Pen & Paper

[Jhickey]

I have been DMing a PnP game for about 2 years now, and playing about 20; and I love it and hate it, for many different reasons. I am often inspired by outside worlds and love to add flavors to my game. I am a huge J.R.R Martin fan, and Song of Fire and Ice inspired me to design a class based on the Warg/Skinchanger. I began about a year ago and have recently began to play test it (This is a long and tedious process). I wanted to share it with my Sundren playmates, receive some constructive feedback and perhaps some help gathering data.

Just a little back ground, this is a 3.5 class, balanced against WoTC classes, not Pathfinder. I am not looking for the most powerful class in the world, I want to see something that a player would choose to play or that I can introduce as an NPC/villain.

The parameters of play testing and data gathering. I am only about 3% done. To this point I have only tested it going directly against other similar classes (one thus far). I will also test based on party role, e.g. Healer, tank, skill monkey etc... This will of course come in the future.

I have created a version of the Warg and Druid at levels 1,5,10,15, and 20. Using humans with the elite state block, also using average hp. Using a GP value based on NPC of appropriate level buying basic gear that would be viable in any situation, and not geared for this fight directly. The battle took place in a nondescript clearing in the forest, in an attempt to remove environmental variables. At each level there was a best of three format, in an attempt to balance out the chaotic nature of dice rolls. I also kept track of the average rounds it took to win the fight, just for my own purposes, will not be included in the t tail test.

Here is what I have thus far.

level 1- Druid > Warg: Record 2-0 (Average win in 12.2 rounds)
Level 5- Druid > Warg: 2-1 (10)
Level 10- Druid < Warg: 2-1 (15.6)
Level 15- Druid < Warg 2-1 (20)
Level 20- Druid > Warg 2-0 (14.6)

As you can see the Druid is stronger earlier, and of course at its capstone. The level 20 match up was really lopsided in the Druids favor; there of course could be an endless amount of variables that attribute too this. So maybe you guys have suggestions.

So please look it over and provide me feed back, or suggestions, or maybe even a few playtests if you like.

Thanks for looking it over.
Joe

Seems I can't add tables to the forum so if you want those I can email them too you.

[Jhickey]

Its to big to attach so here it is! Part 1.

Warg

A Warg is a person with the ability to enter the mind of an animal and control its actions. It is much easier for a Warg to do so if a bond exists between the two parties such as one of their animal companions. The interaction between the Warg and an animal’s mind will influence both personalities. Some Warg’s become so powerful they can influence the mind of intelligent undead, simple humanoids, and many other types of intelligent creatures.
Wargs are born with their abilities and are a product of their force of personality. Their abilities begin as a child and are for the most part uncontrolled. As the Warg grows in power they begin to harness the power of seeing through the eyes of another. There are even rumors that Wargs have the ability to harness arcane & divine energy.
Hit Die: 6
Skill Points: 4+ Int. Concentration, Craft, Hide, Handle Animal, Heal, Knowledge (Nature), Listen, Profession, Move Silently, Survival, Spot, Search, Swim. The Warg has the ability to use any skills that its host posses while in control of the creature.
Alignment: Any/Usually N
Starting Gold: 3d4x10
Starting Age: 15
Class Features
Weapon & Armor Proficiencies: A Warg is proficient with simple weapons. A Warg is not proficient with any type of armor or shields.
Skinchanging (Su): Beginning at first level a Warg gains the ability to take over his/her animal companion, gaining all abilities of the animal, while maintaining sentient mind; The Wargs natural body sits in a catatonic state while it maintains control of the animal. The Warg loses the ability to speak while in another creature’s body. The animal or natural body must be within 60ft of one another when uses this ability. This is a standard action. Once in this form there is no distance limit of the possessed animal and the catatonic body (must be on the same plane of existence). The Warg can maintain the possession indefinitely. The Warg does not possess the ability to defend its body while in a catatonic state. If the catatonic body is attacked while the Warg possesses another creature he must make a Will save (DC 5+ Damage dealt) to know that his/her body is being tampered with, if the catatonic body dies; the Warg’s soul becomes bodiless and thus dies.
Beginning at 5th level the Warg can attempt to take control of any small or medium animal, the animal gets a Will save (DC 10+ ½ Wargs level + Cha) 1/day.
Beginning at 8th level the Warg can attempt to gain control of a large animal, 3/day.
Beginning at 11th level the Warg can gain control of a tiny animal, 4/day.
Beginning at 12th level a Warg gains the ability to control of creatures of the plant type, up to large.
Beginning at 15th level the Warg can attempt to gain control of a huge plant or animal, 5/day.
Beginning at 16th level the Warg can attempt to gain control of creatures of the undead type, magical beast, or elemental. The creature must possess an intelligence score of 1-6; Will save (DC 10+ ½ Warg’s level + Cha) 1/day. Referred to as Greater skinchanging
At 20th level the Warg reaches the apex of its power, The Warg gains the ability to take control of humanoid creatures The creature cannot posses an intelligence score greater than 6; the creature receives a Will save (DC 10+ ½ Warg’s level+ Cha), The Warg can use greater Skinchanging 3/day
Animal Companion (Ex):A Warg may begin play with an animal companion selected from the following list: badger, dire rat, dog, riding dog, eagle, hawk, owl, pony, snake (Small or Medium viper), or wolf. This animal is a loyal companion that accompanies the druid on her adventures as appropriate for its kind.
A 1st-level Warg’s companion is completely typical for its kind except as noted in the sidebar on page 36 (PHB). As a Warg advances in level, the animal’s power increases as shown on the table in the sidebar.
If a Warg releases or the death of his/her companion, he/she may gain a new one by finding and bonding with the animal, a bond can be created by the use of the Skinchanger ability or wild empathy, and time to create an emotional bond between them.
A Warg of 4th level or higher may select from alternative lists of animals on the druids list (see the sidebar). Should she select an animal companion from one of these alternative lists, the creature gains abilities as if the character’s Warg level were lower than it actually is. Subtract the value indicated in the appropriate list header from the character’s Warg level and compare the result with the Druid level entry on the table in the sidebar to determine the animal companion’s powers. (If this adjustment would reduce the Druid’s effective level to 0 or lower, she can’t have that animal as a companion.) For example, a 6th-level Druid/Warg could select a leopard as an animal companion. The leopard would have characteristics and special abilities as if the druid were 3rd level (taking into account the –3 adjustment) instead of 6th level.

