I have been trying to create a reasonably balanced homebrew playable race: The Tundra Giant. I have limited experience with D&D as I’ve only participated in two campaigns (one of which has been finished). I would appreciate if someone with more experience in playing, DMing or homebrewing looked at my homebrew and gave some input as I have a hard time determining if the traits are either too overpowered or mechanically impossible/challenging. I’m aware that the size is a little off as 10-12ft normally would be considered a large creature, but I’m trying to keep away from creating a large creature as I’m aware that it would bring forth problems with balance. The height of my Tundra Giants is mainly there for roleplaying purposes.
Be as honest as you can, I’m eager to learn!
PS. English is my second language and there are probably some grammatical errors here and there.
The Tundra Giants, or Tunðr’Kin as they call themselves, are among the smallest subspecies of giant. Although historically hailing from the vast tundras of Icewind Dale in the northwest and Pelvuria in the northeast, the Tundra Giants has in this day and age been almost completely driven from their ancestral lands by their larger cousins, the Frost Giants. Extremely few in number, they wander the world in search of other survivors of their kin and new lands to settle in. They are, among non-giants, primarily known for their strength, resilience and determination.
Even though Tundra Giants are small by giant standards, they still tower over most other races, averaging 10 to 12 feet in height. Alongside their stature, Tundra Giants are recognizable by their rugged appearance. Their clothing usually consist of a variety of furs carelessly sewn together with random pieces of leather and fabric with nothing but functionality in mind. This is however contrasted by their grooming habits. The females put a lot of effort in braiding and decorating their hair with small bones and wooden beads and the males do the same with their beards.
Tundra Giants are a hardy and powerful race and are perfectly adapted to life in the tundra. Their culture is nomadic in nature and has been since even before their exile. As patrons of the tundra, they have a deep respect for the natural world and do what they can to protect it. Because of this, Tundra Giants hold a general distrust towards urbanisation and technology, and are, in turn, viewed as being somewhat primitive. Most Tundra Giants look down on smaller races, regarding them as inferior, but some of them seek their company, hoping to fill the social void their nigh extinction has brought upon them.
Because of their forced solitude, most Tundra Giants become fiercly loyal towards whoever they might accompany and will often protect their companions with their life.
Tundra Giant Traits
Tall, strong and hardy, the Tundra Giants have the following traits:
Ability Score Increase
Your Strength and Constitution scores are each increased by 2.
Age
Tundra Giants mature slowly and live very long lives, often surpassing 500 years of age.
Alignment
Most Tundra Giants are neutral.
Size
Tundra Giants are large humanoids, averaging 10-12 feet in height. Your size is pushing the limits of being medium.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Tundra Born
You are perfectly adapted to life in the tundra. You gain proficiency in the Survival skill and have resistance to cold damage.
Giant Perseverance
As one of the last of your kind you are fiercely determined to keep your heart beating and ensure the survival of your race. You can choose to roll one death saving throw with advantage. After you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
Giant Ferocity
You can use your giant strength to swing your weapons with greater force, sacrificing accuracy for power. Before you make a melee attack with a weapon that you are proficient with, you can choose to add your proficiency bonus to the damage roll instead of the attack roll.
Massive Build
Your great size affects how you interact with your surroundings:
You have disadvantage on Dexterity checks.
Your natural reach is 10ft.
You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.
A strength and constitution bonus of 2 is a little strong for a medium-almost large race. Technically it actually is already a large size, because large starts at 10 feet. Disadvantage on dex saves is a great way to counter that, but natural reach and being able to lift twice the amount is really good. The easiest broken combo I can see is rune knight 10/barbarian 2. This gets you the ability to have advantage on dex saves you can see which counters the disadvantage, and rune knights get great stature, which permanently raises their height by up to 1 foot. that bumps you up to large, almost guaranteed. Otherwise an interesting race.
Thanks for your reply! I see your point, but isn’t the Rune Knight’s Dexterity advantage only applied to objects having the cloud rune? And also only the Sleight of Hand skill? A Tundra Giant would still have disadvantage on Stealth, Acrobatics and Initiative. The two barbarian levels will also only give advantage on some Dexterity saving throws, not Dexterity checks.
as for dex checks, the only one to worry about is acrobatics, and that is easily replaced by athletics. any other dexterity can be done by someone with proficiency in them.
Remember, saves are 95% of the time voluntary, meaning that you're still not at much of a disadvantage (pun not intended). So you can definitely keep it, but still, any class that you would (normally) plan to play with this race wouldn't have many dexterity skills anyway.
What I would recommend, is that you give them some martial weapon proficiencies, because that would overlap with most classes that you would be playing anyway. Kind of like how the dwarf gets battleaxe and warhammer proficiencies. Greataxe, Greatsword, and Maul would thematically fit in my opinion. If/What you would want to replace with that is your choice.
