Racial Paths

[Schylerwalker]

For the latest homebrew world I've been working on, I've been toying with and building on the idea of "racial paths." Each race that I've made has three racial paths to pick from. They give you a small bonus at first level, and then they give you more bonuses as you level up, raising with you. Basically, the idea is that the race you pick is supposed to be as important as the class pick, and both will become more powerful as you level up.

In addition, the races get abilities that get better as they level up, regardless of their racial path. For example, the lizard race's natural armor goes up for every 3 HD they possess (It scales with them, if you will...), and my homebrew race that are somewhat similar to aasimar get cure light wounds as a spell-like ability 1/day, which eventually turns into cure moderate wounds 2/day, and so on.

What do you guys think of races getting more powerful as you gain more Hit Die, or of races having distinct racial paths they go down, so each elf isn't the same as another elf on the street?

[Absol197]

For the latest homebrew world I've been working on, I've been toying with and building on the idea of "racial paths." Each race that I've made has three racial paths to pick from. They give you a small bonus at first level, and then they give you more bonuses as you level up, raising with you. Basically, the idea is that the race you pick is supposed to be as important as the class pick, and both will become more powerful as you level up.

In addition, the races get abilities that get better as they level up, regardless of their racial path. For example, the lizard race's natural armor goes up for every 3 HD they possess (It scales with them, if you will...), and my homebrew race that are somewhat similar to aasimar get cure light wounds as a spell-like ability 1/day, which eventually turns into cure moderate wounds 2/day, and so on.

What do you guys think of races getting more powerful as you gain more Hit Die, or of races having distinct racial paths they go down, so each elf isn't the same as another elf on the street?

I've actually been doing this myself in every game I run for quite a while now. Basically what I did was take the racial paragon classes, and give every character of that race the next level's class features every 5th level.

So a human, for instance, would get to choose a number of permanent class skills equal to their Int bonus at 5th, get a bonus feat and a +1 to any caster level they want at 10th, and get a +2 to one ability score and another +1 caster level at 15. Then I created an additional level of abilities for their "racial capstone."

I didn't have differing paths. However, I do really like the idea, so I think I'll lurk this thread, then jump out and steal your ideas once they get ironed out.


~Phoenix~

[Schylerwalker]

For now, the only race that doesn't have a racial path is humans. My homebrew is actually a blending of 3.5 and Pathfinder, with mostly Pathfinder, so races are all supposed to be pretty powerful.

Humans get +2 to any one ability score (But it can't be above 18, as by definition humans aren't supposed to be superhuman at first level), a bonus feat, and they get to pick three skills. They get a +2 to those skills, and they become class skills. Oh, and instead of getting 4 extra skill points at first level and 1 more every level thereafter, I decided they just get 2 skill points a level.

If people want, I can slowly post the other races for critiquing and to give people ideas for this sort of thing. :smallsmile: Be warned, I like elves and tweaking them, so there's like a bunch of elven subraces. And religious lizard people. And gorilla-boar people with guns.

[starship1]

This sounds a lot like bloodline levels from UA. Just ignore the bloodline levels and take a class at that level as normal.

[mattie_p]

Are you familiar with Dragonborn, from Races of the Dragon?

Each Dragonborn gets to choose one of three draconic aspects, heart (breath weapon), mind (darkvision and lowlight vision), wings (eventual flight). Each aspect scales with level. It might serve as a good starting point for you.

[Schylerwalker]

Are you familiar with Dragonborn, from Races of the Dragon?

Each Dragonborn gets to choose one of three draconic aspects, heart (breath weapon), mind (darkvision and lowlight vision), wings (eventual flight). Each aspect scales with level. It might serve as a good starting point for you.

Yeah, it's kinda like that, though I totally forgot about it until you reminded me. :smallredface: I'll give it a look to refamiliarize myself with it.

[Psyren]

Hellbred are also like this - two aspects, and they get goodies that scale with level.

And yes, I'd be fine with all races having scaling goodies. Pathfinder does this, after a fashion (favored class bonuses) but those are again tied to the class you pick rather than being a wholly-racial thing.

[Schylerwalker]

One thing I did that I thought was rather clever was with goblins. Instead of giving goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears each their own distinct racial paths (And I really like all three creatures, for some reason), I decided to have one race called Goblinkind, and that Goblin, Hobgoblin, and Bugbear would be the three racial paths for Goblinkind.

For example, simple Goblinkind get +2 Dex and -2 Cha, darkvision 30 ft. (I decided to somewhat nerf darkvision in my campaigns), and +4 Move Silently. Goblins get an additional +2 to Dex, Hobgoblins get +2 Con, and Bugbears get +2 Str.

Goblins get +4 to Ride checks, and they do a bonus amount of damage equal to their Hit Dice to any creature they flank, catch flat-footed, or is otherwise denied their Dexterity bonus to armor class. Hobgoblins get proficiency with a simple or martial weapon of their choice, and if they're already proficient with all of both, they get an exotic weapon. They also receive a fighter bonus at every 5 HD. Bugbears may substitute their Strength for their Charisma for Intimidtate checks, receive a +1 to natural armor per 4 HD they possess, and have Powerful Build.

I'm still working on Goblinkind, as I'm not sure how balanced the three subraces are (None of them have been playtested). Any of you guys have any suggestions?