Sindeloke
2014-09-09, 05:08 PM
I'm updating my campaign setting for 5e in preparation for a new campaign, and I was hoping for some feedback on what I've got so far. I know that balance is a hard call to make without even having the DMG yet, but hey, that's no reason not to try, right?
If it helps, I had three basic design principles here - first, one thing I really liked from 4e was the idea of active racial abilities, something tangible you can do while playing to make you feel like your specific racial choice has made a difference, and I've tried to carry some of those forward and give every race something with some agency to it. Second, I really dislike racial monocultures; in my setting, every nation is comprised of a mix of different races, and things like language, weapon proficiencies and available tools are all determined by where you live. I try to restrict racial traits to solely physical attributes. Third, there are no subraces. I might add some later by exchanging a few features once everything feels balanced, but I've never found them necessary in previous editions, and it'd certainly be way too complex to add two or three variations per on all seven new species when I haven't even gotten the base concepts balanced yet.
So!
Races in my world are divided into three general groups - if each race is a species, these kinship groups are their genus, basically. They can't necessarily cross-breed but the physical similarities are still meaningful for categorization purposes, and potentially for some spells or class features.
Bear kin are mammals with generally flat faces, localized hair growth, and moderate sexual dimorphism, with larger males and permanent secondary sexual characteristics. They're omnivores, have one or two children at once, and rely primarily on accute vision to analyze the world around them.
In Vasartong, adeshen are known widely as the “little lions,” a comment on both their distinctive ears and tail and their surprising strength for their size – as well as perhaps on their presumed origin in the southern savannahs. One of the smallest sapient races, adeshen are nevertheless usually regarded as dangerous fighters and valuable allies by the taller folk amongst whom they live, and are prized as friends by farmers and sailors for their curious ability to predict the weather with uncanny accuracy.
Physically, a full-grown adeshi usually stands between 3'8”-4'5” in height and 70-120 lbs in weight. Thick curly hair in varying shades of gold, orange, red and maroon grows from their scalp and the nape of the neck, and in a tuft at the end of a long, otherwise naked tail. Like humans, their skin is usually a lighter shade than their hair, in a variety of brownish shades of red and yellow, though unlike humans, they also possess faint zebra striping of a darker shade along thicker areas of skin. Their ears are very large for bear kin, resembling those of big cats in both size and flexibility. Their eyes have rounded pupils and are typically, though not always, the same color as their hair. Their nails are rounded and grow quickly.
Mentally, adeshen are very loyal and intense, prone to close tribal bonds and deep passions. They're not given to curiosity or showboating, and are known rather for steadiness, insight and a deep stubborn streak, alongside a hesitance to innovate or change and a fondness for open spaces and familiar terrain. They also have a strange instinct for dealing with animals, and are famous for having an almost symbiotic relationship with their hunting dogs or sport hawks or, especially, their favored mounts; adeshen are often said in the south to be born to the saddle and they master riding easily. Sports in general, in fact, are easy for adeshen to take up; naturally athletic and competitive, they are quick to learn and eager to master any new physical game or contest.
Small size
+2 Wisdom, +1 Strength
25 foot base speed
Natural Athlete: Adeshen have proficiency in Athletics.
Animal Empathy: An adeshi has advantage on any check made involving the non-hostile handling of an animal (or other natural creature of Int 2 or less), including but not limited to Ride checks, influencing animal attitudes, and attempting to train a creature for work or combat.
Hunter's Mercy: Upon making a successful attack roll, an adeshi can choose to convert the hit to a critical hit. Once used, this ability cannot be used again until the adeshi completes a short or long rest.
Weatherwise: Adeshen with any access to the outdoors can predict the next 24 hours of weather accurately.
As PHB; free feat variant.
Often dismissed as 'tribal savages,' jarugans are the most feared and distrusted of the sentient races – partly for their size and strength, but largely for a reputation for fierce tempers and a pride in the physical matched only by their disinterest in the intellectual. Despite its sophisticated uses, the jarugan sagal, a distinctive booming howl that can be modulated to carry messages across hundreds of miles of open taiga, only serves to make them seem more bestial. While it's true that jarugans are excellent natural warriors, who not only have great strength but also heal unusually fast and have an incredible pain tolerance, there's certainly nothing other than prejudice stopping them from choosing any other path in a civilized setting.
