Catullus64
2022-06-07, 12:16 PM
About to give players the available races for a new campaign. I'm interested in critique from all angles: are the options well-balanced against one another? Are the new & modified features fun? Do they give a sense of flavor and place in the world to the individual groups?
Ability score generation will be its own matter; none of these races provide ability score increases.
Men came to the land of Grenfal from the far southeast, building their first cities on the fertile banks of the Lyb. As centuries passed, they expanded into the west, pushing out the elves of the Lampwood and the Dwarves of the Broken Hills; those settler groups have now formed their own distinct ethnicities. Humans are fierce fighters by nature, and driven by a restless desire for knowledge.
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Languages: Common
Gift of Tongues You can pick up new languages extremely quickly. Pick five languages in which you are not proficient; you recongize those languages when you hear them spoken, and can identify their writing, though you still cannot read them. When you hear those languages spoken or see them in writing, the DM might decide you can pick out and understand select words and phrases in those languages, and make simple ones understood. Additionally, you require half the usual time to learn new languages.
Natural Killer* Once per turn, when you roll damage for an attack, you may re-roll one damage die, and pick the result.
Fated When you roll a Death Saving Throw at the start of your turn, you may choose to instead treat the result as if you had rolled a 20. Once you have used this feature, you cannot use it again until you have completed 1d4+1 long rests.
Culture Your culture grants you proficiency with one language, one tool and one skill from a selected list.
Lybaron
Language: Lybish
Skills: Choose one from Deception, Persuasion, Arcana, and Intimidation
Tools: Choose one from Potter's Tools, Navigator's Tools, Water Vehicles, and Flute
Culde Clans
Language: Culspeak
Skills: Choose one from Stealth, Athletics, Religion, and Survival
Tools: Choose one from Carpenter's Tools, Herbalism Kit, Lyre, and Dice Set
Fringia
Language: Fringin
Skills: Choose one from Animal Handling, Acrobatics, Intimidation, or Performance
Tools: Choose one from Leatherworker's Tools, Weaver's Tools, Dulcimer, and Land Vehicles
*Saying that a race is intrinsically violent and warlike is ok when that race is all Humans.
Elves hail from a distant northern continent beyond the Bay of Elthur. In time past they built many colonies in Grenfal. Those colonists, cut off from their motherland and pushed off the best land by humans, survive in the itinerant Forest Troupes. Northern elves have little friendly contact with the peoples of Grenfal, who know them only as raiders and pirates.
Size: Medium
Speed: 35 feet
Languages: Common, Elvish
Fey Ancestry You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic cannot put you to sleep.
Keen Sight You gain proficiency with the Perception skill. Additionally, you can see up to 1 mile away with no difficulty, able to discern even fine details as though looking at something no more than 100 feet away from you. Finally, dim light doesn't impose disadvantage on your Wisdom (Perception) checks.
Long Memory You have memories from your very distant past that still come in useful every now and then. Choose two skills with which you are not proficient. You add half your proficiency bonus (rounded down) to ability checks using those skills. If you later gain proficiency with one of those skills, you can select a new skill to gain this benefit.
Culture
Forest Troupe
Tree-Dweller You have a climbing speed equal to your walking speed.
Mask of the Wild You can attempt to hide even when you are only lightly obscured by foliage, heavy rain, falling snow, mist, and other natural phenomena.
Sea Raiders
Waterborne You have a swimming speed equal to your walking speed, and you gain proficiency with water vehicles.
Battle Prowess When you hit a creature with an attack, you can force the creature to make a Dexterity saving throw (DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + the ability score modifier you used to make the attack). If the creature fails the saving throw, choose one of the following effects: knock the creature prone, push the creature 5 feet away from you, force the creature to drop one object it is holding, deal additional damage to the creature equal to your level. Once you have used one of these options, you cannot use that option again until you finish a long rest.
A realm of Dwarfs once stretched from the Cloudwings in the south to the Broken Hills, all the way to the northern Isle of Stone Trees. Only a few isolated holds remain, and are heavily reliant on trade with humans to stay alive and fed.
Size: Small
Speed: 25 feet
Languages: Common, Dwarfish
Dwarven Toughness You have advantage on saving throws against poison, and resistance to poison damage.
Dwarven Resilience Your hit point maximum increases by 1, and increases by 1 every time you gain a level.
