Questions tagged [character-templates]

Character templates are a mechanic in the D&D series of games for overlaying new mechanical and narrative trappings upon a character (PC, NPC, or monster).

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Can a warforged become a vampire?

As it says in the title: Can a Warforged (Monster Manual III, P190-191, 215, Eberron Campaign Setting, P20-24) become a vampire or vampire spawn? My research shows that a living construct type is ...
Monty Wild's user avatar
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Is an Eldritch Emissary's Antimagic Susceptibility(Su) suppressed by an AMF?

I had a conceptual itch that the Eldritch Emissary* template happened to scratch perfectly, except for on little thing: Antimagic Susceptibility Antimagic Vulnerability (Su): Because an eldritch ...
MarineByzaro's user avatar
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If a player gets Lycanthropy, does it start immediately? Or does it take a while?

If my players were fighting a werewolf and one of them got bit and failed the con save, would they instantly be able to transform? Or would they have to wait a while?
Diamond The Hedgehog's user avatar
6 votes
3 answers
593 views

Ways to benefit from Warshaper without losing my base form

I am looking at building a character with monstrous hit die and at least one level adjustment. This character focuses heavily on natural weapon attacks and I would like to include the Warshaper class (...
Benjamin's user avatar
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Does a dark tiefling need to eat?

Tieflings are Outsider (Native), which means they're native to the Material Plane. ToM's Dark Creature template makes a creature extraplanar when not on the Plane of Shadow. To me, this seems to imply ...
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Can you Wild Shape into a beast with the half-dragon template?

In D&D 5e, Half-Dragon is a template (MM, 180) that can be applied to any beast, humanoid, or giant. When I applied the Red Dragon Wyrmling's dragon breath - which deals 7d6 fire damage in a cone -...
TheDragonOfFlame's user avatar
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Can the half-dragon template have a negative impact on fly speed?

First example: A half-dragon astral deva. Astral devas normally have wings, but they're Medium, and the Half-Dragon template states that Medium half-dragons don't have wings. Does the Astral deva lose ...
47948201's user avatar
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How many primary/secondary attacks does a voidmind half-illithid/half-farspawn get?

Leaving aside how template stacking makes it unclear what the actual race/base creature should be--being half-illithid gives a creature four tentacles; being half-farspawn gives it up to four more, ...
47948201's user avatar
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Site with absurdly powerful characters for D&D 3/3.5 [closed]

A good ten years ago a friend of mine told me about a site somewhere where absurdly powerful characters for D&D 3/3.5 were listed, with detailed level-by-level character progression. As far as I ...
Zab Zonk's user avatar
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How to create a Titanic Creature?

The Monster Manual 2 gives us the Titanic template. This is a template that can be added to any medium or smaller animal or vermin. Among other things, it increases their size to Gargantuan. The book ...
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Where can I find the details of the Legion of Folded Paper Feat?

I've been tooling around with a Pathfinder 1E campaign of mine, specifically with trying out some templates for potential monster encounters. While I was doing this, I stumbled across the Ofuda ...
Areadbhair's user avatar
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Are augmented creatures considered their previous type?

For the simplest example, take a vampire, whose type is undead (augmented humanoid). Is it affected by hold person? If the augmented subtype doesn't cause a creature to have its other subtype as a "...
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Is there a template or feat that grants Air Walk as a spell-like or supernatural ability?

Is there a template (whether legal or not, and regardless of level adjustment) or feat which grants Air Walk as a Spell-like or Supernatural ability? Preferably at will. Any books including 3rd party, ...
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Party Paladin sold his soul to an evil goddess. Does he get a new character template now? (ie: deathknight, blackguard, etc.)

A PC died, and in an attempt to have his life spared, my group's paladin decided to offer his soul after he had a talk with the spiritual form of Lolth. Lolth decided to bargain for a trade of his ...
Drunken Commoner's user avatar
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What is the caster level of a summoned creature with the Greenbound template?

The Greenbound template gives your summoned creatures the ability to cast spell-like abilities, at will, with the description: Caster level equals greenbound creature's character level; save DC 10 +...
Nifusion's user avatar
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What counts as Hit Dice for the shadow creature template?

In a campaign that I am in, I play an elf that possesses the template shadow creature (Lord of Madness 167–8). My elf gains additional abilities from the template according to the number HD my elf ...
irishtatertot25's user avatar
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How do I add the Phrenic Spawn Creature Template to PCgen?

