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[h=3]Diabolus[/h]
Originating from Mystara, although I'm not sure when or where they were made playable; my first encounter with them was in Dragon Magazine #327, which updated them to 3rd edition. They're a race of Chaotic Good extraplanar beings forced to flee their home in the Plane of Dreams due to invasions from the Plane of Nightmares, noted for looking like purple devils (small horns, goat-like legs, diabolic tails with a poisonous sting, forked tongues) and for finding humans as ugly and scary as humans find them. They're just a fun race, and greatly suited for planar campaigns or really exotic homebrew settings, so I wanted to try and update them.
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Charisma, +1 Wisdom
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Vision: Darkvision
Child of Dreams: A diabolus is immune to Sleep and Charm effects.
Foe of Nightmares: A diabolus has Advantage on any checks made to resist Fear effects, and is proficient in the use of the Trident.
Diabolic Tail: A diabolus sports a long, flexible tail that ends in a poisonous barb. A diabolus has an Extra Attack that can only be used to make a Tail Sting attack - this is an Unarmed Strike that inflicts Piercing damage and which forces the victim to make a Constitution check vs DC (8 + your Proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier) or be Poisoned. Additionally, in a campaign that uses languages, all diaboli know the Diaboli Tail Cant, a silent language based on gestures, positions and motions with the tail; other races can learn to understand this language, but they cannot “speak” it without a suitably flexible tail of their own.
[h=4]Diaboli Racial Variants: That Old Time Feeling[/h]D&D fans familiar with editions past may remember that the Diaboli of prior editions were somewhat different beasts. They were described as having “all the flexibility of humans”, which translated as them having no ability score modifiers, but also being inherently alienating to creatures native to the material plane, as well as being inherently resistant to magic due to their extraplanar nature. For those who want to bring back some of that older feel, the following alternatives are presented.
Alternative Ability Score Modifier: +1 to all ability scores.
Racial Flaw: Alien: A diabolus suffers Disadvantage on all Charisma (Persuasion), Wisdom (Animal Handling) and Intelligence (Investigation) checks made against beings native to the material plane. At the DM’s discretion, suitably “monstrous” races such as (Half-)Orcs and Dragonborn, or “planetouched” races such as Tieflings, Genasi and Aasimar, may be immune to this penalty.
Alternative Racial Trait: Soul of Chaos: A diabolus has Resistance to all damage caused by spells or magical effects, and has Advantage on all saving throws caused by spells or magical effects.
Originating from Mystara, although I'm not sure when or where they were made playable; my first encounter with them was in Dragon Magazine #327, which updated them to 3rd edition. They're a race of Chaotic Good extraplanar beings forced to flee their home in the Plane of Dreams due to invasions from the Plane of Nightmares, noted for looking like purple devils (small horns, goat-like legs, diabolic tails with a poisonous sting, forked tongues) and for finding humans as ugly and scary as humans find them. They're just a fun race, and greatly suited for planar campaigns or really exotic homebrew settings, so I wanted to try and update them.
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Charisma, +1 Wisdom
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Vision: Darkvision
Child of Dreams: A diabolus is immune to Sleep and Charm effects.
Foe of Nightmares: A diabolus has Advantage on any checks made to resist Fear effects, and is proficient in the use of the Trident.
Diabolic Tail: A diabolus sports a long, flexible tail that ends in a poisonous barb. A diabolus has an Extra Attack that can only be used to make a Tail Sting attack - this is an Unarmed Strike that inflicts Piercing damage and which forces the victim to make a Constitution check vs DC (8 + your Proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier) or be Poisoned. Additionally, in a campaign that uses languages, all diaboli know the Diaboli Tail Cant, a silent language based on gestures, positions and motions with the tail; other races can learn to understand this language, but they cannot “speak” it without a suitably flexible tail of their own.
[h=4]Diaboli Racial Variants: That Old Time Feeling[/h]D&D fans familiar with editions past may remember that the Diaboli of prior editions were somewhat different beasts. They were described as having “all the flexibility of humans”, which translated as them having no ability score modifiers, but also being inherently alienating to creatures native to the material plane, as well as being inherently resistant to magic due to their extraplanar nature. For those who want to bring back some of that older feel, the following alternatives are presented.
Alternative Ability Score Modifier: +1 to all ability scores.
Racial Flaw: Alien: A diabolus suffers Disadvantage on all Charisma (Persuasion), Wisdom (Animal Handling) and Intelligence (Investigation) checks made against beings native to the material plane. At the DM’s discretion, suitably “monstrous” races such as (Half-)Orcs and Dragonborn, or “planetouched” races such as Tieflings, Genasi and Aasimar, may be immune to this penalty.
Alternative Racial Trait: Soul of Chaos: A diabolus has Resistance to all damage caused by spells or magical effects, and has Advantage on all saving throws caused by spells or magical effects.