Okay, so 5e is one of the most balanced editions of D&D, if I've heard correctly. Though it is fairly well balanced, there are a few parts of it that are unbalanced, namely certain races.
This thread is just to list the official races you think are overpowered. I personally think Yuan-Ti Purebloods and Satyrs are currently the most overpowered races in 5e. What do you think?
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When it comes to the monstrous races of Volos, the book does say that they may be more or less powerful than normal races. I do agree that yuan-ti and what I had heard about satyrs puts them in the OP category as well.
Okay, so 5e is one of the most balanced editions of D&D, if I've heard correctly. Though it is fairly well balanced, there are a few parts of it that are unbalanced, namely certain races.
This thread is just to list the official races you think are overpowered. I personally think Yuan-Ti Purebloods and Satyrs are currently the most overpowered races in 5e. What do you think?
Yuan-ti vs Forest gnome
Darkvision- wash
Magic Resistance vs Gnome Cunning- either a wash or pro Yuan-ti, depending on DM interpretation
Speed- 30 yuan-ti vs 25 gnome
Innate Spellcasting- Poison spray has limited range, targets a reasonably common save (CON) that deals 1d12 damage. It is arguably more useful on the creatures that are better at Con saves, but is useful for one shotting little adds. This is not commonly taken as a class or feature spell from what I've seen. Suggestion once per rest is a nice bonus.
Vs Natural Illusionist Minor Illusion is a highly useful and commonly taken cantrip. Suggestion might even these out, but I'm inclined to say gnome
Animal Friendship unlimited on snakes vs Speak with Small Beasts- wash or pro gnome
Poison Immunity- pro yuan ti but usefulness dependent on campaign and DM
Languages- 3 yuan to vs 2 gnome- advantage yuan ti
Racial bonuses. 1 int 2 charisma yuan-ti vs 2 int 1 dex forest gnome. This is dependent on character concept, but because int is mainly useful for only wizards or Artificer (knowledge skills and investigation aside) having the +1 is probably better unless you are planning to play a wizard or Artificer that isn't planning to multiclass into a charisma caster. Dex is useful for everyone but the +1 is awkward for characters that dump dex since it won't bring a modifier upgrade. + 2 charisma is useful for several classes including many caster classes and several rogue subclasses. However it is fairly useless for character concepts that choose to dump charisma, particularly if a DM will allow for an Intimidation (Strength) check. Having two mental stat bonuses also guarantees a wasted stat for non-skill monkeys or non int-cha multiclass characters, which is pretty much true with an int bonus regardless. Overall, this ends up being a wash with either race gaining advantage in certain character concepts.
I think that the yuan-ti can be extremely strong in the right campaign and in the right character concepts, but they have a reasonable comparison from the PHB. They may be overturned a bit, but it doesn't seem like it's a bunch unless a DM uses poison frequently in their campaign.
Magic Resistance vs Gnome Cunning- either a wash or pro Yuan-ti, depending on DM interpretation
I don't disagree with all the rest, but this is the one thing that I will certainly not agree with. Agreed, there are very bad spells in the Wisdom area, but advantage on Dexterity Saving throws against magic is a major advantage that will help you at all levels, especially if you are a weak spellcaster class. And advantage on Constitution Saving Throws against magic is really good as well, although less pervasive, I think. All the other areas are fairly rare and the Yuan-ti advantage on Strength as well is probably negligible, but Dexterity and Constitution makes a major difference for me.
I think that I was thinking that the saves would be done on spells cast by wisdom, intelligence, or charisma (rough night and kids being rambunctious while typing both led to a hurried misreading. I realized that wasn't what it said afterwards). Dexterity saves and constitution saves are indeed usually frequent and do tilt the balance in favor of the yuan ti, pushing them more into the realm of OP. But it doesn't change much about the statement that I made. Instead of putting wash first, the pro yuan-ti statement should have been first (even under these false premise that I had, since I was mostly thinking about the distinction between spells only and the other magical effects rider). Then instead of DM interpretation, it should be DM/campaign implementation since those differences won't be critical if the character isn't targetted by spells forcing those saves.
