Gaean - Plant Humanoid Race (Overpowered)

[Zombie_Jack]

I run an overpowered home brew campaign in metric. I'm working on a humanoid race which will be dominant in "The Game" as far as green plants are concerned. Theres a mushroom race i've evolved over the last ten years but thats another thread I suppose. The following is my 15 minute brainstorm of traits, abilities and what not feel free to help the brainstorm process. Name (real or handle) & email (optionally website) will be listed in credits for any contributions. Myself and my players thank you.

Race: Gaean

can turn and rebuke plant creatures
speak with plant creatures and mundane plants
can root themselves into the ground, gain tremorsense, +5 versus trips
trackless step and freedom of movement in home terrain
improved healing and eventually regeneration
natural defense as though bark skin and iron wood
natural poison and disease resistance
detect plants and plant creatures from a distance
identify plants and plant creatures
photosynthetic create your own food still need water
thorn growths project from the skin deals 1d5 damage versus natural attacks
bite, claw and vine attacks deal poison damage
is unaffected by environmental conditions within home terrain
+5 bonus to evasion versus natural terrain hazards
+5 Seach and spot to notice natural terrain hazards
natural camoflauge while in home terrain
can hide in plain sight while in home terrain
+10 survival in home terrain regardless of season

You be amazed at how balanced an all overpowered campaign is my players love Level 1 Epics and 10 years is a good run of the several Campaigns we've survived and still managed to be friends through ;)

P.S. Just to be clear along with Class levels there are Racial Levels the character doesnt start with all abilities at max efficiency the developments are gained depending on the players trait and ability preference through aging and experience... just so ya know.

[Milskidasith]

Could you format this and finish your ideas before posting? I'm not sure if I'm supossed to be commenting on it or helping you to get the final stats nailed down. It seems to have a lot of vague abilities that look like this is one of the "I need help statting this out" threads, but it also has a lot of hard numbers that make this look like one of the "PEACH this!" threads.

[Zombie_Jack]

The following is my 15 minute brainstorm of traits, abilities and what not feel free to help the brainstorm process.

Brainstorms aren't finished ideas, quick jot notes of traits or abilities a photosynthetic plant race could possibly possess is the goal, fleshing them or stat'ing will be a later process.

For example (any numerical values are simply place holders)

Chloro Linguist
- communicate with the vast majority of plant life.
- Language: Mundane Plants
- Language: Magical Plants (Nature, Arcane, Divine, Psionic, Cosmic)
- Language: Common [Flora]

Grassroot Footing
- gain Tremorsense 10 meters
- +5 versus trip attempts against character
- temporary "Status: Immobilize"
- AP cost to initiate 5, AP cost to release 10

Homefield Advantage
- character becomes immune to tracking while in home terrain
- gains +5 bonus when attempting to cover allies tracks in chosen terrain
- terrain obstacles do not hamper characters movement

Solar Rejuvenation
- while exposed to natural light character experiences improved healing
- heal at a rate of 1 HP per LVL each hour
- LVL 10+ character instead gains Regeneration 5

Oaken Resilience
- character starts with Natural Defense +5
- spells that specifically target wood can target this character
- character gains +5 save versus spells targeting wood

Natures Defiance
- natural poison and disease resistance
- Resist: Poison 50%, Resist: Disease 50%
- save versus being poisoned or diseased +5

I believe this is closer to what your talking about, although not the posts intention.

[Temotei]

thorn growths project from the skin deals 1d5 damage

...1d5? I suppose that works on dice rollers, but...

[Zombie_Jack]

Yes I use a die rolling calculator. Is there any chance someone has constructive suggestions towards potential race generation rather than critically analyzing a home brew system which is far from the purpose of this post?

[Milskidasith]

What exactly are we supposed to say, at all? It's intentionally overpowered, unfinished, and you haven't given nearly enough specifics to help you work, so we can do basically none of the three major things done around here (balance, comment, or create things).

My constructive advice is that if you are going to create something, save it in word and finish it entirely rather than posting your rough drafts on the forums.

[Temotei]

Actually, now that I think about it, 1d6-1 could work, because damage never goes under 1, anyway. It would open the race up to more players and it would accomplish the same thing.

What are "AP", and how many does a character get? How frequently are they gained or recharged?

Action points, maybe. That's my best guess. Darn things.

Also, it's interesting that it says you made the last post in the sub-forum, but in the thread itself, I'm last. We must have posted at the exact same time or something.

[The Glyphstone]

We can't give you constructive advice if we don't even know what system you're playing in, or what the rules are. Some of it looks like D&D 3.5, but some doesn't.

Off the top of my head:

What are "AP", and how many does a character get? How frequently are they gained or recharged? This matters to give advice on if the costs for their Immobilizing ability is too expensive or not.

What form of Regeneration are you using? Is it like D&D's Fast Healing, where it's simple X Hp healed each round? If it's like D&D Regeneration, you'd have to decide what bypasses or disables it, otherwise you have an invincible race.

