Joey's Character Creation Race and Stats This is a set of rules that I plan on using for my campaign. I want every class and race combination to be viable in some manner. I feel like 5e's baseline rules leave a lot to be desired. Feel free to pick and choose whatever you like for your campaign. The detect balance sheet has been integral to me understanding racial abilities when my common sense didn't help. I recomend it to anyone trying to make races/subraces. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vq1kz6PRAbw5LHy6amH-bNb4OuB8DBXL1RsZROt03Sc/edit#gid=0 Darkvision Darkness and night will play an integral role is some part of this campaign. The fear of darkness, and by extension the unknown, is something that should be palpable. However, its greatly diminished when the entire party can see even under a new moon that gives off no light. All races that have the Darkvision trait replace it with the Low-Light Vision trait. Superior Darkvision remains the same. Low-Light Vision. Your ancestors evolved to spend a majority of their time in areas that lacked light. Whether from living in expansive cave systems, hunting at night, or never leaving a thick forest canopy, their, and your, eyes can easily adjust to darker than normal conditions. You can see in Dim Light without impeding your vision from up to 60ft away. Stats Generation: Everyone is a first level character and are to use 27 point buy. You're just a cut above the rest. You receive a Feat. You should have a good idea what your character will be up to level 3. Talk to me about this and I'll help you out. For example, if you want to make an eldritch knight, I'll let you take magic initiate and then swap it for another feat when you actually get the subclass. This is to help build a stronger identity for your character even before their major architype. Bonuses: Even with a genetic disposition, not everyone from the same race is the same. When adding ASI's from your race, you can choose to move one point from any bonus to another ability that does not receive a racial bonus. For example: a half-orc wasn't as big as his sisters, but was actually an astute student and went to university. You can choose to forgo your +1 CON bonus, or turn your +2 bonus in STR into a +1. In return, you can add +1 to your INT score. Languages: Just because your relatives do doesn't mean you can speak the uncommon languages on your racial list. Any feature that racial feature that forces you to take a language that isn't common, think of it as a thematic suggestion for the average member of your race. Also, the feature is replaced with "You learn a language of your choice". Did your teifling's complexion have people constantly assume they could speak infernal, much to their displeasure? Not everyone is bilingual. While you should take common, if you wish, you can trade any language past that for a tool proficiency. Also consider if your character is literate in all the languages he speaks. Can your elven druid actually read common or only speak with a broken druidic accent? Maybe this got him into trouble with the inquisitors in the first place. Powerful Build: Some races, like Goliaths and Orcs, are actually large creatures scaled down to medium and given a feature "Powerful Build" to make up for it. In addition, any race that has this feature or equivalent may raise their Strength 2 points higher than their ability score ceiling (i.e. 22 max Strength unless it's been raised by features or magic.) This feature does have a creature count as one size larger for the purposes of grappling. Alignment Anyone who says this word not in reference to how a set of paintings line up on a wall has to reroll their character. Just because someone is a Devotion Paladin doesn't make them a paragon of excellence and the color of a wyrm's scales don't determine if they like to torture prisoners. A devil may decide to strike a deal with you that's heavily in their favor, but that's only because that's the environment they lived in for all their existence, not because they're incapable of feeling sympathy.

Dwarf When playing a dwarf, you can choose duergar as a subrace. Duergar In cities deep in the Underdark live the duergar, ar gray dwarves. These vicious, stealthy slave traders raid the surface world for captives, then sell their prey to the other races of the Underdark. They have innate magical abilities lo become invisible and to temporarily grow to giant size. Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score is increased by 1. Superior Darkvision. You have darkvision with a radius of 120 feet. Sunlight Sensitivity. You have disadvantage on attack rolls and on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight when you, the target of your attack, or whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct sunlight. Duergar Magic. When you reach the 3rd level, you can cast Invisibility on yourself. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the enlarge portion of Enlarge/reduce requiring no concentration. These spells require no material components, you regain their use on a long rest, and Charisma is your spellcasting ability for them. Half-Orc This race has been split into two subraces. Depending on your heritage you will have different traits. Their common traits are as follows. Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Constitution score increases by 1. Size. Half-Orcs are somewhat larger and bulkier than humans, and they range from 5 to well over 6 feet tall. Your size is Medium. Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet. Menacing. You gain proficiency in the Intimidation skill. Relentless Endurance. When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can drop to 1 hit point instead. You can’t use this feature again until you finish a Long Rest. Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Orc. Cave-Dweller Your ancestors were oppressed and pushed off the surface, mainly taking shelter in cave systems. With a darker grey toned skin, you almost look like the rocks they called home. Low-Light Vision. Your ancestors evolved to spend a majority of their time in cave systems. Their, and your, eyes can easily adjust to darker than normal conditions. You can see in dim light without impeding your vision from up to 60ft away. Greyskinned. Rather than the more direct approach more aggressive top-side kin, your kind frequently ambushed unexpecting wanderers for loot and captives. You can attempt to hide while only lightly obscured in dim light. Survivor. Having lived in squalid conditions, cave orcs are easily able to stalk prey like their life depends on it. You have proficiency in the Survival skill. Plain-Swarmer When people think of the terrible orc horde that ravaged the nearby village, you're what reminds them of it. While the greys prefer a slightly more subtle approach, those tinted green to brown would rather run their enemy down and out of their lands in a pure test of numbers and stamina. Tenacious. Plain-Swarmers never seem to tire, running entire routed armies into the dirt. You can use your Relentless Endurance feature once per Short Rest. Savage Attacks. When you score a critical hit with a melee weapon Attack, you can roll one of the weapon’s damage dice one additional time and add it to the extra damage of the critical hit. Halfling Halflings feel like they're missing a racial feature. So eat up you dumb hobbit loving schmuck. Shifty. Most people aren't used to a halfling's dexterous movement. When a creature you can see hits you with an attack roll, you can use your reaction to force that creature to reroll. Once you use this ability, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest.

