The Gaming Den

Prak_Anima wrote:More from tumblr:


I kind of want there to be a prestige class for this idea now.

This took longer than promised because I decided to go to bed instead.

Distressing Damsel
"Woe is me, these fools keep rushing to my rescue."

Note: this is unlikely to mesh with the established flavour of dragons in basically every game ever. It is the author's intention that you shrug and go "I don't care, the dragon flavour is dumb anyway".

Requirements:
Sex: Female
Skills: Knowledge (Arcana) 8 ranks, Bluff 8 ranks, Disguise 4 ranks
Special: must have been abducted and taught by a Dragon

Hit Die: 1d10
Skill Points: 4 + Int
Class Skills: Appraise, Bluff, Concentration, Disguise, Gather Information, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (Any), Listen, Perform, Search, Sense Motive, Spot, Use Magic Device, Use Rope

Level:	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Special	Natural Armour
1	+1	+2	+0	+2	First Draconic Transformation	+4
2	+2	+3	+0	+3	Eternal Senses of the Dragon, Where Are My Pearls?	+5
3	+3	+3	+1	+3	Second Draconic Transformation	+5
4	+4	+4	+1	+4	Eternal Breath of the Dragon	+6
5	+5	+4	+1	+4	Eternal Wings of the Dragon	+6
6	+6	+5	+2	+5	Carried Away	+7
7	+7	+5	+2	+5	Third Draconic Transformation	+7
8	+8	+6	+2	+6	Eternal Arcana of the Dragon	+8
9	+9	+6	+3	+6	Anti-Knight Tactics	+8
10	+10	+7	+3	+7	Final Draconic Transformation	+9

Weapon and Armour Proficiencies: the Distressing Damsel gains proficiency with all natural weapons, but no new types of armour or shield.

First Draconic Transformation (Su): right from the start, the Distressing Damsel gains the ability to actually transform into a dragon and back at will. Doing so requires a Full Round Action. When transformed into a dragon, she gains the following changes:

• Her Natural Armour Bonus gets a +4 Enhancement Bonus.
• Her Type changes to Dragon.
• She gains the Powerful Build special ability.
• She grows wings which allow a Fly speed equal to double her land speed with Poor manoeuvrability. She also gains a Swim Speed equal to double her land speed, and the usual benefits of that.
• She gains two Primary Claw attacks (1d6+Str for a Medium creature) and a Primary Bite attack (1d8+Str for a Medium creature)
• She gains a +4 Racial Bonus to Strength and Constitution
• She gains Damage Reduction X/Magic, where X equals her class level.
• She gains Low-Light Vision, and Darkvision 60'. Just by looking at an object or pile of objects, she can intrinsically know its market value before any magical effects are applied.
• She gains a Breath Weapon that requires a Standard Action to use, and has a recharge time of 3 rounds. It deals 1d6 Fire damage per hit die in a Medium range Cone. There is a Reflex Save for half (Constitution-based).
• Her equipment melds into her form for safekeeping and provides no ongoing effects.
• She becomes a Quadruped - if she is larger than Medium, the size is appdended with Long rather than Tall.

Natural Armour (Ex): even in her natural form, the Distressing Damsel is actually quite resilient. She has a Natural Armour Bonus equal to half her level (round down), plus four. If she already has a bigger Natural Armour Bonus, use that instead.

Eternal Senses of the Dragon (Ex): starting at second level, the Distressing Damsel always has superior senses, no matter her form: she gains the Scent ability, Low-Light Vision, Darkvision out to 120' plus 5' per hit die and Blindsense out to 30' plus 5' per 2 hit dice (round down). Additionally, she gains a Competence Bonus on Spot, Search, Listen and Sense Motive checks equal to her hit dice. Furthermore, as part of her Scent, she can sniff out the auras of Magic Items: she constantly benefits from Detect Magic, but only for items, and can always track the strongest magical item within 1 mile per level. The DC is a flat 15 to do so, +5 for each 5' square of Anti-Magic Field or Dead Magic Zone in the way.

Where Are My Pearls? (Ex): at second level, a Distressing Damsel has a special version of Scent that applies to precious metals, gems, paintings, and any other in theme shiny thing that both girls and dragons like. This extends to however far your DM says it extends. You're probably going to forget about this ability anyway.

