The Panda-like Bashou

[mr_odd]

This is the final version of my first homebrew race. I hope you enjoy!

The Bashou

http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs16/i/2007/218/f/c/Panda_by_CamaraSketch.jpg
Credit to CamaraSketch on DevianArt.

These panda-like humanoids reign from the mountains to the west. They are an orderly and peaceful people who typically keep to themselves. Some of their favorite past times are sleeping, relaxing, meditating, playing dice or Dragonchess and above all else, smoking Sashka. They are known for their natural wisdom and peace. The Bashou often display their clan insignia on their bodies with face paint or other such markings.

Bashou are well respected among most races. They are favored diplomats between countries or races. They are friends of Humans, Elves, and Dwarves particularly.

Bashou Traits

Ability Score Increase: Your Wisdom score increases by 2.

Age: Bashou typically live anywhere from 150-250 years. Males usually have a slightly longer life expectancy.

Alignment: While they are orderly and methodical, the Bashou can be quite carefree. They are typically Neutral Good or True Neutral. Most Bashou value their clan above all else, but those who have broken away from their families are sometimes self-centered.

Appearance: Bashou differ in their hair color and face/body paint depending on their clan.

River: mainly dark brown/black with white accents
Rock: gray coats as in two tone grays
Blade: silver with white or black accents
Prophet: white with brown, black, gray, or red accents

Size: Bashou stand at around 6-7 ft. tall while weighing anywhere from 200-270 pounds. Your size is Medium.

Speed: Your base walking speed is 25 ft. While they may be slightly larger than the majority of humanoids, most Bashou move a tad slower.

Darkvision: Accustomed to the night sky and dim light by torches, Bashou can see in dim light within 60 ft. as if it were bright light, and darkness as if it were dim light.

Sashka Smoker: Your body has become accustomed to the constant smoking of Sashka. You have advantage on Constitution saving throws against drugs and poisons. You also have resistance to poison damage.

Peace of Soul: Constant meditation gives you proficiency in the insight skill.

Clan Proficiency: Choose a clan. Your lineage or time spent in the community gives you proficiency in a specific area.

¤ River: Bashou from the River clan gain proficiency in acrobatics.
¤ Rock: Bashou from the Rock clan gain proficiency in survival.
¤ Blade: Bashou from the Blade clan gain proficiency in athletics.
¤ Prophet: Bashou from the Prophet clan gain proficiency in religion.

Languages: Bashou can speak, read, and write Common and Bashan.

Subrace: The Bashou have been split into two subraces after hundreds of years of development, the Elder Bashou and the Wandering Bashou. Choose one subrace:

Elder Bashou

http://th02.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2013/003/a/3/panda_smoking_a_pipe_by_uncorrupted-d5qavt1.jpg
Credit to Uncorrupted on DeviantArt.

Elder Bashou are the "traditional" Bashou. They live in mountain ranges, usually in large clans. Elder Bashou typically enjoy practicing various forms of martial arts and armed combat as part of their meditation. These Bashou are clan oriented, and are held personally responsible for their brothers and sisters.

Ability Score Increase: Your Strength score increases by 1.

Calm Mind: You have one automatic success on any saving throw. You must decide to use your automatic success before you roll, and you regain the automatic success after a long rest.

Combat Training: You gain proficiency in unarmed strike, heavy crossbow, handaxe, and warhammer.

Wandering Bashou

http://th04.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2012/035/5/2/panda_by_alchemaniac-d4oltnt.jpg
Credit to alchemaniac on DeviantArt.

Wandering Bashou come from groups of Bashou that left the mountains to explore the world. These Bashou can be found operating trading caravans, exploring uncharted territory, practicing sorcery, or acting as diplomats. These Bashou are natural at building quick relationships with people.

Ability Score Increase: Your Charisma score increases by 1.

Wanderer's Song: Wandering Bashou share a common song that is said to grant the wanderer blessings. You gain advantage on one ability check, attack roll, or saving throw. You regain use of this ability after a long rest.

Traveller: Wandering Bashou are slightly faster than their Elder counterparts. Your base speed becomes 30 ft. instead of 25 ft.

