Poor man's Metamorphisis - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Poor man's Metamorphisis

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
beyowulf
Apr 09, 2004 21:46:26 Drake Spawn PrC

"I am a desert power." - Some guy in some other setting

Among the City States of Athas, there is commonly known plant called Drake Weed. It has some medecinal properties and when the leaves are chewed and ingested it acts as a painkiller. When taken in excess though it grants strange visions and is sometimes fatal. However, known among certain circles of Bards is its real secret. It is the key to unlocking a humanoid's body potential. When specially prepared, Drake Weed's true potential appears. A habitual user of Drake Weed gains the abilities to grow claws, make huge leaps, become immune to poisons, and resist time's arrow. Drake Weed is a life-shaped plant, and while it is common in all the city states, only the Rhulisti halflings know the secret of its preparation.

Hit Die: d8
Requirements:To qualify as a Drake Spawn, the character must meet the following requirements.
Skills:Knowledge(Herbs) 15, Knowledge(Athasian History) 15, Knowledge(Psionics) 6
Special:Must have made peaceful contact with a Rhulisti Halfling community. Must stay in and around that community(DM's discretion) for either one year or until the PC gains one level in this PrC.

Class Skills:Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft*(Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge*(Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession*(Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), and Tumble (Dex).

*Refers to a number of related skills.

Lvl. BAB Fort Ref Will Special
1 +o +1 +1 +1 Synthesis, Drake Scratch
2 +1 +1 +1 +1 Drake's Claws, Prescience
3 +2 +2 +2 +2 Drake's Sting, Improved Prescience
4 +3 +2 +2 +2 Drake's Milk, +2 Strength
5 +3 +3 +3 +3 Drake Step, Imp. Drake Sting
6 +4 +3 +3 +3 Sharpened Claws, Weapon Unfamiliarity
7 +5 +4 +4 +4 Drake's Vitality, +2 Strength
8 +6 +4 +4 +4 Drake's Scales, Imp. Sharpened Claws
9 +6 +5 +5 +5 Greater Drake Sting, +2 Strength
10 +7 +5 +5 +5 Greater Sharpened Claws, Metamorphisis

Claw Damage by Level and PC size

Lvl. Sml. Med. Lrg.
2 1d4 1d6 1d8
3 1d4 1d6 1d8
4 1d6 1d8 2d6
5 1d8 1d10 2d8
6 1d10 2d6 3d6
7 1d10 2d6 3d6
8 2d6 2d8 3d8
9 2d6 2d8 3d8
10 2d8 2d10 4d8

Class Abilites
Synthesis(Ex):At first level, or after a year around Rhulisti halfling community, whichever comes first, the PC no longer needs the Drake Weed in its specially prepared form. The PCs body can now fully metabolize Drake Weed in its raw form. The PC still needs to take Drake's Weed, a dose each day or suffer from withdrawal symptoms. Continual failure to take Drake Weed prevents the PC from advancing in this class.(See Ex-Drake Spawns and Withdrawal)

Drake Scratch(Ex):As per Improved Unarmed Strike feat in Players Handbook

Drake's Claws(EX):As a free action, the Drake Spawn may make his fingernails grow into claws that do slashing damage according to the above chart. As another free action, he may also retract them.

Drake's Sting(Ex):When making an attack, the the Drake Spawn may inject nerve poison into the opponent's body. This paralyzes them for 1d4 rounds, unless the opponent makes a DC 15 Fort Save, in which case the poison is negated. Constructs, oozes, plants, undead, incorporeal creatures, and creatures immune to critical hits cannot be affected in this manner. The Drake Spawn must announce he's trying to poison before making the attack roll. If the attack roll fails, the poison attempt is wasted. This ability is usable 3x per day.

Imp. Drake Sting(Ex):As per Drake's Sting, except the Fort Save is DC 20.

Greater Drake Sting(Ex):As per Drake's Sting, except the Fort Save is DC 25.

Prescience(Ex):When unarmored and unencumbered, the Drake Spawn adds his Wisdom bonus, if any, to his AC.

These bonuses to AC apply even against touch attacks or when the Drake Spawn is flat-footed. He loses these bonuses when he is immobilized or helpless, when he wears any armor, when he carries a shield, or when he carries a medium or heavy load.

