Player Race Rebalance (5e Variant Rule)

Player Race Rebalance

If you're like me you've probably encountered a lot of your players actively selecting certain races for the sake of "build optimization" which is fine occasionally. But I figured I'd go ahead and offer a different solution.

The player may describe their corpus(body) and its appearance freely within reason, their description changes nothing mechanically and functions simply as flavor text. They could describe being a humanoid slime creature and hey would function exactly the same as a human provided they didn't take the "Slime body" passive ability described below. Being said every character is considered equally competent as every other, so if a player for some reason wanted to play as a non-humanoid dog (it happens more than you'd think) they would be consideered equally capable as a human, in spite of their apparent lack of thumbs.

Being said, The mechanical parts will now be handled separately and may be considered specific to THAT CHARACTER and not the entire race that they hail from. At character creation, after they describe their appearance a player gets to choose two stats to give themselves a +1 bonus to. They may choose to apply both to the same stat if they so desire. After that they may choose one ability each from the active and passive abilities described below.

Active abilities

Ability	Description
Aggressive rush	You are able to make a dash action as a bonus action. Remember when dashing dashes you can only dash 3 + conmod times in succession without having to save Vs dc10 to avoid a level of exhaustion.
Breath weapon	you are able to expel a gout, blast, or beam as an action which deals one type of damage chosen at start. This attack deals 2D6 damage to the target on a successful ranged touch attack. you are able to do this 1+conmod times per short or long rest. you are considered proficient in this means of attack, and may add your conmod bonus to the roll.
Caster	you may select two cantrips of your choosing, additionally they needn't necessarily be from a single class list.
Feed	through some means you are able to siphon off part of your enemy's vitality to bolster your own, be it by biting them to drink their blood, consuming a chunk of their flesh, or through some arcane touch the result is the same. As a bonus action you may make this attack dealing 1D6 points of damamge to your foe and healing yourself for that amount. you may only do this 1+conmod times per short or long rest.
Hidden step	you have access to a spell-like ability which allows you to render yourself invisible as a bonus action. you will remain invisible in this manner until the start of your next turn or until you make an attack, inflict damage, of force anything to make a savings throw whichever comes first. Once you use this trait you cannot use it again until you complete a short or long rest.
Knitback	you naturally are able to call upon a healing surge similar to a fighter's second wind. By expending a bonus action you can roll one of your hit-die and add your character level, restoring your hitpoints and "healing" for that amount.
Natural weapons	due to your nature you have one or more natural body weapons, be they claws, sharp fangs, hooves, horns, or a lashing tail. you are considered proficient with these "weapons" as they are inherently part of you.
Nimble escape	you can take the disengage or hide action as a bonus action on each of your turns.
Mindlink	you are able to telepathically communicate with one creature at a time within 60' of yourself, and may expend a bonus action to "listen" for a response from said creature. You do not need to share a language in common for this to work but lack of a common language may result in a game of "psychic sharades"
Misty step	you have access to a spell-like ability which functions similarly to the spell misty step. permitting you to teleport up to 30' away into an unoccupied space once per short or long rest.
Shapeshifter	you are able to change your appearance as though you made use of a disguise kit, this process takes approximately 15 seconds (3 melee rounds to complete and cannot grant you any abilities you do not already inherently possess).
Stone's endurance	Whenever you take damage you may use your reaction to roll 1D12 and add your conmod, the damage being inflicted on you is reduced by that amount before being applied (minimum 0). Once used you cannot use this ability again until you finish a short or long rest.

Passive abilities

Ability	Description
Aquatic adaptation	You are capable of seeing and breathing underwater and gain a swim speed equal to your base movement speed.
Beast speech	You are intuitively able understand animals and by extension are able to make them understand you.
Construct nature	You are some form of construct, you do not need to eat, sleep, or even breathe. likewise you are considered a construct for the purposes of spells cast on you.
Darkvision	You are able to see in low light conditions (not absolute darkness) out to a distance of 60'
Powerful build	you are considered to be one size larger for the purposes of calculaing lifting weight, carrying weight, and encumbrance.
Natural armor	Something about you makes it difficult to actually injure you, your base AC becomes 17 (dex bonus no longer applies) and you gain no particular benefit from wearing armor. You may still use a shield and receive a bonus from it however. this base AC does replace the typical base 13 for monks and barbarians class features however.
Relentless endurance	When you are reduced to 0 hitpoints you may choose instead to fall to 1 hitpoint instead, remaining concious and capable of fighting on. you may only do this once per long or short rest.
Resolve	You are particularly difficult to beat into submission, you have the constant benefit of Fast healing 1, which means so long as you remain conscious you heal one hitpoint of damage inflicted on you every round.
Slime body	You are some form of slime creature, as such your gooey form can squash and contort in ways beings of flesh and bone cannot granting you advantage on checks relating to freeing oneself from bindings or squeezing through tight spaces. additionally you can squeeze yourself through spaces as narrow as two inched in diameter.
Steel mind	You cannot be magically put to sleep or charmed against your will. Likewise you have advantage on saves to resist mind affecting toxins, the debilitating effects of alcohol, and sleeping drugs.

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