Volibear

[oslecamo]

Volibear


The ursine are a group of bear-people living in the frozen north. Some of them manifest natural storm powers, such as channeling the storm through their bodies, and become known as Volibear, in honor of the legendary first hero of their kind that unleashed such abilities.

Hit Dice:d8

Level	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will			Special
1st	+1	+2	+0	+2			Volibear Body, Chosen of the Storm, Volibear Talent, +1 Str
2nd	+2	+3	+0	+3			Volibear Talent, Snow Resistance, +1 Con
3rd	+3	+3	+1	+3			Volibear Talent, Storm Resistance, +1 Str
4th	+4	+4	+1	+4			Thunder Claws, +1 Str, +1 Con

Skills: 4+Int mod, quadruple at first level, Class Skills are Balance, Climb, Craft(any), Diplomacy, Escape Artist, Intimidate, Jump, Listen, Knowledge(any), Sense Motive, Survival, Spot, Swim

Proficiencies: Light, Medium and Heavy armor, simple weapons, his own natural weapons.

Volibear Body: The Volibear loses all of his previous racial traits and instead gains monstrous humanoid traits (basically darkvision 60 feet). He is a medium sized monstrous humanoid with base speed of 30 feet and two natural Claw attacks dealing 1d10 damage each. In addition he gains a natural armor bonus equal to half his Con mod.

Chosen of the Storm: If the Volibear drops below 30% max HP, at the start of their next turn they recover HP equal to 30% their max HP (and if they were unconscious and fallen, they can automatically stand up whitout provoking attacks of opportunity). This doesn’t trigger if the Volibear dies before their next turn arrives, and after it is triggered, it cannot trigger again for 5 minutes. If there's actually a storm going, this can trigger even if the Volibear is dead and brings them up to 30% of their max HP regardless of how dead they were, but no more than 1 free storm ressurection per year, and the storm must have started before the Volibear died.

Volibear Talent: At 1st, 2nd and 3rd level the Volibear picks one of the following options. No one may be picked more than once.

(click to show/hide)

Rolling Thunder- As a swift action the Volibear channels its electricity upon themselves, gaining a +5 feet bonus to all movement speeds, ignore the movement speed penalty for medium/heavy armor, can charge through difficult terrain, and their next claw attack whitin 1 round deals extra damage equal to their HD plus forces the target to make a Reflex save with DC 10+1/2 HD+Str mod or be stunned for 1 round (dazed if immune to stun) and allows the Volibear to make a Bullrush against a struck target whitout provoking attacks of opportunity. The Volibear needs to wait 1d3 rounds before being able to use Rolling Thunder again. If all Volibear levels were taken, at 5 HD and every 5 HD thereafter the movement speed bonus increases by an extra 5 feet.

Frenzy- When fullattacking in melee an opponent that the Volibear had already attacked in the previous round, the Volibear makes one extra claw attack per round they’ve been fighting before. Plus as an immediate action they can perform a sudden bite attack that hits automatically one enemy in their natural melee range and deals damage equal to their HD per 10% HP the enemy is missing (so if the Volibear has 2 HD and the enemy has 50% missing HP, it would deal 10 damage). If the Volibear has an actual Bite attack, add it to the damage of this sudden bite.  Once the sudden bite has been used, the Volibear must wait 1d3 rounds before being able to use it again.

Majestic Roar-As a standard action the Volibear roars a storm. Enemies in a radius of 30 feet take 1d6 damage per HD and are Slowed for 1 round. Half this damage is sonic and the other is electricity. A Will save with DC 10+1/2 HD+Str mod negates the damage and Slow. Opponents with half the Volibear’s HD or less that fail their save become panicked for the duration as well. The Volibear needs to wait 1d3 rounds before being able to use Majestic Roar again. This is a supernatural ability.

At 4 HD Majestic Roar may be used as a Move action if all Volibear levels were taken.

At 8 HD Majestic Roar may be used as a Swift action if all Volibear levels were taken.

At 12 HD Majestic Roar may be used as an Immediate action if all Volibear levels were taken

At 16 HD Majestic Roar may be used as an free action if all Volibear levels were taken

Ability Score Increase: the Volibear gains +1 to Str at levels 1, 3 and 4, and +1 Con at levels 2 and 4, for a total of +3 Str, +2 Con at 4th level.

Snow Resistance: At 2nd level the Volibear gains resistance to Cold equal to 5+HD.

