So, as the title says, this character comes from a long-time game I used to play with several friends. The game started out as Rollmaster but ended up in a world that combined Rollmaster, D&D, Warhammer, Warhammer 40k, Star Trek, Star Wars, and many other roll playing games. We just kind of combined all these worlds into one universe.
The Draconic Plane of existence:
1000's of years ago a techno mage decided to create perfect warriors in order to raise an army to invade and conquer all the lands he had access to. His desires were to become the supreme ruler of all. He created a plane of existence that was floating islands and small continents, and he placed humans in them. From there he developed his own type of Dragon. The dragons themselves were more powerful than those you might find in most other universes. But by definition, dragons will rarely follow anyone. So, he engineered these dragons to lay special eggs. When the clutch hatched, out would come what appeared to be a human. This would be the army he was wanting.
The draconic humans are hatched looking to be at the age of 18 to 20 years old and extremely beautiful. They were hatched with basic knowledge, allowing them to speak, craft very simple weapons, and an understanding of how to fight. The draconic humans have a limited telepathy that affects human (of their plane of existence) and sometimes other draconic humans. The draconic humans have wings that they can pull inside of themselves. Draconic humans' physiology is different from a normal human. They can't get pregnant. They are engineered to not feel physical pleasure in the same way humans do. They are engineered to not feel remorse. They are engineered to not feel fear. (Instead of fear, they feel rage) Draconic humans can fly when using their wings. Their movement speed without wings is that of a normal human. Their strength is also that of a normal human. (No racial stat bonuses) When flying their movement speed increases, but not by much.
Draconic humans are, for lack of a better term, manavores. They need to consume creatures that have magical abilities. Humans are their primary source of food. In a pinch, they can eat other things such as cattle, pets, or even plants. But without a creature with magical abilities (even if the human is not a magic user, they all have some source of mana) the draconic human will wither and eventually die.
The most common way that a draconic human catches their prey is by using their telepathic abilities. They will find a lone human and land close by, out of sight of the human. Their telepathic ability doesn't let them enthrall or stun their prey. Instead, the draconic human can cause the human to become aroused. The draconic human will them make himself or herself known and attempt to seduce their pray. All draconic humans are basically bi-sexual so they will seduce anyone. Once they feel that they are in a position to strike without fear of much resistance, they will kill then eat their prey. (Often, they will release their wings when they feel they have their prey under control, this allows the human to see the draconic human as more "angelic")
Draconic humans do not work well with each other. They have been known to attack and eat other draconic humans. Their cycle is about 10 years before they will undergo the transformation, allowing them to become a dragon themselves. As a dragon, they are then able to reproduce. Some draconic humans find they have no desire to undergo the transformation. There are two ways of stopping it. One way is by sheer will alone. This has a very low success rate, around 5% of draconic humans are able to stop the transformation by will alone. The other way is to find one of the techno mages that will, on rare occasion, visit the draconic plane. They can easily stop the transformation. But they can be very hard to find and most people on this plane of existence feel that the techno mages are nothing more than a myth while others consider them to be gods.
The experiment was ultimately abandoned and considered a failure. The draconic humans were to focused on food rather than fighting in wars. They also had little desire to learn how to use their magical abilities or to learn new things. Because their cycle was so short, building up a civilization that had technology was deemed impossible. While a few draconic humans do show promise every 3 or 4 generations, that was not enough to create the grand army the original designer wanted. The designer of this realm was eventually killed, leaving his experiment to continue.
This is a very basic run down of the draconic human. My last attempt to describe this race was misunderstood by a lot of people. So, I decided to try it again, this time from a DM's side of things rather than a player's view of things. If a player decides to use a draconic human as a race, the character is not going to have all of this information. I could write a book on this race as it has been fully fleshed out, including the history of this plane of existence from the perspective of the humans, the dragons, the draconic humans, the techno mages, and even the original designer.
My goal is to bring one of the draconic humans into the Forgotten Realms. I have many ideas how that could happen. I just wanted to post this for feedback, questions I might have missed, and a place to direct DM's so they can read about this race.
The "clan" part refers to her hatching group. When a clutch hatches, it is very typical for them to form a clan. Often the clan becomes more of a hinderance as the draconic's are not above cannibalism. I also would like to point out that while I was rather explicit in my explanation, I do not play her as "pure sex". When she arrives in the Forgotten Realms, she is going to have a small understanding that her telepathic powers are not going to work on humans here. She was abandoned by her clan because she was not normal. She actually felt bad for eating "nice" people. She never had a problem eating people who were not nice.
I also have the backstory for how she came into the Forgotten Realms that would not be world breaking by any means. This backstory would allow me to place her in the Forgotten Realms at pretty much any level really. So, she would not need to start out at level one.
What are your opinions on this character? Do you think most DM's would allow her? What are some more improvements that can be made that would not make her OP?
The fluff, as the above poster says, is going to be entirely up to your DM. At a glance, this might be a lot of work to incorporate into an existing world, but some people will be fine with that.
I do think some parts are strange. It’s impossible to say they are born beautiful. That’s an objective opinion. Not everyone on earth has the same idea of what a beautiful human is, add other species into the mix, and it gets even more complicated.
Also, if I were DMing, the whole sex predator thing would be a hard sell, but again, ask your DM.
But to answer if it’s OP or not, you’d need to explain the species mechanics. What, exactly, can it do? That’s the kind of thing we can give you an opinion on.
