Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Chiba_Monkey Feb 22, 2015 11:39:26	I know Genasi are coming in the next book, but here's the homebrew I finished making a few months ago.  I posted it on the Gitantitp forums, and I might as well share it here.  Might tide some peopel over until the official product is released.   Genasi: Genies, beings of elemental power, masters of the Elemental Planes, sometimes produce offspring with mortal races.  From their mortal slaves or from powerful mortals among the planes whom the genies consider allies, friends, and rarely, equals; these children are mortal humanoids with elemental power flowing through their veins.  Called genasi, these planetouched individuals are more common in planar sites such as Sigil and the City of Brass, but since the Godswar, many fled to the Prime as refugees and stayed there.  On Antheron, they are more common in the south, in towns with a high content of planar refugees, such as Portal and Rhys-Zekhal.  Genasi have little to no contact with the elemental masters who sired their bloodline, and most alive today are several generations removed from the elemental progenitors of their bloodline.  They come in 4 varieties, one of each element, from each subtype of genie. All Genasi have the following traits: Ability Score Increase: Based on elemental subtype, see below. Alignment: Genasi are just as varied as humans, but those with a closer connection to their planar values may take on one aspect of the alignment of their genie ancestor Age: Genasi age at the same rate as humans, but live longer Size: Genasi are about the same size as humans, their size is Medium Speed: Base walking speed is 30 feet. Type: Genasi are Humanoids with the (Elemental) subtype. Darkvision: Genasi have superior vision in dark and dim conditions.  They can see in dim light within 60 feet as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light.  Color cannot be discerned in these conditions, only black and white Elemental Resistance: Every subtype has resistance to the energy type which corresponds to their elemental heritage. Languages: Genasi speak Common and the dialect of Primordial that corresponds to their elemental heritage. Air Genasi: Descended from the noble Djinn, air genasi have varying shades of blue skin and dark eyes.  Their build is slight, and their hair is usually pale white, some shade of blue, or black, and always appears either windswept or as if it is flowing in a constant gentle breeze.  Some view themselves as inheritors of the sky, the wind, and the very air of the world.  They can be very cam and collected, but when driven to action, they are swift and decisive. Ability Score Increase: Dexterity score increases by 2 and Intelligence increases by 1 Breathless: Air Genasi do breathe, but the elemental nature of their bodies generates air within their lungs.  As such, they can hold their breath indefinietely. Elemental Resistance: Air Genasi have resistance to electricity damage. Elemental Legacy: Air Genasi can cast the Feather Fall spell once, they regain the ability to do so after a long or short rest.  At 5th level, an Air Genasi can cast one more elemental spell per day.  This spell must be either Levitate or Gust of Wind.  The genasi can choose which spell to use at the time of casting, but only a long rest can restore the ability to cast either.  Intelligence is their spellcasting ability for these spells. Language: Air Genasi speak the Auran dialect of Primordial. Earth Genasi: Descended from the malicious Dao, earth genasi have stocky builds and skin with a rocklike appearance, either pebbly or having the appearance of being chisled or cracked.  Their skin tones range from pale gray to earthy brown and their eyes appear gemlike, with colors of green, amber, or black.  Their hair is usually brown, although male earth genasi are frequently bald.  They tend to be slow to act, seemingly ponderous in thought, but once they do decide to act, they become driven to accomplish what they set their minds to. Ability Score Increase: Constitution increases by 2, Strength increases by 1. Stability: Earth Genasi have a strong connection to the earth beneath their feet.  Whie they have their feet on the ground, they have advantage on Strength saving throws to avoid any kind of forced movement. Elemental Resistance: Earth Genasi have resistance to acid damage. Elemental Legacy: Earth Genasi can cast the Thunderwave spell once as a 1st level spell, they regain the ability to do so after a long or short rest.  At 5th level, they can cast one spell per day. This spell must be either Spike Growth or Melf's Acid Arrow as a 2nd level spell.  The genasi can choose which spell to use at the time of casting, but only a long rest can restore the ability to cast either.  Intelligence is their spellcasting ability for these spells. Language: Earth Genasi speak the Terran dialect of Primordial. Fire Genasi: Descended from the avaricious Efreet, Fire Genasi have the most variety in their builds, with some powerful with broad shoulders, and others wiry and sinuous.  Their skin ranges from shades of red to black, often having a burnt appearance.  Their hair waves like flames, and is usually red, blond, or white, and their eyes sometimes seem to burn when they are angry.  They tend to be bright and creative, but also proud, and quick to action, if not anger.  They can be very excitable, and their passions burn fiercely, but they are also sometimes seen as flighty. Ability Score Increase: Intelligence increases by 2, Strength increases by 1 Control Flame: Fire Genasi can affect small nonmagical flames within 30 feet of themselves, causing them to flicker, brighten, dim, or change color.  They can also instantaneously snuff out unattended nonmagical flames, such as candles, torches or campfires. Elemental Resistance: Fire Genasi have resistance to fire damage. Eemental Legacy: Fire Genasi know the Produce Flame cantrip.  At 5th level, they may cast one spell per day, which must either be Flame Blade or Scorching Ray both as a 2nd level spell. The genasi can choose which spell to use at the time of casting, but only a long rest can restore the ability to cast either. Language: Fire Genasi speak the Ignan dialect of Primordial. Water Genasi: Descended from the enigmatic Marids, Water Genasi have thick-waisted builds, and run the gamut from stocky and muscular to ponderous and obese.  Their skin appears in colors of light greens and blues, often appearing to be wet, clammy, or covered in fine fish scales.  Their hair is similarly of green or blue hues, and their eyes are usually blue or black.  They are just as comfortable in water as out.  They tend to be easygoing and friendly, most often content to follow the path of least resistance, but when angered, they can be relentless and unyielding as the tides. Ability Score Increase: Wisdom increases by 2, Constitution increases by 1 Aquatic: Water Genasi can breathe underwater and have a swim speed equal to their land speed (including any encumbrance from armor). Elemental Resistance: Water Genasi have resistance to cold damage. Elemental Legacy: Water Genasi can cast the spell Create or Destroy Water once as a 1st level spell, they regain the ability to do this after a long or short rest.  At 5th level, they may, once per day, use the Swiftcurrent ability, which is a bonus action to activate, and allows the Water Genasi to assume a liquid-like state until the end of his turn.  During that time, he ignores the movement impairment of difficult terrain, takes no damage from damaging terrain, provokes no attack of opportunity for his movement, and can move through enemy spaces without penalty.  He still must end his movement in an empty space. Language: Water Genasi speak the Aquan dialect of Primordial. Alternative I was also thinking, in an effort to make them al feel like subraces of the same race, of giving them all +1 STR and breaking down racially as follows: Air: +2 DEX Earth: +2 CON Fire: +2 INT Water: +2 WIS Thoughts? Comments and Criticism welcome.  Haven't implemented this, it's still in Alpha, as it were.
