Harkashan - The Unshackled

[Steel Warrior]

 

Name: Harkashan the Unshackled Monster: Two-Headed Abyssal Drake Type: Outsider (Chaotic, Evil, Extraplanar, Fire) Gender: Male Age: 450 Alignment: CE Class: Totemist

 

Personality

Having long endured his master's punishment, Harkashan was scarred with an almost fear of imprisonment once again. This only fed into his hatred for his master, yet it also fed into the respect he held for Graz'zt, as the demon prince was one of few he the drake would even consider his better. Had it not been for his own personal greed, he could have lived a more luxurious life, slaughtering the denizens of hell and abyss alike. Given a second chance at freedom, he accepted the mission to venture to the material plane for his own personal gain.

 

Description

During his prime the abyssal drake was a terror of the skies. It's huge size and twin heads, filled with dozens of razor sharp teeth and the frightful presence of his dragon heritage. Harkashan stood 22ft. in height with a length of 32ft and 6in. from heads to stinger tail and a wingspan of nearly 50ft. Massively built thick dark red to deep violet hughed scales, Graz'zt was enjoyed the prestige of owning the only two headed drake.

 

Backstory

The one of a kind abyssal drake who was a distant offspring of Garyx the All-Destroyer. Multiple failed attempts to breed a multi-headed dragon over the span of several hundred of years, leaving Harkashan The two-headed abyssal drake their only success by the demonic powers that be. Harkashan was much more deadlier than his predecessors, due to having two heads that were both capable of breathing his unholy fire upon his victims. The drake had little to no fear and was raised by Graz'zt to serve as his personal mount.

During the start of the Blood War, Harkashan took pleasure in devouring the devils that would invade his domain. Kept on a short leash, he was always available to his master when Graz'zt had the desire to make a grand entrance, by having Harkashan fly above the battlefield breathing his twin breaths across both demons and devils alike. The drake had no love for any of them, so the fodder was of no consequence, he had relished watching them burn until there was nothing left but ash.

Although for hundreds of years, Harkashan obeyed his master, yet his own personal greed and desire welled deep inside him. Red dragon blood that coursed through his veins drove him mad with the thirst for power. Always hungry with his voracious appetite and the overwhelming greed when it came to possessing powerful magic items and artifacts, led Graz'zt to punish Harkashan. Spending nearly a thousand years shackled and tortured daily by lesser demons, he finally was offered respite. Serve his master by going to the material plane and claim glory for himself and his master.

Harkashan felt the magic of his chains wane upon accepting the offer, that he had lifted his two heads, shattering the chain, but keeping the collar around his neck as a reminder of his previous punishment. He vowed to himself that once he arrived on the material plane, he would betray his master, thinking he would be far out of Graz'zt's reach. Harkashan looked forward to his future conquest.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 23, 2023 by Steel Warrior (see edit history)

[Steel Warrior]

Str: 14, Dex: 10, Con: 16, Int: 14, Wis: 12, Cha: 12

Racial: +2 Str, +2 Dex, -4 Int, +2 Wis

Str: 16, Dex: 12, Con: 16, Int: 10, Wis: 14, Cha: 12

Edited May 21, 2023 by Steel Warrior (see edit history)

[Steel Warrior]

Two-Headed Abyssal Drake class
Str +18, Dex +2, Con +12, Int -4, Wis +4, Cha +4
Max level of class is ECL 20 (Racial: 10d8 +5 LA) + (Multi-headed template: +2d8, +3 LA)

Class Abilities

Abyssal Drake Starting Abilities

Starting ability adjustments: +2 Str, +2 Dex, -4 Int, +2 Wis
Two Heads
Size: Medium
Speed: 40'
Darkvision 90 ft.
Low-Light Vision.
+2 Listen, Search and Spot.
Natural Armor +2
Scent
Immunity magical sleep effects and paralysis

Automatic Languages: Abyssal, Celestial, and Draconic.
2x Bite 1d6, 2x Claws 1d4
Sting 1d2
Bonus Feats: Improved Initiative, Combat Reflexes

Racial skills: Bluff, Diplomacy, Hide, Intimidate, Listen, Move Silently, Search, Spot.

