Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Shedeo 06-18-07, 03:43 AM	I've been reworking a lot of things in DnD for a long while. But a recent series of events have changed my focus from all that to something simple. Something simply rubbed me the wrong way about DnD recently, and I wanted to fix it. So I simplified a lot of things. I currently have no game, so none of this is actually playtested. That being said, these are the races of the setting! Human Medium Humanoid (Human) +2 Constitution -2 Wisdom Humans are tough and capable of continuing long hours of work, but are more susceptible to mind-effecting spells and are less observant than other races. +4 Skills at first level, +1 every level thereafter. Bonus Feat: Humans receive an extra bonus feat at first level. Luck: Humans are excessively lucky. A Human may spend a Luck Roll to reroll a skill check. This must be used before the DM declares the result of the skill check. This ability can only be used once for each skill check, and the Human must take the result of the second roll even if it is once. Humans receive a bonus Luck Roll at first level, and every four levels thereafter. Favored Class: Paladin. Shadowkith Medium Humanoid (Shadowkith) +2 Intelligence -2 Constitution Shadowkith are incredibly intelligent, but their lean bodies are frail from the over exposure of dark magics that is bred into their bloodlines. Lowlight Vision: A shadowkith can see twice as far as a normal human in situations of lowlight, such as torchlight or moonlight. Darkvision: A shadowkith can see in a black and white spectrum out to 60' while in non-magical darkness. Human Blood: Shadowkith are treated as human for the purpose of entering prestige classes, feats, and other things that have Race: Human as a requirement. +2 racial bonus on all saving throws made against spells. +2 Racial bonus on all Spot, Knowledge (Arcana), and Spellcraft checks. Daylight Sensetivity: A Shadowkith takes a -2 penalty on all Attack Rolls, Reflex Saves, Spot and Search checks, and on Armor Class while they have their eyes open and are unblinded in daylight. Favored Class: Warlock Shekkhei* Medium Humanoid (Shekkhei) +2 Wisdom -2 Intelligence Shekkhei are a wise people and well-understand the laws of nature. However, they are slower learning than other races due to their longer life-spans. Inspiring Presence: At first level, a shekkhei choses either melee or ranged. Once chosen, this cannot be changed. Allies adjacent to the Shekkhei gain a +1 sacred bonus on all attack and damage rolls with the selected type. Note: The shekkhei that originates this presence does not gain the benefit of his own Inspiring Presence, but can still gain the benefit from another shekkhei's Inspiring Presence. White Adept: Once per day plus one per five hit dice, a shekkhei with a charisma of 10 or higher may grant itself or any ally within 30 feet Fast Healing equal to the shekkhei's hit dice for 3+charisma modifier rounds. This is a full-round action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. This ability cannot be used to adversely effect undead. Rather, it restores the creatures vitality; any creature this ability is used on (with the exception of Constructs without the [Living] subtype) are healed. +2 racial bonus on one craft skill of the player's choice. The shekkhei also gains a +2 racial bonus on all profession and appraise checks involving the selected craft skill. +2 racial bonus on all saving throws against spells with the [Evil] subtype. Accelerated Mind: All mental ability score bonuses from aging are doubled. Favored Class: Cleric Ishtari Medium Humanoid (Ishtari) +2 Dexterity -2 Strength Ishtari are incredibly coordinated and quick in motion, but their light frames do not support much muscle. Base Land Speed: 40' +2 racial bonus on all Climb, Survival, and Jump checks. +2 racial bonus on all Hide and Move Silently checks while in natural areas. +2 racial bonus on all checks to avoid being disarmed. +2 racial bonus on all Constitution checks made to avoid fatigue. Alien Biology: Foes suffer a -2 penalty when confirming a critical hit on an ishtari. Favored Class: Ranger. Ragga Medium Humanoid (Ragga) +4 Strength, +2 Charisma -2 Dexterity, -2 Wisdom Ragga are strong, but lack any sort of agility. While they are raised in the most dire of social situations, it seems at times that they lack depth or overlook small things. Base Land Speed: 20' Sustainment: Ragga