D&D 3.5 Scoops from Savage Species

[EricNoah]

WotC was kind enough to gift me with a copy of Savage Species. I've enumerated some of the juicy stuff from the book itself in a different thread , but wanted to drop off these tidbits that reflect updates to the core D&D rules.

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Savage Species has a sidebar in the introduction detailing "several changes to the rules concerning monsters":

Skills: Monsters gain skill points based on HD and INT. Wilderness Lore is now called Survival; and Alchemy is now Craft (Alchemy).

Feats: Every monster receives at least one feat and gains more at the same rate as characters -- one more at 3 HD, another at 6 HD, etc.

Types & Subtypes: "Beast" is no longer a type -- all beasts are either Magical Beasts or Animals. Shapechanger is now a subtype. So for example, the Areana is now a Magical Beast (Shapechanger). Fire and cold subtypes have been changed. The fire subtype reads: "...immune to fire damage and takes a -10 penalty on saves against cold. If a cold attack does not allow a saving throw, the creature takes double damage."

Face/Reach: A we know, all faces are square. Large = 10'; Huge = 15'; Gargantuan = 20'; Colossal = 30' or more.

 

[Remathilis]

Wow, those are some major changes...

This means anyone who took Shapechanger as a Favored Enemy got shafted (same as those which took beast, I guess)...

It also means fighters can now craft: alchemy. ::Shrugs:: I guess It didn't make much sense for it to be a seperate skill...

 

[whatisitgoodfor]

All of that sounds really good....


When you say "monster" are you including animals?

I can honestly say that it never made sense to me that animals never got better at tracking under basically any circumstances.

 

[Olive]

Wow, those are some major changes...

This means anyone who took Shapechanger as a Favored Enemy got shafted (same as those which took beast, I guess)...

i don't think they are that major myself. if you took shapechanger as a favoured enemy, then you can change to what ever type of shapechanger you intended to fight most... if it's areana then to magical beast, if it was dopplegangers, then you'll get abberation or whatever.

And the changes are mostly organisational i think. if you've homebrewed monsters, then it won't be too hard. and monsters should get skills based on int and hd, and feats at the same rate as characters. that makes logical sense.

 

[Zaruthustran]

Wow, those are some major changes...

This means anyone who took Shapechanger as a Favored Enemy got shafted (same as those which took beast, I guess)...

Well, since only Rangers have the Favored Enemy ability... are you saying that Rangers got the shaft?

It also means fighters can now craft: alchemy. ::Shrugs:: I guess It didn't make much sense for it to be a seperate skill...

Well, I bet they'll limit Alchemy, in the same way they limit Knowledge: only Bards and Wizards get Knowledge (any), while other classes are limited to specific Knowledges.

So, maybe only Wizards will get Craft: Alchemy, while Fighters will get Craft: Weapons and Armor, Craft: War machines, and Craft: defensive structures.

-z

 

[MerricB]

With all the other changes they're making to Rangers, who's going to notice a little Favoured Enemy going missing?

There are some BIG CHANGES going to be made to monster skills because of this. I was looking at the original minotaur's skills:

Intimidate +5 = 6 ranks, -1 Cha
Jump +8 = 4 ranks, +4 Str
Listen +8 = 4 ranks, +4 racial
Search +6 = 4 ranks, -2 Int, +4 racial
Spot +8 = 4 ranks, +4 racial

That's 22 ranks.

Skill points were calculated as follows for a minotaur: 2 x Int Score + 2 x EHD. Int Score = 7, EHD = 4, thus 14+8=22 skill points.

Check the new Savage Species class:
Skill Points = 2 + Int Modifier per Hit Dice. (with the x4 at the 1st level)

Thus, 9 skill points - 9 ranks.

Thirteen ranks have gone missing!

The major effect of this change is going to be an "Oh God! No!" from the computer programmers who spent a lot of time trying to get the skill points right for monsters - only to have to go back to a standardised system.

This change - and the # of feats - makes it much easier on players and DMs. It must be emphasised that the ECL is now essential to create accurate classed monsters; and should give monster designers many headaches from now on.

Cheers!

 

[EricNoah]

Merric, in answer to the question about skill points:

All "types" follow the 2+Int mod formula except dragons and fey (6+Int mod). All get x4 at first level.

 

[coyote6]

All "types" follow the 2+Int mod formula except dragons and fey (6+Int mod). All get x4 at first level.

Outsiders get 2+Int, too?

 

[EricNoah]

Yes.

 

[MerricB]

Thanks, Eric!

I wonder if this was driven by a desire to make e-Tools easier to fix, and thus make Eric happy?

Cheers!