Help me build a "Cell".

[Rhocian Xothara]

So I have a sandbox campaign in which there is no one true villain. Villains rank up and down in scale depending on what plot hook(s) the players choose to follow. So these range from small-time crooks with no HP bloat who pull strings from the shadows but will be downed within a round or two (especially when the players eventually mob them 6-to-1), to Tier 4 world-ending threats that are nigh unkillable and the party's only hope is a Scroll of Imprisonment.

With it being a sandbox and not having any one 'main' story arc, I'm keeping the game fresh by introducing a video game mechanic: Unlockables. For example, normally when a PC dies, their new character has to start afresh from 1st level - even if that means being sorely underlevelled for certain adventures. They are experienced players, so they can usually (just about) manage. But as they gain ranks in the Adventurer's Society (thank you, Goblin Slayer!) they unlock the ability to respawn at higher levels. It gives them more incentive to actually give a **** about the Adventurer's Society, admittedly, but there we go.

Same for races. Most common races are available to the players. Less common races to unlock are races like Grungs. Also some homebrew (I have Aarakocra subraces, for example).

Aaaaaanyway,One of the villainous factions in the game are creating Warforged. These Warforged are ostensibly used to serve the people of Alexandria, either through Law Enforcement or as personal Housecarls to the wealthy.

TL;DR: This faction will eventually go on to make 'perfect' Cyborgs. I am also in two minds of allowing the players to 'unlock' these as a playable race should their current PC(s) die, so for that reason I want this race to be constructed with playable race options in mind.

The obvious inspiration is Cell from the Dragonball Z series. Cell is so-called because he is made from the DNA of the best warriors in the universe. Our party aren't exactly Super Saiyans, and the faction bears no grudge against the party (yet), so a creature that is basically all of the party into one being is not on the table.

So, title question: How would you build a 'Cell' in this game, as a playable race?

There has to be an element of balance of course (I could give them Truesight. Will I? Lol no.) but I also don't mind the race being on the stronger (or even the strongest) side of racial options. It is an unlockable race, after all, and the premise is that this race is created to be 'the strongest'.

To give an idea, this is the sort of thing I have in mind at the moment. I don't know if I'm barking up the wrong tree with this or not, but let me know what you think.

"Cyborg" Race

Features:
Age: As a new race to the world, no data has been collected as there are no 'elders' of your race. You mature at a similar rate to Humans, and your innate magical abilities are believed to give you a lifespan on par with Elves.
Alignment: You were designed and created by a faction of Gnomes and Modrons, and as such are expected to be obedient, giving you a strong Lawful bent. However, you are also fully sentient and possess free will, so you're free to go against the grain if you see fit.
Size: For a bio-engineered race you have a surprisingly varied range of sizes. You have a comparable size to Humans.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30ft.

Adaptable: You were bio-engineered to have an answer for anything the world throws at you. Choose one of the following traits:

Ability Score Increase: Your Ability Scores all increase by 1.
All-Terrain: In addition to your Base Walking Speed, you also have a base flight speed; a base climb speed and a base swim speed of 30ft.
Regeneration: Your biology is optimised for self-preservation. Whenever you spend a Hit Dice to restore Health, take the maximum number for your Hit Dice instead of rolling for it. For example if your Hit Dice is a D10 and you spend one Hit Dice, you restore your health by 10 + your Constitution Score Bonus. In addition, whenever you are subjected to healing by external means, such as a potion or a Spell, you may re-roll the healing dice for the healing effect and choose whichever of the two results you wish.
Savant: You gain all Skill Proficiencies available to your first Class choice, instead of choosing from a selection of them. You may also double your Proficiency Bonus for one Skill Proficiency of your choice (effectively gaining 'Expertise' in the Skill).
Specialised: You gain two Feats.


Darkvision: You have Darkvision out to 60ft. You can see in Dim Light as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were Dim Light. You cannot discern colours in Darkness, only shades of grey.

Multi-talented: You ignore all Ability Score Multiclassing requirements when choosing to Multiclass into and/or out of a class.

[Dualight]

First impression: Too much is put into the variable trait, which is too unbalanced with itself. It is basically standard human with darkvision, OR custom lineage that trades the +2 for a second feat, without size flexibility(so no Small-exclusive tricks like using the Medium barbarian as your mount), OR skill money with a maximum of +2 modifier in any ability score, OR it has an improved version of the Durable feat, again with a maximum starting modifier of +2 to any Ability, OR above average mobility(flight!) but no more speed than normal, and with the +2 maximum starting modifier.
I have to say that the Multi-talented feature is very flavourful for something that is intended to be versatile above all else.

Are you working with Tasha's Cauldron rules? because the complete lack of an ASI actually puts some of the options noticeably behind all others.
It strikes me as a little weird that an 'ultimate lifeform' would start their adventuring career worse at most of their speciality than even a standard human, even if they have more flexibility.

