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New Insectile Race

Started by Illithid00, January 05, 2007, 04:18:55 AM

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Illithid00

Hey all,

I want to use a brand new race in my world, Kaa'dril. The problem is, I suck at making new races.
Here's the concept:
LA +0
Insectile
Jungle dwelling
Tribal
Uses primitive weapons

Other than all that, it's a blank slate. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

King

Tybalt

What kind of insects do you like?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insect
Here's a link about bugs with of course more links attached as it is wiki.
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Matt Larkin (author)

You could start with thri-kreen and tone them down so that they wouldn't have a level adjustment or racial hit dice.  Give 'em a new name and some new polish; for them you get the basics of the idea.

Still, it's hard to imagine a bug-based creature really having no level adjustment or racial hit dice, just because you'd expect such a creature to have certain abilities (natural armor from an exoskeleton, six limbs, high str) that always receive an LA.
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Illithid00

I was thinking of something like scorpions. Not technically insects, but close enough.

King

Matt Larkin (author)

Arachnids.

I would say poison definitely justifies some kind of ECL higher than 0.  To say nothing of enhanced strength and an exoskeleton.

If you make the poison sting a low penalty (1d2 dex/1d2 dex) or something like that, then maybe you could get away with it as a low LA or something.

The thing is that give it any kind of arachnid-like trait, you almost certainly have to give it a disadvantage (LA, ability penalties or whatever).  Perhaps they get a high Int and Cha penalty.
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Ishmayl-Retired

I'm pretty sure the "Mythical Races" book by Fantasy Flight Games has a couple insectoid races.  Also, a good place to look is the enWorld homebrew Racial Compendium (and I say enWorld instead of WotC, because enWorld actually describes them, instead of just making links that you have to guess the nature).
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Raelifin

Hello, I have some experience with insectile races. Phaedoras, my setting, features... six, I think.

The big thing IMO, when building insectile races is how human you make them. Eight limbs? How many limbs are legs? Exoskeletons? Stinger? All these are large factors for your race.

Here's an example of a clearly playable insectile race. For a more exotic race, finer tuning may be needed.

Kaa'dril
    +2 Str, -2 Int, -2 Wis
    *Medium Size
    *30ft Speed
    *+1 Natural Armor
    *Low-light vision. (for optimum balance, remove this if you are using a human-dominant player base)
    *-2 on all checks to resist heat based attacks. This does not apply for
fire attacks.
*Kaa'dril have two additional arms that sprout from the shoulders. Each ends with a wicked, crab-like claw that is incabable of using any sort of tool. These claws deal 1d6 damage each and count as the creature's primary natural weapon. In combat, Kaa'dril may attack with their claws or their held weapons (if any).
*+2 on Climb and Jump.
*Favored Class: Barbarian[/list]

Illithid00

What would the lvl adjustment on that race be? I'm looking for a LA +0. Thanks for the advice on what I have to consider when creating insect races.

King

Raelifin

Yes, I built it around your concepts.