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Final Hours of the Kickstarter, and Two More Playable Options for 5e

There are only 14 hours left for the Rise of the Drow: After the Fall evil drider and drow campaign, and not only has every monetary goal been met, but now that it's hit $100k, a secret goal has been unlocked: a "SPIDERKSSED" soundtrack.

There's still nine base NPC STL print file minis yet to be unlocked (we need more backers), and the 2000 backer special edition STL file. It'd be nice if we could hit that in the final hours.

During the conversations we've been having in the comments section of the Kickstarter, the discussion of Lolth came up, and how some people aren't a fan of hers, and were hoping for something more original. For those who've been following me for a while, you know that this isn't my first rodeo when it comes to drow. I did a whole series of blog entries on the (sadly defunct) Throne of Night campaign for Pathfinder 1e. One of the entries I added was to make an homage to the 3.5 scorrow monster from Eberron, which used the Pathfinder girtablilu and Drowblood template, as well as ranger Simple Class template. Lolth is Forgotten Realms, but the "Spider Queen" moniker is available for anyone's world. However, if you'd like to make this take place in Eberron, or a homebrew world that Lolth doesn't exist, then Vulkoor might be right up your alley. Instead of female drider (spiders), you have male scorrow (aka scorpions).

Today, I'll be talking about additional playable options you could potentially use, with DM permission of course.

As always, if you like what I do, whether it’s monster conversions, adventure path add-ons, or race builds, I have a Ko-Fi page (linked) for those who would like to support me monetarily. There is no pressure or obligation to do so. A like and/or a share would also be appreciated just as much. It lets people know I exist out there.

I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy.

Now, let’s talk stats.

Since the module has you play as drider or drow, if you wanted to be a scorrow, this module wouldn't technically allow for it. However, it's actually pretty easy to make a drow into a drider with what's already available. Also, talking to my players, and other people online, there are a lot of people who prefer to play as tiefling. Unfortunately, there's no official playable tiefling option in this scenario, and no tiefling drow hybrid race or monster outside of the draegloth. I've seen argument that a cambion can be created by any humanoid, not just humans, so that could be argued, and there's also a hydrid drow/bugbear 3PP release that I found for one of my players who ran through the Way of the Wicked adventure path. There are quite a few drow hybrid races, but the majority of them are 3PP, so today I'll just be covering two official monsters from D&D, and who you how to convert them to 5e with a few simple additions to the base race.

To make a scorrow, take your standard drow and make the following changes:

Change the Darkvision to 60 feet from 120, and remove Sunlight Sensitivity.

Remove the drow's Weapon Training.

Rename Trance to Unihemispheric Sleep. You still don't need to sleep, and magic can't put you to sleep, but need more than 4 hours of rest.

Add the centaur's Equine Build and Hooves. Rename Hooves to Stinger and increase the damage to 1d6 piercing instead of 1d4 bludgeoning.

Add the grung's Standing Leap.

Add the 2024 dwarf's Stonecunning.

Change your Creature Type from Humanoid to Monstrosity. Add "You are also considered a drow for any prerequisite or effect that requires you to be one." allowing you to take drow feats.

Removed the drow's Drow Magic.

Add a new ability called Scorpion Empathy. You can cast animal friendship an unlimited number of times with this trait, but you can target only scorpions with it. You also have advantage on Wisdom (Animal Handling) checks you make to influence them.

You might be surprised at just how balanced this actually is. It's obviously more than your standard drow, but it has its own weaknesses by comparison, especially the inability to cheat resting hours and lack of magic. It's "point cost" is less than most of the newer playable races.

To make a draegloth, take your standard drow and make the following changes:

Remove the drow's Weapon Training.

Remove the drow's Trance.

Change your Creature Type from Humanoid to Monstrosity. Add "You are also considered a drow and a tiefling for any prerequisite or effect that requires you to be one." This allows you to take drow and tiefling feats.

Remove Sunlight Sensitivity.

Add a thri-kreen's Secondary Arms.

Admittedly, this is less balanced when compared to the scorrow, but Secondary Arms is considered fairly busted to just about any other ability in the game. Not having Trance is still a problem though, and unless the drow and scorrow, you still need to sleep and can be affected by the sleep spell.

These are pretty quick and dirty, and I hope you're allowed to play as one of these options, if you present them to your DM, especially for this campaign. I know I've presented them to my friend who's looking to run this campaign for us (he's also got a 3D printer so he'll be making use of those STL files). He hasn't said no yet, and I've showed him the article on the zekyl/zekylyn too, and I know that at least has peaked his interest.

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The Drow-Dragons and Zekyl -- A Template to PC Race Conversion for 5e

On May 20th, I announced that the AAW Games sequel to Rise of the Drow, After the Fall, that I was one of the writers was live on Kickstarter. As I write this, there are four days left before the Kickstarter end with only one monetary stretch goal left to go ($2,560 more gets an extended book), and seven backer goals (1,044 more backers, even at the $1 tip jar, unlocks 19 STLs for miniatures specific to the campaign). I'm very excited to see how far this goes.

While this has been happening, I've been reading my drow supplements, both WotC released and 3PP, and I came across the drow-dragon, a shadow half-dragon half-drow, but also found the zekyl or zekylyn, which are also shadow half-dragon half-drow. It's just that one's a playable race, and the other is a shadow dragon with drow blood. When it first came up, it was in Dragon 322, then we saw more instances in Dragons of Faerun (and its web enhancements). After that, it wasn't really mentioned again as a combined race, but rather the half-dragon got an updated release in Draconomicon. It increased the power of the drow, which had arguably lost some magic power, but still retained the full level adjustment for no reason.

I'm apparently really late to the party because it seems Mr Rhexx did a video five years ago, which inspired people to post their own versions online. The drow-dragon is only briefly mentioned at the 2 minute 14 second mark.

This is going to get a little long, so I'll split this into two parts.

As always, if you like what I do, whether it’s monster conversions, adventure path add-ons, or race builds, I have a Ko-Fi page (linked) for those who would like to support me monetarily. There is no pressure or obligation to do so. A like and/or a share would also be appreciated just as much. It lets people know I exist out there.

I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy.

Now, let’s talk stats.

Ever thankful to the D&D Forgotten Realms Wiki for consolidating all of the information onto one site for easy reading and linking.

For the drow-dragon, this is probably the easiest conversion possible. The drow-dragon is just a regular shadow dragon (whether you use the 2014 template or 2024 monster) with the elf subtype in brackets, and the metallic dragon's 2014 Change Shape ability to turn into a drow. The reason you want that version and not just the spell is because of the subtype aspect. You are a dragon that can take elf feats like Elven Accuracy and use elven specific equipment and anything else with "elf" as a prerequisite. In older editions, you had the Elf Blood trait where you counted as an elf for all purposes, including bane weapons and the ranger's Favored Enemy.

