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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next Demigod Player Race *FEEDBACK WELCOME*



DracoKnight
2015-04-06, 09:23 PM
One of my players requested that I build a demigod player race (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B66RprYE6_HHRmV4N2oweDFydDg/view?usp=sharing), because they wanted to model their character off a Percy Jackson character. I'm posting this here to make sure it's balanced before I give them these stats.

ReturnOfTheKing
2015-04-06, 09:45 PM
I have nothing to say mechanically. I'd just like to point out that this is a friggin' awesome idea and I absolutely love it :smallbiggrin:

Rfkannen
2015-04-07, 06:23 AM
Mostly seems fun and realy balanced.

One issue I have is with the war one. Hunters mark is a realy bloody powerful spell, giveing it in a race seems to me like giveing eldrich blast.

PotatoGolem
2015-04-07, 08:14 AM
. Hunters mark is a realy bloody powerful spell, giveing it in a race seems to me like giveing eldrich blast.

Totally agree. It also makes it unbalanced against the other subraces. Maybe Blade Ward instead? Otherwise, looks balanced (and super flavorful) to me. I would probably give them Darkvision, since I feel like gods and fiends/celestials can all see in the dark.

DracoKnight
2015-04-07, 12:51 PM
I will actually be playtesting the current version of the War demigod with one of my players pretty soon. I will let everyone know if it truly is that overpowered. And I'm pretty sure that both Chill Touch and Shocking Grasp deal a lot more damage by the time you get to level 5 (2d8) and can be cast whenever the demigod wishes, whereas Hunter's Mark requires a rest to recharge, and it only adds 1d6 to their total damage each turn. If their concentration is broken it goes away.

Flashy
2015-04-07, 01:15 PM
The difference is that the 1d6 is bonus damage on attacks, while the 2d8 cantrips are coming in place of a regular attack. If the war demigod is a sorcerer or a wizard then the war demigod could easily also be doing shocking grasp for 2d8, and they're also getting hunter's mark's 1d6. If they're a martial or a warlock with multiple attacks it gets even more powerful.

It's also currently impossible to get hunter's mark without being a ranger or a vengeance paladin (or a lore bard, I guess) while there are feats, races and a handful of class features that will give you the damage cantrips.

DracoKnight
2015-04-07, 08:14 PM
I do believe that Hunter's Mark is only applicable to weapon attacks. And I realize that there are limited ways to get the spell, and that its 1d6 is bonus damage, but I also felt that limiting its use to once between rests offset that. And again, if concentration is broken, you lose that spell until you take a short or long rest. Also, you will never gain the extended time that casting Hunter's Mark at a higher level will give you.

From the Player Handbook:


"You choose a creature you can see within range and mystically mark it as your quarry. Until the spell ends, you deal an extra 1d6 damage to the target whenever you hit it with a weapon attack, and you have advantage on any Wisdom (Perception) or Wisdom (Survival) check you make to find it. If the target drops to 0 hit points before this spell ends, you can use a bonus action on a subsequent turn of yours to mark a new creature.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using
a spell slot of 3rd or 4th level, you can maintain your concentration on the spell for up to 8 hours. When you use a spell slot of 5th level or higher, you can maintain your concentration on the spell for up to 24 hours."

I took all of the above into consideration when I chose this spell over the cantrips Blade Ward or True Strike. You will never get the aforementioned bonuses that the spell gains at a higher level, since the spell levels by spell slot. Which means it will always do less damage as a racial trait than any of the cantrips will, since those scale with character level. So the most damage you will be doing with this cantrip as a fighter would be 12d6 (Great Sword or Maul with 3 Extra Attacks) at level 20, which is up 4d6 from the 8d6 that a Fighter wielding one of those weapons would normally dish out. And then if you consider that a spellcaster with a 9th level spell slot casting Fire Ball deals 14d6. I realize that this has nothing to do with the cantrips I have assigned to the other Demigods, but I wanted to point out that even at level 20, with the most powerful weapons in the game, with the most extra attacks of anyone in the game, a Fighter will still deal less damage as a War Demigod than a spellcaster who is not a War Demigod. Other than as a Fighter, the highest possible damage you can get with this trait is as a 20th Level Rogue which will deal 11d6 + 1d4 (Dagger), 12d6 (Shortsword, Scimitar, Shortbow, Light Crossbow), 11d6 + 1d8 (Rapier, Longbow), or 11d6 + 1d10 (Heavy Crossbow), if you get off Sneak Attack. As a Rogue, you should be getting Sneak Attack off almost every turn, and this again only adds 1d6 to that total, or an average of 3 damage.

