For example, if you look at the Goliath's stats - it has one ability which lets it shrug off damage once per long rest, and another ability which makes it less susceptible to high altitudes. The first is going to be useful all the time, and the second is only useful it you are adventuring in the mountains and the dm is bothering with things like altitude sickness. If both of these cost 1 "trait point", no-one will pick the mountain born ability over the stone's endurance. Similarly, if the DM never worries with encumbrance, no-one will pick powerful build. Not all the traits are equal!
Agreed. Things that are more powerful and/or more frequently prevalent would have higher costs to buy than things that aren't as beneficial. Using your examples from the goliath, I would say that their Mountain Born trait would cost 10 points while their Stone's Endurance trait would cost 20 points to buy. The numbers in my example (i.e., 10 and 20) are fairly arbitrary, since I have little else to compare them to for true cost value, but the idea is that the ability to shrug off any type of damage is more powerful than resistance to a single source of elemental damage. These differences would be reflected that it would cost more of the player's limited point pool to gain that better ability which leaves them with less points to buy other things.
As for a compulsory abilities rule, I have mixed feelings about it. The biologist in me would agree that if both parents have the same ability, then the resulting offspring should have it as well. However, the whole concept of the point buy system is to allow the players to create something of their own (within the rules of the system). Perhaps, darkvision is actually a recessive trait of elves and dwarves, but it always appears because all elves and dwarves have it in their DNA. However, that strange lovechild of some elf/dwarf couple never got darkvision because the genes didn't pair up between the different races...
Agreed. Things that are more powerful and/or more frequently prevalent would have higher costs to buy than things that aren't as beneficial. Using your examples from the goliath, I would say that their Mountain Born trait would cost 10 points while their Stone's Endurance trait would cost 20 points to buy. The numbers in my example (i.e., 10 and 20) are fairly arbitrary, since I have little else to compare them to for true cost value, but the idea is that the ability to shrug off any type of damage is more powerful than resistance to a single source of elemental damage. These differences would be reflected that it would cost more of the player's limited point pool to gain that better ability which leaves them with less points to buy other things.
As for a compulsory abilities rule, I have mixed feelings about it. The biologist in me would agree that if both parents have the same ability, then the resulting offspring should have it as well. However, the whole concept of the point buy system is to allow the players to create something of their own (within the rules of the system). Perhaps, darkvision is actually a recessive trait of elves and dwarves, but it always appears because all elves and dwarves have it in their DNA. However, that strange lovechild of some elf/dwarf couple never got darkvision because the genes didn't pair up between the different races...
I'm not swayed on the common traits business; I think if a kobold and a drow had a baby, the baby would have darkvision and sunlight sensitivity, because both parents have this themselves.
If you simply allow cherrypicking then you might as well just rack up every ability from every race, give it a points value and tell people to make their own race from mixed origins. take negatives like sunlight sensitivity to make darkvision cheaper, and that sort of thing.
Okay, so taking the idea of my post above one step further, let's take a look at the human race as another example. Standard human race gains a +1 bonus to each of their ability scores as well as knowing one additional language on top of Common. The variant human only gains the +1 bonus to two of their ability scores, but they also gain one skill proficiency and one feat (as well as the one additional language).
Creating a chart of racial traits with corresponding point costs could look something like the table below. Again, the numbers are somewhat arbitrary at the moment, since I haven't spent a lot of time comparing them to what other races gain as abilities/traits nor what the costs would be for those other racial abilities/traits. However, for the sake of this post, we're just concerned about our human character builds.
Racial Trait
Cost
Ability Score Increase (+2)
20
Ability Score Increase (+1)
10
Language (Common)
0
Language (Additional)
5
Skill Proficiency
15
Feat
25
So, the standard human would have a base pool of 65 points, which would normally buy the six +1 ability score increases and one additional language (i.e., 6x10 +5 = 65). The variant human would also have 65 points, since they're just another version of human. However, their buys would be to gain two +1 ability score increases, one skill proficiency, one feat, and the one additional language (i.e., 2x10 +15 +25 +5 = 65).
