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TheFamilarRaven
2014-08-07, 03:23 PM
Hello playgrounders. I'm redisgning the core races (plus adding some homebrew ones) for my campaign world. the goal in mind is to match their crunch with their fluff. But for now, I'm just wondering what y'all think of the mechanics in terms of balance/Interestingness. Most of the changes are pretty minor, but I thought I should have them looked at before I put them up as finished products on my World Thread.

So without further ado, PEACH away!

Jomera (Star-Elf) aka High-elf
- Medium Size
- Speed 30ft
- +2 CHA, -2 CON, Jomera are outspoken and personable, but are rather frail.
- Low-Light Vision
- +2 Diplomacy, Jomera enjoy debating and discussing relevant topics.
- +2 Gather Information, Jomera like to have their facts straight.
- Jomera are tireless and focused individuals. They are immune to magical sleep effects and can stay awake twice as long as a human before needing rest.
- Jomera are a headstrong people, as such, they have a +2 racial bonus to resist mind-affecting abilities.
Classes: NPC Jomera re often Experts and Nobles
Favored Class: Bard
La: 0

Velmera (Dark-elf)
- Medium Size
- Speed 30ft
- +2 DEX, -2 CON, Velmera are graceful, elegant and refined, but still lack stamina like their Jomeran cousins
- Darkvision 120ft
- +2 Survival, and Knowledge (Dungeoneering), Velmera are well acquainted with the navigating and surviving the darker places of the world
- +2 Craft (Poisons), Any Velmeran who doesn't know how to use poisons doesn't last long in the world. In addition to the Craft bonus, they have no chance of poisoning themselves when applying Poisons.
- +1 to Will saves, Velmeran pride refuses to give in to the enemy.
- Mind Over Matter, Once per day, a Velmeran may use a Will save in place of a Fortitude save.
Favored Class: Rogue
LA: 0

Venmera (Jungle Elves)
- Medium Size
- Speed 30ft
-Low-light Vision
- +2 CHA, -2 STR, Venmera are suave and charming, but physically they lack the strength of other races
- +2 Knowledge (religion) , Venmerans are very devout.
- +2 Sense Motive and Search, Venmerans are practiced in the art discovering secrets. In addition, they are entitled to an automatic Search check every time they pass within 5ft of a secret door
- Venmerans study the workings of the divine so intensely, it becomes natural for them to cast the following Divine spells as Spell-like abilities, With Caster level equaling 1/2 their HD rounded down (minimum of 1)

3/day
Guidance
Inflict Minor Wounds
Cure Minor Wounds

1/day
Divine Favor

Favored Class: Cleric
LA: 0

Myzandian Emoc (Gnome)
- Small size
- Speed 20ft
- +2 INT, -2 CON, Emocs have keen minds but are small and delicate.
- +2 Appraise, Profession, and any Craft, Emocs have a mind for business, and tend to thrive in any endeavor.
- Emocs have a knack for magical items, add the Use Magic Device skills, to the list of class skill the Emocs has. If they already possess it, they receive a +2 racial bonus to such checks.
- Inquisitive as they are, Emocs have adapted this to a supernatural level. they may cast Detect Magic as a spell-like ability 3/day, as well as Identify 1/day.
- Emoc curiosity is not easily sated, treat their caster level for all divination magic cast by them as 1 level higher, and increase the DC by 1 (even if from an item, such as a wand)
Favored Class: Wizard
LA: 0

Eldstandian Emoc (Halfling)
- Small size
- Speed 30ft, Halflings are swift of foot
- +2 DEX, -2 STR, Emocs are quick and agile, but still small and weak
- +2 Jump, Climb and Tumble, Emocs are spry and athletic
- +2 Bluff, Emocs are sly and difficult to read
- +2 Bonus against Fear affects, Emocs are foolhardy and rarely back down. In fact, 1/day they can become immune to fear as a free action for 1 round
Favored Class: Rogue
LA: 0


Doronar - Obligatory Dragon-kin
- +2 STR -2 CHA, Doronar are strong but generally are followers not leaders.
- Size: Medium
- Base speed is 30ft
- +1 natural armor for their scales
- choose scale type.
Red
Gold - Resist 5 (fire),
Brass

Silver
White - Resist 5 (cold),

Black
Green - Resist 5 (acid),
Copper

Bronze
Blue - Resist 5 (lightning),

- +2 bonus on intimidate checks, Doronar can be very frightening
- +2 bonus on concentration checks, Doronar are very disciplined
Favored Class: Fighter
LA: 0

Vikzalxi - Obligatory cat race
- +2 CHA -2 CON, Vikzalxi are friendly and can be imposing, but lack the stamina of other races.
- Size medium
- Base speed is 30ft
- Darkvision 60ft
- +2 Knowlege (The Planes), Vikzalxi pass down the knowledge from their predecessors
- +2 bonus to spot and listen, Vikzalxi have keen senses
- +2 to Jump and balance checks, Vikzalxi have feline grace.
- Halo, on command a Vikzalxi can glow slightly which creates a dim light up to ten feet. This ability seems to also happen on it's own when a Vikzalxi is in a particularly good mood.
-Favored class: Bard
LA: 0

