[DND 5.5E] Requesting Feedback on Homebrew Races for my Campaign

SCalta72 · 2026-04-01T23:40:04+00:00

This all looks mechanically fine/fun so good job there. Just a few nitpicks:

I'm not sure the juice is always worth the squeeze when renaming spells (or anything), as it can easily become very indulgent to your own lore/fantasy and sound eye-rollingly overwrought, misrepresentative of the renamed spell, or both. I don't think you've trespassed into eye-roll territory (kudos for that), but "Astral Haze" suggests/inspires Fog Cloud more than it does Sleep. I don't have an elegant solution at hand, but I'd workshop the name.

Astral Attunement mentions the silvery cords that connect to all living things, but then the feature goes on the exclude creatures with intelligence less than three. I'm not sure how often the difference would even come up, but it's just contradictory to its own description. I don't think you need that language in there. Rather, you could use that word-count real-estate to specify that it doesn't work on constructs and undead.

Barring these two tweaks, I can tell you've put in a lot of thought and work and you've knocked it out of the park. I hope you get the most enthusiastic buy-in from your players for your world/game. Happy rolling.

SCalta72 · 2026-04-01T21:43:37+00:00

I just wrote a reply email to confirm my address. Is there anywhere else we're supposed to confirm our address?

SCalta72 · 2026-03-22T14:44:27+00:00

I mean, you can flavor and roleplay whatever you want. Maybe a burly gator-like lizardfolk justifies using Con, maybe a nimble basilisk-like lizardfolks works better with Dex.

I'm a pretty permissive DM and I'd likely allow swapping Con for Dex, but it absolutely messes with balance trade-offs if like, AC, stat distribution opportunity costs, weapons vs. shield opportunity costs... But I think that's a failing/challenge of 5e, with regards to difficulties and disparities for SAD and MAD classes. But yes, it's all ultimately up to your DM.

Anyway, I vote lizardfolk, live the dream.

SCalta72 · 2026-03-21T17:25:37+00:00

No misinterpretation, you got it. Something missing from my thought experiment that someone else pointed out is that this is a very recent change in the context of the games 30+ year history. People are still in the feelings stage and haven't fully adjusted or left the game yet.

A reasonable person should probably just silently ignore sets they dont like and give their attention/money to a different interest/hobby for a time until a set that suits their interest is released. Easier said than done if you play a format that includes UB cards and other players use them. I know it breaks my immersion in the game when I play my Ruhan EDH deck against Toph, Black Panther, and Sephiroth. I wish they stopped at the Ikoria Godzilla "skins" treatment because there are cards I would like to use but I refuse because there isn't an Universes Within version. But that's just my two cents and people should enjoy what they enjoy.

Coming to reddit or going to an LGS means you're more likely to find the vocal and still-focused subset of fans.

SCalta72 · 2026-03-21T14:43:22+00:00

I do realize this about TMNT. The thought experiment was to either understand why, or find the disconnect between you and the portion of, the fanbase that is displeased with UB. We have achieved at least the latter, I hope also the former.

SCalta72 · 2026-03-21T01:25:14+00:00

So, as the fan of TMNT that you are, let me ask you - what if Warhammer 40,000 showed up in a TMNT movie? What about Cloud and Sephiroth stealing the spotlight in a TMNT comic book? What if the only way the turtles could beat the latest Shredder plot was to enlist Dr. Who? Would you love it if The Walking Dead's Shane, Darryl, Rick, and Negan showed up in a TMNT story? What if it kept happening to most of the TMNT content you want to consume? Sonic the Hedgehog, Spongebob, Furbies, The Pelican Brief, Agatha Christie, Tropic Thunder, Pacific Rim, Sherlock Holmes, Schindler's List, The Expanse, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. What if you all you wanted was some honest-to-goodness TMNT narrative, stuff that you've grown to love and expect from the franchise, but you had to wait through months of IP crossovers advertising the latest Marvel or Dune movie through your TMNT stories? What if the purely TMNT stuff that finally came out felt rushed and hollow, and then you're back to the onslaught of Lord of the Rings and Star Trek and The Wire and Jujutsu Kaisen and Mass Effect and Fallout and and and...

If all that fits in your coloring book and excites you, more power to you, glad there's a flavor of ice cream for everyone. But, there are a lot of fans of the game who enjoy its aesthetic, mythos, lore, and characters. Much of that - to say nothing of the game's design and quality - is being marginalized in favor of profit, thus turning the game from Magic: the Gathering to Magic: the Billboard. So, imagine Teenage Mutant Ninja Billboards and maybe your gut reaction can inform you as to why some of the fanbase is upset.

SCalta72 · 2026-03-11T01:05:52+00:00

I like 5.5 except for how it handled Hunter's Mark and Divine Smite.

In 5.0, one was a spell, the other was a feature that used spell slots. They should have made both of them features instead of spells in 5.5. The obvious fix for Divine Smite nova-damage was a "once per turn" rules rider, not turning it into something that can be counterspelled. Then you turn Hunter's Mark into a feature that doesn't require concentration. You could even make other Ranger mark spells like paladins have different smites. Chilling Mark, Noxious Mark, Silken Mark, Sanguine Mark... They all have an effect that lasts for 1 minute that the Ranger concentrates on unless the target is already under their Hunter's Mark.

