Animal Lord template - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Animal Lord template

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
wyvern76
Mar 24, 2004 2:52:24 Animal Lord

'Animal lord' is a template that can be added to any animal native to the Beastlands. The creature's type changes to 'outsider'. If the base animal already had a template, such as the anarchic or celestial template, it loses all the benefits of that template before gaining the animal lord template, but retains any aligment change from the template and gains the appropriate alignment subtype(s). Otherwise, an animal lord uses all the base animal's statistics and special abilities except as noted here.

Hit Dice: Animal lords have 15 HD, or the same number of HD as the base animal, whichever is higher. They receive maximum hit points for each hit die.
Speed: Same as the base animal.
AC: An animal lord's natural armor improves by +2.
Attacks: An animal lord retains all the attacks of the base animal, but its base attack bonus increases to +1/HD.
Damage: Same as the base animal.
Special Attacks: An animal lord retains all the special attacks of the base creature and gains the following special abilities.
Spell-like Abilities (Sp): An animal can use charm person, planeshift and teleport at will, and antimagic field three times per day. These effects are as the spells cast by a 20th-level sorcerer. The save DC is 10 + spell level + Cha modifier.
Summon Animals (Su): Three times per day as a full-round action, an animal lord can summon 2d6 normal animals of the base animal's type. The summoned animals appear at the beginning of its turn on the following round. On the Beastlands, the summoning has an effectively unlimited duration, although the animal lord may not summon more animals without dismissing the previous batch. Elsewhere, it has the same duration as a summon monster spell cast by a 20th-level sorcerer. The animal lord may summon celestial, anarchic, or dire animals by using up two of its daily summonings.
Special Qualities: An animal lord retains all the special qualities of the base animal and also gains those listed below.
Alternate Form (Su): An animal lord can assume the form of a human or half-elf of the same sex as the base animal. The animal lord does not gain the racial traits of its chosen form. Its mental ability scores remain the same, and it has physical ability scores of 12, 14 and 16 in any order. Any particular animal lord's appearance and physical abilities in humanoid form are always the same. The animal lord retains its hit dice, feats, skill ranks and racial bonuses to skills in humanoid form. It loses the natural attacks, natural armor, movement modes and special attacks of the base animal, but retains all special abilities granted by the animal lord template (including the natural armor bonus), as well as any special qualities of the base animal. Its base land speed is the same as the base animal or 30 ft, whichever is higher. An animal lord in humanoid form is proficient with all simple weapons and with one martial weapon of its choice.
An animal lord remains in one form until it chooses to assume a new one. A change in form cannot be dispelled, but the animal lord reverts to animal form when killed. A true seeing spell reveals its animal form if it is in humanoid form and its humanoid form if it is in animal form.
Command Animals (Ex): An animal lord can speak with animals of the base animal's type, and they will do its bidding. Attempts to force or persuade them to act against the animal lord's will using magic always fail. If the animal is a familiar, animal companion, or special mount, its master may command it to act against the animal lord's will with a successful Charisma check (DC 20), but it cannot be ordered to attack the animal lord.
Damage Reduction (Ex): An animal lord gains damage reduction 10/magic.
Darkvision (Ex): An animal lord has darkvision with a range of 60 ft.
Detect Thoughts (Su): An animal lord can continuously detect thoughts as the spell.
Immunities (Ex): An animal lord is immune to enchantment spells and effects.
Spell Resistance (Ex): An animal lord gains spell resistance 25.
Uncanny Dodge (Ex): An animal lord gains Uncanny Dodge and Improved Uncanny Dodge.
Saves: An animal lord's base save bonuses are calculated as normal for an outsider of its hit dice.
Abilities: Increase from the base animal as follows: Int +14, Wis +4, Cha +12. The animal lord also gains a +2 bonus to one physical ability score.
Skills: Animal lords receive skill points as normal for an outsider of their hit dice. They retain any racial skill bonuses possessed by the base animal. Their class skills are Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Spot and Survival as well as any skills which are listed in the base animal's statistic block or which the base animal receives a racial bonus to. An animal lord also gains the ability to speak Celestial, Common and Sylvan.
Feats: Animal lords retain the base animal's feats and gain as many additional feats as necessary to bring their feat total up to 6 (not counting any bonus feats possessed by the base animal). Alertness is always the first feat gained unless the base animal already has it. If the base animal has 15 HD or more, they do not gain or lose any feats.
Climate/Terrain: Same as the base animal, but the animal lord's home plane is the Beastlands.
Organization: Only one animal lord can exist at a time for each type of animal, but an animal lord is usually accompanied while on the Beastlands by a number of normal animals equal to the maximum group size of the base animal.
Challenge Rating: Same as the base creature +8?
Treasure: An animal lord usually possesses a magic weapon with enhancements totaling +3 (such as a +2 longsword of wounding). This is generally the only treasure that it bothers with. It may also carry one or two non-magical weapons. When it shifts into animal form, its clothing and equipment meld into the animal form and become nonfunctional.
Alignment: Same as the base animal.
Advancement: By character class.

