+(HD/2). The initial and secondary Damage is -1 STR

Ironfur: With rising Level the Body of an Arcanaloth gets harder to damage than before as her muscles and internal Organs get more resistant and more easily absorb damage. Because of this her natural armor rises on Level 5 from 3 to 6.
On Level 10 the natural armor rises again from 6 to 9
On Level 15 it rises from 9 to 12
On Level 20 it rises vom 12 to 15

Surge: On Level 7, 13 an 19 more and more Essence of Ghenna fuses with her Body, Mind and Soul, giving her +2 DEX, INT, WIS and CHA.

Spell Resistance: Beginning with Level 9 an Arcanaloth gets HD+5 Spell Resistance. She also is now immune against mind-affecting spells. She can now speak with every Creature that has a language, as her mind finally synchronizes with the Tower of the Arcanaloths on Ghenna.

Armor of the Mercenary: At Level 15 her Connection to Ghenna hardens and so her Body, her flesh and fur is soft as always but if an attack hits her, it hardens shortly before impact, even if she is flat-footed and completely unaware of the Attack, giving her Damage Resistance 15/Good.

Hand of the Wastes: With Level 19 her spelllike Abilities are now working as those of a real Arcanaloth, she can now use all spelllike Abilities she got from this Class, at Will.

Force of Ghenna: With Level 20 she finally becomes a real Arcanaloth and Yugoloth, with this she gets Immunity to poison, acid and cold, fire resistance 10 and electricity resistance 10. Her type changes to Outsider as her Body, Mind and Soul finally fuse together to form one Unit. She can now summon 1/Day other Yugoloths, with an 40% success Rate.

 

[Cleon]

Hello, me and my Friends wanted to start a new D&D Game starting on one World but later Jumping trough Sigil and the Planes. I wanted to play an Arcanaloth but a real young one, under Level 5, as we want start low level. I searched a lot of sites but did not find an leveling Scheme from Level 1-20 for them, at least not as an regular Race and Class.

Well the normal way you'd go about it is to make a Savage Species style racial class with outsider hit dice.

I've got to go out so I don't have time to go into the details of that, but glancing through your "character class" version my thoughts are.

1) giving it full caster level progression is too fast - a standard Monster Manual II arcanaloth is a 12th level sorcerer at 12 HD and has a +7 level adjustment, so it ought to have CL 12 at character level 19.

2) you've cut down the uses of its spell-like abilities considerably, which are all At-Wills in the MM2. That makes it a considerably more manageable creature LA-wise - unlimited shapechange is a horrifyingly potent ability!

 

[Akhelos]

Okay I Changed that a Bit, especially that the born gets 12d8 Hit-Die at level 20 and Casterlevel 12 at Level 20, together with a little Change in the Spell resistance. That they get her Full power at 20 and not 19 I wanted to explain with the fact that born Arcanaloths are a little bit weaker than those who have "naturally" risen through the Ranks and earned their power, instead of being born into it.
Albeit thanks to natural Armor and Damage Resistance they can also be good as an sort of Eldritch Knight. They can wear no Armor without killing their Spellpower but are hard enough to take some blows if needed be. And well there exist Bracers of Armor for a reason *g*

And the spellike Abilities, I thought would be a bit hard to have them all from the Beginning at "at Will" so they are 1/Day till Level 19, when other Chars can also have more powerful magical trinkets, compensating that a bit. Except of Flying that comes a bit earlier on 15. I also thought about not making them at Will but perhaps 3/day, except of Flying (as other Chars can compensate that by Carpets of flying and other things). And perhaps modify Shapechange so that it is only possible to change 1/day but keep the shape till it is dropped or till she next recharges her Spellslots or something like that.

I also changed warp wood against Greater teleport, because well I dont see why they would need to manipulate plants so much and in the old Books they could teleport.

And I found something in the old books about that Arcanaloths dont sleep but merge with the plane they are currently on, and must do this every 9 Days. Which is not mentioned in the new Entry. So I tried to build something myself, but I am unsure wetehr it should be build in or better left out. And if, then on what Level, perhaps 18, 19 or so.

Here what I thought about:
Earth/Plane-Meld An Arcanaloth does not sleep like Mortals do. Instead she must meld with the plane or world she is currently residing on. She can do it every time her body touches bare Earth or natural Rock, whether Outside or in a Cave. In Buildings this only works if she is lying on the lowest floor and if it consists of natural Material like Stone, Earth or Wood, so that she can meld through it directly into the earth. Her body merges hereby completely with it, leaving all Clothes and Equipment behind. She can not being dug up as she is part of the earth and there is no Body that could be taken from it, it has merged with the surrounding Material. She stays merged for 9 Hours and then emerges back outside but is always naked, as her Clothes are lying next to her. While she is so regenerating she can even move in the earth and look at other places, effectively teleporting herself through the earth to the target Location, but when she wakes up she always emerges at her last position. Creatures that can see Magic, whether trough Arcane Sight, comparable spells or spelllike Abilities can see her immaterial Presence, a formless Energy signature, swimming trough the Earth. If the Area where she merges is warded against magical movement and teleportation, she can only move inside the warded Area and she also can not enter such areas from the Outside while melded. She can use this always at will, but if she does not do it at least every 9 Days, she can no longer sleep and can no longer prepare her Spells or use her spellike Abilities’ till she has merged for at least 9 Hours, thereby recharging her spiritual Energy.
She can NOT meld inside an Antimagic Field or comparable Situations and if someone with Casterlevel 10+ Casts Dispel Magic or comparable Effekts on the place she melded, she instantly reappears...which could be bad as the Arcanaloth wears no equipment, is lying flat on the Floor and the attackers will be fully armed and ready.

