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View Full Version : [PEACH] New races for my setting (D&D 3.5)



Swooper
2009-02-05, 08:59 PM
I've been working on a campaign setting (working title: Riftworld) for a while now. It will probably be posted here when it's ready, but for now I'd like you guys to take a look at a few races that the setting includes. The flavour text is a place-holder for now, my main concern is balancing the stats. I'm aiming for high-powered LA+1 with most of them, on the same scale as Goliaths and Half-Giants. Let's start with the erg:



Erg
Three out of the four unusual races of Riftworld are really the same race: The Erg. They are divided into three castes: Massayerg (the leader caste), qrujerg (the warrior caste) and drunerg (the worker caste). The drunerg are not really meant as a PC race though.

All erg share the following physical characteristics:
Six limbs (massayerg and qrujerg have an extra pair of arms; drunerg are quadrupeds).
Hairless skin, coloured from greyish mauve to a pale bluish purple.
Two thick tendrils hanging from their chins, and two more from their necks on either side.
High foreheads.
An oily mane of thick, usually black hair falling straight back from their heads.
Blue-black eyes.
An extra joint in their legs, facing backwards. This tends to give their four-toed feet the illusion of being cloven hooves, like on a goat, to anyone not familiar with the erg.


Massayerg
The massayerg traditionally form the upper tiers of erg society. They are the leaders and nobles, the scholars, the merchants and sometimes, the craftsmen. They are the most numerous of the erg castes.

Massayerg usually stand well over six feet tall on average (5'10"+2d6" for males, 5'7"+2d6" for females), but often appear taller due to their thin bodies and long limbs.

Massayerg are adults at 30 years of age, enter middle age at 90, old age at 135 and venerable at 180. From then, they can hope to live for 5d10 more years before passing on.

Massayerg racial traits:
+2 Intelligence, +2 Charisma, -2 Strength, -2 Constitution. The massayerg are born leaders and with above average intellect, but frail bodies not suited for physical labour or conflict.
Medium: As Medium creatures, massayerg have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Massayerg base land speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision out to 60 feet.
Multiple limbs: Massayerg have four arms, and thus can take the Multiweapon Fighting feat instead of the Two-Weapon Fighting feat.
Naturally Psionic 3: Massayerg gain 3 bonus power points at 1st level. This benefit does not grant them the ability to manifest powers unless they gain that ability through another source, such as levels in a psionic class.
Psi-like abilities: 3/day - Far Hand (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/farHand.htm); 1/day - Synaesthete (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/synesthete.htm), Psionic Daze (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/dazePsionic.htm). Manifester level is equal to 1/2 Hit Dice (minimum 1st). The save DCs are Intelligence based.
Massayerg have a +2 racial bonus to Psicraft and Sense Motive.
Automatic languages: Common, Erg. Bonus Languages: Any.
Favoured Class: Psion.
Level Adjustment: +1.


Qrujerg
The qrujerg were bred as soldiers, and that is the duty they perform in erg society, from city guards and lowly soldiers up to the generals of the erg's armies.

Physically much more imposing than the massayerg, they usually stand nearly seven feet tall (6'2"+2d6" for males, 6'+2d6" for females), with broad chests and shoulders, making them nothing short of intimidating.

Qrujerg are adults at 20 years of age, enter middle age at 65, old age at 100 and venerable at 132. From then, they can hope to live for 4d10 more years before passing on.

Qrujerg racial traits:
+4 Strength, +2 Con, -2 Int, -2 Cha. The qrujerg were bred as warriors, not thinkers.
Medium: As Medium creatures, massayerg have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Qrujerg base land speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision out to 60 feet.
Multiple limbs: Qrujerg have four arms, and thus can take the Multiweapon Fighting feat instead of the Two-Weapon Fighting feat.
Naturally Psionic 2: Qrujerg gain 2 bonus power points at 1st level. This benefit does not grant them the ability to manifest powers unless they gain that ability through another source, such as levels in a psionic class.
Psi-like abilities: 1/day - Vigor (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/vigor.htm). Manifester level is equal to 1/2 Hit Dice (minimum 1st).
Qrujerg have a +2 racial bonus to Autohypnosis and Intimidate.
Automatic languages: Common, Erg. Bonus Languages: Any.
Favoured Class: Psychic Warrior.
Level Adjustment: +2.

