[5e] New Race: Trolk (rhymes with broke)

[BerzerkerUnit]

Trolk
A people descended from some of the most terrifying giant kin in existence. The Trolk are a race of few words, relying on their capacity to heal from even the most grievous injuries to see them through most challenges.
+2 Con
Languages: Common, Giant
Trollish Healing: As a reaction when you take damage you can stir your troll blood to knit wounds together. At the start of your next turn you can roll a hit die and add your Constitution bonus. You regain 1 hit point at the beginning of your turn for a number of turns equal to the result. You cannot initiate this healing in reaction to fire or acid damage. This healing ends early if you suffer any fire or acid damage. You can use this ability a number of times equal to your Constitution bonus but cannot use it if you have no hit dice remaining. You regain all uses of this ability after a long rest.

Subtypes:
Bridge Trolk
Bridge Trolk descend from the churlish trolls that often resided in crevasses, sheltering under bridges and taxing those that tried to cross.
+1 Intelligence
Darkvision 60

Rock Trolk
Rock Trolk are descended from the more brutish and cunning mountain trolls.
+1 Charisma
Powerful Build

Racial Feat
Trollish Atavism
Requires: Trolk
You gain resistance to poison damage and advantage on poison saving throws. In addition, when reduced to 0 hit points you only fail a death saving throw the first time you take damage each turn.

[Damon_Tor]

I don't feel like the healing ability is intuitive.

You'll almost always want to use it on a hit that brings you to 0 hp, but it isn't clear if the timing of the reaction allows for that or not.

At greater than 0 hp it's a very weak heal, but it's the utility if it bouncing you back to 1hp every turn that makes it worthwhile (and is probably too good in this regard.)

For the sake of simplicity I would rework the ability to something like "at the start of your turn if you have 0 hitpoints and have taken neither fire or acid damage since the end of your last turn, you regain one hitpoint. You can use this ability a number of times equal to your constitution modifier. You regain all uses after a long rest." This eliminates the reaction timing issue and limits the ability to it's core competency: using it for healing above zero is a trap choice. It also balances it to a total of conmod hitpoints recovered over a day instead of conmod*(hitdiceresult+conmod) which was probably too good.

Just a thought.

[BerzerkerUnit]

Thanks so much for your response!

I think the healing is pretty close to the mark for balance. It requires a reaction, if you don't pop it early, then you might not get to use it before a series of attacks drops you to 0, and if you use it you're forgoing a possible attack of opportunity, counterspell, that round, etc.

It's mechanically weaker than Goliath Stone's Endurance and Half Orc toughness. which can prevent a disintegrate etc from killing you outright. The multiple pop up function is the only thing that gives it a bump up to par and that could entice enemies to stop and try to stab you while you're down (hence the reason the feat I wrote up for this race makes killing you that way such a chore (basically you can't fail more than 1 death save per turn, so it takes a gang stabbing you while you're down to kill you, otherwise you pop up or just stabilize if you weren't regenerating).

The amount of healing it provides is a resource management, do you spend your hit dice in combat or wait till they can be buffed with a meal and song of rest.

Again, thank you for your response and if you choose to use them in your game, of course alter to your liking.

[MrStabby]

Trollish Healing: As a reaction when you take damage you can stir your troll blood to knit wounds together. At the start of your next turn you can roll a hit die and add your Constitution bonus. You regain 1 hit point at the beginning of your turn for a number of turns equal to the result. You cannot initiate this healing in reaction to fire or acid damage. This healing ends early if you suffer any fire or acid damage. You can use this ability a number of times equal to your Constitution bonus but cannot use it if you have no hit dice remaining. You regain all uses of this ability after a long rest.

Subtypes:
Bridge Trolk
Bridge Trolk descend from the churlish trolls that often resided in crevasses, sheltering under bridges and taxing those that tried to cross.
+1 Intelligence
Darkvision 60

Rock Trolk
Rock Trolk are descended from the more brutish and cunning mountain trolls.
+1 Charisma
Powerful Build

Racial Feat
Trollish Atavism
Requires: Trolk
You gain resistance to poison damage and advantage on poison saving throws. In addition, when reduced to 0 hit points you only fail a death saving throw the first time you take damage each turn.

I think this needs a bit of a rework, although it is pretty cool

First of all the regeneration... essentially you use a reaction to have a short rest and recover some hp. This is powerful as an ability, kind of like dwarven fortitude but as a reaction not an action and not needing a feat but slower to give the HP. If short rests are tough to come by then this is a massive, massive benefit. So it isn't like this is broken like a flying speed - but it is a powerful ability. More problematic though is the painful bookkeeping needed. A variable number of turns for healing that need to be tracked, what damage source has been taken and so on. There are some peripheral concerns around how it works with things like caltrops but this is rare and not really too much of an issue.

Also the descriptions... the cunning one is the one without the intelligence boost.

All in all I think it is kind of balanced - Con as the main stat is not often a favourite (although never, ever bad) and the casting stats alongside it seems OK. With darkvision and powerful build as your tertiary abilities it seems unlikely to screw with anything too much - depending on how easy it is for people to get short rests.

[BerzerkerUnit]

Thank you for your reply. I do feel that in very specific scenarios the regen is very strong, but in the majority of others less potent than stone’s endurance or the half-orc ability. And while you do spend hot dice, it doesn’t do any of the other things a short rest does, like recover spell slots or end a shadow’s strength drain.

As for bookkeeping, that’s on the player, they can make the most of it if they want. I’ve seen many fail to remember to add a damage widget here or there, but never a one miss a chance for healing when damaged.