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I'm sure other people have done similar things before, somewhere. But Google/Forum search yielded no results, and I prefer making my own homebrew anyway. Here's a quick walkthrough of the changes made and why. But before I begin that, one relevant side note:
I think it's critical to any race in D&D to feel like that race when you're playing it. A good race needs at least two traits which are both frequently used and make the race feel like that race. Elves gain Elven Accuracy and weapon proficiencies and wild step; these are all frequently used, and make elves feel like elves. Dwarves can lift heavy things over their head without getting slowed and are extremely stubborn about where they're standing and can take a whipping and keep on kicking, and these feel very dwarfish. Halflings can deflect bad luck, and are extremely Tumbly with their bonus to opportunity attacks--that makes them feel like halflings. So in three of the races I altered for my Essentials game, I made changes based on those guidelines.
- Changelings required few changes. They have a lot of fans at any of my gaming tables, and even come with their own optional ability score, but all of their fans--including people who have never played Eberron 3.5--all have the same complaint: "How does it make sense that I can impersonate an Elf or Dwarf or Dragonborn or whatever, yet I don't even get a single bonus language?" Not only does this make a lot of sense to me, but Changelings in 3.5 were originally natural linguists who got Speak Language as a class skill regardless of their class. So, Changelings were modified to receive two bonus languages of their choice, similar to the Deva. In addition, their changeling trick was modified to have the Polymorph keyword and a close burst 5 (one target in burst) range, since I've always considered that ability more akin to the racial feats from Races of Eberron that let them use their Polymorphing-disguise to frighten people than some generic, flavorless trick. The range boost was because I noticed Changeling casters always complaining that they had to get into melee in order to benefit from their race's only combat ability.
- Kalashtar definitely fell into my rule that each race must have two tricks that make them feel like that race, and be used often. Specifically, the 'used often' part. Bastion of Mental Clarity was just a little bit too situational, requiring YOU to get hit by a Will attack to be effective, so I made it triggerable if an ally gets hit, too. And Telepathy, I noticed that the only difference between characters with Group Mindlink and those without was the preface "John says this:". What I mean is, if player A wants to talk to player B using player C's telepathy, all they have to do is say 'relay this message!'. It becomes much more flavorful, and much more prominently used, if we include the Group Mindlink feat right into the ability itself. Oh, and I gave them intelligence/Wisdom as their ability score choice because Charisma in ye-olde-days was the stat required for possession, so it would be natural for Kalashtar to have a high Charisma no matter what, and Intelligence was added because Kalashtar Psions. Duh.
- Shifter. Shifter was the worst perpetrator of the 'lack of frequently used, flavorful abilities'. They had the flavor down, just not the frequency (because requiring someone to get bloodied means that if they're any good at keeping healthy, or have an extremely good Cleric in the party which our poor 4E shifter did, they never get to use their racials). They became Wisdom with either Strength or Dexterity because, well, that's what Shifters got even before the PHB3. Acrobatics and Athletics became their skill bonuses because I didn't want to create a weird 'choose two from these four options/choose from these two options of two!' situation, and 3.5 Shifters got Balance and Climb and Jump, so, I just went with that. I added a Natural Weapon (claw or teeth) and a somewhat-useless-but-still-flavorful-and-frequently-used Scent ability to the base Shifter (normally part of a 3.5 shifter's actual shifting, but, I made exceptions for the sake of flavor...), added the Shapechanger keyword for lycanthropic flavor, and finally, modified Shifting to be split into two effects per shifting type: one that's always active (usually the core of the shift) and one that's active only when the shifter is bloodied (usually a secondary benefit). I feel that this doesn't severely alter the shifter's strength at all, yet makes them MUCH more frequently use abilities which scream "I AM A BEAST-MAN!" instead of the old stats, which just made them... humans who sometimes got regeneration. Doubly so do they feel beastlike because they can use their shifting outside of combat (useful if a cliff needs to be scaled, a thief needs to be outrun, etc.)
- Warforged. Gave them Constitution as their core ability score (because 3.5, and because they're tough) and Strength/Intelligence as their choice score because for some reason Psiforged were popular, plus Artificers are intelligence based and Warforged make neat artificers, so that all works out. I gave them a natural weapon attack (composite fist!) because even in 3.5, that ability was never used by anyone, yet all of my players always agreed that the presence (even if it wasn't used) made warforged that much cooler. Swapped out the old warforged racial power for Warforged Fortification, blatantly stolen from the Cindersoul Genasi, allowing the warforged to severely reduce the damage from a single attack per encounter (or, if it's a critical hit or other non-rolled damage, halve the damage). Good throwback to the Fortification trait from 3.5.
