L
lowkey13
Guest
*Deleted by user*
Last edited by a moderator:
The place where a re-skin drops into feat territory for me is when the person doing the re-fluffing expects to gain some measure of advantage from the re-fluff because of what the re-fluff is. For example... in the case of your cleric, even though the cleric is re-skinned to be without armor, I'd still rule that all the mechanics of having the armor still apply. The weight of the re-skinned "non-armor" is still there according to encumbrance and whether there's Disad on Stealth checks... the armor can still suffer damage from effects and monsters that sunder armor... the cleric is still susceptible to Shocking Grasp Disadvantage, etc. etc. By the same token, the cleric's "touch" mace can get destroyed by a Rust Monster. When any of this kind of stuff happens, the player just has to come up with a reasonable explanation as to why their "touch" attacks don't work anymore (or go down in damage due to no longer having the mace mechanics backing it up), or why their armor-less body still suffers effects that just happen to be the same kind of mechanical problems someone in "actual" armor deals with.
To avoid any of the mechanical sticky points stuff like this, that's where feat territory come in. The player needs to spend a feat slot to avoid some of these issues.
To avoid any of the mechanical sticky points stuff like this, that's where feat territory come in. The player needs to spend a feat slot to avoid some of these issues.
TheCosmicKid
Hero
I've been toying with the idea of "special proficiencies" that eat a skill/tool/language proficiency slot (and perhaps can be gained through downtime training), for effects that I can't reasonably just hand out for free but aren't big enough for a whole feat.
You know, like those crappy situational but sometimes flavorful feats that were all over the place in 3E.
You know, like those crappy situational but sometimes flavorful feats that were all over the place in 3E.
L
lowkey13
Guest
*Deleted by user*
The Myopic Sniper
Hero
I just play it by ear. If a Dwarf character wants to trade out Darkvision for proficiency with a musical instrument... that sounds fair, I might even throw in a language as well. It would be nice to have a master list of suggested swaps, but I realize that way lies madness too.
TheCosmicKid
Hero
I'm pretty sure that's intentional, and I think it was a good decision for the base game. Fiddly little bits like this are not for everyone. Most players just want to roll up a barbarian and start taking heads.
Ooh, now there's an idea, Decapitation Proficiency...
Eight's not that bad. But then again, James Bond's got at least an 18 and he still acts like a tool sometimes, so I'm not sure the ability score really has much to do with it.
L
lowkey13
Guest
*Deleted by user*
Skyscraper
Adventurer
I've reskinned races entirely in my campaign, to swap all non-human races for alternate human types. Yes, all are human, with the same speed (30'). They are
- basic humans (that have a specific race name) that are the humans from the PHB, they are the settlers that recently (less than 1000 years) came to the Vale, imposing their ways to the other more savage races
- bald humans with tatoos, a magical race, based on the high elves, with darkvision. All special powers come from a magical rune. They are allied of the latter basic humans.
- arabic-style humans, loosely based on the gnome, with a knack for trade and architecture. They are former slaves of the bald magical humans.
- north-american indian style humans, based on the wild elves, +5 speed, with advantage on all skills done outside.
- viking-style humans, based on the half-orc
- gipsy-type humans, based somewhat on the halfling, but with a few divination spells. They come form a far-away place, through misty regions, having travelled for generations, before landing in the Vale.
- black-skinned, bald humans that live underground, based on the hill dwarf, with double darkvision range
- black-skinned humans (with hair) that live in the mountains, cousins of the latter, based on the mountain dwarves, with no darkvision, resistance to cold, and they have advantate on their first death save (they're tough)
- the "unpure", very loosely based on the half-elves, but instead they are half of one race and half of the other, and as such they get one trait from each race of their parents, and +1 bonus to one ability score of the associated parent also (and +1 CON).
