Homebrew races and subraces for my campaign world. Looking for feedback

[oreofox]

Ok, so back in May of this year (2015), I posted up a homebrew gnome subrace. Since then, I have been working on my races a bit more, whenever my limited time allows it. Was hoping the people here would be able to provide me some feedback to help balance these a bit better (if they are out of balance). I've uploaded 8 so far, with more to be added later.

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B7DlMCtW-gq2ZDdCdXR4QzFzSE0&usp=sharing

Included are the dwarf, elf, gnome, kobold (a renamed dragonborn, and broken into subraces, with some homebrew dragon types), verdani (humanoid plant race), orc, gnoll, and canid (humanoid canines with three subraces).

Still to come: felisid (humanoid large cats), karhu (humanoid bears), goblin, skraeven (ratfolk), solbekk (subraced lizardfolk), warforged, planetouched (with 8 subraces), gaothir (renamed tiefling), and ne'amhi (renamed aasimar).

Thank you in advance.

 

[GreenTengu]

Well, my first criticism is going to be that you are trying to fill your world with way too many PC-capable races. Not all of them are going to feel particularly interesting and unique. Just from your list, I can see a lot of overlap happening between gnolls and canid to the point where the choice between them is going to be based on the powers they want rather than really being hooked into the idea. And between humanoid cats, humanoid bears and humanoid rats?... I mean... why?

Look, it is one thing if your whole campaign world is just anthropomorphic animals. If the entire concept of the world is that instead of humans, it is entirely inhabited by anthropomorphic animals than by all means go to town-- but when a full half of your races are anthropomorphic animals and the rest are "human but bigger or smaller than usual with strange ears and noses" it doesn't mesh particularly well.

I have no idea why you are calling Dragonborn "Kobolds". Kobold is just the old Germanic word for "Goblin", its kind of weird that they are separate things in D&D to begin with, but applying that name to something bigger than humans is just weird. Its like having Giants and calling them "Elves".

Mechanically, Orcs are just Half-Orcs, you added one subrace of Dwarfs which is terribly underpowered, a subrace of Elves which is just fine, a subrace of Gnomes which is just outright a terrible concept all together...

The only idea I see here that I would say is creative and interesting is the Verdani. And even they need a couple more abilities because they are woefully underpowered compared to any other race as currently written.

 

[oreofox]

First, thanks for the reply, though not exactly what I was looking for. And by that, I mean something more constructive. Now to address some of the points. I admit some of it is my fault, for not exactly saying why I did some of these changes.

Why call dragonborn "kobolds"? For one, dragonborn is a rather stupid name to me, and I couldn't quite come up with a better name. So, I removed the kobold of the Monster Manual and used that name for this race. If you or anyone else could come up with a better name, that isn't as lame as "dragonborn", then I'd be all for changing that.

Orcs are mechanically just half-orcs. Just converting over the MM orc to a PC race would have resulted in something pathetically underpowered (their only ability being "Agressive"). So, I turned half-orcs into full orcs, and completely removed the half-orc, as well as the half-elf. Also, halflings are gone because I couldn't find a fit for them in the world.

As for the subraces of existing races (dwarf, elf, gnome), I can't be certain which one you are referring to. However, I am certain the one you refer to as an "outright terrible concept all together", is the war gnome subrace (terrible name, I know, but I am trying to work on that). I take it you prefer to see the chaos-driven trickster illusionist gnomes who wish they were pixies? Well, I got tired of that particular type of gnome, and decided to go with a more militarily minded gnome subrace to reflect some of the lore of my setting (spartan 300 movie inspired, with a military and steampunk-influenced culture). I added two dwarf subraces and one elf subrace.

As for the comments about half the races being anthropomorphic animals, and the rest being "human but bigger or smaller than usual with strange ears and noses": Why have anything other than human at all, if every PHB race is a "human but bigger or smaller than usual with strange ears and noses" (minus the dragonborn)? Not every race will be used by each group, just like not every subrace or class is in the PHB. Why have paladins, rangers, monks, or barbarians when they are just fighters? Because people enjoy variety, or else you wouldn't have people clamoring for more options from WotC, or making their own because they are unhappy with what was given, or with the rate at which WotC offers more options.

 

[steeldragons]

I must confess a degree of agreement with TheHobgoblin.

If you want to have "Orc" as a PC race, it would seem using the Half-Orc in the PHB and just calling it an orc would do what you want it to.

Ditto on the "Kobold" as Dragonborn. I mean, I get the name hate (if that is what it is). Nothign wrong with calling things whatever you want in your own world. You went fairly overboard with the subraces though, I think. Should some of those cateogries, perhaps, be reserved for potential NPCs? But, it's not my world, I can't really say. Does seem a bit overkill, though...unless you want everyone in the party to be some version of dragon-person. My head was spinning after the third subrace option ("There're more? More still?!").

The Canid/Gnoll distinction does seem rather arbitrary and, if you want tokeep the other dog-people, just lump in gnolls as another subrace of them. Do you really need/have room for a hyena and a spotted wild dog? Aren't they, essentially, the same opportunistic hunter/scavenger in the ecosystem?

I am also curious, in a game that already includes wererats, werebears, and werewolves, why you need to create wolf-people, bear-people, rat-people. You can just use the hybrid forms of the lycantrhopes, replace the transformation ability with a trait from their animal abilities and call it a day.

I do diverge from TheHobgoblin's view that you should do all animals or all demihumans. I don't see a problem with a mix. But I do agree you don't need a half-dozen anthros and a half-dozen [traditional] races. If you have a small digger animal race, then gnomes (maybe dwarves too) are kind of superfluous, and so on/vice versa.

I am not looking to diminish the obvious work and time you've put into these. But it is...a LOT for potential players to weed through and seems a lot of [unnecessary?] repetition or rewriting of things you already, readily, have at your disposal in the PHB and MM.

I get the fun side of creating your own stuff! I totally do. But at the same time, you need to be mindful to not create work for yourself when there's already done material for you to draw from.

 

[RadarMonk]

I like that you made kobolds more like 4e's dragonborn. Personally I'm tired of kobolds and goblins being weaker than other races. I agree with TheHobgoblin, in that the Verdani are the best and most unique of the races here. I think that some things (Gnoll and Candid) are slightly redundant, but I do see the difference in flavor that might be important. I'm look forward to seeing your version of warforged. I also like the war gnome in concept, but I think it needs a little tweaking. Overall, great job though, looks like you put a lot of work into making these.