D&D 5E Gith PC Races of 5e

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Firstly, yes, I know bout the UA that gave us 5e Gith already. I find it incredibly dissatisfying and mechanically underwhelming, and the fact the authors all but admitted they just threw it together didn't help my impression.


So, while I may have my quibbles with some aspects of Planescape, I love the potential it presents for exotic new races to weave into my campaign. And, of course, two of the most iconic races of Planescape are the Githyanki and the Githzerai.


These are old-school Planescape races. The Githzerai was one of the three initial new races in the Planescape boxed set - the Aasimar, Genasi, Rogue Modron and Planar Human & Half-Elf didn't show up until the Planewalker's Handbook came out later. And despite being evil, the githyanki have been dogging their heels every set of the way; they showed up in AD&D (A Guide to the Astral Plane), in 3.5 (Expanded Psionics Handbook) and in 4e (Monster Manual 1), never getting the mainstream light, but still there for us who enjoy breaking the mold.


Now, obviously, I want to convert these two - plus the Duthka'gith, the githyanki's fiendish half-dragon offshoot races - to 5e options. However, I'm running into a problem...


One big issue is that the 5e monster manual versions of the gith are... well, dull. Githyanki are basically humans who have Mage Hand and a couple of high-level (1st and onwards) spell-like abilities, which obviously the PC can't get. Githzerai are a little better; at least they have the Psionic Defense trait, which gives them Wisdom modifier to their unarmored AC.


Likewise, their PC writeups in past editions have been a little... uninspiring. I'll post them in spoiler-blocks below for reference.

Spoiler: AD&D PC Statblocks

Githyanki AD&D
+1 Dexterity, +1 Intelligence, -1 Wisdom, -1 Charisma
Racial Maximums of 19 Dex and Int
Class Restrictions: Fighter, Mage, Gish (Fighter/Mage), Psionicist
Astral Movement rate of 96
Double odds of having psionic wild talents
Malign Reputation: -2 reaction penalty with Good NPCs, -1 reaction penalty with Neutral NPCs
Racial Enmity: Githzerai: -8 reaction penalty with Githzerai, stacks with Malign Reputation
The Lich-Queen Is Watching: Upon hitting 11th level, the PC has Vlaakith CLVII's attention; if they reach 12th level, she senses it and will dispatch several waves of githyanki "retrieval teams", then turn to local resources (assassins, etc), not stopping until either she or the githyanki character is dead. Githyanki can choose to deliberately not gain any levels after 11th to avoid her wrath.


Githzerai AD&D
+1 Intelligence, +1 Dexterity, -1 Strength, -1 Wisdom (PO:S&P instead presents them as having no racial ability adjustments)
Infravision 60 feet
Alignment Restriction: Cannot be Lawful
Class & Level Limits: Fighter (9), Wizard (12), Thief (15), Zerth [Fighter/Mage] (9/12)
Magic Resistance: Githzerai Fighters and Thieves have Magic Resistance 5% per level (maximum 95%); this power cannot be suppressed, and the first time a githzerai attempts to use an item, make a Magic Resistance check; if succeeded, then that item's magic will never function for that githzerai as a result. Githyanki wizards do not have magic resistance, and fighter/wizards must choose whether or not they have it.

Spoiler: 3.5 PC Statblocks

Githyanki 3.5
+2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution, -2 Wisdom
Medium
Base Land Speed 30 feet
Darkvision 60 feet
Naturally Psionic: Increase your Psionic Points Pool by +3 psi points.
Psi-Like Abilities: At 1st level, you can use the Psi-Like Abilities of Far Hand and Psionic Daze 3/day each. You also gain the Psi-Like Abilities of Concealing Amorpha (3/day) at 3rd level, Psionic Dimension Door (3/day) at 6th level, before finishing with Telekinetic Thrust (3/day) and Psionic Plane Shift (1/day) at 9th level.
Power Resistance: Hit Dice + 5
Favored Class: Fighter
Level Adjustment: +2
Polyhedron's writeup was similar, but different: it replaced the Naturally Psionic and Psi-Like Abilities with "Psionics", replacing its psi-like abilities with the spell-like abilities of Mage Hand (3/day) and Daze Humanoid (3/day) at 1st level, Dimension Door (3/day) at 6th level, and both Telekinesis (3/day) and Plane Shift (1/day) at 9th level. Likewise, Power Resistance was replace with Spell Resistance (5 + 1 per character level) and they gained the Extraplanar trait, making them vulnerable to Banishment and similar spells when outside of the Astral Plane.


