User:Kydo/Drakniant Test

Character Sheet

Options & Fluff

Name

Razdul

Gender

Male

Age

1298

Height

8 ft 4 in

Weight

462 lb

Hair

Black, with grey tips, cut unusually short for one of his race.

Eyes

Brown

Skin

Most of his scales are variants of a muddy brown/bronze coloration.

Characteristic

Prone to whispering when he is calm, even if the surrounding environment is very loud.

Ethics

Chaotic

Morals

Good

Race: Drakoniant

Subrace

NA

Traits

• Ability Adjustments: +1 STR, CON, DEX
• Alignment: Chaotic Good/Neutral, mandatory.
• Size: Large
• Speed: 40ft
• Languages: Common, Draconic, Giant
• Darkvision
• UAC = 8+STR+CON
• AC = AC+3
• 15ft cone of lightning, 2d6, 8+CON+PRO save DC to half DAM.
• Can not suffocate on non-magical smoke/smog
• Tail: 1d4 Slashing, Reach.

Class: Fighter

Archetype

NA

Traits

• HD: 1d10
• Weapons: All
• Armor: All
• Tools: None
• Saves: STR & CON
• Skills: Insight, Perception
• Languages: NA
• Gear: Chain Mail, Battleaxe, Shield, 2 handaxes, explorers pack
• Fighting Style: Defense (+1 Armored AC)
• 1/LR, heal 1d10+CLVL hp.

Background: Variant Criminal: Spy

Features

• Skills: Deception, Stealth
• Tools: Playing Cards, Thieves Tools
• Languages: NA
• Gear: Crowbar, Dark common clothes w. hood, pouch, 15gp
• Feature: Criminal contact; my own personal NPC who I have the capacity to communicate with.

Traits

• I don't pay attention to the risks in a situation. Never tell me the odds.
• I am incredibly slow to trust. Those who seem the fairest often have the most to hide.

Ideal

• Greed. I will do whatever it takes to become wealthy. (Evil)

Bonds

• I'm guilty of a terrible crime. I hope I can redeem myself for it.

Flaws

• I have a "tell" that reveals when I'm lying.

Faction: NA

Renown

NA

Rank

NA

Description:

Stands tall and straight, with a strict, almost military posture. His expression is almost always reserved or serious. His gait is stiff, agressive, direct, and mechanical- more like a march than a walk. He keeps his clothes tight to his body and conservative; no flashy jewelery or bright garments.

Backstory:

Originally from a common tribe, he was appalled when his people began worshipping a dracolish who had forced them into subservience. In an effort to free his people, he fled to seek help. He returned later as a trained spy, and tried to help a group of adventurers slay the monster. However, before the plan could be completed, he was found out. In order to escape with his life, he murdered several of his own kin- including the adventurer who had betrayed him and his allies. Since then, he has become an adventurer himself in foreign lands, and has travelled long and far. In his centuries-long life, he has been, seen, and done many things, but most of them involved stealing secrets to make a living. He became quite good at this, in fact. For several hundred years, he had fallen astray, doing any job for the right price, seeking fortune over virtue. He was captured for a time, and while in prison he learned what it meant to be kind again. After taking advantage of a siege which tore down the walls of the prison, he escaped into the world to try and do some good again.

Personality

He has learned to be quiet, careful, observant, and conservative. Long hair and sleeves arent worth the hazard they become in combat. Bright colors and pretty stones arent worth a decade behind bars when you get caught. He knows the fickle nature of younger races well, and has been bit by their poor conviction and wavering loyalties far too many times to trust with ease. Even when he does trust a person, he often takes time to consider contingency plans against them. Some people may consider him a worry-wort, but each one of his worries is based on an experience that nearly killed him in the past.

Stats

LVL

1

XP

300 \ 75

STR:15 +1 = +3 (+5 Save) CON:13 +1 = +2 (+4 Save) DEX:14 +1 = +2 INT:10 +0 = +0 WIS:12 +0 = +1 CHR:8 +0 = -1

Size

Large (10*10 area, 5*5 squeeze space)

Speed

40ft

Climb/Swim/Crawl

20ft

Long Jump

7ft, 15ft after 10ft movement.

High Jump

9ft, 18ft after 10ft movement. (Vertical reach +12ft from floor.)