That said, for a (very) rough draft this looks interesting.
Going forward, consider this: Would you take this over variant, or even standard, human for a concept that does not demand either?
If no, the current design needs further revision.
On the other hand, if it makes humans entirely obsolete whenever flavour isn't a concern, you may have over-tuned it.

As far as I can tell, homebrewing is much like walking a tightrope, erring on either side causes a fall.

[Arcomage]

I haven't done a full analysis of costs vs. benefits on a given option - the comments below are pretty much entirely my gut feeling from the perspective of a player.

Ability Score Increase as human-standard is relatively good, but having it in direct competition with having literally any other racial feature besides Darkvision is pretty bad at first glance. Taking the Custom Lineage from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything as a baseline, they get the +2/+1 Ability Score Increase (which is, for most classes, comparable to or even slightly better than having a +1 to all) and also get to pick a free feat.

All-Terrain runs into much the same issue. Always-on flight speed (and one that isn't even limited in terms of worn armor) is obviously good, but having to give up your Ability Score Increase for it is quite painful. The swim speed is nice but relatively niche in comparison, and situations where a climb speed is good but the flight speed can't be used will likely be so vanishingly rare as to be negligible. There's some obvious general utility here and flight in general is a solid enough trait, but I'd personally prefer Aarakocra, Winged Tieflings and the like over this option (because you get to have both the flight and Ability Score Increase, plus an additional minor feature, and Tieflings even get Darkvision).

Regeneration seems generally weak, comparatively - not because it's numerically bad, but because it's purely reactive and the numbers seem to assume that you're taking that damage in the first place, that you have the time for a short rest whenever you need that health, and also that you're routinely having days where you spend all of your hit dice. It's almost certainly better than taking Tough as a feat, but quite a lot of things are better than taking Tough as a feat, including the below option to take any two feats (most of which will be better than Tough by default).

Savant sounds quite good, but hits you with the fact that your lack of Ability Score Increase means you're a bit behind even in the skills you're supposed to be good at, and then also varies in value by class - Most classes get 4-5 bonus skills out of that, but specifically the Bard would get proficiency in literally all skills if I'm reading this right. That might be intentional - Jack of All Trades means that this is less of a relative gain to them - but it's still odd. Rogues also get notably more out of it than most other classes. Note that for the classes that would get 4 skills out of it, this is strictly worse than Specialised below, as you could take Skilled and Skill Expert to get 4 skill proficiencies (with no class set limitations), one Expertise, and then also a +1 to any ability score.

Specialised is arguably the best of the bunch, as the existence of half-feats lets you get some ability score increase along with a decent set of general bonuses for whatever character archetype you have in mind.

In general, I think the race would be better off separating Ability Score Increase out of the list and giving it out regardless of your feature choice. I think this still puts Specialised ahead of the other options by a significant margin - many characters really want more feats - but that makes the competition with All-Terrain at least an actual competition.

Thematically, I also think the race would really benefit from some minor feature to tie them together - a thing that all "Cyborgs" can do that's not just seeing in the dark and which sets them apart from other races. A free proficiency in Athletics to represent relatively higher strength and endurance might work, a natural weapon to reflect their origins as living weapons, or maybe an ability to judge an opponent's strength like the Battlemaster Fighter's Know Your Enemy.

[Rhocian Xothara]

I realise I need to provide slightly more context for the campaign in order for some of my thinking to make sense:

For character creation - specifically stat generation - we have the table rule of 75-point Buy. That is: You have 75 stat points and you may put them anywhere you like. You don't have to use all 75 points (so if you want to play a weaker character - and believe me, some players do - then you can), but 75 is the max.

We like this rule because it gives a good balance between being able to create pretty much exactly the kind of character you want without the risk of having 'that guy' turn up with straight 18s across the board.

So, not having racial ability score bonuses isn't quite the drawback in this game as it might be in others.

That being said... On reflection, I'm definitely gonna re-tune this. It is - as Dualight pointed out - a very rough first draft.

I've been looking at official races for ideas, and I'm tempted to do what the Gith and the Aasimar do: Gate certain racial features at different character levels. That way it's possible for this 'Perfect Cyborg' to achieve all of the features on offer (plus maybe some more, or make what I currently have a bit stronger to be more level-appropriate?)

It's also thematically appropriate when you consider the inspiration: Cell. Alright you're not chasing down a couple of Androids to absorb, but you are chasing self-improvement. The stronger you become, the more your physiology adapts to accommodate that power, or even enhance it.

The other option I have considered is to use the same level-gating concept, but put existing racial options behind them instead of creating new ones. So the Half-Orc racials of 'Savage Attacks' and 'Relentless Endurance' can be unlocked at, say, 4th level. Really lean into the idea that the very best of different races went into making this Cyborg.

Does it mean that a Perfect Cyborg in a Tier 4 party will seem pretty godlike by the end of it? Absolutely.
Will it matter so much at this level (~16th-20th)? I... don't think so.