Imp. Prescience(Ex): As per Evasion.

Greater Prescience(Ex): As per Improved Evasion.

Drake's Milk(Ex): The Drake Spawn gains immunity to poisons of all kinds.

Drake's Step: For this and every level after 5 in this PrC, the Drake Spawn gains 10' to his movement.

Sharpened Claws(Su): The Drake Spawn claws are treated as +1 weapons for the purpose of dealing damage to creatures with damage reduction and bypassing hardness.

Imp. Sharpened Claws(Su): As per Sharpened Claws, but they are treated as +2 weapons.

Greater Sharpened Claws(Su):As per Sharpened Claws, but they are treated as +3 Weapons

Weapon Unfamiliarity(Ex):The Drake Spawn has become extremely comfortable with attacking with his claws, so much so, that all other weapons seem clumsy in comparison. The Drake takes -4 to his BAB when attempting to wield all weapons beside his claws, even those he was already proficient in.

Drake's Vitality(Ex):The Drake Spawn no longer takes penalties from aging and cannot be magicaly aged. He still gains bonuses from aging and retains any penalties he previously attained from aging.

Drake's Scales(Ex):As a full round action the Drake Spawn may cover himself in silvery metallic scales that provide -/10 damage reduction. As another full round action, he may remove them.

Metamorphisis:The Drake's Spawn's internal changes are complete. He now and forever more treated as an outsider for the purpose of spells, powers, magical and psionic effects.

WithdrawalThe Drake Spawn must take one dose of Drake Weed everyday or suffer withdrawal. These withdrawal symptoms cause a -2 penalty to all attack, defense, saves and skill checks for 1d4 weeks. Afterwards the PC must make a Fortitude Save(DC 15), which if made, removes the penalty. If not the PC retains the penalty and after another 1d4 weeks the PC again makes a Fortitude Save(DC 10). If the check isn't made, the process is repeated, with this time the Fort Save DC is reduced by 5. The process is repeated until either the PC takes Drake Weed, or makes his Fort save. If the PC makes his Fort Save, he is now an ex-Drake Spawn, and may no longer advance as one.

Ex-Drake Spawns: Drake Spawns no longer taking Drake Weed cannot advance as Drake Spawns, but retain all previous abilities. If an Ex-Drake Spawn wishes to advance as a Drake Spawn again, he must again follow the rules laid out in the Synthesis ability, traveling to a Rhulisti halfling community, and staying there until he gains a level, or a year passes. He may start at where he left off though. Drake Spawns who achieve Metamorphisis, need no longer take Drake Weed, though if they attempt to stop, they suffer severe withdrawal symptoms, -4 penalties and a starting DC20 after 1d4 weeks.
#2
zombiegleemax
Apr 09, 2004 23:39:10
I'd like to say he gains clairsentient powers, but we already have psions with those, and that'd be ripping off Dune's Melange too much.

Bahh, rip away. Change the names enough and your players probably will never notice.

But, as I read your post, another movie popped into the ol brain pan. Altered States. Not quite as intriging as Dune, but a damn fine flick. In case no one here has ever seen it, the basic premise is a scientist goes through all sorts of self inflicted crap to try and 'expand' his mind to the greater collective of humanity, to tap into its root source of consciousness. Deprivation tanks, massive drugs, etc. He does somewhat succeed into tapping into a regressive consciousness, experiencing the early sentient humans (eventually, he somewhat takes on the form as well, but the movie gets more bizarre around then).

Anyhow, to tie in the two. Metamorphosis need not be entirely physical. It could easily be a mental one. Both movies (Dune and Altered States) present temporal congnitive awareness as a perceived state. In Dune, melange overdose allows visions of the future. In Altered States, its the collective past. The mental metamorphosis could allow for the user over time to heighten perceptive awareness into the temporal, witnessing the past or the future. Or if you want a different aspect of melange in Dune, to actually tap into your genetic consciousness and speak with your ancestors all the way back through time (I loved the line "Pay attention to me! I am Agamegnon, your ancestor!"). This is something mostly left out of the more popular Dune movie that your players may not know if they've not read the books.

