TEXT: Not for resale. Permission granted to print or photocopy this document for personal use only. 
   
   
  Races 
  1 
  Monstrous Races 
   
   
   
  Character Options for Playing  
  Every Monster in the Monster Manual 
   
   
   
   
   
   
  
  Not for resale. Permission granted to print or photocopy this document for personal use only. 
   
   
  Races 
  2 
  Monstrous Races 
   
   
   
  Character Options for Playing  
  Every Monster in the Monster Manual 
   
  Whether you’re playing an all-monster party or just want to play a 
  monstrous race in an otherwise normal party, this document presents 
  rules for playing every creature in the Monster Manual, new feats 
  and backgrounds for monstrous characters, analysis of officially 
  published races, highly detailed rules for building your own races, 
  new rules for tiny races, and rules for templates for player 
  characters. 
   
  by Tyler Kamstra 
   
   
   
   
   
  DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, Forgotten Realms, the dragon ampersand, Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual, Dungeon Master’s Guide, D&D Adventurers League, all other 
  Wizards of the Coast product names, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast in the USA and other countries. All characters and their distinctive likenesses are property of Wizards 
  of the Coast. This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the 
  express written permission of Wizards of the Coast. 
   
  ©2016 Wizards of the Coast LLC, PO Box 707, Renton, WA 98057-0707, USA. Manufactured by Hasbro SA, Rue Emile-Boéchat 31, 2800 Delémont, CH. Represented by Hasbro Europe, 4 The Square, 
  Stockley Park, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB11 1ET, UK. 
   
  This work contains material that is copyright Wizards of the Coast and/or other authors. Such material is used with permission under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild. All 
  other original material in this work is copyright [2016] by Tyler Kamstra and published under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild. 
   
  
  Not for resale. Permission granted to print or photocopy this document for personal use only. 
   
   
  Races 
  3 
  Contents 
  Contents ........................... 3 
  Introduction ...................... 6 
  How to Use This Document ............. 6 
  Design Notes ................................... 6 
  Included Art ..................................... 6 
  New Rules & Rules 
  Clarifications ..................... 7 
  Healing Constructs and Undead ...... 7 
  Monks and Natural Weapons .......... 7 
  Templates ........................................ 7 
  Somatic Components ...................... 8 
  Tiny Creatures ................................. 8 
  Unconsciousness and Immunity ...... 8 
  Monstrous Races .............. 9 
  Aarakocra ........................................ 9 
  Aboleths .......................................... 9 
  Angels ............................................ 10 
  Animated Objects .......................... 11 
  Ankheg ........................................... 14 
  Azer ............................................... 15 
  Banshee ......................................... 17 
  Basilisks ......................................... 19 
  Behirs ............................................. 20 
  Beholders ...................................... 21 
  Blights ............................................ 23 
  Bugbears ........................................ 26 
  Bulettes ......................................... 27 
  Bullywug ........................................ 28 
  Cambion ........................................ 29 
  Carrion Crawler ............................. 30 
  Centaur .......................................... 31 
  Chimera ......................................... 32 
  Chuul ............................................. 33 
  Cloaker ........................................... 34 
  Cockatrice ...................................... 34 
  Couatl ............................................. 35 
  Crawling Claw ................................ 36 
  Cyclops ........................................... 37 
  Darkmantle .................................... 38 
  Death Knight [Template] ............... 39 
  Demilich ......................................... 41 
  Demons .......................................... 42 
  Devils ............................................. 53 
  Dinosaurs ....................................... 61 
  Displacer Beast .............................. 64 
  Doppelganger ................................ 65 
  Dracolich [Template] ..................... 66 
  Dragon, Shadow [Template] .......... 67 
  Dragon ........................................... 68 
  Dragon Turtle ................................. 71 
  Drider ............................................. 72 
  Dryad ............................................. 72 
  Elementals ..................................... 74 
  Empyrean ....................................... 76 
  Ettercap ......................................... 77 
  Ettin ............................................... 78 
  Faerie Dragon ................................ 79 
  Flameskull ...................................... 80 
  Flumph ........................................... 81 
  Fomorian ........................................ 83 
  Fungi .............................................. 84 
  Galeb Duhr ..................................... 87 
  Gargoyle ......................................... 88 
  Genies ............................................ 89 
  Ghouls ............................................ 92 
  Ghosts [Template] ......................... 93 
  Giants ............................................. 97 
  Gibbering Mouther ..................... 100 
  Gith .............................................. 102 
  Gnolls .......................................... 103 
  Goblins ........................................ 104 
  Golems ........................................ 105 
  Gorgon ........................................ 108 
  Grell ............................................. 109 
  Grick ............................................ 110 
  Griffon ......................................... 111 
  Grimlock ...................................... 111 
  Hags ............................................. 112 
  Half-Dragon [Template] .............. 115 
  Harpy ........................................... 116 
  Hell Hound .................................. 117 
  Helmed Horror ............................ 118 
  Hippogriff .................................... 119 
  Hobgoblins .................................. 119 
  Homunculus ................................ 121 
  Hook Horror ................................ 122 
  Hydra ........................................... 122 
  Intellect Devourer ....................... 124 
  Invisible Stalker ........................... 126 
  Jackalwere ................................... 127 
  Kenku .......................................... 128 
  Kobolds........................................ 129 
  Kraken ......................................... 130 
  Kuo-Toa ....................................... 131 
  Lamia ........................................... 132 
  Lich [Template] ........................... 133 
  Lizardfolk ..................................... 135 
  Lycanthropes [Template] ............ 136 
  Magmin ....................................... 140 
  Manticore .................................... 141 
  Medusa ....................................... 142 
  
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  Races 
  4 
  Mephits ....................................... 143 
  Merfolk ........................................ 145 
  Merrow ........................................ 146 
  Mimic ........................................... 146 
  Mind Flayer .................................. 147 
  Minotaur...................................... 149 
  Modrons ...................................... 150 
  Mummies .................................... 152 
  Myconid ....................................... 153 
  Myconid Spore Servant [Template]
   ..................................................... 156 
  Naga ............................................ 157 
  Nightmare.................................... 159 
  Nothic .......................................... 160 
  Ogre ............................................. 161 
  Oni ............................................... 162 
  Oozes ........................................... 162 
  Orcs ............................................. 167 
  Otyugh ......................................... 168 
  Owlbear ....................................... 169 
  Pegasus ........................................ 170 
  Peryton ........................................ 170 
  Piercer ......................................... 171 
  Pixie ............................................. 172 
  Pseudodragon ............................. 173 
  Purple Worm ............................... 173 
  Quaggoth ..................................... 174 
  Rakshasa ...................................... 175 
  Remorhaz .................................... 176 
  Revenant [Template] ................... 177 
  Roc ............................................... 179 
  Roper ........................................... 180 
  Rust Monster ............................... 181 
  Sahuagin ...................................... 182 
  Salamanders ................................ 183 
  Satyr ............................................ 184 
  Scarecrow .................................... 185 
  Shadow ........................................ 186 
  Shambling Mound ........................ 187 
  Shield Guardian............................ 188 
  Skeleton [Template] .................... 189 
  Slaadi............................................ 190 
  Specter ......................................... 193 
  Sphinxes ....................................... 193 
  Sprite............................................ 194 
  Stirge ............................................ 195 
  Succubus/Incubus ........................ 196 
  Tarrasque ..................................... 198 
  Thri-Kreen .................................... 199 
  Treant .......................................... 200 
  Troglodyte .................................... 201 
  Troll .............................................. 201 
  Umber Hulk .................................. 203 
  Unicorn ........................................ 204 
  Vampire [Template] ..................... 204 
  Water Weird ................................ 208 
  Wight ........................................... 209 
  Will-o’-Wisp ................................. 210 
  Wraith .......................................... 211 
  Wyvern ........................................ 212 
  Xorn ............................................. 213 
  Yeti ............................................... 214 
  Yuan-ti .......................................... 215 
  Yugoloth ....................................... 217 
  Zombie [Template] ...................... 219 
  Miscellaneous Creatures
   ...................................... 221 
  Ape ............................................... 221 
  Awakened Shrub .......................... 221 
  Awakened Tree ............................ 222 
  Axe Beak ...................................... 222 
  Baboon ......................................... 223 
  Badger .......................................... 223 
  Bat ............................................... 224 
  Black bear .................................... 224 
  Blink Dog ..................................... 225 
  Blood Hawk ................................. 226 
  Boar ............................................. 226 
  Brown Bear.................................. 227 
  Camel .......................................... 227 
  Cat ............................................... 228 
  Constrictor Snake ........................ 228 
  Crab ............................................. 229 
  Crocodile ..................................... 229 
  Death Dog ................................... 230 
  Deer ............................................. 230 
  Dire Wolf ..................................... 231 
  Draft Horse .................................. 231 
  Eagle ............................................ 231 
  Elephant ...................................... 232 
  Elk ................................................ 232 
  Flying Snake................................. 233 
  Frog ............................................. 234 
  Giant Ape .................................... 234 
  Giant Badger ............................... 234 
  Giant Bat ..................................... 235 
  Giant Boar ................................... 236 
  Giant Centipede .......................... 236 
  Giant Constrictor Snake .............. 236 
  Giant Crab ................................... 236 
  Giant Crocodile............................ 237 
  Giant Eagle .................................. 237 
  Giant Elk ...................................... 238 
  Giant Fire Beetle ......................... 238 
  Giant Frog .................................... 239 
  Giant Goat ................................... 239 
  Giant Hyena................................. 240 
  Giant Lizard ................................. 240 
  Giant Octopus ............................. 241 
  
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  Races 
  5 
  Giant Owl ..................................... 242 
  Giant Poisonous Snake ................ 243 
  Giant Rat ...................................... 244 
  Giant Scorpion ............................. 244 
  Giant Sea Horse ........................... 245 
  Giant Shark .................................. 246 
  Giant Spider ................................. 246 
  Giant Toad ................................... 247 
  Giant Vulture ............................... 247 
  Giant Wasp .................................. 248 
  Giant Weasel ............................... 248 
  Giant Wolf Spider ........................ 249 
  Goat ............................................. 250 
  Hawk ............................................ 250 
  Hunter Shark ............................... 250 
  Hyena .......................................... 251 
  Jackal ........................................... 252 
  Killer Whale ................................. 253 
  Lion .............................................. 253 
  Lizard ........................................... 254 
  Mammoth .................................... 255 
  Mastiff.......................................... 255 
  Mule ............................................. 255 
  Octopus ........................................ 256 
  Owl ............................................... 257 
  Panther ........................................ 258 
  Phase Spider ................................ 258 
  Poisonous Snake .......................... 259 
  Polar Bear .................................... 260 
  Pony ............................................. 260 
  Quipper ........................................ 261 
  Rat ................................................ 262 
  Raven ........................................... 262 
  Reef Shark .................................... 263 
  Rhinoceros ................................... 263 
  Riding Horse ................................. 264 
  Saber-Toothed Tiger .................... 264 
  Scorpion ....................................... 264 
  Sea Horse ..................................... 265 
  Spider ........................................... 265 
  Swarm [Template] ....................... 266 
  Tiger ............................................ 267 
  Vulture ........................................ 268 
  Warhorse .................................... 268 
  Weasel......................................... 269 
  Winter Wolf................................. 269 
  Wolf ............................................. 270 
  Worg............................................ 271 
  Monstrous Character 
  Options ......................... 272 
  Class Options ............................... 272 
  Feats ............................................ 272 
  Backgrounds ................................ 273 
  Published Races ............ 276 
  Appendix: Race Builder . 289 
  Appendix: Template Builder
   ..................................... 300 
   
   
   
  
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  Races 
  6 
  Introduction 
  This document is a supplemental text seeking to 
  expand upon the character options available to players. 
  Each race presented in this document attempts to stay 
  roughly balanced with the races included in the 
  Player’s Handbook.  
   This document makes no assumptions of setting, 
  purpose, or usage. It is merely an attempt to open new 
  and interesting options, and to allow you to do with 
  them whatever you like.  
  How to Use This Document 
  Allowing “monstrous” or otherwise abnormal races in 
  your game is a decision which the DM should make, 
  likely after discussing the subject with other members 
  of the group. Some groups prefer to stick to classic 
  “heroic” races like humans, elves, and dwarves. Other 
  groups allow “uncommon” races like those presented 
  in the Player’s Handbook, including Dragonborn, Half-
  Elves, and others.  
   More adventurous groups might also welcome races 
  which are even less common, like Goblins and Orcs. For 
  those groups, this document seeks to provide an easily-
  accessible source of new options. 
   Many of the “races” (the term is used very loosely 
  here) in this document are clearly absurd. In many 
  campaigns, the idea of an animated object as a 
  character make no sense, but I’ve seen enough people 
  wanting to play sentient items or animated objects that 
  I’ve given up all hope of logic, internal consistency, or 
  sanity. Instead, I’ve opted to present every possible 
  option in hopes that someone somewhere will enjoy 
  them, if only for the time it takes to read the racial 
  traits for a rug of smothering. 
   If you choose to allow content from this document, 
  you don’t necessarily need to allow everything 
  contained herein. If your group wishes to allow a set of 
  the contained races, but disallow others, that’s fine 
  too. For example: your group might allow a handful of 
  specifically chosen races that fit a theme, or you might 
  consider allowing all humanoid races. 
   Once you have selected what content your group will 
  allow, treat those races just like you would any race in 
  the Player’s Handbook while creating new 
  characters. The races in this document work just like 
  existing playable races, and use all the same rules. 
   Each race includes sections on the race’s flavor and 
  concept, the race’s traits, suggestions for playing that 
  race, and design notes about the creation of the race 
  which are presented to help you adjust races if you 
  decide to do so. 
   The Race Builder appendix provides detailed rules 
  for how the races in this document were created, and 
  rules for creating or customizing your own races.  
  Design Notes 
  It should be noted that 5th Edition Dungeons and 
  Dragons does not abide by any strict balance 
  standards. Some options are outright better than 
  others. Some are better some of the time, but worse in 
  others. Races are a great example of this: some of the 
  races in the Player’s Handbook are good at a wide 
  variety of classes and character concepts, while others 
  are useful only for a few. 
   In an attempt to make every option in this document 
  appealing, the races presented attempt to fall into an 
  acceptable range of power (8-10 “Build Points”: see the 
  Race Builder appendix). No race should present a 
  balance issue in your game, and every race should be 
  both fun and functional. Some races will still be 
  stronger or weaker than average, and a handful of 
  races will be extremely weak when the base creature 
  was extremely weak. 
   The NPC Features table, presented on page 282 of 
  the Dungeon Master’s Guide, is used as inspiration for 
  many of the humanoid races included in this 
  document, but the stats presented there are typically 
  overridden or outright ignored in this document. 
   To keep monstrous races in line with official 
  published races, many monsters’ abilities have been 
  replaced, reworded, or otherwise altered to make 
  them fair for use by players. 
   All races are also assumed to be “intelligent”, and 
  are assumed to be in the normal range of Intelligence, 
  Wisdom, and Charisma scores normally afforded to 
  Player Characters. Any in-game reasons behind this 
  sudden leap in mental capacity are left entirely to you 
  to determine, and options like the awaken spell make a 
  fine explanation. 
  Included Art 
  The art included in this document is all free art taken 
  from the creator resources provided by Wizards of the 
  Coast on DM’s Guild. If you wish to reuse these images, 
  I encourage you to download the official creator 
  resources for the original images. 
  
  Not for resale. Permission granted to print or photocopy this document for personal use only. 
   
