Publication:Dragon (magazine)/Dragon 304

Page 46, Dragon Magazine #304, February 2003, Paizo Publishing LLC

Prestige Races Changing Your Character for the Better by Greg Dent and Brannon Hollingsworth, illustrated by Chris Appel

Designated D20 Open Game Content under Open Game License Version 1.0A

The Dungeons & Dragons rules create a world where heroes can experience rapid advances in their skills and power. Surviving adventure and risk-taking are real learning experiences that cause physical and mental change. In this kind of world, creatures might even alter their forms by gaining experience. The [i]Oathbound[/i] campaign setting, produced by Bastion Press, presented the concept of "prestige races," allowing characters to do just that. By expending XP, any creature can alter its form and gain new abilities. A prestige race can manifest itself in many thousands of different ways. Any change to the body or mind can be the result of a prestige race alteration, whether it is subtle, such as an increased Intelligence score, or quite obvious, such as the growth of a pair of wings. Most changes are not piecemeal but the result of focusing on a particular prestige race focus. A human cannot simply turn himself into an elemental, but he might slowly progress in that direction over a series of smaller changes. These pathways are known as foci, and are the chief method of categorizing prestige races.

Gaining a Prestige Race Alteration

To gain a prestige race alteration, a creature must first take the Sculpt Self feat. When a creature with the Sculpt Self feat wants to purchase a prestige race alteration, it immediately expends the XP. It must then meditate for the time necessary to channel the XP into altering its form. A creature need not do so immediately, and the process can be delayed as long as the creature wishes. If the creature purchased multiple prestige race alterations, it must meditate for each separately.

 Sculpt Self [General]
 You have the ability to modify the essence of your being.
 Benefit: You may spend XP to gain prestige race alterations. You cannot spend the XP for a prestige race alteration if that expenditure would reduce your level.

A creature must meditate for one day per 1,000 XP of the cost of the prestige race alteration, and the creature is presumed to spend about 8 hours meditating each day. You cannot rush the process by meditating more than 8 hours each day. Small interruptions or light activity do not disrupt this process so long as the creature spends about 8 hours a day meditating, but fighting, casting spells, using magic items, or other mentally or physically intensive activities ruin the day's meditation. Unlike a spellcaster creating a magic item, interruptions merely ruin the day's work, not the whole process. Thus, a creature can take as long as it wishes to gain the prestige race alteration. Once gained, the prestige race alteration cannot be taken away. Loss of levels due to energy drain and other effects never take away a prestige race alteration, and they cannot be dispelled. Most of the effects of a prestige race alteration are considered extraordinary abilities, but any spellcasting ability granted by the prestige race alteration should be considered supernatural. You cannot take the same prestige race alteration more than once.

Stacking Prestige Race Benefits

The benefits provided by prestige race alterations follow the normal stacking rules for bonus types described in the [i]DUNGEON MASTER'S Guide[/i]. For instance, if a creature has a +4 natural armor bonus from a prestige race alteration and an [i]amulet of natural armor +3[/i], it gains only the prestige race alteration's natural armor bonus to AC. If it had an [i]amulet of natural armor +5[/i], it would instead gain the benefit from the amulet and not the prestige race alteration.

Prestige Race Foci

Prestige race alterations can be grouped into different foci. A prestige race focus represents a particular path of prestige race alterations. This path is much like a feat tree, but characters do not need to take feats to gain prestige race alterations; they need only spend the proper amount of XP and time.

Soul Focus

Prestige Races and CR

Giving monsters or NPCs prestige race alterations is not the same as giving them XP and levels of classes. Instead, think of a monster or NPC with a prestige race as you would a monster or NPC with a magic item. If you multiply the XP cost of a prestige race alteration by 5, you get the cost of a magic item with no space limitation and those qualities. If you subtract this cost from the money you devote to the NPC's gear, you shouldn't have to worry about how it will negatively affect the NPC's CR or the difficulty of the encounter any more than normal when giving an NPC a magic item. If the prestige race alteration is in addition to an NPC's gear or a monster's usable treasure, you have to consider how that affects the encounter as carefully as if you were giving the creature extra magic items. Note that if the creature has plenty of item slots open, you might want to consider halving the gold piece value of the prestige race alterations: A creature with many item slots open would not expend the resources to buy an item with no space limitation.

