My New Races Thread (4 races currently)

Its always annoyed me that the DnD people have such an aversion to +0 ECL races (and especialy PHB races) with bonuses to mental ability scores. So I decided to start designing some new races, which I will showcase in this thread.
Heres the first one....any suggestions as to balance, flavor or racial background (or a better name) are apreciated.




Sylvani

The Sylvani (singular and plural) are a race of plantlike humanoids who inhabit large anchient forests.
They are generaly a peacful people who live in harmony with the forest and study its mysteries.
They are always glad to help travelers through there forests...as long as the travelers are not evil
and intend no harm to the Sylvani or their forests.
A Sylvani appears much like a human, with barklike skin in a variety of shades of brown, black and even white. Where a human has hair Sylvani have what appears to be leaves, moss or even small twigs, in any colour from yellow to dark green. They are general slightly shorter than humans, but weigh about the same.
Not surprsingly, the leaders of most Sylvani communities are Druids.

Sylvani racial traits:

Medium Size. As Medium size creatures Sylvani have no special bonuses or penalties due to size.

Base speed is 30 feet.

Low Light Vision: A Sylvani can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, or other conditions of poor lighting.

Barkskin: A Sylvani has a +2 Natural Armor bonus to armor class.

Skills: Sylvani recieve a +2 racial bonus to Knowledge (Nature) and Survival checks. Additionally, Sylvani recieve a +4 racial bonus to Hide checks in forested areas.

Abilities: Sylvani are perceptive and deeply in tune with their enviroment, but their wood like bodies are not as flexible as a humans. They recieve a +2 racial bonus to Wisdom, and a -2 Racial penalty to Dexterity.

Favored Class: Druid

Interesting. Here's one from my campaign, which may fit your desires. It's a Tiny-sized version of the Gnome, with no Con bonus, but with a Charisma bonus:

Gnome

Tiny size (+2 Attack & AC, +8 Hide checks, 50% carrying capacity)
Base Speed 20 ft.
Str -4, Cha +2
Weapon Familiarity: Gnomes may treat gnome hooked hammers as Martial rather then Exotic weapons.
+2 racial bonus on saving throws against illusions
Add +1 to the Difficulty Class for all saving throws against illusion spells cast by gnomes
+1 racial bonus on attack rolls against kobolds and goblinoids (including goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears)
+4 dodge bonus to Armor Class against monsters of the giant type (such as ogres, trolls, and hill giants)
+2 racial bonus on Listen and Craft (alchemy) checks
Low-light Vision: Gnomes can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. They retain the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
Automatic Language: Common.
Bonus Languages: Sylvan, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Giant, Goblin, and Orc. In addition, a gnome can speak with animals once per day. This ability is innate to gnomes. See the speak with animals spell description.
Spell-Like Abilities: 1/day -- Speak with Animals (duration 1 minute). A gnome with a Charisma score of at least 10 also has the following spell-like abilities: 3/day -- Prestidigitation. Caster level 1st or Gnome's character level, whichever is higher; save DC 10 + gnome's Cha modifier.
Favored Class: Bard.

-- N

I am currently working on a +0 ECL race "keyed" to each of the 3 mental ability scores. And then I have some other little ideas for races running around my head.
Hmm the little gnome sort of makes me think of scandinavian elves...
But mostly I'm looking for balance and flavor feedback on this stuff.

The Almar

Almar

The Almar (plural Almaren) are a race of beautiful humanoids who spend a large part of their time persuing art, music, dance and other asethic pursuits.
Almaren live anywhere their is natural or created beauty for them to draw inspiration from. Many of them choose to live in large cities and attempt to gain acclaim as visual artists or performers. They are generaly good hearted people, and especialy despise tyranny and oppression.
An Almar appears much like a human, but with skin in any shade of blue, and hair in various shades of yellow, blue and green. An Almaren's hair appears to have an almost feather-like texture. Their eyes tend toward bright blues and greens. They have frilled ears, and long, slender fingers. They tend to be slightly taller than humans, and very thin and slight.

Almaren Racial Traits:

Medium size: as medium size creatures Almaren recieve no bonuses or penalties due to size.
Base land speed is 30 feet.

Low Light Vision: An Almaren can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, or other conditions of poor lighting.

Add +1 to the diffaculty class of all Enchantment spells cast by Almaren. Almaren have compelling personalities, and an innate familiarity with enchantments that lets them cast such spells more effectively than most.

An Almaren gains Iron Will as a bonus feat. Almaren have an expetional resistance to outside attempts to control them.

Skills: Almaren recieve a +2 racial bonus to all Perform checks, and to any Craft check relating to art (such as sculpting).

Abilities: Almaren possess compelling and powerful personalities, but their slight builds make them less hardy than other races. They recieve a +2 racial bonus to Charisma, and suffer a -2 racial penalty to Constitution

Favired Class: Bard

ECL: +0

The Emrudin

Emrudin

The Emrudin(singular and plural) are a scholarly race of beings, rarely encountered by humans. They are an ancient race that long ago decided that the power of knowledge was greater than the power of the sword. They build enourmous libraries and repositories of magical knowledge. However at some point in the past their greatest city was destroyed by a savage race (the accounts are unclear as to who), and after that the Emrudin took to a life of secrecy. the bulk of the race resides in hidden cities in far off locations, such as on the tops of great mountains or beneath the sea. However some Emrudin believe that isolation runs counter to the pursuit of knowledge, and thease Emrudin travel about the world, seeking to learn all they can about other races, magic and the world around them.
An Emrudin appears much like a tall, albino human. Their skin and hair are completely white, and their eyes are either white, grey or light blue. Most Emrudin stand over 6 feet tall. Their heads apear slightly large for their bodies, and their eyes appear a bit to large for their faces. Their hands each have 6 long thin fingers.

