Hello all I made this and I would like criticism
THE GREY ALIEN
The Grey Aliens are a race of people whom have lived for thousands of years and are slowly starting to understand the “new races” that appeared so recently.
Physical Description: Greys stand between 4’ 5” and 6’. They have hairless bodies with a pale grey or green-grey flesh tones. They weigh between 90lbs. and 130lbs. Most Greys are very lanky. All Greys have large black eyes.
Society: Greys are in a state of constant discomfort, causing the majority of Greys to go into science in order to find a way to relieve themselves
Relations: Greys do not really understand other races, and most other races don’t understand Greys either. This leads to the majority of Greys just keeping their distance, rather than being openly hostile.
Alignment and Religion: Greys tend towards lawful neutral, though there are plenty of good and evil Greys as well, there is no stigma for being non-lawful but chaotic Greys are rare none the less.
GREY RACIAL TRAITS
+2 int, +2 dex: Greys have a thirst for knowledge and are generally quite graceful.
Medium.
Normal Speed.
Darkvision 60ft.
Alien Biology: Greys don’t “sleep” like other races making them immune to magical and mundane ways of putting them to sleep.
Defensive Training: Greys get a constant +2 dodge bonus to their AC.
Moon Touched: Greys have DR 5/Starstone.
Superior Intellect: Greys add their int mod to their AC instead of their dex mod.
Languages: Greys begin play speaking Common and Reticuli. Greys with high intelligence scores can choose from the following: Dwarvern, Elven, Gnome, Orc, Undercommon, Draconic, and Giant. The Grey language is made with mental waves, it can be understood but not spoken by other races. The written form can be written and read by other races.
Age
Adulthood
Middle Age
Old Age
Venerable
Max
200 Years Old
350 Years Old
520 Years Old
700 Years Old
+8d% Years
What kind of criticism do you want?
It's way too strong as a PC race. Lore-wise, I cannot take them seriously.
What kind of criticism do you want?
It's way too strong as a PC race. Lore-wise, I cannot take them seriously.
Okay, well how can I balance them. And what about the lore makes them so ridiculous
The Int bonus to AC is pretty overpowered. Where is the races disadvantage?
They remind me of the Vahnatai from the Exile/Avernum computer game series.
Mechanically, they seem a bit like elves except stronger (similar immunity to sleep effects, darkvision instead of low-light, same attribute bonuses but with no penalty). I'd give them a strength penalty for balance, to start with. (In my head it was a tossup between strength and con; elves get con, so…)
The moon-touched ability and Defensive Training seems somewhat random to me, and DR 5/starstone seems pretty powerful for a 0HD race. I think most other normal races that have DR start with 2 or so. and starstone seems a rather odd choice for damage bypass. Will early level opponents have access?
The Intelligence to AC also is potentially overpowered, since an intelligent bonus already means they are probably going to go for classes that suit that.
Also, based on my own perception of Grays, I would give them a -2 to strength at least.
For comparison, there's an official version of this creature in Bestiary 5:
Defensive Training
You should really include a mitigating factor here, such as it only applying to certain creature types. As it stands, the ability is the equivalent of gaining the Dodge feat twice, except that the player could still choose the Dodge feat again.
Moon Touched
I'm not familiar with "star stone" as a damage type, so this might as well be DR/-. Pretty powerful.
Superior Intellect
This is steering the race towards Int-based classes far too much for my liking. What if you applied Int instead of Dex to CMD?
What creature type is this? Should we assume it is humanoid? Abberations already kind of cover the "alien" niche.
Okay, well how can I balance them. And what about the lore makes them so ridiculousWhat kind of criticism do you want?
It's way too strong as a PC race. Lore-wise, I cannot take them seriously.
The big issue with race design is that you're limited in how powerful abilities you can give them. If a race gets a good ability, it's usually the only ability they get. And it should always be appropriate for a 1st level character.
Here are some specific issues I have with the race.
1) The generic gray alien is such a laughable cliche that there have been movies made to mock it. Most GMs wouldn't even allow this in a science fiction campaign. Lore and appeal is the most important aspect to designing a race. The Greys are just dull and uninteresting. If you want to go with a grey alien concept, you need to give them your own creative spin that will intrigue people.
2) The standard ability score adjustments are +2 to a physical score, +2 to a mental score, and a -2 to another score. Getting a +2 to two scores and no penalty is pretty strong. The aasimar is a really good race because of this. The lack of a penalty is also a missed chance to add some character to your race.
3) Getting free bonuses to AC is a pretty big deal as it's really useful no matter what class you play. Your race gets a total of +4 to AC.
4) The ability to add an bonus ability score to AC is a strong ability and definitely too strong for a race. The few class features that do that in the game exist for a specific reason, usually as a substitute for lack of armor proficiency. And pretty much all of them grant the bonus as a dodge bonus. Yours is typeless. I'd just remove this ability entirely.
5) I'd remove the damage reduction. As I mentioned earlier, a race should have abilities appropriate for a 1st level character. DR definitely isn't the case. Especially DR that's only bypassed by a substance that doesn't exist in the core rules.
6) I'm not really sure what your goals are with this race. All of their abilities don't make much sense to me. They have two powerful defensive abilities and ability scores that perfectly synergize with them. Being super tough and evasive doesn't mesh with the idea of being a frail grey intelligent alien thing. I would reconsider what exactly you want out of the race to fit their lore.
