New Pathfinder Race - Beh'la (PEACH Please!)

[ThatOneGuy79]

Hidden beyond the veil of legend and mists of magic lie the Beh'la. Myths tell of tall, hairless fey that work wondrous feats of magic without resorting to violence even in the most dire of circumstances.

Note: Beh'la encountered as NPCs are never below CR 6 (two racial and 4 class levels).

Beh'la (CR 2)
Medium Fey
A Beh'la starts out with two levels of Fey. This provides them with a bonus feat, 2d6 hit die, a +1 to base attacks, and a +3 to base Reflex & Will saves. Beh'la also start with 12+2xINT skill points, to be used in the following skills: Acrobatics, Bluff, Climb, Craft, Diplomacy, Disguise, Escape Artist, Fly, Knowledge (geography), Knowledge (local), Knowledge (nature), Perception, Perform, Sense Motive, Sleight of Hand, Stealth, Swim, Use Magic Device.

Stat Adj'
+4 to Intelligence, +2 to Wisdom and Charisma. Beh'la are brilliant, confident, and have formidable willpower.
-2 to all physical stats. Their focus study leaves little time for developing their physical skills.

Skills
Choose any two skills that have a mental stat as the focus. These skills are considered class skills, and the Beh’la receives a +2 bonus to them.

Special Qualities
SR 11+CR
This spell resistance may be dropped at will to allow beneficial magic through and drops when the Beh'la is unconscious/asleep.

Choose any nonoffensive/non directly damaging 0 – 2nd level spell. The Beh’la may use that spell once per day per three hit die.

Pacifism
Through long millenia of focusing on defense and deflection, rather than confrontation, Beh’la are by nature pacifists. A Beh'la that takes any of the following classes is shunned by the rest and expelled from their community: Barbarian, Paladin, Cavalier, Fighter, Inquisitor, Ranger, Gunslinger, or Magus. Furthermore, they may not ever use anything but simple weapons. Even then, they still are at a -4 penalty to use any weapon other than simple. If they attain more than 3 levels in a high-attack class, they lose all innate magical abilities, including skill bonuses, but retain their SR.
When choosing spells for a spellcasting class, they may only EVER choose one directly damaging spell per spell level.

[Razanir]

1) Why the apostrophes? There are ways other than random apostrophes to make names seem like fantasy
2) Stats seem unbalanced. Boosts to all mental stats aren't worth a Dex penalty AND a Con penalty.
3) I wouldn't make the skills class skills. That's not normally something your race does
4) Spell Resistance is a big NO unless you add a clause that you can willingly drop it. Imagine you're dying and the cleric fails at overcoming your SR. Yeah, that's why so many monk fixes say you can let spells by or automatically so if you're unconscious
5) Change it to 0th-2nd level. 3rd level spells are exceedingly powerful for class features
6) Don't restrict classes. We haven't done that since AD&D and for good reason. One of the things that makes 3.5e so great is that you CAN be the antithesis of your race. The race change is especially weird
6a) Same with spells. Spell restrictions only work if it's an elemental restriction

[Frathe]

The way you make the user choose the mental stats to receive the racial bonuses, and the skills that get bonuses and are counted as class skills, seems more like laziness or unsureness on your part than allowing customizability on the player/user's. I don't intend that in a mean way; I just think you'd be well advised to pin this race down better. As it is, the only characteristic coming through about them is "magic user with high mental stats", and not even a specific mental stat that's high.

I agree that you should probably get rid of the class skills part; it's pretty abnormal for player races, although a few monsters like dragons do it.

[ThatOneGuy79]

Thank you for the critique!


1) Why the apostrophes? There are ways other than random apostrophes to make names seem like fantasy

- I'm working on my own language for both my campaign and the novel that I'm writing (a la Tolkien)


1) 3) I wouldn't make the skills class skills. That's not normally something your race does.

They're a race that focuses on study in certain areas. Is there a better way to do this?


1) 4) Spell Resistance is a big NO unless you add a clause that you can willingly drop it. Imagine you're dying and the cleric fails at overcoming your SR. Yeah, that's why so many monk fixes say you can let spells by or automatically so if you're unconscious.

They can drop it. It will be changed.


1) 5) Change it to 0th-2nd level. 3rd level spells are exceedingly powerful for class features.

Changing.



1) 6) Don't restrict classes. We haven't done that since AD&D and for good reason. One of the things that makes 3.5e so great is that you CAN be the antithesis of your race. The race change is especially weird
6a) Same with spells. Spell restrictions only work if it's an elemental restriction

The race change is something like Irda/Ogres in Dragonlance. That will be explained when I post the Nedrhe. Explanation for the spells is simply that battle casting lore is something rather unexplored, save for a few isolated spells. Is there a better way to reflect racial pacifsm?

[ThatOneGuy79]

The way you make the user choose the mental stats to receive the racial bonuses, and the skills that get bonuses and are counted as class skills, seems more like laziness or unsureness on your part than allowing customizability on the player/user's.

Thanks for the feedback! The mental stat and skill choices are supposed to reflect the fact that the Beh'la are mental/creative powerhouses. Edited somewhat now.

[Razanir]

- I'm working on my own language for both my campaign and the novel that I'm writing (a la Tolkien)

They're a race that focuses on study in certain areas. Is there a better way to do this?