Feat: Powerful Build [Racial]
You have learned to use your size and strength better to your advantage.
Prerequisite: Qrujerg, 3 HD, Constitution 15.
Benefits: You gain the Powerful Build (Ex) ability, as Half-Giants (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/monsters/halfGiant.htm).


Drunerg
The drunerg are the biggest of the erg castes, created as a workforce to carry extremely heavy burdens and build cities fortresses. They still serve the erg race whenever such tasks need to be done, but are also good craftsmen.

Drunerg are the largest of the erg, standing some eight to nine feet tall on average. They are unusual among their kin in that they do not have four arms, but four feet. Their build is somewhat different from that of centaurs however, as their feet are both thicker and closer together, and their back slopes downwards.

Drunerg share the life-expectancy of the qrujerg.

Drunerg racial traits:
+6 Strength, +4 Con, -4 Int, -4 Cha. The drunerg are phenomenally strong, untiring but dull-witted creatures with little sense of individuality.
Monstrous Humanoid: Drunerg are not subject to spells or effects that affect humanoids only, such as charm person or dominate person.
Large size: -1 penalty to Armour Class, -1 penalty on attack rolls, -4 penalty on Hide checks, +4 bonus on grapple checks, lifting and carrying limits double those of Medium characters.
Drunerg base land speed is 40 feet.
Darkvision out to 60 feet.
Quadrupeds: The drunerg have four legs. This effectively quadruples their carrying capacity. Note that normal multiplication rules apply, so drunerg can carry five times what a medium sized creature with the same strength score can.
Stability: Thanks to their four feet, drunerg are exceptionally stable. A drunerg has a +4 bonus on ability checks made to resist being bull rushed or tripped when standing on the ground.
Drunerg have a +4 racial bonus to all Craft checks.
Racial Feats: A drunerg has Endurance as a bonus feat.
Automatic languages: Common, Erg. Bonus Languages: Any.
Favoured Class: Expert.
Level Adjustment: +2.

So, what do you think? Are these races balanced? Too good? Too bad? What should I change? All comments and suggestions appreciated. :smallsmile:

Edit: Changed qrujerg LA to +2 and increased Naturally Psionic to 2 as well to compensate a bit. After some thought, it's preferable to cutting their ability scores.

Keinnicht
2009-02-05, 10:48 PM
I think Qrujerg LA should be +2 instead of +1.

Harperfan7
2009-02-06, 04:42 AM
I agree.

Also, these are pretty cool ideas.

Swooper
2009-02-06, 10:43 AM
I'd rather scale them down a bit to fit LA+1 than raise the LA. How about if I drop the strength bonus to +2 and maybe lose the 1/day Vigor?

Swooper
2009-02-07, 01:15 PM
No-one else got any feedback on this? I changed qrujerg to LA +2 and added a power point via Naturally Psionic last night. Are they balanced like this?

Harperfan7
2009-02-07, 03:08 PM
No, it's not that, it's the four arms and Powerful build.

four arms for a strong melee fighter is a gigantic advantage, add in the ability to use bigger weapons and you get the idea.

Get rid of powerful build first, make multiweapon fighting hard to get, like maybe make two weapon fighting a prerequisite feat for it. You don't need to lower strength.

Are you really attached to the psionic bonuses? If not, drop them.

Personally though, I would hesitate to weaken them because I like the idea so much.

Swooper
2009-02-07, 11:41 PM
No, it's not that, it's the four arms and Powerful build.

four arms for a strong melee fighter is a gigantic advantage, add in the ability to use bigger weapons and you get the idea.

Get rid of powerful build first, make multiweapon fighting hard to get, like maybe make two weapon fighting a prerequisite feat for it. You don't need to lower strength.
Uhm, firstly, Powerful Build is a racial feat, not something they get free. They still have to spend a feat to get it. Secondly, I've increased the LA to +2, which I think is pretty fair. LA +3 is definitely too much. And I can't really *increase the prerequisites* of an established feat for just one race. It doesn't make sense.

Are you really attached to the psionic bonuses? If not, drop them.
I am, they stay.

Personally though, I would hesitate to weaken them because I like the idea so much.Me too. I increased the LA rather than significantly weakening them, which I'd have had to do if I wanted to keep them as LA +1.