   
  Races 
  7 
  New Rules & Rules 
  Clarifications 
  While this document attempts to live within the 
  confines of existing rules, adapting some parts of the 
  Monster Manual requires some new concepts and 
  mechanics. 
  Healing Constructs and Undead 
  The most common magical healing options (cure 
  wounds, healing word, and heal) do not affect 
  constructs or undead. This creates a unique challenge 
  for players hoping to play those creature types. 
   Jeremy Crawford suggested on twitter that 
  constructs and undead could heal themselves by 
  resting, just as living creatures can, and also noted that 
  the Regenerate spell still applies to constructs and 
  undead.  
   In addition to these options, I recommend 
  introducing matching spells which only affect 
  constructs and undead. Repair damage matches cure 
  wounds, word of repair matches healing word, and 
  repair matches heal. You might also introduce more 
  spells for newer options like healing spirit, published in 
  Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. Any class which has 
  the normal version of the spell on their spell list should 
  have the “repair” version on their spell list. 
   Alternatively, you could allow undead to be healed 
  by necrotic damage. However, since necrotic damage is 
  available as a cantrip, I don’t advise this. 
  Monks and Natural Weapons 
  Monks gain a superhuman ability to deal damage with 
  their unarmed strikes. While this causes no issues for 
  humans and similar races, creatures which have 
  powerful natural weapons already deal more unarmed 
  strike damage than 1st-level monks. 
   For the purposes of Martial Arts and Flurry of Blows, 
  the bonus unarmed strikes made as a Bonus Action 
  must be conventional unarmed strikes: punches, kicks, 
  etc. instead of relying upon claws, teeth, etc. These 
  attacks deal bludgeoning damage, and follow the 
  standard Monk Unarmed Strike damage progression.  
  Templates 
  The Monster Manual introduces the concept of 
  Templates, which can be applied to existing creatures 
  to customize them. These templates include iconic 
  creatures like liches, lycanthropes, and skeletons. 
  While the existing rules work well for monsters, they 
  don’t function well for player characters, and granting 
  players a template like lycanthropy presents a huge 
  power increase, often at little cost. 
   The alternate rules presented here are intended as a 
  replacement for the existing rules, allowing players to 
  use templates without gaining an unfair benefit over 
  other player characters, and presenting easily used 
  means to play iconic creatures like vampires and 
  werewolves while still fitting into the normal bounds of 
  the game. 
  Natural vs. Acquired templates 
  Natural templates are templates which must be 
  applied to a creature at creation. These templates are 
  specific to some circumstance of the creature's birth or 
  creation, such as the half-dragon template or the 
  skeleton template. 
   Acquired templates can be applied to a creature at 
  any point as specified by the specific template, and 
  represent a dramatic change to the creature at some 
  point in their existence, such as a creature dying and 
  returning as a ghost, or a creature being afflicted with 
  lycanthropy. 
   Some templates can be either natural or acquired, 
  such as the lycanthrope template. In these cases, the 
  template’s description elaborates on the mechanics of 
  acquiring the template. 
  Acquiring Templates 
  Natural templates can be applied to valid creatures 
  when the creature is created, and acquired templates 
  can be applied to valid creatures at any time, as 
  specified by the template's description. All templates 
  apply a set of traits immediately upon gaining the 
  template. For certain leveled templates, these will be 
  denoted as 0 in the template’s traits table. 
  Template Levels 
  In addition to the traits applied when a template is 
  initially applied, some templates also have "template 
  levels." These levels function similarly to gaining levels 
  in a class, but when you can or must take them is 
  dictated by the template itself. More powerful 
  templates will require more levels.  
   Template levels grant hit dice, as specified in the 
  template's description. Template levels may only be 
  taken by characters with at least one class level. A 
  character's proficiency bonus advances with their total 
  
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  Races 
  8 
  level, including any template levels, just as if they had 
  taken levels in a class.  
  Removing Templates 
  If a character ever loses a template, such as by being 
  cured of a curse, they immediately lose any traits 
  gained from the template. If they have levels in the 
  template, they lose those levels and may replace them 
  with the same number of levels in a class upon 
  completing a long rest. 
  Somatic Components 
  The rules for somatic components states that “the 
  caster must have free use of at least one hand”. As 
  written, this requires an actual hand. However, the 
  core rules are clearly intended to cover humanoid 
  races, and this document ranges far beyond 
  humanoids, venturing into creatures like beholders and 
  rocs, which clearly don’t have hands. However, lack of 
  perfectly human-like hands should not prevent a race 
  from performing somatic components.  
   Any creature can peform somatic components 
  appropriate to their forms, whatever that form may be. 
  However, any circumstance which would prevent a 
  human from performing somatic components, such as 
  being tightly restrained, similarly prevents monstrous 
  races from performing somatic components. 
  Tiny Creatures 
  Due to their small stature, tiny creatures require 
  additional mechanics not covered in the core rules. 
  Being the size of a house cat carries certain 
  complications not faced by common humanoid races 
  like halflings and elves. 
   Tiny creatures have difficulty using weapons which 
  small and medium creatures can wield comfortably. 
  Tiny creatures may not use weapons made for larger 
  creatures unless they have the Light property. Using 
  those weapons requires two hands and negates the 
  Finesse property, and tiny creatures suffer 
  disadvantage on attack rolls with those weapons. Tiny 
  creatures may not use weapons for larger creatures to 
  engage in two-weapon fighting, even though they have 
  the Light property, just as a medium creature cannot 
  use two two-handed weapons for two-weapon 
  fighting. 
   Due to their inability to use weapons made for larger 
  creatures, tiny creatures usually wield weapons better 
  suited to their size. Such weapons add the Tiny weapon 
  property, in addition to any other properties, and 
  remove the Reach property if the weapon possesses it 
  normally.  
   Weapons with the tiny property deal reduced 
  damage, as per the table below, and weigh one quarter 
  the normal weight for that type of weapon, and have 
  half the range of the normal weapon (if any). Ranged 
  weapons, thrown weapons, and thrown improvised 
  weapons with the tiny property have ranges equal to 
  half of their normal range, rounded down to the 
  nearest 5 feet and to a minimum range of 5 feet. In 
  addition, weapons with the Tiny property ignore the 
  restrictions described in the preceding paragraph since 
  they are size appropriately for tiny creatures.  
  Original Damage 
  Tiny Damage 
  1d4 
  1 
  1d6 
  1 
  1d8 
  1d2 
  1d10 
  1d3 
  1d12/2d6 
  1d4 
   Tiny creatures use armor which weighs less than 
  armor for small or medium creatures. Armor made for 
  tiny creatures weighs one quarter of the armor’s listed 
  weight. 
   Finally, tiny creatures can lift and carry one quarter 
  the amount which a medium or small creature would 
  be able to carry with the same Strength score.  
  Unconsciousness and Immunity 
  The Monster Manual presents a long list of creatures 
  with immunity to the Unconcious condition. However, 
  it’s never explicitly explained what happens to these 
  creatures when they drop to 0 hit points. The text in 
  question, taken from the “Dropping to 0 Hit Points” 
  section, is as follows: 
   “When you drop to 0 hit points, you either die 
  outright or fall unconscious” 
   While this isn’t explicitly stated anywhere, it seems 
  reasonable that if you’re presented with two options 
  and one option is disallowed, you must take the other 
  option. Therefore, creatures that are immune to 
  unconsciousness are outright slain when they fall to 0 
  hit points. 
   Several of the races presented in this document are 
  immune to the Unconcious condition. This presents a 
  tradeoff for those races. They are immune to effects 
  which would render them prematurely unconscious, 
  such as the sleep spell. However, they also lose the 
  relative safety of falling unconscious during a difficult 
  fight. Expect these players to play more defensively 
  than usual, and possibly to flee when the possibility of 
  0 hit points seems likely. 
  
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  Races 
  9 
  Monstrous Races 
  Aarakocra 
  Aarakocra are presented in the Elemental Evil Player’s 
  Companion, available as a free PDF from the Wizards of 
  the Coast website. 
   http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/elemental
  evil_playerscompanion  
   Unlike other monster races which Wizards of The 
  Coast has published thus far (bugbears, goblins, etc.), 
  the Aarakocra stays true to the monster described in 
  the Monster Manual. For further discussion and 
  suggestions on design alterations to the published 
  Aarakocra race, see the “Published Races” appendix. 
  Aboleths 
  Aboleths are super-intelligent, otherworldly, fish-like 
  creatures who pre-date the gods. They have potent 
  psychic powers, and seek to mentally enslave other 
  creatures. 
  Aboleth Traits 
  Aboleths share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Aberration. 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Intelligence, +1 Charisma 
   Alignment. Horrifying creatures known to mentally 
  enslave other creatures, most aboleths are lawful evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 10 ft., and you 
  have a swim speed of 40 ft. 
   Amphibious. You can breathe air and water. 
   Innate Spellcasting. Once you reach 3rd level, you 
  can cast the charm person spell once per day. Your 
  spellcasting ability for this spell is Intelligence. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 12 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Superior Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 
  120 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. 
   Telepathy. You can communicate telepathically with 
  any creature that knows a language within 30 ft. 
   Tentacle. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 
  bludgeoning damage on a hit. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Deep 
  Speech. 
  Playing an Aboleth 
  Aboleths make excellent Sorcerers, Warlocks, and 
  Wizards. They work thematically with an emphasis on 
  enchanting spells, and their telepathy trait allows them 
  to communicate easily with charmed creatures without 
  others knowing. 
   Aboleths make good party leaders due to their 
  tendency to build followings out of mentally 
  subjugated creatures. Other party members might be 
  mentally enslaved by the aboleth (purely for plot 
  purposes; don’t apply a mechanical effect unless your 
  party is completely comfortable with the idea), or they 
  might share the aboleth’s nefarious goals. 
  Design Notes 
  The Aboleth is a very complex creature. Its Mucous 
  Cloud ability and its tentacle’s disease effect both 
  provide dangerous long-term conditions which make 
  the aboleth dangerous long after the encounter ends. 
  Coupled with its immense strength, the aboleth is a 
  serious threat in melee combat. Beyond that, its ability 
  to mentally enslave creatures allows it to build groups 
  of wholly subservient followers who it can then 
  psychically drain to heal itself. All of these abilities will 
  need to be vastly altered to make them usable for 
  players. We’ll completely ignore the legendary actions; 
  those are intended for use in “boss fights”. 
   Aboleths are the aberration creature type, costing 
  0.5 BP but offering no specific traits. 
   Before we assess the Aboleth’s capabilities, we need 
  to reduce it to medium size. This will entail some 
  reduction in Strength, Constitution, and natural armor, 
  but the precise values aren’t important yet. 
   Aboleth are extremely intelligent, and extremely 
  persuasive. We’ll give them +1 to Intelligence and +1 to 
  Charisma for 2 BP to emphasize their magical, 
  telepathic, and mind-control abilities rather than 
  focusing on the fact that they are giant scary tentacle 
  fish. 
   From the Aboleth’s stat block, we get a walking 
  speed of 10 ft. for -2 BP, a swim speed of 40 ft. for 1.5 
  BP, Superior Darkvision for 3 BP, and only racial 
  languages for -1 BP.  
   The base aboleth’s natural armor is fantastic, but 
  we’ll need to conserve BP to leave room for more 
  interesting abilities. +2 natural armor for 1 BP will grant 
  aboleth spellcasters a decent AC boost without 
  exceeding the benefits of light armor.  
   From the aboleth’s special abilities, we get 
  Amphibious for 0.5 BP. 
  
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  Races 
  10 
   At 5.5 BP, we still need to tackle the aboleth’s 
  natural weapons (possibly including the tentacle 
  disease effect), mucous cloud, telepathy, probing 
  telepathy, and enslave. 
   The aboleth’s two natural weapons deal 2d6 damage 
  for the tentacles and 3d6 damage for the tail. Reduced 
  to medium size, we can reasonably say that tentacles 
  should deal 1d8 damage. However, since we’re trying 
  to conserve BP and emphasize the aboleth’s role as a 
  mind control monster, 1d6 damage for 1.5 BP seems 
  more reasonable. 
   The on-hit disease effect for the aboleth’s tentacles 
  is difficult to approximate for players. Since players 
  generally don’t follow enemies around for hours, the 
  effects all take place “off screen”, which makes them 
  hard to evaluate.  Mucous cloud faces the same issue. I 
  think that for simplicity, our best option is to wave 
  both of those abilities. 
   Telepathy is difficult to approximate. Telepathy 
  allows the user to communicate with any creature that 
  speaks a language, largely eliminating the need to 
  know languages, so it should have an appropriately 
  high BP cost. If we cut the range to 30 ft., I think that 
  we can get away with 2 BP. We’ll omit Probing 
  Telepathy. 
   That leaves Enslave. The effects of Enslave are a 
  massive improvement over spells like Dominate 
  Person, so clearly Enslave is too powerful for use by 
  players. Enchantment spells are an obvious solution, 
  but it’s hard to say which to use. Friends would be 
  good because the player can use it repeatedly, but a 
  more potent low-level spell would be closer to the 
  actual effect of Enslave. I think Charm Person is 
  probably the closest we can get, so we’ll allow aboleths 
  to cast Charm Person once per day for 1 BP. 
   At 10 BP, aboleths are at the top of our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. They have some fun thematic abilities, and 
  they’re set up to make excellent enchantment-focused 
  spellcasters. If you need to weaken aboleths, reduce 
  charm person to friends, reduce their natural armor, or 
  reduce their tentacle damage. If you need to 
  strengthen aboleths, add friends to their innate 
  spellcasting. 
  Angels 
  Angels are celestial beings created by good-aligned 
  deities to do their bidding. 
  Angel Traits 
  Angels share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Celestial 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Wisdom. 
   Alignment. Divine servants of good-aligned deities, 
  most angels are lawful good. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Divine Resistance. You have resistance to radiant 
  damage. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Immortal Nature. You don’t require food, drink, or 
  sleep. Instead, you meditate deeply, remaining 
  semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. (The Common word 
  for such meditation is “trance.”) While meditating, you 
  can dream after a fashion; such dreams are actually 
  mental exercises that have become reflexive through 
  years of practice. After resting in this way, you gain the 
  same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Celestial. 
   Subrace. Choose one of these subraces. You gain the 
  traits listed under your chosen subrace in addition to 
  those listed above. 
  Deva 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Charisma. 
   Divine Messenger. You know the message cantrip. 
  Upon reaching 3rd level, you can cast the disguise self 
  spell once per day. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability 
  for these spells. 
  Planetar 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength. 
   Angelic Weapons. Starting at 3rd level, as a bonus 
  action, you may focus your angelic power behind your 
  attacks. For one minute, your melee weapon attacks 
  deal an additional 1d6 radiant damage. You must 
  maintain concentration during that time, as if you were 
  casting a spell. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
  Solar 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Constitution. 
   Healing Touch. Upon reaching 3rd level, you can cast 
  the cure wounds spell once per day. Wisdom is your 
  spellcasting ability for this spell. 
   Poison Resilience. You have advantage on saving 
  throws against poison, and you have resistance against 
  poison damage. 
  
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  Races 
  11 
  Playing an Angel 
  Angels are powerful flying characters. Depending on 
  your choice of subrace, you may excel in different 
  roles. Devas make great Bards and Sorcerers, and work 
  well for any character seeking to emphasize social 
  skills. Planetars make good Barbarians, Fighters, and 
  Rangers. Solars are extremely durable, and work well in 
  any class on the front lines of combat. 
   Angels are good-aligned outsiders, and as such flock 
  to good causes like peace and justice. That makes them 
  excellent adventurers, and easy to fit into typical 
  parties. 
  Design Notes 
  The Monster Manual includes what are perhaps the 
  three most iconic angels. Each of the three has a 
  somewhat unique flavor: Devas are messengers, often 
  disguising their true form to guide mortals for some 
  higher purpose; Planetars are soldiers, enacting their 
  deity’s will through magical might; Solars are extremely 
  powerful creatures which intervene to derail the plots 
  of exceptionally evil creatures. Because all three are 
  extremely powerful creatures, we’ll need to make 
  some serious adjustments to fit them into playable 
  races. The Aasimar presented in the Dungeon Master’s 
  Guide is a great example of what we’re shooting for. 
   Angels are of the celestial creature type, costing 0.5 
  BP. 
   All angels have 20+ wisdom, so we’ll grant a +1 
  Wisdom increase. We’ll also give each subrace a 
  second +1 increase to help distinguish them, but that’s 
  all that we can afford since angels have so many other 
  abilities. Devas are messengers, so they’ll get +1 
  Charisma. Planetars are greatsword-wielding soldiers, 
  so a +1 Strength increase fits well. Solars are harder to 
  define since their highest ability score is Strength, but 
  they wield flying swords and spend most of their time 
  using a longbow. I think I’ll give them a +1 to 
  Constitution since they seem to have the most 
  resistances of the three. That totals 2 BP for each 
  subrace. 
   The stat blocks are appropriately insane for the CRs 
  of all three angels. Condition immunities, damage 
  resistances, truesight, telepathy, magic resistance, 
  flight, they’ve got it all. On top of that, they can cast 
  numerous high-level spells, deal radiant damage with 
  their weapons, and their Healing Touch trait replicates 
  many of the effects of the heal spell. That’s great for 
  monsters and super-powerful NPCs, but totally unfair 
  for players. 
   Adapted to work as player races, we can give angels 
  medium size, 30 ft. walking speed, racial languages plus 
  Common, Darkvision for 2 BP, 30 ft. flying speed for 4 
  BP, resistance to Radiant damage for 2 BP, and 
  Immortal Nature for 1 BP. 
   And just like that, we’re at 9 BP already. Each 
  subrace has a unique ability score increase, but that’s a 
  pretty boring distinction, so I want to give them each 
  some additional abilities. 
   Deva are messengers and can disguise their 
  appearance, so I want to emphasize these aspects. 
  Message for 0.5 BP and disguise self for 1 BP address 
  this nicely.  
   Solars are soldiers, so I’ll drop their spellcasting to 
  emphasize their combat abilities. We can replicate the 
  Azer’s Heated Weapon trait and reskin it to deal 
  radiant damage for 2 BP. 
   Planetars have more resistances than other angels, 
  so I want to emphasize their defenses. I’ll give them 
  Poison Resilience for 1 BP, and allow them to cast Cure 
  Wounds once per day for another 1 BP. 
   If you need to weaken angels, remove their Charisma 
  bonus or their Radiant damage resistance. If you need 
  to strengthen angels, give them Brave (0.5 BP), or the 
  spare the dying cantrip. 
  Animated Objects 
  Animated by magic for a variety of purposes, animated 
  objects are common objects given a crude intelligence 
  to serve their master’s needs. 
  Animated Object Traits 
  Animated objects share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Construct. You do not require air, 
  food, drink, or sleep. Instead, you enter a restful state, 
  remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. While 
  resting, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are 
  reflexive mental exercises inherent to your 
  consciousness. After resting in this way, you gain the 
  same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Alignment. Created for a variety of purposes by a 
  variety of masters, animated objects can be of any 
  alignment but are usually neutral. 
   Antimagic Susceptibility. You are incapacitated 
  while in the area of an antimagic field. If targeted by 
  dispel magic, you must succeed on a Constitution 
  saving throw against the caster's spell save DC or fall 
  unconscious for 1 minute. 
   Blind Senses. You have no eyes, and are blind (and 
  therefore immune to the Blinded condition). You have 
  blindsight 60 ft. 
  
