[Tome] Dungeons and Druddigons Adamant Version

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Mon Dec 15, 2014 6:28 am

I was thinking earlier today about pokemon taking class levels, more out of general wondering than anything specific, and it led me to double check the rules on advancement in D&D. Which then led me to look up what Bulbapedia had to say about pokemon learning human speech.

So, I'm still not entirely certain how I would handle it, but, it seems that learning human speech is just something (at least some) pokemon can just do. And they can take levels in classes so long as they have an int of three or more, like any other monster.

The other side of all of this, however, is that it could drastically change the entire tone of the campaign. While not unheard of, a talking pokemon is still rare, and one which considers itself, and possibly is considered by others, a trainer's equal even more so.

However, if this interested anyone, and no one else objected to it, I would allow a pokemon PC. This would probably take your Background, as I can't really justify "able to speak human, possibly at the cost of never being able to learn their signature move" as a feat or anything else. The other possibility is that I may do up a special one level Free Pokemon class thing.

radthemad4 · Post by **radthemad4** » Mon Dec 15, 2014 9:00 am

I kind of like the idea of being a Zorua pretending to be a human, and occasionally letting his 'Trainer' be an illusion while he fights as himself. Going unconscious would break the charade though, so he probably wouldn't do this in official battles unless he was sure the opposition was wimpy.

Could I count as my own controlled pokemon for some sort of partial gestalt at CR -3 with Wiseman's Zoroark? I'd start with Zoroark 1, Pokemaster 2 (only way to do this at level 3 with CR-3 gestalt), then next level be a Pokemaster 4 gestalt Zoroark 1 and advance both from then on.

If it's too much hassle, I'd like to request Zorua as an owned pokemon (doesn't seem to have been statted out yet as a monster).

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Mon Dec 15, 2014 10:48 am

Let's not get into Gestalt. Statting pokemon up is honestly dead fucking easy, so-

Zorua
Tiny Magical Beast (Shapechanger)
Hit Die: 1d10-2 (3hp)
Initiative: +4
Spd: 30'
AC: 16 (+4 dex, +2 size)
Base Attack/Grapple: +1/-10
Attack: Claw +0 m (1d2-3) or Pursuit +0 mt (1d4 [Dark])
Full Attack: Claw +0 m (1d2-3)
Space/Reach: 2.5'/0'
Special Attacks: Pursuit
Special Qualities: Dark Pokemon Traits, Illusion
Saves: Fort +1, Ref +5, Will -2
Abilities: Str 5, Dex 18, Con 7, Int 10, Wis 7, Cha 14
Skills: Bluff +3, Disguise +3, Disable Device +6, Hide +14, Move Silently +6, Sleight of Hand +10
Feats: Born Thief
CR: CR 1/2

Illusion (Su): A Zorua may generate an illusion disguising themselves as any pokemon, or as a child, as with Disguise Self. The Zorua retains their tail in these forms, if it's touched, the illusion is dispelled. They may use this ability at will.

Pursuit (Ex): A Zorua may make a melee touch attack against an opponent dealing 1d4 damage per two HD as a Immediate action. If this is used against an opponent leaving the Zorua's threatened squares, it deals 1d4 per HD instead. This is a [Dark] attack.

CR Increases
At CR 3, a Zorua gains Feint Attack. This is a Supernatural ability which allows the Zorua to make a Bluff check against an opponent's Sense Motive check. If the Zorua wins, it deals 1d6 damage per two HD. This is a [Dark] effect.

At CR 9, a Zorua gains Foul Play (Su): The Zorua makes a melee attack, and deals a number of d6 equal to the opponent's Base Attack Bonus. This is a [Dark] effect.

At CR 12, a Zorua learns Night Daze (Su): The Zorua makes a ranged attack, and deals 1d6 per Hit Die as well as taking a -6 on future attack rolls for the length of the encounter.

Evolution
At CR 6, a Zorua may evolve into Zoruark. It becomes Medium size, it's strength increases by 4 and constitution by 2, it loses 2 dexterity.

I switched to assigning additional attacks by CR, because D&D 3.5 is weird as fuck and a CR 3 pokemon might well have like 8 or 9 HD.

radthemad4 · Post by **radthemad4** » Mon Dec 15, 2014 2:16 pm

Awesome. Taking Feytouched so I can control one additional Pokemon and cast Silent Image once a day to help Zorua better sell its illusion. I'll drop Words of Encouragement.

I know almost nothing about Forgotten Realms so I'll start reading the Player's Handbook and Campaign Setting. Anything in particular I should look up?

Edit: I'll take Psionic as a subtype specialization as I'll probably keep Abra out most of the time. I'd like to take Joltik as my 6th (Cha Mod 5 + 1 from Subtype specialization).