Githzerai 3.5
+6 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, -2 Intelligence
Medium
Base Land Speed 30 feet
Darkvision 60 feet
Naturally Psionic: Increase Psionic Power Points Pool by +2 Psi Points.
Psi-Like Abilities: A githzerai can use the psi-like abilities of Inertial Armor, Psionic Daze, Catfall and Concussion, all 3/day. At 11th level, they can also use Psionic Plane Shift 1/day. Manifester level is equal to 1/2 Hit Dice (minimum 1st) and save DCs are Charisma based.
Power Resistance: Hit Dice +5
Favored Class: Monk
Level Adjustment: +2

Spoiler: 4e PC Statblocks

Githyanki 4e
Ability Scores: +2 Constitution, +2 Intelligence
Size: Medium
Speed: 6 squares
Vision: Normal
Skill Bonuses: +2 History
Danger Sense: +2 bonus to Initiative checks.
Githyanki Willpower: +1 to Will defense, +2 to saving throws against Charm effects.
Racial Power - Telekinetic Leap: Usable 1/Encounter, Move Action, target Self or 1 ally within 10 squares. The target of this power can Fly up to 5 squares; if you use this on an ally, that ally must remain in your line of sight at all times during the effect.


Githzerai 4e
Ability Scores: +2 Dexterity or Intelligence, +2 Wisdom
Size: Medium
Speed: 6 Squares
Vision: Normal
Skill Bonuses: +2 Acrobatics, +2 Athletics
Danger Sense: +2 to Initiative checks.
Shifting Fortune: When you use your Second Wind, you can shift 3 squares as a free action.
Racial Power - Iron Mind: Usable 1/encounter, when you would be hit by an attack, you can increase all of your defenses by +2 until the end of your next turn as an Immediate Interrupt.

So, I think there's interesting ideas to tap into from the fluff - can you imagine githyanki who can psionically sharpen their weapons to cut their foes' minds, or who tap into their inner anarchistic rage to bolster their defenses against mind-control? - but these would be radical divergences from past writeups of the races. Which do you think is best? Staying true to the 5e monster writeup? Trying to convert the general "feel" from their last three editions? Or trying something more unusual, something more radical?

Spoiler: Duthka'gith stats, for later

Duthka'gith
+8 Str, +2 Dex, +4 Con, +2 Int, -2 Wis, +2 Cha
Medium
Base Speed 30 feet
Darkvision 60 feet
Low-light Vision
Psionics: At 1st level, can use the spell-like abilities of Daze Humanoid and Mage Hand 3/day each. At 3rd level, gain Blur (3/day). At 6th level, gain Dimension Door (3/day). At 9th level, gain Telekinesis (3/day) and Plane Shift (1/day).
Spell Resistance: 5 + 1 per total character level, maxing at SR 25 at 20th level.
Dragon Type
Extraplanar
Breath Weapon (Su): 1/day, spit a 30ft cone of fire that deals 6d8 fire damage (half on a successful Reflex save of DC 10 + duthka'gith's Con modifier).
Natural Weapons: One Bite attack (1d6 + 1/2 duthka'gith's Str modifier), two Claw attacks (1d4 + duthka'gith's Str modifier).
Natural Armor Bonus: +4
Smite Good (Su): 1/day, inflict bonus damage equal to character level against a good opponent.
Energy Resistance: Immune to Fire, Cold Resistance 5
Githyanki Blood: A duthka'gith is considered to be a Githyanki for all special abilities, effects and requirements tied to race.
Level Adjustment: +5
Favored Class: Fighter

Well, personally, I'd like to try and preserve some feel of legacy with my gith conversions, because if I just do them completely without reference to the past, well, am I really converting them or am I just making up a race and falsely plastering on a name it doesn't deserve?


