Homebrew Race (Needs Feedback)

[ziegander]

I'm really not even sure what to call the race yet, but they are for a Campaign Setting I'm working on at the moment. They are a race of pantherfolk that are universally black furred and black skinned. They need light to survive, but they are badly damaged by direct bright sunlight. I need feedback because they are so very unorthodox compared to the rest of my setting's races or to the standard PHB ones. Here it is.

Pantherfolk (definitely a placeholder name)

Average Height - 5'7" - 6'0"
Average Weight - 130 - 180 lbs.

Ability Scores: +2 Dexterity, +2 Strength, +2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma
Size: Medium
Speed: 6 Squares
Vision: Low-light

Languages: Common
Skill Bonuses: +3 Intimidate, +2 Stealth

Darkvision: You can see normally in natural or magical darkness within 5 squares and treat natural and magical darkness as though they were low-light out to 20 squares.

Light-Vulnerability: You have Vulnerability to Radiant 5 and whenever you are hit by a power with the Radiant keyword you are blinded (save ends).

Light-Sensitivity: In areas of bright illumination you take a -1 penalty to attack rolls and defenses and ongoing radiant damage 0.

Shadewalk: If you move more than 3 squares in a turn you gain concealment and the ongoing damage you take from Light Sensitivity is reduced by 3. If you have the Shadow Walk Warlock feature you ignore the penalties and damage from Light Sensitivity. This ability only applies while you are in bright illumination.

Shadeform: While you are bloodied if you are in low-light you gain regeneration 1 (2 at 11th level, 3 at 21st), if you are in total darkness this increass to 2 (4 at 11th, 6 at 21st).

Daywalker: You can use the Daywalker daily power.

Daywalker Pantherfolk Racial Power
Daily
Standard Action Personal
Effect: If you are in low-light you gain concealment and a +5 power bonus to Stealth checks until the beginning of your next turn. If you are within bright illumination you become invisible and ignore the penalties and damage of Light Sensitivity until the end of your next turn.
Sustain Minor: You can sustain this power's effects until the end of the encounter or for up to 5 minutes.

 

[generalhenry]

no racial penalties

skill bonuses at +2

No dark vision for PC races

No daily powers, just one encounter power

 

[ziegander]

no racial penalties

Yes, it's unorthodox. I said that.

skill bonuses at +2

Usually, yes, but giving this class a penalty to charisma it needed an extra +1 to intimidate or I might as well have not given it at all.

No dark vision for PC races

True, not for any currently published PC races, but this is a race that literally can't survive in direct sunlight... I think it's warranted.

No daily powers, just one encounter power

And why not? Humans get an extra at will.

The race isn't run-of-the-mill. It isn't meant to be. Telling me, "No, no, no, this isn't how it's done," is silly, and completely unhelpful. Telling me what you think of the balance of such a strange race is helpful and what I'm hoping to get.

 

[generalhenry]

Telling me what you think of the balance of such a strange race is helpful and what I'm hoping to get.

It's very hard to compare when you break so many design rules.

Do you really need three + stats?

Here's a stab at it

Pantherfolk (definitely a placeholder name)

Average Height - 5'7" - 6'0"
Average Weight - 130 - 180 lbs.

Ability Scores: +2 Dexterity, +2 Strength
Size: Medium
Speed: 6 Squares
Vision: Low-light

Languages: Common
Skill Bonuses: +2 Intimidate, +2 Stealth

Darksense: You can see normally in darkness within 5 squares

Shadowfur: If you move more than 6 squares in a turn you gain concealment

Shadeform Pantherfolk Racial Power
Encounter
Standard Action Personal
While you are bloodied you gain a +5 bonus to stealth checks if you are in low-light you gain regeneration 1 (2 at 11th level, 3 at 21st), if you are in total darkness this increases to 2 (4 at 11th, 6 at 21st). Lasts until you are no longer bloodied or 5 minutes

 

[generalhenry]

Any further racial powers should be done with feats and PPs

 

[tyrlaan]

Generalhenry, where are these design rules you are referring to?

OP, Here is some (hopefully) useful criticism.

From a “fluff” perspective, these guys are a bit of an oddity. They need light but it hurts them. Do they live underground or are they just nocturnal? If nocturnal, where do they hide during the daylight to survive?

Anyway, on to crunch points.

Light issues – While these penalties are pretty heinous, you also provide plenty of opportunity for the race to get around them. And on the flip side, they get incredibly powerful in darkness. So you end up with a very case-by-case balancing act. If you run a lot of dungeon crawls, every player will be a pantherfolk. If you run a lot of outdoor adventures, no one will be a pantherfolk unless you plan on going the Vampire the Masquerade route (and then everyone will play a pantherfolk).

In my opinion, environmental penalties and bonuses are very tricky to balance and can vary wildly in their effectiveness from on campaign, or even one session, to another. I think it much wiser to go with bonuses and penalties that the DM can control without railroading – like vulnerability to radiant damage. If you were doing just slight light penalties (like just the -1 to rolls) it could be different, but the power swing is so vast, it’s like night and day (pun intended).

Stat modifiers – One of the new world rules I think we should support is that no stats should get penalties. Penalty stats fall into the “not fun” category. I’d ditch the penalty to Cha and remove one of your stat bonuses.

Skills – Ditching the Cha penalty fixes the need to boost Intimidate past +2.

Darkvision – My opinion is this is way too powerful. Unless I’ve misread something, darkvision doesn’t normally pierce magical darkness.

 

[generalhenry]

Generalhenry, where are these design rules you are referring to?

When you listen to the designers they talk about design, which implies rules.

Not all the rules are spelled out explicitly in the books, but most of the rules are very easy to see implicitly. Such as the basic rules that every race follows, with very few exceptions.

While there may be times when you would want to make exceptions, the general practice should be to follow the implicit design rules.

 

[ziegander]

Yes, flavorwise they are definitely an oddity. I am actually thinking of putting in one more feature that will help to balance the crazy penalty bonus thing once and for all.

The thing is, these guys live in dense forests where it is almost perpetually low-light or totally dark. Whatever it is that they need from sunlight they can get through reflected and/or refracted ight. Something else in light however, something that isn't present when the light is refracted or reflected, grievously wounds them. These Pantherfolk actually must spend a certain amount of time in indirect contact with light each day or they will grow weak and eventually die.


So, no they do not live underground, and no they actually can't just hide out in darkness all day either. It's an awkward balancing act. Their racial invisibility power is a natural defense mechanism they've acquired to shelter them from the light, they literally bend the light around themselves so that they can walk around freely, and in fact completely invisible.

All of this being said, this race may be better off as a non-PC race. It's really a drag, but it's difficult to see them adventuring much with their unique racial traits.

 

[generalhenry]

It's an awkward balancing act.

So skip it in the PC version.

check the MM entries of PC races, they're not identical.

The NPCs of a race can and often should have different stats than the PCs of a race.


Make the PC version work.
Make the NPC version work.

Don't sweat the differences.

 

[generalhenry]

oh, and yes
cool race