Yokai PC Races for 5e

Vanara
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Dexterity, +1 Wisdom
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Vision: Normal
Tree-Dweller: You have a Climb speed of 30 feet.
Ape Agility: You have Proficiency in Acrobatics.
Extra Hands: Your feet can act as secondary hands, thanks to their unique configuration. This allows your to substitute your feet for tasks that would normally require your hands, though this does not allow you to wield more weapons than a human.

Vishkanya
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Charisma, +1 Dexterity
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Vision: Darkvision
Serpentine Allure: You have Advantage on Charisma (Deception) checks.
Toxic Blood:You have Resistance to Poison damage. Additionally, by sacrificing a hit dice, you can smear your blood on a weapon as a bonus action; this blood wears off after your next attack, but an enemy struck by the blood-smeared weapon takes additional Poison damage equal to 1d8 + your Charisma modifier (minimum of +1).
Sweet Poison Kiss: Once you have reached 5th level, once per long rest, you can cast Charm Person as a 1st level spell on a single creature with a touch. If the Charm effect on this creature is ended, then the creature is Poisoned for a number of rounds equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1).

Rokurokubi
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Charisma, +1 Wisdom
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Vision: Darkvision 60 feet
Elongate Neck: As a bonus action, you can extend your neck into a prehensile tendril that reaches 20 feet. Whilst extended, you can use its mobility to gain superior vantage points, as logical, and your bite attack has a reach of 20 feet. Whilst extended, you can retract it back into your body as a bonus action.
Poisonous Bite: You possess a bite attack, which is a standard action melee attack that benefits from your Proficiency bonus. This does not grant you extra attacks. On a hit, your bite attack inflicts 1d12 Poison damage, which increases by +1d12 at 5th level (2d12), 11th level (3d12) and 17th level (4d12).
Tireless: You only need to enter a semiconscious dream-state for 4 hours per day to gain the full benefits of 8 hours of sleep. Also, you have Advantage on saving throws against the Sleep condition.
Toxin Proofed: You have Resistance to Poison damage and advantage on saving throws against the Poisoned condition.
Claws: When making an unarmed strike, you can choose to use your claws as a natural weapon, changing the damage to 1d4 Slashing damage.

Oni
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Strength, +1 Charisma
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Vision: Darkvision 60 feet
Powerful Build: You are considered to be one size larger for determining your carrying, pushing, pulling and dragging capacity.
Illusory Veil: You have Proficiency in Deception.
Windstrider: At 7th level, you gain a Fly speed of 30 feet.
Oni Tricks: You can cast the True Strike cantrip. At 3rd level, you can cast Fog Cloud as a 1st level spell with this trait. At 5th level, you can cast Suggestion as a 2nd level spell with this trait. Once you have cast either Fog Cloud or Suggestion with this trait, you must complete a long rest before you can use them again. Spells cast with this trait use Charisma as their spellcasting ability score.

>tanuki
>is a panda
Pathfinder was a fucking mistake.

I wish I could look at this with a more objective viewpoint and not immediately get angry because the /pfg/ fags ruined Kitsunes for me.

Would it be poor form to post my own homebrew stuff here as well? I got a pdf in /5eg/ but it's not getting any love.

Do you have a design document for these races? Like a points breakdown of how all the abilities stack with eachother?

So long as you actually do the courtesy of providing critique, I suppose it's tolerable.

As for a design document, no. Why in the world would I have that? This isn't Pathfinder, we don't break stuff down by points.

Futakuchi-onna
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Charisma, +1 Wisdom
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Vision: Normal
Writhing Mane: You possess a long train of prehensile hair, which functions as a third arm that has a reach of 10 feet. You can wield a weapon in your hair, but only if it is a a one-handed melee weapon with the Light property. Having a weapon in your hair does not grant you an extra attack, it simply gives you an alternative weapon with which to attack, per the normal rules for dual-wielding.
Ensnaring Locks: You have Advantage on Grappling checks.
Skull-Maw: When you have a victim grappled, you can choose to automatically inflict 1d4+Charisma bonus magical slashing damage each round that you maintain the grapple.
Voracious Eater: You need to eat twice as much per day as a human and can only go 1 + Con modifier days without eating before beginning to starve.

>Windstrider: At 7th level, you gain a Fly speed of 30 feet.
woah, well i guess aarakocra have that, but unlimited fly is still pretty focking stronk

>""""""Oni""""""
>Moeshit
>Not even fucking red

I'll just put this here
zappyman2.wixsite.com/musicushomebrew/homebrew-races

Starting with something like this allows your homebrew to at least be somewhat balanced compared to PHB races, which is the goal desu. So all these posts are just spitballing for balance?