You may have noticed a lot of references to 3.5. Partially this is because I'm playing with a 3.5 Eberron group, and nostalgia/sacred cows are what we enjoy, but partially because I think those little abilities made things FEEL better. In 3.5, you could have two pages of random-ass minor abilities or downsides for a race, and it only contributed to the race's flavor and coolness. The 4E trimmed-down nature sometimes works better, but, I think went maybe a little too far with the warforged or the shifter (or no languages for Changeling? C'mon).
Anyway, my first little 'essentials Eberron' game isn't for several days, so any input on these changes would be appreciated! Or also, anyone do any of their own changes to these races they'd care to share?
- I like the changeling overall, and agree wholeheartily with giving two extra languages. Only Common made no sense in the EPG because changelings need to know the languages of other races so they can take advantage of their ability, so I'm with you there. I was of the mind a save bonus against charm wouldn't hurt, either (say, a +2 bonus), but it won't be a big deal. That said, your changeling disguise power is labelled encounter, when it should say at-will. Just thought to point it out.
- I thought the tweak to the kalashtar's telepathy was interesting. It certainly has the right vanilla, which is all I ever thought it was, anyway.
- Ahh, the shifter. My fave race from the setting. I don't see much use for the natural weapon, but I get why it's in there. I can't remember off the top of my head, but I think Nature is the skill used for tracking. I don't think it's anything to get in a twist over, but I think that's the primary tracking skill. Also, the additional trait to the shifting power is good. I would consider sticking in the Beasthide trait by giving a straight +1 bonus to all defenses, with an extra +1 if bloodied, but no other benefit.
- I know WotC hasn't been keen on making a Con/Int race, but strangely, I find the warforged (particularly young warforged) a good fit for that. There needs to be at least one such race, so I'm good with this. If nothing else, it can be thematic: Young warforged (or psiforged) as you mentioned would likely be Con/Int, while older ones or hardened Last War vets would be Str/Con. However, I think Warforged fortification may be too powerful. Most powers that reduce damage often don't remove more than half the damage, so minizing damage to that extent, even at 1st level and ESPECIALLY at epic tier, might make it too strong. If you reduce the damage by half in itself, I think the power is fine.
Hope that helps.
I'll run through each one by one, since I like the races myself and have thought about doing this myself.
- I like the changeling overall, and agree wholeheartily with giving two extra languages. Only Common made no sense in the EPG because changelings need to know the languages of other races so they can take advantage of their ability, so I'm with you there. I was of the mind a save bonus against charm wouldn't hurt, either (say, a +2 bonus), but it won't be a big deal. That said, your changeling disguise power is labelled encounter, when it should say at-will. Just thought to point it out.
- I thought the tweak to the kalashtar's telepathy was interesting. It certainly has the right vanilla, which is all I ever thought it was, anyway.
- Ahh, the shifter. My fave race from the setting. I don't see much use for the natural weapon, but I get why it's in there. I can't remember off the top of my head, but I think Nature is the skill used for tracking. I don't think it's anything to get in a twist over, but I think that's the primary tracking skill. Also, the additional trait to the shifting power is good. I would consider sticking in the Beasthide trait by giving a straight +1 bonus to all defenses, with an extra +1 if bloodied, but no other benefit.
- I know WotC hasn't been keen on making a Con/Int race, but strangely, I find the warforged (particularly young warforged) a good fit for that. There needs to be at least one such race, so I'm good with this. If nothing else, it can be thematic: Young warforged (or psiforged) as you mentioned would likely be Con/Int, while older ones or hardened Last War vets would be Str/Con. However, I think Warforged fortification may be too powerful. Most powers that reduce damage often don't remove more than half the damage, so minizing damage to that extent, even at 1st level and ESPECIALLY at epic tier, might make it too strong. If you reduce the damage by half in itself, I think the power is fine.
Hope that helps.
Hmm... things to consider =P
- Yeah, I caught the Encounter thing almost immediately, but didn't feel like reuploading a THIRD time =P. But the thing is, Changelings are already fairly badass--they make incredible sorcerers, rogues, and other such high-damage roles with their Int/Dex/Cha combo. While this is largely a fan-wank, it's a fan-wank with some semblance of balance, so I don't want to tip Changelings too much a favor =P Plus, I think their 'slippery minds' resisting charm got translated to a simple +1 to Will, which while not exactly flavorful, is still a good representation of that.
- Glad you liked the Kalashtar.
