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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next Help me rebuild humans for a wierd fiction campaign?



Feddlefew
2019-04-28, 11:41 AM
I'm building a weird-fiction fantasy setting for an upcoming campaign, and I need a rework of the human race. I personally dislike humans as a kind of default race, but I also want to preserve their niche as a "jack of all trades, master of none" race.

I'm thinking humans in this setting will be relatively rare and live in scattered settlements across the world. Since I'm including some soft sci-fi elements in the setting, they're also more or less mini-eldrich abomination with passive reality-stabilizing powers.

Humans are entities from the Far Realm. One human has a negligible effect on their surroundings, but a few thousand cause permanent changes to the rules (or lack of) in the local reality. Humans arrived in the campaign world in two distinct cataclysmic events known as the First and Second Impacts.

Originally, this world did not have a material plane, and most beings existed in a state of morphological flux. During the first impact, the capitol ship Nova's Elegy plowed into the astral sea in a desperate maneuver to escape some unknown horror. Since the ship had population of around 2 million humans, the prime material plane instantly nucleated around it1 and began rapidly assimilating the inner planes. When the survivors finally managed to dig their way to the surface, they were promptly met by a host of angry gods and native mortals, who were not adjusting well to suddenly being made of meat.

The major gods of this period commissioned the giants to construct a great crystalline dome to separate the astral sea from the far realms2. With their connection to far realms severed, the humans of the first impact were gradually absorbed into the other races, or warped into new ones by younger gods in need of worshipers.

At some point between the first and second impact, The Abyss formed and demons began invading neighboring planes.

During the second impact, the SS Pale King was attacked near the edge of the crystalline dome, resulting in a massive crack forming in its surface. 8 escape pods3carrying around 100,000 humans managed to breach the dome and reach the material plane.

1,500 years later, humans are tolerated by most other beings because their innate reality-stabilizing presence is the only known way to restore lands corrupted by demonic incursion.

1) Nova's Elegy is still at the core of the planet. We may or may not be adventuring there later.
2) The giants built several other great works during this time, one of which is the main source of conflict for the campaign.
3) These things are huge and are used as fortified cities by their inhabitants.


Possible stat boosts are as follows:

A) Keep +1 to any two stats

B) +2 con, +1 to any two stats

C) +1 con, +1 to any two stats

Racial abilities:

+1 skill, language, and tool proficiency.

Personal Stability Field
You are shaped like yourself, and this is an undeniable truth. You have advantage on saves against transmutation effects targeting you, items you hold, and possessions on your person. This ability can be suppressed.

And one or some combination of the following:

Borrowed Blood
Take one racial ability from another race. This ability must be available at first level.

Soul from the Void
Your soul remembers the void and the shape it took within it. Starting at third level, you may automatically pass a save against a magical effect and gain temporary hit points equal to twice your level. This ability many not be used again until you have taken a long rest.

Cosmic Endurance
You draw a mote of power from the stars beyond the false sky. You may use any of your abilities that can be used once per short rest one additional time. You may not use Cosmic Endurance again until you have completed a long rest. This ability does not work on itself.
Note: I like this idea, but this is probably broken as hell.
Edit: Yeah this won't work.

Name in Red
You do not possess a true name, and your names alone cannot be used to target you with spell effects.

Sufficiently Advanced
You have a knack for making devices work. You may attune one additional magic item.

Crisis21
2019-04-28, 01:28 PM
I like a lot of this. My personal opinion:

+1 CON, +1 to two different stats

Racial abilities:

+1 skill, language, and tool proficiency.

Personal Stability Field
You are shaped like yourself, and this is an undeniable truth. You have advantage on saves against transmutation effects targeting you, items you hold, and possessions on your person. This ability can be suppressed.

Name in Red
You do not posses a true name, and your names alone cannot be used to target you with spell effects.

Convert the rest to Human-Only (or Human-Ancestry) Feats and allow all players to take one Racial Feat (i.e. a Feat with a prerequisite of a certain race) at level 1.