I'm going to be starting a Pathfinder game soon and ever since I read the bestiary I thought Morlocks were cool. The fact the I'm also reading 'The Time Machine' by H.G. Wells probably adds to this.
I've been playing for a while but using monsters as PCs still confuses me, so I'm wondering if anybody could help me come up with Racial stats like in the PHB only for Morlocks.
I'm going to be starting a Pathfinder game soon and ever since I read the bestiary I thought Morlocks were cool. The fact the I'm also reading 'The Time Machine' by H.G. Wells probably adds to this.
I've been playing for a while but using monsters as PCs still confuses me, so I'm wondering if anybody could help me come up with Racial stats like in the PHB only for Morlocks.
Before anyone answers, you know you're gonna take a massive Int hit, right? Along the lines of "Thog smash talky guy! Talky guy boring!"
Also you won't be able to adventure on the surface. The Bright Face is blinding in all her agonizing brightness and the Pale Face isn't much nicer.
Unless you know you're going to be in the Darklands the entire adventure I recommend against playing a Morlock. They're too well-adapted to the underground to be useful in an adventuring party on the surface. And really stoopid.
I do know about the 'intelligence' (or lack there of) of the Morlocks. Also hopefully my GM will allow the daylight adaptation feat, which I cannot remember what book its from. But basically it gets rid of light-related weakness's.
I do know about the 'intelligence' (or lack there of) of the Morlocks. Also hopefully my GM will allow the daylight adaptation feat, which I cannot remember what book its from. But basically it gets rid of light-related weakness's.
Morlocks in the bestiary have an Int of 5 and a Charisma of 6. They have Light Blindness which means they're blinded for the first round they're in bright light and then dazzled after that until they can get out of the light. They have bonuses to every other stat, some of which are obscene for a PC to try and justify (+4 to three stats and +8 to dex! not balanced).
A morlock starts play as a CR 2 with three hit dice, so if this is a first level party you're joining your DM will have to do a not-small amount of paperwork to tone down your morlock so it fits into a party. Your DM would have to pare abilities and shift stat bonuses until it stopped making him cringe.
Morlocks look a lot like Gollum. Except even skeezier. They move and climb like Gollum, too. They have a few abilities that some DMs might find game-breaking (nonmagical spiderclimb, immunity to poison), and more abilities that you'd never really use (swarming, +4 stealth in caves). The best you could do is Thog the Barbarian. Thog the Barbarian who gets chased around by Inquisitors and never gets their order done right in the tavern.
I'm not saying it can't be done. Oh, the tarrasque could be pared down into a PC race if you tried hard enough. I'm just saying once you're done it won't really be or feel like an HG Wells morlock anymore. It'd feel... lessened, if you know what I mean. It'd be something you called a morlock that was actually something very different.
Yeah you're probably right. Well thanks anyways.
I'd recommend not dropping the idea entirely. It's a character concept, there's no reason you can't play it in the future. It just takes more work than the standard weird concept in that you'll need to be starting at higher level and you'll need to beg the DM. Maybe bring offerings, bribes, etc. Sit on the idea, it might become useful at some point.
But I really recommend playing an easier monster first. Something like a gnoll or a boggard or a giant lizard. Half of playing the good morlock is your DM's approval, the other half is all you. Play around with other monsters first before trying something like a morlock. When you do get to play your morlock it'll make the experience that much better.
I'm going to be starting a Pathfinder game soon and ever since I read the bestiary I thought Morlocks were cool. The fact the I'm also reading 'The Time Machine' by H.G. Wells probably adds to this.
I've been playing for a while but using monsters as PCs still confuses me, so I'm wondering if anybody could help me come up with Racial stats like in the PHB only for Morlocks.
A morlock can join play as early as 2nd level (with no class levels) and by the time the party got to 6th-level, the morlock would have 3 racial hit dice and 5 class levels. After that, he gains one level for every level his party gains, as normal.
Your morlock would forever be 1 class level behind the rest of the party, but would have 3 racial hit dice (monstrous humanoid "levels" to be precise) to make up for it.
His racial traits would look something like this:
- +4 Strength, +8 Dexterity, +4 Constitution, -6 Intelligence, +4 Wisdom, and -4 Charisma.
- Racial Skill Modifiers +4 Stealth in caverns, +8 Acrobatics, +16 Climb.
- Size Medium.
- Speed 40 ft., Climb 30 ft.
- +1 natural armor bonus to AC.
- Has darkvision 120 ft. and scent.
- Possesses immunity to diseases and poisons.
- Gains the Expert Climber, Leap Attack, Light Blindness, Sneak Attack, and Swarming racial abilities.
- Languages Undercommon. Bonus languages include anything the GM deems appropriate (likely none due to steep intelligence penalty).
You would also get all the benefits of having 3 "levels" of monstrous humanoid such as general feats, hit points, base saves, base attack, skill ranks, etc. Treat the combination of racial hit dice and class levels just as you would multiclassing between two classes.
All in all it strikes me as one of the few balanced monster races (at a quick glance at least).
EDIT: You jump into a 2nd-level group as a morloack with no class levels. Then you gain 3 levels for the next 2 levels that your party gains. After that you all gain levels on a 1 for 1 basis. I've included a table below:
Racial HD/Class Levels; Normal Party Members Class Levels
-------; 01
03/00; 02
03/01; 03
03/02; 04
03/04; 05
03/05; 06
03/06; 07
03/07; 08
03/08; 09
03/09; 10
03/10; 11
03/11; 12
03/12; 13
03/13; 14
03/14; 15
03/15; 16
03/16; 17
03/17; 18
03/18; 19
03/19; 20
I hope that helps. :D
WOW! Thanks very much. I'll have to check what level we're starting at.
WOW! Thanks very much. I'll have to check what level we're starting at.
You also get a 1d4 bite attack as a primary natural attack that adds your Strength modifier x1.5 (I forgot to include it above).
I've given you the official rules on how to play a morlock as outlined in the core rulebook and bestiary (or otherwise laid down by the game designers themselves). That being said, that doesn't mean it is a balanced race. Check with your GM before playing one.