Need help homebrewing a racial ability around trading mobility for power or defense

[vacantvisionary]

I'm working on a homebrew campaign setting with a friend, and we're trying to build our own version of the orc that moves away from the usual "evil dumb brutes" angle and towards a more Eberron-inspired "in tune with nature" feel, but in a less blunt way than "oh they get some druid spells".

The rough sketch of an ability that we came up with was called Grounded (or Rooted, we haven't actually decided which yet). The concept is that, by planting your feet in the ground, you can connect with the solidity and stability of the earth itself - but that connection breaks if you move your feet from those positions.

The problem is, I'm not sure what sort of bonus to give in exchange. I haven't played D&D seriously since 3.5 (and my friend hasn't done so ever), so we're not sure what kinds of bonuses are appropriate or balanced anymore. We want the ability to be useful for any class or playstyle (we don't really want to pidgeonhole orcs into being melee warriors), to be powerful enough that it's worth trading away your mobility for, and to not be so powerful that you want to automatically use it in every situation. We really want to reward players for finding a good chokepoint or sniper nest and setting up shop there - to provide interesting decisions inherent in the ability.

Here was our best shot at it:

Rooted

You may spend your action to become rooted. You remain rooted until you move from your square, lift either foot from the ground for any reason, or take damage (which knocks you off your balance). When you become rooted, you choose whether you are taking an offensive or defensive stance. As long as you are rooted in an offensive stance, you get +2 to all attack rolls but -2 to AC. As long as you are rooted in a defensive stance, you get -2 to all attack rolls and +2 to AC, and all squares within 5 feet of you are considered difficult terrain to hostile creatures.

Does anyone have any suggestions or tips?

[Ninjadeadbeard]

Well, there is the new Ranger archetype, Primeval Guardian. It's main schtick is that you drop your speed to 5ft in return for fast healing, damage, and reach. And your party gets some of that too.

But if you're determined to make this a racial feature, perhaps you could give up a turn in return for being allowed to roll up to 1/2 your Hit Die immediately?

[Ninja_Prawn]

My opinion: you want to keep racial abilities simple. Choosing between offensive or defensive stances doesn't work for me, and a +2/-2 trade-off doesn't look like much fun.

My first thought would be along the lines of "you can use all of your movement on your turn to become rooted, gaining advantage on saving throws against being pushed, shoved or knocked prone as long as you remain in that spot. While you are rooted, any ground within 5 feet of you becomes difficult terrain."

That would be a fairly minor feature, equivalent to Mask of the Wild or Halfling Nimbleness. Overall balance depends on what else your orcs are getting, of course.

[Cespenar]

My first thought would be along the lines of "you can use all of your movement on your turn to become rooted, gaining advantage on saving throws against being pushed, shoved or knocked prone as long as you remain in that spot. While you are rooted, any ground within 5 feet of you becomes difficult terrain."

That would be a fairly minor feature, equivalent to Mask of the Wild or Halfling Nimbleness. Overall balance depends on what else your orcs are getting, of course.

This is simple and clean enough.