Make New Races: Wingin' It

[steeldragons]

The other thread about the guideline preview for creating classes barrels on.

This thread is for those who actually want to play around and get creative with what we've seen. Those saying "I have these or those in my campaign" or "I want a Large race" or burrowing avians or floating light balls or whatever.

Go to town. Give it your best shot.

Simply put, this is basically a thread for finger painting. Constructive suggestions on what's posted are welcome. Critiques of what's wrong with a presented race or the 5e race making guidelines in general are not.

I posted this in the other thread, but it makes sense here to roll the ball:

Goblin
Abilities: +1 to Dex. +1 to Con.
Age: whatever you like
Size: Small. You range from 3.5-4.5 feet. While often matching a dwarf for height, their generally scrawny limbs and wiry frame do not warrant them being considered medium.
Speed: walking speed 30'.
Darkvision: 60'
Sunlight Sensitivity: as the drow.
Naturally Stealthy: as the halfling ability + roll Stealth with advantage in dim light or darkness.
Goblin Wile: You have the wicked cunning of your species and can use it to good advantage. You have advantage on all Sleight of Hand [Dex] rolls. Level times per day you can take one of the following as a bonus action: Dash; Disengage; or an Extra Attack with a small melee weapon (dagger, short sword, hand axe) already in hand

 

[Wrathamon]

I made a warforged, duegar and a kenku in other threads. Its always easy to "add" too much.

for goblin, seems like +2 dex (with no con mod) feels more obvious, but I see why you did it.

Do goblins have sunlight sensitivity in the MM?

 

[steeldragons]

I made a warforged, duegar and a kenku in other threads. Its always easy to "add" too much.

for goblin, seems like +2 dex (with no con mod) feels more obvious, but I see why you did it.

Do goblins have sunlight sensitivity in the MM?

I don't actually know. I just did it because they used to/originally did and goblins in my homebrew world do. It also seemed the obvious drawback to justify 2 "features" [Natural Stealth and Goblin Wile...which I should really change to Goblin Guile...because alliteration=good and darkvision.

 

[Wrathamon]

You could make a goblinoid Race and the hobgoblin, bug bear and common goblin could be subraces

 

[Minigiant]

You could make a goblinoid Race and the hobgoblin, bug bear and common goblin could be subraces

Well in the MM, the things the common, bugbear, and hobgoblin have in common is:
Good Dexterity
Speaking Goblin
Speed 30ft
Darkvision 60ft

After this however they get stuff I'd be very hesitant to giving a PC.
Brute? Martial Advantage? Nimble Escape?

 

[steeldragons]

You could make a goblinoid Race and the hobgoblin, bug bear and common goblin could be subraces

I thought about that but I think they are too different to warrant and, going from what we've seen in the PHB, don't fit as a single "Goblinoid" race.

That's like saying "Halfling" is a race and Dwarf and Human are subraces of Halfling.

The subraces should be able to be presented as "X race", "Y race": "Mountain Dwarf", "Lightfoot Halfling", etc... "Hobgoblin Goblin" and "Bugbear Goblin" don't work for me.

I could see doing: Goblin race. Subraces: Greymuck [or whatever for Generic "Goblin"], Xvart ["blue Underdark" goblins], Norker ["fanged neanderthal" goblins]...and/or Redcap [fae sociopath goblins].

Hmmm...I guess...

Generic Goblins (with a sidebar about the existence of varying colored goblins that all share these stats:green, blue, grey, etc...)
Hob: bigger, smarter, braver, more militant.
Redcap: same size as normal gob's, dark fae sociopath with some innate magic.

Those are more distinct flavor than just skin tone for justifiable "sub-races"...and I can live with Somethinggeneral Goblin, Hob Goblin, and Redcap Goblin.

 

[steeldragons]

Well in the MM, the things the common, bugbear, and hobgoblin have in common is:
Good Dexterity
Speaking Goblin
Speed 30ft
Darkvision 60ft

After this however they get stuff I'd be very hesitant to giving a PC.
Brute? Martial Advantage? Nimble Escape?

Really? Bugbears have the same speed as normal goblins? They aren't considered Large? That's surprising to me.

 

[Minigiant]

Really? Bugbears have the same speed as normal goblins? They aren't considered Large? That's surprising to me.

Bugbears are the same speed as normal humanoid I believe and are medium. But they deal one extra die of damage with weapon. Too power in PC hands.

Hell I won't even customize bugbears until I see the monster guidelines. If a bugbear hits you on surprise, you are taking a LOT of damage in 5e. Don't camp within a mile of 5e bugbears.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I had a player who was continuing to use his Shade character from 4E into the new 5E campaign I was starting, and here's what I came up with for the Shade race. I took my cues from the two "half human" races (as the Shade is a half human / half shadow type of race), and gave them the same superior vision as the drow and a modified 'lightly obscured' stealth condition as the wood elf. Because both of those abilities I think are rather powerful, I didn't really give them anything else. It works well and my player is happy with it.

SHADE

Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2 and one other ability score of your choice increases by 1.

Age. Shades mature at the same rate as humans do and reach adulthood around the age of 20.

Alignment. Shades are not strongly inclined towards good.

Size. Shades are about the same size as humans, ranging from 5 to 6 feet tall. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Superior Darkvision. Thanks to your shadow-infusion, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 120 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Shadow Walk. You gain proficiency in the Stealth skill and you can attempt to hide even when you are only lightly obscured by dim light.

Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and one extra language of your choice.

 

[Piratecat]

I made a warforged, duegar and a kenku in other threads.

Do you mind copying them over into this thread as well? I'd love to see them all in one place.