Context: I'm working ona dragon-kin race for my homebrew world. The race itself is not like dragonborn and mostly is based on the Revised Aarakocra, with the following changees:
1) The races ability score modifers are locked at +1 STR, +1 CON, +1 CHA (or a variation that)
The only additional thing I've added to the race is the following racial ability:
Scintillating Resistance: As a reaction, when you take Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, Necrotic, Poison, Radiant, or Thunder damage, you gain resistance to that damage type for one minute or until you use this trait again. You may use this trait a number of times per day equal to your Proficiency Bonus. You regain all expended usages of this trait upon completing a Long Rest.
Formatting issues aside, how do you feel about this race mechanically and conceptually.
The dragon’s breath kinda sucks, so I doubt it’ll get used much. Scintillating Resilience is OP though. You should shorten it to 1 round of resistance instead. I mean, just compare it to resistance. If you want to keep it for 1 minute, reduce the number of uses to 1ce/short rest.
And, not to argue, but rather from an educational standpoint would you be able to explain to me why Scintillating Resistance is over powered? Like from a mechanical standpoint. I want the feeback of why so I can better understand the issue here.
Yes, you’re absolutely right, I named the wrong spell.
Think about like this, that trait could effectively hamper faiy-very high CR creatures for an entire combat, and they can eventually do it up to 6 times per day. The DMG recommends 6ish combats per day. That means they could use it every fight. Being able to bring a red dragon’s breath weapon once is powerful, being able to do it for an entire fight is waayyy powerful. If they were restricted to a single damage type chosen at chargen that would be one thing, but they get to choose it every time they use it. That means the only thing they’re really gonna be hurt by is B/P/S damage. Is too much.
I understand your point but in that situation, if say the party had the forethought of fighting a red dragon, wouldn't bringing a tiefling hamper the damage type more? Or, say, casting Protection from Energy which lasts for a hour?
How does it fare if that creature that does the energy damage can deal multiple energy types, like various casters? The reason I ask is because this trait seems like a powered down version of a potion of resistance. I'm trying to balance the trait against things that already grant resistance or things that just get free permanent resistance.
Think of it this way, you’re giving them an infinite supply of an uncommon consumable magic item. If that seems balanced to you then go ahead. But to me it seems OP is all.
I'm just trying to come at it logically, that's all. I'm guessing your analogy of giving a race and "infinite supply of an uncommon magic item" is referring to the fact that they can trigger a damage resistance multiple times. I wouldn't say that's quite accurate as the potion effect also lasts and hour but I can acquiesce to that time limit meaning little in the heat of combat because it's unlikely combat should or will last longer than ten rounds. I can also understand that while the initial idea was to make the resistance contingent on damage trigger this makes it seem infinite by the measure that you would in theory always have the damage resistance for whatever damage type is being used against you in any scenarios where you haven't expended all your resources. Moreover, it would be better than permanent damage resitance, despite the limitations, because it was beneficially situational (good in almost any situation), as opposed to situationally beneficial (good in specific situations).
I'm with Sposta on this one - the fact that they can choose the damage type to match their opponent is what makes this powerful. You would probably be more balanced just having them pick one of these and having resistance to it permanently. Compare to a red dragonborn. They have resistance to fire. If they fight a red dragon, both them and dragon-kin can be resistant to fire for 10 rounds, easily long enough for the fight. Now pit the same 2 against a blue dragon. Dragon kin can now switch resistance, whereas the dragon born cannot - making the switchable resistance more powerful. However, making it once per rest would make it less powerful, as the second combat comes around and the dragonkin are spent.
Dragons Breath is a so-so spell, but when you consider the abuses available - such as using it on a familiar or homonculus, or even your mount - it becomes quite interesting. Is it the intention to allow them to give other people dragons breath, or was it meant to be for themselves?
Combining the switchable resistance with flying, this is a powerful race as is - possibly too powerful. Don't use the Dragonborn as a baseline - they are arguably OP as well. compare with a few other races to see if it feels balanced. If it's more powerful than some and less powerful than others, then you're in the middle of the range and probably ok.
Dragons Breath is a so-so spell, but when you consider the abuses available - such as using it on a familiar or homonculus, or even your mount - it becomes quite interesting. Is it the intention to allow them to give other people dragons breath, or was it meant to be for themselves?
The Dragonbreath spell was supposed to be for them, which I can errata to say they can cast on themselves. I understand the argument better, which is why I clarified. However I want to continue to stress this wasn't meant to be a "pick my resistance" ability, but more of a reaction to taking damage. A lot of the options presented so far for argument hinge heavily on fighting exactly one monster that can do exactly one elemental damage type. Up until extremely late game using the current (assuming six encounters a day) either scintillating resistance will go unused (if the party fights anything that cannot do elemental damage or does damage of a type it cannot resist) or will be expended (such as by fighting too many enemies that would trigger the ability or being forced to trigger the ability multiple times in one combat vs an enemy or multiple that can deal different damage types). Or at least that was the initial idea.
