Sprite PC

[caal_boran]

I have a young woman who wants to play a sprite as a PC. IS there a write-up available or can someone help me out. Thanks

[Weirdo]

Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot of support for playing monsters in PF. There's a 3.5 book called Savage Species that might be helpful.

Since the sprite isn't much more or less powerful than a PC race I'd just let her play one. Ability modifiers -8 Str, +6 Dex, -4 Int, size and speed, and racial spell-like abilities, and replace the sprite HD with class HD.

[thistledown]

Well, the ARG has guides to making custom races.

I don't know the specifics, but lets take a stab at it:
Type: Fey (2)
Size: Tiny (4)
Speed: Normal (0)
Language: standard (0)
race language: Sylvan
Standard ability set (0)
+2 cha, +2 dex, -2 wis (or str? - remember tiny already has a str hit)

Custom racial traits
Flight (4): 30' fly speed, clumsy
Flight, improved (2): now 40' fly speed, poor
Flight, improved (2): now 50' fly speed, average
could buy more, for 2 each

Free
Low-light vision (fey)

That comes to 14 build points. A bit high, but not terribly so.

[Avianfoo]

Seconded using Advanced Race Guide. It gives a good approximation for PC races.

[caal_boran]

Unfortunately the ARG was of no help. The innate spells and the flight speed and maneuverability made the character 29 pts, definitely more than the allowable races. I find it interesting that in the Bestiary 3 they are a 1/3 CR. Something just seems out of sorts with that.

[Ximen Bao]

caal_boran wrote:

Unfortunately the ARG was of no help. The innate spells and the flight speed and maneuverability made the character 29 pts, definitely more than the allowable races. I find it interesting that in the Bestiary 3 they are a 1/3 CR. Something just seems out of sorts with that.

As a monster, they are not much of a challenge. One off and done.

However, as a character, the elements that don't necessarily pose a threat to PCs give the player a much greater utility than core races.

A monster can fly around and ping you with a little shortbow at (1d2-4) damage, but a character can fly around all day with fly speed 60 is incredibly useful.

Having both detect good and detect evil constantly on is worth much more to the player than it threatens them from a monster having it.

Being diminutive doesn't do much useful for this monster in a fight against the PCs, but the advantages to stealth, AC, and To Hit, make sneaky ranged builds (esp casters) for PCs with class levels much more powerful. Yeah there's a cmb/d hit, but if you're a sneaky flyer, it should rarely be an issue.

Basically keep in mind that monsters' CR is them as written. Not them with the potential for a full set of class levels added on.

eta: This assumes you're letting them roll/buy ability scores. If you lock them to the scores the monster has they have no casting stat and no strength, which severely limits what it can reasonably do. In which case you're almost forced into a rogue/ninja/gunslinger dex-only build.

[David knott 242]

Heroes of the Jade Oath has a Pathfinder version of the faen race from Arcana Evolved. This race starts out as size Small (like a gnome or halfling) but eventually gains the ability to undergo a metamorphosis into a size Tiny fey creature.

[Wycen]

I hesitate to suggest mixing d20 systems since our group has done so and it will possibly have weird consequences, but there is the fairy-sprite with racial levels from Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved. You can't start as a spryte, you have to get to a certain level before you get tiny and you'll have to convert their special abilities, but we aren't sure you want a combat heavy game or role play heavy or somewhere in between.

[Weirdo]

Ximen Bao is right that the sprite's abilities are more useful to a PC than their CR would suggest. I might not worry about it personally, but then my group likes a high-power game. If you're worried, here are some quick suggestions to balance it out a bit without destroying the concept:

1) Change size to Tiny (less drastic Str/Dex modifiers, size modifiers to AC/CMD, Stealth bonus - note they still can't flank/threaten).

2) Less generous stat generation - you don't necessarily need to lock the character into the Bestiary stats, but lower stats = less power and less chance to make a Dervish Dancer with Dex 24 from level 1, or a maxed-out diminutive stealth sorcerer.

3) Change the fly speed to a glide ability and then upgrade that to a Fly speed at level 5-7 (when this becomes less of a game-breaker) either automatically or with a feat cost.

4) Change the detect good/detect evil to at-will and requiring concentration rather than always on - basically paladin's evildar with good-dar attached.