Lung Capacity

3 Minutes

Thirst

4 Gallons water

Dehydration

1 Day

Hunger

4 lb. food

Starvation

5 Days

INIT

+2

UAC

13

AC

22 (Chainmail=16, Shield+2, Race+3 Defense+1)

HD

1d10

HP

12/12

Proficiency Bonus

+2

Gear

Languages

• Draconic
• Giant
• Common

Proficiencies

• Deception 11
• Insight 13
• Perception 13
• Stealth 14

Equipment

• Body: Chain Mail

Common Clothes (Dark, Hooded)

• LH: Shield
• RH: Battleaxe (1d8 Slashing, Versatile=1d10)
• Belt: Handaxe x2 (1d6 Slashing, light, thrown 20/60)

Pouch

gp x14

sp x1

cp x7

• Back: Backpack

Tent (2-Man)

Bedroll

Blanket

Mess Kit

Tinderbox

Torch x3

Ration x6

Waterskin x8

Hemp Rope x40ft

Crowbar

Map Case

oil x10

manacles x2

grappling hook

Encumbrance

15*5 = 75lb.

Heavily Encumbered

15*10 = 150lb.

Carrying Capacity

15*15 = 225 *2(Large Size) = 450lb.

Lift/Drag/Throw

450*2 = 900lb.

Downtime

Accumulated DT

NA

Activities

• NA

Transcription

Ill be running the starter set. The first few encounters are actually kind of harsh, and unsuspecting players (or weak builds) are easily wiped by it early on, so Ive found it to be a pretty good test of first-level content. Before I begin, Id like to point a few things out about large sized heroes by RAW. He occupies a 10*10 foot area, so he controls 100² ft. that enemies normally can not pass through, and absolutely cannot stand in. His melee attacks extend out 5ft from there, so his threatened area covers 400² ft. This single character has as much field control as the cart he is guarding. The battlefield description claims 2 dead horses block the path. Since a horse is a large creature, they each occupy a 10*10 area, so the road must be 20ft wide. That means, if my character stands in the middle of the road, he threatens its entire breadth. If I had a reach weapon, Id be able to make melee attacks on people standing on the road embankments. (I have ruled that, since the tail is 10ft long, it counts as a reach attack. So I actually CAN do that, it just deals 1d4.) Thanks to my speed and strength advantages from my race, my jump distance and height is good enough to leap over a short man and clear small patches of rough terrain without much issue. In a single jump, I could hoist myself a full 2-stories into the air, were I to find a tree or ledge strong enough to support me. My character is strong enough that he could carry the oxen or the cart if he wanted to. I could jump and lift more, but I elected to go with the standard array. Can you imagine if Id rolled an 18 for strength!!

And we begin.

Approaches dead horses because the adventure gives you basically no other meaningful option. (If the players were to leave the road, Id have the goblins launch a stealth assault in the woods. Since it ammounts to the same, ill just provoke the stupid obvious encounter.) I am, unsurprisingly, surprised. (They have +6. Basically everyone gets hit by this. That's why it usually kills someone.) At +4 to attack, they only have a 15% chance of hitting me. Their attacks deal a maximum of 8, so 2 or 3 in a single round can kill me if they get high rolls. As long as I don't sustain multiple hits in a single round, I theoretically have 13-22hp for them to try and burn through. My attack has +5 modifier against their 15 AC, so I have a 55% chance to hit. So, roughly every other round Ill hit dealing 4-13 damage, which has about a 60% chance of just killing them in a single blow, so approximately every third hit I land would leave a survivor. Theyre small sized, so we can pass through each others spaces.

Round 1

• INIT19: GOBLIN D: Move to 30ft range; Bow: 5<22 miss
• INIT17: GOBLIN C: Move to 30ft range; Bow: 22=22 hit, 3pi (9/12hp)
• INIT14: Goblin B: Move to adjacent; Scimitar: 10<22 miss
• INIT7: Goblin A: Move to adjacent; Scimitar: 11<22 miss
• INIT6: ME: SURPRISED!