Human A wise man once said: "Humans are the most

adaptable and ambitious people among the common

races. They have widely varying tastes, morals, and

customs in the many different lands where they have settled." That means there should be exemplars in every field that are human, not being adequate at everything Ability Score Increase. One score of your choice increases by 2, and two others increase by 1. Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common. Diverse Heritage. Each human has unique features. You could have trained in a monastary with monks for a time, or possibly you were a little faster than all your childhood friends, or maybe your great grand daddy fucked a succubus. Any way, pick traits from this list with a sum of

Trait Points equal to 4. TP Minor Traits 1 Choice of language 1 Tool Proficiency 2 Skill Proficiency 2 Thaumaturgy, Prestidigitation, or Druidcraft 2 35ft movement speed 2 1d4 unarmed strike 1 Advantage against disease 1 Acclimatized to either hot or cold environment 2 Healing Hands (once per long rest, touch a creature to heal them HP equal to your level) TP Major Traits 3 Petpal (Speak with Animals at will) 3 Choice of any cantrip except E.B. (Use that class's casting stat) 3 level 1 spell from any list. Castable once a long rest (Use that class's casting stat) 3 Resistance to Radiant, Psychic, Thunder, Cold, Lightning, Necrotic, or Acid damage 4 Resistance to Fire or Poison damage 3 Sure-Footed (adv. vs being knocked prone) 3 30 ft low-light vision 3 2 Weapon proficiencies 3 Can breath air and water 4 Relentless Endurance 4 Light armor proficiency Flavor Think of how you got these abilities. For example, Healing hands could either be from aasimar blood in your heritage, or priest training that never quite culminated in a class level. Low-light vision could have been from elven relatives, a potion gone awry, or being born under the full moon on a summer solstice. Some of these options are clearly more magical than others. But with just a bit of descriptive text, you can make even a mundane proficiency interesting. Maybe you're Intimidating because you have orcish fangs. You could have learned abyssal from a demonic tome in an old library. Don't be afraid to describe your character as more than just stats and a proficiency checkbox. Embrace the other half of this game and really make a character.

