Template Idea

[Blun-Tor the Hu-Man]

I watched "Ravenous" the other night, great horror movie, and thought that having a villain who eats people to gain their essence might be kind of cool.

The villain in the movie seems like a regular guy, not stronger looking, but able to hurl guys he picks up with one hand a fair distance and he can take a bullet to the chest and laugh it off after he gets up.

So I was thinking of how a template might work to make this guy a Wendigo, which is what he's called in the film.

First of all, he is an eater of human flesh, and the more he consumes, the more powerful he becomes, and the more he is forced to consume. He's never satisfied, no matter how many guys he manages to devour. Second, he is agile to an extreme degree, and very quick on his feet, can take an absurd amount of punishment, but he is still mortal and can be killed with weapons like a normal person. Third, he is frightening as all holy hell, but only when he reveals himself to his victims as a cannibal, which works towards the horror aspect and would work best as a roleplaying element.

I was looking over the special combat actions a character can make when he has the appropriate skills and feats, and you know some of those are pretty devastating. So perhaps he could gain the benefit of those combat maneuvers without their prereqs as he devoured more people. He should as gain an increasing amount of natural DR that makes him difficult to kill, but never impossible, or possibly a speed boost or sneak attack or something.

Bounce this around and shoot me some ideas, if you're game.

 

[Axerules]

What you need is the Darkarra: The Spirit Eaters of Darfar article from Signs & Portents 20. I think it has been reprinted in the Compendium.

Basically, the Spirit Eaters are Darfari who eat and consume the flesh as well as the essence of other creatures (human or animals). They gain different powers (a template is given in the article if you take a Feat) when they consume different creatures. I haven't seen the movie Ravenous, but it seem to fit what you're searching for.

 

[Blun-Tor the Hu-Man]

Thanks!

 

[Axerules]

Thanks!

You're welcome, Blun-Tor. 8)

BTW, the article IS in the Conan Compendium. I don't know if you can still order/find S&P 20.

 

[Spectator]

Well I'm not big on canniballistic PCs, But I love Ravenous and everyother film Robert Carlyle has been in from Trainspotting to The Full Monty.

I totally think Trainspotting could be morphed into a Conan-esque story-line.


Well it would be tough!

 

[Axerules]

Well I'm not big on canniballistic PCs

I also think they're unsuited for PC's, but they can make great bad guys. I started to design a Darkarra that I plan to use as villain in my campaign.

I totally think Trainspotting could be morphed into a Conan-esque story-line.


Well it would be tough!

With lotus-addicted PC's ? :lol:

 

[Krushnak]

could use vampire but have him slowly gain the attributes instead of all at once and the final change being he loses his con and gets d12 HD.

i loved the movie Ravenous and might try and include it in my game. some settler delving into the dark practices of the picts.

 

[Blun-Tor the Hu-Man]

Vampire isn't exactly what I had in mind, as he doesn't turn into an undead.

He is for all intents and purposes a human being, who is strong and fast without being obviously so. He's shaping up to be the villain, and I haven't done any stats for him yet, but the PC's are interacting with him and plan to help him out of a quandry, so I will probably have to decide on something soon.

Typical effects of Wendigo:

Insatiable hunger that grows worse the more he eats

Speed and strength that grows with consumption of humans (not just blood, but flesh)

Either high natural armor (DR), or some type of fast healing

To simulate his speed and strength, I was thinking to give him a couple of the combat moves without the required feats or base attack bonus. He is fast enough and strong enough to get a Decapitating Slash off in the opening round of combat, or to stick a weapon in a guy with To The Hilt, or dodge from his enemies with Pantherish Twist. It's a different way to approach template abilities, and it feels like it's right for what I'm doing.

Fast healing or high DR? I lean more towards the fast healing, though it would have it's restrictions - like having to feed to gain fast healing benefits for a number of rounds or minutes equal to the hit die of the dude getting cannibalized, and it would be a hit point or so per round or minute, probably per minute.

As much as I enjoy the idea of everyone gaining the benefit of cannibalism, my players would absolutely abuse it. The villain I have is a Pict barbarian, who has done some travelling, not unlike Conan. However he's come by his Wendigoism in his travels, I'm fairly certain he's the only one.

Thoughts?

 

[Krushnak]

i just came up with this. for each lvl/HD that the consumed victims had the wendigo can gain an ability from the list. the powers last a total hours/days(depending how powerful you want it to be, i would say days) of the total lvl/HD of the consumed victims. the wendigo can only consume a total of lvl/HD equal to his lvl/HD + unmodified constitution bonus. everytime the wendigo consumes some victims he should make a corruption check, something along the lines of 10+ total lvl/HD consumed.

eg: the wendigo kills and then eats 3 lvl1 commoners he would gain 3 abilities and they would last 3 hours/days.

example bonuses:
+2 to a stat(stackable)

combat feat eg: improved initiative or powerattack, must meet prereqs for feat. note: the prereqs for stats and other feats can be gained from the other cannibalism bonuses.

natural DR 1(stackable)

fast healing 1hp per round(stackable)

class feature designed for combat such as uncanny dodge, mobility or sneak attack. can take it multiple times to get the improved and greater versions of uncanny dodge and mobility.

monster features such as improved grab, scent, bite attack.

these are just some examples so come up with some more if i've left anything out.