Is this dnd race over powered? If so what should I change?

Cthonic

You are distantly related to Cthulhu. This manifests in a number of ways. Some grow flightless wings or even a tentacle beard, but all have tentacles sprouting out of their back

Cthonic traits

Creature type: Humanoid 

Size: Medium(4-5ft) 

Speed:30ft

Darkvision: you have darkvision within a range of 60ft

Tentacles: You have a number of 5 ft long tentacles equal to your proficiency bonus. Each has its own sentience and you can communicate with them telepathically and they can also communicate with each other and you telepathically. In combat they have their own turn and roll initiative themselves. They are susceptible to enchants such as suggestion though. If one dies it regrows after a long rest. Their stat block is listed below. 

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Cthonic tentacle

Medium tentacle, your alignment

Ac:12

Hp:12

Speed:5ft

Languages:Your languages

Traits

The tentacle needs no human necessities

Actions

Grab:The tentacle grabs something that weighs under 30 lbs

Attack: the tentacle attacks with whatever weapon it is holding. If it is not holding anything it deals 1d4 bludgeoning damage

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Bad back: Your tentacles weaken the flesh on your back due to the fact that they are coming out of it. You have disadvantage on saving throws for attacks that target your back.

Combletely OP. A species should never ever grant additional actions in combat.

Quote from CostcoSample49590 >>

Is this dnd race over powered? If so what should I change?

Cthonic

You are distantly related to Cthulhu. This manifests in a number of ways. Some grow flightless wings or even a tentacle beard, but all have tentacles sprouting out of their back

 

Cthonic traits

Creature type: Humanoid 

Size: Medium(4-5ft) 

Speed:30ft

Darkvision: you have darkvision within a range of 60ft

Tentacles: You have a number of 5 ft long tentacles equal to your proficiency bonus. Each has its own sentience and you can communicate with them telepathically and they can also communicate with each other and you telepathically. In combat they have their own turn and roll initiative themselves. They are susceptible to enchants such as suggestion though. If one dies it regrows after a long rest. Their stat block is listed below. 

———————————————————

Cthonic tentacle

Medium tentacle, your alignment

Ac:12

Hp:12

Speed:5ft

Languages:Your languages

Traits

The tentacle needs no human necessities

Actions

Grab:The tentacle grabs something that weighs under 30 lbs

Attack: the tentacle attacks with whatever weapon it is holding. If it is not holding anything it deals 1d4 bludgeoning damage

———————————————————

Bad back: Your tentacles weaken the flesh on your back due to the fact that they are coming out of it. You have disadvantage on saving throws for attacks that target your back.

In my opinion, yes this is over-powered. Here are my general thoughts with suggestions to follow:

• In general, I think you should avoid adding things to the initiative tracker as that gets messy and slows down combat.
• The size of the tentacles as you state that they come out of your back and are 5 ft. long, which would imply they share a space with the character, so why do they have their own speed - are they growing in size and moving about the battlefield or detaching themselves from your back?
• For languages, you probably want to include Telepathy with a range or specify the telepathy that you mention in the flavor text as a Trait
• For the traits, you probably want the Unusual Nature trait common to undead creatures ("Unusual Nature. The <creature name> doesn’t require air, food, drink, or sleep.")
• You don't specify ability scores for the tentacles, so a player wouldn't be able to determine the attack modifier to apply to their roll for grab and attack. Similarly, they wouldn't know the modifier if it needs to make a saving throw.
• The Bad back trait doesn't really work with 5th edition as you can't target part of a creature's body without using homebrew or optional rules and attacks don't often also have saving throws associated with them, so this would rarely come into play even if it wasn't just the back. You could look into encumbrance with something that's the opposite of the powerful build features that some races have:
  • Powerful Build: You have Advantage on any ability check you make to end the Grappled condition. You also count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity.
  • Weak Build: You have Disadvantage on any ability check you make to end the Grappled condition. You also count as one size smaller when determining your carrying capacity
• The part where this would get particularly broken would be having these creatures use magical items, such as wands, where they could start blasting off spells.

My suggestions for how to rein this in a bit:

• Fold everything into one creature – no separate initiatives, just extra things that the player character can do.
• Add the "Grab" ability to the PC, specifying that you can hold an additional number of objects equal to your Proficiency Bonus. You might want to remind the player that they cannot benefit from multiple shields simultaneously, but not necessary.
• For additional attacks, I think the only other species that has one is the Lizardfolk's Hungry Jaws:
  
  • Hungry Jaws: You can throw yourself into a feeding frenzy. As a bonus action, you can make a special attack with your Bite (1d6+STR). If the attack hits, it deals its normal damage, and you gain temporary hit points equal to your proficiency bonus. You can use this trait a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
  • I recommend you implement the tentacles similarly. As they could get up to 1d8 with the right weapon, that's the same damage range.
  • The Lizardfolk has other features and the temp HP benefit, so if this is the only real feature of the species, then we can afford to buff this without breaking things.
  • You could add an additional effects to the tentacle when it hits, such as grappling or pulling the creature. I'd also recommend increasing the range of the tentacles to 10 or 15 feet with this change. You could also specify that you can have a number of creatures grappled equal to your Proficiency Bonus, which could produce really powerful builds with the 2024 Monk.
  • Alternatively or even in addition, you could give the PC a reaction (maybe a number of times equal to PB) to reduce damage by having the tentacle intercept.
• I would remove the Bad back portion entirely if you rebalance the rest.

Thanks for the feedback. I'll try to balance it based on your feedback.

is this better?

Cthonic

You are distantly related to Cthulhu, a legacy that manifests in unique ways. Some of you may grow flightless wings or even a tentacle beard, but all have tentacles sprouting from your back.

Cthonic Traits

• Creature Type: Humanoid
• Size: Medium (4-5 ft)
• Speed: 30 ft
• Darkvision: You have darkvision with a range of 60 ft.
• Telepathy: You can communicate telepathically with any creature within 30 ft. of you, provided they understand at least one language.

Tentacles

You have a number of 5 ft. long tentacles equal to your proficiency bonus. These tentacles are part of you and do not occupy additional space on the battlefield. You can use your tentacles to manipulate objects and perform certain attacks.

• Tentacle Manipulation: You can hold a number of objects equal to your proficiency bonus. You cannot benefit from multiple shields simultaneously.

• Tentacle Attack: As a bonus action, you can make a melee attack with one of your tentacles. The attack uses your proficiency bonus for the attack roll and deals 1d4 + your Strength modifier bludgeoning damage. On a hit, you can choose to grapple the target (escape DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength modifier).

• Tentacle Features: You can have a number of creatures grappled equal to your proficiency bonus. If a creature is grappled by your tentacle, you can pull it 10 ft. closer to you as part of the attack.

• Tentacle Interception: As a reaction, you can have a tentacle intercept damage directed at you or an ally within 5 ft., reducing the damage by an amount equal to your proficiency bonus. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, regaining all expended uses after a long rest.

Weak Build

You have disadvantage on ability checks made to escape the Grappled condition, and you count as one size smaller when determining your carrying capacity.

Y’know, when I read the title of the thread I thought it said “chronic race,” and needed to find out if that meant something about time manipulation, or if they were like Popeye and gained strength from their “spinach” somehow or something.