My friends an I are all quite new. I played some D&D back in the early 90's when i was in high school but nothing since then. My two adult friends and my two sons (11 and 9) have been working through the Lost Mines of Phandelver. a few bumps along the way, but we are now almost 3/4 finished and feel like we have a reasonable understanding of the basics. I picked this adventure because we don't have a seasoned veteran to help guide us through things so I thought it was best to stick with something simple until we get our feet properly underneath us. Anyways, once we finish this campaign we plan on rolling new characters and trying out the Dragons of Icespire Peak module.
So the thing is, one of my players (yes, I am the DM) is interested in doing a half elf/half Aarakocra. He is thinking a ranged class of some kind like mage, ranger, or something. Now I must admit that I have been spending to much time reading about avian reproduction as a result of this request. I have concluded that whatever backstory he comes up with will be rather nauseating and probably questionable at best for my kids to hear. But I digress. What i am looking for is...
1. Are you familiar with both the module and the homebrew race?
2. How do you foresee this race combination influencing game balance?
3. Do you have any suggestions for how the character would be impacted by confined spaces (i.e. DC 10,15,20?)?
4. Suggestions for NPC interactions?
5. Any other thoughts or comments would be helpful.
Also we are using maps via Roll20 due to Covid-19.
I would discourage this and ask the player to just be a half-elf or an aarakocra. Not that there aren't ways this sort of thing can't be hand-waved; maybe he started life as a half-elf and was cursed into transforming into an aarakocra. But the real issue is that when you are dealing with weird racial mash-up homebrews, things can invariably get out of hand in unpredictable ways.
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
Aarakocra is already a fairly controversial race because flight can be very powerful, and him wanting to be a ranged class points to the desire to exploit that for all its worth. The dangers of that are variable based on how you play, but if he's thinking he'll basically play an Aarakocra with a 'nerfed' flying speed in exchange for more racial traits, that's not a great idea if balance is important to you. Even just a 20 foot flying speed is enough to be permanently untouchable vs a lot of enemies, and the presence of ceilings sometimes is not consistent or reliable enough to consider it an equalizing factor. Flight is just super good.
I will point out that it's totally viable to choose Aarakocra as a race and then RP that you are half elf. This is the route I would take. He can look different than the official description and you can reflect that in how people treat him, but on paper he should just be one official race. Now homebrew can be really fun and I don't mean to discourage it, but you really need to have some experience under your belt first so you have a better idea of what keeps things balanced.
I would ask him to choose either a half-elf OR an Aarakocra but not a hybrid. Aarakocra are birds creatures, and they do things like hatch from eggs and reach adulthood in 3 years. It would not make any sense to have a live-bearing and egg-bearing race interbreed. I mean, I know this is a magical universe but just... no.
As for Aarakocra being "overpowered" due to flight -- that will depend on the campaign. I have one (of four) in my current party who has an Aarakocra, and so far (to level 4, 10 sessions in) he has not been OP. Now, they have been indoors quite a bit of the time, so that limits his flight ability. But even so I have tried to make high ceilings as often as I can so that he can fly -- I feel that if it is one of the racial traits he should get to use it. Again, so far, there have been no issues with it being OP.
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WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I would ask him to choose either a half-elf OR an Aarakocra but not a hybrid. Aarakocra are birds creatures, and they do things like hatch from eggs and reach adulthood in 3 years. It would not make any sense to have a live-bearing and egg-bearing race interbreed. I mean, I know this is a magical universe but just... no.
As for Aarakocra being "overpowered" due to flight -- that will depend on the campaign. I have one (of four) in my current party who has an Aarakocra, and so far (to level 4, 10 sessions in) he has not been OP. Now, they have been indoors quite a bit of the time, so that limits his flight ability. But even so I have tried to make high ceilings as often as I can so that he can fly -- I feel that if it is one of the racial traits he should get to use it. Again, so far, there have been no issues with it being OP.
I mean this is why D&D has steered from lots of half-races - As I say alot in my line of work "The biology just doesn't make sense. Things don't line up!"
I agree in HB settings Aarakocra should not be OP. Yes they can fly, but a few ranged baddies make that not as over powering.
Half-elf is often considered one of the strongest (mechanically) races in the game.
