The Misty Shadow's Beastfolk Races - PEACH

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So, you're doubtlessly wondering what the hell is going on. Well, to put things simply, I've got a huge array (70+, at last counting) of homebrewed races for 5e that I want to get critiqued, plus plans for future races beyond that. For obvious reasons, I can't post each race here individually; I'd drown us all. But, at the same time, I can't hope to get any reviews or comments if I put them all in one thread - wall of text to the nth degree. So, I tried to compromise and instead make a relatively small group of splinter topics that I can post them under in more manageable numbers.

To see these races in their natural habitat, follow the linked google-doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XovWm65MSmIzQWSMDMXo0_aIpZgq9YSa2KkpO3kThS4/edit#

To see the index of all my 5e homebrew, follow this linked thread: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?516554-The-Misty-Shadow-s-Absurd-Amount-of-5e-Homebrew-PEACH

This will be, without a doubt, the largest of my racial homebrewing topics. I've always had a weird fondness for non-standard races, and in D&D terms, that means mostly beast-folk. Kobolds, gnolls, serpentfolk, lamias, sphinxes, these have always struck my attention more deeply than just "orc/goblin variant #231", and so they've captured my imagination greatly.

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Let's start this off with something fairly simple, but classic; the Grippli. Oft-forgotten, this humble race of benevolent tree-frog-people actually goes all the way back to Basic D&D, having first shown up in TSR's Monster Cards, way back in 1982, and subsequently appeared in first edition's Monster Manual II. They went on to reappear in the first Monstrous Compendium Appendix for Greyhawk and then in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monstrous Manual for 2e. They received PC writeups in Dragon Magazine for both 2e (#262) and 3e (#324), and even made the jump to Pathfinder in the Advanced Race Guide.

This race got a little... subrace crazy, as a result of its many different appearances, and for that I can only apologize.

Grippli
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Dexterity
Size: Medium
Speed: 20 feet, Climb 20, Swim 20
Vision: Darkvision
Amphibious: A grippli can breathe both air and water.
Frog’s Legs: A grippli is always considered to have a running start when making a jump check. When making a long jump, it automatically passes the Strength checks to clear a low obstacle and to keep its footing upon landing in difficult terrain. When making a high jump, a grippli doubles its Strength modifier to determine the distance it reaches.
Up Tree, Under Water: A grippli has a Climb Speed of 20 feet and a Swim Speed of 20 feet.
Subraces: Choose between the Savage, Princely, Treetop, Mystic or Psionic Grippli subraces.

Savage Grippli
Ability Score Increase: +1 Strength
Bug Hunter: A Savage Grippli receives Advantage on attack rolls against vermin; these are Beasts and Magic Beasts based on invertebrates, such as spiders, wasps, flies, centipedes and scorpions. Additionally, it increases its Armor Class by +1 when fighting such foes.

Mystic Grippli
Ability Score Increase: +1 Wisdom
Servants of the Mother Frog: A Mystic Grippli knows the Guidance cantrip. At level 3, it can cast Fog Cloud as a 1st level spell once per long rest with this trait. At level 5, it can cast Spike Growth as a 2nd level spell once per long rest with this trait. All spells cast with this trait use Wisdom as their casting ability score.

Treetop Grippli
Ability Score Increase: None. A Treetop Grippli only receives the +2 Dexterity for being a grippli.
Patagia: So long as a Treetop Grippli is not restrained, paralyzed, encumbered, equipped with medium or heavy armor, or otherwise rendered immobile, it takes no damage from falling distances. When falling, it may move forward, covering a horizontal distance equal to half the vertical distance travelled. At 5th level, a Treetop Grippli gains a Fly speed of 10 feet.
Treetop Dweller: A Treetop Grippli loses its Swim speed entirely.

Princely Grippli
Ability Score Increase: +1 Charisma
A Civilized Weapon: A Princely Grippli has automatic proficiency with either the Rapier or the Longsword, chosen at character creation.
Courtly Charms: A Princely Grippli doubles its Proficiency Bonus when making Charisma (Persuasion) checks.

Psionic Grippli
Ability Score Increase: +1 Intelligence
Amphibious Sagacity: A Psionic Grippli can communicate telepathically with one creature at a time, so long as both it and the desired creature are within 30 feet of each other. Additionally, a Psionic Grippli can cast a variant of the Mage Hand cantrip at will, using Wisdom as its casting ability score. This variant follows all of the normal rules for Mage Hand, but the “hand” is invisible.

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Why would I make a Harpy into a PC race, you ask? Well, in truth, the answer was simple: why not? I have a fondness for exotic and weird monstrous humanoids like harpies, sphinxes, lamia, etc, and so I wanted to see if 5e could stretch far enough to handle the existence of a Harpy PC. This doubtlessly needs balance adjustments, but I think it can work, if given the proper care.

Harpy
Ability Score Increase: +2 Charisma, +1 Constitution
Size: Medium
Speed: 20 feet
Flight: A harpy has a flying speed of 40 feet.
Talons: A harpy possesses claws, which allow it to do 1d4 slashing damage with its Unarmed Strikes.
Siren Songs: A harpy knows the Friends cantrip. At third level, a harpy can cast Charm Person as a 1st level spell one per short rest. At fifth level, it can cast Enthrall as a 2nd level spell once per short rest. When casting spells with this trait, Charisma is your casting ability.

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I am... well, let's just say not a huge fan of the Call of Cthulhu gameverse. But, I recently acquired S. Peterson's Field Guide to Lovecraftian Horrors, and between its awesome artwork for the Deep One, the fact Pathfinder has "Deep One Hybrid" as a valid race, and the fact that the Deep Ones really can be fairly easily reskinned as a non-hostile amphibious race in settings not dedicated to Lovecraftian traditions, I thought I'd see if it could be made to work under the 5e crunch.

Deep One
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Wisdom, +1 Constitution
Size: Medium
Speed: 25 feet
Vision: Darkvision
Dweller in the Deep: A Deep One has a Swim speed of 30 feet, is immune to the hazards of deep water environments, and has Resistance to Cold.
Amphibious: A Deep One can breathe water and air with equal ease.
Hopping Horror: A Deep One's rather frog-like limbs may impede its ability to walk on land to an extent, but allow it to make prodigious leaps. A Deep One adds double its proficiency bonus to Strength (Athletics) checks involving leaping, jumping or climbing.

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The Lupin, although forgotten now, is a truly ancient race; hailing from Mystara, this is one of the oldest PC races in D&D. They began as a race of pseudo-French anthro dogs, living in the kingdom of Renady (later respelled as Renardie), and first appeared in the modules X2: Castle Amber and X9: Savage Coast. They weren't fleshed out until Dragon Magazine #179, where their kingdom was described in the chapter of "The Voyage of the Princess Ark" serial. This was later followed up in issue #237, which likewise examined Renardy and gave the first ever playable stats for the species. After that, they would be redescribed in various ways by various Mystara sourcebooks; the Mystara Monstrous Compendium would describe them as Amerindian-inspired plains-dwelling tribals, whilst Red Steel, which converted them for use in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, would again revert to the kingdom of Renardy origin. Ultimately, it would be established in Dragon #325 (their 3rd ed update) that there are three cultural groups of Lupins; Tribal, Nomadic and Renardie, neatly handwaving all of this.

Having fallen in love with them in 3.5, I naturally want to update them to 5e. Problem is... this is easier said than done. The first major problem is that there's no clear influence to call back on for determining ability score modifiers; in 2e, your "common" Lupin had +1 Strength and Con, the Wolvenfolk had +1 Strength and +2 Con, Long-Runners had +1 Dex, to just name the closest to the ultimate template - and in 3.5, they had no ability score bonuses at all. So, I just made it up on what sounded remotely plausible.

To explain the subraces; in 3.5, the "core" Lupin was based on their appearance from the Mystara Monstrous Compendium Appendix; based, I think, on the traditionalist tribes of the Yazak Steppes, it made the lupin more or less based on Native American Tribes of the Pacific Northwest. If those tribes specialised in hunting werewolves from atop the backs of giant wolves, anyway. It also acknowledged the existence of "nomads", who essentially scavenged on the fringes of human territory (only difference was favored class switched from Ranger to Barbarian), and of the civilized Lupin kingdom of Renardie, which was more of a Pseudo-France in the age of swashbuckling type culture (favored class: Bard, replaced Expert Rider with +2 to all Crafts checks).

So, with no real idea how to pull it off, I tried to make the subraces follow a similar line; rugged, honorable, grasslands hunters, resourceful and hardy scavengers, and witty, urbane, civilized individuals. I could use feedback on my efforts and I'd really appreciate discussing this race; I do own the Red Steel boxset and the Dragon Magazine issue where they were updated to 3.5, so I can share the lore from those books on here if required.

Lupin
Ability Score Modifier: +1 Wisdom
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Vision: Darkvision
Lupine Senses: A lupin has Advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks where its keen sense of hearing and scent are relevant, but suffers Disadvantage on Constitution saves against attacks based on odor or sound, such as a banshee's cry or a ghast's stench.
Subrace: Choose between the Tribal, Nomadic or Renardie Lupin subraces.

Tribal Lupin
Ability Score Increase: +1 Strength, +1 Constitution
Plains Hunter: A Tribal Lupin's Movement increases to 35 feet. Additionally, a Tribal Lupin does not suffer movement penalties from difficult terrain in grassland environments.
Run With The Pack: A Tribal Lupin adds double its proficiency bonus to Wisdom (Animal Handling) checks made with wolves or wolf-like magical beasts, including giant wolves, dire wolves and worgs.

Nomadic Lupin
Ability Score Increase: +1 Constitution, +1 Dexterity
Hardy Scavenger: Nomadic Lupins have Advantage on saves against disease and the poisoned effect.
Cobble Together: A Nomadic Lupin has Proficiency with Tinker's Tools, and Advantage on any check made to use those tools to try and reassemble, repair or otherwise restore functionality to a degraded or damaged tool, weapon or suit of armor.