The additional caveat would come with ASI/feat usage, along with class choice. The difference between a yuan-ti barbarian and a forest gnome barbarian diminishes since at second level due to danger sense (mostly wasted on a yuan-ti). Other classes have similar features. Likewise, the racial bonuses could cause the yuan-ti to play catchup on stats where the gnome could invest in feats like resilient or Warcaster to mitigate some of that difference.
Those distinctions are character dependent as well as campaign dependent and are thus difficult to factor into the comparison outside of a blanket wash, which still leaves it primarily pro yuan-ti. It does also justify saying that yuan-ti is overtuned more than what my initial reading was.
If a Forest Gnome Ancients Paladin would be hard to damage... a Yuan-ti Ancients Paladin would be a nightmare to damage, particularly since the charisma bonus would be more useful than the dex bonus.
I think that I was thinking that the saves would be done on spells cast by wisdom, intelligence, or charisma (rough night and kids being rambunctious while typing both led to a hurried misreading. I realized that wasn't what it said afterwards). Dexterity saves and constitution saves are indeed usually frequent and do tilt the balance in favor of the yuan ti,
Don't get me wrong, I really liked the analysis that you made, it's just that having played a neutral evil Yuan-ti bard up to level 15, I really felt in easy-mode on a lot of encounters.
I don't regret it, and there was also a half-drow in the group, but we all learned why magic resistance is so OP...
Interesting. I've played a yuan-ti fighter 1/warlock 2/sorcerer 8 to level 11 and the magic resistance just hasn't come up much. I think at most 2 or 3 times in 11 levels. I think this is likely due to the encounters I played more often featuring monsters (where their abilities are often not considered magical) vs encounters with enemy spellcasters. In encounters vs spellcasters, magic resistance becomes much more useful.
Anyway, in my play experience, they haven't been OP ... maybe slightly better than the standard races but magic resistance just hasn't come up often enough to make a difference.
I think that I was thinking that the saves would be done on spells cast by wisdom, intelligence, or charisma (rough night and kids being rambunctious while typing both led to a hurried misreading. I realized that wasn't what it said afterwards). Dexterity saves and constitution saves are indeed usually frequent and do tilt the balance in favor of the yuan ti,
Don't get me wrong, I really liked the analysis that you made, it's just that having played a neutral evil Yuan-ti bard up to level 15, I really felt in easy-mode on a lot of encounters.
I don't regret it, and there was also a half-drow in the group, but we all learned why magic resistance is so OP...
Interesting. I've played a yuan-ti fighter 1/warlock 2/sorcerer 8 to level 11 and the magic resistance just hasn't come up much. I think at most 2 or 3 times in 11 levels. I think this is likely due to the encounters I played more often featuring monsters (where their abilities are often not considered magical) vs encounters with enemy spellcasters. In encounters vs spellcasters, magic resistance becomes much more useful.
Anyway, in my play experience, they haven't been OP ... maybe slightly better than the standard races but magic resistance just hasn't come up often enough to make a difference.
That was part of the reason that I chose the first gnome for my analysis. It was a close comp and one was from the PHB and the other from Volo's. Many things do come to a wash based on character choices, but there was no comparable for the poison immunity for the gnome or even something to really put in it's place. The magic resistance for yuan ti is stronger than gnome cunning by virtue of getting the physical saves as well. While I think that most people would rather have Minor Illusion than Poison Spray, adding in a once per rest Suggestion can really make that closer to a wash.
While the animal friendship spell is stronger than speak with small beasts, the limitation to snakes probably makes it not as strong as speak with small beasts.
As such, we can say that Yuan-ti is overturned compared to the first gnome which is supposed to be pretty balanced compared to the other PHB races, probably excepting human variant and half-elf. It's not enough to make it an auto select, though it is a strong choice for many builds.
