Races from an old CYOA image

[Aniikinis]

Before anyone says that these are powerful, I know. This was more for fun than balance and it was from a barely explained CYOA image that gave brief descriptions of each selection on it. So, I took it and ran with it.


ZAG Oni
https://cdnb.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/024/563/845/large/victoria-zavershinskaya-2.jpg?1590405332
Strong and tough, but when you have only a hammer...

Tough, mean, and powerful are all words that are near synonymous with the oni. Alongside the other nonhuman races, they appeared at the same time as the zombie apocalypse began, being created from humans that chose to become nonhuman by speaking to a strange force. They're very strong and attempt to show off this fact whenever possible. More property damage has been done by these guys than by the more dangerous zombie breeds due to their fascination with kicking in doors and walls when moving around. They tend to resemble more humanlike versions of traditional japanese oni with horns, brightly coloured skin, protruding teeth, clawed nails, bulging and/or glowing eyes, wild hair, and powerful bodies in various styles and anywhere between barely noticeable to almost impossible to be unnoticed.

Oni
Oni characters possess the following racial traits:

+2 Str, -2 Int, -2 Cha(-2 APP)
Medium Humanoid (Oni)
Speed: 30 ft.
Special Qualities: Drive of Strength, Hammer Meets Nail, Strength From Skill, Toughened Muscles
Automatic Languages: Common, Oni Bonus Languages: Any
Favored Class: Barbarian
Level adjustment: +0


Drive of Strength: Whenever you see a hostile enemy, you feel an instinctual drive to defeat them. You must make a will save with a DC of 5+CR or attempt to engage the enemy as soon as possible. You gain your level as a bonus to this will save.

Hammer Meets Nail: Whenever a problem presents itself, you attempt to solve it using strength. You gain a racial bonus equal to 1/4th your level (min 1) on all strength based skill checks and all strength checks but take a penalty equal to 1/4th your level on all charisma and intelligence based skill checks.

Strength from Skill: Your muscles are continually strengthened by your experience and skill. You gain an untyped bonus to strength equal to your level.

Toughened Muscles: You gain your strength modifier as a bonus to natural armour that does not stack with other sources of natural armour. This bonus is lost if you wear armour or otherwise gain an armour bonus from any source.


ZAG Nurarhiyon
http://matthewmeyer.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Nurarihyon.jpg
Never. Let your eyes off of one.

Short, wrinkly, smart, and very slippery are all words that are near synonymous with the nurarhiyon. Alongside the other nonhuman races, they appeared at the same time as the zombie apocalypse began, being created from humans that chose to become nonhuman by speaking to a strange force. They tend to resemble shorter humans with wrinkly skin, gourd-shaped heads, thin frames, and smaller eyes in proportion to their faces and heads. They're extremely slippery, known to appear from out of nowhere and filch your goods before running off and disappearing again. The zombies don't even notice them half the time, so you can't always trust they'll be around to tell you where one is by attacking them.

Nurarhiyon
Nurarhiyon characters possess the following racial traits:

+2 Int, -2 Con, -2 Str, -2 Dex, -4 Wis(-4 App)
Small Humanoid (Nurarhiyon)
Speed: 20 ft.
Special Qualities: Large Head, Scavenger's Inclination, Unnoticeability
Automatic Languages: Common, Nurarhiyon Bonus Languages: Any
Favored Class: Rogue
Level adjustment: +2


Large Head: All critical threat ranges for weapons targeting you are increased by 1 for you only. Additionally, the wielder gains a +1 to their roll to confirm the critical hit.

Scavenger's Inclination: You have a strong aversion to conflict and creation, seeing them as too harmful if you could easily steal what you need instead. You will fight if you have to, but will not otherwise and may attempt to flee if pressed. If you fall below three quarters of your max health, you must make a will save of DC 5 or begin retreating immediately. If you fall below half of your max health, you must make a will save of DC 10 or begin retreating immediately. If you fall below one quarter of your max health you must make a will save of DC 15 or begin retreating immediately. You cannot have ranks in a crafting skill. You may have 10 more ranks in sleight of hand than your level would normally allow.

Unnoticeability: When you enter an area, every creature that can hear or see you must make a will save with a DC of 15 plus your level or not notice your presence at all, making you effectively invisible and inaudible to them. This effect may be ended for someone if you interact with them. If the interaction is subtle, such as attempting to pickpocket them, they may make an additional will save at DC 5 plus your level. If the interaction is obvious, such as tapping their arm and saying hello, the effect is ended immediately. If the interaction is very obvious, such as attacking someone when not hidden or shouting or throwing something, the effect is ended for all effected creatures within current range of this ability. This is not a mind effecting or compulsion effect.