require four times the food and twice as much water as a human each day. -2 racial penalty on all constitution saves to avoid fatigue. +2 Appraise, and Sense Motive. +4 racial bonus on all checks made to resist being bull-rushed, tripped, or overrun. Pack Mule: Ragga are never encumbered by a medium or heavy load, nor are they slowed by medium armor. They are still slowed by heavy armor. Favored Class: Rogue. Gnome** Small Humanoid (Gnome) +2 Intelligence -2 Constitution Gnomes are highly intelligent and light-hearted with great insight. Their diminutive size, however, makes them relatively frail. Small Size: +1 size bonus to Armor Class and Attack Rolls, +4 size bonus on all Hide checks. Base Land Speed: 30' +2 racial bonus on all saves versus poison and disease. +10 racial bonus on all saves versus magical sleep effects. Favored Class: Bard Edit: Okay, here's a "special" race. I am by no means an Elf fanboy. I did not make this race to be like "lolz, evlezz are teh best race1!!" In fact, they're primarily going to be enemies of mid-higher-level campaigns, but storyline wise (well, its not really worked out yet, but the thought is there) they are an ancient and evil race. Very rare indeed. Elf Medium Humanoid (Elf) +4 Strength, +12 Dexterity, +4 Constitution, +4 Intelligence, +2 Charisma Elves are incredibly strong, tough, and smart. They have forceful personalities, but their largest claim to fame in legend of old is their unearthly agility. +4 racial bonus on all Spot, Listen, and Search checks. Lowlight Vision: Elves can see twice as far as a human in situations of low light. Starlight Vision: Elves are blessed with a powerful seeing ability. In situations of total, non-magical darkness, they see as if their environ was bathed in the light of the stars and full moon. This is considered a situation of low light. +4 racial bonus on all saves versus charm and illusion spells. +2 luck bonus on all saving throws. Immune to magical sleep effects, Poison, Fear-effects, Sickness, and Disease. Favored Class: Paladin (of Tyranny ONLY.) Level Adjustment: +4? And that's the races! I wasn't so much looking to see if these races are balanced versus the PHB races, but against one another. If they're balanced for standard DnD (which I don't believe they are) great, if not, well... Like I said. As long as they are balanced against one another, I'm fine with it. Overall, IMO, the ragga's skill bonuses are either redundant or overpowered, the humans' bonus feat ability is a bit much, the shadowkith seem a bit underpowered compared to the rest of them, the ishtari's strength penalty seems pointless thanks to their other bonuses, and the gnome seems just overpowered. The shekkhei I'm not terribly worried about. I can also add fluff and physical descriptions if anybody is interested in that. *The Shekkhei I made a while back. After playing The Burning Crusade, I changed a few things and posted a version of the Draenei race here with similar stats, so if it seems familiar to some folk, that's why. ** It should be noted that Gnomes are virtually unplayable in the setting, and will primarily be NPCs.
Captain_Kobold 06-18-07, 07:02 AM	Why stat adjustments for humans? Humans are generally taken to be the 'baseline' race that other races are compared to in terms of ability scores. If humans are not the base race in your setting, what is? For the bonus feat ability, specify that it cannot be used as a prerequisite for other feats. Also require the training or study period to be conducted with either a character who actually has the feat that the human wishes to emulate, or a significant quantity of lore on the subject (small library size, not book size). The ragga pack mule ability seems a little odd. Perhaps simply treat its encumbrance limits as if it is one size larger than it actually is. Give the skill bonuses to Appraise and Sense motive if their society is highly mercantile. This is partly countered by their wisdom penalty, but the other skills are boosted by the higher Charisma score. Why do shadowkith have both Darkvision and low-light? (Not necessarily a problem, but curious.) Two of their skill bonuses are to trained-only skills. This might reduce their use. The Istari strength penalty is not pointless. It will apply to all melee or ranged damage rolls, climb and jump checks, and encumbrance amonst many other things. Thus it does reduce their power, and so is suitable as a balance to their Dex bonus.