I think Dhampirs are also very powerful. Firstly, it has spider climb. The ability to walk on any solid surfaces regardless of gravity is simply broken. It also doesn't need to breath, so going underwater won't affect it. The vampiric bite it has acts like guidance and resistance together (with a little teammate cooperation). I think dhampirs can compete with the races above
I think Dhampirs are also very powerful. Firstly, it has spider climb. The ability to walk on any solid surfaces regardless of gravity is simply broken.
Less powerful than flying speed (most of the time, that is). I agree that the race is powerful, I just wouldn't say that Spider Climb is as powerful as you say it is.
It also doesn't need to breath, so going underwater won't affect it.
But they don't have a swimming speed, so going underwater will still affect them as Underwater Combat typically does (disadvantage on most weapon attacks, resistance to fire damage, etc). Also, Warforged, Reborn, Lizardfolk and a few other races get similar abilities.
The vampiric bite it has acts like guidance and resistance together (with a little teammate cooperation).
How so? Both of those are cantrips and can be cast at will. Dhampir's empowerment features are limited to Prof. Bonus per day. It does have the ability to be comboed, but it way less broken than the UA version and isn't particularly broken even when it is comboed.
I think dhampirs can compete with the races above
I think it's good, I just wouldn't put it anywhere near the Yuan-Ti Pureblood in terms of power. I also think that the Reborn is better than the Dhampir in most scenarios (advantage on death saving throws, resistance to poison damage, sleep immunity, Knowledge from a Past Life, etc), and still wouldn't put it anywhere near as powerful as the Yuan-Ti Purebloods (as it's about as powerful as Warforged, which are pretty powerful, but on a different tier from most OP races).
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Bugbears. The Long-Limbed racial ability leads to crazy polearms shenanigans when combined with feats like Polearm Mastery and Sentinel. If I understand it right, such things can become Dhampirs too.
If I understand it correctly, they may be able to become Dhampirs, but they would loose all their former racial abilities in doing so.
Granted, I'm only going from a quick read of the UA, so I may have missed something.
Bugbears. The Long-Limbed racial ability leads to crazy polearms shenanigans when combined with feats like Polearm Mastery and Sentinel. If I understand it right, such things can become Dhampirs too.
They can, but they lose long-limbed.
Ignoring UA races, the most "powerful" Dhampir races are:
Lizardfolk and Locathah: Swim Speed 30, 2 skills, 2 languages.
Weaker: Sea Elf: Swim Speed 30, 1 skill, 3 languages
Weaker: Pure Dhampir: No swim speed, 2 skills, 2 languages.
Aarakocra: Walk Speed 35, Climb Speed 35, Fly Speed 50 means you won't use the Walk or Climb, but you also get 3 languages. Light or No Armor only for the fly speed.
Winged Tiefling: Walk Speed 35, Climb Speed 35, Fly Speed 30 while not in Heavy Armor, 2 Languages. Has a credible, albeit situational, reason to land on a horizontal or vertical surface, for the extra 5 feet of movement.
With UA:
Owlfolk: Walk Speed 35, Climb Speed 35, Fly Speed 35, no armor restriction, 1 skill, 2 languages. Your DM will need to decide whether or not the save to stop falling is part of the fly speed (like hover but weaker) or a separate racial that's lost.
Fairy: Walk Speed 35, Climb Speed 35, Fly Speed 35 (Hover), no armor restriction, 2 languages.
Note that across the board, Dhampir Size is not connected to origin race - you can be a Medium ex-Fairy and a Small ex-Lizardfolk.
Dhampir isn't that powerful, though. It's good, for sure. I'm not claiming it's underpowered or anything. But for any Dhampir build, there are other races competing with it - including, for many builds, Reborn, from the same book. The only Van Richten's race I can't quite suss out is Hexblood, but I'm sure it has uses, too. Maybe Moon Druid, that seems pretty functional.
Ancestral Legacy. If you replace a race with this lineage, you can keep the following elements of that race: any skill proficiencies you gained from it and any climbing, flying, or swimming speed you gained from it.