There's also a variant of this species, called the Half-Deep, that aren't a shadow dragon, but rather a deep dragon, and that existed back in AD&D 2nd, where the drow's skin was more of a deep maroon instead of the jet black or almost deep purple we're used to seeing. Depending on the lore you've read, they were similar but still different in appearance to the drow half-fiends that exist, which had more of a vibrant red skin tone.

For the zekyl (or zekylyn = plural), the easiest way to do this on the DM's side of things is to just add the half-dragon template to NPCs, but revise it so that the template grants necrotic damage and resistance instead of the standard chromatic and metallic options.

For the player's side, however, it's a little trickier and needs some DM fiat. Without using much homebrew, a topaz dragonborn reflavored to have drow features works, and you might be able to convince the DM to allow you access to a homebrew feat that'll give you the drow's spells, similar to the Fey-Touched feat.

Image is taken from the Mr Rhexx video, so I'm not sure who did the art.

For the purposes of this entry though, we're going to convert the version of the half-shadow dragon drow on page 4 of the Dragons of Faerun Part 3 web enhancement City of Wyrmshadows.

This version of the race loses the spellcasting ability of regular drow for the breath weapon and resistance of the shadow dragon. In older editions, that meant dealing negative levels, but in 5e that means necrotic damage.

Like previous conversions to 5e, I used the Detect Balance Plus spreadsheet, and use the 2014 rules for ability scores, but you're welcome to use the Tasha's rules to choose any stats to gain bonuses.

This is up there for being one of the most expensive races I've done. It doesn't have the natural armor that you'd see on lizardfolk or the tortle, which admittedly is on the original design of the zekyl, but for the most part it's kind of pointless since actual armor tends to be better. Some creatures lose their natural attacks, and we haven't seen any yet in 2024, but the claws dealt more damage than the bite for this race, so I wanted to keep them. I made sure to keep them at 1d6 since the 1d4 ones typically aren't used. I do wish I could have given the resistance to paralysis and magic resistance that the 3.5 version had, but that would have been far too much. Also, while the picture shows wings, the version I based this build off of says only specific bloodlines gain flight. Maybe you can convince the DM to give you the UA feat of Dragon Wings and revise the requirements. As it is, this borders on the power dynamic of the bugbear, fairy, shadar-kai, satyr, and Fizban's dragonborn for points. It'd be higher, but the sunlight sensitivity balances things out.

Zekyl/Zekylyn Species 5e

Ability Score Increase. Your Strength, Dexterity, and Charisma scores each increase by 1. Age. Zekylyn age at much the same rate as drow, reaching adulthood at the age of 100. They live much longer than drow, however, often exceeding 950 years. Alignment. Like most drow, zekyl are vicious and dangerous, and are more often evil than not. Creature Type. You are a Dragon. You are also considered a drow for any prerequisite or effect that requires you to be a drow. Size. Your size is Medium. Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. Superior Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 120 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray. Breath Weapon. When you take the Attack action on your turn, you can replace one of your attacks with an exhalation of magical energy in a 15-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a Dexterity saving throw (DC = 8 + your Constitution modifier + your proficiency bonus). On a failed save, the creature takes 1d10 necrotic damage. On a successful save, it takes half as much damage. This damage increases by 1d10 when you reach 5th level (2d10), 11th level (3d10), and 17th level (4d10). You can use your Breath Weapon a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest. Claws. Your claws are natural weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with them, you deal slashing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike. Fey Ancestry. You have advantage on saving throws you make to avoid or end the charmed condition on yourself. Frightfully Vigilant. You have proficiency in the Intimidation and Perception skills. Necrotic Resistance. You have resistance to necrotic damage. Trance. You don’t need to sleep, and magic can’t put you to sleep. You can finish a long rest in 4 hours if you spend those hours in a trance-like meditation, during which you retain consciousness. Sunlight Sensitivity. You have disadvantage on attack rolls and Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight when you, the target of the attack, or whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct sunlight. Languages. You can speak, read, and write Elven, Draconic and Undercommon.

If you manage to play the Rise of the Drow sequel, hopefully you can play this race in addition to the standard drow and drider that will be available for the module.

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Drow and Drider Adventure Kickstarter Went Live

The Kickstarter for "After the Fall", the sequel to "Rise of the Drow", went live today. It's a 5e evil campaign where you play drow or drider. For those who've followed me for my Throne of Night and Way of the Wicked entries, this might just be up your alley.

I was very lucky to get to be part of this project, and am proud of the work that I put into this. When it comes out, I'll be looking forward to finally seeing all the other chapters that other people worked on and seeing this campaign as a whole.

Depending on demand and stretch goals achieved, AAW Games is looking to convert this to Pathfinder 2e as well.

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The Tome Lizard - Monster Conversion 3.5 to 5e

So I've managed to heal some from the tooth extraction earlier in the week, and despite having an emergency follow-up yesterday because I was having complications, I wanted to try one more entry before Dragon Week ended today.

If you didn't see my last post, created and hosted by Point Hat and Ginny Di, YouTubers came together to annually do videos on the monsters. Last year was the kraken, and other sea and water-based creatures. From April 21st to 25th, it was decided the theme would be dragons. Big thanks to them both, and looking forward to next year.

The artist is for the logo is Antonio Demico, aka Pointy Hat himself.

For this entry, I'll be looking at the 3rd party book, "Legends & Lairs: Draconic Lore" from Fantasy Flight Games. The main reason I'm looking into this book is because one of the interior artists is Michael D. Clarke, aka SpiralMagus. Anyone who's been following me for a while will know that I love Michael's art, and have since I was introduced to his stuff during his time working for Fire Mountain Games. I even shared a lot of his art while doing my blog entries on how I would finish the unfortunately failed Kickstarter for "Throne of Night". I don't know exactly which art he did within the book (his biography only mentions he did interior art for the book) so I can't play favourites and convert a monster he did. However, I really like the book overall and will just be converting a monster that I enjoyed overall.

The monster this time around is the tome lizard. It's a tiny imp looking dragon that have an odd attraction to books, namely magical texts, and much like a cat (although compared more to raccoons), enjoys shredding them up. Their intelligence lacks, so they can't read, but they do possess an odd sixth sense and desire to seek out whole collections of tomes that it would then use as both a food source to line its nests. Strangely enough, wizards use them as Improved Familiars, as they make decent territorial guardians for the very tomes that they may destroy or protect, depending on the day. What's funny/interesting about their lore is that they will protect a wizard's spell book, but that there was a 5% chance that for each spell a wizard added to the spell book, the tome lizard might go berserk and shred the book. For that reason, most scholars and wizards tend to attack these creatures on sight, often hunting them for their ink sacks, containing enhanced ink that tends to last eons.

Statblock generator courtesy of Monstershuffler.

