New Class -- Headhunter

[serleran]

I do not say this class is perfect, and it is completely without play test. However, any feedback would be appreciated...

Headhunter

Prime: Wisdom
HD: d6
Alignment: Usually non-lawful and never good
Weapons Allowed: Net, lasso, bola, blowpipe, sling, staff, staff sling, dagger, short bow, and sickle
Armor Allowed: Any non-metal plus small (wooden) shield
Abilities: Craft fetish, chatterbox, brew poison, ambush, track, jungle living, command the dead, imbue skull, strength of the dead, reanimate, and blood runes

Headhunters are savage primitives with a deep fascination for the dead coming from a culture where the fallen are not only honored but retained, sometimes through consumption and others through the ritual practice of creating fetishes, known as “shrunken heads” in other parts of the world. In many cases, a headhunter will remove the skull of an enemy or ally and transform it through mystic practice into a tool, the process very carefully guarded and virtually unheard of outside their realms (on Windswept, this class is restricted to Garnock Grim where it is available to goblins and marshfellow.) They have unparalleled knowledge of their environments, capable of recognizing the dark dangers in which they dwell and are notorious for use of poison darts and arrows, collected from particular plants and animals (mostly tree frogs) nearby – this poison is legendary outside these lands and can command a considerable price but handling it, and especially making it, is very difficult so most (at least those considered sane) who are interested in it do so for mere curiosity.

Level ... HD (d6) ... BtH ... Abilities ... XP
1 ... 1 ... +0 ... Craft Fetish, Chatterbox, Brew Poison, Ambush, Track, Jungle Living ... 0
2 ... 2 ... +1 ... -- ... 2250
3 ... 3 ... +1 ... Command the Dead ... 5500
4 ... 4 ... +2 ... -- ... 11000
5 ... 5 ... +2 ... Imbue Skull ... 25000
6 ... 6 ... +3 ... -- ... 50000
7 ... 7 ... +3 ... Strength of the Dead ... 110000
8 ... 8 ... +4 ... -- ... 220000
9 ... 9 ... +4 ... Reanimate ... 500000
10 ... 9, +1 ... +5 ... -- ... 1000000
11 ... 9, +2 ... +5 ... Blood Runes ... 1750000
12 ... 9, +3 ... +6 ... -- ... 2500000
13+ ... 9, +1 HP / level ... +1 / 2 levels ... -- ... +500000 / level

Craft Fetish: A headhunter can transform a recently acquired skull into a fetish, a form of limited sentient magic item. To do so, the individual that will provide the requisite components must have died from injuries that do not damage the head (that is, one killed by blunt trauma is unlikely to be usable) and must have passed within 1 day per level of the headhunter. Then, a complex ritual similar to a religious ceremony is performed, the skull subject to various baths and treatments; these raw elements have a negligible cost but it does take 1 week, plus 1 day per level of the victim, for the fetish to form properly. When complete, the skull retains whatever intelligence its living counterpart possessed, including memories and experiences. However, it is somewhat restricted when it comes to class-based abilities, such as spellcasting, or those which are skill oriented like most that rely on a mental stat. A spellcaster donor may recall one single spell, chosen by the Castle Keeper, which it knew in life and can cast it once per day using itself as a replacement for any material component. The fetish also gives access to one mental skill, such as decipher script, determined by the Castle Keeper; a non-spellcasting fetish may bestow up to two additional skills. The fetish does maintain any language knowledge and can function as a translator if needed. In all cases, these abilities never improve and are at the same level the being that provides them had – for example, the skull of a 3rd level thief might grant traps, poison use, and decipher script, never to be increased and always resolved at 3rd level ability. Fetish skills are always Prime. Because of the potency of this effect, a headhunter may only have one fetish active at any time, although they may possess any number of them; having two or more actually causes them to bicker and fight, each demanding their superiority and refusing to operate until the others are removed.

Chatterbox: Headhunters can speak with the dead and seem to have great affinity for them. This appears in two ways: 1) when a headhunter picks up a skull and asks a question of it, an effect identical to speak with dead manifests but the spirit must answer the first question and it must be honest and truthful. Any subsequent questions are handled normally for the spell, including the potential need for Charisma check. However, the dead being wants to talk – it will eagerly communicate, so even a failed check results in some answer, probably about something completely unrelated, but there is always a response. 2) Whenever intelligent undead are encountered, they are not initially and automatically hostile to a headhunter, but prefer to banter and parlay. That does not mean the headhunter cannot make the undead unfriendly, or that there is no dislike toward others in a group, only that the undead see the headhunter as a possible friend. In general, if the headhunter approaches them in kind, these types of undead are willing to provide a great deal of information such as what they know of a dungeon layout, locations of secret doors, etc, simply because they are relieved to have someone around who will listen. The first activation can be produced once per level per day; the second is at will, as needed, but Castle Keepers are encouraged to make this creepy and cumbersome – after all, an undead that has found itself a living ally might ask for favors, possibly those which the headhunter might not want to honor.