If you don’t keep any of those elements or you choose this lineage at character creation, you gain proficiency in two skills of your choice.
There is no mention of racial abilities. As such, there is no reason any of them would be lost. A Bugbear's limbs don't become shorter when they are transformed into a Dhampir. Given that their movement speed is increased, I'd say their limbs get even longer, but only the legs. A Bugbear Dhampir's arms are already about 10 feet long.
In the Creating a Character section, it says "If you choose a lineage, you might have once been a member of another race, but you aren't any longer. You now possess only your lineage's racial traits".
I get that its something you can design around as a DM (as you can potentially design around just about anything that seems OP), but a fly speed at early level is such a game changer for exploration, especially if you are playing an official module rather than a homebrew setting.
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I gotta say I've looked at the yuan-ti and satyrs and I'll admit that satyrs are great but if you want op then check out Quadrones. They have truesight flight poison imunity and they know mending!
I gotta say I've looked at the yuan-ti and satyrs and I'll admit that satyrs are great but if you want op then check out Quadrones. They have truesight flight poison imunity and they know mending!
Those are not an official player race. Homebrew races are often ridiculously overpowered, so discussing them in this thread (or any, really) is kind of besides the point of the discussion.
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If you look at things through powerplayer eyes Yuan-ti and Aarakocra might be strong indeed. Let us look at from a roleplayer's perspective; Yuan-ti lack feeling they are cold hearted, they are shunned by many and they will be possibly shot on sight in many are in the settings i play (Forgotten Realms), powerplay wise i too think they are strong, a rogue, or a caster can get around these difficulties through disguise but it is still risky in FR as magic is quite common. Do not think of npcs as idiots, it is common to cast zone of truth in city gates of big cities like Waterdeep and Baldur's Gate, so you might start creating another character in your first day if your not lucky enough. 2 charisma seems huge plus maybe, then again do you think you can persuade someone who does not initiate speaking with you? Anyway playing as yuan ti is still kinda attractive though they have a charisma, even more so than tiefling that is an undeniable fact.
Aarakocra, they are strong powerplay wise perhaps peerless infact. A kensei twilight cleric with longbow is stuff of nightmares perhaps, at least powerplay wise, then again you start the game in 3 die at 30s, if you are using some sorta aging rules in your game you'll be racing against time. As suggested monk is the most effective class, i'd go for druid though, wouldn't want my chick to kick the bucket that fast. Roleplay wise, we like elves why? They look cool and they live long, on the otherhand Aarakocra has neither, they are literally speaking humanoids with bird heads, you wanna roleplay that, well go ahead.
My personal candidate is Aasimar, i think all Aasimar are op especially protection, you get a minor heal ability, light cantrip, darkvision, wings of light plus bonus radiant damage for 10 turns and resistance to both necrotic and radiant damage, that resitance thing is imho quite good.
But all those abilities do not make Aasimar op, you are literally half angel, it makes life easier, most honest people are more prone to believe you without dicerolls, if you are a cleric, paladin or a divine soul acting like a cleric, you'll simply be loved in every good community, infact in a short amount of time it is not unnatural for people to revere you, and in the long term they might even worship you :S...Since this is a roleplaying game, social advantages of Aasimar are simply close to being OP
Imho no race is really OP, Avariel might be though, as they have wings plus long life span(yes they are slower than Aarakocra so what? It's innate speed and can increase anyway, and they get an extra language and elven traits, lack of a AS might be big for some but still they make the best Archers powerplay wise, and they have the lifespan to see higher levels) I hope they become legal in AL. I'd prefer longer life span, elven resistances, reverie/trance over +1wis, extra speed and short life span of Aarakocra anytime... In fact i think even Aasimar fans would be tempted.
Astral Elves? Come on, are you seriously let them in your game? They are plain broken (they do not die, they get free profs and change it as they see fit, it even beats knowledge clerics in terms of fabrication synergy, they have resistance as if they are half elf&half aasimar, they get free cantrips, like sacred flame..sigh)...Anyway i kinda hope they get nerfed.
