Races With Class: The Salamander
This week’s From the Workshop features another Races with Class. Today’s race? The Salamander.
Salamander
Natives of the elemental plane of fire, salamanders are large, serpentine creatures whose bodies produce massive amounts of heat. Their upper body is vaguely humanoid (though they have scales, and distinctly reptilian heads), but their lower body is long and legless, like that of a snake. They are known far and wide for both their cruel nature and their exceptional skill at metal craft. Some salamanders—those who are especially chaotic and evil—tend to migrate to the Abyss, where they serve powerful (and typically fiery) demon princes, or simply form roving bands.
Role: Salamanders are almost always front-line fighters, wading into the thick of combat and fighting in close quarters, where their natural heat allows them to do the most damage. They can also gain the most of their high natural armor and damage reduction in this way, as well as make use of their potent tail attacks.
Hit Die: d10
Starting Gold: 5d6 x 10 gp
Class Skills:
The salamander’s class skills are Acrobatics (Dex), Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Craft (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Stealth (Dex), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str).
Skill Ranks Per Level: 6 + Int Modifier.
Class Features:
The following are class features of the salamander.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Salamanders are proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with longbows and short-bows. They are not proficient with armor or shields of any kind.
Fiery Nature (Ex): Salamanders are natives of the elemental plane of fire, and, as such, have all outsider traits, as well as the fire subtype, and all traits associated therewith. Additionally, on planes besides the elemental plane of fire, a salamander gains the extraplanar subtype.
Lesser Heat (Ex): Salamanders generate great amounts of heat, allowing its mere touch to ignite flammable objects, and deal fire damage. A salamander’s touch deals an additional 1 point of fire damage. This applies to the salamander’s natural attacks, as well as to any attacks made with a metallic weapon. At 6th level, this ability is replaced by Heat.
Serpentine Body (Ex): Because of its lack of legs, the salamander’s base movement speed is 20, rather than 30, despite its medium size. For the same reason, however, it is impossible to trip a salamander.
Ability Score Bonuses: Beginning at 1st level, salamanders gain a number of racial bonuses to their ability scores, as marked on Table: the Salamander. By 10th level, a salamander will have total racial bonuses equal to +6 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +6 Constitution, +4 Intelligence, +4 Wisdom, and +2 Charisma.
Natural Smith (Ex): Beginning at 2nd level, a salamander gains a +4 racial bonus to all Craft (armorsmithing, blacksmithing, and weaponsmithing) checks (taken separately).
Natural Armor: As he grows in experience, a salamander’s skin toughens. Depending on the salamander, this can take the form of patches of exceptionally thick and rough scales, or can be a more subtle, sleek effect, with myriad fine scales giving his skin a glossy, shiny appearance, or even a metallic texture, causing the salamander to appear to be made of living metal. A salamander’s natural armor bonus increases as indicated in Table: the Salamander.
Tail Slap (Ex): At 3rd level, the salamander can use its tail to deliver a powerful tail slap. This is a primary natural attack with a reach of five feet that deals 2d6 damage on a successful hit. See the Pathfinder Bestiary for more information on natural attacks.
Damage Reduction (Ex): At 4th level, a salamander’s skin becomes tougher, granting it DR 5/magic. At 8th level, this protection increases to 10/magic.
Long Reach (Ex): At 5th level, the salamander’s control of its tail improves, allowing it to reach farther with its tail, granting its tail slam a reach of 10 feet.
Heat (Ex): At 6th level, a salamander’s natural heat increases, and it now deals 1d6 fire damage, rather than 1. This ability is replaced at 14th level by greater heat.
Grab (Ex): At 7th level, a salamander can use its tail to grapple its foes. It gains the grab special attack (see the Pathfinder Bestiary for details), which also grants it a +4 bonus to its CMB for the purposes of grappling.
Constrict (Ex): At 9th level, a salamander is able to squeeze the life out of grappled foes with its tail. It gains the constrict special attack (see the Pathfinder Bestiary for details), dealing damage as though it had hit with its tail slap with each successful use.
Salamander Ascension: Once a salamander reaches 10th level, he has unlocked enough of his inner potential to be able to pursue other interests, if he so chooses. A 10th level salamander may freely multi-class into other classes, and can return to the salamander class later without penalty. Characters with more than 10 levels in salamander represent paragons of the salamander race, who, whether through hard work or an accident of birth, possess abilities in excess of most of their kind.