So, I have been told before that Azrealla and the draconic race were WAY to overpowered and that most DM's would not allow her in their game. I am trying to work within that advice and craft her within the Forgotten Realms as Draconic but modified. My goal is to have DM's look at this character, understand that she is basically a human with functional dragon wings that will feed on the recently fallen. I would LOVE to incorporate the idea that if she doesn't feed, she will end up withering and eventually dying of hunger. But that does mean more work for a DM so I am not going to push that aspect of her. I also figured out a way to negate her telepathy even though it was minimal to begin with.
The beautiful part means a species bonus to Charisma. That is what that boils down to.
The sex predator I really tried to tone down a LOT. Azrealla was cut off from her clan and abandoned because she did not like killing and eating innocent people. Put an evil person in front of her and its game on. Because her telepathy doesn't work on people in the Forgotten Realms, she is going to have to find other ways of getting prey. My ideas on that is she can feed on fallen enemies. Her species does need creatures with mana for her to survive. Even if she comes across a plant-based enemy and defeats it, she will feast on it before the mana drains from it. The only reason she ate humans was because in her realm, that was the only species available to her. In the forgotten realms we have human, elf, orc, and tons of other creatures that are not cut off from the weave.
Why not just make a character once you have a game, working with that DM to make things work? All the advice in the world means squat compared to what the DM sat in front of you says.
So, I have been told before that Azrealla and the draconic race were WAY to overpowered and that most DM's would not allow her in their game. I am trying to work within that advice and craft her within the Forgotten Realms as Draconic but modified. My goal is to have DM's look at this character, understand that she is basically a human with functional dragon wings that will feed on the recently fallen. I would LOVE to incorporate the idea that if she doesn't feed, she will end up withering and eventually dying of hunger. But that does mean more work for a DM so I am not going to push that aspect of her. I also figured out a way to negate her telepathy even though it was minimal to begin with.
The beautiful part means a species bonus to Charisma. That is what that boils down to.
The sex predator I really tried to tone down a LOT. Azrealla was cut off from her clan and abandoned because she did not like killing and eating innocent people. Put an evil person in front of her and its game on. Because her telepathy doesn't work on people in the Forgotten Realms, she is going to have to find other ways of getting prey. My ideas on that is she can feed on fallen enemies. Her species does need creatures with mana for her to survive. Even if she comes across a plant-based enemy and defeats it, she will feast on it before the mana drains from it. The only reason she ate humans was because in her realm, that was the only species available to her. In the forgotten realms we have human, elf, orc, and tons of other creatures that are not cut off from the weave.
Does that help clarify things?
Charisma does not equal physical beauty. It never has in any edition. (In 1e there was a short-lived attempt at a comeliness stat, but it was short lived because it's just a bad idea.) Charisma in game is about force of personality. Physical appearance is purely a cosmetic/role playing choice. Also, species no longer get ability score improvements, so its not an issue anymore.
Species with flight are almost routine now. Dragonborn even get functional dragon wings for a few minutes per day. Also, there are species with telepathy (thri-kreen). So neither of those things would be disqualifying in their own right, it would depend on the overall package. Eating fallen enemies is, well, its kind of odd, but that is more of a role play choice.
But, again, what are the actual game mechanics you propose? Read over a few of the species in the PHB or Monster of the Multiverse and see how they list the various powers. Then write down the powers you'd propose for this species and present them. Then we can give opinions on how strong or weak the species is. Everything else is flavor that some DM's may say yes, others may say no and others still may say it will be OK with some changes.
I'll also add, if I were DM'ing and you told me you had a book length amount of lore about a homebrew species, it would give me pause. For one, it's a big main character syndrome red flag if you expect me to adhere to it. Second, I simply would not want to adhere to it. I'm happy to make some small changes to my world to accommodate a player with a cool idea. But when you start talking about changing the cosmology to invent a new plane, that's a lot.
I wouldn't allow that at my table. Telepathy, flight and shapeshifting (essentially)? That's quite a bit too much imo.
What you might do is start from another flying race and just alter the description to preserve balance. As far as the lore, much of that needs to go right out.
I wouldn't allow that at my table. Telepathy, flight and shapeshifting (essentially)? That's quite a bit too much imo.
What you might do is start from another flying race and just alter the description to preserve balance. As far as the lore, much of that needs to go right out.
Enjoy the game!
I have no problem taking criticism. I made this post actively looking for criticism. But it has become apparent to me that you either did not read or you misunderstood my post. Shapeshifting? They only do that once in their life and they have zero control over it. It's not like a Draconic Human is going to be in a fight and suddenly shapeshifts into a full grown golden dragon. And as I said in my original post, Azrealla's telepathy does not work in the Forgotten Realms. So, two of the reasons you would not allow her at your table I have already dealt with.
I would also say that based on your post, I would not want to be at your table. While I know and understand that there are very valid reasons why this race wouldn't be allowed, you named two that I had already addressed. This tells me that you most likely do not listen or only hear what you want to hear. That isn't a DM I would want to have.
I thank you for your feedback. Maybe I need to be more specific with what this race can and can't do in the Forgotten Realms.