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Sample Animal Lord
This example uses a brown bear as the base animal.

Bear Lord
Large Outsider
Hit Dice: 15d8+75 (195 hp)
Initiative: +1 (Dex)
Speed: 40 ft
AC: 17 (-1 size, +1 Dex, +7 natural)
Attacks: 2 claws +22 melee, bite +17 melee; or +1 thundering warhammer +19 melee; or mighty composite longbow (+3) +16 ranged
Damage: Claw 1d8+8, bite 2d8+4; or +1 thundering warhammer 1d8+5; or mighty composite longbow 1d8+3
Face/Reach: 5 ft x 10 ft/5 ft
Special Attacks: Improved grab, spell-like abilities, summon brown bears
Special Qualities: Command brown bears, damage reduction 10/magic, darkvision 60 ft, detect thoughts, immunities, improved uncanny dodge, low-light vision, scent, spell resistance 25, uncanny dodge
Saves: Fort +14, Ref +10, Will +12
Abilities: Str 27, Dex 13, Con 21, Int 16, Wis 16, Cha 18
Skills: Concentration +14*, Heal +12*, Hide +15, Intimidate +13*, Listen +23, Move Silently +19, Search +12*, Sense Motive +12*, Spot +23, Survival +21, Swim +30
(*Cross-class skill)
Feats: Alertness, Endurance, Improved Bull Rush, Power Attack, Run, Track
Climate/Terrain: Any forest, hill, mountains, and underground (Beastlands)
Organization: Solitary or accompanied by 2 brown bears
Challenge Rating: 12
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: By character class
---------------------
In humanoid form, the bear lord appears as a tall, burly man with a thick brown beard. His physical ability scores in humanoid form are Str 16, Dex 12, Con 14, and his AC is 13 (+1 Dex, +2 natural).

Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, the bear lord must hit with a claw attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity.
Skills: The bear lord receives a +4 bonus to Swim checks.

Wyvern
#2
wyvern76
Mar 29, 2004 1:17:01 What, no comments?
#3
zombiegleemax
Apr 11, 2004 19:40:59 Interestingness ... this is based on something from Planes of Conflict, I take it?

*is a Clueless Planar* ^.^;
#4
wyvern76
Apr 12, 2004 2:14:54 Actually, the Animal Lords appeared in one of the PS Monstrous Compendiums -- Volume I, I believe. (Don't have my books handy right now to check.)

