Author Topic: Mandrake  (Read 6442 times)

Offline RobbyPants

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Mandrake
« on: November 15, 2013, 10:10:46 PM »
Mandrake

“You view things differently when you have the patience of an oak.”



Mandrakes are druids who have an affinity for plants. They love everything green and have a knack for cultivating plants. Their devotion causes them to become more and more plant-like over time, growing skin as tough as bark and drawing sustenance from the sun itself. As a mandrake gains power, she becomes truly terrifying, able to make vines, ivy, and trees that can crush stone.


The Mandrake   Hit Die: d8
Level BAB        Fort Ref  Will  Special
                 Save Save Save

______________________________________________________________________
1     +0         +2   +0   +2    Sustenance, roots, vine lash (entangle), Druidic
2     +1         +3   +0   +3    Improved woodland stride, natural armor +1
3     +2         +3   +1   +3    Trackless step, brachiation
4     +3         +4   +1   +4    Summon plants, vine lash (thorns)
5     +3         +4   +1   +4    Plant form (+2, 25%)
6     +4         +5   +2   +5    Natural armor +2, vine lash (20’)
7     +5         +5   +2   +5    Entangle, homunculus
8     +6/+1      +6   +2   +6    Destructive vines, improved daylight
9     +6/+1      +6   +3   +6    Vine lash (split)
10    +7/+2      +7   +3   +7    Plant form (+4, 50%), natural armor +3
11    +8/+3      +7   +3   +7    Thorns
12    +9/+4      +8   +4   +8    Vine lash (30’)
13    +9/+4      +8   +4   +8    Create tree
14    +10/+5     +9   +4   +9    Natural armor +4, vine lash (split)
15    +11/+6/+1  +9   +5   +9    Plant form (plant type)
16    +12/+7/+2  +10  +5   +10   Vine lash (40’)
17    +12/+7/+2  +10  +5   +10   Improved Tree Stride
18    +13/+8/+3  +11  +6   +11   Natural armor +5
19    +14/+9/+4  +11  +6   +11   Rejuvenation
20    +15/+10/+5 +12  +6   +12   Verdant lord, vine lash (50’)
______________________________________________________________________


Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level, x4 at 1st level): Balance, Climb, Concentration, Craft, Escape Artist, Heal, Knowledge (Geography), Knowledge (Nature), Listen, Profession, Search, Sense Motive, Spellcraft, Spot, Survival, Swim.

Class Features
Your class features focus on advancing your power over plants.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Mandrakes are proficient with simple weapons, the falchion, scimitar, scythe, and whip, and also with light armor and shields (but not tower shields).

Spells: A mandrake casts divine spells which are drawn from the spell list below. She can cast any spell she knows without preparing it ahead of time.  To cast a spell of a given level, the mandrake must have a Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a mandrake’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the mandrak’s Wisdom modifier.
   Like other spellcasters, a mandrake can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. Her base daily spell allotment is identical to a sorcerer of equal level. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Wisdom score. Every spell on her spell list is considered a spell known, if she is a high enough level to cast it.

Sustenance (Ex): At 1st level, the mandrake is able to draw sustenance from sunlight. For every two hours of exposure she has to sunlight, she gains the equivalent sustenance of one meal. So, six hours of sunlight would feed her for the day. She still needs to drink water as normal. To be considered to be exposed to sunlight, at least some of the mandrake’s skin must be exposed to the sunlight.

Druidic (Ex): A mandrake learns Druidic as a bonus language.

Roots (Ex): So long as the mandrake is exposed to sunlight, not thirsty, and in contact with dirt, mud, or other soft earth, she gains fast healing, healing a number of hit points per round equal to her class level. The fast healing will not bring her above half her maximum hit points.
   So long as the above conditions are met, any spell of the Healing subschool cast on her is considered maximized (per the Maximize Spell feat). The caster need not have the metamagic feat for this effect to work. If the spell affects multiple targets, its effects are only maximized on her.

