QB's Monstrous Races

[QuietBrowser]

Thank you very much for taking the time to look at my content and comment on it.

Incorporeal Movement is the 5e equivalent to "going ethereal". It lets a creature move through solid matter (objects, other creatures) as if it were difficult terrain. However, it nullifies the whole "pop in and out of the stone wall to avoid taking damage" trick of 3e by causing the creature to take 1d10 Force damage if they end their turn inside solid matter.

Yeah, as I said, the original gender-based split for Bariaur abilities was frankly kind of sexist, and probably did the race no favors. Truthfully, I think the Bariaur in general that I wrote could use some serious beefing up, but I'm just not sure how to do so.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I'm not actually coming at this from a mythological accuracy or Greek perspective. I'm a Brit/Irish/Mexican American, and my priority is playability and engagement.

I dont think Fey Ancestry is enough to make a Fey version of a race. IMO, at best it could represent a goblin or whatever with a distant Fey ancestor, but who is mostly just a goblin, or whatever. It doesn't make a Fey Goblin. It's your thread, do what you like. There is no reason we can't both make different takes on a given race, I just don't see what you seem to see in that trait.

Dryads: you can gobble together most races with a care/class combo and some imagination. Your elf thing still won't be a dryad. why shouldn't a dryad be able to be a Green Knight, ranger, bard, warlock, etc? They Dryad concept is interesting, engaging, playable, and distinct.

Same with nymphs, and I'm not sure what you mean when you say that my suggestions would make them not a race, but just an umbrella term? Because that simply isn't true.

Idk man, I'll probably just bounce, and work on these things on my own.

 

[QuietBrowser]

Something I quite like from reading glasses through your builds is that you haven't bound yourself to the typical +2 stat for race and +1 from subrace. I feel like this has given you more freedom when expressing the base stats of certain races.

Thank you for the vote of confidence! The way I see it, the basic "rule" of stat boosts in 5e is that they shouldn't be higher than +3, going up to +4 in extremely rare cases - humans being an exception even to that, getting +1 to everything to make up for having, like, no racial traits at all. It's true that all of the core-race/sub-race splits go with a +2/+1 split, but I don't think that's an iron-clad rule of balance so much as it is a case of circumstance dictating that's the best option. Dwarven fortitude, Elven grace, Gnomish intelligence, that's what the current racial splits have been taking into account. Other races may not be so strongly defined or, as in the case of the Calibans, have no inherent definition at all. So, as long as I stick to that "no higher than +3 total" rule, I feel like I'm still doing things "right".

Yeah, I'm fairly confident the Bariaur as-written are balanced, but the problem is that they're boring - this is one of the complaints I actually did get on 4chan (alongside "your feats are way overpowered!"). Maybe if I could track down that Book of Bariaur fansplat that was on the internet a decade ago, I might have something more to go off...

 

[QuietBrowser]

Alright, I managed to track down the Book of Bariaur and its sequel The Book of Bariaur Beliefs on Scribd (I hate using Scribd, but I had no choice)... not quite as helpful as I hoped, but I took a wild stab at revamping the Bariaur from it. I replaced the Horned Bariaur's racial traits with the horn/charge traits from the minotaur (changing the horn attack damage to d8 bludgeoning), and for the Hornless... borrowing some inspiration from the fact that the hornless bariaurs are traditionally the magic users (females make up the entirety of shamans/priests/mystics in official lore, Book of Belief created the Payira - an order of hornless buck mages), I ended up giving them the ability to add double their proficiency bonus to Int and Wis saves against spells and magic, and the ability to duplicate the "predict weather" and "light/quench fires" aspects of the Druidcraft cantrip.

I'd appreciate feedback on how they look now.

In fact, I welcome anyone to share any opinions they have on the races written here thus far; as I said on the first page, I know some complained that many races are mechanically balanced but boring, so working to add more flavor is definitely something I want to prioritise for anyone interested in discussing the details.

 

[QuietBrowser]

Okay, just three quick questions I wanted to leave before I went out for the day:

Can anyone think of any mechanical issues I might face when attempting to make PC racial writeups of Deep Ones and Serpentfolk? The biggest "issue" I can think of at the moment is that they're Always Chaotic Evil in the source material, but we all know the counterarguments to that matter (hello Drow, Orcs, Kobolds, Goblins...)

Would a 5e translation of the Suli, the "Genie-Born Planetouched", from Pathfinder, be viable? Or do you think it would fall flat in comparison to the existing genasi?

Finally, I was hit by a stroke of inspiration, so I wanted to ask; do folks think it would make the Shadar-Kai overpowered if Fading Flesh allowed them to have some kind of superior hiding abilities in darkness? Like, being able to make an active Hide check each time they move into an area of darkness? I just thought that this might represent their traditional lore about melding with shadows.

 

[QuietBrowser]

I remembered I'd forgotten to post this race, so I figured I should get it up and shared with you. The Grippli are a neutral with good inclinations race of humanoid tree-frogs who actually date all the way back to 1st edition, having first shown up in TSR's Monster Cards in 1982 and subsequently appeared in first edition's Monster Manual II. They went on to reappear in the first Monstrous Compendium Appendix for Greyhawk and then in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monstrous Manual for 2e. They received PC writeups in Dragon Magazine for both 2e (#262) and 3e (#324), and even made the jump to Pathfinder in the Advanced Race Guide. With so much lore, and so many different racial options - from their original psionic selves to their more primitive depictions in Dragon to their abundance of racial options in Pathfinder - I... well, I may have gone a little overboard.


