QB's Monstrous Races

[Ryuumon13]

Yeah.. I think I'd argue for no Pack Tactics - and as a result Pack Defense - myself.

I think as a once per long rest the 10ft range would probably be ok. It is still a strong ability though, and along with Wings and Pack Tactics (should you decide to keep it) would overshadow the other options I think. More on that in a minute.

Oops I completely misread that, I didn't even see Persuasion and Performance were both listed, damn my tiny phone screen.

Wings/Flying.. I think is often slightly overvalued. Depending on the campaign it might be the most overpowered race/class ability out there. But then again in a dungeon with 10-15ft ceilings it's not very strong at all. Plus with Sunlight Sensitivity I think some of the power is lost as well. 10ft every 5th level might be ok. But most level-locked race features (spells) are at 3rd and 5th level.. so perhaps 5ft every other level until land cap? Also most campaigns don't make it to lvl 20 so I think hitting the 30ft cap at 9 is reasonable. Using 5ft instead of 10 also makes it a little easier to hit the cap for characters that have 25ft or 35ft land speed.

Oops I was reading what you originally typed wrong. Thought "shift" was some kind of weird 4e ability and didn't read the following few words. My bad, I blame reading/typing on my phone lol. That would definitely be an interesting and balanced racial ability, but probably only once per long rest I think.

Ahh I gotcha that makes total sense. Damage wise it should probably stay on par with the DBs breath, maybe along with a long rest it's range is shortened? 10ft cone and 20ft line?

How were you thinking of balancing the traits? There are a lot of them, so maybe breaking them down in categories? "You can pick one of the following Greater Draconic Traits" "Two of the following Lesser.." or something along those lines? Curious as to what you were thinking.

 

[Redthistle]

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

Whenever designing variable traits, the best designs I've seen have included in the trait description the specific trait that the variable trait would be replacing. That's a necessary element to keep the character balanced.

 

[QuietBrowser]

Yeah.. I think I'd argue for no Pack Tactics - and as a result Pack Defense - myself.

Honestly, I can kind of see the argument to drop those, or at least tone Pack Tactics down as I did in my original Kobold rendition, but there's the fact it's an actual MM trait for them, so... I don't know, what do folks think?

Wings/Flying.. I think is often slightly overvalued. Depending on the campaign it might be the most overpowered race/class ability out there. But then again in a dungeon with 10-15ft ceilings it's not very strong at all. Plus with Sunlight Sensitivity I think some of the power is lost as well. 10ft every 5th level might be ok. But most level-locked race features (spells) are at 3rd and 5th level.. so perhaps 5ft every other level until land cap? Also most campaigns don't make it to lvl 20 so I think hitting the 30ft cap at 9 is reasonable. Using 5ft instead of 10 also makes it a little easier to hit the cap for characters that have 25ft or 35ft land speed.

Hmm... by that reasoning, why not just have it grow to 20ft Fly at 3rd level and 30ft Fly at 5th level? The Winged Tiefling gets 30 feet of fly speed straight away in exchange for her spell-like abilities, after all.

Ahh I gotcha that makes total sense. Damage wise it should probably stay on par with the DBs breath, maybe along with a long rest it's range is shortened? 10ft cone and 20ft line?

I actually kind of considered making it that the kobold breath weapon can only hit one target, so yeah, definitely agree with an inferior range to DB breath weapon. In fact, maybe, to emphasize their "mutt" status in the dragon hierarchy, kobold breath weapons don't clearly mesh up with any of the existant dragon ancestors? So we create home brewed breath weapons like "cone of thunder" or "line of frost"?

How were you thinking of balancing the traits? There are a lot of them, so maybe breaking them down in categories? "You can pick one of the following Greater Draconic Traits" "Two of the following Lesser.." or something along those lines? Curious as to what you were thinking.

Whenever designing variable traits, the best designs I've seen have included in the trait description the specific trait that the variable trait would be replacing. That's a necessary element to keep the character balanced.