I want to add the Phrenic Spawn Template to PCgen. How would I go about doing this? Specifically, most of the regeneration and things like that I do not know how to add.
Leo's user avatar
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Can evil outsiders be sanctified?

In the Book of Exalted Deeds, there is a spell called Sanctify the Wicked. The effect of this spell essentially comes down to forcing an evil creature to undergo a year-long process which culminates ...
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What is the Level Adjustment of this Gorilla Avatar of Nature template?

This homebrew evaluation question now has a more recent iteration here: What is the Level Adjustment of this Gorilla Avatar of Nature template? (Version 2) I am DMing a D&D 3.5 campaign. I would ...
Connor Clarke's user avatar
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When a Changeling is granted an acquired template in one form, what forms does it apply to?

For an adventure I'm working on, I have a Changeling NPC character who's currently in a shape which would normally have the Earth subtype and is using Racial Emulation to gain that subtype. He's ...
Sonkuragari's user avatar
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How does a Half-Golem's magic immunity interact with its own magic?

I've seen a lot of threads on the Internet debating about the magic immunity of Half-Golems from MM2 but none of them answered or even brought up this question: How would a Half-Golem's magic ...
Sonkuragari's user avatar
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Does a human still get more feats and skill points when he acquires a template?

A feature of the human race is that they get an extra feat and extra skill points. If a player decides to play human with a half-troll template (Fiend Folio p.93), does he still get his extra feat ...
TheQ's user avatar
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How do I determine a dragon's new Challenge Rating when applying the Shadow Dragon template?

The Monster Manual contains a template whereby any true dragon may be turned into a shadow dragon. A shadow dragon differs from a true dragon in the following ways: It has resistance to necrotic ...
mdrichey's user avatar
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Can templates be made conditional? And if yes, how could that be balanced?

I was looking at the Shade template mentioned in the back of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting book (I'm not copying the template here because I'm not sure if that would violate a copyright) and ...
mtijn's user avatar
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Does Atavism give more bonuses on top of the Advanced template, or is it just summarizing?

From Druid 4th level spell Atavism: The animal immediately gains the advanced creature simple template. It gains a +2 bonus on all rolls, including damage rolls and special ability DCs, a +4 bonus ...
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Creating Zombie Ogres

I'm currently trying to figure out the zombie creation mechanic for mt Pathfinder campaign. I'd like to bring back some ogres my players fought in a previous encounter as undead but I'm finding the ...
Ron's user avatar
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Is there a revenant template that can be applied to existing monster statblocks?

In a campaign I'm running, I'm wanting to send a Revenant (MM p. 259) - or a few - after the party. It's of an Orc War Chief (MM p. 246) that they killed after they entered an Orc camp and killed ...
Arekkusu's user avatar
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Can touchsight detect a trickster creature under "hide from the world?"

A trickster creature is using its "hide from the world" feature. Hide from the World (Sp): At will, for one round per HD. This glamer functions like invisibility, except that it masks image,...
Mindwin Remember Monica's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
314 views

Saint template and Holy Touch (Su) damage

The supernatural ability Holy Touch from the Saint template reads: A saint's entire being is suffused with holy power, which likewise flows into any weapon the saint wields. A saint's melee attacks ...
Cellheim's user avatar
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How many levels does the Weretiger template take to complete and why?

I have been arguing for the past hour and a half with a character and I am tired. Please explain to me in words that can be understood: how does the Weretiger template takes 3+6+6-3 levels to complete?...
Gare Bear's user avatar
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1 answer
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Is the Saint, from Book of Exalted Deeds, broken?

An answer to this question: Protecting NPC's from Emissary of Barachiel claims that the Saint, from Book of Exalted Deeds, is pretty broken. Curious, I went and websearched for it. It looks like ...
Dan B's user avatar
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Can I play a non-evil vampire?

I've been wanting to play a vampire, the full ECL 8 variant, but the whole “being evil” thing bugs me. Does one always have to be evil when wanting to play a vampire?
Jhyarelle Silver's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
1k views

How does Feytouched to Half-fey Level Adjustment work?

What is the overall LA of taking Feytouched and then taking the transition class to Half-Fey?
Cellheim's user avatar
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4 votes
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How does Level Adjustment buy-off work for templates acquired at different times?