Round 2

• INIT19: GOBLIN D: Bow: 16<22 miss
• INIT17: GOBLIN C: Bow: 16<22 miss
• INIT14: Goblin B: Scimitar: 21<22 miss
• INIT7: Goblin A: Scimitar: 13<22 miss
• INIT6: ME: Battleaxe to B: 18>15 12sl (0/7hp)

Round 3

• INIT19: GOBLIN D: Bow: 20<22 miss
• INIT17: GOBLIN C: Bow: 6<22 miss
• INIT14: Goblin B: DEAD
• INIT7: Goblin A: Scimitar: 23>22 hit, 3sl (6/12hp)
• INIT6: ME: Battleaxe to A: 20>15 hit, 5sl (2/7hp); BA: Second Wind: +11hp (12/12hp) (DAMN LUCKY!)

Round 4

• INIT19: GOBLIN D: Bow: 23>22 hit, 3pi (9/12hp)
• INIT17: GOBLIN C: Bow: 14<22 miss
• INIT14: Goblin B: DEAD
• INIT7: Goblin A: Scimitar: 10<22 miss
• INIT6: ME: Battleaxe to A: 25>15 hit, 11sl (0/7hp); Move up to Goblin D, using long jump to cross difficult terrain of embankment without speed loss. (Only 30ft away anyways. Their bows have better range, but the encounter specifies their tactic in this regard.)

Round 5

• INIT19: GOBLIN D: Bow: DIS17<22 miss
• INIT17: GOBLIN C: Move to 30ft range; Bow: 16<22 miss
• INIT14: Goblin B: DEAD
• INIT7: Goblin A: DEAD
• INIT6: ME: Battleaxe to D: 19>15 hit, 12sl (0/7hp)

Round 6

• INIT19: GOBLIN D: DEAD
• INIT17: GOBLIN C: Move 30ft North; Dash: Move 30ft North
• INIT14: Goblin B: DEAD
• INIT7: Goblin A: DEAD
• INIT6: ME: Move 40ft North; Dash: Move 40ft North

Round 7

• INIT19: GOBLIN D: DEAD
• INIT17: GOBLIN C: Move 30ft North; BA: Nimble Escape; Dash: Move 30ft North
• INIT14: Goblin B: DEAD
• INIT7: Goblin A: DEAD
• INIT6: ME: Move 30ft North; Grapple on C: 18>13 hit, (Grappled!)

Round 8

• INIT19: GOBLIN D: DEAD
• INIT17: GOBLIN C: GRAPPLED; Escape Grapple: 19>4 hit, escaped; BA: Nimble Escape; move 30ft North
• INIT14: Goblin B: DEAD
• INIT7: Goblin A: DEAD
• INIT6: ME: Move 40ft North; Battleaxe to C: 8<15 miss

Round 9

• INIT19: GOBLIN D: DEAD
• INIT17: GOBLIN C: Move 30ft North; BA: Nimble Escape; Dash: Move 30ft North
• INIT14: Goblin B: DEAD
• INIT7: Goblin A: DEAD
• INIT6: ME: Object Interaction: Drop Battleaxe; Move 40ft North; Dash: Move 40ft North

Round 10

• INIT19: GOBLIN D: DEAD
• INIT17: GOBLIN C: Move 30ft North; BA: Nimble Escape; Dash: Move 30ft North
• INIT14: Goblin B: DEAD
• INIT7: Goblin A: DEAD
• INIT6: ME: Move 40ft North; Object Interaction: Draw Handaxe; Handaxe (Thrown) to C: 18 hit, 9sl (0/7hp)

I ask to try and save the stupid things life. DM allows it.

Round 11

• Goblin C: Death Save: 2<10 fail
• Me: Medicine on C: 2<10 fail

Round 12

• Goblin C: Death Save: 2<10 fail
• Me: Medicine on C: 14>10 success

Neat! So, with 40ft of speed, most humanoids basically have absolutely no chance of escaping me, especially if I have any sort of reach, thrown, or ranged attack.

I tie up the goblin using my rope, and gently place him in my backpack as if he were an object.

I collect my thrown and dropped weapons.

I inspect the horses and find Gundrens map case. DAAAAAAMMMMNNNN THEEEEEEMMMM!!! (As if I haven't played this adventure a million-bajillion times)

I bring the cart to the side of the road and decide to take a short rest. I also decide to wait for the goblin to wake up.