Wyvern

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 wyvern76 Mar 24, 2004 2:52:24	Animal Lord 'Animal lord' is a template that can be added to any animal native to the Beastlands. The creature's type changes to 'outsider'. If the base animal already had a template, such as the anarchic or celestial template, it loses all the benefits of that template before gaining the animal lord template, but retains any aligment change from the template and gains the appropriate alignment subtype(s). Otherwise, an animal lord uses all the base animal's statistics and special abilities except as noted here. Hit Dice: Animal lords have 15 HD, or the same number of HD as the base animal, whichever is higher. They receive maximum hit points for each hit die. Speed: Same as the base animal. AC: An animal lord's natural armor improves by +2. Attacks: An animal lord retains all the attacks of the base animal, but its base attack bonus increases to +1/HD. Damage: Same as the base animal. Special Attacks: An animal lord retains all the special attacks of the base creature and gains the following special abilities. Spell-like Abilities (Sp): An animal can use charm person, planeshift and teleport at will, and antimagic field three times per day. These effects are as the spells cast by a 20th-level sorcerer. The save DC is 10 + spell level + Cha modifier. Summon Animals (Su): Three times per day as a full-round action, an animal lord can summon 2d6 normal animals of the base animal's type. The summoned animals appear at the beginning of its turn on the following round. On the Beastlands, the summoning has an effectively unlimited duration, although the animal lord may not summon more animals without dismissing the previous batch. Elsewhere, it has the same duration as a summon monster spell cast by a 20th-level sorcerer. The animal lord may summon celestial, anarchic, or dire animals by using up two of its daily summonings. Special Qualities: An animal lord retains all the special qualities of the base animal and also gains those listed below. Alternate Form (Su): An animal lord can assume the form of a human or half-elf of the same sex as the base animal. The animal lord does not gain the racial traits of its chosen form. Its mental ability scores remain the same, and it has physical ability scores of 12, 14 and 16 in any order. Any particular animal lord's appearance and physical abilities in humanoid form are always the same. The animal lord retains its hit dice, feats, skill ranks and racial bonuses to skills in humanoid form. It loses the natural attacks, natural armor, movement modes and special attacks of the base animal, but retains all special abilities granted by the animal lord template (including the natural armor bonus), as well as any special qualities of the base animal. Its base land speed is the same as the base animal or 30 ft, whichever is higher. An animal lord in humanoid form is proficient with all simple weapons and with one martial weapon of its choice. An animal lord remains in one form until it chooses to assume a new one. A change in form cannot be dispelled, but the animal lord reverts to animal form when killed. A true seeing spell reveals its animal form if it is in humanoid form and its humanoid form if it is in animal form. Command Animals (Ex): An animal lord can speak with animals of the base animal's type, and they will do its bidding. Attempts to force or persuade them to act against the animal lord's will using magic always fail. If the animal is a familiar, animal companion, or special mount, its master may command it to act against the animal lord's will with a successful Charisma check (DC 20), but it cannot be ordered to attack the animal lord. Damage Reduction (Ex): An animal lord gains damage reduction 10/magic. Darkvision (Ex): An animal lord has darkvision with a range of 60 ft. Detect Thoughts (Su): An animal lord can continuously detect thoughts as the spell. Immunities (Ex): An animal lord is immune to enchantment spells and effects. Spell Resistance (Ex): An animal lord gains spell resistance 25. Uncanny Dodge (Ex): An animal lord gains Uncanny Dodge and Improved Uncanny Dodge. Saves: An animal lord's base save bonuses are calculated as normal for an outsider of its hit dice. Abilities: Increase from the base animal as follows: Int +14, Wis +4, Cha +12. The animal lord also gains a +2 bonus to one physical ability score. Skills: Animal lords receive skill points as normal for an outsider of their hit dice. They retain any racial skill bonuses possessed by the base animal. Their class skills are Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Spot and Survival as well as any skills which are listed in the base animal's statistic block or which the base animal receives a racial bonus to. An animal lord also gains the ability to speak Celestial, Common and Sylvan. Feats: Animal lords retain the base animal's feats and gain as many additional feats as necessary to bring their feat total up to 6 (not counting any bonus feats possessed by the base animal). Alertness is always the first feat gained unless the base animal already has it. If the base animal has 15 HD or more, they do not gain or lose any feats. Climate/Terrain: Same as the base animal, but the animal lord's home plane is the Beastlands. Organization: Only one animal lord can exist at a time for each type of animal, but an animal lord is usually accompanied while on the Beastlands by a number of normal animals equal to the maximum group size of the base animal. Challenge Rating: Same as the base creature +8? Treasure: An animal lord usually possesses a magic weapon with enhancements totaling +3 (such as a +2 longsword of wounding). This is generally the only treasure that it bothers with. It may also carry one or two non-magical weapons. When it shifts into animal form, its clothing and equipment meld into the animal form and become nonfunctional. Alignment: Same as the base animal. Advancement: By character class. ------------------------------------- Sample Animal Lord This example uses a brown bear as the base animal. Bear Lord Large Outsider Hit Dice: 15d8+75 (195 hp) Initiative: +1 (Dex) Speed: 40 ft AC: 17 (-1 size, +1 Dex, +7 natural) Attacks: 2 claws +22 melee, bite +17 melee; or +1 thundering warhammer +19 melee; or mighty composite longbow (+3) +16 ranged Damage: Claw 1d8+8, bite 2d8+4; or +1 thundering warhammer 1d8+5; or mighty composite longbow 1d8+3 Face/Reach: 5 ft x 10 ft/5 ft Special Attacks: Improved grab, spell-like abilities, summon brown bears Special Qualities: Command brown bears, damage reduction 10/magic, darkvision 60 ft, detect thoughts, immunities, improved uncanny dodge, low-light vision, scent, spell resistance 25, uncanny dodge Saves: Fort +14, Ref +10, Will +12 Abilities: Str 27, Dex 13, Con 21, Int 16, Wis 16, Cha 18 Skills: Concentration +14, Heal +12, Hide +15, Intimidate +13, Listen +23, Move Silently +19, Search +12, Sense Motive +12, Spot +23, Survival +21, Swim +30 (Cross-class skill) Feats: Alertness, Endurance, Improved Bull Rush, Power Attack, Run, Track Climate/Terrain: Any forest, hill, mountains, and underground (Beastlands) Organization: Solitary or accompanied by 2 brown bears Challenge Rating: 12 Treasure: None Alignment: Always neutral Advancement: By character class --------------------- In humanoid form, the bear lord appears as a tall, burly man with a thick brown beard. His physical ability scores in humanoid form are Str 16, Dex 12, Con 14, and his AC is 13 (+1 Dex, +2 natural). Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, the bear lord must hit with a claw attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. Skills: The bear lord receives a +4 bonus to Swim checks. Wyvern
#2 wyvern76 Mar 29, 2004 1:17:01	What, no comments?
#3 zombiegleemax Apr 11, 2004 19:40:59	Interestingness ... this is based on something from Planes of Conflict, I take it? is a Clueless Planar ^.^;
#4 wyvern76 Apr 12, 2004 2:14:54	Actually, the Animal Lords appeared in one of the PS Monstrous Compendiums -- Volume I, I believe. (Don't have my books handy right now to check.) Wyvern