Inkling (Splatoon) Player Race (PEACH)

[Maroy]

It started out as a joke, but I'm curious about how my Inkling homebrew stacks up as an actual playable race. Is it over/underpowered? Too gimmicky? Not gimmicky enough? How would a DM handle this? ^{Are there enough squid puns?}

Google Doc Link

Feedback is always appreciated!

[Ninja_Prawn]

I'm getting an inkling that this is going to be fun to PEACH!

(sorry)

Live Reaction:
"However, they begin learning how to assume a diminutive humanoid form shortly after birth, and by the age of 14, an Inkling can shift between its squid and kid forms at will."
Oh my god, it's the SLS (sentient land squid) from NaNoWriMo 2013! Run for the hills!

"Inklings’ ability to generate ink and use it to mark territory form the backbone of their warrior society. Families of Inklings, organized into splatoons of four each, fight with their sworn anemones, the Octarians"
Okay, that's pushing it. When the ratio of puns to other words reaches this point, you're in danger of causing spontaneous human combustion.

"any items that can physically fit within your squid form are safely stowed inside your body, but may be ruined by the ink."
Uh... guys? I think the colours might have run on my clothes (fine)...

"at the start of your turn, you can choose to generate 10 gallons of ink"
Balance: this needs to cost an action, and should probably be limited to Con mod (min 1) uses per long rest.
Evaporating after 1 minute is good; 10 imperial gallons is 1,600 imperial fluid ounces (...but 10 US gallons is only 1,280 US fluid ounces? What the Björk? D&D seriously needs to go metric) and 1 (one) ounce of ink costs 10gp. So without the evaporation clause, you would be able to generate 16,000gp every 6 seconds, indefinitely.

"any ranged weapon attack when using your own ink as ammunition"
What? That doesn't make any sense. There aren't any launchers that can fire ink. I'd just cut this; there's already one ink-based attack in there.

On to the balance!
Musicus points:

3    ASI
-1   Small
-0.5 Land speed
-1   Light armour only
2    Swim speed
0.5  Ink attack
0.5  Water stealth
0.5  Water jet dash
0.5  Ink splatter
0    Languages

4.5  TOTAL

I reckon that's okay, balance-wise, assuming you put some limits on the ink creation and change ink spatter into something useful.

Edit: yeah, the new version of Ink Spatter seems ok. Hard to assign a points value, but it's obviously not overpowered. I'll go with 0.5. Idea: what about subraces for each colour? You could break out the +1 Dex, water jet dash (give other colours a different feature of equal power) and maybe the ink spatter (or just the damage type of it) into subraces pretty easily.

[Maroy]

Excellent, thank you!

Evidently I had a bit too much fun with this one. I've taken your advice on the ink generation and made it an action with a Con mod (min 1) limit per long rest. I've also replaced Ink Splatter with an action that allows you to coat your weapon in ink, which causes your next attack to deal an additional 1d4 acid damage (non-scaling) if it hits.

Edit: Awesome. I hadn't considered subraces since the colors don't have any mechanical effect in the source material, but that could prove to be interesting. I'll see what I can cook up!

[Maroy]

I have added four subraces, moved Ink Splatter and Ink-coming to subrace features, and increased Ink Splatter's damage to 1d6. PEACH

[Ninja_Prawn]

I have added four subraces, moved Ink Splatter and Ink-coming to subrace features, and increased Ink Splatter's damage to 1d6. PEACH

I think that looks good.

Now we need a Maroy Eel race to complement the Inklings! Get it? Like moray eel?

[Maroy]

Ahahaha, nice!

[JNAProductions]

Welp, I officially hate this thread. Puns... THEY BURN!

Looks pretty balanced, though. So props for that. Just... Puns... I hate them...

[DracoKnight]

Welp, I officially hate this thread. Puns... THEY BURN!

Looks pretty balanced, though. So props for that. Just... Puns... I hate them...

JNAProductions, I have some advice for you, regarding puns :)

"Let it go! Let it Go!"

[GandalfTheWhite]

This looks like it would be incredibly fun to play! Props to you Maroy for capturing such a fun concept!!! :D

Are you planning on making a class to capture the gameplay of Splatoon?

[Maroy]

Thanks! I'm working on a class and background for the Turf Warrior as we speak, in fact!

[GandalfTheWhite]

Thanks! I'm working on a class and background for the Turf Warrior as we speak, in fact!

Post it when it's done! I want to run a team PvP one shot with these, now that I know you're working on the class! :D

[GandalfTheWhite]

This is still probably my favorite homebrew race on the forum...and I'm still waiting on pins and needles for the class

[GandalfTheWhite]

I ran a one shot with the inkling this morning. We had 10 players, 5 on each team. Everyone was 5th level and the race seemed pretty balanced. :D

I had people play the Warlock class (reflavored EB being their ink) and it worked rather well. (green EB = acid, orange = fire, blue = lightning, etc.)

Would love to see the rest of it fleshed out! :D