Player X wants to create another variation of human, however, wants to play a different variation of human. They spend their 65 point pool to buy one +2 ability score increase and one +1 ability score increase, which costs 30 points. They decided to buy proficiency in two skills, which costs another 30 points. The last 5 points is spent on learning an additional language on top of the standard free common language. Their human is complete and theoretically balanced with any other human character that other players would create.
Only focusing on humans in this posts, but the concepts would be true to other races. Taking concept a couple steps further would include providing additional racial buy options; such as allowing weapon and tool proficiencies to be acquired (like the elves aptitude with swords and bows). Chart could also include flaws that provide players with additional points to spend on other abilities; such as gaining extra points for sunlight sensitivity that can then be spent on gaining or improving darkvision.
If you simply allow cherrypicking then you might as well just rack up every ability from every race, give it a points value and tell people to make their own race from mixed origins. take negatives like sunlight sensitivity to make darkvision cheaper, and that sort of thing.
For the sake of creating a point system for buying racial traits for hybrid creatures, I would expect that there should be a certain amount of cherry-picking allowed. The choices should come from the two parent races, since allowing a player to just picking anything off of a list of 100+ options might be too much freedom, but the player shouldn't necessarily have to pick certain things off of those main lists if it doesn't fit with their hybrid race concept.
Yes, I would agree that a drow and kobold hybrid should very likely have darkvision based on the parentage, but should it be mandatory if we're trying to create more freedom for racial customization? As the DM, you could always require it, and I certainly am not trying to sway you from wanting to have that be your ruling. I am merely proposing that the base rules wouldn't specifically mandate it, so that the DM (and their players) have a certain amount of freedom to make their own choices.
There's also consideration for which types of critter can breed with which others. The mentioned drow/kobold pairing could easily be rejected by a DM on the grounds that unlike all the various hundreds of differently-eared humanity, kobolds are not just a different species but an entirely different class of critter, i.e. reptilian rather than mammalian. I know, I know, one of them might be a bard - but a DM should never feel constrained to accept someone's crack pairing for the sake of weirdness.
I'm honestly super conflicted on the whole mess, because my normal standard for crossbred characters in non-D&D games is "they don't exist, and if they do they're sterile and generally plagued with medical conditions". But...well. D&D is a world where half-critters not only canonically exist, but are codified and generally better than their monospecies parents. In a world where human, elven, and orcish genetics are all so muddy and malleable that they can produce stable breeding populations of half-breed children (e.g. the entire village of half-orcs or half-elves every campaign setting is contractually obligated to have at least one of), who knows if "genetics" is even what's happening.
Maybe men just generate tickets instead of genetic material, and when a man loves a woman he puts a ticket in her ticket machine. And the great lottery accounting firm in the sky looks at the ticket and goes "this is supposed to be for a different machine entirely but **** it, I've got quotas and I'm not paid enough to care" and runs the ticket anyways. And then nine months later (is it always nine months? Seems very strange that every other species in D&D follows human gestation cycles precisely) the lady's ticket machine spits out their prize, and you either hit the jackpot or you get Quasimodo.
There's also consideration for which types of critter can breed with which others. The mentioned drow/kobold pairing could easily be rejected by a DM on the grounds that unlike all the various hundreds of differently-eared humanity, kobolds are not just a different species but an entirely different class of critter, i.e. reptilian rather than mammalian. I know, I know, one of them might be a bard - but a DM should never feel constrained to accept someone's crack pairing for the sake of weirdness.
I'm honestly super conflicted on the whole mess, because my normal standard for crossbred characters in non-D&D games is "they don't exist, and if they do they're sterile and generally plagued with medical conditions". But...well. D&D is a world where half-critters not only canonically exist, but are codified and generally better than their monospecies parents. In a world where human, elven, and orcish genetics are all so muddy and malleable that they can produce stable breeding populations of half-breed children (e.g. the entire village of half-orcs or half-elves every campaign setting is contractually obligated to have at least one of), who knows if "genetics" is even what's happening.
