) So, I'd like to know whether you think that this is balanced to play. I've put in some flavour and background, so this could be fun to RP.The Illuminus
The Illuminus are a race of angelic beings that are descended from Humans who interbred with Angels in a special ceremony. Unlike true Angels, their body is fully formed, and their wings are always a bright, feathered gold. They are always full of mirth, and have no real grasp of hatred. They also have a hard time trying to lie. Illuminus cannot be Rogues.
Av. Height: 5’0”-6’0”
Av. Weight: 120-160 lb.
Ability Scores: +2 Cha, +2 Wis
Speed: 6 Squares
Flight Speed: 5 (hover) Squares
Vision: Normal
Favoured Class: Paladin, Cleric, Warlord
Languages: Common
Skill Bonuses: +2 History, +2 Diplomacy, -2 Stealth, -2 Bluff
Radiant Resist: You have Resist Radiant 5, increasing to 10 at lv. 11, and 15 at lv. 21.
Holy Aura: Increase damage done or damage healed by spells with the Holy or Divine keyword by your level, increasing to 2x level at level 11, and 3x level at level 21.
Inspiring Presence: Allies within 1 square of you do your level in extra Radiant damage when they damage an enemy, increasing to 2x level at level 11, and 3x level at level 21.
Heroic Feats
[Advanced Flight]
Req: Illuminus, Dex 13
Effect: Increase your Flight Speed by your Dex modifier at the time you take this feat.
[Radiance]
Req: Illuminus
Effect: Five foot from you in each direction is illuminated.
[Unblinking Gaze]
Req: Illuminus, Training in Perception
Effect: Your eyes are not affected by sudden light. Gain +2 to checks against illusions & 2 Perception Check Racial Bonus.
Flying can be problematic for balance. I would suggest at least one paragon level feat in order to gain the flight ability.
4th Edition is moving away from restrictions on classes. Besides a rogue is just a collection of abilities. Someone in the Rogue class could just as easily be a detective searching out threats to society.
I am not sure if I understand Holy Aura some clarification would be appreciated.
Inspiring presence seems overpowered. In 4th damage boni a bit harder to come by. Now with that kind of damage bonus if you had two defenders on either side of the Illuminus the frontline would turn in to a blender.
The Illuminus
Yikes! I'm seeing quite a few problems here. Let's see if I can help at all... :D
Ability Scores: +2 Cha, +2 Wis
Great! That fits well. However, it has a big problem. WIS and CHA both apply to the same defense. Never fear, though, there is a way to fix this. You see, the Eladrin have the same problem, and they remedy it by just giving the race a flat +1 bonus to Will. I recommend something similar. Give your race a flat +1 bonus to either Fortitude or Reflex.
Speed: 6 Squares
Flight Speed: 5 (hover) Squares
Oh, dear, no. Such unlimited flight is not appropriate for a playable race. I have a couple of ideas, though. The first is to give them Overland Flight (MM page 281) instead of normal flight. If you would prefer that they fly in combat, though, I would say that you should set an Altitude Limit (MM page 281) of 1 square.Honestly, though, it doesn't seem like flight is the really huge selling point of your race's flavor, and so I recommend removing the Hover and giving them an Overland Flight speed of 6, Clumsy Flying (MM page 281), with an Altitude Limit of 1 square.
Vision: Normal
Favoured Class: Paladin, Cleric, Warlord
Favored Classes don't exist anymore in 4E.
Languages: Common
Skill Bonuses: +2 History, +2 Diplomacy, -2 Stealth, -2 Bluff
Bad. Racial skill penalties don't exist in 4E. Just keep it at +2 History, +2 Diplomacy.
Radiant Resist: You have Resist Radiant 5, increasing to 10 at lv. 11, and 15 at lv. 21.
I'd recommend just going with the Teifling's system and giving them Resist Radiant 5 + 1/2 level.
Holy Aura: Increase damage done or damage healed by spells with the Holy or Divine keyword by your level, increasing to 2x level at level 11, and 3x level at level 21.
Holy isn't a keyword. Even applying to Divine powers, though, it's still too powerful, and it's also too restrictive, such that you've got to be crazy not to play a Divine class with this race, just like it was crazy to play a Half-Orc Wizard or Sorcerer in 3.5. Races in 4E are supposed to be able to work at least decently with any class. I would just remove this Holy Aura entirely...
Inspiring Presence: Allies within 1 square of you do your level in extra Radiant damage when they damage an enemy, increasing to 2x level at level 11, and 3x level at level 21.