Physically, adult jarugans stand between 6'-7'5” in height and 160-400 lbs in weight; they've been described as “broad in the shoulders, long in the arms and light on the feet.” Thick straight hair in shades of black or dark blue covers the skull, neck and upper back and shoulders, growing as long as eight to twelve inches on the scalp if not trimmed but as few as one to two along the body. Their ears rise to slight points and their canines are prominent and often protrude over the upper lip, especially in males. They have the flattest faces of the bear kin, with noses extending in an unbroken line from the forehead and narrowing from the eyebrows to the tip in a triangular shape. Their eyes are vertically slitted and are usually green, blue or gold, and their skin tones range from a darker red-tinted grey to lighter, more muddy gold shades. They typically have very broad feet and hands with round, semi-retractable nails.
Mentally, jarugans are nearly as confident and self-assured as they are strong in body. Proud and competitive, they're highly motivated by personal achievement (especially physical achievement), and inclined to show off any evidence of that achievement to any passers-by. They're not often long-term planners, apt rather to focus on the here and now than dwell on the past or worry about the future or big picture. They also have a tendency to be night owls – their eyesight is keen in dim light and quick to pick up motion, and they have a natural talent for stealth that finds its best use with the cover of dark to conceal their large forms.
Medium size
+2 Strength, +1 Charisma
30 foot base speed
Darkvision: as described in the Basic rules.
Natural Hunter: Jarugans have advantage on Dexterity (stealth) checks.
Fearless: Jarugans have advantage on saves vs fear.
Enduring: A jarugan may choose to use her reaction to gain resistance against an attack that is about to deal damage to her. She must take a short or long rest after using this ability in order to do it again.
Sagal: Jarugans can produce an enormously loud, resonant howling sound that can be heard for miles, depending on geography and weather. They can't modulate the sound enough to create a genuine language, but they can create enough variation to communicate basic ideas, similar to flag code or smoke signals.
If it helps, I had three basic design principles here - first, one thing I really liked from 4e was the idea of active racial abilities, something tangible you can do while playing to make you feel like your specific racial choice has made a difference, and I've tried to carry some of those forward and give every race something with some agency to it. Second, I really dislike racial monocultures; in my setting, every nation is comprised of a mix of different races, and things like language, weapon proficiencies and available tools are all determined by where you live. I try to restrict racial traits to solely physical attributes. Third, there are no subraces. I might add some later by exchanging a few features once everything feels balanced, but I've never found them necessary in previous editions, and it'd certainly be way too complex to add two or three variations per on all seven new species when I haven't even gotten the base concepts balanced yet.
So!
Races in my world are divided into three general groups - if each race is a species, these kinship groups are their genus, basically. They can't necessarily cross-breed but the physical similarities are still meaningful for categorization purposes, and potentially for some spells or class features.
Bear kin are mammals with generally flat faces, localized hair growth, and moderate sexual dimorphism, with larger males and permanent secondary sexual characteristics. They're omnivores, have one or two children at once, and rely primarily on accute vision to analyze the world around them.
In Vasartong, adeshen are known widely as the “little lions,” a comment on both their distinctive ears and tail and their surprising strength for their size – as well as perhaps on their presumed origin in the southern savannahs. One of the smallest sapient races, adeshen are nevertheless usually regarded as dangerous fighters and valuable allies by the taller folk amongst whom they live, and are prized as friends by farmers and sailors for their curious ability to predict the weather with uncanny accuracy.
Physically, a full-grown adeshi usually stands between 3'8”-4'5” in height and 70-120 lbs in weight. Thick curly hair in varying shades of gold, orange, red and maroon grows from their scalp and the nape of the neck, and in a tuft at the end of a long, otherwise naked tail. Like humans, their skin is usually a lighter shade than their hair, in a variety of brownish shades of red and yellow, though unlike humans, they also possess faint zebra striping of a darker shade along thicker areas of skin. Their ears are very large for bear kin, resembling those of big cats in both size and flexibility. Their eyes have rounded pupils and are typically, though not always, the same color as their hair. Their nails are rounded and grow quickly.
