With regard to mechanics, if you want to design a new lineage, use the Custom Lineage in Tashas.
Then create your own feat for that lineage.
An easy way to do this, is to look at the half feats in Xanathars and in Tashas. These are the feats that also grant a +1 ability score improvement, but ignore this improvement. Create two half feats for your lineage.
For one of the half feats, to cast one 2nd level spell per short rest, seems balanced (compare Fey Step), albeit this is probably the most powerful edge within the boundary of balanced. Other feats have a 2nd level spell per long rest, but then add extras. It also depends on which spell; some are more powerful than others.
Where Tashas gives the option to have Darkvision or swap it for a proficiency, I feel strongly it is balanced to swap Darkvision for a cantrip, such as the Light cantrip.
When I design a lineage feat, I tend to pack it full till its bursting at its seems. But that is ok. Because, the Tashas lineage is less powerful compared to the lineages in the Players Handbook. So as long as one is aiming for the Tashas design space, the end result is highly likely to be balanced for the game.
that is the problem I want something more than human plus feat I live only to try to build an icon something worth playing, I am presently interested in the ua Dragonborn as they likely show the direction we will be moving in on base stock lineages.
It's hard, and it takes practice. I've made dozens of homebrew races, but only a few have made it to the state where I feel adequately satisfied with both their lore and mechanics. All of them are works in progress, but the base ideas are down and solidified.
That's the hardest part. You have to have a fairly idea for a race, a hook that draws players in and inspires stories for both PCs, NPCs, and worlds. And this hook doesn't come easily, and most of the ones you (a general you here, to clarify) come up with won't latch on. My main races' hooks are flesh-crafted psionic person, death-touched Vecna worshipper, and sentient golem person without a true home or purpose. 5e has similar themes (Kalashtar, Reborn, and Warforged respectively), but they have notably different roles, stories, and mechanics in my world, which is something that helps make races compelling.
The 5e PHB has 9 "core" races that are assumed to be basic to D&D 5e in a general way.
For the sake of discussion, let's say that you're putting out your own homebrew campaign setting and you get to choose 9 races but CANNOT include the original 3 demihumans - elf, dwarf, halfling. Your new lineup can be from the history of canonical D&D lore or something new to the game.
First I obviously keep what I can of what's popular. And we've three of the top five races there assuming that we're banning half-elves alongside elves.
Humans
Tieflings
Dragonborn
Gnomes (I may think that gnomes should be a subrace of halflings - but we can do this the other way)
Then I bring in obvious second tier races.
Genasi
Orcs (or possibly goliaths)
Tabaxi
This makes me a nice skeleton to work with of seven races if I'm allowed nine. I then leave two blank for either inspiration for the rest of my world building or for my players to say what they want to play. I probably end up with something like Warforged on the list.
that is the problem I want something more than human plus feat I live only to try to build an icon something worth playing, I am presently interested in the ua Dragonborn as they likely show the direction we will be moving in on base stock lineages.
Heh, the traits for the Dragonborn also divide up into half-feats. The breath weapon is like a half-feat that grants a spell per rest. If you want, I can go thru the trouble to analyze it, and say how many half-feats it is worth.
Heh, the traits for the Dragonborn also divide up into half-feats. The breath weapon is like a half-feat that grants a spell per rest. If you want, I can go thru the trouble to analyze it, and say how many half-feats it is worth.
I've actually come around to appreciate the "human in all but name" approach. I don't feel like doing animal-people and I never got hooked on dwarves. And if they all end up being just like humans anyway, I see little point in coming up with weird appearances.
Not sure I'd bother with 9 core races. I'd probably take my current setting, remove the 3 races that have been disqualified, and then a bunch more and put in my core races of Giant-kin (firbolgs, goliaths, maybe create some others), genasi, dragonborn, and kobolds. All others would be unavailable. These are the races formed during the three-way elemental war back in the mythic age. I'd probably also include humans since they were used by the elementals to create the first genasi by imbuing slaves and captives with elemental power.
Your draconic heritage manifests in a variety of traits you share with other dragonborn.
Ability Score Increase
Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Charisma score increases by 1.
