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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next Bufonin: Infernal Toads as a Playable Race PEACH



Flashy
2015-10-27, 01:01 AM
Bufonin
http://orig14.deviantart.net/eaaa/f/2009/219/a/6/concept___toad_warrior_by_great_oharu.jpg
(Many thanks to Ancorgil on deviantart for the only toadman that was even faintly appropriate)
Intelligent by Contract
The Bufonin bought their minds from a renegade prince of hell more than a thousand years ago. The fiend fled Pharos (the outer planes) pursued by agents of the demonic lordlings who had overthrown him, and claimed his infernal duchy. They hounded him so closely that in desperation he went to ground in the trackless swamps that then stretched for thousands of miles across the northern wastes. Lost and increasingly hopeless he turned at last to the only living creature he could find, a swamp toad who had followed him for several days. He promised the toad anything he had the power to give in exchange for the secrets of the swamp. The toad showed him the dark forgotten places of the swamps, and the prince of hell found sanctuary for a time. In exchange the toad demanded that he and his kin be reshaped in the demon prince's image so that they too might walk the world as men. The prince agreed, and with souls reforged in a crucible of hellfire and quenched in the mire of the deep swamps the Bufonin were reborn as sapient creatures.

Towers in the Swamp
The Bufonin built a mighty kingdom in the swamps that gave them life. From proud alabaster towers rearing high above the treetops to a labyrinth of carefully sealed tunnels masking strange temples and laboratories deep beneath the water's surface the Bufonin wrought a beautiful and powerful civilization, now a crumbling mess of ill-maintained stonework sinking slowly back into the muck. The magics that built and maintained the towers are now long erased.

Bound to the Brass Citadel
The alliance between the Bufonin and the Brass Citadel is as ancient as their remaking. When they stormed the portals to hell to restore the throne of their creator they sealed a pact eternal. For five hundred years the Bufonin and the Brass Citadel fought their enemies as one, and there are parts of the daylight side of Pharos (hell) where the old alliance is still remembered. There was a time when the Fiends paid for extraordinary service in tokens of everlasting duty. Even now the Oath Debts, ancient magic of binding and gratitude, are prized beyond measure in the Brass Citadel. Each token justly recovered by the fiends represents an immeasurable debt repaid.

The Clouding Plague
Much of the Bufonin's identity has been forgotten. At some time, no one remembers when, a terrible plague swept through the Kingdom that Was. Its true name is not remembered, nor is the name of the empire it erased. Those Bufonin who wander from the Old City are generally those who have found some clue to a secret of their lost civilization. A stone marked with the name of a hero, the name of some long decayed outpost, a hint about the location of a Thing Forge, or any one of a hundred other tiny glimpses of the great works of their forebears. There is nothing a Bufonin treasures more than artifacts of their own unmade culture.

Bufonin Traits
Ability Score Increase: Your Constitution score increases by 1.
Age: Bufonin mature slowly, though not as slowly as Elves. They are considered mature when they reach 25, and generally live around 250 years.
Size: Bufonin are squat creatures. In general Slime Blooded Bufonin grow to about four feet tall, while Hellfire Blooded Bufonin often reach heights of a little over five feet. Your size is medium.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Languages: You can speak, read and write Common and Bufonin. Bufonin is a mishapen language marred by the huge number of words wiped out by the clouding plague. Things for which there are no longer words are commonly described by metaphor or with lengthy strings of other remembered words.
Searing Blood: You can use your action to focus and condense the ancient magic that flows through your veins. For the next minute you may use your reaction to spray any creature who hits you with a melee attack with a concentrated burst of your caustic blood. The creature takes 1d6 damage of a type determined by your animating magic (acid for Slime Blooded, fire for Hellfire Blooded). You must concentrate on this effect as if it were a spell. The damage increases to 2d6 at 6th level, 3d6 at 11th level, and 4d6 at 16th level. This ability recharges on a short or long rest.
Subrace: There are two common types of Bufonin: Hellfire Blooded and Slime Blooded Bufonin.

