Making a Homebrew Race, Need Your Help Balancing it

[Oversquid]

So I've come up with 5 of these races that I intend to be adequate for PCs, but I won't flood these boards with all 5 of those right away, for now, I'll just flood these boards with 1 at a time perhaps.

So this first race here I intended to have as a +1 LA, and I'm calling it a Tsaghoal for now, and its a kind of planetouched where a human has some Far-Realm ancestry in their family tree the same way a Tiefling has fiendish blood in their family tree:

- +2 Bonus to Constitution, +2 Bonus to Wisdom, -2 Penalty to Charisma. Tsaghoal are naturally resilient, and their understanding of the world they live in is scarily uncanny, however their environment leaves them introverted most of the time.

- Outsider (Native). Unlike other Outsiders, Tsaghoal don't get Darkvision.

- Medium Size

- Base Land Speed of 30ft

- Blindsense out to 20ft. Like their Far Realm ancestors, they can see what others can't see.

- Can use Blur as a Spell-Like Ability Once per Day as a wizard of a caster level equal to their Hit-Die. Their Alien Blood allows them to displace themselves from reality.

- +1 Natural Armor Bonus. Despite not looking any thicker than a human's, a Fartouched's skin is far more resilient.

- Transform: Once per Day, a Tsaghoal can turn into a visage of madness the same way a Barbarian becomes enraged, gaining 2 Tentacle Attacks as Natural Weapons, dealing 1d4 + Strength Modifier and giving +2 more Natural Armor to the Tsaghoal. The tentacle attacks are treated as magic for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction. This Transformation lasts 1 Round + Constitution Modifier. The transformation will last 1 Round at the minimum.

After transformation, the Tsaghoal will feel displaced from their own bodies, being Dazed for 1 round, and no longer able to move faster than their walk speed until they rest.

- Whispers from Afar: Once a day without control from the Tsaghoal, the Tsaghoal hears a chilling whisper pertaining to their current situation. The whisper they hear is a sentence long, and only they can hear it. Should another one tap into the Tsaghoal's mind while a whisper is being spoken, the target will hear a completely different one pertaining to their current situation. Even if both the Tsaghoal and the Scryer are grouped together, the whisper will always be different. Always. The whispers even happen while the Tsaghoal sleeps.

The Goal of the Whispers is to get the Tsaghoal to trust no others, but the whispers themselves. The things the whispers say to the Tsaghoal are everything from flat out lies, to full blown truths, no matter how much the Tsaghoal know about the lies or truths firsthand. The whispers know what the Tsaghoal knows, but not the other way around. Though sometimes, the whispers teach the Tsaghoal a few things, one sentence at a time per day. Whatever it takes to get the Tsaghoal to trust them completely.

Time a day as the moment when the sun rises, to the moment just before the sun rises in 24 hour increments (Assuming a day is 24 hours). Roll a Percentage roll, and make every four numbers starting with 1-4 be within a different hour. At the 97-100 mark, reroll the Percentage. If the DM wishes, they can count each number to be a 15 minute increment instead, with 97-100 still being a reroll.

The DM does the rolls away from the players, unless the player has some ability to control when the whisper makes itself heard (Possible Future Feats, don't worry about this for now).

Automatic Languages: Common, Sylvan.

Bonus Languages: Aboleth, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Goblin, Halfling, Illithid, and Orc.

Favored Class: Wizard

Level Adjustment +1.

 

[Visigani]

Add damaged by positive energy and healed by electricity.

 

[Empirate]

I think the benefits of this flavorful race are a bit on the strong side to justify only a +1 LA. +2, on the other hand, would be too much, so I suggest toning it down a little bit: drop +1 natural armor and the Blur ability, and change Blindsight to Blindsense. You could also increase the duration of the Transform ability to 3+Con mod rounds and make this per day, usable in 1-round increments - that way, this ability will see some more use and help to make the race unique.

I like it, btw!

 

[xigbar]

The ability adjustments are about right for LA +1. Blindsight might be okay, but in a more limited sense. Either change it to sense, or make the range very limited. I don't see much wrong with 1 NA. The transformation ability is fine, although have an early method around DR might be troublesome. I think that's balanced out by being slightly shorter in duration that Rage. The Whispers trait might tricky for a DM to keep track of, but if they can, and incredible tool, and immensely flavorful. Also, I wouldn't choose this race for a Wizard, necessarily.

 

[Oversquid]

Alright, so when I first made this race, I never really differentiated Blindsight from Blindsense, but then after looking it up, it turns out there was a difference, so I changed that to Blindsense.

I also got rid of the Natural Armor, though I feel that its a little more neutered now for a +1 LA. But what do you think now folks?

 

[Oversquid]

The ability adjustments are about right for LA +1. Blindsight might be okay, but in a more limited sense. Either change it to sense, or make the range very limited. I don't see much wrong with 1 NA. The transformation ability is fine, although have an early method around DR might be troublesome. I think that's balanced out by being slightly shorter in duration that Rage. The Whispers trait might tricky for a DM to keep track of, but if they can, and incredible tool, and immensely flavorful. Also, I wouldn't choose this race for a Wizard, necessarily.

I see what you mean by the Wizard thing, but in a Role-Play perspective, a Wizard would probably make the most sense.

 

[xigbar]

Alright, so when I first made this race, I never really differentiated Blindsight from Blindsense, but then after looking it up, it turns out there was a difference, so I changed that to Blindsense.

I also got rid of the Natural Armor, though I feel that its a little more neutered now for a +1 LA. But what do you think now folks?

I don't think dropping the NA is needed. There are a few races with no LA that have more than that, and it's not the ability that adds to it's powers enough to make it LA +1.

 

[kitcik]

I think the benefits of this flavorful race are a bit on the strong side to justify only a +1 LA. +2, on the other hand, would be too much, so I suggest toning it down a little bit: drop +1 natural armor and the Blur ability, and change Blindsight to Blindsense. You could also increase the duration of the Transform ability to 3+Con mod rounds and make this per day, usable in 1-round increments - that way, this ability will see some more use and help to make the race unique.

I like it, btw!

Can't XP, but I agree with all of these comments. A cool race.

 

[Oversquid]

I don't think dropping the NA is needed. There are a few races with no LA that have more than that, and it's not the ability that adds to it's powers enough to make it LA +1.

Yeah, didn't think it would be, I'll go and stick that back on and see what else needs work.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

I like this race.

The very first thing I thought after reading Far Realm was a Wisdom penalty, not a bonus. Far Realm is associated with madness, madness is associated with a drop in wisdom.

Now, if this is somehow supposed to make them more resistant, than it contradicts in my mind with those whispers. If they're more succeptable, than the whispers fit. This is just a suggestion from what I imagine of the flavor of the race, you decide how it best fits.

I'd have a lot of fun playing this race.