Aarakocra and Winged Tieflings get it at 1st level, this race doesn't get it until level 7. Balances it out a little, don't you think?

...I've seen that doc before, and I've never really bought what it's preaching.

Anyway, yes, all of these posts I've made are drafts; I posted them here because I was hoping anons would comment on anything that looked overpowered, or even underpowered.

...Yes, I know this is Veeky Forums, but I'm fucking desperate.

>only includes values for traits possessed by published races
>doesn't even have the decency to include the traits from the Volo's Guide races
What a useless guide.

I was going to :^) hard with endlesstrash.gif but that's not in the spirit of gettin shit done. Honestly, do a design document, do the math, assign numbers to everything.

After you do that you'll see how everything stacks up against each other. This is game design, not freeform art. Because if you're not going to 'buy' into that kind of thinking, just go to dndwiki and post there.

But that would be a mistake, I see alot of work in this, and alot of potential as well. But I'm not going to put in legwork to something that isn't even checked and balanced by the creator.

Don't even do a V2, just stat up everything, share the results, and that'll be a great place to start. If it was just one race, I'd jump into it, but there's enough for a whole supplement here, so it deserves a little more prep.

It's almost as if the guy wants to balance everything to the core books :^)

Or maybe the guy moved onto other projects after making this. Who knows. How about you go and finish the project, or just bitch some more.

For what it's worth, this is how I've implemented kitsune in my games.

>wants to balance everything to the core books
>doesn't assess how new elements balance against the core books
As it stands, that document is anti-design. Nothing new can be written--all that you can do is stitch together pieces of things that have already been done.

Here's the thing; I can't make heads or tails out that document. None of its point values have any rationale give to them - Innate Magic is valued at either a point or a point and a half, and the reason why isn't explained at all.

Hell, none of the point values seem anything more than arbitrary. Why is Stonecunning worth half a point? How often does that come up? Admittedly, it's more likely to come in handy than freaking Powerful Build is.

Plus, a lot of my traits have absolutely no correlation, even roughly, to what's listed in that guidebook.

I don't disagree with the idea that a design doc could be useful, but THIS guidebook is about as helpful as a swedish to korean cookbook.

Gee what's all this new stuff in the companion document filled with homebrewed races and abilities. It's like you're full of shit and just want to be dismissive towards some guide that makes you butthurt for no discernable reason.

Anyway, I still can't work out how the frig to use that "race creation kit", but this is how I'd evaluate the races I've posted here in terms of points cost.

Hengeyokai Trait: 1 point

Kitsune: 3.5 points
* +3 mental stats: .5 point
* Medium: 0 point
* Default speed: 0 point
* Darkvision 60 feet: .5 point
* Foxfire (2 cantrips, 1 1st level spell 1/day at 3rd level): 1 point
* Deception skill proficiency: .5 point
* Hengeyokai: 1 point

Tanuki: 4.75 points
* +3 mental stats: .5 point
* Medium: 0 point
* Default speed: 0 point
* Darkvision 60 feet: .5 point
* Tanuki Trickery (1 cantrip, 1 1st level spell 1/day at 3rd level): .75 point
* Tanuki Slam (Magical 1d6+Str attack): 2 points
* Hengeyokai: 1 point

Mujina: 5 points
* +3 physical stats: 1 point
* Medium: 0 point
* Default speed: 0 point
* Darkvision 60 feet: .5 point
* Badger's Toughness (Dwarven Resilience): .5 point
* Undying Stubbornness (Relentless Endurance): 1 point
* Tunneller (Extra movement type, inferior to base movement): 1 point
* Hengeyokai: 1 point

Kawauso: 6 points
* +2 Con/+1 Ch: 1 point
* Medium: 0 point
* Default speed: 0 point
* Normal Vision: 0 point
* River Runner (extra movement type, equal speed, hold breath): 2.5 points
* Otter Magic (Cantrip/Daily 1st level/Daily 2nd level): 1.5 points
* Hengeyokai: 1 point

Itachi: 8.5 points
* +3 physical stats: 1 point
* Medium: 0 point
* +5ft speed: .5 point
* Darkvision 60 feet: .5 point
* Writhing Dancer: 2 points
* Born Trickster (skill advantage + 1/day 1st level SLA at 3rd level): 1.5 points
* Bringer of Ill Omen: 2 points
* Hengeyokai: 1 point

Bakeneko: 5 points
* +3 mental stats: .5 point
* Medium: 0 point
* Default speed: 0 point
* Darkvision 60 feet: .5 point
* Eater of Vile Things (Dwarven Resilience): .5 point
* Cat's Lantern (1 cantrip): .5 point
* Jinx: 2 points
* Hengeyokai: 1 point

Broken for space.

