Half-Dwarves

[Cheiromancer]

The racial feat should probably go.

Having the favored class be one that benefits from high charisma is a little draw-back, especially for a group that doesn't like to play clerics.

So is the slow movement rate.

And 30 foot darkvision can be surprisingly inconvenient- it means creatures with standard darkvision always see you first.

But I think that it is true that the ability score bonuses are not balanced by the negatives. Even so, I think it's pretty balanced without the feat.

 

[Azure Trance]

Hm. No Mul version? :/

 

[MissingDividends]

thx for tearing it up guys, keep up the good work (thats the reason i posted it here, my players are to afraid to say its anything but perfect because they think i would hold it agiast them) ...i think its time to re-compile it agian...so heres what i have:

The Half-Dwarf:


Personality: The personality of a Half-Dwarf is much similar to that of a Dwarf. They are not quite as suspicious of strangers, yet they have a much better sense of humor.

Physical Description: Half-Dwarves stand about 5 feet tall, and are much like a larger version of a Dwarf. Half-Dwarves are considered an adult at the age of 35, and live to be about 250 years old. Half-dwarf males value their beard just as dwarfs, but spend less time fussing about it. Half-Dwarves have a longer upper body than dwarves, and shorter legs than humans.

Alignment: Half-Dwarves tend to be a lawful alignment, but there is no tendency towards god over evil, but neutrality is common.

Religion: Half-Dwarves tend to worship Wee Jas, Silverbeard, Berronar Truesilver, or Laduguer

Languages: Half-Dwarves speak Dwarven and common. In addition, they tend to learn a variety of languages.

Names: A Half-Dwarf’s name has almost a sacred meaning; they usually have 2 names one from the Dwarven parent and one for the human.

Half-Dwarven Racial Traits:
- +2 Constitution, +2 Strength, * -2 Charisma, -2 Dex
- Medium sized
- Base speed is 20 feet
- Dwarven Blood
- Darkvision 30ft.
- * +2 racial saving throw against poisons
- +2 racial bonus to appraise relating to metal, stone, or exotic materials
- +2 racial bonus to craft checks related to stone or metal
- Favored Class Any

* =im thinking about changeing this

 

[drdevoid]

Okay, so you are thinking about ditching a Charisma penalty (half-dwarves are friendlier and less world-weary than their dwarven parent) and the poison penalty (they are still pretty hardy with a Con bonus). We also have a union that doesn't have perfect eyesight, no Dwarven tolerance against magic, and culturally they aren't exposed to mining and engineering enough to warrant stonecunning.

We still have to balance a Constitution and a Strength bonus. How about -4 Dexterity? That would even let you slip Darkvision 60ft. back in if you wanted, and/or the racial feat and still be around ECL +0, IMO. You might have to go back to halving the craft and appraise bonus for both though. So we have something like this maybe?

Half-Dwarven Racial Traits:
- +2 Constitution, +2 Strength, -4 Dexterity
- Medium sized
- Base speed is 20 feet
- Dwarven Blood
- Darkvision 30/60ft.*
- Bonus "racial" feat at first level
- +1 (or +2) racial bonus to appraise relating to metal, stone, or exotic materials
- +1 (or +2) racial bonus to craft checks related to stone or metal
- Favored Class Any


*as I write 30/60ft. I can't help thinking of a Dwarf wearing glasses in a dark cave.

 

[MissingDividends]

i ditched the racial feat, and i think a -4 on any 1 attribute is a harsh, -2 on 2(and maybe even -1 on another) i wouldn't mind but -4 could turn an average 10 into a 6...thats getting into the low range, especially for my high-powered, low-gold campaign...

 

[Ran]

hey, last year, on june, Andrew judd posted a mail on the D&D mailing list that were kind of a race engine (like shadow craft's for class), except that it is simple, easy to use, and a very good guideline.

here it is, remember, the author name is ANDREW JUDD, not me.

