Thri-Kreen Playable Race!!! (PEACH)

[Ralcos]

Well, yet another day I was bored, AND I built another 5e race!
Thri-Kreen are one of my favorite races, and I wanted to do them justice in 5e! :smallbiggrin::smallcool:


Thri Kreen
“I am an avid hunter and marksman, and I will not hesitate to shoot anyone who has myself or clutch in fear for our lives.” - K’Tattcha, Thri-Kreen Ranger

http://eberronunlimited.wdfiles.com/local--files/thri-kreen/cp2209_thri%20kreen.jpg

The thri-kreen, or "mantis warriors", are an insect-like monstrous humanoid race, resembling humanoid mantids with golden-brown coloration. They possess six limbs, and usually use one pair for locomotion and the other two pairs as arms. They have excellent physical capabilities, allowing them to jump great distances. They also have sharp claws, venomous bites, and psionic abilities. An average thri-kreen has the life expectancy of only 30 years. However, this is countered by the fact that thri-kreen do not require sleep. A thri-kreen truly lives out every moment of its precious 30 years.
Thri-kreen are formidable nomadic hunters who respect the land and hate creatures that despoil it. They will attack anyone who disturbs their home.
Thri-kreen have two signature weapons: the gythka, a polearm with a blade at each end; and the chatkcha, a dasl crystal throwing wedge which returns when thrown. Dasl is made from thri-kreen venom, modified by the zik-thok (fejik) plant. Creation of dasl is a racial secret and is only suitable for making three-sided weapons such as the chatkcha and gythka.
Thri-kreen sometimes use other species' weapons, but this is rare. Thri-Kreen are usually neutral-aligned.



Ability Score Increases. Your Dexterity score increases by 2, while your Strength score increases by 1.
Speed. Thri-Kreen are known for their speed, dashing across landscapes faster than most humanoid races. Your speed is 35 feet.
Size. Thr-Kreen are, physically, similar in height to humans; though they are lighter to a degree (weighing around 100 lbs. on average). You are Medium-Sized.
Body of Chitin. Thri-Kreen are born with a hardened chitin exoskeleton, protecting them from some harm. You gain a +2 racial bonus to your Armor Class, but you cannot wear any armors. This feature stacks with the Barbarian and Monk unarmored class features.
Natural Jumpers. Thri-Kreen have powerful legs, allowing for jumps that many other humanoids consider impossible. You are trained in the Athletics skill. In addition, you always have Advantage on Strength (Athletics) checks when jumping (with or without a running start).
Thri-Kreen Weapon Training. Thri-Kreen, from only a few months after birth, train in the use of the Kreen racial weapons, whether to aid hunting or fight their Clutch's enemies. You begin with proficiency with the Chatchka and the Gythka.
Subraces. All Thri-Kreen belong to a Clutch, usually meaning group/family/clan/tribe to other humanoids, which each give them unique abilities. Choose one of the following Clutches; Once chosen, you cannot change it during the character’s life:
[LIST=1]

Clutch of the Predator: This Clutch focuses on the hunt, augmenting their natural claw attacks with poison to weaken their enemy. Thri-Kreen of this clutch gains a natural claw attack (they are proficient in these attacks). The claw attack deals 1d4 damage and are considered to be Finesse weapons with the light keyword. Once per day, Thri-Kreen of this clutch can apply a poison to any natural attack or any unarmed attack (DC 12 Constitution Save; failure means that the target is Poisoned for 6 hours, or until cured).


Clutch of the Third Eye: This Clutch focuses on the mind, having special abilities that wouldn’t qualify as magic to Wizards or Clerics (called “psionics” by the educated that know of these abilities). Thri-Kreen of this clutch begin with the Mage Hand cantrip. At 3rd level, they can use the Longstrider spell once per day. At 5th level, they can use the Magic Weapon spell once per day.

Languages. Thri-Kreen can understand, speak, read, and write Common and Thri-Kreen. Though they prefer their spoken word, Thri-Kreen that speak in other languages have broken accents (e.g. instead of “May I buy this Warhammer”, a Thri-Kreen would say, “May… K’Tattcha buy… Hammer?”).



