Creating a new race

Demortis · Post by **Demortis** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 2:31 pm

ok, i am in the process of creating a campign(sp?), heres where the question comes in, im tryin to make a new race, one that comes from space, their living constructes(sp?) i got the idea from seeing a friends old Robotech gaming books. i understand that i would have to make some serious ajustments to them, like no guns, smaller size, +'s and -'s to there stats and all, if i could have alil help, it would be very accepted. thanks guys

Aegis · Post by **Aegis** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 2:38 pm

Why not use a variation of the Warforged?

Demortis · Post by **Demortis** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 2:39 pm

i was actually thinking that, but how would i get them to transform? it would be none magical of course, but i cant figure it out

Demortis · Post by **Demortis** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 10:16 pm

or was i just thinking that i had to increase the CR just because of the transformations? if i dont have to do anything to it, then it'll be fine, right?

Magrus · Post by **Magrus** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 11:04 pm

I'm lost. Is the monk baddy related at all to the race you are trying to make aside from being in the same campaign? If not, could you give an idea for me to look at of what you're thinking so I can check it and see whether it would work? Or are you looking for a place to start and need help with that?

Demortis · Post by **Demortis** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 11:15 pm

sorry about that, thought i should set the stage for the new race that i was creating, ill just delete that bit. sorry for the mass confusion. all hes meant to do is to "prevent" the new race from commin and messin up the world thats all.

Magrus · Post by **Magrus** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 11:19 pm

Ok, and a basic concept for stats for the thing you want made? Or are we just going by a living construct with alien origins?

Demortis · Post by **Demortis** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 11:20 pm

living construct with alien origins

how would i go about this? i can more then likely come up with something, and then post it and see if its balanced or not, if need be

Magrus · Post by **Magrus** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 11:30 pm

Hmm, I'd go with something of a different "form", maybe shaped after some kind of animal or something, and smaller then medium sized personally. Less Str and Wis, higher Dex and Int or something like that? I'm really not sure what you're looking to make with the idea though, do you have any goals in particular in mind for this race?

Demortis · Post by **Demortis** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 11:35 pm

well, i was attempting to get them to peacfully coexsist on the same world, but the monk thought different as is attempting to destroy them. if the PC's succed, the new race is going to be peaceful, if not, then they will attempt to diplomaticly solve things but not get very far and force every living creature into a treaty i guess you could call it

Magrus · Post by **Magrus** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 11:55 pm

So, from that I can say they at least are not evil, and happen to be intelligent. They may or may not be wise, and aren't afraid to fight for what they believe in. I'd say toss something together with stats for what you think you'd like and I'll take a look and give my opinion on it.

Demortis · Post by **Demortis** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 11:57 pm

ok, ill see what i can put together then.

Demortis · Post by **Demortis** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 3:39 am

Cybreons
Medium Construct (Living Construct)
Hit Dice: 15d8
Initiative:+3
Speed: 40ft. (8 square)/fly 40ft."humanoid mode" 90ft. "bird mode"*
Armor Class:21 (+8 natural armor**), touch:13, flat footed 18
Base attack:Grapple:10/14
Attack: +18 short sword (1d6+4/19-20x2) / slam (1d6+4/20x2) / Repeating Crossbow (1d8/19-20x2)
Full Attack: short sword, Slam Attack
Space/Reach: 5ft/5ft
Special Attack: -
Special Qualities: Blindsight***, Living Construt Traits, Light Fortification, Astral Armor, change shape
Saves: Fort +22, Ref +13, Will +9
Ablities: Str 28+9, Dex 16+3, Con 24+7, Int 12+1, Wis 8-1, Cha 6-2
Skills: Spot +14, Listen +14, Diplomacy +14, Bluff +11, Sense Motive +12
Feats: Power Attack,Alertness, Point Blank Shot, Percise Shot, Cleave, Hover
Enviroment: Any
Orginaization: Solitary, Pair, Flight (4-8)
CR:10
Treasure: none
Alignments: Usually netrual good
LA: -

*designed to get into combat fast, transforms(think F-15 Eagle)
**astral armor, made by alien race
***Blindsight must be activated and last untill turned off.