Renardie Lupin
Ability Score Increase: +1 Intelligence, +1 Charisma
A Civilised Weapon: A Renardie Lupin has proficiency with the Rapier.
Vintner's Palate: A Renardie Lupin adds double its proficiency bonus to Constitution checks made to avoid being affected by alcohol, and to Intelligence (History and Investigation) checks made in relation to alcohol and brewing.

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Catfolk are... well, what's there to say? We've had several different flavors of these, and I was just trying to see if they could be pulled off, in no small part inspired by Pathfinder's catfolk race. I wrote this before Tabaxi became a thing, and I realize that the end result is kind of boring. Not really sure how to fix it up.

Catfolk
Ability Score Increase: +2 Dexterity, +1 Charisma OR +1 Dexterity, +2 Charisma
Size: Medium
Speed: 35 feet, Climb 20 feet
Vision: Darkvision
Cat's Claws: Your unarmed strikes do slashing damage.
Feline Agility: You have Advantage on Dexterity saving throws. Additionally, you always land on your feet when you fall from any height.

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The Lamia; famous in D&D for being a lion-taur, whilst elsewhere being thought of as a snake-taur, the reality is that both forms of Lamia actually exist in D&D at the same time. The Lamia Noble, a more powerful version with innate magical talents and the lower body of a giant snake, is just mostly forgotten about because it had no artwork in the AD&D 2e Monstrous Manual, whilst in 3.5, it didn't come out until the adventure "Expedition to the Demonweb Pits". There's an article dedicated to a PC version of the "snake-taur lamia" in Pathfinder, in the Kobold Quarterly fan-zine #23, and because I've always liked the race, and I wanted to see if 5e could handle a non-standard body configuration, I decided to give it a shot.

Truth be told... I'm not really all that happy with the results. Perhaps a more interesting idea would be to go with the subrace approach? See, back in AD&D, lamias were established as coming in four different varieties; the iconic lion-taur, the snake-bodied "noble" lamia, and alternate "commoner" lamias who had the lower body of a goat, or a deer/antelope. These had certain differences (lion-taurs had better natural attacks, deer-taurs were frailer but swifter than lion-taurs, goat-taurs were a median between the two), which may be the basis for a subrace division. Hmm... if folks are interested, I'll try my hand at a rework, but, for now, I'll just give you the original rendition.

Lamia
Ability Score Increase: +2 Charisma, +1 Strength
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Vision: Darkvision
Snake Body: A lamia has a Climb Speed of 20 feet and a Swim speed of 30 feet. A lamia can Crawl at its normal speed. A lamia cannot use magical items based on footwear, such as Boots of Elvenkind.
Crushing Coils: A lamia may attempt to grapple a creature that is no more than two sizes larger than itself, and has Advantage on the Strength (Athletics) check to successfully grapple the target.

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Remember how I said the Lamia was born out of a desire to see if 5e can handle a non-standard body type (with a little fascination with the snake-taur race concept for flavor)? Well, the Naga was the next step in that phase of experiments, and I've also considered seeing if a (depowered, of course) Sphinx might also be workable. But, for now, there's just this race of sapient snakes to curse your eyes with.

Naga
Ability Score Increase: +1 Charisma
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Vision: Darkvision
Limbless Horror: A naga's unique body shape poses great difficulty in using items designed for humanoids. Armor must be custom fitted, doubling its cost. A naga can only wear magical items on its head, neck and body, though at a DM's discretion it can also wear 1 magical ring on the tip of its tail.
Prehensile Tail: A naga can use its tail as a hand for all relevant purposes - taking actions, wielding a single-handed weapon, using an item, performing somatic components, etc.
Serpentine Mobility: A naga has a Climb speed of 20 feet and a Swim speed of 20 feet.
Poisonous Bite: A naga is never unarmed. A naga is proficient with its bite, which is a melee weapon that deals 1d4 piercing damage. On a hit, the target must succeed on a Constitution check (DC 8 + Naga's Con modifier + Proficiency Bonus), or be poisoned for 1 minute. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of it's turns, ending the effect on a success.
Subrace: Choose between the Sagacious or Savage Naga subraces.

Sagacious Naga
Ability Score Increase: +1 Intelligence, +1 Wisdom
Alluring Gaze: A Sagacious Naga possesses a gaze attack that it can direct against a single target within 30 feet. The targeted creature must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw (DC 8 + Naga's Cha modifier + Proficiency) against this ability or be charmed up to one minute or until the naga or one of its allies makes a hostile move against it. When the effect ends, the target knows it was charmed. This ability can't be used again until the Naga finishes a long rest.
Mystical Birthright: A Sagacious Naga can cast the Prestidigitation cantrip and 1 other Wizard or Clerical cantrip of its choice. It may choose to use either Wisdom or Intelligence as its casting ability for spells cast with this trait.

Savage Naga
Ability Score Increase: +2 Constitution
Crushing Coils: A Savage Naga may attempt to grapple a creature that is no more than two sizes larger than itself, and can attempt to deliver a grapple if it is within at least 10 feet of the target.
Lethal Venom: A Savage Naga's bite attack also inflicts Poison damage equal to 1d4 plus its Constitution modifier. This damage increases to 1d6 + Con mod at 3rd level and to 1d8 + Con mod at 5th level.

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When I saw the Chitines and Cholodriths in Volo's Guide to Monsters, I asked myself "hey, haven't these guys been PC options in the past?" And, as it turns out, that's exactly the case; although cholodriths haven't, chitines showed as a PC options in both AD&D (Dragon Magazine #262) and 3.5 (Forgotten Realms: Underdark). With that legacy behind them, how could I resist giving them the old-fashioned try?

In AD&D, chitines could use their webbing as raw materials to make armor, weapons, clothes and buildings, even as PCs, which was reflected as "your webbing can be used as raw materials for Armorer/Blacksmith/Carpentry/Stonemasonry/Weaponsmithing/Weaving checks". Not sure how to actually pull that off in 5e, and I think I actually tried and ultimately dumped it.

Working the chitines multiple arms is also something that could be discussed.

Chitine
Ability Score Modifier: +2 Dexterity, +1 Constitution
Size: Small
Vision: Darkvision
Speed: Base Speed 30 feet, Climb 30 feet
Fey Ancestry: A chitine has Advantage on saves vs. Charm effects and is Immune to Magical Sleep effects.
Sunlight Sensitivity: A chitine suffers Disadvantage on attack rolls and Wisdom (Perception) rolls based on sight when either it or the object it is viewing is in direct sunlight.
Web Sense: A chitine can detect the presence of any other creature touching the same webbing as itself.
Web Walker: A chitine ignores movement restriction effects caused by webbing.


Cholodrith
Ability Score Modifier: +2 Wisdom, +1 Dexterity
Size: Medium
Vision: Darkvision
Speed: Base Speed 30 feet, Climb 30 feet
Fey Ancestry: A cholodrith has Advantage on saves vs. Charm effects and is Immune to Magical Sleep effects.
Sunlight Sensitivity: A cholodrith suffers Disadvantage on attack rolls and Wisdom (Perception) rolls based on sight when either it or the object it is viewing is in direct sunlight.
Web Sense: A cholodrith can detect the presence of any other creature touching the same webbing as itself.
Web Walker: A cholodrith ignores movement restriction effects caused by webbing.
Spider Climb: A cholodrith does not need to make ability checks to climb difficult surfaces, including upside down.
Webbing: Once per short rest, a cholodrith can launch webbing as a ranged weapon attack with a range of 30/60 feet, targeting one Large or small creature. On a hit, the target is Restrained until it can pass a DC 11 Strength check. The webbing can also be attacked and destroyed (AC 10, 5 HP, Vulnerability Fire, Immunity Bludgeoning/Poison/Psychic).

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Speaking of Thri-Kreen, I forgot all about my efforts at converting one, seeing as how there's not hint of a "5e Dark Sun Gazetteer" on WoTC's website yet. This version drew itself from the the 5e MM entry for the Thri-Kreen, and that was maybe a mistake. I don't know, this just really feels bland to me... Although, I will note that I do not believe Dark Sun races should be inherently more powerful than other PC races. That just makes them useless for other settings. If you want your Dark Sun characters to feel uber, do something more meta, like starting at a level higher than 1st, or boost their maximum ability scores, or give them a free feat and/or Ability Score Increase.

Thri-Kreen
Ability Score Modifier: +2 Dexterity, +1 Wisdom
Size: Medium
Speed: 40 feet
Vision: Darkvision
Chameleon Carapace: A thri-kreen has Proficiency on Dexterity (Stealth) checks.
Standing Leap: A thri-kreen is always treated as having a running start when determining how far it can jump.
Many-Armed: A thri-kreen has two free actions per turn instead of only one.
Natural Weapons: A thri-kreen can choose to use its claws when making an Unarmed Strike. Using its Claws changes its attack's base damage to d4 slashing.

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Okay, now things are starting to get complicated. This race, and all the others after it (at least, in this initial batch of posts) are of critical importance to my homebrew setting, so please, if nothing else, I need comments and critique on this race.

The Aranea is an ancient D&D race that has gone untouched since its introduction in the Mystara sub-setting of Red Steel. A species of sapient, shapeshifting, sorcerously talented giant spiders, aranea are unique not just in their base concept, but in being a not always evil bug-folk race.

I feel no shame in admitting that this is one my top priority projects, and one that has given me a huge headache. I went through so much of a hassle trying to balance the shapeshifting with the spider-powers with the innate magic that, in the end, I decided to try just seperating the shapeshifting out entirely. I would love to refine this race so much, so I really need somebody willing to talk about the nuances with me.

I've actually got a whole racial writeup, PHB style, but I figure you guys probably just want the stats.

