The Romance of the River Kingdoms

[Dr Simon]

Unearthed Arcana variants: yes.

Hit points: you can use Invisible Castle if you like. At the moment I'm still using Grace/Health variant, may change my mind on that in the future.

Rough Draft for Beast Spirit Bloodline levels:

Good BAB, Good Fort and Ref, 2 skill points (Balance, Climb, Hide, Jump, Listen, Move Silently, Spot, Survival, Swim).
5 levels.
Levels 1, 3 and 5 - "Beast Ability", choose one from claw attack, bite attack, natural armour +1, +10 ft. movement rate, low-light vision, others...
Levels 2, 4 and 5 - "Beast Feat" - choose from Improved Natural Attack, Improved Natural Armour, Endurance, Diehard, Run, Alertness, Agile, Stealthy, Track, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Great Fortitude.

This gives a great deal of flexibility, allows it to be useful for non-shapechangers and doesn't pin it down to one particular animal. May replace level 5 "Beast Ability" with "Greater Beast Ability" with such things as wings, poison, rage and so on.

 

[Theroc]

I'm really liking those. Question though: If one of those traits are taken, and the character already has it, what happens? Also, if a Nai-Nek-Chai goes through the class, would the class granted bonuses apply to both forms?

I.e. Nai nek Chai chooses +1 natural armor. Will that bonus persist? What if it chose a bite attack and it's animal form already had one?

I realize this isn't restricted to the shapechangers, but I am curious how it would interact.

Additionally; the +10 ft. movement. Is that to all modes of travel available to the character, or only basic land speed?

Greater beast ability sounds good. What hit dice does the Beast bloodline grant?

 

[Neurotic]

Err, what is Grace/Health variant and where can one find reference to it?

 

[Theroc]

Err, what is Grace/Health variant and where can one find reference to it?

http://www.enworld.org/forum/talking-talk/255104-recruiting-fall-zathas.html
Check his "Playing the Game" section; he described the grace/health variant so players without the source material can play.

The major difference is the HP from hit dice recover faster naturally.

 

[Theroc]

Question: Could a nai-nek-chai in animal form use barding?

 

[Theroc]

Shakou(Nainekchai Leopard Rogue)

[sblock]

[B]Name:[/B] Shakou
[B]Class:[/B] Rogue 3
[B]Race:[/B] Nai Nek Chai
[B]Size:[/B] Medium
[B]Gender:[/B] Female

[B]Str:[/B] 10 +0 (02p.)     [B]Level:[/B] 3        [B]XP:[/B] XXXX
[B]Dex:[/B] 16 +3 (10p.)     [B]BAB:[/B] +2         [B]HP:[/B] 38 (23 Health, 15 Grace)
[B]Con:[/B] 14 +2 (06p.)     [B]Grapple:[/B] +2     [B]Dmg Red:[/B] XX/XXXX
[B]Int:[/B] 12 +1 (06p.)     [B]Speed:[/B] 30'      [B]Spell Res:[/B] XX
[B]Wis:[/B] 10 +0 (00p.)     [B]Init:[/B] +3        [B]Spell Save:[/B] +X
[B]Cha:[/B] 12 +1 (04p.)     [B]ACP:[/B] -0         [B]Spell Fail:[/B] XX%

                   [B]Base  Armor Shld   Dex  Size   Nat  Misc  Total[/B]
[B]Armor:[/B]              10    +0    +0    +3    +0    +0    +0    13
[B]Touch:[/B] 13              [B]Flatfooted:[/B] 10

                         [B]Base   Mod  Misc  Total[/B]
[B]Fort:[/B]                      1    +2         =3
[B]Ref:[/B]                       3    +3         =6
[B]Will:[/B]                      1    +0         =1

[B]Weapon                  Attack   Damage     Critical[/B]
Bite                      +2     1d6+0      20-20x2
Claw(x2)                  +2     1d3+0      20-20x2
shortswords(x2)           +2     1d6+0      19-20x2
MW Shortbow               +6     1d6+1      20-20x2

[B]Languages:[/B] Low Imperial, High Imperial

[B]Abilities:[/B]
Shapechanger Subtype
Animal Blood: Is affected by effects that target animals
Low Light Vision
Animal form