I agree somewhat with IamSposta, currently it is unbalanced, but I don't see it as "choosing" a resistance in so much as Protection from Energy is. One requires forethought, one is contingent on taking the damage first. I won't argue that it needs tweaking, but I'm also of the mind to believe that flight is not as overpowered as people say it is, and that any who argue that it is at early levels are not all that good at setting up challenges for players who can fly.
It's very odd to have a feature like that which triggers on a reaction, but where the resistance persists for 1 full minute without concentration. Making it a reaction means you're guaranteed to only ever cast it against a creature that deals that specific damage type, as compared to Protection from Energy, where you need to know what you're going to face off against ahead of time. In addition, Protection From Energy is a 3rd level spell, and giving players something on par with a 3rd level spell for free at level 1, and giving them more uses regardless of what class they play is pretty wild.
If you're going to keep it as a reaction, its effect should only last for one round. Maybe just give the race Absorb Elements at that point, though. Personally I'm of the opinion it will be much simpler to just give the race a single resistance that's always on, similar to the existing dragonborn. Even if you're trying to avoid comparisons to Dragonborn, it's still a feature of Dragons in 5e that they have set resistance based on their color.
It's very odd to have a feature like that which triggers on a reaction, but where the resistance persists for 1 full minute without concentration. Making it a reaction means you're guaranteed to only ever cast it against a creature that deals that specific damage type, as compared to Protection from Energy, where you need to know what you're going to face off against ahead of time. In addition, Protection From Energy is a 3rd level spell, and giving players something on par with a 3rd level spell for free at level 1, and giving them more uses regardless of what class they play is pretty wild.
If you're going to keep it as a reaction, its effect should only last for one round. Maybe just give the race Absorb Elements at that point, though. Personally I'm of the opinion it will be much simpler to just give the race a single resistance that's always on, similar to the existing dragonborn. Even if you're trying to avoid comparisons to Dragonborn, it's still a feature of Dragons in 5e that they have set resistance based on their color.
That’s what I was saying. It’s just too much as is. Either a much shorter duration or restricting it to a single damage type would fix it, but it needs to change somehow to be balanced.
It's not at all uncommon to fight enemies that do only one type of elemental damage, most undead only deal necrotic damage (plus b/s/p), dragons deal only 1 type of elemental damage, elementals only deal 1 type of elemental damage, devils generally only deal 1 kind of elemental damage, storm & fire giants only deal 1 type of elemental damage, and celestials tend to only deal radiantdamage- that's half the monster manual right there.
As discussed above, the resistance is way overpowered. I can think of three ways to tone it down:
1. Have it last until the start of your next turn
2. Have it last the minute, but take an action to activate and require concentration to maintain. This might still be overpowered, consider only one use per day
3. Restrict the damage type. I'd say choose two at character creation and only be able to gain resistance to those.
Regarding the dragon's breath, limit it to only target self.
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Context: I'm working ona dragon-kin race for my homebrew world. The race itself is not like dragonborn and mostly is based on the Revised Aarakocra, with the following changees:
1) The races ability score modifers are locked at +1 STR, +1 CON, +1 CHA (or a variation that)
2) The race gains dragon's breath instead of gust of wind at 3rd level
The only additional thing I've added to the race is the following racial ability:
Scintillating Resistance: As a reaction, when you take Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, Necrotic, Poison, Radiant, or Thunder damage, you gain resistance to that damage type for one minute or until you use this trait again. You may use this trait a number of times per day equal to your Proficiency Bonus. You regain all expended usages of this trait upon completing a Long Rest.
Formatting issues aside, how do you feel about this race mechanically and conceptually.
The dragon’s breath kinda sucks, so I doubt it’ll get used much. Scintillating Resilience is OP though. You should shorten it to 1 round of resistance instead. I mean, just compare it to resistance. If you want to keep it for 1 minute, reduce the number of uses to 1ce/short rest.
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I think you mean absorb elements because actual resistance grants no form of damage resistance.
And, not to argue, but rather from an educational standpoint would you be able to explain to me why Scintillating Resistance is over powered? Like from a mechanical standpoint. I want the feeback of why so I can better understand the issue here.
Yes, you’re absolutely right, I named the wrong spell.
Think about like this, that trait could effectively hamper faiy-very high CR creatures for an entire combat, and they can eventually do it up to 6 times per day. The DMG recommends 6ish combats per day. That means they could use it every fight. Being able to bring a red dragon’s breath weapon once is powerful, being able to do it for an entire fight is waayyy powerful. If they were restricted to a single damage type chosen at chargen that would be one thing, but they get to choose it every time they use it. That means the only thing they’re really gonna be hurt by is B/P/S damage. Is too much.
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I understand your point but in that situation, if say the party had the forethought of fighting a red dragon, wouldn't bringing a tiefling hamper the damage type more? Or, say, casting Protection from Energy which lasts for a hour?