Aranea
Ability Score Increase: +2 Intelligence, +1 Charisma
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Darkvision
Arcane Birthright: You know the Prestidigitation cantrip and 1 other cantrip of your choice from the Wizard spell list. Intelligence is your casting ability score when using these cantrips
Spider Climb: You have a Climb speed of 30 feet and do not need to make an ability check to climb difficult surfaces, including upside down underneath ledges or along a ceiling.
Venomous Bite: As an action you may make a melee attack against an adjacent target. On a hit, you deal 1d8 poison damage. This damage increases by 1d8 at levels 5 (2d8), 11 (3d8), and 17 (4d8). You have Advantage when delivering a Venomous Bite to a target that is grappled or restrained.
Fling Webbing: As an action you may make a ranged attack with a range of 30/60ft. On a hit, the target is Restrained until it passes a Strength check (DC 8 + your proficiency modifier + your Constitution modifier). Your webbing can be attacked as an object by someone seeking to cut through it, in which case it has AC 10, HP 5 + your level, vulnerability to fire, and immunity to bludgeoning, poison and psychic. This ability can be used once per short or long rest.


Sidebar: No Shapeshifting?
Although aranea in editions past were heavily defined by their ability to assume human, spider and demispider forms, the development of rules for 5th edition has made this aspect impractical at best. In their original appearance in Mystara, their need for a human form was mostly mandated by their specific fluff for that setting, which demonized them as evil monsters; even then, it was presumed they would generally spend all of their time in demispider form by handily passing it off as the effect of Red Steel.

In 5th edition, there's just no real way to make the transformation even between spider-form and demispider form work. It comes off as either too weak to be worthwhile, or it comes off as overpowered. So, the race is written around the presumption of focusing on the demispider form, which is literally the best of both worlds.

For those who wish to add that element back in, add the following racial trait to the Aranea:
Spider-Shifter: You are a natural shapechanger, capable of switching between three forms; that of a giant spider, that of a humanoid, or your true "hybrid" form. You have only a single humanoid form, chosen at character creation from the list of Human, Elf, Half-Elf, Mul and Dwarf; you cannot assume a different humanoid form. Like a werewolf, your three forms are all you have. Switching between forms requires an action to complete. Assuming the form of a Giant Spider follows the rules for Wild Shaping (see Druid, PHB pg 67), with the exception that you can still talk and cast spells whilst in spider form. In your humanoid form, you lose access to your Spider Climb, Venomous Bite and Fling Webbing traits, but can completely pass as a member of your chosen humanoid race; no Wisdom (Perception) test can unveil your species identity, and magical items relating to your humanoid race will treat you as such. However, in this form, magical items specifically keying off of shapechangers will react to you as such.


Sidebar: Aranea Racial Feats
Arachnid Inheritance
Prerequisite: Aranea
You are particularly close to your spidery ancestry, enhancing your proficiency with their gifts.

Fling Webbing can be used twice per short or long rest.
Venomous Bite inflicts the Poisoned condition on a target until the end of your next turn.
Creatures restrained by your Fling Webbing ability suffer Disadvantage on Strength checks made to break free.


Mystic Weaver
Prerequisite: Aranea
The arts of weaving magic and silk are not so dissimilar to you, allowing you to combine both skills.

You gain the ability to cast Web as a 2nd level spell as a racial trait. You can use this trait once per long rest. Decide when you select this feat whether to use Constitution or Intelligence as your spellcasting ability score when using this trait; this decision cannot be changed afterwards.
If you are a member of a spellcasting class, you add Web to your list of spells known, even if it is not normally allowed to your class. You do not require material components when casting Web.
Creatures caught in a Web spell cast by you suffer Disadvantage on Strength checks made to break free.

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This race is required for my Malebologe homebrew setting, so I really want feedback on it in particular.

Ratfolk are one of the lesser D&D races. Mostly known from Oriental Adventures, which tried to provide a 3e conversion for the Nezumi of Legend of the Five Rings, and Pathfinder. So, there's not that much to use as a basis for building this race from, and I could really use folks opinions on how to make it better.

Ratfolk
Ability Score Modifier: +2 Constitution, +1 Dexterity
Size: Medium
Speed: 35 feet
Vision: Darkvision
Rodent Hardiness: A ratfolk is Resistant to poison and adds its proficiency bonus to all Constitution checks made to resist being poisoned or contracting diseases.
Delver's Claws: The long, sharp, jagged talons of a ratfolk are as adept at ripping through flesh as they are at ripping through soil. A ratfolk's Unarmed Strikes do 1d4 slashing damage as a basis, and ratfolks have a Burrow speed of 10 feet.
Tunnel Rat: Ratfolk are treated as Small creatures for purposes of fitting into spaces. They can squeeze into spaces that only fit Tiny or smaller creatures, too, but they have disadvantage on all attack rolls and on Dexterity checks and Dexterity saves while doing so.

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This race is required for my Malebologe homebrew setting, so I really want feedback on it in particular.

The humble gnoll is oft thought of as the inferior orc; a demon-worshipping, Always Chaotic Evil race of hyena-folk that have been around since pretty much the beginning of D&D. At yet, at the same time, they've also been redeemable from the start. Playable gnolls have been part of the game since 1e's "The Orcs of Thar", returned in 2e's "Complete Book of Humanoids", had no fewer than four seperate writeups in both 3.0 and 3.5 (Monster Manual 1, Races of the Wild, Unapproachable East and Savage Species) and, their most recent writeup, 4th edition Dragon Magazine #367's "Playing Gnolls", which remains the height of their depiction in D&D thus far and puts 5e's fluff to shame.

Seriously, you want to start a rant from me, get me talking about Volo's Guide and what it did to gnolls. In particular how gnolls are Always Chaotic Evil and can't be PCs, whilst Yuan-Ti Purebloods, who're described as Always Chaotic Evil cannibals out for world domination, can be PCs.

Anyway, getting back on topic, I was inspired by 4e's fluff, where gnolls were culturally divided between the Butcher's Brood (Yeenoghu worshippers) and the Hyena's Soul (those who rejected their demonic lineage), and thus I went for a sub-race approach. Conversations with one interested soul led me to try and add in a "mystic" subrace as well, in the form of the Bouda, inspired by the gnollish Witch archetype in Pathfinder. But, I got more ambitious. Flinds were a thing in editions past,i but, at the same time, I didn't think they quite worked as a subrace, so I instead made them an entirely seperate race with some shared racial traits. That same line of thinking also made me consider an alternative Bouda, done in the same way as the flind.

This race is important to me, so I really want to get it redone and make it both fun, flavorful and balanced enough to play. Gnolls deserve more love than they get.


Gnoll
Ability Score Modifier: +2 Constitution
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Vision: Darkvision
Filth-Eater's Gullet: A gnoll has Resistance to Poison and Advantage on Constitution checks against Poison and Disease.
Ripping Jaws: A gnoll can choose to Bite as an Unarmed Strike, which causes the attack to inflict d4 Piercing damage.
Rampage: When a gnoll reduces a creature to 0 hit points on its turn with a melee attack, it can spend a bonus action to move up to half its speed and make a bite attack.
Ghostly Whispers: A gnoll can imitate the voice of any creature it has heard speaking, so long as it speaks the same language as that creature.
Subrace: Choose between the Butcher’s Brood, Hyena’s Soul or Bouda subraces to determine the rest of your racial traits.

Butcher’s Brood Gnoll
Ability Score Increase: +1 Strength
Blood Frenzy: Once per turn, a Butcher’s Brood Gnoll which has taken damage from an enemy attack can use its Reaction to deliver a bite attack to an enemy in reach.

Hyena’s Soul Gnoll
Ability Score Increase: +1 Wisdom
Far-Roamer: A Hyena’s Soul Gnoll increases its base movement speed to 35 feet.
Bred to Hunt: A Hyena’s Soul Gnoll has Proficiency in Wisdom (Perception) and Wisdom (Survival).

Bouda
Ability Score Modifier: +1 Charisma
Graveyard Prowler: A bouda has Resistance to Necrotic Damage.
Black Magician: A bouda can cast Chill Touch with this trait. At 3rd level, it can cast Arms of Hadar as a 1st level spell with this trait once per long rest. At 5th level, it can cast Enthrall as a 2nd level spell with this trait once per long rest. Charisma is the spellcasting ability score for all spells cast with this trait.


Flind
Ability Score Modifier: +1 Strength, +1 Constitution, +1 Dexterity
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Vision: Darkvision
Filth-Eater's Gullet: A flind has Resistance to Poison and Advantage on Constitution checks against Poison and Disease.
Ripping Jaws: A flind can choose to Bite as an Unarmed Strike. Doing so causes its attack to inflict 1d4 Piercing damage as a basis.
Rampage: When a flind reduces a creature to 0 hit points on its turn with a melee attack, it can take a bonus action to move up to half its speed and make a bite attack.
Powerful Build: A flind is treated as being one size larger for determining its carrying, pushing and pulling capacities.
Bred For War: A flind has proficiency with two martial weapons of its choice.


Bouda (variant)
Ability Score Modifier: +2 Charisma, +1 Intelligence
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Vision: Darkvision
Grave-Robber's Toughness: A bouda has Resistance to Necrotic damage. It also have Advantage on saves against disease and the poisoned condition.
Ripping Jaws: A bouda can choose to Bite as an Unarmed Strike. Doing so causes its attack to inflict 1d4 Piercing damage as a basis.
Black Magician: A bouda can cast Chill Touch with this trait. At 3rd level, it can cast Arms of Hadar as a 1st level spell with this trait once per long rest. At 5th level, it can cast Enthrall as a 2nd level spell with this trait once per long rest. Charisma is the spellcasting ability score for all spells cast with this trait.
Hyenathrope: A bouda has the ability to shapeshift between its own form and that of a hyena. Treat this as per the Druidic Wild Shape ability, except that a bouda can only assume the form of a hyena. A bouda can take hyena form only once, and must then take a long rest before doing so again.

[Shadow_in_the_Mist]

This race is required for my Malebologe homebrew setting, so I really want feedback on it in particular.

With the Kobold, we reach the last of my Beastfolk races thus far. Why a kobold? Well, the kobold has been a favorite of mine since 3rd edition; that combination of playable dragon (an itch I didn't get to scratch otherwise until 4e's Dragonborn) and plucky underdog is just so unique. Add in that the kobold has traditionally been mechanically gimped, a tradition that 5e sadly continued, and I felt a burning drive to explore another way of doing the humble kobold, one inspired in large part by its versatile Pathfinder presentation and surprisingly beefy 4e presentation.