Creating Your Own Prestige Race Alterations

The possible effects of prestige race abilities are nearly limitless, but the XP cost can make certain alterations unlikely to be used. This article presents prestige race alterations worth up to 11,980 XP. This approaches the upper limit of what many players will be willing to pay for the benefits, and it limits the prestige race alteration to characters of 12th level or higher. When designing your own prestige race alterations, cheap benefits like skill bonuses are the most likely to be chosen and used by players. Determining the XP cost of a prestige race alteration is simple in concept, but the math can become complicated. First, determine the cost of each of the granted abilities as through they were all qualities of separate magic items that have no space limitation. You might want to add an ad-hoc price increase due to the fact that the "items" can never be stolen or destroyed, but consider that they can also never be given to another party member who might need them or be sold to buy a better item, and that a feat is required to gain the benefits. Total all those prices. Once you have determined the total price in gold pieces, divide that cost by 5 to learn the XP cost. Note that if the prestige race alterations build upon one another, as in the case of the mineral focus's increasing natural armor benefit, you'll need to subtract the cost of the previous benefit from the cost of the new benefit before adding that to your calculations for the total gold piece cost of the prestige race alteration's qualities.

For Your Character

Prestige race alterations can be a great way to create unique characters, buy you might want to gain a prestige race alteration for more than the roleplaying opportunities. [b]Little Money:[/b] Your character's party might need to save money for resurrections, or maybe you've already spent your share of the treasure but you still want more. A poor character can always find a way to pay for prestige race alterations. [b]Not Enough Time:[/b] Creating a magic item with the same qualities as a prestige race alteration takes more than twice as much time, and interruptions ruin your work, causing you to lose all the XP and gold devoted to creating the magic item. Prestige race alterations take less time and can be completed at your leisure. [b]Too Many Items:[/b] You might have all your item slots filled with other magic items. Rather than expending a great deal of money on items that have no space limitation, a high-level character can spend a relatively small amount of XP and gain the same qualities. [b]Easier than Paying:[/b] If you can't find a magic item crafter willing to make an item for pay, you can gain the qualities of a magic item without the need for a spellcasting creator. [b]Can't Be Stolen:[/b] Your prestige race alteration cannot be taken away. Even if stripped of all your items, you might still be able to accomplish amazing feats using your prestige race powers.

For Your Campaign

There are many ways for you to incorporate the idea of prestige races in your game, and you can alter the concept in a number of ways to help you make it easier to import. [b]It Doesn't Require a Feat:[/b] Taking away the feat prerequisite for gaining a prestige race alteration is an easy way to make the idea more appealing to reluctant players. [b]It Requires Gold:[/b] If you multiply the prestige race alteration's XP cost by 5, you can charge that cost as gold a PC must invest to get the properties of the prestige race. [b]It Requires a Special Component:[/b] Once you know how much gold the alteration should cost, you might make such an alteration require a special component of equal value. [b]It Requires a Special Location:[/b] Gaining a prestige race alteration might require that a character meditate at a particular location. This makes such locations a valuable resource to be guarded. [b]It Requires a Special Object:[/b] Perhaps only creatures in possession of a particular magic item can gain prestige race alterations. [b]It Requires a Special Deed:[/b] Gaining a prestige race alteration might be the reward for succeeding in a quest to defeat a particular monster. Instead of gaining treasure or experience, the PCs gain the ability to take a prestige race alteration of a particular price. [b]Treat Them All like Magic Items:[/b] Perhaps when a creature dies, the prestige race alterations it made to itself are expelled in a physical form. These can then be taken by the players and applied to themselves. In this instance, prestige race alterations become a lot like standard magic items.