curious about homebrew kangaroo-like race

[odigity]

Has anyone homebrewed a kangaroo-inspired race for 5e? Something that mechanically incorporates their movement/jumping abilities into a set of racial features? (and convenient pouch)

[MagneticKitty]

But.. make kangaroos don't have pouches.. should their be two varients, male and female?

Maybe..
Kangaroo:
Ability score increase: +2 dex
standing jump, you can perform running long jumps and high jumps without the need to run first.
Tail: your tail gives you great balance, proficiency in acrobatics. Your tail is a 1d6 + str bludgeoning weapon that you're proficient with.
Athletic build: ac is 12 + dex. All armor must be custom made. Follow rules for barding
Speed is 35
Age: 55 average
Gender dimorphism:
Male +1 str / carrying capacity 1.5x
Female +1 con / pouch acts as a backpack

There's me throwing one together in 5 minutes. Good luck.

[KOLE]

But.. make kangaroos don't have pouches.. should their be two varients, male and female?

Maybe..
Kangaroo:
Ability score increase: +2 dex
standing jump, you can perform running long jumps and high jumps without the need to run first.
Tail: your tail gives you great balance, proficiency in acrobatics. Your tail is a 1d6 + str bludgeoning weapon that you're proficient with.
Athletic build: ac is 12 + dex. All armor must be custom made. Follow rules for barding
Speed is 35
Age: 55 average
Gender dimorphism:
Male +1 str / carrying capacity 1.5x
Female +1 con / pouch acts as a backpack

There's me throwing one together in 5 minutes. Good luck.

Ive never considered or was even interested in a kangaroo race but seeing this I suddenly want to use it. I really like the sexual dimorphism idea.

[nickl_2000]

My take on it with much of the base stolen from MagneticKitty

Kangaroo:
Size.Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Ability score increase: +2 dex
standing jump, you can perform running long jumps and high jumps without the need to run first.
Natural Boxer: You are famous for your boxing skills, as such your unarmed strike deals 1d4+str damage and counts as a weapon.
Balancing Act: Your tail helps your balance, giving you advantage on rolls against being knocked prone.
Age: 55 average
Gender dimorphism:
Male: carrying capacity 1.5x
Female: pouch acts as a backpack

Red Kangaroo
Darkvision
Ability score Increase: +1 Constitution
Speed. Your base walking speed increases to 35 feet.



Tree Kangaroo
Ability score Increase: +1 Wisdom
Speed. Your base walking speed is reduced 20 feet.
Due to your sharp claws your natural attacks can also do slashing damage of 1d6+dex and you have a climb speed of 20ft.
Starting at level 1, you may cast the feather fall spell 1/long rest, and Jump 1/long rest



Wallaby
Ability score Increase: +1 Charisma
Size.Your size is Small.
Due to growing up in dense forest, you may move through difficult terrain in Jungles of Forest as if it were normal terrain.
Natural Camouflage: Due to their coloring, a Wallaby gains advantage on hide checks while they aren't moving in jungle or forest terrain.

[FelineArchmage]

Might I suggest instead of doing a +2 DEX, put a +2 into STR instead? Kangaroos are friggin strong.

[odigity]

Ive never considered or was even interested in a kangaroo race but seeing this I suddenly want to use it. I really like the sexual dimorphism idea.

Me, too. Having slightly different features for male/female versions of a playable race adds both variety and realism - and as a bonus, it pisses off the SJW fundamentalists who attack anyone who points out any biological differences between the genders. :)



Red Kangaroo
Tree Kangaroo
Wallaby


And now subraces - nice! (I don't personally know enough about Kangaroo taxonomy to form an opinion myself.)


Might I suggest instead of doing a +2 DEX, put a +2 into STR instead? Kangaroos are friggin strong.

That's kind of what I was thinking at the start. They can jump real well, but I don't know if I'd consider them dextrous. It's gotta be hard to bend down, crawl, twist, and do other non-jumpy things with those massive legs. Str bonus makes more sense to me than Dex bonus - and it encourages Kangaroo fighters, which is more fun to me than Kangaroo rogues.

Fun, possibly-relevant fact: Unless I've missed something recently, there is no race in 5e that gives bonuses to both Str and Dex at the same time. (Ignoring Human and Half-elf for obvious reasons.)

Could be there's a good reason for that, or it could represent an opportunity for a particular Kangaroo subrace...

[MagneticKitty]

One of the playable monster races gives dex and str. I think bugbear?
I think dex works for them, especially with their human hands and speed and balance. Yes they are strong, but they're fast and can do articulate hand things

[Simonf7]

I'd go strength over dex. Kangaroo are very powerful for their size. Also, don't forget that while they do box, it's their kick that is the real danger.

[Laserlight]

I'd go strength over dex. Kangaroo are very powerful for their size. Also, don't forget that while they do box, it's their kick that is the real danger.

Ah, little do you know....

"Military training sim programmers have gone to great lengths to increase the realism of the their scenarios, including detailed landscapes and herds of kangaroos (since groups of disturbed animals might give away a helicopter's position). Being efficient programmers, they just re-appropriated some code originally used to model infantry detachments reactions under the same stimuli, changed the mapped icon from a soldier to a kangaroo, and increased the figures’ speed of movement.

The hotshot Aussies “buzzed” the virtual kangaroos in low flight during a simulation. The kangaroos scattered, as predicted, and the pilots nodded appreciatively . . . and then did a double-take as the kangaroos reappeared from behind a hill and fired a volley of shoulder-launched anti aircraft missiles at the hapless helicopter. (Apparently the programmers hadn't removed “that” part of the infantry coding)."

My son, who lived in Australia for several years, talked about introducing Kangaraptors into a campaign. I countered with the smaller version, war-labies.

[odigity]

The hotshot Aussies “buzzed” the virtual kangaroos in low flight during a simulation. The kangaroos scattered, as predicted, and the pilots nodded appreciatively . . . and then did a double-take as the kangaroos reappeared from behind a hill and fired a volley of shoulder-launched anti aircraft missiles at the hapless helicopter. (Apparently the programmers hadn't removed “that” part of the infantry coding)."

For the record, I'd be ok granting Kangaroos proficiency with shoulder-launched anti aircraft missiles given how unlikely players are to find such things during actual play.

[KOLE]

Me, too. Having slightly different features for male/female versions of a playable race adds both variety and realism - and as a bonus, it pisses off the SJW fundamentalists who attack anyone who points out any biological differences between the genders.

I like the way you think.

[Simonf7]

Ah, little do you know....


Lol... We'll it wouldn't be the first time Australia has declared war on its wildlife...and lost (Google Emu war).

"The machine-gunners' dreams of point blank fire into serried masses of Emus were soon dissipated. The Emu command had evidently ordered guerrilla tactics, and its unwieldy army soon split up into innumerable small units that made use of the military equipment uneconomic. A crestfallen field force therefore withdrew from the combat area after about a month." Wikipedia Emu War

[Requilac]

"The machine-gunners' dreams of point blank fire into serried masses of Emus were soon dissipated. The Emu command had evidently ordered guerrilla tactics, and its unwieldy army soon split up into innumerable small units that made use of the military equipment uneconomic. A crestfallen field force therefore withdrew from the combat area after about a month." Wikipedia Emu War

“If we had a military division with the bullet-carrying capacity of these birds it would face any army in the world... They can face machine guns with the invulnerability of tanks.”- Major Meredith