Aarakocra is often considered to have one of the strongest (mechanically) racial abilities in the game - that being flight.
Tell your friend that he can play the half-elf/half-aarakocra but it's for story and roleplay bits only. As for rollplay bits and mechanical stuff, tell him to pick either the half-elf or aarakocra traits.
If he gives you any issue, then he is absolutely trying to metagame things, in which case, tell him to calm the F down and play something else. If he says, "cool", then maybe he has some good story bits in mind, in which case, you can both try and work something out.
Thanks for all the suggestions. I was able to talk it over with my player and we agreed that to proceed as he requested would create a distinct unfair advantage that would hinder the enjoyment of the game. We are exploring the idea on a half elf that had been cursed into an aarakocra body. He would have his half elf memories and language, but would not understand the aarakocra language nor know any of its traditions or lore. He would also not understand how to use his flight ability initially. as he would level up, he would learn to glide (, followed by short flights (like an extended jump up to 15ft), medium flights (60 ft), and long/sustained flight (level 2,4,6,8 respectively). He would also not have the initial claustrophobia that is common in the new race. However as his flight abilities grow, his fear and discomfort of confined spaces would grow.
Anyways, those are our initial thoughts. Thanks again for the help!
When you make these kind of concessions, everyone is going to expect it for their character(s). If you are fine with that and having all their backstory developments take the spotlight, go for it.
If you want to still keep things relatively simple and want to highlight the campaign story, I wouldn't suggest using any of the above ideas about Half-Elf/Aarakocra.
There are still Winged Elves. They are very few, and I think your friend would have to come up with an excellent reason as to why one would leave its homeland, but they do exist. From what I understand, a Winged Elf is just an Elf with wings. They combine all the traditional elven traits and mastery of arms with a fly speed.
They seem to favour being Clerics and have a joyous appreciation for open spaces and clear skies.
Maybe your friend could be one of the few Winged Elves chosen to explore the outside world and to bring back knowledge and news and so on.
He could be an Elf and have a fly speed. Also, as one of the Avariel (winged Elf), he could be the "Magic Ranger" that he wants to be.
Despite their favourite class being Cleric, I could see this race working well as a Warlock with Agonising Blast, Eldirch Spear and so on. Perhaps even a Pact of the Chain Warlock, allowing them to summon more powerful familiars.
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Hello all.
My friends an I are all quite new. I played some D&D back in the early 90's when i was in high school but nothing since then. My two adult friends and my two sons (11 and 9) have been working through the Lost Mines of Phandelver. a few bumps along the way, but we are now almost 3/4 finished and feel like we have a reasonable understanding of the basics. I picked this adventure because we don't have a seasoned veteran to help guide us through things so I thought it was best to stick with something simple until we get our feet properly underneath us. Anyways, once we finish this campaign we plan on rolling new characters and trying out the Dragons of Icespire Peak module.
So the thing is, one of my players (yes, I am the DM) is interested in doing a half elf/half Aarakocra. He is thinking a ranged class of some kind like mage, ranger, or something. Now I must admit that I have been spending to much time reading about avian reproduction as a result of this request. I have concluded that whatever backstory he comes up with will be rather nauseating and probably questionable at best for my kids to hear. But I digress. What i am looking for is...
1. Are you familiar with both the module and the homebrew race?
2. How do you foresee this race combination influencing game balance?
3. Do you have any suggestions for how the character would be impacted by confined spaces (i.e. DC 10,15,20?)?
4. Suggestions for NPC interactions?
5. Any other thoughts or comments would be helpful.
Also we are using maps via Roll20 due to Covid-19.
Thanks in advance for any input.
I would discourage this and ask the player to just be a half-elf or an aarakocra. Not that there aren't ways this sort of thing can't be hand-waved; maybe he started life as a half-elf and was cursed into transforming into an aarakocra. But the real issue is that when you are dealing with weird racial mash-up homebrews, things can invariably get out of hand in unpredictable ways.
Don't allow bizarre stuff, just makes the game less authentic.
Aarakocra is already a fairly controversial race because flight can be very powerful, and him wanting to be a ranged class points to the desire to exploit that for all its worth. The dangers of that are variable based on how you play, but if he's thinking he'll basically play an Aarakocra with a 'nerfed' flying speed in exchange for more racial traits, that's not a great idea if balance is important to you. Even just a 20 foot flying speed is enough to be permanently untouchable vs a lot of enemies, and the presence of ceilings sometimes is not consistent or reliable enough to consider it an equalizing factor. Flight is just super good.