Belials
- +2 CON -2 CHA, Belians are tough and weathered but not very sociable
- size medium
- Base speed is 30ft
- Darkvision 60ft
- Lowlight Vision
- A Belial's heritage grants him +2 bonus to saves against spells of the necromancy school, in addition when a Belial casts a spell from the school of Necromancy, +1 to the DC to resist it.
+2 Knowledge (The Plane), Belials have spent many generation studying the outer planes.
+2 to Sense Motive, Belians are shrewd judges of character.
-Combat Training: Belians have trained for generation in order to fight Demons, Devils and Angels, Belians receive +2 to attack against all good and evil outsiders, and a +2 dodge bonus to armor while fighting them as well.
- Belian Proficiency, Belians are naturally proficient with the Belian Claw.
-Bonus languages: Any
Favored Class: Wizard

Jomoc - (Dwarves)
- +2 CON, -2 DEX, Jomocs are stout and bulky, but not too flexible
- Everything else is the same as regular dwarves :smalltongue:

Maltora - (Minotaur)
- Medium Size
- Darkvision 120ft
- Speed 30ft
- +2 STR, +2 CON, -2 DEX, -2 CHA, Maltora are physically stronger and tougher than most races, but they are less agile, and fairly gruff.
- +2 Knowledge (Engineering/Achitecture) and Knowledge (Dungeoneering), Maltora are master architects and knowledgeable about underground environments
- Maltora gain +1 racial bonus to Fortitude saves, they are a resilient race.
- Maltorans have very keen senses. They have the Scent ability, and they can not get lost while underground, nor can they be affected by the Maze spell.
- Maltorans have a natural Gore attack which deal 1d6 piercing plus Strength Modifier in piercing damage, or double that on a successful charge attack.
- Due to their sharp instincts, Maltora gain a +1 racial bonus to initiative
- Favored Class: Fighter
La: 0

Large Maltora - Because some just grow up bigger
- Large Size
- +4 STR, +2 Con, -4 DEX, -2 CHA,
- Gore increases to 1d8
- All other traits remain the same
-LA: +1

Green Naruk (Orcs) aka Myzandiuan Naruks
- Medium Size
- Speed 30ft
- +2 WIS, -2 CHA, Naruks are insightful, but are stoic
- Low-Light vision.
- +2 Knowledge (Nature), Handle Animal and Survival, Naruks possess a natural affinity for the wild
- Receive Endurance, as a racial bonus feat
- Automatically proficient with longbows/shortbows, Naruks teach the young to shoot from an early age.
- +2 to attacks made against Animals and Magical Beasts, Naruks are famed hunters
La: 0
Favored Class: Druid

Grey Naruks aka Eldstandian Naruks
As regular Naruk, except where noted.
- Stats change to +2 STR, -2 INT, Grey Naruk are barbaric, and thus are strong, but lack education
- +2 Knowledge (religion), Ride and Survial, instead of the original bonuses, Grey Naruks are ritualistic, and teach their young to ride early
- Proficient with all manner of axes (except Dwarven Waraxe), instead of bows
- +2 Attacks made against Humans, Emocs and Jomocs, instead of against Animals and Magical Beasts.
Favored Class: Barbarian
LA: 0

There you have it, let me know what you think!

Overneath
2014-08-13, 06:31 PM
It's intriguing, but I feel like there's something missing from a balance comparison aspect. Did you have a template you used for assigning bonuses to each race? If not, I'd suggest one. A net +0 to attribute bonuses is a good start, but for example the proto-favored enemy racials only match two out of three times, and I'm pretty sure I could count groups of races that get the same number of skill bonuses on one hand.

Don't feel obligated to go overboard with the structure, either, nor is it necessarily ideal to force your hand to make the races resemble each other. An example template could be:


+2 to three racial skills
Combat advantage (racial favored enemy bonus, bonus to opposed checks such as grapple, etc; bonuses can be different, but similar bonuses should be equal - see a comparison of Belials and the Naruk)
Two defensive aspects (natural armor, saving throw bonus, speed increase, etc.)
One sensory/mystic aspect (darkvision, spell-like abilities, etc.)
A race may exchange one of the three racial skill bonuses for an extra bonus of any type, such as scent or a natural attack.


Obviously, I'm not going to force that one on you; the main idea is that you have a starting point so that each race, while they have their designated functions, is eminently comparable to one another. Which means that you may want to look at implementing something specific for the Jomoc, even if it's just copy/pasting and deleting extras, since basic dwarves get quite a few more racial bonuses than your redesigns. That isn't a bad thing, it just doesn't mesh well with the whole.

Also, I noticed a spread of very large ranges for darkvision. The highest a PHB will give is 60 feet. I'm not the best person to ask about this, as I often forget that it exists in general, but multiplying the baseline by 1.5x or even 2x seems a tad sketchy to me. Again, not sure.

As a starting point, this is an excellent homebrew expansion. I especially liked having more races dedicated to fighting specific creature types, and orcs that finally have racial bonuses of any kind at all. I look forward to seeing some more fluff for these, if that's a thing that could happen. Though honestly, that would be quite the workload. Hopefully I offered some food for thought that can pave the way for improvement.

TheFamilarRaven
2014-08-14, 01:03 PM
Thank you for the PEACH ... It was insightful, and I'll be sure to improve upon the balance between each Race. I did not use a template, in retrospect I probably should have. My method was involved writing up the Jomera and Velmera as what I thought LA +0 should be, then trying to keep every other race within that spectrum. As for fluff ... it exists for some of the races. I didn't want to include it because I felt like a wall of text would put some PEACHers off. On the other hand, it would have allowed viewers to see the fluff and why some races have the abilities they do. I suppose I could spoiler it.

Thanks again