Yes, Shocking Grasp will only deal 4d8 at it's highest damage output, but it still scales with character level, and it can be cast every turn. The way I have built the War Demigod, Hunter's Mark will only ever last for an hour, and the spell itself will only ever deal 1d6 extra damage, which does not scale. Added onto the fact that you have to maintain concentration, I don't see an extra 1d6 as a game-breaking amount of damage.

DracoKnight
2015-04-07, 08:59 PM
Please, tell me if I have the numbers wrong.

DracoKnight
2015-04-08, 02:27 AM
I'm doing a playtest of the War Demigod at some point this week, and I will let the forum know how it goes...please would someone else playtest it as well, and send me your findings?

HoarsHalberd
2015-04-09, 04:27 PM
I took all of the above into consideration when I chose this spell over the cantrips Blade Ward or True Strike. You will never get the aforementioned bonuses that the spell gains at a higher level, since the spell levels by spell slot. Which means it will always do less damage as a racial trait than any of the cantrips will, since those scale with character level. So the most damage you will be doing with this cantrip as a fighter would be 12d6 (Great Sword or Maul with 3 Extra Attacks) at level 20, which is up 4d6 from the 8d6 that a Fighter wielding one of those weapons would normally dish out. And then if you consider that a spellcaster with a 9th level spell slot casting Fire Ball deals 14d6. I realize that this has nothing to do with the cantrips I have assigned to the other Demigods, but I wanted to point out that even at level 20, with the most powerful weapons in the game, with the most extra attacks of anyone in the game, a Fighter will still deal less damage as a War Demigod than a spellcaster who is not a War Demigod. Other than as a Fighter, the highest possible damage you can get with this trait is as a 20th Level Rogue which will deal 11d6 + 1d4 (Dagger), 12d6 (Shortsword, Scimitar, Shortbow, Light Crossbow), 11d6 + 1d8 (Rapier, Longbow), or 11d6 + 1d10 (Heavy Crossbow), if you get off Sneak Attack. As a Rogue, you should be getting Sneak Attack off almost every turn, and this again only adds 1d6 to that total, or an average of 3 damage.


Polearm Mastery Champion using action surge: 8(d10+d6+5+0.15(d10+d6))+1(d4+d6+5+0.15(d4+d6) It adds an additional 9(d6+0.15(d6)) damage, on action surge rounds. Which is equivalent to 36.225 damage. On normal rounds it adds 20.125 damage. It is a sizeable contributor.

eleazzaar
2015-04-09, 07:12 PM
Actually, these look fairly weak.

They get the same +2, +1 to stats that almost everyone else gets.

Then they get two skill proficiencies, and a cantrip.

Compare to the high elf who gets
Darkvision,
1 skill proficiency, (perception),
4 weapon proficiencies,
1 language,
Trance (only need 4 hours sleep)
Fey Ancestry, (adv vs being charmed)
cantrip.

If you count the weapon proficiencies as equal to one skill proficiency, the the high elf gets everything your race gets, plus Darkvision, 1 language, and Trance and Fey ancestry.

DracoKnight
2015-04-09, 07:29 PM
I was talking to some local people and they recommended adding something akin to the Cleric's Divine Intervention to the race, since they are the children of the gods. It would have the same recharge and rolling rules that the Cleric's Divine Intervention imposes.

DracoKnight
2015-04-10, 02:09 AM
Thoughts on that?

Rfkannen
2015-04-10, 10:09 AM
I was talking to some local people and they recommended adding something akin to the Cleric's Divine Intervention to the race, since they are the children of the gods. It would have the same recharge and rolling rules that the Cleric's Divine Intervention imposes.

your going to give a race a level 10 class feature! um.... might be a bit insanly op.

Inevitability
2015-04-10, 10:47 AM
I was talking to some local people and they recommended adding something akin to the Cleric's Divine Intervention to the race, since they are the children of the gods. It would have the same recharge and rolling rules that the Cleric's Divine Intervention imposes.

Risky. I'd at the very least add the following lines.


Not many gods take kindly to being bothered by those not exceptionally devout to them. As such, a character may be obliged to perform a certain quest, bring a large sacrifice, or abstain from a certain activity for some time after using this ability. In addition, the DM determines when you regain the use of this ability.

This makes it more like a tool for advancing the plot. Sure, you can call your divine dad the first time a goblin stabs you in the knee, but you'll have to sacrifice a holy minotaur from the whitebark forests and pray for a week without eating after.

eleazzaar
2015-04-10, 11:06 AM
your going to give a race a level 10 class feature! um.... might be a bit insanly op.

