Savage Species - Time to test it out

[marshaldwm]

I would take a long look at the morphic creatures esp the tigers. A feral morphic tiger with 11 levels in fighter or prestige classes would be insanely tough.

I run a game using Savage Species, and I have discovered:

Half-ogres should be +2 ECl, or better 2d8 hds plus +1 LA.

All morphic races should lose the +4 wisdom and be bumped up an ECL, except the small sized animals like monkeys and such.

Pixies should be outright banned.

Driders and other creatures with spellcasting levels built in should be looked at very carefully, and should probably be level adjusted as if they were multi-classed. Rogue Driders are not so bad, but sorc and cleric ones are pretty rude.

The feral template should be +2 or maybe +3 for a warrior type.

Really watch out for munchkinism. Savage species was built with munchkins in mind. Before SS, munchkins only had feats, magic items and classes to munchkin with, now they can munchkin with races also.

Savage species is awesome for role-players, who ae not totally consumed by stats.

Marshaldwm

 

[LokiDR]

I'll second the "look out for munchkins" sentiment.

I always wanted to play a rakasha. Casting spells as a sorcerer and immune to spells.

Pixie's invisibility, mobility and spell like abilities make it just insane.

 

[Skaros]

I'll second the "look out for munchkins" sentiment.

I always wanted to play a rakasha. Casting spells as a sorcerer and immune to spells.

Pixie's invisibility, mobility and spell like abilities make it just insane.

Even with their large loss of HD because of the ECL?

I always figured it would be tough to keep a pixie PC alive if average area spells could drop them....as well as priests with invisibility purge active....creatures with scent, perhaps...etc.

Skaros

 

[LokiDR]

Even with their large loss of HD because of the ECL?

I always figured it would be tough to keep a pixie PC alive if average area spells could drop them....as well as priests with invisibility purge active....creatures with scent, perhaps...etc.

Skaros

First, I should say that pixie is only really broken as rogues.

As for the creatures that can see the pixie (by any means) the pixie runs. But I haven't seen enough of these creatures to make the pixie look balanced. Scent won't stop the sneak attacks. Area effects are little problem with +8 dex, high reflex save, and evasion.

 

[Savage Wombat]

We have a pixie rogue in our Planescape party simply because he's a conversion of a 2nd ed character. Can't get rid of him. As a 5th level rogue, I expect he'll be dishing out 30 odd points of damage a round with his widdle bow.

Vicious.

 

[Ferret]

Arenea sorcerer or sorcerer/rogue. Spellcasting and ecl don't go? The arenea cast spells on it's OWN.

 

[Hackenslash]

8th Level Fighter/ 4th Level Rogue Lycanthrope = ECL 15...I hope ??

Hello,

I have just created a Lyncanthrope character to play in a high level (14th-15th Level) campaign and decided to go for the Werewolf as the WereTiger or Werebear would have been a little too powerfull for the party with the massive stat increases it gets. Funnily enough the Savage Species lists all Lycanthropes the same for effective level adjustment, not sure I would agree, considering the differences in modifiers, feats and skills each Lycanthrope gets, per the MM etc...The other Lycanthrope abilities and skills seem to fit in nicely and are not too over balancing. Even the Damage reduction is the one of lowest you can get 15/Silver. But there is a feat in Savage species that you can increase this to 17/+1 if you wanted too. The character is essentially designed to be a melee type combatant but with a few extra skills thrown in for spice, as we have lost our main Fighter to a horrible death involving a serious pounding by Hill Giants. I think the Lycanthrope character can fit well into a campaign as it can be inconspicuous if necessary but has the punch to hold it's own in combat and can have some pretty cool defensive capabilites as well. Not sure if I am going to use a prestige class but a Weapon Master might work as he does have the improved two weapon fighting style, plus most of the other feat requirements. Oh well just a few ideas, good luck with your new campaign. Cheers All.

 

[Seule]

I run a biweekly Savage Species game, for my regular players to blow off steam. It's silly, cheesemunchkinny, and overpowered. I have guaranteed a level every session (no XP calculations for me!) and the characters were made with a 40 point buy, at 1st level. Currently sitting at 5th level there are:
A Treant
An Ogre
An Ogre-mage
A Raksasha
a Medusa

So far it's looking fun, with no real imbalances showing up yet (but then, they wouldn't, it's not exactly a standard game). We all have a blast, and they smush things that get in their way.

I am noticing that the fighter types (the first three) are far more effective than the other two, but that should even out with higher caster levels for the Raksasha and a gaze attack for the Medusa.

--Seule

 

[Someone]

Some morphic animals are really good. The bat is an excellent choice for non martial Cleric (ECL 1, fly, and +6 Wis) and nothing compares to a African Elephant as a heavy hitter (Large, IIRC +12 Str, +6 Con, and +7 natural armor, and very decent Dex and Wis scores)

 

[Hypersmurf]

But how does the Cha bonus help AC?
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Some prestige classes allow you to add your Cha bonus to AC, just like a monk can add his Wis bonus.

That's one way.

(There are a couple in the Freeport Campaign Setting as well... Freeport Pirate is one. Pirate Pixie... that's just fantastic )

The other way is the level-of-Cleric, shield enhanced as a +1 Defending martial bludgeoning weapon, and the Divine Shield feat.

Spend a turn attempt to add your Cha modifier to your shield both offensively and defensively as an Enhancement bonus, then use the Defending property to transfer the offensive enhancement bonus as an unnamed bonus to AC.

So if you can get your Cha modifier up to, say, +8, you can potentially add it to your AC three times - once as a monk-like bonus, once as an enhancement bonus on your shield, and once as an unnamed Defending bonus.

+24 AC from one strong ability score is a Good Thing

-Hyp.