My friend is brand new to D&D and didn't know that we needed 5e stats and she picked a race that was only really fleshed out in 2nd Editon ( http://www.lomion.de/cmm/sirine.php )
I was wondering if anyone had any homebrewed stats or whatnot.
Doesn't seem like anyone's submitted public homebrew for this race (I'm not even sure if that's legal.)
The Dungeon Master's Guide has guidelines for creating new races and subraces and Wizards has a conversion guide. There's also 3 aquatic races in 5e you can use as a starting point (Water Genasi, Tritons and Sea Elves.) That should be more than enough for you to put something together that's comparable to the official options.
Ok, so let's break this down- a race needs the following:
Ability Scores. The things specifically mentioned are that they're beautiful (twice), normally associated with Charisma bumps, they have high dexterity, and high intelligence. Normal stat buffs would be +2 to 1, +1 to another. Personally I'd give them +2 charisma (their beauty and singing (perform checks) are what they're known for after all) and +1 to either Dex or Int
Alignment. They're listed as "any", so that's fine.
Age. They reach adulthood at 10, and live until 50, which is all you really need to know.
Size. They're Medium, 5-6' tall.
Speed. Walking is 30', all aquatic races I can see also have a swim speed, so a swim speed of 30' would not be inappropriate.
Languages. It's specified they have their own language, and they speak the language of the nearest intelligent races, so Common and something else, personally I'd say Aquan, but if you want it to be "Sirine" or something specific certainly that's fine.
Misc. Abilities. Here's where you have to pick and choose. Certainly the on touch feeblemind effect is OP and has to go. The 120' darkvision is a bit much as well, since it's normally only seen on the Drow, whose main draw is that and spell like abilities, and who get Sunlight sensitivity in return. As you're adding in a swim speed and more, 60' darkvision seems much more appropriate. If you want to give them spell like abilities, those normally follow the format of a Cantrip at 1st, 1st level at 3rd, 2nd level at 5th (see Drow and Tieflings). So Fog Cloud or Charm Person is the 3rd level, Invisibility (not improved, but still) could be the 5th, and the Cantrip is free to fit the theme of the lost ones.
So Personally, I'd give them Friends as a Cantrip, Fog Cloud at 3rd, and Invisibility at 5th. This would be in addition to 60' Darkvision, the Swim Speed, and Proficiency in Perform. That for me would make it a fun, interesting, and *balanced* racial option. If you felt that was still underpowered (I really don't think it is), I'd take their immunity to gas attacks and turn it into advantage on saving throws vs gas or impure air based effects.
Ok, so let's break this down- a race needs the following:
Ability Scores. The things specifically mentioned are that they're beautiful (twice), normally associated with Charisma bumps, they have high dexterity, and high intelligence. Normal stat buffs would be +2 to 1, +1 to another. Personally I'd give them +2 charisma (their beauty and singing (perform checks) are what they're known for after all) and +1 to either Dex or Int
Agreed. "Your Charisma score increases by 2 and your Dexterity or Intelligence score increases by 1."
Alignment. They're listed as "any", so that's fine.
Age. They reach adulthood at 10, and live until 50, which is all you really need to know.
Size. They're Medium, 5-6' tall.
Speed. Walking is 30', all aquatic races I can see also have a swim speed, so a swim speed of 30' would not be inappropriate.
Languages. It's specified they have their own language, and they speak the language of the nearest intelligent races, so Common and something else, personally I'd say Aquan, but if you want it to be "Sirine" or something specific certainly that's fine.
I would say one of two slightly different things depending on whether or not I wanted them to have their own language. If I did, "You can speak, read, and write Common, Sirene, and one other language of your choice, typically one spoken by an intelligent race that lives near where you grew up." If not, replace Sirene with Aquan.
Misc. Abilities. Here's where you have to pick and choose. Certainly the on touch feeblemind effect is OP and has to go. The 120' darkvision is a bit much as well, since it's normally only seen on the Drow, whose main draw is that and spell like abilities, and who get Sunlight sensitivity in return. As you're adding in a swim speed and more, 60' darkvision seems much more appropriate.
Agreed, but do you think the feeblemind effect could be a racial feat?
If you want to give them spell like abilities, those normally follow the format of a Cantrip at 1st, 1st level at 3rd, 2nd level at 5th (see Drow and Tieflings). So Fog Cloud or Charm Person is the 3rd level, Invisibility (not improved, but still) could be the 5th, and the Cantrip is free to fit the theme of the lost ones.
So Personally, I'd give them Friends as a Cantrip, Fog Cloud at 3rd, and Invisibility at 5th. This would be in addition to 60' Darkvision, the Swim Speed, and Proficiency in Perform. That for me would make it a fun, interesting, and *balanced* racial option. If you felt that was still underpowered (I really don't think it is), I'd take their immunity to gas attacks and turn it into advantage on saving throws vs gas or impure air based effects.
Hope that helps!