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  Races 
  12 
   Can’t Speak. You are unable to speak, but are still 
  able to read, write, and understand any languages 
  which you know. You are unable to perform verbal 
  spell components. 
   Construct Nature. You are immune to the deafened, 
  exhaustion, paralyzed, and petrified conditions. 
   False Appearance. While motionless, you appear 
  indistinguishable from a mundane object which your 
  race resembles. You must spend one minute 
  motionless before this trait takes effect. You must 
  maintain concentration during that time, as if you were 
  casting a spell. 
   Poison Immunity. You are immune to poison 
  damage, and immune to the poisoned condition. 
   Languages. You can read and understand Common. 
   Subrace. Choose one of these subraces. You gain the 
  traits listed under your chosen subrace in addition to 
  those listed above. 
  Animated Armor 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 ft. 
   Fist. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 bludgeoning 
  damage on a hit. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 18. You are unable to wear armor, but may still use 
  shields. 
  Flying Sword 
   Size. Your size is small. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 0 ft. 
   Blade. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 slashing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 50 feet.  
   Living Sword. You are unable to wear armor or use 
  shields.  
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 15 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
  Rug of Smothering 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 20 ft. 
   Damage Transfer. While you are grappling a 
  creature, you take only half the damage dealt to you, 
  and the creature which you are grappling takes the 
  other half. 
   Living Carpet. You are unable to wear armor or use 
  shields.  
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 12 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Smother. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 
  bludgeoning damage on a hit. When you take the 
  Attack action and make an unarmed strike, you can use 
  a bonus action to initiate a grapple with the target of 
  your successful unarmed strike. You may grapple even 
  though you have no hands. In addition, you are 
  proficient in Athletics. 
  Playing an Animated Object 
  Animated objects are peculiar options for player 
  characters. Lacking the ability to speak, they have 
  issues communicating with party members. Flying 
  swords and rugs of smothering both lack limbs and 
  hands, so they have issues tackling simple obstacles 
  like doors. As such, these characters must rely heavily 
  on their allies for many things. 
   All animated objects share an inability to speak, 
  which carries complications beyond conversation. 
  Speechless characters can’t perform verbal spell 
  components, which severely limits your options as a 
  spellcaster. In addition, all animated objects are blind, 
  and instead rely on blindsense. While this is fine in 
  close-quarters combat or inside a building, it can be a 
  major handicap while traversing open spaces like a 
  road, an open field, or the open sea, and you may be 
  forced to travel mostly blind through such areas. 
  Befriending or hiring a creature with normal sight can 
  be a huge boon, even if such a creature is of little other 
  use to you.  
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Animated Armor 
  Animated armor is the most straightforward of the 
  animated objects. It’s basically a suit of full plate 
  armor, which means that it has human-like anatomy 
  and can do many of the things that a human can do. 
  Because they’re a walking suit of armor, animated 
  armor makes an excellent fighter. 
  Flying Sword 
  Flying swords are conceptually simple, but a bit more 
  complicated to play. They have no walking speed, and 
  
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  Races 
  13 
  are entirely dependent on flight to move. Since they 
  lack the ability to hover, they will frequently need to fly 
  in circles or land to remain in roughly the same place. 
  Beyond that they are much like a flying fighter with a 
  longsword. 
  Rug of Smothering 
  Rugs of smothering are excellent grapplers, but don’t 
  excel at much else. 
  Design Notes 
  Animated objects are a really fun concept as a race. 
  Much like animals, they’re unintelligent and normally 
  incapable of human-like mental function. This 
  document assumes that everything has at least human-
  like intelligence, so suddenly animated objects are 
  intelligent creatures with thoughts, feelings, and free 
  will! The three objects presented in the Monster 
  Manual are unique, and have more differences than 
  similarities. As such, I’ll address each object type 
  individually for the most part. 
   Animated objects are constructs, which costs 1 BP. 
   From the three stat blocks, we can draw some 
  shared traits which are necessary for animated objects 
  to survive in the world. All three have natural armor of 
  different values since they can’t wear armor. They have 
  blindsight out to 60 ft. for 9 BP (partially offset by being 
  blind for -4 BP), Poison Immunity for 2 BP, and no 
  ability to speak for -1.5 BP. I’ll grant animated objects 
  the ability to read and understand Common for 0 BP so 
  that they can function in a party of creatures who 
  speak.  
   Animated objects have a long list of immunities 
  beyond their poison immunity. Since they’re no longer 
  nearly-mindless under the rules presented in this 
  document, we can do away with the immunity to 
  charmed and frightened. We’ll keep the immunities to 
  deafened, exhaustion, paralyzed, and petrified for 2 
  BP. 
   Antimagic Susceptibility is a fun weakness. Dispel 
  Magic generally isn’t used to target players, but when 
  used on animated objects it’s a potent effect. Falling 
  unconscious for a minute is about as powerful as the 
  Sleep spell. Since most NPCs and monsters don’t have 
  access to dispel magic or an antimagic field, we’ll call 
  this -0.5 BP. 
   False Appearance costs 0.5 BP. 
   That brings us to a total of 8.5 BP before we break 
  off to examine individual object types. 
  Animated Armor 
  Animated armor is shaped much like a humanoid. It 
  has prehensile hands and human-like anatomy. This 
  makes it the simplest to design of the animated objects 
  presented in the Monster Manual. The monster stat 
  block seems to assume that the armor is a suit of full 
  plate, so we’ll make the same assumption. 
   Animated armor gets +8 natural armor for 4 BP, 
  mostly offset by their inability to wear armor for -3 BP. 
  We’ll also disallow adding their Dexterity modifying for 
  another -1 BP. They can still use shields, and I suspect 
  that encounters with animated armor wielding swords 
  and shields are very common. This is quite a bit of 
  armor at first level, but remember that animated 
  armor characters won’t benefit from magic armor since 
  they can’t wear separate armor. In games with magic 
  items that’s a serious handicap. 
   Animated armor has a walking speed of 25 ft. for -0.5 
  BP, and a slam which deals 1d6 damage for 1.5 BP. 
   At 9.25 BP, animated armor is within our target BP 
  range of 8-10. While it has fantastic built-in defenses, it 
  lacks an ability score increase which is an important 
  part of building a character. 
  Flying Sword 
  The flying sword presents some interesting challenges 
  both to design and to play. It has no walking speed and 
  must rely entirely on its flying speed, but without the 
  ability to hover the flying sword will frequently need to 
  land or fly around in circles. I find that extremely 
  amusing, so I might just leave that in if we’re short on 
  BP. 
   The flying sword has a walking speed of 0 ft. for -3 
  BP, no hands for -2 BP, no arms for -2 BP, and can’t 
  wear armor or use shields for -4 BP. And just like that 
  we’ve gone from a problematic 8.25 BP to an equally 
  problematic -0.75 BP. 
   To match the monster entry we’ll give the flying 
  sword small size for -1 BP, a natural weapon dealing 
  1d8 damage for 2 BP, +5 natural armor for 2.5 BP, and 
  a fly speed of 50 ft. for 6 BP. Unfortunately, that leaves 
  us with little room for an ability score increase. 
   At 9 BP, the flying sword is at the top of our target 
  BP range of 8-10, but comes with a large set of 
  complications. Lacking limbs, hands, and normal means 
  of locomotion are a massive handicap in a world where 
  opposable digits are the norm. Simple tasks like 
  opening doors suddenly become massive challenges 
  for creatures like this. 
   If you need to strengthen the flying sword, give it a 
  +1 Strength or Dexterity increase, grant it the ability to 
  hover, allow it to use Dexterity for attacks (flying 
  
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  Races 
  14 
  rapier?), or allow it speak. If you need to weaken the 
  flying sword, reduce its flying speed or reduce its 
  natural armor.  
  Rug of Smothering 
  The Rug of Smothering is an interesting creature. It’s 
  only offensive option is Smother, which is a fairly 
  unique grapple mechanic when combined with 
  Damage Transfer. 
   From the monster stat block, we get 10 ft. walking 
  speed for -2 BP, no hands for -2 BP, no arms for -2 BP, 
  unable to use armor or shields for -4 BP, and +2 natural 
  armor for 1 BP. We’ll drop the rug’s size to medium to 
  keep in line with other adapted races. That brings our 
  total to -0.75 BP, presenting us with the same issue as 
  the flying sword, but with no easy pre-defined abilities 
  to lean on. 
   Since the rug of smothering is dependent on 
  grappling, we’ll give the rug a +1 Strength increase for 
  1 BP and proficiency in Athletics for 0.5 BP. We’ll scale 
  smother’s damage down to 1d8 (appropriate for the 
  size change), and call it a natural weapon for 2 BP. That 
  brings our total to 2.75 BP, leaving lots of room to 
  handle Smother’s grapple effect and Damage Transfer. 
   Allowing a player to automatically grapple on a hit is 
  a bit unfair, so we’ll take Tavern Brawler’s grapple 
  mechanic, and allow the rug to attempt a grapple as 
  bonus action after hitting with an unarmed strike. We’ll 
  abandon the part of the ability which deals damage at 
  the beginning of the target’s turn. Instead, we’ll just 
  expect that the player will continue making unarmed 
  strikes against the target. Since this duplicates a major 
  part of a feat, we’ll call it 2 BP. 
   Damage Transfer is bit harder to approximate. It’s 
  potentially a very powerful trait with a lot of abuse 
  cases. The rug’s allies could target the rug and take 
  advantage of its low AC to get easy damage on the 
  rug’s grappled foes. Granted, that’s a costly tactic since 
  the rug still takes half of the damage. We can 
  reasonably call this as much as 5 BP and still be within 
  our target range, but I’ll call it 4 BP and I think that will 
  be sufficient. 
   With the remaining BP, I’ll bump the rug’s speed up 
  to 20 ft. 10 ft. is fine for an ambush monster that sits 
  around for years at a time waiting for foes, but for a 
  player that’s a death sentence. 20 is a bit more 
  manageable, though it’s still going to be a problem. 
   At 10 BP the rug of smothering is at the top of our 
  target BP range of 8-10. The rug is a potent grappler, 
  but can’t accomplish much else effectively, including 
  simple tasks like opening doors or having a 
  conversation. If you need to strengthen the rug of 
  smothering, improve its speed or natural armor. If you 
  need to weaken the rug of smothering, reduce its 
  unarmed strike damage, reduce its natural armor, or 
  remove its Strength increase. 
  Ankheg 
  Ankhegs are giant, predatory, insect-like monstrosities 
  with potent acidic saliva. 
  Ankheg Traits 
  Ankhegs share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity. 
   Alignment. Simple creatures with no specific 
  motives, Ankhegs can be of any alignment but are 
  frequently neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. You have a 
  burrow speed of 10 ft. 
   Acid Spray. As an action, you can spit acid in a line 
  that is 30 feet long and 5 feet wide. Each creature in 
  that line must make a Dexterity saving throw. The DC 
  for this saving throw equals 8 + your Constitution 
  modifier + your proficiency bonus. A creature takes 2d6 
  acid damage on a failed save and half as much damage 
  on a successful one. The damage increases by 1d6 
  when you reach 5th level (3d6), 11th level (4d6), and 
  17th level (5d6). 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 slashing and 1d4 
  acid damage on a hit. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 12 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Tremorsense. You can detect and pinpoint the origin 
  of vibrations within 30 ft., provided that you and the 
  source of the vibrations are in contact with the same 
  ground or substance. Tremorsense can't be used to 
  detect flying or incorporeal creatures. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing an Ankheg 
  Ankhegs have a burrow speed and tremorsense which 
  makes them uniquely skilled as infiltrators and scouts. 
  As such, they make excellent rogues. However, the 
  ability to move into close quarters unnoticed can also 
  make them potent in any melee-based build. 
  
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  Races 
  15 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Ankhegs are simple creatures with easily adapted 
  abilities. Since they’re large we’ll adapt them to 
  medium size and scale down some of their numbers 
  where appropriate. 
   Ankhegs are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   Ankhegs are physically strong, so a strength increase 
  makes sense, but because the Ankheg has several 
  expensive abilities we don’t have room for an ability 
  increase. 
   From the Monster Manual entry, we get Darkvision 
  for 2 BP and a 10 ft. burrow speed for 2 BP. Because 
  we’re scaling the Ankheg down to medium size, we’ll 
  drop the 14 natural armor to 12 for 1 BP. We’ll ignore 
  the reduced armor while prone because it’s annoying 
  to track for a player and it matters so infrequently that 
  it will likely be forgotten. We’ll give the ankheg the 
  ability to speak and understand Common for 0 BP. 
   We’re at 5.5 BP and we need to tackle the ankheg’s 
  natural weapons, acid spray, and tremorsense.  
   We can approximate acid spray as a re-skinned 
  breath weapon for 1 BP. If we drop the bite damage to 
  1d4 slashing and 1d4 acid damage, we can call that 2 
  BP (roughly equivalent to 1d8 damage). We’ll drop 
  Grab because we just don’t have the BP to handle it. 
  We can drop the ankheg’s tremorsense to 30 ft. for 2 
  BP. 
   At 10.5 BP, the ankheg is slightly over the target BP 
  range. However, its natural armor is poor, and its 
  Darkvision will frequently be redundant with 
  tremorsense, so I think it’s still reasonably playable 
  without being overpowered. The lack of an ability score 
  increase is a significant drawback for players since they 
  depend on high ability scores to fuel their offensive 
  options. 
   If you need to strengthen the Ankheg, give it a +1 
  Strength increase or increase its natural armor. If you 
  need to weaken the Ankheg, change its bite damage to 
  1d6 slashing and remove the acid damage or reduce its 
  natural armor. 
   
   
   
  Azer 
  Natives of the Elemental Plane of Fire, Azers are 
  humanoid-like elementals crafted from brass and 
  imbued with living flame. 
  Azer Traits 
  Azers share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Elemental. You do not require air, 
  food, drink, or sleep. Instead, you enter a restful state, 
  remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. While 
  resting, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are 
  reflexive mental exercises inherent to your 
  consciousness. After resting in this way, you gain the 
  same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Masters of labor and industry, most 
  Azers are lawful neutral. 
   Born of Flame. You have resistance against fire 
  damage. 
   Body of Brass. You have advantage on saving throws 
  against poison, and you have resistance against poison 
  damage (explained in chapter 9 of the Player’s 
  Handbook). 
   Heated Body. When a creature makes a successful 
  melee attack against you, you may retaliate with a 
  burst of flame as a reaction. The creature must make a 
  Dexterity saving throw. It takes 2d10 fire damage on a 
  failed save, or half as much damage on a successful 
  one. The DC of this saving throw is 8 + your proficiency 
  bonus + your Constitution modifier.  
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a long rest. 
   Heated Weapon. Starting at 3rd level, as a bonus 
  action, you may heat one metal melee weapon which 
  you are currently holding. For one minute, melee 
  weapon attacks with the weapon deal an additional 
  1d6 fire damage. You must maintain concentration 
  during that time, as if you were casting a spell. If you 
  lose concentration or lose your grip on the weapon, it 
  cools quickly, returning to a normal temperature. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Illumination. You shed bright light in a 10-foot radius 
  and dim light for an additional 10 feet. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Ignan. 
  
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  Races 
  16 
  Playing an Azer 
  Azers are great melee characters, excelling as 
  Barbarians and Fighters. Their flame-themed abilities 
  give them the ability to resist and deal fire damage. 
   Azers are native to the elemental planes, so it would 
  be strange to find them on the material plane. If your 
  Azer character has fallen in with more conventional 
  races, consider reasons why your Azer may have been 
  drawn away from the planar home of your people. 
  Design Notes 
  Azers are an excellent example of converting a monster 
  race into a playable race. They’re nearly humanoid in 
  shape and behavior, but still have some crazy abilities 
  above and beyond what an elf or a human might have. 
  Since Azers look and act similarly to Dwarves, they’re a 
  great comparison. 
   Azers are of the elemental creature type, costing 1 
  BP. 
   Based on the Azer’s stat block, +2 Strength and +1 
  Constitution make sense for a total of 3 BP. In terms of 
  senses and speed, the Azer matches a normal medium 
  humanoid. We’ll grant them the ability to speak 
  Common for ease of play. 
   The complexity comes from the Azer’s special 
  abilities, of which it has several. Azers have immunity 
  to fire. I’m extremely hesitant to grant immunity to the 
  most common energy type, so let’s drop that to 
  resistance for 2 BP. Azers also have immunity to poison 
  and the poisoned condition, so we can drop that to 
  resistance by giving them Poison Resilience (similar to a 
  Dwarf) for another 1 BP. 
   We’re already at 7 BP so we don’t have a ton of 
  wiggle room left, and we need to figure out what to do 
  with Heated Body and Heated Weapons. They’re both 
  considerably too good for a player race, but they’re 
  important to the feel of the race, so we’ll need to 
  weaken them a bit. 
   Heated Body is a similar effect to the hellish rebuke 
  spell, so let’s just use that. We’ll reskin it so that it’s not 
  an actual spell so that enemies can’t counterspell your 
  flaming hair, and we’ll limit it to melee attacks, but 
  otherwise we’ll duplicate the original spell. One casting 
  per long rest costs 1 BP. 
   Heated Weapons has a similar effect to Elemental 
  Weapon. As a 3rd-level spell, that’s a very expensive BP 
  cost, and delaying such an iconic part of the race to 7th-
  level isn’t very fun. Instead, we can take some ideas 
  
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  Races 
  17 
  from Hunter’s Mark and Magic Weapon to come up 
  with something unique to approximate Heated 
  Weapons. We should require Concentration to 
  maintain the ability, and it definitely needs to be 
  limited use. We can go for a 1 hour duration and one 
  use per long rest, but I think a 1 minute duration and 
  once per short rest is comparable in utility but more 
  fun to use. Let’s call it 2 BP, since this will (hopefully) 
  be roughly as effective as Magic Weapon. We should 
  delay this trait to 3rd level since it’s similar to a spell, 
  and considerably too good to be fair at 1st level. 
  Remember that this effect doesn’t make the weapon 
  magical, so it doesn’t bypass damage resistance 
  normally bypassed by magic weapons. We’ll also 
  renamed the ability “Heated Weapon” because we’re 
  only allowing it to apply to one weapon. 
   We’ll grant Illumination for 0.25 BP. Light of this 
  scale is easy to produce, and can be turned off. In some 
  cases, Illumination is actually a handicap.  
   That leaves us at 10.25 BP, maxing out our target 
  range. The Azer has some really cool abilities, but since 
  its abilities only work in melee the Azer is also 
  completely shoehorned into a handful of classes. Of 
  course, classes like Barbarian and Fighter make a lot of 
  sense for an Azer, so I think I’m okay with that. 
   If you need to weaken the Azer a bit, remove the +1 
  to Constitution. You might also consider flipping 
  Heated Weapon’s duration between the two options I 
  discussed in the paragraph above. They should be 
  roughly equivalent in power, but the extra utility of 
  being able to activate the trait 3 times per day instead 
  of once might be a significant advantage. You might 
  also consider dropping Heated Weapon’s damage from 
  1d6 to 1d4. 
  Banshee 
  The undead spirits of female elves who used their 
  beauty to manipulate others, banshees are famous for 
  their horrifying appearance and their terrifying wail. 
  Banshee Traits 
  Banshees share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Undead. You don’t require air, food, 
  drink, or sleep. Instead, you enter a restful state, 
  remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. While 
  resting, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are 
  reflexive mental exercises inherent to your 
  consciousness. After resting in this way, you gain the 
  same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Charisma. 
   Alignment. Undead creatures cursed for their sins 
  but still plagued by vanity and greed, most banshees 
  are chaotic evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 0 ft. 
   Corrupting Touch. As an action you may make a 
  melee spell attack. This attack deals 1d8 necrotic 
  damage. This damage increases to 2d8 at 5th level, 3d8 
  at 11th level, and 4d8 at 17th level. Charisma is your 
  spellcasting ability for this attack. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Deathly Resistance. You have resistance to necrotic 
  damage. 
   Detect Life. You can magically sense the presence of 
  living creatures up to 5 miles away. You know the 
  general direction they're in but not their exact 
  locations. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet, and can 
  hover. To use this speed, you can’t be wearing medium 
  or heavy armor. 
   Sorrow Bound. You are forever bound to the place 
  of your demise, and are unable to venture more than 
  five miles from that location. 
   Wail. You can cast the Dissonant Whispers spell once 
  per day. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for this 
  spell. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Elvish. 
  Variant Banshee Traits 
  Banshees are potent flying creatures, but their traits are tied 
  to one specific interpretation of banshees. For a slightly 
  different take, consider these variant traits. These traits 
  replace the banshee’s speed, deathly resistance, flight, and 
  languages. 
   
  Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   
  Corpse Body. You have resistance to cold, necrotic, and 
  poison damage, and you have advantage on saving throws 
  against poison. 
   
  Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Common and 
  the racial language of the race you were as a mortal (if 
  different than Common). 
  Playing a Banshee 
  Banshees are angry, evil, undead spirits. They covet 
  beautiful objects commonly found while adventuring, 
  which may be motivation enough to join a party of like-
  minded characters. 
  
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  Races 
  18 
   When creating your character, consider what they 
  did in their lifetime to inflict them with the banshee’s 
  curse. A few details from the character’s life can go a 
  long way. 
   Sorrow Bound presents a particularly unique 
  challenge for players. Discuss its effects with your DM 
  before deciding to play a banshee. You might consider 
  allowing the banshee to remain within 5 miles of any 
  place where the banshee went in life. Leaving the 
  character’s life vaguely defined opens up some 
  interesting story-telling opportunities. Instead, you 
  might completely negate the effects to ease play. 
  Design Notes 
  Banshees are a classic undead creature. It’s a bit odd 
  that banshees can only come from female elves, but 
  that’s something that you can change in your games if 
  you don’t like it. The banshee has several interesting 
  abilities, some of which are shared by other 
  incorporeal undead, but many of which are unique to 
  the banshee. Like any flying, incorporeal creature they 
  present significant design challenges to balance them 
  for player use. Their mountain of resistances and 
  immunities indicate that they are clearly meant to be a 
  stand-alone boss monster, so we will need to make 
  major cuts to make them playable. 
   Banshees are undead, which costs 1 BP. 
   The Banshee’s highest ability score is Charisma, and 
  it sets the DC for Wail, so we’ll give the Banshee a +1 to 
  Charisma for 1 BP. 
   We’ll need to re-examine most of the banshee stat 
  block, but we can keep 0 ft. walking speed for -3 BP, 30 
  ft. fly speed for 4 BP (reduced from 40 ft. to save BP) 
  with hover for 2 BP, Darkvision for 2 BP, and racial 
  languages plus Common for 0 BP. 
   At a total of 7 BP already, we have very little room to 
  tackle the banshee’s remaining resistances, traits, and 
  abilities. We’ll tackle the banshee’s other traits first, 
  then return to resistances. 
   Sorrow Bound presents a particularly unique 
  challenge. How do we approximate the value of such 
  an ability with no knowledge of the campaign? In a 
  campaigned centered on one city, a 5-mile radius is 
  fine. In a campaign featuring any sort of travel, that 
  invalidates the character. I’ll include it as part of the 
  banshee traits, but we’ll call it 0 BP and expect that it 
  will probably be ignored, house-ruled, or irrelevant in 
  most campaigns. 
   Detect Life is powerful, but also very imprecise. It’s 
  great for undead trying to murder every living thing in 
  range, but beyond that it’s mostly useless. We might 
  be able to approximate it by looking at some spells, but 
  it’s like a bad Detect X effect with the scale of 
  Commune with Nature. This isn’t something that you 
  can use to determine information which wouldn’t be 
  easily achievable by other means, so we’ll call it 0.5 BP. 
   Incorporeal Movement is out. Etherealness is the 
  closest player option, and it’s an extremely high-level 
  spell for a very good reason. The ability to pass through 
  barriers is simply too good to leave to players without 
  extremely powerful magic. 
   Corrupting Touch is very similar to the chill touch 
  cantrip, but works in melee. We’ll modify chill touch 
  and call it 0.25 BP.  
   Horrifying Visage can best be compared to the fear 
  spell. Already a 3rd-level spell, horrifying visage is 
  constant and omnidirectional, making it far outside the 
  reach of a playable race. Our best bet is to look at low-
  level enchantment/illusion spells that might have a 
  similar effect. The dissonant whispers spell 
  immediately drew my attention, especially since its 
  damage matches the damage dealt when creatures 
  succeed on their saving throw against Wail. 
   Wail is an AOE death effect. Spells with similar 
  effects are extremely high level, so it’s clearly too good 
  for a player race. We can use the dissonant whispers 
  spell to combine the effects of Horrifying Visage and 
  Wail. A 1st-level spell once per day for 1 BP is fine, but 
  we lose the ability to affect multiple targets. We’ll 
  allow the Banshee to cast this at 1st level (two levels 
  earlier than normal) for 0.25 BP. 
   At 8 BP, we still need to tackle the banshee’s other 
  resistances and immunities. The Monster Manual 
  banshee is resistant to three major energy types and 
  nonmagical weapon damage. That’s too good, so we’ll 
  dump it all. They’re also immune to cold and necrotic 
  damage, to poison, and to a handful of conditions, 
  some of which come from being incorporeal. Since we 
  dropped incorporeal form, many of those immunities 
  go away. We don’t have much BP left, so we’ll take 
  resistance to necrotic damage for 2 BP. 
   At 10 BP, the banshee tops out our target BP range 
  of 8-10 BP. With a charisma bonus, flight, and some 
  innate spellcasting the banshee will make a fantastic 
  sorcerer or warlock but not much else. If you need to 
  strengthen the banshee, give it poison resilience. If you 
  need to weaken the banshee, remove Corrupting 
  Touch. 
   If you want to significantly alter the banshee, 
  remove the association with female elves, and replace 
  elven with one other language spoken by a player race. 
  You can also replace flight with a 30 ft. walking speed, 
  
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  Races 
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  opening up 3 BP which you can spend on resistance to 
  cold damage and poison resilience, making the 
  banshee more durable but less mobile. In fact, I like 
  that suggestion so much that I’ll present it as a variant! 
  Basilisks 
  Multi-legged reptilian creatures with a paralyzing gaze. 
  Basilisk Traits 
  Basilisks share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity. 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Simple beasts, basilisks can be of any 
  alignment but are typically neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 slashing damage 
  on a hit. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 15 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Petrifying Gaze. As an action, you can attempt to 
  petrify a creature with your gaze. The target must be 
  within 30 ft. and you must be able to see each other. 
  Creatures whose bodies are not made of flesh, such as 
  constructs, are immune to this effect, as are creatures 
  immune to paralysis. The target creature must make a 
  Constitution saving throw. The DC for this saving throw 
  is 8 + your Constitution modifier + your proficiency 
  bonus. 
   On a failed save, the creature begins to turn to 
  stone. They are treated as having 1 level of exhaustion. 
  The creature must repeat this saving throw at the end 
  of each of its turns. On a failed saving throw, the 
  creature is treated as gaining an additional level of 
  exhaustion. If the creature fails 6 saving throws, it is 
  petrified until freed by greater restoration or similar 
  magic. On a successful saving throw, the creature 
  resists the effect, and is treated as having one less level 
  of exhaustion. The creature is treated as having one 
  less level of exhaustion each round until they are 
  treated as having 0 levels of exhaustion. Creatures 
  immune to exhaustion are not immune to this effect, 
  and any actual levels of exhaustion do not stack with 
  this effect. 
   This effect lasts up to one minute. You must 
  maintain concentration during that time, as if you were 
  casting a spell. If you lose concentration, the creature is 
  treated as having no levels of exhaustion from this 
  effect and immediately returns to normal. If the 
  creature becomes petrified by this effect, the effects 
  are permanent and you no longer need to concentrate. 
   A creature that is not surprised may avert its eyes 
  from you as a reaction, which makes it immune to this 
  ability. If it does so, it cannot see you until the 
  beginning of its next turn.  
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Basilisk 
  Basilisks are durable, and have great built-in armor. 
  They can still wear armor, so consider buying some if 
  your AC is poor. You can’t use shields or weapons, but 
  your bite is as strong as a longsword. The basilisk’s 
  biggest draw is its petrifying gaze. While extremely 
  potent, it can also be troublesome to track. Be sure to 
  help your DM keep track of the effects. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  The Basilisk’s biggest ability is their petrifying gaze. 
  When players face a basilisk, this is an amusing 
  mechanic which the party must adequately prepare 
  themselves to counter or risk petrification. Bringing 
  this into a party is massively unfair, so we’ll need to 
  adjust the basilisk to fit into a party of players. 
   Basilisks are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   The Monster Manual entry lists high Strength and 
  Constitution, so we’ll give the basilisk +1 to each for 2 
  BP. 
   From the basilisk’s stat block, we get 25 ft. walking 
  speed for -0.5 BP (increased from 20 ft.) and Darkvision 
  for 2 BP. Basilisks have no hands for -2 BP. +5 natural 
  armor is a lot, but since they can’t use shields or 
  weapons it’s essentially light armor, so we’ll grant it for 
  2.5 BP. We’ll grant the basilisk the ability to speak 
  
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  Races 
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  Common for 0 BP so that they can easily fit into a 
  party. 
   The basilisk’s bite deals an absurd amount of 
  damage, especially for a creature of its size, so we’ll 
  change it to deal 1d8 damage for 2 BP. 
   Petrifying Gaze requires a delicate touch. Since the 
  basilisk doesn’t have a ton of exciting abilities yet, I 
  want this to be an ability that they can use frequently 
  without breaking the game. The spell equivalent is the 
  flesh to stone spell, but as a 6th-level spell it’s far too 
  powerful without some considerabe modifications. I 
  also don’t want to grant an effect at 1st level which can 
  end a fight in a single roll.  
   A sort of “death spiral” effect seems appropriate. 
  The original ability and the flesh to stone spell both 
  start the target at restrained, then move to petrified 
  after a few bad saves. This is fine for a high-level spell 
  or for an ability used by a slow-moving melee monster, 
  but in a party which might have one or more ranged 
  attackers the ability to restrain foes can instantly win a 
  fight. We’ll need a similar, but less powerful effect. 
   While paging around and examining conditions and 
  spell effects, I stumbled past the Exhaustion sidebar. 
  Exhaustion represents the creature becoming gradually 
  more exhausted, and their movements slowing and 
  eventually stopping. This is exactly the sort of effect 
  I’m looking for, so I’ll outright steal most of it. Walking 
  out of range doesn’t seem to affect the ongoing effects 
  of the original ability, so we don’t have to change 
  anything to maintain the effect on enemies attempting 
  to flee. Death at stage 6 will be replaced with 
  petrification. 
   I’ll allow petrifying gaze to recharge on a short rest, 
  and move the target along the exhaustion track one 
  step per failed save. To balance the usage frequency, 
  I’ll make it a single-target effect with a 30 ft. range and 
  it will require Concentration. We’ll call this 4 BP. 
   I realize that this effect is very complicated. 
  Hopefully it’s not too much of a nightmare at the table, 
  but I can think of plenty of spells which are just as 
  problematic. 
   At 10.5 BP, the Basilisk tops out our target BP range 
  of 8-10. With built-in armor and a good natural 
  weapon, the basilisk resembles a fighter wielding a 
  longsword and a shield, and wearing light armor. If you 
  want to strengthen the basilisk, increase its natural 
  armor, or make Petrifying gaze start targets at two 
  levels of fatigue instead of one. To weaken the basilisk, 
  reduce its natural armor, reduce its bite damage, or 
  limit petrifying gaze to once per day. 
  Behirs 
  Behirs are serpentine creatures originally created by 
  giants to battle dragons. 
  Behir Traits 
  Behirs share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity. 
   Alignment. Descended from the creations of evil 
  giants, most Behirs are neutral evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. You have a 
  climb speed of 30 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 slashing damage 
  on a hit. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Constrict. When you take the Attack action and 
  make an unarmed strike, you can use a bonus action to 
  initiate a grapple with the target of your successful 
  unarmed strike. You may grapple even though you 
  have no hands. 
   Lightning Breath. As an action, you can breathe 
  lightning in a line that is 30 feet long and 5 feet wide. 
  Each creature in that line must make a Dexterity saving 
  throw. The DC for this saving throw equals 8 + your 
  Constitution modifier + your proficiency bonus. A 
  creature takes 2d6 lightning damage on a failed save 
  and half as much damage on a successful one. The 
  damage increases by 1d6 when you reach 5th level 
  (3d6), 11th level (4d6), and 17th level (5d6). 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Draconic. 
  Playing a Behir 
  Behirs are grapple monsters with a climb speed, which 
  allows them to easily get into melee range in many 
  environments, including caves and dungeons. They lack 
  an ability score increase, which can make them difficult 
  to play. 
  
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  Races 
  21 
  Design Notes 
  Behirs are high-CR monsters with several very potent 
  abilities. Their traits will need to be scaled down to 
  account for dropping their huge size to medium. We’ll 
  keep the big pieces, but the numbers will be mostly 
  inspiration. 
   Behirs are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but offering 
  no specific traits. 
   Behirs are snake-like in shape and immensely strong, 
  but much of that strength comes from their immense 
  size. A Strength increase would still make sense, but 
  with all of the behir’s other abilities we don’t have 
  room for one. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  huge), 30 ft. speed (down from 50 ft.), a climb speed of 
  30 ft. for 2 BP (down from 40 ft.), Darkvision for 2 BP, 
  +3 natural armor for 1.5 BP (down from +7), and only 
  racial languages for -1 BP. Behirs have limbs, but have 
  no hands for -2 BP. 
   We can give the behir a breath weapon for 1 BP, 
  Grab for 2 BP, and a 1d8 bite for 2 BP. That leaves us 
  just enough room for lightning resistance. 
   At 10 BP, the behir tops out our target BP range of 8-
  10 BP. If you want to strengthen the behir, grant it a +1 
  Strength increase. If you want to weaken the behir, 
  reduce its climb speed or natural armor. 
  Beholders 
  Floating balls of magical eyeball terror, beholders are 
  among the most iconic monsters in Dungeons and 
  Dragons.  
  Beholder Traits 
  Beholders share the following racial traits. 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Intelligence. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 0 ft. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Deep 
  Speech and Undercommon 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 piercing damage 
  on a hit. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 12 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Subrace. Choose one of these subraces. You gain the 
  traits listed under your chosen subrace in addition to 
  those listed above. 
  Eye Tyrant 
   Creature Type. Aberration. 
   Alignment. Tyrannical, insane, and absolutely evil, 
  most eye tyrants are lawful evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Antimagic Cone. Once per day when a creature that 
  you can see within 60 ft. attempts to cast a spell, you 
  may use your reaction to attempt to negate the spell. 
  Make an Intelligence check. The DC equals 10 + the 
  spell's level. On a success, the creature's spell fails and 
  has no effect. 
   Eye Rays. You know the chill touch, eldritch blast, 
  friends, and mage hand cantrips. You may cast spells as 
  though you were using a magic focus, even if you are 
  not doing so. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for 
  these spells. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 20 feet, and can 
  hover. To use this speed, you can’t be wearing medium 
  or heavy armor. You are immune to the prone 
  condition. 
  Death Tyrant 
   Creature Type. Undead. You don’t require air, food, 
  drink, or sleep. Instead, you enter a restful state, 
  remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. While 
  resting, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are 
  reflexive mental exercises inherent to your 
  consciousness. After resting in this way, you gain the 
  same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Alignment. No better in death than they were in life, 
  most death tyrants are lawful evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Eye Rays. You know the chill touch, eldritch blast, 
  friends, and mage hand cantrips. You may cast spells as 
  though you were using a magic focus, even if you are 
  not doing so. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for 
  these spells. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 20 feet, and can 
  hover. To use this speed, you can’t be wearing medium 
  or heavy armor. You are immune to the prone 
  condition. 
   Negative Energy Cone. Your central eye emits an 
  invisible, magic 60-foot cone of negative energy. At the 
  start of each of your turns, you decide which way the 
  cone faces and whether the cone is active. 
   Any creature in that area can’t regain hit points 
  without first passing a Constitution saving throw. The 
  