Depending on the game, Satyrs(seriously it is kinda too strong, but tbh i wouldn't wanna roleplay halfgoat i can hear people making wild/inappropriate guesses about the pcs ancestory) and Centaurs(finally a nice spear race imho) are strong as well. Halforcs and Bugbears are still not underperforming much though, former due to superb racial traits and situationally cool racial feat and bugbears are bugbears, name makes the problem apparent.
Dwarves, well they are AS monsters and they have access to Dwarven Fortitude, Squat Nimbleness and perhaps one day grudge bearer(i hope not)
To those saying Aarakocra, it depends on how much of the campaign is outdoors. Indoors where flight speed is a lot less relevant, they are not so fantastic.
And even outdoors, fine, the right build flies at 70'. Now, what does the rest of the party do? And apparently there is no cover outdoors for enemies to shield themselves behind or under? And enemies have no ranged weapons of their own?
I get that its something you can design around as a DM (as you can potentially design around just about anything that seems OP), but a fly speed at early level is such a game changer for exploration, especially if you are playing an official module rather than a homebrew setting.
Again, depends on how visible things are from the air. Open sea, sure, but any hostile ship could see them, too and long before the Aarakocra would be able to ID ship ownership. Open plains, again, sure. However both those would be very specific campaign settings.
Forest? Could spot clearings but seeing what is in them would require getting danger close. And the creatures could just retreat into the tree cover if needed.
The Aarakocra character could fly on ahead for a mini solo run, but that is notoriously a bad idea.
We could go on for hours about situations where flying could be helpful/OP and possible ways DM could combat it, but lets just look at it this way:
Fly is very useful and (imo) a must have for casters who can prepare it, if for no other reason that exploration. You can cross ravines or traps or large bodies of terrain without issue. It can be helpful in combat as well, depending on how you use it. Ultimately, though, it will allow you to circumvent most obstacles based around terrain or battlefield layout.
I do not think the spell is overpowered, but now compare it to flying as a racial trait. You do not risk dropping concentration and dropping out of the sky every time you are hit with an attack. You do not need to expend a spell slot and you do not have a time limit. The only thing that makes Fly potentially better than the racial trait is that you can choose to cast it on someone else and multiple creatures for higher level spell slots. Otherwise, for single creatures, being able to fly at will forever without concentration is undoubtedly better than its spell counterpart. Furthermore, you have access to this flight at level one, whereas the spell is 3rd level and would normally require a caster who is at least level 5.
Finally, as you have pointed out there are plenty of ways to (re)design encounters to make sure they are challenging for PCs that can fly, but no other racial trait requires that amount of attention or speculation, so that is what makes it OP.
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Okay, so 5e is one of the most balanced editions of D&D, if I've heard correctly. Though it is fairly well balanced, there are a few parts of it that are unbalanced, namely certain races.
This thread is just to list the official races you think are overpowered. I personally think Yuan-Ti Purebloods and Satyrs are currently the most overpowered races in 5e. What do you think?
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When it comes to the monstrous races of Volos, the book does say that they may be more or less powerful than normal races. I do agree that yuan-ti and what I had heard about satyrs puts them in the OP category as well.
Yuan-ti seem pretty broken, half-elves and variant humans are really good but not overpowered. I don't have MOoT, so I don't know what satyrs do.
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Yuan-ti vs Forest gnome
Darkvision- wash
Magic Resistance vs Gnome Cunning- either a wash or pro Yuan-ti, depending on DM interpretation
Speed- 30 yuan-ti vs 25 gnome
Innate Spellcasting- Poison spray has limited range, targets a reasonably common save (CON) that deals 1d12 damage. It is arguably more useful on the creatures that are better at Con saves, but is useful for one shotting little adds. This is not commonly taken as a class or feature spell from what I've seen. Suggestion once per rest is a nice bonus.