And with this, my current array of beastfolk races is exhausted. I would love to talk to you folks about fixing these up and making them shine, so please, don't be shy about what you think is right, wrong or confusing about any given race.

Kobold
Ability Score Modifier: +2 Dexterity, +1 Intelligence
Size: Small
Speed: 30 feet
Vision: Superior Darkvision
Pack Tactics: A kobold can use the Help option as a Reaction if it is within 5 feet of an ally.
Sunlight Sensitivity: A kobold suffers Disadvantage on Attack Rolls and Wisdom (Perception) checks based on sight if it or its target is in direct sunlight.
Gift of the Dragons: A kobold has a single racial trait selected from the Draconic Gifts subtable below.
Strengths of the Kobold: A kobold has two racial traits selected from the Kobold Mutations subtable below.

Draconic Gifts:

Wings: A kobold with this trait can double the distance it travels upon making a Strength check to jump. Additionally, it has a Fly speed of 10 feet, which increases by +10 feet at 3rd level and 5th level.
Dragonmaw: A kobold with this trait can choose to bite when making an unarmed strike, causing its attack to inflict D4+Dex modifier Piercing damage. Additionally, once per encounter, upon delivering a successful bite attack, a kobold with this trait can inflict further elemental damage. The elemental type is chosen at character creation from the list of Fire, Acid, Cold, Electricity or Poison, and cannot be changed afterwards. The bonus damage is +D6 points, and scales as per a cantrip.
Fundamentum: A kobold with this trait has a breath weapon that it can use once per long rest. Treat this as an unarmed strike with a range of 15 feet inflicting D10 elemental damage (scaling as per a cantrip). The elemental type is chosen at character creation from the list of Fire, Acid, Cold, Electricity or Poison, and cannot be changed afterwards.
Hide of the Dragon: The default AC of a kobold with this trait is 12+Dex modifier. They can still benefit from wielding a shield, and can use their natural armor to determine their AC if the armor they are wearing would ordinarily leave them with a lower AC.
Shield of the Dragon: A kobold with this trait has resistance to ONE damage type from the following list: Fire, Acid, Cold, Electricity or Poison. This choice cannot be undone later in the game.
Dragon Magic: A kobold with this trait can cast the Blade Ward cantrip. At 3rd level, it can cast Chromatic Orb as a 1st level spell once per long rest. At 5th level, it can cast Levitate as a 2nd level spell once per long rest. Intelligence is the casting ability score for spells cast through this trait.




Kobold Mutations:

Draconic Cunning: Ability score modifiers become +2 Int, +1 Dex, replacing the default ability score modifiers.
Draconic Presence: Ability score modifiers become +2 Cha, +1 Dex, replacing the default ability score modifiers.
Tunnel Scurry: A kobold with this trait gains a Climb speed of 30 feet and is not slowed by squeezing into a smaller space. Additionally, it does not suffer suffer disadvantage whilst squeezing, nor does it offer combat advantage whilst squeezing.
Tactical Retreat: Once per short rest, a kobold with this trait can Disengage and move full speed as a bonus action. Allies within 5 feet can also spend a reaction to do the same thing.
Pack Defense: If within 5 feet of a non-incapacitated ally, a kobold with this trait can leave a creature's space without drawing an Attack of Opportunity.
Silver-Tongued: A kobold with this trait gains Proficiency in Charisma (Persuasion, Deception, and Performance) checks.
Trapmaster: A kobold with this trait has Advantage on Wisdom (Perception) and Intelligence (Investigation) checks made to detect traps, and on Intelligence checks made to disable traps. Additionally, once short rest, if a kobold triggers a trap, it can use its Reaction to transfer half of the damage it takes from that trap to an adjacent enemy.
Cunning Tinkerer: As per the Rock Gnome's Tinker trait (see PHB pg 37).
Dayraider: The kobold loses Sunlight Sensitivity, but downgrades its vision from Superior Darkvision to only Darkvision.
Prehensile Tail: A kobold with this trait adds its proficiency bonus to Dexterity (Acrobatics) and Strength (Athletics) checks. It can also use its tail as an extra hand, although it can only be used to wield a weapon with the Light trait.
Miner's Fortitude: A kobold with this trait doubles the amount of time it can hold its breath for, and gains Advantage on Constitution (Endurance) checks made against harsh environments.
Ambusher: Enemies suffer Disadvantage on Passive Perception checks made to detect a hidden kobold with this trait.

[Shadow_in_the_Mist]

I forgot all about this race... I could have sworn I posted it earlier, but then, I think maybe I erased a perceived double of it by accident. This damn network of mine only works in fits and starts, so that makes forums unreliable... anyway, like the Deep One, my desire to do a Serpentfolk race was born out of their gorgeous artwork in the Field Guide to Lovecraftian Horrors, and my long love for Conan and its related serpentfolk. Add in that Pathfinder's serpentfolk manage to be much more interesting than Forgotten Realms' yuan-ti, and my own interest in "redeeming" beastfolk races, and they were a natural result.

Serpentfolk
Ability Score Modifiers: +1 Charisma
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Vision: Darkvision
Toxic Spittle: A serpentfolk secretes copious amounts of venom from its fangs, which it can wield in battle. A serpentfolk can either spit venom (treat as a Poison Spray cantrip cast using Charisma) or deliver a toxic bite, turning its Unarmed Strike damage into Poison damage.
Veil of Humanity: All serpentfolk can weave an instinctive glamour about themselves in order to walk amongst humanity. As an action, a serpentfolk can raise its Veil, which causes it to appear as a single human identity chosen a character creation. This disguise only conceals the serpentfolk's race and does not alter its apparel, or its condition, so injuries, etc, carry through. Only magical items of at least Legendary potency can see through this illusion, but a serpentfolk is forced to resume its true form should it hear the phrase, "Ka nama kaa lajerama".
Subrace: Choose between the Fallen Serpentfolk and Pure Serpentfolk subraces.

Subrace: Fallen Serpentfolk
Ability Score Increase: +2 Strength
Scaly Armor: A Fallen Serpentfolk's toughened hide means that its unarmored AC is treated as being 12 + Dexterity modifier.
Rending Claws: A Fallen Serpentfolk's Unarmed Strikes do Slashing damage instead of Bludgeoning damage.
Slavering Maw: A Fallen Serpentfolk's Unarmed Strikes do bonus Poison damage equal to its Strength modifier.
Hunter's Senses: A Fallen Serpentfolk has Advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks.

Subrace: Pure Serpentfolk
Ability Score Increase: +2 Intelligence
Hypnotic Eyes: A Pure Serpentfolk can cast the Friends Cantrip, Charm Person as a 1st level spell once per long rest at 3rd level, and Enthrall as a 2nd level spell once per long rest at 5th level. Intelligence is its casting ability score when using the spell-like abilities granted by this trait.
Shielded Thoughts: A Pure Serpentfolk has Advantage on Wisdom saving throws caused by spells and magical effects, and is Immune to Charm effects.


Variation: Slithering Horror
In some worlds, serpentfolk may slither on gigantic serpentine tails rather than striding along on two legs, and this may either be the norm or a sign of chaotic influences in the serpentfolk's blood. Such individuals are stripped of their illusory veils, but are, in many ways, more mobile than humans. To create a slithering serpentfolk, replace Veil of Humanity with the following traits:
Snake Body: The serpentfolk has a Climb Speed of 20 feet and a Swim speed of 30 feet, and can Crawl at its normal speed. However, it cannot use magical items based on footwear, such as Boots of Elvenkind.
Crushing Coils: The serpentfolk may attempt to grapple a creature that is no more than two sizes larger than itself, and has Advantage on the Strength (Athletics) check to successfully grapple the target.

[Shadow_in_the_Mist]

Because I don't like bumping without something useful to say, I thought I'd put my mind to trying to develop the "Lamia as subrace" approach I mentioned earlier in this thread.

The basic idea I decided to go with for this race is that each of the subraces takes the fundamental "lamianess" in its own unique way. Lioness Lamias are the strong ones, Goat Lamias are the tough ones, Deer Lamias are the quick ones, and Snake Lamias are the smart ones. +2 Charisma stems from their fluff throughout the editions as both very beautiful, very self-centered, and very strong willed. The idea of giving each race its own spell-like abilities? Well... that mostly stemmed from a drive to try and make them unique.

Other tentative races for this topic include the Pterran (a sort of bird/lizardfolk from Dark Sun Revised 2e), Thriae (bee-women from Pathfinder), Girtablilu (scorpion-taurs from Pathfinder) and Centaur.

Lamia (Alternate)
Ability Score Modifier: +2 Charisma
Size: Medium
Vision: Darkvision
Speed: 30 feet
Tauric: Your unusual body configuration gives you plenty of extra mass, which can be advantageous in some occasions, but also makes you bulkier than an ordinary humanoid. You are treated as being one size larger for determining your carrying, dragging, pushing and pulling capacity, but you are also treated as being one size larger for determining your space.
Innate Magic: You have the ability to cast Friends at will with this trait. At level 3, you gain the ability to cast a 1st level spell determined by your subrace once with this trait, and must then complete a long rest before casting it with this trait again. At level 5, you gain the ability to cast a 2nd level spell determined by your subrace once with this trait, and must then complete a long rest before casting it with this trait again. Spells cast with this trait use Charisma as their spellcasting ability score.
Subrace: Choose either the Feline, Goat, Deer or Serpent subrace to determine the remainder of your racial traits.

Feline Lamia
Ability Score Increase: +1 Strength
Cat's Tricks: Your Innate Magic racial feature provides you with the spells Feather Fall and See Invisibility.
Cat's Claws: Your lower limbs end in vicious claws, which can be used as weapons that deal 1d6 + Strength modifier Slashing damage. You cannot be disarmed of these weapons. If you have the Extra Attacks ability, you can divide your attacks between your weapons (if any) and your claws. At 10th level, your claws count as Magical Weapons for the purpose of piercing damage resistance.
Raking Talons: When you have an opponent grappled, you can continue to use the Attack action to make claw attacks, which automatically hit.


