QB's Monstrous Races

Actually, now that you've brought it up, I think I was planning originally that Hamadryads are tied to their forest as a whole, and that this then gives them the leeway to travel beyond its reach, whilst also making for a plot-hook in that way.

Also, yeah, now that you mention it, switching out Bludgeoning damage on an unarmed strike for Fire damage sounds a lot fairer and more interesting to boot.

Well, if it helps, what I did with Spidershifter was essentially "you can Wild Shape at will as per a druid, but you can only turn into this one specific creature (giant spider, fox, raccoon, rat, cat, weasel, badger, whatever) and you can still talk, but you lose all racial abilities until you revert to hybrid form", plus "you can assume a single human form at will; in this form, you read as human for all checks, but you lose access to (select appropriate powers; physical ones are generally off the table, but spell-like abilities can usually stay) until you return to your true form".


On a less happy note... as everyone now knows, the kobold stats from Volo's Guide have been leaked and... well, they're not very enticing. -2 Strength, Sunlight Sensitivity, and a racial ability that amounts to "grant your allies against all enemies within 10 feet of you for a turn by using your action to grovel like a spineless coward". Fitting to the current 5e lore, yeah, but... not particularly appealing. This is a problem for me, because my Malebolge setting (link at bottom of post) makes pretty extensive use of kobolds.

So... yeah, I'm going to homebrew my own kobold race. I've got an earlier attempt to do so further back in the thread, but I could really use some help jazzing them up and making them work. For example, I initially went with a subrace angle... but maybe I would have been better off pulling a Tiefling-style and using switchable racial traits?

I can also post their racial stats from every other edition up until now, if folks could use the extra reference material.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...ew-Setting-Malebolge-Post-Apocalyptic-Fantasy

At risk of repeating myself, I agree that there is nothing wrong with hamadryads being a race you can replicate with a reflavored elf Druid/enchanter. Most races are that, one way or another. An elf is basically just a human ranger, wizard, or warlock/assassin, depending on subrace.

imo the main thing is to figure out what a member of the race can do, and try to replicate that, while also making something with a "look and feel" that folks will read it and go, "yep, that's a dryad".

Whilst my desire to refine and improve my Kobold in the face of Volo's highly disappointing interpretation remains undimmed, I did mention that I wanted to try my hand at Serpentfolk and Deep Ones, didn't I? Well, I figured I might as well finally put nose to the grindstone and give it a shot. I've only got the 4th edition and D20 edition of Call of Cthulhu for original crunch reference, so I'm really open to further refining them both.


Serpentfolk
Ability Score Modifiers: +1 Charisma
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Vision: Darkvision
Toxic Spittle: A serpentfolk secretes copious amounts of venom from its fangs, which it can wield in battle. A serpentfolk can either spit venom (treat as a Poison Spray cantrip cast using Charisma) or deliver a toxic bite, turning its Unarmed Strike damage into Poison damage.
Veil of Humanity: All serpentfolk can weave an instinctive glamour about themselves in order to walk amongst humanity. As an action, a serpentfolk can raise its Veil, which causes it to appear as a single human identity chosen a character creation. This disguise only conceals the serpentfolk's race and does not alter its apparel, or its condition, so injuries, etc, carry through. Only magical items of at least Legendary potency can see through this illusion, but a serpentfolk is forced to resume its true form should it hear the phrase, "Ka nama kaa lajerama".
Subrace: Choose between the Fallen Serpentfolk and Pure Serpentfolk subraces.


Subrace: Fallen Serpentfolk
Ability Score Increase: +2 Strength
Scaly Armor: A Fallen Serpentfolk's toughened hide means that its unarmored AC is treated as being 12 + Strength modifier.
Rending Claws: A Fallen Serpentfolk's Unarmed Strikes do Slashing damage instead of Bludgeoning damage.
Slavering Maw: A Fallen Serpentfolk's Unarmed Strikes do bonus Poison damage equal to its Strength modifier.
Hunter's Senses: A Fallen Serpentfolk has Advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks.

Subrace: Pure Serpentfolk
Ability Score Increase: +2 Intelligence
Hypnotic Eyes: A Pure Serpentfolk can cast the Friends Cantrip, Charm Person as a 1st level spell once per long rest, and Enthrall as a 2nd level spell once per long rest. Intelligence is its casting ability score when using the spell-like abilities granted by this rat.
Shielded Thoughts: A Pure Serpentfolk has Advantage on Wisdom saving throws caused by spells and magical effects, and is Immune to Charm effects.


Variation: Slithering Horror
In some worlds, serpentfolk may slither on gigantic serpentine tails rather than striding along on two legs, and this may either be the norm or a sign of chaotic influences in the serpentfolk's blood. Such individuals are stripped of their illusory veils, but are, in many ways, more mobile than humans. To create a slithering serpentfolk, replace Veil of Humanity with the following traits:
Snake Body: The serpentfolk has a Climb Speed of 20 feet and a Swim speed of 30 feet, and can Crawl at its normal speed. However, it cannot use magical items based on footwear, such as Boots of Elvenkind.
Crushing Coils: The serpentfolk may attempt to grapple a creature that is no more than two sizes larger than itself, and has Advantage on the Strength (Athletics) check to successfully grapple the target.