So, the question is, do you want this as empowerment to the player, or a nifty plot device? If it gives abilities to the player, it should have some detriments. Addiction is obvious, but there could be other side effects. Distortion of reality when the temporal visions overlay the real world (penalties to doing just about anything), minor mental instability (choose your favorite minor insanity like bi-polar, borderline personality disorder, or somesuch). If you have detriments, the PC should have some control over the drug's benefits, which may or may not suit you very well.

As for physical changes, as they say, birth is always painful. The changes at first shouldn't be the kind the PC wants, but progressing further gets to the good stuff. If you want the Dune analogy again, the physical changes to Guild Steersmen turned them into beings incapable of breathing anything but air heavily laden with melange, while their bodies atrophied, thus requiring a permanent suspensor field. Eventually, the body evolved to deal with the new environment turning the Steersman into a floating fish-like monstrosity, but that never seemed like direct changes of the melange itself, but side effects of the rapid evolution of the Steersman later on to its environment.

What kind of 'thing' do you want the drug user to turn into? A neat idea (I think anyhow, since its mine) would be to allow the person to choose one or two abilities from a list and those choices then dictate the path the character would take. Can't think of any 'end results' right now (well I can, but they're all too stupid to post).
#3
beyowulf
Apr 10, 2004 5:15:34 Hey thanks, I'll keep that in mind. I think I've seen Altered States, or at least some of it, pretty cool from what I saw.

Something that occured to me while I was posting that earlier. This might be great way of introducing the standard DnD monk into Athas, with a perhaps different feel. Retractable claws which produce nerve poison(quivering palm, unarmed attacks), increased strength(leap of the clouds, increased movement range), prescient ability(adding wisdom bonus to AC), improved health(immunity to natural diseases and poisons, removal of aging penalties, and finally transformation into an outsider) and I'll probably throw in immunity to natural death since all the other metamorphs get that as well.

I'll probably post up something either today or more likely tomorrow, but if anyone wants to add anything more, I'd be glad to hear it.
#4
darthcestual
Apr 10, 2004 11:12:44 D&Ds new setting they're working on, Ebberon I think it's called, has Shapeshifters or Shifters or something. Basically, a lycanthropic class where being a werecreature isn't a curse or disease. IIRC, in Europe, cases of werewolves were linked to a fungal growth on wheat, so when peasents made their bread, toxins produced by the fungus would make folks go feral for awhile, leading to the idea of werewolves. You could go that route, as I don't recall many werecreatures in DS. A drug that gives people an addictive form of lycanthropy. They become powerful and ferocious, but the withdrawls become worse and worse, leading them to try and totally become the creature of their were-form. Just an idea...
#5
zombiegleemax
Apr 10, 2004 11:32:14 I like the feral bit too. Maybe some nice ideas for some strange plants for Athas. I think I'd stay away from actual shapeshifting though, even if the 'transformation' leads to something very similar. I'd just rather have any changes become permanent rather than temporary.
#6
beyowulf
Apr 10, 2004 20:09:48 Moved the PrC to the top of the thread.
#7
beyowulf
Apr 11, 2004 22:14:29 :crickets chirp:

I see a lot of people viewing this thread. But no comments?
#8
beyowulf
Apr 16, 2004 12:50:12 Last time I'am bumping this.

I moved my PrC to the top of the page so it'll get more visibility.
#9
zombiegleemax
Apr 16, 2004 17:17:38 My idea well on this one ran dry, sorry.

Other than the idea that none of the changes should be controllable (like the retractable claws, makes it sound like a certain comic book hero). Also, I'd tinker around and see how the PrC works with a thri-kreen and a monk (or better, a thri-kreen monk). If it doesn't turn the fellow into a killing machine through extended abilities, go with it.
#10
beyowulf
Apr 16, 2004 22:56:19
Originally posted by Mach2.5
My idea well on this one ran dry, sorry.

Other than the idea that none of the changes should be controllable (like the retractable claws, makes it sound like a certain comic book hero). Also, I'd tinker around and see how the PrC works with a thri-kreen and a monk (or better, a thri-kreen monk). If it doesn't turn the fellow into a killing machine through extended abilities, go with it.