The entire sexual predator, cannibalism bit wouldn’t fly at my table. I suspect it wouldn’t fly at most tables so you need generate an alternate that will work and that you can live with. As someone else pointed out comeliness isn’t charisma so the +1 to charisma for “beautiful news” has to go as well. I would also pull the flight - you’ll get it back later as a draconic sorceror anyway. The telepathy actually isn’t a problem - I’ve got an amethyst Dragonborn in a game right now doing telepathy and I do my own versions of psionics as well. If you want to keep (altered) parts of your story yes you could have an alien species from something with portions of your story come to the FR. Personally I would have used the Dragonborn as the warriors descended from dragons. That would allow you to get flight, and dragon breath as developing features at later levels. here is an example: https://www.dndbeyond.com/sheet-pdfs/wcwilson82355_149596163.pdf
As has been said above you’re almost definitely best waiting to find a game and working with that DM to see if you can use this character rather than asking a bunch of randoms on the internet. For example lots of people have given very reasonable adjustments they’d ask for before allow it but they’ve all been very different adjustments based on their table. For me it’s just a flat no you can’t play that character because I don’t allow players to transfer characters from game to game and that might be the same for the DM you finally end up playing with
Why not just make a character once you have a game, working with that DM to make things work? All the advice in the world means squat compared to what the DM sat in front of you says.
I agree with you, 100%. But if I go to a DM with a character that is innately OP'ed to begin with then it doesn't really matter what I say or do, no DM is going to allow her. I am attempting to find balance within the confines of this race. I'm asking the community to look at this race and this character and tell me that I need to tone down the telepathy aspect, that the sexual predator aspect is REALLY not going to fly in most games. I am really not looking for people to point to the tiny brush stokes I have made and criticize that. I am looking for people to look at the painting as a whole and say that I have managed to balance out this race pretty well for the Forgotten Realms. I understand that there are DM's that are not going to allow a custom race. I understand that there are some DM's out there that do not allow certain races within the FR lore because they either don't like them or consider them to be OP'ed to begin with.
Thank you
Basically, I am asking the community is they feel I have managed to balance the draconic human as a race that could possibly exist within the FR.
Basically, I am asking the community is they feel I have managed to balance the draconic human as a race that could possibly exist within the FR.
But you still haven’t said what they can do, so we can’t answer that question. For example, the thri-keen have telepathy. But they don’t just “have telepathy.” They have:
Without the assistance of magic, you can’t speak the non-thri-kreen languages you know. Instead you use telepathy to convey your thoughts. You have the magical ability to transmit your thoughts mentally to willing creatures within 120 feet of yourself. A contacted creature doesn’t need to share a language with you to understand your thoughts, but it must be able to understand at least one language. Your telepathic link to a creature is broken if you and the creature move more than 120 feet apart, if either of you is incapacitated, or if either of you mentally breaks the contact (no action required).
So does your species version of telepathy work like that? Is it different? Explain the actual game mechanics.
Similarly, flight. Is it like a fairy or an owlin that can just fly around with a fly speed equal to their walking speed from day 1? Or is it like a dragonborn or Aasimar where they sprout wings for a limited time as the character level increases? Or like a hadozee where they don’t quite fly, but they can glide?
You need to explain the total package of species benefits, in game mechanics terms, because seeing them in isolation doesn’t tell if something is balanced or not. Some relatively powerful benefits, like flight, can be balanced as long as the rest of what they can do isn’t quite as powerful.
Basically, I am asking the community is they feel I have managed to balance the draconic human as a race that could possibly exist within the FR.
But you still haven’t said what they can do, so we can’t answer that question. For example, the thri-keen have telepathy. But they don’t just “have telepathy.” They have:
Without the assistance of magic, you can’t speak the non-thri-kreen languages you know. Instead you use telepathy to convey your thoughts. You have the magical ability to transmit your thoughts mentally to willing creatures within 120 feet of yourself. A contacted creature doesn’t need to share a language with you to understand your thoughts, but it must be able to understand at least one language. Your telepathic link to a creature is broken if you and the creature move more than 120 feet apart, if either of you is incapacitated, or if either of you mentally breaks the contact (no action required).
So does your species version of telepathy work like that? Is it different? Explain the actual game mechanics.
Similarly, flight. Is it like a fairy or an owlin that can just fly around with a fly speed equal to their walking speed from day 1? Or is it like a dragonborn or Aasimar where they sprout wings for a limited time as the character level increases? Or like a hadozee where they don’t quite fly, but they can glide?
You need to explain the total package of species benefits, in game mechanics terms, because seeing them in isolation doesn’t tell if something is balanced or not. Some relatively powerful benefits, like flight, can be balanced as long as the rest of what they can do isn’t quite as powerful.
Thank you.
Originally the telepathy, when used, would be aimed at a specific person allowing her victim to become more aroused. This allowed the draconic human to more easily incapacitate their victim, they are also able to read surface emotions. (strong emotions such as rage, love, anger...) I was told that this ability was too broad and way to powerful to be used in FR. As such, I considered the fact that the draconic human is a genetically engineered experimental race. Putting a human population would be easy but a failsafe was needed in case a draconic got lose. Thus, they are only able to use their telepathy on the humans from their realm. Azrealla finds that her telepathy doesn't work in the FR. She tries but is not even able to read emotions from sentient beings. This forces her to adapt and try to study faces and body language. When she gets to the FR, she is going to be very naive.
The wings can be withdrawn or retracted at will. They are unable to just fly at will. They use wind gusts to glide in the air; they also have the ability to use updrafts to catch that wind and actually go up. If the wings are out and the draconic human falls on a clear non-windy day, they typically take 1/2 damage as even with no wind they are able to slow decent.
Those are not game terms. If you’re going to ask a DM to accept something, you need to put in the work of what it is you want them to accept. Like, stating at 3rd level, the species can cast Detect Thoughts without using a spell slot. They must complete a long rest before they can do so again.