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  Races 
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  DC equals 8 + your Intelligence modifier + your 
  proficiency bonus. 
   Poison Immunity. You are immune to poison 
  damage, and immune to the poisoned condition. 
  Spectator 
   Creature Type. Aberration. 
   Alignment. Not as evil as their larger cousins, and 
  more prone to obedience to their summoner, most 
  specators are lawful neutral. 
   Size. Your size is small. 
   Eye Rays. You know the chill touch and mage hand 
  cantrips. You may cast spells as though you were using 
  a magic focus, even if you are not doing so. Intelligence 
  is your spellcasting ability for these spells. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet, and can 
  hover. To use this speed, you can’t be wearing medium 
  or heavy armor. You are immune to the prone 
  condition. 
   Spell Reflection. If you have advantage on a saving 
  throw against a spell, or if the spellcaster has 
  disadvantage on a spell attack roll to hit you with the 
  spell, you may disregard that effect to attempt to 
  reflect the spell. If you succeed on the saving throw to 
  resist the spell, or if the spell attack roll misses you, 
  you can choose another creature (including the 
  spellcaster) which you can see within 30 feet of you. 
  The spell targets the chosen creature instead of you. If 
  the spell forced a saving throw, the chosen creature 
  makes its own save. If the spell was an attack, the 
  attack roll is rerolled against the chosen creature. 
  Playing a Beholder 
  All three beholders make fantastic wizards. Their 
  Intelligence increases and flight are ideal, and their 
  bonus cantrips open up other options for you to 
  choose from. 
   All three beholders are slightly different. Eye tyrants 
  are a good all-around option. They’re not very fast, but 
  they have a good range of innate spells, and Antimagic 
  Cone is a great utility option. Death tyrants are more 
  durable than eye tyrants, but their negative energy 
  cone is less impactful than Antimagic Cone. The 
  Spectator is faster than both, and has fewer eye ray 
  cantrips, but Spell Reflection is a powerful (if risky) 
  option when facing enemy spellcasters. 
  Design Notes 
  Beholders are one of my favorite monsters, and I’m 
  very excited to tackle designing them as a playable 
  race. They have a mountain of abilities, most of which 
  we will need to weaken or ignore. The three different 
  types of beholders also present some interesting 
  variations which I really want to emphasize. 
   The three types of beholders share some common 
  traits that we can retain. We’ll weaken several of them 
  to conserve BP.  
   Beholders are extremely intelligent and devious, so 
  we’ll give them all a +1 Intelligence increase for 1 BP. 
   We’ll give all three Darkvision for 2 BP, +2 natural 
  armor for 1 BP, racial languages plus Common 
  (Undercommon in this case) for 0 BP, no hands for -2 
  BP, and a 1d6 bite for 1.5 BP. None of them have a 
  walking speed (-3 BP), but they can all fly (at varying 
  speeds), and can hover for 2 BP. They are all immune 
  to the prone condition for 0.5 BP. 
   Since beholders don’t have hands but are basically 
  tailor-made to be wizards, we’ll allow them to cast 
  spells as though they were using a focus for 0.25 BP. 
   That starts each subrace at 3.25 BP before we break 
  off to examine each of them individually. 
  Eye Tyrant 
  The most iconic and well-known type of beholder, the 
  eye tyrant is famous for its anti-magic central eye and 
  its array of magical eye rays. 
   Eye tyrants are aberrations, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   The eye tyrant is slow for a flyer, with a flight speed 
  of just 20 ft. for 3 BP, and medium size, bringing our 
  running total to 6.5 BP. 
   The eye tyrant’s eye ray is obviously too good to 
  grant unmodified, but the theme is too important to 
  ignore. It should do something to hamper spellcasting 
  in a cone in front of the eye tyrant, but it shouldn’t 
  outright negate it. We could do something similar to 
  Magic Resistance and provide advantage to resist 
  spells, but I don’t think that’s quite what we want. 
  Counterspell is closer, but it’s a 3rd-level spell, so we’ll 
  need to weaken it. 
   If we drop the auto-success against 1st-level through 
  3rd-level spells, I think that makes it reasonable to call 2 
  BP if we allow it once per day. 
   With the central eye tackled, we need to do 
  something about the eye tyrant’s eye stalks. We’re 
  already at 8.75 BP, so cantrips are really the only things 
  that we can still afford. Eye tyrants get 10 rays, but we 
  can’t come close to approximating all of them, so we’ll 
  just pick 4 cantrips to cover the major use cases. 
   Friends will approximate the charm ray. Mage hand 
  will approximate the telekinetic ray. Chill touch will 
  approximate the enervation ray and the death ray. 
  Eldritch blast will approximate the disintegration ray. 
  
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  Races 
  23 
  At 1 BP, that’s a pile of great options that any 
  spellcaster can enjoy. 
   At 9.75 BP, the eye tyrant is within our target BP 
  range of 8-10. If you want to strengthen the beholder, 
  add additional cantrips, or proficiency in Perception. If 
  you want to weaken the eye tyrant, remove its natural 
  armor. 
  Death Tyrant 
  Death tyrants are undead eye tyrants, and are similar 
  in many ways. The biggest changes are their undead 
  traits and the change to the effect of their central eye. 
   Death tyrants are undead, costing 1 BP. 
   The eye tyrant is slow for a flyer, with a flight speed 
  of just 20 ft. for 3 BP, and medium size. We’ll add 
  poison immunity for 2 BP, but we’ll drop the death 
  tyrant’s other immunities to conserve BP. 
   That brings us up to 9.25 BP, and we haven’t tackled 
  the negative energy cone of the death tyrant’s eye 
  rays. 
   With so little BP left to spend, negative energy cone 
  needs to be a really weak effect. Automatically raising 
  zombies is a nightmare for a DM, so we’ll drop that. 
  The healing prevention is pointless for almost 
  everything in the Monster Manual except trolls and 
  NPCs, so we’ll keep that bit. Chill touch applies a similar 
  effect anyway, and if a cantrip can do it than it’s clearly 
  not a huge problem. Granted, chill touch allows a 
  saving throw, so we’ll allow creatures to make a saving 
  throw each time they attempt to heal. We’ll call that 
  0.5 BP, but honestly that might be too high for such a 
  situational ability. 
   We’ll duplicate the eye tyrant’s cantrips to keep the 
  theming consistent. 
   At 10.75 BP, the death tyrant is just over our target 
  BP range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the 
  death tyrant, add additional cantrips, or proficiency in 
  Perception. If you want to weaken the death tyrant, 
  remove its natural armor, reduce its poison immunity 
  to poison resilience, or remove the negative energy 
  cone ability. 
  Spectator 
  A weird miniature version of eye tyrants, spectators 
  are marginally less evil and crazy, and have weaker 
  magic, but are faster and more self-sufficient. 
   Spectators are aberrations, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   The Spectator is the fastest of the beholders, with a 
  fly speed of 30 ft. for 4 BP, but they’re also small for -1 
  BP. That leaves us at 6.5 BP before we tackle the 
  Spectator‘s eye rays and Spell Reflection. 
   Spell Reflection is extremely powerful. The ability to 
  redirect spells is something that looks good on a solo 
  monster, but on a player is a huge problem. In 3.5 the 
  spell turning spell was very high level for exactly this 
  reason. We’ll need to do something clever. 
   I want spell reflection to be a big deal when it comes 
  into play, but I also want it to cost something. We’ll 
  allow the Spectator to sacrifice advantage on a saving 
  throw vs. a spell to trigger it. Then, if they succeed, 
  they can redirect the spell as described in the ability’s 
  original description. We’ll call that 2 BP, but it’s hard to 
  evaluate something so unique. 
   Spectators have fewer eye stalks (and fewer rays) 
  than true beholders. It’s hard to approximate anything 
  but the wounding ray as a cantrip, so we’ll grant chill 
  touch and mage hand to give the Spectator an 
  offensive option and a utility option for 0.5 BP. 
   At 9.25 BP, the Spectator is within our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. The Spectator has less magical options than 
  the eye tyrant, but it’s faster and has a potent (if risky) 
  ability in Spell Reflection. If you want to strengthen the 
  Spectator, add additional cantrips or proficiency in 
  Perception. If you want to weaken the Spectator, 
  remove its natural armor. 
  Blights 
  Blights are sentient, bloodthirsty plants, spawned from 
  evil trees carrying the curse of an ancient vampire. 
  Blight Traits 
  Blights share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Plant. 
   Alignment. Evil plants with a taste for blood, most 
  blights are neutral evil. 
   Blind Senses. You have no eyes, and are blind (and 
  therefore immune to the Blinded condition). You have 
  blindsight 60 ft. 
   Subrace. Choose one of these subraces. You gain the 
  traits listed under your chosen subrace in addition to 
  those listed above. 
  Needle Blight 
   Ability Score Increase. One ability score of your 
  choice increases by 1. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Can’t Speak. You are unable to speak, but are still 
  able to read, write, and understand any languages 
  which you know. You are unable to perform verbal 
  spell components. 
  
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  Races 
  24 
   Claws. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 slashing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 12 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Needles. You may fire stiff, coniferous needles from 
  your body as a ranged weapon attack. This attack has 
  30/60 range, and deals 1d8 piercing damage on a hit. 
   Languages. You can understand, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Twig Blight 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity, +1 Constitution. 
   Size. Your size is small. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 ft. 
   Can’t Speak. You are unable to speak, but are still 
  able to read, write, and understand any languages 
  which you know. You are unable to perform verbal 
  spell components. 
   Claws. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 slashing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Dry Body. You are vulnerable to fire damage. 
   False Appearance. While motionless, you appear 
  indistinguishable from a dead shrub. You must spend 
  one minute motionless before this ability takes effect. 
  You must maintain concentration during that time, as if 
  you were casting a spell. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Stealthy. You have proficiency in the Stealth skill. 
   Languages. You can understand, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Vine Blight 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 ft. 
   Constrict. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 
  bludgeoning damage on a hit. When you take the 
  Attack action and make an unarmed strike, you can use 
  a bonus action to initiate a grapple with the target of 
  your successful unarmed strike. 
   Entangling Plants. As an action, you can cause 
  grasping roots and vines to sprout in a 15-foot radius 
  center on you. For the duration, that area is difficult 
  terrain for non-plant creatures. In addition, each 
  creature in that area when the plants appear must 
  succeed on a Strength saving throw or become 
  restrained. A creature can use its action to make a 
  Strength check, freeing itself or another entangled 
  creature within reach on a success. The DC for the save 
  and for the check is 8 + your Constitution bonus + your 
  proficiency bonus. 
   This effect lasts up to one minute. You must 
  maintain concentration during that time, as if you were 
  casting a spell. If you lose concentration, the effect 
  ends immediately, and the plants wither away to 
  nothing. 
   After you use Entangling Plants, you can't use it 
  again until you complete a short or long rest. 
   False Appearance. While motionless, you appear 
  indistinguishable from a cluster of vines. You must 
  spend one minute motionless before this ability takes 
  effect. You must maintain concentration during that 
  time, as if you were casting a spell. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 12 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Blight 
  Blights are a diverse bunch of plant creatures, each 
  with unique abilities. 
   Needle blights are great all-around characters with a 
  flexible ability increase and great natural weapons that 
  work in melee and at range. They work well for many 
  classes. 
   Twig blights are sneaky and have good natural 
  armor, and their blindsight makes them very effective 
  in darkness or in other vision-obscuring conditions. 
  They make especially good rogues. 
   Vine blights are melee monsters with two effects 
  which make it difficult for enemies to escape. As such, 
  they do well as any class which fights in melee. They 
  are also the only blight capable of speech. 
  Design Notes 
  Blights are a trio of interesting, unique plant creatures. 
  They resemble humanoids in shape, and are similar 
  enough that they can be easily interpreted as a 
  playable race. 
   Blights are plants, costing 0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   The three subraces of blights have only a few specific 
  abilities in common, but what they do share is 
  important. All three are blind for -4 BP, but have 60 ft. 
  blindsight for 9 BP. They are also immune to deafened 
  for 0.5 BP. That places our total BP at 6 before we 
  examine individual subraces. 
   The rest of each blight subrace’s traits are unique 
  enough that we will need to consider each subrace 
  individually. 
  
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  Races 
  25 
  Needle Blight 
  Needle blights are the humans of blights. They have no 
  especially good abilities. They’re just sort of… generic. 
   With no particularly high abilities, it’s hard to say 
  what to give the needle blight for an ability increase, so 
  I’ll give them a flexible +1 for 1.5 BP. 
   From their stat block, we get +2 natural armor for 1 
  BP and a 1d8 natural weapon for 2 BP, and no ability to 
  speak for -1 BP. 
   The needle blight’s Needles ability does more 
  damage than its claws, and can be used at range. I’m 
  extremely hesitant to provide a 1d10 ranged weapon 
  with no draw backs, so we’ll drop it to 1d8 damage. 
  We’re already paying 2 BP for a 1d8 natural weapon, so 
  I’ll allow Needles to be used at range for an additional 
  0.5 BP. 
   At exactly 10 BP, the Needle Blight tops out our 
  target BP range of 8-10. Even then, it’s not as powerful 
  as other races with 10 BP. Its natural armor is poor, 
  and will likely be overridden by actual armor. Its 
  natural weapons are on par with a longsword, which is 
  nice but not particularly important since blights can use 
  weapons. The needle blight’s biggest draw is its 
  Needles ability and its flexible ability increase. 
   If you want to strengthen the needle blight, improve 
  its natural armor. If you want to weaken the needle 
  blight, reduce its Claws and/or Needles damage. 
  Twig Blight 
  Twig blights are the halflings of blights. They are small, 
  and they are more nimble and stealthy than other 
  blights. They have better natural armor, but they’re 
  also vulnerable to fire. 
   Twig blights’ only passable ability scores are 
  Dexterity and Constitution, so we’ll give them a +1 to 
  each for 2 BP. 
   From their stat block, we get small size for -1 BP, +3 
  natural armor for 1.5 BP, 25 ft. walking speed 
  (increased from 20), fire vulnerability for -1 BP, inability 
  to speak for -1 BP, claws that deal 1d4 damage for 1 
  BP, and False Appearance for 0.5 BP.  
   Since it doesn’t have much going for it, we’ll throw in 
  Stealth proficiency for 0.5 BP. 
   At 7.5 BP, the twig blight is slightly below our target 
  BP range of 8-10. However, blindsight offers an 
  especially potent option for stealthy characters, and 
  coupled with its ability increases I think that the twig 
  blight is plenty playable. If you want to strengthen the 
  twig blight, increase its Dexterity increase to +2. If you 
  want to weaken the twig blight, reduce its natural 
  armor. 
  Vine Blight 
  Vine blights are the most challenging blights to design. 
  The monster entry makes them slow-moving ambush 
  predators, which really doesn’t work for a player race. 
  We’ll need to make some adjustments. 
   Vine blights are slow-moving brutes, so we’ll give 
  them a +1 to Strength for 1 BP. A Constitution increase 
  would also make sense too, but we need to conserve 
  BP for other traits. 
   From their stat block, we get +2 natural armor for 1 
  BP, 20 ft. walking speed for -1 BP (increased from 10 
  ft.), the ability to speak Common for 0 BP, and False 
  Appearance for 0.5 BP.  
   We’re at 7.5 BP and still need to tackle Constrict and 
  Entangling Plants. A 1d8 natural weapon with Grab 
  would work for Constrict, but would also consume a lot 
  of our remaining BP, and I really want to do something 
  cool with Entangling Plants because it’s such a fun 
  ability. We’ll drop Constrict to 1d6 damage for 1.5 BP, 
  and add Grab for an extra 0.5 BP. This will mean that 
  many players will rely primarily on a weapon, but might 
  keep an open hand for when they want to grapple. 
   Entangling plants should be a major part of the Vine 
  Blight’s tactics, so I want it to be a short rest recharge. 
  The spell entangle is the closest spell effect, and a 1st-
  level spell is only 1 BP. A short rest recharge for a 1st-
  level spell is 2.5 BP total, but entangle has some 
  advantages over Entangling Plants. Entangle has better 
  range and a bigger AOE, both of which are considerable 
  improvements.  
   I think that sticking to Entangling Plant’s 15-foot 
  radius, and centering it on the user is enough to drop 
  the BP cost a bit. If we add a concentration 
  requirement, I think it’s even fair to allow plant 
  creatures to ignore the effect. We’ll drop the ability to 
  select creatures to omit from the effect, as that would 
  make it too easy for players to abuse. We’ll call this 2 
  BP, but 1.5 BP might be more accurate. 
   At 11.5 BP, the vine blight exceeds our target BP 
  range. Their abilities are a bit crazy, but they’re great at 
  holding foes in place. If you want to strengthen the 
  vine blight, add a +1 Constitution, increase the 
  constrict damage to 1d8, or improve the vine blight’s 
  natural armor. If you want to weaken the vine blight, 
  remove the natural armor, or reduce the constrict 
  damage. 
   