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Mon Dec 15, 2014 11:24 pm

Ummm.. just keep in mind that I said "so long as everyone is on board." Don't get too excited until everyone says they're cool with it.

Type and subtype specialization are replaced with Pokemon Type Specialization.

Read up on the north. I'm open to you guys starting in any of the cities, so you guys might want to discuss that.

Pixels · Post by **Pixels** » Tue Dec 16, 2014 8:49 am

Zorua shenanigans are fine by me.

I'll do some reading and flesh out my backstory. In the meantime, I'll toss what I have your way Prak so you can OK/veto what I have mechanically.

radthemad4 · Post by **radthemad4** » Tue Dec 16, 2014 1:01 pm

Zorua's just one of my pokemon. I'm taking Feytouched. It might be fun to be be a Zorua pretending to be a humanoid, but I'd rather have three more pokemon.

I have no objections to anyone else being a talking Pokemon though.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Wed Dec 17, 2014 1:26 am

Ok, gotcha.

Pixels, things look good, except I'm not sure I'd call a magebred fleshripper a fighting type. Need to look over the original stats.

Pixels · Post by **Pixels** » Wed Dec 17, 2014 1:30 am

Prak wrote:Pixels, things look good, except I'm not sure I'd call a magebred fleshripper a fighting type. Need to look over the original stats.

What were you thinking of? Normal? Poison? I was thinking myself that it might actually do fine reflavored as a Rock Pokemon - it has a lot of natural armor, and I can add mineral warrior when I hit level 6 for true earth flavor.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Wed Dec 17, 2014 1:42 am

I'd consider it a poison/dark type.

Also, the invented dinosaurs are some of the stupidest creatures to come out of 3.5. But that's just me thinking they're dumb, not anything mechanically wrong with it.

Pixels · Post by **Pixels** » Wed Dec 17, 2014 3:32 am

Dark/Poison is good by me. I'm not sure souped up fantasy dinosaurs are any more or less stupid than souped up fantasy apes, wolves, spiders, snakes, squids, etc. I guess they could have put in Utahraptors instead of fleshrakers, but there is something profoundly unsexy about the name "Utahraptor."

I'll have my backstory together by Friday at the latest.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Wed Dec 17, 2014 4:30 am

Utahraptors are megaraptors in the MM. I think the largest reason, well, reasons, I think the invented dinosaurs are dumb are 1- there are tons of actual dinosaurs they could have statted instead, and 2- the names are stupid.

radthemad4 · Post by **radthemad4** » Wed Dec 17, 2014 3:18 pm

Are we kids, teenagers or adults?

Should we buy mounts? Can we still keep a horse in a pokeball and occasionally ride it without it counting as a controlled pokemon?

Pixels · Post by **Pixels** » Wed Dec 17, 2014 5:34 pm

Horses? What we really need are bicycles!

radthemad4 · Post by **radthemad4** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 12:07 am

Pixels wrote:Horses? What we really need are bicycles!

There's one on the wiki. Seems a bit expensive, but nowhere near as pricy as they are in Pokemonland.

Crunch so far:

Knox

Abra
Cassisian (see below)
Happiny
Terlen
Torchic
Zorua

Uncontrolled Half Celestial Magebred Light Warhorse

Cassisian

Size/Type: Tiny Outsider (Angel, Extraplanar, Good)
Hit Dice: 2d8+2 (10hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: Fly 60ft. (Perfect)
Armor Class: 20 (+2 dex, +6 natural, +2 size)
Base Attack/Grapple: +2/-10
Attack: Ram +2 (1d4-4)
Full Attack: Ram +2 (1d4-4)
Space/Reach: 2.5ft./0ft.
Special Attacks: Breath Weapon, Spell-Like Abilities
Special Qualities: Living Equipment, Judgement, Purpose, Protective Aura, Immunity to Acid, Cold, Electricty, and Petrification, Tongues, SR12
Saves: Fort +4 Reflex +5 Will +4
Abilities: Str 3 Dex 14 Con 12 Int 10 Wis 12 Cha 12
Skills: Appraise +5, Knowledge (the planes) +5 Knowledge (dungeoneering) +5 Knowledge (history) +5 Knowledge (local) +5 Perform +6 (sing, comedy, dance, act, oratory) Forgery +5 Search +5
Feats: Mood Maker
Environment: Any Good-Aligned Plane
Organization: Special (See Text)
Challenge Rating: 2
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always Good (any)
Advancement: Transformation (Malikim) or Class Level (Favored Classes: Cleric and Favored Soul)
Level Adjustment: +0 (But seriously, your playing as somebody else's freaking headgear.)

Cassissians are the least form of angels, directly transformed from virtuous souls. Though not very powerful on their own, they have a special ability to bond with other creatures, in the form of headgear. Cassissians take the forms of helms, helmets, hat's, circlets, and various other kinds of headgear (appearance and style depends on the Cassisian's Purpose or it's wearers tastes). They are then worn by others, granting them symbiotic abilities.