Making wings pop out at will isn’t useful. You need to say something like, as an action they can choose to extend or retract their wings. Updrafts don’t exist in game, that is to say, there’s no rules adjudicating how they would work in game, and it’s asking a lot for a DM to start inventing and then tracking wind conditions.
Seriously, look at other existing species and write what you want to be able to do like that. If you’re going to design something, you need to actually design it, not just have vague ideas about how you want it to look.
You've been given repeatedly similar responses by multiple users—"I wouldn't allow this at my table and I very much any DM would"—so I'm not entirely sure why you're still belabouring the matter? Your character falls outside the rules for character creation and is thus homebrew. Homebrew is entirely the purview of the DM. So if you want to play this character at a table, you'll have to ask that DM. But based on everyone's responses, I wouldn't hold your breath.
Maybe try remaking this character using just what's in the rules, plus ample flavouring (aka non mechanical changes)?
Basically, I am asking the community is they feel I have managed to balance the draconic human as a race that could possibly exist within the FR.
OK, here would be my first question as a DM. Forget about mechanical balance. Why are you trying to shoehorn this species, cobbled together across years from a handful of other universes and game systems (some with radically different tones than D&D 5e), into a Forgotten Realms campaign?
There are plenty of fine PC species already which you can play. What makes this one so important to you that you have to play it, instead of a dragonborn or a tiefling or whatever?
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Those are not game terms. If you’re going to ask a DM to accept something, you need to put in the work of what it is you want them to accept. Like, stating at 3rd level, the species can cast Detect Thoughts without using a spell slot. They must complete a long rest before they can do so again.
Making wings pop out at will isn’t useful. You need to say something like, as an action they can choose to extend or retract their wings. Updrafts don’t exist in game, that is to say, there’s no rules adjudicating how they would work in game, and it’s asking a lot for a DM to start inventing and then tracking wind conditions.
Seriously, look at other existing species and write what you want to be able to do like that. If you’re going to design something, you need to actually design it, not just have vague ideas about how you want it to look.
I don't have access to the books. I am on SSDI so it's not as if I can afford them. I really am doing the best that I can.
Basically, I am asking the community is they feel I have managed to balance the draconic human as a race that could possibly exist within the FR.
OK, here would be my first question as a DM. Forget about mechanical balance. Why are you trying to shoehorn this species, cobbled together across years from a handful of other universes and game systems (some with radically different tones than D&D 5e), into a Forgotten Realms campaign?
There are plenty of fine PC species already which you can play. What makes this one so important to you that you have to play it, instead of a dragonborn or a tiefling or whatever?
Azrealla is a very important character to me. As I stated, I started playing her about 30 years ago. I believe she started her life in Rolemaster, if you have heard of that game. Rolemaster was broad enough that you could literally have any race you could want. All you needed to do was explain to the DM the backstory of the character or the species. Hell, in rolemaster I once actually played as a kind of Yeti.
I am attempting to find a way to bring her into the FR world in a way that is not game breaking, not having her OP'd, and giving her a chance to succeed. Yes, I could bring her in as a human. I could bring her in as a dragonborn or tiefling. But those really do take away from who she is. I am not bringing her into FR with a ton of knowledge. I did actually try that. The DM's in my area have told me that she is OP'd. They will allow her in a game IF I can balance her and describe a way where she comes into the FR that is not game breaking, that would fall in line with what others have done. (B. Dave Walters, Todd Kenreck are good examples) So, I am really trying to find that balance. I honestly could not figure out a way to tone down her innate telepathy that would make sense. So, I stripped her of it. Her wings and her cannibalism are an important part of who she is. I even have crafted a back story as to why she is in the FR and what her "quest" is. I have a character that is deeply conflicted, new to FR, and her species is not something anyone has ever seen, so she is going to be a curiosity. She never had the ability to breath fire and the Draconic Human looks fully human. Putting her into the FR from her old realm is going to be a culture shock for her. In some ways she is going to seem innocent and wide-eyed at everything she sees. Next, she is going to be a ruthless killer who eats the recently fallen. This is going to give the DM a lot to play with and give the other players a lot to deal with. Add in that she is actually shy, and you have a great group dynamic happening.
In short, I know this character very well, much like Todd knows Avren very well. Can I play other characters? Yes, I can. But when I do, I almost always feel rather detached from the game. That is why I am trying so hard to bring her into FR. All I need to do is balance her. That is all I have ever asked for, help with that balancing.
Those are not game terms. If you’re going to ask a DM to accept something, you need to put in the work of what it is you want them to accept. Like, stating at 3rd level, the species can cast Detect Thoughts without using a spell slot. They must complete a long rest before they can do so again.
Making wings pop out at will isn’t useful. You need to say something like, as an action they can choose to extend or retract their wings. Updrafts don’t exist in game, that is to say, there’s no rules adjudicating how they would work in game, and it’s asking a lot for a DM to start inventing and then tracking wind conditions.
Seriously, look at other existing species and write what you want to be able to do like that. If you’re going to design something, you need to actually design it, not just have vague ideas about how you want it to look.
I don't have access to the books. I am on SSDI so it's not as if I can afford them. I really am doing the best that I can.
The PHB species are all in the srd. They are free.
Basically, I am asking the community is they feel I have managed to balance the draconic human as a race that could possibly exist within the FR.