Second Draconic Transformation (Su): at level three, the Distressing Damsel's transformation becomes more terrifying. It functions as normal, except for as follows:

• She loses the Powerful Build ability, instead gaining Large Size as a Bonus Feat even if she doesn't meet the requirements.
• Her natural weapons are all actually Magic weapons, with an Enhancement Bonus equal to her level divided by 3 (round up).
• She becomes Immune to Fire, as well as Paralysis and Sleep.
• Her Damage Reduction is now bypassed only by Magical Adamantium effects.
• Her Fly speed doubles, as does her Swim speed. She may hold her breath for ten times as long.
• She gains a Primary Tail Slap attack (1d8+Str*1.5 for a Medium creature).

Eternal Breath of the Dragon (Su): starting at level four, the Distressing Damsel can use her breath weapon even when in her normal form. Whenever she does this, she becomes Immune to Fire until the beginning of her next turn.

Eternal Wings of the Dragon (Ex): at level five, the Distressing Damsel can grow and hide her draconic wings at will when in her normal form. This grants flight just like her dragon form (four times her land speed, Poor manoeuvrability).

Carried Away (Ex): at level six, it starts to become time that the Distressing Damsel considers training others. As such, she becomes better at grabbing things and carrying them around. With a Full Round Action, she may Fly up to her full speed, attempt to Grab a target, and then Fly up to her full speed again. The movement and Grab do not provoke Attacks of Opportunity from the target. If she successfully Grabs them and their weight does not constitute a Heavy load for her (or heavier), they are considered to be Pinned and she can carry them around at will (until they manage to escape).

Third Draconic Transformation (Su): at level seven, the Draconic Transformation of the Distressing Damsel becomes more extreme. The following changes take place:

• She regains Powerful Build, and because of this pseudo-size change, she can't actually take the Huge Size feat. This grants bonus damage to all of her natural weapons of +1d6 per three hit dice (round up). This only applies once per round to any given natural weapon.
• Her Fly speed is doubled yet again, as is her Swim Speed.
• She gains Telepathy out to 100 feet, and can see invisible creatures as though she had See Invisible active.
• Her Breath Weapon Blinds all who fail the Reflex Save, for 2 rounds, as smoke obscures their vision and their eyes are seared by the light and heat. This only applies when used as a Fire breath.
• She gains Fast Healing equal to her Constitution Bonus
• She radiates fear as a Supernatural ability: any time she uses her breath weapon or charges, all creatures within 30 feet must pass a Will Save (Charisma-based) or Panic for 3 rounds.
• She gains an Enhancement Bonus to her Strength, Charisma and Constitution of +1 per 3 hit dice (round up).

Eternal Arcana of the Dragon (Sp): at level eight, the Distressing Damsel always has certain magical effects available, no matter what form she takes. At will, she may cast Detect Thoughts, Razorfangs, Wings of Air, Scintillating Scales, Adoration of the Frightful, Hiss of Sleep and Breath Weapon Substitution. Three times each per day, she may cast Suggestion, Wreath of Flames and Ferocity of Sanguine Rage. Once each per day, she may cast Animate Breath, Breath Weapon Admixture, Find the Path, Locate Object, Curse of the Elemental Lords and Maddening Whispers. She is treated as a Great Wyrm Red Dragon for the purpose of forming Dragon Pacts and similar things - likewise, if she ever has children, they are almost guaranteed to be Sorcerers with access to Red Dragon ancestry.

Anti-Knight Tactics (Ex): the ninth-level Distressing Damsel needs to be able to crack open the tinned meat known as knights, as they are the enemy. With a Standard Action, she may put all her strength into an attack with a single natural weapon, causing it to be resolved as a Touch Attack. She may also sweep her tail in a circle around her with a Full Round Action: all creatures within her threatened area must pass a Reflex Save (Strength-based) or take damage from her Tail Slap and fall Prone. She may also, when using a Move Action to fly, take her Standard Action at any point during the movement, such as to fly 20 feet along, unleash her breath weapon, then keep flying. Finally, anything that takes damage from her Breath Weapon suffers from a Heat Metal effect, skipping the first two rounds. The Save DC for this is the same as the initial save for the Breath Weapon.