ZAG Arachne
https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/b/greek-mythology-arachne-woman-spider-legs-greek-mythology-arachne-woman-spider-legs-vector-art-194731734.jpg
They don't spin webs, but they don't need to.

Dangerous, cannibalistic, and highly predatory, the arachne are quite possibly more of a danger than the zombie apocalypse currently underway. Alongside the other nonhuman races, they appeared at the same time as the zombie apocalypse began, being created from humans that chose to become nonhuman by speaking to a strange force. Whatever their reasoning, they probably weren't expecting to become cannibalistic spider-people. Unless they were, in which case that's... Disturbing. Arachne resemble humans in most ways save for their black sclera, prominent fangs, and obviously heightened senses. …And also the 3 pairs of retractible 6-foot long spider-like legs sprouting from their back, can't forget those.

Arachne
Arachne characters possess the following racial traits:

+2 Dex, +2 Con, -2 Str, -2 Cha(-2 App)
Medium Humanoids (Arachne)
Speed: 30, Climb 30 ft.
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., Hunger for Gore, Hunter of All, Low-Light Vision, Spider's Gift, Poison
Automatic Languages: Common, Arachne Bonus Languages: Any
Favored Class: Ranger
Level adjustment: +0


Hunger for Gore: The hunting instincts of the arachne are so demanding that they must keep up the act or they get antsy. If an arachne goes without killing something of between one size category lower than her's and colossal for one week, they must make a will save every day starting at DC 10 and increasing by one for every day that passes without fulfilling the requirement. If they fail the will save, they immediately lose control and attempt to kill the nearest creature that fits that size constraint.

Hunter of All: Arachne gain the scent special quality that functions only for humanoids and monstrous humanoids, save that it has double scent's normal range.

Spider's Gift: While climbing, an arachne gains the benefit of the spider climb spell. Additionally the 6 spider-like legs on the arachne's back cannot be used for attacking while climbing and grant a +5 bonus to grapple checks.

Poison: Injury, Fortitude DC 10+Con+1/2 Class Levels, initial and secondary damage 1d6 Dex.

Natural Weapons: Arachne have one secondary natural bite attack that deals 1d4 damage plus poision and 6 claw attacks that deal 1d4 damage.

[Berenger]

Before anyone says that these are powerful, I know.

Is this a joke...? I don't think these races are powerful. In fact, they seem horribly weak. What are they balanced against?

Without any level adjustment, the Oni might be on par with a Half-Orc. The Arachne could maybe work in a limited way if those seven attacks are abused with something like Sneak Attack. The Nurarhiyon seem just utterly pointless. I mean... they have zero redeeming qualities except that +2 to Intelligence and one of these two points is eaten up by the ability score increase that is lost to the level adjustment.

[Vrock Bait]

I’m going to have to agree with Berenger. None of the abilities are strong enough to merit nerfing, least of all LA.

On the Oni: Strength by Skill is pointless. By RAW it’s a bonus to Str, which is divided by 2 for the bonus to checks, so you effectively get three extra points of bonus across 20 levels. I don’t see Toughened Muscle being of much use outside of unarmed swordsage, and that’s a stretch, since Hammer Meets Nail invalidates WIS. Drive of Strength forces your DM into a narrative corner regarding foreshadowing.

On the Nurarhiyon: Unnoticeability has way too low a check to be useful. Even at high levels, a lot of monsters have massive bonuses to Will, so it doesn’t ever become useful. Large Head is a massive, massive liability, especially at low levels, where you’re already behind chained to the massive LA. Cumulative -4 abilities and Scavenger’s Inclination don’t help either.

On the Arachne: This one seems a bit more balanced, but it’s very niche and would probably only work well for RAW abuse like precision damage, as Berenger mentioned.

Overall, there’s a lot of good fluff, but this needs a lot of rebalancing to work. Arachne might be viable in TO environments, but Nurarhiyon loses way too much for a relatively weak ability. And the Oni’s racial features actively makes the DM’s life harder, unless he simply goes ahead with their plot anyway, and your Oni is killed as an example for how powerful their final boss or whatever is.

