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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next Creating a new race, could use some thoughts and ideas



cerin616
2018-01-25, 05:16 PM
First off, if you are in a campaign I run, and you are reading this, turn back.
I know some of the people I play with peruse these forums. You know who I am, you recognize my name. dont go reading this, it might ruin surprises.



That said.

I have a player who has an idea of being some sort of mind controlling parasite. No more mechanical input than that just "dude I want to be like a parasite that mind controls people" and then some general spitballing as to how we can make that work.

To get it to fit into the story, and I havent told him this yet, I am thinking of making him some sort of Aboleth spawn. Not necessarily part of the Aboleth life cycle, it could just be some sort of proto-aberration that Aboleths had created back in the old days. Story would be something like it was dormant in the underdark or something, yadda yadda, some guy in deep **** accidentally awakens it. Its not inherently evil since the Aboleths are all gone, but it is aware that it cannot function and survive on its own without a host. Telepathically communicates with dudeguy like "yo let me parasite on you and ill do what I can to help get you out of here" and he bieng a spooked weak whatever agrees. It would have a weakness where aboleths can try and dominate it, could lead to some sweet party interactions later etc. I told him this comes with a lot of risk. Being discovered and killed, etc etc.

Mechanically speaking, I was thinking of giving it next to no typical racial benefits and instead railroading it into the UA psion class for 5e (https://dnd.wizards.com/sites/default/files/media/upload/articles/Psionics.pdf) and letting it choose multiple disciplines as it levels up. (right now psion seems to cap at level 5)

Downsides, this means trying to consider balance without ruining the fun, rewriting psion, and coming up with some racial flavor for this mind slug.
Though it would be cool if he could play it either "you dont know that you are infected" and he subtle manipulates you and buffs you to his needs, or "you agreed to a symbiotic relationship" and he can use his abilities less to dominate his host and more to buff it.

I know this is going to be a lot of work, but I am an experienced DM and experienced player. I think I can find a middle ground to make it work. Problem is right now most things I think of as a DM, I think how I would abuse as a player, and they seem pretty strong.

What are your thoughts?
Some "forced balancing" I can do is ensure that anyone he is symbiotic gets the benefit of his psionic powers but they are more expensive and less effective? maybe his conquering mind abiltiies are only on something he is hosting but they are less expensive so he can use them more often?
I already told him too that if he tries to manipulate someone to do something drastically out fo character they get advantage on the save and are much more likely to realise that something is influencing them. Im kinda trying to encourage he symbiote up so he can at least argue "im not evil guys" if he gets busted.

SilverStud
2018-01-25, 06:52 PM
So there is some good news for your workload: Wizards made a psionic class called the Mystic!

http://media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/UAMystic3.pdf

I think that it is a very good idea to limit his mind domination to only his host. Have you ever heard of/watched the television series Stargate: SG1? In that series the main antagonist aliens for a very long time are called the Goa'uld. Goa'ulds are little disgusting worm things that attach to a human spine and take over the brain, utterly dominating the host. If you kill their host, the goa'uld survives for a while and can jump to another human(oid) and take over their body.

I also think it's a good idea to force him into the Mystic class. Because that class is all about "mind over matter" and such, it works very very well with a near-immortal body-snatcher.

You could brew it into a race, like this (imma call it a goa'uld here, but change it for your purposes):

Goa'uld
(flavor text about being a near-immortal body-snatcher)

Attribute Bonuses: None
Skill proficiency: Pick two Wisdom or Charisma skills
Body Snatcher: When your host dies, you live on. You may use your action to [insert body-snatching mechanics here]

Whatchya think?

cerin616
2018-01-25, 07:51 PM
Oh good link! Ill need to look through it. The source i had found was the early draft with only 5 levels. Yea goould is similar to what i was thinking. I was boping to try and incorporate some of the skills of the host that he could utilize without it being overpowered and without making it less entertaining to level as this.... thing. Say he hosts a fighter npc.

SilverStud
2018-01-26, 01:47 AM
I think you should just start him already in a host. Like, the player would create his character as normal, but with something like the template I wrote above. I don't think it's a good idea to encourage body-swapping. Just have it as a racial ability that happens when he dies.

As for if he takes over X npc, just have him assume the NPC's Str, Dex, and Con but keep his mental stats. Maybe throw in Athletics or Acrobatics proficiency if he takes over a fighter or rogue type NPC.

Just try not to sweeten the pot too much, if at all. The ability to survive death like that is a really big deal, and is best experienced only for really important situations.

LuminousWarrior
2018-01-26, 01:15 PM
There's also a homebrew Warlock patron by Middle Finger of Vecna called The Parasite (http://mfov.magehandpress.com/2016/07/the-parasite.html). That pretty much has all the mechanical features you need. Take the Parasite patron at level 1, use whatever the host race is for the race stats, and go from there. If you really want the psionic fluff you can just... Say the spells are psionic. Psionic rules usually have options to refluff them as being magic, so I don't see why it can't work the other way around.