[Steel Mirror]

They look pretty good overall, but I would personally suggest giving them a minor boost somewhere to both make them more powerful and to set them apart from existing options.

In fact, stat-wise they look pretty close to dwarves, which is convenient because it provides a pretty solid basis of comparison for us to work from!

Move speed is 25 for both races, but Dwarves get that ability to ignore movement penalties for armor. Advantage Dwarves.

Darkvision is something they both get. Tied.

Sashka Smoker is more or less comparable to Dwarven Resilience, so that's a tie as well. As an aside, I love the idea of a racial boost deriving from a species-wide vice. :smallbiggrin:

Both races get a tool proficiency, so we'll call that another tie.

The subraces get either Combat Training or a language, which is more or less equivalent to the Dwarven Combat Training, which gives a slightly more limited but still pretty good set of weapon proficiencies. Probably slight advantage for the Elder Bashou, slight disadvantage for the Wandering Bashou, but that will also depend on character class and campaign.

That leaves one racial trait for the Bashou, their training in the Insight skill, stacked up against the Dwarves' Stonecunning, plus either the Hill Dwarf's Dwarven Toughness or the Mountain Dwarf's Armor Training. In my opinion, that is a pretty clear win for the Dwarves.

So all in all, I think you can easily come up with another racial trait for the Bashou and add it on! They look cool, and I wish you well with them.

[mr_odd]

That leaves one racial trait for the Bashou, their training in the Insight skill, stacked up against the Dwarves' Stonecunning, plus either the Hill Dwarf's Dwarven Toughness or the Mountain Dwarf's Armor Training. In my opinion, that is a pretty clear win for the Dwarves.

So all in all, I think you can easily come up with another racial trait for the Bashou and add it on! They look cool, and I wish you well with them.

Thanks! This was my first attempt at making a homebrew race, and since I plan on implementing it in my future 5e, I didn't want to make something too radical. I did however feel as though they needed something else to both empower them and make them stand out. Would you say that it would be better to come up with a base trait or two subrace traits? Thank you for your insight!

[Steel Mirror]

I would vote for a trait for each subrace, but it would work just fine either way really. Looks really good for a first homebrewing attempt! I hope your players enjoy it.

[DiBastet]

...must... not... think... pandaren... it's... a different... race... focus bastet... damn. I like your pandaren, i mean, bashou.

...must... not... say... "give them d4 unnarmed damage"...damn...

[mr_odd]

...must... not... think... pandaren... it's... a different... race... focus bastet... damn. I like your pandaren, i mean, bashou.

...must... not... say... "give them d4 unnarmed damage"...damn...

One of our players is a WoW player as well. My hope is to make these guys much more distinctive than the Panderan. Any suggestions?

[Thomar_of_Uointer]

Bashou Traits

Ability Score Increase: Your Wisdom score increases by 2.

Age: Bashou typically live anywhere from 150-250 years. Males usually have a slightly longer life expectancy.

Alignment: While they are orderly and methodical, the Bashou can be quite carefree. They are typically Neutral Good or True Neutral. Most Bashou value their clan above all else, but those who have broken away from their families are sometimes self-centered.

Size: Bashou stand at around 6-7 ft. tall while weighing anywhere from 200-270 pounds. Your size is Medium.

Speed: Your base walking speed is 25 ft. While they may be slightly larger than the majority of humanoids, most Bashou move a tad slower.

Darkvision: Accustomed to the night sky and dim light by torches, Bashou can see in dim light within 60 ft. as if it were bright light, and darkness as if it were dim light.

Sashka Smoker: Your body has become accustomed to the constant smoking of Sashka, and as such, you gain advantage on Constitution saving throws from herbs, poison, and other such instances. You also gain resistance to poison and similar affects.

Peace of Soul: Constant meditation gives you proficiency in the insight skill.

Tool Proficiency: You gain proficiency with the gaming set of your choice: Dice set or Dragonchess set.

Languages: Bashou can speak, read, and write Common and Bashan.

Subrace: The Bashou have been split into two subraces after hundreds of years of development, the Elder Bashou and the Wandering Bashou. Choose one subrace:

Elder Bashou

Elder Bashou are the "traditional" Bashou. They live in mountain ranges, usually in large clans. Elder Bashou typically enjoy practicing various forms of martial arts and armed combat as part of their meditation. These Bashou are clan oriented, and are held personally responsible for their brothers and sisters.