Originally, this creature was a CR 2, but for 5e that's far too high for a familiar, especially a Pact of the Chain Improved Familiar, so I purposely brought it down to be closer in line to the imp and pseudodragon. Just an overall fun creature to add to the game.

As always, if you like what I do, whether it’s monster conversions, adventure path add-ons, or race builds, I have a Ko-Fi page (linked) for those who would like to support me monetarily, especially now that I’m racking up medical bills. There is no pressure or obligation to do so. A like and/or a share would also be appreciated just as much. It lets people know I exist out there.

I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy.

And because I learned that there's the potential that posting homebrew could get you in trouble should a particular company wake up on the wrong side of the bed, I'm going to be add this addendum now that it's been released. Just want to be safe.

This work includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2 (“SRD 5.2”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available at https://www.dndbeyond.com/srd. The SRD 5.2 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.

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The Feeder (Dragonlance) - Monster Conversion 3.5 to 5e

Just a bit of housekeeping before we get on with the entry. First off, apologies for the silence. I've been in and out of the hospital and various medical clinics steady for multiple months now, and tomorrow I'm getting some teeth pulled because of nerve issues. Looks like I'll be away again for a while afterwards. It just hasn't stopped for me, and it likely won't for a while. Still have an MRI coming up too. Thankfully, I've been able to binge on a bunch of anime and listen to some amazing music while I've been recovering from all of the procedures and tests, and had some amazing friends who've managed to keep my spirits up and supported me through this. They even took me out to celebrate my birthday recently. It's been nice.

Now, for the point of this entry. Not sure how many people remember, but last year on July 1st to July 7th, it was Kraken Week. Created and hosted by Point Hat and Ginny Di, YouTubers came together to do videos on the kraken, and other sea and water-based creatures. It was their version of Shark Week, but not just about sharks. It's since evolved to now be Monster Week instead, and this year's theme is dragons. Also, instead of July, it's in April. So from April 21st to 25th, expect to see a lot of dragon inspired entries from various influencers for Dragon Week. Because I'll be away starting tomorrow, and recovering for a good week or so, I decided to do my entry now.

The artist is for the logo is Antonio Demico, aka Pointy Hat himself.

My choice for this entry is Krynn's own feeder. For those not familar, Krynn is the world of Dragonlance. The creature is a diminutive dragon that looks like a dagger, and can be found in the Bestiary of Krynn and Dragons of Krynn.

Feeders are described as "dagger-sized dragons who appear like said weapon but with a pommel shaped like a dragon's head. Their 'blade' is a blood-sucking proboscis, and is actually a common ingredient for wizards designing weapons which cause magical bleeding. The feeders were created by Takhisis as a cruel jest to sow paranoia; feeders will often lay dormant, appearing much like normal weapons before seemingly coming to life and stabbing their owner to death. In spite of this origin the chromatic clans feel no love for them, believing them to be pathetic pretenders and vermin to be destroyed."

Original 3.5 stats and image from Bestiary of Krynn.

This creature fascinated me as the image shows it breathing fire, yet the stat block itself doesn't have that. I decided to add it in regardless, and also gave it the spell nondetection to help hide it even better.

For me, I was telling an acquaintance and fellow DM how it could be fun to see this creature to used as an "intelligent weapon" ala a hexblade warlock. Jeremy Crawford has said in previous interviews that we should just reflavour subclasses instead of relying on exact subclasses. This was essentially him referencing the fans asking for a draconic patron for warlocks and WotC's push back that overlapping subclasses could overshadow current ones (ie. the draconic sorcerer). Instead, he suggested using a moonstone dragon and taking the Fey patron. Therefore, using that logic, this creature would work in the similar vein for a Hexblade patron. Maybe the feeder is actually a fragment of a greatwyrm (Fizban's Treasury of Dragons). You could play around with the idea at least.

The stat block is for the 2014 5e rules.

Statblock generator courtesy of Monstershuffler.

If I'm able to, I'll try my hand at doing another entry for Dragon Week. It'll just depend on how my recovery goes.

As always, if you like what I do, whether it’s monster conversions, adventure path add-ons, or race builds, I have a Ko-Fi page (linked) for those who would like to support me monetarily, especially now that I'm racking up medical bills. There is no pressure or obligation to do so. A like and/or a share would also be appreciated just as much. It lets people know I exist out there.

I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy.

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Wayne Reynolds - Grazzt and Iggwilv. Dungeon 121.

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5e Monster to PC Race Conversion - Dryad

EDIT: Added a feat, which was also supposed to be part of the competition.

Last month, I did a post about how there was an experimental challenge where people took monsters from 5e and converted them to be a race/species for players. To compensate for the lack of its overall power compared to their monsters versions, you were to make feats to add in some of the missing powers (spellcasting "levels" didn't count and had to be taken with actual class levels). The timing of people doing it more now than when it first started a few years ago, appeared to be because of Roll for Combat's BattleZoo Ancestries: Titans Kickstarter that has about a day left at the time of me writing this.

At the time, I was going to share what I already had done, but doing the research, and looking into what people actually wanted to see converted, both on BZA: Titans and WotC officially releasing a book on playable monsters for players, I was both surprised and not surprised at what people wanted to see. Gnolls were easily the highest on the list, but mostly people just want to see a playable dog (my favourite argument was we have two playable cat races and three bird-like races, but no dogs). The lupin was a playable hound race back in AD&D and 3rd, but we've never seen it adapted beyond that. And in AD&D, you even had "subraces" that were different dog breeds. Gnolls I'm not surprised by at all, but Kobold Press has that handled quite readily, as does Keith Baker with his own Eberron books found on DM's Guild.

Other monsters to playable races that I saw were mindflayers/illithids (not surprising given how popular Baldur's Gate III is), dryads (that surprised me, but I had also forgotten that their distance limitation to their tree had been removed), beholders, treants or any other kind of plant creature like a myconid, undead (ghost was at the top of the list), kua-toa, ratfolk, ogres and half-ogres, gargoyle, succubus/incubus/cambion, bullywug, rakshasa, trolls, hags (beyond the hexblood, and have the different hags be different subraces), medusa (Purple Duck Games has PF1e version of that and a half-medusa that maybe I'll convert some day), oni, ettins, aboleths (which, wouldn't really work considering they need water for their abilities to be effective), and dinosaurs (which the saurial would cover if they were converted over).

There were others, but people quite quickly pointed out that if you reflavoured what we already had, you could easily say you were X when you were actually playing Y. The aarakocra being reflavoured into a harpy would be really easy. Just change the appearance description and say you're using claws instead of talons. After that, if you could get the DM's permission, create a homebrew feat for the Luring Song.