--ANDREW JUDD wrote:--
I decided one day to just reverse engineer the core PC races and find out a way to custom design a balanced PC race. Going over the numbers, my system works out perfectly with every single race in the PHB, every one being equal using this system. Except, however, for the half-orc. The half-orc uses up only 11 racial points under these rules, as opposed to 43 everyone else gets. To help alleviate thing problem, half-orcs in my campaign get the Scent feat for free (with the comments made on it, I assume it's worth two feats), a favored class of Any, and the greataxe as a free weapon proficiency (still coming up short, but a lot better).

However, this post is intended to receive comments on the guidelines, not my take on half-orcs. So, I'd prefer criticism on these rules I've created.
Thank you.


Optional PC Race Creation
A race begins with a base of 43 racial points. Begin by allocating the points to various abilities at the listed cost until the points are used up completely. There are a handful of choices for purposes of choosing additional points.

The base statistics are: Medium size; base speed of 30'; a single favored class; balanced modifiers in multiples of 2 per attribute (see DMG); if half-human and half-something else, considered that something for purposes of special abilities and effects; base language of one or two, based on race and optional for 2nd.

1 point racial option
* +1 racial bonus to a single skill (maximum of two points allocated per
skill)

4 point racial options
* Small size
* Free weapon proficiency

8 point racial options
* Low-light vision
* +2 racial bonus to saving throws against a certain type (examples below, pick only one)
Poison
Single school of magic
Fear
* +1 racial attack bonus vs. subspecies (goblinoids) AND +4 dodge bonus vs. creature type (giants)
* Free feat

11 point racial options
* Darkvision 60'
* Favored Class: Any

13 point racial options
* Immunity to sleep
* +2 racial bonus to spells and spell-like effects
* +1 racial bonus to all saves
* +1 racial attack bonus with a specific weapon type (e.g. thrown)

14 point racial option
* Gnome spell abilities

16 point racial option
* Scent feat

24 point racial option
* Intelligence score raised by two for purposes of determining skill points

+3 point racial option (grants extra 3 racial points to spend)
* Base speed 20ft.

 

[MissingDividends]

thank you for that VERY usefull chart...im in the process of tallying the points now

 

[MissingDividends]

according to ANDREW JUDD's chart (thx for supplying it Ran) and the DMG, surplisingly...the half-dwarves were too weak...
according to the DMG, +2 con and -2 Cha cancel out, and a +2 strength and -2 dex cancelles out... so thats balenced...

now to the new version (used the point system)

starting with 43...

Half-Dwarven Racial Traits: (im sick of wasteing space with the rest that didnt change)
- +2 Constitution, +2 Strength, -2 Charisma, -2 Dex---zero points
- Medium sized---zero points
- Base speed is 20 feet--- +3 points(46)
- Dwarven Blood---zero points
- Darkvision 60ft.--- -11 points (35)
- +2 racial saving throw against poisons--- -8 points (27)
- +2 racial bonus to appraise or craft checks relating to metal, stone, or exotic materials--- -2 points (25)
- +2 racial bonus to balance checks bacause of half-dwarves shorter legs, they have a lower center of balance--- -2 points (23)
- +2 racial bonus to heal cheacks beacause of half-dwarves incredible resiliance to injury--- -2 points (21)
- Favored Class Any--- -11 points (10)
- Free Racial Feat at first level--- -8 points (2)

this is pretty close to even...the ability mods are good so maybe those would be -2 making the total points left zero...

Edit: typo

 

[aRogueByAnyOtherName]

you know, with all these bonuses I don't see the point to playing a Dwarf or a Half-orc compared to this race, you have summed up almost all of they're benefits then added some, so I was wondering, what's the point? Also Strength is a VERY important ability, it affects attack and damage and many other things and I dont seee how the +2 has been justified.

 

[Nifft]

I say:

+2 Con (NO ability penalty)
Medium sized
Base speed 30'
Dwarven Blood
Darkvision 60'
+2 Racial bonus to Fort saves vs. Poison
Favored Class: Any

And that's it. No extra tweakery. Some of the best points of Humans, some of the best points of Dwarves, none of the more "exotic" or powerful abilities of either race.

I'd try to work out what the point value of this would be, but I don't see any provision for uneven stat modifiers.

-- Nifft