Master Smith (Ex): Beginning at 11th level, a salamander’s exceptional skills at metal crafting increase, allowing him to forge magic arms and armor. He gains the Master Craftsman feat for Craft (armorsmithing), Craft (blacksmithing), and Craft (weaponsmithing) as bonus feats, even if he doesn’t qualify. Additionally, the time required to make such craft checks is reduced by 1/4th.
Absorb Heat (Ex): At 12th level, a salamander’s body heals when exposed to intense heat. Whenever the salamander is exposed to a source of heat which would inflict at least 10 points of fire damage (were the salamander not immune to such damage), he heals 1d6 hit points for every 10 points of fire damage the source would deal, rounded down. A salamander can never benefit in this way from heat his own body produces, such as his greater heat or inferno class features.
Large Size (Ex): At 13th level, a salamander grows to large size. This increases its space to 10 feet, its reach to 10 feet, and its reach with its tail to 15 feet. It gains a +8 bonus to Strength, a +4 bonus to Constitution, +2 natural armor (this increase to natural armor is in addition to those listed on Table: the Salamander), and a +1 bonus to its CMB and CMD. It also takes a -2 penalty to Dexterity, a -1 size penalty to attack rolls and AC, a -2 penalty to Fly checks, and a -4 penalty to Stealth checks.
Greater Heat (Ex): At 14th level, a salamander’s natural heat increases further, causing any creature it touches or hits with a metal weapon to take 2d8 points of fire damage. Additionally, the heat is now intense enough that creatures who strike the salamander with a natural or metal weapon take this damage as well. Finally, anything the salamander touches must succeed on a Reflex save (DC 10 + ½ the salamander’s class level + the salamander’s Constitution modifier) or catch fire. As a move action, the salamander can suppress this ability, effectively reducing his heat to that described by the heat class feature, above, and can resume using this ability with another move action.
Flame Blast, Lesser (Su): At 15th level, a salamander can spit a ball of flames from his mouth as a standard action. This is a touch attack with a range of 30 feet, which deals 3d6 + the salamander’s Constitution modifier points of fire damage on a successful hit. Creatures which take damage from this attack must succeed on a Reflex save (DC 10 + ½ the salamander’s class level + the salamander’s Constitution modifier) or catch fire. At 18th level, this ability is replaced by flame blast, greater.
Regeneration (Ex): At 16th level, a salamander gains regeneration 5. This regeneration is defeated by cold damage. At 20th level, this regeneration increases to 10. See the Pathfinder Bestiary for more information on regeneration.
Fiery Aura (Ex): At 17th level, a salamander’s intense heat grows further, extending the range of his greater heat class feature. Whenever a creature starts its turn or moves to within 30 feet of the salamander, they take damage as though he had touched them with his greater heat class feature. This ability is suppressed as long as the salamander is suppressing its greater heat class feature, and cannot be suppressed separately from that class feature.
Flame Blast, Greater (Su): At 18th level, a salamander’s flame blast becomes more powerful, dealing 6d6 + the salamander’s Constitution modifier fire damage with each successful hit. Additionally, fires started by this blast burn exceptionally hot, dealing 2d6 points of fire damage each round instead of the normal 1d6.
Epic Smith (Ex): At 19th level, a salamander becomes a true master of the forge, able to create weapons and armor unrivaled by most other races. The salamander can craft magic weapons or armor with an enhancement bonus of +6, rather than the normal maximum of +5. Such weapons or armor can have a total effective enhancement bonus of +12, rather than the normal +10. All other restrictions to crafting still apply, such as having a number of ranks in Craft equal to or greater than the required caster level, and the salamander must still successfully craft the item. Use the following table to determine the value of such weapons:
Item |
Cost |
+11 equivalent armor |
121,000 gp |
+12 equivalent armor |
144,000 gp |
+11 equivalent weapon |
242,000 gp |
+12 equivalent weapon |
288,000 gp |
Inferno (Su): At 20th level, once per day, as a standard action, the salamander can temporarily increase his natural heat, causing great amounts of fire damage to all creatures near him. For the duration of this ability, the salamander treats his heat damage as 6d6 + the salamander’s Constitution modifier fire damage, and the range of his fiery aura class feature extends to 60 feet. This effect last for a number of rounds equal to the salamander’s Constitution modifier.