Personally, I'd love to go with the Tiefling's "variant trait X replaces canon trait Y" approach, but that first mandates we have a solidly defined kobold racial "core" in the first place.

So, we can either try and whip that up, or we can go with the idea that they get a "Kobold Mutability" trait, which lets them have 1 trait from the list of kobold variant traits, with the alternate ability scores perhaps being separate from this list because they do have a "canon" trait (the original +2 Dex/+1 Int ability scores) to replace.

 

[Ryuumon13]

Honestly, I can kind of see the argument to drop those, or at least tone Pack Tactics down as I did in my original Kobold rendition, but there's the fact it's an actual MM trait for them, so... I don't know, what do folks think?

The way that you made it for your previous rendition is actually the perfect middle ground I think (having just reread what you had created). I'd still probably argue against Pack Defense though, but this is your homebrew!

Hmm... by that reasoning, why not just have it grow to 20ft Fly at 3rd level and 30ft Fly at 5th level? The Winged Tiefling gets 30 feet of fly speed straight away in exchange for her spell-like abilities, after all.

That works for me. If any of my players took the variant Tiefling I'd homebrew something to that effect as well. It also makes it simpler for sure, which is the essence of 5e.

I actually kind of considered making it that the kobold breath weapon can only hit one target, so yeah, definitely agree with an inferior range to DB breath weapon. In fact, maybe, to emphasize their "mutt" status in the dragon hierarchy, kobold breath weapons don't clearly mesh up with any of the existant dragon ancestors? So we create home brewed breath weapons like "cone of thunder" or "line of frost"?

Just one target and 1/long rest? 2d6 is decent but I worry that might make it too weak to pick. Definitely agree that about the mutt aspect though, that is a really cool idea.

So, we can either try and whip that up, or we can go with the idea that they get a "Kobold Mutability" trait, which lets them have 1 trait from the list of kobold variant traits, with the alternate ability scores perhaps being separate from this list because they do have a "canon" trait (the original +2 Dex/+1 Int ability scores) to replace.

Just one from that sizable list? Boy thatll be tough to pick from for sure. But that certainly is a good idea. Would just one be enough though?

 

[QuietBrowser]

Well, personally, I prefer my homebrew Pack Tactics anyway, and skipping Pack Defense does make a certain amount of sense.

So, really, we need to define how many targets a kobold breath weapon can hit, how often it can be used, and how much damage it does before we can properly guage it as "fair". Correct? We also need to actually cook up a list of "mutt's weapons"?

Hmm... well, we could go with the "one greater trait or two lesser traits" idea - or maybe even "one greater trait and one lesser trait, or three lesser traits", but that would require we come up with more potential traits, yes? Need to dig up my copy of Races of the Dragon and Advanced Race Guide, examine the Dragonwrought Kobold and kobold racial feats and see if there's any more material we can pilfer from them...

 

[QuietBrowser]

So, in my browsing across various seedy corners of the network, I came across one artist's fetish-fuelled mutation of the kobold; the Chubtail Kobold, whose distinctively thick, long tail is actually an extension of its stomach, allowing it to contain much larger amounts of food than a typical kobold and essentially being a visual sign of its status as a hybrid of kobold and snake. Now, this obviously can't be made into an actual kobold trait (although memory of the Lizardfolk's Hungry Jaws trait, the Ogre's "Gluttonous Gobbler" feat in Pathfinder, and morbid curiosity means I wouldn't mind trying), but it did remind me of the Wyvaran from Pathfinder, the Hydra, and gave me a few ideas for further kobold "mutations".

Then I went back and looked over Advanced Race Guide and Races of the Dragon for more. Dragonwrought Kobold is actually kind of unhelpful - subtype change from Reptile to Dragon, immunity to magical sleep & paralysis, +2 to a certain skill, Darkvision, qualify for the Dragon Wings feat tree. Likewise, there are fewer kobold feats in Advanced Race Guide than I recalled, and most of those covered by traits discussed earlier. Still, I managed to come up with a few.