 

Level	Hit Dice	Base Attack	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skill        points	Ability      mods	Abilities
1st	1d8	+1	+2	+2	+2	(8+int)x4	+2 con	Breath Weapon 1d6 (half fire, half unholy) 30'
2nd	2d8	+2	+3	+3	+3	8+int	+2 str	Breath 2d6, resistance to acid 5, cold 5, fire 10 and electricity 5, fly 150' (poor) 10/min 1/day.
3rd	2d8	+2	+3	+3	+3		+2 con	Natural Armor +4, Poison 1d4 con., Superior Two-Weapon Fighting.
4th	3d8	+3	+3	+3	+3	8+int	+2 str	Breath 3d6, fly 150' (poor) 10/min 2/day.
5th	4d8	+4	+4	+4	+4	8+int	+2 con	Breath 4d8, Frightful Presence (Ex), fly 150' (poor) 10/min 3/day., Two-Headed Attacks.
6th	4d8	+4	+4	+4	+4			Size Large, Bite 2d9, Claws 1d6, Natural Armor +6, fly 150' (poor) At-Will.
7th	5d8	+5	+4	+4	+4	8+int	+2 cha	Breath 5d8 40', Sting 1d4, Poison 1d6 con.
8th	6d8	+6/+1	+5	+5	+5	8+int	+2 str	Breath 6d8, resistance to acid 10, cold 10, fire 15 and electricity 10, Rend (2d6)
9th	6d8	+6/+1	+5	+5	+5		+2 con	Natural Armor +8
10th	7d8	+7/+2	+5	+5	+5	8+int	+2 str	Breath 7d8
11th	8d8	+8/+3	+6	+6	+6	8+int	+2 wis	Breath 8d8 50', Natural Armor +10
12th	8d8	+8/+3	+6	+6	+6			Bite 2d6, Claws 2d4, Rend (4d4), Sting 1d6, 1d8 con.
13th	9d8	+9/+4	+6	+6	+6	8+int	+2 str	Breath 9d8 60', resistance to acid 15, cold 15, fire 20 and electricity 15
14th	9d8	+9/+4	+6	+6	+6		+2 con	Natural Armor +12
15th	10d8	10/+5	+7	+7	+7	8+int	+2 cha	Breath 10d8 60'
16th	10d8	+10/+5	+7	+7	+7		+2 str	Poison 2d6 con.
17th	11d8	+11/+6	+7	+7	+7	8+int	+2 str	Breath 11d8 60'
18th	11d8	+11/+6	+7	+7	+7			Natural Armor +13
19th	12d8	+12/+7	+8	+8	+8	8+int	+2 Con	resistance to acid 20, cold 20, and electricity 20
20th	12d8	+12/+7	+8	+8	+8		+2 str	Breath 12d8 60', Immunity to Fire, Vulnerability to Cold.

 

Edited May 26, 2023 by Steel Warrior (see edit history)

[Steel Warrior]

Gestalt Build: Totemist 9 (1st-2nd, 4th-6th, 17th-20th), Barbarian 1(lion spirit totem 3rd), Totem Rager 10 (7th-16th)
Note: BAB/Saves/Skill Points Calculated with Abyssal Drake monster class levels.