How about if I restrict this one to the rebirth races? Now that I think of it, if this plant was Life-Shaped by the halflings, it was probably designed for halflings, and the only reason the rebirth races would be able to use it is that it was that they're descended from halflings, so no Thri-Kreen. Other than that, I thought since Monks aren't going to be allowed in Dark Sun, this could replace them.

Maybe no Half-Giants and Muls, either. Physiology is too far removed from the halflings and can no longer benefit from this.

Let me point out some of the features of the Drake Spawn and how it compares to the Monk.

First off, the PrC requires a lot of ranks in non-standard skills. How often are you going to use Knowledge: Athasian History in a standard campaign? And you'll probably still need to put ranks in other skills just to survive in Athas. Intelligence will probably not be your dump stat. Neither will Wisdom, if you want to take advantage of the AC bonus, which you will since a few of the Drake Spawn's mean wearing light or no armor. That means either Physical Stats won't be as high, or the Drake Spawn will have a crippled AC.

Secondly the Drake Spawn has only average BAB, same as the PHB' s Assassin's BAB. The Drake Spawn's poison will only work if his attack hits, and he can only use it 3X per day.

Thirdly, the Drake Spawn doesn't get a Monk's Full Bonus to AC. The monk, in addition to the bonus from Wisdom, gets +5 AC over the course of 20 levels. The Drake Spawn doesn't get that.

Fourth, Sharpened Claws seems similar to Ki Strike. The difference is that the Drake Spawn gets no bonus to damage from the Sharpened Claws ability, just the ability to get through DR.

Fifth, Weapon Unfamiliarity. The Drake Spawn loses all proficiency with weapons except for claws. Even if the Drake Spawn comes across a weapon better than claws, he won't be able to use it well.

Sixth, the Drake Spawn is a hard class to get into, and a hard class to get out of. His reliance on Drake Weed places him at the mercy of the DM, even more so than other classes.

Seventh, Drake Skin gives -/10 DR, but it takes a Full Round action to activate.
#11
zombiegleemax
Apr 17, 2004 2:03:43
How about if I restrict this one to the rebirth races?