Cybreons as chars:
+10 str, -4 wis, -6 cha.
Base land speed is 40.
Special Quailites: see above.
Automatic languages: Cybreon. Bonus Languages: Common
Favored Class: Fighter
Level Adjustment: -

Cybreons come in many different forms to allow them to adapt to their knew world. They have learned the importance for adaptation. Sense they come from another world, their transformations are quite bizare, some have taken the form of horseless carages. Others have taken to earth moving. While even some have been noted to take strange flying machines. They transform as a move equivilant action into their other form.

After centuries of study and development they have created the Astral Armor. Each peice of the armor is custom built to the individual Cybreon.
(will fill in more details about the armor after some sleep)

Cybreons are built with short swords and the knowlege to use them, most are built with a back up repeating crossbow for engaging enemies at range, or for retreats when necissary(sp?). Some have adopted the use of dual short swords, while others may take the chain&dagger and net. In order for most weapons like swords, they must be small inorder to transform with the Cybreon.

thekyngdoms · Post by **thekyngdoms** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 5:18 am

As a monster, it's not too bad. My single biggest criticism would be the ability modifiers. They really suck IMO. Way too low. The astral armor sounds cool (how does it work, exactly, and why isn't it included in its special qualities?). The HD, on the other hand, are probably slighty too high. I would normally consider the AC to be slightly too low, but I think the astral armor probably makes up for that.

My impression of this creature is that it's kinda like a transformer, which is a neat idea. However, you haven't really built upon that. Why does it wield a sword? Why not have a range of weapons that it can use, according to its need (sort of like a combination of inspector gadget and a swiss army knife

). This just pop in and out (mechanically speaking) as needed (for, say, a move equivalent action). Alternatively, you could have it so that one arm has melee weapons and the other is similar to a repeating crossbow, etc. Just a few (unthought through) ideas.

How does the transform thing work? Again, you could model this on the druid wildshape ability, with the cybreons able to master several different forms (though, being mechanical, they must all remain medium sized), with it gaining (and losing) different benefits according to its form.

As for playing this as a character, you do realise that the ECL of this baby is 27, right? So given that the only characters who are going to be playing it are epic, I don't think there is enough benefit for the trade off.

For a start, the racial ability modifiers really suck, as I mentioned above. You'd lose 6 HD and have a BAB of 17 LESS than an equivalent fighter character, plus a loss of skills and a couple of Feats (more as a fighter). And for this, you get +8 Nat Armor, 1 standard racial feat, light fortification, flight (no big deal on the previous two for a 27th level character) and astral armor (which sounds cool, but isn't included in the special qualities section, so not sure exactly how it works).

No way would I make that trade off. How to solve it? Easy. LA: -

YMMV of course

[Edit: having just taken a quick glance at Savage Species, I notice that they don't allow any ECL above 20]

Rob-hin · Post by **Rob-hin** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 12:44 pm

Wait a second.
21HD ? +20hp?
2 attacks?

These things don't add up together...I'm confused.

What level is it?

Demortis · Post by **Demortis** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 12:46 pm

well, i was followin the book somewhat, for HD, it said no more then 3xCRlvl for HD. and i have no idea why i threw the +20 in there..... first time workin on it

Demortis · Post by **Demortis** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 2:16 pm

just changed it somewhat, and added a description, so hows this workin?

Magrus · Post by **Magrus** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 3:55 pm

I'm braindead at the moment after the crap I dealt with at work today. However, I'd say the CR may be too low, and you may need a LA with how it's set up there. I could just be too out of it to make any sense still though, thinking shut down about 3 hours ago for me.

Demortis · Post by **Demortis** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 7:44 pm

what do you mean add an LA?

Magrus · Post by **Magrus** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 8:32 pm

Level adjustment. The stats balance out, +10 and -10 total. Yet, there are some hefty special qualities there. DR, flight and shape change, blind sense, high natural armor, light fortification. All of that adds up. I'd throw at least a +2 LA on this personally.