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DracoKnight
2015-08-06, 02:15 AM
For the forum's consideration :)


The Dominions

Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 2 and your Charisma score increases by 1.
Age. You mature at the same rate as a human, but due to your Illithid blood you can live for several centuries.
Alignment. You can bend either way towards good or evil, but you are highly inclined to be lawful.
Size. You stand between 5 and 6 feet tall. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Superior Darkvision. You can see in dim light as if it was bright light for 120 feet, and in darkness as if it was dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Innate Psionics. At 1st level you know the cantrip chill touch. Once you reach 3rd level, you can cast crown of madness once a day. Once you reach 5th level, you can also cast vampiric touch once a day. Intelligence is your spellcasting modifier.
Telepathy. You have telepathy out to 30 feet. The creature you share your thoughts with must be willing, or you cannot speak to them. If the creature allows you into their mind, they may project their thoughts to you as well.
Shield of the Mind. You have resistance to psychic damage.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, Deep Speech, and one language of your choice.

JNAProductions
2015-08-06, 02:20 AM
This... Huh. Well, I don't say this often (at all, but especially not for you, Dracoknight) but this is underpowered.

Resistance to an uncommon damage type, and a few moderately useful spells. I'd add in something more.

DracoKnight
2015-08-06, 02:37 AM
This... Huh. Well, I don't say this often (at all, but especially not for you, Dracoknight) but this is underpowered.

Resistance to an uncommon damage type, and a few moderately useful spells. I'd add in something more.

I added Superior Darkvision, and a minor telepathic ability.

Scaileanna
2015-08-06, 02:38 AM
I would suggest weaker form of a mindflayers tentacles,mind blast and extract brain abilities if possible to balance that for player use

JNAProductions
2015-08-06, 02:39 AM
I don't really think Superior Darkvision is thematic.

However, that minor telepathy is perfect! Considering how bloody useful telepathy can be, I'd say that's probably enough for a well-powered race. Assuming, of course, it's two-way. If it's one-way, it's a lot less useful. (Still handy. Just not as much.)

Ninja_Prawn
2015-08-06, 02:48 AM
I pronounce this race... Balanced! It looks pretty cool, though I find it hard to believe anyone with illithid blood could be good-aligned. They're just so damn evil!

Wait, when did that tentacle attack appear? I swear that wasn't there before.

DracoKnight
2015-08-06, 02:58 AM
This... Huh. Well, I don't say this often (at all, but especially not for you, Dracoknight) but this is underpowered.

It probably helps that I built it with two other DMs :D

eleazzaar
2015-08-06, 06:30 AM
I'd say it is a distinctly , but not horribly OP.

INT + CHA aren't optimal for any build so I give a deduction.

The telepathy is better than any available that I'm aware of, passes the language barrier, requires no action and brings back an answer ( whih GOO telepathy does NOT).
Though the range is shorter, this is significantly better than the message Cantrip. 1ASI minimum, because I'm away from book.

Superior darkvision is quite good and unnecessary for the concept, IMHO.

I'm a bit confused about the tentacle attack-- do you add a modifier to it, and if so, which one? The idea of a high STR providing more psychic damage seems odd, but that seems to be most RAW. This attack is slightly stranger than a long sword and of a rarely resisted damage type. Don't want to rate without clarification, but it is quite good, probably 1.5- 2.5 range.

DracoKnight
2015-08-06, 07:19 AM
I'd say it is a distinctly , but not horribly OP.

INT + CHA aren't optimal for any build so I give a deduction.

It's more thematic than anything. Illithids are highly intelligent, and the Charisma bump is to show their force of will that they use to dominate others.


The telepathy is better than any available that I'm aware of, passes the language barrier, requires no action and brings back an answer ( whih GOO telepathy does NOT).
Though the range is shorter, this is significantly better than the message Cantrip. 1ASI minimum, because I'm away from book.

Admittedly, yes, it is better than the GOO Warlock's telepathy, it's also weaker than the mind flayer's.


Superior darkvision is quite good and unnecessary for the concept, IMHO.

Superior Darkvision is there, mainly because the fluff of the race (which I haven't posted here yet) is that the Dominions are humans and elves that the Illithid were experimenting on, they were attempting to turn their subjects into full Illithids.


I'm a bit confused about the tentacle attack-- do you add a modifier to it, and if so, which one? The idea of a high STR providing more psychic damage seems odd, but that seems to be most RAW. This attack is slightly stranger than a long sword and of a rarely resisted damage type. Don't want to rate without clarification, but it is quite good, probably 1.5- 2.5 range.

There's no modifier on it. Simply because we also felt that STR was a weird modifier to have on it, but the book specifically says that the Illithid tentacle attack dealt psychic damage, so we nerfed the die (from 2d10 to 2d4) and removed the damage modifier. And it doesn't scale. It's there for flavor more than anything.

eleazzaar
2015-08-06, 07:57 AM
It's more thematic than anything. Illithids are highly intelligent, and the Charisma bump is to show their force of will that they use to dominate others.
I simply meant that I was counting it as worth less than a normal +2/+1 ASI. It's not a problem.



There's no modifier on it. Simply because we also felt that STR was a weird modifier to have on it.
Unarmed attackes by default get to add STR Mod, so if you don't want that you need to explicitly say so. The text normally does not tell you that you can add Proficiency, and a releveant Mod when describing an attack.