Goat Lamia
Ability Score Increase: +1 Constitution
Gut Magic: Your Innate Magic racial feature provides you with the spells Jump and Find Traps.
Indiscriminate Appetite: You have Immunity to the Poisoned condition, are Resistant to Poison Damage, and have Advantage on Constitution saving throws against Disease. Additionally, you can digest almost anything organic to sustain yourself when you are in need of food.
Sure-Footed: You have Advantage on Strength and Dexterity saving throws made against effects that would knock you prone.


Deer Lamia
Ability Score Increase: +1 Dexterity
Fleeting Phantasm: Your Innate Magic racial feature provides you with the spells Expeditious Retreat and Invisibility.
Swift-Moving: Your base movement speed increases to 40 feet.
Graceful: You have Advantage on Dexterity checks to avoid being knocked prone. Additionally, you are immune to difficult terrain caused by solid obstacles (roots, uneven ground, rocks, etc).


Serpent Lamia
Ability Score Increase: +1 Intelligence
Serpentine Wiles: Your Innate Magic racial feature provides you with the spells Disguise Self, which can only be used to portray you as a humanoid version of yourself, and Suggestion.
Snake Body: You have a Climb Speed of 20 feet and a Swim speed of 30 fee, and can Crawl at its normal speed, but cannot use magical items based on footwear, such as Boots of Elvenkind.
Crushing Coils: You may attempt to grapple a creature that is no more than two sizes larger than you, and have Advantage on the Strength (Athletics) check to successfully grapple the target.

[Shadow_in_the_Mist]

Alright, Zeek0 has been offering me some critique on these races and, due to problems with their connection, I need to post their critique myself before responding to it.

Aranea:
Comment #1: If you haven’t, I recommend reading Mother of Learning, an original serial fiction you can find online. The aranea in that story are probably informed by existing tropes, but quite fantastic in their own right.
Response #1: Aranea actually originate from D&D's Red Steel setting. This fluff I wrote up is because they're an obscure race who haven't been playable since AD&D.

Comment #2: I would say they are not a naturally evil race. There are evil araneas here and there, yes?
Response #2: Hmm, maybe this does need some adjustment.

Comment #3: Perhaps a better wording would be ‘most natural form’. “True form” makes it sound as if they believe their other forms to be false.
Response #3: Feels a little like nitpicking to me, but alright.

Again, I'll leave off on feats because I want to focus on the core of the races so far.


Thri-Kreen:
Comment: I would change this, and model it after the Minotaur’s horn attack (or see how I modeled the natural weapon/massive limb for the Caliban). That would make it relevant.
Response: Maybe so, this is one of my older renditions. Of course, natural attack style weapons are always going to be "ribbons" anyway due to various factors.


Lupin:
Comment #1: I rather like what you’ve done here, in terms of theme.
Response #1: Thanks. As I said in the post in the doc proper, they're a very interesting race, but damn if they're not a pain in the ass to convert.

Comment #2: The Tribal Lupin's wide variety of AS increases creates an odd MAD-like situation. Might not be a problem.
Response #2: Since we have at least the Triton as a canonical +3 to different stats, plus the Human and Half Elf, I'm pretty confident there's no problem here.

Comment #3: Run With The Pack seems extraordinarily circumstantial. Perhaps a modified pack tactics is warranted?
Response #3: Perhaps... but what exactly do you have in mind? Because, yeah, the various subrace abilities are pretty heavily slanted towards ribbondom, simply becasuse, well, there's not a huge amount of material to draw from in 5e. Maybe I should share their AD&D and 3.5 writeups, if that'd be helpful?

Comment #4: Both of the Civilized Lupin's racial features are cool, but hardly useful. Needs a bit more.
Response #4: As I said, if I had better ideas what to give them, I'd gladly do so.


Comment on Claws from both Catfolk, Ratfolk, Fallen Serpentfolk and Harpy: Mirror after Claws, in the Caliban race.
Response: Okay, will do.


Ratfolk:
Comment: The PHB doesn’t detail what this would look like. But a creature can squeeze into the space of creatures one size smaller. So this would be like a medium-sized creature squeezing into a 1.5-foot hole(?).
Response: Don't forget, real-life rats can squeeze into anything they can fit their head into. So, yeah, it was intentional that ratfolk can make use of smaller openings than normal Medium humans can get through, albeit with difficulty.


Gnoll:
Comment #1: See Minotaur’s horn for improving Ripping Jaws.
Response: Makes sense.

Comment #2: I rather like Rampage!
Response: Thanks, I took it directly from the MM entry.

Comment #3: I don’t think that ghostly is quite the right descriptor?
Response: Maybe, maybe not.

Comment #4: Blood Frenzy is too strong for my taste.
Response: It's a bonus attack as a Reaction to taking damage, which you can do once per turn. Plus, it's with what is and will always be the weakest attack option you have. What makes you say that is overpowered?

Comment #5: The rhyming is killing me.
Response: 4e's "Playing Gnolls" divided gnolls between the Butcher's Brood and the Hyena's Soul, so I wanted to give that homage.

Comment #6: Ooooo, I like Hyenathrope.
Response: Thanks! So, do you think the Bouda as its own race works better than as a gnollish subrace with Hyenathrope as a racial feat?


Lamia:
Comment: One more feature is warranted here.
Response: Okay... but, like, what? Kind of leaving me hanging here.


Naga:
Comment #1: Not having hands is… a serious detriment. Even a prehensile tail doesn’t really detail how much of a detriment it is. …Imagine you lost all your fingers except your exceptionally strong middle finger. Sure, you could still do stuff. But… really?
Response: It's a challenge, I know, but hey, D&D has had really odd things in the past before. Look up the AD&D Mongrelman Expanded writeup sometime. Besides, 5e's such a flexible system I want to see how far I can push it outside of the bipedal norms.

Comment #2: This is fantastically powerful.
Response: Really? Okay, well, maybe I should tune that down...

Comment #3: +1 Int and Wis for the Sagacious Naga is a strange combination…
Response: They're the "mystical" subrace, associated with being both very learned and very wise, so it felt appropriate to do something like this for them.

Comment #4: Is the casting ability score tied to the spell list? For example, can I cast cure wounds with Intelligence? See Magic Initiate if you want to change this.
Response: No, the Casting Ability Score is what you choose at character creation. But maybe I will look at that feat...

Comment #5: This makes it so that you effectively have a weapon that deals 1d4 + Str piercing and 1d8 poison damage. Far too much.
Response: Eh, consider how useless most natural weapons are, and how common Poison Resistance is, I'm not entirely sure I agree with you here. I am open to being convinced otherwise.


Serpentfolk:
Comment: What kind of action does this take? Is it a transformation, or an illusion? Can their arms actually carry things? Do they transform naked, or is this like a wildshape thing?
Response: It takes an action to use. As for what it is, it's essentially a buffed up "Disguise Self" style illusion, making them appear to be humans, but since they're bipedal humanoids to begin with, that's not really a big deal. Are you unfamiliar with the Serpentfolk of Lovecraft, King Kull and Pathfinder?


Deep One:
Comment: Amphibious is written in a way that's terribly ambiguous. Just use the wording from the MM.
Response: Didn't think it was that big a deal, but alright.


Harpy:
Comment: I feel like dex and cha work better here.
Response: Oh? Why is that? Harpies are usually more associated, in D&D at least, with being tough, hardy scavengers and not with a lot of physical grace or manual dexterity.


Kobold:
Comment: I’m going to skip kobolds..
Response: Aw, but these are one of the most important races I need to get balanced...


Grippli:
Comment #1: Savage Grippli's Bug Hunter is strangely specific and circumstantial.
Response: Yeah, ironically, it's not that easy to give them things that are really solid for who they are as a species.

Comment #2: What, they grow wings? Perhaps I’m not envisioning this properly.
Response: Probably not. The idea is that, by this point, the patagia on the Treetop Grippli's hands and feet combine with the sheer "you can do the impossible" aspect of a high-level PC to let them actively defy gravity, rather than just glide on the winds.

Comment #3: What if you aren’t already proficient in Persuasion? 0*2=0
Response: Then you don't get the bonus from the Princely Grippli's Courtly Charms feature. Unless this is a way of stating that you think they should just get Proficiency in Persuasion for free.


Chitine:
Comment: Can they make webs?
Response: Yes and no. Yes, they can produce silk, but it takes time and effort, so whilst they can weave webbing-based weapons, tools and armor out of combat, they can't produce webbing to entangle a foe in mid-combat, not like the more powerful Cholodriths.

[Shadow_in_the_Mist]

So, my attention was drawn to this race, and seeing as how I need to bump this thread anyway, I figured I'd share my thoughts on it.

The Dray were a race of draconic humanoids from the Dark Sun setting, introduced in the "City by the Silt Sea" adventure. They represent Dregoth's experiments at altering the draconic ascension rituals in order to evolve humans into dragons en masse, and are divided into two generations; his first batch of successful experiments, the mutation prone and somewhat feral, but honorable, flawed prototypes and the second generation of completed models. Although 4th edition suggested using them as a way to replicate Dragonborn, the truth is that they don't really mesh up all that well; Dray in AD&D were essentially lizardmen (tough hides, natural attacks, heat resistance) reflavored as one mad dracolich's attempt at evolving humanity into a superior state in total isolation, so the dragonborn's breath weapon, History bonus and stat boosts didn't mesh up all too well.