Vine Lash (Su): A mandrake may create a ten-foot long animated vine in her hands as a standard action. She may only have one such vine animated at a time. If she releases the vine, it dries out and hardens within one round. As a standard action, she may make a touch attack against a creature within the vine’s length. If it is successful, the creature becomes entangled. On it’s turn, the creature may attempt to escape the vine lash with either a Strength check or Escape Artist check (DC 10 + ½ the mandrake’s class level + her Wisdom modifier) as a standard action.
   If the mandrake wins an opposed Strength check, the creature cannot move out of the vine’s length. The larger of the two creatures gains a +4 bonus on this check per size difference. The mandrake may let go of her vine lash to keep the person entangled (even after it dries out). They may escape the vine lash as normal, although they are free to move about. The mandrake may release a creature from her vine lash as a free action. If she loses the opposed Strength check, she is unable to move out of the reach of her vine from her opponent, although she may let go of her vine any time she wants.
   At 4th level, the mandrake may create her vine lash with thorns. Any creature entangled by such a vine lash suffers 1d6 damage each round on the mandrake’s turn until they escape or are released. Alternately, she may use her vine lash as a weapon, making normal attack rolls instead of touch attacks. Treat the vine lash as a one-handed melee weapon that deals 1d8 points of damage (1d6 for a small mandrake). Even though the vine lash has a long reach, she may attack adjacent creatures without penalty.
   At 6th level, the vine lash created may be up to 20 feet long, and can entangle or attack anyone up to 20 feet away from the mandrake. The vine lash now deals 2d6 damage in melee (1d8 for a small mandrake).
   At 9th level, the mandrake may create a vine lash that is split into two vines. She may attempt to entangle two separate creatures as a standard action (following the normal rules for each). If two creatures are entangled and the mandrake lets go of her vine, they are tethered to each other and cannot move further apart than double the reach of her vine until at least one of them escapes. Alternately, when making a full attack with her vine lash, the mandrake may opt to make an extra attack at her full Base Attack Bonus, but all of her attack rolls this round suffer a -2 penalty.
   At 12th level, the vine lash created may be up to 30 feet long, and can entangle or attack anyone up to 30 feet away from the mandrake. The vine lash now deals 3d6 damage in melee (2d6 for a small mandrake).
   At 14th level, the mandrake may create a vine lash that splits into three vines. She may attempt to entangle up to three separate creatures as a standard action. If she lets go of her vine lash, any entangled creatures cannot move more than double the length of the vine lash from any other creature entangled by the same lash. Alternately, if she makes a full attack with her vine lash, she may make two extra attacks with her lash at her full Base Attack Bonus, but each attack this round suffers a -4 penalty to hit.
   At 16th level, the vine lash created may be up to 40 feet long, and can entangle or attack anyone up to 40 feet away from the mandrake. The vine lash now deals 4d6 damage in melee (3d6 for a small mandrake).
   At 20th level, the vine lash created may be up to 50 feet long, and can entangle or attack anyone up to 50 feet away from the mandrake. The vine lash now deals 6d6 damage in melee (4d6 for a small mandrake).

Improved Woodland Stride (Ex): Starting at 2nd level, a mandrake may move through any sort of undergrowth (such as natural thorns, briars, overgrown areas, and similar terrain) at her normal speed and without taking damage or suffering any other impairment.
   Magical effects that cause existing vegetation to entangle, grapple, slow movement, or cause damage creatures in the area do not affect the mandrake. This makes the mandrake immune to spells such as Entangle, Spike Growth, Wall of Thorns, and similar spells.

Natural Armor (Ex): As a mandrake gains power, her skin begins to toughen and become more bark-like. At 2nd level, she gains a +1 enhancement bonus to her natural armor bonus. This bonus increases by +1 every four levels thereafter, to a maximum of +5 at 18th level.

Trackless Step (Ex): Starting at 3rd level, a mandrake leaves no trail in natural surroundings and cannot be tracked. She may choose to leave a trail if so desired.

Brachiation (Ex): A 3rd level mandrake may climb and swing through trees, vines, and other plants that can hold her weight with ease. She gains a climb speed equal to her base movement when climbing in these plants.

