Homebrew Insectoid Species Details
Kindness Before Beauty.
Insectoid are shunned by humans and many other races due to their uncanny appearances, and have adapted to such prejudice by being unnaturally kind. They tend to help strangers with anything asked of them without pay in an effort to win over the uncertain. Those who get close with Insectoids almost always end up with a lifelong friend.
Travelers by Instinct
Energetic by nature and twitchy, Insectoids have no true homeland as they are always moving from one land to the next. They desire to know what's over the next hill or around the next corner. Entire clans of them are known to get up and go at a moment's notice with no other reason than to journey. As a result, they learn languages with immense speed.
Swarmers
Insectoids naturally gather into clans that they affectionately call "Swarms." If they become separated from their Swarm, either by fate or by exile, they will seek out any group of people to call their Swarm, whether Insectoid or not. When they call a group their Swarm, they are intensely loyal to them despite how they are treated in return. Because of this, Insectoids are naturally inclined to be part of an adventuring team.
Language and Names
They do not have a native language, using those of whichever land they currently dwell in at any given time. Their names are based off of names they have heard in their travels, and they often use a separate name for each race they have met. When they speak, their voices are very alike those of humans, but tend to be slightly higher in pitch with occasional vocal cracks when excited.
Insectoid Traits
Among all varieties, Insectoids share some common traits.Carapace
Your partial shell grants a permanent +1 to Armor Class.
Natural Variation
You can choose to be an Agile type, Burrowing type, or Winged type.
Agile grants +10 Walking Speed, Advantage on Dexterity Saving Throws and +1 to Dexterity Score.
Winged grants +20 Flying Speed and 30ft Darkvision.
Burrower grants +20 Burrowing Speed, +1 to AC and +1 to Strength Score.
Age
Insectoids reach adulthood at about the age of eight and only live to about sixty years.
Alignment
Insectoids, in an attempt to compensate for prejudice, tend to be Chaotic Good, doing all they can for strangers and friends alike in order to earn favor. Some, however, take the prejudice to heart and become either stone-hearted True Neutral or, in extreme cases, Chaotic Evil. There are no Lawful Insectoids.
Size
Insectoids vary widely in height and build, from barely 5 feet to well over 6 feet tall. Regardless of your position in that range, your size is Medium.
Speed
Your base Walking Speed is 30 ft.
Languages
Insectoids travel much and depend on their ability to learn languages very quickly. You know the most common languages, Common, Elvish, Dwarvish, Halfling, and one extra language of your choice. The extra language should be tied to an experience you have endured.
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Posted Nov 17, 2018I enjoy the concept but I have concerns about the execution. I did my best to feed all three of your race variants through the Detect Balance Guide to try to estimate how balanced these are compared to each other and also to other races. Unfortunately, I did have to do a little guess work on a couple of traits because they are not clearly represented elsewhere.
Agile scored a 23, Flying scored a 20, and Burrowing scored a 28. The average PHP and EE race falls at about 25 points and I would say a good homebrew race should probably hit between 24 and 27. So based on that scale there is a little balance work to do but not too much. There are some other concerns though.
Flying races are just naturally problematic. If at all possible it's best to avoid them but if you aren't concerned about the issues they can cause, then it's not the worst thing. I'd actually recommend if you keep it that you up it to a standard 30 ft fly speed. The flyers need a slight boost anyway and if walking everywhere is faster I don't see as much use of the flying speed.
A bigger concern overall I think is the static +1 Armor Class that they all get and burrowing gets twice. That stacks on top of whatever armor they are wearing. There is potential to be OP and its honestly not very thematic either. I think you better get the idea of a carapace by giving them a natural armor of 13+Dex when not wearing other armor. This is much less strong but is more flavor appropriate. Heavy armor wearing races won't benefit from it but that's because they are wearing better armor, while casting classes basically get mage armor AC without having to cast it.
I would personally try something like:
Ability Score Modifier: +1 Str, +1 Dex [Score:8]
Carapace: Natural Armor 13+Dex. [Score: 3]
Size: Medium [Score: 0]
Languages: Common, 3 others, choice of 1. [Score: 2]
Variants: Agile, Flying, Burrowing
Agile
Ability Score Modifier: +1 Dex [Score: 4]
Walking Speed: 40ft. [Score: 5]
Advantage: Dex Saving Throws [Score:4]
Total Score: 26
Flyer
Flying Speed: 30ft. [Score: 16]
Total Score: 29
Burrower
Burrowing Speed: 30 ft. [Score: 12]
Darkvision: 60ft. [Score: 3]
Total Score: 28
A bit more evenly balanced and I think less problematic. But that's just my two cents. Feel free to disregard.
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Posted Nov 19, 2018Hey, thanks! That's all super helpful. I really appreciate it.
I haven't looked back at this race in a while. When I have some time I'll assess this and work some things out.
I could tell there was a thematic problem with the flying, lol. I just gave them darkvision as a bonus because I felt flying wasn't exciting enough. Honestly I agree that it makes more sense for the burrowing.
Again, thank you for the assistance!
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Posted Nov 8, 2019You could probably just have a rule against them wearing heavy armor due to their anatomy
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Posted Aug 27, 2025I personally disagree here. This may be powerful at low levels with few save based threats, but most DMs can adapt enemies if necessary. It definitely loses a bit of its potency above very low levels where there are less saving throw based threats. You could do something like advantage on Con saves and/or tremorsense while fully burrowed underground (or just permanently). That would make a fun build primarily for warlocks where you put down an aoe control spell with concentration and stick your head out to force enemies back into it with Eldritch Blast when you sense them leave the area.
I really like this species and it also feels organic and unique.