For those wanting to see how these guys compare to their 2e selves, you can find the 2e Dray stats here: https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Dragonborn#Dray


Dray
Ability Score Modifier: +1 Constitution
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Vision: Darkvision 60 feet
Sunlight Sensitivity: You suffer Disadvantage on Attack Rolls and on Wisdom (Perception) checks based on sight made whilst either you or the thing you are attacking/studying is in direct sunlight.
Born to Scorching Sands: You have Resistance to Fire Damage. Additionally, you only need a half of a gallon of water per day, or one gallon in hot weather, and have Advantage on the Constitution save against Exhaustion caused by not drinking sufficient daily water.
Armored Scales: When not wearing armor, your AC is 13 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use your natural armor to determine your AC if the armor you wear would leave you with a lower AC. A shield's benefits apply as normal while you use your natural armor.
With Fang and Claw: You possess fangs and claws, which function as natural weapons. When making an unarmed strike, you can choose to use your claw attack (1d6 + Str modifier Slashing damage) or bite attack (1d4 + Str modifier Piercing damage) instead of your fist (normal Unarmed Strike). If you have the Martial Arts class feature, you can use your Martial Arts damage dice when making a claw or bite attack, although the damage remains Slashing or Piercing as appropriate.
Subrace: Choose between the First Generation Dray or Second Generation Dray to determine the rest of your racial abilities.

1st Generation Dray:
Ability Score Modifier: +2 Strength
Atavistic Fury: You have a +1 bonus to Attack rolls and Damage rolls when using your claw attack and bite attack.

2nd Generation Dray:
Ability Score Modifier: +1 Strength, +1 Intelligence
Superior Darkvision: Your Darkvision has a range of 120 feet instead of 60 feet.
Trained to Inherit: You have Proficiency in one skill of your choice and in one martial weapon of your choice.

[Shadow_in_the_Mist]

Draconians: perhas the most famous race to come out of Dragonlance apart from Kender, and certainly not usually as controversial as Kender. A vast and diverse species based on magically corrupting and transforming the eggs of dragons, draconians are perhaps the most readily salvageable unique race of Krynn.

You'll notice a lot of things done differently about this race, and I figured I'd go-ahead and try to preempt some of the things:

The Unorthodox Use of Subrace:
The simple fact of the matter is, unlike Dragonborn and Dray, Draconians are so very different from each other that they really can't use the subrace system. In 3.5, the only thing they shared was the Dragon type, Disease Immunity, Low Metabolism and Inspired By Dragons. In all honesty, I was going to just do each race seperately, but I thought that using the Subrace mechanic to set up the basic rules for Death Throes and size made the most sense.

Gender Splitting:
According to their fluff, female and male base draconians have certain differences. This... didn't translate very well to the tabletop. Maybe I've just not got the right books, but according to Dragons of Krynn, only the male & female Kapaks & Sivaks had different abilities, and female Baaz were supposed to be smarter than males, but this wasn't reflected well. So, I couldn't apply the split fully to the base draconians. I did what I could with the information that I had.

Fluctuating Power Levels
Let's get something straight: the 3.5 draconians were almost obscene in their power levels, at least for some races. Aurak, Flame and Lightning Draconians all had +11 LA, whilst Sivaks had +10 LA. I had to cut down on the power levels immensely to make these guys work as a 5e race.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to do feats to bring back some of the more powerful stuff - we do have Svirfneblin Magic as a canonical example, after all - but first, I want the core races to be balanced.

I also tweaked abilities in different ways. For example, almost every Draconian in 3.5 had a 30ft move speed (Flame & Lightning had a 40ft one) and all of them bar the Aurak got the Run feat for free, so I felt justified in tweaking the default speed to 35 feet.

Still, even with balance as my end-goal, they probably ended up all over the place, especially the Baaz (always the weakest of the base draconians) and the Nobles. So, getting these guys to work properly is going to take a lot of talking.

Revivable:
I know that in 3.5, you needed Resurrection, True Resurrection, Wish or Miracle to bring back a dead draconian... but, honestly, I felt that was a little over the top, seeing as how Dragonlance is canonically a Low Divine Magic setting, to the point that I can't name a canonical cleric since the King-Priest who could cast even Raise Dead. I retain that ruling as an optional variant, but I thought it was unfair to keep it as the default assumption.

Without further ado...


Draconian Core:
Size: Medium
Speed: 35 feeet
Vision: Darkvision 60 feet.
Natural Weapons:[b] You have fangs and claws that can be used when making an Unarmed Strike, allowing you to change its damage from Bludgeoning to Slashing (claws) or Piercing (bite).
[b]Bred for War: You have Advantage on saves against Disease, halve your daily water requirement, and can go for 4 + Con modifier (minimum of 2) days without food.
Death Throes: When you die, an organ in your body triggers a magical outburst, causing an effect dictated by your subrace. The detritus left your body is still a valid target for a Raise Dead spell.
Subrace: Choose one of the following subraces to determine your ability score modifiers and further special abilities: Aurak, Baaz (Male), Baaz (Female), Bozak, Kapak (Male), Kapak (Female), Sivak (Male), Sivak (Female), Flame, Frost, Lightning, Venom, Vapor, Adamaaz, Ferak or Kobaaz.


Aurak:
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Charisma, +1 Intelligence
Death Throes - Mana Surge: When your Death Throes trigger, your body explodes in a burst of pure magical energy. All creatures within 5 feet must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw (DC 8 + your Con modifier + your Proficiency bonus) or take 3d6 Force damage. On a successful save, they still take half damage.
Born to Wizardry: You have Proficiency in Intelligence (Arcana) checks.
Breath Weapon: You can use your action to unleash a breath weapon of toxic, blinding vapors. This attack is a 5ft cone, and creatures caught within it can make a Constitution save (DC 8 + your Con modifier + your Proficiency bonus). On a failed save, they take 2d4 Poison damage and are Blinded until the end of your next turn. On a successful save, they only take half damage and are not blinded. The damage you can inflict with this ability increases to 3d4 at 6th level, 4d4 at 11th evel, and 5d4 at 16th level. Once you have used this trait, you cannot use it again until you complete a long rest.

Designer Notes:
Auraks are tricky because they were always the most absurdly powerful of draconians, with 8 "free" levels in Sorcerer spellcasting, at-will force beams from their hands, 3/day Dimension Door & Disguise Self spell-like abilities, Greater Invisibility & Suggestion at-will, and Dominate Person 1/day. Add in their fluff being equal parts focused on their intelligence and on their natural affinity for sorcery, and I had to make changes.

I went with +2 Cha and +1 Int because this supporteds their traditional knack for sorcery, and still made them smarter than average. Free proficiency in Arcana furthered their statues as the smartest of the draconians.

After some thought, I decided it made more sense to preserve their status as the only base draconian with a breath weapon than to give them innate spell-like abilities, which could be locked away behind a racial feat, as with the Svirfneblin. I downgraded the damage to D4s because A: aurak breath isn't as defining as a dragonborn's breath, and B: they get the ability to blind, whilst dragonborn depend on pure damage. Similarly, I downgraded it to a 1/day power because the Auraks get a fair few more features than Dragonborn do, even if most of them are ribbons.


Baaz (Male):
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Constitution, +1 Strength
Death Throes - Petrify: When your Death Throes are triggered, you transmute into a statue of solid stone, then crumble into dust in 1d4 minutes. If you were slain by a creature inflicting Slashing or Piercing damage, that creature must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw (DC 8 + your Con modifier + your Proficiency bonus) or else their weapon will be trapped inside your calcified corpse until you turn to dust. For creatures using a natural weapon, such as claws or fangs, being trapped like this gives attackers Advantage on their attack rolls.
Deceitful: You have Proficiency in Charisma (Deception) checks.
Glide: Although your wings are not strong enough to grant you flight, so long as you are not Immobilized or otherwise restrained, you can catch the wind to slow your descent, nullifying all damage you would normally take from falling.

Baaz (Female)
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Constitution, +1 Intelligence
Death Throes - Petrify: When your Death Throes are triggered, you transmute into a statue of solid stone, then crumble into dust in 1d4 minutes. If you were slain by a creature inflicting Slashing or Piercing damage, that creature must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw (DC 8 + your Con modifier + your Proficiency bonus) or else their weapon will be trapped inside your calcified corpse until you turn to dust. For creatures using a natural weapon, such as claws or fangs, being trapped like this gives attackers Advantage on their attack rolls.
Diplomatic: You have Proficiency in Charisma (Persuasion) checks.
Glide: Although your wings are not strong enough to grant you flight, so long as you are not Immobilized or otherwise restrained, you can catch the wind to slow your descent, nullifying all damage you would normally take from falling.

Designer Notes:
Baaz have always been the most... vanilla of the draconians. Beyond their 2 levels in Dragon, with the free feats and skills they get, they basically have nothing. In the end, I went with the idea of free skill proficiencies, simply because they're the most stand-out traits.

Males and females were seperated because they are supposed to be different, based on their lore; females are smarter, more diplomatic (they swap Bluff as a class skill for Diplomacy) and just generally have more "natural leadership abilities".

Still, I could really use better ways to make these guys stand out. They were just the grunts of the dragonarmies, but still, they deserve some respect.


Bozak:
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Strength, +1 Intelligence
Death Throes - Bone Shrapnel: When your Death Throes are triggered, your flesh disintegrates and your bones explode in a shower of razor-sharp shrapnel. All creatures within 10 feet of you must succeed on a Dexterity save (DC 8 + your Con modifier + your proficiency bonus) or take 1d6 Slashing damage. If they succed on their save, they halve the damage they take. Damage from your Death Throes is treated as Magical for purpose of piercing damage resistance.
Blood Mystic: You know a single Cantrip of your choice from the Sorcerer spell list. This cantrip, when cast with this feature, uses Intelligence as your casting ability score.
Glide: Although your wings are not strong enough to grant you flight, so long as you are not Immobilized or otherwise restrained, you can catch the wind to slow your descent, nullifying all damage you would normally take from falling.

Designer Notes:
Bozaks are an interesting race. A step up from their Baaz kindred, they're most notable for being warrior-mages, with 4 free levels in Sorcerer. Like the Aurak, they suffer from that problem where they are described as highly intelligent, but editions afterwards make their innate affinity for magic a matter of the Charisma-based Sorcerer. So, I decided to split the difference by making them gain a free Sorcerer cantrip that they can cast with Intelligence, which is their secondary boost. These guys are made for the Eldritch Knight Fighter and the Bladesinger Wizard, so that's a motif I'd like to support with future refinements.


