Questions tagged [racial-traits]
For questions primarily about racial traits, the quantifiable capabilities or limitations specific to a race, such as Dwarves, Orcs, Romulans, et. al.
320
questions
15
votes
2answers
891 views
Can Minotaur Players be targeted by Hold Person and other similar spells?
Hold person specifies that it can only target humanoids:
Choose a humanoid that you can see within range[...]
The Minotaur creature stat block from the Monster Manual lists them as monstrosities, ...
5
votes
3answers
1k views
Does a Tortle's Natural Armor interfere with the Monk's Unarmored Movement ability?
The Tortle's Natural Armor ability says:
Due to your shell and the shape of your body, you are ill-suited to wearing armor. Your shell provides ample protection, however; it gives you a base AC of 17 ...
2
votes
1answer
73 views
When a ysoki is holding items in his cheek pouches, can others tell if they have something in there?
The rules on ysoki cheek pouches are rather vague on whether objects held inside them are actually concealed. It seems possible that someone else would be able to determine that the ysoki was ...
12
votes
2answers
1k views
Does the Air Genasi's Unending Breath trait affect their ability to resist a dragon's poison breath?
I play a 3rd-level Air Genasi Monk. My party will be fighting a Green Dragon soon.
Can a Green Dragon's Poison Breath affect me if I'm not breathing due to the Air Genasi's Unending Breath trait?
13
votes
5answers
3k views
Is this modified version of the changeling's “Shapechanger” trait fair?
For context:
In a new campaign, the DM accepted my request to play a changeling, but wants to limit its "Shapechanger" trait (E:RftLW, p. 18). His idea was to allow only one change a day, ...
8
votes
2answers
597 views
Do Goliaths get cold resistance from the Mountain Born trait?
There seems to be a discrepancy between sources for the Goliath's 'Mountain Born' racial trait.
Volo's Guide to Monsters (p. 109) includes the following description for the trait:
You're acclimated ...
6
votes
3answers
284 views
Is it possible for a player to gain the innate ability to regenerate body parts without spells?
Using the DMG's Injuries variant rule (or just having a character who for whatever reason is missing a body part), a character can lose an arm, leg, or eye, and the regenerate spell is the normal way ...
13
votes
1answer
2k views
Is my Fool race balanced?
I want to create a homebrew playable race called Fools. Essentially the idea is court jesters but as a race. They have bright, multicolored skin. I want them to have the abilities of the original Fool ...
5
votes
1answer
327 views
Is the Midgard Heroes Handbook Centaur race considered as Medium, or Large, for the purpose of grappling and shoving?
In the "Midgard Heroes Handbook" from the Kobold Press, there is a playable character race, the Centaur (not to be confused with the somewhat different Centaur published in Guildmaster's ...
9
votes
5answers
1k views
Are your default racial traits suppressed when choosing the Doppelganger Character Secret in the Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden adventure?
The Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden adventure contains a list of possible Character Secrets in Appendix B. One of these possible secrets is "Doppelganger" (emphasis mine):
I’m a ...
0
votes
2answers
213 views
What explicit player-side rules exist for reflavoring races/classes?
Wizards' spellbooks and artificer "magic" are explicitly called out as being reflavorable--that is, as long as everything has the same numbers, a "spellbook" doesn't need to be a ...
7
votes
1answer
510 views
Does the wood elf's Mask of the Wild trait allow them to basically “disappear” in front of their opponent if in an area lightly obscured by foliage?
The rules on hiding state, in part (PHB, p. 177):
You can't hide from a creature that can see you clearly, [...]
The description of the wood elf's Mask of the Wild trait says (PHB, p. 24):
You can ...
1
vote
1answer
203 views
Dragon Alternate Form feature vs Draconic Polymorph
I was curious about what the differences are for a True Dragon between using its natural Alternate Form feature vs the Draconic Polymorph spell.
The Alternate Form feature (link to Gold Dragon on SRD) ...
14
votes
3answers
473 views
Can Warforged doff Cast-Off Armor in a single action?
Xanathar's Guide to Everything includes this fun magical armor variant, Cast-Off Armor, which can be doffed in a single action (see XGE p136):
You can doff this armor as an action.
This is generally ...
4
votes
1answer
200 views
Do the races of D&D have different core temperatures?
Are there any official sources of bioinformatics (for lack of better word; though mapping the elven genome might be a useful way to figure out their longevity...hmm...) for the races of Dungeons & ...
7
votes
3answers
602 views
Making Race Traits independent of race
I'm preparing my new campaign for my group of players and I was wondering if the following ruling would unbalance the table.