[Jhickey]

Part 2

Wild Empathy (Ex): A Warg can use body language, vocalizations, and demeanor to improve the attitude of an animal (such as a bear or a monitor lizard). This ability functions just like a Diplomacy check made to improve the attitude of a person (see Chapter 4: Skills). The druid rolls 1d20 and adds her Warg level and her Charisma modifier to determine the wild empathy check result. The typical domestic animal has a starting attitude of indifferent, while wild animals are usually unfriendly.
Spells: A Warg casts arcane spells (the same type of spells available to bards and wizards), which are drawn primarily from the sorcerer/wizard or the druid spell list. He can cast any spell he knows without preparing it ahead of time, the way a sorcerer can. To learn or cast a spell, a Warg must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level (Cha 10 for 0-level spells, Cha 11 for 1st-level spells, and so forth). The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a Warg’s spell is 10 + the spell level + Warg’s Charisma modifier. Like other spellcasters, a Warg can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given: In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Charisma score. A Warg’s selection of spells is extremely limited. A Warg begins play knowing two 0-level spells (also called cantrips) of your choice. Warg Spells Known. Unlike spells per day, the number of spells a Warg knows is not affected by his Charisma score. These new spells can be common spells chosen from the sorcerer/wizard or druid spell list.
Upon reaching 4th level, and at every even-numbered Warg level after that (6th, 8th, and so on), a Warg can choose to learn a new spell in place of one he already knows. In effect, the Warg "loses" the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell's level must be the same as that of the spell being exchanged, and it must be at least two levels lower than the highest-level spell he can cast.
Speak with Animals (Sp): Starting at 3rd level, a Warg can use speak with animals once per day as the spell cast by a caster of his/her class level. She/he can use this ability twice per day at 6th level and three times per day at 9th level.
Safe Vessel (Su): Beginning at 4rd level when the Warg’s body is attacked and the Warg makes the save (DC 5+ damage delt) to recognize that his/her body is in duress; the body becomes invisible as the spell (CL is the Warg’s level) Beginning at 8th level the body is also transported up to 60ft+ 10ft per 2 Warg levels away to a safe location designated by the Warg this ability is similar to dimension door.
Invigorating Bond (Su): Beginning at 5th level whenever the Warg uses its skinchanger ability the creatures natural attacks are considered magical weapons.
When the Warg reaches 7th level whenever he/she uses the skinchanger ability the creature receives an enchantment bonus of +2 Str, +2 Dex, and +2 Con
When the Warg reaches 10th level whenever he/she uses the skinchanger ability the creature receives an enchantment bonus of +4 Str +4 Dex +4 Con
When the Warg reaches 13th level whenever he/she uses the skinchanger ability the creature receives an enchantment bonus of +6 Str +6 Dex +6 Con
When the Warg reaches 18th level whenever he/she uses the skinchanger ability the creature receives an enchantment bonus of +8 Str +8 Dex +8 Con
Speak with Plants (Sp): Starting at 6th level the Warg can use speak with plants once per day as the spell cast by a caster of his/her class level. He/she can use this ability twice per day at 9th level and three times per day at 12th level.
Extra Animal Companion (Ex): At 9th level, a Warg gains a second animal companion, chosen from the list of animal companions available to a 1st-level druid. Treat the Warg as a druid whose level is equal to the Warg’s class level -3 for the purpose of improving the animal companion's statistics (or of selecting an alternative companion at higher levels).
At 14th level, a Warg gains a third animal companion, chosen from the list of animal companions available to a 1st-level druid. Treat the Warg as a druid whose level is equal to the Warg’s class level -3 for the purpose of improving the animal companion's statistics (or of selecting an alternative companion at higher levels).
Second Life (Su): Beginning at 15th level if the Wargs natural body dies while possessing another creature, he/she must make a Will save (DC 5) every 24 hours; The DC increases by 5 every 24 hours. If the will save fails the creature to which the Warg has possessed becomes the dominate soul within the body. The Warg can remain in the animal until he/she has failed 3 consecutive saves; at this point the soul is kicked from the body in which it was stored.

