Replacing Half-Races with Feats

[Kraedin]

In the thread Can Half-elves Be Fixed? Jim DelRosso
came up with an idea so awesome, I had to steal it. I expanded the concept to cover planetouched, genasi, and half-orcs as well. I'm looking for balance suggestions, as well as flavor issues.

Blood of Flame
One of your ancestors was a being of fire.
Benefits: You gain a +2 racial bonus to Dexterity, a -2 racial penalty to Constitution, and fire resistance 5.
Special: This feat can be taken only at first level.

Blood of Water
One of your ancestors was a being of water.
Benefits: You gain a +2 racial bonus to Strength, a -2 racial penalty to Intelligence and Charisma, and cold resistance 5.
Special: This feat can be taken only at first level.

Blood of Earth
One of your ancestors was a being of earth.
Benefits: You gain a +2 racial bonus to Constitution, a -2 racial penalty to Intelligence, and acid resistance 5.
Special: This feat can only be taken at first level.

Blood of Air
One of your ancestors was a being of air.
Benefits: You gain a +2 racial bonus on Dexterity, a -2 racial bonus to Strength, and lightning resistance 5.
Special: This feat can only be taken at first level.

Celestial Blood
You have a celestial creature on your family tree.
Benefits: You gain a +2 racial bonus to either Wisdom or Charisma, a -2 racial penalty to either Strength or Intelligence, and a +2 racial bonus on Spot and Listen Checks.
Special: This feat must be taken at first level.

Elven Blood
The blood of an elven parent runs in your veins.
Benefits: You gain a +2 racial bonus on two of the following: Spot, Search, and Listen, immunity to magical sleep effects, and a +2 racial bonus on saving throws verses effects from the Enchantment school.
Special: This feat must be taken at first level, and cannot be taken by an elf.

Fiendish Blood
Your ancestry includes demonic or devilish creatures.
Benefits: You gain a +2 racial bonus to Intelligence, a -2 racial penalty to Charisma, and a +2 racial bonus to Bluff and Hide checks.
Special: This feat must be taken at first level.


Orc Blood
The blood of an orc parent runs in your veins.
Benefits: You gain a +2 racial bonus to Strength, a -2 racial penalty to Intelligence and Charisma, a +2 racial bonus to Intimidate and Wilderness Lore checks, and darkvision with a range of 60 feet.
Special: This feat must be taken at first level, and cannot be taken by an orc.

 

[Crothian]

I think the artibute bonuses would be too easy to abuse. An elven air touched can get +4 to dex, with only -2 to str and Con. Plus the resistance is a great ability that cannot be gotten as a feat outside of epic levels.

 

[Kraedin]

I think the artibute bonuses would be too easy to abuse. An elven air touched can get +4 to dex, with only -2 to str and Con.

I'm not sure that's a problem. In theory, a +4 Dex, -2 Str and Con is balanced.

I was worried about the elemental resistances too, however. Any suggestions on what to replace them with? Darkvision and bonuses to skills, perhaps?

 

[Crothian]

Well, I'm not sure if a +0ecl creature should be able to get +4 to a stat. And when we combine these with races and templates outside the PHB I think it could become even easier to min max.

 

[Kai Lord]

I think the artibute bonuses would be too easy to abuse. An elven air touched can get +4 to dex, with only -2 to str and Con. Plus the resistance is a great ability that cannot be gotten as a feat outside of epic levels.

He could making the feat only available to humans, rationalizing that only humans have the capability of interbreeding, and everything would pretty much balance out mechanically. The signature advantage of being human (the one extra feat) would basically be traded out for the racial modifiers.

I'm not necessarily sure there would be any benefit to doing it this way, but at least it would be balanced (I think).

 

[Kraedin]

I was actually more worried about the fiendish and celestial blood feats. I tend to value a bonus to a mental (caster) stat more than a bonus to a physical stat.

A +4 Dex doesn't really worry me. Can you see any situations where it could be abused to any relevant degree? The only thing that occurs to me is a elf psychic warrior with a spiked chain, Combat Reflexes, Blood of Air, and the reach power. Even that character will be hurt by a substantial degree by the -2 Str and Con.

 

[Nail]

A +4 Dex doesn't really worry me.

I'm also interested in th' more experienced 3e DMs commenting on this one. I've got a home brew race that has -4 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Int, +2 Chr.

I.e., should the racial bonuses (or penalties) never be greater that +/-2? Assume a "standard PC" race, not a "monster" or ECL race.

As for the feats: they look fine, even the elemental resistances...as long as there were elemental weaknesses attached. Seems like a reasonable extention that an "earth-touched" would have an air weakness, etc.

 

[Azure Trance]

It's a shame these half-whatever races weren't templates to begin with (ie, tiefling), unless it's defacto that only humans can interbreed with funky nonhumans (ie, no Half-Elfven Dwarves)?

 

[Nail]

It's a shame these half-whatever races weren't templates to begin with (ie, tiefling), unless it's defacto that only humans can interbreed with funky nonhumans (ie, no Half-Elfven Dwarves)?

3e would just treat elf/dwarves as a "variant race". Unappealing in an "elegant rule set" sort of way, but it works......

 

[Eternalknight]

Asgard 6 had an article written by me about this. I had 7 or so feats, called "Heritage Feats" that did this.