- natural poison and disease resistance
- Resist: Poison 50%, Resist: Disease 50%
- save versus being poisoned or diseased +5

Assuming the first line is flavor text, but how do the second and third lines interact? Is this a 50% chance to simply ignore poison/disease outright, then if that fails, a +5 on the save versus poison/disease?

[Milskidasith]

It's a secret power of the mods, maybe?

He is the eldritch horror in the playground; screwing with the post order is the least he can do.

[Admiral Squish]

Well, if you're looking for races, I've got a whole load of 'em in my Viridia project. You could use some of those.

[DracoDei]

I will read this later (or not) but I don't think there is anything wrong with asking people to join in at the brainstorming stage rather than waiting until you have something "finished".

[Zombie_Jack]

So as diplomatically as possible =)

What exactly are we supposed to say, at all? It's intentionally overpowered, unfinished, and you haven't given nearly enough specifics to help you work, so we can do basically none of the three major things done around here (balance, comment, or create things).

I can understand at first glance without knowledge of the house rules and what not it'd seem impossible to jump in and work anything out. With that said its entirely unnecessary to be concerned with stats and balance. Why? Its an idea not a playable race at the moment. As for commentary I guess i'd be looking for ideas along the line of "hey, wouldn't it be cool if the Gaean had a pollen ability?" or "is summon natures ally appropriate for a racial ability or keep that restricted to a class feature". Purely creative aspects!!!

We can't give you constructive advice if we don't even know what system you're playing in, or what the rules are. Some of it looks like D&D 3.5, but some doesn't.

It started as D&D I swear it did. We kept adding and taking things away and now... now... OMG what have we done :*(

What are "AP", and how many does a character get? How frequently are they gained or recharged? This matters to give advice on if the costs for their Immobilizing ability is too expensive or not.

Yes the dreaded Action Points [AP] generally across the board its 10 AP per turn. 5 AP represents a full move or basic attack, 10 AP is a full attack. The numerical values represented in the previous post are placeholders to be balanced later.

What form of Regeneration are you using? Is it like D&D's Fast Healing, where it's simple X Hp healed each round? If it's like D&D Regeneration, you'd have to decide what bypasses or disables it, otherwise you have an invincible race.

Okay this one takes a bit more. The games in metric (somewhat) and no im not kidding and no to be honest I dont know if it was worth it for the troubles it had caused :/

Time Scale
-----------
10 Seconds = 1 Minute
10 Minutes = 1 Hour
10 Hours = 1 Day (followed by 10 hours of night)
10 Days = 1 Week
10 Weeks = 1 Month
10 Months = 1 Year

Game Time Equivalencies
------------------------
1 Second = 6 Seconds
1 Minute = 6 Minutes
1 Hour = 1.2 Hours
1 Day/Night = 12 Hours each
1 Week = 120 Hours rather than 168 Hours
1 Month = 1200 Hours rather than 730 Hours
1 Year = 12,000 hours rather than 8760 Hours

1 Turn = 1 Second (scoff away its fantasy not reality)
1 Round = 10 Turns = 1 Minute

So yeah one game year is 500 real life days rather than 365. Just be happy your characters live longer and move on.

Basic Natural Healing
- The character heals 1 HP per level per day/night

Natural Healing
- The character heals 1 HP+Con mod per level a day/night

Advanced Natural Healing
- The character heals 1 HP per level an hour (Once every 100 turns.)

Expert Natural Healing
- The character heals 1 HP+Con mod per level an hour

Master Natural Healing
- The character heals 1 HP per level a Minute

Perfect Natural Healing
- The character heals 1 HP+Con mod per level a minute

Natural Healing and Regeneration are separate means of healing

Basic Regeneration "X"
- The character heals "X" HP each minute

Regeneration "X"
- The character heals "X" HP+Con mod each minute
- Regrows lost appendages within 1 month

Advanced Regeneration "X"
- The character heals "X" HP each second
- Regrows lost appendages within 1 week

Expert Regeneration "X"
- The character heal "X" HP+Con mod each second
- Regrows lost appendages within 1 day/night

Master Regeneration "X"
- The character heal "X" HP+Con mod each second
- Regrows lost appendages within 1 hour
- Able to regrow decapitated head within a day/night

Perfect Regeneration "X"
- The character heal "X" HP+Con mod each second
- Regrows lost appendages within 1 minute
- Able to regrow decapitated head within an hour

It is an Overpowered Campaign, yes it's overpowered.

- natural poison and disease resistance
- Resist: Poison 50%, Resist: Disease 50%
- save versus being poisoned or diseased +5

Assuming the first line is flavor text, but how do the second and third lines interact? Is this a 50% chance to simply ignore poison/disease outright, then if that fails, a +5 on the save versus poison/disease?

The +5 would be attempts made to poison the character. The resistance is the characters chance of not experiencing the effects of poisoning. For example you fail your +5 save versus being poisoned, at this point you have a 50% chance of eliminating the poison inside of you without suffering from the effects of it.

Alrighty we'll see what this gets me...

*****Still accepting creative non specific suggestions for the Gaean race...