OK, here would be my first question as a DM. Forget about mechanical balance. Why are you trying to shoehorn this species, cobbled together across years from a handful of other universes and game systems (some with radically different tones than D&D 5e), into a Forgotten Realms campaign?
There are plenty of fine PC species already which you can play. What makes this one so important to you that you have to play it, instead of a dragonborn or a tiefling or whatever?
Azrealla is a very important character to me. As I stated, I started playing her about 30 years ago. I believe she started her life in Rolemaster, if you have heard of that game. Rolemaster was broad enough that you could literally have any race you could want. All you needed to do was explain to the DM the backstory of the character or the species. Hell, in rolemaster I once actually played as a kind of Yeti.
I am attempting to find a way to bring her into the FR world in a way that is not game breaking, not having her OP'd, and giving her a chance to succeed. Yes, I could bring her in as a human. I could bring her in as a dragonborn or tiefling. But those really do take away from who she is. I am not bringing her into FR with a ton of knowledge. I did actually try that. The DM's in my area have told me that she is OP'd. They will allow her in a game IF I can balance her and describe a way where she comes into the FR that is not game breaking, that would fall in line with what others have done. (B. Dave Walters, Todd Kenreck are good examples) So, I am really trying to find that balance. I honestly could not figure out a way to tone down her innate telepathy that would make sense. So, I stripped her of it. Her wings and her cannibalism are an important part of who she is. I even have crafted a back story as to why she is in the FR and what her "quest" is. I have a character that is deeply conflicted, new to FR, and her species is not something anyone has ever seen, so she is going to be a curiosity. She never had the ability to breath fire and the Draconic Human looks fully human. Putting her into the FR from her old realm is going to be a culture shock for her. In some ways she is going to seem innocent and wide-eyed at everything she sees. Next, she is going to be a ruthless killer who eats the recently fallen. This is going to give the DM a lot to play with and give the other players a lot to deal with. Add in that she is actually shy, and you have a great group dynamic happening.
In short, I know this character very well, much like Todd knows Avren very well. Can I play other characters? Yes, I can. But when I do, I almost always feel rather detached from the game. That is why I am trying so hard to bring her into FR. All I need to do is balance her. That is all I have ever asked for, help with that balancing.
Thank you.
OK. As others have said in the thread, this is all ultimately going to come down to the DM running the campaign you end up in. However...
The species already in the game that would seem to check the most boxes for you is aasimar. Per the 2024 rules, they have:
- an extra-planar origin - looks human - innate, if limited, flight capability
Heavenly Wings. Two spectral wings sprout from your back temporarily. Until the transformation ends, you have a Fly Speed equal to your Speed.
There are ways to get telepathy, but they generally come from subclasses, not species -- Great Old One warlock, for instance, or Soulknife rogue
Level 3: Awakened Mind
You can form a telepathic connection between your mind and the mind of another. As a Bonus Action, choose one creature you can see within 30 feet of yourself. You and the chosen creature can communicate telepathically with each other while the two of you are within a number of miles of each other equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1 mile). To understand each other, you each must mentally use a language the other knows.
The telepathic connection lasts for a number of minutes equal to your Warlock level. It ends early if you use this feature to connect with a different creature.
You could talk to your DM about swapping out the other aasimar features (resistance to necrotic/radiant damage, knowing the Light cantrip, and darkvision) for some form of telepathy, if those subclasses didn't fit the character
There isn't anything in the game comparable to the "must eat magic creatures to survive" part, but that would mostly come down to RP anyway. You could do something like take the Chef feat though, and flavor it as knowing which parts of creatures contain any consumable magical essence (which would also offer limited healing benefits to your party members, should they choose to join you)
Basically, rather than trying to homebrew an entirely new species, I think you'd be better off approaching it by using an existing species and making tweaks to its package of features. That would be an easier sell for most DMs
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So, as the title says, this character comes from a long-time game I used to play with several friends. The game started out as Rollmaster but ended up in a world that combined Rollmaster, D&D, Warhammer, Warhammer 40k, Star Trek, Star Wars, and many other roll playing games. We just kind of combined all these worlds into one universe.
The Draconic Plane of existence:
1000's of years ago a techno mage decided to create perfect warriors in order to raise an army to invade and conquer all the lands he had access to. His desires were to become the supreme ruler of all. He created a plane of existence that was floating islands and small continents, and he placed humans in them. From there he developed his own type of Dragon. The dragons themselves were more powerful than those you might find in most other universes. But by definition, dragons will rarely follow anyone. So, he engineered these dragons to lay special eggs. When the clutch hatched, out would come what appeared to be a human. This would be the army he was wanting.
The draconic humans are hatched looking to be at the age of 18 to 20 years old and extremely beautiful. They were hatched with basic knowledge, allowing them to speak, craft very simple weapons, and an understanding of how to fight. The draconic humans have a limited telepathy that affects human (of their plane of existence) and sometimes other draconic humans. The draconic humans have wings that they can pull inside of themselves. Draconic humans' physiology is different from a normal human. They can't get pregnant. They are engineered to not feel physical pleasure in the same way humans do. They are engineered to not feel remorse. They are engineered to not feel fear. (Instead of fear, they feel rage) Draconic humans can fly when using their wings. Their movement speed without wings is that of a normal human. Their strength is also that of a normal human. (No racial stat bonuses) When flying their movement speed increases, but not by much.