Even New Races basically came from the Rebirth races. Also, and maybe its just me, but I'm not fond of the idea of restricting some PrCs to certain races. That's just me though.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 beyowulf Apr 09, 2004 21:46:26	Drake Spawn PrC "I am a desert power." - Some guy in some other setting Among the City States of Athas, there is commonly known plant called Drake Weed. It has some medecinal properties and when the leaves are chewed and ingested it acts as a painkiller. When taken in excess though it grants strange visions and is sometimes fatal. However, known among certain circles of Bards is its real secret. It is the key to unlocking a humanoid's body potential. When specially prepared, Drake Weed's true potential appears. A habitual user of Drake Weed gains the abilities to grow claws, make huge leaps, become immune to poisons, and resist time's arrow. Drake Weed is a life-shaped plant, and while it is common in all the city states, only the Rhulisti halflings know the secret of its preparation. Hit Die: d8 Requirements:To qualify as a Drake Spawn, the character must meet the following requirements. Skills:Knowledge(Herbs) 15, Knowledge(Athasian History) 15, Knowledge(Psionics) 6 Special:Must have made peaceful contact with a Rhulisti Halfling community. Must stay in and around that community(DM's discretion) for either one year or until the PC gains one level in this PrC. Class Skills:Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft(Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge(Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession(Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), and Tumble (Dex). Refers to a number of related skills. Lvl. BAB Fort Ref Will Special 1 +o +1 +1 +1 Synthesis, Drake Scratch 2 +1 +1 +1 +1 Drake's Claws, Prescience 3 +2 +2 +2 +2 Drake's Sting, Improved Prescience 4 +3 +2 +2 +2 Drake's Milk, +2 Strength 5 +3 +3 +3 +3 Drake Step, Imp. Drake Sting 6 +4 +3 +3 +3 Sharpened Claws, Weapon Unfamiliarity 7 +5 +4 +4 +4 Drake's Vitality, +2 Strength 8 +6 +4 +4 +4 Drake's Scales, Imp. Sharpened Claws 9 +6 +5 +5 +5 Greater Drake Sting, +2 Strength 10 +7 +5 +5 +5 Greater Sharpened Claws, Metamorphisis Claw Damage by Level and PC size Lvl. Sml. Med. Lrg. 2 1d4 1d6 1d8 3 1d4 1d6 1d8 4 1d6 1d8 2d6 5 1d8 1d10 2d8 6 1d10 2d6 3d6 7 1d10 2d6 3d6 8 2d6 2d8 3d8 9 2d6 2d8 3d8 10 2d8 2d10 4d8 Class Abilites Synthesis(Ex):At first level, or after a year around Rhulisti halfling community, whichever comes first, the PC no longer needs the Drake Weed in its specially prepared form. The PCs body can now fully metabolize Drake Weed in its raw form. The PC still needs to take Drake's Weed, a dose each day or suffer from withdrawal symptoms. Continual failure to take Drake Weed prevents the PC from advancing in this class.(See Ex-Drake Spawns and Withdrawal) Drake Scratch(Ex):As per Improved Unarmed Strike feat in Players Handbook Drake's Claws(EX):As a free action, the Drake Spawn may make his fingernails grow into claws that do slashing damage according to the above chart. As another free action, he may also retract them. Drake's Sting(Ex):When making an attack, the the Drake Spawn may inject nerve poison into the opponent's body. This paralyzes them for 1d4 rounds, unless the opponent makes a DC 15 Fort Save, in which case the poison is negated. Constructs, oozes, plants, undead, incorporeal creatures, and creatures immune to critical hits cannot be affected in this manner. The Drake Spawn must announce he's trying to poison before making the attack roll. If the attack roll fails, the poison attempt is wasted. This ability is usable 3x per day. Imp. Drake Sting(Ex):As per Drake's Sting, except the Fort Save is DC 20. Greater Drake Sting(Ex):As per Drake's Sting, except the Fort Save is DC 25. Prescience(Ex):When unarmored and unencumbered, the Drake Spawn adds his Wisdom bonus, if any, to his AC. These bonuses to AC apply even against touch attacks or when the Drake Spawn is flat-footed. He loses these bonuses when he is immobilized or helpless, when he wears any armor, when he carries a shield, or when he carries a medium or heavy load. Imp. Prescience(Ex): As per Evasion. Greater Prescience(Ex): As per Improved Evasion. Drake's Milk(Ex): The Drake Spawn gains immunity to poisons of all kinds. Drake's Step: For this and every level after 5 in this PrC, the Drake Spawn gains 10' to his movement. Sharpened Claws(Su): The Drake Spawn claws are treated as +1 weapons for the purpose of dealing damage to creatures with damage reduction and bypassing hardness. Imp. Sharpened Claws(Su): As per Sharpened Claws, but they are treated as +2 weapons. Greater Sharpened Claws(Su):As per Sharpened Claws, but they are treated as +3 Weapons Weapon Unfamiliarity(Ex):The Drake Spawn has become extremely comfortable with attacking with his claws, so much so, that all other weapons seem clumsy in comparison. The Drake takes -4 to his BAB when attempting to wield all weapons beside his claws, even those he was already proficient in. Drake's Vitality(Ex):The Drake Spawn no longer takes penalties from aging and cannot be magicaly aged. He still gains bonuses from aging and retains any penalties he previously