Level	Hit Dice	Base Attack	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skill        points	Melds	Essentia	Binds	Class Abilities
1st	1d8	+0	+2	+2	+2	(8+int)x4	2	1	0	Illiteracy, Wild Empathy
2nd	2d8	+1	+3	+3	+3	8+int	3	2	1	Totem Chakra Bind (+1 Capacity)
3rd	1d12	+2	+3	+3	+3	4+int	3	2	1	Spiritual totem: Lion Pounce (Ex), Rage 1/day
4th	3d8	+3	+4	+4	+3	8+int	3	2	1	Totem's Protection
5th	4d8	+4	+4	+4	+4	8+int	4	3	1
6th	5d8	+4	+5	+5	+4	4+int	4	3	1	Chakra Binds (crown, feet, hands)
7th	1d10	+5	+5	+5	+4	8+int	4	3	1	Totem Rage, Wild Empathy
8th	2d10	+6/+1	+6	+6	+5	8+int	4	4	2	Extra rage
9th	3d10	+7/+2	+6	+6	+5	4+int	5	5	2	Damage reduction 1/-, (+1 meldshaper level)
10th	4d10	+7/+2	+7	+7	+5	8+int	5	5	2
11th	5d10	+8/+3	+7	+7	+5	8+int	5	6	2	Extended Rage
12th	6d10	+9/+4	+8	+8	+5	4+int	5	6	2
13th	7d10	+10/+5	+8	+8	+6	8+int	6	7	3	Damage Reduction 2/-
14th	8d10	+10/+5	+9	+9	+6	4+int	6	8	3	Extra Rage
15th	9d10	+11/+6	+9	+9	+6	8+int	6	9	3	Chakra Binds (arms, brow, shoulders)
16th	10d10	+12/+7	+10	+10	+7	4+int	7	10	3	Totem chakra bind (+2 capacity)
17th	6d8	+13/+8	+10	+10	+7	8+int	7	11	4
18th	7d8	+13/+8	+11	+11	+7	4+int	7	12	4
19th	8d8	+14/+9	+11	+11	+7	8+int	8	13	4	Totem Chakra (double bind)
20th	9d8	+15/+10	+12	+12	+8	4+int	8	14	4	Rebind totem soulmeld 1/day)

Edited May 23, 2023 by Steel Warrior (see edit history)

[Steel Warrior]

Edited May 20, 2023 by Steel Warrior (see edit history)

[Michael]

No problem with the concept.   No need to do anything more with the HF SLAs, they can just fold in as you level up as per the regular rules.  The rest, regardless of source should be bundled up into lesser, standard, greater powers much like you would with a less complicated build.

 

Note like the others you wont get the summon SLA at 17.

 

You can have the smite good at lvl 1.

Edited May 19, 2023 by Michael (see edit history)

[Michael]

Hi SW, I am sorry but I have to walk back my acceptance of this build.  Firstly, phase spider has no LA and is thus not allowed as per house rules, secondly tauric RAW is broken because the LA of the bottom half never counts.

If you do want a tauric character you will need to find something with LA for the bottom half and include the LA of that in the final build cost.

[Steel Warrior]

Work Space

Edited May 20, 2023 by Steel Warrior (see edit history)

[Michael]

19 minutes ago, Steel Warrior said:

This is where you may not realize. Tauric Creature is the LA for using a creature that has no LA as the base creature.

The template is LA +2 and then then Drow is LA +2. So LA +4

Alignment: Usually lawful evil
Advancement: By character class
Level Adjustment: +2 (apply this to the
level adjustment of the base humanoid)

 

 

 

I have refamiliarised myself with the utterly silly RAW concerning tauric creatures, and in case it's not clear, have invoked a house rule that overwrites it.  As is it's broken, your own build which provides ethereal jaunt, and a bunch of other stuff including 15 odd ability points all for free being a prime example of that.

Also, this is 3.5e, your 5e monster desc isn't relevant.

[Steel Warrior]

10 minutes ago, Michael said:

I have refamiliarised myself with the utterly silly RAW concerning tauric creatures, and in case it's not clear, have invoked a house rule that overwrites it.  As is it's broken, your own build which provides ethereal jaunt, and a bunch of other stuff including 15 odd ability points all for free being a prime example of that.

Also, this is 3.5e, your 5e monster desc isn't relevant.

Drider alone is LA +4 which uses a large monstrous spider and drow. In essence is a tauric creature. Although a drider has higher ability scores than both combined.

My build is LA +9 so it's across 14 levels. It's fine though, I won't fight it and accept that this concept doesn't work for this game.

Edited May 20, 2023 by Steel Warrior (see edit history)

[Michael]

13 minutes ago, Steel Warrior said:

Drider alone is LA +4 which uses a large monstrous spider and drow. In essence is a tauric creature. Although a drider has higher ability scores than both combined.

My build is LA +9 so it's across 14 levels. It's fine though, I won't fight it and accept that this concept doesn't work for this game.