Kapak (Male):
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Dexterity, +1 Constitution
Death Throes - Meltdown: When your Death Throes are triggered, you violently dissolve into a 5ft puddle of acid. All creatures within 5ft of you must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw (DC 8 + your Con modifier + your Proficiency bonus) or be splashed, taking 1d6 Acid damage. The puddle remains active for 1d6 rounds after your death; until it goes inert, anything that enters the puddle takes 1d6 Acid damage each round it remains within.
Toxic Spittle: You possess venom glands in your mouth which you can use in one of two ways. Firstly, you can spit venom; this mimics the effects of a Poison Spray cantrip, including having its damage defined by your level, and using Constitution as the casting ability score. Secondly, you can coat the edges of a bladed or piercing weapon with toxic mucus. This requires a bonus action to complete. Once you have coated a weapon, on a successful strike, it inflicts +1d12 Poison damage (increasing with your character level as per Poison Spray). After you have delivered a successful hit, or after 3 rounds, the venom becomes inert and loses its toxicity. Once you have licked a weapon, you exhaust your venom glands; you cannot use either form of your Toxic Spittle until you complete a short rest.
Glide: Although your wings are not strong enough to grant you flight, so long as you are not Immobilized or otherwise restrained, you can catch the wind to slow your descent, nullifying all damage you would normally take from falling.

Kapak (Female):
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Dexterity, +1 Constitution
Death Throes - Meltdown: When your Death Throes are triggered, you violently dissolve into a 5ft puddle of acid. All creatures within 5ft of you must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw (DC 8 + your Con modifier + your Proficiency bonus) or be splashed, taking 1d6 Acid damage. The puddle remains active for 1d6 rounds after your death; until it goes inert, anything that enters the puddle takes 1d6 Acid damage each round it remains within.
Healing Saliva: As an action, you can lick an injured creature to heal wounds as per a 1st level Cure Wounds spell. Once you have used this trait, you cannot use it again until you complete a short rest.
Glide: Although your wings are not strong enough to grant you flight, so long as you are not Immobilized or otherwise restrained, you can catch the wind to slow your descent, nullifying all damage you would normally take from falling.

Designer Notes:
Kapaks are interesting in that they're a draconian race with truly well-defined trait differences between males (poisonous saliva) and females (curative saliva). So, naturally, I felt justified in doing this split. I do worry a little about them being able to Cure Wounds 1/short rest, but it's surely not that game-breaking?


Sivak (Male):
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Strength, +1 Constitution
Powerful Build: You are treated as being one size larger for determining your lifting, carrying, dragging, pushing and pulling capacities.
Flight: You have a Fly speed of 30 feet.
Death Throes - Killer's Face: When your Death Throes are triggered by a humanoid of your size or smaller, your corpse shapechanges into the exact image of your killer. 3 days later, you crumble into a mound of black soot. If your Death Throes were triggered by any other situation, you explode in a 10ft burst of fire, forcing all creatures within the area of effect to succeed on Dexterity saving throw (DC 8 + your Con modifier + your Proficiency bonus) or take 2d4 Fire damage. If they succeed on this save, they only take half damage.
Shapechanger: As an action, you can polymorph into any humanoid of your size that you have seen, or back into your true form. However, your equipment does not change with you. If you die, you revert to your natural appearance.

Sivak (Female):
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Strength, +1 Constitution
Powerful Build: You are treated as being one size larger for determining your lifting, carrying, dragging, pushing and pulling capacities.
Flight: You have a Fly speed of 30 feet.
Death Throes - Fireball: When your Death Throes are triggered, you explode in a 10ft burst of fire, forcing all creatures within the area of effect to succeed on Dexterity saving throw (DC 8 + your Con modifier + your Proficiency bonus) or take 2d4 Fire damage. If they succeed on this save, they only take half damage.
Chameleonic Blending: You have Proficiency in Dexterity (Stealth). Additionally, you can cast Disguise Self as a 1st level spell on yourself with this trait. Once you have used this trait in this way, you cannot use the Disguise Self aspect of this trait until you complete a long rest.

Designer Notes:
Sivaks were surprisingly simple to do. Like Kapaks, they have very strong ability-differences between genders in terms of special powers, so that informed the split.

My golden rule for Large races is simple: don't make them Large. Instead, the Powerful Build trait gives them the non-overpowered, practical benefits of that increased size without the drawbacks and relegates them to a ribbon, so it can be effectively ignored in terms of racial balance.

The Flight speed, on the other hand, is tricker. Sivaks have to fly, it's their defining trait amongst the base draconians! But, with their other powerful traits, it had to get cut back, and so I reduced it from 3e's 60 feet to a more palatable 30 feet.

The different shape-changing abilities of the two sexes were surprisingly easy. Males simply steal the shapechanging power from the official (so far) 5e Changeling, whilst females get Proficiency in Stealth (reflecting their +10 to Hide checks) and Disguise Self 1/day, reflecting the latter's upgrade to a 1st level spell in this edition.


Flame Draconian:
Ability Score Modifiers: +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Constitution
[b]Death Throes - Fireball:[b] When your Death Throes are triggered, you explode in a 10ft burst of fire, forcing all creatures within the area of effect to succeed on Dexterity saving throw (DC 8 + your Con modifier + your Proficiency bonus) or take 2d4 Fire damage. If they succeed on this save, they only take half damage.
Powerful Build: You are treated as being one size larger for determining your lifting, carrying, dragging, pushing and pulling capacities.
Flight: You have a Fly speed of 30 feet.
Born to Flames: You have Resistance to Fire Damage and can cast the Control Flames and Fire Bolt cantrips using this trait. When doing so, Strength is your casting ability score.

Designer Notes:
Flame Draconians, like all noble draconians, have a massive amount of stuff going for them. Even just using the racial class as a guideline presented me with choice overload, so I went... creative.

Free Barbarian class features was a no-go. I figure the best way to handle that is to just make the Flame Draconian naturally appealing for the Barbarian class, although admittedly the +1s to physical stats, a reference to the fact they got bonuses to all three in 3e, probably doesn't help that.

Fireball as a racial spell-like ability was way too strong, same with having the Fire subtype. So, after giving it Powerful Build and Fly, under the same rationale as the Sivaks, I settled for Fire Resistance plus the two most iconically "pyromantic" fire cantrips.

I struggled with whether or not to give them a breath weapon; like the Auraks and Lightning Draconians, Flame Draconians are the only species known to have it. But, given they need to reach 5th level to manifest it under their racial class, I decided they had enough going for them. Won't hurt to restrict it to a racial feat.


Frost Draconian:
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Constitution, +1 Strength
Death Throes - Flash Freeze: When your Death Throes are triggered, you rapidly freeze solid, before violently exploding in a cascade of serrated ice shards. All creatures within a 10ft radius must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw (DC 8 + your Con modifier + your Proficiency bonus) or take 1d6 Cold damage. On a success, they take only half damage. Creatures with Vulnerability: Slashing are also vulnerable to the damage inflicted by your Death Throes.
Glide: Although your wings are not strong enough to grant you flight, so long as you are not Immobilized or otherwise restrained, you can catch the wind to slow your descent, nullifying all damage you would normally take from falling.
Born to Ice: You have Resistance to Cold Damage and can cast the Chill Touch and Ray of Frost cantrips using this trait. When doing so, Strength is your casting ability score.

Designer Notes:
The Baaz of the Noble Draconians, the Frost Draconian was fairly easy to convert. I'm not sure why the racial class gives them the Frost subtype and the statblock from earlier in the same subchapter doesn't, but it makes more sense to go with the class on that one, so I gave them Cold Resistance. Then I gave them frigid cantrips because I figured that it was only fair, given what the Flame Draconian got.


Lightning Draconian:
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Strength, +1 Charisma
Death Throes - Electric Surge: When your Death Throes are triggered, your body dissolves into a cascade of leaping electrical sparks. All creatures within 10 feet must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw (DC 8 + your Con modifier + your Proficiency bonus) or take 1d6 Lightning damage. On a successful save, they take only half damage. Creatures wearing metal armor, wielding metal weapons or otherwise carrying metal suffer Disadvantage on this saving throw.
Powerful Build: You are treated as being one size larger for determining your lifting, carrying, dragging, pushing and pulling capacities.
Flight: You have a Fly speed of 30 feet.
Electrified Blood: You have Resistance to Lightning Damage. Additionally, you can cast the Shocking Grasp cantrip with this trait, using Charisma as your casting ability score. When casting Shocking Grasp through this trait, you can use the attack roll bonus (if any) of a metal weapon you are wielding at the time.

Designer Notes:
Another case of racial class and default profile not talking to each other, in this case, the profile gives Lightning Draconians a Shocking Grasp spell-like ability which their racial class doesn't.

In essence, the Lightning Draconian followed the footsteps of their fellow Large Flyer, the Flame Draconian. No innate Paladin class abilities, although the Str/Cha bonuses should guide them towards that class anyway, lightning resistance, and Shocking Grasp with some tweaks combined with Powerful Build & flight to make the match up as a whole.


Vapor Draconian:
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Wisdom, +1 Intelligence
Death Throes - Caustic Vapors: When your Death Throes are triggered, you dissolve into a cloud of acidic fumes. All creatures within 10 feet of your corpse must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw (DC 8 + your Con modifier + your Proficiency bonus) or take 1d6 Acid damage. On a successful save, they take half damage.
Glide: Although your wings are not strong enough to grant you flight, so long as you are not Immobilized or otherwise restrained, you can catch the wind to slow your descent, nullifying all damage you would normally take from falling.
Mysticism: You know 1 Druid or Cleric cantrip of your choice. Wisdom is your casting ability score when casting through this trait.
Sage of the Woods: You have Proficiency in Wisdom (Nature) checks and in one other Wisdom or Intelligence skill of your choice.

