People dislike the ardlings because they are another of the "here are a SET of creatures", rather than one species. It works better when you do it subspecies - i.e. write up High Elves, followed by Wood Elves, etc. When you do it as 'one species with options', you are saving space but dropping all the cultural role play.
It's not a minor cosmetic change. I'm talking about a whole new race that has different stat boosts and different abilities. For example, how would I make a kisune that has the power to change between fox and humanoid, using one off those races.
Play a Druid or any class that can learn Polymorph. It's not like there's any existing races that do that kind of shapeshifting in any case, so honestly that might just be outside of the scope WotC is using.
Not familiar with the new 3rd party options that became available on DDB but maybe they have something to fit? Or another third party product that your DM might allow?
I really don’t think WotC will add such races at this point. Someone mentioned Aardling, which they said might reappear at some point after the 2024 update. But that could be years and we don’t know what it would look like.
Ah, if you care about the traditional powers rather than the appearance, it is not that hard to do. Here is how WoTC does the powerful races.
1) Start by picking their traditional powers out. Strip out the stuff too powerful and give the weaker stuff to the 1st level characters.
2) Give them a racial ability similar to Drow Magic where they get a cantrip at 1st, a once per long rest first level spell at 3rd level and a once per long rest second level spell at 5th level. This acts as a balancing effect while restoring some of the too powerful stuff.
3) Finally make a/several feat(s) that grant the remaining over-powered stuff, such as the Drow High Magic feat.
Kitsune, they are supposed to gain power as they grow older, which can just be accounted for by taking levels of Sorcerer/Wizard, etc. No need to put in all the flying, invisibility, etc. powers. Those are from normal spells.
From wikipedia, a Kitsune should have superior intelligence (+2 int) and beautiful (+1 Cha), the ability to transform into a fox (no need to change hp or stats like they do with most shapechangers, foxes are week. Just grant them the keen hearing, burrow, and darkvision, along with appearance).
Decide how powerful this transform is - if you make it weak enough 1/day you can probably give it for free, otherwise make it part of the Kitsune Magic, it can be the thing they get when they hit 5th level. The Kitsune are known for being charming, so make Charm Person the first level spell granted by the Kitsune Magic abilty, granted at 3rd level. Perhaps the cantrip dancing lights to go with the will of the whisps legends.
D&D foxes are proficient in stealth and perception, I might give them a free stealth proficiency in humanoid form but not perception. The perception proficiency could just exist in fox form.
Throw in a descriptor line somewhere along the line of at every even level after 3rd they gain an extra tail in Fox form, maxing out at 9 tails (2 at 4rd, ... 9 tails at 18th or higher level)
I suggest NOT giving them Darkvision in human form. They have it in fox form and so many races already get it, it's kind of a cliche.
Maybe throw in a Feat (Kitsune Possesion, prereq= being Kitsune), to account for the legends of kitsune possessing people. Not sure if it should be Dominate Person like ability, the ability to make themselves look like a specific person in human form, or actually take possesion of someone. Note, it should of course be only a little better than a regular feat, so looking like someone should work most of the time while a Dominate or Possesion like abilty should have a relative low DC making them unreliable.
I would definitely not give them the ability to use Dominate or otherwise possess people. Make them take the appropriate class if they want to be able to do that.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
It's not a minor cosmetic change. I'm talking about a whole new race that has different stat boosts and different abilities. For example, how would I make a kisune that has the power to change between fox and humanoid, using one off those races.
uhm, can’t kitsune do this anyway? Am I mistaken in that? I genuinely thought kitsune had a fox form and a humanoid form and could shift between the two.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
It's not a minor cosmetic change. I'm talking about a whole new race that has different stat boosts and different abilities. For example, how would I make a kisune that has the power to change between fox and humanoid, using one off those races.
uhm, can’t kitsune do this anyway? Am I mistaken in that? I genuinely thought kitsune had a fox form and a humanoid form and could shift between the two.
Because we're talking about a hypothetical kitsune player character race and what abilities it would have, which will not be a 1/1 match for mythology.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
It's not a minor cosmetic change. I'm talking about a whole new race that has different stat boosts and different abilities. For example, how would I make a kisune that has the power to change between fox and humanoid, using one off those races.
uhm, can’t kitsune do this anyway? Am I mistaken in that? I genuinely thought kitsune had a fox form and a humanoid form and could shift between the two.
Because we're talking about a hypothetical kitsune player character race and what abilities it would have, which will not be a 1/1 match for mythology.
actually while searching for it online, I think I’ve getting mixed up with Pathfinder. Pathfinder has a kitsune that can do this, and I think my brain just inserted it into D&D for some reason.
Sorry about that.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
I found a hombrew race that's fairly close to what I want, it's just that I would like it to be in the dnd official content. But thanks for your advice I might make a race using that format at some point
I'd just use the Wildhunt Shifter, personally. It has similar features to what I'd associate with a fox and doesn't necessitate homebrew potential for imbalance.
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Can we get some beastkin races, like the kitsune or a wolfkin? And I mean the ones that only have the ears and tails.