[Lugwy]

It's a pretty good build, though I have one nitpick:

The effects that "Safe Vessel" gives (invisibility, then dimension door-alike) seem to not really fit with the general "theme" of the class. Personally, I'd prefer Bark/Spiderskin, (Greater) Stoneskin, and Energy Buffer to at least give the Warg more rounds to detect its body being attacked.


EDIT: (Greater) Sanctuary can also work, DC dependent on level? It's not much better in the scope of theme, though.

Granted, these options are inferior to teleporting the body away, but unless there's a Druid-esque spell to teleport (of which I don't know; I haven't played many druids), I'm out of juice. Also, the physical body is the Warg's Achilles' heel; teleporting it away seems a bit cheap, at least without an in-game method to trace teleportation.

[Kitsunestume]

It's a pretty good build, though I have one nitpick:

The effects that "Safe Vessel" gives (invisibility, then dimension door-alike) seem to not really fit with the general "theme" of the class. Personally, I'd prefer Bark/Spiderskin, (Greater) Stoneskin, and Energy Buffer to at least give the Warg more rounds to detect its body being attacked.


EDIT: (Greater) Sanctuary can also work, DC dependent on level? It's not much better in the scope of theme, though.

Granted, these options are inferior to teleporting the body away, but unless there's a Druid-esque spell to teleport (of which I don't know; I haven't played many druids), I'm out of juice. Also, the physical body is the Warg's Achilles' heel; teleporting it away seems a bit cheap, at least without an in-game method to trace teleportation.

Tree Stride, actually - Druid 5. Which offers another interesting set of alternatives: Camouflage, Tree Stride and to allow skinchanging while inside a tree up to some duration and able to teleport your body between relevant trees within range, Tree Shape (Druid 2) for a certain duration, Meld Into Stone (Druid 3), or Transport via Plants (Druid 6)

Tree shape would be a reasonable alternative: turn your body into a natural plant for the terrain to keep it safe while you wander. Note: Someone unfamiliar to the terrain may be silly enough to turn into an oak in a pine-forest. Not the worst idea. . .but no need to make it perfect cloaking either. :-)


Other than that, I would suggest listing a max int for most animals until Greater Skinchange is unlocked: IE 1-2 Int. otherwise you could skinchange awakened animals, as they are not otherwise prohibited.

[Jhickey]

Thanks for the feed back, I love the idea Kit with tree stride and allowing of skinchanging from within. I also didn't think about the restriction and the ability to grab awakened animals.

Lugway, you are right I have it designed so that it has some sort of drawback, in the books the body is just sitting in a catatonic state, but for game mechanics the body will need a way to escape, and going with the adventurer lifestyle, you would need to protect it.

Thanks a ton guys, Keep the feed back coming.