Genasi Air and Earth Genasi suffer from the same problem as halflings. They simply lack enough stuff, especially compared to water and fire. They're missing a resistance and a cantrip. Air Genasi Gust is a very minor cantrip, but casting Levitate Before level 3 makes up for it. Air Resistance. You gain resistance your choice to Lightning or Thunder damage. Mingle with the Wind. In addition casting levitate, you know the Gust cantrip. Earth Genasi Earth Genasi is objectively the weakest "standard" race next to PHB human. I want it to follow the basic Genasi "Resistance, ribbon, cantrip, non-damage spell". Also why don't they know Mold Earth, but do know Pass without a Trace? I added a resistance and reworked their flavor and magic. Earthen Carapace. As a reaction to being hit with an attack, you can harden your skin into your elemental heritage. You gain resistance to bludgeoning, slashing, and piercing damage until the start of your next turn. Sure-footed. You have advantage on checks to resist forced movement or being knocked prone. Merge with Stone. You know the Mold Earth cantrip. At level 3, you can cast Meld into Stone, but with a casting time of 10 minutes. After you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you complete a long rest. Aasimar Have always been a little too good. Not disgusting like Yuan-ti, but more than they should be. So, Celestial Resistance is no longer a trait for the baseline race. Instead: Protector & Scourge Aasimar Radiant Resistance. You have resistance to Radiant damage. Fallen Aasimar Necrotic Resistance. You have resistance to Necrotic damage. Kenku Again, this race feels like its missing a feature, but not as badly in comparison to halflings or those two genasi. So, they now have this ribbon that should have synergy with the fact that they're generally forgers and mimics. Eidetic memory. You can accurately recall anything you've perceived in the past week. Lizard Folk Permanent mage armor, swim speed, 1d6 bonus attack, 2 skills, and hold breath are not too powerful on their own, but the race itself is so loaded it needs a tiny bit of fat trimmed. At the same time, I don't want to remove what makes them unique. Hunter's Lore. You gain proficiency with one of the following skills of your choice: Animal Handling, Nature, Perception, Stealth, and Survival Tabaxi Just this one little tidbit feels like an oversight to me. Cat's Claws. Because of your claws, you have a climbing speed of 20 feet. In addition, your claws are natural weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with them, you deal slashing damage equal to ld4 + your Strength or Dexterity modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike. Bugbear If you think I'm letting reach stay in the game as is you're out of your mind. Instead of Long-Limbed., you gain the following feature: Lunge. Your race is terrifyingly quick on their feet, striking from a distance their enemies think is safe. When you take the Attack action to make a melee attack, you can move 10ft without provoking Attacks of Opportunity, provided you are closer the enemy you attack. If the attack hits, you deal an extra 1d6 damage of your weapon type. Once you use this feature you cannot use it again until you finish a short rest. Goblin I'll be honest, I like goblins. I don't mean trash tier unga-bunga goblins only meant as a minion that might as well have 1hp, but scheming and cunning little green shits that use their size and wits to their advantage. So maybe they don't need a buff, but I think they do. Sue me. One of these features is based off of another homebrew rule in this guide, so you've been forewarned. As a Goblin, pick one of the following changes to your racial features: Seething Fury of the Small. When you damage a creature with an attack or a spell and the creature's size is larger than yours, you can cause the attack or spell to deal extra damage to the creature. The extra damage equals a number of d4's equal to half your level (Rounded up). Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest. Slippery. [You count as two sizes larger when using Dexterity to Escape a grapple. Additionally, once per short rest, you can use your action to Flee.] {not RAW, but still works} When you Flee, your movement speed increases by 10ft and you benefit from the Dash and Disengage actions. Natural Sneak. You gain two proficiencies from Stealth, Sleight of hand, or Deception.

Hobgoblin A decent race and the main issue with strange stats has been fixed with the stat bonus rule I've implemented. I've just given their unique racial a minor buff for their "commander" type ideal. Saving Face. Hobgoblins are careful not to show weakness in front of their allies, for fear of losing status. Likewise, your allies wish to show you the best of their abilities while in their presence. If you miss with an attack roll or fail an ability check or a saving throw, you can gain a bonus to the roll equal to the number of allies you can see within 30 feet of you. Or, you can instead use your reaction when an ally of yours within 30 feet misses an attack. They gain a bonus to the attack equal to the allies they can see within 30 feet of them. The maximum bonus of either ability is +5. Once you use either ability of this trait, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest. Kobold I have a serious issue with how dumb a lot of media portrays these guys, much like goblins. At their best, stepping into a kobold cave is a suicide mission that ends with a multitude of crossbow bolts sticking out of your corpse. But at their worst, they're mongrel rat-folk with a god damn candle on their head. Aside from flavor, Volo's gave them some of the worst racial traits I've seen, including standard humans. It's funny that a race with Pack Tactics isn't actually good. Here is a reworked class for the Little Dragons. Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2, and your choice of Intelligence or Wisdom increases by 1. Size. Kobolds are between 2 and 3 feet tall and weigh between 25 and 35 pounds. Your size is Small. Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet. Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray. Pack Tactics. You have advantage on an attack roll against a creature if at least one of your allies is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn't incapacitated. Draconic Ancestry. You have draconic ancestry. Choose one type of dragon from the Draconic Ancestry table. Your damage resistance is determined by the dragon type, as shown in the table. Draconic Ancestry Resistance Type Dragon Acid Black, Copper Lightning Blue, Bronze Fire Red, Brass, Gold Poison Green, Lead Cold Silver, White Sunlight Sensitivity. You have disadvantage on attack rolls and on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight when you, the target of your attack, or whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct sunlight. Little Dragon. Whenever you make a Charisma check when interacting with dragons, your proficiency bonus is doubled if it applies to the check. Additionally, when you make an Intelligence or Wisdom check regarding figuring out an item's worth, you can add double your proficiency bonus, even if you do not have proficiency. Scaled. Your scales provide you a baseline AC of 12 + your Dexterity modifier when you do not wear armor. Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Draconic.