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View Full Version : Making a Thri-Kreen race. Help!



Undyne
2019-12-16, 11:36 AM
So, one of my players wanted to play a Thri-Kreen. I figured, "Hey, its one of my favorite monsters, how hard could it be?" Here is what I have.

Ability Score Increase Your Dexterity increases by one.
Age Thri-Kreen live fast and die young. Considered mature after one year, they almost never live past 30 years.
Alignment Thri-Kreen tend to be Chaotic Neutral, enjoying personal freedom in the desert wastes they reside in.
Chameleon Carapace You have advantage on stealth checks made to hide.
Swift Leap You can perform a long or high jump by moving 5 feet rather than 10.
Sleepless You do not need to sleep. You can get the benefits of a long rest by doing simple activities for the duration of it, such as keeping watch or organizing your equipment.
Subraces You have two subraces of Thri-Kreen: Martialist and Psion.

Martialist
Ability Score Increase Your Strength increases by one.
Weapon Training You are proficient with all weapons with the thrown property, as well as all polearm weapons. (Things that would benefit from Polearm Master)
Desert Winds When you use a thrown weapon, you can spend a bonus action to focus yourself. Until the end of turn, attacking at long range with a thrown weapon doesn't cause you to suffer disadvantage. You can only use this feature once per short or long rest.

Psion
Ability Score Increase Your Wisdom increases by one.
Magic of the Desert You have honed your mind to let you cast spells by pure will. You know the Mage Hand cantrip, which is invisible when you cast it with this feature. At level 3 you can cast Blur once per long rest. At 5th level, you can cast Invisibility, only targeting yourself, once per long rest. You do not need any verbal, somatic, or material components for these spells, and Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for them.


I mainly want help balancing these, but I also want to know how I would balance them having four arms.

Bobthewizard
2019-12-16, 12:39 PM
I think all of this looks great. I was just reading the original Dark Sun material to see if I could convert it to 5e, so here are my suggestions based on that.

For weapon training, instead of proficiency in all polearms, you could give them proficiency in the Gythka, "a pole arm with wicked blades on both ends", and treat the Gythka like the double-bladed scimitar from Eberron, including access to the revenant blade feat for Thri-Kreen.

Then instead of proficiency in all thrown weapons, they could get proficiency in the Chatkcha, "a crystalline throwing wedge". Maybe use the stats of a thrown dagger or hand axe, or use d6, thrown, light, finesse.

For the four arms, maybe let them hold something else, including an arcane focus, in their extra arms but limit to 2 arms using weapons or a shield.

Undyne
2019-12-16, 12:42 PM
I think all of this looks great. I was just reading the original Dark Sun material to see if I could convert it to 5e, so here are my suggestions based on that.

For weapon training, instead of proficiency in all polearms, you could give them proficiency in the Gythka, "a pole arm with wicked blades on both ends", and treat the Gythka like the double-bladed scimitar from Eberron, including access to the revenant blade feat for Thri-Kreen.

Then instead of proficiency in all thrown weapons, they could get proficiency in the Chatkcha, "a crystalline throwing wedge". Maybe use the stats of a thrown dagger or hand axe, or use d6, thrown, light, finesse.

For the four arms, maybe let them hold something else, including an arcane focus, in their extra arms but limit to 2 arms using weapons or a shield.

I was thinking of adding those weapons, i love them in the Monster Manual, but my main thing was how would they obtain them? They're kinda unique to Thri-Kreen... Maybe rules like what the Lizardfolk in Volos Guide have for crafting weapons?

Bobthewizard
2019-12-16, 12:53 PM
They could start with them. I think that's how it works for the revenant blade in Eberron.

Undyne
2019-12-16, 01:00 PM
They could start with them. I think that's how it works for the revenant blade in Eberron.

Whats funny is I have NO idea what the Revenant Blade is. I haven't looked at Ebberon yet.

Bobthewizard
2019-12-16, 01:09 PM
From the Eberron book:

Double-Bladed Scimitar

The double-bladed scimitar is the signature weapon of Valenar elves. A haft of fine wood supports a long, curving blade on either end. Forged with techniques honed over centuries, these blades are strong, sharp, and remarkably light. Each scimitar is a masterpiece, and as a result the double-bladed scimitar is an expensive weapon (100 gp) — few though ever have the opportunity to purchase one. A Valenar blade in the hands of a non-elf is generally assumed to have been stolen or looted from a fallen foe, and a Valenar elf might feel entitled to demand its return or challenge the bearer to prove they’re worthy to wield it.