Maybe men just generate tickets instead of genetic material, and when a man loves a woman he puts a ticket in her ticket machine. And the great lottery accounting firm in the sky looks at the ticket and goes "this is supposed to be for a different machine entirely but **** it, I've got quotas and I'm not paid enough to care" and runs the ticket anyways. And then nine months later (is it always nine months? Seems very strange that every other species in D&D follows human gestation cycles precisely) the lady's ticket machine spits out their prize, and you either hit the jackpot or you get Quasimodo.
Seems legit, maybe?
Man, this post is gonna get redacted so fast...
The genetic probability side of it aside, we have that most wonderful of answers; "Magic". Let's face it, aarakocra are bird-people, dragonborn are dragon-people, satyri are goat-people, leoning are lion-people, yuan-ti are snake-people, so within the scopes of fantasy we can probably make the assumption that there is some magical way of combining two species even if their genetics or breeding methods don't quite work like that.
A desperate couple in love come to a noble wizard for help in conceiving a child, and the wizard uses magic to make it happen because the wizard believes that love will out. insert whatever pairing you like in there, provided they are both willing.
There are numerous darker sides to this of creating a child within an unwilling sacrifice (through magic, not force, as if that makes it any better) which you could imagine evil cults doing, perhaps to bring a child of their patron into the world by performing a ritual on a sacrificial mother - all very dark, but the same premise can reasonably be applied to good purposes. It's magic, after all!
Agreed. Things that are more powerful and/or more frequently prevalent would have higher costs to buy than things that aren't as beneficial. Using your examples from the goliath, I would say that their Mountain Born trait would cost 10 points while their Stone's Endurance trait would cost 20 points to buy. The numbers in my example (i.e., 10 and 20) are fairly arbitrary, since I have little else to compare them to for true cost value, but the idea is that the ability to shrug off any type of damage is more powerful than resistance to a single source of elemental damage. These differences would be reflected that it would cost more of the player's limited point pool to gain that better ability which leaves them with less points to buy other things.
As for a compulsory abilities rule, I have mixed feelings about it. The biologist in me would agree that if both parents have the same ability, then the resulting offspring should have it as well. However, the whole concept of the point buy system is to allow the players to create something of their own (within the rules of the system). Perhaps, darkvision is actually a recessive trait of elves and dwarves, but it always appears because all elves and dwarves have it in their DNA. However, that strange lovechild of some elf/dwarf couple never got darkvision because the genes didn't pair up between the different races...
I'm not swayed on the common traits business; I think if a kobold and a drow had a baby, the baby would have darkvision and sunlight sensitivity, because both parents have this themselves.
If you simply allow cherrypicking then you might as well just rack up every ability from every race, give it a points value and tell people to make their own race from mixed origins. take negatives like sunlight sensitivity to make darkvision cheaper, and that sort of thing.
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
DM's Guild Releases on This Thread Or check them all out on DMs Guild!
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I have started discussing/reviewing 3rd party D&D content on Substack - stay tuned for semi-regular posts!
Okay, so taking the idea of my post above one step further, let's take a look at the human race as another example. Standard human race gains a +1 bonus to each of their ability scores as well as knowing one additional language on top of Common. The variant human only gains the +1 bonus to two of their ability scores, but they also gain one skill proficiency and one feat (as well as the one additional language).
Creating a chart of racial traits with corresponding point costs could look something like the table below. Again, the numbers are somewhat arbitrary at the moment, since I haven't spent a lot of time comparing them to what other races gain as abilities/traits nor what the costs would be for those other racial abilities/traits. However, for the sake of this post, we're just concerned about our human character builds.
So, the standard human would have a base pool of 65 points, which would normally buy the six +1 ability score increases and one additional language (i.e., 6x10 +5 = 65). The variant human would also have 65 points, since they're just another version of human. However, their buys would be to gain two +1 ability score increases, one skill proficiency, one feat, and the one additional language (i.e., 2x10 +15 +25 +5 = 65).