Hellfire Blooded
The demon prince's magic flows strongly through your veins, marking you as a creature touched by Pharos (the outer planes). Your skin is a reddish color, mottled black in strange patterns like the tracework of infernal runes. You stand a little taller than your brothers and your contact with the wellspring of The Great Flame, your racial magic, is a little easier.
Ability Score Increase: Your Charisma score increases by 2.
Affinity for Magic: You gain proficiency in Arcana, and gain proficiency with Alchemist's supplies.
Echoes of the Toadling-Knights: Your blood whispers to you in the language of the captains of the old legions. You can speak, read and write Infernal.
The Fire Answers: You know the cantrip Control Flames. Charisma is your spellcasting modifier for this effect.

Slime Blooded
Your ancestors were forged by the same magic as your Hellfire Blooded kinsmen, but are defined by the quenching mud. Your skin is a deep green, and you are much broader at the shoulders than the Hellfire Blooded. You have an almost instinctive sense of the swamp and the deep things that slither through it.
Ability Score Increase: Your Strength score increases by 2.
Forage to Live: You gain proficiency in Survival.
Know the Little Brothers: You are a creature of the swamp, and know how to speak with your lesser kinsmen. Through sounds and gestures, you can communicate simple ideas with Small or smaller beasts, and have advantage on any related check when attempting to communicate with an amphibian.
Rotten Bones: The marrow of your bones is more mud than flesh. You have advantage on saving throws against poison, and you have resistance against poison damage.

Flashy
2015-10-27, 01:08 AM
Optional Feat

Bufonin Magic
Prerequisite: Bufonin
You have inherited the innate magic of your ancestors. This ability allows you to cast Find Familiar (Toad only) at will, without needing a material component. You can also cast the following spells once per long rest: Ray of Sickness, Scorching Ray, Pyrotechnics.

RazDelacroix
2015-10-27, 02:19 AM
I like this, while the whole fiendish-tainted-race archetype is not new by any stretch, it is wonderful to see how you brought some new life to it! Mechanic's wise I do not see any glaring issues with the Bufonin. On a curious note, I would love to see how Bufonin interact/contest with Bullywugs.

Flashy
2015-10-27, 04:34 PM
The homebrew world I originally built this race for doesn't have bullywogs, so I never really thought about it before. Their interaction is probably pretty limited, but it could easily be anything from loathing on the Bullywog's side and contempt on the Bufonin's to a sort of tacit alliance between two now lesser races who share a great deal of amphibian ancestry.

I also run Slaad as elder Bufonin Sorcerers who tangled too closely with chaos magic and were consumed by it.

Ninja_Prawn
2015-10-28, 06:34 PM
*PEACH, as requested*

Looks pretty well balanced. I would rate the Searing Blood as equal to the Dragonborn's Breath Weapon, based on the fact that it recharges at the same interval, and the damage output is almost identical (assuming the blood is triggered three times per combat and the breath averages two targets in its area). Everything else is pretty standard, so...


BUFONIN

1 ASI
0 Size
0 Speed
0 Languages
1 Searing Blood
SUBTOTAL: 2

HELLFIRE

2 ASI
0.5 Skill
0.25 Language
0.5 Cantrip
SUBTOTAL: 3.25

SLIME

2 ASI
0.5 Skill
0.5 Speak with Small Beasts
0.5 Dwarven Resilience
SUBTOTAL: 3.5

GRANT TOTAL: 5.25 - 5.5

I can't see anything too unbalanced here. The point total is fine - low, even - but there's good synergy (especially Slimy Bufonin as tanks) so I wouldn't say it's underpowered.

I won't comment on the fluff because frog-like races just aren't my cup of tea. I'm more of a pixies & gemstones kinda person. :smalltongue:

Flashy
2015-10-28, 11:41 PM
You know, ever since you pointed out in the other thread that languages and tool proficiency are overvalued I've been thinking of tacking proficiency with Alchemist's Supplies onto Hellfire's Affinity for Magic feature to balance the subrace point totals. Going to make that change.

Ninja_Prawn
2015-10-29, 02:19 AM
You know, ever since you pointed out in the other thread that languages and tool proficiency are overvalued I've been thinking of tacking proficiency with Alchemist's Supplies onto Hellfire's Affinity for Magic feature to balance the subrace point totals. Going to make that change.

Yeah, sounds good. It's just my opinion, but skill checks come up all the time and even the more obscure skills have obvious adventuring uses, whereas tools are much harder to use. Often you need the DM to go out of their way to design them into the game. And D&D parties get so many languages that it's rarely a problem. Comprehend Languages is a level 1 ritual.