Shedeo 06-18-07, 08:59 AM	Thank you, Captain_Kobold! The reason I wanted to do the stat adjustments for the Humans is because I wanted them to be... Different. Humans in the setting are highly respected and/or feared, but I wanted them to have a Wisdom penalty. In response, I wanted to give them a boost, so I chose Constitution (originally it was Intelligence, but I didn't want to step on the toes of the shadowkith.) Constitution allows them to have more HP (granted, not much) but would make them a bit more... Frightening on the battlefield, I guess. However, the Baseline point is very valid, and its given me something to think about. Also, good call on the bonus feat ability. The ragga's Pack Mule ability was basically supposed to emmulate the dwarves' ability to not be encumbered by loads or in armor. The ragga, however, only recieve it with loads. As for the skill bonuses, that was my first thought on a "fix" for it. They get a Charisma bonus, so the bonuses to the other skills may be... Redundant. The shadowkith get both types of vision for two reasons. Firstly because its a flavor/backstory thing, and secondly, because no other race gets either of them. The reason I say the ishtari Strength penalty is somewhat pointless is because they get bonuses to two Strength-based skills, and to Disarm. Their Strength penalty then prettymuch only effects their carrying capacity and their damage.
Maraxus 06-18-07, 09:07 AM	Why stat adjustments for humans? Humans are generally taken to be the 'baseline' race that other races are compared to in terms of ability scores. If humans are not the base race in your setting, what is? For each ability score of it's own: The average humanoid. Any problem with that? Seriously "are generally taken to be" is a really bad argument. Probably this comes from a time long, long ago, where there were no diffrent playable races, only humans, or something. But with a multi-raced high fantasy setting, this should definitly be revised.
Shedeo 06-20-07, 11:17 PM	And a Bump! :bump: Working on some flavor stuff for the races to post up as well.
Nebo 06-21-07, 06:24 AM	How long does the Shekkhei fast healing last for? Ragga are obviously the melee race in your setting, but the 20ft base land speed really hurts them in that regard. You might not have wanted to copy the PHB Dwarf by giving them no movement loss with armour, but you probably should give them that. Fighters moving at 15' and barbarians moving at 25' will get annoying for your players. Especially since that Dex penalty almost precludes wearing light armour. Other than that, these races look really well balanced and well thought out, well done.
Shedeo 06-21-07, 05:56 PM	The Shekkhei's Fast Healing lasts for 3+Cha mod rounds. You are correct about the Ragga's speed. Originally, I didn't really want to give them the bonus to strength, nor the ability to wear heavy armor without encumberance. However, sometimes when I'm working on a project with no players (a saddly common occurence for me) I often forget about them. o_o;; Taking that into consideration, I may give them the ability to move at their normal speed in heavy armor... The Ragga, however, were just supposed to be bad at iconic things. Like a stealthy, agile Rogue (which is, coincedently, their favored class) and the mobile tank fighter. I guess the main reason was because I was trying to deter people away from high-strength beaters. Not that they would be uncommon or anything, but I just didn't want to custom-fit a race to that specific type of combatant.
Shedeo 06-24-07, 12:08 AM	There we go. I changed the Ragga's Pack Mule ability so that it allowed them to ignore the movement penalty for medium armor, but not for heavy armor. It'll stay at this for the moment, but is still subject to change as I weigh the possibilities for it. I also still feel that the Shadowkith are a bit underpowered when compared to the rest of the races, so I would like to hear some suggestions/critiques on them as well.
dknight100 06-24-07, 06:23 PM	the ragga still seem shafted - i cant recall light armour with a movement penalty.
Shedeo 06-25-07, 12:12 AM	No light armors have a movement penalty. I meant to say medium armors. Its medium in their racial descriptions, but I guess that I wrote it wrong. o_O Will fix it in a moment. One thing that I'm contemplating giving to the shadowkith is the ability to see in any sort of darkness, natural or otherwise. I think that'd sufficiently bump their power up, but I can't be too certain.
