Bunch of 4ed player races (monster madness)

[Threeshades]

Looking at the player-race stats in the 4e Monster Manual I decided they didnt stat out every monster that would have player race potential. So I decided to make some of this stuff myself.

I tried to keep as close to the monster entries as possible, I looked closely at what are the best ability scores in most types of a monster, what powers they all have in common and to which skills they all have bonuses. Also I tried to reconstruct where they got their AC and Defense bonuses and if they maybe have more than a normal creature of their level. Based on this I gave them Ability bonuses, racial powers, skill and Defense bonuses.
I hope these turned out halfway balanced, but i'm not expecting them to be, that's why im posting them here, so you can help me a bit.

Alright let's go:

BANSHRAE

Ability Scores: +2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma
Size: Medium
Speed: 8 squares
Vision: Low-Light

Languages: Telepathy (20)
Banshrae weapon proficiency: Blow gun
Illiteracy: A Banshrae can neither write nor read. Taking the linguist feat, they learn both.
Slam: You can use Slam as an at-will power.

{table=head]Slam Banshrae racial power
You strike your enemy with an unusually powerful strike of your fists.
At-will - Martial / Standard Action -- Melee / Attack: Str vs. AC
Attack deals 1d8+STR modifier damage.[/table]


KUO-TOA

Ability Scores: +2 Constitution, +2 Dexterity
Size: Medium
Speed: 6 squares, swim 6 squares
Vision: Darkvision

Languages: Deep speech
Slick Maneuver: You can use Slick maneuver as an at-will power.

{table=head]Slick Maneuver Kuo-Toa racial power
You easily move around your enemy to strike him from the other side.
At will - / Move action -- Personal
If you're adjacent to an enemy, you shift to another square adjacent to that enemy.[/table]


LIZARDFOLK, GREENSCALE

Ability Scores: +2 Strength, +2 Wisdom
Size: Medium
Speed: 6 squares (swamp walk)
Vision: Normal

Languages: Draconic
Skill Bonuses: +2 Athletics, +2 Nature
Defense Bonuses: +2 AC


MIND FLAYER

Ability Scores: +2 Intelligence, +2 Charisma
Size: Medium
Speed: 7 squares
Vision: Normal

Languages: Telepathy (10), Deep speech
Tentacles: +2 on attack rolls when trying to grab an enemy
Bore into Brain: You can use Bore into Brain as an encounter power.

{table=head]Bore into Brain Mind Flayer racial Power
Encounter - Martial / Standard-action -- Melee / Target: One grabbed enemy / Attack: Int vs Fortitude
You sink your tentacles into your victim's brain to devour it.
Attack deals 1d6+2 damage to grabbed enemy, the target is dazed. If you reduce the targets hit points to 0, you devour its brain killing it instantly.
Increase damage to 2d6+4 at 11th; and to 3d6+6 at 21st level.[/table]


SAHUAGIN

Ability Scores: +2 Strength, +2 Dexterity
Size: Medium
Speed: 6 squares, swim 6 squares
Vision: Low-light

Languages: Abyssal, Common
Sahuagin weapon proficiency: Trident.
Blood Frenzy: You gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls and a +2 bonus to damage rolls against a bloodied enemy. Increase this bonus to +2 to attack rolls and +4 to damage rolls at 11th and +3 to attack rolls and +6 to damage rolls at 21st level.


TROGLODYTE

Ability Scores: +2 Strength, +2 Constitution
Size: Medium
Speed: 5 squares
Vision: Darkvision

Languages: Draconic
Skill Bonuses: +2 Endurance
Defense Bonuses: +2 Fortitude
Bite: You can use Bite as an at-will power.

{table=head]Bite Troglodyte racial power
In addition to your weapon attacks you can try to bite an enemy
At-will - Martial / minor action -- Melee / Attack: Str vs. AC
Attack deals 1d4+STR-modifier damage.[/table]


So that's it, any suggestions? Is something too powerful, too weak, or too useless together with the other qualities of the race?

[jagadaishio]

For the Mind Flayer's Bore into Brain power, it seems like the damage should be, rather than 1d6+2, 1d6+Int Modifier damage. Other than that, this looks good.

[Threeshades]

I will change that about the flayer, but then only the dice increase overr the levels. So you think they look actually balanced and make sense?

[erikun]

I hope you don't mind a new poster making recommendations, but this looke pretty neat. :)

BANSHRAE

Looks pretty good, although 8 movement and telepathy (which I assumes works reguardless of language) seem rather powerful. I would make them illiterate, both the balance it out and because of their origin - most creatures in Feywild probably don't do much reading. The linguist feat would allow them to read as normal.

I would also get rid of the slam attack - it's mostly redundant with a weapon, and the Banshrae looks to have quite a few pluses already.

KUO-TOA

Why the Wisdom bonus? Most of the Kuo-Toa in the MM don't have very good Wis; Dex seems a more logical alternative, although that does make them similar to Gnolls and Kobolds.

I would suggest giving them Common as an additional language. While the RP potential is there, it is rather difficult to communicate with the party if you don't share a language with them.

Also, I recommend removing the Reflex bonus. The swim speed, darkvision, and Slick Maneuver - especially as an At-Will - makes the Kuo-Toa very nice, and I don't think they'd need extra Reflex on top of it.