Designer Notes:
Vapor Draconians are simple and yet complicated. Their big thing is all about their natural talent as Mystics - a Dragonlance class that was esssentially a blend of Cleric and Sorcerer, with a fash of Druid. So, I used that as a basis when I went to work on these guys. I'm a little worried about the Sage of the Woods trait, but it really fits well with their fluff and is certainly more balanced than the free mystic spells & domain power they got in 3e.

And yeah, Death Throes maybe would make more sense doing Poison Damage. This was 3e, when Green Dragons lost some of their poisonous attributes due to poison no longer being its own damage type, so... I had to make a judgment call.


Venom Draconian:
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Charisma, +1 Dexterity
Death Throes - Corrosive Sludge: When your Death Throes are triggered, you violently dissolve into a 10ft puddle of acid. All creatures within 10ft of you must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw (DC 8 + your Con modifier + your Proficiency bonus) or be splashed, taking 1d6 Acid damage. The puddle remains active for 1d6 rounds after your death; until it goes inert, anything that enters the puddle takes 1d6 Acid damage each round it remains within.
Glide: Although your wings are not strong enough to grant you flight, so long as you are not Immobilized or otherwise restrained, you can catch the wind to slow your descent, nullifying all damage you would normally take from falling.
Venom Glands: When you hit with your bite attack, you can choose to deliver poison through your fangs. The bitten creature must take a Constitution saving throw (DC 8 + your Con modifier + your Proficiency bonus). On a successful save, they take 1d6 Poison damage. On a failed save, they are Poisoned for 1 minute. After you have used this trait, you must complete a short rest or a long rest before using it again.

Designer Notes:
Venom Draconians were a little tricky because, essentially, what they were was low-level Rogues with a free Poison Bite attack. The Dex/Cha boost matches what they actually had, but after some soul-searching (they actually got +2 Cha by default, and needed to reach 3rd level in their 4-level racial class for the Dex boost) I decided to go with the current split). And for their features, I ended up going with Venom Glands, and trying to make it different to the powers of the male Kapaks.

[Shadow_in_the_Mist]

In case it's not obvious, I really like "monstrous" races as being PC options in my work. I'm also very interested in experimenting with non-standard body-types, hence the existence of the Naga/Lamia "snake-folk" and the D&D-Lamia both present in this thread. A more recently reignited prospect to come to mind is that of the Sphinx; now, this is a heavy amount of work, between body configuration and powers, but it's not entirely without precedent. Heck, there was a D&D novel series set in Greyhawk where one of the protagonists was a gynosphinx. But, I thought I'd start with something easier: the Maftet.

http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/bestiary3/maftet.html

First appearing in the 15th Pathfinder adventure path module, Maftets are a race of winged cat-like people often nicknamed "Sphinxkin", although there's no explicit connections between the two. They're a society of warrior-mages, with cultural traditions involving dual-wielding scimitars and using runic tattoos that allow them to more effectively use their innate spell-like abilities. This makes them a little tricky to adapt, but I think there's a very interesting race buried in this concept, so I'd love to have some help coaxing them along.

Maftet, 1st Draft:
Ability Modifiers: +2 Dexterity, +1 Intelligence
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Vision: Darkvision 60 feet
Wings: You have a Fly speed of 30 feet.
Training of the Sphinxkin: You have Proficiency with one of either Intelligence (Arcana) or the Scimitar.

[Shadow_in_the_Mist]

The Phanaton is an obscure race of beastfolk, described as resembling a halfling-sized hybrid of raccoon and monkey with the patagia of a gliding squirrel. Originally introduced in the module X1: The Isle of Dread, they received a race-class writeup for Basic D&D in Dragon Magazine #188, before being revived for 3.5 in Dragon #351, tying into the return of the Isle of Dread to prominence with the early Savage Tides adventure path. Aside from gliding, their main skills were being very good in their forest homes and being naturally stealthy. I'm kind of cheating by bumping them up to climb speed, but it makes sense, given they were always good climbers... plus, they didn't have a lot going for them otherwise.

Phanaton
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Dexterity, +1 Wisdom
Size: Small
Speed: 20 feet, Climb 20 feet
Vision: Normal
Bred for the Treetops: You have a Climb speed of 20 feet and Advantage on Athletics checks made in relation to climbing and jumping.
Forest Ghosts: You have Proficiency in Stealth, and gain Advantage on all Stealth checks made whilst in forest and jungle terrain.
Fangs: When you make an Unarmed Strike, you can choose to bite your opponent. Biting causes your attack, on a hit, to deliver 1d4 Piercing damage. If you have the Martial Arts class feature, your bite attack uses your Martial Arts damage dice instead, although it is still Piercing damage.
Glide: So long as you are not Incapacitated, overburdened, or wearing medium or heavy armor, you can use your Reaction to Glide if you fall or jump off of a high place. Gliding negates all damage you would normally take from falling, and allows you to cover a horizontal distance of 20 feet for every 5 feet you descend.

:edit:
So, I risked trying this race out on /tg/ - yeah, I know, but once in a blue moon they are helpful - and there were some suggestions made that might be helpful. Do you agree with any of these?

Constant adv in forest and jungle seems a little vague and very strong, id keep the prof and maybe keep adv to hide in treetops if you thought it was very important.
This race gets a lot, especially since you look to be setting them up to be good monks / rangers
Maybe adv on stealth while climbing? Or able to hide in plain sight if thery are climbing or in forests & jungles? Kind of like how wood elves get to hide while lightly obscured by nature or lightfoot halflings can hide behind other people.

[Shadow_in_the_Mist]

So, I really like the kobold that I did up earlier, and I think it'll work great for my own Malebolge setting, but I realize that some folks may prefer a simpler approach. So, using only the 4e kobold - the strongest and best of all the kobold PC options that've been available to date - here's an alternate version taht should be simpler.


Kobold, Simple Version
Ability Score Modifier: +2 Dexterity, +1 Intelligence
Size: Small
Speed: 30 feet
Vision: Darkvision 60 feet
Sunlight Sensitivity: You suffer Disadvantage on attack rolls and on Perception rolls based on sight when you, your opponent or the object you are studying/attacking is in direct sunlight.
Survivor's Hardiness: You have Advantage on Constitution checks made to resist Exhaustion and to resist being Poisoned by ingested food and drink.
Outcast's Ingenuity: Given access to a sufficient piece of detritus, you can attempt to fashion a single item from the following list as part of a long rest: a Simple weapon, a Helmet, or a Shield. The DM has final say over whether or not a piece of detritus can be made into a specific item; a thick frying pan could be fashioned into a makeshift mace or shield, but whilst an old mop could be chewed into an improvised spear, it couldn't be whittled into a helmet.
Quick and Nimble: Your Unarmored Armor class is 12 + your Dexterity modifier instead of 10 + your Dexterity modifier.

[bunnynoah]

The Half-Gnoll really looks cool. Like, really cool. But the 2 INT + 1 WIS seems off. I would do +2 to DEX or STR and +1 to WIS or INT.

So either:
+2 DEX, +1 INT
+2 DEX, +1 WIS
+2 STR, +1 INT
+2 STR, +1 WIS

(That being said, players don't get to choose. One of the options above will be the only option in the finalized version of the race) I would do it like this:

Ability Score Modifier. +2 Dexterity, +1 Intelligence
Size. Medium
Speed. 30 feet
Vision. Darkvision
Filth-Eater's Gullet. A half-gnoll has Resistance to Poison and Advantage on Constitution checks against Poison and Disease.
Ripping Jaws. A half-gnoll can choose to Bite as an Unarmed Strike. Doing so causes its attack to inflict 1d4 Piercing damage as a basis.
Rampage. When a half-gnoll reduces a creature to 0 hit points on its turn with a melee attack, it can take a bonus action to move up to half its speed and make a bite attack.
Runt's Survival. A half-gnoll gains Proficiency in Survival.
Keep Up. A half-gnoll can add its Proficiency to Constitution checks made to resist Exhaustion.

[Shadow_in_the_Mist]

Thank you very much for finding it interesting! Although I'm not sure why you're posting about the half-gnoll here, when the original statblock is in an entirely different thread?

With the statblock I gave them, I wanted to try and differentiate half-gnolls from half-orcs, and I thought an interesting way to do so would be to exaggerate the "halfbreeds are smarter but weaker" angle that half-orcs have traditionally had. Half-gnolls survive in gnollish society because they're the "tech guys", hardy enough to keep up with the pack, but with brains enough to contribute through skill and cunning.

So, whilst I think keeping the free skill proficiency flexible is important, I can see your argument for changing the ability score modifiers. What about +1s to Str, Int and Wis? We do have three official races that break from the +2/+1 formula - humans, half-elves and tritons - and this would support their theme best, I think.

[bunnynoah]

+ 1 to Strength, Intelligent and Wisdom? That actually sounds legit! I would play a Half-Gnoll with those stats.

[Shadow_in_the_Mist]

Inspired by the recent Plane Shift: Amonkhet, I thought I'd try to bring back a real blast from the past. Hatuukans are a philosophical, priestly race of jackal folk native to Mystara, the assumed setting of the Basic D&D game. In fact, they actually originate from that setting's own prehistory, meaning the only confirmed remnants of their civilization are either lost enclaves on the surface and a preserved civilization in the depths of the Hollow World, with the other extinct civilizations.

The Hutaakans are a priestly people, having been created to be the divine servitors of Pflaar, a Mystaran Immortal (god). Their thick hides gave them a better AC in past editions - weirdly, they were supposed to be slower than other races, with a movement rate of 90' in Basic D&D and of 30' in Advanced D&D... but, as far as I'm aware, that's basically no different to what humans get, so in the end I decided to just live them without it.


Hutaakan
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Wisdom, +1 Intelligence
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Vision: Darkvision 60 feet
Theocratic: You have Proficiency in Religion.
Stealthy: You have Proficiency in Stealth.
Hard to Kill: When you would be reduced to 0 hit points, but not killed outright, you can choose to be reduced to 1 hit point instead. Once you have used this trait, you must complete a Long Rest before you can use it again.