Stats for an awakened potato

[Will426]

First off, I know what you're thinking but I please take this seriously.
Our DM has promised a reward if we can get D20 3.5 stats for a potato.
The rules are very simple, it must be a feasible character race and the stats must be peer reviewed to be balanced in game.
Lets start, shall we?

Awakened Potato

• Plant subtype
  

• Tiny: As a Tiny creatures, Potatos have:
• -8 to grapple
• +2 to AC
• +8 to Hide

• Potato base land speed is 40 feet.
  

• immunity to paralysis, sleep and stunning effects.
• Darkvision 60ft, low-light vision
  
• +2 saving throw against disease
  

• +1 racial bonus on attack rolls against earth subtypes

• Automatic Languages: Common
  
• Bonus Languages: Terran and Undercommon.

• Favored Class: Druid

Awakened Potatoes as Monsters

Tiny Plant
HD: ½ d10 (2 hp)
Initiative: +2 (Dex)
Speed: 40ft
AC: 14 (+2 size, +2 Dex), touch 14, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +0/-9
Attack: Slam +1 melee (1d3-1), +1 to attacks against Earth subtypes
Full Attack: Slam +1 melee (1d3-1)
Space/Reach: 2½ ft./0 ft.
Special Qualities: Paralysis, Sleep and Stunning immunity, darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, +20 disguise if underground yet near surface, +2 resist disease
Saves: Fort +0, Ref +2, Will -5
Abilities: Str 8, Dex 14, Con Ø, Int Ø, Wis 1, Cha 1
Skills: Hide 8

Climate/Terrain: Farmland
Organization: Batch (8)
Challenge Rating: 1/2
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always Neutral






Also, I'm breaking my 2 month lurking rule before making a thread but these are extenuating circumstances

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

Great idea! I wholeheartedly approve of awakened potatoes.

As a playable race, that might be kind of tough, though what you've got sounds like a good start for a familiar or something. Well, I'd have to think a bit more about it to give more useful info. But here are a few things off the top of my head:

- By RAW, I don't think a potato can be awakened, not with the Awaken spell anyway; But if the GM is cool with it, good!

For the monster version:
- looks like you used the Awaken spell as the starting point. That seems a good a place to start, though it leads to a few inconsistencies. The obvious one atm is that Plant type uses d8 for HD, not d10
- the +20 disguise while hiding underground seems unnecessary to me. I'd probably make it a +8 or +12 racial bonus when hiding on the ground &/or among vegetation, on salad bars, or something like that.
- just my get feeling, but I'd be inclined to give it speed of something like 20ft, and a burrow speed of 20ft.-- mainly only because I have a hard time envisioning a potato moving that fast. Or really moving at all, really, but that's beside the point. If it gets a burrow speed, you might also consider giving it tremorsense.
- another suggestion is to ditch the awaken spell rules and animated object stats entirely, and just tweak an existing small-ish plant monster. There are vegepygmies and myconids that could be "downsized" to tiny size quite easily with the size change rules (in reverse), as well as handful of others that are already tiny, like the CC mandragora.

For the character race:
I don't have much experience building up a playable race from scratch, so take this with a grain of salt. Hopefully someone else with better insight will respond. The following is mostly just potential problms I see, with little in the way of solutions...
- The Tiny size, Plant type and darkvision give it a quite a few hefty advantages with respect to poison, mind effects, breathing, critical hits, and so on. So there probably ought to be some significant ability score offsets, like STR-4, amybe CHA-2 or something. Not sure exactly what or how much, though. (That's another reason I suggested giving it a slow-ish speed, btw.)
- An obvious problem with using a potato as a race is that it doesn't seem to be able to use weapons, wear armor, or have body slots. This has big implications for power advancement. Can it use wield a +2 flaming sickle and a dragon hide shield?
- Additionally, you ought to explicitly resolve how it manipulates thing, speaks, and so on (especially for purposes of spell casting): Does it have leafy tendrils as hands? Does it speak out a mouth or by rustling leaves? This is important in game when determining how it resists things like a silence spell or being tied up and gagged. Since, as a monster, the first thing I would think is "I'd better tie up and gag that potato, because it might hurt me!"
- Because Druid is its favored class, you'll have to think about what it means to Wildshape; in its case, Wildshaping into a small or medium creature is potentially a huge power boost, relative to the boost received by a medium druid Wildshaping into the same form. Ditto for the animal companion, or familiars for arcane casters.