Brew Poison (Wisdom): By collecting residues, powders, and bodily fluids from a variety of plants and animals native to their homelands, a headhunter is able to create a powerful poison. The effects of the poison are two-fold: an initial failure to resist results in immediate cessation of movement, lapsing into a paralyzed state. Within the next 1d3 days, a second save is allowed to resist death, the first 6 hours of which the victim is unconscious and incapable of any action except those of a purely mental nature. Making the poison is virtually costless, as it is wholly natural and readily available. However, the process to make it requires a check, not only to get the dosage right, but to avoid making a mistake that will result in the headhunter being affected by their own poison. Likewise, when applying poison to a weapon, the headhunter must assume certain information about their intended target such as weight, health, and the like so a check must be made or the poison was not enough to cause a result. Brewing a vat of poison, which is generally enough for 1d3+1 applications, requires one full month. Anyone not skilled in the use of this specific poison (which by default is none of the classes in the PHB, including assassin) are always subject to accidental self-infliction and must make any relevant check at -5.

Ambush (Dexterity): A headhunter with intimate knowledge of an area, whether through personal experience or told to them by a fetish, can use that information to deadly results. This ability effectively combines the concealment and move silently abilities of the ranger and rogue class as found in the C&C PHB. In addition, if the check is successful and the victim(s) unaware, the headhunter gains the benefits of the back attack ability as well. It is suggested that only natural terrains, primarily jungles, swamps, morasses, and others of the same ilk, can have this skill effectively utilized within them and that the headhunter has spent at least 1 week scouting and familiarizing themselves – it is not an ability that should be allowed at all times in all places.

Track (Wisdom): Headhunters are able to follow and track enemies and those who might try to flee from them, this ability identical to the tracking of a ranger.

Jungle Living: Having spent much time in harsh environments, a headhunter has come to recognize the inherent dangers of jungles and swamps, able to identify possible locations of natural dangers such as quicksand, pitfalls, and the like and can also identify dangerous animals by sight. Further, a headhunter knows the routines of these animals – where they nest, when and where they’re active, what they eat and so forth. Likewise, the headhunter can identify the same sorts of details for plants native to jungles / swamps. To resist or avoid these, a +2 bonus should be given for any relevant check or save that the Castle Keeper might implement.

Command the Dead (Wisdom): Headhunters can request the dead do their bidding, the effect like that of the clerical command undead described in the C&C PHB. A headhunter has a -2 penalty, however, as if the ability were at 2 levels lower.

Imbue Skull: A headhunter can empower an existing fetish with a more powerful effect, giving it one spell-like ability as if it were originally a spellcaster. For this, the player gets to select the spell to be bestowed, but it must be of a spell level the character could cast if the headhunter were a wizard (or druid) of equal level -2. If the Castle Keeper wishes to allow it, a skull can be imbued with full class ability, rather than being restricted to a few skills, instead of gaining a spell power. Any single fetish may only be affected by this ability once and the rule governing the number of operative fetishes remains unchanged. It takes 3 months time to imbue the skull.

Strength of the Dead: By utterly destroying an undead creature, a process that prevents that being from ever being returned to living (or undead) state, a headhunter can temporarily gain any physical advantages that form of undead might have such as a resistance to nonmagical weapons, incorporeality, tremendous strength, or grotesque form. The undead to be so affected must be prepared for the ritual, a process requiring 1 hour, and then sacrificed which takes another 1d4 hours. The headhunter retains any enhancements for one hour per level, plus 30 minutes per HD of the donated undead. An undead need not be willing for this power to work but most will fight against it unless commanded otherwise.

Reanimate: Once per day, a headhunter can create an undead creature either through the use of animate dead or either of the create undead spells found in the C&C PHB. This ability can be applied to a creature that has been killed and animated previously unless the death (or for undead already animated) was such that reanimation is not possible. Undead made in this way are not automatically in the control of their creator.

Blood Runes: Through self-sacrifice, a headhunter is able to imbue their weapons with fell energy producing effects mimicking very powerful magic. Any of these effects require the headhunter to surrender an amount of HP, which are regained only (magical healing has no effect on these “wounds”) if the weapon is destroyed, as noted. It is possible to gain multiple effects through accumulation of HP loss. It takes one day per HP lost to imbue a weapon in this way. The base item cannot be magical and must qualify as an “expert item.”

Melee Weapon
HP Loss ... Effect
10 ... Dancing
12 ... Wounding
16 ... Vampiric Regeneration
20 ... Featheredge
22 ... Nine-Life Stealer
26 ... Vorpal

Ranged Weapon
HP Loss ... Effect
10 ... Distance
12 ... Accuracy
16 ... Returning
20 ... Bane
24 ... Oath

[Treebore]

I like it! I think you have the powers nicely spread out and I think it does a great job of evoking the feel of the people that this class represents.

