Creating Intelligent Races

[Khisanth the Ancient]

I'll post many parts here.
Here's Part One - Introduction : This is for creating intelligent races of roughly humanoid form and size (halfling size to minotaur size). It won't help with superintelligent sealions or talking oozes.

 

[Krishnath]

Looking forward to it. Might give me a few ideas

 

[Khisanth the Ancient]

Part 2 : Basics

Creature Type : Humanoid or Monstrous Humanoid. If you want to determine a creature's type randomly assign a 70% chance to Humanoid and a 30% chance to Monstrous Humanoid.
(I'll use an example, a la the CC's how to create a monster : I want a three-armed, skinny, bug-eyed roughly-humanlike monster about man-sized, so I asign it Monstrous Humanoid.)
Size: Small (30%), Medium-size (60%), or Large (10%).
(It's a little taller than a man, but 7' tall at the most, so it's Medium-size).
Hit Dice : Humanoids : 1 (85%), 2 (10%), or 3 (5%); Monstrous Humanoids : 1 - 10 (roll 1d10 for random).
(It's a Monstrous Humanoid, skinny, and frail, but tall, so I assign it 2 HD.)
Initiatinve : This depends on its Dexterity and feats, both of which we'll assign later.
Speed : 30 ft. (50%) or 40 ft. (50%).
AC: Humanoids don't have matural armor; Monstrous Humanoids have a +1-+6 natural armor bonus.
(It's frail but its skin isn't very thin, so I give it a +3 to natural armor).

 

[Krishnath]

Interresting way of doing it, please continue.

 

[Khisanth the Ancient]

Part 3 : Combat Statistics

Attacks : Humanoids have no natural weapons. They attack with manufactured weapons. Monstrous Humanoids can use manufactured weapons, and can have natural attacks of your choosing, or may have none.
(The tall, thin creature has no claws or horns, and humanlike teeth, so I'll give it no natural weapons - only manufactured weapon attacks. I decide that most of them carry a shortbow and short sword.)
Damage :
General Damage Guidelines (these are only guidelines):
Size Bite Claw Gore
Small 1d4-1d6 1d3-1d4 1d4-1d6
Medium 1d6-1d8 1d4-1d6 1d6-1d8
Large 1d8 - 2d6 1d6-1d8 1d8-2d6
Remember to adjust the damage for Strength (determined later).
Large creatures can wield Huge weapons, which deal extra damage. Otherwise, weapon damage is normal.
(No natural attacks; both weapons deal 1d6).

Face/ Reach: Small or Medium - 5 ft. by 5 ft./ 5 ft.; Large 5 ft. by 5 ft./10 ft., unless the creature has a long body (like a yuan-ti), in which case it is 10 ft. by 5 ft./5 ft.
(My creature's Medium, so I give it 5 ft. by 5 ft./5 ft.)
Special Attacks : Your Choice.
(I want it to have an alien effect, so I give it this power :
Magic Disruption (Sp):
Once per day, the creature can put up a field of alien power which disrupts mortal magic. This extends in a 30'long cone, 30' wide at the end. Its duration is six rounds. It is in all other ways identical to an anti-magic shell spell (caster level 10th).)
Special Qualities : Your Choice.
(In fitting with the above anti-magic effect, I give it SR 11. It's also steeped in arcane mathematics, so I'll give it:
Numerical Divination (Su):
By concentrating on a particular type of object, in a full-round action, the creature learns the number of objects of that type within a 60-foot radius. )

 

[Krishnath]

Interresting... The disruptive magic in particular was quite interresting, reminds me of the Antimagic cone of the Beholder.

Due to their description, I guess they are somehow aligned with the far realms...

Please continue.

 

[Khisanth the Ancient]

Part 4- Saves and Abilities.

Saves: Depends on type and abilities, see MM& MMII for details. Not much design room on this one.
Abilities: Try to make them fit in with your idea of the creature. Humanoids should (and this is a guideline only) only very rarely have stats outside the the 3-18 range. Monstrous Humanoids commonly have 19+ stats (notably Strength).
(He has only average Strength, so I give him 11. Dexterity should be fairly high, with long, nimble fingers and an extra arm, so I assign a 14. Constitution should be low to average, but because it's a little taller than a man, I'll give it 10. Intelligence and Wisdom should be very high to genius level, so I give it Int 18, Wis 17 (they are steeped in arcane mathematics and esoteric numerology). They should have an alien and imposing effect, so I assign a Charisma of 15.)


P.S. I'm adding a Numerical Divination power to its special qualities, due to its connection with arcane mathematics.

 

[BOZ]

moving this thread to GMT, where it belongs...