What will be the effects, balancing-wise, if I let players choose a race ...
-4
votes
1answer
158 views
If a dragonborn used his fire breath with his stomach full of elves foot mead [closed]
I'm having an argument that my intestines would explode if I tried to breath fire as a dragonborn.am I right or is he
3
votes
1answer
314 views
Is my homebrew variant of the Dragonborn race balanced compared to the other official races?
I made my own homebrew variant of the Dragonborn race. The ASI replaces the ones in the PHB and it does get the damage resistance from the dragon ancestry trait. My reasoning for these racial traits ...
5
votes
2answers
215 views
How can a character be able to Detect Thoughts on multiple people at once?
Since this video came out (timestamped to the important part), I have been puzzling over any spell I could find to understand what's going on. While I know a DM can invent all they want for NPCs and ...
4
votes
3answers
471 views
How exactly does a Changeling's shapeshifting work?
Though I have asked a similar question here, and I am very thankful for NautArch's answer, I realized that the more I looked into the text of a changeling's shapeshifter trait, the more questions I ...
1
vote
2answers
367 views
Does the Shadow Magic sorcerer's Eyes of the Dark feature negate Sunlight Sensitivity for creatures like drow?
The Shadow Magic sorcerer's 1st-level feature Eyes of the Dark reads (XGtE, p. 51):
Starting at 1st level, you have darkvision with a range of 120 feet.
I would like to play a Drow character. Does ...
1
vote
1answer
140 views
Are there ways Changelings can overcome their shape-shifting limitations?
While the changeling's shapeshifting ability does provide the player with quite a variety of creatures (both pc and npc) to choose from, the rules do limit it to medium human-like (as humanoid is a ...
8
votes
2answers
149 views
Do racial features which benefit specific ability/skill checks provide a benefit for skill checks made with different abilities?
The rules for making skill checks are usually cut and dried. If a character is making a check to see if they can swim against a current, this would usually be a Strength (Athletics) check.
But the ...
3
votes
2answers
278 views
In Pathfinder's Race builder, can you give the race you create two racial qualities? (i.e. Fey and Humanoid.)
I was wondering when creating a race in Pathfinder 1e, are you able to give them two racial type qualities like Fey and Humanoids for example or is it just one type only? I ask because I was looking ...
14
votes
1answer
952 views
Do Tabaxi regain the use of their Feline Agility trait if they get up from being knocked prone but don't move to a different space?
If a Tabaxi PC is knocked prone and then uses their turn to get up without moving anywhere else, does that let them refresh their Feline Agility racial ability?
Getting up uses half their movement ...
6
votes
1answer
154 views
If a spellcaster's racial trait grants a spell that requires material components, can they use their class' focus to cast that spell?
Based on the answer to this question about non-spellcasters, spells granted by racial traits don't waive the need for material components. However, can spellcasters use their class' allowed focuses ...
1
vote
2answers
168 views
What racial features can a Kalashtar use while wildshaped?
As the title states, I want to know which racial features, if any, of the kalashtar are usable in wildshaped form.
The traits are named as follows: Dual Mind, Mental Discipline, Mind Link, Severed ...
9
votes
1answer
550 views
Is Mirthful Leaps affected by jump multipliers?
In the new sourcebook Mythic Odysseys of Theros, the Satyr gains the ability Mirthful Leaps:
Whenever you make a long or high jump, you can roll a d8 and add the number rolled to the number of feet ...
3
votes
1answer
99 views
I am looking for information and the physical description of Deep Halflings
I am looking for the physical description and information on the Deep Halflings race in 3.5 D&D. Can anyone fill me in or direct me to a source?
2
votes
0answers
88 views
Can you cast racial spells with a spell slot? [duplicate]
Take for instance, a level 5 (standard) tiefling warlock. Would you be able to cast your Darkness and Hellish Rebuke spells with a spell slot? Both spells appear on the warlock spell list and could be ...
7
votes
5answers
1k views
Can the shove from the Minotaur race's Hammering Horns trait knock an enemy prone?
The minotaur playable race has the Hammering Horns trait, which says (Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica, p. 19):
Immediately after you hit a creature with a melee attack as part of the Attack action ...
5
votes
1answer
272 views
Does a Warforged receive all the benefits of a long rest while wearing armor?
In Eberron: Rising From The Last War (p. 36), the Warforged's Integrated Protection trait states that you can take a rest while donning or doffing armor. The Sentry's Rest trait also states that you ...
5
votes
1answer
114 views
Do a creature's special abilities still function after the creature dies?
Do a creature's special abilities still function after the creature dies?