ETA: Before anyone brings it up, I saw the zombie apocalypse fluff. The OP doesn’t make it clear if these three are the only fantasy races in existence within their setting, so I assumed the normal sword-and-fantasy setting default to 3.x. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, OP.

[Aniikinis]

Is this a joke...? I don't think these races are powerful. In fact, they seem horribly weak. What are they balanced against?

Without any level adjustment, the Oni might be on par with a Half-Orc. The Arachne could maybe work in a limited way if those seven attacks are abused with something like Sneak Attack. The Nurarhiyon seem just utterly pointless. I mean... they have zero redeeming qualities except that +2 to Intelligence and one of these two points is eaten up by the ability score increase that is lost to the level adjustment.

I'll be honest, I was thinking I overcorrected hard but was second guessing myself the whole time. I'm also horrible at figuring out LA so almost all of the time I'm just spitballing in the opposite direction of the target.


I’m going to have to agree with Berenger. None of the abilities are strong enough to merit nerfing, least of all LA.

On the Oni: Strength by Skill is pointless. By RAW it’s a bonus to Str, which is divided by 2 for the bonus to checks, so you effectively get three extra points of bonus across 20 levels. I don’t see Toughened Muscle being of much use outside of unarmed swordsage, and that’s a stretch, since Hammer Meets Nail invalidates WIS. Drive of Strength forces your DM into a narrative corner regarding foreshadowing.

I was worried about the STR bonus too much because I was tired and forgot how ability modifiers worked. I should really pump it up a bit. Yeah, Drive of Strength was initially a challenge type effect and you gained morale bonuses that lasted a day for how high the CR of the enemy was after defeat. I rewrote it because of the aforementioned stupidity. I should probably modify HMN to be Int instead, as that fits the flavour better than Wis anyways, plus it fits with the ability score adjustments.


On the Nurarhiyon: Unnoticeability has way too low a check to be useful. Even at high levels, a lot of monsters have massive bonuses to Will, so it doesn’t ever become useful. Large Head is a massive, massive liability, especially at low levels, where you’re already behind chained to the massive LA. Cumulative -4 abilities and Scavenger’s Inclination don’t help either.

Initially I had the DC for Unnoticeability being 20+Cha+Level, and everything else was based on that, but I overcorrected. Any suggestions on a workable DC? I was actually thinking about bringing large head down to a 1 range increase and +1 to confimation roll.


On the Arachne: This one seems a bit more balanced, but it’s very niche and would probably only work well for RAW abuse like precision damage, as Berenger mentioned.

Kinda figured, I wasn't expecting them to be anything special. The brief description didn't give me much to work with on these. "Six six-foot retractable appendages sprout from your back. You can control them perfectly to walk or attack with. You view everyone as prey and get frustrated without a steady source of XP."


Overall, there’s a lot of good fluff, but this needs a lot of rebalancing to work. Arachne might be viable in TO environments, but Nurarhiyon loses way too much for a relatively weak ability. And the Oni’s racial features actively makes the DM’s life harder, unless he simply goes ahead with their plot anyway, and your Oni is killed as an example for how powerful their final boss or whatever is.

I figured as much. I need to stop overcorrecting things.


ETA: Before anyone brings it up, I saw the zombie apocalypse fluff. The OP doesn’t make it clear if these three are the only fantasy races in existence within their setting, so I assumed the normal sword-and-fantasy setting default to 3.x. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, OP.

The only races are: Humans, Oni, Nurarhiyon, Arachne, Avian(which are just claustrophobic humans with retractable wings and flight), and Elemental (basically just Genasi). The only real enemy is different types of zombie a la Left 4 Dead.

[Vrock Bait]

I'll be honest, I was thinking I overcorrected hard but was second guessing myself the whole time. I'm also horrible at figuring out LA so almost all of the time I'm just spitballing in the opposite direction of the target.

Ah, no worries, I gaze in undisguised jealousy at the prodigies in the LA Assignment Thread. It happens.



I was worried about the STR bonus too much because I was tired and forgot how ability modifiers worked. I should really pump it up a bit. Yeah, Drive of Strength was initially a challenge type effect and you gained morale bonuses that lasted a day for how high the CR of the enemy was after defeat. I rewrote it because of the aforementioned stupidity. I should probably modify HMN to be Int instead, as that fits the flavour better than Wis anyways, plus it fits with the ability score adjustments.

Learning more about your campaign setting, Drive of Strength doesn’t seem as bad. Low-level mishmash like the zombies shouldn’t be much trouble with 3.5e’s broken mechanics, even in hordes. Unless the zombies can infect people, of course. Then it becomes a serious problem again.