Emrudin racial traits:

Medium size: As medium creatures Emrudin have no bonuses or penalties due to size. Base land speed is 30 feet.

Low-light vision: Emrudin can see twice as well as humans in starlight, moonlight and other conditions of poor lighting.

Emrudin cast Divination spells at +1 caster level.

Spell Like Abilities: An Emrudin with an Intelligence score of 10 or higher may use the following spell like abilities once per day:Comprehend Languages, Detect Magic, Read Magic. Caster level is 1 or the characters level, whichever is higher. Saving throw DCs are 10+ Int modifier.

Skills: Emrudin recieve a +2 racial bonus to Spellcraft, and to any two Knowledge Skills of the players choice.

Abilities: Emrudin are highly intelligent, but they do not engage in physical pursuits, so their strength is less than that of most races. They recieve a +2 racial bonus to Intelligence and suffer a -2 racial penalty to Strength.

Favored Class: Wizard

ECL: +0

The Feori

The Feori

The Feori are a race of amphibian humanoids who reside mainly in marshes, swamps and wetlands. A Feori appears to be a large, bipedal frog. Many Feori are very peacful and contemplative in personality, but some take a harsher view of things and become more aggresive and martial in nature. Feori communities are ruled by a council of elders, who are always representative of many different parts of Feori society. Most councils include spellcasters, warriors, religious or philsophical leaders, and memebers of the merchantile community.
The majority of Feori are very devoted to either a religion or philosophy. Many become druids, clerics or mystics. Many of the more aggressive Feori become paladins or rangers. The Feori are a very varied, eclectic people, but most of them are good and kind in nature, although some become very harsh and ruthless towards doers of evil.

Feori Racial traits:

Small size: as small creatures Feori recieve a +1 size bonus to AC and attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, and their carrying capacity is less than that of larger creatures.

Feori base speed is 20 feet.

Feori posses Darkvision with a range of 60 feet.

Amphibious: Feori can breath water or air with equal ease.

Skills: Feori recieve a +2 racial bonus to Listen checks and a +4 racial bonus to Jump and Swim checks.

Abilities: Feori are hardy, intuitive and have forceful personalities, but they are not terribly cordinated, and their small size makes them less strong then other races. they recieve a +2 racial bonus to Charisma, Constitution and Wisdom, and a -2 racial penalty to Dexterity and Strength

Favored Class: Either Mystic(a class of my design, Cleric normaly) or Paladin.

ECL: +0 (I think)

I don't have a problem with ECL +0 races having mental bonuses (and in fact, some of my house ruled PHB races do), but I think that allowing an ECL +0 race with a mental bonus and a Favored Class keyed to that stat is unbalanced. It makes that race essentially the best choice for the caster, which is a bad sign.

In my campaign, the +0 races with mental bonuses are:

* Dwarf gets +2 Wisdom with Favored Class: Fighter.
* Elf gets +2 Charisma with Favored Class: Wizard.
* Gnome gets +2 Intelligence with Favored Class: Bard.

However, I do allow racial levels in my campaigns, and races with a caster as their Favored Class get a bonus to their casting stat. Likewise, races with Favored Class: Any also get the option of choosing their bonus stat, as well as their three racial levels providing two levels of casting in the casting class of their choice, as long as they have actual levels in that class. (In my campaigns, this is Human, Half Elf, and Half Orc.)

Well I find the concept of favored classes as is to be dumb anyway...I essentialy threw it in to complete their entries, and choose it based on apropriatness to the races nature. I dont think their should be multiclassing penalties or favored classes(as it is in AU).
However since the whole thing rarely comes up anyway, I dont think it would affect balance in most games.
Mainly, I'm just checking to see if others feel thease races qualify as ecl 0, and general opnions/suggestions

I think you're right about the favoured class thing. Any bonus to spellcasting
abilities should be based on culture, unless the race is magical in nature. I like
the races you have come up with and they deserve a wider audience, but I think that they lend themselves to a +1 ECL. Looking at them as a player, if
I'm wanting to play a Druid or Cleric I'm going to choose Sylvani over any
other race because you get the +2 Wisdom and a +2 to AC which is huge.
Likewise, I'm taking Emrudin for a Wizard or Sorcerer because of the +2 Int.
and the three bonus spells. Basically, if it looks better than it is better and these races are just too powerful to be +0 ECL. I would make the Sylvani get
their +2 AC at 2nd Level of a Sylvani racial class because the bark needs to
harden. The Emrudin might even be a +2 ECL.

People are complaining because they don't want any race to be as good of a caster as dwarves and half-orcs are as warriors. There's nothing wrong with a race that has mental ability score bonuses and no ECL modifier, even if they have an appropriate spellcasting class as their favored class. Of course a +2 Int class is probably the best wizard, just as elves are obviously the best wizards in the core rules and dwarves are the best fighters or barbarians in the core rules. That doesn't mean that all fighters and barbarians are dwarves normally, or that all wizards are elves, just as all rogues aren't halflings. Sure, many are, but that's precisely why those are their favored classes. There are still human fighters and dwarven monks and elven druids, etc. +2 Int is not as powerful as +2 Str or Dex, and +2 Cha isn't as powerful as +2 anything else. People just fear that munchkins need a serious penalty to deter them from playing anything that could be a good spellcaster, even though they have no qualms about said munchkin playing a half-orc barbarian or dwarven fighter that can mow things down in a rapid fashion all day long.

Your races are a bit weak as far as I can tell, except for maybe the Sylvani which are maybe fine or maybe just a tad weak. Do the Feori have a swim speed or anything of the sort, since they're amphibious, or not? I recommend renaming the Emrudin, it immediately brings to mind EQ's Erudites and their city of Erudin.