Player wants to play a Star Elf, any balance concerns?

[Paul Farquhar]

Aside from this being clearly OP, I wouldn't allow any homebrew that I hadn't already decided to incorporate into my setting.

 

[aco175]

I don't think I would have a big problem with it. I try to say yes as well and try to figure out a way to make it playable. There could be a portal that brings him to the world or such. The ability should not be a big problem in my game since I tend to give out magical weapons starting around level 3 and there are not too many need magic weapons to hit monsters.

 

[Seramus]

I would recommend Eladrin for a canon otherworldly +Charisma Elf.
Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes Page 61.

You know, if Half Elf doesn't work for some reason.

 

[TwoSix]

I'm curious...was the player interested in playing a star elf as a concept, or using that particular set of mechanics?

 

[the Jester]

Does any other race give an at-will first level spell equivalent? I don't think so, and I think it's overpowered. This is on top of my general objection to race spam (adding race after race, or subrace after subrace, to a setting detracts from that setting's identity, in my judgment).

 

[Satyrn]

I'd change insightful to proficiency with Insight and advantage on Investigation checks to discern illusions. Not for balance reasons, but because the idea of getting proficiency in one aspect of a skill irrationally irks me. (And though I'd also normally be against racial features granting advantage on skill checks, this particular use is kinda more like a saving throw, and the gnome gets advantage on a bunch of those).

And if I was at all concerned about Otherworldly Touch I'd limit it either to 1) once per short rest, or 2) just to those star elf weapons, and I'd let the player choose which (and then all future star elfs would abide by that choice)

But my opinion of the star elf isn't that it's overpowered. It does feel unbalanced, though, in the way that nearly all its features lean into paladin.

 

[Guest 6801328]

Does any other race give an at-will first level spell equivalent? I don't think so, and I think it's overpowered. This is on top of my general objection to race spam (adding race after race, or subrace after subrace, to a setting detracts from that setting's identity, in my judgment).

I completely agree. Settings that have a little bit of everything...every race, every class and sub-class, every monster...lose any sense of identity or even coherence.

 

[Blue]

Speaking of shillelagh, that's pretty much what the racial ability is, just usable with all weapons and with Cha.

Except that it's lacking all of the direct and indirect limitations of that spell, such as being a druid.

I don't think there you will find a consensus anywhere that thinks that Shillelagh, improved for any weapon, would be a reasonable Paladin cantrip. A CHR focused front liner, a much more powerful framework then Druid for a melee spell.

Considering getting Cha to attack is something any character can do with a one-level dip in Hexblade, I'd rather them just use a racial ability and get on with the slightly cheesy flavor.

Yeah, we basically avoid paladins dipping hexblade at our tables because it's extra cheesy. Oh, and this is even more limburger because at least Hexblade is limited that it won't work with two handed weapons (without a 3 level dip and picking up pact of the blade).

In other words, this worse then what we already avoid at our tables because it's too cheesy. I'd tend to say that crosses the line for bringing in homebrew/3rd party.

 

[TwoSix]

Except that it's lacking all of the direct and indirect limitations of that spell, such as being a druid.

I don't think there you will find a consensus anywhere that thinks that Shillelagh, improved for any weapon, would be a reasonable Paladin cantrip. A CHR focused front liner, a much more powerful framework then Druid for a melee spell.

Sure. If it was being published by a reputable third-party publisher, I would probably comment that it's too strong for current community expectations. But I consider the boundaries for what should be published to be much stricter than something that would actually break a campaign. As I said in my first response, I consider the balance in 5e to be pretty loose.

Yeah, we basically avoid paladins dipping hexblade at our tables because it's extra cheesy. Oh, and this is even more limburger because at least Hexblade is limited that it won't work with two handed weapons (without a 3 level dip and picking up pact of the blade).

In other words, this worse then what we already avoid at our tables because it's too cheesy. I'd tend to say that crosses the line for bringing in homebrew/3rd party.

I personally feel that Hexblade 1/Paladin X or Sword Bard X don't break the game, so I don't think a racial ability that does something similar breaks the game either.

Granted, I'm well aware I'm in the minority in that I find stat-replacement mechanics to be fun and thematic, and tend to advocate for them. Prior to the publishing of Hexblade, I liked to see third-party material that had stat-replacement mechanics, but I always felt the need to point out that its inclusion was setting them up for a backlash, as it violated the standard 5e design rules. I was happy to see Hexblade be published and shift the Overton window for the publishing of those kind of mechanics in third-party material. But I know a lot of people see Hexblade as power-creep.

 

[MNblockhead]

For those who are interested, the player read about the "star elf" or "twilight elf" in some Forgotten Realms book. He had no idea of the mechanics. I created a homebrew race in D&D Beyond based on the suggestions made by [MENTION=6748898]ad_hoc[/MENTION] , above. After that and some e-mail back and forth, he went with Eladrin instead.