Grippli
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Dexterity
Size: Medium
Speed: 20 feet, Climb 20, Swim 20
Vision: Darkvision
Amphibious: A grippli can breathe both air and water.
Frog’s Legs: A grippli is always considered to have a running start when making a jump check. When making a long jump, it automatically passes the Strength checks to clear a low obstacle and to keep its footing upon landing in difficult terrain. When making a high jump, a grippli doubles its Strength modifier to determine the distance it reaches.
Up Tree, Under Water: A grippli has a Climb Speed of 20 feet and a Swim Speed of 20 feet.
Subraces: Choose between the Savage, Princely, Treetop, Mystic or Psionic Grippli subraces.


Savage Grippli
Ability Score Increase: +1 Strength
Bug Hunter: A Savage Grippli receives Advantage on attack rolls against vermin; these are Beasts and Magic Beasts based on invertebrates, such as spiders, wasps, flies, centipedes and scorpions. Additionally, it increases its Armor Class by +1 when fighting such foes.


Mystic Grippli
Ability Score Increase: +1 Wisdom
Servants of the Mother Frog: A Mystic Grippli knows the Guidance cantrip. At level 3, it can cast Fog Cloud as a 1st level spell once per long rest with this trait. At level 5, it can cast Spike Growth as a 2nd level spell once per long res with this trait. All spells cast with this trait use Wisdom as their casting ability score.


Treetop Grippli
Ability Score Increase: None. A Treetop Grippli only receives the +2 Dexterity for being a grippli.
Patagia: So long as a Treetop Grippli is not restrained, paralyzed, encumbered, equipped with medium or heavy armor, or otherwise rendered immobile, it takes no damage from falling distances. When falling, it may move forward, covering a horizontal distance equal to half the vertical distance travelled. At 5th level, a Treetop Grippli gains a Fly speed of 10 feet.
Treetop Dweller: A Treetop Grippli loses its Swim speed entirely.


Princely Grippli
Ability Score Increase: +1 Charisma
A Civilized Weapon: A Princely Grippli has automatic proficiency with either the Rapier or the Longsword, chosen at character creation.
Courtly Charms: A Princely Grippli doubles its Proficiency Bonus when making Charisma (Persuasion) checks.


Psionic Grippli
Ability Score Increase: +1 Intelligence
Amphibious Sagacity: A Psionic Grippli can communicate telepathically with one creature at a time, so long as both it and the desired creature are within 30 feet of each other. Additionally, a Psionic Grippli can cast a variant of the Mage Hand cantrip at will, using Wisdom as its casting ability score. This variant follows all of the normal rules for Mage Hand, but the “hand” is invisible.


Grippli Feat: Agile Tongue
Some gripplis have learned to master their tongues to the point of wielding them with preternatural dexterity.
Prerequisite: Grippli
Effect: Your grippli’s tongue can now be used like a third hand, allowing you to reach objects up to 10 feet away. When using your tongue like a limb, halve your Strength score, rounding down, for the purposes of determining what you can carry, making attacks, etcetera.

 

[QuietBrowser]

Many thanks on the Shadow Dragon pointer, I think I'll use that. And still, I guess the only way to really try the Suli is if I give them a shot.

Now, in other news, I managed to get a bunch of Yokai based races done today. I don't want to say where I got the inspiration surge from, I'm kind of embarrassed by it, but I managed to knock off most of the remaining Hengeyokai and add the Todomeki and the Futakuchi-onna to my list from scratch. Should I go ahead and start posting those here?

I'm kind of stuck on the Bakeneko; should I just do that cat-spirit, or should I consider using the subrace mechanics and see if I can't also add the Kasha and the Nekomata under its umbrella as well?

 

[QuietBrowser]

Thank you for the advice as always, Cbwjm.

So, does anyone have any comments on any of the races here? Anything that strikes you as particularly out of place or unbalanced, or missing flavor?

Also... from the Firbolg teaser, apparently, WoTC is going to go with the path of "Medium with Powerful Build" as the playable substitute for being Large, due to the fact Large size makes it harder to fit a PC into various interior environments and Large scale weapons are brokenly powerful. Do folks think I should uphold that "rule" with my own homebrewing efforts for creatures like the Oni?

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Okay, just three quick questions I wanted to leave before I went out for the day:

Can anyone think of any mechanical issues I might face when attempting to make PC racial writeups of Deep Ones and Serpentfolk? The biggest "issue" I can think of at the moment is that they're Always Chaotic Evil in the source material, but we all know the counterarguments to that matter (hello Drow, Orcs, Kobolds, Goblins...)

Would a 5e translation of the Suli, the "Genie-Born Planetouched", from Pathfinder, be viable? Or do you think it would fall flat in comparison to the existing genasi?

Finally, I was hit by a stroke of inspiration, so I wanted to ask; do folks think it would make the Shadar-Kai overpowered if Fading Flesh allowed them to have some kind of superior hiding abilities in darkness? Like, being able to make an active Hide check each time they move into an area of darkness? I just thought that this might represent their traditional lore about melding with shadows.

Why not let shadar-kai treat dim light as if it were total darkness for purposes of stealth, and gain slightly greater speed in dim light or darkness. Then, if they can teleport their speed, they teleport further in darkness, elegantly. And they are faster in darkness even when they've already used their teleport ability.

 

[QuietBrowser]

Oooh, that's actually a really good idea! Thanks a lot, I can definitely use that!