47948201
2021-12-07, 10:41 PM
It seems like everyone and their lover has done one of these, but most of the time they end up too powerful (straight up combining the defining features of both changelings and winged tieflings) or kinda nonsensical, in my opinion (abyssal chicken's "bad flier" trait makes sense mechanically, but logically taking off should be way more difficult than gliding, and one hour of disguise self is, while certainly useful for specific plans, a bit limiting for what I personally imagine succubi doing)
So, here's my attempt to take the most prominent features of succubi across D&D editions and squeeze them into a 5e race that doesn't overshadow the other options too hard.
Ability Scores: Cha +2; Dex +1. Succubi are lithe and very charming.
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 ft.
Creature Type. You are a Fiend.
Darkvision. You have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Flight. Bat-like wings give you a flying speed of 30 feet. You can't use your flying speed while you wear medium or heavy armor. (If your campaign uses the variant rule for encumbrance, you can't use your flying speed if you are encumbered.)
Each round, you can only ascend 5 feet for every 30 feet of flying speed you have. You can fly for a number of rounds equal to your Constitution score, and regain the use of this trait when you finish a short or long rest. A round does not count towards this limit if your altitude decreases by at least 5 feet and does not increase.
Change Appearance. As an action, you can magically transform into a humanoid form, your natural appearance, or something inbetween. You decide what you look like, but you cannot change your height or weight by more than ten percent, and you can make only minor changes to your voice. Your equipment doesn't change in appearance, size, or shape. Without wings, you lose the ability to fly, but none of your other game statistics change. You revert to your true form if you die.
Fiendish Magic. You can cast charm person once with this trait. You can substitute physical contact with the target for the spell's verbal component. You regain the use of this trait when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for this spell.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and one other language of your choice.
I can imagine a world where the only ability score bonus is Charisma, but Dexterity made too much sense to leave out (5e succubi have super high values in both stats, and the flavor text is pulled straight from the infamous 3.4e book Savage Species)
I did consider giving some natural armor bonus or fire resistance, and maybe a skill proficiency or two (enemy succubi always have those), but that felt too powerful and seemed like it'd be stepping on other races' toes a bit.
Darkvision basically feels like a necessity for a fiend, and the fiend type... Uh, yeah. Neither of these are super huge traits, but they certainly are there, and have their uses (darkvision especially)
Flight is a design challenge for anyone who makes a race like this. It basically does two things: trivializes low-to-the-ground natural/manufactured obstacles, and trivializes melee enemies. By imposing turn and height limits, it becomes much harder to just fly over a wall or across a lake, and if you want to fly away from enemies, be prepared to either spend your first turn still in their range, or eat into your action economy by starting combat with a Dash--and don't expect to spend every encounter airborne, or you might not be able to fly when you really need to.
If you want to get into the royal ball, or the governor's office, or the paladin's pants, then hiding your fiendish features is pretty important. Changelings' shtick is being able to be anyone, anytime, so succubi should have a more limited ability to disguise themselves, but I didn't want to put an actual time limit on it (how often do you meet someone at a tavern, take them to your inn room, and part ways all in under an hour?). You can still pretend not to be the person who swindled that merchant, but if you want to get into the bank's vault, you'll have to find a worker who's pretty close in appearance to impersonate.
For magic, I would've preferred giving suggestion instead of charm person, but by this point the race already has two fairly useful features, I think, so 1st-level magic once per day. Casting via touch is meant to emulate the "charming kiss" that succubi frequently have (though it's not limited to kissing, of course). Some way to have a "draining kiss" would also have made sense, but I was worried that's too many unique features.
It would've made sense to give the option of Abyssal or Infernal languages, but most races get two, so two it is.
Too powerful? Too niche? Too unclear? Too detailed? Just right? What are your thoughts?
So, here's my attempt to take the most prominent features of succubi across D&D editions and squeeze them into a 5e race that doesn't overshadow the other options too hard.
Ability Scores: Cha +2; Dex +1. Succubi are lithe and very charming.
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 ft.
Creature Type. You are a Fiend.
Darkvision. You have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Flight. Bat-like wings give you a flying speed of 30 feet. You can't use your flying speed while you wear medium or heavy armor. (If your campaign uses the variant rule for encumbrance, you can't use your flying speed if you are encumbered.)
Each round, you can only ascend 5 feet for every 30 feet of flying speed you have. You can fly for a number of rounds equal to your Constitution score, and regain the use of this trait when you finish a short or long rest. A round does not count towards this limit if your altitude decreases by at least 5 feet and does not increase.
Change Appearance. As an action, you can magically transform into a humanoid form, your natural appearance, or something inbetween. You decide what you look like, but you cannot change your height or weight by more than ten percent, and you can make only minor changes to your voice. Your equipment doesn't change in appearance, size, or shape. Without wings, you lose the ability to fly, but none of your other game statistics change. You revert to your true form if you die.
Fiendish Magic. You can cast charm person once with this trait. You can substitute physical contact with the target for the spell's verbal component. You regain the use of this trait when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for this spell.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and one other language of your choice.
I can imagine a world where the only ability score bonus is Charisma, but Dexterity made too much sense to leave out (5e succubi have super high values in both stats, and the flavor text is pulled straight from the infamous 3.4e book Savage Species)
I did consider giving some natural armor bonus or fire resistance, and maybe a skill proficiency or two (enemy succubi always have those), but that felt too powerful and seemed like it'd be stepping on other races' toes a bit.
Darkvision basically feels like a necessity for a fiend, and the fiend type... Uh, yeah. Neither of these are super huge traits, but they certainly are there, and have their uses (darkvision especially)
Flight is a design challenge for anyone who makes a race like this. It basically does two things: trivializes low-to-the-ground natural/manufactured obstacles, and trivializes melee enemies. By imposing turn and height limits, it becomes much harder to just fly over a wall or across a lake, and if you want to fly away from enemies, be prepared to either spend your first turn still in their range, or eat into your action economy by starting combat with a Dash--and don't expect to spend every encounter airborne, or you might not be able to fly when you really need to.
If you want to get into the royal ball, or the governor's office, or the paladin's pants, then hiding your fiendish features is pretty important. Changelings' shtick is being able to be anyone, anytime, so succubi should have a more limited ability to disguise themselves, but I didn't want to put an actual time limit on it (how often do you meet someone at a tavern, take them to your inn room, and part ways all in under an hour?). You can still pretend not to be the person who swindled that merchant, but if you want to get into the bank's vault, you'll have to find a worker who's pretty close in appearance to impersonate.
For magic, I would've preferred giving suggestion instead of charm person, but by this point the race already has two fairly useful features, I think, so 1st-level magic once per day. Casting via touch is meant to emulate the "charming kiss" that succubi frequently have (though it's not limited to kissing, of course). Some way to have a "draining kiss" would also have made sense, but I was worried that's too many unique features.
It would've made sense to give the option of Abyssal or Infernal languages, but most races get two, so two it is.
Too powerful? Too niche? Too unclear? Too detailed? Just right? What are your thoughts?