There were even a few suggestions that, while it likely wouldn't work for a playable race, a few could work pretty well with the new lineage system from Van Richten's, and the one the majority of people agreed on was mindflayer/illithid. Have it be an incomplete ceremorphosis, and leave it at that. One person took that and homebrewed the Failing, with different subraces like elf, while others said to use the 3.5 flayerspawn psychic prestige class, and take inspiration from that.

Today, however, I'm going to go with the dryad, which was incredibly high up on the list.

As always, if you like what I do, whether it’s monster conversions, adventure path add-ons, or race builds, I have a Ko-Fi page (linked) for those who would like to support me monetarily. There is no pressure or obligation to do so. A like and/or a share would also be appreciated just as much. It lets people know I exist out there.

I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy.

Now, let’s talk stats.

As before with my entries, there’s no real “official” way to judge how powerful a creature is. There are definitely a lot of 3PP supplements and homebrew out there, which I tend to have to use as a guide. For this, I used the updated Detect Balance Plus, which did both 5e and 5.24 breakdowns on the same spreadsheet. This worked out to be around 38-39 points, which is around where the aasimar, eladrin, gem dragonborn, reborn lineage, autognome, thri-kreen, and revised yuan-ti sit. I'll preface that it seems powerful, but it's a matter of what you get out of the deal. The dryad's spells aren't going to break the game in any way, and are strictly utility.

Dryad Species/Race 5e As a dryad, you gain the following traits. Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2, and your Wisdom score increases by 1. Age. Dryads reach physical maturity at about the same age as humans, and reach adulthood around the age of 35. They can often live to be 750 years old. Alignment. Typically good aligned, but like most fey, dryads enjoy the chaotic side of things. Creature Type. You are a Fey. Size. Your size is Medium. Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet. Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray. Magic Resistance. You have advantage on saving throws against spells. Woodland Blessing. You know the druidcraft cantrip. Starting at 3rd level, you can cast the speak with animals spell with this trait. Starting at 5th level, you can also cast the speak with plants spell with it. Once you cast either of these spells with this trait, you can't cast that spell with it again until you finish a long rest. You can also cast these using spell slots you have of the appropriate level. Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells when you cast them with this trait (choose when you select this race). Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, Elven, and Sylvan.

Dryad Racial Feat

Charms of the Dryad Prerequisite: Dryad Your innate charms flourish. You gain the following benefits:

Increase your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma by 1, to a maximum of 20.

You learn the animal friendship spell and charm person spell. You can cast each of these spells without requiring a material component, and without expending a spell slot. Once you cast either of these spells in this way, you can't cast that spell in this way again until you finish a long rest. You can also cast these spells using spell slots you have of the appropriate level. The spells' spellcasting ability is the ability increased by this feat.

When you cast the charm person spell, you can choose to extend the spell's duration to 2 hours. You can use this feature three times, and you regain all expended uses of it when you finish a long rest.

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There was a 5e Monster to PC Experimental Challenge?

I don't exactly know when this started, or even where, but I know that this is a concept that has been around since at least 2003 when Wizards of the Coast released the first printing of the Savage Species supplement for D&D 3rd, which is the idea of playing monstrous races alongside PCs. I know that in AD&D there were modules where you played as monsters to try and defend against adventurers, and it was one of the first editions that allowed you to play as tieflings and cambions, and Dragon Magazine allowed the lupin from Mystara, but I don't know about whether or not if that also included included minotaur, medusa, and stone giants like Savage Species did.

Since then, it was more that third party creatives took the idea of monster PC and making their HD into class levels. For Pathfinder, Dreamscarred Press and Necromancers of the Northwest were the main two companies I saw doing this, do so successfully. Rite Publishing did a similar concept, but took it in a different direction.

What seems to have prompted the original challenge to get brought up again is Roll For Combat's new BattleZoo Ancestries: Titans Kickstarter that will be releasing 13 new monster species, including the troll, dullahan, recap, cyclops, kraken, and titans. The dullahan is the one I'm most interested by as it's not going to be the undead version we see in 5e, but the fey version we see in Tome of Beasts from Kobold Press, or mentioned with the alternate name, Gan Ceanns by Paizo. Essentially they're a fey that work for the Unseelie Court and their head is back in the Feywild.

The Pathfinder 2E versions of these will just be Lineages, which we've seen for kobolds, aasimar, tiefling, etc.

At the time of this post, the Kickstarter has 20 days left.

Not gonna lie, kind of wish I'd been part of a project like this. While I don't know Pathfinder 2e, I love the idea of taking monsters and making it possible to play them as PCs. Savage Species is probably my favourite 3rd edition book, and Necromancers of the Northwest was my favourite iteration of the concept for Pathfinder 1e (although I tweaked it a bit in my home games because they felt it was unnecessary to make base race versions of the monsters like Savage Species, did before taking the monster levels).

I didn't go that far down the rabbit hole, but did find the experimental challenge more or less briefly explained on Reddit in 2018 and expanded upon slightly more in 2022 on EN World. Essentially, the challenge was to take a standard monster (no named monsters like Tiamat, Bahamut, Pazuzu, or Belial) that had an Intelligence of a minimum of 8 (so no beasts or tarrasque), it couldn't be any larger than Large size or smaller than Small, and it could only be reasonably powerful enough that it would stand next to a standard race but not immediately overshadow it. Any powers that wouldn't make it into the race itself had to be put into racial feats or class levels. No creating a lich spellcaster as just a race with feats and then take 20 cleric or fighter levels on top of all that. However, that didn't mean you couldn't emulate feats like Feytouched or Magic Initiate. If the creature had multiple forms (such as a dragon), you couldn't immediately use the final form (or age category) for powers, and even with racial feats you couldn't have the creature grow size categories so that after four feats it was suddenly gargantuan. Again, it has to stand next to PCs and travel with them. Having a literal titan walk around at level 10 means you're making things more difficult for the rest of your party. A gargantuan creature would have difficulty going dungeon delving or fitting in the party's bastion. Even a huge creature would have issues without a permanent reduce spell. This meant that going with a Small, Medium, or Large monster was probably in the person's best interest.

In addition to everything else, it seems that ASI placement, age, alignment, and size were either eliminated or reduced to be more in line with Monsters of the Multiverse more minimal approach. Makes sense given that not all monsters are given much lore regarding those sections, and many have a multitude of massive ability scores.

The person on EN World that I learned about this original challenge from, decided to go with a mind flayer. There were a number of feats, and the consensus was that a fighter illithid would be beyond broken by level 12 with how the feats were laid out, and the sheer number that fighters can take. Using Action Surge after using a successful mind blast would be absolutely brutal. Putting that on an NPC mind flayer alone could be a possible TPK, so I definitely get it.

Before I even knew about this challenge, I had been experimenting with different monstrous races for 5e such as the fey dullahan and gnoll. I was partly inspired by Dungeon Dad's Monster of the Week. He converts D&D monsters from older editions, as well as Pathfinder 1e monsters, to the 5e (and now the 2024 5e) system.