Shedeo 06-25-07, 07:02 PM	Okay, added the villainous, evil race to the section, just below Gnome. Elves it is! Subject to change. I was shooting for around LA +4 with them. Critiques?
Shedeo 07-15-07, 04:02 AM	Bada-bing, bada-:bump:
Shedeo 07-23-07, 11:18 PM	And with one more bump, I shall save the world! Well, can't say I didn't try. I still need some help with the Shadowkith. I feel they're just plain weak and don't really bring any one particularly important ability to the game at all. Any suggestions? Also, I'd like to say that Elves are balanced at LA +4, but I'm still not sure.
Lawlicron 07-24-07, 12:03 AM	I think all the races are well done. Now its time for my to be critical about them. They are all niched into a specific roll. If you are going to roll a rogue you better use Ishtari. If our a cleric your crazy not to be a Shekkei. The Ragga are generally unbalanced, their stat bonuses and penalties don't go at all with their favored class. But it makes them incredible melee types. They have too many skill bonuses too. The Ragga having to eat and drink so much is not a penalty. If you always keep strict track of food and water it will be horrible to play one, almost enough to keep everyone away. If you don't, no one will even notice this. Adding something like this as a drawback is a bad idea. Its also very difficult to get around at low-levels. The Ragga is going to want to go back to town every day or two, while the rest of the party is getting annoyed. This penalty vanishes at higher levels with bags of holding and flasks of endless water.
Shedeo 07-24-07, 02:46 AM	This is the kind of criticism that I've been looking for. Ishtari... Hmm. Not sure exactly what to do about them, but likely i can... I dunno. o_o Okay, the Ragga. From what I can see, the reason why they are so... Odd is because they don't fill any particular niche, even when compared with the original PHB races. Shadowkith are speciallized, but maybe that's their strength. Humans, well, eh. I need to redo that feat of theirs. Shekkhei, well, I'm not sure. I like them the way they are, but at the same time I'd much rather things be balanced. Same goes for the Ishtari. That said, I plan on adding an additional race, but they're going to be another race not unlike the gnome. There, a definite force, but not really available without serious contemplation on my part.
Lawlicron 07-24-07, 10:32 AM	Okay, the Ragga. From what I can see, the reason why they are so... Odd is because they don't fill any particular niche, even when compared with the original PHB races. Thats pretty funny, because you must not be able to see much then. They have +4 Str, -4 Dex, -2 Wis, +2 Cha. They can pretty much only be fighters and barbarians who don't want to suck at rolling their intimidate. They would also make great paladins. Thats about it. Any other choice is not using the race to its fullest advantage and it would probably be better to roll something else, because if these races are all available in the same game, only the race best suited to its ability adjustments is going to be chosen for a specific roll. And as for the other races, I'm not complaining about them individually. I'm complaining about them as a whole. They are each only really good in a few class options, so if you pick a certain class you have to pick a specific race with a bonus to that classes needed stat and a negative to that classes dump stat. And you need to tone down the Shekkei still. The fast healing at later levels along with them always being clerics is going to be a pain. Because they will be able to tank around even more so than a cleric does now. Edit: I could also see playing a Ragga as a bard going into War Singer. Would be harder at lower levels but once you get into War Singer things would get better. But thats only because I love bards.
skydin 07-25-07, 04:53 AM	first of all, on the point one person had with the humans not having ability things making them a base-line race, why do you need one? whats the point, i mean i could understand having that as the basic outline then adding/subtracting to make the races, without making it a race itself, but having 1 race that doesnt do anything special is LAME. as for the shadowkith, give them a darkish 0 level spell like ability 1 or 2/day. makes sense with their flavor, and will bring them up with the others.
