PDA

View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next A whole mess of custom races



Grod_The_Giant
2016-06-17, 05:02 PM
I'm running my first 5e game beginning this weekend, and I wanted to do something a bit different from the standard Forgotten Realms-type game. My setting will be all ice and snow and frozen seas, heavily influenced by Slavic Mythology. With that in mind, I decided to use a number of new races, although humans (and their assorted variants) exist as a point-of-view race, thanks to a crashed Spelljammer. I'm still writing out the full fluff, but I wanted to get a double-check of the mechanics before we do character creation on Sunday. The important thing is that all these races are balanced against each other-- everything else can be adjusted for in encounter design.


Vucari look fuzzy. Do not attempt to snuggle them-- they're exceptionally twitchy about surprise physical contact. They’re huge, bear-like individuals, with thick white fur and powerful muzzles and claws. Once born, they never stop growing; upon reaching adulthood at twelve, a Vucari can easily reach six feet, and a matriarch approaching her second century can be almost double that.

Their society is primarily tribal and nomadic, with groups associating based on choice and a complicated association of birth-constellations. They once roamed freely across Mroz, following herds of camel-deer and other large herbivores; now their wanderings are often limited by giants attempting to defend the borders of their lands. Despite the tribal structure, Vucari are highly individualistic, and place great emphasis on feelings—both their own, and of others—and lean heavily on rituals to protect them. (There’s an old joke on Mroz that a Stuhac will kill you with a sword, a Rusalka with a knife, and a Vucari with politeness.)

Abilities: You gain a +2 bonus to Constitution and a +1 bonus to Wisdom. Vucari are enormously strong and hearty,
Age: Vucari reach adulthood fairly quickly—a cub's twelth birthday marks the end of their childhood-- can can easily live into their second century.
Size: Medium. Vucari usually stand around seven or eight feet tall when they first enter adulthood, but they never truly stop growing-- tribal elders may be as tall as eleven feet.
Speed: 30ft.
Senses: You have no special senses.
Languages: Wild Speak and one of your choice
Winter Coat: Vucari boast thick, snowy coats, perfectly shaded for the terrain they live in. When in a snowy or icy environment you can attempt to hide even when only lightly obscured.
Thick Fat: Vucari possess a layer of blubber between their skin and vital organs. While primarily helpful for coping with the cold, it makes you even harder to injure. You take no penalties for environmental cold, and gain one additional hit point each level.
Bear Claws: What good is a bear without claws? Your unarmed attacks deal 1d6 damage.
Arctic Hunter: You gain proficiency in Survival and Nature.




Beautiful. Mysterious. Resourceful. Scheming. Fey. If the surface of Mroz is ruled by the giant-kin, the Rusulka are the undisputed masters of its depths. Rusulka are tall and slender, by human standards, with elfin features, pale skin, and waist-length locks of blue, green, or violet hair, which writhes and moves of its own accord.

The Rusalka trade freely with all, and ally closely with none. Their market-fortresses on the surface are notorious, both for the trade goods (including iron) available, and for the enforced neutrality. They are notoriously closed-mouthed about what goes on in their own lands, often killing those who attempt to reach the ocean without their permission.

Rusalka are also notorious for their practice of exchanging their own children with those other their neighbors—the babes victimized by this process are known as Odmience, changelings. To the Rusalka, this is a positive practice, bringing new blood and new perspective to both the peoples in question. To the families who realize their children were stolen…you can probably imagine. If the Rusalka weren’t the only source of iron, they’d probably be killed on sight. Even with that benefit, they’re rarely welcome and never trusted.

