Advice on a home brewed race:

[Suldulin]

I'm trying to help a DM with her home brew race, this is copied from the message boards at which the game is played:

The Rekiki consider weapons that leave the hand to be dishonorable, and they will not use them (hence, no bows of any sort, or darts, or slings for Rekiki). The Rekiki are generally peaceloving, and of the four gods only Kahi carries a weapon-- a shortsword. For the most part, Rekikis believe it is best to follow Kahi's cleverness, Sherek's compassion, Maikym's happiness/sense of humor, and Turan's wisdom. Kahi=she who is clever; Sherek = she who is kind; Maikym = he who is filled with laughter; Turan = he who is wisdom. These deities are the oldest on Nykas, and nearly unique to the Rekiki.
[. . .]
Rekiki surrendered immediately and their Queen killed herself after she signed the surrender papers. It was inconceivable for most of the Rekiki folks to fight against the armies, as they are peace loving and for the most untrained in weaponry. The elite fighting force of the Rekiki numbers only 100, and were useless in this situation.

[. . .]
They also have partially webbed feet and toes. Their feet can curl in unique fashions...they are very flexible. So a Rekiki can curl her feet onto a tree branch and hang from it if they desire. However, when walking they appear to be like partially webbed regular human feet.

Upon reading this I thought of and suggested the following. She likes my version but wants some feedback and second opinions to be sure of its balance.

Now to me it feels kinda unintuative for a pacifisitic race to train every man, woman, and child in how to wield martial weapons. And with them losing bows they almost feel almost like a 'weak' elf.

So what could add some uniquiness to the rekiki to further seperate them from elven-ness. I started thinking of the mountain spirit folk and how the rekiki have the flavor text of hanging from trees by their feet and thought of giving them the climb speed.

Lifted from the spirit mountain folk:

Mountain spirit folk have a base climb speed of 30 feet. They gain a +8 racial bonus on all climb checks. The mountain spirit folk must make a Climb check to climb a wall or slope with a DC of more than 0 but can always choose to take 10, even if rushed or threatened while climbing. A mountain spirit folk who chooses an accelerated climb moves at double the listed speed and must make a single climb check at a -5 penalty. Mountain folk cannot use the run action while climbing. They retain their Dexterity bonus to Armor Class(if any) while climbing and opponents get no special bonus to their attacks against climbing mountain spirit folk.

Now to Compare and Contrast(all races are a 0 ecl):

Elves:
Weapon proficiency with the longsword, rapier, longbow(including composite longbow), and shortbow(including composite shortbow). (this gives them arguably the best ranged weapons in the game.)

Low-Light Vision

+2 racial bonus to three skills (Listen, Search, and Spot). And auto secert door search checks.

Immunity to sleep effects and +2 racial saving throw bonus against enchantments.

Mountain Spirit Folk:
Climb Speed as mentioned above

Low Light Vision

+2 racial bonus to three skills (Balance, Jump, Tumble)

Speak with Birds for 1 min a day.

Current Rekiki:
Proficiency with Longswords and Rapiers

Low Light Vision

+2 racial bonus to three skills (spot, listen, search) and Auto-secret door search check

Immunity to sleep effects and +2 racial saving throw bonus against enchantments.


Suggested Rekiki:
Climb Speed

Low-Light Vision

+2 racial bonus to three skills (spot, listen, balance)

Immunity to sleep effects and +2 racial saving throw bonus against enchantments.


Another's thoughts on this:

Hmm... Think the change looks all right, although of course if the campaign either lacks anything to climb, or is all about sneaking around and getting into places you shouldn't be while having very minimal combat, it could be a problem. Still, I doubt it's likely to be a major difficulty. It certainly makes more sense than pacifists automatically getting rapier/longsword profs.

 

[Tonguez]

For a race that eschews weapons - give them the unarmed combat feat

(the climbs pretty cool too)

 

[Suldulin]

For a race that eschews weapons - give them the unarmed combat feat

(the climbs pretty cool too)

they eschew combat(most of them that is)

 

[Morgenstern]

If you give them an automatic weapon proficiency, then I'd swear they DON'T avoid combat. Find a different bonus. Take 10 on Climb checks maybe.

 

[Sertimon]

Well, since they are pacifists, how do they resolve conflicts? To me, this means that they would rather solve disagreements through diplomacy and negotiation. I would suggest giving them a bonus to Diplomacy or another Charisma-based skill. It fits in with the theme of the race IMO. Or perhaps Rekikis have powerful, yet calming voices that grant a bonus on all Charisma skill checks when using their voices as part of the action.

Here’s some questions regarding the Rekiki:

- Is there a reason why they have Immunity to sleep effects and are the Rekiki some kind of elven subrace?
- Do they have any attribute bonuses or penalties?
- What is their favored class? If you want to have a diplomatic race, Bard would fit, but the Monk could work as well, but probably not since most of the Rekiki would tend to avoid combat.

That’s all I can think of right now. Nifty idea for a race by the way!

 

[Suldulin]

If you give them an automatic weapon proficiency, then I'd swear they DON'T avoid combat.

Exactly, which is why I'm gathering second opinions on if this:

Climb Speed

Low-Light Vision

+2 racial bonus to three skills (spot, listen, balance)

Immunity to sleep effects and +2 racial saving throw bonus against enchantments.

is balanced?

 

[Sertimon]

Climb Speed

Low-Light Vision

+2 racial bonus to three skills (spot, listen, balance)

Immunity to sleep effects and +2 racial saving throw bonus against enchantments.

Yes, I believe that the above stats are balanced. Perhaps even a little bit 'weak' too. But it really depends on how valuable the Climb Speed is ...