Grave, Pyre, Mist, Blood: Dread Genasi for 5e

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Grave, Pyre, Mist, Blood: Dread Genasi for 5e

Post by Hell_Born »

Way back in Quoth the Raven #7 - my, how time has flown - there was an interesting little racial article on genasi, or elemental-touched, in Ravenloft. Specifically, it postulated what the effects of Ravenloft's trademark "elemental corruption" might be on genasi, or what Ravenloft's corrupt elementals might produce if somehow induced to mate with humanoids. The result were Grave, Pyre, Mist and Blood Genasi, who fit into the world of Ravenloft very well.

Now, 5th edition has put out its own Genasi, which can be found either in the Temple of Elemental Evil (5e) adventure, or in the Elemental Evil Player's Guide, which can be found and downloaded for free at the WoTC website. So, naturally, although I'm not exactly an expert in the arts of homebrewing, I'd love to try and figure out how to render the Dread Genasi as viable 5e PC races. So, I was hoping that folks here would be amicable to helping me examine, critique and refine my efforts in order to get races that are balanced, but also flavorful.

I'm unfortunately pressed for time at the moment, so I can't provide my first drafts of the 5e Dread Genasi yet, but I thought I'd ask: for reference to the 5e "natural" genasi, would folks prefer it if I posted the racial statblocks here, or would a link to the EEPG I refered to above be better?
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Re: Grave, Pyre, Mist, Blood: Dread Genasi for 5e

Post by alhoon »

I would take a look but chances are I won't use them since I find them too... openly alien for Ravenloft.
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Re: Grave, Pyre, Mist, Blood: Dread Genasi for 5e

Post by Hell_Born »

Alright, so I figured I might as well just post the link, and then do my first drafts for the Dread Genasi.

http://media.wizards.com/2015/downloads ... panion.pdf

The basic idea I'm going with here is that the Dread Genasi replace the "default" sub-races, so they still share the root stats of all Genasi. I've included those stats just for ease of reference:


Core Genasi Stats:
Ability Score Increase: +2 Constitution
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet


Grave Genasi, 1st Draft:
Ability Score Increase: +1 Wisdom
Breathless: A Grave Genasi does not need to breathe, making them immune to the effects of drowning, suffocation, strangulation, and inhaled poison.
Return to the Grave: A Grave Genasi has a a Burrow speed of 20 feet. Additionally, upon reaching 5th level, a Grave Genasi may cast Meld With Stone once per long rest; this version of Meld With Stone works on soil and earth as well as stone.


Pyre Genasi, 1st Draft:
Ability Score Increase: +1 Strength
Born to Burn: A Pyre Genasi has Resistance to Fire.
Burn With Me: A Pyre Genasi has Proficiency with Unarmed Attacks, and its Unarmed Attacks do Fire damage. When wielding a melee weapon, a Pyre Genasi's attacks do bonus Fire damage equal to the Pyre Genasi's level.
Firestarter: A Pyre Genasi knows the Produce Flame and Control Flame cantrips.


Mist Genasi, 1st Draft:
Ability Score Increase: +1 Charisma
Walker Between: A Mist Genasi that reaches fifth level may cast Gaseous Form once per long rest.
Cloak of Mist: A Mist Genasi can cast Fog Cloud as a 2nd level spell once per short rest.


Blood Genasi, 1st Draft:
Ability Score Increase: +1 Intelligence
Bloodscent: A Blood Genasi has the Scent ability, but can only use its enhanced senses to find spilled blood or to follow a creature that has been wounded.
Pool of Blood: At 5th level, a Blood Genasi may cast a variant of the Gaseous Form spell upon itself once per long rest. In this state, a Blood Genasi cannot fly, but crawls along the ground at double its movement speed. Otherwise, it functions as per Gaseous Form.
Thief of Life: A Blood Gensai that deals damage with an attack regains missing hitpoints equal to its Constitution bonus.
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Re: Grave, Pyre, Mist, Blood: Dread Genasi for 5e

Post by Hell_Born »

Yes, I know, not a lot of 5e crunch experts here. I'm just waiting, I just thought that maybe doing the canonical 5e Genasi profiles for comparison would be good. It is kind of a jerk move to expect you to download a PDF as part of the thread's commentary.

Core Genasi Stats:
Ability Score Increase: +2 Constitution
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Subrace: Choose the Air, Earth, Fire or Water Genasi subrace to determine the rest of your racial traits.

Air Genasi Stats:
Ability Score Increase: +1 Dexterity
Unending Breath: So long as you are not incapacitated, you can hold your breath indefinitely.
Mingle With The Wind: You can cast Levitate once per long rest with Constitution as the spellcasting ability.