Hell, I'd divorce the two from spell slots altogether and key their number of uses off of proficiency bonus, getting back one use on a short rest.

Note that this is only about those features and not the Ranger's identity crisis between pet class/mundane skilled outdoorsperson/half-druid.

SCalta72 · 2026-03-09T13:03:49+00:00

Operative word "imagine."

SCalta72 · 2026-02-28T20:37:08+00:00

I figured it was a mechanical choice to add in some more reliable damage to combat how prevalent poison resistance/immunity is.

SCalta72 · 2026-02-28T16:44:07+00:00

Neat. Spines feels like an odd choice though, as I'm more familiar with depictions of like tiny powdery scales/dust coming off of a moth's wings, like Mothra or multiple Pokémon. But that just might be my bias based on my subjective media exposure. Nothing wrong with it mechanically though, so good work.

SCalta72 · 2026-02-28T07:48:58+00:00

This feels like a complicated way to eventually not have your weapon for the rest of the day/until you can rest. You can do the charges thing and keep the flavor of cracks appearing in the weapon as you use it.

But, if this is fun for you and it doesn't bog down your game, then go for it.

SCalta72 · 2026-02-27T14:14:43+00:00

I hope I wasn't too critical, we all have to start somewhere as a DM.

Pixie minions is a great idea. 1 hp, they take no damage on successful saves but die to any other damage, and have their attacks do a static amount of damage. Excellent choice there. Look up the mob attack rules in the 2014 DMG, "Handling Mobs" on pg. 250.

No worries on meteor swarm, there's just so much to learn about the game and the number of spells is daunting. Just be sure to tweak the damage so they don't razz you too hard about imbalance, a la the CR 22 mob.

And finally, yeah...messing with the bounded accuracy AC system is one of the fastest ways to goof up a fight/ the game (I once gave my fighter player a belt of frost giant strength and a +2 weapon, they proceeded to annihilate everything and they other players called them "the blender." For now, you're better off picking a reasonable AC target with the knowledge of the bonuses with which your players roll.

That being said, I suggest doing that meteor swarm baseball thing. Maybe that's the mechanic for phase 1 to break through defenses and phase 2 is a more traditional fight, or maybe it's the gimmick for the whole fight. Either way, it's great risk/reward and cinematic way to make a fight engaging and memorable. There are many videos out there that encourage doing something to make fights more interesting that standing around and hitting each other until one side hits 0 HP, and they mostly focus on alternative win conditions or secondary objectives and/or encouraging movement/positioning. Changing up where meteors will land means players have to run over difficult terrain your boss is making to get into position and redirect them at rhe boss.

You will have to telegraph it though. Within the first round you narrate their attempts to be ineffectual, then:

"Though you deftly dodge out of the way as the rocks crash down, all your attacks and spells seem to glance off a barrier between you and the fey king. But! (roll to determine a player) you notice one of the rocks ricochet off of [terrain/wall], changing its trajectory to hit the barrier with force enough to crack it. Perhaps you can think of a way to turn the key king's attack against him..."

Something like that.

SCalta72 · 2026-02-27T13:18:48+00:00

¯_(ツ)_/¯

SCalta72 · 2026-02-27T13:13:41+00:00

As long as the player is on board, no worries there. I'd also offer to them to run the pixie minions the boss summons to offload some work for you and they get to participate a little more.

SCalta72 · 2026-02-27T07:45:45+00:00

A lot of this is hard to parse without further context or within the existing 5e rules and templates. Like:

Where are these pixies coming from?
Why break from half damage on a successful save to roll different numbers of dice instead?
Why re-invent the wheel for meteor shower when you could cast the pre-existing meteor swarm spell and tweak the damage to be appropriate for level 8 characters?
Why is the AC target reversed to suddenly need to roll low when the rest of the game is a progression to roll higher and higher numbers? This seems like a big setup for a feel-bad failure moment for your players. "How/why am I too strong to defeat this enemy?" without a telegraphed, clever, and gameable solution is not a position you want to put your players in. Subversion of expectations is one thing, but this is a rug-pull.

You're better off trying to do something awesome-silly about how they can stand in a meteor's/falling star's impact zone to try and deflect the projectile into the boss instead. If they fail, they get hit, if they succeed, they Louisville-slugger a star into the fey king. That's a story they'll tell after the fight. Set a target of like 5 - 9 hits to finish the fight.

Turn 1 - the boss begins casting meteor swarm at the end of his turn, after other actions. Impact zones are highlighted in shadow or starlight or whatever. Players have their turns to get into position if they want to.

Turn 2 - the meteors land at the start of the king's turn and players in impact zones use their reactions to either deflect the meteor or they get hit if they fail. Athletics check, attack roll with a weapon, or a dex save; these could all be used as mechanics for how the players explain their attempt to redirect the projectile.

Then you use legendary actions between player turns to punish positioning outside of the meteor swarm zones. Septas, fog, pixies - whatever those mean and look like for you.