Jorogumo: 3.5 points
* +3 mental stats: .5 point
* Medium: 0 point
* Default speed: 0 point
* Darkvision 60 feet: .5 point
* Born Seductress (skill proficiency): .5 point
* Expert Climber: .5 point
* Silk Spinner: .5 point
* Hengeyokai: 1 point

Kappa: 3.5 points
* +3 physical stats: 1 point
* Small: -1 point
* Amphibious: .5 point
* River Monster: 2 points
* Pint-sized Powerhouse: .5 point
* Healer's Arts: .5 points

Vanara: 3 points
* +2 Dex/+1 Wis: 1 point
* Medium: 0 point
* Default speed: 0 point
* Normal Vision: 0 point
* Tree-Dweller (Extra movement type, equal speed): 1.5 point
* Ape Agility: .5 point
* Extra Hands: 0 point

Vishkanya: 7 points
* +2 Cha/+1 Dex: 1 point
* Medium: 0 point
* Default speed: 0 point
* Darkvision 60 feet: .5 point
* Serpentine Allure: .5 point
* Toxic Blood (damage resistance + trade health for bonus damage): 2 points
* Sweet Poison Kiss (high level gated, at-will SLA, poisoning): 3 points

Rokurokubi: 4.5 points
* +3 mental stats: .5 point
* Medium: 0 point
* Default speed: 0 point
* Darkvision 60 feet: .5 point
* Elongate Neck: 1 point
* Poisonous Bite: 1 point
* Tireless: .5 point
* Toxin Proofed: .5 point
* Claws: .5 point

Oni: 5.5 points
* +2 Str/+1 Cha: 1 point
* Medium: 0 point
* Default speed: 0 point
* Darkvision 60 feet: .5 point
* Powerful Build: 0 point
* Illusory Veil: .5 point
* Windstrider (Extra movement value, equal speed, high level gate): 2 points
* Oni Tricks: 1.5 points.

Futakuchi-onna: 1.5 points
* +3 mental stats: .5 point
* Medium: 0 point
* Default speed: 0 point
* Normal Vision: 0 point
* Writhing Mane: 1 point
* Ensnaring Locks: .5 point
* Skull-Maw: 1.5 points
* Voracious Eater: -1 point

Alright let's give kitsune a spin, since people seem drawn to that instead of all the rest of rich japanese lore (which you seem to be well versed in)

>Kitsune
>Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Charisma, +1 Intelligence
[3] for three +1 increases
>Size: Medium
>Speed: 30 feet
[0] Standard stuff
>Vision: Darkvision 60 feet
[0.5] Dark vision is a pretty common so easy to gauge it's value
>Foxfire: You know the Produce Flame and Dancing Light cantrips, which you can cast with Charisma. At 3rd level, you can cast Faerie Fire with this trait as a 1st level spell once per long rest, again using Charisma as your casting ability score.
[0.5] Stand alone cantrip
[1.0] Casting array at 2 different levels
>Trickster’s Guile: You have Proficiency in Charisma (Deception).
[0.5] standard proficiency cost
>Hengeyokai: Fox
Total: [5.5] with some room for flavor/ribbons, or even another minor ability

Actually this is pretty well made, I'd actually play this. I might just go through the rest of these as well.

That's a red panda which is reasonably close to a racoon

You know, honestly, since +3 stats is the expected norm, I'd honestly only consider the racial ability score modifiers to warrant a point value if they take you higher or lower than +3

Close, I'll correct the math later, but this is a good start. I see alot of potential with this stuff.

See

It's built to aim for a score of 6, with it being built from 0 being "you have nothing besides what you rolled for stats and what your class gives you" (aka not using a race at all)

For what it's worth, I actually designed the Hengeyokai races so that the trait itself was optional - you should be able to remove the shapeshifting part, decreeing they insted stay in their half-beast form at all times, and they'll still be fully functional races.

Likewise, I'm not averse to moving more potent racial traits to feats. The kitsune's larger spell-like ability array, the tanuki's flight & item transformation, and the vanara's prehensile tail are all in that category so far.