attained from aging. Drake's Scales(Ex):As a full round action the Drake Spawn may cover himself in silvery metallic scales that provide -/10 damage reduction. As another full round action, he may remove them. Metamorphisis:The Drake's Spawn's internal changes are complete. He now and forever more treated as an outsider for the purpose of spells, powers, magical and psionic effects. WithdrawalThe Drake Spawn must take one dose of Drake Weed everyday or suffer withdrawal. These withdrawal symptoms cause a -2 penalty to all attack, defense, saves and skill checks for 1d4 weeks. Afterwards the PC must make a Fortitude Save(DC 15), which if made, removes the penalty. If not the PC retains the penalty and after another 1d4 weeks the PC again makes a Fortitude Save(DC 10). If the check isn't made, the process is repeated, with this time the Fort Save DC is reduced by 5. The process is repeated until either the PC takes Drake Weed, or makes his Fort save. If the PC makes his Fort Save, he is now an ex-Drake Spawn, and may no longer advance as one. Ex-Drake Spawns: Drake Spawns no longer taking Drake Weed cannot advance as Drake Spawns, but retain all previous abilities. If an Ex-Drake Spawn wishes to advance as a Drake Spawn again, he must again follow the rules laid out in the Synthesis ability, traveling to a Rhulisti halfling community, and staying there until he gains a level, or a year passes. He may start at where he left off though. Drake Spawns who achieve Metamorphisis, need no longer take Drake Weed, though if they attempt to stop, they suffer severe withdrawal symptoms, -4 penalties and a starting DC20 after 1d4 weeks.
#2 zombiegleemax Apr 09, 2004 23:39:10	I'd like to say he gains clairsentient powers, but we already have psions with those, and that'd be ripping off Dune's Melange too much. Bahh, rip away. Change the names enough and your players probably will never notice. But, as I read your post, another movie popped into the ol brain pan. Altered States. Not quite as intriging as Dune, but a damn fine flick. In case no one here has ever seen it, the basic premise is a scientist goes through all sorts of self inflicted crap to try and 'expand' his mind to the greater collective of humanity, to tap into its root source of consciousness. Deprivation tanks, massive drugs, etc. He does somewhat succeed into tapping into a regressive consciousness, experiencing the early sentient humans (eventually, he somewhat takes on the form as well, but the movie gets more bizarre around then). Anyhow, to tie in the two. Metamorphosis need not be entirely physical. It could easily be a mental one. Both movies (Dune and Altered States) present temporal congnitive awareness as a perceived state. In Dune, melange overdose allows visions of the future. In Altered States, its the collective past. The mental metamorphosis could allow for the user over time to heighten perceptive awareness into the temporal, witnessing the past or the future. Or if you want a different aspect of melange in Dune, to actually tap into your genetic consciousness and speak with your ancestors all the way back through time (I loved the line "Pay attention to me! I am Agamegnon, your ancestor!"). This is something mostly left out of the more popular Dune movie that your players may not know if they've not read the books. So, the question is, do you want this as empowerment to the player, or a nifty plot device? If it gives abilities to the player, it should have some detriments. Addiction is obvious, but there could be other side effects. Distortion of reality when the temporal visions overlay the real world (penalties to doing just about anything), minor mental instability (choose your favorite minor insanity like bi-polar, borderline personality disorder, or somesuch). If you have detriments, the PC should have some control over the drug's benefits, which may or may not suit you very well. As for physical changes, as they say, birth is always painful. The changes at first shouldn't be the kind the PC wants, but progressing further gets to the good stuff. If you want the Dune analogy again, the physical changes to Guild Steersmen turned them into beings incapable of breathing anything but air heavily laden with melange, while their bodies atrophied, thus requiring a permanent suspensor field. Eventually, the body evolved to deal with the new environment turning the Steersman into a floating fish-like monstrosity, but that never seemed like direct changes of the melange itself, but side effects of the rapid evolution of the Steersman later on to its environment. What kind of 'thing' do you want the drug user to turn into? A neat idea (I think anyhow, since its mine) would be to allow the person to choose one or two abilities from a list and those choices then dictate the path the character would take. Can't think of any 'end results' right now (well I can, but they're all too stupid to post).