How does it fare if that creature that does the energy damage can deal multiple energy types, like various casters? The reason I ask is because this trait seems like a powered down version of a potion of resistance. I'm trying to balance the trait against things that already grant resistance or things that just get free permanent resistance.
Think of it this way, you’re giving them an infinite supply of an uncommon consumable magic item. If that seems balanced to you then go ahead. But to me it seems OP is all.
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I'm just trying to come at it logically, that's all. I'm guessing your analogy of giving a race and "infinite supply of an uncommon magic item" is referring to the fact that they can trigger a damage resistance multiple times. I wouldn't say that's quite accurate as the potion effect also lasts and hour but I can acquiesce to that time limit meaning little in the heat of combat because it's unlikely combat should or will last longer than ten rounds. I can also understand that while the initial idea was to make the resistance contingent on damage trigger this makes it seem infinite by the measure that you would in theory always have the damage resistance for whatever damage type is being used against you in any scenarios where you haven't expended all your resources. Moreover, it would be better than permanent damage resitance, despite the limitations, because it was beneficially situational (good in almost any situation), as opposed to situationally beneficial (good in specific situations).
Does the above argument seem accurate to you?
More or less, yeah.
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I'm with Sposta on this one - the fact that they can choose the damage type to match their opponent is what makes this powerful. You would probably be more balanced just having them pick one of these and having resistance to it permanently. Compare to a red dragonborn. They have resistance to fire. If they fight a red dragon, both them and dragon-kin can be resistant to fire for 10 rounds, easily long enough for the fight. Now pit the same 2 against a blue dragon. Dragon kin can now switch resistance, whereas the dragon born cannot - making the switchable resistance more powerful. However, making it once per rest would make it less powerful, as the second combat comes around and the dragonkin are spent.
Dragons Breath is a so-so spell, but when you consider the abuses available - such as using it on a familiar or homonculus, or even your mount - it becomes quite interesting. Is it the intention to allow them to give other people dragons breath, or was it meant to be for themselves?
Combining the switchable resistance with flying, this is a powerful race as is - possibly too powerful. Don't use the Dragonborn as a baseline - they are arguably OP as well. compare with a few other races to see if it feels balanced. If it's more powerful than some and less powerful than others, then you're in the middle of the range and probably ok.
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The Dragonbreath spell was supposed to be for them, which I can errata to say they can cast on themselves. I understand the argument better, which is why I clarified. However I want to continue to stress this wasn't meant to be a "pick my resistance" ability, but more of a reaction to taking damage. A lot of the options presented so far for argument hinge heavily on fighting exactly one monster that can do exactly one elemental damage type. Up until extremely late game using the current (assuming six encounters a day) either scintillating resistance will go unused (if the party fights anything that cannot do elemental damage or does damage of a type it cannot resist) or will be expended (such as by fighting too many enemies that would trigger the ability or being forced to trigger the ability multiple times in one combat vs an enemy or multiple that can deal different damage types). Or at least that was the initial idea.
I agree somewhat with IamSposta, currently it is unbalanced, but I don't see it as "choosing" a resistance in so much as Protection from Energy is. One requires forethought, one is contingent on taking the damage first. I won't argue that it needs tweaking, but I'm also of the mind to believe that flight is not as overpowered as people say it is, and that any who argue that it is at early levels are not all that good at setting up challenges for players who can fly.
It's very odd to have a feature like that which triggers on a reaction, but where the resistance persists for 1 full minute without concentration. Making it a reaction means you're guaranteed to only ever cast it against a creature that deals that specific damage type, as compared to Protection from Energy, where you need to know what you're going to face off against ahead of time. In addition, Protection From Energy is a 3rd level spell, and giving players something on par with a 3rd level spell for free at level 1, and giving them more uses regardless of what class they play is pretty wild.
If you're going to keep it as a reaction, its effect should only last for one round. Maybe just give the race Absorb Elements at that point, though. Personally I'm of the opinion it will be much simpler to just give the race a single resistance that's always on, similar to the existing dragonborn. Even if you're trying to avoid comparisons to Dragonborn, it's still a feature of Dragons in 5e that they have set resistance based on their color.
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That’s what I was saying. It’s just too much as is. Either a much shorter duration or restricting it to a single damage type would fix it, but it needs to change somehow to be balanced.
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It's not at all uncommon to fight enemies that do only one type of elemental damage, most undead only deal necrotic damage (plus b/s/p), dragons deal only 1 type of elemental damage, elementals only deal 1 type of elemental damage, devils generally only deal 1 kind of elemental damage, storm & fire giants only deal 1 type of elemental damage, and celestials tend to only deal radiantdamage- that's half the monster manual right there.
As discussed above, the resistance is way overpowered. I can think of three ways to tone it down:
1. Have it last until the start of your next turn
2. Have it last the minute, but take an action to activate and require concentration to maintain. This might still be overpowered, consider only one use per day
3. Restrict the damage type. I'd say choose two at character creation and only be able to gain resistance to those.
Regarding the dragon's breath, limit it to only target self.