I know that, for example, the paladin's class feature Aura of Courage specifies that it doesn't function if the paladin is ...
2
votes
0answers
40 views
Do racial spells need spell slots? [duplicate]
Do the spells from Drow Magic need slots to cast? Or can they be used by characters without spell slots, like a fighter?
0
votes
1answer
308 views
Between the half-orc's Savage Attacks trait and the Elven Accuracy racial feat, which is better?
In a mathematical comparison of the Half-Orc Savage Attacks trait and the Elf/Half-Elf feat Elven Accuracy (XGtE, p. 74), which one increases average damage more at level 10 for a Fighter-Champion 5 / ...
2
votes
2answers
269 views
How much can changelings alter the length of specific body parts?
Like with disguise self, changelings can alter their total height by 1 foot. So they could make both their legs 1 foot shorter, and that would work. In theory, they could even turn both their legs ...
6
votes
1answer
278 views
Is there any mechanical support for aarakocra flying continuously for days?
The description of the aarakocra includes a section called Sky Wardens containing interesting sentences such as:
They can spend hours in the air, and some go as long as days, locking their wings in ...
13
votes
3answers
2k views
When does the kobold racial trait “Grovel, Cower, and Beg” take effect?
The kobold racial trait Grovel, Cower, and Beg is described as follows (VGtM, p. 119):
As an action on your turn, you can cower pathetically to distract nearby foes. Until the end of your next turn,...
10
votes
2answers
1k views
How does the size of the Gold Dragonborn fire breath weapon work?
I know that the gold dragonborn in D&D 5e have a 15ft cone as breath weapon, but is that 15ft radius cone or 15ft diameter cone?
5
votes
1answer
72 views
Are augmented creatures considered their previous type?
For the simplest example, take a vampire, whose type is undead (augmented humanoid). Is it affected by hold person?
If the augmented subtype doesn't cause a creature to have its other subtype as a "...
6
votes
1answer
173 views
What are the balance implications of the Ixalan Vampire using bloodthirst on downed opponents?
For reference, from the Plane Shift: Ixalan PDF:
Bloodthirst
You can drain blood and life energy from a willing creature, or one that is grappled by you, incapacitated, or restrained. Make a melee ...
6
votes
1answer
558 views
Can a changeling player character look like a skeleton?
I have an for a changeling character, but instead of appearing in a human form or stuff like that, I want them to look like a skeleton. I'm thinking a grim reaper-type character, but I know I can't ...
2
votes
1answer
180 views
Does a Shifter Druid lose its racial Shifting benefit if its Wildshape is dropped to zero HP?
This is a follow up to my other question: Can a Shifter Druid use its racial Shifting feature in Wildshape?. The answer to that question states that a character which is a Shifter (race) and is also a ...
13
votes
3answers
1k views
Can a Shifter Druid use its racial Shifting feature in Wildshape?
The Shifter race from Eberron Rising from the Last War has the Shifting ability:
Once per short rest as a bonus action, you can assume a more bestial appearance. This transformation lasts for 1 ...
16
votes
3answers
1k views
In Eberron: Rising from the Last War, can warforged become exhausted if they decide not to take a long rest?
In Eberron: Rising from the Last War (p. 36), the warforged's Constructed Resilience trait includes the following benefit:
You don’t need to sleep, and magic can’t put you to sleep.
The Sentry's ...
9
votes
1answer
144 views
Can the Coerce action be used on a PC?
While this is a way to take away player agency, the second part of the Haughty Obstinacy feat says: "If a creature rolls a failure on a check to Coerce you using Intimidation, it gets a critical ...
7
votes
1answer
254 views
Magic jar's interaction with ability increases and racial feats
Magic Jar p. 257 of the Player's Handbook states:
Once you possess a creature's body, you control it. Your game statistics are replaced by the statistics of the creature, though you retain your ...
15
votes
1answer
1k views
Does the Grung's racial-trait poison work on all bolts when using a crossbow?
With the Grung's racial trait Poisonous Skin, you can apply poison to your weapon as part an an attack:
You can also apply this poison to any piercing weapon as part of an
attack with that weapon, ...
16
votes
3answers
3k views
Can the Half-Orc's Relentless Endurance trait protect them from things that would normally kill someone instantly?
In our campaign, we have a Half-Orc Barbarian. Very original. We are going along this cliff-side fortress and are worried about falling off. The Half-Orc's player jokingly says that he'll be fine, due ...
9
votes
1answer
2k views
Can a Loxodon PC wield a 2-handed sword and a shield with one hand and their trunk?
Could a Loxodon in full plate armor with tower shield in one hand, wield a greatsword with the other hand and their trunk?
