[3.5] Homebrewed LA+0 Monstrous Races

[Antariuk]

Hi!
I am preparing a monstrous game, where the players are monsters instead of "civilized" races. My problem is of course the Level Adjustment that is attached to most monstrous races, because the players start at 1st level. I don't own Savage Species or any 3rd party supplements that possibly deals with this topic, so after fiddling with ideas for savage progressions (from WotC 3.5 Archives), I decided to homebrew LA+0 variants to get rid of any extra tracking.

My only guideline was to not grant multiple positive/negative ability adjustments and to aim for some bonuses like with the core rules dwarves or halflings. What do you think, are they ok? Any severe strength or weakness I overlooked?


Hobgoblins

* +2 Dexterity, -2 Charisma
* A hobgoblin’s base land speed is 30 feet.
* Darkvision out to 60 feet.
* Strong Health: Hobgoblins get a +4 racial bonus on saving throws against diseases and poisons, except magical ones.
* Racial Skills: Hobgoblins habe a +2 racial bonus on Move Silently checks.
* Automatic Languages: Common, Goblin.

Note: I think they scream ROGUE! too much by now, but I kind of like that. Any ideas on other goblinoid abilites?



Canidas

* Dexterity +2, Intelligence -2.
* Small size. +1 bonus to Armor Class, +1 bonus on attack rolls, +4 bonus on Hide checks, -4 penalty on grapple checks, lifting and carrying limits ¾ those of Medium characters.
* A canida's base land speed is 20 feet.
* Low-light vision.
* Racial Skills: Canidas have a +2 racial bonus on Jump, Spot, and Survival checks.
* +1 racial bonus on attack rolls against goblinoids.
* +1 racial bonus on Will saves.
* Automatic Languages: Gnoll.

Note: This is the only pure homebrewed race in my game, Canida is only a working title at the moment, basically they are small gnolls. My campaign world doesn't know halflings and I haven't finished working on kobolds by now, so there was a need for a small race. The Will save bonus is derived from the gnoll's bonus against enchantment, but aside from this not special abilites so far.



Gnolls

* Strength +2, Charisma -2.
* Size Medium.
* A gnoll’s base land speed is 30 feet.
* Darkvision out to 60 feet.
* Racial Skills: Gnolls have a +2 racial bonus on Intimidate, Listen, and Survival checks.
* Racial Feat: Gnolls receive Endurance as bonus feat.
* +1 natural armor bonus.
* +2 racial bonus on saving throws against enchantments.
* Automatic Languages: Gnoll.

Note: I gave them Endurance because in my campaign world many gnoll tribes wander the deserts as nomads, so this feat fits the theme well. There will be a substitution levels for rangers to avoid loosing a feat.



Centaurs

* +2 Strength, -2 Intelligence.
* Medium size.
* A centaur’s base land speed is 40 feet.
* Low-light vision.
* Undersized Armor and Weapons: Although a centaur is medium size, its upper torso is the same size as that of a small humanoid. As a result, they wear armor and wield weapons as if they were one size category smaller than their actual size (small for most centaurs).
* Stability: A centaur gains a +4 bonus on ability checks made to resist being bull rushed or tripped when standing on the ground (but not when climbing, flying, riding, or otherwise not standing firmly on the ground).
* Surefooted: Centaurs get a +2 bonus on Balance checks. This bonus does not apply if a centaur moves on artificial objects, e.g. a rope.
* Lowlander: Centaurs cannot climb due to their anatomy and will automatically fail all Climb checks.
* Racial Skills: Centaurs have a +2 racial bonus to Listen, Spot, and Survival.
* +1 natural armor bonus.
* Automatic Languages: Araukon.

Note: I ripped features from the PF centaur and the dwarf for this one. I am thinking of making my centaurs not only fail Climb checks, but also Tumble checks automatically (because of their anatomy). Too much?

[Eloel]

10ft 'space' means the Centaur is large. You listed it as medium creature. Is there another homebrewing besides the races going on?

[Antariuk]

10ft 'space' means the Centaur is large. You listed it as medium creature. Is there another homebrewing besides the races going on?

Oops, that should be there, thanks for spotting. Its left from the original centaur entry, and because I am really messy with my documents it seems I forgot to delete it in this copy.

[Surgo]

edit: Nevermind, the answer is in the italics -- your campaign world doesn't have halflings.

[Anonymouswizard]

These look good. Do you have any ideas for a +0LA psionic monster race? I would love to see it.

By the way, why would you want to let people play a real world nation? Canada is not evil!!!!

NOTE: the above statement about Canada is a guess. I have never been there.