Okay, so my party has been asking about playing evil races if their characters end up dying, and since not very many were put into the player's handbook, I tried to make a few that they were thinking about.
I'd love some feedback on these races before letting people make characters though 
Goblin Race
Ability Score Increase: +2 Dex and +1 Con or +1 Wis
Age: Goblins age at about 1.5 times the rate of humans, so they reach adulthood by about 12 or 13 years old.
Alignment: Most goblins are either neutral or evil, and usually are not lawful.
Size: Goblins are about 3 to 4 feet tall and weigh about 40 pounds. Your size is small.
Speed: Base speed is 30ft, faster than most small humanoids.
Languages: You can speak goblin and common and read and write common.
Traits
Disengage: You may use the disengage or hide action as a bonus action once per encounter.
Darkvision: 60 ft.
Stout: You have advantage on saving throws against poison and have resistance to poison damage.
Naturally Stealthy: You have proficiency with the stealth skill.
Quick Reflexes: You get a +2 to initiative.
Troll Race
Ability Score: +1 Str and +2 Con and
Age: Trolls age slower than humans, and have an average lifespan of about 200 years (assuming they are not killed first); however, they reach adulthood around the age of 15 or 16.
Alignment: Trolls are never good, and always chaotic.
Size: Trolls are usually between 7 and 9 feet tall.
Speed: 30 ft.
Languages: Giant and Common
Traits
Regeneration: Instead of making death saving throws, a troll character will instead come back to life after 1d4 hours.
Vulnerable to fire and acid damage: If the troll was dealt fire or acid damage during an encounter, ignore regeneration.
Dark Vision: 60ft.
Keen Sense of Smell: You have advantage on perception checks that have to do with smell.
Lizard Folk
Ability Score Increase: +2 Str and +1 Con or +1 Wis
Age: Lizard folk age at the same rates as humans, but are considered mature at around 16 years of age.
Alignment: Lizard folk are usually neutral.
Size: Medium
Speed: 30ft.
Languages: Draconic and Common
Traits
Hold Breath: Lizard folk can hold their breath for up to 15 minutes.
Simple Craftsmanship: Lizard folk are proficient with shields, spears, javelins, light hammers, mauls, and warhammers.
Scaly Hide: +1 AC
Skill Proficiencies: You are proficient in 2 of the following, perception, stealth, survival.
Doppelganger
Ability Score Increase: +2 to an ability of your choice.
Age: Doppelgangers age at the same rate as humans.
Alignment: There are doppelgangers of all alignments, but most tend to be neutral or evil.
Size: Medium
Speed: 30ft.
Languages: Common and one of your choice.
Traits
Shapechanger: Doppelgangers can use their action to polymorph into a small or medium humanoid it has seen, or back into its true form. Their stats stay the same despite the change in appearance. Equipment does not transform. If the doppelganger dies, it reverts to its true form.
Read Thoughts: You are proficient in the insight skill. At 3rd level you may read a targets surface thoughts once per day for 10 minutes unless they succeed on a wisdom saving throw. While reading thoughts you have advantage on insight, deception, intimidation, and persuasion checks.
Is there anything that looks glaringly overpowered? And do you have suggestions for how to fix it?
Well, I'm guessing you're taking these directly from the MM. All I can say is that I think that the MM was meant to imply that they had levels of rogue. A simplified version of it for the MM, but it makes sense.
I also strongly recommend against giving away the Rogue's Cunning Action as a racial feature. Its a core part of the class. It'd be like giving away a paladin's smite feature, or their healing ability, as a racial feature.
Scaly hide basically rewards going barbarian or monk, and disincentives doing anything else. Monk is also not worthwhile, due to attribute distribution. Its also a huge benefit on top of two free skills and four attribute bumps.
Doppleganger is .... weak. I could be a better doppleganger with a two level dip in warlock (GOO patron). An arcane trickster could pull it off fairly well too.
Troll regen is legitimately horrific. In a fight with anything except fire-dealers or acid-dealers, you're unkillable (okay, a lich could still do it with PWK, but it's really really hard to kill you without acid or fire).
So, yeah, troll regen is very OP. Other than that, looks reasonable.
Before you get too far along, I have two questions:
- What do your PCs want to accomplish by playing Monster Race characters?
- How do their goal(s) fit into your campaign?
Also most of the evil races are covered in the DMG.
I'm quite liking the idea of a hobgoblin PC with no stat bonuses but martial advantage.
BRJN wrote:
Redfangerz wrote:
Redfangerz wrote:
Thanks a lot! That is really helpful.
Do you have any suggestions for running a game in the middle of a war? Like is it just sending the group on special missions? Or how can I get them into a real large scale battle?
D&D rules do not play nice with mass combats. You will have to "scale down" groups of individuals into single figures, and make up a simple system of attacks/defenses and damage. There have been a number of rules supplements published to do mass combat; I don't have any titles available off-hand. Like the Star Wars movies, D&D is more oriented towards individual and band-of-buddies heroism.
I recommend NOT putting the PCs into the middle of a mass combat. If you have seen Kenneth Branaugh's Henry V, most of the French knights were killed while in the middle of a field of mud because some archer shot an arrow towards the middle of the pile-up, not because somebody picked them out for a one-on-one duel. It's no fun - and not heroic - to be killed by a random accident. There is also the problem of moving around in the middle of a crowd (go shopping the morning after Thanksgiving). Hence my suggestion that the PCs go do something important near "the edges of the map".
It might be thrilling for the PCs to lead a reinforcement column up towards the main battle, and realize that King Obould is 3/4-surrounded by Dwarves but maybe we can break through and give him a way out - but we are outnumbered 2-to-1 over here, so we have to be tough and hit hard and keep moving; no selfish solo stunts! Maybe the PCs get in and rescue the King, maybe they get stymied before breaking the Dwarven line (bad dice rolls), maybe the PCs get surrounded and must escape from their own deathtrap (really bad dice rolls), maybe they form an escape passage (good die rolls) but King Obould won't leave the field because HE has sworn to conquer the Dwarves or die trying.
If some of the PCs are Wizards / Shamans, they can Cone of Cold the Dwarven Defenders to clear an escape route for their King, or Fireball some light infantry before it gets into a good tactical position (or hit a forest so no elves will sneak through it), or be reduced to Blade Ward because a crossbow unit is hassling their casting.
The PCs could be absent from the battlefield because they were sent to assassinate the Dwarven General. They may or may not succeed - but then they are all alone and surrounded by 1000s of angry enemies!
Suppose there are three dominating tactical positions (outdoor hilltop? bridge over chasm? fortified doorway?) whose possession will almost win the battle by itself. Send the PCs to occupy one of them, while the normal army handles the other two. If the PCs succeed but the army fails, they get to watch the battle disintegrate before them. Will they just sit and watch, or come to the aid of their King, or put up a fortress-like defense, or quietly retreat away, or maybe suffer a morale failure where their soldiers flee despite the PCs' best efforts? (Or, worse, the soldiers rush to the aid of the King without tactics or plan; just a charging howling mob.)
I'm assuming in all this that the PCs will acquit themselves well, and really try to bring their side the victory. Maybe one of the PCs gets a message from Gruumsh to stay away because He has cursed the King? Or darkest treason has festered in their hearts? Or the PCs watch some other orc leader commit treason?