I'm not saying that a "clean slate" approach can't work - for example, if I wanted to do a race of dwarves who live in flying cities and maintain airships, ala the Kharadron Overlords of Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, I'd probably need to clean-slate it due to the push of the canon Dwarf Core towards dwarves as people who live in the ground and mine stuff - but it's a very drastic step.


For a starting point... I'd definitely go with making them full-fledged independent races; yes, they have a common ancestry, but they've always been a very different pair of races. They didn't even look alike initially!

 

[QuietBrowser]

Githyanki Musings:
For Githyanki, let's see... we started as a Dex/Int boosting race, then a Dex/Con, then finally a Con/Int race. So that makes the ability scores hard to decide upon. One could always go with just giving them +1 to all of those stats, but isn't +1 in three stats usually considered inferior to the +2/+1 split approach?

If you look at their two more recent statblocks, there's a certain focus on mobility. 3.5 gave them Dimension Door and Planeshift spell-like abilities, 4e gave them Telekinetic Leap, and 5e gives the monster versions Jump, Misty Step and, for Knights, Plane Shift SLAs. So that's definitely something worthy to preserve. Heck, even back in AD&D, their monstrous incarnations could Plane Shift at will, an ability too potent to give PCs of course, but which emphasizes that githyanki should be capable of unearthly mobility.

Telekinetic abilities, to support their psionic nature, are also a feature in both 3e and 5e.

Not directly referenced in their statblocks, but githyanki are heavily associated with combat (hence the Fighter favored class in 3e), arcane magic use (they invented the term "gish" we still use today for martial/caster mixed characters), and the use of greatswords, which are their most iconic weapon, as iconic as the dwarf with his axe and his hammers.

It has no tradition, but I really like the 4e version's Danger Sense and, especially, its Githyanki Willpower trait - the githyanki are culturally defined by their obsession with freedom and their hatred of the illithid, who rely heavily on Charm effects. It makes sense, doesn't it, that githyanki would be resistant to effects by others to sway their minds?

Putting all of these together... I think my kneejerk rendition of the Githyanki would look something like this:

Githyanki
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Dexterity, +1 Intelligence
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Vision: Normal
Blades of Gith: You have Proficiency in the Greatsword. When making melee attacks with a Greatsword, you can use your Intelligence modifier to determine your damage modifier.
Mind over Matter: You can cast the Mage Hand cantrip, although your version is invisible. Additionally, you always count as having a running start when making Jump checks.
Hate Breaks All Shackles: You have Advantage on saving throws against the Charmed and Stunned effects, and on saving throws to end those effects.

This versions favors Dexterity and Intelligence because the githyanki are traditionally described as extremely quick and agile (high Dex), but also intelligent and adept at arcana (Int). It also reflects their tradition of training wizards and the special place they hold in githyanki society.
Blades of Gith not only grants them an iconic weapon proficiency, but allows them to still use those weapons to lethal effect despite their not otherwise making particularly great fighters (the 5e MM's depiction of Strength as their highest value is quite uncharacteristic).
Mind Over Matter gives the player a relatively balanced access to their traditional telekinesis, and its jumping bonus references Telekinetic Leap, itself a more player-friendlyform of enhanced mobility compared to the traditional dimension doors and plane shifts.
Honestly... I think this looks flavorful, but maybe a little overpowered. I considered giving it Arcana proficiency (to represent their extensive anti-illithid training) and/or the ability to use Incorporeal Movement, but I worried that those would come off as too overpowered or uncharacteristic.


Githzerai Musings:
With a Githzerai, I think everyone immediately leaps to "+2 Wis, +1 Dex" as their ability score modifiers. Despite their Dex/Int origins in AD&D, they've become so iconically associated with monks and sages that it's hard to think of otherwise - I really liked 4e's version for giving us Dex or Int as the "flexible" racial modifier, since it actually harkens back to their tradition of training Zerths - warrior-wizards - as stand-ins for priests of Zerthimon. Alas, we can't do fluid ability modifiers anymore.