Vs Natural Illusionist Minor Illusion is a highly useful and commonly taken cantrip. Suggestion might even these out, but I'm inclined to say gnome
Animal Friendship unlimited on snakes vs Speak with Small Beasts- wash or pro gnome
Poison Immunity- pro yuan ti but usefulness dependent on campaign and DM
Languages- 3 yuan to vs 2 gnome- advantage yuan ti
Racial bonuses. 1 int 2 charisma yuan-ti vs 2 int 1 dex forest gnome. This is dependent on character concept, but because int is mainly useful for only wizards or Artificer (knowledge skills and investigation aside) having the +1 is probably better unless you are planning to play a wizard or Artificer that isn't planning to multiclass into a charisma caster. Dex is useful for everyone but the +1 is awkward for characters that dump dex since it won't bring a modifier upgrade. + 2 charisma is useful for several classes including many caster classes and several rogue subclasses. However it is fairly useless for character concepts that choose to dump charisma, particularly if a DM will allow for an Intimidation (Strength) check. Having two mental stat bonuses also guarantees a wasted stat for non-skill monkeys or non int-cha multiclass characters, which is pretty much true with an int bonus regardless. Overall, this ends up being a wash with either race gaining advantage in certain character concepts.
I think that the yuan-ti can be extremely strong in the right campaign and in the right character concepts, but they have a reasonable comparison from the PHB. They may be overturned a bit, but it doesn't seem like it's a bunch unless a DM uses poison frequently in their campaign.
Counter analysis?
I think that I was thinking that the saves would be done on spells cast by wisdom, intelligence, or charisma (rough night and kids being rambunctious while typing both led to a hurried misreading. I realized that wasn't what it said afterwards). Dexterity saves and constitution saves are indeed usually frequent and do tilt the balance in favor of the yuan ti, pushing them more into the realm of OP. But it doesn't change much about the statement that I made. Instead of putting wash first, the pro yuan-ti statement should have been first (even under these false premise that I had, since I was mostly thinking about the distinction between spells only and the other magical effects rider). Then instead of DM interpretation, it should be DM/campaign implementation since those differences won't be critical if the character isn't targetted by spells forcing those saves.
The additional caveat would come with ASI/feat usage, along with class choice. The difference between a yuan-ti barbarian and a forest gnome barbarian diminishes since at second level due to danger sense (mostly wasted on a yuan-ti). Other classes have similar features. Likewise, the racial bonuses could cause the yuan-ti to play catchup on stats where the gnome could invest in feats like resilient or Warcaster to mitigate some of that difference.
Those distinctions are character dependent as well as campaign dependent and are thus difficult to factor into the comparison outside of a blanket wash, which still leaves it primarily pro yuan-ti. It does also justify saying that yuan-ti is overtuned more than what my initial reading was.
If a Forest Gnome Ancients Paladin would be hard to damage... a Yuan-ti Ancients Paladin would be a nightmare to damage, particularly since the charisma bonus would be more useful than the dex bonus.
Interesting. I've played a yuan-ti fighter 1/warlock 2/sorcerer 8 to level 11 and the magic resistance just hasn't come up much. I think at most 2 or 3 times in 11 levels. I think this is likely due to the encounters I played more often featuring monsters (where their abilities are often not considered magical) vs encounters with enemy spellcasters. In encounters vs spellcasters, magic resistance becomes much more useful.
Anyway, in my play experience, they haven't been OP ... maybe slightly better than the standard races but magic resistance just hasn't come up often enough to make a difference.
That was part of the reason that I chose the first gnome for my analysis. It was a close comp and one was from the PHB and the other from Volo's. Many things do come to a wash based on character choices, but there was no comparable for the poison immunity for the gnome or even something to really put in it's place. The magic resistance for yuan ti is stronger than gnome cunning by virtue of getting the physical saves as well. While I think that most people would rather have Minor Illusion than Poison Spray, adding in a once per rest Suggestion can really make that closer to a wash.