Doing this made for interesting issues such as the 3.0 oread being immune to cold damage while the 5e oread being immune to fire and poison damage. Also, they know vastly different spells.

Since I've already got a few done already on a separate document, I might share them here and join in on the experimental challenge just for fun. About the only thing I don't have prepared already are the feats that boost their traits/abilities and allow them to get their full power over the course of the game.

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Back in 2017, I did a Pathfinder 1e conversion of the original version of the 5e uniborn race from @lair-master. Now that the 2024 Player’s Handbook has come out, I decided to do another conversion of the most up-to-date uniborn, this time to put it more in line with the species we have in the 5.24 rule set. For the different types of uniborn, I went with a combined style of what we were given for the goliath, while sticking to the table box style of the elf and tiefling. I also added a few more options as there were a multitude of unicorns in older editions of D&D (sylvan, alicorn, black, silver, faerie, etc). I wanted showcase as many of them as I could, just as one would choose a type of dragonborn. Admittedly, this will be a bit more involved than that. Also, I made sure that the uniborn was as balanced as possible, so that it’s not an “obvious choice” compared to other species. Just that there’s a few options, just as I’m sure we’ll see something in the upcoming Forgotten Realms book to give us more tiefling options, something akin to the Sword Coast Adventure’s Guide and there being one different type of tiefling per layer of Hell.

Apologies if the table of lineages seems blurry at all. I tried to adjust the size without compromising the words, but it seems like I wasn’t able to pull it off too well.

As with the current 5.24 PHB rules, there is no mention of alignment, age, or base languages, as those are all generalized and pretty much up to the DM, and the ASI bumps are exclusive to Backgrounds now.

And now, onto the 2024 conversion of the species.

Uniborn (2024)

Creature Type: Humanoid. You are also considered a celestial for any prerequisite or effect that requires you to be a celestial.

Size: Medium (about 4 – 7 feet tall)

Speed: 30 feet

As a Uniborn, you have these special traits.

Sacred Horn. As a Magic action, you touch a creature and roll a number of d4s equal to your Proficiency Bonus. The creature regains a number of Hit Points equal to the total rolled. Once you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a Long Rest.

Trueheart. You have Advantage on D20 Tests to disbelieve illusions and on saving throws you make to avoid or end the Charmed condition.

Unicorn Legacy. You are part of a lineage that grants you supernatural abilities. Choose a legacy from the Unicorn Legacies table. You gain the level 1 benefit of the chosen legacy.

When you reach character levels 3 and 5, you learn a higher-level spell, as shown on the table. You always have that spell prepared. You can cast it once without a spell slot, and you regain the ability to cast it in that way when you finish a Long Rest. You can also cast the spell using any spell slots you have of the appropriate level.

Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma is your spellcasting ability for the spells you cast with this trait (choose the ability when you select the legacy).

Vanishing Step. As a bonus action, you can magically teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see. You can use this trait a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Unicorn Legacies

Uniborn

An uncommon race for Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition by @lair-master​.

image by drachenmagier

Keep reading

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Revised that traits a bit and added an edit as to why, after learning that there was a PF2e release of the oakling, renamed the treefolk.

Race Conversion - Oakling (PF1e to 5e)

EDIT: Learned that Alluria Publishing changed the name of "oakling" to "treefolk" when it was converted to a PF2E ancestry. While I don't have the supplement itself, the sample of it showed enough of a change to update the Plant Physiology trait. There are now different heritages in PF2E's version, similar to the subraces of 5e and lineages of the 2024 rules, but it wasn't enough for me to completely revise what I wrote here. That said, it does talk about specific treefolk rations for 40 sp that are bottles containing the equivalent of artificial or "specially formulated" sunlight.

First off, apologies for being silent for this long. It's been a rough few months with lots of doctor appointments, and having to go to the hospital for extensive tests after I had a really bad and terrifying medical episode. Still have to visit a hospital in another city altogether. What I can say is that it's not cancer, and the findings weren't bad enough that I'll need surgery (yet). I will need to get scans once a year to monitor things. I'll take the wins where I can though. For now, I'm doing alright and getting through the days.

Now, for what people actually want to see.

I don't know how many of you have been following or care about the 5.24/5r/5.5e PHB that WotC released last month, or any of the other books coming out in the upcoming months and years. I'm still unsure myself on this change to the game, but I will say that I really liked the Path of the World Tree barbarian subclass. I'm a sucker for Greek and Norse mythology, and absolutely love stories that involve Yggdrasil and the Nine Realms. So the fact that a barbarian subclass that revolves around that very mythology just made me giddy during the One D&D playtest. I really want to play one some day.

A bit of a side tangent before continuing: one of the first 3PP books I ever bought for Pathfinder 1e was the Remarkable Races supplement from Alluria Publishing. It was something I came across when looking for a race that would best represent a player wanted, which was a cat race. This was before the catfolk came out, and Alluria had released the anumus, which was a person with an animal head. While going through that book, I came across the oakling, essentially a treant PC race, and it's one that's stuck out to me. There was even a 4e version of the book.

Now, why did I bring up that book? Because I had a really ridiculous idea that I'd love to try out. A sentient tree, possibly tied to the Tree of Life itself, that visits the different realms using its power to aid adventurers and save the realms from evil. Essentially, a Path of the World Tree tree. It's bordering on a Dad Joke, but still. That thought process led me down a rabbit hole and eventually I converted the oakling for my own benefit. I even took the Race feats, merged, and converted them too. I ended up with four feats just for the oakling. I didn't add them here, but if there's interest, I could post them later.

Note: the conversion I'm doing today, will be for 5e (even though I'm still calling it species and not race in the stat block), not for the new 5.24 book, but it wouldn't be hard to convert it over. I'll be keeping in line with the Monsters of the Multiverse book specifically. If you want to use this in the new edition, you'd mostly just remove the ability score bonuses (which are now tied to Backgrounds), remove the Age and Alignment, and minimize the text for Creature Type and Size, and Languages. You'd likely have to lose the Natural Armor too. Elves are allowed skills, so you should be allowed to keep that too.

Much like the Wyvaran, this will essentially be a simple 1-to-1, and taking from a couple of different feats. If you're curious to learn more about the oakling, you can check out its lore and original PF1e stats here.

Art from Alluria Publishing's 4e Remarkable Races.

As always, if you like what I do, whether it’s monster conversions, adventure path add-ons, or race builds, I have a Ko-Fi page (linked) for those who would like to support me monetarily. There is no pressure or obligation to do so. A like and/or a share would also be appreciated just as much. It lets people know I exist out there.

I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy.

Now, let’s talk stats.