I would remove the term "unarmed strike", unless you want arguments and confusion over how it applies to monks.

And it still isn't a bad fall-back attack for a race that probably won't be melee.

DracoKnight
2015-08-06, 11:24 AM
I simply meant that I was counting it as worth less than a normal +2/+1 ASI. It's not a problem.

Oh, okay.


Unarmed attackes by default get to add STR Mod, so if you don't want that you need to explicitly say so. The text normally does not tell you that you can add Proficiency, and a releveant Mod when describing an attack.

I would remove the term "unarmed strike", unless you want arguments and confusion over how it applies to monks.

And it still isn't a bad fall-back attack for a race that probably won't be melee.

I clarified the intent in the OP :)

DracoKnight
2015-08-06, 11:25 AM
Wait, when did that tentacle attack appear? I swear that wasn't there before.

I edited it in as per one of the commenter's suggestion.

Gr7mm Bobb
2015-08-06, 11:38 AM
Wasn't this a thing. . . in 3.something? I remember it being next to the 1/2 fey with an awkward picture of a butterfly centaur and a tentacle mouthed lizardfolk, i'll try to look it up and see, I liked the . . . idea, I just could stand the idea of being a Zoidberg something.

DracoKnight
2015-08-06, 03:38 PM
Wasn't this a thing. . . in 3.something?

I believe it was a thing.

Ninja_Prawn
2015-08-06, 03:44 PM
I believe it was a thing.

There are certainly some... images... on Google. Not that I'd recommend looking for them.

I sure wouldn't want to meet that two headed, half-illithid, half-black/half-red dragon in a dark alley.

ZenBear
2015-08-06, 04:17 PM
Mind-Rippers from Bastards & Bloodlines

DracoKnight
2015-08-07, 05:57 AM
I sure wouldn't want to meet that two headed, half-illithid, half-black/half-red dragon in a dark alley.

Neither would I O_o

DracoKnight
2016-08-04, 06:45 AM
A player of mine wants to use this in an upcoming game - I was wondering if anyone had used it yet and could speak to the balance of it?

Draken
2016-08-05, 09:34 AM
As people have stated. The ability score bonuses don't really match the demands of any one class. Psychic resistance is extremely situational. The spells are... Ok, I suppose (they need to have their uses rewritten to recharge on long rests, by the way). Superior Darkvision is just plain useful.

I will never for the life of me understand why people think Telepathy is some supremely useful power. Specially when its range is walking distance. To me it always felt like a ribbon.

Final Hyena
2016-08-05, 10:08 AM
I will never for the life of me understand why people think Telepathy is some supremely useful power. Specially when its range is walking distance. To me it always felt like a ribbon.
Given there is no line of sight compared to the warlocks telepathy it could be read that you can detect the presence of all thinking creatures within 30 feet.

Draken
2016-08-05, 10:53 AM
Given there is no line of sight compared to the warlocks telepathy it could be read that you can detect the presence of all thinking creatures within 30 feet.

Doing that with telepathy in 3.5 demanded a feat, I can't imagine why anyone would think it is a baseline possibility in 5th when there is no mention of such in the text of the ability.

JBPuffin
2016-08-05, 11:53 AM
Doing that with telepathy in 3.5 demanded a feat, I can't imagine why anyone would think it is a baseline possibility in 5th when there is no mention of such in the text of the ability.

Because RAI, or Read In Intent, and trying to come up with creative uses for things is a thing?

Final Hyena
2016-08-05, 12:06 PM
Doing that with telepathy in 3.5 demanded a feat, I can't imagine why anyone would think it is a baseline possibility in 5th when there is no mention of such in the text of the ability.
This isn't 3.5 content, can we avoid comparing them.

There is a logical reason for it, it is an ability that enables you to attempt mental communication with anyone within 30 feet, this is in strike contrast to the Great Old One Warlocks Awakened Mind feature which states;

Starting at 1st level, your alien knowledge gives you the ability to touch the minds of other creatures. You can communicate telepathically with any creature you can see within 30 feet of you.
As far as I can remember there is this which requires line of sight and there are spells which target specific individuals.

Whereas the Illithids racial trait is;

Telepathy. You have telepathy out to 30 feet. The creature you share your thoughts with must be willing, or you cannot speak to them. If the creature allows you into their mind, they may project their thoughts to you as well.

There is a clear difference between powers that limit it and then this which has no limitation. The ability simply allows you to attempt to telepathically talk to anything within 30 feet.

If you are able to make contact with any mind within 30 feet how do you not know they are there?

Draken
2016-08-05, 12:33 PM
Given there is no line of sight compared to the warlocks telepathy it could be read that you can detect the presence of all thinking creatures within 30 feet.


Because RAI, or Read In Intent, and trying to come up with creative uses for things is a thing?

Turning telepathy (a communication tool) into Blindsight/Tremorsense Plus hardly strikes me as either intent or creativity (well, it is a creative reading I suppose).

DracoKnight
2016-09-13, 03:53 PM
Turning telepathy (a communication tool) into Blindsight/Tremorsense Plus hardly strikes me as either intent or creativity (well, it is a creative reading I suppose).

It's definitely how it's intended to work.