Combat:

Judgement (Su): An angel automatically knows the alignment of any creature it is aware of. This bypasses any attempts to conceal alignment if the caster level of the ability or CR of the creature is equal to or lower than the angels.

Purpose: An angel serves a deity or represents some great concept. All angels select two domains and gain their granted powers and access to their spells (up to a level equal to their CR/2+1) as spell-like abilities usable at will.

Protective Aura (Su): Against attacks made or effects created by evil creatures, this ability provides a +4 deflection bonus to AC and a +4 resistance bonus on saving throws to anyone within 20 feet of the Angel. Otherwise, it functions as a magic circle against evil effect and a lesser globe of invulnerability, both with a radius of 20 feet (caster level equals Angel’s CR). (The defensive benefits from the circle are not included in an Angel’s statistics block.)

Breath Weapon (Su): As a standard action, a Cassisian can let lose a blast of fire or cold in a 15 ft. cone or 30ft. line (+5 ft per 2 additional CR). It deals 1d6 damage per CR of the Cassisian.

Living Equipment (Su): As a full round action, a Cassisian may bond itself to another creature, granting both of them bonuses. The Cassisian resizes it's self to fit the wearers head, and counts as one of the wearers magic items (taking up the head slot, or one of the eight magic item slots). While in hat form, the Cassisians breath weapon's range, damage and save, and spell-like abilities caster level and save DC's are based on either the Cassisian's CR and abilities or the wearers, whichever is greater and the Cassisian may choose to act on it's own or it's wearers initiative count, once chosen, it can't be changed for the rest of the encounter. The wearer gains the Cassisian's Judgement, Darkvision, Protective Aura, and Spell-Like Abilities, Tongues, as well as the effect of Sriep's Haste Vision. The wearer and Cassisian may speak telepathically to each other.

Change Shape (Su): A Cassisian may take the form a small sized child wearing a whatever the Cassisian's current headgear appearance. If the headgear is removed, the Cassisian reverts to it's true form.

Spell-Like Abilities: At Will: Detect Evil, Know Direction, Aid, Daylight, 1/week Commune (six questions).

Pixels · Post by **Pixels** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 1:04 am

That's ridiculously expensive for its utility and mechanically picky. I was imagining something more like: "A bicycle doubles the ground overland movement speed of a humanoid or roughly humanoid-shaped creature on any terrain where a horse could move. Costs 75 gp, weighs 25 lbs that do not count against encumbrance while in use." It's a horse that slows down if you're wearing heavy armor, speeds up if you're a fast runner, and weighs you down if you want to carry it into a dungeon.

Failing that, I don't see any reason you couldn't use a trained horse like any other D&D character. You won't have perfect control like you would with a Pokeball'd horse, you won't be able to evolve it, and if it dies you won't be able to use a Rest Slab to revive it, but those are all minor drawbacks compared to locking up a control slot.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 1:39 am

Character looks good, Rad.

Pixels- yeah, that sounds about right. I, as a player, would rather have a horse over a bike, since I could evolve it, but that's reasonable for a bike (and lets say bikes fold, because that's not really a difficult feat of engineering)

edit: oh, character age- I'd prefer adults, and by that, I mean age of majority according to the PHB. So 15 year old humans, at least.

radthemad4 · Post by **radthemad4** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 10:16 am

Cool. I ditched Armor and a Crossbow for a Magebred Light Warhorse.

OgreBattle · Post by **OgreBattle** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 1:22 am

Prak wrote:I was thinking earlier today about pokemon taking class levels

In a way that's a good substitute for IV/EV shenanigans

Pixels · Post by **Pixels** » Sun Dec 21, 2014 12:25 am

Luca, and his crew of Pokemon. Crunch is all there, backstory is in subject to tweaks or veto from Prak.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sun Dec 21, 2014 2:16 am

OgreBattle wrote:
Prak wrote:I was thinking earlier today about pokemon taking class levels
In a way that's a good substitute for IV/EV shenanigans

It would be a good way to do it, but I would think it's best to basically make classes specifically for that, rather than saying "Charmander is Attack IV-trained, so he has three levels of Barbarian"

Pixels- looks good.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Sun Dec 21, 2014 6:00 am

Hmm. I might join this, although I have a few questions:

1. Is it OK with everyone if my character wants to become the leader of a villainous team? He'll offer Admin positions to anyone in the party (assuming they're Evil, and he thinks/knows this). His goals are long-term enough that he should play nice with other party members.

2. Also, can I take Child Necromancer as a Warlock? (It sort-of has a Necromancy caster level, and either the Bone or Death Spheres would fit the Necromancy spells-known requirement, if you houseruled that Sphere SLAS count for that. Thematically I think it's cool but rules-wise it definitely doesn't work.)

