Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Hermos_Skypilot 12-17-07, 09:40 PM	Here is a race that i came up with to use in my new campaign. I am aiming for no level adjustment, but I'm new to race building so advice would be much appreciated. Pardon the large amount of abilities and special traits. I would like some help trimming them down if necessary. Vledra Vledra are a sort of mix between elves and fey. They are a magical race that loves action and adventure. Vledra are attune to water and build their communities around or near large bodies of water. They are natural talkers and often get into trouble. When this occurs, they tend to use magic or bluff their way out. Abilities: +2 Dex, +2 Cha, -2 Str, -2 Con, Vledra are quite nimble and persuasive, but they are physically frail and tend to get caught up in themselves Small Size Special Qualities: Low-light vision Base land speed 30 ft. - Vledra are small but quick Fey bloodline: Vledra gain the Fey heritage feat as a bonus feat at first level Enchanter: The enchantment spells of a vledra are hard to resist. Add 1 to the DC of all enchantment spells cast by a vledra. Persuasive: Diplomacy becomes a class skill for all vledra and they get a +2 on diplomacy checks. Also, they get a +1 on intimidate checks and do not suffer from the usual intimidate penalty from being a small sized creature. They also get a +2 on bluff checks, as they are skilled at talking their way out of trouble. (Charming: Whenever a vledra succesfully affects a creature with an enchantment spell or spell-like ability, they recover an amount of hit points equal to half of the targets hit dice (rounded up). The target loses this amount. ADAPT TO A RACIAL FEAT?) Hold breath: The vledra are in-tune with water, and recieve the hold breathe feature as the lizardfolk ability of the same name. They also have a +2 on swim checks. Water reliance: Vledra can survive on the normal amount of water /day as a small sized creature, however, if they do not drink an amount equal to the normal amount of a medium sized creature each day, they become fatigued until they drink enough water to satisfy this amount. Languages: Vledra speak common, elven, and sylvan. Bonus languages: Draconic, Aquan, Gnome, Orc, Terran, and Abyssal. Favored Class: Sorceror I am willing to get rid of or change most of these traits, however i do want to keep the water-bound / enchantment type caster feel of the race. I dont want my race to have so much going on that players will have to check their abilities every 5 minutes. I also realize that they are a fairly specialized race. I'm new to the forum so take it easy on me, and thanks for the help. :) Special thanks to Devigod for the suggestions.
Hermos_Skypilot 12-20-07, 07:10 PM	If there are any people that now a thing or too about race balancing reading this I'd appreciate the help. I can post backround information and all that if anybody wants it too.
Devigod 12-20-07, 09:18 PM	Okay, I would first suggest that you take out the Wis penalty, Str is better than Cha by a lot, and Con is slightly better than Dex as it is, so you can make that change if you want, unless you feel that a Wisdom penalty is in order. Second, Charming seems like an interesting ability, but it seems a little vampiric. I would take it out, I can tell that you want them to be charming specialists, but sometimes Enchanter and Fey Bloodline gives players enough of a start on their way to DR and spell like abilities for that. Just my opinion though. Third, I'd make the +2 to diplomacy either a +4 or I'd give them an additional +2 to bluff, depending on if you want them to be friendly, or friendly and mischevious. Actually, you should give them bluff bonuses as it says they frequently get into trouble and bluff their way out of it. I would say that Light Swimmer is a little unneccessary too, you should consider giving them hold breath. If you have the Monster Manual, you can find it under Lizardfolk. Keep the +2 bonus to swimming though. Make a note that Sorceror is a favored class. You are looking at sorceror, right? Other than that it looks good. It's always nice to see people making creative homebrews, I like it. Good job Hermos_Skypilot, you get a :cookie:! I would enjoy the background information too. Can I post this into my sig under cool things other people have done?
Hermos_Skypilot 12-20-07, 10:09 PM	Thanks for the reply. By all means put it in your sig. I'm a little busy tonight so i wont get the background stuff up yet, but i'll try and get it up tomorrow. I will change the ability scores like you said, and thanks for the hold breathe idea. I was stuggling for ideas with the whole swimming thing, but that will fit nicely. The bluff bonus fits better too, so ill do that. Yes, sorceror is favored class, I just forgot to put that in there. I'm also not sure what to do with the enchanter ability. I might adapt it into a racial feat for the darker characters. I'm thinking of making warlocks fairly common among Vledra and I'm going to create a warlock/sorceror/eldritch theurge character in a new campaign that i'm starting soon. I'm thinking of including the Demon Lords from Fiendish Codex into Vledra society somehow. Maybe the warlocks can be like prophets for the Vledra, and have prophicies based off of the demon lords. Once again, thanks for the input and the cookie. :P
Hermos_Skypilot 12-23-07, 10:20 PM	Fluff The Vledra are a magical, mischievous race that live in a land shared with the elves. They are always intune with nature and love the wilderness, especially around bodies of water. They have a knack for enchantments and getting into trouble, but are usually adept at talking their way out of most situations. Religion: Most Vledra worship Feyloresque, the goddess of serenity, healing magic, and rebirth. Feyloresque is portrayed as a larger Vledra, an elven maiden (usually by the elves that worship her), or as a large tree that is said to have grown the world itself .She is known as The Vledra Mother, Spirit Tree, The Green-Teared Maiden, or Enchantress of the Silver Hand. It is said that long ago, the land shared by the elves and fey creatures was ravaged and burned by followers of the demon lords. All plant-life was destroyed, and the few surviving fey were scarred and scorched horrendously. The only surviving plant was the great spirit tree, and even the flowers petals on it began to wither and