Aarakocra (eagle), Shifters(multi), Tabaxi (cat), Giff (hippo), Hadozee (Monkey), Harengon (Rabbit), Kenku (crow), Leonin (lion), Loxodon (elephant), Minotaur (bull), owlin (owl), tortle (turtle), Yuan-ti (snake)
I might include Satyrs (goat), as well.
Probably make for an interesting campagin if you only used these races.
If you are so set on just the ears and tails, that would be a minor cosmetic change, easily done, that will not affect anything else.
Also lizard folk, and if you want to count satyrs you can also add centaurs for horses.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Also those freaky Ardling guys. Are those still a thing, or did they get cut from the playtest?
Terra Lubridia archive:
The Bloody Barnacle | The Gut | The Athene Crusader | The Jewel of Atlantis
Didn't make it out of playtest; they're not gone, but people didn't like them for the PHB for some reason. I dunno, I thought it as a good concept.
People dislike the ardlings because they are another of the "here are a SET of creatures", rather than one species. It works better when you do it subspecies - i.e. write up High Elves, followed by Wood Elves, etc. When you do it as 'one species with options', you are saving space but dropping all the cultural role play.
Custom Lineage
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
It's not the same
It's not a minor cosmetic change. I'm talking about a whole new race that has different stat boosts and different abilities. For example, how would I make a kisune that has the power to change between fox and humanoid, using one off those races.
Play a Druid or any class that can learn Polymorph. It's not like there's any existing races that do that kind of shapeshifting in any case, so honestly that might just be outside of the scope WotC is using.
Yeah, if you're going by Japanese lore, kitsune are way too powerful to be a PC race.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Not familiar with the new 3rd party options that became available on DDB but maybe they have something to fit? Or another third party product that your DM might allow?
I really don’t think WotC will add such races at this point. Someone mentioned Aardling, which they said might reappear at some point after the 2024 update. But that could be years and we don’t know what it would look like.
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
Cool, cool. Thanks.
Terra Lubridia archive:
The Bloody Barnacle | The Gut | The Athene Crusader | The Jewel of Atlantis
Ah, if you care about the traditional powers rather than the appearance, it is not that hard to do. Here is how WoTC does the powerful races.
1) Start by picking their traditional powers out. Strip out the stuff too powerful and give the weaker stuff to the 1st level characters.
2) Give them a racial ability similar to Drow Magic where they get a cantrip at 1st, a once per long rest first level spell at 3rd level and a once per long rest second level spell at 5th level. This acts as a balancing effect while restoring some of the too powerful stuff.
3) Finally make a/several feat(s) that grant the remaining over-powered stuff, such as the Drow High Magic feat.
Kitsune, they are supposed to gain power as they grow older, which can just be accounted for by taking levels of Sorcerer/Wizard, etc. No need to put in all the flying, invisibility, etc. powers. Those are from normal spells.
From wikipedia, a Kitsune should have superior intelligence (+2 int) and beautiful (+1 Cha), the ability to transform into a fox (no need to change hp or stats like they do with most shapechangers, foxes are week. Just grant them the keen hearing, burrow, and darkvision, along with appearance).
Decide how powerful this transform is - if you make it weak enough 1/day you can probably give it for free, otherwise make it part of the Kitsune Magic, it can be the thing they get when they hit 5th level. The Kitsune are known for being charming, so make Charm Person the first level spell granted by the Kitsune Magic abilty, granted at 3rd level. Perhaps the cantrip dancing lights to go with the will of the whisps legends.
D&D foxes are proficient in stealth and perception, I might give them a free stealth proficiency in humanoid form but not perception. The perception proficiency could just exist in fox form.
Throw in a descriptor line somewhere along the line of at every even level after 3rd they gain an extra tail in Fox form, maxing out at 9 tails (2 at 4rd, ... 9 tails at 18th or higher level)
I suggest NOT giving them Darkvision in human form. They have it in fox form and so many races already get it, it's kind of a cliche.
Maybe throw in a Feat (Kitsune Possesion, prereq= being Kitsune), to account for the legends of kitsune possessing people. Not sure if it should be Dominate Person like ability, the ability to make themselves look like a specific person in human form, or actually take possesion of someone. Note, it should of course be only a little better than a regular feat, so looking like someone should work most of the time while a Dominate or Possesion like abilty should have a relative low DC making them unreliable.
I would definitely not give them the ability to use Dominate or otherwise possess people. Make them take the appropriate class if they want to be able to do that.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
uhm, can’t kitsune do this anyway? Am I mistaken in that? I genuinely thought kitsune had a fox form and a humanoid form and could shift between the two.
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Because we're talking about a hypothetical kitsune player character race and what abilities it would have, which will not be a 1/1 match for mythology.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
actually while searching for it online, I think I’ve getting mixed up with Pathfinder. Pathfinder has a kitsune that can do this, and I think my brain just inserted it into D&D for some reason.
Sorry about that.
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
I found a hombrew race that's fairly close to what I want, it's just that I would like it to be in the dnd official content. But thanks for your advice I might make a race using that format at some point
I'd just use the Wildhunt Shifter, personally. It has similar features to what I'd associate with a fox and doesn't necessitate homebrew potential for imbalance.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.