Ability Score Increase: Your Strength score increases by 1.

Combat Training: You gain proficiency in unarmed strike, heavy crossbow, handaxe, and warhammer.

Wandering Bashou

Wandering Bashou come from groups of Bashou that left the mountains to explore the world. These Bashou can be found operating trading caravans, exploring uncharted territory, practicing sorcery, or acting as diplomats. These Bashou are natural at building quick relationships with people.

Ability Score Increase: Your Charisma score increases by 1.

Extra Language: You can speak, read, and write one extra language of your choice.

Nice job on the subraces. :)

I would recommend the following wording for the smoker one: "Sashka Smoker: Your body has become accustomed to the constant smoking of Sashka. You have advantage on Constitution saving throws against drugs and poisons. You also have resistance to poison damage."

It's quite balanced. You could probably get away with an additional trait, either for the base race or each subrace. Maybe something about their graceful calm allowing auto-success on one saving throw once per long rest.

[mr_odd]

Nice job on the subraces. :)

I would recommend the following wording for the smoker one: "Sashka Smoker: Your body has become accustomed to the constant smoking of Sashka. You have advantage on Constitution saving throws against drugs and poisons. You also have resistance to poison damage."

It's quite balanced. You could probably get away with an additional trait, either for the base race or each subrace. Maybe something about their graceful calm allowing auto-success on one saving throw once per long rest.

I do like that wording better! Also, I've been thinking about a trait having to do with meditation, but I'm not sure yet. I like the idea of one autosuccess, but I'm not entirely sure. Possibly an AC bonus? I'm going to think about it more!

[infinitetech]

well done, though maybe add an ability to "sing bamboo into items" they have lived with the plant for so long the culture learned elemental singing that can create any non magic item made from bamboo and anything that is stuck in the bamboo while its alive (you can add items) or if something could be in another plant you know very well you can sing those properties in too, singing and item from it does not kill the plant, only make it back to a less grown version aka sapling like, sung items are living plants that will heal and try to harden if damaged but not broken in an area, singing to it will keep it strong and boost its health, 1 day singing effectively makes it 1 quality lvl higher aka wood>stone>copper>bronze>iron>steel>... and so on... or adds a +1 to use... or heals and increases its regen... or grow the plant up one cycle (each cycle can yield xdx gp worth of sungboo material which you must match the cost of the item being sung and where x is the character lvl [even at a full lvl 20 expensive items will take days because best posible roll would make 400gp value] sungboo cannot be sold for money, and the idea of selling a sungtool is like selling your right arm to bashou), must be sung to, left in the sun, placed on fertile ground, or something for one hour each day or it dies and becomes a fully mundane wood tool(though maybe a bit stronger than normal wood it begins to crack as it dries normaly), a bashou who doesnt have songboo to sing to gets disadvantage on all rolls until they sing again if separated for more than a week, singing an item takes (simple[5-{x*.25}hours x is lvl]average[10-{x*.5}hours x is lvl]complex[20-{x*1}hours x is lvl]super complex[40-{x*2}hours x is lvl]), items can be enchanted regularly by a bashou singing it into the wood while enchanting

stoic bashu can use eucalyptusung wood (aka eucalyptus type wood)

elders can use emperesung wood (aka empress trees)

river can use sungmetal wood (aka iron wood)

playful can use sungvein (aka an ivy[wayfarers friend])

wandering dont get special materials, but they take half the time on sing tasks

instead of proficiency with other tools they are proficient/get advantage with sung items and get dis advantage with all others

and maybe add a "playful bashou" aka the kind of adopted cousin based on the red panda, they could be kind of a sneaky race (movement boosts and hide boosts) and make the elders a knowledge based race and make a "river side bashou" your warriors, "stoic bashou" = tradesman = koala based

stoic = tan and gray, gray and white, or tan and white
elder race = gray coats as in two tone grays
river =mainly dark brown/black with white accents
playful = coppery with white or black accents
wandering = white with brown, black, gray, or red accents
stoic = weigh medium, shorter, count as small, faster
elder = weigh less, taller, slower, count as medium
river = tallest, weigh most, slowest, count as large
wandering =weigh more, medium speed, count as medium, medium height
playful = weigh least, count as tiny, lightest, shortest, fastest

