Class and Racial Tweaks to fit the Player's Character Concept

[DracoKnight]

This is from my Houserules Doc I gave to my players, and I was wondering: how many other DMs have a rule like this at their table, or would allow a player to do this? I'm not looking to start any arguments on this thread, but I welcome discussion that doesn't involve directly/indirectly attacking other people's opinions :)

Rewarding Reskin:
Say you wanted to play a character who deals damage by hurling swords at their enemies. There is nothing in the rules for this. In fact, as per the rules, it's impossible. HOWEVER: you could play a warlock and say that aesthetically whenever you're casting Eldritch Blast you're using your mind to hurl longswords at your enemies. If all you're doing is reskinning something that is already within the rules of the game, the sky is the limit.

This applies to Races as well. You want to play a Dragonborn with wings? Play an Aarakocra stat block, and put its Wisdom bonus into Cha, walking speed of 30, take away the Natural Weapons trait, give it the Dragon Ancestor and Damage Resistance traits of the Dragonborn. BOOM! Flying Dragonborn. You unfortunately would not be allowed to have a breath weapon, but if you were to take the feat Spell Sniper and gain the cantrip Fire Bolt, you may flavor its damage and usage as a breath weapon. Want to play an Avariel (flying elf)? Again, take the Aarakocra, take away the Natural Weapons trait, give them Sunlight Sensitivity, Darkvision (60ft.), Trance, Fey Ancestry, Elf Weapon Training (spears, shortbows, and rapiers) and proficiency with the Perception skill. BOOM! Avariel.

[Magic Myrmidon]

I have very similar ideas regarding refluffing and mechanics when I DM. Want a wild, uncivilized elf that has innate magic? Switch out that intelligence bonus of the high elf for a wis bonus (or whatever), and there you go. Want that greatsword to be a hovercraft blade? Sounds awesome. Just use those greatsword stats. Want a greataxe that does 2d6 instead of 1d12, again, just go ahead.

Honestly, I don't even care much for drastic changes of fluff, either. Want your hill dwarf to have +2 int, +1 cha? Sure, whatever, doesn't change the total points you get anyway.

As long as a refluffing idea doesn't wreak havoc on game balance, I am more than happy to let it happen. Sometimes, even if it is unclear on game balance, I'll let it happen, as long as the player is open to discussing it later.

[JNAProductions]

Sometimes, even if it is unclear on game balance, I'll let it happen, as long as the player is open to discussing it later.

That's always key. Make sure players know that changes are at your discretion, and can be removed if they're unbalancing. However, with that in mind, be generous and allow most changes (that aren't blatant power grabs, at least).

[PotatoGolem]

I feel like changing ASIs from race can affect balance though. Off the top of my head, what sticks out is the Mountain Dwarf. It's the only +2/+2 race, but what balances it is that only half its features benefit any character. Casters love the armor proficiency, but the +2 strength is useless to them. Melee bruisers love the strength, but the armor is wasted. A +2 Con/+2 Int (or Cha) mountain dwarf would just be the clearly optimal caster

[Magic Myrmidon]

Fair, but Mountain Dwarf is sort of an exception to the rule of "+2/+1". AFB, but I think maybe half elf might be another? And half elf is amazing despite being an exception. In my opinion.

[Drackolus]

Yeah, our group does a ton of silly things. I'm a huge fan of this. I have a godless kobold life cleric who has no weapon or armor proficiencies but has the monk's unarmored bonus. She would technically have proficiency in unarmed strikes, but she would have a very hard time bringing herself to harm others. My rationale is that while she gets to save money on armor, she also doesn't have the sweet heavy armor she'd normally get, nor can she use shields. Technically could get to 20 ac if I pumped her dex and wis up (keep in mind she's only getting AC, saves, and checks from dex), but that merely meets the nonmagical benefits of a cleric with plate and a shield, a mere 1,500 investment... and she gets nothing from having two free hands.

Another character of mine, a bard prince named Taeron Stormhawke with storm giant blood, is eventually going to use his magical secrets ability to get a modified version of Meteor Swarm that is a rain of lightning hawks that deal slashing and lightning damage... called Hawk Storm.

I like to reward characters who willingly take a weakness purely for the sake of a cooler character. Good roleplaying should never, ever be punished, especially when you can BS rules whenever you want.

[mephnick]

All the magic in my setting is drawn from the various planes (think Malazan), so if a player wants to play a paladin with an innate connection to the plane of fire, their smites can be fire-based if they like. Fireballs can be lightning balls, I dont care.I use demon statblocks and refluff the attacks to make mageknights, so my players may as well get a chance to do the same.