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I have been trying to create a reasonably balanced homebrew playable race: The Tundra Giant. I have limited experience with D&D as I’ve only participated in two campaigns (one of which has been finished). I would appreciate if someone with more experience in playing, DMing or homebrewing looked at my homebrew and gave some input as I have a hard time determining if the traits are either too overpowered or mechanically impossible/challenging. I’m aware that the size is a little off as 10-12ft normally would be considered a large creature, but I’m trying to keep away from creating a large creature as I’m aware that it would bring forth problems with balance. The height of my Tundra Giants is mainly there for roleplaying purposes.
Be as honest as you can, I’m eager to learn!
PS. English is my second language and there are probably some grammatical errors here and there.
The race in question:
Tundra Giant
The Tundra Giants, or Tunðr’Kin as they call themselves, are among the smallest subspecies of giant. Although historically hailing from the vast tundras of Icewind Dale in the northwest and Pelvuria in the northeast, the Tundra Giants has in this day and age been almost completely driven from their ancestral lands by their larger cousins, the Frost Giants. Extremely few in number, they wander the world in search of other survivors of their kin and new lands to settle in. They are, among non-giants, primarily known for their strength, resilience and determination.
Even though Tundra Giants are small by giant standards, they still tower over most other races, averaging 10 to 12 feet in height. Alongside their stature, Tundra Giants are recognizable by their rugged appearance. Their clothing usually consist of a variety of furs carelessly sewn together with random pieces of leather and fabric with nothing but functionality in mind. This is however contrasted by their grooming habits. The females put a lot of effort in braiding and decorating their hair with small bones and wooden beads and the males do the same with their beards.
Tundra Giants are a hardy and powerful race and are perfectly adapted to life in the tundra. Their culture is nomadic in nature and has been since even before their exile. As patrons of the tundra, they have a deep respect for the natural world and do what they can to protect it. Because of this, Tundra Giants hold a general distrust towards urbanisation and technology, and are, in turn, viewed as being somewhat primitive. Most Tundra Giants look down on smaller races, regarding them as inferior, but some of them seek their company, hoping to fill the social void their nigh extinction has brought upon them.
Because of their forced solitude, most Tundra Giants become fiercly loyal towards whoever they might accompany and will often protect their companions with their life.
Tundra Giant Traits
Tall, strong and hardy, the Tundra Giants have the following traits:
Ability Score Increase
Your Strength and Constitution scores are each increased by 2.
Age
Tundra Giants mature slowly and live very long lives, often surpassing 500 years of age.
Alignment
Most Tundra Giants are neutral.
Size
Tundra Giants are large humanoids, averaging 10-12 feet in height. Your size is pushing the limits of being medium.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Tundra Born
You are perfectly adapted to life in the tundra. You gain proficiency in the Survival skill and have resistance to cold damage.
Giant Perseverance
As one of the last of your kind you are fiercely determined to keep your heart beating and ensure the survival of your race. You can choose to roll one death saving throw with advantage. After you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
Giant Ferocity
You can use your giant strength to swing your weapons with greater force, sacrificing accuracy for power. Before you make a melee attack with a weapon that you are proficient with, you can choose to add your proficiency bonus to the damage roll instead of the attack roll.
Massive Build
Your great size affects how you interact with your surroundings:
Languages
You can speak, read and write Common and Giant.
A strength and constitution bonus of 2 is a little strong for a medium-almost large race. Technically it actually is already a large size, because large starts at 10 feet. Disadvantage on dex saves is a great way to counter that, but natural reach and being able to lift twice the amount is really good. The easiest broken combo I can see is rune knight 10/barbarian 2. This gets you the ability to have advantage on dex saves you can see which counters the disadvantage, and rune knights get great stature, which permanently raises their height by up to 1 foot. that bumps you up to large, almost guaranteed. Otherwise an interesting race.
Thanks for your reply!
I see your point, but isn’t the Rune Knight’s Dexterity advantage only applied to objects having the cloud rune? And also only the Sleight of Hand skill? A Tundra Giant would still have disadvantage on Stealth, Acrobatics and Initiative. The two barbarian levels will also only give advantage on some Dexterity saving throws, not Dexterity checks.
Oh, sorry I thought that was dex saves
as for dex checks, the only one to worry about is acrobatics, and that is easily replaced by athletics. any other dexterity can be done by someone with proficiency in them.
Remember, saves are 95% of the time voluntary, meaning that you're still not at much of a disadvantage (pun not intended). So you can definitely keep it, but still, any class that you would (normally) plan to play with this race wouldn't have many dexterity skills anyway.
What I would recommend, is that you give them some martial weapon proficiencies, because that would overlap with most classes that you would be playing anyway. Kind of like how the dwarf gets battleaxe and warhammer proficiencies. Greataxe, Greatsword, and Maul would thematically fit in my opinion. If/What you would want to replace with that is your choice.