Template Thread

[Arken]

Since everyone likes templates and they seem a little easier to me than actual full blown creatures when it comes to formulating them I thought that as I have a lot of free time at the moment I would turn my hand to creating a few in this thread which people can use as they wish

Comments are desired (and needed if I'm ever going to learn how to balance this sort of thing )

First Up: Clockwork Creatures

Clockwork creatures are either the pinnacle of creation by a master artificer or occasionally can occur naturally in areas such as mechanus or in secluded demiplanes where either Gods or Mortals with power beyond belief have tinkered with the running of the world. A clockwork creature is a fully functioning, thinking and feeling mechanical replica of an actual creature. With perfect lenses for eyes, sharply honed metal for claws and teeth, bellows for lungs and a subtle and secret mixture of chemicals and humours flowing where there should be blood. A creator of a clockwork creature has found actual success in the creation of life.

Lesser Clockwork Creature (Template)

Lesser clockwork creature is an 'inherited' template that can be added to any Aberration, Animal, Beast, Dragon, Elemental, Giant, Humanoid, Magical Beast, Monstrous Humanoid, Outsider, Shapechanger or Vermin that has a solid (i.e. not liquid or energy etc.) body.

Type: The creature's type changes to Construct and as such the creature gains construct traits.

Hit dice and Hit Points: Creature hit dice (i.e. not those gained from class advancement) become d10 however as a construct with no constitution score the creature can gain no bonus hit points.

Armour Class: From the rare alloys and treated metals that are used to make up the creature it gains a +5 bonus to natural armour.

Special Attacks: The creatures natural attacks are delivered as either iron or silver weapons as they are built from such a material. In addition the natural weapons of the creature have been enchanted as though they were magical weapons to a total of +2 market price modifier. (I.e. they are a +1 magical weapon then in addition a further +1 can be added or an equivalent special ability)

Special Defences: In addition to the natural armour bonus afforded by the materials with which the creature is constructed a further +1 market price modifier ability may be added to the creature.

Special Qualities:

Customisable saves: As the nature of the creature allows for certain customisation during creation up to a +2 racial bonus divided amongst their saving throws given that the bonus is balanced by equal minuses (e.g. the creature could have a +1 bonus to will Saves and a +1 bonus to fort saves if it had a -2 penalty to ref. saves)

Scientific Replication: As the creature operates under highly advanced science the ingenuity of the construction allows abilities which could only be imaginable through application of magic instead possible through science. E.g. a flame-thrower instead of fire breath or a 'transformer-like' effect instead of shapechanging. To represent this up to 2 supernatural or spell-like abilities possessed by the base creature may become extraordinary. These abilities retain the ‘action type’ (i.e. full round or standard etc.) needed to execute them.

Construct Traits: Has no constitution score, and is immune to poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, disease, death effects and necromantic effects. If the construct is intelligent and treated as a fully thinking creature the Dm may house-rule that it is effected by mind influencing effects.
Constructs cannot heal naturally.
Constructs are immune to critical hits, subdual damage, ability damage, ability drain, and energy drain. It is immune to effects requiring a fort. save that do not also affect objects.
It gains darkvision to a range of 60 feet.

Abilities: Again the customisable nature of the creature means that its constructor can place emphasis on particular features of the creature at the expense of others.
A total of +4 in racial bonuses can be added to the ability scores of the creature if the number is balanced by equal minuses on other ability scores.

Skills: The creature can be customised to be good at certain skills (e.g. suckers on feet to aid climbing, springs in legs to aid jumping, sensitive noise detection mechanisms to aid listening)
A total bonus of +6 may be divided amongst any skills with a strength or dex as a key ability and listen, spot and search.

Challenge Rating: +2

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What do people think? I'm not sure about the challenge rating as it doesn't seem as powerful as the half-fiend, half-dragon, half-celestial of half-elemental templates but seems too powerful for +1. Any thoughts?

Next up: clockwork and greater clockwork templates and possibly a modified 'worm that walks' , Oh and a sample lesser clockwork creature.

 

[Arken]

Sample Lesser clockwork creature

Forge God’s Temple Guardian (Lesser Clockwork Tiger)
Large Construct

Hit dice: 6d10 (30)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 40ft
AC: 19 (-1 size, +8 natural, +2 dex)
Attacks: 2 claws +10 melee, Bite +5 melee
Damage: Claw 1d8+6, Bite 2d6+3. All attacks +1d6 fire damage
Face/Reach: 5ft by 10ft./5ft
Special Attacks: Pounce, Improved Grab, rake 1d8+3, flaming silver claws
Special Qualities: Construct traits, Blinding armour
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +3
Abilities: Str 23, Dex 15, Con -, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6
Skills: Balance +6, Hide +5, Listen +6. Move Silently +9, Spot +6, Swim +11
Feats: -
CR: 6

A fearsome creature of growling gears and purring cogs with teeth forged from bright silver licked with flames. This tiger formed guardian was created by master smiths especially for the role of noticing and eliminating intruders to the temple. Should one be detected they will fall upon it with a clank and whirr of strange mechanisms and tear it apart.
The clockwork tiger is plated with burnished brass emblazoned with the symbol of the deity and has menacing ruby lenses where it should have eye. It moves with an unnatural yet fluid gait as a complex series of interlocking joints click as it moves. To complete the effect strips of polished obsidian mark out ornate black stripes across its back.