While the animal friendship spell is stronger than speak with small beasts, the limitation to snakes probably makes it not as strong as speak with small beasts.
As such, we can say that Yuan-ti is overturned compared to the first gnome which is supposed to be pretty balanced compared to the other PHB races, probably excepting human variant and half-elf. It's not enough to make it an auto select, though it is a strong choice for many builds.
Aarakocra. 50ft fly speed at level 1. Enough said.
or not. +2dex +1wis. Made to go monk. By level 4 if you take mobile you have 70ft of fly movement and you dont take attacks of opportunity. dope.
I think Dhampirs are also very powerful. Firstly, it has spider climb. The ability to walk on any solid surfaces regardless of gravity is simply broken. It also doesn't need to breath, so going underwater won't affect it. The vampiric bite it has acts like guidance and resistance together (with a little teammate cooperation). I think dhampirs can compete with the races above
Less powerful than flying speed (most of the time, that is). I agree that the race is powerful, I just wouldn't say that Spider Climb is as powerful as you say it is.
But they don't have a swimming speed, so going underwater will still affect them as Underwater Combat typically does (disadvantage on most weapon attacks, resistance to fire damage, etc). Also, Warforged, Reborn, Lizardfolk and a few other races get similar abilities.
How so? Both of those are cantrips and can be cast at will. Dhampir's empowerment features are limited to Prof. Bonus per day. It does have the ability to be comboed, but it way less broken than the UA version and isn't particularly broken even when it is comboed.
I think it's good, I just wouldn't put it anywhere near the Yuan-Ti Pureblood in terms of power. I also think that the Reborn is better than the Dhampir in most scenarios (advantage on death saving throws, resistance to poison damage, sleep immunity, Knowledge from a Past Life, etc), and still wouldn't put it anywhere near as powerful as the Yuan-Ti Purebloods (as it's about as powerful as Warforged, which are pretty powerful, but on a different tier from most OP races).
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If I understand it correctly, they may be able to become Dhampirs, but they would loose all their former racial abilities in doing so.
Granted, I'm only going from a quick read of the UA, so I may have missed something.
Look at the Dhampir for the Ravenloft book
They can, but they lose long-limbed.
Ignoring UA races, the most "powerful" Dhampir races are:
With UA:
Note that across the board, Dhampir Size is not connected to origin race - you can be a Medium ex-Fairy and a Small ex-Lizardfolk.
Dhampir isn't that powerful, though. It's good, for sure. I'm not claiming it's underpowered or anything. But for any Dhampir build, there are other races competing with it - including, for many builds, Reborn, from the same book. The only Van Richten's race I can't quite suss out is Hexblood, but I'm sure it has uses, too. Maybe Moon Druid, that seems pretty functional.
In the Creating a Character section, it says "If you choose a lineage, you might have once been a member of another race, but you aren't any longer. You now possess only your lineage's racial traits".
Any race with a flying speed.
I get that its something you can design around as a DM (as you can potentially design around just about anything that seems OP), but a fly speed at early level is such a game changer for exploration, especially if you are playing an official module rather than a homebrew setting.
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I gotta say I've looked at the yuan-ti and satyrs and I'll admit that satyrs are great but if you want op then check out Quadrones. They have truesight flight poison imunity and they know mending!
Those are not an official player race. Homebrew races are often ridiculously overpowered, so discussing them in this thread (or any, really) is kind of besides the point of the discussion.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
If you look at things through powerplayer eyes Yuan-ti and Aarakocra might be strong indeed. Let us look at from a roleplayer's perspective; Yuan-ti lack feeling they are cold hearted, they are shunned by many and they will be possibly shot on sight in many are in the settings i play (Forgotten Realms), powerplay wise i too think they are strong, a rogue, or a caster can get around these difficulties through disguise but it is still risky in FR as magic is quite common. Do not think of npcs as idiots, it is common to cast zone of truth in city gates of big cities like Waterdeep and Baldur's Gate, so you might start creating another character in your first day if your not lucky enough. 2 charisma seems huge plus maybe, then again do you think you can persuade someone who does not initiate speaking with you? Anyway playing as yuan ti is still kinda attractive though they have a charisma, even more so than tiefling that is an undeniable fact.
