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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 6113449" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 313: November 2003 part 7/9Strange bedfellows: A second article on half-creature templates in the same issue?! it seems like the process of following up ideas until they're done to death and they have to move on is still accelerating. Since that won't hit it's peak (so far) until the release of Essentials as an "evergreen" product, and then announcing the next edition just a year later, I guess I have to deal with more decline in variety of topics to come. What are we to do with these imitative writers? Half-Dopplegangers get three alternate forms, and fairly decent bonuses to their social skills. They won't be able to casually disguise themselves as a specific other person, but leading a double life, having a lot of fun with sexual experimentation, or escaping pursuit from people who don't know you seem very good options. And so there's plenty of chances for the creation of weaker doppleganger-blooded creatures as detailed in UA. Half-Janni get to planeshift and bring people along like their parents, but only for a minute per level. It's a nice toy, but as the location is pretty random, and they don't get protection from the environment either, it seems like a poison chalice really. Still, they get enough ability score bonuses and spell-like abilities that their LA+3 modifier is probably about right. And sometimes you've just got to make that fast exit, and hope the enemy'll assume you're gone for good and wander off in the interim. Half-Minotaurs get pretty much all the tricks their parent does, only with smaller numbers. Since a natural weapon, darkvision, tracking, and bonus to search + spot are all pretty handy for adventurers, there's not much to say here. Half-Nymphs also get a weakened version of their parent's signature move, leaving people Shaken instead of dead with their beauty. Good thing they can switch it off, otherwise sustaining an actual relationship would be very hard indeed. Even so, I think temptation (and guys doing the medieval equivalent of texting pictures of their dicks, which isn't tempting at all) will be a constant issue. You could be driven to become an adventurer just to get some space. Half-Ogres definitely benefit from being changed to a template, given their penchant for gently caressing whatever they can get. Now you can get some truly awful hybrids with other dungeon denizens. But not Oozes, thankfully. Being only LA+1 makes them more accessible than the regular race as well. I approve. Now, would Half-Minotaur/Half-Ogre still work without a base? Half-Rakshasa are another one that get some minor shapeshifting, but not nearly enough to keep up with their parents. They're not likely to have easy childhoods, which makes their natural cravings for luxury and vices of the flesh all the more problematic. As a PC, that's a strong invitation to play them with large amounts of angst. Half-Satyr could also be angsty if brought up somewhere that's big on sex being something sinful to be repressed, but they're just as likely to embrace the rock and roll lifestyle and do very well at it. It does take at least a moderate amount of discipline to show up and practice with the same people regularly, after all, and they're more likely to manage that than their dads.</blockquote>

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