The race change is something like Irda/Ogres in Dragonlance. That will be explained when I post the Nedrhe. Explanation for the spells is simply that battle casting lore is something rather unexplored, save for a few isolated spells. Is there a better way to reflect racial pacifsm?

1) Trust me. You don't want to wantonly use apostrophes if you're making a language. To quote the Language Construction Kit (http://zompist.com/kitlong.html), "If you’re inventing a language for aliens, you’ll probably want to give them really different sounds (if they have speech at all, of course). The Marvel Comics solution is to throw in a bunch of apostrophes: This is Empress Nx’id’’ar’ of the planet Bla’no’no! Larry Niven just violates English phonological constraints: tnuctipun. We can do better."

"Avoid using apostrophes just to make words look foreign or alien. Since apostrophes are used in contradictory ways (they represent the glottal stop in Arabic or Hawai’ian, glottalization in Quechua, palatalization in Russian, aspiration or a syllable boundary in Chinese, and omitted sounds in English, French, and Italian), they end up suggesting nothing at all to the reader."

2) How to show that they focus in areas? Normal skill bonuses

3) To reflect racial pacifism and that they're studious as a race, I would just set the abilities to -2 Str, -2 Con, +4 Int, +2 Wis. Yes I realize that's a net +2, but with 2 penalties to physical scores, you're allowed this

[Frathe]

1) Trust me. You don't want to wantonly use apostrophes if you're making a language.I don't think apostrophes are necessarily bad, but yeah, you'd better know what sound or change in sound they represent. If they're just in there for decoration, that's wrecking plausibility.



2) How to show that they focus in areas? Normal skill bonusesYes. This is the normal way.


I definitely don't think you should be restricting classes as you are. It's unusual, harsh, and discouraging to variety and player choice.

[Razanir]

I don't think apostrophes are necessarily bad, but yeah, you'd better know what sound or change in sound they represent. If they're just in there for decoration, that's wrecking plausibility.

That's exactly what I was trying to say

[ArkenBrony]

i would say you could describe that they usually arent and that those that are are then shunned, keeping them from wanting to play them

[ThatOneGuy79]

i would say you could describe that they usually arent and that those that are are then shunned, keeping them from wanting to play them

(fixed!)

Thanks for the feedback! I'll have to give that some thought. I'd have to rework how the cursed offshoot worked then. And I'd still like to give them a penalty to using all but simple weapons to further reflect their near-complete lack of martial focus.

[AttilaTheGeek]

+4 to INT is really strong. It's just begging someone to make a save-or-suck based Wizard. For example, a 1st-level wizard with an 18 INT makes 22, and with Spell Focus can throw around a DC 19 Color Spray at first level.

I'd change it to +2 INT, +2 WIS, and -2 STR. That lets them make good (but not ridiculous) prepared caster classes, and the lack of a CHA bonus makes them worse at spontaneous casting, which is good because it would go against the theme of a more studious race.

[ThatOneGuy79]

+4 to INT is really strong. It's just begging someone to make a save-or-suck based Wizard. For example, a 1st-level wizard with an 18 INT makes 22, and with Spell Focus can throw around a DC 19 Color Spray at first level.

I'd change it to +2 INT, +2 WIS, and -2 STR. That lets them make good (but not ridiculous) prepared caster classes, and the lack of a CHA bonus makes them worse at spontaneous casting, which is good because it would go against the theme of a more studious race.


+4 to a stat is far from strong to a CR 2 race. After all, the half-celestial template offers +4 to three stats and +2 to the others, and that caps at a CR +3.

[AttilaTheGeek]

+4 to a stat is far from strong to a CR 2 race. After all, the half-celestial template offers +4 to three stats and +2 to the others, and that caps at a CR +3.

Oh. I, uh... missed the level adjustment. Derp. :smallredface:

[ThatOneGuy79]

Oh. I, uh... missed the level adjustment. Derp. :smallredface:

No problem. :D

So do all y'all think that CR 2 is just right for the Beh'la as they currently are?

[Frathe]

Shouldn't their racial levels be giving them feats? Also, you're not giving their Fort save, and if you say that their levels give them some unspecified "+2" to Reflex and Will saves, that could be interpreted to stack (there's a specific term for that bonus--base save bonus), and I'm pretty sure that their base save bonuses for Will and Reflex should be +3 (I think it's 1/2 HD + 2).

Edit: To be clear, good base saves (Fey have good Reflex and Will saves) are 1/2 HD +2, while poor base saves are 1/3 HD.

[ThatOneGuy79]

Shouldn't their racial levels be giving them feats? Also, you're not giving their Fort save, and if you say that their levels give them some unspecified "+2" to Reflex and Will saves, that could be interpreted to stack (there's a specific term for that bonus--base save bonus), and I'm pretty sure that their base save bonuses for Will and Reflex should be +3 (I think it's 1/2 HD + 2).

Edit: To be clear, good base saves (Fey have good Reflex and Will saves) are 1/2 HD +2, while poor base saves are 1/3 HD.


Thanks! It's been fixed. :D

[Frathe]

You're still not giving the base Fort save bonus. You should probably give that even if it's +0, or it'll just look like you forgot it. Here's an example of normal phrasing (from the 3.5 SRD, but hopefully it's similar).


Racial Hit Dice: An ogre begins with four levels of giant, which provide 4d8 Hit Dice, a base attack bonus of +3, and base saving throw bonuses of Fort +4, Ref +1, and Will +1.