Looking at githzerai across the editions, you'll notice that their recurring theme is, surprisingly, mentally-bestowed toughness. They had Magic Resistance back in AD&D, when magic was king, they had Inertial Armor as a psi-like ability in 3rd edition, and they had Iron Mind as their racial power in 4th edition. Even in 5e, their "Psychic Defense" trait and Mage Armor SLA means that githzerai are surprisingly tough foes despite rejecting armor, which is itself a reference to their monkly aspects.

Mobility's another recurring theme; Catfall as a psi-like ability in 3.5, Shifting Fortune in 4e, and access to Feather Fall and Jump SLAs in 5e. Again, this fits into githzerai and their strong post-AD&D association with the Monk class. They're the iconic kung-fu arsewhuppers of D&D.

Putting all that together... now that's the tricky part...

Githzerai
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Wisdom, +1 Dexterity
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Vision: Normal
Graceful As Thought: When you Dash, you can ignore the effects of non-magical difficult terrain. You also have Advantage on Acrobatics checks.
Inertia Armor: When not wearing armor, your AC is 13 + your Wisdom modifier. You can use your natural armor to determine your AC if the armor you wear would leave you with a lower AC. A shield's benefits apply as normal while you use your natural armor.
The Knowing of Self: You have Advantage on saving throws against the Charmed and Stunned effects, and on saving throws to end those effects.

This version struggled to make itself work; 5e doesn't use the same kind of dynamic combat that 4e did, so fluidity is hard to pull off. Still, I rather like Graceful As Thought, which makes githzerai naturally mobile without treading too heavily on the monk's toes.
Inertia Armor is literally just the Lizardfolk's Natural Armor using Wisdom instead of Constitution, but hey, why reinvent the wheel?
The Knowing of Self... yeah, I was actually conflicted on whether or not to add that, but since githzerai are just as militantly anti-illithid as the githyanki, just with different ways of training against them, I felt it was a viable way to highlight that shared connection.


Duthka'gith Musings:
Now... what to do with the Duthka'gith, the githyanki's fiendish, half-red dragon mutant offshoot race. Unlike their kinsfolk, there's only one set of numbers to pull from, which both simplifies and complicates things.

Now, obviously, you want to give it Red Dragon Ancestry, which'd be Fire Resistance plus the Red Dragonborn Breath Weapon racial trait.

Given their stats, and their fluff as having been made to be superior military leaders for the githyanki, I actually default to seeing them as +2 Str/+1 Cha race. The former represents their massive strength, the latter their natural knack for leadership and the inherent magical prowess inherited from their fiendish red dragon ancestry.

Ideally, I'd want them to have a trait or two to reflect their Githyanki ancestry and have it mean something on the battlefield, but that requires setting a functional Githyanki down first, I guess.

I can't decide if they should or shouldn't make any use of the natural weapons/armor traits from 3.5. Might be best to leave them aside, because that could easily render them overpowered.

Maybe a feature that grants them access to the of the Mage Hand, Control Flame and Produce Flame cantrips would be thematic? This represents their psionic nature, which ties them strongly to the githyanki, but also gives them a distinctive pyrokinetic feel, which you'd expect of the psionic progeny of a fiend and a red dragon. Or maybe there's a level-gated set of SLAs that can do the same thing...

Smite Good needs to stay in the dust of 3.5 where it belongs, so probably best to either find a new angle for referencing their fiendish ancestry or else let their pyrokinesis and Cha modifer do the talking for them.

The Duthka'gith is a very intriguing race, but there's so much going on for it that I'm hardpressed to figure out what to give it - doesn't help that 5e is so erratic in dispersal of racial traits (seriously, look at the Dwarf vs. the Dragonborn).

One of the big issues here is that Duthka'gith are going to tread a little on Dragonborn toes, simply because they're supposed to be Half Dragon Githyanki with fiendish blood.

So... yeah, seriously, I'm desperate to figure out how to make the Gith of all kinds shine.