Draconic humans are, for lack of a better term, manavores. They need to consume creatures that have magical abilities. Humans are their primary source of food. In a pinch, they can eat other things such as cattle, pets, or even plants. But without a creature with magical abilities (even if the human is not a magic user, they all have some source of mana) the draconic human will wither and eventually die.
The most common way that a draconic human catches their prey is by using their telepathic abilities. They will find a lone human and land close by, out of sight of the human. Their telepathic ability doesn't let them enthrall or stun their prey. Instead, the draconic human can cause the human to become aroused. The draconic human will them make himself or herself known and attempt to seduce their pray. All draconic humans are basically bi-sexual so they will seduce anyone. Once they feel that they are in a position to strike without fear of much resistance, they will kill then eat their prey. (Often, they will release their wings when they feel they have their prey under control, this allows the human to see the draconic human as more "angelic")
Draconic humans do not work well with each other. They have been known to attack and eat other draconic humans. Their cycle is about 10 years before they will undergo the transformation, allowing them to become a dragon themselves. As a dragon, they are then able to reproduce. Some draconic humans find they have no desire to undergo the transformation. There are two ways of stopping it. One way is by sheer will alone. This has a very low success rate, around 5% of draconic humans are able to stop the transformation by will alone. The other way is to find one of the techno mages that will, on rare occasion, visit the draconic plane. They can easily stop the transformation. But they can be very hard to find and most people on this plane of existence feel that the techno mages are nothing more than a myth while others consider them to be gods.
The experiment was ultimately abandoned and considered a failure. The draconic humans were to focused on food rather than fighting in wars. They also had little desire to learn how to use their magical abilities or to learn new things. Because their cycle was so short, building up a civilization that had technology was deemed impossible. While a few draconic humans do show promise every 3 or 4 generations, that was not enough to create the grand army the original designer wanted. The designer of this realm was eventually killed, leaving his experiment to continue.
This is a very basic run down of the draconic human. My last attempt to describe this race was misunderstood by a lot of people. So, I decided to try it again, this time from a DM's side of things rather than a player's view of things. If a player decides to use a draconic human as a race, the character is not going to have all of this information. I could write a book on this race as it has been fully fleshed out, including the history of this plane of existence from the perspective of the humans, the dragons, the draconic humans, the techno mages, and even the original designer.
My goal is to bring one of the draconic humans into the Forgotten Realms. I have many ideas how that could happen. I just wanted to post this for feedback, questions I might have missed, and a place to direct DM's so they can read about this race.
Azrealla Clan Adrel's Character Sheet - D&D Beyond
The "clan" part refers to her hatching group. When a clutch hatches, it is very typical for them to form a clan. Often the clan becomes more of a hinderance as the draconic's are not above cannibalism. I also would like to point out that while I was rather explicit in my explanation, I do not play her as "pure sex". When she arrives in the Forgotten Realms, she is going to have a small understanding that her telepathic powers are not going to work on humans here. She was abandoned by her clan because she was not normal. She actually felt bad for eating "nice" people. She never had a problem eating people who were not nice.
I also have the backstory for how she came into the Forgotten Realms that would not be world breaking by any means. This backstory would allow me to place her in the Forgotten Realms at pretty much any level really. So, she would not need to start out at level one.
What are your opinions on this character? Do you think most DM's would allow her? What are some more improvements that can be made that would not make her OP?
Thank you.
Does not matter if 99.999999% of the DMs say X. It only matters what the DM that will be in charge of your game allows.
The fluff, as the above poster says, is going to be entirely up to your DM. At a glance, this might be a lot of work to incorporate into an existing world, but some people will be fine with that.
I do think some parts are strange. It’s impossible to say they are born beautiful. That’s an objective opinion. Not everyone on earth has the same idea of what a beautiful human is, add other species into the mix, and it gets even more complicated.
Also, if I were DMing, the whole sex predator thing would be a hard sell, but again, ask your DM.
But to answer if it’s OP or not, you’d need to explain the species mechanics. What, exactly, can it do? That’s the kind of thing we can give you an opinion on.
So, I have been told before that Azrealla and the draconic race were WAY to overpowered and that most DM's would not allow her in their game. I am trying to work within that advice and craft her within the Forgotten Realms as Draconic but modified. My goal is to have DM's look at this character, understand that she is basically a human with functional dragon wings that will feed on the recently fallen. I would LOVE to incorporate the idea that if she doesn't feed, she will end up withering and eventually dying of hunger. But that does mean more work for a DM so I am not going to push that aspect of her. I also figured out a way to negate her telepathy even though it was minimal to begin with.
The beautiful part means a species bonus to Charisma. That is what that boils down to.
The sex predator I really tried to tone down a LOT. Azrealla was cut off from her clan and abandoned because she did not like killing and eating innocent people. Put an evil person in front of her and its game on. Because her telepathy doesn't work on people in the Forgotten Realms, she is going to have to find other ways of getting prey. My ideas on that is she can feed on fallen enemies. Her species does need creatures with mana for her to survive. Even if she comes across a plant-based enemy and defeats it, she will feast on it before the mana drains from it. The only reason she ate humans was because in her realm, that was the only species available to her. In the forgotten realms we have human, elf, orc, and tons of other creatures that are not cut off from the weave.
Does that help clarify things?
Why not just make a character once you have a game, working with that DM to make things work? All the advice in the world means squat compared to what the DM sat in front of you says.
