Questions tagged [racial-traits]
For questions primarily about racial traits, the quantifiable capabilities or limitations specific to a race or species in tabletop RPGs, such as Dwarves, Orcs, Romulans, etc. (See also: the [races] tag.)
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What is considered an enemy for an Orc's Aggressive trait?
Volo's Guide to Monsters says that you may play an Orc character, which gives you the following trait, amongst others (p. 120):
Aggressive. As a bonus action, you can move up to your speed toward an ...
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Is it possible for a Kenku to speak a language fluently through mimicry?
The Kenku racial traits in Volo's Guide to Monsters note that Kenku can only speak through Mimicry, though they do understand Common.
Given that the Kenku can mimic the words they hear, combined with ...
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What are the mechanical consequences of a Centaur's Fey trait?
Centaurs have the Fey trait (Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica, pg. 16):
Fey. Your creature type is fey, rather than humanoid.
What does this mean in terms of gameplay? I know that certain spells, ...
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What spells and effects are covered by "advantage on saving throws against being charmed" from the Fey Ancestry trait?
Elves and Half-Elves have the Fey Ancestry trait, which states
You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed.
What spells and effects are covered by this? Only Charm Person? Enchantment ...
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How do I determine if a racial trait applies while a druid is in Wild Shape?
The description for the druid's Wild Shape feature says, in part:
You retain the benefit of any features from your class, race, or other source and can use them if the new form is physically capable ...
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Does halfling luck apply to death saving throws?
The rule states that halfling luck applies to saving throws and the death rolls are called "death saving throws." Based on that I decided to allow it. Additionally, I thought allowing halfling luck ...
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How far away is the Gnome's "Clockwork Toy" or "Music Box" audible?
Rock Gnomes possess the capability to produce small devices such as the "Clockwork Toy", "Fire Starter" and "Music Box". The book specifically states that they produce sound. My expectation on how I ...
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Do natural melee weapons (from racial traits) trigger Improved Divine Smite?
Following up on
Does Improved Divine Smite trigger when a paladin makes an unarmed strike?
Improved Divine Smite will not trigger on an unarmed strike.
Context
The paladin in my campaign – ...
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How can I get around the drow's light sensitivity?
My friends and I are trying to come up with ways to get around the drow's sunlight limitations. We thought of using spells, but Darkness makes it impossible to see, which would defeat the purpose.
...
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Can the spell Catnap affect elves?
Elves cannot be magically put to sleep, according to their Fey Ancestry trait.
The catnap spell (Xanathar's Guide to Everything, p. 151) can make up to three willing creatures fall unconscious (and ...
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Create the most broken race that is 'balanced' according to Detect Balance
Any discussion for a homebrew race will always have Detect Balance used to calculate how balanced the race is. I'm curious to see how much the tool can be abused.
Thus my challenge is to create a ...
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If a Variant Human is Reincarnated, would they lose the feat and skill proficiency they started with?
The reincarnate spell states that you lose racial traits, but do feats and skill proficiencies count as racial traits? For example, would a half-elf lose the skills they had when the character was ...
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Can you cast a racial spell if you do not have access to the spell slot required?
For example a Drow has the racial spell Darkness, spell level 2 (gained at player level 5). Can he cast the spell even if he is multiclassed (Eldritch Knight 3; Cleric 2) and only has spell slots up ...
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What are the mechanical consequences that arise for a PC with the undead creature type?
A tabaxi ranger/assassin in my game made a pact with an unknown power (homebrew deity-like undead necromancer from the Death Plane). To achieve this he became an undead tabaxi (and he took one level ...
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Is a mount considered an "ally" for the purpose of Pack Tactics?
I suppose this applies both to NPCs and player characters.
Specifically, someone proposed the idea of a PC kobold (a playable race from Volo's Guide to Monsters, p. 119) as a paladin, summoning a ...
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Can a UA Warforged Envoy pick a land vehicle as his integrated tool?
I am aware that a Warforged Envoy picking anything but the tools in the PHB on page 154 is probably against RAI and would be an awkward implementation. But is it RAW?