Combat:

Pounce (Ex): May make a full attack after leaping onto an opponent
Improved Grab (Ex): If the tiger hits with a claw or bite it may use improved grab.
Rake: If a tiger has a hold it may make 2 rake attacks (+10 melee) for 1d8+3 damage and 1d6 fire damage.
Blinding (Ex): Twice per day the tiger can flash with a light so bright that all within 20ft must make a reflex save (DC 14) or be blinded 1d4 rounds as the ‘blinding’ armour quality.
Flaming Claws (Su): The natural attacks of the tiger are enchanted as by the ‘flaming’ weapon quality.
Skills: Tigers receive a +4 racial bonus to balance, Hide and Move Silently, as a clockwork creature the clockwork tiger has been built with specially tuned lenses for eyes and fine instruments in it’s ears giving a +3 bonus to spot and listen checks.

 

[Arken]

Serious apologies that this is now a triple post

Oh well not much response .
Never mind, I'm sure if I jsut plow on someone will post something eventually

here are the other templates I promised:

Clockwork Creature (Template)

Clockwork creature is an 'inherited' template that can be added to any Aberration, Animal, Beast, Dragon, Elemental, Giant, Humanoid, Magical Beast, Monstrous Humanoid, Outsider, Shapechanger or Vermin that has a solid (i.e. not liquid or energy etc.) body.

Type: The creature's type changes to Construct and as such the creature gains construct traits.

Hit dice and Hit Points: Creature hit dice (i.e. not those gained from class advancement) become d10 however as a construct with no constitution score the creature can gain no bonus hit points.

Armour Class: From the rare alloys and treated metals that are used to make up the creature it gains a +10 bonus to natural armour.

Special Attacks: The creature’s natural attacks are considered both iron or silver as they are built from such a material. In addition the natural weapons of the creature have been enchanted as though they were magical weapons to a total of +5 market price modifier.

Special Defences: In addition to the natural armour bonus afforded by the materials with which the creature is constructed a further +3 market price modifier ability may be added to the creature.

Special Qualities:

Customisable saves: The craftsmanship of a clockwork creature goes beyond that of customisation and into the realms of actual improvement of nature. A +2 bonus can be divided amongst their saves.

Scientific Replication: As the creature operates under highly advanced science the ingenuity of the construction allows abilities which could only be imaginable through application of magic instead possible through science. E.g. a flame-thrower instead of fire breath or a 'transformer-like' effect instead of shapechanging. To represent this up to 4 supernatural or spell-like abilities possessed by the base creature may become extraordinary. These abilities retain the ‘action type’ (i.e. full round or standard etc.) needed to execute them.

Construct Traits: Has no constitution score, and is immune to poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, disease, death effects and necromantic effects. If the construct is intelligent and treated as a fully thinking creature the Dm may house-rule that it is effected by mind influencing effects.
Constructs cannot heal naturally.
Constructs are immune to critical hits, subdual damage, ability damage, ability drain, and energy drain. It is immune to effects requiring a fort. save that do not also affect objects.
It gains darkvision to a range of 60 feet.

Abilities: A total of +4 in racial bonuses can be added without penalty to the creature’s ability scores. Following this a further +4 in bonuses can be added but these must be balanced by equal minuses to other ability scores.

Skills: The creature can be customised to be good at certain skills (e.g. suckers on feet to aid climbing, springs in legs to aid jumping, sensitive noise detection mechanisms to aid listening)
A total bonus of +12 may be divided amongst any skills with a strength or dex as a key ability and listen, spot and search.

Challenge Rating: +3
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Greater Clockwork Creature (Template)

Greater Clockwork creature is an 'inherited' template that can be added to any Aberration, Animal, Beast, Dragon, Elemental, Giant, Humanoid, Magical Beast, Monstrous Humanoid, Outsider, Shapechanger or Vermin that has a solid (i.e. not liquid or energy etc.) body.

Type: The creature's type changes to Construct and as such the creature gains construct traits.

Hit dice and Hit Points: Creature hit dice (i.e. not those gained from class advancement) become d10 however as a construct with no constitution score the creature can gain no bonus hit points.

Armour Class: From the rare alloys and treated metals that are used to make up the creature it gains a +15 bonus to natural armour.