die. Feyloresque could not bear to see her beautiful land to be destroyed, and all her friends die, so she cried. Green tears flowed from her eyes, and all of the survivors cried as well. The spirit tree even had tears seeping from its leaves, and the land was doused with green rain. The flames were doused, and the land was flooded away to leave behind lakes and rivers that stretched across the continent. All was reborn, and the scarred fey crawled into the depths of the new lakes. The water soothed their pain, and what came out of the lakes were the Vledra. While all was well and the intruders to Feyloresque's land were expelled, Feyloresque was not alloyed to remain as she was. The other gods said that for changing the form of the natural living things, she herself must give up her old self. So she fused with the spirit tree, and it blossomed with new flowers. These flowers are Feyloresque's main symbol. Today, the Vledra worship Feyloresque and other gods that embody the peace of nature. The pain that the demon lords brought to the Vledra was not forgotten, and prophets, a core element of all Vledra villages, include the demon lords and their symbols in their prophecies. Most are looked at as ill omens, however a few signs of the demon lords symbols are looked upon as signs of prosperity. (Usually ones that include the weakening of a demon lords domain. Even if they are mainly baseless observations, they are taken very serioulsly among the Vledra. An example might be clear skies symbolizing the lessening of Pazuzu's corruption of the sky.) Warlocks often fill the role of prophet in Vledra society. Worldly Relations: Vledra get along best with elves and fey creatures. They enjoy the company of gnomes and often befriend them quickly and form lasting relations. Trust with adventuring purposes or just simple friendship is found easily by the gnomes, as they share the Vledran love for nature, magic, and pranks. Vledra often see half-elves a bit like themselves. They are both elf-like, but Vledra tend to think they are superior to half-elves because they believe they have more magical talents. Humans are accepted, but not usually known to the Vledra for being as good company as elves or gnomes. Half-orcs usually get along well with Vledra, and their intrinsic need for the wilderness often lead them to meet up. Their shared beliefs and wild spirits make the races get along, especially with more shamanic half-orcs. Dwarves and halflings often find themselves at the butt of Vledra jokes, and usually grow some dislike for Vledra. However, Vledra enjoy their company and usually feel bad if they sense that they have hurt the dwarves or halflings. Overall, the get along nicely with the other races, the least accepted being the dwarves and half-elves. Dwarves closeness to fire is not regarded highly by Vledra, and half-elves are looked down upon as outcasts. Society and Culture: Vledra live mainly in fairly large villages, with certain families usually filling the same role for multiple generations. If the families mix things up a bit though, they are often smiled upon and began a trend for chaos in that particular village: With roles being swapped, at the most hectic times, every few weeks. Warlocks are often prophets and war-leaders, clerics lead Vledra in religious studies, Wizards teach in most everything else, and druids are mainly medicine-men. Sorcerors are seen as the prime result of Feyloresque's creation, and young Vledra that exhibit the traits of a sorceror are thrown into many hectic situations by others in society, but if they make it through them, are held in the highest regard. Each region has a tribal council with heads of the major tribes in it. Only one member per major village is selected, and this responsibility changes annually. The village holds a meeting to decide on the next member. Every so often, a grand tribal council meeting is held at the Vledra capital. From each regional council, one member is selected via voting to participate in the grand council. The grand council deals with issues such as world-wide affairs, war, protection, and rules for villages to follow. Since sorcerors are often seen as the best possible class for a Vledra to be, they are usually selected to be a member of a regions council. Song and dance is a huge part of Vledran entertainment, but plays and comedy acts are usually the biggest. The citizens love it when Vledra use enchantments to mess around with the other people in the performance, and if an audience member is brave enough to do this to an actor, it usually turns into a wonderful riot of laughter, entertainment, and magical mayhem: All things that Vledra love. Village necessities The Vledran continent is mainly forests, jungles, and river societies. The Vledran diet consists of fruits, vegetables, and seafood. Eating red meat is not common, but it is not frowned upon. Some hunters prefer to hunt their own meat in the jungles and forests of the Vledran continent. However, the lush fruits and exotic fish found only deep in Vledran land is usually enough for most people. Farming is not uncommon, but usually each village has its own grove of different fruit trees, preferrably around a lake or near the river, and food is distributed through the village. It is usually the job of a druid to care for this food grove. Most Vledra adventurers go on quests just for the excitement and adventure. Religious Vledra seek to please Feyloresque and try to spread her joy and serenity to other lands. Warlocks may go on quests to stop an ill-fated prophecy from becoming reality. Thanks for reading all of that if you did. I just started with a basic idea and fleshed it out on the way. Suggestions or comments are welcome as usual. I am thinking of adding some other nature related ability to the Vledra, because as i fleshed it out that's the direction that the race took. Maybe a healing ability that works well on plants or something. Anyway thanks again. By the way i don't know how to put the information into those hidden tab-things, so if anyone would fill me in that would be nice.
Devigod 12-23-07, 11:24 PM	This link will show you how to code everything. Coding FAQ (http://forums.gleemax.com/misc.php?do=bbcode) To make an openable window, type (sblock=Title of Block)Contents of Block(/sblock) But instead of using parentheses (), use []s.
Hermos_Skypilot 12-24-07, 10:10 AM	Cool. Thanks again.