I made a snob race. (P.E.A.C.H.)

[EdokTheTwitch]

Hello everyone. This is a race I created for a homebrew campaign I'm making for my group, and I would like to ask you to tell me what do you think about it. As in, is it fair to leave it at LA +0, is the race itself interesting, and would you play it? :smallsmile:
For the appearance, just imagine the Silver Surfer in a medieval armor :smallbiggrin:


The Socialite


The Socialites are a rare occurrence, only being born into rich and noble families of the world. When a noble offspring is born, there is a chance that fate will look upon the family, and award their cunning and skillful acquiring of wealth and prestige by another child, a Socialite.

Personality: A Socialite, being born into nobility, is often pampered since birth. Due to their peculiar appearance, and the meaning of their very existence, Socialites are seen as a symbol of prestige, and are often trained to utilize the gifts they are given for the good of the family. Most of them are snobbish, aloof, and condescending to the people around them.

Physical Appearance: A Socialite resembles a member of their family race in almost every way, with the exception of their skin, which appears to be glistening silver. Their eyes are pure white, and all of them have a toned, muscular body. They have no body hair, and when they reproduce, the offspring is always a regular member of the race.

Relations: Due to the fact that Socialites are born into all races, the only animosity they experience can be from the poorer members of society. Socialites themselves, on the other hand, behave much like any other noble, with all the diversity that way of life can present.

Alignment: Due to the fact that Socialites are well guarded, and often provided the best education and training, most of them gravitate to the lawful side of the alignment axis.

Lands: Socialites have no racial lands, instead living in the same areas as their base race.

Language: There is no Socialite language, and they usually learn the same languages as their family.

Names: Socialites have names based on their origin race.

Adventurers: Adventuring Socialites are exceedingly rare, and the only ones that manage to experience that lifestyle are the ones whose families fall apart, the ones that shame their families in some way, or runaways.

Socialite Racial Traits

• -2 Constitution, +2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma; While graceful and charismatic, Socialites lack the physical endurance of the “less refined.”
• Medium. As medium creatures, Socialites have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size. Socialites born into a Small race, however, are Small. This grants them a +1 bonus to attack and AC, and reduces their base land speed to 20 feet.
• Socialite base land speed is 30 feet.
• Silver Tongue: A Socialite receives +2 to Diplomacy and Bluff.
• Gift of Fate: The very existence of the Socialite is a reward, and their survival is partly ensured by fate. Every socialite receives a +2 luck bonus to their AC, whenever they are denied Dexterity to their AC.
• Higher Class: upon reaching 2 HD, and every 2 HD after that, the Socialite receives a Level 1 Commoner, provided by the DM, as a follower. These followers can never gain levels.

[atemu1234]

Is this for pathfinder or for 3.5? It kind of affects my judgement.

The unbalanced bonuses to ability scores make me cringe a little bit, but if it is pathfinder there's a different level adjustment system in play than 3e/3.5. All in all it seems fairly standard, apart from getting commoner thralls. I'm sort of imagining a vampiric one using them as a food source.

The commoner thralls are hardly game-breaking on their own but it might be better to eliminate that ability because with it you run the risk of a rules-savvy wizard contingency-ing fireballs onto them and sending them into combat for him. Or, if he cannot make them go into combat, then there is no point behind them.

[1pwny]

I mean, its not that game-destroying, to be honest. Maybe not the most balanced, as a bard or druid could use it up the wazoo, but I've made worse. It's always fun to go Greater Paragon for +4 Cha, then get 2 Improved Charismas, and then Silver Tougue for a net bonus of +8 Cha and +2 Diplomacy and Bluff. With LA +0, according to the Pathfinder race creator. :smallsmile:

[EdokTheTwitch]

Oh, wow, I already thought that nobody liked them, forgot I even posted it. :smallbiggrin:

@Atemu1234
Yeah, I forgot to add the tag. This is for 3.5. However, my reasoning was that a CON hit was significant enough to warrant an additional boost. That was actually always my pet-peeve with the Elves, as all the flavor in the world couldn't save them from that -1 HP in my mind. :smallsmile: But, I do understand the concern, thanks for pointing it out.

With regards to the thralls, I simply figured that is is already painfully easy to acquire slaves (and slave related merchandise) in the game, so the ability was more of a flavorful addition. But, I do agree that there is potential for abuse. And yeah, as level one scrubs, I couldn't really think of a way that they could be that usefull xD

@somebody27else
Thanks for breaking it so gently :smallbiggrin:
I was terrified it could go worse in some way I never anticipated xD

And, lastly, how would you say it compares to a 3.5 human? I try to keep the races I make somewhere in that ballpark. Thanks for the responses :smallsmile:

[atemu1234]

Oh, wow, I already thought that nobody liked them, forgot I even posted it. :smallbiggrin:

@Atemu1234
Yeah, I forgot to add the tag. This is for 3.5. However, my reasoning was that a CON hit was significant enough to warrant an additional boost. That was actually always my pet-peeve with the Elves, as all the flavor in the world couldn't save them from that -1 HP in my mind. :smallsmile: But, I do understand the concern, thanks for pointing it out.

With regards to the thralls, I simply figured that is is already painfully easy to acquire slaves (and slave related merchandise) in the game, so the ability was more of a flavorful addition. But, I do agree that there is potential for abuse. And yeah, as level one scrubs, I couldn't really think of a way that they could be that usefull xD

@somebody27else
Thanks for breaking it so gently :smallbiggrin:
I was terrified it could go worse in some way I never anticipated xD

And, lastly, how would you say it compares to a 3.5 human? I try to keep the races I make somewhere in that ballpark. Thanks for the responses :smallsmile:

Judging by the stats alone I'd put it on-par. It doesn't seem designed for combat inasmuch as it is designed to be pretty and smart. That is not conducive to a proper balance, as a human fighter against one of these guys as a fighter, the human would always win. As a druid v. druid or bard v. bard, you've got an issue.

All in all, I usually try not to give bonuses that exceed penalties, mostly because that's actually one of the things to look out for listed in savage species for LA acid tests. This guy doesn't appear broken, but he doesn't seem particularly good for a player race either.

Another thing I tend to not do when making player races (you can check mine, under the homebrew link in my sig, feel free to comment and rate) is give bonuses in mental stats, though I do do that occasionally. It's a rule I rarely mind breaking, but try to not give too many bonuses and penalties that would shoehorn a character into an undesired role.

The bonuses on diplomacy also make me think diplomancer, so that's going for him. The charisma boost makes me also think leadership, which is good for a "noble" type character.

All in all, on par, maybe a bit below for being shoehorned a bit by the Con dip. If you remove one of the score boosts, maybe add a more combat-oriented ability, it'd be on par with races like dwarf and elf.