Abilities: You gain a +1 bonus to Strength and a +2 bonus to Charisma.
Age: Other races view Rusalka as ageless. That’s not quite true, but once they reach adulthood at around thirty, they change very little until their deaths, which—if nothing else interferes—can be as late as three hundred years.
Size: Medium
Speed: 30ft, Swim 30ft
Senses: Darkvision out to 60ft, blindsense 30ft in water
Languages: The Song and one of your choice
Amphibious: You can breathe air and water, and have a swimming speed of 30ft.
Preternatural Charm: Few can resist the Rusalka. You gain proficiency in Persuasion.
Living Hair: Rusalka universally culture extremely long hair, and for good reason—they can manipulate it as dexterously as if it was a third arm, allowing them to do virtually anything they can do with their hands.


They cannot wield weapons or shields with their hair, nor can they use it to form somatic components for spells. They can use it to make an unarmed attack that deals 1d4 damage. Their hair does grant them one additional object interaction each turn, and Advantage on checks made to initiate or maintain a grapple or pin.


Rusalka are notorious for their practice of exchanging their own children with those other their neighbors—the babes victimized by this process are known as Odmience, changelings. To the Rusalka, this is a positive practice, bringing new blood and new perspective to both the peoples in question. To the families who realize their children were stolen…you can probably imagine. If the Rusalka weren’t the only source of iron, they’d probably be killed on sight. Even with that benefit, they’re rarely welcome and never trusted.

Odmience can come from any race save the Iceforged. Assuming they do not decide to return to the sea, they retain all of their parent race’s abilities, but exchange one special ability (as shown on the table below) for a Rusalka’s Amphibious or Living Hair quality.



[th]Race
Ability Lost
[/tr]

Human
Hurry Up and Learn


Vucari
Winter Coat


Bagiennik
Elixer of Health


Psoglav
Rampage


Stuhac
Little Giant


Aasimar
Celestial Legacy


Tiefling
Infernal Legacy


Genasi
(Elemental) Touch


Dragonborn
Breath Weapon



Rusalka are a special case. All Odmience are born of Rusalka blood, and some reject their place in their adapted community and return home to the seas. For these individuals, reverse the above trade-off—they do not gain Living Hair, but do gain the ability described in the “Ability Lost” column.



Warriors made of living ice, they're built for one purpose: to fight and die. Most are made by the Lords of Woe, but anyone with sufficient magic can manage it, and there are always plenty left behind when their creator dies. They tend to look like whoever built them. Iceforged experience emotions only distantly, if at all.

Abilities: No Change
Age: Iceforge are built, not born. They are fully functional as soon as they step out of the forge, and last until destroyed with no loss of efficiency.
Size: Medium or Small (your choice)
Speed: 25ft
Senses: Darkvision 60ft
Languages: One of your choice, depending on who made you
Living Ice: As an ice being, you are resistant to cold damage, immune to disease and poison, and do not need to eat or drink. You do not sleep and are immune to sleep effects, but you must enter an inactive state for 4 hours each day. During this time you do not move, but remain aware of your surroundings.
Icy Hide: You cannot wear armor; you are armor. You have a base Armor Class of 12+Dex, but you cannot wear normal armor.
Custom Built: Iceforged are created for many purposes. Pick two of the following traits on character creation:

Forged For War: You gain Proficiency with spears, glaives, longswords and longbows.
Giant-Built: Your count as one size larger when determining carrying capacity and similar such feats of strength, and your speed improves to 30ft.
Juggernaut Build: You count as wearing Heavy Armor and take Disadvantage on Stealth rolls, and have an AC of 16. This improves to 18 at level 5.
Sea-Shaped: You gain a swim speed equal to your land speed.




Small, skulking aquatic humanoids with what humans would call upside-down faces, Bagiennik are most commonly found in isolated lakes and seas in the ice. If they live in the inner ocean, they tunnel into the ice roof. Bagiennik are exceptionally patient, and prefer to avoid direct conflict whenever possible. They're largely independent, living alone or in very small friend/family groups.