Deep One
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Wisdom, +1 Constitution
Size: Medium
Speed: 25 feet
Vision: Darkvision
Dweller in the Deep: A Deep One has a Swim speed of 30 feet, is immune to the hazards of deep water environments, and has Resistance to Cold.
Amphibious: A Deep One can breathe water and air with equal ease.
Hopping Horror: A Deep One's rather frog-like limbs may impede its ability to walk on land to an extent, but allow it to make prodigious leaps. A Deep One adds double its proficiency bonus to Strength (Athletics) checks involving leaping, jumping or climbing.

So, there's a discussion going on over in my Malebolge setting topic that'll ultimately see the Kobold's racial gazetteer for that setting get tweaked to be better, but as a side-effect, I'm leaning very much towards redoing my homebrew kobolds via the Tiefling's "variable racial traits" manifesto. Would anyone be interested in helping me figure out how to make them a reality?


I found out about the existence of the Dungeon Survival Guide, which I think was one of the last 4e splatbooks to be produced. That book gave us official stats for Kobolds - now, they didn't change that much (gain the Reptile subtype, racial power changed from "you can shift 1 square at-will" to "you and all allies in close burst 2 can shift 1 square once per encounter"), but the book came at the tail-end of 4e, which means it had 5 racial utility powers that the kobold could take instead of existent powers. Goblins got a similar boost.


Now, the powers system is gone, alas. But powers like Flee! and Tunnel Scuttle, well, between these and the Pathfinder variant racial traits, I really think that we can pull off Kobolds as a modular/mutable species...

For toxic spittle and rending claws I think a 1d4 bite/claw attack respectively would put them more in line with other similar natural weapon attacks. Otherwise great job!
Is slavering maw's bonus damage on top of the str or dex mod they get? So a monk hits for 1d4+3 (str) + 3 poison (str)? Or the bonus damage can be in poison damage? 1d4 bludgeoning + 3 poison? Just clarifying

Oops didn't see the most recent post. I'd be down to help with balancing, and I definitely think that the mutable species aspect would work better for the kobolds. I have no clue though as to powers and stuff from 4e as I've only extensively played 3.5 and 5 :/

No need to apologize! The fact you had a critique for the Serpentfolk is very much appreciated. For Slavering Maw, it's on top of existent bonus damage - so, as you said, a monk gets 1d4+3 slashing damage +3 poison damage when it does an unarmed strike.

As for the Kobold... well, really, it's more a combination of coming up with a total array of racial powers and then figuring out how they can actually "trade out" - recall how the Tiefling works (or I can repost that here for reference, if needed).

Off the top of my head, these are the absolute essential traits for a kobold race:

• +2 Dexterity, +1 Intelligence
• Small Size
• 30 feet speed
• Darkvision
• Sunlight Sensitivity
• Pack Tactics

And these are some of the variable traits I can see kobolds having off the top of my head.

• Draconic Cunning: Ability score modifiers become +2 Int, +1 Dex
• Draconic Presence: Ability score modifiers become +2 Cha, +1 Dex
• Tunnel Scurry: Climb Speed equal to speed, not slowed by squeezing
• Tactical Retreat: Once per short rest, can Disengage and move full speed as a bonus action and let allies within 10 feet do the same
• Pack Defense: If benefiting from Pack Tactics, can leave a creature's space without drawing an Attack of Opportunity
• Silver-Tongued: Free proficiency with Charisma (Persuasion, Deception, Performance)
• Spark of Magic: Spell like abilities - not sure of which spells (my "Kobold Mystic" subrace got Blade Ward/Chromatic Orb/Levitate as it leveled up)
• Wings: Kobold doubles distance it can jump with a jump check, has a Fly speed of 10 that increases by X amount at Y levels
• Trapmaster: Bonus to sensing and disabling traps, maybe also incorporate Trap-Gang Mentality (Can shift half damage from activated trap to adjacent enemy) from 4e?
• Cunning Tinkerer: As per the Rock Gnome's Tinker trait.
• Hide of the Dragon: Racial base AC bonus as per Lizardfolk's Natural Armor
• Shield of the Dragon: Resistance to Fire, Cold, Acid, Electricity or Poison Damage (ONLY one element from the list, though!)
• Fundamentum: Has a breath weapon attack it can use once per long rest

QuietBrowser said:

Crushing Coils: The serpentfolk may attempt to grapple a creature that is no more than two sizes larger than itself, and has Advantage on the Strength (Athletics) check to successfully grapple the target.

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Yessssss I've grappled him....but now what?

Typically a grappler (a human) grapples a person by essentially bear-hugging them. This means their arms are busy and cannot attack (with arms at least). A serpentine creature using its tail to grapple would be under no such restriction. Would such a creature be able to crush their target each turn it's grappled? The Marilith does an automatic 2d6+str, perhaps for a player this should be 1d6+str? A snake-person's arms are free...but their target is largely obscured by the snake-persons own body, they could attack the grappled target. Disadantage? 3/4ths Cover? I'd think risking poking yourself in the tail wouldn't really be worth it, but they could certainly attack other targets (perhaps at disadvantage because they cannot move properly). Presumably there should be DC: 8+X+Str to beat the grapple as well.

