Not a whole lot to say here. Desmodus were last seen in 3rd edition, where they got their own dedicated adventure module, Deep Horizon. Since then though, they haven't gotten much attention. But I think they're neat, and since I didn't see any other takes on them here, I decided to create my own take on them!
I think you did an overall nice job with this homebrew! I think it does a good job capturing the feel of a bat-like humanoid.
There are a lot of bat folk type homebrew races kicking around, so this homebrew may be less unique than you hoped. I guess desmodus have a specific historic DnD context, still they do seem like a bat folk type humanoid in all practical respects.
minor points:
you have dark vision 30 in the descriptive text but the test character I made has dark vision 60
The walking speed in the descriptive text is 35 but my test character’s base speed is 30. If 35 is what you wanted, I would wonder why they have a fast walking speed. If anything, I would recommend a slow or normal speed.
Overall I think the homebrew is pretty well done. I think that you could tolerate improving the glide feature to eliminate the 100 foot limit for reducing fall damage without increasing the power level significantly. I think that would make more sense and be simpler all around.
I would also consider changing the dark vision and echolocation mechanics. Dark vision is notoriously common, but blindsight is not. I think it could be interesting to give this race blindsight 30 or even 60. I’d say that losing the dark vision in exchange for blindsight would make this race feel a lot more unique. But it is a significant power increase, so you would want to lose another feature - maybe get rid of the climb speed? That could be replaced with a less useful but still flavorful ability to hang upside down by the feet. The blindsight could also be limited by requiring an action or bonus action to use it each round, or making it vulnerable to disruption by other high pitched sounds.
I was considering giving them passive blindvision, but it was deemed too powerful, given that it lets you see through pretty much all illusions and whatnot.
Thanks for pointing out the inconsistencies though; I'll fix them!
Yeah, illusion piercing probably would be too powerful, and I think most people would adjudicate things that way.
It does make me wonder if blindsight should automatically pierce illusions. I think that only truesight should work that way, looking at the descriptions of blindsight and truesight (which I'm pasting below). I think any illusion that included sound and visual elements could reasonably be argued to work on blindsight, particularly echolocation. That's not to say I think you're ultimately wrong for limiting the ability - like I said most DMs would probably rule that blindsight goes through most illusions. Just got me thinking about how those spells and senses should actually interact.
Blindsight
A creature with blindsight can perceive its surroundings without relying on sight, within a specific radius. Creatures without eyes, such as oozes, and creatures with echolocation or heightened senses, such as bats and true dragons, have this sense.
Truesight
A creature with truesight can, out to a specific range, see in normal and magical darkness, see invisible creatures and objects, automatically detect visual illusions and succeed on saving throws against them, and perceives the original form of a shapechanger or a creature that is transformed by magic. Furthermore, the creature can see into the Ethereal Plane.
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Here's the link!
Not a whole lot to say here. Desmodus were last seen in 3rd edition, where they got their own dedicated adventure module, Deep Horizon. Since then though, they haven't gotten much attention. But I think they're neat, and since I didn't see any other takes on them here, I decided to create my own take on them!
I think you did an overall nice job with this homebrew! I think it does a good job capturing the feel of a bat-like humanoid.
There are a lot of bat folk type homebrew races kicking around, so this homebrew may be less unique than you hoped. I guess desmodus have a specific historic DnD context, still they do seem like a bat folk type humanoid in all practical respects.
minor points:
you have dark vision 30 in the descriptive text but the test character I made has dark vision 60
The walking speed in the descriptive text is 35 but my test character’s base speed is 30. If 35 is what you wanted, I would wonder why they have a fast walking speed. If anything, I would recommend a slow or normal speed.
Overall I think the homebrew is pretty well done. I think that you could tolerate improving the glide feature to eliminate the 100 foot limit for reducing fall damage without increasing the power level significantly. I think that would make more sense and be simpler all around.
I would also consider changing the dark vision and echolocation mechanics. Dark vision is notoriously common, but blindsight is not. I think it could be interesting to give this race blindsight 30 or even 60. I’d say that losing the dark vision in exchange for blindsight would make this race feel a lot more unique. But it is a significant power increase, so you would want to lose another feature - maybe get rid of the climb speed? That could be replaced with a less useful but still flavorful ability to hang upside down by the feet. The blindsight could also be limited by requiring an action or bonus action to use it each round, or making it vulnerable to disruption by other high pitched sounds.
I was considering giving them passive blindvision, but it was deemed too powerful, given that it lets you see through pretty much all illusions and whatnot.
Thanks for pointing out the inconsistencies though; I'll fix them!
Yeah, illusion piercing probably would be too powerful, and I think most people would adjudicate things that way.
It does make me wonder if blindsight should automatically pierce illusions. I think that only truesight should work that way, looking at the descriptions of blindsight and truesight (which I'm pasting below). I think any illusion that included sound and visual elements could reasonably be argued to work on blindsight, particularly echolocation. That's not to say I think you're ultimately wrong for limiting the ability - like I said most DMs would probably rule that blindsight goes through most illusions. Just got me thinking about how those spells and senses should actually interact.
Blindsight
A creature with blindsight can perceive its surroundings without relying on sight, within a specific radius. Creatures without eyes, such as oozes, and creatures with echolocation or heightened senses, such as bats and true dragons, have this sense.
Truesight
A creature with truesight can, out to a specific range, see in normal and magical darkness, see invisible creatures and objects, automatically detect visual illusions and succeed on saving throws against them, and perceives the original form of a shapechanger or a creature that is transformed by magic. Furthermore, the creature can see into the Ethereal Plane.