Aarakocra, they are strong powerplay wise perhaps peerless infact. A kensei twilight cleric with longbow is stuff of nightmares perhaps, at least powerplay wise, then again you start the game in 3 die at 30s, if you are using some sorta aging rules in your game you'll be racing against time. As suggested monk is the most effective class, i'd go for druid though, wouldn't want my chick to kick the bucket that fast. Roleplay wise, we like elves why? They look cool and they live long, on the otherhand Aarakocra has neither, they are literally speaking humanoids with bird heads, you wanna roleplay that, well go ahead.
My personal candidate is Aasimar, i think all Aasimar are op especially protection, you get a minor heal ability, light cantrip, darkvision, wings of light plus bonus radiant damage for 10 turns and resistance to both necrotic and radiant damage, that resitance thing is imho quite good.
But all those abilities do not make Aasimar op, you are literally half angel, it makes life easier, most honest people are more prone to believe you without dicerolls, if you are a cleric, paladin or a divine soul acting like a cleric, you'll simply be loved in every good community, infact in a short amount of time it is not unnatural for people to revere you, and in the long term they might even worship you :S...Since this is a roleplaying game, social advantages of Aasimar are simply close to being OP
Imho no race is really OP, Avariel might be though, as they have wings plus long life span(yes they are slower than Aarakocra so what? It's innate speed and can increase anyway, and they get an extra language and elven traits, lack of a AS might be big for some but still they make the best Archers powerplay wise, and they have the lifespan to see higher levels) I hope they become legal in AL. I'd prefer longer life span, elven resistances, reverie/trance over +1wis, extra speed and short life span of Aarakocra anytime... In fact i think even Aasimar fans would be tempted.
Astral Elves? Come on, are you seriously let them in your game? They are plain broken (they do not die, they get free profs and change it as they see fit, it even beats knowledge clerics in terms of fabrication synergy, they have resistance as if they are half elf&half aasimar, they get free cantrips, like sacred flame..sigh)...Anyway i kinda hope they get nerfed.
Depending on the game, Satyrs(seriously it is kinda too strong, but tbh i wouldn't wanna roleplay halfgoat i can hear people making wild/inappropriate guesses about the pcs ancestory) and Centaurs(finally a nice spear race imho) are strong as well. Halforcs and Bugbears are still not underperforming much though, former due to superb racial traits and situationally cool racial feat and bugbears are bugbears, name makes the problem apparent.
Dwarves, well they are AS monsters and they have access to Dwarven Fortitude, Squat Nimbleness and perhaps one day grudge bearer(i hope not)
We could go on for hours about situations where flying could be helpful/OP and possible ways DM could combat it, but lets just look at it this way:
Fly is very useful and (imo) a must have for casters who can prepare it, if for no other reason that exploration. You can cross ravines or traps or large bodies of terrain without issue. It can be helpful in combat as well, depending on how you use it. Ultimately, though, it will allow you to circumvent most obstacles based around terrain or battlefield layout.
I do not think the spell is overpowered, but now compare it to flying as a racial trait. You do not risk dropping concentration and dropping out of the sky every time you are hit with an attack. You do not need to expend a spell slot and you do not have a time limit. The only thing that makes Fly potentially better than the racial trait is that you can choose to cast it on someone else and multiple creatures for higher level spell slots. Otherwise, for single creatures, being able to fly at will forever without concentration is undoubtedly better than its spell counterpart. Furthermore, you have access to this flight at level one, whereas the spell is 3rd level and would normally require a caster who is at least level 5.
Finally, as you have pointed out there are plenty of ways to (re)design encounters to make sure they are challenging for PCs that can fly, but no other racial trait requires that amount of attention or speculation, so that is what makes it OP.
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