Half-Celestial another revision

[nameless]

I'm amazed that someone could call the modified half-celestial a "phenomenal deal" at +4 to +6 LA...

+5 LA is a huge handicap on a character. That's two full spell levels for casters, one full iterative attack on fighter-types, and a ton of hit points regardless. Being a half-celestial especially gives no focused bonuses and no real synergies to any class, just a blanket bonus to a lot of rolls. Even if the template added +3 to all rolls the character made, it's probably still not the equal to 3 levels in a useful class.

Just as characters gain exponential power as they rise in level, LAs should grant even more exponential power as they become higher (since it requires a higher total level character to offset the higher LA).

All of that ranting aside, I think the changes you made to half-celestial are great, and a step in the right direction of balancing the LA.

 

[Merlion]

Then I would suggest creating seperate templates. Half-Archon, Half-Eladrin etc.

But pretty much all of them would most likely have DR. and if you want to stay true to celestial abilities, and within a +4 level adjustment, I dont think any of them would have fast healing.

 

[kirinke]

actually, i am thinking of creating templates for half eladrin, half archon etc. but right now, i am just experimenting with different ideas. to me, fast heal doesn't seem terribly unbalancing.

though in the next revisions, i probably will do damage reduction, even though I personally dont understand the mechanics of it. (which is why i went with fast heal. Because that mechanic i do understand. )

 

[Merlion]

Damage reduction reduces the damage taken from physical attacks, unless they are of the sort that bypasses it.

Spells, supernatural abilities, energies (even regular fire) bypass all damage reduction.

Damage reduction 5/magic is bypassed by any magic weapon.

Damage reduction 5/cold iron is bypassed by any weapon made of cold iron, but not by non-cold iron weapons, regardless of bonus.

Damage reduction 5/ cold iron and evil is bypassed by weapons that are both made of cold iron, and are evil aligned (because they have the unholy weapon enhancement, or have had an align weapon spell cast on them or the like).

If you hit a creature with DR 5/magic with an ordinary longsword for 10 damage, it only takes 5, but if you hit it with a magic longsword, it takes full damage

etc etc.

 

[kirinke]

ah.. gotcha.
well. nothing ventured, nothing gained.
i figure fast heal is a bit different, but fairly valid, depending on the celestial in question. next up, the half-ummm. i dunno. but it'll be half-something

but seriously, thanks for the explination.

 

[Merlion]

well like I said, there are no celestials with fast healing. But mainly, its just a very powerful ability since your recovering any and all hit point damage from any and all sources pretty darn quickly.

Damage reduction is both more balanced, and fits the overall image better generally speaking.

But developing seperate templates for various celestial types would definitly be interesting. The core half celestial template would probably serve as Half-angel. So we'd need templates for Archons, Eladrins, and Guardinals.

Course its a little funky with Guardinals since they tend to be more varied...each type of guardinal is associated with a certain animal.

 

[Banshee16]

actually, i am thinking of creating templates for half eladrin, half archon etc. but right now, i am just experimenting with different ideas. to me, fast heal doesn't seem terribly unbalancing.

though in the next revisions, i probably will do damage reduction, even though I personally dont understand the mechanics of it. (which is why i went with fast heal. Because that mechanic i do understand. )

I had created a half-eladrin template....have it sitting around somewhere.

Principle differences are that instead of wings, it can turn into a ball of light 3/day, and that the spell-like abilities differ.

Banshee

 

[kirinke]

Well. As promised, I have created yet another revision for the half-celestial This time though, i've made it so that both the player and dm have a greater room to manuever and develop their creations in a more balanced manner.

*****​

No matter the form, half-celestials are always comely and delightful to the senses, having golden skin, sparkling eyes, angelic wings, or some other sign of their higher nature.

CREATING A HALF-CELESTIAL“Half-celestial” is an inherited template that can be added to any living, corporeal creature with an Intelligence score of 4 or higher and non-evil alignment (referred to hereafter as the base creature). A half-celestial uses all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here.