Well, that's a bit much for now. If I think of anything else, I'll post. Good luck with this, it sounds fun! Let us know the final results.

Also, just because I am weak, I leave you with this...
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPsY_nhTtxg"]YouTube - Baked potatoes - Shooting Stars - BBC comedy[/ame]

 

[freyar]

Well, I was going to comment, but I think the_orc_within has covered just about everything. I'd say you need to resolve the LA of this thing, too. Oh, just noticed something! Plants don't have Con 0 (and, if they did, they'd have a -5 penalty to hp per HD). If it's awakened, it should have an Int, too. Anyway, I also think you should feel free to stray from the template.

And, finally, I think a potato is really Diminutive, but I feel the same way about the Tiny rat.

 

[El Mahdi]

...As a playable race, that might be kind of tough, though...

...By RAW, I don't think a potato can be awakened...

Ahem...

 

[Aramax]

a little off topic.....
I was in a con game where they had awakened turnips which at the time I thought was totally stupid .Years latter I added the philosopher king turnips,mostly they just lay in the ground and think,but a few were capable of becoming mages and were able to use spells to see and hear and comunicate,but they were still non-mobile turnips...though some could fly......

 

[Dr Simon]

Sounds like the sort of thing that ought to go into Non-Terrifying Beasts of Legend II (Spawn of Non-Terrifying Beasts), if I ever got around to writing it.

I'd say that the potato ought to be Diminutive (the size of toads and bats) rather than Tiny (the size of cats and small dogs). Start from the basic attributes for a 1HD Diminutive Plant and go from there. As an awakened plant, it may not have the typical immunity to mind-affecting effects, particularly if you want to use it as a player character race. I would disagree with immunity to disease too - most disease, yes, but there would be plenty of potato-specific blights that could affect them.

For movement, either none at all (it must be carried on a silver platter by the Bearer of the Potato), or 5 - 10 ft.. It may have little Mr. Potato-Head legs on which to scamper, or perhaps it bounces/rolls along. If the potato is motile, then a burrow speed (same as base rate) seems appropriate.

Ability score modifiers would depend on the style of potato. Strength and Dex would be poor, or non-existent for a sedentary (couch) potato (although a Mr. Potato-Head potato might have good Dex). Generally little adjustment to Int and Wis. Mr. Potato Head has a strong, yet grouchy personality - could be a + or -2 to Cha. However, George Dawes' pal is both clever, wise and personable, so Baked Potato would have bonuses to Int, Wis and Cha (it seems to be immobile, so the mental abilities ought to compensate).

You could also give a Baked Potato a +1 natural crispy skin armour bonus.

And of course, potatoes should get a bonus to Spot due to their many eyes.

Finally, you could apply the flaw of "Tasty", where bite attacks do double damage.

 

[El Mahdi]

This reminds me of a 70's classic from "The Captain & Tennille" TV series...


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h22kgTQaljE"]YouTube - The Bionic Watermelon[/ame]

 

[CuRoi]

More than just a spot bonus, I think it needs some sort of "All Around Sight" feat...

I like the speed - I was at first on the same page as the Orc Within but then I envisioned a sentient potato barrelling along the ground at break neck speed and thought "yeah that's perfect".

DR to Piercing Weapons and a weakness to Bludgeoning Wepaons (mashed potatoes....)

You could create, as others have sort of suggested, a whole race of these with subraces:

No movement for the Couch variety (comes with Box of Enthralling, i.e. a mini TV set )
Diadem of Sour Cream for the baked variety that gives +2 tangy goodness
Lump Projectiles for the Mashed type (thrown weapons made from those poorly mashed bits)
Bonuses to Disguise for the "Mr. Potato Head" variety...etc.

 

[Sekhmet]

• +2 saving throw against disease
  

I'm sure the Irish would have liked if this were true.