Homebrew

I want to make a hell spawn (think spawn, from image comics,) race for dungeons and dragons,fifth edition.

Are there any guidelines for homebrew races in 5th edition, similar to the book in race for pathfinder?

One thing I want to do for them, since they are made from necroplasm and have no need to eat, sleep, or drink, is give them something similar to the living construct creature type, or something living native outsider or aberration.

Does anyone else have any advice? I'm pretty sure when actually playing one the warlock class would fit the best thematically. I don't want to just use tieflings and head canon them as hell spawn because I believe they're different enough to warrant their own race. After all, they weigh 400 pounds at a minimum and can survive virtually anything beyond destroying their heads.

So would living construct be best, or is there a different type that would suit them best?

I'm thinking perhaps a custom warlock boon would work out best to flesh out their suit - maybe a pact boon that gives them the living armor?

Any ideas would be appreciated!

Now that I think about it, it's the custom pact boon I could use the most help with, and the accompanying invocations.

Suggestions?

So here's the problem:

If you put in a race that is invincible unless you destroy their head, why wouldn't everybody be them?

Also not sure how close you want the lore to be to the source material but from what I understand wouldn't it make more sense for them to be a class?

One thing we need to note - beyond their healing factor and extreme strength, their combat prowess comes from training, its not something they're born with. Hell usually picks the best soldier of a generation for a hellspawn, to compliment them winning the super power lottery. It's naturally be overpowered to model this in the system, so we're going to mostly ignore this and just give the warlock class some nifty bonuses.

Another option though, is making it a prestige class that a requirement for is changing your race to hellspawn. That way you stack your fighter levels with your hellspawn levels. I think that might be a bit too difficult.

Perfect modeling Al Simmons would probably be a gestalt Fighter/Warlock with a custom pact boon for the suit.

>If you put in a race that is invincible unless you destroy their head, why wouldn't everybody be them?
We're not going to do that because it's retarded. We're just going to make a custom race that has living construct, then use the pre existing warlock class with a custom pact boon and invocations, and maybe a custom patron.

We can model everything in a balanced way via the custom race and some slight modifications to the warlock class.

Also, in the comic, spawn can only die if we runs out of juice, or he suffers a lot of damage in a dead zone. We're not going to model that in the game because thats retarded. To model the extreme toughness and weight, we may give him something identical to dwarven toughness, or a fairly weak healing racial.

Lets get this brainstorm train going!

Why do you need a custom race?

Because they are not human anymore, and the differences warrant a different race,

Previous editions of D&D have actually had hellspawn races based on Spawn, so I feel completely warranted.

I think I've got the race cooked up:

Modified living construct (only difference is the hellspawn needs to breathe) Either a reskinned Dwarven toughness, or a racial ability that allows you to heal. For ability score increases, I'm thinking a charisma bonus, and either a bonus to strength or constitution Darkvision Medium, 30ft

Wow that formatting got fucked up

Living construct (but needs to breathe)
Dwarven toughness with a different name, or a racial that heals you for a small amount on short rests.
Ability score increases: A bump to Charisma and either Strength or Constitution, haven't decided.
Darkvision
Medium Size
Speed 30ft.

The tough part are the differences to the warlock class.

We need to create a boon that makes the symbiote armor. I have no idea what to do from there.

We also need to make invocations that make the chains. and that make the warlock able to stand toe to toe in melee. I don't think that will be that difficult.

Finally, I am debating on whether to make a custom patron, or to just use the infernal patron.

I think it may warrant a custom patron because of the differences between hell in Image comics and D&D hell. If we make a custom patron, I think the warlock should be forced to take it if they want the symbiote pact boon.

I think also that to make this build work, it should require a heavy invocation investment. Perhaps all but one or two? That way it's balanced by them not being able to do everything other warlocks can do.

I fully support that for this build to function, it requires the player to invest their character totally in this concept - from race, to class, to all class features to create this build.

So lore weirdness.

Can only the hellspawn race be the hellspawn warlock variant? And is that the only class and variant of warlock that a member of the hellspawn race can be?