D&D 5E Super Simple Racial Features

DND_Reborn · Jul 18, 2019

lowkey13 said:
Not quite (at least, not as introduced). DMG 59 states that ultravision can't be used underground or indoors- basically, it's only useful outdoors at night.

My favorite weird ultravision rule is that magic weapon light ruins ultravision.

Ah, yes, I remember that now. That was why I wrote you needed some light for Ultravision to function. In that sense it is similar to shadowsight, but not identical.

Blue · Jul 18, 2019

dnd4vr said:
Honestly, I had considered this and I might to a point, but probably not to the extent you're talking about. I want the racial features to be significant, but not over powering in any respect.

Overpowering at what level range? What racial features make players excited at Tier 2 and Tier 3 of play?

DND_Reborn · Jul 18, 2019

Blue said:
Overpowering at what level range? What racial features make players excited at Tier 2 and Tier 3 of play?

Past tier 1, I would rather hope class will completely override race in bringing excitement to the player about their character. I certainly don't mind the idea of it scaling, such as the Dragonborn's breath weapon, but ideally I want it to be "useful", not a key feature for the player to rely on. That is my preference, anyway.

ART! · Jul 18, 2019

It sounds like a low-key racial trait that moderately "levels up" with the different tiers would work.

OR

If you want to keep it really simple, make sure every race has the same number of traits, and then just decide which one they get at 1st, and then which ones they get when they hit each of the tiers.

DND_Reborn · Jul 19, 2019

ART! said:
It sounds like a low-key racial trait that moderately "levels up" with the different tiers would work.

OR

If you want to keep it really simple, make sure every race has the same number of traits, and then just decide which one they get at 1st, and then which ones they get when they hit each of the tiers.

It is funny you mention this! While at work today I thought about maybe something like archetypes, where there are 4-5 racial features and you get one at first, another at 3-4, one more at 6-7, etc. and the last similar to a capstone ability.

This way the racial features truly represent the race, but do power-up with level so they are effective without being over the top.

Now, I just have to come up with them! LOL Here is a sample for Dwarf. (FYI I am not saying this is what I will do, as some of these features ARE powerful, but just to give people the idea.)

Dwarf (by level)

1: You have advantage on saving throws against poison, and you have resistance against poison damage.
3: By stealing yourself to take a blow you can use your bonus action to gain a +1 bonus to your armor class until the start of your next turn. (or maybe DR instead?)
8: You gain proficiency in one saving throw of your choice.
14: You gain temporary hit points equal to twice your character level after a long rest.
18: You gain advantage on all saving throws.

Thoughts?

Oh, and I am STILL very interested in learning what people consider the pinnacle core feature for each race. Come on, people! Let's keep this going.

Sacrosanct · Jul 19, 2019

I’m coming at this from a bit of an old school perspective, so take that for what it’s worth. If I had to pick one:

Dragonborn (breath weapon
Dwarf (adv/resist poison,
Elf charm/sleep resistance
Gnome tinkering
Half-Elf skills
Half-Orc (menacing,
Halfling stealthy
Human (all ASI
Tiefling (fire resistance
Drow Mary Sue Emo complex
Deep gnome illusions

ART! · Jul 19, 2019

I dig 13th Age but I'm not like a super-fan, so don't take this as brow-beating or anything,

BUT

The way 13th Age does it is you get the one racial trait, but it gets better as you level up. So, for instance:

Dwarf (from the SRD):

Racial Bonus

+2 Con or +2 Wis

That’s Your Best Shot? (Racial Power)
Once per battle as a free action after you have been hit by an enemy attack, you can heal using a recovery. If the escalation die is less than 2, you only get half the usual healing from the recovery. Unlike other recoveries that might allow you to take an average result, you have to roll this one!
Note that you can’t use this ability if the attack drops you to 0 hp or below. You’ve got to be on your feet to sneer at their attack and recover.
Champion Feat: If the escalation die is 2+ when you use that’s your best shot, the recovery is free.

So, I guess they just level up once. Anyway, that's the basic idea there. This seems very limited, but the flipside is it's very focused.

CubicsRube · Jul 19, 2019

In my ideal d&d, racial features would purely be innate amd mot cultural. For example what if your dwarf grew up on a mountain plain in a nomadic human tribe? Why should they have stone cunning?

So I like the slimming down approach very much.

I've not put deep thought into it, but i might have something like:

Dwarf - adv on poison and does not suffer disad on stealth due to heavy armor
Elf - fey ancestry (trance/can't be put to speep + adv against enchantments) & 35feet movement
Halfling - lucky and their stealth stuff
Half-orc - relentless endurance and savage attack
Dragonborn - elemental resistance
Tiefling - fire resistance and hellish rebuke
Human - a feat. Or otherwise determined (from another system - you can declare one roll per long rest to be made with advantage) to represent their versatility.

CapnZapp · Jul 19, 2019

Just to note, fantasy has always been "racist" in the literal sense that some species are plain better than others.

Do I find it offensive that Elves and Dragons are plain better than Orcs or Manticores? Or that Orcs are better than Goblins? Numenorans and Cimmerians better than Dunelendings and Styxians? Not in the slightest, since it's fictional races we're talking about.

DND_Reborn · Jul 19, 2019

CapnZapp said:
Just to note, fantasy has always been "racist" in the literal sense that some species are plain better than others.

Do I find it offensive that Elves and Dragons are plain better than Orcs or Manticores? Or that Orcs are better than Goblins? Numenorans and Cimmerians better than Dunelendings and Styxians? Not in the slightest, since it's fictional races we're talking about.

Very true and good point. While I am seeking a level of balance between the races, of course certain options will seem "superior" for one race over another, but that also depends a lot on what you want the character to be good at. For instance, some races are naturally stronger or more dexterous than others, making them better fighter-types than those races that aren't as strong or dexterous. However, as others have pointed out in other threads, with the universal 20 cap, all have the potential to be equally "the best".

Other racial features will also lean towards character strengths, but how you play the character and develop them into what you want is most important.