Player X wants to create another variation of human, however, wants to play a different variation of human. They spend their 65 point pool to buy one +2 ability score increase and one +1 ability score increase, which costs 30 points. They decided to buy proficiency in two skills, which costs another 30 points. The last 5 points is spent on learning an additional language on top of the standard free common language. Their human is complete and theoretically balanced with any other human character that other players would create.
Only focusing on humans in this posts, but the concepts would be true to other races. Taking concept a couple steps further would include providing additional racial buy options; such as allowing weapon and tool proficiencies to be acquired (like the elves aptitude with swords and bows). Chart could also include flaws that provide players with additional points to spend on other abilities; such as gaining extra points for sunlight sensitivity that can then be spent on gaining or improving darkvision.
For the sake of creating a point system for buying racial traits for hybrid creatures, I would expect that there should be a certain amount of cherry-picking allowed. The choices should come from the two parent races, since allowing a player to just picking anything off of a list of 100+ options might be too much freedom, but the player shouldn't necessarily have to pick certain things off of those main lists if it doesn't fit with their hybrid race concept.
Yes, I would agree that a drow and kobold hybrid should very likely have darkvision based on the parentage, but should it be mandatory if we're trying to create more freedom for racial customization? As the DM, you could always require it, and I certainly am not trying to sway you from wanting to have that be your ruling. I am merely proposing that the base rules wouldn't specifically mandate it, so that the DM (and their players) have a certain amount of freedom to make their own choices.
There's also consideration for which types of critter can breed with which others. The mentioned drow/kobold pairing could easily be rejected by a DM on the grounds that unlike all the various hundreds of differently-eared humanity, kobolds are not just a different species but an entirely different class of critter, i.e. reptilian rather than mammalian. I know, I know, one of them might be a bard - but a DM should never feel constrained to accept someone's crack pairing for the sake of weirdness.
I'm honestly super conflicted on the whole mess, because my normal standard for crossbred characters in non-D&D games is "they don't exist, and if they do they're sterile and generally plagued with medical conditions". But...well. D&D is a world where half-critters not only canonically exist, but are codified and generally better than their monospecies parents. In a world where human, elven, and orcish genetics are all so muddy and malleable that they can produce stable breeding populations of half-breed children (e.g. the entire village of half-orcs or half-elves every campaign setting is contractually obligated to have at least one of), who knows if "genetics" is even what's happening.
Maybe men just generate tickets instead of genetic material, and when a man loves a woman he puts a ticket in her ticket machine. And the great lottery accounting firm in the sky looks at the ticket and goes "this is supposed to be for a different machine entirely but **** it, I've got quotas and I'm not paid enough to care" and runs the ticket anyways. And then nine months later (is it always nine months? Seems very strange that every other species in D&D follows human gestation cycles precisely) the lady's ticket machine spits out their prize, and you either hit the jackpot or you get Quasimodo.
Seems legit, maybe?
Man, this post is gonna get redacted so fast...
Please do not contact or message me.
The genetic probability side of it aside, we have that most wonderful of answers; "Magic". Let's face it, aarakocra are bird-people, dragonborn are dragon-people, satyri are goat-people, leoning are lion-people, yuan-ti are snake-people, so within the scopes of fantasy we can probably make the assumption that there is some magical way of combining two species even if their genetics or breeding methods don't quite work like that.
A desperate couple in love come to a noble wizard for help in conceiving a child, and the wizard uses magic to make it happen because the wizard believes that love will out. insert whatever pairing you like in there, provided they are both willing.
There are numerous darker sides to this of creating a child within an unwilling sacrifice (through magic, not force, as if that makes it any better) which you could imagine evil cults doing, perhaps to bring a child of their patron into the world by performing a ritual on a sacrificial mother - all very dark, but the same premise can reasonably be applied to good purposes. It's magic, after all!
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
DM's Guild Releases on This Thread Or check them all out on DMs Guild!
DrivethruRPG Releases on This Thread - latest release: My Character is a Werewolf: balanced rules for Lycanthropy!
I have started discussing/reviewing 3rd party D&D content on Substack - stay tuned for semi-regular posts!
i would recommend trying to homebrew the half orc/elves, but its up to the DM and seeing that they would do and what abilities should be kept or not.