Children of the Earth
Added 2016-04-02 00:12:42 +0000 UTCConnors brings you three new playable dwarf subraces. The wild Flint Dwarves are strong and volatile; the exalted Jade Dwarves are almost otherworldly guardians of civilization; and the vengeful Obsidian Dwarves have a fiery heritage. Illustrated by Cat Lu.
Comments
Anyone used these in play? Would love to hear some feedback.
Evil GM
2017-12-06 07:58:11 +0000 UTCOh, and never forget the 'power' of choice. It is easy to say this is 1/3 a feat, but for the feat that grants skills, do not forget is it is 3 SKILLS OF YOUR CHOICE. That is a major difference.
Evil GM
2016-04-12 01:32:38 +0000 UTCFWIW the Flints were inspired a little by korobokuru and I tried to capture a little of the Utuchekulu with the obsidians.
Evil GM
2016-04-11 13:14:34 +0000 UTCHey, thanks for getting back Leonardo. And with specifics - helps a lot. Firstly, I think you are being a little too specific (with 1/3 feats etc). Jade dwarf 1st. I don't think many would find this 'overpowered'. All traits are practically passive. I don't think many PCs get hit with the attacks to which they have some resistance, so they rarely come into play, and well the Medicine skill has long been discussed as, well next to useless. Besides, their +1 CHA does not go with many Dwarf builds. I think you might be overlooking things there.
Evil GM
2016-04-11 12:20:05 +0000 UTC@Connors707 I didn't meant to critique your article in a degraded way, and I apologise if it appeared so. The lore around the dwarves are pretty cool, but I think the racial traits lack some thorough math. Also, consider that what I did was a mere static analysis comparing it to already existing subrace options, and I didn't playtested any of the mentioned subraces.
Leonardo Raele
2016-04-10 17:30:07 +0000 UTC@Connors707 Sorry for the late response, I did not received notifications for your comments. (I'm not used to Patreon) My thoughts on the obsidian dwarf: Obsidian Dwarves is the most overpowered. First of, it have fire resistance. Fire resistance is the strongest damage resistance because its the most common type of damage. This trait alone (alongside with a +1 ASI) would be enough to close a dwarf subrace, and it would be overpowered. As an example, the aasimar race from DMG is a variant of the tielfling race and it gets two damage resistances to replace tielfling's fire resistance, because fire have more impact than other resistances. Then, the obsidian dwarves also have +2 to Int. With this, you can have two +4's at 4th level. Wow! You could arguably say that the mountain dwarves also have a +2 ASI, so why not? Mountain dwarves' +2 to Str is only balanced because it is conflicting with its Dwarf Armor Training trait. Any class/build that wound benefit from the +2 Str, already gains proficiency with medium armor; in the other hand, classes that benefits from the medium armor proficiency have no use to the +2 Str (except for carrying capacity and saves, maybe?). That's why mountain dwarves are the only race/subrace option until now that gains a +2 ASI: you either make use of the +2 Str or the medium armor proficiency, but not both. The obsidian dwarves doesn't have this type of compensation. You can arguably say that Obsidian Shards is the +2 Int compensation: while this trait is useful to melee characters the +2 Int isn't, and vise versa. Saying that would be false, since we have the Eldritch Knight, Arcane Trickster and Bladesinger class options, all of which benefits from both traits. (also wizard multiclassing builds that use SCAG cantrips, if multiclassing is allowed) Finally, they also have the Obsidian Shards feature, which may deal only 1d6 damage, but it is free damage. If you receive three attacks on a round (which is somewhat common for defender-like characters), you can make the value of an extra attack feature out of it, which is supposed to be a tier-breaker feature. OP! The obsidian dwarves also have the Cold Sensitivity drawback as a compensation, but it will most likely never kick in, except for campaigns featuring arctic environments or cold-themed dungeons. Jade dwarves are strong. They are not as overpowered as obsidian dwarves, but they are stronger than the subrace options from PHB and SCAG. Jade dwarves not only receive an additional skill, but they also have one damage resistance. Its not resistance to fire damage, but damage resistances are big advantage. Look at the Aasimar and Tielfling races. Their damage resistance are so impactful that the only trait they have aside from it are their spellcasting traits. (and we are talking about a full race) Now, a comparison of dwarf subraces. • Hills dwarves have +1 ASI (half feat) and +1 HP per level (half feat). • Mountain dwarves virtually have either +2 ASI (one feat) or medium armor proficiency (+2 AC, comparing the better medium armor to mage armor with same Dexterity score; one feat). • Duergars are difficult to value this way, but they have +1 ASI (half feat), resistance to three specific effects and two limited 2nd-level spell slots. They also have the sunlight sensibility drawback, which may never kick in in underdark-like campaigns, or may be a serious nuisance in other settings. • Obsidian dwarves have +2 ASI (one feat), the strongest resistance (better value than a 3rd-level spell slot, using the protection from energy spell as a base, and considering that this resistance is permanent and doesn't require concentration)*, and Obsidian Shards (stronger than a feat when used correctly, as explained above). They also have the Cold Sensitivity drawback, but it will most likely never kick in, except for campaigns featuring arctic environments or cold-themed dungeons. * Comparison to duergar's two 2nd-level spell slots: two 2nd-level spell slots are supposed to be slightly better than one 3rd level spell slot, using either DMG's spell points rule or sorcerer's Font of Magic feature to compare. But considering that the obsidian dwarf's "spell" is permanent and doesn't require concentration, its fire resistance trait probably has the same or higher value than duergars' spellcasting trait. • Jade dwarves have +1 ASI (half feat), proficiency with weapons (almost unvaluable, since dwarves already have weapon proficiencies of similar size), one skill proficiency* (1/3 feat), resistance to diseases (1/3 of the duergar's trait, but difficult to value in feat terms), and resistance to necrotic damage (half the value of obsidian dwarves' resistance to fire, using tielfling/aasimar and notes from DMG as base).
Leonardo Raele
2016-04-10 17:01:12 +0000 UTCLeonardo...Any chance of specifics so I can respond?
Evil GM
2016-04-09 07:36:36 +0000 UTCHey Leonardo, I am not seeing what you are seeing. Admittedly the obsidian's features have been changed significantly since I submitted, but would you care to elaborate on how they are insanely overpowered. Jades' features are mostly reactive so may rarely even feature in a game. Having Medicine (a mostly useless skill) and a couple of weapon proficiencies I was thinking might actually be weak.
Evil GM
2016-04-05 06:19:54 +0000 UTCThese subrace options are insanely unabalanced! Specially jade and obsidian dwarves.
Leonardo Raele
2016-04-05 02:14:05 +0000 UTCGlad to see this up. I hope people enjoy the idea behind each of these.
Evil GM
2016-04-04 00:58:03 +0000 UTCWhat do you think of this article? Let us know in the comments!
Joey
2016-04-02 00:24:20 +0000 UTC
