Looking for feedback on a race for my homebrew

[Zurai]

I'd like some outside opinions on how balanced this race is (if it is at all):

Yrassa

Yrassan Racial Traits:
As Medium sized creatures, Yrassa have a 5' reach and move 30'.
+2 Dex, +2 Cha, -2 Wis, -2 Int: Like the cats they resemble, Yrassa are quick and charming, but tend to be not as smart or wise as they think they are.
Magic-born: Yrassa have magic running through their veins, and manifest all arcane and divine magic at +1 caster level and +1 DC. However, their blood is radiates a magical aura (no particular school) which is visible to anyone using a detect magic or similar spell or ability.
Heightened Senses: Yrassa can see four times as far as humans in low light conditions and have the Scent special ability. However, sudden bright lights or strong scents cause Yrassa great discomfort, giving them a -2 on all saves vs such effects (such as Stinking Cloud or Sunburst).
Natural Weapons: Yrassa have razor sharp claws, which they can use as a natural weapon (1d3 slashing damage, 20x2 crit). Yrassa are never considered unarmed unless they are unable to use their claws.
Favored Class: Warlock or Sorceror


My thoughts in making the race:

+1 caster level and DC for all spells is a very powerful ability. I knew that going into the process. However, having -2 to the primary casting stats of the most powerful casters (wizards, clerics, druids, archivists) helps balance that out; especially since Illumians get the +1 caster level with almost no drawbacks. It also makes sense that a race whose blood is literally magical would heavily favor the spontaneous/natural spellcasting classes over the prepared/studied spellcasters. I'm not sure whether the detect magic-able nature of their blood is too big of a drawback on top of the int/wis penalty; it makes invisibility and hiding much less useable for them, for example.

Scent is, again, a powerful ability, and low-light/darkvision is rare in my campaign world, so I felt another drawback was called for. I'm not sure whether -2 is too much - I think it might be, but there really aren't that many spells or effects that create harsh smells or sudden bright lights.

The natural attacks are really minor - they deal damage as if they were for a Small creature, and they only get one claw attack, not two. It helps a little in very low level fighting, but gets pretty useless past level 5 or so. That's intentional.



Anyway, does anyone have any thoughts?

 

[Nifft]

What's the Level Adjustment? At least +1, right?

-- N

 

[Zurai]

No LA as written, but that's one of the things I wanted feedback on. Would +1 be appropriate? Too much, too little?

I'd prefer it as a LA+0 race. What would be your suggestion(s) to change to make LA+0 appropriate?

 

[Destil]

Drop scent, making it instead an available feat for the race (or maybe even lesser scent, which is scent at 1/2 the normal range). And they would be a fine +0. As is their pretty strong bard/sorcerers and worth a +1, even without the scent their still pretty good, though (the int hit hurts more than any of the other drawbacks, if their still too good I'd also recommend dropping the Cha and Wis adjustments).

 

[Tonguez]

Drop scent and they are fine +0. Int and Wis are important and dropping these is a hit. The Cha and Magic make them great Bards and maybe Sorcs but that should balance out eventually.

 

[Nifft]

As written, with no LA, they are better Sorcerers than anyone else. Any PC who wanted to play a Sorcerer would be foolish to choose another race. Thus, they are too strong. (How they perform as Wizards or Clerics is irrelevant. Dwarves make stinky Sorcerers & Bards, but they are bloody strong when used with an appropriate class.)

Suggested LA +0 write-up:

Cat Thingy: Medium Humanoid (Feline)
Speed: 30 ft.
+2 Dexterity, -2 Wisdom
Low-Light Vision
Natural Weapons: 2 claws (1d4 slashing, 20/x2)
Racial bonus feat: Blind-Fight
Racial skill bonus: +3 to Spot and Listen checks
Innate Magic: Choose one 0-level spell (from any spell list). You may cast this spell as a spell-like ability 3/day.
Favored class: Any

- - -

Then, create some feats which give back some of the stronger racial abilities, such as:

Cat Thingy Scent [Racial]
Prereq: Cat Thingy race, Survival 8 ranks
Benefit: You gain the Scent special ability.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Quartz]

The OP's race is at least +1 LA, if not more. +1 caster level?! Yowser!