Duthka'gith
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Strength, +1 Charisma
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Vision: Darkvision 60 feet
Ephelomon's Blood: You have Fire Resistance and, as an action, can spit a 15ft cone of flames. Creatures caught in the cone must make a Dexterity save (DC 8 + your Con modifier + your Proficiency bonus). On a failed save, they take 2d6 Fire damage, and halve that damage on a successful save. Your damage increases to 3d6 at 6th level, 4d6 at 11th level, and 5d6 at 16th level. After you have used your breath weapon, you must complete a short rest or a long rest before you can use it again.
Githyanki Blood: You are treated as a Githyanki for effects that key off of race. This allows you to use items restricted to githyanki, but also makes you vulnerable to powers that specifically target githyanki.
Claws: You have a Climb speed of 15 feet and can use your claws as natural weapons when making an unarmed strike. A claw attack inflicts 1d4 + Str modifier Slashing damage instead of the normal Bludgeoning damage for an unarmed strike.
Pyrokinetic: You can cast the Control Flame and Mage Hand cantrips, using Charisma as your spellcasting ability score.
Blades of Gith: You have Proficiency with the Greatsword.

 

[GreenTengu]

I think the problem with the Gith is that, really, one should first figure out how the Psionist or Mystic or whatever it is going to be called in this edition is going to work first.

It kind of feels like the Sorcerer kind of stole most of the ideal mechanics for the Psionist class. And the UA version well... has its problems.

Because so much of the Gith is tied up in their psionic abilities, it would just feel odd if they are using cantrips and then later the Psionics rules are released and it turns out that Psionics works quite distinctly differently.


Also, the Gith should be a single race with Zerai and Yanki being subraces. It is a bit weird to try to make them as different as an Elf and an Orc when fundamentally they still look basically identical-- well, identical enough that any single race should have enough physical variation within the population to cover both. There should be much more focus on what they have in common and then tack on what makes them distinct in the subrace.


Ideally the Gith race should be released in a future book along with the Psionics class. And maybe the same book can cover an Artificer/Alchemist/Engineer class with the Warforged race tacked on and hopefully the selfish grognards running the show will get over themselves and release a Warlord/Tactician class as well.

 

[QuietBrowser]

I think the problem with the Gith is that, really, one should first figure out how the Psionist or Mystic or whatever it is going to be called in this edition is going to work first.

It kind of feels like the Sorcerer kind of stole most of the ideal mechanics for the Psionist class. And the UA version well... has its problems.

Because so much of the Gith is tied up in their psionic abilities, it would just feel odd if they are using cantrips and then later the Psionics rules are released and it turns out that Psionics works quite distinctly differently.

I do think you have some valid points here, but, as their statblocks throughout the history of D&D show, psionics actually isn't as central to their identity as common fan-knowledge would hold; they've literally had only one overtly psionic profile in D&D 3e; although their 4e versions do have a "psionic theme", they don't directly use any of the psionic mechanics that 4th edition actually used.

Really, the iconic classes for githyanki and githzerai are fighter/wizards and monks respectively, not psions; I think a non-psionic version of both races is perfectly valid.

Also, the Gith should be a single race with Zerai and Yanki being subraces. It is a bit weird to try to make them as different as an Elf and an Orc when fundamentally they still look basically identical-- well, identical enough that any single race should have enough physical variation within the population to cover both. There should be much more focus on what they have in common and then tack on what makes them distinct in the subrace.

Ah, now, here I disagree entirely. Gith may look the same, but they have absolutely nothing in common! Their cultures are completely different, their outlooks are different, they don't even live on the same planes of existence! There's not enough in common between the races to make the subrace work, and I really wish people would stop making this argument - yes, they look alike, but here's a case of similarity literally being only skin deep.

 

[GreenTengu]

Ah, now, here I disagree entirely. Gith may look the same, but they have absolutely nothing in common! Their cultures are completely different, their outlooks are different, they don't even live on the same planes of existence! There's not enough in common between the races to make the subrace work, and I really wish people would stop making this argument - yes, they look alike, but here's a case of similarity literally being only skin deep.

They are literally just a single race that had a civil war. Some fled to another plane, but there aren't enough physical or physiological differences to really consider them entirely different species and have a lot more in common than they have apart. They even continue to speak the same language.

