merfolk are the amphibious way-finders and merchants of the fey wild. Gifted with polymorphing powers that allow them to walk on land or swim like a dolphin. They are also gifted as navigators and scholars, they adapt instantly to almost any culture they are introduced to. Being born in the water they are naturally drawn to damp areas and generally avoid arid environments. Babies born of a merfolk mother and another humanoid male are full merfolk and vice-versa .
Racial traits
Average height: 5'5''-6'1''
Average weight: 130-180 lb.
Ability scores: +2 wisdom. +2 charisma
Size: Medium
Speed: 6 squares
Vision: low-light
Languages: Common, Elven and choice of one other.
Skill bonuses: +2 insight. +2 diplomacy
Amphibious: You can breath air or water, you also gain resist 5 cold +1/2 your level
Merfolk weapon proficiency: you gain proficiency with all non-superior weapons from the spear group.
Way-finder: you can always tell which direction you are traveling and what time it is. you also gain a +2 bonus to nature and dungeoneering checks to find your way around.
Fey origin: Your ancestors were native to the Feywild, so you are considered a fey creature for the purpose of effects that relate to creature origin.
Aquatic: you have the aquatic key word
Terramorph/Aquamorph: you gain the morph power
Healing waters: you gain the healing waters power
Morph
you swim up onto the land, you tail separates into long elegant legs as you rise out of the water
At-will * polymorph
Minor action Personal
Effect: your legs or tail morph into the other. While you have legs you have a land speed of 6. While you have a tail you have a swim speed of 8.
Healing Waters
your affinity for the water allows for healing
encounter * healing
Minor action Touch
Target: you or one ally
Effect: target immediately saves against all conditions affecting them
Physical Qualities
merfolk look very alien to other races, but somehow their appearance is never feared or hated. They usually tie back their head fins while on land and also pin back their leg fins their skin colors range from coral to blue to white with all of the hues in between merfolk dislike wearing clothing except to appear decent to another race or for protection. Merfolk also love to wear ornaments on their bodies such as earrings on their head fins and tatoos on their shoulders. Merfolk live to be roughly 170, though most die sooner, unable to resist the call of adventure.
names: merfolk have no proper names in their dialect of elven rather they use kennings or the names of the local culture.
they should have an encounter power as well.
though I'm not sure what would fit the bill.
Ability scores: +2 Dexterity. +2 Charisma
Interesting, I've never seen Dexterity proposed as an ability score boost for Merfolk. Usually, it's CON and CHA. However, there's nothing mechanically wrong with this, so I shall digress.
Amphibious: You can breath air or water, you also gain resist 5 cold.
A) Shouldn't they also have the Aquatic keyword? I feel like that would belong here.
B) A Cold resistance of 5 is fine at first level, but it needs to scale or else become more and more useless the higher level the character is. I recommend the same scaling that the Tiefling uses, 5 + 1/2 level.
Sense of direction: You can always tell which way is south
This is cute fluff, but it doesn't really do anything mechanically, so it doesn'y belong with the race's mechanics. If anything, I suppose this would provide a small bonus to Nature checks or Dungeoneering checks. Speaking of which, your Merfolk seems not to have any skill bonuses. The standard assumption is a +2 bonus to two different skills, so it may be appropriate for you to simply give them +2 Dungeoneering and +2 Nature in order to model this mechanically.
Terramorph/Aquamorph: you gain the morph powerMorph
you swim up onto the land, you tail separates into long elegant legs as you rise out of the water
At-will * polymorph
Minor action Personal
Effect: your legs or tail morph into the other. While you have legs you have a land speed of 6. While you have a tail you have a swim speed of 8.
Back when I was working on my own version of the Merfolk, I did something very similar to this, and I think it's a great way of solving the problem of their being useless in land campaigns. However, I gave up on mine because spending so much mechanical ability on making them functional both on land and in the sea leaves them rather plain on the land. Tell me, what happens when a campaign, like most campaigns, takes place almost entirely on land. What does this Merfolk effectively becomes?
Their being Aquatic or Amphibious sees no use, their swim speed and therefore racial power sees no use, their Fey origin already sees no use anyways... This leaves them with Low-Light Vision and Cold resistance? Not very exciting.
(Ability score boosts and skill boosts are a baseline assumption of every race, so they don't count...)
Still, it's nearly impossible to create a Merfolk without doing this, and so I'm left to conclude that maybe Merfolk simply aren't conceptually viable as a player race. This is as good an effort as I've seen, however, but I'd still consider giving them just a little something extra that they can use both on land and in the water. It wouldn't overpower them, and it'd go a long way towards making them a viable option even if the campaign sees no underwater adventures.
Maybe the extra little thing you can give them would be another racial power? There's precedent for a race having more than one racial power with the Changeling, and this seems like a very comparable scenario. Maybe giving them a second power not dependant on their environment would make them work well, and it would have them end up with: Low-Light, Cold Resistance, a swim speed (situational, but that's okay), and a racial power. That looks like a balanced race to me. Maybe I was wrong and it can work after all...
You could throw in a minor trait like Trident or Spear proficiency. It'd make sense for Merfolk to favor them, since those are among the few weapons that actually work decently underwater.
You could throw in a minor trait like Trident or Spear proficiency. It'd make sense for Merfolk to favor them, since those are among the few weapons that actually work decently underwater.
That wouldn't really be enough. In fact, racial weapon proficiencies are sort of like Fey Origin. They matter so infrequently that they don't even count against a race when it comes to balance.
thank for the input. I corrected a few parts and made it more focused for the leader roll. I also think the power suggestion really helped make this class what it is.
about the healing power: not a great idea.
I've DMmed a campaign from lvl 1 to 4 with a character with this ability, and it makes it a uber healer. (the power the character race only had 'spend a healing surge' BTW)
Merfolk mind: you gain proficiency with all weapons from the spear group.
Wow, no, that's very powerful. There's one big difference between all existing racial weapon proficiencies and this proposition of yours: No existing racial weapon proficiencies grant a race proficiency with superior weapons.
Healing waters: you gain the healing waters powerHealing Waters
your affinity for the water allows for healing
encounter * healing
Minor action Touch
Target: one ally
Effect: target can spend a healing surge and can attempt a save against one condition affecting them.
I'm with Qube. While it does have some important limitations such as being Touch range and only working on an ally, I still don't think this is an appropriate racial power. For most characters, it's just a fun bonus, but for any leader class, this is just excessive.
Healing Waters
your affinity for the water allows for healing
encounter * healing
Minor action Touch
Target: you or one ally
Effect: target can spend a healing surge, but instead does not gain any HP and can attempt a save against all conditions affecting them.
ok how about that. also I tottaly agree on the power I just couldn't think of anthing else same for the weapon prof.
Healing Waters
your affinity for the water allows for healing
encounter * healing
Minor action Touch
Target: you or one ally
Effect: target can spend a healing surge, but instead does not gain any HP and can attempt a save against all conditions affecting them.
That I think is underpowered. It's much too situational, and who wants to spend a healing surge and not get any HP for it?
what about half normal hp? or just save without healing surge.
Save without healing surge is probably fine.
good I updated it. the pendulum swings one last time before settling down.lol