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DracoKnight
2015-03-04, 06:14 AM
So I want to put Harpies in as a player race for a campaign I'm going to start running soon. This is my first time being a DM, and I honestly have no idea if Harpies are in the game as monsters. Wondering honestly if what I've built is overpowered, please let me know if it is. Or if you just have general thoughts/comments, those are welcome too :D

Player Race: Harpy

Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity increases by 2, and your Charisma increases by 1.
Age. Harpies can live for hundreds of years.
Alignment. Harpies tend towards the chaotic, with no particular bent towards good or evil.
Size. You stand between 5' and 6' tall. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 35.
Aerial Beings. You have a flying speed of 60.
Natural Weapons. Your hands bear wickedly curved claws. Your unarmed strikes do 1d6 damage.
Piercing Shriek. You let out a sound unheard by all but an unlucky few. This shriek is a 60ft. cone, and all creatures within that cone must make an Intelligence saving throw. The save DC for this is 10 + your Charisma modifier + your proficiency bonus. On a failed save, affected creatures take 2d4 psychic damage, and half as much on a successful one. The damage increases to 3d6 at 6th level, 4d6 at 11th level, and 5d6 at 15th level.
Languages. You can read, write, and speak Common and Sylvan.

Ralanr
2015-03-04, 12:28 PM
Why a ground speed of 35 and a fly speed of 60? Is that what their speed is in the book? Cause this makes them the fastest race.

Why does the shriek change from a d4 to a d6 at level 3?

DracoKnight
2015-03-04, 04:00 PM
Thank you for catching the d6 mess up. I totally missed that, because I changed it about 5 or 6 times. And thank you for pointing out the speed issue. I have now nerfed the fly speed to what it is in the book. Did everything else seem okay?

Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity increases by 2, and your Charisma increases by 1.
Age. Harpies can live for hundreds of years.
Alignment. Harpies tend towards the chaotic, with no particular bent towards good or evil.
Size. You stand between 5' and 6' tall. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30.
Aerial Beings. You have a flying speed of 40.
Natural Weapons. Your hands bear wickedly curved claws. Your unarmed strikes do 1d6 damage.
Piercing Shriek. You let out a sound unheard by all but an unlucky few. This shriek is a 60ft. cone, and all creatures within that cone must make an Intelligence saving throw. The save DC for this is 10 + your Charisma modifier + your proficiency bonus. On a failed save, affected creatures take 2d4 damage, and half as much on a successful one. The damage increases to 3d4 at 6th level, 4d4 at 11th level, and 5d4 at 15th level.
Languages. You can read, write, and speak Common and Sylvan.

Ralanr
2015-03-04, 05:00 PM
Looks good on my end.

Galen
2015-03-04, 06:14 PM
1. Flying is exceptionally powerful. It's like a permanent 3rd level spell that can't be dispelled and doesn't require concentration. Combined with the other goodies, makes this race just too good.
2. Piercing Shriek: unclear whether this is at-will, per short rest or per long rest.

Gritmonger
2015-03-04, 07:01 PM
Right - not sure if you can balance this as a learn to fly until 5th, or with another disadvantage. The old Aarakokra had issues with being in enclosed spaces; you could have a disad similar to dark elves.

IZ42
2015-03-04, 07:21 PM
Is this 5e? If so, I know nothing about 5e, but I can give suggestions based on my *relative* expertise in 3.5/PF. For the fly speed: I would recommend taking a glance at the Dragonborn Template for ideas on wings or at the Strix (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/uncommon-races/arg-strix) or Wyvaran (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/more-races/advanced-races-11-20-rp/wyvaran-17-rp), with the strix starting off at 60(!) with average maneuverability and the Wyvaran starting off with 20 ft and clumsy maneuverability. I would suggest having them start out with Wyvaran flying speeds, and eventually progressing to their full fly speed by ~7th level maybe? Just my 2 CP.

ReturnOfTheKing
2015-03-04, 08:17 PM
I'd say to represent their ability to fly, give them the flight spell once they reach 5th level, and maybe feather fall at 3rd level, except without requiring material components to cast either spell and only being able to cast the spell on themselves. I'd make Dexterity their spellcasting ability for that particular trait. Other than that, as far as I can tell, this is a fairly sound race (except with maybe a bit too much emphasis on dealing damage).