The Warforged Envoy's Integrated ...
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What would happen if I removed darkvision?
As part of my ongoing preparations and musings about a possible West Marches style campaign, I began to think about lighting. I really like the idea that adventuers have to rely on a torch or lantern ...
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Does the Powerful Build trait stack with the benefit to carrying capacity from the Totem Warrior Barbarian's Aspect of the Beast (Bear) feature?
Does the Goliath's carrying capacity increase from its Powerful Build feature stack with the Barbarian's carrying capacity doubling from its Bear Totem feature? For example, would those two together ...
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Can a lizardfolk monk use their bonus action to make an unarmed strike using their Bite trait?
I'm gonna be playing my very first D&D game pretty soon and I'm really excited. I'm playing a Lizardfolk monk, and I just finished my character sheet, but I was confused about something.
We're ...
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Is the satyr's Mirthful Leaps trait affected by jump multipliers?
In the new sourcebook Mythic Odysseys of Theros (p. 25), the new Satyr race has the Mirthful Leaps trait:
Whenever you make a long or high jump, you can roll a d8 and add the number rolled to the ...
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Is the flight that a variant Tiefling (SCAG) has game breaking?
A Tiefling variant (SCAG) gains flight at 1st level. Is this game breaking? What kind of problems could this produce? I know that Fly is a 3rd level spell usually granted at 5th level, and draconic-...
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Can elves sleep / dream?
The PHB of D&D 5e says that elves can't be put to sleep by magic (see under "Fey Ancestry"), and that they "don't need to sleep" (under "Trance".) Note that neither of these statements deny their ...
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Can a Kenku use verbal spells?
A Kenku can only speak by mimicry, so can a Kenku fulfill the verbal portion of spells of his class? I would assume that he could only cast a verbal spell if he has heard the spell be cast by another ...
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Does teleportation count as movement for a Tabaxi's Feline Agility trait?
A Tabaxi, after using his Feline Agility trait to double his movement speed for a turn, must then move 0 feet on a subsequent turn in order for his trait to recharge.
If the Tabaxi teleports, does it ...
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Does a wildshaped druid retain his/her racial resistances?
A druid's Wild Shape feature specifies the following:
• Your game statistics are replaced by the statistics of
the beast, [bla-fu about stuff you retain; resistances are not mentioned]
[...]
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If the attack or spell that the goblin's Fury of the Small trait is applied to deals multiple types of damage, what type is the extra damage?
What is the damage type associated with the goblin playable race's Fury of the Small trait from Volo's Guide to Monsters (p. 119) if the associated attack or spell deals multiple types of damage, such ...
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Can you choose same spell twice from different sources?
I am optimizing my Warlock character now and wanted to pick new UA (for now) Hexblood race (detailed in this Unearthed Arcana article). I will get a free hex once per long rest as racial trait.
I'm ...
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Do racial/feat/non-Spellcasting classes' spellcasting abilities count as a spellcasting ability for Staff of Power?
DMG p. 141 states the following (bolded for emphasis):
A magic item, such as certain staffs, may require you to use your own spellcasting ability when you cast spell from the item. If you have more ...
user53884
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Is the playtest version of the Warforged considered to be "wearing armor"?
The Warforged race from the initial version of Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron (which matches the version in UA: Eberron Races) has a unique feature, Integrated Protection, that affects their armor class ...
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What is a Centaur Thief's climbing speed?
The Thief archetype Rogue's Second-Story Work (PHB, p. 97) feature states:
[...] you gain the ability to climb faster than normal; climbing no longer costs you extra movement.
However, the ...
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How perceptive are trancing elves?
The description of Elves' Trance racial trait says (emphasis mine):
Elves don’t need to sleep. Instead, they meditate deeply, remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. (The Common word for such ...
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How to handle Sunlight Sensitivity (of Drow, etc.), especially for casters?
