[RPG] Is this “Fehl-her” homebrew race balanced

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I'm still relatively new to dnd, and was trying to build a homebrew race for the first time. I tried basing myself mostly on orcs and lizardfolk at first, but the race I was making took quite a turn while I developed the ideas on how they live and function a bit more. I tried my best to stick closely to the detect balance scale, but even though the numbers seem to be fairly close to those of the official races, I still can't shake the feeling that this homebrew of mine is still too unbalanced, and the fact I don't have a party I can ask for help or play-test it with now makes it harder to get a better idea.

From the perspective of someone who's more experienced in the game, is my "Fehl-her" race too overpowered?

[Fehl-her Traits]:

Ability score increase: Your strength score increases by 2 and your dexterity score increases by 1. Your charisma score is reduced by 2. (+12,-4)

Age: the Fehl-her reach maturity at 5 years old and live up to a maximum of 100 years.

Alignment: the Fehl-her strongly defend the importance of order as the most important thing to ensure proper functioning of their group, being usually lawful.

Size: a Fehl-her grows no larger than 7 feet tall, averaging at 6 feet, weighting between 160 and 180 pounds. Your size is medium. (0)

Speed: you have a walking speed of 30 feet and a climbing speed equal to your walking speed. (+2)

Languages: you can speak, read and write in common language, as well as speak in Fehl-her. (0)

Darkvision: The dark corridors of the colony are your home. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in Darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in Darkness, only Shades of Gray. (+3)

Built-in armor: your tough exoskeleton makes you hard to harm. Your AC is 13+ dexterity. (+3)

Ambush predator: You're proficient in the stealth and perception skills. (+4)

Raptorial blades: your forelimbs have durable bladed appendages (finesse) which protrude from the forearms. Deal 1d6 piercing/slashing damage. (+6)

Bug bite: the chitinous plates in your head hide powerful Jaws. Deals 1d4+strength of piercing damage. (+1)

Always watching: You do not require sleep to survive. When you take a long rest, you must spend at least six hours of it in an inactive, motionless state, rather than sleeping. In this state, you appear inert, but it doesn’t render you unconscious, and you can see and hear as normal. (+3)

Balance score Result: 30

Best Answer

Overall this race is lacking.

Ability Score Increase: Almost all races get +2/+1, while yours have +2/+1/-2, making this race already weak off the bat. Further, their two increases are for what tend to be mutually-exclusive offensive stats, you either want to be focusing on Str for attacks and wearing heavy armor, or you want high Dex for attacks and to make up for only wearing light armor.

Age/Alignment/Size/Language: not relevant to balance.

Speed: 30 is the average for most other races, so not too strong or weak. Climb speeds aren't common, and this does make them have a slightly better niche.

Darkvision: A fairly common ability, and (if my memory serves me correctly) more races have it than don't. Again, not particularly strong or weak.

Built-in-Armor: Having a minimum armor score that is better than the best light armor you can get (and equivalent to Mage Armor) is pretty solidly good, but not exceptional. Rogues and arcane casters would get the most out of this, while fighters, barbarians, and the like would see little to no use from it.

Ambush Predator: Two skill proficiencies is fairly par for the course, and since Perception is the most rolled skill in the game, and Stealth is probably second or third, so even though they don't get a selection like the Lizardfolk do, these two skills are still very good. Overall these are fairly balanced.

Raptorial Blades/Bug Bite: Giving Raptorial Blades the finesse property isn't something you would normally see on natural weapons, but there are quite a few natural weapons that have rider effects and having finesse in place some other effect is certainly within the bounds of balance. Bug Bite, on the other hand, is entirely a waste. Since it's both weaker than the blades (from a damage perspective, d6 vs d4, as well as because it lacks finesse) and can't be used with Two Weapon Fighting, there's not really a reason to even have the ability, it'll never get used. Drop it and give them something that's actually useful.

Always Watching: This is functionally the same as the elf Trance or the warforged Sentries Rest. Not a particularly powerful ability, this is borderline a "ribbon ability" or that is to say, an ability that exists for flavor purposes but mechanically doesn't contribute much, if anything.


Bottom line, this race is to weak. The relevant abilities are their natural armor and weapon, the skill proficiencies, and the ability score penalty, which overall makes them somewhat lackluster compared to other race options.

This race seems to be intended as a stealthy ambusher who drops on prey from above, likely native to a heavily forested area, or possibly a more arid environment with cliffs, canyons, and mesas. With that in mind, my recommendations are:

  1. Drop the Cha penalty.
  2. Drop the bite.
  3. Focus on either the Str or Dex score, and possibly swap one for a Wis or Con bonus, or perhaps an Int bonus if they're especially cunning predators. Personally, I think Dex would make more sense than Str for the type of creature you appear to be going for, and without Dex, the finesse property on the blades wouldn't be very good.
  4. Give them some sort of ability that plays into them being an ambush predator. Maybe some sort of bonus on attacks or initiative when they get a surprise round. Alternatively, perhaps you could give them some special attack when they drop onto a target from above.
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