A good Githyanki of a mainly non-combat class is indistinguishable from a Githzerai and an evil Githzerai of a combat class is indistinguishable from a Githyanki. When the primary distinguishing feature differentiating the two is alignment and class, both of which PCs are meant to be able to choose freely, it is quite difficult to justify them not sharing a racial stat block.

 

[QuietBrowser]

They are literally just a single race that had a civil war. Some fled to another plane, but there aren't enough physical or physiological differences to really consider them entirely different species and have a lot more in common than they have apart. They even continue to speak the same language.

A good Githyanki of a mainly non-combat class is indistinguishable from a Githzerai and an evil Githzerai of a combat class is indistinguishable from a Githyanki. When the primary distinguishing feature differentiating the two is alignment and class, both of which PCs are meant to be able to choose freely, it is quite difficult to justify them not sharing a racial stat block.

...I'm sorry, but I just can't buy this argument. Githzerai are a peaceful monastic society dedicated to spiritual self-improvement and the achievement of eternal freedom through enlightenment. Githyanki are a hyper-militarized culture, to the point they have to raid other races because they don't have enough farmers to feed themselves. Literally every source on them we ever have details extensively the culture and other aspects that make them different.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

...I'm sorry, but I just can't buy this argument. Githzerai are a peaceful monastic society dedicated to spiritual self-improvement and the achievement of eternal freedom through enlightenment. Githyanki are a hyper-militarized culture, to the point they have to raid other races because they don't have enough farmers to feed themselves. Literally every source on them we ever have details extensively the culture and other aspects that make them different.

You can make exactly the same argument for humans...

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

One thing that I think that you have to bear in mind is that the 5e MM's depiction of the races aren't of a base Gith. They're of a levelled Fighter and Monk (or possibly with a bit of MC psion-type class).
Thus you need to bear in mind that some of their abilities derive from "class" abilities rather than being part of the race. There is no reason that a Githyanki Wizard would be proficient in greatswords for example. The Githyanki in the MM having a high Str isn't uncharacteristic: They're a Fighter, possibly using standard array ability scores, and so put a high number in that ability despite having racial bonuses in other stats.

I'd suggest putting the racial abilities that they have in common into the base Gith race, and then putting the cultural differences into the subraces.

You can use racial feats as per the Duergar for the higher power magical abilities.

 

[gyor]

You do know we will likely know the stats of the official Gith 4 or 5 days from now when someone gets their early edition MTOFs from one of the stores that gets the book two weeks early.

 

[GreenTengu]

...I'm sorry, but I just can't buy this argument. Githzerai are a peaceful monastic society dedicated to spiritual self-improvement and the achievement of eternal freedom through enlightenment. Githyanki are a hyper-militarized culture, to the point they have to raid other races because they don't have enough farmers to feed themselves. Literally every source on them we ever have details extensively the culture and other aspects that make them different.

Not only can that represent two nations of the same race, you can have both things happening among different sectors of the same nation!

There is hardly a human culture that has ever existed in the world above a few thousand people where you didn't have some group of them that were highly peaceful and spiritualistic with great respect for life.... and some other group that was very hawkish and aggressive and all about taking over more territory and wiping out rival groups. And not even totally distinct-- you would have members of the same family that would go in opposite directions and be part of these clashing ideologies.

Really-- why is it people absolutely insist that every single fantasy race be complete cookie-cutter duplicates of one another with exactly the same abilities and aptitudes, exactly the same lifestyles, exactly the same habits and personality traits, exactly the same thoughts and opinions on absolutely everything?.... It's just dumb.

It is so needlessly limiting and shows a vast lack of imagination to insist that even the tiniest difference of opinion and attitude ought to reclassify a character as a completely different race. It is one of those things that the fantasy genre really needs to move beyond if one is to expect good stories to continue to arise from it.

If "human" representing all possibly sorts of human beings that exist within our world and even some that do not thanks to the fantastical elements of that world all count as a single "race", then surely every other "race" should be as potentially diverse.And, with that in view, Githzerai and Githyanki are so damn similar that they might as well be different backgrounds of the same race that tend to specialize in different classes.