Will "my" humans get the shaft?

[Grundle]

I'm creating several races for my campaign, that will be offered along side the vanilla PHB human race.

I need to give my players this info very soon, but desparately want some feedback ato avoid opening the flood gates and releasing a hord of DM-approved munchkins.

So help out poor old grundle, and tell him what you think of these races thrown into the mix with the plain of vanilla PHB human...

Help balance these races

 

[Privateer]

First, my non-guarantee: YMMV, it's IMHO, etc.

Right.

Amraksa: Yow! If I'm playing a rogue, guess what I am? I get a plus to dex and, at least at lower levels when saving throws are low, 1-4 rounds of extra sneak attacks whenever I like! I would think the Mesmerize Prey ability would work better if it gave a penalty to, say, attack and damage. Perhaps, to keep with the "fleeing prey" idea, it also halfed the affected creature's speed? Something about being frozen with terror, but still being able to move, kind of thing.

I think +8 is a bit much, even with their Charisma penalty.

I've got no trouble with the claws. Nice idea, and seems balanced.

Norrathian: What's the point of making them large size? To penalize their AC, or to give them access to 2d8 damage greatswords? I think that, right there, makes them the iconic fighter race (except for the increased cost of armor, but see below).

I really don't like giving them natural armor. Their one real penalty (increased cost of armor, and it being tricky finding it so big) just went out the window.

Speed is almost never 25. It makes figuring armor and encumberance speed penalties tricky. Also, why are the large size creatures so slow? Are they lumbering? Normally, large creatures are faster or at least equal to medium, but the idea's novel.

It would be cold resistance 5. Keep it simple

I kind of question the racial abilites -- they seem thrown together at random. Plusses to swim? Plusses against light based attacks? Maybe an explaination would help...

Woodling: For the flight, why not just make it 6mins/day, usable at will? Once again, it's a good bit simpler. I also question giving first level characters flight -- some obsacles aren't really that bad when you can fly around them, and pit traps are a thing of the past.

*phew, done*

 

[Grundle]

Originally posted by Privateer {/QUOTE]

Thanks for your comments Privateer.

Amraksa: Yow! If I'm playing a rogue, guess what I am? I get a plus to dex and, at least at lower levels when saving throws are low, 1-4 rounds of extra sneak attacks whenever I like! I would think the Mesmerize Prey ability would work better if it gave a penalty to, say, attack and damage. Perhaps, to keep with the "fleeing prey" idea, it also halfed the affected creature's speed? Something about being frozen with terror, but still being able to move, kind of thing.

I think +8 is a bit much, even with their Charisma penalty.

I've got no trouble with the claws. Nice idea, and seems balanced.

What I intended with the mesmerize prey ability is that as soon as the Amraksa generating the effect takes any other action, the effect is broken and the target is no longer stunned. Thus, the Amraksa (herself) couldn't take any sneak attacks, but her companions could. I should make this more clear in the description.

The +8 to intimidate checks is another value that I've been waffling around on. Maybe +4 is good enough, still not sure.

Norrathian: What's the point of making them large size? To penalize their AC, or to give them access to 2d8 damage greatswords? I think that, right there, makes them the iconic fighter race (except for the increased cost of armor, but see below).

I really don't like giving them natural armor. Their one real penalty (increased cost of armor, and it being tricky finding it so big) just went out the window.

Speed is almost never 25. It makes figuring armor and encumberance speed penalties tricky. Also, why are the large size creatures so slow? Are they lumbering? Normally, large creatures are faster or at least equal to medium, but the idea's novel.

It would be cold resistance 5. Keep it simple

I kind of question the racial abilites -- they seem thrown together at random. Plusses to swim? Plusses against light based attacks? Maybe an explaination would help...

I did neglect to include any descriptive text about any of these guys, but I wanted to keep the 1st post managble.

What I want the Norrathian's to be is a race that is naturally at home in arctic climes.

They are large size to conserve body heat.