Abilities: You gain a +1 bonus to Dexterity and a +2 bonus to Wisdom.
Age: Bagiennik take an exceptionally long time to mature—they’re generally not accepted as adults until their fifties, and often live more than four hundred years.
Size: Small
Speed: 25 ft
Senses: Darkvision out to 60ft. Within that radius, treat darkness as dim light (though only in black and white) and dim light as bright light.
Languages: Low Tongue and one of your choice.
Amphibious: You can breathe air and water, and have a swimming speed of 35ft.
Bagiennik Oil: Bagiennik can produce a caustic oil from their nostrils. This may be used in one of two ways.
As an action, you can throw a glob of oil as a ranged attack at a target within 30ft to deal 1d8+Dex fire damage, increasing to 2d8 at 5th level, 3d8 at 11th, and 4d8 at 17th. Use your Dexterity modifier for the attack roll.
Alternately, you can spend an action to spread the oil across your skin, causing anyone who hits you with a natural or unarmed weapon to take 1d6 fire damage, increasing by 1d6 at 5th, 11th, and 17th level. The oil wears off after one minute, after which you cannot use either ability again until you have competed a long or short rest.
Elixir of Health: Bagiennik oil also has miraculous healing properties. Once per long rest, you may cure a creature as though you had cast Lesser Restoration on it.
Ambush Predator: Bagiennik are rarely straightforward. You gain proficiency in Stealth.




Savage, bestial humanoids with the heads of dogs, the legs of horses, and a single eye on their forehead, Psoglav haunt the many tunnels and caverns that catacomb the ice, emerging to hunt anything and anyone they can find. They're even more communistic than humans, and can barely conceive of loyalty to an entity other than their Tribe-- not even themselves. Psoglav who lose their Tribe tend to find another entity to latch onto as quickly as possible, such as a Vucari tribe or a group of fellow misfits.

Their relations with other races tend to be strained, to say the least. Psoglav are not concerned about the needs or emotions of those outside their Tribe, so they’re quite happy to steal resources by hook or by crook; other races, meanwhile, are happy to slaughter Psoglav to protect themselves…and harvest their iron teeth.

Abilities: +1 Str, +2 Dex
Age: Psoglav have shorter lives than humans—they reach adulthood around ten years, and live into their mid-fifties.
Size: Medium
Speed: 40ft
Senses: Darkvision 60ft
Languages: Low Tongue, one of your choice
Mighty Hunter: You are Proficient in Survival, and move at full speed while following tracks
Rampage: After reducing a creature to 0 HP with a melee attack, can take bonus action to move half speed and make a bite attack
Iron Teeth: You may bite a target as an unarmed strike that deals 1d6 base damage. After striking a target with your bite, you gain temporary hit points equal to your Con modifier.
Winter Coat: You take no penalty from environmental cold.




Frost giants' smaller and less numerous cousins. They're not the rulers of the world, but they're certainly the first-class citizens. They tower over all but the oldest Vucari, with skin of pale blues and greens. Stuhac are in many ways crueler than their cousins, and exult in wearing clothing made from the body parts of "lesser" races.

Abilities: +2 Str, +1 Con
Age: Stuhac age at about the same rate as humans
Size: Medium, but 7-8ft
Speed: 35ft
Senses: None
Languages: Rusk and one of your choice
Blood-Red Shoes: Stuhac habitually make shoes and other garments from the bodies of lesser races. You gain proficiency in Intimidate, and gain Advantage on Intimidate checks while wearing such a garment.
Little Giant: You count as one size larger when determining carrying capacity and similar such feats of strength. Once per short rest, you may use your reaction to reduce incoming damage by 1d12+Constitution modifier
Elemental Vitality: You take no penalty from environmental cold.





Humans are not meant to be here. Humanity is meant to be among the stars, sailing through wildspace on mighty vessels of wood and steel and magic. But then the crash happened, stranding us on a world that largely hates us.

Life in new Endeavor is largely regimented—military discipline is paramount, with the leader still retaining the title of Captain. From the time they’re born, humans are instilled with the knowledge that their race teeters on the edge of non-existence. They’re fiercely loyal to their own kind, and will almost uniformly refuse to admit that their race might be in the wrong (though they can also be quick to judge those who they feel aren’t doing their part to preserve their race). Humans make extensive use of magic, much more than most other races—indeed, without magical protections against the elements, they might not be able to survive on Mroz.

