Tweaking races for Balance

[Yogibear41]

So, had almost this entire question/thread written and accidentally X'd it out so lets try again lol.

I've been working on a homebrew e6 campaign off and on for awhile now, and I've got a good idea off all the races I want to be in it/playable, however some of them have +1 and +2 LAs, but instead of using the reduced point buy rule(im probably going to use some absurd point buy total anyway like 50+ points its going to be a rough place to live 52 point buy seems like a good number) or nerfing the higher LA races down I would instead like to buff the other races up to their level of power.

This is what I've got so far:

Humans
Dwarves
Duergar
Artic Dwarves 3.0 version
Snow Elves
Wood Elves
Half Giants
Ice Gnomes

For artic dwaves:
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/iw/iw20030216a

This will be a cold setting, generally with 3 summer months were the highs only get into the mid 60s at the southern region of the current continent.

I'm not positive on the gnomes yet but have decided to have a contingency plan in case I run into a gnome lover :smallsmile: if they do exist they will be in small groups living alongside the artic dwarves (probably distant cousins, but thats a discussion for another time)
I have also considered adding the Killoren from races of the wild into the game as I like fey and there will be a good number of them in this setting.

So far I know I want to tweak the half giants a bit as they will all be descended from frost giants, I currently plan to drop their psionic bonus points, stomp, and their racial resistance to fire and instead replace them with a flat frost resistance 5. I currently don't plan to have psionics in the game unless a player specifically wants to play a psionic character, at which point I will adjust things accordingly and incorporate a slew of psionic animals into the world in which to hunt them muahahah! But back on topic:

For the wild elves I have considered dropping the -2 to con penalty, and for humans I have considered giving them a +2 bonus to any stat, or perhaps giving them another free feat, albeit from a shorter choice pool probably limited to something like a regional feat or some sort of exotic weapon or armor proficiency that will contribute to some sort of backstory/roleplaying.

For the normal dwarves, I have considered boosting their natural saving throw bonuses and/or boosting their bonus on armor class/attack roles against their racial enemies.

Not really sure what to do for the snow elves, But I know they will be the most inclined to be arcane casters(well not neccesarily they will just be the most culturally accepting off it), however wizards essentially don't exist in this world due to a ban on arcane magic(the snow elves will be the most likely to ignore said ban in their lands) and the go to class will be sorcerer, but the snow elves take a penalty to charisma.

For the Killoren I have considered just tossing them free fey heritage/fey skin feats to give them some free DR/cold iron because fey are pretty much required to have DR/cold iron more or less ha ha.

For gnomes, I have no idea what to give them.

Anyway if you have any ideas feel free to toss them out their, or if you want anymore info on the setting to give you a better feel for it so you can come up with an idea let me know and I will try to answer it if I have decided on that or not(still very much a WIP)



EDIT: List of Houserule/homebrew rules I plan to use with this setting (WIP)

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=291771

[Yogibear41]

Few more things to toss out their:

I currently plan to house rule all casters to spontaneous and will most likely use the rules from UA for it, druid will get SNA for free and Clerics will get Cure/Inflict for free, as level appropriate. However, I also plan to have ways for them to learn new spells where they otherwise couldn't, like a cleric does a quest for a temple so they teach him a new spell, that kinda thing.

I plan to strongly encourage the battle sorcerer variant, so that the character can blend in better wearing armor and using weapons in lands that will not be so inviting to his type.

I will probably enforce either the shapechange druid variant, or the swift and deadly hunter variant. (players choice)

I am also considering giving Paladins and Rangers increased spell casting progression, for example they normal don't get their first spells til level 4 with this variant they would begin getting spells at level 1 and progress as normal.
If I put this in place they will have a smaller selection of spells know than the other spontaneous casters, I will probably give them 2 spells known at first level and let them learn 1 new spell each level. In addition to any they learn as rewards/from other sources.

May also give rangers full Animal Companions like druids, starting at level 1. But this may not be that important as in e6 the feat that gives you +3 to your effective Animal Companion level pretty much takes care of that.


Also plan to have no level loss due to dying(but they will probably take a few weeks to recover when they do come back massive abiltity damage and what not), and all effects that come from 4th level+ spells that could be needed from time to time(such as ressurection will come from Invocations-- see Unearthed Arcana)
If you have any comments on these house rules feel free to toss them out their too.

[OzymandiasX]

(im probably going to use some absurd point buy total anyway like 50+ points its going to be a rough place to live 52 point buy seems like a good number) or nerfing the higher LA races down I would instead like to buff the other races up to their level of power.

52 point buy is pretty potent and should be able to allow any basic race to be equal to (or greater than) the LA races you listed. You could probably even go with a much lesser point buy (in the neighborhood of 42) for normal races and still be balanced.

I do agree that E6 doesn't have a perfect answer for level adjusted races...

[Yogibear41]

Well for the point buy I had inteneded it for all the races not just he LA+0 races the higher LA races would get it to. I was mainly looking for additional abilities I could stick on the LA+0 races to bring them up to LA+1 or something.

The artic dwarves probably only deserve a LA+1 anyway, sure they get a big + to str, but thats balanced by them having to use smaller weapons so the damage is going to be more or less the same, other than that they basically get a +3 to hit and a +1 to AC due to the str and size bonuses, but orcs get a +4 to str and don't have a LA. The Immunity to cold is probably the biggest feature they have, the campaign world being a cold place.


Just tossed up a link to another thread I have that is a PEACH for the homebrew rules I plan to use with this e6 campaign setting.

[Thomar_of_Uointer]

If it's E6, have you considered giving each race abilities that scale over 6 levels? I've always felt that races do nothing to encourage different play styles or strategies past ability score min-maxxing.

Anyways, looks like you're having trouble with gnomes. Are you looking at forest gnomes (forest-folk who have natural magic, affinity for illusions, and talk to badgers and moles) or rock gnomes (shorter dwarves who love alchemy, artifice, and build giant clockwork dragon constructs)?

Snow elves should probably get the ability to walk outdoors through ten feet of snow a snowstorm at normal speed without any issues. They'll only have trouble if it starts hailing golf balls or sharp pieces of ice (which, considering the setting, is probably likely). Have you seen that scene in Lord of the Rings where the party is trudging through snow and Legolas walks on top of it?

[Yogibear41]

Legolas would almost certainly be a wood elf instead. But thats an idea worth looking into. As far as the gnomes, they would most likely exist as a very small population primarily living alongside one of the dwarven races(most likely the artic dwarves) Honestly for how they would act I really haven't put much thought it in, most likely CN/CG leaning. For the dwarves in their primary city I plan to have the regular dwarves be the majority, with deurgar coming in next in population, then having the artic dwaves only be a small portion of the population 10% or so. They would likely all have a district or so of the city where they primarily lived. Regular dwaves would lean toward LN/LG, Duergar LE/LN, and artic toward CN. The city would be governed by a council of the 3 races with the high king over it being of regular dwarven descent. The Duergar while inclined to evil would still be very honorable and uphold the code of the council and live in relative peace with the other races. More of the artic dwarves would live outside the city in more wilderness areas if you will(of course all the races to an extint will do this, but the artic dwaves will do so in a higher % probably due to their natural resistance to the cold climate)