Mentally, adeshen are very loyal and intense, prone to close tribal bonds and deep passions. They're not given to curiosity or showboating, and are known rather for steadiness, insight and a deep stubborn streak, alongside a hesitance to innovate or change and a fondness for open spaces and familiar terrain. They also have a strange instinct for dealing with animals, and are famous for having an almost symbiotic relationship with their hunting dogs or sport hawks or, especially, their favored mounts; adeshen are often said in the south to be born to the saddle and they master riding easily. Sports in general, in fact, are easy for adeshen to take up; naturally athletic and competitive, they are quick to learn and eager to master any new physical game or contest.
Small size
+2 Wisdom, +1 Strength
25 foot base speed
Natural Athlete: Adeshen have proficiency in Athletics.
Animal Empathy: An adeshi has advantage on any check made involving the non-hostile handling of an animal (or other natural creature of Int 2 or less), including but not limited to Ride checks, influencing animal attitudes, and attempting to train a creature for work or combat.
Hunter's Mercy: Upon making a successful attack roll, an adeshi can choose to convert the hit to a critical hit. Once used, this ability cannot be used again until the adeshi completes a short or long rest.
Weatherwise: Adeshen with any access to the outdoors can predict the next 24 hours of weather accurately.
As PHB; free feat variant.
Often dismissed as 'tribal savages,' jarugans are the most feared and distrusted of the sentient races – partly for their size and strength, but largely for a reputation for fierce tempers and a pride in the physical matched only by their disinterest in the intellectual. Despite its sophisticated uses, the jarugan sagal, a distinctive booming howl that can be modulated to carry messages across hundreds of miles of open taiga, only serves to make them seem more bestial. While it's true that jarugans are excellent natural warriors, who not only have great strength but also heal unusually fast and have an incredible pain tolerance, there's certainly nothing other than prejudice stopping them from choosing any other path in a civilized setting.
Physically, adult jarugans stand between 6'-7'5” in height and 160-400 lbs in weight; they've been described as “broad in the shoulders, long in the arms and light on the feet.” Thick straight hair in shades of black or dark blue covers the skull, neck and upper back and shoulders, growing as long as eight to twelve inches on the scalp if not trimmed but as few as one to two along the body. Their ears rise to slight points and their canines are prominent and often protrude over the upper lip, especially in males. They have the flattest faces of the bear kin, with noses extending in an unbroken line from the forehead and narrowing from the eyebrows to the tip in a triangular shape. Their eyes are vertically slitted and are usually green, blue or gold, and their skin tones range from a darker red-tinted grey to lighter, more muddy gold shades. They typically have very broad feet and hands with round, semi-retractable nails.
Mentally, jarugans are nearly as confident and self-assured as they are strong in body. Proud and competitive, they're highly motivated by personal achievement (especially physical achievement), and inclined to show off any evidence of that achievement to any passers-by. They're not often long-term planners, apt rather to focus on the here and now than dwell on the past or worry about the future or big picture. They also have a tendency to be night owls – their eyesight is keen in dim light and quick to pick up motion, and they have a natural talent for stealth that finds its best use with the cover of dark to conceal their large forms.
Medium size
+2 Strength, +1 Charisma
30 foot base speed
Darkvision: as described in the Basic rules.
Natural Hunter: Jarugans have advantage on Dexterity (stealth) checks.
Fearless: Jarugans have advantage on saves vs fear.
Enduring: A jarugan may choose to use her reaction to gain resistance against an attack that is about to deal damage to her. She must take a short or long rest after using this ability in order to do it again.
Sagal: Jarugans can produce an enormously loud, resonant howling sound that can be heard for miles, depending on geography and weather. They can't modulate the sound enough to create a genuine language, but they can create enough variation to communicate basic ideas, similar to flag code or smoke signals.