Life in New Endeavor is organized along strict lines. Upon reaching adulthood, all able-bodied men and women are required to spend two years in the armed forces, learning to wield weapons and some basic combat magic. The legion they serve in remains a major part of their identity throughout their lives, along with the guild they subsequently join.



Abilities: You get a +1 bonus to two ability scores of your choice.
Age: You know how that works
Size: Medium
Speed: 30ft
Senses: You have no special senses
Languages: You speak Startongue and one additional language of your choice.
Martial Training: All legal adults in New Endeavor are required to spend two months out of every ten serving in the militia. You're proficient with light armor, all simple weapons, and one martial weapon of your choice.
Magical Training: Humans consider magic a vital part of any fighter's education. You have proficiency in Arcana, and you know one of the following cantrips of your choice: Acid Splash, Blade Ward, Fire Bolt, Ray of Frost, Shocking Grasp, or True Strike. Your casting stat is Intelligence— or, if you have levels in a spellcasting class, whatever ability you use for that. If you subsequently gain levels in a second spellcasting class, you cannot change this choice.
Guild Training: Most humans belong to a guild. You gain proficiency and Expertise in two skills.


Normal humans are crushingly dull; Variant Humans are almost too good, and I intend to pass out feats in a different style regardless. This was my compromise, with a bit of flavor added in.


Aasimar
As the Volo's Guide version, plus Milita Training: You’re proficient with light armor and all simple weapons.

Dragonborn
They gain Darkvision, Militia Training (as above), and their breath weapon damage starts at 2d6 and increases by 1d6 at every odd level, up to 11d6.

Genasi


Abilities: +1 Con, one more based on subrace (see be
Age: Genasi grow at the same rate as humans, but age differently. Water and Earth Genasi age a little slower, frequently approaching a century of age, while Air and Fire Genasi age more quickly, rarely exceeding sixty.
Size: Medium. Water and Earth Genasi tend to be a little shorter and stockier than normal humans, while Air and Fire tend to be taller and thinner.
Speed: 30ft
Senses: You have no special senses
Languages: You speak Startongue and one additional language of your choice, often Primordial
Militia Training: Like normal humans, you put in your time in the militia, though your training was a bit different. You're proficient with light armor and all simple weapons.


Air Genasi
Abilities: +2 Dex
Unending Breath: As long as you're conscious, you can hold your breath as long as you want.
Air Touch: You know the Gust cantrip. At 3rd level, you may cast Fog Cloud once per short rest. At 5th level you can cast Fly once per long rest, as a spell whose level is equal to one-third your level. Constitution is your casting stat.


Earth Genasi
Abilities: +2 Str
Earth Walk: You can move across difficult terrain made of earth or stone without expending extra movement. You have Advantage on checks and saves against being shoved or knocked prone.
Earth Touch: You know the Mold Earth cantrip. At 3rd level, you may cast Earth Tremor once per short rest as a spell whose level is equal to one-third your level, At 5th level you can cast Wall of Sand once per long rest. You use Constitution to cast.ast.


Fire Genasi
Abilities: +2 Int
Fire Resistance: You are Resistant to fire damage.
Fire Touch: You know the Produce Flame cantrip. At 3rd level you may cast Burning Hands once per short rest as a spell whose level is equal to one-third your level. At 5th level you may cast Melf’s Minute Meteors once per long rest. You use Constitution to cast.


Water Genasi
Abilities: +2 Wis
Amphibious: You can breathe air and water, and have a swimming speed of 30ft.
Water Touch: You know the Shape Water cantrip. At 3rd level, you may cast Ice Knife as a spell whose level is equal to one-third your level, once per short rest. At 5th level you may cast Water Walk once per long rest. You use Constitution to cast.