Gythka (Martial Weapon)
This is a double weapon, with both sides having blades looking like the claws of the Thri-Kreen themselves. Any character wielding this weapon can make an extra attack as a Bonus Action, but they do not gain their Proficiency Bonus on the second attack.
Damage: 1d10 (1d8 on the second attack) Slashing
Weight: 6 lbs.
Value: 4 gp.
Keywords: Double, Heavy, Two-Handed

Chatkcha (Martial Weapon)
Resembling a three-pointed throwing star, this is a wedge shaped object used as a throwing weapon.
Damage: 1d6
Weight: 1 lbs.
Value: 4gp.
Keywords: Throwing, Finesse


So, any Suggestions/Advice/Criticisms?
NOTE: Could I have some help with the Four Arms feature? I was trying to make it similar to the 4e Thri-Kreen feature, which made some minor actions (such as pulling a potion from a bag/belt, etc) as a free action.
I'll allow anyone to play as this race, if that question comes up. :smallcool:

[BRKNdevil]

The bonus to AC for 5e is a major thing, along with the bonus to speed over the average and the inclusion of an automatic proficiency seems all a bit heavy and approaching overpowered for a race.
How would your Magic Weapon work? Does it scale since that is a spell that would scale with the different spell slots.
Finally it seems that most prof skills for players are based off 8 + prof B + some stat mod.

[Ralcos]

The bonus to AC for 5e is a major thing, along with the bonus to speed over the average and the inclusion of an automatic proficiency seems all a bit heavy and approaching overpowered for a race.
How would your Magic Weapon work? Does it scale since that is a spell that would scale with the different spell slots.
Finally it seems that most prof skills for players are based off 8 + prof B + some stat mod.

I was using the Basic Game pdf at the time when I wrote the Psionics rules, so I'm going to the PHB for a true decision on the powers.

Also, I was trying to fit how I saw the Thri-Kreen in the editions I know them from (3.5, 4e, and 5e); so I know there's problems with this race (mechanical problems).

UPDATED: Thri Kreen Armor Class bonus is now a +1 instead of a +2. Also added some wording in the same feature that allows it to stack with the Monk and Barbarian features.

[Ralcos]

I know it seems a bit too soon, but does anyone have any advice/suggestions/criticism?

[Ursus the Grim]

First, I recommend taking a look at Ralcos' Kobolds (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?371508-Playable-Kobolds!). I normally dislike kobolds, but I was won over by how he approached them. Try to draw parallels between the abilities of the Kobolds and the Thri-Kreen and consider how much stronger your TK would be compared to a Kobold at level 1, or even another basic playable race.

Okay. There's a lot going on here. I'm going to address everything, and I tend to sound a bit hypercritical, so I apologize if that happens. I see a lot of good stuff here. I know the Thri-Kreen in the MM have most of these abilities, but remember, they also have 6d8 hit die. There's a lot of advancement between your basic thri-kreen level 1 character and the standard presented in the MM.


Ability Score Increases. Your Dexterity score increases by 2, while your Strength score increases by 1 OR your Wisdom score increases by 1.
Not too bad. A little too flexible. I'd personally prefer if you dropped either Strength or Wisdom and dictated where that last point goes.


Speed. Thri-Kreen are known for their speed, dashing across landscapes faster than most humanoid races. Your speed is 40 feet.
Too fast. The swift races in PHB get 35 speed, and they're far and few between. You're basically giving them the speed of a 2nd level monk for free.


Body of Chitin. Thri-Kreen are born with a hardened chitin exoskeleton, protecting them from some harm. You gain a +1 racial bonus to your Armor Class, but Medium and Heavy armors cost 25% more (due to the Thri-Kreen’s unique body structure). This bonus stacks with any feature or trait that relies on a Thri-Kreen being unarmored.
I ran into this with my lizardfolk 'brew. Bounded accuracy is a huge thing in 5e, and +1 to armor goes a lot farther than you might think. Take a look at Barkskin and Mage Armor. Barkskin sets AC and disregards all other modifiers, and Mage Armor might basically give you 3 natural armor, but it excludes the use of armor. I might recommend bringing the natural armor back up but excluding any armor use. FWIW, I just dropped natural armor for the lizardfolk to avoid the whole mess.