Size and Type: The creature’s type changes to outsider. Do not recalculate the creature’s Hit Dice, base attack bonus, or saves. Size is unchanged. Half-celestials are normally native outsiders.

Speed: A half-celestial has a base speed of 30ft.

Armor Class: Natural armor improves by +1 (this stacks with any natural armor bonus the base creature has).

Immortal: once they reach maturity for whatever their base race is, they stop aging and can live upwards to 10,000 years or more. No one is quite sure how long they can live actually. They are also immune to aging effects and spells that affect aging. They are immune to disease. They are immune to scarring. They cannot be turned into undead. Though immortal, they can still be killed.

Special Attacks: A half-celestial retains all the special attacks of the base creature and gains a special attack (every 2 levels) common to the creature's celestial parent or upon DM approval.

TRAITS
Instead of picking up flight/feathered wings, you may choose other features dependant upon DM approval. These features are similar to feats as they can be chosen every three levels. Examples include.
1st level: you automatically make any swim checks.
3rd level: you can breath underwater as the spell of same name at will.
6th level: you can bestow the ability to breath underwater to 1d4 people for 1hr per level.

Trait powers do increase every three levels and once you've 'maxed out' the traits, you can also develope other traits, such as Fore-sight, teleportation, etc. This is very much dependent on the DM and the type of game he/she wants to run. In fact, you don't have to progress beyond the first tier trait. It essentially is up to whatever you and your dm agree too.

Spell-Like Abilities: A half-celestial with an Intelligence or Wisdom score of 8 or higher has two or more spell-like abilities, depending on its Hit Dice, as indicated on the table below. The abilities are cumulative.

These abilities can also be swapped out with 'spells' from the same level. IE: 'aid' can be replaced with 'align weapon' or any other spell from the second level cleric/druid/ranger list.

Unless otherwise noted, an ability is usable once per day. Caster level equals the creature’s HD, and the save DC is Charisma-based.

HD Abilities
1–2 Protection from evil 3/day, bless
3–4 Aid, detect evil
5–6 Cure serious wounds, neutralize poison
7–8 Holy smite, remove disease
9–10 Dispel evil.
11–12 Holy word
13–14 Holy aura 3/day, hallow
15–16 Mass charm monster
17–18 Summon monster IX (celestials only)
19–20 Resurrection

Special Qualities: A half-celestial has all the special qualities of the base creature, plus the following special qualities.
—Darkvision out to 60 feet.
—Low light vision
—Immunity to disease.
—Resistance to acid 10, cold 10, and electricity 10.
—Damage reduction: 5/magic (if HD 11 or less) or 10/magic (if HD 12 or more).
—A half-celestial’s natural weapons are treated as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
—Spell resistance equal to creature’s HD + 10 (maximum 35).
— +4 racial bonus on Fortitude saves against poison.

Abilities: Increase from the base creature as follows: Str +4, Dex +2, Con +4, Int +2, Wis +4, Cha +4.

Skills: A half-celestial gains skill points as an outsider and has skill points equal to (8 + Int modifier) x (HD +3). Do not include Hit Dice from class levels in this calculation—the half-celestial gains outsider skill points only for its racial Hit Dice, and gains the normal amount of skill points for its class levels. Treat skills from the base creature’s list as class skills, and other skills as cross-class.

Challenge Rating: HD 5 or less, as base creature +1; HD 6 to 10, as base creature +2; HD 11 or more, as base creature +3.

Alignment: Always good (any).

Level Adjustment: Same as base creature +4.

 

[kirinke]

so, watch'all think about this revision? it's far more balanced than the template in the book (at least I think so) and it gives both the player/dm an infinite number of ways to shape their characters/monsters.

 

[Bryin]

question on traits: how many do you get?

and what the fly speed, double the ground speed with what monovere? average, good, perfect? (hopefully they improve as the character gains in levels)