When he awakes, I attempt to threaten him into telling me everything he knows by strangling him to the edge of unconsciousness. He concedes.

• Less than 20 goblins in his lair.
• Lead by a bugbear.
• King Grol rules all of the cragmaw goblins.
• King Grol is in cragmaw castle, which is 20 miles NE of their hideout, in Neverwinter Wood.
• A person named The Spider paid them to kidnap Gundren and send him to Cragmaw Castle.
• Gundren had a map.
• Gundrens bodyguard is captive in the eating cave, whatever that is.

Gagging the goblin with rope and rolling him up in by bedroll to keep him safe and quiet, I lead the cart to Phandalin so as to be at least done with that job.

Elmar seeks me out to inform me that Gundren never arrived. I explain that he ahs been kidnapped, and that I am going to go rescue him. I wish to deliver the cart and receive payment now, so that I may purchase supplies for the rescue. Elmar agrees to these terms.

I buy 7 more waterskins for 1g4s (1 gallon is 8 pints, a waterskin holds 4 pints, that's 2 skins to the gallon, I need 4 gallons a day, so if Im going to be gone for even one full day, I need to carry 8 waterskins, which weigh a total of 40lb. when full.)

Assuming 1 days ration is equivalent to 1 lb of food, I need 4 times as much as a medium creature, so *1 days rations* is actually 4 units. for me. 10 units is still pretty good; Ill dehydrate before I starve.

I sell 7 of my torches for 7cp, because I can see in the dark fine, and do not need to light the way for any allies at the moment. Having a convenient way to carry fire is nice though, so Im not selling all of them.

I buy myself a 2-man tent for 2gp, just in case I need to rough it in the rain. Ill occupy the whole thing by myself because Im large, but that's fine.

I buy 10 flasks of oil for 1gp. Oil is invaluable for self-defense against unfair odds.

I buy two pairs of manacles so I can get my rope back, but still safely use my goblin captive.

I buy a grappling hook, because climbing is often important.

I buy a blanket, because comfort matters.

OK. Im off to save the bodyguard!

Outside of town, I retrieve my goblin and shackle his wrists and ankles. I tie the rope around his neck in a tight noose, and keep him gagged. I demand he lead me safely to his cave.

The goblin leads me, uneventfully, to a cave in the woods.

Milestone. 75xp.

I use my axe to cut 10ft from my hemp rope and lash him to a high tree branch so he can not betray me. I retrieve my manacles from him.

I draw my handaxes, holstering my battleaxe to my belt and shield to the side of my backpack, and head for the entrance and startle the guards hiding behind the brush. ROLL INIT!

ROUND 1

• INIT18: Me: Handaxe to A: 15=15 hit, 8sl (0/7); BA: Handaxe to B: 25>15 hit, 4 (3/7hp)
• INIT 16: Goblin A: DEAD
• INIT 4: Goblin B: Scimitar: 19<20 miss

ROUND 2

• INIT18: Me: Handaxe to B: 13<15 miss; BA: Handaxe to B: 11<15 miss
• INIT 16: Goblin A: DEAD
• INIT 4: Goblin B: Scimitar: 5<20 miss

ROUND 2

• INIT18: Me: Handaxe to B: 20>15 hit, 6sl (0/7hp)
• INIT 16: Goblin A: DEAD
• INIT 4: Goblin B: DEAD

I toss the goblin corpses into the woods to reduce their chances of being found or attracting attention, and decide set up a small camp here in the goblin blind. I pitch my tent and roll out my bed. I also eat a meal and refill my waterskins from the river stream. I tie my grappling hook to the end of my rope so that it can be used if necessary. OK. Lets do this. Trying my best to remain stealthy and unseen, I enter the cave.

Thanks to my night vision I see the room with the wolves in it, and the wolves, and can see the upward shaft at the end of the room. Im too big to climb up there in a reasonable time, so ill just pass this by. The wolves see me and bark, but that's all that happens here.

Moving ahead, I can see a bridge intersecting this passage, 20ft above. (I could reach that with little more than a hop, and pull myself up the rest of the way) 7<13, so I don't see the goblin standing watch. Since I am sneaking, the adventure says I automatically am unseen by this goblin as well. We are two ships passing in the night.