Unlike Pathfinder, there’s no real “official” way to judge how powerful a creature is. There are definitely a lot of 3PP supplements and homebrew out there, which I tend to have to use as a guide. For this, I used the updated Detect Balance Plus, which did both 5e and 5.24 breakdowns on the same spreadsheet. This worked out to be around 30-31 points, which is around firbolg, giff, half-drow, and lizardfolk.

Oakling Species 5e

Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2 and your Wisdom score increases by 1. Age. As humanoids related to treants, oaklings have long lifespans. An oakling reaches adulthood around 30, and the oldest of them can live for 600 years. Alignment. Oaklings often lack malice and do not take pleasure in killing, nor do most feel that deception and corruption are logical paths. They don’t fully understand the concept of sympathy, and tend to have expressionless eyes. They are typically neutral. Creature Type. You are a Humanoid. You are also considered a Plant for any prerequisite or effect that requires you to be a plant. Size. Oaklings are between 6 and 8 feet tall and weigh between 300 and 450 pounds. Your size is Medium. Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. Leaf Speech. Through high frequencies beyond the range of human hearing, you can communicate in a limited manner with Plants and vegetation. These are typically one-word remarks regarding each of your statuses; hungry, thirsty, injured, and so on. Natural Armor. You have tough, bark-like skin. When you aren't wearing armor, your AC is 12 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use your natural armor to determine your AC if the armor you wear would leave you with a lower AC. A shield's benefits apply as normal while you use your natural armor. Nature’s Heritage. Your connection to nature and plants gives you an intuitive connection to the natural world. You have proficiency in one of the following skills of your choice: Insight, Medicine, Nature, or Survival. Plant Physiology. You have advantage on saving throws you make to avoid or end the poisoned or stunned condition on yourself. Moreover, through a combination of photosynthesis, absorbing minerals with your roots, or scavenging decaying matter, you can gain enough nourishment to sustain you for one day. Plant-like Demeanor. You have advantage on saving throws you make to avoid or end the charmed or frightened condition on yourself. You also don't need to sleep, and magic can't put you to sleep. Rooted Foot. When you are prone, standing up uses only 5 feet of your movement. Sentry's Rest. When you take a long rest, you spend at least 6 hours in an inactive, motionless state, instead of sleeping. In this state, you appear inert, but you remain conscious. Solar Healing. As an action, while in sunlight, you regain a number of hit points equal to your level. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest. Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Sylvan.

Here's hoping I can play this character, even for a one-shot some day. Also hoping that someone sees this and wants to do the same.

[cyberkevvideo]

Race Conversion - Oakling (PF1e to 5e)

EDIT: Learned that Alluria Publishing changed the name of "oakling" to "treefolk" when it was converted to a PF2E ancestry. While I don't have the supplement itself, the sample of it showed enough of a change to update the Plant Physiology trait. There are now different heritages in PF2E's version, similar to the subraces of 5e and lineages of the 2024 rules, but it wasn't enough for me to completely revise what I wrote here. That said, it does talk about specific treefolk rations for 40 sp that are bottles containing the equivalent of artificial or "specially formulated" sunlight.

First off, apologies for being silent for this long. It's been a rough few months with lots of doctor appointments, and having to go to the hospital for extensive tests after I had a really bad and terrifying medical episode. Still have to visit a hospital in another city altogether. What I can say is that it's not cancer, and the findings weren't bad enough that I'll need surgery (yet). I will need to get scans once a year to monitor things. I'll take the wins where I can though. For now, I'm doing alright and getting through the days.

Now, for what people actually want to see.

I don't know how many of you have been following or care about the 5.24/5r/5.5e PHB that WotC released last month, or any of the other books coming out in the upcoming months and years. I'm still unsure myself on this change to the game, but I will say that I really liked the Path of the World Tree barbarian subclass. I'm a sucker for Greek and Norse mythology, and absolutely love stories that involve Yggdrasil and the Nine Realms. So the fact that a barbarian subclass that revolves around that very mythology just made me giddy during the One D&D playtest. I really want to play one some day.

A bit of a side tangent before continuing: one of the first 3PP books I ever bought for Pathfinder 1e was the Remarkable Races supplement from Alluria Publishing. It was something I came across when looking for a race that would best represent a player wanted, which was a cat race. This was before the catfolk came out, and Alluria had released the anumus, which was a person with an animal head. While going through that book, I came across the oakling, essentially a treant PC race, and it's one that's stuck out to me. There was even a 4e version of the book.

Now, why did I bring up that book? Because I had a really ridiculous idea that I'd love to try out. A sentient tree, possibly tied to the Tree of Life itself, that visits the different realms using its power to aid adventurers and save the realms from evil. Essentially, a Path of the World Tree tree. It's bordering on a Dad Joke, but still. That thought process led me down a rabbit hole and eventually I converted the oakling for my own benefit. I even took the Race feats, merged, and converted them too. I ended up with four feats just for the oakling. I didn't add them here, but if there's interest, I could post them later.

Note: the conversion I'm doing today, will be for 5e (even though I'm still calling it species and not race in the stat block), not for the new 5.24 book, but it wouldn't be hard to convert it over. I'll be keeping in line with the Monsters of the Multiverse book specifically. If you want to use this in the new edition, you'd mostly just remove the ability score bonuses (which are now tied to Backgrounds), remove the Age and Alignment, and minimize the text for Creature Type and Size, and Languages. You'd likely have to lose the Natural Armor too. Elves are allowed skills, so you should be allowed to keep that too.

Much like the Wyvaran, this will essentially be a simple 1-to-1, and taking from a couple of different feats. If you're curious to learn more about the oakling, you can check out its lore and original PF1e stats here.

Art from Alluria Publishing's 4e Remarkable Races.

As always, if you like what I do, whether it’s monster conversions, adventure path add-ons, or race builds, I have a Ko-Fi page (linked) for those who would like to support me monetarily. There is no pressure or obligation to do so. A like and/or a share would also be appreciated just as much. It lets people know I exist out there.

I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy.

Now, let’s talk stats.

Unlike Pathfinder, there’s no real “official” way to judge how powerful a creature is. There are definitely a lot of 3PP supplements and homebrew out there, which I tend to have to use as a guide. For this, I used the updated Detect Balance Plus, which did both 5e and 5.24 breakdowns on the same spreadsheet. This worked out to be around 30-31 points, which is around firbolg, giff, half-drow, and lizardfolk.