Their less than normal speed is a due to a combination of their slower metabolism, and shorter limbs (proportionally to a human) - and also to conserve body heat. Good point about 25ft making other calculations difficult. I've waffled on this value a lot. Originally, I had them at 20ft, and I definitely don't want them to move at 30ft. I'll probaby drop back to 20ft. I'm hoping that the slower rate helps to balance some of the bonuses for being large size.

The natural armor bonus does offset their racial Dex penalty to AC, but they will still have a size penalty to AC. I wanted the natural armor bonus to represent the fact that this race would have a thick (whale-like) rubbery skin and subcutaneous layer of protective fat.

The bonus to Saving Throws verses effects involving bright light or blindness is because of their natural ability to cope with the blinding conditions that exist in arctic climes (snow blindness).

The bonus to Swim checks is because of their webbed fingers- thinking of otter paws. This I may drop as overkill.

Overall, with the Norrathian race, I am leaning towards assigning them an ECL (effective character level) of +1 to compensate for their abilities (primarily the large size). Would this be fair?

Woodling: For the flight, why not just make it 6mins/day, usable at will? Once again, it's a good bit simpler. I also question giving first level characters flight -- some obsacles aren't really that bad when you can fly around them, and pit traps are a thing of the past.

With the woodlings, think large pixes.

I wanted to introduce a race that could fly without making them overpowered. I was thinking that giving them the ability to fly at most two times per day for no longer than 3 minutes at a time at a speed of 10 ft would keep them balanced with the other races. I think your suggestion letting them fly for a total 6 mins/day may be too powerful. Like you said, some obsacles aren't really that bad when you can fly around them. And most obstacles would only take a few rounds to get over.

Their speed is also 30 ft, which is 10ft faster than the small sized races of the PHB to account for their extrodinarily quickness. I intended their -1 penalty to Initiative to compensate for this increase.

 

[Privateer]

IMO, the webbed fingers just feel out of place. I wouldn't really imagine a northern giant with the ability to swim well, except for the fact that they're strong.

I'd say they're roughly ECL +1. Hard to get armor, but good stat adjustments, bigger weapons (but you won't find them too often), less HP and BAB then the other characters (due to the lost level), lower speed, and the minor abilites... sounds about right to me.

I'm probably missing something, heh Just hope we get a second opinion in here.

Oh, yes -- Norrathian -- any relation to Everquest? Norrath is the world, if my memory serves me.

 

[Grundle]

IMO, the webbed fingers just feel out of place. I wouldn't really imagine a northern giant with the ability to swim well, except for the fact that they're strong.

Yeah. I'm gonna drop that. Its just overkill.

Oh, yes -- Norrathian -- any relation to Everquest? Norrath is the world, if my memory serves me.

Norrath is from Everquest, huh. Figures. I've never played that game, but I've read a bit about it. I must have squirred that name away in my subconconcious. I am a hopeless thief of any idea I can wrap my greedy little fingers around. Apparently, I must be so good at borrowing other people's ideas I can do it without even realizing it!

 

[Nail]

Stuff looks good, Grundle, but this should be in the "House Rules" forum.

 

[Shard O'Glase]

many times you make races strongly specialized humans get the shaft. With the core races they each have certian classes they are slightly better at and certain classes they are somewhat worse at. The humans abilities make up for the slightly beter at level of specializaiton. IOW a gnome illusionist might rock but a human illusionist doesn't suck in comparison. On the other hand if the gnome got +6 to int, on a min max level if your a wizard of any stripe you'd be an idiot not to play a gnome.

Using the aforementioned EQ rpg as an example there are just clearly superior races to play for each class, and there is very little reason to play a human at all, form a min/max perspective. They have two alternate human races though, a barbarian race and a uber smart race(whoose name I forget).

Using your races the only time you'd likely see a human if people are min/maxing are for the few classes that your races don't fit specialization wise.

None of this is necesarily bad, just don't expect to see many humans in game slike this.