[koralas]

I like the concept, I think it is a bit over-powered at this stage especially at low levels, but a great start.

I think 1st level is too loaded with abilities, and think that Craft Fetish should be moved to 2nd level. I am struggling a bit with Chatterbox. First I would change the level it is gained, or break it into two abilities. Next, I like the first portion of the ability, but not sure I like the part about intelligent undead, at least not a low level. I like the part about the parlay, but that the undead would gladly give up the information about their lair is very odd to me. At higher levels, and with some sort of SIEGE check, or exceptional role-play interaction, then I could see this coming into play, but if there are others in the group that the undead would be hostile or suspicious of, the creature would be much less likely to give up the information. With Chatterbox, I'd at least move the ability to 3rd level, or if breaking into two abilities (or improving the ability) I would place it at 2nd level and 6th level.

Also with Craft Fetish, I think a listing of what skills can be gleaned from "donors" of a particular class would be a good idea. Further, if a skill is attempted that requires a SIEGE check, and it was a prime from the "donor" I would grant a +3 rather than making it prime, this would show it providing a bonus to the character even if the character has that particular ability as a prime already. Basically hints on how to pick the trap, pointing out details on tracking, etc.

Under Ambush, remove the reference to the rogue class as one could then argue that move silently can be used at any time, not just in natural surroundings. Also, consider changing from Back Attack to the Assassin's Sneak Attack ability, not quite as powerful, but allows for a ranged weapon.

Strength of the Dead - How does one insure the utter destruction of the creature?

Also, just to clean up the look of the chart I copied it into Notepad, cleaned it up, and pasted it inside of the code block. I haven't changed any ability placement, but rather put it here as your original.

Code: Select all

Level HD (d6)  BtH      XP           Abilities
   1     1      +0          0   Craft Fetish, Chatterbox, Brew Poison,
                                 Ambush, Track, Jungle Living 
   2     2      +1       2250   -- 
   3     3      +1       5500   Command the Dead 
   4     4      +2      11000   -- 
   5     5      +2      25000   Imbue Skull 
   6     6      +3      50000   --
   7     7      +3     110000   Strength of the Dead 
   8     8      +4     220000   -- 
   9     9      +4     500000   Reanimate 
  10     9, +1  +5    1000000   -- 
  11     9, +2  +5    1750000   Blood Runes 
  12     9, +3  +6    25000000  -- 
  13+   HP:+1/level, BTH: +1/2 levels, XP: +500000/level

[Treebore]

He does not say they will give up information about their lair. He says they will give information about the dungeon they might be in, up to and including any secret doors they know about. Besides, if the Head Hunter is talking to the intelligent undead it is likely because they already entered the actual lair of the undead creature within the dungeon.

As for the other factors, that is when we decide on a CL and have them make a CHA roll.

As for Chatterbox, it could be powerful, but that would only be when I want it to be. I decide what those skulls know, and how much they know about it. Most of them, or all of them if it is what I wish as CK, will simply say, "I don't know anything." Same with parlaying with intelligent undead, the CK decides what is disclosed as well as how accurate it is. Like the Vampire may tell me where a great treasure vault is, but he may still neglect to warn of the Lich and his minions still there guarding it, because the Vampire wants something the lich has, but knows he cannot get in there until the lich is destroyed. So while he is being friendly and helpful to the Head Hunter, he may still be ultimately looking out for its own interests first.

My biggest concern would be the poison. Its comparable to the Assassins Type VI, and they can make it at first level. This is the one I would change to a higher level. Probably 8th or 9th.

It also would not hurt anything to make the character wait until second level to get Chatterbox or the Fetish skill. You could also add in limitations of use, such as Chatterbox can only be used once per 24 hours plus maybe CHA or WIS bonus, gaining an additional use once every 3 levels. Making Fetish's are already time intensive, so can be controlled that way, as well as providing limited opponents worthy of making into a fetish in the first place.

Edit: Real nice job on the new chart!

[koralas]

Considering the players are most likely to encounter the creature in it's own lair, I made that assumption and wasn't really thinking of giving up details of another dungeon, or dungeon level as the case may be.

Serl has Chatterbox usable 1xDay/Level, maybe a bit to frequent and limiting it further would probably be a good thing.

The poison is similar in nature to a combination of Type IV and Type V, it incapacitates and a subsequent failure results in death. Unless I am missing something, which is quite possible since the Assassin is so rarely used in games I have played in, I don't see that there is a level limit on the Assassin making a particular type of poison. Even if using the Type as the CL, Type VI would make the TN an 18, still make able at first level, difficult, but doable.

Thanks on the chart, the code block is great for that, realized that it was showing everything in a mono-spaced font a few years ago on a different site, glad it is here as well.

[Treebore]

C&C does not specify how and when Assassins can make poisons. This is another reason why my house rules document is lengthy.

[Troll Root]

This is definitely interesting. I would like to try this out and see how it plays. This would also be fun to bring into our my game to see how the players react to it! This could really be fun!!