#3 beyowulf Apr 10, 2004 5:15:34	Hey thanks, I'll keep that in mind. I think I've seen Altered States, or at least some of it, pretty cool from what I saw. Something that occured to me while I was posting that earlier. This might be great way of introducing the standard DnD monk into Athas, with a perhaps different feel. Retractable claws which produce nerve poison(quivering palm, unarmed attacks), increased strength(leap of the clouds, increased movement range), prescient ability(adding wisdom bonus to AC), improved health(immunity to natural diseases and poisons, removal of aging penalties, and finally transformation into an outsider) and I'll probably throw in immunity to natural death since all the other metamorphs get that as well. I'll probably post up something either today or more likely tomorrow, but if anyone wants to add anything more, I'd be glad to hear it.
#4 darthcestual Apr 10, 2004 11:12:44	D&Ds new setting they're working on, Ebberon I think it's called, has Shapeshifters or Shifters or something. Basically, a lycanthropic class where being a werecreature isn't a curse or disease. IIRC, in Europe, cases of werewolves were linked to a fungal growth on wheat, so when peasents made their bread, toxins produced by the fungus would make folks go feral for awhile, leading to the idea of werewolves. You could go that route, as I don't recall many werecreatures in DS. A drug that gives people an addictive form of lycanthropy. They become powerful and ferocious, but the withdrawls become worse and worse, leading them to try and totally become the creature of their were-form. Just an idea...
#5 zombiegleemax Apr 10, 2004 11:32:14	I like the feral bit too. Maybe some nice ideas for some strange plants for Athas. I think I'd stay away from actual shapeshifting though, even if the 'transformation' leads to something very similar. I'd just rather have any changes become permanent rather than temporary.
#6 beyowulf Apr 10, 2004 20:09:48	Moved the PrC to the top of the thread.
#7 beyowulf Apr 11, 2004 22:14:29	:crickets chirp: I see a lot of people viewing this thread. But no comments?
#8 beyowulf Apr 16, 2004 12:50:12	Last time I'am bumping this. I moved my PrC to the top of the page so it'll get more visibility.
#9 zombiegleemax Apr 16, 2004 17:17:38	My idea well on this one ran dry, sorry. Other than the idea that none of the changes should be controllable (like the retractable claws, makes it sound like a certain comic book hero). Also, I'd tinker around and see how the PrC works with a thri-kreen and a monk (or better, a thri-kreen monk). If it doesn't turn the fellow into a killing machine through extended abilities, go with it.
#10 beyowulf Apr 16, 2004 22:56:19	Originally posted by Mach2.5 My idea well on this one ran dry, sorry. Other than the idea that none of the changes should be controllable (like the retractable claws, makes it sound like a certain comic book hero). Also, I'd tinker around and see how the PrC works with a thri-kreen and a monk (or better, a thri-kreen monk). If it doesn't turn the fellow into a killing machine through extended abilities, go with it. How about if I restrict this one to the rebirth races? Now that I think of it, if this plant was Life-Shaped by the halflings, it was probably designed for halflings, and the only reason the rebirth races would be able to use it is that it was that they're descended from halflings, so no Thri-Kreen. Other than that, I thought since Monks aren't going to be allowed in Dark Sun, this could replace them. Maybe no Half-Giants and Muls, either. Physiology is too far removed from the halflings and can no longer benefit from this. Let me point out some of the features of the Drake Spawn and how it compares to the Monk. First off, the PrC requires a lot of ranks in non-standard skills. How often are you going to use Knowledge: Athasian History in a standard campaign? And you'll probably still need to put ranks in other skills just to survive in Athas. Intelligence will probably not be your dump stat. Neither will Wisdom, if you want to take advantage of the AC bonus, which you will since a few of the Drake Spawn's mean wearing light or no armor. That means either Physical Stats won't be as high, or the Drake Spawn will have a crippled AC. Secondly the Drake Spawn has only average BAB, same as the PHB' s Assassin's BAB. The Drake Spawn's poison will only work if his attack hits, and he can only use it 3X per day. Thirdly, the Drake Spawn doesn't get a Monk's Full Bonus to AC. The monk, in addition to the bonus from Wisdom, gets +5 AC over the course of 20 levels. The Drake Spawn doesn't get that. Fourth, Sharpened Claws seems similar to Ki Strike. The difference is that the Drake Spawn gets no bonus to damage from the Sharpened Claws ability, just the ability to get through DR. Fifth, Weapon Unfamiliarity. The Drake Spawn loses all proficiency with weapons except for claws. Even if the Drake Spawn comes across a weapon better than claws, he won't be able to use it well. Sixth, the Drake Spawn is a hard class to get into, and a hard class to get out of. His reliance on Drake Weed places him at the mercy of the DM, even more so than other classes. Seventh, Drake Skin gives -/10 DR, but it takes a Full Round action to activate.
#11 zombiegleemax Apr 17, 2004 2:03:43	How about if I restrict this one to the rebirth races? Even New Races basically came from the Rebirth races. Also, and maybe its just me, but I'm not fond of the idea of restricting some PrCs to certain races. That's just me though.