#2 rampant Feb 23, 2015 9:23:10	Well a couple of things stand out.   1. Ok this thing with unlocking more racial powers at higher levels rubs me the wrong way, I mean most of the races get all their power sup front and if they're lucky the abilities scale to some degree, but the only reason not to give a race their powers up front is if you think the ability is too potent, or if not in and of itself potent, but in conjunction with the other abilities it's too much for a 1st level character. In which case the race is inherently op compared to the races that gave everythign up front. I could see abilities scaling a little, for example at certain levels earth genasi cast their thunderwave power as if they used a higher spell slot that's just making sure the same ability stays relevant at higher levels, developing whole new powers sets off alarms for me. I know the devs used it a couple times in the book but it still doesn't strike me as a good idea. Now I get wanting advanced racial options but I think those need to be made into feats or sub-classes or something.   2. The earth genasi thunderwave needs to scale up with level. Stability is kinda of overspecialized imo, it has three parameters, it only works against forced movement, it only works on the gorund and it only works for strength throws. I'd suggest you open it up to rolls to oppose any force movement incluidng the roll you get to resist being pushed.   3. The water genasi needs to have his spell level up, akthough to be honest if you make the swift current ability into an encounter power it'd probably be the better option.   4. is elemental sub-type even a thing in 5e, and if so what does it do?   5. Whether they are one race with sub-races, individual races, or one race with the potential to revolving door their elemental powers, I advise picking one and running with it, Personally I'd go with the separate races or the revolving door option.   6. Is darkvision really a thing that should be universal? I mean I can maybe see it for earth, fire I think would be more thematic with some sort of ability to make a fire to see by.
#3 Jenks Feb 23, 2015 9:53:35	I applaud you for trying to a different design on races, allowing for race growth along side class growth. You have to be very careful with it though. Players will be tempted to not play them at low levels, and play them often at higher levels if the balance turns out bad.   A lot of the abilities make a lot of sense and feel pretty good to me. Like Rampant, the darkvision to all kinda sounds wierd. Do you have a precedent of having darkvision?
#4 rampant Feb 23, 2015 9:59:15	The precedent exists, it's just not a good one, everyone and their dog seems to have darkvision in 5e.   As for the higher level powers, the balance is inherently bad. If you don't have enough power to be a solid race without it then you are underpowered until you get it, if you are strong enought to stand on your own as a race then you are overpowered once you get it. Now one could make a case that some abilities decline in usefulness as you level up and as such a new one being unlocked at level x doesn't hurt, but even then it seems like just setitng the ability up so a it scales properly would be the superior option.
#5 mellored Feb 23, 2015 11:48:08	I agree, i'm not a big fan of the spells.  Paticularly attack spells (like tieflings hellish rebuke). Utility spells are a bit better. Or auto-scaling "spells" like dragon's breath.
#6 rampant Feb 23, 2015 16:32:04	Yeah especially when you consider that they don't seem to get the prof bonus, and the straight jacketing effect of the casting stat.
#7 mellored Feb 24, 2015 5:35:43	rampant wrote:
#8 rampant Feb 24, 2015 17:13:01	Seriously? Why would... fugging hate magic.   Still racially enforced casting stats are a problem.
#9 Chiba_Monkey Mar 07, 2015 13:04:59	rampant wrote:
#10 rampant Mar 07, 2015 23:04:42	Being identifiable doesn't mean making no changes. A lot of races that had dark or lowlight vision in 3e didn't have them in 4e for example. In 3e darkvision was incredibly common not because it made sense for most races to have it, but because of the way creature types worked just about anything that wasn't a plain jane humanoid got it automatically, and genasi were native outsiders I think. These days your creature types are a lot more fluid. The darkvision ability was not a major or thematic feature of the genasi and removing it on some of them will not render them in any way unrecognizable, if you're really attached to not needing a torch when playing one just replace darkvisions with abilities that serve a similar purpose but are thematically linked ot the genasi's element. You don't have to mind you, I'm just saying don't feel trapped by the way 3e gave everyone and their dog dark vision.   I know you used the tiefling a s a model. I explained why that was a bad idea. You've already broken the pattern with the fire genasi, his cantrip auto-scales making it far more useful at higher levels.    The water genasi also needs a better spell even if your going to stick to that stupid tiefling model, because while create/destroy water has uses certainly, it's not on the same level of usefulness as the others.   Also you should open up multiple options for casting stats for racial abilities, or even just make it highest ability score.