 

[Cleon]

Okay I Changed that a Bit, especially that the born gets 12d8 Hit-Die at level 20 and Casterlevel 12 at Level 20, together with a little Change in the Spell resistance. That they get her Full power at 20 and not 19 I wanted to explain with the fact that born Arcanaloths are a little bit weaker than those who have "naturally" risen through the Ranks and earned their power, instead of being born into it.
Albeit thanks to natural Armor and Damage Resistance they can also be good as an sort of Eldritch Knight. They can wear no Armor without killing their Spellpower but are hard enough to take some blows if needed be. And well there exist Bracers of Armor for a reason *g*

They're still less potent than a "by the book" character level 19 Arcanaloth, who get better natural armor (+15), racial ability adjustments (+6 Dex, +10 Int, +8 Wis, +6 Cha), and spell-like abilities.

And the spellike Abilities, I thought would be a bit hard to have them all from the Beginning at "at Will" so they are 1/Day till Level 19, when other Chars can also have more powerful magical trinkets, compensating that a bit. Except of Flying that comes a bit earlier on 15. I also thought about not making them at Will but perhaps 3/day, except of Flying (as other Chars can compensate that by Carpets of flying and other things). And perhaps modify Shapechange so that it is only possible to change 1/day but keep the shape till it is dropped or till she next recharges her Spellslots or something like that.

That's fine, it's normal Savage Species procedure to phase in At-Will spell-like abilities gradually, via 1/day and 3/day uses.

I also changed warp wood against Greater teleport, because well I dont see why they would need to manipulate plants so much and in the old Books they could teleport.

There's a revised 3.5 version of Arcanaloths in Dungeon #149 that has greater teleport as an at-will SLA and is generally a bit more powerful. It's got 18 Hit Dice and even better ability scores, for a start.

They still have warp wood though. Arcanaloths gained that ability in 2nd edition AD&D. The first edition version didn't have it, and could only teleport once a day.

And I found something in the old books about that Arcanaloths dont sleep but merge with the plane they are currently on, and must do this every 9 Days. Which is not mentioned in the new Entry. So I tried to build something myself, but I am unsure wetehr it should be build in or better left out. And if, then on what Level, perhaps 18, 19 or so.

Sounds like a 2E Planescape thing.

There's no mention of it in any of the Arcanaloth's monster entries I could find, or the general Yugoloth monster entry, so I'd be inclined to ignore it.

 

[Akhelos]

They're still less potent than a "by the book" character level 19 Arcanaloth, who get better natural armor (+15), racial ability adjustments (+6 Dex, +10 Int, +8 Wis, +6 Cha), and spell-like abilities.

That's fine, it's normal Savage Species procedure to phase in At-Will spell-like abilities gradually, via 1/day and 3/day uses.

There's a revised 3.5 version of Arcanaloths in Dungeon #149 that has greater teleport as an at-will SLA and is generally a bit more powerful. It's got 18 Hit Dice and even better ability scores, for a start.

They still have warp wood though. Arcanaloths gained that ability in 2nd edition AD&D. The first edition version didn't have it, and could only teleport once a day.

Sounds like a 2E Planescape thing.

There's no mention of it in any of the Arcanaloth's monster entries I could find, or the general Yugoloth monster entry, so I'd be inclined to ignore it.

Thanks for your Answers ^^

They get a rise from Natural Armor 5 to 15 at Level 15, together with the Damage Resistance, but I think about perhaps giving it not together, but perhaps one of both a bit later, so that the power rise on one level is not too high.
Their Starting Attributes are INT+4 and WIS+2 what will stay if they dont take the Class, but with the Class the get +2 DEX, INT, WIS and CHA on Level 7, 13 and 19, giving an absolute of DEX+6, INT+10, WIS+8 and CHA+6 at Level 19.

I took the Greater Teleport out and put Warp Wood back in, seems better and as an Arkanist they can buy it later as an regular Sorcerer/wizard spell anyway.

The Plane meld, I will then let out. It was just mentioned in the old Planescape book Faces of Evil, in the part where they explain their gender, feeding and resting, that Arcanaloth and Nycaloth sleep for 9 Hours every 9 Days by merging their Bodys with the plane they are currently on. But it seems to have been left out in third Edition. I will let it completely out, seems better then.

 

[Cleon]

Thanks for your Answers ^^

They get a rise from Natural Armor 5 to 15 at Level 15, together with the Damage Resistance, but I think about perhaps giving it not together, but perhaps one of both a bit later, so that the power rise on one level is not too high.
Their Starting Attributes are INT+4 and WIS+2 what will stay if they dont take the Class, but with the Class the get +2 DEX, INT, WIS and CHA on Level 7, 13 and 19, giving an absolute of DEX+6, INT+10, WIS+8 and CHA+6 at Level 19.

Oh right, I missed that in my glance-through.

Going from +5 to +15 is a pretty big jump, so I'd suggest spacing it out a good deal more.

Giving it a +5 NA at 1st level might be too good actually. Natural armor stacks with regular armor, so it could easily get ACs that are rather too high.

Maybe have it start at +3 NA and go up in threes?

 

[Akhelos]

Oh right, I missed that in my glance-through.

Going from +5 to +15 is a pretty big jump, so I'd suggest spacing it out a good deal more.

Giving it a +5 NA at 1st level might be too good actually. Natural armor stacks with regular armor, so it could easily get ACs that are rather too high.

Maybe have it start at +3 NA and go up in threes?

That sounds better and more balanced. I changed it, so that now the Core-Race has natural Armor 3.

With the Class it rises on Level 5 from 3 to 6.
On Level 10 the natural armor rises again from 6 to 9
On Level 15 it rises from 9 to 12
On Level 20 it rises vom 12 to 15