Let's try and tone it down:

Medium Humanoid (Feline)
Speed: 40 ft.
Stats: -2 Wis, -2 Int
Abilities: Low-Light Vision
Natural Weapons: 2 claws (1d4 slashing, 20/x2)
Racial feats: Blind-Fight, Lightning Reflexes, Magical Aptitude
Racial skill bonus: +3 to Spot and Listen checks
Favored class: Any

 

[Arkhandus]

Yrassan Racial Traits:
As Medium sized creatures, Yrassa have a 5' reach and move 30'.
+2 Dex, +2 Cha, -2 Wis, -2 Int: Like the cats they resemble, Yrassa are quick and charming, but tend to be not as smart or wise as they think they are.
Magic-born: Yrassa have magic running through their veins, and manifest all arcane and divine magic at +1 caster level and +1 DC. However, their blood is radiates a magical aura (no particular school) which is visible to anyone using a detect magic or similar spell or ability.
Heightened Senses: Yrassa can see four times as far as humans in low light conditions and have the Scent special ability. However, sudden bright lights or strong scents cause Yrassa great discomfort, giving them a -2 on all saves vs such effects (such as Stinking Cloud or Sunburst).
Natural Weapons: Yrassa have razor sharp claws, which they can use as a natural weapon (1d3 slashing damage, 20x2 crit). Yrassa are never considered unarmed unless they are unable to use their claws.
Favored Class: Warlock or Sorceror

Definitely a +1 Level Adjustment as-written. The Magic-Born, Heightened Senses, and ability score adjustments combined make it far too potent for an LA of +0.

They are über-sorcerers (and in 3.5, each +1 of save DC increase is a precious, precious commodity, and this race gets 2 of 'em; 1 from Cha and one from Magic-Born).

And also very good Rogues and Bards, though at least those two classes have some small degree of serious use for Intelligence and Wisdom (whereas Sorcerers only have minor uses for them; namely to boost their meager skill points, for spending on their meager and poor list of class skills, and to boost their Will saves just in case their already-high base Will isn't good enough).

These Yrassa also make reasonably good Barbarians and Fighters (for those who don't care about skill points or Combat Expertise-related feats; like the average skull-bashing Joe Barbarian), what with their Dexterity bonus, Heightened Senses, and some natural weapons for the off-chance that they get disarmed, or if they get caught in a grapple and don't bother carrying any weapon smaller than a greatsword or battleaxe for such situations.


My suggestion? Either give them a +1 Level Adjustment as they so strongly deserve (maybe with an addition of 1 bonus copy of the Toughness feat, just to keep their HP from lagging too terribly at low levels), or remove about half of their racial traits to make them fit at LA +0. The Scent thing I mention below is sorta from the Nezumi/Ratling race in 3E Oriental Adventures.

Suggested LA +0 Version:
Yrassan
Medium-sized humanoid (feline)
Base Speed: 30 ft.
Space/Reach: 5 ft. by 5 ft./5 ft.
Ability Scores: +2 Dexterity, -2 Wisdom. Yrassa are flexible and quick of reflex, but not as clever or wise as they'd like to think they are.
Skills: Yrassa gain a +2 racial bonus on Bluff and Diplomacy skill checks. Yrassa are charming and a bit tricky.
Feats: Yrassa may acquire the Scent extraordinary ability by taking it as a General feat, with a prerequisite of Wisdom 13+.
Superior Low-Light Vision (four times as far as a human in dim light)
Limited Light Blindness (blinded for 1 round if suddenly exposed to any light brighter than a torch, then dazzled for 1 round after that)
Magic in the Blood: Yrassa are inherantly magical. Their bodies have a magical aura visible to Detect Magic and similar effects, belonging to no particular school of magic. Also, a Yrassan uses all arcane magic and all divine magic at +1 effective caster level, except that which originates directly from magic items or other sources. This does not affect spells known or per day, nor any other class features. This does not grant the Yrassan spellcasting ability if they do not already possess it. Furthermore, this bonus to effective caster level is doubled for arcane magic or divine magic from classes that cast spontaneously, such as Bards and Sorcerers.
Automatic Languages: Common, ????????. Bonus Languages: ????????.
Favored Class: Either Sorcerer or Warlock, chosen by the Yrassan at 1st-level

not sure whether the detect magic-able nature of their blood is too big of a drawback on top of the int/wis penalty; it makes invisibility and hiding much less useable for them, for example.

Not really. It takes 1 round of concentrating on a particular area with Detect Magic to discern that there is a magical aura somewhere in that area; 2 rounds of focusing on that area to pinpoint the location of that aura (which would give them the indication that it's vaguely humanoid in shape); 3 rounds to get a Spellcraft check to detect the school of magic for that aura; so if invisible, it'd take 2 rounds of looking right in their direction from a short distance away to notice a humanoid-shaped magical aura and where it's located, and a 3rd round to discern if it's some kind of illusion or not.

Do most guards in your campaigns walk around with permanent Arcane Sight, or frequent use of Detect Magic, while staring at each general area under their protection for about 12 seconds or so at a time, to where they'd likely already see anyone who tried sneaking past without being invisible in the first place? Would such guards not also have See Invisibility or True Seeing anyway, if they're so dang magically talented themselves?