Tieflings

Abilities: Varies by subrace; see below
Age: Tieflings mature at the same rate as normal humans, but age more gracefully and can live well into their second century.
Size: Medium
Speed: 30ft
Senses: Darkvision 60ft
Languages: Startongue and one of your choice
Militia Training: You’re proficient with light armor, all simple weapons, and one martial weapon of your choice. .
Hellish Resistance: You gain resistance to Fire damage

Infernal Tiefling
Infernal Tieflings wield the magic of the pit
Abilities: +2 Int, +1 Cha
Infernal Legacy: You know the Thaumaturgy cantrip. At 3rd level you can cast Hellish Rebuke as a spell whose level is equal to one-third your level, once per short rest. At 5th level you can cast Darkness once per long rest. You use Intelligence to cast.


Feral Tiefling
Feral Tieflings bear little magic, but significantly more physical changes.
Abilities: +2 Dex, +1 Cha
Demon Claws: You possess claws, increasing your unarmed damage to 1d4 and giving them the Finesse quality.
Demon Tail: You have a prehensile tail which you can manipulate as dexterously as if it was a third arm, allowing you to do virtually anything you can do with your hands, except for wield weapons, shields, or form somatic components for spells. Your tail grants you one additional object interaction each turn, and allows you to attempt to Shove a target prone as a bonus action.


Devilish Tiefling
Devilish Tieflings look much more human than most, with only a hint of strangeness around the eyes.
Abilities: +2 Cha, +1 Int
Devil’s Tongue: You know the Vicious Mockery cantrip. At 3rd level you can cast Charm Person as a as a spell whose level is equal to one-third your level, once per short rest. At 5th level you can cast Enthrall once per long rest. You use Charisma to cast.




Anyway. Thoughts?

Final Hyena
2016-06-17, 05:47 PM
Living Hair: Rusalka universally culture extremely long hair, and for good reason—they can manipulate it as dexterously as if it was a third arm, allowing them to do virtually anything they can do with their hands.

They cannot wield weapons or shields with their hair, although they can use it to make an unarmed attack that deals 1d4 damage. Their hair does grant them one additional object interaction each turn, and Advantage on checks made to initiate or maintain a grapple or pin.
What about somatic spells?


Ice Armor: You cannot not wear armor. Instead, you are armor, with all the plating you need built into your skin.
No you can't.
:smalltongue:



Blood-Red Shoes: Stuhac habitually make shoes and other garments from the bodies of lesser races. You gain proficiency in Intimidate, and gain Advantage on Intimidate checks while wearing such a garment.

Advantage on a skill check, especially so easily acquired is unusual for a racial trait.
I wouldn't say the race is OP, just a bit unusual.

Nilmuto
2016-06-17, 10:43 PM
I'll give it fair try~

Vucari: Bear-people! I like the idea of it.

Rusalka: Underwater-Fey! Great for a Sword Coast campaign~

Odmience: Seems cool, but to be honest, when I hear Changeling, I go right to the Erbron race (A fav of mine)

Iceforged: Frost Elemental from Elder Scrolls comes to mind. Like the idea~

Bagiennik: Kind of liking theses guys more then the Rusalka...

Psoglav: Love it! Scary sounding, underground, and savage! My players are really going to be afraid of caves!

Stuhac: Neat! Like how a Drow is to Sun/Moon Elves. Would be cool to see how they interact with their "good" cousins.

Human: Like the idea. I personally like the default +1 to each Ability, but I can see how others find it boring.

Aasimar: Like the Guiding Bolt, forgot about that spell.

Dragonborn: Breathe Weapon on bonus... is okay. I can see how that'll be fun and helpful but also how it can be abused.

Genasi: Makes sense to switch the Ability scores~

Tiefling: Same thing with Genasi.

All and All, I like it!
Some cool ideas and fixes!

The Zoat
2016-06-18, 06:33 AM
This isn't tagged as 5e, also I think Vanilla Humans are a little unbalanced because of how strongly they discourage going for anything like a fighter or barbarian, even war clerics since they come with a really important class feature pre-packaged on a really large scale.