...Okay, that's just ridiculously powerful. I can't even think of a fix for it. It should definitely be removed... Actually, looking back up, were you trying to make a race that was ridiculously broken? Because that's what you did. :P
Try comparing your home-brew races to races in the PHB for an idea of how to balance them properly.
Bel
Wow, this makes like the sixth Aasimar/Angelic/Celestial race conversion and I think there's even more over on Enworld. Hope WotC has noticed!
Bel
Means nothing to me. I've never played D&D before, so...
I like the flavor of the race it fills the need for a good planetouched race. I would make a few suggestions though.
Flying can be problematic for balance. I would suggest at least one paragon level feat in order to gain the flight ability.
I was thinking about how to balance the flight...
4th Edition is moving away from restrictions on classes. Besides a rogue is just a collection of abilities. Someone in the Rogue class could just as easily be a detective searching out threats to society.
I am not sure if I understand Holy Aura some clarification would be appreciated.
Inspiring presence seems overpowered. In 4th damage boni a bit harder to come by. Now with that kind of damage bonus if you had two defenders on either side of the Illuminus the frontline would turn in to a blender.
The class restriction is more of a... Thematic thing. After all, its quite difficult to hide yourself if you've got shining wings... I think I'll remove Holy Aura & Inspiring Presence, as they do seem (now I've looked at it) to be overpowered, and as pointed out later, Holy is not a word... Perhaps Holy Aura should allow an Illuminus (new name ideas appreciated) to obtain one Channel Divinity feat/power for free, to reinforce the holy theme...
Yikes! I'm seeing quite a few problems here. Let's see if I can help at all... :D
Happy for it.
Great! That fits well. However, it has a big problem. WIS and CHA both apply to the same defense. Never fear, though, there is a way to fix this. You see, the Eladrin have the same problem, and they remedy it by just giving the race a flat +1 bonus to Will. I recommend something similar. Give your race a flat +1 bonus to either Fortitude or Reflex.
They shall get a +1 flat bonus to Reflex then. Thank you for the idea.
Honestly, though, it doesn't seem like flight is the really huge selling point of your race's flavor, and so I recommend removing the Hover and giving them an Overland Flight speed of 6, Clumsy Flying (MM page 281), with an Altitude Limit of 1 square.
I thought hover only did allow them to fly slightly above the ground... Now I know better, and shall change that. And add a max. altitude...
Favored Classes don't exist anymore in 4E.
Bad. Racial skill penalties don't exist in 4E. Just keep it at +2 History, +2 Diplomacy.
The favored classes was actually a thing shown in the 4th Ed player handbook, under 'play an _ if you want to...'
And the negative racial skill penalty makes the player think a bit more about it... I also put it in there to help balance the Illuminatus as well.
I'd recommend just going with the Teifling's system and giving them Resist Radiant 5 + 1/2 level.
Agreed. I'll change that now.
Holy isn't a keyword. Even applying to Divine powers, though, it's still too powerful, and it's also too restrictive, such that you've got to be crazy not to play a Divine class with this race, just like it was crazy to play a Half-Orc Wizard or Sorcerer in 3.5. Races in 4E are supposed to be able to work at least decently with any class. I would just remove this Holy Aura entirely...
...Okay, that's just ridiculously powerful. I can't even think of a fix for it. It should definitely be removed... Actually, looking back up, were you trying to make a race that was ridiculously broken? Because that's what you did. :P
Haven't tried it, so I was asking for help to avoid this sort of thing. Thanks for said help :D
I'm going to remove both those extras, and would appreicate any balanced ideas for that instead.
Try comparing your home-brew races to races in the PHB for an idea of how to balance them properly.
Without actually playtesting them, I can't tell...
The changes you made to flight are good, but personally I'd give them an encounter power instead:
Holy Flight Illuminus Racial Power
Encounter
Move Action Personal
Effect: Shift up to 5 squares. You may ignore pits and difficult terrain during this movement.
Special: As a standard action instead of a move action, you may make a basic attack at a +1 bonus at the end of your movement.
This would be balanced along the lines of the other races, and let the PC actually do cool flying charge attacks in combat, instead of fumbling around at a -4 penalty to hit.
So, with damage resistance and an encounter power, that makes them similar to the tiefling race. But tieflings also get +1 vs. bloodies foes, so I think the Illuminus deserve an extra perk. I think giving them the half-elf's Group Diplomacy feature would be good.