Four Arms. Thri-Kreen have a set of lower arms, weaker than their upper arms. You can use these arms to take a more minor action (Taking a potion out of a bag, drinking, eating, using a magic item, etc.) as a Bonus Action. You can do two actions in regards to this rule.
Kind of a vague rule that would require you to ask the GM everytime you want to use it. Actions minor enough to qualify for this generally have been rolled into something else. Actions major enough to be notable probably shouldn't fall into it. I might just drop it. Keep the second arm in the descriptions, but don't include a special rule.

Clutches: These are subraces, both mechanically and thematically. Just call them such.

Clutch of the Predator: This Clutch focuses on the hunt, augmenting their natural claw and bite attacks with poison to weaken their enemy. Thri-Kreen of this clutch gain two natural claw attacks, as well as a natural bite attack (they are proficient in these attacks). The claws each deal 1d6 damage and are considered to be Finesse weapons with the light keyword. The bite deals 1d8 damage. Once per day, Thri-Kreen of this clutch can apply a poison to any natural attack or any unarmed attack (DC 15 Constitution Save; failure means that the target is Poisoned for 6 hours, or until cured).
This is probably my most grievous complaint.
You've given them THREE natural attacks as a race trait.
First, most claw attacks (all, I think) have been folded into a single attack now (see Bears, for instance.)
Second, 1d6 damage is too high. 1d8 is too high. You've granted an average of 11.5 damage in natural attacks. The Dragonborn can, once per rest, deal 7 average damage with its special ability. You'll note a dearth of other abilities for the dragonborn as well. This needs to be nerfed, badly.
Third: Poison. DC 15 is far too high. A Wis 18 caster wouldn't have a DC 15 spell until level 5. Bring this down to the usual 8+Constitution+Proficiency DC. Notably, this means a Con 12 Thrikreen at level 1 would have a DC of 11, which is much more in line with other abilities. I also recommend you change it to 'usage per rest' to be more consistent with other abilities.


Clutch of the Third Eye: This Clutch focuses on the mind, having special abilities that wouldn’t qualify as magic to Wizards or Clerics (called “psionics” by the educated that know of these abilities). Thri-Kreen of this clutch begin with the Mage Hand cantrip. At 5th level, they can use the Magic Weapon and Blur spells once per day (increasing to twice per day at 10th level, three times per day at 15th level, and to four times per day at 20th level). And, at 10th level, they can use the Invisibility spell once per day (can only target self)(Increases to twice per day at 15th level, and to twice per day at 20th level).

Not AS bad, but still pretty inconsistent. The spells are also too strong, especially when considering all the other stuff you're giving the Thri-Kreen. Also, most racial spellcasting doesn't grant more usage with level. See Tiefling. Their racial spells go like this:
Level 1: Cantrip (Thaumaturgy)
Level 3: Level 1 Spell (Hellish Rebuke)
Level 5: Level 2 Spell (Darkness)

I would recommend going with
Level 1: Mage Hand
Level 3: Some level 1 spell. I might recommend Feather Fall, Jump, or Longstrider,
Level 5: Magic Weapon OR Blur OR Invisibility. Pick one of those three, don't offer all.

[Ralcos]

I agree (though the Kobolds were my creation, lol).
I'll heavily modify the Thri-Kreen to fit the level of balance that I did for the Kobolds.

UPDATED: I have overhauled the Thri-Kreen.

[Ursus the Grim]

I agree (though the Kobolds were my creation, lol).
I'll heavily modify the Thri-Kreen to fit the level of balance that I did for the Kobolds.

UPDATED: I have overhauled the Thri-Kreen.

Ha, how did I miss that?

Anyway, I can never say with 100% confidence that something is perfectly balanced, but I'd feel a lot more comfortable allowing your Thri-Kreen in a game now, and you've preserved most of the flavor.

[Ralcos]

Ha, how did I miss that?

Anyway, I can never say with 100% confidence that something is perfectly balanced, but I'd feel a lot more comfortable allowing your Thri-Kreen in a game now, and you've preserved most of the flavor.

I never said it was truly 100% balanced, but it's nice to know that my "overhaul" was better than the original.