   
   
   
  
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  Races 
  26 
  Bugbears 
  A race of violent, uncivilized humanoids, bugbears are 
  the largest of the goblinoid races. Even more than their 
  cousins, Bugbears crave violence and mayhem. 
  Bugbear Traits 
  Bugbears share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Humanoid (goblinoid). 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Drawn to violence and reluctant to 
  follow orders, bugbears are nearly always Chaotic Evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Stealthy. You have proficiency in the Stealth skill. 
   Savage Attacks. When you score a critical hit with a 
  melee weapon attack, you can roll one of the weapon's 
  damage dice one additional time and add it to the 
  extra damage of the critical hit. 
   Surprise Attack. If you surprise a creature and hit it 
  with an attack during the first round of combat, the 
  target takes an extra 1d6 damage from the attack. You 
  can use this trait only once per combat. 
   This damage increases to 2d6 at 5th level, 3d6 at 11th 
  level, and 4d6 at 17th level. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Goblin. 
  Playing a Bugbear 
  Bugbears are mechanically very similar to half-orcs: 
  they have the same ability score increases, both have 
  Darkvision, and both have Savage Attacks. However, 
  the two race’s racial skills and the difference between 
  Surprise Attack and Relentless Endurance set the two 
  apart. Where the Half-orc is an intimidating brute, the 
  Bugbear is a muscular ambush predator. 
   Like many uncivilized humanoid races, Bugbears are 
  chaotic and violent, rarely submitting to authority 
  unless doing so allows them greater opportunity for 
  violence. As such, you may have trouble fitting into 
  non-evil parties. 
  Design Notes 
  Bugbears are the big brutes of the goblinoid races. 
  Their monster stat blocks emphasize their physical 
  ability scores almost exclusively. A +2 bonus to 
  Strength is a given, and a +1 to Constitution seems 
  likely too. That costs 3 BP total. 
   Comparing the three types of Goblinoids, we can see 
  that they all have proficiency in Stealth, which seems 
  like a nice component to share between the three 
  races’ traits. 0.5 BP for a fixed skill proficiency. 
   Bugbears have two iconic abilities: Brute, and 
  Surprise Attack. Both are considerably too powerful for 
  player characters, especially at low levels, so we’ll need 
  to adjust them a bit. 
   Brute is the reason that the beginner box uses a 
  bugbear as a low-level boss. It’s too powerful for a 
  player at any level (imagine a high-level fighter with a 
  greataxe), so we need something less insane. The 
  theme of adding additional weapon damage dice is 
  cool, and fortunately half-orcs introduce the Savage 
  Attacks ability, which has a similar feel but only applies 
  to critical hits. That costs 0.5 BP, leaving us plenty to 
  play with. 
   Surprise Attack presents a similar problem to the 
  goblin’s Nimble Escape ability, in that it steals part of a 
  Rogue’s ability set. Even if it only applies during the 
  first round of combat, Surprise Attack is simply too 
  powerful to grant to a low-level character. Imagine a 
  bugbear rogue (or any bugbear with a greatsword) 
  dealing 4d6 damage in the first round of every combat! 
   If we drop the damage to 1d6, and scale it by +1d6 at 
  5th level, 11th level, and 17th level (the same level that 
  cantrips scale) it will continue to be a useful tactical 
  option without being terribly overpowered. We’ll also 
  limit the usage to once per combat to prevent things 
  like Extra Attack from making it too powerful. Let’s call 
  
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  Races 
  27 
  it 1 BP. The total damage output may be similar to the 
  Dragonborn’s breath weapon, which also costs 1 BP.  
   From the stat block, we get medium size, 30 ft. 
  speed, Darkvision for another 2 BP, and standard racial 
  language plus Common.  
   At 8 BP, the Bugbear is at the bottom of our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the 
  Bugbear, increase its Constitution score. If you want to 
  weaken the Bugbear, reduce the damage die of 
  Surprise Attack to d4. 
  Bulettes 
  Vicious predators often called “land sharks”, bulettes 
  are ambush predators capable of burrowing at 
  incredible speed and leaping incredible distances. 
  Bulette Traits 
  Bulettes share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity. 
   Alignment. Motivated by little more than hunger, 
  bulettes are usually neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft., and you 
  have a burrow speed of 30 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 slashing damage 
  on a hit. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Deadly Leap. If you jump at least 15 feet as part of 
  your movement, as an action you can then choose to 
  land on your feet in a space that contains another 
  creature of your size or smaller. As part of this action, 
  make a single unarmed strike against that target. If you 
  miss, you end your movement in an unoccupied space 
  of your choice adjacent to the target creature. If your 
  attack hits, the creature must make a Strength or 
  Dexterity saving throw (target’s choice) or take damage 
  equal to your unarmed strike damage and be knocked 
  prone. On a successful save, the creature takes only 
  half damage, isn’t knocked prone, and is pushed 5 feet 
  out of your space into an unoccupied space of the 
  creature’s choice. If no unoccupied space is within 
  range, the creature instead falls prone in your space. 
  The DC of this saving throw is 8 + your proficiency 
  bonus + your Strength modifier. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Tremorsense. You can detect and pinpoint the origin 
  of vibrations within 30 ft., provided that you and the 
  source of the vibrations are in contact with the same 
  ground or substance. Tremorsense can't be used to 
  detect flying or incorporeal creatures. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Bulette 
  Bulettes are chargers. Their Deadly Leap ability coupled 
  with Standing Leap allows them to quickly move into 
  melee range, even if the target is behind obstacles. Use 
  deadly leap to knock foes prone before tearing into 
  them with your bite attack. Your burrow speed and 
  tremorsense allow you to scout many places unseen, 
  and make you adept at surprising foes. Bulettes don’t 
  have hands so they have trouble playing spellcasters, 
  but they work great as Barbarians, Fighters, and 
  Monks. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Bulettes are fun creatures. Their Deadly Leap ability is a 
  great way for bulettes to jump into the middle of a 
  party and mix things up. In previous editions the 
  bulette was famous for disrupting parties which were 
  normally accustomed to fighting in strict formation. 
  Mechanically, the bulette is mostly straightforward. 
  We’ll need to adjust its size down to medium, and 
  Deadly Leap is an interesting challenge. 
   Bulettes are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   After adjusting their abilities to account for size, 
  Strength and Constitution are still the bulette’s highest 
  ability scores. Increases to both would make sense, but 
  the bulette has too many abilities to spend BP on 
  ability score increases. 
   From the monster entry, we get medium size (down 
  from large), +3 natural armor (down from +7) for 1.5 
  BP, 30 ft. walking speed (down from 40), 20 ft. burrow 
  speed (down from 40) for 3 BP, Darkvision for 2 BP, 
  and tremorsense 30 ft. (down from 60 ft.) for 2 BP. 
  Bulettes have no hands for -2 BP, and Standing Leap for 
  0.5 BP. We’ll grant bulettes the ability to speak 
  Common for 0 BP. 
  
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  Races 
  28 
   Adjusting their bite down to a fair range, a 1d8 
  natural weapon costs 2 BP. 
   That brings us to 9.5 BP. I’ve already made major 
  cuts to the Bulette. Their natural armor is very thin, 
  their burrow speed is slow, and their tremorsense 
  range is small. We still need to tackle Deadly Leap and 
  we’re already very short on BP. We’ll need to make the 
  ability really weak to justify adding anything else. 
   To limit the effects of Deadly Leap, we’ll make some 
  adjustments to the ability as written. It will only affect 
  creatures on the bulette’s size or smaller. We’ll keep it 
  as an action, and allow the bulette to make a single 
  unarmed strike as part of the action. On a hit, we’ll 
  then allow the target to make a saving throw to resist 
  being knocked prone. This is still potentially a very 
  strong ability, but since it requires movement which 
  might not always be a safe option, it’s not much better 
  than using Shove to knock a creature prone. I would 
  call it somewhere in the range of 1 BP. 
   At 10.5 BP, the bulette slightly exceeds our target BP 
  range of 8-10 BP. Its natural armor and bite place it on 
  par with a character in light armor with a longsword, so 
  I don’t anticipate any significant balance issues. If you 
  want to strengthen the bulette, increase its speed or 
  grant it a +1 ability increase to Strength or 
  Constitution. If you want to weaken the bulette, 
  reduce its natural armor, bite damage, or tremorsense 
  range, or remove its ability to speak.  
  Bullywug 
  Bullywugs are evil swamp-dwelling frog people who 
  attack travelers seeking treasures to improve their 
  social standing among other Bullywugs. Burdened with 
  a racial inferiority complex, Bullywugs are desperate 
  for the acknowledgement and respect of others. 
  Bullywug Traits 
  Bullywugs share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Humanoid (bullywug) 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Constitution, +1 Strength 
  or Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Bullywugs have a moderately civilized 
  aristocratic society with some social strictures, but still 
  tend toward lawlessness, murder, and preying upon 
  the weak and unfortunate. Bullywugs tend to be 
  Neutral Evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 20 ft. You have a 
  swim speed of 40 ft. 
   Amphibious. You can breathe air and water. 
   Speak with Frogs and Toads. You can communicate 
  simple concepts to frogs and toads when you speak in 
  Bullywug. 
   Standing Leap. Your long jump is up to 20 feet and 
  its high jump is up to 10 feet, with or without a running 
  start. 
   Swamp Camouflage. You have advantage on 
  Dexterity checks to hide in swampy terrain. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Bullywug. 
  Playing a Bullywug 
  Bullywugs are durable ambush predators. They have 
  good Constitution like a Dwarf, and their semi-flexible 
  ability score increase allows them to use a variety of 
  weapons. Bullywugs are at home in and around water, 
  but their slow walking speed can be a big problem in 
  most games. 
   Bullywugs have a weird social culture, which can be 
  interesting to bring into a party of other races. 
  Consider how and why your Bullywug might have 
  attached himself to the party.  
  Design Notes 
  Bullywugs are frog people who live in swamps, and that 
  informs many of their stats. Their stat block includes a 
  lot of abilities present in other creatures, too, which 
  makes them very easy to define. 
   The Bullywug’s ability score increase is actually 
  difficult to decide, primarily because their monster stat 
  block has such terribly abilities. Their physical abilities 
  are roughly even, but their mental abilities are outright 
  terrible. Even the DMG’s NPC Features table presents 
  them only with ability score penalties. +2 Constitution 
  seems like a decent choice since that’s their highest 
  ability score, and they live in a hostile environment. A 
  semi-flexible +1 to Strength or Dexterity will open up 
  some build options. Let’s call that 3.25 BP. 
   Humanoid creature type is a given, and Bullywugs 
  have no special senses. Their walking speed is only 20 
  feet (10 below standard for a medium creature), which 
  gives us 1 extra BP. Their 40 ft. swim speed costs 2. 
  They have a listed Stealth bonus and Camouflage, so 
  Stealth proficiency for 0.5 BP seems reasonable. 
   Amphibious costs 0.5 BP, and Camouflage costs 
  another 0.5. Speak with Toads is similar to the Forest 
  Gnome’s Speak With Small Beasts, so we’ll call that 
  another 0.5 BP. Standing leap is cool but will rarely 
  matter, so we’ll call that 0.5 BP too. Bullywugs have a 
  dangerous bite, so we’ll give them Natural Weapons 
  for 1 BP. 
  
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  29 
   With all of that, we’re still only looking at 7.75 BP. 
  Bullywugs have a bunch of options, but none of them 
  are especially powerful. 7.75 is below our target range, 
  but that’s really all that we can draw from the race’s 
  stat block. 
   If you want to give Bullywugs a boost, consider 
  letting them use their bite attack as a Bonus Action 
  after they make an Attack action. Much like two-
  weapon fighting, don’t apply their ability score bonus 
  to this damage. I considered adding this ability for 2 BP, 
  but I’m concerned that it would be too powerful at low 
  levels when a character could wield a big two-handed 
  weapon and have the same action economy as a two-
  weapon fighting build with better damage output of a 
  two-handed weapon build. 
  Cambion 
  The offspring of fiends and mortal humanoids, 
  cambions are evil by nature.  
  Cambion Traits 
  Cambions share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Fiend. 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Charisma. 
   Alignment. Children of a variety of fiends, Cambions 
  are typically evil and often match the alignment of 
  their fiendish parent. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Fiend Magic. You know the fire bolt cantrip. Once 
  you reach 3rd level, you can cast the charm person spell 
  once per day. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for 
  these spells. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common, Abyssal, and Infernal.  
  Playing a Cambion 
  Cambions make excellent fighters, paladins, and 
  sorcerers due to their ability scores. Their ability to fly 
  makes them very mobile, and very good at moving 
  toward or away from enemies as needed. Their innate 
  spellcasting gives the cambion some limited magical 
  options. 
   Because cambions are charismatic, they can make a 
  great party leader, especially in an evil party.  
   
  Design Notes 
  Cambions are a bit problematic to design because of 
  Tieflings. The two fill essentially the same design 
  concept, but we need to differentiate the two. The 
  Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide presents tiefling 
  variants which further compound this issue by adding 
  the possibility of wings. 
   Cambions are fiends, costing 0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   All of the Cambions ability scores are at least above 
  average, making it difficult to decide on an ability 
  increase. Its spellcasting ability is Charisma, so we’ll 
  start with a +1 to Charisma. A +1 to Strength will make 
  the race equally viable as a martial character and as a 
  sorcerer or warlock. Both increases total 2 BP. 
  
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  Races 
  30 
   From their stat block, we get 30 ft. fly speed 
  (reduced from 60 ft.) for 4 BP, Darkvision for 2 BP, 
  racial languages plus Common and an additional fixed 
  for 0.25 BP. Cambions have too many resistances to 
  account for them, so we’ll just dump them all. Despite 
  the expensive fly speed, that leaves us some room for 
  the Cambion’s remaining abilities.  
   We’re going to dump Fiendish Blessing. It’s just too 
  good and too abusable to allow players to use it. The 
  Cambion’s innate spellcasting is too broad to decide 
  which spells to focus on. Instead, we’ll just expect that 
  if players want to pursue that focus they’ll take an 
  appropriate class. 
   Fire Ray can be easily replaced with the fire bolt 
  cantrip for 0.5 BP. Fiendish Charm can be replaced with 
  the charm person spell for 1 BP. 
   At 9.75 BP, the Cambion is within our target range of 
  8-10 BP. It has quite a bit in common with the Tiefling, 
  but enough of a difference that I think I’m happy. If you 
  want to strengthen the Cambion, increase the Strength 
  increase to 2. If you want to weaken the Cambion, 
  remove the Charisma bonus or fire bolt. 
  Carrion Crawler 
  Disgusting insectoid creatures, carrion crawled creep 
  across walls and ceilings to avoid competitors and 
  predators, and feed on dead bodies or anything weak 
  enough that the carrion crawler can easily subdue it. 
  Carrion Crawler Traits 
  Carrion crawlers share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity. 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent scavengers, most 
  carrion crawlers are neutral, but may be of any 
  alignment. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. You have a 
  climb speed of 30 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 slashing damage 
  on a hit. 
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Keen Smell. You have advantage on Wisdom 
  (Perception) checks that rely on smell. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 11 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Tentacles. As an action, make a single unarmed 
  strike against an adjacent creature. On a hit, you deal 
  poison damage equal to your unarmed strike damage. 
  In addition, the creature must succeed on a 
  Constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 1 minute. 
  While poisoned this way, the target is restrained. The 
  target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each 
  of its turns, ending the poison on itself on a success. 
  The DC of this saving throw is 8 + your proficiency 
  bonus + your Constitution modifier. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Spider Climb. You can climb difficult surfaces, 
  including upside down on ceilings, without needing to 
  make an ability check. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Carrion Crawler 
  Carrion crawlers are excellent climbers, and can move 
  along walls and ceilings with ease to reach otherwise 
  difficult locations. Combined with their excellent 
  Constitution, they make good martial characters or 
  rogues. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Carrion Crawlers are giant bugs which survive primarily 
  by eating dead bodies. For reasons I could never 
  determine, they have the ability to paralyze foes with 
  their tentacles. 
   Carrion crawlers are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP 
  but offering no specific traits. 
   Carrion crawlers have excellent constitution, and 
  since their diet consists primarily of rotting bodies, it 
  makes sense. Adjusting for size, their other abilities are 
  unremarkable. We’ll give them a +2 increase to 
  constitution for 2 BP. 
  
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  Races 
  31 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), +1 natural armor for 0.5 BP (down from +3), 30 
  ft. walking speed, 30 ft. climb speed for 2 BP, 
  Darkvision for 2 BP, Keen Smell for 0.5 BP, Spider Climb 
  for 1 BP, and no hands for -2 BP. We’ll grant the ability 
  to speak Common for 0 BP. 
   We’re at 6 BP, leaving lots of room to tackle the 
  carrion crawler’s tentacles and their paralysis effect or 
  on the carrion crawler’s bite. Paralysis is extremely 
  potent, so we’ll need to weaken the crawler’s tentacles 
  considerably. We also need to account for the 
  possibility of multiple attacks. If a player could apply 
  paralysis (or our substitute) on every attack as a fighter 
  with 4 attacks, that would be crazy. 
   I think the closest fair approximation of paralysis that 
  we can get is restrained. I don’t want to make the 
  carrion crawler a grappler, so this will be a bit of a 
  weird ability. The poison mechanic is important, if only 
  because some creatures can be resistant/immune to 
  poison. We’ll allow a constitution save to resist the 
  effect, and we’ll allow creatures to repeat the save at 
  the end of each turn. To prevent the extra attacks 
  problem, we’ll make using this ability an action. I’ll also 
  limit this to once per short rest so that we can safely 
  call it 1 BP. 
   Since players don’t differentiate between types of 
  unarmed strikes, we can roll bite and tentacles into 
  one attack. We’ll go with 1d8 damage for 2 BP. 
  Because they qualify, we’ll add natural weapon finesse 
  for 0 BP. 
   At 9 BP, the carrion crawler is within our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. To strengthen the carrion crawler, increase 
  its natural armor. To weaken the carrion crawler, 
  reduce its unarmed strike damage. 
  Centaur 
  An iconic mythological creature appearing in numerous 
  works of fiction, Centaurs are horse people, resembling 
  a horse from the neck down attached to a human body 
  at the waist. 
  Centaur Traits 
  Centaurs share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +1 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Well-intentioned creatures, most 
  centaurs are neutral good. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 ft. 
   Charge. Once per turn, if you move at least 15 feet 
  toward a creature and hit it with a Strength-based 
  melee weapon attack, the target takes an extra 1d6 
  damage from the attack. This damage increases to 2d6 
  at 5th level, 3d6 at 11th level, and 4d6 at 17th level. 
   Hoof. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 bludgeoning 
  damage on a hit. 
   Powerful Build. You count as one size larger when 
  determining your carrying capacity and the weight you 
  can push, drag, or lift. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Elven 
  and Sylvan. 
  Playing a Centaur 
  Centaur’s ability scores are fantastic for many martial 
  builds, and their Charge ability is fantastic for hit-and-
  run tactics. Consider the Mobile feat to allow you to 
  easily take advantage of your natural mobility. Your 
  excellent speed allows you to easily outrun many foes, 
  so don’t feel like you need to stand still in melee and 
  absorb hits like many martial characters. 
   Centaurs are natural adventurers. Their societies are 
  nomadic, so travel is common. Centaurs who become 
  detached from their herds often take up residence 
  among other races, which is a perfect way to fall in 
  with a group of adventurers. 
  Design Notes 
  Centaurs are an iconic race which appears in a lot of 
  very good fiction. Reducing them to medium size is 
  necessary for playability, but it’s a bit of a shame 
  because the most iconic horse-person race in history 
  becomes smaller than a person on a horse. We’ll just 
  say that playable centaurs are pony people instead of 
  horse people. 
   Centaurs are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   Centaur’s best ability score is Strength, so we’ll give 
  them +2 to Strength for 2 BP. Adjusting for size, their 
  other abilities aren’t particularly good, but we’ll give 
  them a +1 to Dexterity too since centaurs are often 
  skilled archers, and they’re quick to react to danger. 
   From the monster entry, we get 40 ft. move speed 
  (down from 50) for 2 BP, only racial languages for -1 
  BP, plus an extra fixed language for 0.25 BP.  
   We’ll scale the centaur’s hoof damage down to 1d6 
  for 1.5 BP. I want centaurs to use weapons like 
  humanoids, but a hoof is great backup weapon. 
   We’ll update charge to require less movement (15 
  feet is much more reasonable), and add 1d6 damage 
  on the attack, scaling at the same rate as cantrips. 
  We’ll also limit it to once per round so high-level 
  fighters aren’t dealing 16d6 bonus damage per turn. 
  