Final Draconic Transformation (Su): at tenth level, the Distressing Damsel gains her final transformation ability. This adjusts her draconic form with the following changes:

• She gains Huge Size as a Bonus Feat, even though she doesn't meet the prerequisites. Remember to increase her natural reach.
• She becomes immune to [Death] effects, and the Damage Reduction becomes 10/-.
• She gains Regeneration 5, overcome by Cold damage or removal of the head.
• She now becomes Amphibious and immune to Acid damage.
• She gains Spell Resistance of 11 plus her hit dice.

---

So you take this not as a spellcaster - this isn't the Dragon Disciple. In fact, it doesn't advance any class features, so you probably enter it as a martial character or roguish type that gets skills and things. Entering this is an actual change of career, which is why what it does is as strong as it is. If you enter it as a Gnome, you can still end up Huge sized at level 15, whereas a Human who does it will become Gargantuan. If you pulled some tricks to get access to [Fiend] feats, then yes, you can become innately Large/Huge with the transformation making you Colossal/Awesome, and it's level 15 so that's pretty rad but not likely to break the game, what with you flying around, breathing on things for HP damage and status afflictions, and smacking things for melee damage. If you grapple something you will win, if something lets you full attack it you will win, and you have a suite of handy tricks and immunities/resistances. It may or may not be as good as just being a fifteenth-level Wizard, depending on the individual Wizard.

//

That is fair enough. I'll work some of those abilities in, change the stat modifiers to specific ones that are less "Add Texas to your Strength" and slap some extra straight-up damage onto it.

//

46 strength at level 15... plus up to another 4 the next level...

Yeah, a level 16 character with 50 strength is problematic. I mean, I'm looking at this from the perspective of a group which won't completely optimize and break the game in half. I could see a place for this in Greyhawk, and would like to present it as an option in the campaign I'm working on (not that anyone will take it, no matter how well it's written, but...), but a class that bumps you to 50 strength with no hoops or out-smarting the system will feel broken to them.

Take a look now, and see what you think.

For the record, although now there is the ability to Swim, and eventually be able to breathe water and be immune to Acid, because Black Dragons are cool, I can't be fucked actually changing the Spell-Like Abilities, nor providing options for other colours.

It looks good. Like I said, there's a place this could fit in Greyhawk--a "gynarchy" with political ties to the actual city of Greyhawk. I like the idea of an esoteric tradition within the structure of the Gynarchy to train an elite force able to repel anything Greyhawk threw at it if the time ever came.

//

Already did get the Swim Speed - it's just level 10 that she can breathe underwater. I can drop that back further as well if it's important.

Knocked the sizes around. Now it goes:
1 (6): Powerful Build
3 (8): Large, Magic Weapons, -Powerful Build
7 (12): Powerful Build, Bonus Damage
10 (15): Huge, -Powerful Build

On reflection, I don't know why I bothered wording it so they can't take Huge Size early, now that tenth level specifically gives them that, and not "an unnamed extra size increase".

You forgot to actually write in -Powerful Build at level 10.

Awesome, I could totally have fun with this in a campaign, although i might end up doing some minor refluffing to something like dragonlord or dragonlady or whatever.

EDIT: Considering the original fluff, you might want to give them diplomacy as a class skill so they can convince their new wards that they're not going to eat them.

Wiseman wrote:Awesome, I could totally have fun with this in a campaign, although i might end up doing some minor refluffing to something like dragonlord or dragonlady or whatever.

EDIT: Considering the original fluff, you might want to give them diplomacy as a class skill so they can convince their new wards that they're not going to eat them.

Holy crap, I didn't even realize Koumei actually wrote class skills this time.

I actually think it's more hilarious if they don't have diplomacy.

//

Well it's totally true, and kind of funny as well.

And yes, these days I include class skills, but I'm half-assed about it.

Koumei wrote:Well it's totally true, and kind of funny as well.

And yes, these days I include class skills, but I'm half-assed about it.

Well, that's a nice compromise.