Age
Young dragonborn grow quickly. They walk hours after hatching, attain the size and development of a 10-year-old human child by the age of 3, and reach adulthood by 15. They live to be around 80.
Alignment
Dragonborn tend to extremes, making a conscious choice for one side or the other in the cosmic war between good and evil (represented by Bahamut and Tiamat, respectively). Most dragonborn are good, but those who side with Tiamat can be terrible villains.
Size
Dragonborn are taller and heavier than humans, standing well over 6 feet tall and averaging almost 250 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Draconic Ancestry
You have draconic ancestry. Choose one type of dragon from the Draconic Ancestry table. Your breath weapon and damage resistance are determined by the dragon type, as shown in the table.
Draconic Ancestry
Dragon
Damage Type
Breath Weapon
Black
Acid
5 by 30 ft. line (Dex. save)
Blue
Lightning
5 by 30 ft. line (Dex. save)
Brass
Fire
5 by 30 ft. line (Dex. save)
Bronze
Lightning
5 by 30 ft. line (Dex. save)
Copper
Acid
5 by 30 ft. line (Dex. save)
Gold
Fire
15 ft. cone (Dex. save)
Green
Poison
15 ft. cone (Con. save)
Red
Fire
15 ft. cone (Dex. save)
Silver
Cold
15 ft. cone (Con. save)
White
Cold
15 ft. cone (Con. save)
Breath Weapon
You can use your action to exhale destructive energy. Your draconic ancestry determines the size, shape, and damage type of the exhalation. When you use your breath weapon, each creature in the area of the exhalation must make a saving throw, the type of which is determined by your draconic ancestry. The DC for this saving throw equals 8 + your Constitution modifier + your proficiency bonus. A creature takes 2d6 damage on a failed save, and half as much damage on a successful one. The damage increases to 3d6 at 6th level, 4d6 at 11th level, and 5d6 at 16th level. After you use your breath weapon, you can’t use it again until you complete a short or long rest.
Damage Resistance
You have resistance to the damage type associated with your draconic ancestry.
Languages
You can speak, read, and write Common and Draconic. Draconic is thought to be one of the oldest languages and is often used in the study of magic. The language sounds harsh to most other creatures and includes numerous hard consonants and sibilants.
The Players Handbook Dragonborn is straightforward.
1 feat: +2 Strength score
½ feat: +1 Charisma score
0 feat: Size medium (standard)
0 feat: Speed 30 feet (standard)
0 feat: Age (rarely matters)
0 feat: Language Common (standard)
½ feat: Dragonbreath, Damage Resistance, and Draconic language
In other words, the Dragonborn is slightly less powerful than a Tashas Custom Lineage, since it lacks the Darkvision and extra language that Tashas grants.
Custom Lineage
• +2 ability score
• 1 feat ( ≈ +1 ability score, Dragonbreath, Damage Resistance, Draconic)
• Common language
• extra language
• Darkvision or proficiency
Note:
Dragonbreath 2d6 damage is less good than a slot-1 spell like Chromatic Orb 3d8 damage, but Dragonbreath can target more than one creature in the area. So it seems roughly equivalent to a slot-1 spell per short or long rest.
Compare the various half-feats. Tashas: Feytouched and Shadowtouched, which grant a slot-2 spell and a slot-1 spell, each per long rest. More pertinently, compare Xanathars: Fey Teleportation, which grants a slot-2 spell per short or long rest plus a useful language.
So far, Dragonbreath (slot-1 spell) with a language is less good than Fey Teleportation (slot-2 spell) with a language.
Now, the Damage Resistance is not nothing, But it is passive and situational and not great either.
All in all, I will say, everything together − Dragonbreath, Damage Resistance, and Draconic language − is worth a ½ feat.
One might fiddle about whether the Draconic language should be included in the half-feat or not, but language tends to be neglible in terms of balance. So the ballpark is still about a half-feat.
Asgard is MCU Asgardians with only Aesir. No Vanir. And "Loki" is an Aesir/Jotun hybrid son of "Odin". Asgardians are just bigger "immortal" humans.
Olympus is a hilly aquatic plane with Mt Olympus in the middle. Zeus, Hera, Hades, Demeter, Poseidon, and Hestia are all Tempest gods who control their realms. Olympians are descendants of demigods.