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  Races 
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  We’ll call this 2 BP. The damage is the same as abilities 
  like surprise attack, but it’s much easier to apply and 
  can be used every round if the character can move 
  around enough. 
   I’m also going to give centaurs Powerful Build for 
  0.25 BP. It doesn’t matter in most games, but it makes 
  sense that a muscular quadruped should be able to 
  carry more stuff than an equivalent biped. 
   At just 7 BP, centaurs are below our target range of 
  8-10 BP, but they’re plenty playable. If you want to 
  strengthen centaurs, give them proficiency in Common 
  or one of the skills listed in the Monster Manual entry. 
  If you want to weaken centaurs, remove their Dexterity 
  increase. 
   Players will likely ask why centaurs can’t use lances 
  one-handed. This might seem like a reasonable 
  question when you think of the centaur as a person 
  with a built-in horse, but that’s not what a centaur is. A 
  centaur is a person with weird legs. A guy on a horse 
  can let his horse worry about moving around while 
  juggling a lance, and riding allows the rider to “couch” 
  the lance for a charge, making it usable one-handed. As 
  a centaur, you’ve got to worry about running around 
  and using a weapon at the same time, and you don’t 
  have a saddle or a horse on which to couch your lance. 
  Chimera 
  Chimeras appear in various forms and interpretations 
  in many pieces of fiction and in many historical myths. 
  However, they share the common trait of being an evil, 
  multi-headed creature sharing the most despicable 
  traits of each of its component parts. 
  Chimera Traits 
  Chimeras share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity. 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Evil creatures created by a demon prince, 
  most chimeras are chaotic evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Can’t Speak. You are unable to speak, but are still 
  able to read, write, and understand any languages 
  which you know. You are unable to perform verbal 
  spell components. 
   Claws, Horns, and Teeth. Your unarmed strikes deal 
  1d8 bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage on a hit. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Fire Breath. As an action, you can breathe fire in a 
  15-foot cone. Each creature in that cone must make a 
  Dexterity saving throw. The DC for this saving throw 
  equals 8 + your Constitution modifier + your 
  proficiency bonus. A creature takes 2d6 fire damage on 
  a failed save and half as much damage on a successful 
  one. The damage increases by 1d6 when you reach 5th 
  level (3d6), 11th level (4d6), and 17th level (5d6). 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 14 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can understand, read, and write in 
  Draconic. 
  Variant Chimera Traits 
  The chimera presented in the Monster Manual has a red 
  dragon head, giving it a fire breath weapon. While this is the 
  most iconic form of chimera, there is no reason why a chimera 
  couldn’t have the head of another form of dragon. If you want 
  a chimera with a different dragon head and breath weapon, 
  replace the chimera’s fire breath with any breath weapon 
  listed for Dragonborn on page 34 of the Player’s Handbook 
  under “Draconic Ancestry”. 
  Playing a Chimera 
  Chimeras are strong flying creatures with a breath 
  weapon and good natural weapons. Their ability to 
  deal all three types of physical damage makes them 
  able to overcome the damage resistances of many 
  creatures. Unfortunately, they can’t use weapons or 
  shields, and since they can’t hold foci or use verbal 
  components they have trouble becoming spellcasters. 
  Remember that since you can’t fly in medium or heavy 
  armor, you’ll need to rely on the chimera’s natural 
  armor. 
   Chimeras are normally territorial creatures who 
  prefer to sit and defend an area. Consider why your 
  chimera might be disobeying its territorial instincts to 
  pursue a life of adventure. 
  Design Notes 
  Chimeras are a really fun creature. They have a great 
  flavor and an excellent personality for a monster. 
  Despite their three heads, chimeras are surprisingly 
  
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  Races 
  33 
  easy to design for a player race because all of their 
  abilities can be easily quantified. 
   Chimeras are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   Chimeras are strong and hardy, so we’ll give them a 
  +1 to Strength and a +1 to Constitution for 2 BP. 
   From their stat block, we get medium size (down 
  from large), +4 natural armor for 2 BP, 30 ft. walking 
  speed, 30 ft. fly speed (down from 60 ft.) for 4 BP, 
  Darkvision for 2 BP, only racial languages for -1 BP, and 
  no ability to speak for another -1.5 BP, no hands for -2 
  BP, and a breath weapon costs 1 BP. 
   Player rules don’t differentiate between different 
  natural weapons, so we’ll adjust all of the chimera’s 
  natural weapons to 1d8 for 2 BP. Between the three 
  types, the chimera can deal every type of weapon 
  damage, so we’ll allow that for another 0.5 BP. 
   At 9 BP, chimeras are within our target range of 8-10 
  BP. If you want to strengthen the Chimera, increase its 
  natural armor of increase its Strength increase. If you 
  want to weaken the chimera, reduce its natural armor 
  or natural weapon damage. 
  Chuul 
  Chuul are minimally-intelligent crustaceans created to 
  serve as soldier-slaves to their aboleth masters.  
  Chuul Traits 
  Chuul share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Aberration. 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Created to serve evil masters, most chuul 
  are chaotic evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. You have a 
  swim speed of 30 ft. 
   Amphibious. You can breathe air and water. 
   Can’t Speak. You are unable to speak, but are still 
  able to read, write, and understand any languages 
  which you know. You are unable to perform verbal 
  spell components. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 14 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Pincer. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 bludgeoning 
  damage on a hit. When you take the Attack action and 
  make an unarmed strike, you can use a bonus action to 
  initiate a grapple with the target of your successful 
  unarmed strike. You may grapple even though you 
  have no hands. 
   Poison Immunity. You are immune to poison 
  damage, and immune to the poisoned condition. 
   Languages. You can understand, read, and write in 
  Deep Speech. 
  Playing a Chuul 
  Chuul are durable grapplers who excel in melee 
  combat and little else. Their lack of hands makes them 
  unable to real weapons or magic foci, and their 
  inability to speak makes them unable perform verbal 
  components or communicate with their allies easily. 
   Chuul normally spend eternity fulfilling the last order 
  they received, often leading them to stand and guard a 
  location for eons before being disturbed. Consider why 
  such a creature might potentially deviate from their 
  orders to go adventuring. 
  Design Notes 
  Chuul are strong and durable, and they’re excellent 
  grapplers due to the combination of Grab and their 
  tentacle’s poison/paralysis effect. 
   Chuul are the aberration creature type, costing 0.5 
  BP but offering no specific traits. 
   Adjusting for size, Strength and Constitution are still 
  the chuul’s best abilities. To keep this focus, we’ll give 
  them a +1 to both for 2 BP. 
   From their stat block, we get medium size (down 
  from large), +3 natural armor (down from +6) for 1.5 
  BP, 30 ft. walking speed, 30 ft. swim speed for 1 BP, 
  poison immunity for 2 BP, Darkvision for 2 BP, only 
  racial languages for -1 BP, no ability to speak for -1.5 
  BP, Amphibious for 0.5 BP, no hands for -2 BP, a 1d8 
  natural weapon for 2 BP, and Grab for 2 BP. 
   That doesn’t leave room to do anything with 
  tentacles, so we’ll need to leave them out. Paralysis is 
  an extremely potent effect, and Grab will already allow 
  the chuul to drag enemies around. 
   At 9 BP, the chuul is within our target range of 8-10 
  BP. The natural armor and ability increases are decent, 
  and a swim speed provides some mobility, but with no 
  ability to speak and no ability to fill roles outside of 
  melee combat the chuul’s capacity to contribute to a 
  party is extremely limited. If you want to strengthen 
  the chuul, increase its natural armor. If you want to 
  
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  Races 
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  weaken the chuul, reduce its natural armor or reduce 
  poison immunity to poison resilience. 
  Cloaker 
  Horrifying ambush predators native to the underdark, 
  cloakers are famous for resembling leather cloaks 
  while they lay motionless. 
  Cloaker Traits 
  Cloakers share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Aberration. 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Sentient creatures who hunt other 
  sentient creatures for food, most cloakers are chaotic 
  evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 10 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 slashing damage 
  on a hit. When you take the Attack action and make an 
  unarmed strike, you can use a bonus action to initiate a 
  grapple with the target of your successful unarmed 
  strike. You may grapple even though you have no 
  hands. 
   Cloak Body. You are unable to wear armor or use 
  shields. You have no arms or hands, and are unable to 
  use items or perform other tasks requiring hands. 
   Damage Transfer. While you are grappling a 
  creature, you take only half the damage dealt to you, 
  and the creature which you are grappling takes the 
  other half. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   False Appearance. While motionless, you appear 
  indistinguishable from a dark leather cloak. You must 
  spend one minute motionless before this ability takes 
  effect. You must maintain concentration during that 
  time, as if you were casting a spell. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Deep 
  Speech and Undercommon.  
  Playing a Cloaker 
  Cloakers are stealthy grapplers. Move into combat 
  carefully, and choose your target wisely. To improve 
  your grappling abilities, consider classes like Barbarian, 
  Fighter, and Monk. 
  Design Notes 
  Cloakers are difficult to design because they have a lot 
  of abilities. Their primarily abilities are similar to those 
  of the rug of smothering, but other abilities like Moan 
  present additional BP costs. Fortunately, the cloaker 
  faces many of the same issues as the rug of 
  smothering, and gets corresponding additional BP. 
   Cloakers are the aberration creature type, costing 
  0.5 BP but offering no specific traits. 
   Adjusting for size, the cloaker’s abilities are 
  unremarkable. Their best ability is Dexterity, so despite 
  being primarily a grapple monster we’ll give the cloaker 
  a +1 increase to Dexterity for 1 BP to emphasize their 
  stealthiness. 
   From their stat block, we get medium size (down 
  from large), +2 natural armor (down from +4) for 1 BP, 
  10 ft. walking speed for -2 BP, 30 ft. fly speed (down 
  from 40 ft.) for 4 BP, Darkvision for 2 BP, racial 
  languages plus Common (Undercommon in this case), 
  Damage Transfer (see rug of smothering design notes) 
  for 4 BP, False Appearance for 0.5 BP, and Sunlight 
  Sensitivity for -2 BP. Because they’re giant flaps of 
  flying skin they have no hands for -2 BP and can’t wear 
  armor for -3 BP. 
   After all that craziness, we’re at 3.5 BP. We’ll add a 
  1d8 natural weapon for 2 BP and Grab for another 2 
  BP, bringing us up to 7.5 BP. We still need to tackle 
  Moan and Phantasms. 
   Moan is surprisingly difficult to pin down. The fear 
  spell is the closest magical approximation, but there 
  are significant differences. Moan has a one-round 
  duration, a circular range instead of a cone, and 
  doesn’t force foes to flee. To keep things simple, we’ll 
  limit the ability to once per short rest and call it 1 BP. 
   Phantasms is clearly a clone of the mirror image 
  spell, so we’ll just grant cloakers the ability to cast 
  mirror image once per day for 2 BP. 
   At 10.5 BP, the cloaker exceeds our target range of 
  8-10 BP. It has some playability issues, but it’s a great 
  ambush predator, and in a game that involves a lot of 
  killing things, that’s a huge asset. If you want to 
  strengthen the cloaker, increase its natural armor or 
  grant it a +1 Strength increase. If you want to weaken 
  the cloaker, remove Phantasms. 
  Cockatrice 
  A hideous bird resembling a giant, rotting chicken, the 
  cockatrice is known for its ability to petrify creatures 
  with its bite. 
  
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  Races 
  35 
  Cockatrice Traits 
  Cockatrices share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity. 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent animals, most 
  cockatrices are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is small. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 20 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 slashing damage 
  on a hit. 
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 40 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Petrifying Bite. After striking a foe with your 
  unarmed strike, you may spend a bonus action to 
  attempt to paralyze the target creature. Creatures 
  whose bodies are not made of flesh, such as 
  constructs, are immune to this effect, as are creatures 
  immune to paralysis. The target creature must make a 
  Constitution saving throw. The DC for this saving throw 
  is 8 + your Constitution modifier + your proficiency 
  bonus. 
   On a failed save, the creature begins to turn to 
  stone. They are treated as having 1 level of exhaustion. 
  The creature must repeat this saving throw at the end 
  of each of its turns. On a failed saving throw, the 
  creature is treated as gaining an additional level of 
  exhaustion. If the creature fails 6 saving throws, it is 
  petrified until freed by greater restoration or similar 
  magic. On a successful saving throw, the creature 
  resists the effect, and is treated as having one less level 
  of exhaustion. The creature is treated as having one 
  less level of exhaustion each round until they are 
  treated as having 0 levels of exhaustion. Creatures 
  immune to exhaustion are not immune to this effect, 
  and any actual levels of exhaustion do not stack with 
  this effect. 
   This effect lasts up to one minute. You must 
  maintain concentration during that time, as if you were 
  casting a spell. If you lose concentration, the creature is 
  treated as having no levels of exhaustion from this 
  effect and immediately returns to normal. If the 
  creature becomes petrified by this effect, the effects 
  are permanent and you no longer need to concentrate. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common.  
  Playing a Cockatrice 
  The cockatrice is a nimble flyer, but its options in 
  combat are limited. The cockatrice’s bite damage is 
  small, and it can’t use weapons, so you need to look for 
  other sources of damage like Sneak Attack. Cockatrices 
  also can’t use foci, which can make it difficult for them 
  to play spellcasters. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  The cockatrice is mostly simple, but its petrifying bite 
  presents some complications. 
   Cockatrices are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   Cockatrice’s ability scores are unremarkable. They’re 
  physically frail, so a Dexterity increase makes the most 
  sense. We’ll say +2 Dexterity for 2 BP. 
   From their stat block, we get small size for -1 BP, 20 
  ft. move speed for -1 BP (remember that 25 is normal 
  for small creatures), 40 ft. fly speed for 5 BP, and 
  Darkvision for 2 BP, no hands for -2 BP, and a bite 
  dealing 1d4 damage for 1 BP. Because they qualify, 
  we’ll add natural weapon finesse for 0 BP. We’ll grant 
  the cockatrice the ability to speak common for 0 BP to 
  make them more easily playable. 
   Petrification presents a lot of problems, so we’ll 
  follow the same design decisions I made in the Basilisk 
  entry. Since the basilisk’s petrification ability works at 
  range, we can call the cockatrice’s melee-only 
  petrification effect 3 BP. 
   At 9.5 BP, the cockatrice is inside our target range of 
  8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the cockatrice, 
  increase its bite damage or grant it a +1 Constitution 
  increase. If you want to weaken the cockatrice, limit 
  Petrifying Bite to once per day. 
  Couatl 
  
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  Races 
  36 
  Beautiful serpentine celestials who live to serve a 
  divine purpose. 
  Couatl Traits 
  Couatls share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Celestial. 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Wisdom. 
   Alignment. Servants of a long-forgotten benevolent 
  deity, most couatls are lawful good. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 slashing damage 
  on a hit. 
   When you take the Attack action and make an 
  unarmed strike, you can use a bonus action to initiate a 
  grapple with the target of your successful unarmed 
  strike. You may grapple even though you have no 
  hands. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Divine Mandate. You are always treated as holding a 
  spellcasting focus for the purposes of casting Cleric and 
  Paladin spells, and for using Cleric and Paladin abilities. 
  You must select a Cleric Domain at 1st level which 
  relates to your divine mandate. If you take levels in 
  Cleric, you must select this domain as your Cleric 
  Domain. You do not need to worship a deity to gain 
  Cleric abilities, and may instead draw divine power 
  from the ancient divine being which created the 
  couatls. 
   Divine Resistance. You have resistance to radiant 
  damage. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Serpentine Body. You have no arms or hands. You 
  are unable to wield weapons or wear shields, and 
  cannot use items which require manipulation, including 
  spellcasting foci, wands, tools, etc. You are unable to 
  wear armor. 
   Telepathy. You can communicate telepathically with 
  any creature that knows a language within 30 ft. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Celestial. 
  Playing a Couatl 
  Couatls make excellent Clerics. The ability to fly and 
  cast spells without a spellcasting focus allow them to 
  remain out of harm’s way while safely supporting 
  allies. Their lack of armor can make them vulnerable in 
  melee, but a sufficiently strong couatl can make an 
  excellent grappler. 
   Couatls make great adventurers due to their divine 
  mandate. Couatls are bound to their mandate until it is 
  completed, offering an excellent means for the DM to 
  motivate your character. 
  Design Notes 
  The couatl’s design is complicated by how absurdly 
  high their numbers are, and how many abilities they 
  have. All of the couatl’s ability scores are good. Their 
  flight speed if an astounding 90 feet. They have innate 
  spellcasting, damage resistances, poison, and Grab. 
  We’ll start with the absolute basics, then see how 
  much BP we have left to play with. 
   Couatls are of the celestial creature type, costing 0.5 
  BP. 
   Based on their innate spellcasting and their ability 
  scores, couatls should make good clerics. As such, we’ll 
  give them +1 Wisdom for 1 BP. 
   From their stat block, we get medium size, +3 natural 
  armor (down from +4) for 1.5 BP, 30 ft. walking speed, 
  30 ft. fly speed (down from 90) for 4 BP, resistance to 
  radiant damage for 2 BP, telepathy for 2 BP, and a 1d6 
  bite for 1.5 BP and Grab for 2 BP. We can’t grant all 
  languages, so we’ll say racial language plus Common 
  for 0 BP. Couatls have no hands for -2 BP. We’ll also 
  disallow armor for -3 BP because I have no idea how 
  you would armor a snake. 
   And with all of that we’re at 9.5 BP. I still want 
  couatls to be able to play Clerics despite their lack of 
  hands, so we’ll grant them a unique ability which fits 
  their flavor. I want them to always have the effect of a 
  spellcasting focus, and they can choose a domain 
  which suits their divine purpose without committing to 
  a known deity. This will have no mechanical effect if 
  the couatl isn’t a Cleric, but could provide some cool 
  flavor. 
   At 9.5 BP, the couatl is within our target range of 8-
  10 BP. If you want to strengthen couatls, allow them to 
  cast Cure Wounds once per day starting at 3rd level. If 
  you want to weaken couatls, remove Grab. 
  Crawling Claw 
  The severed hand of a murderer animated by vile 
  necromantic magic. 
  