Earthsense While in contact with a surface of earth or stone, you can detect and pinpoint the origins of vibrations within 15 feet, provided that the source of said vibrations are in contact with that same surface. Enemies whom you can detect with this special sense do not gain advantage on attack rolls against you as a result of being unseen by you, nor do your attack rolls against them suffer disadvantage as a result of being unable to see them.
Stoutness Though your size is Small, you can use weapons with the Heavy property without suffering disadvantage on attack rolls.
Culture
Hold Dwarf
Stonecunning Whenever you make an Intelligence (History) check related to the origin of stonework, you are considered proficient in the History skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
Tool Proficiency You gain proficiency with your choice of Smith's Tools, Jeweler's Tools, or Mason's Tools.
Tunnel Fighter Accustomed to fighting in cramped spaces, squeezing into tight spaces does not impose disadvantage on your attack rolls, nor cause attack rolls against you to have advantage.
Peddler Dwarf
Bonus Language You can read and write one additional language.
Shrewd Trader Whenever you make a Charisma (Persuasion) check to haggle over the price of goods and services, you are considered proficient in the Persuasion skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
Seasoned Traveler Traveling at a Fast pace does not impose the usual -5 Penalty to your Passive Wisdom (Perception) score.
Tool Proficiency You gain proficiency with your choice of Land Vehicles, Brewer's Supplies, or Tinker's Tools
Halflings are a group of primordial men, whose idyllic living conditions have kept them in small stature. As contact with the tall men of their distant kinship opens up, they are forced to change rapidly to retain their independence and lands.
Size: Small
Speed: 25 feet
Languages: Common, Halfling
Lucky When you roll a 1 on an ability check, attack roll, or saving throw, you can reroll the die. You must use the new result, even if it is a 1.
Brave You have advantage on saving throws against being frightened, and you have resistance to psychic damage.
Nimble You can move through the space of any creature that is of a size larger than yours.
Naturally Stealthy You can attempt to hide even when you are only obscured by a creature that is of a size larger than yours.
Culture
Laketowner
Slippery Any effect that would cause you to be restrained instead only causes you to be grappled. You have advantage on ability checks that you make to avoid or escape being grappled.
Highlander
Country Tools Your deep familiarity with simple weapons makes you far deadlier with them. Any simple melee or ranged weapon with which you are proficient improves the size of its damage die in your hands: a d4 becomes a d6, a d6 becomes a d8, and a d8 becomes a d10.
Prijuna was a mighty empire to the south of the Lampwood, centered around the headwaters of the Lyb. Her army was vast, and her kings mighty in sorcery. Fearful of conquest, a confederation of other human nations gathered their resources together. After beating back the armies of Prijuna in battle, they invoked their gods to blast Prijuna with heavenly fire, leaving it a twisted and barren hellscape of sharply contrasting climates. The survivors (the Prijunan word for which is "Tiefling") developed terrible mutations from the ruinous magic which soaks their land, but these same marks help them survive: horns, balancing tails, leathery hides, and a keen attunement to the otherworld.
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Languages: Common, Prijunan
Darksight As a bonus action, you open your inner eyes to the otherworld. Until the end of your next turn, you can see normally in magical and nonmagical darkness, see invisible creatures and objects, automatically detect visual illusions and succeed on saving throws against them, and perceive the original form of a shape-changer or a creature that is transformed by magic. Once you have used this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.
Superior Balance Your tail and sensitive horns help you stay upright. You have advantage on ability checks and saving throws to prevent yourself from falling or being knocked prone.
Culture The region of hellish Prijuna that you call home grants you resistance to one type of damage, and the ability to cast a cantrip. At 3rd level your culture grants you the ability to cast a 1st-level spell, and at 5th level it grants the ability to cast a 2nd-level spell. You do not need to supply material components for these spells. Once you have cast one of these spells, you cannot do so again until you finish a long rest, unless you expend a spell slot of appropriate level to cast it. Choose whether Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma will be your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Pit-Dweller
Damage Resistance: Necrotic
Cantrip: Thaumaturgy
1st-Level Spell: Command
2nd-Level Spell: Levitate
Desert Wanderer
Damage Resistance: Fire
Cantrip: Control Flames
1st-Level Spell: Hellish Rebuke
2nd-Level Spell: Mirror Image
Outskirts Village
Damage Resistance: Cold
Cantrip: Druidcraft
1st-Level Spell: Hex
2nd-Level Spell: Pass Without Trace
Notable Edit: Reworked Gift of Tongues substantially after thinking about it for a bit.