Earth Genasi Stats:
Ability Score Increase: +1 Strength
Earth Walk: You can move across difficult terrain made of earth or stone without expending extra movement.
Merge With Stone: You can cast Pass Without Trace once per long rest with Constitution as the spellcasting ability.


Fire Genasi Stats:
Ability Score Increase: +1 Intelligence
Darkvison (60 feet)
Fire Resistance
Reach To The Blaze: You can cast the Produce Flame cantrip. After reaching level three, you can cast Burning Hands once per long rest. You use Constitution as your spellcasting ability for both spells.


Water Genasi Stats:
Ability Score Increase: +1 Wisdom
Acid Resistance
Amphibious: You can breathe air and water with equal readiness.
Swim: You have a Swim Speed of 30 feet.
Call To The Wave: You can cast the Shape Water cantrip. After reaching level three, you can cast Create Or Destroy Water once per long rest. You use Constitution as your spellcasting ability for both spells.
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Re: Grave, Pyre, Mist, Blood: Dread Genasi for 5e

Post by Ender »

I'll take a look in more depth eventually, but for now I wanted to point out that the Scent ability doesn't exist as such in 5E. Any creature with a good nose is typically given advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks. There are a couple instances of creatures that can smell specific things. For instance, a Rust Monster has this:
Iron Scent. The rust monster can pinpoint, by scent, the location of ferrous metal within 30 feet of it.
And the Xorn has this:
Treasure Sense. The xorn can pinpoint, by scent, the location of precious metals and stones, such as coins and gems, within 60 feet of it.
These two abilities are a bit too powerful, I think to just substitute "blood" into them without some limiting factor. So for the Blood Genasi, I might suggest this:
Blood Sense. As a bonus action, you can pinpoint, by scent, the location of blood within 60 feet. Once you use this ability, you can't use it again until you complete a short or long rest.
Or, if you want it to be usable at will, I might suggest something similar that lifts some wording from the Sahuagin's Blood Frenzy ability:
Blood Sense. As a bonus action, you can pinpoint, by scent, the location of any creature within 60 feet that doesn't have all its hit points or any other source of blood exposed to the air.
In this version, the lack of all its hit points represents cuts and the like, allowing the Blood Genasi to smell the blood, but doesn't confer the ability to just sense the presence of blood inside of a body. Personally, this feels more appropriate for a PC ability than something that lets you sense any living creature.

EDIT 1: The wording I used in that last one was bothering me, so I made it a little more explicit here:
Blood Sense. As a bonus action, you can pinpoint out to a range of 60 feet, by scent, the location of any creature doesn't have all its hit points or the location of any other source of blood exposed to the air.
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Re: Grave, Pyre, Mist, Blood: Dread Genasi for 5e

Post by Ender »

Okay, okay, one more option:
Blood Sense. You can make Wisdom (Perception) checks to notice the presence of blood exposed to the air.
Then include some wording about the DM setting the DC based on how much is present and if it's behind cover, etc.
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Re: Grave, Pyre, Mist, Blood: Dread Genasi for 5e

Post by Hell_Born »

Yeah, sorry, I was a bit unsure about Scent still being in 5e. As for the effects of Blood Sense, honestly, I think at-wil makes the most sense; you're part elemental of blood. How can you not sense when blood has been spilled? It should stick out as if you were the one being cut.

I think that the Wis (Perception) option might possibly be the most balanced, in the eyes of some.

Anyway, looking forward to your critique.
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Re: Grave, Pyre, Mist, Blood: Dread Genasi for 5e

Post by Jester of the FoS »

I'd probably keep the racial stats the same and just change the flavour for local genasi. It's easier and doesn't inundate characters with choices.
And it makes all members of the race fit the setting, being genasi that work with the setting rather than just being there.
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Re: Grave, Pyre, Mist, Blood: Dread Genasi for 5e

Post by Hell_Born »

Eh, I don't know, ordinary genasi and dread genasi were pretty different beasts even in 3.5.

Besides, I honestly think that there's room for both in Ravenloft, if a DM is comfortable with giving the Fantasy aspect equal billing. Elemental cults, magical tinkering and alchemical experiments immediately stand out as potential sources for both kinds of genasi.
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Re: Grave, Pyre, Mist, Blood: Dread Genasi for 5e

Post by Hell_Born »

Hmm... I'm really worried that these first draft versions range from gratuitously overpowered to too weak. What do folks think?
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Re: Grave, Pyre, Mist, Blood: Dread Genasi for 5e

Post by Hell_Born »

...I'd really love to give this topic something more meaningful to bump it with, but I can't. Seriously, I need suggestions on how to better the Dread Genasi before I can hope to make them better.
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