A double-bladed scimitar is a martial weapon, weighing 6 pounds and dealing 2d4 slashing damage on a hit. It has the two-handed property and the following special property:

If you attack with a double-bladed scimitar as part of the Attack action on your turn, you can use a bonus action immediately after to make a melee attack with it. This attack deals 1d4 slashing damage on a hit, instead of 2d4.


Feat: Revenant Blade
Prerequisite: Elf

You are descended from a master of the double-bladed scimitar, and some of that mastery has passed on to you. You gain the following benefits:

Increase your Dexterity or Strength score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
While you are holding a double-bladed scimitar with two hands, you gain a +1 bonus to Armor Class.
A double-bladed scimitar has the finesse property when you wield it.

Undyne
2019-12-16, 04:16 PM
From the Eberron book:

Double-Bladed Scimitar

The double-bladed scimitar is the signature weapon of Valenar elves. A haft of fine wood supports a long, curving blade on either end. Forged with techniques honed over centuries, these blades are strong, sharp, and remarkably light. Each scimitar is a masterpiece, and as a result the double-bladed scimitar is an expensive weapon (100 gp) — few though ever have the opportunity to purchase one. A Valenar blade in the hands of a non-elf is generally assumed to have been stolen or looted from a fallen foe, and a Valenar elf might feel entitled to demand its return or challenge the bearer to prove they’re worthy to wield it.

A double-bladed scimitar is a martial weapon, weighing 6 pounds and dealing 2d4 slashing damage on a hit. It has the two-handed property and the following special property:

If you attack with a double-bladed scimitar as part of the Attack action on your turn, you can use a bonus action immediately after to make a melee attack with it. This attack deals 1d4 slashing damage on a hit, instead of 2d4.


Feat: Revenant Blade
Prerequisite: Elf

You are descended from a master of the double-bladed scimitar, and some of that mastery has passed on to you. You gain the following benefits:

Increase your Dexterity or Strength score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
While you are holding a double-bladed scimitar with two hands, you gain a +1 bonus to Armor Class.
A double-bladed scimitar has the finesse property when you wield it.

Thanks! Now I know what to use.

Damon_Tor
2019-12-16, 08:15 PM
It's odd they have just +1 to two scores. Most races have one +2 and one +1. There are exceptions, but I think there needs to be a good reason for what amounts to a penalty.

Also, WotC seems to be pretty devoted to int as the psionic casting stat. Not having aN explicit psion-focused race have a bonus to int is inconsistent.

As for having four arms, my favored solution is to have them be weaker arms than normal with restrictions on what weapons and shields they can wield. One hand can wield a single light weapon, two hands together can wield a one-handed weapon or shield, and three hands together can wield a two-handed weapon.

Undyne
2019-12-17, 11:32 AM
It's odd they have just +1 to two scores. Most races have one +2 and one +1. There are exceptions, but I think there needs to be a good reason for what amounts to a penalty.

Also, WotC seems to be pretty devoted to int as the psionic casting stat. Not having aN explicit psion-focused race have a bonus to int is inconsistent.

As for having four arms, my favored solution is to have them be weaker arms than normal with restrictions on what weapons and shields they can wield. One hand can wield a single light weapon, two hands together can wield a one-handed weapon or shield, and three hands together can wield a two-handed weapon.

The +1 to 2 was actually a typo- Thanks for catching it! And thats an interesting take for the arms. A bit complicated, but interesting.

Lord Torath
2019-12-26, 12:37 PM
Let me highly recommend you read Thri-Kreen of Athas (4th item from the top on the page at Wayne's Books (http://www.waynesbooks.com/DSAccessories.html)). If your player hasn't read it yet (he/she probably has), have them read it as well. It gives all sorts of insight and background information on Thri-Kreen, and suggestions for using them in other settings.

As for where Thri-Kreen get their weapons, they make them. When they chew a common herb (called "fejik" by humans/humanoiuds, but "zik-thok" by thri-kreen), combine the resultant pulp with their venom and mix it with sand, the resultant material (dasl) is sort of clay-like (before hardening in 24 hours), and they form that into their weapons. Fejik has the side effect of paralyzing their venom glands, so they can't use their venom when biting for 24 hours after mixing it with the fejik to make weapons. A chatkcha takes 10 days' worth of dasl to make, and a single gythka head (standard gythka has two heads) takes 20 days' worth. Dasl is just as good at holding as edge as steel, but weighs half as much. But it's also only suitable for chatkcha, kyorkcha, and gythka, short, wide-bladed knives, throwing daggers, arrowheads, spear heads, and similar items. Not good for long, narrow weapons such as swords and axes. Plus, it's sacred to the thri-kreen, so they don't spread the word of how it's made, and they generally only use it to make "kreen" weapons.