Sunlight Sensitivity looks pretty bad — Disadvantage to attack rolls and Perception checks whenever you, your target, or what you're trying to perceive are in direct sunlight. I hope I'm missing ...
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Can Tieflings derive from stock other than human?
According to the 5e PHB:
"Tieflings are derived from human bloodlines, and in the
broadest possible sense, they still look human. However,
their infernal heritage has left a clear imprint on their
...
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Can a half-orc's Savage Attacks and a monk's unarmed strike work together?
I want to make a half-orc monk and I was wondering if the racial feature Savage Attacks from the half-orc race and unarmed strikes from the monk's Martial Arts feature work together. Or, is there some ...
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What happens when my aasimar Celestial warlock has overlapping class and racial features?
If you are an Aasimar warlock whose otherworldly patron is The Celestial, you will know the light cantrip from both race and class. Additionally, once you reach 6th level in warlock you will have ...
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Does a PC aarakocra add their Strength bonus to the damage roll for their unarmed strikes?
You are proficient with your unarmed strikes, which deal 1d4 slashing
damage on a hit.
Do talons just deal 1d4, or is the relevant ability modifier added too?
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Is the High Elf's extra cantrip in addition to cantrips from your class?
I read that High Elves could chose a cantrip from the wizard spells, but is it additional to your own class cantrips, or is it counted as one of them?
For this instance, I want to make a Cleric which ...
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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 ...
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Where does the Duergar's growth power come from?
Since their introduction in the 1st edition AD&D Monster Manual II, Duergar have had the ability to change their size. It has varied a little from edition to edition, and the ability has altered ...
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How would adding a darkvision racial trait to Dragonborn affect balance?
Dragonborn, as I understand it, are considered to be one of the weakest, if not the weakest, playable race. Their flavour is cool, especially for people who like dragons, but their being sub-par in ...
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Would Dwarves have advantage on saving throws against the Contagion spell?
Contagion (PHB, p. 227) has always been a powerful spell.
It used to be unclear, by RAW, what happened during the three (or more) turns a target was making saving throws. The original spell ...
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Is the changeling's Shapechange ability detectable with Detect Magic?
In one of the Unearthed Arcana, the changeling from Eberron was introduced as a playable character race. It has a "shapechange" ability, which allows for a superficial polymorph to change their ...
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Is this version of the dragonborn race unbalanced?
When comparing the dragonborns with the other races of the Player's Handbook, it is pretty clear they are a bit underpowered. A quick search in google shows many people also think so.
Besides their ...
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Does a familiar count as an ally? [duplicate]
If a hobgoblin wizard had a familiar summoned, would that familiar count as an ally, thus boosting the Saving Face ability?
Saving Face:
Hobgoblins are careful not to show weakness in front of their ...
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Can a Longtooth Shifter druid attack with a bonus action in Wild Shape?
The Longtooth Shifter has the following Shifting feature:
While shifted, you can use your elongated fangs to make an unarmed strike as a bonus action. (Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron, p66)
If a ...
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When a racial trait grants me use of a spell, does it have to also become a spell I know?
Infernal Legacy. You know the thaumaturgy cantrip. Once you reach 3rd level, you can cast the hellish rebuke spell once per day as a 2nd-level spell. Once your reach 5th level, you can also cast the ...
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Can the warforged from UA: Eberron benefit from healing spells and the Medicine skill?
Can "living constructs", such as the warforged from UA: Eberron, benefit from healing spells and the Medicine skill?
It's unclear whether they could be affected by healing magic, nor whether medical ...
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Can I use Relentless Endurance after failing the Relentless Rage Constitution saving throw?
Can I make the saving throw from Relentless Rage (PHB p.49, Barbarian) and use my Relentless Endurance (PHB p.41, Half-Orc) if I fail it? Is there anything that would suggest this is not possible?
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Do the Elf Blood racial trait allow you to fulfil "being an elf" prerequisites?
In Pathfinder, half-elves have the following racial trait:
Elf Blood: Half-elves count as both elves and humans for any effect related to race.
Since now I always considered that it meant that a ...
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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 ...
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