Dire Wolf, Awakened

[DancingFish]

Awakened Dire Wolf



HD:d10

Level	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Feature
1	+0	+2	+2	+0	+2 Str, +2 Dex, Wolf Body, Trip
2	+1	+3	+3	+0	+1 Str, +1 Con, Skills, Bonus Feat (Run), Scent
3	+2	+3	+3	+1	+1 Str, +1 Con, Growth, Bonus Feat (Awareness), Track, Pack Tactics

4 Skill points+Int mod per level (x4 at 1st level)
Class skills: Balance, Climb, Hide, Jump, Intimidate, Knowledge (Nature), Listen, Move Silently, Spot, Survival, Swim,

Proficiencies: An Awakened Dire Wolf is proficient with its natural attacks.

Features:

Wolf Body: An Awakened Dire Wolf loses all other racial bonuses, and gains magical beast traits.
It is a medium sized magical beast with base speed of 50 foot, a natural weapon bite attack dealing 1d6+1,5 Str modifier damage and a natural armour bonus equal to its Con mod. Dire Wolves have no limbs capable of fine manipulation.

Ability Score Increase: An Awakened Dire Wolf gains a permanent 

+2 bonus to Strength and Dexterity at 1st level

+1 bonus to Strength and Constitution at 2nd level

+1 bonus to Strength and Constitution at 3rd level

for a total bonus of +4 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution at level 3rd.

Bonus Feats: At 2nd level a Dire Wolf gains Run as a bonus feat. At 3rd level it gains Awareness.

Scent: As the SRD ability.

Trip: A 2nd level a dire wolf that hits with a bite attack can attempt to trip its opponent as a free action without making a touch attack or provoking anattack of opportunity. If the attempt fails, the opponent cannot react to trip the dire wolf.

Skills: An awakened dire wolf has a +1/2HD racial bonus on Hide, Listen, Move Silently, and Spot checks. It gains a +6 bonus on Hide and Move Silently checks made while in a forest. It has a +1/2HD racial bonus on Survival checks made while tracking by scent.

Track: As the SRD feat.

Growth: At 3rd level, the Dire Wolves category becomes Large (long).

Pack Tactics: While flanking an enemy, a Dire Wolf may Intimidate him as an immediate action. If the check is succesful, it may make a free attack against him.

[oslecamo]

Ok, first of all you need a cool picture (and bolding the creature name).

Now D&D has no official image for a dire wolf, but here's a pic from MTG's watcfwolf, should do the trick

(click to show/hide)

Now to the class itself:
-It could probably use proficiency with its Bite natural attack.
-Gaining +2 to two stats at first level is a bit too much. Usually the maximum is either a couple +1, a single +2, or a +2/+2/-2 combination.
-It starts with a base speed of 40 feet, but needs a bump up to 50 feet somewhere in there.
-4 skill points per level and just 5 class skills? Either reduce skill points or give it some more class skills. Balance, Climb, Swim, Jump, Knowledge, Intimidate all come to mind.
-Needs the racial bonus to tracking by Scent. And racial bonus on Hide, Listen, Move Silently, and Spot as well. Something that allows it to ignore hide penalties to hiding because of size would be useful as well.
-You point out the Track bonus feat, but Run and Awareness are not listed on the abilities (neither total ability score bonus).
-Finally, it's a 3 level class whitout any actual combat option. Ok, that's how the original monster works, but this is for PCs, and just charging/bite/trip gets old fast, in particular when you don't even have hands. Doesn't need to be something mind-blowing, but some kind of "flanking  ambush" or "intimidating growl" special attack or two in there would be nice.

Basically you got the monster's bare skeleton all right, but it really needs some meat and skin in there!

[DancingFish]

Thanks for evaluating! I'll put some of the chnages immediately, some other I need to think about a bit.

I was initially wondering if adding some Setting Sun maneuvers would do the trick, but it's a bit... Too much for a wolf, even dire awakened. I think.

The racial bonuses... Well, they are there. I have an idea how to enhance the Hide part.
Editing inconsistency fixed.

The Strength and Dexterity +2s I wanted to balance out by a 2/3 BAB progression (effectively it's a net gain of only a +1 to damage) and the fact that the creature has no hands - is not capable of fine manipulation. I guess I'll settle on +2 to Strength then. Should I add 3/3 BAB then though?

EDIT: Added Pack Tactics.

[oslecamo]

I was initially wondering if adding some Setting Sun maneuvers would do the trick, but it's a bit... Too much for a wolf, even dire awakened. I think.

That actually sounds like a nice idea (or you can "cheat" and give out abilities that work more or less as the maneuvers you're interested in).

Remember, you can always make a list of options for the player to pick from. So they could go "Setting Sun wolf", or "+2 Str wolf", or "Pack tactics wolf".

The racial bonuses... Well, they are there. I have an idea how to enhance the Hide part.
Editing inconsistency fixed.

Move Silently bonus in forests is nice. I guess a dire wolf can just stay directly out of line of sight and find its prey trough scent.

The Strength and Dexterity +2s I wanted to balance out by a 2/3 BAB progression (effectively it's a net gain of only a +1 to damage) and the fact that the creature has no hands - is not capable of fine manipulation. I guess I'll settle on +2 to Strength then. Should I add 3/3 BAB then though?

Yeah, since dire beasts cheat anyway and have lots of HD for their CR, meaning their Bab gets inflated for their suposed level.

EDIT: Added Pack Tactics.

Ok, now that one's way too OP. First, free action whitout limitations means you get infinite attempts in a single round. Which then becomes infinite attacks.

Just Intimidate as an immediate action would already be pretty strong, in particular when there's multiple feats out there that can make Intimidate a lot stronger. No need for free activation or free attacks tacked in.

Or you could add some limitation, like a "cooldown" of 1d4+1 rounds before you can use it again (still should take at least an immediate action).

[Threadnaught]

it's a 3 level class

Or a 2 level PrC.

EDIT: Added Pack Tactics.

Ok, now that one's way too OP.

Indeed, though it does look like an interesting starting point for the Sand Hunter.

Ability Score Increase: An Awakened Dire Wolf gains a permanent 

+2 bonus to Strength and Dexterity at 1st level

+1 bonus to Strength and Constitution at 2nd level

+1 bonus to Strength and Constitution at 2nd level

for a total bonus of +4 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution at level 3.

2nd level is listed twice. That's the only problem I can see other than the current rendition of Pack Tactics.

[DancingFish]

Okay, I nerfed Pack Tactics a bit. Is it still too much?

[Threadnaught]

Okay, I nerfed Pack Tactics a bit. Is it still too much?

Looks good to me. Could be an interesting counter to low level casters.

[oslecamo]

Looking good to me as well, added to the index!

[DancingFish]

Thanks!
Also, fixed some minor wording mistakes.