Bumping in hopes that helpful anons will return.

too bad tanuki aren't raccoons

No, but they look a lot like them, and they also look pretty similar to red pandas, in so far as they resemble anything.

What? Tanuki are a real animal. They're actually quite common in Eastern Europe now because of feral breeding populations escaped from fur-making farms.

These races look nice, but 13 new races for a single campaign? How many characters do you expect the players to make?

I just figured more options the better for customizing this campaign and other campaigns. Plus, if they're actually decent races, maybe other anons will find them useful.

Heck, I might even try and put together a booklet for DM's Guild if I can get enough yokai races - have you seen the crap races in the "5e Oriental Adventures" book already on there?

So, question; can any anons think of yokai races I could add to this project so far?

Also, what kind of limits can I place on this? Could I do three-eyed mystical minotaur-esque race based upon the Hakutaku, or is that too inherently close to the Monstergirl Encyclopedia?

For those oblivious to yokai, a handy-dandy and slowly/erratically growing list: yokai.com/

>or is that too inherently close to the Monstergirl Encyclopedia?
I wouldn't worry about that. The focus and themes are completely different.

>yokai.com/
Neat.

I guess, still, given that almost every race in the game has +3 to stats, baring a tiny handful of exceptions (Mountain Dwarves & Half-Elves are +4, humans are +6, Orcs have -2 Int, Kobolds are +2 Dex/-2 Str), I honestly consider that a +3 to stat bonuses really should be a "no pointer", just like being Medium sized or moving 30 feet or having normal vision.

Alright, I gotta turn in for the night; let's see if this thread can survive until the morning. But, before I go, a draft at a Hakutaku race:

yokai.com/hakutaku/

Hakutaku
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Intelligence, +1 Wisdom
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Vision: Normal
Heaven-Sent Sage: When making skill checks for Intelligence and Wisdom skills that you do not have Proficiency in, you may still add half of your Proficiency bonus (rounding up).
All-Seeing Eyes: You can cast the Guidance cantrip. At 3rd level, you can cast Detect Magic as a 1st level spell with this trait. At 5th level, you can cast Detect Thoughts as a 2nd level spell with this trait. When you cast Detect Magic or Detect Thoughts with this trait, you cannot use that spell again until you complete a long rest. Spells cast with this trait use Intelligence as their casting ability score.
Mountain Dweller: You have Advantage on Athletics checks made to handle mountainous terrain, and are considered to be acclimatized to high mountain conditions.

>Tanuki Slam: You have a slam attack, which is a natural weapon you can wield as an unarmed strike. This slam attack inflicts 1d6 + Str modifier Bludgeoning damage, and counts as Magical for purposes of damage resistance. You can use a Tanuki Slam attack even if your hands are occupied. This racial ability does not grant you an Extra Attack.

Pic related

I get what you're saying. Another way to put it is that it's calibrated to PHB human, since it's the easiest to quantify as it is +1 across all six stats (6 points). From there everything else figured out. So most other races get three points of stat boosts and three points of "cool stuff".

So if you want to make math easier, just figure out the value of the "cool stuff" and try and get it to a value of 3 (plus or minus 0.5 points). That actually simplifies it alot, so good point made.

Imma give you a bump, user. This is the coolest shit and I love doing Far Eastern campaigns.

Personally, I leave that up to the individual player. You could just be bashing somebody with your tail, ala Tanuki Mario.

Much appreciated!

Now I'm seeing your points. Still, I'm not entirely sure I'd consider most of the races in 5e already to fall into that 6-point range - the Half-Orc alone I'd probably rank closer to 8 or 10.

Gotta head away for a while, so in the hopes of seeing this thread live: do folks think that Tsukumogami, the famous "Object Spirit" yokai, might be a viable target for the next batch of racial basings?

So, these are kind of similar to the Futakuchi-onna in some aspects, but do folks think the Kejoro and the Harionago might be viable as PC options?

yokai.com/kejourou/
yokai.com/harionago/

What the hell; nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

Kejoro
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Charisma, +1 Constitution
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Vision: Normal
Writhing Mane: You possess a long train of prehensile hair, which functions as a third arm that has a reach of 10 feet. You can wield a weapon in your hair, but only if it is a a one-handed melee weapon with the Light property. Having a weapon in your hair does not grant you an extra attack, it simply gives you an alternative weapon with which to attack, per the normal rules for dual-wielding.
Ensnaring Locks: You have Advantage on Grappling checks.
Slicing Strands: Each round you maintain a Grapple on a creature, you can choose to inflict magical Slashing damage equal to your Charisma modifier. If a creature attempts to break free of your grapple, then they take 1d6 + your Charisma modifier magical slashing damage, whether or not they succeed on escaping.
Red Light Spirit: You have Resistance to Poison damage and Advantage on saving throws against Poison and Disease.