• Hydra's Blood: Kobold gains some kind of regenerative ability.
• Tail Slap: Kobold gains a beefed up unarmed strike in the form of a tail attack that can be used as an extra attack. There's also potential for variants like inflicting stabbing/slashing damage due to a natural tail barb, or even having a poisonous sting, but that's hard to balance.
• Kobold Endurance: The kobold gains Advantage on Constitution checks against harsh environments (extreme heat, extreme cold, extreme altitude), fatigue and suffocation. Maybe also advantage on Strength (Swim) checks?
• Ambusher: Enemies suffer Disadvantage on Passive Perception checks made to detect a hidden kobold with this trait.

 

[QuietBrowser]

So, a comment made on 4chan, of all places, made me wonder... kobolds are the only race to only get darkvision and sunlight sensitivity at the same time, whilst the other races at least get Superior Darkvision to offset their visual problems. This kind of fits into kobolds being a gimped race, but it made me wonder; perhaps, with my homebrew version, the default should be SD and SS, with an option for "light-adapted eyes" that decreases them to darkvision and no sunlight sensitivity?

 

[QuietBrowser]

So, it turns out that there's a Kobolds of Golarion mini-book - you know, the ones that're barely 30 pages but they still charge $50 for? - and it's got a bunch more of alternate kobold racial traits, along with kobold regional and color-based traits. Again, perhaps there might be something plunderable here?

Alternate Racial Traits:

• Dayraider: Lose Light Sensitivity but downgrade Darkvision to Lowlight Vision.
• Dragonmaw: Gain a bite attack that can deal +1D6 elemental damage 1/day.
• Echo Whistler: Can attempt to bluff someone via vocal mimicry 3/day.
• Frightener: Small bonus to DC of your Fear spells.
• Prehensile Tail: Small bonus to Acrobatics and Climb checks, can draw a hidden weapon as a move action.
• Secret Strider: 2/day you can move through natural surroundings without leaving any trail, causing DC of checks to track you to go up by +10.
• Shoulder to Shoulder: Small bonus to AC when adjacent to another kobold, small bonus to Aid Another checks.
• Spellcaster Sneak: Small bonus to Stealth checks and, if you can cast spells, you can get a "free" Silent Spell casting 1/day.
• Wild Forest Kobold: Bonus to Perception and Survival, Stealth and Survival are always class skills for you.
• Wyrmcrowned: Bonus to either Intimidate or Diplomacy, chosen skill is always a class skill.

Regional Traits:

• Briar Bandit: Stealth check and sneak attack damage bonus when hiding in overgrown areas.
• Gravelwalker: Can move normally through spaces obstructed by rubble or debris, and can run/charge through such areas with an Acrobatics check.
• Grit Goggles: Improved save against being blinded by irritants and halve environmental penalties to visual range.
• Iron Lungs: Double the time you can hold your breath and gain a bonus to saves vs. inhaled poisons.
• Lair Snake: Small bonus to Appraise checks and start play with +100 gold pieces.
• Snowstride: Small bonus to Acrobatics checks made on slippery surfaces and can trip/bull rush creatures two size categories bigger.
• Stream Nomad: Small bonus to Swim checks, Swim is always a class skill, increase speed of small boats you pilot.
• Suck In Your Gut: No movement rate penalty whilst squeezing, lessened penalty to attack rolls and AC whilst squeezing.
• Trap Savvy: Small bonus to Craft (Traps) checks and to AC against traps or trap-produced effects.