make the race refuse to use animal based items, fire, or processed goods if they can use natural things, (they will still eat food so as not to waste it or if they are starving),(will use metal in a sung tool for compasses and such), (can sing the bamboo to hold heated gas in the stem)

just some ideas... what do you think? basically they are each a distinct sub culture aka elder=leader, river=warrior, stoic=craftsmen, playful=spy/peasant/artist, and the wanderer culture is the cast offs, the hybrids, the outcasts, and the loners

[mr_odd]

well done, though maybe add an ability to "sing bamboo into items" they have lived with the plant for so long the culture learned elemental singing that can create any non magic item made from bamboo and anything that is stuck in the bamboo while its alive (you can add items) or if something could be in another plant you know very well you can sing those properties in too, singing and item from it does not kill the plant, only make it back to a less grown version aka sapling like, sung items are living plants that will heal and try to harden if damaged but not broken in an area, singing to it will keep it strong and boost its health, 1 day singing effectively makes it 1 quality lvl higher aka wood>stone>copper>bronze>iron>steel>... and so on... or adds a +1 to use... or heals and increases its regen... or grow the plant up one cycle (each cycle can yield xdx gp worth of sungboo material which you must match the cost of the item being sung and where x is the character lvl [even at a full lvl 20 expensive items will take days because best posible roll would make 400gp value] sungboo cannot be sold for money, and the idea of selling a sungtool is like selling your right arm to bashou), must be sung to, left in the sun, placed on fertile ground, or something for one hour each day or it dies and becomes a fully mundane wood tool(though maybe a bit stronger than normal wood it begins to crack as it dries normaly), a bashou who doesnt have songboo to sing to gets disadvantage on all rolls until they sing again if separated for more than a week, singing an item takes (simple[5-{x*.25}hours x is lvl]average[10-{x*.5}hours x is lvl]complex[20-{x*1}hours x is lvl]super complex[40-{x*2}hours x is lvl]), items can be enchanted regularly by a bashou singing it into the wood while enchanting

stoic bashu can use eucalyptusung wood (aka eucalyptus type wood)

elders can use emperesung wood (aka empress trees)

river can use sungmetal wood (aka iron wood)

playful can use sungvein (aka an ivy[wayfarers friend])

wandering dont get special materials, but they take half the time on sing tasks

instead of proficiency with other tools they are proficient/get advantage with sung items and get dis advantage with all others

and maybe add a "playful bashou" aka the kind of adopted cousin based on the red panda, they could be kind of a sneaky race (movement boosts and hide boosts) and make the elders a knowledge based race and make a "river side bashou" your warriors, "stoic bashou" = tradesman = koala based

stoic = tan and gray, gray and white, or tan and white
elder race = gray coats as in two tone grays
river =mainly dark brown/black with white accents
playful = coppery with white or black accents
wandering = white with brown, black, gray, or red accents
stoic = weigh medium, shorter, count as small, faster
elder = weigh less, taller, slower, count as medium
river = tallest, weigh most, slowest, count as large
wandering =weigh more, medium speed, count as medium, medium height
playful = weigh least, count as tiny, lightest, shortest, fastest

make the race refuse to use animal based items, fire, or processed goods if they can use natural things, (they will still eat food so as not to waste it or if they are starving),(will use metal in a sung tool for compasses and such), (can sing the bamboo to hold heated gas in the stem)

just some ideas... what do you think? basically they are each a distinct sub culture aka elder=leader, river=warrior, stoic=craftsmen, playful=spy/peasant/artist, and the wanderer culture is the cast offs, the hybrids, the outcasts, and the loners

I like the subcultures idea, and I think I will implement that in the various clans.

As far as using magic to mold the environment, I think I will implement a different but similar/inspired trait.

Thank you for your ideas! It's definitely appreciated and they have given me some ideas.

[infinitetech]

glad i could help, im always making stuff like this haha :-)

[mr_odd]

First update! I added traits to both subclasses, changed tool proficiency to clan proficiency, and added appearances based by clan. Let know your thoughts, especially on balance!