[D.U.P.A.]

This is from my Houserules Doc I gave to my players, and I was wondering: how many other DMs have a rule like this at their table, or would allow a player to do this? I'm not looking to start any arguments on this thread, but I welcome discussion that doesn't involve directly/indirectly attacking other people's opinions :)

Rewarding Reskin:
Say you wanted to play a character who deals damage by hurling swords at their enemies. There is nothing in the rules for this. In fact, as per the rules, it's impossible. HOWEVER: you could play a warlock and say that aesthetically whenever you're casting Eldritch Blast you're using your mind to hurl longswords at your enemies. If all you're doing is reskinning something that is already within the rules of the game, the sky is the limit.

This applies to Races as well. You want to play a Dragonborn with wings? Play an Aarakocra stat block, and put its Wisdom bonus into Cha, walking speed of 30, take away the Natural Weapons trait, give it the Dragon Ancestor and Damage Resistance traits of the Dragonborn. BOOM! Flying Dragonborn. You unfortunately would not be allowed to have a breath weapon, but if you were to take the feat Spell Sniper and gain the cantrip Fire Bolt, you may flavor its damage and usage as a breath weapon. Want to play an Avariel (flying elf)? Again, take the Aarakocra, take away the Natural Weapons trait, give them Sunlight Sensitivity, Darkvision (60ft.), Trance, Fey Ancestry, Elf Weapon Training (spears, shortbows, and rapiers) and proficiency with the Perception skill. BOOM! Avariel.

For Aarakocra was specifically stated that it has so little features because flying is such a huge bonus. But here you remove a rather pointless ability (most of the time you have a weapon, casting spell or just being a monk) and give plenty of good ones, like resistance, darkvision, fey ancestry etc.

Which stats are bumped is important too. There is no wonder that fire genasi has the best features, since they get bump at least useful stat, that can be optimized only by being a wizard. Water comes second , since it bumps a mental stat, still useful only to a relevant caster. The other two have bump to physical stats which makes them attractive for all classes and with original Genasi Con bonus it goes best with martial classes which use Str or Dex.

[rollingForInit]

I'm playing a Warlock that's an "arcane archer". He conjures a spectral crossbow and fires bolts of energy when he uses Eldritch Blast.

I'd allow most of these kinds of changes. More fun!

[eleazzaar]

I'd draw a strong distinction between "refluffing" which changes how you describe something but doesn't change the numbers, and dumping all the best traits of multiple races into a single race.

Refluffing is fine, as long as it doesn't clash too much with the atmosphere of the setting.

I don't know what to call your race example except OP homebrewing.

[Sigreid]

You can go farther as per the DMG and swap around equivalent features. For example if you want to play a Cenereon Deberserak (sorry, not sure how it's spelled) character, it's perfectly reasonable to swap your fighter's armor proficiencies for the barbarian or monk's unarmored defense to get an unarmored duelist battle master.

[DracoKnight]

I don't know what to call your race example except OP homebrewing.

It's actually not that OP. On paper it might sound like it, but after playing this way for several months now, I have not encountered a single problem. My players understand that everything that gets refluffed is at my discretion, and it honestly lets them create more options for themselves without me having to create an entire new race.

[DemonSlayer6]

I've noticed a pattern to races:

+2/+1 ability score bonuses; the +2/+2 of the Mountain Dwarf and the +2/+1/+1 of the Half-Elf are unique cases
Advantage on a specific saving throw (i.e. poisons, charms, being frightened, mental vs magic); the resistance of the Dragonborn and Tiefling are unique bus logical cases, while the Half-Orc is unique with its "Relentless Endurance".
Modified feat applied to be less powerful but more frequent. This is seen with the Halfling "Lucky" (reroll 1's on 1d20, instead of 'luck dice'); Half-Orc "Savage Attacks" (add additional damage to crits, instead of rerolling damage); Weapon/Armor training ("Weapon Master" grants proficiency in 4 weapons; Dwarven and Elven training grant 4 while Drow training grants 3); "Mage Adept" (Drow magic, Gnome natural illusionist, Tiefling infernal legacy).
Proficiency in a skill (i.e. Gnome's Artificer's Lore, Half-Orc's Menacing, Dwarf's Stonecunning, Elf's Keen Senses, etc).


Note that I don't include races from outside the Player's Handbook because I'm not that familiar with them.