It's worth pointing out that sea-snakes and land-snakes have important design differences. Perhaps give them the option to gain either a swim speed, or climb speed but not both.

Very much appreciate the suggestions! Yes, that's definitely some good stuff to think about, because Crushing Coils could stand to be a bit beefier - the Lamia, where that trait originated from, is one of my weaker races, so modifying it in those directions would be a good way to make them feel better.

As for the combination of swim and climb speed, it comes from the fact that A: even land snakes can swim and actually move pretty fast when they do so, and B: I originally took the trait from a Kobold Press depiction of the Lamia (as in, the snake-tauress, not D&D's traditional lioness-taur) as a PC race, where it got both climb speed and swim speed. Still, I don't know, maybe removing the extra movements altogether is called for... Or at least changing it to Advantage on Strength (Athletics) checks made to swim and climb?

I'd hesitate to give the Kobold race Pack Tactics as its easy to abuse and arguably op for a PC. That's just my take though.
Tactical Retreat might be too strong within 10 ft, adjacent allies might make it still worth taking while remaining relevant.
Silver-Tongued I think should be Persuasion rather than Performance, but I'd like to hear your reasoning for Performance!
Wings will be a tricky one. I like your suggestion over the SCAG Tiefling variant though for sure. Perhaps gain 5ft every level until you reach your land speed cap, then an additional level to be able to dash? So at lvl 5 a PC has 30 ft fly speed and at lvl 6 they can dash. Or 10ft every 2 lvls?
For Traps I'm not sure what Trap-Gang Mentality does but perhaps gain proficiency in perception checks made to detect traps or double proficiency for those checks if already proficient in Perception?
As for Fundamentum I'd argue for a weaker breath weapon than the Dragonborn. And I think the trait should probably be linked to the Shield of them Dragon as it is for Dragonborn.. but that makes it almost just a lil Dragonborn knock-off. Idk.

Also as above he makes a good point.

Ryuumon13 said:

I'd hesitate to give the Kobold race Pack Tactics as its easy to abuse and arguably op for a PC. That's just my take though.

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Yeah, I'm a little worried about that myself, but 5e did do it with their official kobold... then again, the combination of Pack Tactics and Grovel might be why they thought -2 Str was a good idea...

Ryuumon13 said:

Tactical Retreat might be too strong within 10 ft, adjacent allies might make it still worth taking while remaining relevant.

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Good point. The original rendition of Tactical Retreat, as 4e's Flee! power, was only usable once per day (Close Burst 2 translates to 10 feet, I think); would that added cool down make it better?

Ryuumon13 said:

Silver-Tongued I think should be Persuasion rather than Performance, but I'd like to hear your reasoning for Performance!

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It's based on Pathfinder's Jester trait, which gives the kobold "+2 to Diplomacy and Performance Checks" and makes those two skills always be class skills for the kobold. Since it's thematically based on the kobold's adeptness at persuasion and flattery - essentially, their "expert groveling" skills without explicitly tying it to needing to grovel - I figured it made sense to let it give free proficiency in both Persuasion AND Performance AND also Deception, since that's now the "Bluff" skill of 5e.

Ryuumon13 said:

Wings will be a tricky one. I like your suggestion over the SCAG Tiefling variant though for sure. Perhaps gain 5ft every level until you reach your land speed cap, then an additional level to be able to dash? So at lvl 5 a PC has 30 ft fly speed and at lvl 6 they can dash. Or 10ft every 2 lvls?

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I was actually originally thinking to increase Fly speed by +5 feet at every 5th level until you cap at land speed, but that maybe is undervaluing it?

Ryuumon13 said:

For Traps I'm not sure what Trap-Gang Mentality does but perhaps gain proficiency in perception checks made to detect traps or double proficiency for those checks if already proficient in Perception?

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...I spelled out the effects of Trap-Gang Mentality in the note: if you take damage from a trap, you can halve the damage to inflict the other half on an adjacent enemy. But yeah, I was thinking "double your Proficiency bonus when using Perception checks to locate traps and Intelligence checks to disarm traps" would be the core of the ability.

Ryuumon13 said:

As for Fundamentum I'd argue for a weaker breath weapon than the Dragonborn. And I think the trait should probably be linked to the Shield of them Dragon as it is for Dragonborn.. but that makes it almost just a lil Dragonborn knock-off. Idk.

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Yeah, I definitely agree that it should be weaker than the Dragonborn's - I was figuring only once per long rest, for starters. I wanted to avoid tying it to the Shield of the Dragon trait, though, because I'm fairly sure that dragonwrought kobolds in 3e could have resistance without having breath weapon, and vice versa. Like... kobolds can be dragony enough to produce a breath weapon, but if that's the case, all their "dragonness" is focused on producing that elemental outburst; they can do so safely, but they don't have any left over elemental energy to shield them from external sources, if that makes any sense?