[B]Feats:[/B]
Medium Animal form
Animal Voice


[B]Skill Points:[/B] 36       [B]Max Ranks:[/B] 6/3
[B]Skills                   Ranks  Mod  Misc  Total[/B]
Bluff                      5    +1    +0    =7
Disable Device             2    +1    +0    =3
Listen                     2    +0    +0    =2
Move Silently              6    +3    +0    =9
Hide                       6    +3    +0    =9
Spot                       3    +0    +0    =3
Use Magic Device           1    +1    +0    =3
Tumble                     5    +3    +2    =10
Jump                       5    +0    +2    =7
Perform(Dance)             1    +1    +0    =2


[B]Equipment:               Cost  Weight[/B]
Thieves Tools            30gp   01lb
Shortswords(x2)          20gp   04lb
MW Shortbow              30gp   02lb
Arrows(x40)              02gp   06lb
Backpack                 02gp   02lb
Rations(x5)              25sp   05lb
Waterskin(x2)            02gp   08lb
Yen                          -       02lb
                    
[B]Total Weight:[/B]30lb      [B]Money:[/B] 113gp 75sp XXcp

                           [B]Lgt   Medium   Heavy  Lift  Push[/B]
[B]Max Weight:[/B]               33lb   34-66   67-100   200   500

[B]Age:[/B] 21
[B]Height:[/B] 4'11"
[B]Weight:[/B] 125lb
[B]Eyes:[/B] Amber
[B]Hair:[/B] Orange with black streaks
[B]Skin:[/B] Pale

Appearance: XXXX

Background: XXXX[/sblock]
IC rolls:
Roll Lookup

HP calculation:6HD(+2CON)+3HD(+2CON)+6HD(+2CON)+14CONscore=35
Health: 20
Grace: 15
+1 Health per level
Health:23
Grace 15
Total HP: 38

Edit note:
I'm going to go harass Zenos to start working on his character, as he lives about 3 blocks from where I do. So, hopefully I can get him working on it.

 

[Dr Simon]

Answers:

Could a nai-nek-chai use barding? Yes, but it'd need somebody to put it on for it once in animal form.

Animal Traits from Beast Spirit Bloodline: I figure that the +1 natural armour would apply in all forms, additive with any existing natural armour. Abilities like bite or claws, however, would not be additive. You'd get a bite attack in your human form, but it wouldn't affect bite attack in an animal form (although if the animal form doesn't normally have a bite attack, it would now).

Hit die for Beast Spirit; d8

Movement bonus: probably just ground-based. I'll get back on that.

Grace/Health should be in the first post of this thread too - see the Houserules spoiler block. It's from Monte Cook's Book of Experimental Might. Health comes from Con and Con bonus, Grace is from class/race hit die and recovers more quickly. It diminishes the need for a party healer and enables parties to get through more encounters before resting (coupled also with the spell-slot weaving rules), plus I can put in more interesting monsters than rats and kobolds for low-level characters!

 

[Neurotic]

Yeah, I saw that, but it is different. We use house rules then, not by-the-book grace/health, right?

Also, with maximum starting wealth + 300, you mean we have around 320 to spend not 2700, so no magic or even masterwork items. Correct?

 

[Dr Simon]

Grace/Health - *should* be the same as BOXM, since I think I just copy/pasted it. Well, if in doubt use the one at the start of the thread.

Re: Starting gold - yep, as little as that. Guess I'm a big skinflint! Although I'd have thought you'd have more than 20 gp for starting wealth...(Checks...) Yeah, for Swordage 4d4x10 would give a maximum of 160 gp, so 460 gp in total.

 

[Dr Simon]

Neurotic: Had a look over Shaddar Mar's character sheet. Looks okay to me, although you'll need to downgrade his equipment to reflect the measly amount of treasure. I notice that you have 9 maneuvres known, when there should only be 8. For hit points, I make it 38 in total (18 Health, 20 Grace). Health equals Con score (12) plus Con bonus for each level (3* +1) plus one per level (3* +1). Grace is class hit die, thus 3d8. First level is maximum hit points (8) and then I rolled a 12 on 2d8.

Theroc: Both concepts looks good so far, Shakou comes out looking pretty cool, I think. Don't forget that you get your initial Health includes the Constitution score as well (so add another 14).