Summon Plants (Su): At 4th level, a mandrake can summon weeds, grasses, and vines from out of nowhere as a standard action. She may fill a number of 20-foot cubes equal to her class level. Each cube must touch another, and all must be within Long Range (400 feet + 40 feet / level) of the mandrake. The plants cover any horizontal surface that is at least 6 inches thick, and vines hang from walls and ceilings. The plants do not restrict movement in and of themselves, but they may be affected by spells such as Entangle.
   Any plants appearing in an environment that can support them will continue to live until otherwise prevented. Plants summoned in dry sand, stone, wood, or other non-suitable areas wither away within one minute per class level. The withered plants are considered very flammable for purposes of spells and effects that ignite combustible materials.

Plant Form (Ex): At 5th level, the mandrake begins to become more and more like a plant. Her appearance begins to take on some plant-like qualities. Her skin may take on a greenish tint or perhaps thicken like bark. Her hair might change colors with the seasons as the leaves on a tree. She giants a +2 bonus to saving throws against all mind-affecting effects, poison, sleep effects, paralysis, polymorph, and stunning. Also, she has a 25% chance to negate the extra damage from a critical hit (or any effect that only affects creatures vulnerable to critical hits). This percentage chance does not stack with the Fortification ability.
   At 10th level, the mandrake becomes more plant-like. Her appearance becomes even more plant-like. She gains low-light vision, and her saving throw bonus increases to +4, and the percentage chance to ignore the extra damage from a critical hit increases to 50%.
   At 15th level, the mandrake’s type changes to plant, and she gains all of the traits of the plant type. She no longer suffers penalties for old age and does not die of old age.

Entangle (Sp): At 7th level the mandrake may cast Entangle as a spell-like ability at will. The DC is 10 + ½ her class level + her Wisdom modifier.

Homunculus (Su): A 7th level mandrake may create a homunculus to use as a familiar. This process takes eight hours and requires a mandrake root, a pint of her blood, and 500 gp of special incense, herbs, and other materials. It has the same stats as the homunculus in the Monster Manual (page 154) except that its type is plant instead of construct and it has a Constitution of 12. Its hit points, Base Attack Bonus, saving throws, and other abilities are calculated the same as any other familiar (See Familiars in the PHB, page 52).
   The mandrake may only have one homunculus at a time, but if it is destroyed, she may create a new one.

Destructive Vines (Su): When using her Summon Plants ability, an 8th level mandrake may opt to create plants with strong, penetrative roots. The plants grow normally in dirt, clay, sand, and other earth, but will cause damage to wood, stone, and possibly harder materials. Any non-earthen object covered in the summoned plants suffers 1d6 points of damage per class level on the first round. This damage ignores any hardness less than 10, and does not deal half damage to objects. The mandrake may choose to concentrate on the effect by spending a standard action each round. Each round she concentrates, the vines inflict the same damage to all non-earthen objects.
   If the vines destroy on object supporting them, they fall to the ground with the object, uprooted. Any uprooted vines stop dealing damage, and wither away within one minute per class level.

Improved Daylight (Su): When an 8th level Mandrake casts Daylight, she may opt to treat the area of effect as if it were actual sunlight. In addition to feeding plants (and herself), the area might have additional effects on certain types of creatures, such as vampires or specters.

Thorns (Su): When casting Entangle (as the spell or spell-like ability), an 11th level mandrake may opt to cause the affected plants to grow long, sharp thorns. Each round on the mandrake’s turn, all entangled creatures suffer 2d6 points of damage, and all other creatures in the area suffer 1d6 points of damage. Any creature passing through the area on their turn suffers 1d6 points of damage. This damage is treated as piercing and magical for purposes of overcoming damage reduction.

Create Tree (Su): A 13th level mandrake may create a tree in any square within Long Range as a standard action. The tree may be any height up to ten feet per class level. It grows 60 feet per round until it achieves the desired height. The tree’s canopy will have a diameter equal to half its height and will have branches on the top two thirds of its trunk. The tree can be planted in any solid material with a hardness of less than 10 that is at least one foot deep for every five feet of the tree’s height.
   If the tree comes into collides with an obstruction as it is growing, it deals 1d6 points of damage per class level to the obstruction. If this damage is enough to destroy it, the tree keeps growing. If not, the tree is stunted and stops growing.
   Any creatures in the square of the tree’s trunk may attempt a Reflex save (DC 10 + ½ the mandrake’s class level + her Wisdom modifier) to exit to an adjacent open square (if any are available). Any creatures left in the square rise up with the tree, ending up at the top of the canopy. If the tree collides with an obstruction as it grows, they also suffer the same 1d6 damage per class level that the obstruction does.

