[Scarred Lands]The Unseeing as PC?

[Allanon]

I recently had a player ask to be allowed to play a Slitheren of the Unseeing Brood. And I really want to allow him, but Warrens of the Ratmen doesn't give an answer towards the level equivalence of such a character. It only states that they are to powerfull.

Due to OGL and all I won't/can't reveal what makes this character so powerfull, but in my eyes they're not much more powerfull than say a Svirfneblin which has a +3 ECL.

Has anyone ever tried this? Or have an idea what the effective character level could be? Thanks in advance.

 

[Mordane76]

I'm at work right now...

I also can't remember this particular Slithern; which book is it in?


I'd like to take a look at it -- it's a slow day at work. Could you Email me a brief synopsis of the Unseeing Brood's powers and drawbacks, so I could give you my ideas?

The email is scarl@centrehotel.com.

 

[Allanon]

It can be found on page 107 of 'Vigil Watch - Warrens of the Ratmen'.

 

[Nightfall]

Allanon. ELC +3 or +4 sounds about right to me. I know I had a player create an Unseeing once. They are powerful but no more than some that I tried to use in say CC1. (Still waiting to see what CC Revised says about some of those races/creatures to be able to used as PCs, like Asaathi.)

 

[Mordane76]

Okay...


Here's the skinny -- I think Unseeing is a total ECL +4.


2HD -- +2
Empathy & Empathic Awareness (Blindsight on Crack) -- +1
Mnk2 Abilities -- +1
Saintly Aegis -- +1/2

Total 4.5 levels... d20 rounds down...


So, a Unseeing 1st level anything would be a 5th level character.


I think Saintly Aegis is a potent ability, especially at low levels. The creature's 2d8's give it a solid set of starting HP. It's never truly unarmed (Mnk2), and it can perceive things perfectly, even ethereal things within 60 ft, making Hide attempts in that area more or less useless. Plus, strong emotions (subjective here) allows a bonus for the Unseeing to hit...


This race is fairly powerful; also... does the Mnk abilities advance as the Unseeing's HD advance? This is a kinda standard thing for creatures with abilities of a class; this could make the Unseeing truly unusable if you took that path.

 

[Nightfall]

This race is fairly powerful; also... does the Mnk abilities advance as the Unseeing's HD advance? This is a kinda standard thing for creatures with abilities of a class; this could make the Unseeing truly unusable if you took that path.

I kind of thought they did, so it might increase the ELC a little more. But no more than say +5 if your worried about that.

 

[Allanon]

Thanks for the advice,
I'll think that I'll make it a +4 ECL, mostly since I require that he holds true to the pacifistic ideals of the Unseeing, not to mention that Slitheren are hard to take anywhere civilised .
And although the monk abilities make it powerfull when combined with the monk class, he's going the druidic route, taking monk classes further along the road.

 

[Mordane76]

If the monk abilities increase as HD increases, then this race is definitely too powerful.


The only class this creature could take without being unbalanced beyond the +4 ECL is Monk. If he takes any other class, he's basically a Monk with a level of his HD as well as whatever character class he takes, and that is too powerful. If this is the way you're gonna play it, I'd say increasing monkish abilities with HD is worth at least a +4 on it's own.


The big problem with the Mnk abilities is the ever increasing AC and the plethora of special abilities that develop.

 

[Allanon]

No I won't let the monk abilities increase with the HD. That would indeed make it to unbalanced. He gets the abilities of a 2nd level monk and if he takes additional classes as a monk they will stack. That's also the reason why I think +4 ECL with the strict roleplaying requirements make it balanced enough the play with.

 

[Mordane76]

Agreed...

I'm still trying to figure out, having read the Empathic Awareness ability, how the blindness really affects them...

They basically can "see" better than anyone else without blindsight within 60 feet. Reading on, they can still "see" outside that radius, but they don't automatically perceive things outside that radius.


Obviously, certain things can't be see, I suppose -- they can't read (as long as Empathic Awareness works just like blindsight), nor distinguish any real detail about creatures without touching them. They don't understand the concept of colors, which might be a bad thing. They don't have a concept for what creatures look like; they'd have a much better idea of individuals, however, because they'd be able to recognize people by their unique emotional mix (kinda like a "face" for the Unseeing), IMO. It definitely is a very cool idea.