Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Stardust 09-05-07, 04:00 PM	Hey all, here's a new race for my homebrew world. I've never designed one before, so I don't know if the race is over/underpowered or what. Any advice on balancing it would be great. The players wont be allowed to choose the race to play as, but there will likely be a bunch of NPCs of this race so it needs to be reasonably balanced before fights break out. Also, It'd be good to know about the relative balance between the two sub-races. Thanks. Crusivaan Inhabitants of the far northern reaches of Tythen and into the deserts beyond, the Crusivaan are by and large a peaceful, contemplative race. Their society is a meritocracy whereby the wisest and most accomplished orators hold positions of power and the rest of the society come to them for their guidance and wisdom. Philosophy, debate, oratory and other social and intellectual pursuits are highly prized and widely popular in Crusivaan society. The average lifespan of a Crusivaan is 400-450 years. Between the age of 100 and 200-250, many individuals choose to go on a pilgrimage to distant lands, to learn from and about other cultures. This journey is called a ‘Lavaena’ and is a requirement if one hopes to reach the upper echelons of Crusivaan society. Without having been on such a quest, it is impossible to rise beyond the rank of Vizier in the hierarchical society. Physical Appearance Standing around 5 feet in height, Crusivaan have olive-coloured skin and are often bald. Only around 30% of the population grow shaggy black hair, but those that do often cut it short regardless. Life in the desert has lent the race to develop tough, leathery skin and resiliency against hot temperatures. Cold weather, whilst discomforting, is not harmful to Crusivaan. Often quite slimly built, they can easily be mistaken for shorter than average humans and young Crusivaan, from 15-30 years old are often mistaken for mature humans due to their height and the wizened look of their features. Alignment Crusivaan societies and power centres tend towards a Lawful Neutral alignment, although many less structured groups, who prize moral and metaphysical philosophy over political are True Neutral. Due to the nature of their constant contemplation and debate, however, Crusivaan can be of any alignment and will defend their positions fiercely against those who challenge their beliefs. Religion Many Crusivaan worship, or at least revere, Palistes, the creator of their race and God of philosophy, debate and inquiry. Others pay tribute to Chelonia, Goddess of Paradox, whose portfolio overlaps at the edges with Palistes, governing puzzles, intellectual pursuits and the relation of knowledge and wisdom. Some, who prize knowledge more than debate or understanding may follow Boccob the Uncaring, God of magic and Knowledge. Subraces There are two sub-races of Crusivaan, the contemplative and the inquirer. The contemplatives have trouble with academic pursuit, but are adept at reaching higher states of mind and reaching understanding through spiritual means. Inquirers are predisposed towards diligent study, gathering of knowledge and intellectual pursuits. Both subraces are keen to defend their beliefs and paradigms by way of formal or informal debate at nearly any time. ***EDITED TO REFLECT REVISIONS MADE SINCE ORIGINALLY POSTING*** Crusivaan Contemplatives as Characters: • +2 Wisdom, +2 Charisma. • Medium size. • A Crusivaan Contemplative’s base land speed is 30 feet.. • Racial Skills: Crusivaan Contemplatives have a +2 racial bonus on Spot and Listen checks. • Racial Feats: A Crusivaan Contemplative gains feats according to its class levels. • Special Qualities: Endure Elements (heat only), +1 bonus to will saves, +2 to saves against mind-affecting abilities (stacks with +1 to will saves). • Automatic Languages: Common, Crusivaan. Bonus Languages: Any • Favored Class: Cleric. • Level adjustment +1. Crusivaan Inquirers as Characters: • +2 Intelligence, +2 Charisma. • Medium size. • A Crusivaan Inquirer’s base land speed is 30 feet.. • Racial Skills: Crusivaan Inquirers have a +2 racial bonus on all knowledge skills. • Racial Feats: A Crusivaan Inquirer gains feats according to its class levels. • Special Qualities: Endure Elements (heat only). • Bonus feat at first level. • Automatic Languages: Common, Crusivaan. Bonus Languages: Any • Favored Class: Wizard or Factotum. • Level adjustment +1
Majick 09-06-07, 10:12 AM	Hmm... hard to say whether these would be +1 or +2. I'm leaning more towards +1, powerful but not so much that it makes me think +2. Immune to mind effecting? Now THATS the reason i might consider higher adjustment for those fellas.