Improved Tree Stride (Su): A 17th level mandrake may use Tree Stride as a spell-like ability at will. In addition, she may attune any tree that she could use for transportation with this ability. She has to touch the tree to attune it. She may have a number of trees attuned at any given time equal to her class level. While using Tree Stride, she may transport herself from one tree to any tree she has attuned, regardless of the distance. She need not even be on the same plane for the transportation to work.
   She may also bring a number of willing participants with her equal to her class level. The participants must all be holding hands in a chain, and one must hold the mandrake’s hand. The mandrake enters the tree first, and all the others follow her on her turn.

Rejuvenation (Ex): A slain mandrake may be brought back to life. If her body (or whatever remains of it) is buried under the dirt (no more than a foot deep) and watered, she will be revived once the sun shines on the area where she is buried for at least one minute. She is brought back from the dead as though affected by a True Resurrection spell. This ability only works once per 24 hours.

Verdant Lord (Su): At 20th level, a mandrake may cast Awaken (but only on a tree) as a spell-like ability at will without paying the experience cost.
   She may use her Summon Plants (and optionally, her Destructive Vines) ability on any area within one mile of her. She may select and exclude any cubes she wants, but she must have line of effect to all affected cubes. Any of these plants are created on a material that would not normally sustain them do not wither up. Instead, their roots convert the surface of the material to dirt. The plants will remain so long as they have sunlight and rain.


Mandrake Spell List
Level 0:
Create Water
Cure Minor Wounds
Detect Magic
Detect Poison
Guidance
Know Direction
Light
Mending
Purify Food and Drink
Read Magic
Resistance
Virtue

Level 1:
Animate Wood SC
Cure Light Wounds
Detect Animals or Plants
Detect Snares and Pits
Entangle
Goodberry
Pass without Trace
Shillelagh
Speak with Plants

Level 2:
Barkskin
Brambles SC
Briar Web SC
Cure Moderate Wounds
Delay Poison
Kelpstrand SC
Restoration, Lesser
Splinterbolt SC
Tree Shape
Warp Wood
Wood Shape

Level 3:
Create Food and Water
Cure Serious Wounds
Daylight
Diminish Plants
Neutralize Poison
Plant Growth
Poison
Remove Disease
Snare
Spike Growth
Spikes SC
Thornskin SC
Vine Mine SC

Level 4:
Antiplant Shell
Blight
Command Plants
Cure Critical Wounds
Dispel Magic
Freedom of Movement
Poison Vines SC
Restoration
Tree Stride
Wood Rot SC

Level 5:
Atonement
Awaken *
Commune with Nature
Cure Light Wounds, Mass
Death Ward
Hallow
Plant Body SC
Poison Thorns SC
Raise Dead
Unhallow
Wall of Thorns

Level 6:
Antilife Shell
Cure Moderate Wounds, Mass
Dispel Magic, Greater
Find the Path
Heal
Ironwood
Liveoak
Repel Wood
Spellstaff
Transport via Plants

Level 7:
Animate Plants
Changestaff
Regenerate
Restoration, Greater
Cure Serious Wounds, Mass
Resurrection
Scrying, Greater
True Seeing

Level 8:
Awaken, Mass SC
Control Plants
Cure Critical Wounds, Mass
Deadfall SC
Unyielding Roots SC
Word of Recall

Level 9:
Foresight
Shamble
True Resurrection

* Plants only
SC Spell Compendium
« Last Edit: July 10, 2021, 12:22:59 PM by RobbyPants »
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Offline RobbyPants

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Re: Mandrake
« Reply #1 on: November 15, 2013, 10:12:20 PM »
The idea of this class is that I'm trying to split the druid into multiple classes. My next project is an animal-based druid that focuses more on direct combat, shape-shifting, buffing, and summoning. I figured the elemental stuff could be covered in my elemental mage classes. As far as the common tier system goes, I'm aiming for a solid 3.
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Offline RobbyPants

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Re: Mandrake
« Reply #2 on: November 19, 2013, 07:31:51 AM »
Nothing, so far?

