Mutants of the Eclipse Part III – The Feral

   To continue with Mutants in Eclipse, here’s the second set of power packages for Class I and higher Mutants – The Feral at +1, +2, and +3 ECL modifiers.

   The Feral is an animalistic savage, stronger, faster, and more deadly than any civilized man. He or she usually possesses slightly enhanced strength and reflexes, claws (or similar natural weapons) which are only really in evidence in battle, rapid healing abilities, resistance to mental powers, enhanced senses, and – quite often – some form of berserker rage. Actually looking animalistic, or at least doing so while most of the more overt powers are active, is an optional extra.

   At higher power levels – Class II and Class III Mutants – this category includes most of the quasi-animal types and “werecreatures”.

   The Feral isn’t an especially spectacular super-being. On the other hand, he or she possesses an enormous pile of enhancements, even if most of them ARE fairly minor – and is pretty effective if you add all those small bonuses and abilities up. They also make popular antiheroes and villains; you really don’t need much of an excuse for their rampages. “They’re Feral” is usually reason enough.

   Ferals are another pretty popular type. All the animal-men and lycanthropes, and quite a few of the savages, cranky berserkers, and vicious warriors fall into this category.

   Unless otherwise noted, all the suggested Class-I feral enchantments are level one, unlimited-use use-activated, at caster level one, with the personal-only modifier – for a net value of 1400 GP each. The Feral, of course, horribly abuses Innate Enchantment – but, in a “mutant superhero” campaign, that’s what every other character will be doing as well.

   The Class-I Feral Mutant can be expected to have…

• +2 Strength.
• +2 Constitution.
• +2 Dexterity.
• +2 Wisdom. (Various versions of Enhance Attribute, from The Practical Enchanter).
• +3 Competence Bonus to all Wisdom-Based Skills.
• +3 Competence Bonus to all Dexterity-Based Skills.
• +3 Competence Bonus to all Strength-Based Skills.
• +3 Competence Bonus to all Constitution-Based Skills. (Various versions of Skill Mastery, from The Practical Enchanter).
• Gain 1d8 Crit 20/x2 Claws as Natural Weapons. May make a full attack using both at full BAB. Note that this can also be described as rock-hard fists, or martial arts enhancements, or whatever. The effect is the same.
• +4 BAB with Claws. (Weapon Mastery, from The Practical Enchanter).
• Fast Healing I, up to a total of 90 points per day or 18 points/level/day, whichever is better. (Fast Healing I from The Practical Enchanter at five times or once per level/day, since unlimited healing effects are not allowed).
• Low-Light Vision.
• Scent.
• Rage: +2 Morale Bonus to Str and Con, +1 Moral Bonus on Will Saves, and -2 to AC while active. (Wrath, from the Practical Enchanter)
• +(12 + 2 x Con Mod) HP (Immortal Vigor I, from The Practical Enchanter).
• +1 Natural Armor. (Hide Like Ox, from The Practical Enchanter).
• +1 Competence Bonus to all Saving Throws. (Sidestep, from The Practical Enchanter).
• +1 Resistance Bonus to all Saving Throws. (Warding Rune, from The Practical Enchanter)
• +4 Enhancement Bonus on Saves versus Disease and a -2 on the damage resulting from failed saves (Relieve Illness, from the Hedge Magic spell list on this site).
• +4 Enhancement Bonus on Saves versus Poison and a -2 on the damage resulting from failed saves (Relieve Poison, from the Hedge Magic spell list on this site).
• +2/- Damage Reduction against physical attacks. (Flesh Ward, from The Practical Enchanter).

   Our Class-I Feral Mutant can afford two additional enhancements. Select these from among…

• Adamant Claws: the user’s claws are treated as Adamant.
• Advanced Hearing: The user can hear extremely high and low frequency sounds, and can target unseen creatures within thirty feet without penalty with a successful listen check.
• Animal Influence: The character can “suggest” various behaviors to animals.
• Camouflage: +10 Circumstance Bonus to Hide Checks.
• Deadly Strike: Claws do 2d8 damage instead of 1d8.
• Deep Breath: The user can hold his or her breath for up to ten minutes.
• Endure Elements: The user is immune to ordinary weather effects.
• Expeditious Retreat: +30′ Movement.
• Giant Killer: Do +1d6 damage per size category by which an opponent exceeds yours.
• Glimpse of Rage: Gain a +10 Morale bonus on Intimidation checks.
• Lethal Strike: Gain +2d6 Sneak Attack.
• Magic Fang: The user’s claws gain a +1 enhancement bonus.
• Mental Map: The user can instinctively retrace his or her steps and never becomes lost.
• Restoration, Lesser: The Feral may regain temporary attribute damage or fatigue five times per day.
• Shattering: The user can score critical hits against constructs and inanimate objects.
• Speak with Animals: The user can communicate with animals.
• Tracking Mastery: Gain a +5 enhancement bonus to Survival/Tracking checks and an immediate reroll if a Survival/Tracking check fails.

   The Class-II Feral simply mildly upgrades a few of the Class-I Feral’s basic abilities. Take the Class-I Feral Package, select three additional enhancements from amongst the list of options above, and select four upgrade options from the following list:

• Upgrade one of the attribute bonuses to +4 (+7000 GP).
• Upgrade Fast Healing I to Fast Healing II and an upper limit of 190 points per day or 38 points per level per day, whichever is greater (+7000 GP).
• Upgrade the Competence Bonus on one of the skill groups to +7 (+7000 GP)
• Upgrade the Hit Point Bonus to +(24 + 4 x Con Mod) points (+7000 GP).
• Upgrade the Natural Armor Bonus to +2 (+7000 GP).
• Upgrade the Competence Bonus on Saving Throws to +2 (+7000 GP).
• Upgrade the Resistance Bonus on Saving Throws to +3 (at Caster Level Six, not three, +7000 GP).

   The Werecreature Variant of the Class II Feral gets the Class-I Package, an additional enhancement from the list of Class-I options, three of the upgrades from the Class-II list above, and one special power:

• May transform into a specified animalistic form, gaining the appropriate physical modifiers. (Aspect of the Beast, from The Practical Enchanter. A base of 12,000 GP since this doesn’t qualify for the Personal-Only modifier – but it generally subsumes the Claws and Natural Armor, reducing the net cost to 9200 GP).
  • In theory, this only covers an animal-hybrid form. In practice, many were-heroes can also assume a near-animal form – with exactly the same game statistics; the slight cosmetic difference means nothing, and therefore costs nothing.

   The Class-III Feral really doesn’t have anywhere much left to go. Once you have the strength, senses, toughness, and natural weapons of a wild beast, there you are. The Class-III Feral simply repeats the Class-II Package – selecting another four upgraded abilities and three more of the additional enhancements from the Class-I list. As a general rule, this is a waste of a level; most characters will be better off with a Class-II package and an actual character level.

   The Werecreature Variant does have one possible upgrade though;

• Upgrade Aspect of the Beast to allow the user to take any of the beast-forms from page 92 of The Practical Enchanter (Spell Level Three x Caster Level Five x Unlimited-Use Use-Activated, for an additional cost of 18,000 GP.
• Select an additional two of the Class-II Upgrades (for a total of 14,000 GP).

   Once again, as a general rule, that isn’t worth spending a level on either. It does allow the user to shunt a few attribute points around, but most of the animal-form modifiers are actually pretty similar.