Drider as Transformational PrC

[Nifft]

Drider Cultist Prestige Class


Requirements:
Type: Medium-sized Humanoid
Spellcasting: Must be able to cast 2nd level spells as a Cleric, Wizard or Sorcerer, OR able to manifest 2nd level powers as a Psion
Language: Abyssal
Special: Must worship the Demon-Princess Lolth and complete the Spider Ritual


Drider Cultist PrC
HD: d8
BAB: 3/4 (as Cleric)
Good Save: Will / Bad Saves: Fort, Reflex
Skill Points: 4 + Int bonus
Class Skills: Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowlege (Any) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), and Spot (Wis).

[u]Level   BAB   Fort	Ref	Will	Spellcasting	Special Abilities[/u]
1	+0	+0	+0	+2	+1 Level	Spider Ritual, Bite, 
							Dex +2, Natural Armor +1
2	+1	+0	+0	+3	--		Int +2, Wis +2, Cha +2, 
							Natural Armor +2
3	+2	+1	+1	+3	+1 Level	Dex +2, Natural Armor +4, 
							Poison Bite, Darkvision 60 ft.
4	+3	+1	+1	+4	--		Int +2, Wis +2, Cha +2, 
							Drider Transformation

Special Abilities:

• Spellcasting: The Drider continues to gain power as one kind of spellcaster or psion which it used to qualify for the PrC.
• Spider Ritual: This ritual initiates the celebrant into the inner ring of Lolth's cult. To perform the ritual, the celebrant must partake of a human (or demi-human) sacrifice, drinking the victim's fresh warm blood while a Glabrezu (or higher demon) watches. The ritual costs the celebrant 4 points of Strength, and the celebrant gains the [Evil] and [Chaotic] descriptors. Furthermore, the celebrant's type changes to Aberration, and it becomes sterile. Finally, its visage becomes visibly arachnid, and it can no longer pass for its original race.
• Ability Modification: These are treated as though gained through level advancement.
• Natural Armor (Ex): The character gains the indicated bonus in addition to whatever racial Natural Armor it had before becoming a Drider.
• Bite (Ex): The Drider gains a bite attack which deals 1d4 + (Str x 1.5) damage. This attack is treated as the primary natural weapon.
• Poison Bite (Ex): Injury, Fort DC (10 + 1/2 HD + Con bonus), initial and secondary damage 1d6 Str.
• Darkvision (Ex): As the Darkvision ability.
• Drider Transformation: The Drider's body changes into the form associated with its cult, that of a humanoid torso attached to a spider's body. The Drider becomes Large, gains a Climb speed equal to half its land speed, and gains a +4 bonus to opposed Trip checks due to its multiple legs. Its final modifications, counting the cost of the Spider Ritual, are: Str +4, Dex +2, Con +4, Int +4, Wis +4, Cha +4, AC -1, Attack -1, Natural Armor +6. Despite being Large, the Drider still only has 5 ft. natural reach.

-- N

 

[ConnorSB]

Ohh... cool! Its all... prc-y, and not in a bad way. You did the Gnoll Cultist PrC as well, right Nifft? I've been using it in my campaign, and I think i'm going to have to steal this one as well.

See, IMC most of the badguys are part of various demon/devil cults. So the Gnoll PrC i use for Demegorgon and Mephistophicles' minions, this I'll use for Lloth's minions and maybe a few others.

So keep posting these, and I'll keep stealing them!

 

[Nifft]

Yup, I posted the Gnoll Transformational PrC too.

My campaign also uses various devils / demons as BBEGs -- thus, all the cultists.

Glad you like!

-- N

 

[Nightfall]

Okay I can see drider as a Pr-class. But where does GNOLL go. I mean they are a race more than driders.

 

[Nifft]

Okay I can see drider as a Pr-class. But where does GNOLL go. I mean they are a race more than driders.

IMC, Gnolls start out as normal humans (or members of another race, but usually humans) who, through demon worship, gain great physical prowess and a beastial visage.

-- N

 

[Nightfall]

Ah. See I just thought of gnolls as just another race. But hey whatever works for you Nifft. I will say I'll use this transformation Pr-class for a few of my spider thingies.

 

[ConnorSB]

Nifft- how exactly did you generate this? I'm guessing its just a Savage Species breakdown of the race, maybe with some extras and assuming that a normal human (or maybe drow) was the basis of a drider? But how did you come up with the prerequisits?

I ask because I'm thinking of making a few CS specific transform PrCs, but I don't quite know where to start...

 

[Nifft]

Ah. See I just thought of gnolls as just another race.

I have verisimilitude issues with there being eight bazillion races on one world, but I still want to use funky D&D classics like Gnolls and Driders. Also, I have similar issues with any race worshiping a specific god "by birth". So, instead, I solve both problems by making the "race" be a *product* of worship, instead of a winked-at coincidence.

This also solves the moral grey issues -- a Human can be good, evil or any shade of grey, but a Gnoll only got to be a Gnoll by demon-worship.

As to how I made it up, well, I don't really know. I try to fit everything that the bad guy should be into a few levels. In the case of Driders, it's tricky, because they get a huge host of goodies for only +1 CR over their caster level -- which is essentially free, since Drow should be +1 CR over their caster level, too.

I've been making these sort of things for a while, and I've gotten a lot of feedback about some of my creations, so I think I'm developing a "feel" for this sort of thing -- check out my templates page here:
http://klimt.cns.nyu.edu/~fishman/DnD/templates.shtml

One great resource for seeing how special abilities work out is Four Colors to Fantasy. The major benchmark in this case, though, was how I wanted my Driders to come out like Core Driders. I think that the ability increase due to Large size and the Core Drider bonuses to all mental scores are huge, so I dropped SR and the host of Spell-Like Abilities. I still think that this PrC is rather strong, but it results in a Drider that's one HD higher than the standard one, has the same official CR, casts spells one level lower, and lacks SR & SLA's.

So, in this case, the yard stick is: it looks strong for a PrC, but it's slightly weaker than the Core version.

-- N

 

[Nightfall]

Not bad Nifft. Course I don't mind various races. Most I attribute to the titans. As for the gods, well if you hadn't noticed there are not a lot of racial gods in the Scarred Lands. But I can certainly understand your need to make something a little closer to "realism". But then what's real to you is semi-unreal to me and vice versa.

 

[HellHound]

One great resource for seeing how special abilities work out is Four Colors to Fantasy.

Nifft, you are -so- being quoted on that in the future.