I'm designing a new, NPC race for my campaign. The idea is that these creatures are descended (in some fashion) from dragons, and are currently the most powerful society in the world. They live on flying islands above everyone else and basically seek to control everything for their own profit and amusement. Dragons are also seen as the source of arcane magic in the world (as in they invented it--I've tweaked the idea of dragons quite a bit), and so these creatures are the holders of very powerful magic.
I'm curious about what people think it's ECL should be (so what should I make the LA?), as well as what the CR of encountering one of these would be. Also, do most of the abilities seem of about equal level (or does one thing stand out as more/less powerful)? Since they are intended to take class levels, do you think I should give them an over-all lowering of power (so that most of their strength come from class levels)? Any ideas of other special things they should have?
Draconian (I'm willing to change the name if someone has a better suggestion)
* Type: Dragon
* +2 Dexterity, +6 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom, +4 Charisma
* Medium size.
* A draconian's base land speed is 30'. A draconian can also use its wings to fly at a speed of 30' (average manueverability)
* Darkvision out to 60' and low-light vision
* Immunity to magical sleep and paralysis
* Racial Hit Dice: A draconian begins with 5 levels of dragon, which provides 5d12 Hit Dice, a base attack bonus of +5, and base saving throw bonuses of Fort +4, Ref +4, and Will +4.
* Racial Skills: A draconian's dragon levels give it skill points equal to 8 x (6 + Int modifier). It's class skills are: Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Speak Language (None), Spellcraft (Int), and Use Magic Device (Cha).
* Racial Feats: A draconian's dragon levels give it 2 feats.
* +4 natural armor bonus
* Natural weapons: Bite (1d6) and two claws (1d4)
* Spell-like abilities:
detect magic (at will)
* Spells: A draconian casts spells as a 5th level wizard
[Note: in my campaign "wizards" basically are sorcerers, except intelligence based]. If the character takes additional levels of wizard these levels stack with the draconian’s base spellcasting ability for spells per day and other effects dependent on caster level. A draconian character likewise uses the sum of its racial spellcasting levels and class levels to determine the abilities of its familiar.
* Magical affinity: Draconians begin play with an extra 10 spell points, and gain an extra 2 spell points per level. [Note: I'm using a translation of the psionic point-based system instead of normal magic].
* Automatic Languages: Common, Draconic. Bonus Languages: Any.
* Favored Class: Wizard.
* Level adjustment:
???.
* CR:
???Thanks for your help :)
synabetic - (no subject) [+9]
Or suggestions, rather:
Drake-kin, Drakin, Wyrmblood, Wyrmkin, Dragonians (hehe)... or, just put a bunch of letters together and say that's their name in their tounge or something (ie Vasxoniac D'raas)... hey, it works sometimes.
:)
I personally prefer the idea of making up a word and saying it is the name of the race, whether it translates into "sons and daughters of the great wyrm" or "the people" or nothing at all. It always irked me that halflings didn't have an actual name for their race, just a derogatory term.
For my campaign world, races have their own names and what others of different races and locales call them.
And yeah, 'halfling' was always a silly term, imnso.
:D
One of the things I like about the Eberron setting is that half-elves and half-orcs have an actual name for their kind. It also helps that they are a breedable bloodline and not just the offspring of a human and something else.
:)
(and yeah, I like Eberron for the reasons you mention, too)
I usually use that words like "elf" and "orc" are the names the races call themselves. Thus they are what humans call themselves.
I think I will give them a name for themselves though. "Draconian" was my placeholder name when I was designing to the world and so it's stuck around. Though that might just be what the rest of the world calls them (because they don't really know that much about them).
Powerful creatures in minute numbers - believable. But if this is the world leading superpower, how can you justify players being unable to play.
Just thinking out loud.
On the same note: dragons are considered some of the most powerful creatures in the standard world, yet they aren't (normally) open to be a PC race. Same with most outsiders. Or what about the various breeds of Giants (storm, ice, fire, etc)--these have their own civilizations and societies, but aren't available as PC races.
I wasn't planning on there being a whole lot of them. It's not like you find these guys in every town. You have to go to their world (which requires flying) to really run into one. Unless a single one comes after you (in proper BBEG style, which is what I'm kind of planning).
This assumes a draconian starts out with a wizard's spellbook, arcane material components, and such before ever taking any class levels. Every single one of them, no exception.
This reminds me of araneas. They have 3 Hit Dice, and act as 3rd level sorcerers, along with several other abilities (poison, web, change shape), but they have a climb speed instead of flight. They are LA +4, draconians are probably in that neighborhood.
I'm not too sure about CR, but I'd guess around CR 5, since this is a somewhat tougher wizard.
Thanks for the link about the araneas. I'd been using Rakshasas and half-dragons as a kind of base, as well as the DL versions of draconians. The LA+4 was actually around what I was expecting.
- I would change the +2 Dex for +2 Str. Dragons have never been known for their agility.
- I've never seen any monster cast spells as a wizard (except perhaps the Spellweaver, but I don't have my book on me). Strictly speaking, inate spell-casting ability is the realm (and concept) of the Sorcerer. Wizards need to devote themselves to study to gain their power. Having a favored class of Wizard is perfectly fine, in this case, but for their natural spells I'd make 'em cast as Sorcies. :]
-A generic member of this race, without any class levels, would be at least a CR 6, by itself. That's my thought, anyway.
-I'm not certain about the LA. :\ It's a pretty heft thing to have two natural weapons, natural spell casting, and natural armor. Admittedly, the natural armor and weapons are easier to mitigate, but the spell casting is el gigante.
xD I'm sure I haven't helped, but at least I got to type for a little bit.
- See my comment above. The flavor for wizard has been changed to basically make them sorcerers :) (I'll edit the main post)