Special Attacks: The creature’s natural attacks are considered both iron or silver as they are built from such a material. In addition the natural weapons of the creature have been enchanted as though they were magical weapons to a total of +8 market price modifier.

Special Defences: In addition to the natural armour bonus afforded by the materials with which the creature is constructed a further +5 market price modifier ability may be added to the creature.

Special Qualities:

Customisable saves: The craftsmanship of a clockwork creature goes beyond that of customisation and into the realms of actual improvement of nature. A +6 bonus can be divided amongst their saves.

Scientific Replication: As the creature operates under highly advanced science the ingenuity of the construction allows abilities which could only be imaginable through application of magic instead possible through science. E.g. a flame-thrower instead of fire breath or a 'transformer-like' effect instead of shapechanging. To represent this up to 8 supernatural or spell-like abilities possessed by the base creature may become extraordinary. These abilities retain the ‘action type’ (i.e. full round or standard etc.) needed to execute them.

Construct Traits: Has no constitution score, and is immune to poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, disease, death effects and necromantic effects. If the construct is intelligent and treated as a fully thinking creature the Dm may house-rule that it is effected by mind influencing effects.
Constructs cannot heal naturally.
Constructs are immune to critical hits, subdual damage, ability damage, ability drain, and energy drain. It is immune to effects requiring a fort. save that do not also affect objects.
It gains darkvision to a range of 60 feet.

Abilities: The master craftsmanship of a greater clockwork creature results in constructs that move with unnatural grace and flexibility or strength beyond imagining. A total of +8 in racial bonuses can be added without penalty to the creature’s ability scores. Following this a further +4 in bonuses can be added but these must be balanced by equal minuses to other ability scores.

Skills: The creature can be customised to be good at certain skills (e.g. suckers on feet to aid climbing, springs in legs to aid jumping, sensitive noise detection mechanisms to aid listening)
A total bonus of +18 may be divided amongst any skills with a strength or dex as a key ability and listen, spot and search.

Challenge Rating: +4
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Worm That Walks (template)

Type: A creature can acquire the ‘worm that walks’ template if it is intelligent and an Aberration, Dragon, Fey, Giant, Humanoid, Monstrous Humanoid, Outsider, Plant or Undead.
The creature becomes an Ooze and gains the shapechanger subtype and may switch between its natural form and a squirming mass of worms and vermin of the same size and general shape as a full round action. Even in normal form the skin of the creature seems to bubble with vermin beneath the skin and insects crawl from the creature’s orifices.

Hit Dice: The Hit Dice of the creature become d10s in addition the worm that walks also gains the ooze benefit of extra hit points dependant on size.

AC: When in Ooze form the creature loses any natural armour class bonus but gains a +10 insight bonus to AC as the constituent vermin individually keep a look out for attacks.

Special Attacks:

Swamp (Ex): When in Ooze form: As a melee touch attack (instead of a normal attack action) the worm that walks may attempt to embrace utterly an opponent that is no more than a size category larger than itself. If the attack succeeds the target is taken into the body of the worm that walks where the vermin immediately begin to devour it. This attack deals d8 damage multiplied by the number of hit dice the base creature possesses. (E.g. a 20th level character could engulf for 20d8 damage). If the victim takes a full round action he can escape the embrace and move half his speed from the worm if desired otherwise damage is incurred each round. Constructs are immune to this effect.

Vomit Vermin (Su): 3 times per day the worm that walks may vomit a tide of insects in a 40ft cone that deals 10d6 damage to anyone caught in the blast. A reflex save may be taken for half damage (DC = Calculated as the worm that walks casting as a 20th level sorcerer). Following the breath weapon the vermin remain as though the spell summon swarm had been cast (20th level sorcerer)

Spells: The Worm that Walks may cast spells normally in Ooze form.

Spell-Like Abilities:
At Will: Animal Messenger
3/day: Summon Swarm, Insect Plague
2/day: Creeping doom, Giant Vermin,
1/day: Awaken Vermin, Animal Shapes (vermin)
All cast as a 20th level caster

Special Qualities:

Blindsight (Ex): The worm that Walks has 300ft blindsight.

Fearful Disgust (Su): Seeing someone swamped by a worm that walks is horrific and traumatising, being the actual victim could shake the bravery of even the greatest hero. Witnesses to a successful use of the ‘swarm’ special attack must make a will saving throw (DC = 10 + ½ the Worm that Walks HD+ Charisma Modifier of the worm). Those that succeed are shaken, those failing by up to five points are frightened, failing by 6 to 10 makes a creature panicked, those failing by 11 or more are cowering. These effects last for 1d4 rounds. Those having seen the attack before gain a +5 bonus to their saves whilst the actual victim of the attack gets a –5 penalty.