And for exactly the same cost you want a phase spider and drow.  Do you not see how unfair that is?

At any rate, I have absolutely no problem with a drider as per the standard monster desc, with a template applied to make it an evil outsider.

[Steel Warrior]

33 minutes ago, Michael said:

And for exactly the same cost you want a phase spider and drow.  Do you not see how unfair that is?

At any rate, I have absolutely no problem with a drider as per the standard monster desc, with a template applied to make it an evil outsider.

All good, I am going with straight Abyss Drake Draconomicon 10HD LA +5, since it's an outsider, I have D8's instead of dragon D12's. BUT
Breath Weapon (Su): 60-ft. cone, every 1d4 rounds, 10d6 special, Reflex DC 20 half.

Much like a flame strike spell, half of this damage is fire damage and the remainder is unholy damage (and thus not subject to resistance to fire and similar
defenses). The save DC is Constitution-based.

Calculating breath weapon is simple,1d6 per racial hd, as well as the distance he can breathe. Flight early on apparently is 150 for most dragons from very young. I went ahead and started with 60, then scaled it up to 150 further down the build.
I will be putting a good chunk of my point buy into Intelligence, he's smarter than the average Abyssal Drake.

Edited May 20, 2023 by Steel Warrior (see edit history)

[Michael]

OK, that was quick.  A few things:

Winged flight, as per the house rules, is considered a lesser ability, so you get it at 10 min/lvl 1/day at 2nd, 3/day at 4th, at will at 6th.  You get your max flight speed and manoeuvrability at 2nd.

I'd allow a homebrew feat like improved caster that gave your breath weapon EITHER better dice or save, noting save is 10 + racial HD + 1/2(con mod).  You could take the feat twice to separately improve both.

You have missed some element resistances and scent in the block above, all of which, including the fire immumity, should be apportioned out over levels.

He'll have problems at 12th when huge fitting into dungeons, houses, just about anywhere basically.

[Steel Warrior]

1 minute ago, Michael said:

OK, that was quick.  A few things:

Winged flight, as per the house rules, is considered a lesser ability, so you get it at 10 min/lvl 1/day at 2nd, 3/day at 4th, at will at 6th.  You get your max flight speed and manoeuvrability at 2nd.

I'd allow a homebrew feat like improved caster that gave your breath weapon EITHER better dice or save, noting save is 10 + racial HD + 1/2(con mod).  You could take the feat twice to separately improve both.

You have missed some element resistances and scent in the block above, all of which, including the fire immumity, should be apportioned out over levels.

He'll have problems at 12th when huge fitting into dungeons, houses, just about anywhere basically.

He's got cold vulnerability, hence why I gave it to him at as the base. Do I still keep the cold vulnerability from the start or when he gains immunity?
I was actually planning on buying off the vulnerability with feats.

The breath weapon increase is nice, what level can they be taken?

Ability Focus feat should apply to the DC.

Would the Races of the Dragon breath feats be ok?

[Michael]

Just now, Steel Warrior said:

He's got cold vulnerability, hence why I gave it to him at as the base. Do I still keep the cold vulnerability from the start or when he gains immunity?
I was actually planning on buying off the vulnerability with feats.

The breath weapon increase is nice, what level can they be taken?

Ability Focus feat should apply to the DC.

Would the Races of the Dragon breath feats be ok?

cold vulnerability comes in when you give him fire immunity.

I made a mistake with the DC, it's 10 + 1/2 racial HD + (con mod), as per standard rules.

The feats I mentioned, much like improved caster, can be taken anytime but only apply when character level is above racial HD level (so once you start accumulating LA levels, and would apply to up to 4 of those levels.

as an example at lvl 10 you have a 7d8 breath weapon with a DC of 13+con mod.  You could apply this feat to get the breath weapon to 10d8, OR save to 15+con mod. at lvl 12 (your next LA lvl) which ever you chose would also lvl up again.  However at 14th lvl (another LA lvl). the feat would have no effect because it's max benefit is +4 and at that stage you have LA +5

 

I agree on ability focus

and yes, race of the dragon breath feats are fine.