Grod_The_Giant
2016-06-18, 08:30 AM
What about somatic spells?
Hmm. Good catch-- I'd say no, they can't.


Advantage on a skill check, especially so easily acquired is unusual for a racial trait.
I wouldn't say the race is OP, just a bit unusual.
<shrug> they're meant to be scary dudes, what with the shoes made of human ligaments and all.


Odmience: Seems cool, but to be honest, when I hear Changeling, I go right to the Erbron race (A fav of mine)
Eh, this is very much the classic type of Changeling.


Bagiennik: Kind of liking theses guys more then the Rusalka...
Yeah. A large part of this world is ocean (the basic idea is that it's set up like Europa-- thick ice crust over enormous seas), so I wanted more than one type of water-dweller, but these were the only creature type with really interesting powers.


Human: Like the idea. I personally like the default +1 to each Ability, but I can see how others find it boring.
I actually realized something the other day. +1 to all Abilities means that the benchmark for "average" is really one point higher, given that "human" is the baseline assumption. That means that all the +2/+1 races are actually "slightly better than a human/equal to a human/slightly inferior to human." Humans should not be the perfect superrace. (If anyone, that should be elves)


Dragonborn: Breathe Weapon on bonus... is okay. I can see how that'll be fun and helpful but also how it can be abused.
Either that or maybe make the damage scale faster. I want it to be relevant past the first level or two.


Some cool ideas and fixes!
I can't take too much credit for the ideas, since I was mostly just going down the List of Creatures in Slavic Mythology, but thanks!


This isn't tagged as 5e, also I think Vanilla Humans are a little unbalanced because of how strongly they discourage going for anything like a fighter or barbarian, even war clerics since they come with a really important class feature pre-packaged on a really large scale.
Whoop, thought I'd tagged it. And... yeah, I get what you're saying. Martial classes get pretty much bupkiss; only gish-type mages really benefit, and most of those pick up the proficiencies anyway-- at best this is just a head start. I might leave it in just for the flavor, but... they need something more, to be sure. Any better/other ideas for a "stranded in a hostile land" culture?

EDIT: Okay, I'm thinking that in addition to that maybe-useful, maybe-not proficiency they'll get a cantrip from a limited, martial list-- the classic arcane blasts and, oh, blade ward and true strike, maybe. Proficiency in Arcana-- these are ex-spelljammers-- and one less skill-of-your-choice. Variant humans will get simple weapons and light armor to keep the lore consistent without really affecting balance.

(I know that's adding a bunch, but I... think you meant that it was a generally underpowered ability? Light armor is kind of crappy and almost everyone gets it anyway, and most races offered at least some martial weapon proficiencies to begin with.)

Grod_The_Giant
2017-12-27, 08:07 PM
I might be running another game in this setting, so I took another look and updated a few things, based on some of the stuff in Volo's.

JMS
2017-12-28, 08:20 AM
Um, is the fact that there is a very good chance not all players may be able to comunicate purpusfull? I counted 6 languages, no common equivalent (other than startounge), and one race without any:smallconfused:(the Bagiennik). if you know what you are doing, great, but if I was running this, I would give there be trade speak or something, which most get to allow you to interact. it doesn't have to be percise, but it should be there for player fun

Grod_The_Giant
2017-12-28, 12:17 PM
Um, is the fact that there is a very good chance not all players may be able to comunicate purpusfull? I counted 6 languages, no common equivalent (other than startounge), and one race without any:smallconfused:(the Bagiennik). if you know what you are doing, great, but if I was running this, I would give there be trade speak or something, which most get to allow you to interact. it doesn't have to be percise, but it should be there for player fun
The Bagiennik have been fixed, but I don't think it will be that bad-- everyone gets a bonus language, so it's easy to have a common party tongue. Rusk would be the closest thing to a trade-language in-setting.