Okay guys I've looked over what y'all have said and I've made revisions how does this look
GREY RACIAL TRAITS
+2 Dex, -2 str, +2 Int: Greys are graceful and possess a keen intellect, but are not particularly strong.
Medium Size.
Humanoid type.
30ft. Base land speed.
Darkvision 60ft.
Alien Biology: Greys don’t “sleep” like other races making them immune to magical and mundane ways of putting them to sleep. They must still rest for 8 hours to prepare/regain spells.
Moon Touched: Greys are immune to Lycanthropy, and gain a +1 racial bonus to all d20 rolls in [natural] moonlight.
Superior Intellect: Greys gain a +1 bonus on all knowledge checks, and opposed intelligence checks.
Languages: Greys begin play speaking Common and Reticuli. Greys with high intelligence scores can choose from the following: Dwarvern, Elven, Gnome, Orc, Undercommon, Draconic, and Giant.
Oh btw I originally made the race with the advanced race guide and used 13 race points, although I know that book isn't the best at balancing things
Bestiary 5 has these guys already statted for you, by the way.
I know but they just didn't feel right. I wanted them to be medium sized and a few other things
Bestiary 5 has these guys already statted for you, by the way.I know but they just didn't feel right. I wanted them to be medium sized and a few other things
What are your goals with the race? It still feels kind of bland.
The new version is an improvement. However, a +1 to all d20 rolls feels too strong. It should directly specify what it applies for.
Superior intellect feels thematically redundant since the race already gets a +1 to Knowledge and Intelligence checks because of the Intelligence bonus.
Bestiary 5 has these guys already statted for you, by the way.I know but they just didn't feel right. I wanted them to be medium sized and a few other thingsWhat are your goals with the race? It still feels kind of bland.
The new version is an improvement. However, a +1 to all d20 rolls feels too strong. It should directly specify what it applies for.
Superior intellect feels thematically redundant since the race already gets a +1 to Knowledge and Intelligence checks because of the Intelligence bonus.
Well, I want an interesting int based race, and I thought the grey would be cool. Okay I see your point about the +1 on rolls. But I like superior intellect because it adds an extra edge
GREY RACIAL TRAITS
+2 Dex, -2 str, +2 Int: Greys are graceful and possess a keen intellect, but are not particularly strong.
Medium Size.
Humanoid(Grey) Type.
30ft. Base land speed.
Darkvision 60ft.
Alien Biology: Greys don’t require sleep like other races and are immune to sleep effects.
Moon Touched: Greys have DR1/silver
Superior Intellect: once per day, Greys may reroll knowledge checks before they gain the benefit of the roll. they must use the 2nd roll even if it is worse.
Languages: Greys begin play speaking Common and Reticuli. Greys with high intelligence scores can choose from the following: Dwarvern, Elven, Gnome, Orc, Undercommon, Draconic, and Giant.
how about this.
how about this.
GREY RACIAL TRAITS
+2 Dex, -2 str, +2 Int: Greys are graceful and possess a keen intellect, but are not particularly strong.
Medium Size.
Humanoid(Grey) Type.
30ft. Base land speed.
Darkvision 60ft.
Alien Biology: Greys don’t require sleep like other races and are immune to sleep effects.
Moon Touched: Greys have DR1/silver
Superior Intellect: once per day, Greys may reroll knowledge checks before they gain the benefit of the roll. they must use the 2nd roll even if it is worse.
Languages: Greys begin play speaking Common and Reticuli. Greys with high intelligence scores can choose from the following: Dwarvern, Elven, Gnome, Orc, Undercommon, Draconic, and Giant.
I like it a lot actually. But I just wish that moon touched was more than DR silver...Hmm oh well I really like this and it's probably what I'll use, thanks
Darkvision, no sleep and the stat array makes them interesting and a great race to play as a caster. But theme wise meh.
they still need to rest to regain spells and the like mind you. they simply do not require it.
also, who cares about someone else's theme as long as the GM says they can play it?
'cause of this new thing called role-playing.
'cause of this new thing called role-playing.
are you trying to say your roleplaying is better than someone else's?
I'd like to see how and where you ran the numbers.
I'd personally go with -2 STR, -2 DEX and +4 INT. Must be hard to balance or dodge anything with a head that big...
they're medium sized.
I think immunity to lycanthropy is fair if you think it's appropriate. Superior Intellect could also affect class skills if you wanted, I think a couple races have that. And there's also Lesser/Limited Telepathy if you wanted to cover the mental waves thing. Those might raise your racial power level more than you want though.
Alright guys I think this is gonna be my final build of it, unless something just doesn't work or I get a really good suggestion.
+2 Dex, -2 str, +2 Int: Greys are graceful and possess a keen intellect, but are not particularly strong.
Medium Size.
Humanoid(Grey) Type.
30ft. Base land speed.
Darkvision 60ft.
Alien Biology: Greys don’t require sleep like other races and are immune to sleep effects. However they still require eight hours rest to regain spell slots, class abilities, etc.
Moon Touched: Greys are immune to lycanthropy and have DR silver/1
Superior Intellect: Greys gain a +1 on all class skills, additionally all knowledge skill are treated as class skills.
Languages: Greys begin play speaking Common and Reticuli. Greys with high intelligence scores can choose from the following: Dwarvern, Elven, Gnome, Orc, Undercommon, Draconic, and Giant.