Author Topic: Giant plant looking for a class to fill some levels  (Read 3607 times)

Offline Leviathan

  • Full Member
  • **
  • Posts: 170
    • View Profile
Giant plant looking for a class to fill some levels
« on: August 08, 2014, 02:04:32 AM »
I'm working on a gestalt build with Yellow Musk Creeper and Titanic Creature on one side and Evolutionist 10/Progenitor 10 on the other. Unfortunately, Yellow Musk Creeper only has 4 levels, and Titanic Creature only has 13: since 17 is less than 20, I'll need a few levels of another class. I'm trying to play up the "I'm a plant!" aspect, which means that many of the Titanic Creature "Bigger is Better" abilities (the active ones) aren't really compatible with my anatomy - I might only take a few levels of Titanic Creature, doubling up on the passive Size Matters abilities.

So I'm looking for one or more classes to fill 3 to 10 levels on one side of a gestalt. For thematic reasons, I don't want to be a spellcaster, nor do I want something that requires me to act like a warrior - plants weren't meant to wield weapons. Ideally, enemies should think that my army of minions (Yellow Musk Creeper, Evolutionist, and Progenitor each have ways to get other creatures fighting on my behalf) is the real threat, and I'm just part of the scenery. The class that occupies these levels should give me some subtle way to help my friends or hurt my enemies.

As you may have guessed from the classes I linked and the place I posted this, I'm very open to homebrew (whether from this project or from other sources). I can use Evolutionist to fulfill just about any prerequisite.

Offline skydragonknight

  • DnD Handbook Writer
  • ****
  • Posts: 2660
    • View Profile
Re: Giant plant looking for a class to fill some levels
« Reply #1 on: August 08, 2014, 03:05:44 AM »
3 levels?
Monster of Legend goes with most things. And Half-dragon only requires you to be "non-dragon" and is a solid 1-level dip.

The answer to how a plant has dragon blood is "Don't ask." Pick a dragon that has Fire or Acid immunity (be careful, since you get weaknesses too) and you will inherit it and cover half your regeneration vulnerabilities. Also you get a breath weapon that scales with hit dice, so that's kind of fun. Fire-breathing plant anyone?

Shade also looks like a neat choice and is exactly three levels. It would fix your 10' land speed (not sure if one of your other classes already does) and gives neat stuff like bonuses to hide/move silently, fast healing, SR, short-range teleport to shadows... Become a plant ninja?
Hmm.

Offline Leviathan

  • Full Member
  • **
  • Posts: 170
    • View Profile
Re: Giant plant looking for a class to fill some levels
« Reply #2 on: August 08, 2014, 12:33:59 PM »
All of those change my type, which I don't want to do. Unfortunately, most of the templates here do that.

Do you know of any martial initiators that could work with this concept? (I guess even the WotC initiators could work with the right discipline choices...)

Offline Rakoa

  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 356
  • No Problem
    • View Profile
Re: Giant plant looking for a class to fill some levels
« Reply #3 on: August 09, 2014, 02:56:06 PM »
All of those change my type, which I don't want to do. Unfortunately, most of the templates here do that.

Do you know of any martial initiators that could work with this concept? (I guess even the WotC initiators could work with the right discipline choices...)

To be fair, Monster of Legend doesn't actually change your type, it just adds the Outsider traits to your own type.

With that said, the Paragon template is one of my favourite go-to classes for literally anything.
The Paladin Code: Detect Evil, Smite it, ask questions later.

Offline phaedrusxy

  • DnD Handbook Writer
  • ****
  • Posts: 10708
  • The iconic spambot
    • View Profile
Re: Giant plant looking for a class to fill some levels
« Reply #4 on: August 09, 2014, 03:00:04 PM »
Is his name going to be Groot?  :lol
I don't pee messages into the snow often , but when I do , it's in Cyrillic with Fake Viagra.  Stay frosty my friends.

Offline Leviathan

  • Full Member
  • **
  • Posts: 170
    • View Profile
Re: Giant plant looking for a class to fill some levels
« Reply #5 on: August 09, 2014, 03:22:58 PM »
To be fair, Monster of Legend doesn't actually change your type, it just adds the Outsider traits to your own type.

I always figured that was just oslecamo being oslecamo, especially since it says you gain an augmented subtype - there wouldn't be much point in making me a Plant (Augmented Plant).

I hadn't considered Paragon, but the more I think about it the more I like it. Thanks!

Is his name going to be Groot?  :lol

What's this a reference to? I don't have a name yet.

Offline Rakoa

  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 356
  • No Problem
    • View Profile
Re: Giant plant looking for a class to fill some levels
« Reply #6 on: August 09, 2014, 06:42:40 PM »
No problem! And Groot is a reference to the new Guardians of the Galaxy movie.
The Paladin Code: Detect Evil, Smite it, ask questions later.

Offline Leviathan

  • Full Member
  • **
  • Posts: 170
    • View Profile
Re: Giant plant looking for a class to fill some levels
« Reply #7 on: August 09, 2014, 07:37:29 PM »
I haven't seen that movie, but my sister is seeing it tomorrow. From the previews, Groot might be some kind of treant. By the time I finish with titanic creature, I might call myself "Yellow Musk Creeper National Forest".

Offline Leviathan

  • Full Member
  • **
  • Posts: 170
    • View Profile
Re: Giant plant looking for a class to fill some levels
« Reply #8 on: August 12, 2014, 01:26:42 AM »
I've determined just how big this character could become. Yellow Musk Creeper starts at Medium and goes to Huge; Titanic Creature can then grow another size category every 4 HD (for a 20-level build, that's 5 more size categories), for a total of Colossal+++. A Colossal creature's largest dimension is typically 64-128 feet, so a Colossal+++ creature can expect its longest dimension to be between 512 and 1024 feet - between 1/10th and 1/5th of a mile. A circle whose diameter is 1024 feet has an area of about 0.0295 square miles, or 18.9 acres. For simplicity, I'll decide that, when I reach Colossal+++, I'll take up 16 acres.

HDSize CategoryArea
1Medium43 square feet
2-3Large173 square feet
4Huge693 square feet
5-7Gargantuan2773 square feet (1/16 acre)
8-11Colossal1/4 acre
12-15Colossal+1 acres
16-19Colossal++4 acres
20Colossal+++16 acres

The numbers for Colossal and smaller don't line up with the space that a character of that size is supposed to take up in combat, largely because those spaces were designed for tall creatures rather than sprawling plants. This won't matter as much once I get the Titanic Creature ability to treat myself as terrain.

16 acres is much smaller than Pando, but bigger than Thimmamma Marrimanu or the Great Banyan. Unfortunately, the smallest US National Forest is 11,252 acres large, or about Colossal+++++++ (that's 7 +s).

Edit: I could use one of my Evolutionist teratomorphisms to grow another size category, which could get me to Colossal++++ (64 acres) at the expense of a very limited resource (I only get three of them).
« Last Edit: August 12, 2014, 03:32:32 AM by Leviathan »