Storm Resistance: At 3rd level the Volibear gains resistance to Electricity and Sonic equal to 5+HD.

Thunder Claws: At 4th level as a free action 1/hour for 3 rounds the Volibear’s claw attacks deal an extra 1d6 electricity and 1d6 sonic damage. Whenever they hit an enemy with their claws while this effect lasts, they may make the thunder jump to a second target whitin 30 feet, then a third target whitin 30 feet of the second, inflicting them the bonus electricity and sonic damage. At 8 HD and every 4 HD thereafter, increase the electricity and sonic damage per 1d6 and one extra enemy may be affected. No enemy may be affected by each “chain” of Thunder claws more than once per round.

(click to show/hide)

Latest request looked simple enough so here it is.

Based on the Ursa, but with more elemental goodness and medium/heavy armor in return for less raw power.

So if you want to play an angry storm polar bear-person, the Volibear's for you!

[ketaro]

Do all dead volibears across the world spontaneously resurrect from the dead every year when a storm happens? Evil druid abuse right there. Annual army of dead bears that can never be permanently slain.

[oslecamo]

It was meant that the storm had to be going when the Volibear died, clarified. If they die and a storm comes hours/weeks/days/months later, it's no good.

[WarHunter]

Its going to be sad when the volibear rework is finished.

[TC X0 Lt 0X]

Its going to be sad when the volibear rework is finished.

Stop you are going to make me rant about how shitty Riot is.

[~Corvus~]

Frenzy:
When fullattacking in melee an opponent that the Volibear had already attacked in the previous round, the Volibear makes one extra claw attack per round they’ve been fighting before.

This seems pretty darn strong, considering they're already able to make a *bonus* bite that always hits. Perhaps make these followup attacks at its Secondary Natural attack bonus (-5), or cap it down to a -2 penalty to hit from its standard? Even picked at level 3, its stronger than the other abilities!

[oslecamo]

Is it really? Combat in D&D usually doesn't last that long, so usually you'll be hard pressed to get more than one extra attack., plus you need to remain still to full attack.

Meanwhile Rolling Thunder is dealing extra damage right now while helping you close in melee along a disable (even if it allows a save, in particular since Ref saves are usually lower), while Majestic Roar is a debuff+damage Aoe.

[Doxkid]

This seems more fitting as a prestige class for your Ursa (which it already improves upon) than as a standalone, but that's a matter of preference.

-Volibear Talent Cooldowns-
*)-Would you consider breaking the cooldowns apart a bit to match the in-game CDs? 1d3 for Rolling Thunder, 1d6 for Frenzy, 1d4 for Majestic Roar; possibly reducing each ability's standing cooldown by 1 for every 10 HD?

-Rolling Thunder-
*)-I would split off "ignore the movement speed penalty for medium/heavy armor" and add that to -Volibear Body- if only to declutter the ability. Something like this:

(click to show/hide)

As a swift action the Volibear channels its electricity upon themselves granting it a +5 feet bonus to all movement speeds and allowing it to charge through difficult terrain. Its next claw attack within 1 round deals extra damage equal (Volibear's HD) and on a successful hit forces the forces the target to make a Reflex save with DC 10+1/2 HD+Str mod or be stunned for 1 round (dazed if immune to stun). Bullrush attempts that incorporate this ability do not provoke Attacks of Opportunity.

After using Rolling Thunder the Volibear needs to wait 1d3 rounds before being able to use Rolling Thunder again. If all Volibear levels were taken at 5 HD, and every 5 HD thereafter, the movement speed bonus increases by an extra 5 feet.

-Frenzy-
*)-For the first part of the ability it would be easiest to just grant the 'Rend' ability for Claw attacks and allow the 'Two Weapon Fighting' feat chain to work on the Claws. The sudden Bite portion should probably have an attack roll associated with it if it's going to be an execution-type ability; it's fun when used by players but unfun when used against players.

-Majestic Roar-
*)-Nitpick, but consider this wording: "As a standard action the Volibear's roar erupts forth as a squall."

-Snow/Storm resistance-
*)-Kind of weird that it gets Cold resist before Sonic or Electric resist considering that it can learn to physically channel storms at level 1. Also a bit weird that its Cold resist matches its Electric+Sonic resist for that same reason; consider swapping the two and allowing Storm Resist to become Sonic+Electric immunity at some point after all Volibear levels are taken?