Looking for feedback on this Dryad homebrew race.

[Zethnos]

The fact that other characters *can* get the same starting AC is irrelevant -- this is giving it to them without any investment (in class, or stats, or feats, or spells).

Your discussion begins to outline why the spell is so poorly worded; it is something that has been discussed on these boards previously, and that's part of why I don't like it here.

Even though you don't think it's powerful, it is still a concentration-free, no-duration-limit second level spell. AC12+dex (~leather, less than dragon hide) is what I would suggest instead.

So here's the thing... Dwarves exist... and also... This exists. http://engl393-dnd5th.wikia.com/wiki/Protection_from_Poison

Are Dwarves overpowered now?

Also I rewrote the description of the natural armor if you want to take a look.

 

[MechaPilot]

Yeah I actually just rewrote the description of it and saved it so that it makes more sense. I'm struggling with it a small bit myself. At first I did give them 13 + dex, but someone suggested replicating Barkskin and thought it sounded great (at least thematically) and the numbers worked out in my head. I may still change it. I've had people suggest I just add a flat "+x to ac", others like the barkskin idea, and some say to go with 12-13 + Dex. So I'm not sure. It's a lot to think about. Also if it helps, there is an official race that has a flat AC https://img.4plebs.org/boards/tg/image/1507/86/1507860993983.pdf

Well yeah, but it's a turtle race. A shell feels a lot like wearing a kind of heavy armor, and the heavy armor mechanic of granting a flat AC that ignores Dex modifier makes sense thematically there to me. Whatever you decide to go with, I'm glad we could understand each other about our different perspectives on the issue.

Ohhhh so similar to how classes have "Pick x skills from this list to be proficient in." but with animal languages. That is actually a really cool idea. It would get pretty wordy as I would have to explain just what all kinds of creatures you could talk to for each language. I think for now I will probably end up removing Sylvan from the languages and leave speak with beasts. Mostly for simplification, but I will defiantly write that down and come back to it.

True. Cutting down on how wordy the explanation is was a difficult part of writing for my Wildwood setting. That's part of why I figured some people might want to simplify it down to making the ability to share a language with all beasts equivalent to taking an exotic language (which some DMs charge two language choices for).

Yeah I was thinking that it sounded like a lot, especially when paired with the natural armor and dryad magic. I tell you what though. I am actually considering making a sub race and may include those abilities there. I'm still not 100% sure on it though. But yeah it is pretty much on par with dashing and fey step. I changed it to a bonus action and unlimited times per day.

The way it's currently written, I'd say you should add that you must be able to see the tree you're going to. But, it's your call.


Also, I'd probably add some kid of drawback to the race. What if the dryad couldn't take rests in urban environments? Or, if the dryad could but only recovered half as many HPs and/or HDs? That sounds fairly thematic for a dryad.

 

[Kobold Stew]

So here's the thing... Dwarves exist... and also... This exists. http://engl393-dnd5th.wikia.com/wiki/Protection_from_Poison

Well, as you can see, Dwarves have only part of the effect of the spell (they don't have the ability to remove poison once they have the condition).

Another argument you could have used was the Darkvision spell.

In both of these cases, though, it's not a concentration-based spell, which Barkskin is. That suggests it is a more powerful spell than the two without concentration.

I think we should just agree to disagree. You have heard the criticism before, and you've heard it now again. Happy gaming.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Barkskin is a bit of a rubbish spell in 5e, I think it's worded the way it does for use in conjunction with Wildshape.

I would go with either a flat 3+dex AC when unarmoured (like lizardfolk), or con+dex (like barbarians). It's simpler anyway.