D&D 5E Sometimes, the best racial features aren't mechanical at all

[Sacrosanct]

Doing a playtest for an AL adventure last night, and since it was playtest, I decided to go out of the box and play a kenku rogue (investigator). One of the kenku's abilities is to be able to mimic any voices you've heard. Not a mechanical racial trait at all. But oh boy, did it have an effect in the game much greater than any of the actual mechanical traits. Some examples:

On the way to the town to investigate a kidnapping, we rescued one of the village women from a goblin ambush. While talking with her, she mentioned the innkeeper "Crespo, he's a pretty fat man. And always seems to have coin, unlike all of the other people in the village."

When we got to town later, and found the inn, there was a crowd of agitated people with the town constable addressing them. "Calm down! There's no need to get upset! We'll get this handled, just relax!" They were upset because one of the townsfolk was found brutally murdered. Then a voice interrupted us from behind. We turned around to see "a larger man, who introduces himself as Crespo, ask if there was anything we might need."

I immediately replied, fairly loudly, in the woman's voice we rescued, "Fat Crespo. Always has money. Always has money. Fat Crespo!" Did I mention my CHA was 8? Needless to say, we didn't get any sort of discount lol

Later at the crime scene, we saw a body with blood everywhere. The DM described the constable looking a bit pale. So I called out, again loudly in my Gil Grissom (CSI) voice, "Good lord! Who knew the body held so much blood!"

The constable turned around and vomited, to which I replied, in his voice he used earlier at the inn, "Calm down! There's no need to get upset! We'll get this handled, just relax!"

That finally unnerved him and he ran away.



That was just a few examples of stuff like that I was doing all night lol. Many of the things that happened in that game were because of my impressions. Including throwing off the opponents by using illusions and mimicry to confuse the heck out of them. I would love to be in a game with Simon Helberg (Howard from Big Bang Theory) playing a Kenku. Or any other person who does great impressions.


Anyway, I guess the point is that too often we get caught up in the +s and -s and thinking they are the end all, be all, when sometimes what makes the biggest difference is the flavor and role playing aspects.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[ccs]

Anyway, I guess the point is that too often we get caught up in the +s and -s and thinking they are the end all, be all, when sometimes what makes the biggest difference is the flavor and role playing aspects.

Indeed, the racial +s/-s are the last thing I consider when making a character.

 

[thethain]

Lizardfolk are my favorite write up in Volos. Just because they have some much room for fun interactions.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Lizardfolk are my favorite write up in Volos. Just because they have some much room for fun interactions.

My other playtest PC was a 4th level lizardfolk ranger (colossus slayer). Man, taking a bonus action to bite (damaging the target), followed by a main attack (which then had colossus slayer apply) was SUPER effective. Especially if I happened to have hunter's mark on. I also had dueling fighting style, so +2 damage to my main weapon. And finally, my AC was 18 with no armor, thanks to lizardfolk's natural armor + shield + Dex. I was totally a melee ranger.

*Edit* But to the point of the thread, the best fun I had with the lizardman is the role-playing aspect of being a bitey melee guy. Before battle with NPCs, I'd make comments about how I couldn't wait to see what they'd taste like. And I'd banter during the battle, comparing their taste with previous opponents.

"Yessssss, you tasssstesss like human with a ssssslight hintssss of bassssssil and orcsssss thrown insssss...."

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Sounds awesome! I think those touches and moments are what brings characters to life, what we remember in the long run.

Anyway, I guess the point is that too often we get caught up in the +s and -s and thinking they are the end all, be all, when sometimes what makes the biggest difference is the flavor and role playing aspects.

 

[Rhenny]

I like it, Sacrosanct.

Kenku are awesome. I was running my Princes of the Apocalypse campaign, and the party had to go back into the Temple of the Howling Hatred through the entry corridor that had the Kenku behind walls with arrow slots. The first time they went through, they saw that there were things behind the walls, but the Kenku were only moaning and screaming like some of the tortured initiates inside the actual temple. The group ignored them and got out of the area quickly. The second time they encountered the Kenku behind the walls, the Kenku mimicked the voices of both Queen Aerisi and Windharrow as they shot at the party. The Queen voices kept saying "Kill them. Don't let anyone inside the temple," while the Windharrow voices were saying, "Don't underestimate them this time." Then, when the bard tried to open the door on the other end of the hall, but couldn't because it was locked, he shouted to the rest of the party, "The door is locked. We're going to die." Some of the Kenku mimicked that and gave it back to them using the bard's voice, "The door is locked. We're going to die." It made for a really creepy encounter. The party had no problem killing the Kenku eventually, but they were really shaken by the experience (and a few of them took arrow wounds too).

 

[BookBarbarian]

Indeed. i always found the +s ASI boring. While they are typically mechanical, my favorite racial abilities are active like a Goliath's Stones Endurance. It adds a nice bonus to the classes you would most likely see as Goliath like Fighters and barbarians, but also makes a Goliath Wizard stand out from other wizards as a Magic use that can shrug of a powerful blow form a foe. I'd like to see more like that.

 

[ccs]

Indeed. i always found the +s ASI boring. While they are typically mechanical, my favorite racial abilities are active like a Goliath's Stones Endurance. It adds a nice bonus to the classes you would most likely see as Goliath like Fighters and barbarians, but also makes a Goliath Wizard stand out from other wizards as a Magic use that can shrug of a powerful blow form a foe. I'd like to see more like that.

I wouldn't say I find the racial AS mods boring per-se. They just..... aren't a factor when I'm choosing what race to make a character. I don't choose a specific race because it'll give a particular stat bump, I pick that race because that's how I'm envisioning the character. The stat mod is just something that happens once I've assigned the scores.

Now if I'm playing 1e.... Then it's a consideration. Because depending upon the #s, both before & after mods, I might not be able to be some race/class.