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Charisma does not equal physical beauty. It never has in any edition. (In 1e there was a short-lived attempt at a comeliness stat, but it was short lived because it's just a bad idea.) Charisma in game is about force of personality. Physical appearance is purely a cosmetic/role playing choice. Also, species no longer get ability score improvements, so its not an issue anymore.
Species with flight are almost routine now. Dragonborn even get functional dragon wings for a few minutes per day. Also, there are species with telepathy (thri-kreen). So neither of those things would be disqualifying in their own right, it would depend on the overall package. Eating fallen enemies is, well, its kind of odd, but that is more of a role play choice.
But, again, what are the actual game mechanics you propose? Read over a few of the species in the PHB or Monster of the Multiverse and see how they list the various powers. Then write down the powers you'd propose for this species and present them. Then we can give opinions on how strong or weak the species is. Everything else is flavor that some DM's may say yes, others may say no and others still may say it will be OK with some changes.
I'll also add, if I were DM'ing and you told me you had a book length amount of lore about a homebrew species, it would give me pause. For one, it's a big main character syndrome red flag if you expect me to adhere to it. Second, I simply would not want to adhere to it. I'm happy to make some small changes to my world to accommodate a player with a cool idea. But when you start talking about changing the cosmology to invent a new plane, that's a lot.
I wouldn't allow that at my table. Telepathy, flight and shapeshifting (essentially)? That's quite a bit too much imo.
What you might do is start from another flying race and just alter the description to preserve balance. As far as the lore, much of that needs to go right out.
Enjoy the game!
I have no problem taking criticism. I made this post actively looking for criticism. But it has become apparent to me that you either did not read or you misunderstood my post. Shapeshifting? They only do that once in their life and they have zero control over it. It's not like a Draconic Human is going to be in a fight and suddenly shapeshifts into a full grown golden dragon. And as I said in my original post, Azrealla's telepathy does not work in the Forgotten Realms. So, two of the reasons you would not allow her at your table I have already dealt with.
I would also say that based on your post, I would not want to be at your table. While I know and understand that there are very valid reasons why this race wouldn't be allowed, you named two that I had already addressed. This tells me that you most likely do not listen or only hear what you want to hear. That isn't a DM I would want to have.
I thank you for your feedback. Maybe I need to be more specific with what this race can and can't do in the Forgotten Realms.
The entire sexual predator, cannibalism bit wouldn’t fly at my table. I suspect it wouldn’t fly at most tables so you need generate an alternate that will work and that you can live with. As someone else pointed out comeliness isn’t charisma so the +1 to charisma for “beautiful news” has to go as well. I would also pull the flight - you’ll get it back later as a draconic sorceror anyway. The telepathy actually isn’t a problem - I’ve got an amethyst Dragonborn in a game right now doing telepathy and I do my own versions of psionics as well. If you want to keep (altered) parts of your story yes you could have an alien species from something with portions of your story come to the FR. Personally I would have used the Dragonborn as the warriors descended from dragons. That would allow you to get flight, and dragon breath as developing features at later levels.
here is an example: https://www.dndbeyond.com/sheet-pdfs/wcwilson82355_149596163.pdf
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
As has been said above you’re almost definitely best waiting to find a game and working with that DM to see if you can use this character rather than asking a bunch of randoms on the internet. For example lots of people have given very reasonable adjustments they’d ask for before allow it but they’ve all been very different adjustments based on their table. For me it’s just a flat no you can’t play that character because I don’t allow players to transfer characters from game to game and that might be the same for the DM you finally end up playing with
I agree with you, 100%. But if I go to a DM with a character that is innately OP'ed to begin with then it doesn't really matter what I say or do, no DM is going to allow her. I am attempting to find balance within the confines of this race. I'm asking the community to look at this race and this character and tell me that I need to tone down the telepathy aspect, that the sexual predator aspect is REALLY not going to fly in most games. I am really not looking for people to point to the tiny brush stokes I have made and criticize that. I am looking for people to look at the painting as a whole and say that I have managed to balance out this race pretty well for the Forgotten Realms. I understand that there are DM's that are not going to allow a custom race. I understand that there are some DM's out there that do not allow certain races within the FR lore because they either don't like them or consider them to be OP'ed to begin with.
Thank you
Basically, I am asking the community is they feel I have managed to balance the draconic human as a race that could possibly exist within the FR.
But you still haven’t said what they can do, so we can’t answer that question. For example, the thri-keen have telepathy. But they don’t just “have telepathy.” They have:
Without the assistance of magic, you can’t speak the non-thri-kreen languages you know. Instead you use telepathy to convey your thoughts. You have the magical ability to transmit your thoughts mentally to willing creatures within 120 feet of yourself. A contacted creature doesn’t need to share a language with you to understand your thoughts, but it must be able to understand at least one language. Your telepathic link to a creature is broken if you and the creature move more than 120 feet apart, if either of you is incapacitated, or if either of you mentally breaks the contact (no action required).
So does your species version of telepathy work like that? Is it different? Explain the actual game mechanics.
Similarly, flight. Is it like a fairy or an owlin that can just fly around with a fly speed equal to their walking speed from day 1? Or is it like a dragonborn or Aasimar where they sprout wings for a limited time as the character level increases? Or like a hadozee where they don’t quite fly, but they can glide?
You need to explain the total package of species benefits, in game mechanics terms, because seeing them in isolation doesn’t tell if something is balanced or not. Some relatively powerful benefits, like flight, can be balanced as long as the rest of what they can do isn’t quite as powerful.
Thank you.
