P. G. Macer
2021-01-21, 03:41 PM
So I’ve brewed up a couple of races based off human-shaped non-humanoids in the Monster Manual, as the title references.
Dryad, Uprooted
Sometimes, a powerful druid or archfey tries to undo the magic that bound a fey spirit to a tree and made a dryad. Such efforts are only partially successful, as the fey remains a dryad, but her wellbeing is no longer rooted to her tree, and she loses much (but not all) of her prior magical power.
Uprooted Dryad Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2, and your Wisdom score increases by 1.
Age. Dryads come into being fully physically mature. An uprooted dryad generally lives 200 years after being freed from her tree.
Alignment. Dryads value balance in nature, and thus tend toward neutrality.
Darkvision. Accustomed to dimly lit forests, you have darkvision out to a range of 60 feet. Within that range, you can see in dim light as if in bright light, and darkness as in dim light. You can’t see color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Size. Dryads are generally slightly taller than human women, and weigh about the same. Your size is Medium.
Speed. You have a walking speed of 30 feet.
Dryad Magic. You know the druidcraft cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the entangle spell without requiring material components once with this trait, and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the pass without trace spell without needing material components once with this trait, and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Dryad Skills. You are proficient in the Perception and Stealth skills.
Fey. Your creature type is fey, rather than humanoid.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, Elvish, and Sylvan.
I made my Dryad race “Uprooted” so I could remove some of the things that don’t work well as a PC race, namely the Magic Resistance and the charming ability. It also means that the dryad doesn’t have a glaring weakness in the form of her tree, as that would be unbalanced in the other direction.
Half-Ogre
Half-Ogre Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength increases by 2, and your Constitution score increases by 2.
Age. Half-ogres reach maturity at around the age of 15 and can live for up to slightly under a century, though many meet their ends well before then.
Alignment. Half-ogres are almost invariably of a chaotic alignment, but unlike their giant-kin parents, have no predilection for evil.
Size. Half-ogres are often about 8 feet tall and weigh around 850 pounds. Half-ogres that become adventurers are generally runts of the litter, however. Your size is Medium.
Speed. You have a base walking speed of 30 feet.
Darkvision. Accustomed to dark caves and night ambushes, you have darkvision out to a range of 60 feet. Within that range, you can see in dim light as if in bright light, and darkness as in dim light. You can’t see color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Giant. Your creature type is giant, rather than humanoid.
Powerful Build. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.
Short-Tempered. When you have taken damage from a creature (other than yourself) or object since your previous turn, or within 1 minute prior to rolling initiative on your first turn, you can use your bonus action let your temper flare for 1 minute, until you calm down as a bonus action, or until you die. A calm emotions spell also ends the effect early. While your temper is flaring, you gain temporary hit points equal to your level + your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1 temporary hit point), which last until the flare ends. You can also give yourself advantage on a single melee weapon attack you make while your temper is flaring. Once you use this feature, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Giant.
I’m more worried about the half-ogre in terms of balance than the dryad, as having the fey type occasionally has drawbacks that being humanoid doesn’t, especially with regard to certain spells, while the only giant-targeting things I can think of are the Giant Slayer magic weapons and the PHB and 2016 Revised Rangers’ Favored Enemy. Besides that, the original half-ogre I made (not shown here) came off as rather bland, as it originally had some likely-redundant weapon proficiencies instead of Short-Tempered, and most of its mechanical heft came from the double +2 ASIs and the Giant creature type. Speaking of Short-Tempered, I modeled it after the Shifter race’s shifting ability, though the non-THP portion is supposed to be less hefty than what the shifter subraces get, given that shifting is the Shifters’ primary feature.
Dryad, Uprooted
Sometimes, a powerful druid or archfey tries to undo the magic that bound a fey spirit to a tree and made a dryad. Such efforts are only partially successful, as the fey remains a dryad, but her wellbeing is no longer rooted to her tree, and she loses much (but not all) of her prior magical power.
Uprooted Dryad Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2, and your Wisdom score increases by 1.
Age. Dryads come into being fully physically mature. An uprooted dryad generally lives 200 years after being freed from her tree.
Alignment. Dryads value balance in nature, and thus tend toward neutrality.
Darkvision. Accustomed to dimly lit forests, you have darkvision out to a range of 60 feet. Within that range, you can see in dim light as if in bright light, and darkness as in dim light. You can’t see color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Size. Dryads are generally slightly taller than human women, and weigh about the same. Your size is Medium.
Speed. You have a walking speed of 30 feet.
Dryad Magic. You know the druidcraft cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the entangle spell without requiring material components once with this trait, and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the pass without trace spell without needing material components once with this trait, and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Dryad Skills. You are proficient in the Perception and Stealth skills.
Fey. Your creature type is fey, rather than humanoid.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, Elvish, and Sylvan.
I made my Dryad race “Uprooted” so I could remove some of the things that don’t work well as a PC race, namely the Magic Resistance and the charming ability. It also means that the dryad doesn’t have a glaring weakness in the form of her tree, as that would be unbalanced in the other direction.
Half-Ogre
Half-Ogre Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength increases by 2, and your Constitution score increases by 2.
Age. Half-ogres reach maturity at around the age of 15 and can live for up to slightly under a century, though many meet their ends well before then.
Alignment. Half-ogres are almost invariably of a chaotic alignment, but unlike their giant-kin parents, have no predilection for evil.
Size. Half-ogres are often about 8 feet tall and weigh around 850 pounds. Half-ogres that become adventurers are generally runts of the litter, however. Your size is Medium.
Speed. You have a base walking speed of 30 feet.
Darkvision. Accustomed to dark caves and night ambushes, you have darkvision out to a range of 60 feet. Within that range, you can see in dim light as if in bright light, and darkness as in dim light. You can’t see color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Giant. Your creature type is giant, rather than humanoid.
Powerful Build. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.
Short-Tempered. When you have taken damage from a creature (other than yourself) or object since your previous turn, or within 1 minute prior to rolling initiative on your first turn, you can use your bonus action let your temper flare for 1 minute, until you calm down as a bonus action, or until you die. A calm emotions spell also ends the effect early. While your temper is flaring, you gain temporary hit points equal to your level + your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1 temporary hit point), which last until the flare ends. You can also give yourself advantage on a single melee weapon attack you make while your temper is flaring. Once you use this feature, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Giant.
I’m more worried about the half-ogre in terms of balance than the dryad, as having the fey type occasionally has drawbacks that being humanoid doesn’t, especially with regard to certain spells, while the only giant-targeting things I can think of are the Giant Slayer magic weapons and the PHB and 2016 Revised Rangers’ Favored Enemy. Besides that, the original half-ogre I made (not shown here) came off as rather bland, as it originally had some likely-redundant weapon proficiencies instead of Short-Tempered, and most of its mechanical heft came from the double +2 ASIs and the Giant creature type. Speaking of Short-Tempered, I modeled it after the Shifter race’s shifting ability, though the non-THP portion is supposed to be less hefty than what the shifter subraces get, given that shifting is the Shifters’ primary feature.