2b. Barring that, can we do some sort of Pokemon ACF for Dread Necromancer? (Basically my character's villainous team plan is to use Ghost-types to do all of their crazy soul-eating abilities listed in their Pokedex entries and use this army to do whatever the fuck he wants. Necromancy is the obvious path to this plan. And I want him to specifically be a Child Necromancer because I think it's awesome to have the wannabe BBEG be the person who looks the most like the stereotypical 10-year old Pokemon trainer.)

3. Finally, I'm also considering using your Kitsune, if that's alright with you. I know there was some discussion on its power and it's from a different campaign setting, but it appears to be written with Tome material in mind and I thought it'd be cool to play, especially since the Realms has not-Japan in it (which presumably has youkai). Makes my above concept basically be a cross between Shippo and Hellmaster Phibrizzo (sp?) which is fun to imagine.

If this isn't cool with everyone I can come up with a new character concept.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sun Dec 21, 2014 6:37 am

I'm willing to allow Child Necromancer to affect SLAs of the Necromancy school, at least until people think it starts causing problems, in which case we'll revisit it, ditto the Kitsune race I wrote up, and it's inherent basic spehere.

That said, I re-read the description, and realized a couple of fluff things that should probably be mechanically represented- so any encounter with a dog, or dog-like pokemon (specifically dog-like, not fox-like, so houndour/oom and pooch/mightyena, but not fenniken or vulpix) will force a Will save (dc 10+1/2 creature's HD+creature's Cha) vrs fleeing, and if you fail by 5 or more, you'll revert to fox form if in human. Also, any diplomacy or bluff check that involves an implication of you getting Aburage will get a +4 bonus (but of course that will come up fairly rarely).

Pixels · Post by **Pixels** » Mon Dec 22, 2014 6:26 am

Evil PCs are all fine by me, as long as evil isn't used as a synonym for "be an enormous dick to everybody, especially the party."

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Mon Dec 22, 2014 6:44 am

Pixels wrote:Evil PCs are all fine by me, as long as evil isn't used as a synonym for "be an enormous dick to everybody, especially the party."

I don't have any intention of dicking around with the party. When I play evil characters (or any character for that matter) I make sure they're willing to be team players. And while my character is willing to kill people outside of the party, for the most part he'll just play up his "innocent cute animal/child" act to try and get what he wants. He's only really cruel and merciless to his enemies. Also, his big goals are long term enough that he won't really be whipping out BBEG shit until well after the events of this campaign.

Prak wrote:I'm willing to allow Child Necromancer to affect SLAs of the Necromancy school, at least until people think it starts causing problems, in which case we'll revisit it, ditto the Kitsune race I wrote up, and it's inherent basic spehere.

That said, I re-read the description, and realized a couple of fluff things that should probably be mechanically represented- so any encounter with a dog, or dog-like pokemon (specifically dog-like, not fox-like, so houndour/oom and pooch/mightyena, but not fenniken or vulpix) will force a Will save (dc 10+1/2 creature's HD+creature's Cha) vrs fleeing, and if you fail by 5 or more, you'll revert to fox form if in human. Also, any diplomacy or bluff check that involves an implication of you getting Aburage will get a +4 bonus (but of course that will come up fairly rarely).

Seems legit. Does Eevee count as a doglike creature for this purpose? I was considering taking an Eevee as my starter, and possibly trying to evolve it into some sort of ghost thing in the future.

There are a few other things I need to figure out while making my character (sorry for asking you so many damn questions):

1. How does equipment interact with my alternate form? Can I pick up items (since it functions as disguise self, I guess no, but I figure it's worth asking).
2. What D&D creatures count as Ghost Pokemon? Other than Vivacious creatures (which don't really fit with my character's motif, b/c they're also Light) and (presumably) other incorporeal and ethereal creatures (which tend to start around CR 3?) I want to see if I can actually start out with one. Would Phantom creatures (MMV) be Ghosts? How about creatures from the Plane of Shadow (shadow asps, shadow mastiffs, etc. I'd imagine those are Ghost/Dark)?
3. Are Necromantic feats allowed?
4. For spells with Corruption costs (such as many of the ones in the Carnage sphere), do you still have to pay the cost if it's a SLA? Typically, SLAs ignore all components and costs, but I have no idea if that applies to Corrupt spells. The BoVD and the Tome of Fiends are both very quiet about this subject.

Anyhow, for the two stat arrays I got (this was rolling 4d6 drop lowest, if that's incorrect I can reroll):
15, 14, 11, 11, 16, 13
13, 14, 14, 16, 14, 12
Out of the two, I'd go for the second, but I'll go with rad's 2nd set if that's OK (the rule is take your pick out of any of the party's rolls, right?)