The Carven (A New Race, I need some feedback)

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teaman
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The Carven (A New Race, I need some feedback)

Post by teaman »

Now on the Showcase

This class is designed to be sort of a wooden droid type race for fantasy. I attempted to make them somewhat different from the "Warforged", because I don't want to just clone that race. I wanted to put a slightly different, medieval spin on them. Please let me know what you think, what might be changed. If we can whip it into shape, I may put it in the showcase.

Here we go:


The Carven

Legends say that an ancient wizard-king once imbued intelligent life into wooden figures. He lovingly carved them to serve as servants for his magical research, and as protectors for his kingdom. However, fearing the ambitions of others, he ordered his carven servants to leave the kingdom upon his death. They faded from memory, living in remote places, continuing the wizard-king's research and scholarship. They took the secret of their own creation with them, enabling them to continue creating new members of their race.

Recently, some of the Carven have made their way back to civilization. Some hope to learn modern magic, some to serve as protectors of the innocent once more. Inside their calm wooden hearts, they hope that eventually their race may be accepted by the rest of civilization.

Description: Carven are roughly man-shaped and man-sized, though carved entirely of wood. Their faces and bodies are generally smooth and plain, though some take the form of males and some females. Carven stand around five to six feet tall and typically weigh around 225 pounds. Their complexions vary with their wood: from light golden pine to deep mahogany. Carven are quite solid, yet move gracefully, like a finely crafted machine. Warrior carven typically attach metal plates directly to the wood of their bodies to increase their armor class. They are typically curious. brave, and logical. Some find them emotionless, though this is misleading. They show great loyalty to their companions and great concern for the innocent of any race.

Restrictions: Carven may become fighters or magic-users. Their created nature makes it impossible for them to steal or influence the religious beliefs of others. They are required to have a minimum Constitution of 9. Due to their unusual nature, they may not have a Charisma higher than 17. They may wear any armor, but it must be specially crafted and permanently attached to their bodies. Magical armor found while adventuring may be fitted to their bodies. This doubles the cost of all armor (mundane and magical), but not shields. They gain only half the hit points (round up) from healing spells and potions.

Special Abilities: All Carven have a natural Armor Class of 15. This may be increased with additional plating up to the standard values (Carven magic-users may not take additional armor.) They do not need to eat, though they do require water. They are immune to natural poisons, Sleep spells, and being turned to stone. This includes the gaze attacks of creatures such as basilisks and medusa.

Saving Throws: The Carven save as per their class.
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Dimirag
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Re: The Carven (A New Race, I need some feedback)

Post by Dimirag »

Look ok, some thoughts:

The armor thing is always an issue with these races, if you like the whole wooden humanoid with magical plates attached so be it, but an easier solution is to give them an human-like body enough to use any armor without problems, otherwise the armor limit based on class could be weird.

Remove the immunities, wood can be petrified and even poisoned.

Give a ST bonus to Spells and Wands, and other to Poison/Death and Paralysis (+4/+2 sounds ok to me)

Let them be cured for half effect by any spell that grows or heals plants.
Sorry for any misspelling or writing error, I am not a native English speaker
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teaman
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Re: The Carven (A New Race, I need some feedback)

Post by teaman »

Dimirag wrote:Look ok, some thoughts:

The armor thing is always an issue with these races, if you like the whole wooden humanoid with magical plates attached so be it, but an easier solution is to give them an human-like body enough to use any armor without problems, otherwise the armor limit based on class could be weird.

Remove the immunities, wood can be petrified and even poisoned.

Give a ST bonus to Spells and Wands, and other to Poison/Death and Paralysis (+4/+2 sounds ok to me)

Let them be cured for half effect by any spell that grows or heals plants.
Good thoughts, and thanks much! I was thinking that they might respond differently to poisons designed for humanoids than plants, which is where the immunities were coming from. And I was trying to avoid Saving throw adjustments, though all the other non-humanoid races have them, so have to think about it. Maybe I'll look a little closer at the elves adjustments rather than the dwarves. No matter what, I appreciate the thoughts. And you're right about wood being petrified. Hadn't thought about that.


I'm going to paste them into my working document and mull them over.

Send along any other thoughts folks, appreciate it.
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Re: The Carven (A New Race, I need some feedback)

Post by dymondy2k »

Actually I like the idea of full healing of the healer is a druid.. since they are wood based. I agree with Dimi.. The armor can be tough so maybe just give them a natural bonus because of the material they are made from maybe.. have them start at AC 12 instead of 11?? But I like the backstory on these!
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teaman
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Re: The Carven (A New Race, I need some feedback)

Post by teaman »

dymondy2k wrote:Actually I like the idea of full healing of the healer is a druid.. since they are wood based. I agree with Dimi.. The armor can be tough so maybe just give them a natural bonus because of the material they are made from maybe.. have them start at AC 12 instead of 11?? But I like the backstory on these!
Thanks for the comments and thoughts. Sounds like the armor thing needs some looking at from my original writeup.

Thanks for the kind words on the backstory. I don't want them to be a clone of the Warforged. Besides the legal issues, I see them more like Isaac Asimov's Robots: they will take life in defense of the innocent, and are quite curious.

Trying to decide what is enough to give them so people would want to play them. Right now I have an occasional player who LOVES his warforged, but that's mostly because the character is a tank character.
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Re: The Carven (A New Race, I need some feedback)

Post by Dimirag »

Give them and AC bonus that stacks with armor and other bonuses and let them roll no less than a d6 for Hit Points (they are durable and resilient). Letting them being Thieves is not a bad choice, they are curious so they can use their thief skills not to steal but to investigate.
Sorry for any misspelling or writing error, I am not a native English speaker
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teaman
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Re: The Carven (A New Race, I need some feedback)

Post by teaman »

Good point about the d6, that would make them a bit tougher than human magic users, though they still level 10% slower to make up for that.

Let me see if I can bang out a revised version in a day or two.

And thanks to folks so far. This is exactly the kind of feedback I need to get this into better shape.
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Re: The Carven (A New Race, I need some feedback)

Post by teaman »

Is "The Carven" a good name? Any better thoughts?

Or just "Carven." I checked and things like Wooden Guardian and Wooden Protector seemed taken.
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Re: The Carven (A New Race, I need some feedback)

Post by Dimirag »

I prefer Carven as the name, same as Dwarf, or Human.

Wooders? Woodians (half wood half guardian)?
Sorry for any misspelling or writing error, I am not a native English speaker
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teaman
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Re: The Carven (A New Race, I need some feedback)

Post by teaman »

Dimirag wrote:I prefer Carven as the name, same as Dwarf, or Human.

Wooders? Woodians (half wood half guardian)?
I hadn't looked at your location. Isn't the internet wonderful? We can get feedback on projects from people anywhere in the world.

I realize this is like saying "water is wet," but it is still astounding to me.
Teaman is the sole proprietor of Sharp Mountain Games at roll20 and DTRPG

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