SilverStud
2018-01-26, 04:03 PM
That is a pretty cool warlock! And it could serve OP's purposes, except for one tiny detail:

His player wants to be the parasite, not the host.

Lvl 2 Expert
2018-01-26, 06:25 PM
There are some big choices to make here. Let's see if I can find a few.

1 Can a host live out a normal life with the parasite, or is the body consumed forcing the parasite to switch? Can the parasite even switch regularly? I'm guessing the player wants to at least have the option. And related: does the host die when the parasite chooses to leave?
2 Is the parasite completely in control, or are the personalities blended? The second option would make it easier to not make the parasite (completely) evil, "I can help you avenge your father, join me", the first one is mechanically easier and probably what the player had in mind.
3 What kind of powers can the parasite keep when switching? I suppose the mental stats carry over, but physical stats do not. But maybe the parasite can develop boosts (something hormonal maybe) to the hosts physical stats that do come along with the parasite. Class levels probably need to carry over as well, skills and feats and spells and stuff the parasite knows how to do. Or is the point of the idea that they'll be playing a completely different build each session? And hitpoints for instance? Does that make sense? What are hitpoints in your world? It could make for some interesting situations if they don't. The player really wants to take over a guard and just walk into the facility, but they also want to keep the high level fighter/vampire/frost giant body they're currently using. As a compromise, their hitpoints could always be based on the class level of the parasite, but the normal hit dice of the hosts species. (Figure something out for the species without racial hit die.)
4 Mechanically, what happens upon unconsciousness or death? The parasite can survive that right? Get away? What extra actions need to be taken to prevent this? Is there a way to directly attack the parasite? Does it have hitpoints of its own? Is it almost impossible to kill inside a host because all the flesh raises its armor class too much, making it much more vulnerable outside?

That's not nearly all of them, but at least it's a few. Try to get the player to answer questions like these.

LuminousWarrior
2018-01-27, 12:57 AM
That is a pretty cool warlock! And it could serve OP's purposes, except for one tiny detail:

His player wants to be the parasite, not the host.

So? Refluff! Unless there's something weird I'm missing here, the player playing the parasite is playing a parasite in a host body, which means the parasite and host are pretty much the same character. Use human or something as your race, take your levels in Parasite Warlock, and if for some reason the two are separated give the human a level or two in Fighter or Rogue, and the parasite has the stats from the capstone. Parasites like this are generally fairly fragile. I'm thinking of something along the lines of the Yeerks from the Animorphs books.

Here are some ideas on how to reword the abilities to fit the idea that the parasite is the one in control.

Leeching Strike: You've gained the ability to use your host to feed off of others.
Agitate Magic: You can reach your psionic powers beyond your host to disrupt foreign magic around you.
Host's Resilience: You've learned how to work through the more annoying of your host's physical limitations.
Transfer Host: You've developed your powers to the point that your feeble host's mind is now fully under your control. You can now venture outside of your host while still maintaining an control over your host's mind.

The fluff has changed, but everything still works exactly as it did before.

cerin616
2018-01-29, 08:15 PM
First, I want to thank you guys for all the great feedback. I expected at least a little "this is dumb, this is a bad idea" and not nearly as much "lets make a pc dream a reality"


So? Refluff! Unless there's something weird I'm missing here, the player playing the parasite is playing a parasite in a host body, which means the parasite and host are pretty much the same character. Use human or something as your race, take your levels in Parasite Warlock, and if for some reason the two are separated give the human a level or two in Fighter or Rogue, and the parasite has the stats from the capstone. Parasites like this are generally fairly fragile. I'm thinking of something along the lines of the Yeerks from the Animorphs books.

Here are some ideas on how to reword the abilities to fit the idea that the parasite is the one in control.

Leeching Strike: You've gained the ability to use your host to feed off of others.
Agitate Magic: You can reach your psionic powers beyond your host to disrupt foreign magic around you.
Host's Resilience: You've learned how to work through the more annoying of your host's physical limitations.
Transfer Host: You've developed your powers to the point that your feeble host's mind is now fully under your control. You can now venture outside of your host while still maintaining an control over your host's mind.

The fluff has changed, but everything still works exactly as it did before.

This is actually a really cool idea. I might need to look into warlock capabilities, because I am pretty deep on the psionic train (it would fit well with my story) but that doesnt mean i cant adjust warlock to get some psion equivalent powers, or maybe make the parasite powers a tree into psion...

The original vision I had was that he could willingly or unwillingly attatch to a host.
If he did it willingly he would get less external manipulation and more buff (increase host stats a little, give him some senses and stuff)
If he did it unwillingly he would have more external manipualtion (mind spike) and charm stuff that applies only to his host (influence its behavior into his own needs with the caveat that the further outside that persons normal behavior he tries to influence, the more bonus to a willsave he gets upwards of noticing his mind is being altered, either way the character would end up alittle strong, but would also give me a little more control over what he can and cant do since i can always fiat "the host isnt interested in that, make a will check"