Bridges are only built if someone has good reason to get to the other side. Obviously, the passage ahead must lead to one side or the other of this bridge. If I climb up on to here, I can take enemies from either side by surprise! There is no way for a large creature to sneak while jumping 20ft in the air. DM wont hear of it. Fine.

I high jump from standing beneath it (reach of 21ft from floor) and lift myself onto the bridge. The goblin and I both see each other. ROLL FOR INIT!

ROUND 1

• INIT 13: Me: Battleaxe: 10<15 miss
• INIT 10: Goblin: BA: Nimble Escape; Move 30ft South; BA: Dash: Move 30ft South East; Screaming: THERES A MONSTER ON THE BRIDGE!!!!!

Well crap. That did not go as planned.

I could transcribe the rest of this, but it basically devolves into me getting dogpiled to death. The one goblin alerts everyone in the dungeon. I kill Klarg, his wolf, the two goblins in his chamber, and another wolf that was released from its chain by leaving them on the bridge and chopping it down, but then get swamped by the remaining goblins and wolves. Basically, the whole dungeon attacks me in a single encounter and I die. Even so, this was an unusually powerful character. Had I been more cautious in my navigation of the dungeon, I most likely would have walked through this thing like a one-man army. Ive done it before, but always by the graces of good luck, not just because my raw numbers are so high straight out of the gate.

Assessment

Size. A large creature is just capable of stuff that a medium sized creature is not. It makes a huge difference when you imagine your character is the size of a fully grown horse standing upright. The food and drink penalties do not offset the lifting, encumbrance, and jumping bonuses this will get you.

The dragon breath. I understand why you want it, flavor-wise, but its a pretty strong trait for a race to have. Notice how the core rules dragonborn has the breath weapon and a damage resistance- and that's it? Comparatively, this race is objectively better than the dragonborn. If the two were published side-by-side in the corebooks, nobody would even use the dragonborn over this. Worse, you don't even write out the trait, you just reference the core race as a source and leave it at that! Being mechanically dependent on the race you're displacing isn't good. Actually, being mechanically dependent in general isn't good. This race should be able to be understood on its own using nothing more than the basic rules. You're also copying a signature trait- the dragon breath is what makes the dragonborn interesting mechanically! If you're copying the trait, your eliminating the "specialness" of the trait. I think the dragon breath should be flat-out removed. Keep the stuff about being unaffected by smoke/smog, because that's a cool Ribbon trait, but otherwise this is just too much.

The UAC and AC bonus. Look, I get what youre going for here, but the numbers are way over the top! For example, the UAC seems fine for martial classes at 8+CON+PRO, because it offers an alternative. Seemingly, the best you could do with this is 15AC, right? That doesn't seem so bad, because other races can achieve that out the gate as well- especially if they take the monk class and optimize for UAC, which replaces this trait if you have it. The problem comes when a drakoniant decides to play a wizard or sorcerer. They generally cannot get an AC above 18, and they have to try pretty hard in order to get that, (Mountain Dwarf, Dragon Sorcerer, Half Plate, W.Shield) and they cant do it out the gate like this. So this race makes it very easy to make a tank-mage. Even more impressive is the +3 armored AC! Out the gate, with starting gear, I pulled 22AC. That's higher than what almost any character can do without multiclassing. If I were to play long enough and make enough money, I could buy plate mail and get that up to 24. At an AC of 24, the only way any of those goblins could have hit me, is if they rolled a crit. Some monsters would actually be incapable of harming me at all. My recommendation: Make it a flat +1AC. Even that is a little much though. You might want to represent it as sacrificial armor by giving them +1HP per character level, which is more consistent with how a "tough and hardy" race has been represented by the precedent thus far.

The tail. It's a whip attached to your body. Not a huge benefit, especially since it doesn't have any weapon traits, but since you are large, it gives you considerable reach. Enemies coincidentally passing through the corner of your threatened area, a 4*4 square on 5ft grid, would invoke opportunity attacks from it. Still though, it isn't all combat. A character behind bars could use his tail to flick switches, or attack the guards for example. Since it doesn't deal much damage, and all it does is make you more versatile, and it has uses in multiple pillars, the tail is a great trait! It should be kept!