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This question is about the Serpentfolk section in the Monster Codex. There's a ritual a Serprntfolk can go through that essentially turns it into a human. The book says to treat the ritual as the Reincarnation Spell.
I've looked through old threads and found plenty of questions about how to handle new racial HD, but nothing about what to do when losing them. Can someone please let me know if there is any official word on this, or if not, offer a suggestion on what to do?
Thanks!
Graaaa.... Necro-thread....
Seriously though, this poster never received a reply to his query, but I too want an answer. Specifically, how do you build one of these reskinned serpentfolk beasties? Here's the text* with most of the fluff removed.
A Snake Reskinned
...serpentfolk volunteers would engage in a form of ritual suicide that sheds their skins and grants a form made of human flesh. This irreversible process only works on purecaste serpentfolk, and functions as reincarnate with the shape of the new body specifically chosen to be human rather than determined randomly....
Survivors of this ritual always retain the serpentfolk intellect, including the serpentfolk's racial bonuses to Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma, as well as their spell-like abilities, telepathy, and immunity to mind-affecting effects. The recipient's Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution scores change according to its new race (human) as described in the reincarnate spell. Although they resemble humans, these reborn serpentfolk are not fertile except with other serpentfolk, and a careful examination of internal organs of one of these creatures reveals its inhuman nature.
So breaking down my concerns even more specifically:
- What level of human is the reskinned subject? 1st, 4th; 5th? A base serpentfolk has 5 HD but casts at 4th level.
- What creature type/subtype is it? Rangers care! Clearly, the subject starts out as a monstrous humanoid, but since—according to the text above—the internal anatomy of its human-like body will hint at its true form, it reincarnates as what? A humanoid (human, reptilian), perhaps?
- The subject retains its mental racial bonuses (Int +8, Wis +4, Cha +6) plus its SLAs and immunities, then gets the human bonus (Con +2) from reincarnate. All this would grant the reincarnated creature an equivalent CR modification of what? +1, +2?
- And lastly, as Cuup asked, how do you account for the 2 permanent negative levels bestowed via reincarnate thrown into this mix?
I get the impression all the mechanical ramifications of this concept weren't too clearly thought out, but I think it is a neat idea, and Paizo should flesh it out in greater detail.
* Full text is in the sidebar on page 201 of the dead-tree/PDF edition of the Monster Codex, and just above where this link leads in the PRD.
Graaaa.... Necro-thread....
Seriously though, this poster never received a reply to his query, but I too want an answer. Specifically, how do you build one of these reskinned serpentfolk beasties? Here's the text* with most of the fluff removed.
A Snake Reskinned
...serpentfolk volunteers would engage in a form of ritual suicide that sheds their skins and grants a form made of human flesh. This irreversible process only works on purecaste serpentfolk, and functions as reincarnate with the shape of the new body specifically chosen to be human rather than determined randomly....
Survivors of this ritual always retain the serpentfolk intellect, including the serpentfolk's racial bonuses to Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma, as well as their spell-like abilities, telepathy, and immunity to mind-affecting effects. The recipient's Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution scores change according to its new race (human) as described in the reincarnate spell. Although they resemble humans, these reborn serpentfolk are not fertile except with other serpentfolk, and a careful examination of internal organs of one of these creatures reveals its inhuman nature.
So breaking down my concerns even more specifically:
- What level of human is the reskinned subject? 1st, 4th; 5th? A base serpentfolk has 5 HD but casts at 4th level.
- What creature type/subtype is it? Rangers care! Clearly, the subject starts out as a monstrous humanoid, but since—according to the text above—the internal anatomy of its human-like body will hint at its true form, it reincarnates as what? A humanoid (human, reptilian), perhaps?
- The subject retains its mental racial bonuses (Int +8, Wis +4, Cha +6) plus its SLAs and immunities, then gets the human bonus (Con +2) from reincarnate. All this would grant the reincarnated creature an equivalent CR modification of what? +1, +2?
- And lastly, as Cuup asked, how do you account for the 2 permanent negative levels bestowed via reincarnate thrown into this mix?
I get the impression all the mechanical ramifications of this concept weren't too clearly thought out, but I think it is a neat idea, and Paizo should flesh it out in greater detail.
* Full text is in the sidebar on page 201 of the dead-tree/PDF edition of the Monster Codex, and just above where this link leads in the PRD
The ritual is more like a polymorph than reincarnate. They have not changed their race, only their form. They are still monstrous humanoids. The hint of the internal anatomy, fertility restriction, and so on, mean they have not changed their race, only their form.
For the comments about adjusting stats, they keep their mental stats, loose their racial physical stat adjustment and gain human racial stat adjustment. The latter is +2 Con, but the former is not defined. Most monsters use NPC stats, with +2/+2/-2 adjustment, and +1/4HD adjustment. To back calculate, subtract the HD adjustment from the highest score. For the rest, I think you apply the standard, which is a +2 mental, +2 physical, and a -2 any. Given "Str 8, Dex 21, Con 17", I would expect either Dex or Con has the +2. Since humans have +2 Con, this means either no change to Con, or +2 Con -2 Dex. Take your pick. Given that Str is the lowest score, it probably has the -2, so it would be set to normal (i.e. effectively +2 Str).
For the negative levels, it works the same as always. Restoration spells needed.
/cevah