Ability score generation will be its own matter; none of these races provide ability score increases.
Men came to the land of Grenfal from the far southeast, building their first cities on the fertile banks of the Lyb. As centuries passed, they expanded into the west, pushing out the elves of the Lampwood and the Dwarves of the Broken Hills; those settler groups have now formed their own distinct ethnicities. Humans are fierce fighters by nature, and driven by a restless desire for knowledge.
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Languages: Common
Gift of Tongues You can pick up new languages extremely quickly. Pick five languages in which you are not proficient; you recongize those languages when you hear them spoken, and can identify their writing, though you still cannot read them. When you hear those languages spoken or see them in writing, the DM might decide you can pick out and understand select words and phrases in those languages, and make simple ones understood. Additionally, you require half the usual time to learn new languages.
Natural Killer* Once per turn, when you roll damage for an attack, you may re-roll one damage die, and pick the result.
Fated When you roll a Death Saving Throw at the start of your turn, you may choose to instead treat the result as if you had rolled a 20. Once you have used this feature, you cannot use it again until you have completed 1d4+1 long rests.
Culture Your culture grants you proficiency with one language, one tool and one skill from a selected list.
Lybaron
Language: Lybish
Skills: Choose one from Deception, Persuasion, Arcana, and Intimidation
Tools: Choose one from Potter's Tools, Navigator's Tools, Water Vehicles, and Flute
Culde Clans
Language: Culspeak
Skills: Choose one from Stealth, Athletics, Religion, and Survival
Tools: Choose one from Carpenter's Tools, Herbalism Kit, Lyre, and Dice Set
Fringia
Language: Fringin
Skills: Choose one from Animal Handling, Acrobatics, Intimidation, or Performance
Tools: Choose one from Leatherworker's Tools, Weaver's Tools, Dulcimer, and Land Vehicles
*Saying that a race is intrinsically violent and warlike is ok when that race is all Humans.
Elves hail from a distant northern continent beyond the Bay of Elthur. In time past they built many colonies in Grenfal. Those colonists, cut off from their motherland and pushed off the best land by humans, survive in the itinerant Forest Troupes. Northern elves have little friendly contact with the peoples of Grenfal, who know them only as raiders and pirates.
Size: Medium
Speed: 35 feet
Languages: Common, Elvish
Fey Ancestry You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic cannot put you to sleep.
Keen Sight You gain proficiency with the Perception skill. Additionally, you can see up to 1 mile away with no difficulty, able to discern even fine details as though looking at something no more than 100 feet away from you. Finally, dim light doesn't impose disadvantage on your Wisdom (Perception) checks.
Long Memory You have memories from your very distant past that still come in useful every now and then. Choose two skills with which you are not proficient. You add half your proficiency bonus (rounded down) to ability checks using those skills. If you later gain proficiency with one of those skills, you can select a new skill to gain this benefit.
Culture
Forest Troupe
Tree-Dweller You have a climbing speed equal to your walking speed.
Mask of the Wild You can attempt to hide even when you are only lightly obscured by foliage, heavy rain, falling snow, mist, and other natural phenomena.
Sea Raiders
Waterborne You have a swimming speed equal to your walking speed, and you gain proficiency with water vehicles.
Battle Prowess When you hit a creature with an attack, you can force the creature to make a Dexterity saving throw (DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + the ability score modifier you used to make the attack). If the creature fails the saving throw, choose one of the following effects: knock the creature prone, push the creature 5 feet away from you, force the creature to drop one object it is holding, deal additional damage to the creature equal to your level. Once you have used one of these options, you cannot use that option again until you finish a long rest.
A realm of Dwarfs once stretched from the Cloudwings in the south to the Broken Hills, all the way to the northern Isle of Stone Trees. Only a few isolated holds remain, and are heavily reliant on trade with humans to stay alive and fed.
Size: Small
Speed: 25 feet
Languages: Common, Dwarfish
Dwarven Toughness You have advantage on saving throws against poison, and resistance to poison damage.
Dwarven Resilience Your hit point maximum increases by 1, and increases by 1 every time you gain a level.