Command Vermin (Su): A worm that walks may command a number of Hit Dice of Vermin equal to its hit dice + its charisma modifier +5 at any one time. He may issue a mental order to a vermin as a standard action; swarms count as a single creature for this purpose. In addition the Worm that Walks may rebuke vermin at will as a 20th level cleric.

Swarm Leap (Sp): A Worm that walks can instantly transport itself through swarms of vermin. Twice per day a Worm that Walks can enter a swarm of vermin that equals or exceeds the worm’s size and travel to another such swarm in a single round regardless of distance. The Worm designates a target (i.e. a place 200 miles to the east) and is transported as close as possible to the desired location. Both entry and destination swarms must be living but can be summoned rather than naturally occurring. This ability functions like the 6th level druid spell transport via plants.

Swarm shape (Su): 5 times per day the Worm that walks can shape change as a standard action (like a Druid’s wildshape) into a swarm of vermin up to two size categories larger than itself that mimics either the ‘summon swarm’ ‘insect plague’ or ‘creeping doom’ spells, doing so uses up a usage of the spell in question from the daily spell like abilities of the worm. The swarm retains the worm’s hit points and can be damaged by fire and area effect spells.

Discorporate (Ex): A Worm that Walks can collapse into its constituent vermin as a free action if direly threatened. The vermin crawl and slither away independently and thus any surviving vermin can breed to create the Worm that Walks anew. Once the creature has discorporated the vermin are treated normally, however to ensure that not even one survives requires extraordinary means.

Shapechange (Su): The Worm that Walks can change from the form of the base creature into a mass of worms and vermin as a standard action.

Ooze traits: In all forms the Worm that walks is immune to poison, sleep, paralysis, polymorphing and stunning nor are they vulnerable to critical hits. However when not in Ooze form it is still subject to flanking. Oozes are blind yet possess the blindsight special quality.
Note: The worm that walks is intelligent and thus can be affected by mind affecting spells.

Saves: Unchanged
Abilities: Unchanged
Skills: Unchanged
Feats: Unchanged
Climate/Terrain: Any
Challenge Rating: Same as base creature + 4
Alignment: Any Evil
Advancement: Unchanged
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There we are then, I still don't know if I've got the balancing right, I'm starting to think that the lesser, medium and greater clockwork creatures should be +1, +2, and +3 CR respectively. Also my Worm taht walks has a higher Cr addition but is actually weaker than the one in the book, this is because the one in the book was broken . I might have overdone it a bit though so are the CRs about right on these? I was thinking of adding a summoning (although much weakened) spell like ability to the worm that walks and that could still be used if necessary.

All feed back is welcome again

Next Up: Some Examples of these maybe and a Spirit Guardian template tied to particular climates and terrains (i think)

 

[NarlethDrider]

I like the worm that walks Consider it 'borrowed'--though I'll be changing it to the scorpion that walks

 

[Krishnath]

There allready is a Worm that Walks template, it can be found in the ELH. The other templates are nice though.

 

[MissHappen]

Yes, but the ELH template for the Worm-That-Walks doesn't have nearly as many interesting abilities.

Actually, in my opinion (weird coming from me, I know), that template has maybe a little too many good bits tacked on. It's practically its own creature. But I like it.

Also, good idea with the Scientific Replication bit... I've had a fondness for things clockwork for a while, and I think I may adopt some of your template work, Arken.
-MsM

 

[Arken]

There allready is a Worm that Walks template, it can be found in the ELH. The other templates are nice though.

Thanks, Yes I know about the ELH version but it's so very very wrong and unbalanced

For example it can summon 200HD of vermin a day and has unnecessarily unflavourful spell resistence. Also I didn't like the way engulf worked. Also I wanted to adapt it so that it could be applied to things other than arcane spell casters and still be effective . So there's my resoning. I think that it is true I might have gone overboard though since it is a little heavily loaded on abilities even if they are all pretty closely tied. Should I perhaps take some of the abilities away?

Thanks for the feedback everyone

 

[Krishnath]

Well, the ELH template can be added to anything that has a spell-like ability that is 'cast as a sorcerer of X LVL' Not to mention the enormous ammount of creatures with innate spellcasting ability...

 

[Ashardalon]

Do you want to make the templates R3E compatible?

If so, I must inform you that constructs now gain bonus hps based on size, while oozes seem to lose that.

If not, ignore this post.

 

[Arken]

Do you want to make the templates R3E compatible?

If so, I must inform you that constructs now gain bonus hps based on size, while oozes seem to lose that.

If not, ignore this post.

First off an apology for not posting anything for a week I was on holiday without internet

Ashardalon: Thanks you for informing me, I'm yet to get the 3.5 books so unfortunately the existing templates are (apparently) a little wrong. Thanks for pointing this out , i'll look into it as soon as I get the books and from that point any templates posted will be 3.5 adapted. Up until then apologies if the tempaltes don't match the rules

Thanks agin for pointing out the change.