I dunno. A first level character only has a 1% chance of success-- and what the success gets is entirely up to the DM, so if it is abused, it is the DM's fault.


Risky. I'd at the very least add the following lines....

Good idea.

AmbientRaven
2015-04-12, 08:38 AM
Seems not to bad, though A Tempsest cleric (of tempest) is incredibly strong come level 8.
The one draw back of tempest domain is how to get shocking grasp, this just gets rid of that issue, making it incredibly strong

DracoKnight
2015-04-12, 12:54 PM
Seems not to bad, though A Tempsest cleric (of tempest) is incredibly strong come level 8.
The one draw back of tempest domain is how to get shocking grasp, this just gets rid of that issue, making it incredibly strong

There are couple of other races that can get you Shocking Grasp. You can be a High Elf and take Shocking Grasp as your cantrip then become a Tempest Cleric, or you can be a Variant Human, take Magic Initiate and choose Shocking Grasp.

DracoKnight
2015-04-12, 01:26 PM
The only thing that I've changed is that I've added Darkvision to the Demigod race as per the suggestion of PotatoGolem. I also decided not to give them the Divine Intervention feature as a racial. Not because I felt is was OP, but because I didn't want them to step on the Cleric's toes.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B66RprYE6_HHd08tSWFHM1VJa0U/view?usp=sharing

eleazzaar
2015-04-12, 11:54 PM
The only thing that I've changed is that I've added Darkvision to the Demigod race as per the suggestion of PotatoGolem. I also decided not to give them the Divine Intervention feature as a racial. Not because I felt is was OP, but because I didn't want them to step on the Cleric's toes.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B66RprYE6_HHd08tSWFHM1VJa0U/view?usp=sharing

They are still weaker than the elves, but elves are arguable one of the better races.

Perhaps give them a 1-per day first level spell when they reach L3 and a L2 spell at L5, like the drow, to give them a bit more flavor.

DracoKnight
2015-04-14, 12:22 PM
What spells would you recommend?

DracoKnight
2015-04-16, 12:47 PM
Are there any spells that the forum would like to recommend, as per Eleazzaar's suggestion?

eleazzaar
2015-04-16, 02:50 PM
What spells would you recommend?

I don't have a great familiarity with the spell list, but looking at cleric domain spells would be a good place to start.

DracoKnight
2015-04-22, 10:53 AM
I will start there :D

DracoKnight
2015-05-05, 03:37 PM
Does anyone else have thoughts as to which spells to give this race as per eleazzaar's suggestion?

SonsOfSauron
2015-05-05, 04:50 PM
Perhaps these as a first go at spells, all accessed at 3rd level.

Death
False Life

Knowledge
Detect Magic

Life
Cure Wounds

Light
Faerie Fire

Nature
Speak with Animals

Tempest
Gust of Wind

Trickery
Disguise Self

War
Probably Blade Ward as a cantrip at 1st level, then Hunter's Mark at 3rd level. Maybe Divine Favor instead of Hunter's Mark? Less damage but a more versatile use of said damage, not sure if that's any better tbh :'D

GandalfTheWhite
2015-09-26, 11:48 PM
Thematically, I really, really like this race. *slow claps* Well done, Dracoknight.

DracoKnight
2015-09-27, 12:02 AM
Thematically, I really, really like this race. *slow claps* Well done, Dracoknight.

Oh, thanks. Yeah, I'm thinking about going back over it and giving everyone a cantrip at level 1 and a 1st level spell at 3rd level. What says the forum?

GandalfTheWhite
2015-09-28, 07:21 PM
Oh, thanks. Yeah, I'm thinking about going back over it and giving everyone a cantrip at level 1 and a 1st level spell at 3rd level. What says the forum?

I think you should go ahead to do it :D

DracoKnight
2015-09-28, 07:32 PM
I think you should go ahead to do it :D

Okay! Will do.

DracoKnight
2015-09-29, 05:54 PM
Updated the link in the original post. :D

Requiemforlust
2015-10-01, 04:28 AM
I really like it. It's very nicely balanced :)

LordDeath666
2018-01-22, 01:40 AM
I'm interested in the concept. But I cant look at the info on Google drive

Lalliman
2018-01-22, 05:39 AM
I'm interested in the concept. But I cant look at the info on Google drive
That's because this is a two year old thread, which you just resurrected. I suggest you PM DracoKnight (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/member.php?103463-DracoKnight) directly to see if he still has what you're looking for.