Earthsense While in contact with a surface of earth or stone, you can detect and pinpoint the origins of vibrations within 15 feet, provided that the source of said vibrations are in contact with that same surface. Enemies whom you can detect with this special sense do not gain advantage on attack rolls against you as a result of being unseen by you, nor do your attack rolls against them suffer disadvantage as a result of being unable to see them.
Stoutness Though your size is Small, you can use weapons with the Heavy property without suffering disadvantage on attack rolls.
Culture
Hold Dwarf
Stonecunning Whenever you make an Intelligence (History) check related to the origin of stonework, you are considered proficient in the History skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
Tool Proficiency You gain proficiency with your choice of Smith's Tools, Jeweler's Tools, or Mason's Tools.
Tunnel Fighter Accustomed to fighting in cramped spaces, squeezing into tight spaces does not impose disadvantage on your attack rolls, nor cause attack rolls against you to have advantage.
Peddler Dwarf
Bonus Language You can read and write one additional language.
Shrewd Trader Whenever you make a Charisma (Persuasion) check to haggle over the price of goods and services, you are considered proficient in the Persuasion skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
Seasoned Traveler Traveling at a Fast pace does not impose the usual -5 Penalty to your Passive Wisdom (Perception) score.
Tool Proficiency You gain proficiency with your choice of Land Vehicles, Brewer's Supplies, or Tinker's Tools
Halflings are a group of primordial men, whose idyllic living conditions have kept them in small stature. As contact with the tall men of their distant kinship opens up, they are forced to change rapidly to retain their independence and lands.
Size: Small
Speed: 25 feet
Languages: Common, Halfling
Lucky When you roll a 1 on an ability check, attack roll, or saving throw, you can reroll the die. You must use the new result, even if it is a 1.
Brave You have advantage on saving throws against being frightened, and you have resistance to psychic damage.
Nimble You can move through the space of any creature that is of a size larger than yours.
Naturally Stealthy You can attempt to hide even when you are only obscured by a creature that is of a size larger than yours.
Culture
Laketowner
Slippery Any effect that would cause you to be restrained instead only causes you to be grappled. You have advantage on ability checks that you make to avoid or escape being grappled.
Highlander
Country Tools Your deep familiarity with simple weapons makes you far deadlier with them. Any simple melee or ranged weapon with which you are proficient improves the size of its damage die in your hands: a d4 becomes a d6, a d6 becomes a d8, and a d8 becomes a d10.
Prijuna was a mighty empire to the south of the Lampwood, centered around the headwaters of the Lyb. Her army was vast, and her kings mighty in sorcery. Fearful of conquest, a confederation of other human nations gathered their resources together. After beating back the armies of Prijuna in battle, they invoked their gods to blast Prijuna with heavenly fire, leaving it a twisted and barren hellscape of sharply contrasting climates. The survivors (the Prijunan word for which is "Tiefling") developed terrible mutations from the ruinous magic which soaks their land, but these same marks help them survive: horns, balancing tails, leathery hides, and a keen attunement to the otherworld.
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Languages: Common, Prijunan
Darksight As a bonus action, you open your inner eyes to the otherworld. Until the end of your next turn, you can see normally in magical and nonmagical darkness, see invisible creatures and objects, automatically detect visual illusions and succeed on saving throws against them, and perceive the original form of a shape-changer or a creature that is transformed by magic. Once you have used this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.
Superior Balance Your tail and sensitive horns help you stay upright. You have advantage on ability checks and saving throws to prevent yourself from falling or being knocked prone.
Culture The region of hellish Prijuna that you call home grants you resistance to one type of damage, and the ability to cast a cantrip. At 3rd level your culture grants you the ability to cast a 1st-level spell, and at 5th level it grants the ability to cast a 2nd-level spell. You do not need to supply material components for these spells. Once you have cast one of these spells, you cannot do so again until you finish a long rest, unless you expend a spell slot of appropriate level to cast it. Choose whether Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma will be your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Pit-Dweller
Damage Resistance: Necrotic
Cantrip: Thaumaturgy
1st-Level Spell: Command
2nd-Level Spell: Levitate
Desert Wanderer
Damage Resistance: Fire
Cantrip: Control Flames
1st-Level Spell: Hellish Rebuke
2nd-Level Spell: Mirror Image
Outskirts Village
Damage Resistance: Cold
Cantrip: Druidcraft
1st-Level Spell: Hex
2nd-Level Spell: Pass Without Trace
Notable Edit: Reworked Gift of Tongues substantially after thinking about it for a bit.