It's obviously meant to be weaker than a druid, but I'm hoping it would be playable as a tier 3 PC. How does it strike you, balance-wise. Does it seem like this class would be interesting to play at all levels?
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Offline Wrex

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Re: Mandrake
« Reply #3 on: December 10, 2013, 12:41:58 PM »
It certainly /looks/ interesting enough to use. I'd have to find a DM willing to let me use it first, mind, but I wouldn't mind giving it a test run.

Offline Maat Mons

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Re: Mandrake
« Reply #4 on: December 10, 2013, 08:59:56 PM »
Nothing, so far?

Sorry, I was just so disappointed when I realized it wasn't about duck-people that I stopped reading.  I'll take a look at it now. 

Offline Maat Mons

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Re: Mandrake
« Reply #5 on: December 10, 2013, 11:08:16 PM »
So, a mandrake's spells per day are the same as a sorcerer.  What about spells known?  Looking at the size of the spell list, I'm guessing they're supposed to know their entire list.  Also, you call the class "druid" when talking about DCs. 

How much clothing can a mandrake wear before sustenance ceases to function?  If she has half her body covered, does it take twice as long to gain the benefit?  Are you giving us a mechanical justification for priestesses in bikinis? 

Are you sure you don't want to base vine lash on whip and whip-dagger (Arms and Equipment Guide, p17)?  Bear in mind whip-dagger needs to be updated to 3.5, where whips are melee weapons.  You could still have the entangling effect, range increases, and damage increases, but the base rules would be inherited from whip.  In this case, the split ability would be replaced by iterative attacks. 

Offline Garryl

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Re: Mandrake
« Reply #6 on: December 10, 2013, 11:50:16 PM »
Spells refers to a purifier when dealing with Wis score and max spell level, and druid spells and the druid's Wis in regards to the DC.

Offline RobbyPants

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Re: Mandrake
« Reply #7 on: December 11, 2013, 09:09:49 AM »
So, a mandrake's spells per day are the same as a sorcerer.  What about spells known?  Looking at the size of the spell list, I'm guessing they're supposed to know their entire list.  Also, you call the class "druid" when talking about DCs. 
I updated that. They are all considered spells known.

Also, the "druid" thing was a copy-pasta error from when I started splitting this and the Shifter off of the druid.


How much clothing can a mandrake wear before sustenance ceases to function?  If she has half her body covered, does it take twice as long to gain the benefit?  Are you giving us a mechanical justification for priestesses in bikinis? 
I added a note that the mandrake needs to have some of their skin exposed for this to function. I didn't list an amount because I'm not too nitpicky if the player wants to run around with a hood and a scarf on all the time, or something. There's no explicit benefit for more skin equaling more food. This was mostly a flavor ability, and I don't want to sit down with a calculator to figure out exactly how long the bikini-clad mandrake needs to sunbathe to not have to eat.


Are you sure you don't want to base vine lash on whip and whip-dagger (Arms and Equipment Guide, p17)?  Bear in mind whip-dagger needs to be updated to 3.5, where whips are melee weapons.  You could still have the entangling effect, range increases, and damage increases, but the base rules would be inherited from whip.  In this case, the split ability would be replaced by iterative attacks.
The only difference in that is that then you can't simultaneously entangle multiple targets, and more so, you can't tie two people together, drop the lash, and then forget about them.

Other than that, the word count on that ability is extremely high, and a lot of it is effectively copy-pasta for what happens when the whip gets bigger and what happens when it splits.

Perhaps I could have it use iterative attacks, and say that entangling is a standard action, and just write in the split ability for the entangling function all on its own. Would that be better?


Spells refers to a purifier when dealing with Wis score and max spell level, and druid spells and the druid's Wis in regards to the DC.
Damn copy-pasta! That one is even more embarrassing.
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