Stardust 09-06-07, 11:09 AM	Well, not immune to mind-affecting, just charm and domination. So things like mind blast, fear effects etc. still apply. With regards to balancing the two sub-races against each other, would you say the immunity to charm/domination of the contemplative is vastly more powerful than the bonus feat of the inquirer? Any thoughts on boosting up the intelligence-oriented race to a similar level?
reaper5081 09-06-07, 02:00 PM	With regards to balancing the two sub-races against each other, would you say the immunity to charm/domination of the contemplative is vastly more powerful than the bonus feat of the inquirer? Any thoughts on boosting up the intelligence-oriented race to a similar level? I think the charm/domination immunity is much better than the bonus feat, it's probably more equal to two feats or somesuch:D
Stardust 09-06-07, 02:08 PM	I think the charm/domination immunity is much better than the bonus feat, it's probably more equal to two feats or somesuch:D Noted. Any suggestions for additional abilities for the intelligence-based subrace? I'm thinking, but can't really come up with anything that seems to fit.
reaper5081 09-06-07, 02:14 PM	Maybe add a bonus to wizard caster level since that's their favored class or give them a spell resistance of 5+wizard class levels.
Stardust 09-06-07, 02:17 PM	Would Spell Resistance 5+HD be too much? Or even just Spell Resistance equal to HD? Not sure about spell resistance based solely on levels in one class, it makes the race significantly more powerful for one particular class and leaning towards underpowered for all other classes.
Dark Stryke 09-06-07, 02:42 PM	Well, I took a look at your race, and I think that to compare power levels to determine an appropriate LA, we should use the hob-goblin (LA+1) and the drow (LA+2) as baselines, because they have no racial hit dice or overwhelmingly strange abilities. At LA+1 the hob-gob gets +2 str, +2 dex, no penalties, and I believe darkvision to 60ft. That's it. The drow gets +2 dex, -2 con, +2 int, +2 cha, Spell resistance equal to class levels +5, and darkness and faerie fire 1/day. In addition, the Drow has light blindness and darkvision (possibly improved darkvision, can't remember). As it stands, your race is somewhere in between those two. The Drow compares most favorably with the Crusivaan Inquirer, because, if you remove the +2 dex/-2 con (which balance each other out), they have the same stat bonuses. So, looking at just abilities we have... Darkness 1/day, Faerie fire 1/day vs. a bonus feat. I'd say these balance each other out. Darkvision vs. Endure Elements. Also relatively balanced, as both are situational. Finally, SR 5+level and light blindness vs +2 to all knowledge skills. The drow is the clear winner here, since spell resistance is really, really good (just look how much you have to pay to get an item with SR). However, light blindness hurts the drow a lot. They're blinded in the first round of a light environment, and then dazzled (-1 on attack rolls) for every single round thereafter, if I remember my MM correctly. So, in conclusion, I'd say that your race needs to be toned down a bit, since it's almost as powerful as a race that clearly deserves a +2 level adjustment. I'd probably remove the charm/dom immunity and bonus feat from them, and then call it LA+1, though maybe on the high side of it.
Stardust 09-08-07, 12:53 PM	Hmm... right... It makes sense to tone down the immunities, so I'll go ahead and do that, although I'm not sure I agree about just +4 stats and a couple of bonuses is a 'strong' LA +1, mainly because I was balancing the race against the Planetouched, which two players are using in my new game. Aasimars get +2 wis, +2 CHA, 5 cold, acid and electricity resist, daylight 1/day, darkvision and +2 to spot and listen for that LA +1 So if I aim somewhere between the hobgoblin and aasimar, maybe I'll be in the right ballpark - what about if I was to do this: Contemplative - +2 wis, +2 cha, endure elements, +2 spot/listen, +1 to will saves and an additional +2 against mind-affecting abilities? Inquirer - +2 int, +2 cha, endure elements, +2 to knowledge skills, bonus feat I know the Inquirer hasn't been changed, but the contemplative has been toned down and I do have trouble believing that the Inquirer is overpowered for a +1 race. It's a human with a stat increase and a tiny bonus... Thanks for input so far. I'm still open to suggestions for new features, but which would keep the class around a +1
Stardust 09-16-07, 05:56 AM	Bumped because I could really use some feedback for the adjustments made in the previous post. Is there anybody who strongly feels that +1LA is not enough for these two subraces? - Dark Stryke, your comparison with the Drow has been noted and appreciated, but I'd like to point out that you missed the Drow's +2 to will saves, weapon proficiencies, additional SLA and that their SR is 11+class levels, not 5+class levels. That extra 6 is pretty significant. This is in addition to normal elf traits except certain points. So they also have immunity to sleep, bonuses to spot, listen and search, +2 to saves against enchantments (which stacks with their ordinary +2 to will saves) elven blood traits. Compared to this, I'm not sure that a bonus feat and endure elements (heat only) and +2 to knowledge really compares. YMMV. I hope this doesn't sound like i've already made up my mind. As I've said before, I really do appreciate feedback and if people are covinced my races are too powerful, I'll do something about it. I just felt the Drow comparison was a little off, as was the hobgoblin. Would anybody say this race was balanced against, say, aasimar or tiefling?
reaper5081 09-16-07, 09:30 AM	This race is not near as powerful as the Drow. In my opinion they aren't even as powerful as the Aasimar, the inquisiter in particular.