Oakling/Treefolk Species 5e

Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2 and your Wisdom score increases by 1. Age. As humanoids related to treants, oaklings have long lifespans. An oakling reaches adulthood around 30, and the oldest of them can live for 600 years. Alignment. Oaklings often lack malice and do not take pleasure in killing, nor do most feel that deception and corruption are logical paths. They don’t fully understand the concept of sympathy, and tend to have expressionless eyes. They are typically neutral. Creature Type. You are a Humanoid. You are also considered a Plant for any prerequisite or effect that requires you to be a plant. Size. Oaklings are between 6 and 8 feet tall and weigh between 300 and 450 pounds. Your size is Medium. Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. Leaf Speech. Through high frequencies beyond the range of human hearing, you can communicate in a limited manner with Plants and vegetation. These are typically one-word remarks regarding each of your statuses; hungry, thirsty, injured, and so on. Natural Armor. You have tough, bark-like skin. When you aren't wearing armor, your AC is 12 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use your natural armor to determine your AC if the armor you wear would leave you with a lower AC. A shield's benefits apply as normal while you use your natural armor. Nature’s Heritage. Your connection to nature and plants gives you an intuitive connection to the natural world. You have proficiency in one of the following skills of your choice: Insight, Medicine, Nature, or Survival. Plant Physiology. You have advantage on saving throws you make to avoid or end the poisoned or stunned condition on yourself. Moreover, through a combination of photosynthesis, absorbing minerals with your roots, or scavenging decaying matter, you can gain enough nourishment to sustain you for one day. Plant-like Demeanor. You have advantage on saving throws you make to avoid or end the charmed or frightened condition on yourself. You also don't need to sleep, and magic can't put you to sleep. Rooted Foot. When you are prone, standing up uses only 5 feet of your movement. Sentry's Rest. When you take a long rest, you spend at least 6 hours in an inactive, motionless state, instead of sleeping. In this state, you appear inert, but you remain conscious. Solar Healing. As an action, while in sunlight, you regain a number of hit points equal to your level. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest. Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Sylvan.

Here's hoping I can play this character, even for a one-shot some day. Also hoping that someone sees this and wants to do the same.

[cyberkevvideo]

Race Conversion - Wyvaran (PF1e to 5e)

Sharing this conversion that I did for a friend. It's her first campaign character, and the game was supposed to be Pathfinder, but the GM has decided to change over to the new 5e Revised rule system. She doesn't want to play a winged tiefling or aarakocra, and really liked the idea of a winged kobold hybrid, so I agreed to help out and do a quick conversion. The race will essentially be a simple 1-to-1, but I'm also borrowing a little inspiration from the owlfolk UA regarding flight.

Honestly, my initial thought was just to add a flight option to the Monsters of the Multiverse's kobold's Kobold Legacy, but somehow that's too powerful? I didn't argue.

Art from Paizo and World Anvil.

As always, if you like what I do, whether it’s monster conversions, adventure path add-ons, or race builds, I have a Ko-Fi page (linked) for those who would like to support me monetarily. There is no pressure or obligation to do so. A like and/or a share would also be appreciated just as much. It lets people know I exist out there.

I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy.

Now, let’s talk stats.

Unlike Pathfinder, there's no real "official" way to judge how powerful a creature is. There are definitely a lot of 3PP supplements and homebrew out there, which I tend to have to use as a guide. As long as it's not more powerful than the original aarakocra or yuan-ti, or even the satyr, I feel like it's a win.

For the Nimble Flight, I took the original owlfolk's ability as it matches the wyvaran's standard flight as well as part of their vestigal wings ability which ignored 20 feet of falling damage. Thought it'd be a nice homage to that.

Wyvaran Species 5e

Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2, and your Wisdom score increases by 1. Age. Wyvaran mature a little faster than humans, reaching adulthood around age 14. They age noticeably faster and rarely live longer than 60 years. Alignment. Wyvarans are thought to be troublemakers because of their kobold heritage, but they have no alignment tendencies and can be of any alignment, independent of their scale color or parent. Creature Type. You are a Dragon. Size. Wyvarans have the same are more or less the same size as humans, ranging from 5 to well over 6 feet tall. Your size is Medium. Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet. Darkvision. Blessed with a divine soul, your vision can easily cut through darkness. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray. Dragonblooded. You have advantage on saving throws you make to avoid or end the paralysis condition on yourself, and magic can't put you to sleep. Nimble Flight. Thanks to your wings, you have a flying speed equal to your walking speed. You can't use this flying speed if you're wearing medium or heavy armor. When you fall, you can use your reaction to make a Dexterity saving throw (DC 10) to stop falling and fly in place until the start of your next turn. Tail. You have a tail that you can use to make unarmed strikes. When you hit with them, the strike deals 1d6 + your Strength modifier bludgeoning damage. Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Draconic.

On the Detect Balance homebrew race breakdown spreadsheet, this race would be roughly 37-38 points. It's solely because of flight that it's so high. This type of flight is seen as being worth roughly 18 points, and paralysis is a worse condition than charmed, so Dragonblooded is worth more than Fey Ancestry. Given that the current revised aarakocra is worth roughly the same amount, that's pretty good overall.

My friend is planning on taking this species and using Matt Mercer's blood hunter class. Originally, it was going to be an order of the profane soul, but there's no dragon patron (despite so many people telling WotC to make one). So, instead, with permission, she'll be playing an Order of the Dragon, which was found on Reddit.

I'm hoping that she has a lot of fun with this character.

[cyberkevvideo]

101 evil schemes for dnd from the dragon magazine annual from 2000

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🌙 Moonlight Greatsword - Free wallpaper available

support me | commission me | buy a print | buy a sticker

[cyberkevvideo]

Race Conversion - Firbolg (5e to PF1e)

I had actually completely forgotten about this conversion, which I had kind of done on a whim because of an inquiry asking how one would do this. My reasoning was accepted, and the person presented it to their GM. Don't know how it went over, or if it was accepted, but the race wasn't broken by any means. Honestly, given how inexpensive it is, I'd have accepted it for my own home games quite easily.

That being said, it took some finagling and borrowing from 3.5 to get my version of the build to work, but I was quite happy with what I came up with.

Art from the Forgotten Realms Wiki, using the 5e and 3.5e pictures.

As always, if you like what I do, whether it’s monster conversions, adventure path add-ons, or race builds, I have a Ko-Fi page (linked) for those who would like to support me monetarily. There is no pressure or obligation to do so. A like and/or a share would also be appreciated just as much. It lets people know I exist out there.

I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy.

Now, let's talk stats.

Using the rules from the Pathfinder Race Guide, the best way to go about it is do a custom build. There is no base firbolg that's similar to 5e for PF1e.