- the ones that have demonic heritage, they are of any one of the above race in appearance, but they are based on the tieflings mechanically. 500 years ago, there was a big war and some demons were let loose in the Vale where my campaigns take place, and the demons impregnated women of all races. Demonic blood still runs. Anyone found that has the birthmark of the demonic heritage is burned on a stake.
The only races with darkvision are the magical humans, the underground humans and the ones that have demonic heritage. The latter are very rare indeed in society, and they hide their true nature. So darkvision is a privilege, not a shortage that a few rare races suffer from.
I have a story for the races of course, with the mechanics being geared towards that story, how they came to the Vale where my campaigns take place, and so on. Mechanically I'd say that my races are about 50-75% identical to those of the PHB, and for the rest I removed/added stuff, but tried to keep the base race as a guideline to balance things out to some extent. I prepared a detailed book where I included a few pictures of each race, all taken from the dark fantasy genre through many searches on the internet (that's certainly a fun part for me).
- basic humans (that have a specific race name) that are the humans from the PHB, they are the settlers that recently (less than 1000 years) came to the Vale, imposing their ways to the other more savage races
- bald humans with tatoos, a magical race, based on the high elves, with darkvision. All special powers come from a magical rune. They are allied of the latter basic humans.
- arabic-style humans, loosely based on the gnome, with a knack for trade and architecture. They are former slaves of the bald magical humans.
- north-american indian style humans, based on the wild elves, +5 speed, with advantage on all skills done outside.
- viking-style humans, based on the half-orc
- gipsy-type humans, based somewhat on the halfling, but with a few divination spells. They come form a far-away place, through misty regions, having travelled for generations, before landing in the Vale.
- black-skinned, bald humans that live underground, based on the hill dwarf, with double darkvision range
- black-skinned humans (with hair) that live in the mountains, cousins of the latter, based on the mountain dwarves, with no darkvision, resistance to cold, and they have advantate on their first death save (they're tough)
- the "unpure", very loosely based on the half-elves, but instead they are half of one race and half of the other, and as such they get one trait from each race of their parents, and +1 bonus to one ability score of the associated parent also (and +1 CON).
- the ones that have demonic heritage, they are of any one of the above race in appearance, but they are based on the tieflings mechanically. 500 years ago, there was a big war and some demons were let loose in the Vale where my campaigns take place, and the demons impregnated women of all races. Demonic blood still runs. Anyone found that has the birthmark of the demonic heritage is burned on a stake.
The only races with darkvision are the magical humans, the underground humans and the ones that have demonic heritage. The latter are very rare indeed in society, and they hide their true nature. So darkvision is a privilege, not a shortage that a few rare races suffer from.
I have a story for the races of course, with the mechanics being geared towards that story, how they came to the Vale where my campaigns take place, and so on. Mechanically I'd say that my races are about 50-75% identical to those of the PHB, and for the rest I removed/added stuff, but tried to keep the base race as a guideline to balance things out to some extent. I prepared a detailed book where I included a few pictures of each race, all taken from the dark fantasy genre through many searches on the internet (that's certainly a fun part for me).
Last edited:
CanadienneBacon
Explorer
I wanted a jazz musician bard for a character in a Planescape game who wasn't really real. He was a thought. A figment of imagination. Perfect for Planescape where thoughts can be made real! So I re-skinned ghost for Picayune's race, layered some of ghost's aspects as a template on variant human, and called the end product an "effigy." For his College of Lore, I fluffed it as "College of Jazz." Creating the effigy race required some hardcore homebrewing. Creating the College of Jazz required only re-phrasing the College of Lore section in the entry for the bard class.
In my wee brain, re-skinning connotes homebrewing (a little or a lot), whereas fluffing is usually just re-phrasing the terminology but leaving all the mechanics the same.
In my wee brain, re-skinning connotes homebrewing (a little or a lot), whereas fluffing is usually just re-phrasing the terminology but leaving all the mechanics the same.
Last edited:
Similar Threads
D&D (2024)
Homebrew Origin Feats