Color-based Traits:

• Bog Scamp: Swimming in deep bogs only halves your movement instead of quartering it, and failing a Swim check in one doesn't make you sink.
• Sneaky Swimmer: Increase the time you can hold your breath by +Con modifier rounds and gain a bonus to Stealth checks in swamps and underwater.
• Draconic Echo: Gain Ghost Sound as a 2/day spell like ability.
• Elaborate Trapper: If you do well on a Craft (Trap) check, the Disable Device check to break it is increased.
• Kobold Herbalist: 1/day, you can make a Survival check to try and produce a dose of Scent Cloak without needing to purchase ingredients, although such a dose becomes inert after 24 hours.
• Slithering Stride: For 3 rounds each day, you can move at full speed through light and heavy undergrowth.
• Firebug: Gain Spark as a 3/day spell like ability.
• Heat Fortitude: Sizable boost to Fort checks against non-lethal heat damage.
• Smoke Resistant: No visual penalty from non-magical smoke and a sizable bonus to Fort checks provoked by non-magical smoke.
• Cold Fortitude: Sizable boost to Fort checks against non-lethal cold damage.
• Frost Spitter: Once per day, you can create a 10ft square area of slippery ice equivalent to an ice sheet.
• Skater's Balance: It doesn't cost you extra movement to enter an ice sheet, and you don't increase Acrobatics DCs whilst on an ice sheet.
• Carnation Scales: Bonus to Survival checks and Survival is always a class skill for you.
• Golden Scales: Penalty to Bluff & Diplomacy checks with kobolds, but bonus to those checks with non-reptilian humanoids.

There's actually more color-based traits, but all of them are pretty weak - starting the game with some free gear or a bonus language - so I left them out.

 

[QuietBrowser]

Alright... I was hoping to get some more feedback first, but I guess I'll go ahead and draft up my firs Kobold reenvisioning now that I got all these examples and possible traits to use.

On a similar topic... while I do like the basic idea of the Gnoll as I did it up, dividing it between the demonic Butcher's Brood, the primal Hyena's Soul, and the mystical/necromantic Bouda, I feel it could use some beefing up. The Bouda in particular. Would anyone be interested in helping me figure out how to do so? For example, in Pathfinder, the Bouda is a gnollish Witch archetype, with the unique abilities of an "evil eye" hex and the ability to shapeshift into a hyena (regular or dire). Perhaps adding features based on these might work?

Additionally, as brought up in one of my other topics ( http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?498138-UA-Warforged-vs-Keith-Baker-s-Warforged ), there's currently two "official" Warforged renditions for 5e. Of the two, I prefer Keith Baker's version, but I'm still not entirely happy with it. I want to make my own take on it, but there's something I wanted to figure out: back in 3e, there was a Large sized version of the Warforged called the Warforged Titan, correct? Since 5e has simplified Large races to the formula of "Medium with Powerful Build racial feature" (even if they do seem to overestimate that feature's actual value), perhaps the right combination of "big, tough, powerful" racial features could allow for a Titan subrace to be viable?

Also, is there any sort of penalty due to not wearing armor without proficiency for it? I've been trying to figure out a way to make the "you can attach armor to yourself permanently" aspect of Integrated Armor actually, you know, worth something, and what I'm currently leaning towards is that either it gives you advantage on Constitution saves or else it lets you wear a heavier suit of armor without needing to get proficiency for it first.


Anyway, on to the Kobold... So, what do folks think of this below? I would like to add some traits - I still want to do the "Spark of Magic" or other spell-like abilities traits as a Draconic Gift, and maybe there's some more hidden gems in the other PF or idea-based traits I listed before.

Kobold, First Draft:
Ability Score Modifier: +2 Dexterity, +1 Intelligence
Size: Small
Speed: 30 feet
Vision: Superior Darkvision
Pack Tactics: A kobold can use the Help option as a Reaction if it is within 5 feet of an ally.
Sunlight Sensitivity: A kobold suffers Disadvantage on Attack Rolls and Wisdom (Perception) checks based on sight if it or its target is in direct sunlight.
Gift of the Dragons: A kobold has a single racial trait selected from the Draconic Gifts subtable below.
Strengths of the Kobold: A kobold has two racial traits selected from the Kobold Mutations subtable below.