We agree on the Performance proficiency, but we disagree on the magical abilities, and you forgot to mention the water breathing. "You can cast charm person on each creature within 30 feet of you that can hear you. Once you have done so with this trait, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest. Starting at 3rd level, you can cast disguise self or fog cloud. Once you cast one of those two spells with this trait, you can't cast either until you finish a long rest. Your spellcasting ability for all three spells is Charisma (spell save DC = 8 + your Charisma modifier + your proficiency bonus)." Then make a racial feat that lets them cast disguise selfandfog cloud with that trait, as well as invisibility, all only once per long rest, of course.
Probably a bit stronger than the triton, but I don't think it's completely unbalanced. Playtesting will be necessary.
If it turns out to be too strong, give it a disadvantage based on that line about withering away if confined away from water, then retest.
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"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Your stuff looks good, probably OP imho, but not so OP as to actually be problematic, and more flavorful than my version for sure. As for the water breathing, sorry I assumed a swim speed implied water breathing, did I miss something and it doesn't anymore? If so then yeah obviously it would need water breathing as well.
A swimming speed doesn't grant water breathing. It (usually) increases how far you can swim, lets you swim for 8 hours and in depths deeper than 100 feet, and lets you make melee weapon attacks underwater without disadvantage using any weapon instead of just a select few.
My friend is brand new to D&D and didn't know that we needed 5e stats and she picked a race that was only really fleshed out in 2nd Editon ( http://www.lomion.de/cmm/sirine.php )
I was wondering if anyone had any homebrewed stats or whatnot.
Doesn't seem like anyone's submitted public homebrew for this race (I'm not even sure if that's legal.)
The Dungeon Master's Guide has guidelines for creating new races and subraces and Wizards has a conversion guide. There's also 3 aquatic races in 5e you can use as a starting point (Water Genasi, Tritons and Sea Elves.) That should be more than enough for you to put something together that's comparable to the official options.
The Forum Infestation (TM)
Ok, so let's break this down- a race needs the following:
Ability Scores. The things specifically mentioned are that they're beautiful (twice), normally associated with Charisma bumps, they have high dexterity, and high intelligence. Normal stat buffs would be +2 to 1, +1 to another. Personally I'd give them +2 charisma (their beauty and singing (perform checks) are what they're known for after all) and +1 to either Dex or Int
Alignment. They're listed as "any", so that's fine.
Age. They reach adulthood at 10, and live until 50, which is all you really need to know.
Size. They're Medium, 5-6' tall.
Speed. Walking is 30', all aquatic races I can see also have a swim speed, so a swim speed of 30' would not be inappropriate.
Languages. It's specified they have their own language, and they speak the language of the nearest intelligent races, so Common and something else, personally I'd say Aquan, but if you want it to be "Sirine" or something specific certainly that's fine.
Misc. Abilities. Here's where you have to pick and choose. Certainly the on touch feeblemind effect is OP and has to go. The 120' darkvision is a bit much as well, since it's normally only seen on the Drow, whose main draw is that and spell like abilities, and who get Sunlight sensitivity in return. As you're adding in a swim speed and more, 60' darkvision seems much more appropriate. If you want to give them spell like abilities, those normally follow the format of a Cantrip at 1st, 1st level at 3rd, 2nd level at 5th (see Drow and Tieflings). So Fog Cloud or Charm Person is the 3rd level, Invisibility (not improved, but still) could be the 5th, and the Cantrip is free to fit the theme of the lost ones.
So Personally, I'd give them Friends as a Cantrip, Fog Cloud at 3rd, and Invisibility at 5th. This would be in addition to 60' Darkvision, the Swim Speed, and Proficiency in Perform. That for me would make it a fun, interesting, and *balanced* racial option. If you felt that was still underpowered (I really don't think it is), I'd take their immunity to gas attacks and turn it into advantage on saving throws vs gas or impure air based effects.
Hope that helps!
Well, the conversion guide is certainly helpful, thank you for that along with the tips.
Oh, I almost forgot. You should check out James Introcaso's "Design Workshop: Races" article too.
The Forum Infestation (TM)
Agreed. "Your Charisma score increases by 2 and your Dexterity or Intelligence score increases by 1."
I would say one of two slightly different things depending on whether or not I wanted them to have their own language. If I did, "You can speak, read, and write Common, Sirene, and one other language of your choice, typically one spoken by an intelligent race that lives near where you grew up." If not, replace Sirene with Aquan.
Agreed, but do you think the feeblemind effect could be a racial feat?
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
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The Forum Infestation (TM)
Your stuff looks good, probably OP imho, but not so OP as to actually be problematic, and more flavorful than my version for sure. As for the water breathing, sorry I assumed a swim speed implied water breathing, did I miss something and it doesn't anymore? If so then yeah obviously it would need water breathing as well.
A swimming speed doesn't grant water breathing. It (usually) increases how far you can swim, lets you swim for 8 hours and in depths deeper than 100 feet, and lets you make melee weapon attacks underwater without disadvantage using any weapon instead of just a select few.
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Welp my friend decided to just use an air genasai but thank you to everyone who gave their input and information.