BlueSalamander wrote:Here's what I've been thinking for races in KotC 2:
Human: one extra feat at the beginning. Advantage: Extra Feat.
Half-Orc: DEX -2, STR +2, Toughness. Advantage: High Strength.
Dwarf: CON +2, WIS -2, Speed 20, +2 Dodge bonus to AC against melee attacks from large creatures or bigger. Advantage: High Hit Points.
High Elf: DEX +2, CON -2, immunity to sleep. Advantage: High Dexterity.
Grey Elf: STR -2, DEX +2, CON -2, INT +2, immunity to sleep. Advantage: High Intelligence.
Halfling: STR -2, DEX +2, Size Small (less damage from weapons, +1 size bonus to all attack rolls and to AC), Speed 20, +2 bonus to all saving throws. Advantage: High Saving Throws.
Kobold: STR -2, DEX +2, CON -2, Size Small, Speed 30, +2 Natural Armor bonus to AC. Advantage: High Armor Class.
Thri-Kreen: STR -2, DEX +2, INT -2, WIS +2, CHA -2, Speed 40, Can’t wear armour, Can wield up to 4 weapons, +3 Natural Armor bonus to AC, Paralyzing bite from level 7. Advantage: Number of Attacks.
Half-Giant: STR +4, DEX -6, CON +2, INT -4, WIS -4, CHA -2. Size Large (more damage from weapons, -1 size bonus to all attack rolls and to AC), Speed 20. Advantage: High Damage.
Some issues that could be discussed:
Are the half-giant and thri-kreen irremediably unbalanced?
Should thri-kreens be prohibited from wearing cloaks, rings, helms, boots, belts and bracers too?
Is kobold a good idea for a character class?
Should halflings have a wisdom bonus?
One of the several things that turned me off of the KoTC demo was that, not only did you only have 3 playable races(one of which are the default boring humans) and three classes, but that one of those races were the Dark Sun specific 'Half Dwarf'/Muls. Don't get me wrong, Dark Sun is a great setting(regardless of what one thinks about the D&D game mechanics) but mixing these races into a non-Dark Sun game setting is a bit wonky. A little like having a character class called the "Field Combat Medic" in a fantasy/sword and sorcery game because you were playing a sci-fi game that included them and thought they were cool. I would rather see the classic "half-Ogre" race than the Dark Sun "half-Giant" and they would be easier to balance out since they do not have quite as high Strength bonuses and there would be less need for extreme penalties to Dexterity(such as the -6 Dex you are proposing for Half-Giants).
Speaking of classes, no...the kobold is not a "good idea for a character class" because this is not a CLASS at all! It is a race or species designation. As for whether this should be one of the playable races, that depends both on what you do with them and what other races you already have. I think having orcs, gnomes, goblins, satyrs, centaurs and so forth should take precedence over less familiar and probably less attractive races like Kobolds, Brownies and what not.
Should halflings have a wisdom bonus? Depends on how the halflings in your world are defined I guess. I personally am not thrilled about this idea because it kind of eliminates the archetypal UNWISE halfling(like Pippin from the LoTR). I would be more in favor of giving them bonuses to "Will" saves but even that can be problematic.