Firbolg -Racial Traits- Ability Score Modifiers (Flexible): Str +2, Wis +2 (2 RP) Type: Humanoid (giant) (0 RP) Size: Medium (0 RP) Speed: 30 ft. land speed (0 RP) Spell-like Ability, Lesser: Firbolg Magic--detect magic, disguise self; (1/day each) (2 RP) Spell-like Ability, Lesser: Speech of Beast and Leaf--speak with animals, speak with plants (1/day each) (3 RP) Other: Hidden Step--Once per day, as a bonus action, you can cast invisibility, but it's duration is 1 round. (2 RP) Other: Powerful Build--The physical stature of firbolgs lets them function in many ways as if they were one size category larger. Whenever a firbolg is subject to a size modifier or special size modifier for a Combat Maneuver Bonus or Combat Maneuver Defense (such as during grapple checks, bull rush attempts, and trip attempts), the firbolg is treated as one size larger if doing so is advantageous to him. A firbolg is also considered to be one size larger when determining whether a creature’s special attacks based on size (such as grab or swallow whole) can affect him. A firbolg can use weapons designed for a creature one size larger without penalty. However, his space and reach remain those of a creature of his actual size. The benefits of this racial trait stack with the effects of powers, abilities, and spells that change the subject’s size category. (3 RP)

Total 12 RP

Hidden Step is difficult because there's no PF equivalent to the quick invisibility. In 3.5, there was a variant spell called Swift Invisibility which was a bard 2 spell (revised to bard 1 in Spell Compendium), making it equivalent to 2 RP, which feels fitting but doesn't at the same time, as it only lasts until the start of your turn or when you attack. Even thought it changed for bard, the other classes in Spell Compendium stayed at level 2 (with the exception of the Initiate of Baravar Cloakshadow feat which gives it as a 1st level spell). If you want to go with the Spell Compendium bard 1, that's perfectly reasonable.

There's no real carrying capacity increaser ability in Pathfinder 1e, so instead it'd be better to borrow from other examples and say, "treat your Strength score as 2 higher for the purpose of determining your carrying capacity". Traits like Muscle of the Society or Efficient Packer are worded like this. Probably just worth 1 RP as there are traits that give you this ability, and they're equivalent to half a feat, and specific named feats are only 2 RP. That said, 3.5e and Pathfinder psionics have the half-giants, which has the Powerful Build race feature. Looking over multiple forums, it's argued that it should be 7 or more RP because it's "like Large, but without the drawbacks", while others say it's only worth 2-3 RP because you don't get the increased Str score which gives you a bonus to damage and other benefits. I went with the safe route of 3 RP since a bonus +2 Str is 4 RP.

Speech of Beast and Leaf is another difficult one. You could just have it be "speak with animals 1/day 1 RP, speak with plants 1/day 3 RP", and call it a day, but because the firbolg only communicates, and there's no real time back and forth conversation, reducing this to 2 RP should suffice. As for the "influence" aspect, if you want to add that, you could make it be a +1 or +2 bonus to Diplomacy or Handle Animal. Could also make it so that a firbolg PC can get the spells at-will with a racial feat, not unlike the Race feats we see for drowand other races. Maybe even a feat to give firbolgs Wild Empathy as a druid, and if you take a class that gives Wild Empathy, you gain +2 to your checks. PF1e has a fair number of race feats so it's not out of the realm of possibility. That said, Pathfinder likes to make things pretty clean on how things function, so I went with just giving them the spells. It limits the race somewhat because you can't do it multiple times a day, but still.

Theoretically, a firbolg is around 12 RP, which isn't bad compared to most of the playable races players enjoy. Humans are 9 RP and dwarves are 11 RP. Elves, gnomes, half-elves, and goblins are all 10 RP, while tieflings and common drow are 13 RP.

[cyberkevvideo]

Pathfinder Gillman Race Conversion to 5e

Today is another entry for Kraken Week. Before, I did the boggard and turned it into a proper Pathfinder 1e playable race. This time I decided to do something 5e related and convert a playable race from Pathfinder with sea lore into 5e race to go along with the triton, grung, and other aquatic races.

For those who didn't see my previous entry, this week (July 1st to July 7th) is Kraken Week. It’s what will hopefully be an annual TTRPG event that was created and hosted by Point Hat and Ginny Di, and YouTubers come together and do videos on the kraken and other sea and water-based creatures. It’s going to be their version of Shark Week, but not just about sharks. It’s been encouraged for others to join in as well. Unfortunately, I’m not a YouTuber, so I’m going to be doing this via this Tumblr blog.

The artist is for the logo is Antonio Demico, aka Pointy Hat himself.

The gillman race I'm using as a base can be found in Pathfinder 1e's Inner Sea World Guide, among other books.

Image is courtesy of the Archives of Nethys.

They are the creation of aboleths kidnapping and fleshwarping humans, and have a second name, Azarketi, because of their Azlant origin. Aboleths manipulated them for centuries, making them susceptible to aboleth influence, and eventually abandoning them, allowing the gillmen to finally experience freedom, but still unable to fully break away from the torturous manipulations of their creators.

Much like the grung, gillmen still require to be immersed in water for a short period of time or suffer from the ramifications. Unlike a satyr or yuan-ti who have a full resistance to magic and other effects (or just magic resistance in the case of the Monsters of the Multiverse updates), a gillman is only able to resist enchantment and illusion spells, unless those spells are cast by an aboleth. Overall, the conversion might seem strong, but some of the abilities are niche or limited in overall scope. That said, if the race never comes up against an aboleth, there's no concerns, but the same could be said about a satyr that never goes up against a mage, or at least very rarely does. And even then, spell attacks ignore that.

Overall, it's about as strong as an aasimar. At least in accordance to racial ability point breakdowns found online.

Also, if you're using the ability score and language rules from Tasha's Cauldron, feel free to ignore the listed scores and languages presented here. They are merely a suggestion based on the original gillman race.

Gillman/Azarketi

As a gillman, you gain the following traits.

Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2 and your Charisma score increases by 1.

Age. Gillmen age at much the same rate as humans, reaching adulthood at the age of 20. They live much longer than humans, however, often exceeding 160 years.

Alignment. Gillmen tend to lean more towards true neutrality.

Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.

Size. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet, and you have a swimming speed equal to your walking speed.

Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Amphibious. You can breathe air and water.

Cold Resistance. Adapted to the frigid ocean depths, you have resistance to cold damage.

Limited Magic Resistance. You have advantage on saving throws against spells from the enchantment and illusion schools.

Poison Adept. You have advantage on saving throws you make to avoid or end the poisoned condition on yourself.

Taskmaster. You have proficiency in your choice of Animal Handling, Persuasion, or Perception.

Aboleth Vulnerability. You have disadvantage on saving throws against enchantment and illusion spells and abilities used by aboleths.

Water Dependency. If you fail to immerse yourself in water for at least 1 hour during a day, you suffer 1 level of exhaustion at the end of that day. You can recover from this exhaustion only through magic or by immersing yourself in water for at least 1 hour.

Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Aboleth.

With that, this concludes my contributions to this year's Kraken Week. Hopefully this happens again next year, and I can participate yet again.

As always, if you like what I do, whether it’s monster conversions, adventure path add-ons, or race builds, I have a Ko-Fi page (linked) for those who would like to support me monetarily, especially now that I’m racking up medical bills. There is no pressure or obligation to do so. A like and/or a share would also be appreciated just as much. It lets people know I exist out there.

I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy.