Half merfolk - should he get water breathing

[Lizard Lips]

I'm starting a pirate campaign. One of my players wants to be a half merfolk and gain water breathing as a racial benefit. You guys think this is unbalancing or not?

 

[Furn_Darkside]

Salutations,

I would suggest a +1 ECL- I am running a nautical campeign myself and someone having water-breathing would be a very powerful ability.

FD

 

[Talaysen]

I don't think it would unbalance the game that much. If you're uncomfortable with it, you might consider taking away some human traits (such as the bonus feat and/or skill points), or adding some additional merfolk-style traits and making the guy ECL +1. I don't think water breathing alone would require an ECL, but that's just my opinion.

 

[Furn_Darkside]

I don't think water breathing alone would require an ECL, but that's just my opinion.

Salutations,

In a standard campeign, I would agree- but he is talking about a nautical campeign. Drowning is a very serious threat in third edition- and in a campeign where there is a decent chance you will be swimming in every adventure.. the ability to breathe underwater grows in value.

Lizard Lips- you may want to look at Oriental Adventures, they have two races that breathe underwater- hengyokai and water spirits.. you could borrow some ideas from there on how to balance out the race.

FD

 

[Talaysen]

Unless he plans to make the PCs roll more or less every time they walk across the ship to see if they fall off - I'm not convinced that water breathing will come into play that often. And even if the PCs do risk drowning at some point (their ship is blown apart or some such) - well, presumably they'll be experienced enough to stay above water, so it's still a moot point. And, again, hengeyokai and spirit folk have other traits that bump up their ECLs; it's never just water breathing.

*shrug* As always, this is my opinion. YMMV.

 

[pontus]

Take away the bonus skill points and favored class: any, and replace them with +2 con and water breathing and you've got a fair trade.

 

[Hadraniel]

Spirit Folk

I would look at the Spirit Folk from Oriental Adventures, they might be what you are looking for. They look like humans but have water based abilities. At the very least they could give you some ideas.

 

[Aaron2]

1/2 Mermaid

In the movie Little Mermaid II, Arial's (sp) daughter was 1/2 mermaid but she couldn't breathe underwater. She could, however, hold her breath for an impossibly long time.

Hope that helps.


Aaron (you might as well kill me now)

 

[Zerovoid]

I would treat the character as a Sea Spirit from Oriental Adventures. They get a swim speed of 30, and can breath underwater. I think they have low light vision and some other stuff as well.

 

[Jack Daniel]

I have half-merfolk in my campaign world.

Half-Merfolk are the most frivolous and playful of all the faerie and demihuman races, taking after the cheerful, if inconsistent personalities of their sea-born parents. Like merfolk, they are often attractive and very charming. They can breathe water or air with equal comfort, neither drowning nor dehydrating, but they never quite feel at home in one place. Most half-merfolk are wanderers, suffering from a chronic adventure-lust and a need to see the next town, meet the next person, or gather enough news to pen the next ballad.

Physically, half-merfolk look like beautiful humans, often carrying one or more distinctly aquatic traits, such as sea-green hair, eyes, or lips, webbed hands or feet, or even a thin dusting of scales on their limbs.

Half-Merfolk Racial Traits

• +2 Cha, -2 Wis. Half-merfolk are friendly and attractive, but flighty and mischevious.
• Medium Size.
• Base land and swim speeds of 30'.
• Amphibious: half-merfolk are perfectly comfortable on land, and under water. They can breathe water and normally do not make swim checks, but when one is called for (when performing a difficult maneuver under pressure, for example) the half-merfolk still get a +8 racial bonus to the check.
• +2 racial bonus to Perform and Animal Empathy checks.
• +2 racial bonus to saving throws vs. Enchantments. Just as Gnomes are intimately familiar with Illusions, half-merfolk tend to resist charms very well.
• Favored class: Bard. Like their merfolk parents, half-merfolk are charming and musical in nature.
• Free languages: Common and Aquan. Bonus Languages: Any.