[infinitetech]

good new update, i just thought that my old tree weaver traits could help make them a bit further from a certain other game, and i like the new methods, keep up your tinkering

[mr_odd]

Just updated the main post again. I added pictures and an extra trait to the Wandering Bashou to help balance them with the Elder Bashou.

My big question is if you think the race is balanced after all of the additional traits. Let me know your thoughts!

[infinitetech]

this seems perfectly balanced to me, not even the highest teir, looks good, not sure if there would be anything id change, unless you added a dietary restriction to bamboo(like real pandas) and gave them some bonus to counter it or you wanted to add morevariants, also cool art, tho boy thats one skinny panda lol

[mr_odd]

this seems perfectly balanced to me, not even the highest teir, looks good, not sure if there would be anything id change, unless you added a dietary restriction to bamboo(like real pandas) and gave them some bonus to counter it or you wanted to add morevariants, also cool art, tho boy thats one skinny panda lol

Rather than make the diet a racial trait, I decided that I would add it as part of the description/lore. I really like them how they are now, and I think I would only change the traits of people thought they were unbalanced, which you do not.

[Steel Mirror]

First off, a minor suggestion in the way of formatting. Bolding the title of each racial trait breaks up the text and makes it easier to read!

I'm actually unsure how Wandering Song works. It grants a point of Inspiration? You can use it at will? That's incredibly powerful. Does it only work on you? Since you can (by the rules) give your Inspiration to someone else to use, does that mean that everyone in a group that contains a Bashou always walks around with Inspiration, and can spend it whenever they want because another one will replace it immediately? What kind of an action is it?

The Traveler ability for the Wandering Bashou is unnecessarily broad, in my opinion. You already allow the player to choose both a clan and a subrace, having the subrace also have a choice of traits is excessive. You could choose just one of those options (skill, tools, cantrip) and give it to the Bashou. Though the cantrip option seems particularly powerful compared to the other two; I wouldn't keep that one.

While we are on skill proficiencies, Bashou get quite a few. Insight for free, another one for the clan, and wandering Bashou get potentially yet another skill. I would probably collapse that into 2 proficiencies total. Just having the Traveler ability grant 2 tool proficiencies and that's all would probably kill 2 birds with one stone.

Calm Mind seems pretty powerful, but it is also pretty cool, and matches the fluff, and is only usable once. Overall, I think a good trait that would be hard to abuse, so it's probably fine.

[mr_odd]

First off, a minor suggestion in the way of formatting. Bolding the title of each racial trait breaks up the text and makes it easier to read!

I'm actually unsure how Wandering Song works. It grants a point of Inspiration? You can use it at will? That's incredibly powerful. Does it only work on you? Since you can (by the rules) give your Inspiration to someone else to use, does that mean that everyone in a group that contains a Bashou always walks around with Inspiration, and can spend it whenever they want because another one will replace it immediately? What kind of an action is it?

The Traveler ability for the Wandering Bashou is unnecessarily broad, in my opinion. You already allow the player to choose both a clan and a subrace, having the subrace also have a choice of traits is excessive. You could choose just one of those options (skill, tools, cantrip) and give it to the Bashou. Though the cantrip option seems particularly powerful compared to the other two; I wouldn't keep that one.

While we are on skill proficiencies, Bashou get quite a few. Insight for free, another one for the clan, and wandering Bashou get potentially yet another skill. I would probably collapse that into 2 proficiencies total. Just having the Traveler ability grant 2 tool proficiencies and that's all would probably kill 2 birds with one stone.

Calm Mind seems pretty powerful, but it is also pretty cool, and matches the fluff, and is only usable once. Overall, I think a good trait that would be hard to abuse, so it's probably fine.

Thanks for the input! I was slightly concerned with giving them too many proficincies. I guess the Traveller trait isn't needed considering backgrounds do almost the same thing. I will probably collapse it to two tools.

I guess I'll have to update the Wanderer's Song's wording. It is supposed to only be used during a long travel, so primarily at the beginning of a session, or if the party ventures from one town to another.

[mr_odd]

Updated Wandering Bashou as previously stated.

EDIT

Updated again. Removed Traveler and changed the Wanderer's Song.