If I have a character with a +2 LA template and after buying off the LA at level 9 acquire a +3 template, can I also buy off the first point of the second template's LA at level 9?
Cellheim's user avatar
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18 votes
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Building the template for a half-elf nymph in PCGen

A friend of mine wants to build a half-elf half-nymph using a homebrewed LA 3 half-nymph template, so I need to produce a half-nymph template for LA 3 in PCGen for that character. This means I need to ...
wolf's user avatar
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4 votes
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Can an intelligent clockwork creature wind itself?

If a clockwork construct has both intelligence and its own key, can it wind itself? Like the damascene drow... It has 13 intelligence.
Mindwin Remember Monica's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
684 views

If a dragon wizard gets Spellhoarding template do the dragon levels stack with wizard levels?

If a dragon gets spellhoarding templates and then takes class level in wizard do wizard levels and dragons hit dice stack or are they seperate? Also if they do stack then does the loredrake archetype ...
Maiko Chikyu's user avatar
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When gaining a level, can I take a CR+1 Template in place of a Class?

I'm curious about the actual rules regarding templates. In Pathfinder, when I have gained enough XP to level up, can I take a Template of CR+1 in place of a Class level? When I DM, I usually allow ...
Ev-'s user avatar
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4 votes
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Can a Monk with Lycanthropy use Flurry of Blows in Animal form?

I am about to begin playing a Pathfinder game in which I am playing an unchained monk. My character has the natural lycanthrope template applied and his animal form is that of a dire wolf. Can I ...
Steven Markovich's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
292 views

When applying a template, are a creature's saving throws recalculated as its new type if not explicitly mentioned in the template?

Consider two templates, the ghost and the skeleton. Both templates explicitly change the resulting creature's type to Undead, and both state the resulting creature "uses all the base creature's ...
Addamere's user avatar
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When applying multiple templates, are they applied concurrently or consecutively?

Pathfinder is pretty clear about the ability to stack templates, as there are multiple published examples of such. At issue is that some templates would seem mutually exclusive if templates are ...
Addamere's user avatar
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What defensive abilities does a Dragon retain when the Skeleton template is applied?

I am having issues applying the Skeleton template to Dragons due to ambiguity or omissions in the Paizo rules. Rules for Dragons appear on pg. 90–91 in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary and the ...
Addamere's user avatar
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What happens if a vampire bites an NPC?

I have an NPC who is a vampire. When he bites another NPC or PC, is there the possibility, following the D&D 3.5 rules, that the victim will become a vampire or half-vampire? If someone heals the ...
GiordiX's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
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Does a symbiotic creature get two turns?

Savage species adds the 'symbiotic creature' template. As I read it, this template has to be added to two creatures, which 'merges' them into one. However, per my interpretation, they are still two ...
Arthaban's user avatar
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7 votes
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How do the Incarnate Construct spell interact with half-golems?

Monster Manual II introduced half-golems: you can have a golem limb attached to replace a missing one, and if you fail a will save, you gain the construct type. Savage Species introduced the ...
fectin's user avatar
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3 votes
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What character options allow receiving random visions?

I'd like to introduce to my campaign a human NPC that suffers from vague and uncontrollable visions of the future. Are there classes, feats, magic items, or templates that give such an ability?
Giorin's user avatar
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8 votes
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Can you tell when something has a template?

Let's go with something easy: you see an eagle watching you from a tree. Is it possible to tell if its an eagle, or an eagle with either celestial template or fiendish template and thus most likely a ...
Fering's user avatar
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Is an Inveigler's failed Charming Falsehood obvious?

Third party publishing can yield strange things that don't always balance well, and I get that - that being said, the template for this question is being allowed at my table, and this is a question ...
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2 votes
1 answer
420 views

At which level adjustment would becoming a Lich be a good option for a Wizard? [closed]

I think the general consensus around here is that giving up four levels of Spellcasting (plus the XP an gold cost) to become a Lich wouldn't be a good choice for a Wizard (or Cleric for that matter). ...
0x539's user avatar
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10 votes
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What exactly are Special Qualities?

I am currently developing a tool which hopefully will allow me to choose a monster and a template. The tool will then automatically apply the template to the monster and change its stats accordingly. ...
Emanuel Oster's user avatar