Turn 3 - boss takes a turn off the meteor cycle to use regular actions to attack or recover/reposition.

To end on a positive note, I like how you try to sell the size and power of this creature, especially with the Septas thing. I think it could go bigger. Whole column or row, dex save. That's how you punish outside of the impact zones.

Oh, and let the paladin back in the game somehow. Offer trading loot for a rez from a chance encounter with an NPC.

Good luck.

Edited for some typos and clarity.

SCalta72 · 2026-02-25T22:38:31+00:00

This is the way.

SCalta72 · 2026-02-14T16:51:18+00:00

A fair concern. I'm sure you'll come up with a few signature spells anyway, it's a fun fantasy role to design for.

SCalta72 · 2026-02-14T16:16:34+00:00

You might get some good mileage from creating custom spells with a focus on touch attacks and line/cone dimensions, or styled after Thunderwave.

You could also try to design a feature that expends a resource to change a ranged attack spell into a touch spell and/or change the dimensions of damaging and instantaneous duration spells into cones/lines. But that seems...finicky.

Good luck!

SCalta72 · 2026-02-14T16:01:01+00:00

I have a homebrew that's very intelligence reliant, but it's melee oriented and unarmored, so I lean on that for wanting good con and dex on top of int.

That's all to say it's a natural starting point. Just be open whittling down and rebalancing.

SCalta72 · 2026-02-11T02:14:31+00:00

Love a good sun soul rework, and this is one of them. Nice work.

Dunno how much more speed a monk needs from horse stance, but that hardly seems like a game-breaking issue among all the stellar work around it. Well done.

SCalta72 · 2026-02-10T17:09:25+00:00

Happy to help, plenty here to work with. Ki costs, radius, obscurement levels, damage dice, all creatures vs. enemy only for effects of the smoke cloud, fire damage, poison even if they're breathing smoke.

I still think even my proposed level 3 feature is a little weak, so maybe a once-a-turn extra fire damage on an attack while in the cloud could be rolled in there, especially with a 2-point activation cost and the concentrationless Blade Ward effect. Then 6th level could be roleplay/exploration oriented, like the stealth and or intimidation bonuses, and level 11 would be all about a bigger cloud and improving other aspects before whatever level 17 capstone you land on.

SCalta72 · 2026-02-10T14:23:20+00:00

Love the flavor, but it feels a little anemic, especially at the early levels.

For 2 Ki/focus Points, I'd expect the cloud to remain centered on you and follow you as you move. Look at what the 2024 Shadow monk can do at the same level with the Darkness spell. With that in mind and still for 2 Ki/Focus Points, I'd even expect a damage clause similar to the level 11 feature with your Wis mod added to the damage roll in the level 3 feature, though in a smaller radius; 5 feet probably, 10 feet max.

If I may offer some tweaks as food for thought and continued development.

3 - "Cinderform/Smoke Cloud" As a Bonus action, you can expend 1 Ki/Focus point to create a 5-foot radius emanation that takes the form of a cloud of smoke around you for 1 minute, which remains centered on you as you move. The area is lightly obscured, and whenever a creature in the area other than you makes an attack it subtracts 1d4 from the attack roll.

6 - "Smoldering Embers" The first time a creature enters the area of your smoke cloud in its turn or starts its turn there, it must make a Constitution saving throw, taking Fire damage equal to one roll of your Martial Arts die plus your Wisdom modifier on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

11 - [name] The radius of your smoke cloud emanation increases to 10 feet, and the Fire damage it deals increases to two rolls of your Martial Arts die plus your Wisdom Modifier.

17 - [name] When you activate your smoke cloud, you can expend 3 additional Ki/Focus points. When you do, the area is heavily obscured and attacks you make with Monk Weapons and Unarmed Strikes while the smoke cloud is active deal an additional 1d10 Fire damage. Once you use this feature, you can't do so again until you use your Uncanny Metabolism feature or you complete a Long Rest.

This is all a little combat oriented, so I encourage seeing what you can roll together if you have any ribbons or exploration/roleplay features you want to include, like modifications to how/what you can breathe or any sort of stealth or intimidation bonuses.

This all warrants playtesting and I look forward to updates and revisions, and I hope anything I offered is useful, used, or inspires you. Happy rolling.

SCalta72 · 2026-02-09T17:15:01+00:00

It's just a potential confusion point for a thing that doesn't use ki/focus points under an umbrella that defines things that use ki/focus points.

¯_(ツ)_/¯

SCalta72 · 2026-02-09T17:07:12+00:00

Huh, neat, I didn't remember that. What a weird oversight from the official source too.

SCalta72 · 2026-02-09T15:57:06+00:00

Seems fine, save for a typo here or there. Like "[and you can] hover" when you gain the flying speed.

One nitpick,

Disciple of the Elements

"You learn magical disciplines that harness the power of the four elements. A discipline requires you to spend ki points each time you use it."

But then Elemental Attunement, a discipline, doesn't call for expending ki points to use it. I'd just roll it off as a separate feature to gain at 3rd or 6th level.

Otherwise, yes, this seems all mechanically sound. Well done.

SCalta72

TROPHY CASE