Captain_Kobold 07-25-07, 08:10 AM	first of all, on the point one person had with the humans not having ability things making them a base-line race, why do you need one? whats the point, i mean i could understand having that as the basic outline then adding/subtracting to make the races, without making it a race itself, but having 1 race that doesnt do anything special is LAME. Hmmm. OK. Maybe I need to explain. Humans in the standard setting have no ability adjustmenst because they are the standard by which other races are judged: Dwarves are tougher, but less charismatic than humans. Elves are more dextrous but frailer than humans. This is partly due to the ability numbers set up so that the average human would have a score of 10 or 11 in each stat. In this setting, humans have +2 Con, -2 Wisdom. This means that they are significantly tougher, but less disciplined and perceptive than a 'standard' human. I was asking if there is another race in the setting that sets the norm by which they are judged, or whether all humans in the setting vary so much from what we would consider 'normal'. No doubt having a race that doesn't do anything special might be considered "lame", but standard humans already have their special abilities in their skill points, feat, and versatility. If Shedeo wanted to improve humans whilst keeping this versatility, he could perhaps have given them +2 to any ability score, -2 to any ability score. These adjustments may be applied to the same ability. They may not raise a score above 18, or reduce it below 6. As it is, he chose to make human race in his setting somewhat different from what we consider human. Its his setting and his perogative. I was just checking that that was what his intentions were.
Shedeo 07-27-07, 01:56 AM	Well, I understand your point, and it is a good one. Its just that for this setting, I wanted to do something different with humans. They're supposed to be the big scarily militant race of the setting, the one that all others fear because of their might and power. Apart from that, I like them being +2 Con / -2 Wis, I think it suits. They can endure lots of stuff, but are weaker to mind-effecting spells. I think that I could create a weak darkness-esque ability for them, but I'm not sure. That I'd need help with, I don't really know any weak level 0/1 darkness-based spells off the top of my head.
skydin 07-27-07, 02:59 AM	maybe give them unseen servant (brd/sorc/wiz 1) once or twice a day, seeing as they have a penalty to constitution, you could see them having an ability that might save them from a trap or carry things for them.
Shedeo 07-27-07, 04:05 AM	Unseen Servant would be cool. Alternatively, what I'm thinking is allowing them to see out to 1/2 their darvision in areas of magical darkness. The next thing I have to do is get some race-specific feats in here. Oh, something I've ommitted until now is that the Favored Classes are if used in a standard DnD game. I'm actually using my own classes, which I plan on creating a thread for here fairly soon. I think that after this, the Shekkhe's favored class being Priest (rather than cleric) will make things a bit more bearable with them.
Lawlicron 07-28-07, 03:37 PM	Lowlight Vision: Elves can see twice as far as a human in situations of low light. Starlight Vision: Elves are blessed with a powerful seeing ability. In situations of total, non-magical darkness, they see as if their environ was bathed in the light of the stars and full moon. This is considered a situation of low light. This is redundant, give them darkvision. I'm still waiting on a response to my response on the Ragga, they are still unbalanced.
Shedeo 07-31-07, 03:24 AM	This is redundant, give them darkvision. I'm still waiting on a response to my response on the Ragga, they are still unbalanced. The only reason I was giving them Starlight Vision over Darkvision is because Starlight allows them to see in the dark out to their Lowlight Vision distance, rather than limited to 60' or 120' etc. Ragga, well, here's my idea. They get a bonus to Cha, so I remove their skill bonuses to cha-based skills. I'm thinking about giving them +1 or +2 bonus on caster level with spells with the (Fire) subtype, and Fire Resist 5. Also, since they're still slowed in heavy armor, maybe a greater bonus vs bullrush and overrun? Maybe not having that at all, I dunno. The Ragga seem like a mishmash. I can honestly say they're the only one that I don't like.
seolfur 07-31-07, 09:19 AM	You need to make a rule for the number of Inspiring Presence's a creature can be affected by at the same time.
Shedeo 08-01-07, 02:27 AM	You need to make a rule for the number of Inspiring Presence's a creature can be affected by at the same time. Its still a named bonus; same bonus-types don't stack. (Cept for dodge, and getting a dodge bonus to attack and damage would be incredibly silly.)