Help with alternative racial powers.

[PrecociousApprentice]

I am looking to make my 4e races seem less magical. I want to change the dragonborn, the tiefling, and the eladrin to make them as mundane as the rest of the races. That means no fey step, no dragon breath, and no resistances for tieflings.

Does anyone have any suggestions for what I would replace them with in an effort to keep them balanced, but also make them more mundane? I can reskin just fine, but I would like to actually eliminate these racial features, not just explain them in a different way. I also want to maintain the balance between the races. There is obviously no right answer to these design goals, I was just hoping that people would be willing to brainstorm with me.

Thanks in advance.

 

[fissionessence]

Just give them all ferocious charge.

Erm. I think if I wanted a lower magic setting, I'd cut the magical races. Dragon people? Demon people? Super-magic-oriented people? Just plain not good fits for a low magic setting.

Anyway, a simple solution is to give dragonborn the dwarves' minor action second wind, give eladrin elven accuracy. For the tieflings, replace their +2 to Bluff with Intimidate, then give them Bluff training free. That seems to me that it could represent what demon people might be like in a low magic setting. Then again, fire resistance doesn't have to have been magical in the first place . . . it could just be leathery hell-weathered skin.

~ fissionessence

 

[Psikus]

I am looking to make my 4e races seem less magical. I want to change the dragonborn, the tiefling, and the eladrin to make them as mundane as the rest of the races. That means no fey step, no dragon breath, and no resistances for tieflings.

Does anyone have any suggestions for what I would replace them with in an effort to keep them balanced, but also make them more mundane? I can reskin just fine, but I would like to actually eliminate these racial features, not just explain them in a different way. I also want to maintain the balance between the races. There is obviously no right answer to these design goals, I was just hoping that people would be willing to brainstorm with me.

Thanks in advance.

Off the top of my head:
-Draconic fury (Dragon Breath mk 2). Same stats as Dragon Breath (minor action, attack roll, damage roll), but it is a close burst 1 rather than a blast, and it becomes physical damage. Flavor: The dragonborn enters a momentary frenzy, landing blows on all adjacent creatures
- Fey step mk2. Same as Fey Step, but shifting instead of teleporting. This power allows you to shift through difficult terrain.
- Infernal Instincts (replaces Fire Resistance). You gain a +2 to all defenses against attacks that deal fire damage.

Balance-wise, these may be a bit weaker than their counterparts, but I think they would still be very playable. The greatest stretch is the fire resistance replacement, but avoidance is more easily justified by mundane means than resistance. Consider it the effect of expertise and knowledge of a kind of enemy, much like Dwarves' Dodge Giants.

You probably want to take a look at some feats, too. I don't know if stuff like Hellfire Blood (which applies to unnatural, fire attacks, that the tiefling has gained through class, not race) would be fair for you. On the other hand, if you take that kind of things away, there might be too little of the original race left. Some feats affecting the changed features would need changes, too.

- Enlarged Dragon Breath becomes Greater Draconic Fury, which allows you to change the power's area to close burst 2. That would be a hell of a rampage.

Not sure if that is what you had in mind, but I hope it helps.

 

[FireLance]

You could convert Fey Step into a somewhat more mundane version by making it a 5-square shift (or a shift of a number of squares equal to the character's speed, so that it will be affected by the slow condition). This allows eladrin to maintain their mobility in most cases, but mundane hindrances such as difficult terrain and blocking terrain become more of an issue.

Similarly, a less obviously magical version of the tiefling resistance to fire could be a +1 racial bonus to defenses against fire attacks, and/or a +2 racial bonus to saving throws against ongoing fire damage.

Dragon breath is a bit more tricky. Perhaps instead of an energy blast, it could be a frightful roar (which also suggests, in a minor way, the draconic Frightful Presence). Since it replaces a damage-dealing ability, perhaps it lowers the targets' defences, making it easier for the dragonborn and his allies to damage them? Something like the following:

Frightful Roar
Dragonborn Racial Power
Encounter * Fear
Minor Action
Close blast 3
Targets: Each enemy in blast
Attack: Strength +2 vs. Will or Charisma +2 vs. Will; increase to +4 bonus at 11th level, and to +6 bonus at 21st level.
Hit: The target takes a -2 penalty to all defenses until the end of your next turn.
Special: When you create your character, choose Strength or Charisma as the ability score you use when making attack rolls with this power.​

 

[Garthanos]

Off the top of my head:
-Draconic fury (Dragon Breath mk 2). Same stats as Dragon Breath (minor action, attack roll, damage roll), but it is a close burst 1 rather than a blast, and it becomes physical damage. Flavor: The dragonborn enters a momentary frenzy, landing blows on all adjacent creatures
- Fey step mk2. Same as Fey Step, but shifting instead of teleporting. This power allows you to shift through difficult terrain.
- Infernal Instincts (replaces Fire Resistance). You gain a +2 to all defenses against attacks that deal fire damage.

Balance-wise, these may be a bit weaker than their counterparts, but I think they would still be very playable. The greatest stretch is the fire resistance replacement, but avoidance is more easily justified by mundane means than resistance. Consider it the effect of expertise and knowledge of a kind of enemy, much like Dwarves' Dodge Giants.

You probably want to take a look at some feats, too. I don't know if stuff like Hellfire Blood (which applies to unnatural, fire attacks, that the tiefling has gained through class, not race) would be fair for you. On the other hand, if you take that kind of things away, there might be too little of the original race left. Some feats affecting the changed features would need changes, too.

- Enlarged Dragon Breath becomes Greater Draconic Fury, which allows you to change the power's area to close burst 2. That would be a hell of a rampage.

Not sure if that is what you had in mind, but I hope it helps.

I don't know the OP likes these but I do ;-), I had an idea at one point of creating a game world which featured a dualistic reality were most things could be "explained" in both mystical and mundane ways, this isn't quite the same thing. The main thing is a movement should stay a movement an attack should still be an attack. I would have improved the defense against fire to +3. (Better functioning sweat glands and similar things could be used to explain some low level of fire/heat resistance - ever watch people walk on coals ;-))

 

[PrecociousApprentice]

These are good. I like the dragonborn battle cry mechanic Firelance.

I really don't need a low magic setting. I just want to decouple magic from races. My campaign usually is pretty heavy in reskinning. I usually run games that have much different races in the world than the PHB allows. I then tell the players to reskin the PHB races into the races allowable in my campaign. They are usually human, goblin, a generic "fey", or anthropomorphic animal people. By allowing the reskin, I give them a much broader mechanical foundation to create their character, but still limit or change races for story reasons.

The magical races prove to be a problem for many reskin projects. A dragonborn reskinned into a bearman barbarian is really gimped if they choose to not use their fire breath, but seems stupid when they do. Giving them a huge shout that scares the crap out of nearby enemies is perfect. A magical bamphing elf is OK to some, but reskinned as a normal human thief acrobat that teleports all over the battlefield can be stupid. Give them the ability to tumble around attacks and make huge jumps, and it seems a lot better.

I definitely like the idea that I should keep attacks as attacks, movement as movement, and defenses as defenses. This makes total sense.

Thanks guys.