DracoKnight
2015-03-09, 05:10 AM
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity increases by 2, and your Charisma increases by 1.
Age. Harpies can live for hundreds of years.
Alignment. Harpies tend towards the chaotic, with no particular bent towards good or evil.
Size. You stand between 5' and 6' tall. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30.
Aerial Beings. At level 1 you have a fly speed of 10, at level 5 you have a fly speed of 30, and at level 8 you have a fly speed of 40.
Claustrophobia. In enclosed spaces you have disadvantage on Stealth and Perception rolls.
Natural Weapons. Your hands bear wickedly curved claws. Your unarmed strikes do 1d6 damage.
Piercing Shriek. You let out a sound unheard by all but an unlucky few. This shriek is a 60ft. cone, and all creatures within that cone must make an Intelligence saving throw. The save DC for this is 10 + your Charisma modifier + your proficiency bonus. On a failed save, affected creatures take 2d4 damage, and half as much on a successful one. The damage increases to 3d4 at 6th level, 4d4 at 11th level, and 5d4 at 15th level. This ability can be used once between long rests.
Languages. You can read, write, and speak Common and Sylvan.

khadgar567
2015-03-09, 11:10 AM
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity increases by 2, and your Charisma increases by 1.
Age. Harpies can live for hundreds of years.
Alignment. Harpies tend towards the chaotic, with no particular bent towards good or evil.
Size. You stand between 5' and 6' tall. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30.
Aerial Beings. At level 1 you have a fly speed of 10, at level 5 you have a fly speed of 30, and at level 8 you have a fly speed of 40.
Claustrophobia. In enclosed spaces you have disadvantage on Stealth and Perception rolls.
Natural Weapons. Your hands bear wickedly curved claws. Your unarmed strikes do 1d6 damage.
Piercing Shriek. You let out a sound unheard by all but an unlucky few. This shriek is a 60ft. cone, and all creatures within that cone must make an Intelligence saving throw. The save DC for this is 10 + your Charisma modifier + your proficiency bonus. On a failed save, affected creatures take 2d4 damage, and half as much on a successful one. The damage increases to 3d4 at 6th level, 4d4 at 11th level, and 5d4 at 15th level. This ability can be used once between long rests.
Languages. You can read, write, and speak Common and Sylvan.
buddy I th,nk 60 ft at 8th level is more useful than 40ft and additionally I advise -1 to charisma instead +1

Ralanr
2015-03-09, 12:08 PM
There are no negative scores for races in 5E and I think it should stay that way.

I will point out one thing I didn't notice before: the d6 claws. Monks martial arts is d4 early on and tavern brawler turns your fists into d4 weapons. I don't like a player race should have 1d6 from so early.

DracoKnight
2015-03-09, 12:38 PM
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity increases by 2, and your Charisma increases by 1.
Age. Harpies can live for hundreds of years.
Alignment. Harpies tend towards the chaotic, with no particular bent towards good or evil.
Size. You stand between 5' and 6' tall. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30.
Aerial Beings. At level 1 you have a fly speed of 10, at level 5 you have a fly speed of 30, and at level 8 you have a fly speed of 60.
Claustrophobia. In enclosed spaces you have disadvantage on Stealth and Perception rolls.
Natural Weapons. Your hands bear wickedly curved claws. Your unarmed strikes do 1d4 slashing damage.
Piercing Shriek. You let out a sound unheard by all but an unlucky few. This shriek is a 30ft. cone, and all creatures within that cone must make an Intelligence saving throw. The save DC for this is 10 + your Charisma modifier + your proficiency bonus. On a failed save, affected creatures take 2d4 damage, and half as much on a successful one. The damage increases to 3d4 at 6th level, 4d4 at 11th level, and 5d4 at 15th level. This ability can be used once between long rests.
Languages. You can read, write, and speak Common and Sylvan.

Gritmonger
2015-03-10, 01:33 PM
Aarakocra are in the "Elemental Evil" Player's Companion - they have an annotation on the fear of closed spaces, but no game effect.

They have a ground speed of 25', and a flight from level 1 of 50' - just with the stipulation it can't be used with medium or heavy armor.