- Yeah, the natural weapon... it's pretty much so useless that the only reason it's a standard race ability instead of a shift is that I'd feel bad making one shift have to carry a weapon that's worse than almost any other weapon a player can have (though, technically, better than any simple weapons, so Shifter Mages? Go all out on that stuff). Also, Perception is the primary tracking skill--I know, it still throws me off, because in 3.5 it was Survival. I always have to back-track it in my head "Okay, I want to say Nature, but in 3.5 it was Survival and I know it's something else in 4E, so it must be Perception instead." I added a beasthide equivalent, minor damage resistance and a temp hit point buff. I didn't want to add a straight defense buff because that was like, what two other shifts already have =P
- I think I needed to tone down Fortification too... but not for the same reasons. Mostly because it was simply a better version of the Genasi power, which was already on the upper scale of power, and the Warforged racial is supposed to be a relatively useless power to balance out the otherwise minmaxed nature of the race. Plus, I needed to change it anyway because I hate ripping off other races, and right now it's, again, the Genasi ripoff =P It's now simply a half-damage effect, with a saving throw against any effects the attack would deal.
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- The bloodied part of the racial power is a one-time thing, right? Basically, what I'm asking is, if the shifter isn't bloodied when he/she shifts, they don't gain the bloodied benefit, even if they become bloodied later, correct?
- For flavor, I think labelling each benefit would be pretty neat.
That's it for me. I think it's all good. Well done.
I think the changes are great. I just have two last questions regarding the shifter and I'm good.
- The bloodied part of the racial power is a one-time thing, right? Basically, what I'm asking is, if the shifter isn't bloodied when he/she shifts, they don't gain the bloodied benefit, even if they become bloodied later, correct?
- For flavor, I think labelling each benefit would be pretty neat.
That's it for me. I think it's all good. Well done.
Hm. In my head, I imagined it would change over if you weren't bloodied and became bloodied. I might clarify that in the rules.
While I can see some kind of cool Hulk-like transformation taking place "Oh, I'm bloodied, time to get REGENERATION 2!" if people wait until they're bloodied, what actually will end up happening is people don't use their shift at all, ever, for fear of becoming bloodied and losing the benefit.
Same thing happens with dailies and action points--people are so terrified of needing them later that they never use them at all, and end up going to extended rest at the end of the day with no healing surges, curses, diseases, half hit points, and like 4 or 5 action points and all of their dailies.
Addendum: Oh yeah, and I like the idea of labeling each power's subpower. I had thought of it before but decided 'meh, let thep layer decide the flavor' except I find that, also, rarely works out in practice.
My logic is just so the shifter won't use their power on the first round, since most of the racial powers aren't used until the player thinks they really need it, and since shifting is a full encounter, having something extra for those who wait should be given.
This is all your perogative. They're your changes and, frankly, you did a better job than i could have, but I would simply suggest the bloodied benefit to read, "In addition, if you are bloodied when you use this power, you gain" and so on. If nothing else, it makes the player consider holding off until they think it could help them.
I see what you mean, but I would consider going with my thinking simply because the bloodied benefit would be an incentive for a shifter to hold off on using their ability instead of right off the bat during a combat encounter. That way, if they think they'll be fine, they can tap it and be good to go, but if they think the battle will be prolonged and they'll need the extra zip, they can wait.
My logic is just so the shifter won't use their power on the first round, since most of the racial powers aren't used until the player thinks they really need it, and since shifting is a full encounter, having something extra for those who wait should be given.
This is all your perogative. They're your changes and, frankly, you did a better job than i could have, but I would simply suggest the bloodied benefit to read, "In addition, if you are bloodied when you use this power, you gain" and so on. If nothing else, it makes the player consider holding off until they think it could help them.
True, and if I make sure that the super-benefit of the power (the regeneration, the damage boost, etc) is available no matter if you're bloodied or not, then the AC bonus/whatever becomes a slight incentive to wait until you're bloodied, but not so much an incentive that the player who wants to Hulk-up as soon as his first turn rolls around feels bad for doing so. There should be benefits for both play-styles: If you do it right away, you get a hefty bonus... but if you wait, you get a bigger bonus for less time.
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Named the shifting types, came up with an experimental idea for razorclaw and longtooth which I think is rather balanced overall, gave weapon groups to the natural weapons... and I think that's it.
The Shifter section's a bit more tightly packed, since I had to cut short extra verbage in order to make room for the 'Razorclaw' power, but I think the concept of a rabid, constantly-slashing shifter gained from that change was worth it.