Harionago
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Strength, +1 Charisma
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Vision: Darkvision 60 feet
Barbed Hair: You can use your prehensile, viciously barbed hair to attack as a standard action. This is a melee attack with a reach of 10 feet that inflicts 1d6 + Str modifier magical Piercing damage. On a successful hit, you may initiate a Grapple.
Gouging Grasp: You have Advantage on Grappling checks, and can choose to inflict 1d4 magical Piercing damage on a grappled creature during each round you maintain the grapple.
Creeping Locks: You have a Climb speed of 20 feet.
Sunlight Sensitivity: You suffer Disadvantage on attack rolls and on Perception checks based on sight made whilst you or the object of your attention is in direct sunlight.

Alright, anons, I'll be out all day, so do you think you can keep this thread alive until I return? I really don't intend to pass up on balancing these races, not when I seem to be off to a strong start with the Kitsune at the least.

I feel like 2-digits of default races is too much. I think you should remove or combine some. As a player I'd be cool with reading through 6 different unfamiliar races to see what I like, but going through 13 it becomes a chore, and is harder for you to keep them all balanced unqiue and interesting.
Alternatively, give players rules for building their own races.

There's alot of things about the way races should work that almost not system or setting really gets.
One is that straight-up attribute bonuses are usually a bad idea. If a race has something that's clearly most useful to fighters, then if I've already decided on playing a fighter unless if I want to gimp myself I have to pick one of the races that has bonuses that I as a fighter would want.
Two, unless if this is a super cosmopolitan setting I want some lore. Just give enough that players know where they stand in the world. I would want to know what kind of lifestyle or domain that these different races have. You also shouldn't go into too much detail, but once again, players need a bit of something to have an idea how they'll be expected to act and what kind of background they're likely to have.
Third, don't overload players with a bunch of unfamiliar race options they'll have to read through. Either remove/merge similar races (I'm looking at you core book. Why the hell are gnomes a main option when there's dwarves and halflings?). Or separate them into a couple or few separate lists.
The list can be categorized based on a shared starting item/faction/fluff, based on which ones are free to use and which ones require a roll or a cost to get.
Or you can put each race on the number of a die, then have each player roll 4 times and choose out of just those 4 rolls which race to take to narrow down their options.

Unless one of the beast forms has some awesome racial trait or natural attack setup I'm forgetting, the shapechange seems almost like a ribbon tier feature and could probably reset on a short rest, unless passing off as human is a big deal in the setting.

Are the shapeshifting abilities balanced around the CR/abilities of the beast they can change into?

For example, the Jorogumo seems a little strong compared to the others because they can turn into a diminutive creature meaning they can scout just about anywhere, freely escape from combat (good luck finding a spider in a pile of clothing and gear on the floor), as well as getting a free 2nd level spell, climb speed, proficiency in a skill, and darkvision.

Otherwise these are really interesting to me because I love shapeshifters. Each of them getting magic befitting their yokai lore and other attributes based on their animal is great mechanically and flavorful. It helps the races stand apart.

Not really; it's basically the Druid's Wild Shape with a few tweaks - less common access to it, and no bonus health when you shift shapes.

Really, I made the Hengeyokai racial trait as an "optional" trait. You can add it to the race for greater flavor-accuracy, but you should be able to strip it out entirely and the race will still function smoothly.

In contrast to the last 4 editions, where hengeyokai were entirely defined by their shapeshifting.

Uh, not really. They're all small beasts that are basically incapable of fighting. As for whether or not it's a ribbon, see the poster above who points out the spying utility usage of a tiny animal shape.

Some of us like having more options. Besides, have you looked at some of the racial-focused splatbooks that 3e put out? Races of Faerun and Ansalon in particular.

That's cool and all, but what are your plans for Betobeto-san?

Probably nothing? There's not a lot one can do out of a yokai that exists just to spook people out with echoing footsteps.

Anyway, another night reaches its end, so I gotta turn in. Let's see if you can keep this thread open - I really wish helpful anons would come back...

bump