Originally the telepathy, when used, would be aimed at a specific person allowing her victim to become more aroused. This allowed the draconic human to more easily incapacitate their victim, they are also able to read surface emotions. (strong emotions such as rage, love, anger...) I was told that this ability was too broad and way to powerful to be used in FR. As such, I considered the fact that the draconic human is a genetically engineered experimental race. Putting a human population would be easy but a failsafe was needed in case a draconic got lose. Thus, they are only able to use their telepathy on the humans from their realm. Azrealla finds that her telepathy doesn't work in the FR. She tries but is not even able to read emotions from sentient beings. This forces her to adapt and try to study faces and body language. When she gets to the FR, she is going to be very naive.
The wings can be withdrawn or retracted at will. They are unable to just fly at will. They use wind gusts to glide in the air; they also have the ability to use updrafts to catch that wind and actually go up. If the wings are out and the draconic human falls on a clear non-windy day, they typically take 1/2 damage as even with no wind they are able to slow decent.
Those are not game terms. If you’re going to ask a DM to accept something, you need to put in the work of what it is you want them to accept. Like, stating at 3rd level, the species can cast Detect Thoughts without using a spell slot. They must complete a long rest before they can do so again.
Making wings pop out at will isn’t useful. You need to say something like, as an action they can choose to extend or retract their wings. Updrafts don’t exist in game, that is to say, there’s no rules adjudicating how they would work in game, and it’s asking a lot for a DM to start inventing and then tracking wind conditions.
Seriously, look at other existing species and write what you want to be able to do like that. If you’re going to design something, you need to actually design it, not just have vague ideas about how you want it to look.
You've been given repeatedly similar responses by multiple users—"I wouldn't allow this at my table and I very much any DM would"—so I'm not entirely sure why you're still belabouring the matter? Your character falls outside the rules for character creation and is thus homebrew. Homebrew is entirely the purview of the DM. So if you want to play this character at a table, you'll have to ask that DM. But based on everyone's responses, I wouldn't hold your breath.
Maybe try remaking this character using just what's in the rules, plus ample flavouring (aka non mechanical changes)?
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OK, here would be my first question as a DM. Forget about mechanical balance. Why are you trying to shoehorn this species, cobbled together across years from a handful of other universes and game systems (some with radically different tones than D&D 5e), into a Forgotten Realms campaign?
There are plenty of fine PC species already which you can play. What makes this one so important to you that you have to play it, instead of a dragonborn or a tiefling or whatever?
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
I don't have access to the books. I am on SSDI so it's not as if I can afford them. I really am doing the best that I can.
Azrealla is a very important character to me. As I stated, I started playing her about 30 years ago. I believe she started her life in Rolemaster, if you have heard of that game. Rolemaster was broad enough that you could literally have any race you could want. All you needed to do was explain to the DM the backstory of the character or the species. Hell, in rolemaster I once actually played as a kind of Yeti.
I am attempting to find a way to bring her into the FR world in a way that is not game breaking, not having her OP'd, and giving her a chance to succeed. Yes, I could bring her in as a human. I could bring her in as a dragonborn or tiefling. But those really do take away from who she is. I am not bringing her into FR with a ton of knowledge. I did actually try that. The DM's in my area have told me that she is OP'd. They will allow her in a game IF I can balance her and describe a way where she comes into the FR that is not game breaking, that would fall in line with what others have done. (B. Dave Walters, Todd Kenreck are good examples) So, I am really trying to find that balance. I honestly could not figure out a way to tone down her innate telepathy that would make sense. So, I stripped her of it. Her wings and her cannibalism are an important part of who she is. I even have crafted a back story as to why she is in the FR and what her "quest" is. I have a character that is deeply conflicted, new to FR, and her species is not something anyone has ever seen, so she is going to be a curiosity. She never had the ability to breath fire and the Draconic Human looks fully human. Putting her into the FR from her old realm is going to be a culture shock for her. In some ways she is going to seem innocent and wide-eyed at everything she sees. Next, she is going to be a ruthless killer who eats the recently fallen. This is going to give the DM a lot to play with and give the other players a lot to deal with. Add in that she is actually shy, and you have a great group dynamic happening.
In short, I know this character very well, much like Todd knows Avren very well. Can I play other characters? Yes, I can. But when I do, I almost always feel rather detached from the game. That is why I am trying so hard to bring her into FR. All I need to do is balance her. That is all I have ever asked for, help with that balancing.
Thank you.
The PHB species are all in the srd. They are free.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/br-2024
OK. As others have said in the thread, this is all ultimately going to come down to the DM running the campaign you end up in. However...
The species already in the game that would seem to check the most boxes for you is aasimar. Per the 2024 rules, they have:
- an extra-planar origin
- looks human
- innate, if limited, flight capability
There are ways to get telepathy, but they generally come from subclasses, not species -- Great Old One warlock, for instance, or Soulknife rogue
You could talk to your DM about swapping out the other aasimar features (resistance to necrotic/radiant damage, knowing the Light cantrip, and darkvision) for some form of telepathy, if those subclasses didn't fit the character
There isn't anything in the game comparable to the "must eat magic creatures to survive" part, but that would mostly come down to RP anyway. You could do something like take the Chef feat though, and flavor it as knowing which parts of creatures contain any consumable magical essence (which would also offer limited healing benefits to your party members, should they choose to join you)
Basically, rather than trying to homebrew an entirely new species, I think you'd be better off approaching it by using an existing species and making tweaks to its package of features. That would be an easier sell for most DMs
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)