Though there is the issue of a GM trying to get people to move along instead of drudging up sessions with lengthy fight scenes. I don’t think that’s necessarily an issue, though, hearing your intentions with this homebrew.




Initially I had the DC for Unnoticeability being 20+Cha+Level, and everything else was based on that, but I overcorrected. Any suggestions on a workable DC? I was actually thinking about bringing large head down to a 1 range increase and +1 to confimation roll.

Seems ok if it’s all zombies, actually. Zombies have pitiful WIS. Might be an issue with hostile survivors though, but I don’t see that as necessarily a bad thing. I honestly think it might be better to maybe tone down the ability and the nerfs? A lot of 3.x high LA races have this issue where they’re extremely powerful in one very specific way so get nerfed to the Abyss and back for it. Usually they have this issue where they’re insanely good for that one specific build type and completely incompetent at everything else. Dunno, your choice, maybe you want a highly specialized race, most people don’t think it’s as bad a thing as I do.



Kinda figured, I wasn't expecting them to be anything special. The brief description didn't give me much to work with on these. "Six six-foot retractable appendages sprout from your back. You can control them perfectly to walk or attack with. You view everyone as prey and get frustrated without a steady source of XP."


Seems ok, yeah. There are a lot of contexts where 3.x treats zombies as non-living things as therefore ineligible for the racial trait. Not sure if that’s a bug or a feature.


The only races are: Humans, Oni, Nurarhiyon, Arachne, Avian(which are just claustrophobic humans with retractable wings and flight), and Elemental (basically just Genasi). The only real enemy is different types of zombie a la Left 4 Dead.

Sounds cool, thanks for the information. I assume you’re refluffing the raptorans or using a template for the avians?

[Aniikinis]

Ah, no worries, I gaze in undisguised jealousy at the prodigies in the LA Assignment Thread. It happens.

I love that thread so much, but I wish I could just glance at a monster and know how balanced it is like they can.


Learning more about your campaign setting, Drive of Strength doesn’t seem as bad. Low-level mishmash like the zombies shouldn’t be much trouble with 3.5e’s broken mechanics, even in hordes. Unless the zombies can infect people, of course. Then it becomes a serious problem again.

Though there is the issue of a GM trying to get people to move along instead of drudging up sessions with lengthy fight scenes. I don’t think that’s necessarily an issue, though, hearing your intentions with this homebrew.

Yeah, like 99% of humanity was turned into zombies and the rest got access to the CYOA and gained a class, perks, and possibly a new race.


Seems ok if it’s all zombies, actually. Zombies have pitiful WIS. Might be an issue with hostile survivors though, but I don’t see that as necessarily a bad thing. I honestly think it might be better to maybe tone down the ability and the nerfs? A lot of 3.x high LA races have this issue where they’re extremely powerful in one very specific way so get nerfed to the Abyss and back for it. Usually they have this issue where they’re insanely good for that one specific build type and completely incompetent at everything else. Dunno, your choice, maybe you want a highly specialized race, most people don’t think it’s as bad a thing as I do.

Fair enough. I think I'll keep them specialized though since they're already a niche pick in the CYOA, just tone down the nerfs a lot for these guys.


Sounds cool, thanks for the information. I assume you’re refluffing the raptorans or using a template for the avians?

Strangely enough, I already have a race that fits almost perfectly with the Avians. Sky-Borne Humans AKA The Ultimate Wing Men (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?532816-The-ultimate-Wing-men)

[Berenger]

It's not for D&D 3.5 but for Pathfinder, but have you looked at the Pathfinder Race Builder (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/other-rules/creating-new-races/)? It's hardly perfect, but it gives at least some guidance on what an ability should cost and lists existing races with LA to explain which abilities contributed to the LA.

[Aniikinis]

I've used it before and I have some gripes with it. I used it to help me guage out some races before, but it's always been pretty lackluster in my opinion. Some traits are overcosted, others are very undercosted, it's fairly limited in scope (especially when you're getting into stranger abilities), and honestly some of the "monstrous" level races are... not really that powerful when gone over. Some of the other decisions I also definitely don't agree with such as a race needing to be in the monstrous point category for it to be able to get any level of quadruped or a few other traits. Obviously it's meant to be used as a guideline and not hard fact, but the guideline isn't much of one when three abilities that cost the same have wildly different power levels.