LIZARDFOLK, GREENSCALE

Lizardfolk look nice, but I've always felt that they are a more shamanistic race. A +2 Str, +2 Wis could work better, along with seperating them from the Minotaur and Warforged. I didn't really find the Lizardfolk in the MM to be too perceptive, at least not more than usual - perhaps +2 Athletics, +2 Nature? Just a thought.

Also, I am again recommending any PC character to start with Common. After all, they're already extraordinary; being able to speak the common tongue shouldn't be too strange.

MIND FLAYER

Nice, I've always liked Mind Flayers. I don't much care for Tentacles/Bore into Brain, mainly because PC's probably wouldn't use it that much in combat. Mind Blast just looks like a lot more fun attack to be throwing around, too.

{table=head]Mind Blast - Mind Flayer racial Power
Encounter - Psychic
Standard action - Close Blast 3
Targets: All creatures in area, mind flaysers and their thralls are immune
Attack: Cha vs. Will
Hit: 1d8 + Cha pyschic damage, and the target is dazed (save ends).
Miss: Half damage, and the target is not dazed.
Increase damage to 2d8 + Cha at 11th; and to 3d8 + Cha at 21st level.[/table]

SAHUAGIN

Sahuagin have Strength? Wow, look at that.

Other than that, no real comments about them. Blood Frenzy seems like it would do crazy damage at epic tier, though...

TROGLODYTE

Looks pretty good; I can see ranger Trogs slashing twice and then biting their enemies. :p

Hope that helps!

[Threeshades]

I hope you don't mind a new poster making recommendations, but this looke pretty neat. :)

BANSHRAE

Looks pretty good, although 8 movement and telepathy (which I assumes works reguardless of language) seem rather powerful. I would make them illiterate, both the balance it out and because of their origin - most creatures in Feywild probably don't do much reading. The linguist feat would allow them to read as normal.

I would also get rid of the slam attack - it's mostly redundant with a weapon, and the Banshrae looks to have quite a few pluses already.

KUO-TOA

Why the Wisdom bonus? Most of the Kuo-Toa in the MM don't have very good Wis; Dex seems a more logical alternative, although that does make them similar to Gnolls and Kobolds.

I would suggest giving them Common as an additional language. While the RP potential is there, it is rather difficult to communicate with the party if you don't share a language with them.

Also, I recommend removing the Reflex bonus. The swim speed, darkvision, and Slick Maneuver - especially as an At-Will - makes the Kuo-Toa very nice, and I don't think they'd need extra Reflex on top of it.

LIZARDFOLK, GREENSCALE

Lizardfolk look nice, but I've always felt that they are a more shamanistic race. A +2 Str, +2 Wis could work better, along with seperating them from the Minotaur and Warforged. I didn't really find the Lizardfolk in the MM to be too perceptive, at least not more than usual - perhaps +2 Athletics, +2 Nature? Just a thought.

Also, I am again recommending any PC character to start with Common. After all, they're already extraordinary; being able to speak the common tongue shouldn't be too strange.

MIND FLAYER

Nice, I've always liked Mind Flayers. I don't much care for Tentacles/Bore into Brain, mainly because PC's probably wouldn't use it that much in combat. Mind Blast just looks like a lot more fun attack to be throwing around, too.

{table=head]Mind Blast - Mind Flayer racial Power
Encounter - Psychic
Standard action - Close Blast 3
Targets: All creatures in area, mind flaysers and their thralls are immune
Attack: Cha vs. Will
Hit: 1d8 + Cha pyschic damage, and the target is dazed (save ends).
Miss: Half damage, and the target is not dazed.
Increase damage to 2d8 + Cha at 11th; and to 3d8 + Cha at 21st level.[/table]

SAHUAGIN

Sahuagin have Strength? Wow, look at that.

Other than that, no real comments about them. Blood Frenzy seems like it would do crazy damage at epic tier, though...

TROGLODYTE

Looks pretty good; I can see ranger Trogs slashing twice and then biting their enemies. :p

Hope that helps!

Kuo-Toa and Lizard folk:
I agree, I wasnt looking at the entries in the monster manual when thinking of ku toa abilities. I just rememberd them having quite good wisdom. But I changed it now, because they are actually pretty unwise.

Banshrae:
Yes illiteracy is a good idea. But about removing the slam attack, I dont know yet.

Mind Flayers:
I'm not convinced yetto take the bore into brain power away, after all what is a mind flayer, who cant flay minds?

Sahuagin:
Look at them little bastards: 16, 16, 20 and 22 are their strength scores.

And dont forget, at epic tier creatures also have crazy amounts of HP

[jagadaishio]

There may already be a Mind Blast style psychic power coming up in one of the future Player's Handbooks. We can't be certain of that, but we can probably be pretty certain that you won't find brain-eating as a non-racial power. That should be kept in mind.

[kwanzaabot]

What, no stench for the Troglodytes?

LOVE the Mind Flayers. Incidentally, I feel that the 4th edition method of handling brain extraction could potentially work nicely in 3.5 for allowing Mind Flayer PC's.

[Baron Corm]

For Bore Into Brain, I don't see why you would ever use it. The power's effect is dealing low damage, and instantly killing something if you reduce its hit points to 0. Doesn't that happen anyway?

Edit: Oh... it dazes too. Not sure what effect that has in 4e. But still, you have to have first grabbed the creature. Seems kind of weak. I think it should give some temporary hit points for eating the brain or something, because eating the brain and benefiting from it is what makes the whole deal cool.

[Threeshades]

yes that might make it more interesting.