Draconic Gifts:

• Wings: A kobold with this trait can double the distance it travels upon making a Strength check to jump. Additionally, it has a Fly speed of 10 feet, which increases by +10 feet at 3rd level and 5th level.
• Dragonmaw: A kobold with this trait can choose to bite when making an unarmed strike, causing its attack to inflict D4+Str modifier Piercing damage. Additionally, once per encounter, upon delivering a successful bite attack, a kobold with this trait can inflict further elemental damage. The elemental type is chosen at character creation from the list of Fire, Acid, Cold, Electricity or Poison, and cannot be changed afterwards. The bonus damage is +D6 points, and scales as per a cantrip.
• Fundamentum: A kobold with this trait has a breath weapon that it can use once per long rest. Treat this as an unarmed strike with a range of 15 feet inflicting D10 elemental damage (scaling as per a cantrip). The elemental type is chosen at character creation from the list of Fire, Acid, Cold, Electricity or Poison, and cannot be changed afterwards.
• Hide of the Dragon: The default AC of a kobold with this trait is 12+Dex modifier. They can still benefit from wielding a shield, and can use their natural armor to determine their AC if the armor they are wearing would ordinarily leave them with a lower AC.
• Shield of the Dragon: A kobold with this trait has resistance to ONE damage type from the following list: Fire, Acid, Cold, Electricity or Poison. This choice cannot be undone later in the game.

Kobold Mutations:

• Draconic Cunning: Ability score modifiers become +2 Int, +1 Dex, replacing the default ability score modifiers.
• Draconic Presence: Ability score modifiers become +2 Cha, +1 Dex, replacing the default ability score modifiers.
• Tunnel Scurry: A kobold with this trait gains a Climb speed of 30 feet and is not slowed by squeezing into a smaller space. Additionally, it does not suffer suffer disadvantage whilst squeezing, nor does it offer combat advantage whilst squeezing.
• Tactical Retreat: Once per short rest, a kobold with this trait can Disengage and move full speed as a bonus action. Allies within 5 feet can also spend a reaction to do the same thing.
• Pack Defense: If within 5 feet of a non-incapacitated ally, a kobold with this trait can leave a creature's space without drawing an Attack of Opportunity.
• Silver-Tongued: A kobold with this trait gains Proficiency in Charisma (Persuasion, Deception, and Performance) checks.
• Trapmaster: A kobold with this trait has Advantage on Wisdom (Perception) and Intelligence (Investigation) checks made to detect traps, and on Intelligence checks made to disable traps. Additionally, once short rest, if a kobold triggers a trap, it can use its Reaction to transfer half of the damage it takes from that trap to an adjacent enemy.
• Cunning Tinkerer: As per the Rock Gnome's Tinker trait (see PHB pg 37).
• Dayraider: The kobold loses Sunlight Sensitivity, but downgrades its vision from Superior Darkvision to only Darkvision.
• Prehensile Tail: A kobold with this trait adds its proficiency bonus to Dexterity (Acrobatics) and Strength (Athletics) checks. It can also use its tail as an extra hand, although it can only be used to wield a weapon with the Light trait.
• Miner's Fortitude: A kobold with this trait doubles the amount of time it can hold its breath for, and gains Advantage on Constitution (Endurance) checks made against harsh environments.
  
• Ambusher: Enemies suffer Disadvantage on Passive Perception checks made to detect a hidden kobold with this trait.

 

[Redthistle]

Looking over the earlier kobold offering from this thread and this newer version, I like what I'm seeing.

The wide variety offered by the 5 Draconic Gifts and 12 Kobold Mutations are delightful - I can imagine that if Tucker's Kobolds had this much variety, that we might never have heard of them, because no adventurers would have lived to tell the tale.

The gifts and mutations could easily be determined by dice rolls, giving a randomness to the wee beasties that appeals to my OCD character creation predilections. This race alone could keep me entertained for months.

Grazie, QuietBrowser!