I will point out that it's totally viable to choose Aarakocra as a race and then RP that you are half elf. This is the route I would take. He can look different than the official description and you can reflect that in how people treat him, but on paper he should just be one official race. Now homebrew can be really fun and I don't mean to discourage it, but you really need to have some experience under your belt first so you have a better idea of what keeps things balanced.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
I would ask him to choose either a half-elf OR an Aarakocra but not a hybrid. Aarakocra are birds creatures, and they do things like hatch from eggs and reach adulthood in 3 years. It would not make any sense to have a live-bearing and egg-bearing race interbreed. I mean, I know this is a magical universe but just... no.
As for Aarakocra being "overpowered" due to flight -- that will depend on the campaign. I have one (of four) in my current party who has an Aarakocra, and so far (to level 4, 10 sessions in) he has not been OP. Now, they have been indoors quite a bit of the time, so that limits his flight ability. But even so I have tried to make high ceilings as often as I can so that he can fly -- I feel that if it is one of the racial traits he should get to use it. Again, so far, there have been no issues with it being OP.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I mean this is why D&D has steered from lots of half-races - As I say alot in my line of work "The biology just doesn't make sense. Things don't line up!"
I agree in HB settings Aarakocra should not be OP. Yes they can fly, but a few ranged baddies make that not as over powering.
Half-elf is often considered one of the strongest (mechanically) races in the game.
Aarakocra is often considered to have one of the strongest (mechanically) racial abilities in the game - that being flight.
Tell your friend that he can play the half-elf/half-aarakocra but it's for story and roleplay bits only. As for rollplay bits and mechanical stuff, tell him to pick either the half-elf or aarakocra traits.
If he gives you any issue, then he is absolutely trying to metagame things, in which case, tell him to calm the F down and play something else. If he says, "cool", then maybe he has some good story bits in mind, in which case, you can both try and work something out.
Or..as the DM - just tell him, "no."
All things Lich - DM tips, tricks, and other creative shenanigans
Thanks for all the suggestions. I was able to talk it over with my player and we agreed that to proceed as he requested would create a distinct unfair advantage that would hinder the enjoyment of the game. We are exploring the idea on a half elf that had been cursed into an aarakocra body. He would have his half elf memories and language, but would not understand the aarakocra language nor know any of its traditions or lore. He would also not understand how to use his flight ability initially. as he would level up, he would learn to glide (, followed by short flights (like an extended jump up to 15ft), medium flights (60 ft), and long/sustained flight (level 2,4,6,8 respectively). He would also not have the initial claustrophobia that is common in the new race. However as his flight abilities grow, his fear and discomfort of confined spaces would grow.
Anyways, those are our initial thoughts. Thanks again for the help!
When you make these kind of concessions, everyone is going to expect it for their character(s). If you are fine with that and having all their backstory developments take the spotlight, go for it.
If you want to still keep things relatively simple and want to highlight the campaign story, I wouldn't suggest using any of the above ideas about Half-Elf/Aarakocra.
There are still Winged Elves. They are very few, and I think your friend would have to come up with an excellent reason as to why one would leave its homeland, but they do exist. From what I understand, a Winged Elf is just an Elf with wings. They combine all the traditional elven traits and mastery of arms with a fly speed.
They seem to favour being Clerics and have a joyous appreciation for open spaces and clear skies.
This is the D&D Wiki entry, so take it with a grain of salt, but it seems decent enough https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Avariel_(5e_Race).
Also, this seems to be decent homebrew available on DDB https://www.dndbeyond.com/races/285579-avariel
Maybe your friend could be one of the few Winged Elves chosen to explore the outside world and to bring back knowledge and news and so on.
He could be an Elf and have a fly speed. Also, as one of the Avariel (winged Elf), he could be the "Magic Ranger" that he wants to be.
Despite their favourite class being Cleric, I could see this race working well as a Warlock with Agonising Blast, Eldirch Spear and so on. Perhaps even a Pact of the Chain Warlock, allowing them to summon more powerful familiars.
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.