Mictlan is the underworld plane of goblins and the goblins worship the Death Gods toward off the may ways to die. One escapes and goes to
Xibalba, another death world. There is no god there until Chaac goes there, transformed into Ra, and makes the land hospitable.
Haven is the grassy lands of the 8 Life Gods.
And the less you talk about the Fields, Mother Nature, and her kids, the better.
Your draconic heritage manifests in a variety of traits you share with other dragonborn.
Ability Score Increase
Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Charisma score increases by 1.
Age
Young dragonborn grow quickly. They walk hours after hatching, attain the size and development of a 10-year-old human child by the age of 3, and reach adulthood by 15. They live to be around 80.
Alignment
Dragonborn tend to extremes, making a conscious choice for one side or the other in the cosmic war between good and evil (represented by Bahamut and Tiamat, respectively). Most dragonborn are good, but those who side with Tiamat can be terrible villains.
Size
Dragonborn are taller and heavier than humans, standing well over 6 feet tall and averaging almost 250 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Draconic Ancestry
You have draconic ancestry. Choose one type of dragon from the Draconic Ancestry table. Your breath weapon and damage resistance are determined by the dragon type, as shown in the table.
Draconic Ancestry
Dragon
Damage Type
Breath Weapon
Black
Acid
5 by 30 ft. line (Dex. save)
Blue
Lightning
5 by 30 ft. line (Dex. save)
Brass
Fire
5 by 30 ft. line (Dex. save)
Bronze
Lightning
5 by 30 ft. line (Dex. save)
Copper
Acid
5 by 30 ft. line (Dex. save)
Gold
Fire
15 ft. cone (Dex. save)
Green
Poison
15 ft. cone (Con. save)
Red
Fire
15 ft. cone (Dex. save)
Silver
Cold
15 ft. cone (Con. save)
White
Cold
15 ft. cone (Con. save)
Breath Weapon
You can use your action to exhale destructive energy. Your draconic ancestry determines the size, shape, and damage type of the exhalation. When you use your breath weapon, each creature in the area of the exhalation must make a saving throw, the type of which is determined by your draconic ancestry. The DC for this saving throw equals 8 + your Constitution modifier + your proficiency bonus. A creature takes 2d6 damage on a failed save, and half as much damage on a successful one. The damage increases to 3d6 at 6th level, 4d6 at 11th level, and 5d6 at 16th level. After you use your breath weapon, you can’t use it again until you complete a short or long rest.
Damage Resistance
You have resistance to the damage type associated with your draconic ancestry.
Languages
You can speak, read, and write Common and Draconic. Draconic is thought to be one of the oldest languages and is often used in the study of magic. The language sounds harsh to most other creatures and includes numerous hard consonants and sibilants.
The Players Handbook Dragonborn is straightforward.
1 feat: +2 Strength score
½ feat: +1 Charisma score
0 feat: Size medium (standard)
0 feat: Speed 30 feet (standard)
0 feat: Age (rarely matters)
0 feat: Language Common (standard)
½ feat: Dragonbreath, Damage Resistance, and Draconic language
In other words, the Dragonborn is slightly less powerful than a Tashas Custom Lineage, since it lacks the Darkvision that Tashas grants.
Custom Lineage
• +2 ability score
• 1 feat ( ≈ +1 ability score, Dragonbreath, Damage Resistance, Draconic)
• Common language
• Darkvision or proficiency
Note:
Dragonbreath 2d6 damage is less good than a slot-1 spell like Chromatic Orb 3d8 damage, but Dragonbreath can target more than one creature in the area. So it seems roughly equivalent to a level 1 spell per short or long rest.
Compare the various half-feats. Tashas: Feytouched and Shadowtouched, which grant a slot-2 spell and a slot-1 spell, each per long rest. More pertinently, compare Xanathars: Fey Teleportation, which grants a slot-2 spell per short or long rest plus a useful language.
So far, Dragonbreath (slot-1 spell) with a language is less good than Fey Teleportation (slot-2 spell) with a language.
Now, the Damage Resistance is not nothing, But it is passive and situational and not great either.
All in all, I will say, everything together − Dragonbreath, Damage Resistance, and Draconic language − is worth a ½ feat.