If I were to DM, there are then a few things I would do if a player wanted a race that wasn't released:

Look for the race in secondary sources. Maybe an Unearthed Arcana or Player's Companion PDF was released that has the race.
Modify an existing playable race trait-for-trait. A Yeti could be built from a Half-Orc or Minotaur, with resistance to cold and advantage on saving throws against cold...instead of the Half-Orc Relentless Endurance or whatever it is that Minotaurs have.
If there is no applicable base race (determined by size and movement), then have them fill the basic pattern.
If some aspect proves challenging (say they can't think of a way to modify a feat or saving throw) then I would have them take the Variant Human and fluff it as their desired race.


The net result might be a little different from the provided initial examples. Things you would swap, I might not; while I might swap things you wouldn't. But same general principle.

[DracoKnight]

I've noticed a pattern to races:

+2/+1 ability score bonuses; the +2/+2 of the Mountain Dwarf and the +2/+1/+1 of the Half-Elf are unique cases
Advantage on a specific saving throw (i.e. poisons, charms, being frightened, mental vs magic); the resistance of the Dragonborn and Tiefling are unique bus logical cases, while the Half-Orc is unique with its "Relentless Endurance".
Modified feat applied to be less powerful but more frequent. This is seen with the Halfling "Lucky" (reroll 1's on 1d20, instead of 'luck dice'); Half-Orc "Savage Attacks" (add additional damage to crits, instead of rerolling damage); Weapon/Armor training ("Weapon Master" grants proficiency in 4 weapons; Dwarven and Elven training grant 4 while Drow training grants 3); "Mage Adept" (Drow magic, Gnome natural illusionist, Tiefling infernal legacy).
Proficiency in a skill (i.e. Gnome's Artificer's Lore, Half-Orc's Menacing, Dwarf's Stonecunning, Elf's Keen Senses, etc).


Note that I don't include races from outside the Player's Handbook because I'm not that familiar with them.

If I were to DM, there are then a few things I would do if a player wanted a race that wasn't released:

Look for the race in secondary sources. Maybe an Unearthed Arcana or Player's Companion PDF was released that has the race.
Modify an existing playable race trait-for-trait. A Yeti could be built from a Half-Orc or Minotaur, with resistance to cold and advantage on saving throws against cold...instead of the Half-Orc Relentless Endurance or whatever it is that Minotaurs have.
If there is no applicable base race (determined by size and movement), then have them fill the basic pattern.
If some aspect proves challenging (say they can't think of a way to modify a feat or saving throw) then I would have them take the Variant Human and fluff it as their desired race.


The net result might be a little different from the provided initial examples. Things you would swap, I might not; while I might swap things you wouldn't. But same general principle.

These are decent guidelines :D

[Hawkstar]

Fair, but Mountain Dwarf is sort of an exception to the rule of "+2/+1". AFB, but I think maybe half elf might be another? And half elf is amazing despite being an exception. In my opinion.

I'd need to look at half-elf again (I think they somehow get away with +2/+1/+1.) But mountain Dwarf, while +2/+2, has all its racial features be redundant with high STR (Armor and weapon proficiency, when the only classes that don't already have it aren't STR-based, and dwarves ALWAYS suffer reduced movement, though, bizzarely, it's presented as though they never have reduced movement.)

[DracoKnight]

I'd need to look at half-elf again (I think they somehow get away with +2/+1/+1.) But mountain Dwarf, while +2/+2, has all its racial features be redundant with high STR (Armor and weapon proficiency, when the only classes that don't already have it aren't STR-based, and dwarves ALWAYS suffer reduced movement, though, bizzarely, it's presented as though they never have reduced movement.)

Half-Elves do get the +2 +1 +1.

And yeah, dwarves aren't built for much that isn't martial :P

[Hawkstar]

Half-Elves do get the +2 +1 +1.

And yeah, dwarves aren't built for much that isn't martial :PDwarves are built to give a martial edge to non-martial characters, given that their racial features are generally redundant with martial classes.

[DracoKnight]

Dwarves are built to give a martial edge to non-martial characters, given that their racial features are generally redundant with martial classes.

But are non-martials built to use Strength? In my experience, they're more likely to need Dexterity, and use finesse weapons if there are any available to them.

[Magic Myrmidon]

Not typically. But even those stats can be immensely useful to certain builds. One of my most recent 5e characters is a grappler wizard who holds people still while grabbing their face with a shocking grasp. The +2 Str, +2 con, AND the armor proficiency were perfect for that idea. Bit of a shame I have to be a dwarf, though, because they're not exactly my favorite race. Would have preferred an elf with all of that stuff.