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  Races 
  37 
  Crawling Claw Traits 
  Crawling claws share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Undead. You don’t require air, food, 
  drink, or sleep. Instead, you enter a restful state, 
  remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. While 
  resting, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are 
  reflexive mental exercises inherent to your 
  consciousness. After resting in this way, you gain the 
  same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. The undead hands of murderers, most 
  crawling claws are evil. 
   Size. Your size is tiny. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 ft. You have a 
  climb speed of 20 ft. 
   Blind Senses. You have no eyes, and are blind (and 
  therefore immune to the Blinded condition). You have 
  blindsight 30 ft. 
   Claw. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 bludgeoning or 
  slashing damage on a hit. 
   No Spare Hands. Because your only hand is your 
  entire body, you are unable to use hands and move at 
  the same time, and you lack the capability to weild a 
  weapon like a creature with an arm to swing. you are 
  unable to wield weapons or wear shields. In any turn in 
  which you walk, climb, or swim, you cannot use items 
  which require manipulation, including spellcasting foci, 
  wands, tools, etc. 
   Poison Immunity. You are immune to poison 
  damage, and immune to the poisoned condition. 
   Languages. You can understand, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Crawling Claw 
  Crawling claws are small and nimble, making them 
  excellent rogues.  
   Since crawling claws can be created from the 
  severed hands of living murderers, decide if the rest of 
  your body is still alive or not, and who the person was 
  from whom you were created. 
  Design Notes 
  Crawling claws are the first creature in the Monster 
  Manual of tiny size. Beyond that, the crawling claw is a 
  very simple creature. 
   Crawling claws are undead, which costs 1 BP. 
   Crawling claw’s ability scores aren’t great, but their 
  best ability is Dexterity so we’ll grant a +2 Dexterity 
  increase for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get tiny size for -1.5 BP, 25 
  ft. walking speed (up from 20 ft.), 20 ft. climb speed for 
  1.5 BP, poison immunity for 2 BP, blindsight 30 ft. for 6 
  BP, and a 1d6 claw attack for 1.5 BP. Crawling claws 
  can’t speak for -1.5 BP, but can still understand 
  Common for 0 BP. Crawling claws are blind for -4 BP.  
   Despite being a hand, crawling claws have no hands. 
  When your means of locomotion is wriggling fingers, 
  it’s difficult to hold a weapon. No Hands is normally -2 
  BP, but I’ll present an altered version which allows 
  crawling claws to use items while immobile, and we’ll 
  call it -1.5 BP. 
   At 4.5 BP, the crawling claw is well below our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the 
  crawling claw, increase its claw damage or walking 
  speed. If you want to weaken the crawling claw, 
  reduces its claw damage or walking speed. 
  Cyclops 
  Enormous one-eyed giants with simple minds and little 
  knowledge of the world. 
  Cyclops Traits 
  Cyclopes share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Giant 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +2 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Barbaric, uncivilized creatures, most 
  cyclopes are chaotic neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Poor Depth Perception. You have disadvantage on 
  any attack roll against a target more than 30 feet away. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 14 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Powerful Build. You count as one size larger when 
  determining your carrying capacity and the weight you 
  can push, drag, or lift. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Giant. 
  Playing a Cyclops 
  Cyclopes are big, dumb brutes. Their ability increases 
  and natural armor make them fantastic barbarians and 
  fighters, but their poor depth perception makes them 
  very bad at ranged combat. If you plan to play a 
  spellcaster, avoid spells with long-range attack rolls at 
  ranges greater than 30 ft. 
   Cyclopes are generally unsophisticated, simplistic, 
  and easily fooled by even simple magic. This may make 
  them a liability to the party, or it might provide an 
  excellent source of comic relief. If you plan to play to 
  this trait, be sure not to overplay it and annoy your 
  
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  Races 
  38 
  party members. Remember: Dungeons and Dragons is 
  a shared story, not a one-man show. 
  Design Notes 
  Cyclopes (plural of the singular cyclops) are very similar 
  to many other giants: big, brutish, and not very smart. 
  They’re also plagued by a lack of depth perception, 
  which is a fun limitation to add to a playable race. 
   Cyclopes are Giants, costing 0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   Since they have no special abilities, we have room 
  for lots of ability increases. We’ll give the cyclops +2 
  Strength and +2 Constitution for 4 BP. 
   From their stat block, we get medium size (down 
  from huge), +4 natural armor for 2 BP, and 30 ft. 
  walking speed. Since the cyclops is already a very 
  featureless race, we’ll allow them to speak racial 
  languages plus Common for 0 BP. We’re reducing the 
  cyclops’s size but I still want them to feel really big, so 
  we’ll give it Powerful Build for 0.25 BP. 
   Poor Depth Perception makes spellcasting and using 
  ranged weapons very difficult, but since most cyclops 
  players will want to play a melee monster, we’ll call it 
  just -0.5 BP. 
   At just 5.75 BP, the cyclops is well below our target 
  range of 0 BP. It works very well for simple melee 
  builds, but is barely functional for other builds, and it 
  definitely isn’t very interesting. If you want to 
  strengthen the cyclops, add some additional special 
  abilities. If you want to weaken the cyclops, reduce its 
  ability score increases. 
  Darkmantle 
  Disgusting creatures resembling flying octopi, 
  darkmantles cling to cavern ceilings and ambush 
  passing prey. 
  Darkmantle Traits 
  Darkmantles share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
  
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  Races 
  39 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent creature, most 
  darkmantles are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is small. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Blindsight. You have blindsight 30 ft. 
   Crush. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 bludgeoning 
  damage on a hit.  
   When you take the Attack action and make an 
  unarmed strike, you can use a bonus action to initiate a 
  grapple with the target of your successful unarmed 
  strike. 
   Echolocation. You can’t use your blindsight while 
  deafened. 
   False Appearance. While motionless, you appear 
  indistinguishable from a stalactite or stalagmite. You 
  must spend one minute motionless before this ability 
  takes effect. You must maintain concentration during 
  that time, as if you were casting a spell. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Darkmantle 
  Darkmantles are flying grapplers, and typically attack 
  by ambushing their prey. Waiting in a cave for long 
  periods of time doesn’t really work for adventurers, 
  but don’t let that discourage you. Despite their small 
  size, darkmantles are still good in grapples. Consider 
  classes like Monk and Fighter to improve your 
  grappling capabilities. 
  Design Notes 
  Darkmantles are mechanically simple, but have a 
  couple of expensive abilities. 
   Darkmantles are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   Despite their small size, darkmantles are incredibly 
  strong. We’ll give them a +1 Strength increase for 1 BP 
  to keep our BP cost low. 
   From the stat block, we get small size for -1 BP, 10 ft. 
  walking speed for -2 BP, 30 ft. fly speed for 4 BP, 
  blindsight 30 ft. (down from 60 ft.) for 6 BP, 
  Echolocation for -1.5 BP, and False Appearance for 0.5 
  BP. Darkmantles have no hands for -2 BP. We’ll give 
  darkmantles the ability to speak Common for 0 BP. 
   The darkmantle’s natural weapon deals 1d6 damage 
  for 1.5 BP, and we’ll approximate the rest of Crush with 
  Grab for 2 BP. 
   That brings our total to 9.5 BP, which doesn’t leave 
  us enough room for Darkness Aura, so we’ll skip it. 
   At 9 BP, the darkmantle is within our target range of 
  8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the Darkmantle, 
  improve its Strength increase. If you want to weaken 
  the Darkmantle, reduce its natural weapon damage. 
  Death Knight [Template: Acquired] 
  Paladins who fall from grace and die without atoning, 
  they are resurrected as a Death Knight, trapped in an 
  undead purgatory until they atone for their sins. 
  Becoming a Death Knight 
  Any living, humanoid Oathbreaker Paladin of evil 
  alignment and of at least 5th level can become a death 
  knight. When the character dies, it rises from the dead 
  at midnight as a death knight. 
   Upon gaining the Death Knight template, the 
  character immediately gains the traits listed for level 0 
  under Death Knight Traits, below. In addition, the 
  character's growth and training are affected. The next 
  time the character gains enough experience to gain a 
  level, instead of selecting a class in which to take a new 
  level the character immediately gains a level of the 
  Death Knight template. All levels of the template must 
  be taken before the character can resume taking levels 
  in a class. 
   Once a creature becomes a Death Knight, it cannot 
  be raised from the dead until it finds atonement (see 
  below). However, if it is killed it returns to undeath 24 
  hours later (see Immortal Until Redeemed, below). 
  Atonement 
  If the Death Knight ever atones and finds redemption 
  for its sins, both those committed before and after its 
  death, the Death Knight is instantly destroyed.  
   After this, the creature’s spirit is released to 
  whatever afterlife awaits it. In addition, it can be raised 
  from the dead as normal, though it is treated as having 
  died at the time of the creature’s original death, often 
  putting the creature out of reach of all but the most 
  powerful magic. 
  Death Knight Traits 
  All death knights have the following traits, adding these 
  traits to their existing racial traits upon gaining the 
  Death Knight template. 
  
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  Races 
  40 
  Hit Points 
   Hit Dice. 1d10 per death knight level 
   Hit Points at Higher Levels. 1d10 (or 6) + your 
  Constitution modifier per death knight level 
  Traits 
  Death knights gain the following traits at each level, as 
  indicated on the table below. 
  Level 
  Features 
  0 
  Ability Adjustment, Creature Type, Alignment, 
  Undead Nature, Spellcasting 
  1 
  Darkvision, Immortal Until Redeemed, Poison 
  Immunity 
  2 
  Hellfire Orb 
   Ability Adjustment. The weight of your sins and the 
  crushing weight of your undeath is psychologically 
  draining. Your Wisdom is permanently reduced by 2. 
  This reduction may not be removed by any means, but 
  is removed automatically if the Death Knight achieves 
  atonement. 
   Creature Type. You replace your current creature 
  type with Undead, but retain any subtypes.  
   You don’t require air, food, drink, or sleep. Instead, 
  you enter a restful state, remaining semiconscious, for 
  4 hours a day. While resting, you can dream after a 
  fashion; such dreams are reflexive mental exercises 
  inherent to your consciousness. After resting in this 
  way, you gain the same benefit that a human does 
  from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Alignment. Trapped in undead purgatory by their 
  evil deeds in life, all death knights are evil. 
   Undead Nature. You have immunity to the 
  exhausted condition.  
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Immortal Until Redeemed. A death knight can arise 
  anew even after it has been destroyed. If the death 
  knight dies, it returns to life at midnight, no less than 
  24 hours after its destruction at the place where it 
  originally rose as a death knight.  
   Any items which the death knight carried remain 
  where they were when the death knight was 
  destroyed, but may be retrieved normally. 
   Poison Immunity. You are immune to poison 
  damage, and immune to the poisoned condition. 
   Spellcasting. Upon gaining each level in the Death 
  Knight template, you are treated as one Paladin level 
  higher for the purposes of Spellcasting, including spell 
  slots and the level of spells which you can prepare with 
  that class. 
   Hellfire Orb. As an action, you may hurl a magical 
  ball of hellfire, which explodes on impact at a point you 
  can see within 120 feet. Each creature within a 20-foot 
  radius centered on that point must make a reflex 
  saving throw. The sphere spreads around corners. A 
  creature takes 1d6 damage per each of your total 
  levels on a failed save, or half as much on a successful 
  one. The DC for this saving throw is 8 + your proficiency 
  bonus + your Charisma modifier. Half of which is fire 
  damage (rounded up) and half of which is necrotic 
  damage (rounded down). 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a long rest. 
  Design Notes 
  The Death Knight is a powerful template, adding 
  several useful abilities to the base creature. In fact, it 
  grants so many new traits that we’ll need to make it a 
  leveled template. We can’t guarantee that the 
  character taking the template will happen to die when 
  they have enough experience to gain a level, so we’ll 
  also need a level 0 for the template that creatures can 
  use until they gain a level. 
   Part of designing the Death Knight will require use to 
  break out the Paladin class features from the Death 
  Knight template features. The published Death Knight 
  is a CR 17 creature, and based on its spells it’s based on 
  a Paladin of at least 19th level. Notably, published 
  creature also omits all of the Paladin’s other class 
  features like Divine Smite and Aura of Protection. I 
  imagine that this is done to simplify the creature since 
  monsters tend to be dramatically simpler than player 
  characters.  
   Death Knights will use d10 hit dice, keeping them on 
  pace with Fighters and Paladins, for 1 BP per level. 
   Death Knights switch to the undead creature type for 
  1 BP. They don't need to eat, drink, or sleep (included 
  in the creature type BP), they are immune to the 
  exhausted condition for 0.5 BP, and they get Poison 
  Immunity for 2 BP. That brings our total to 4.5 BP. I 
  want the Death Knight to progress neatly from Paladin, 
  so we’ll add Spellcasting for 3 BP at each level.  
   The death knight’s immortality is as difficult as 
  similar mechanics on other creatures like demiliches. 
  Instead of assessing a BP cost, which is largely 
  impossible, we’ll leave it up to the player and their DM 
  to handle. Keep in mind that the death knight’s 
  belongings are all lost, potentially leaving the character 
  unarmed and unarmored after rising again. 
   Finally, we need to include the Death Knight’s 
  Hellfire Orb. It’s an iconic ability which has remained in 
  
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  Races 
  41 
  place since Death Knights first appeared in Dungeons 
  and Dragons, and removing it would take a lot away 
  from the feel of the creature. The listed damage totals 
  a stunning 20d6, almost as much damage as a fully 
  charged delayed blast fireball, which is a 7th-level spell. 
  We can’t grant that to players without placing an 
  extremely high-level requirement on the template, so 
  we’ll need to scale Hellfire Orb’s damage.  
   If we set it to 1d4 per level, divided evenly between 
  fire and necrotic damage, that should be fine to allow 
  once per day. That’s roughly equivalent to a fireball 
  which gradually increases its spell level. It’s hard to 
  assess a BP cost, but 3 seems reasonable (3rd-level spell 
  once per day for 3 BP to match fireball, plus some extra 
  for the scaling damage and extra damage type, minus a 
  bit to account for the reduced damage die). We’ll add a 
  level requirement to the template to keep players from 
  getting a fireball-equivalent before 5th level just to be 
  safe. 
   Now that we have an idea of the BP costs, we’ll need 
  to break things up between the template’s 0-level and 
  the template levels.  
   The creature type change and Undead Nature should 
  apply immediately. That’s a BP cost of 1, which doesn’t 
  seem like a lot, but changing creature types is a big 
  deal. To balance it, we’ll add a -2 Wisdom penalty for -
  1 BP, bringing the BP cost total to 0 for the 0-level 
  portion of the template. 
   At 1st level we’ll grant Darkvision for 2 BP, Poison 
  Immunity for 2 BP, immunity to exhausted for 0.5 BP, 
  and Spellcasting for 3 BP at the template’s first level for 
  a total of 8.5 BP including 1 BP for hit dice, which is 
  within our target range of 8-10 BP. 
   At 2nd level, we’ll grant Hellfire Orb for 4 BP, and 
  another level of Spellcasting for 3 BP. That brings the 
  total to 7 BP once we include the 1 BP for hit dice, 
  which exceeds our target range of 4-5 BP. That’s a bit 
  of a problem, but I don’t see a good way around it. 
   If you want to strengthen the Death Knight, increase 
  the hit die size to d12. If you want to weaken the Death 
  Knight, reduce the damage of Hellfire Orb to 1d4 per 
  level. 
  Demilich 
  The disembodied head of a lich whose mind was 
  drifted into near non-existence. 
  Demilich Traits 
  Demiliches share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Undead. You don’t require air, food, 
  drink, or sleep. Instead, you enter a restful state, 
  remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. While 
  resting, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are 
  reflexive mental exercises inherent to your 
  consciousness. After resting in this way, you gain the 
  same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Intelligence, Wisdom, or 
  Charisma. 
   Alignment. The remains of the most evil spellcasters 
  in the multiverse, most demiliches are neutral evil. 
   Size. Your size is small. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 0 ft. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet, and can 
  hover. 
   Howl. Once you reach 5th level, you can cast the fear 
  spell once per day. Charisma is your spellcasting ability 
  for this spell. 
   Lich’s Resistance. You are resistant to necrotic and 
  psychic damage. 
   Magic Skull. You are immune to the paralyzed, 
  petrified, and prone conditions. You are always treated 
  as holding a spellcasting focus. You are unable to wear 
  armor. You have no hands. You are unable to wield 
  weapons or wear shields, and cannot use items which 
  require manipulation, including spellcasting foci, 
  wands, tools, etc. You may cast spells as though you 
  were using a spellcasting focus. 
   Enduring Existence. Your spirit is bound to a 
  phylactery. If the phylactery is destroyed, you are also 
  destroyed. If your body is destroyed, your body 
  reforms adjacent to your phylactery 1d10 days later.  
   Upon reforming, you lack the presence of mind to 
  remain near your phylactery or to recall your own 
  actions. You wander aimlessly, including across planes 
  of existence, until you arrive near where you were 
  destroyed. You have no knowledge of your wanderings, 
  or of the location of your phylactery. 
   If you locate your phylactery and feed at least one 
  soul into it, you cease to be a demilich and become a 
  lich instead. 
   Poison Immunity. You are immune to poison 
  damage, and immune to the poisoned condition. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Demilich 
  Flight with hover and a flexible ability increase make 
  the demilich an extremely powerful spellcaster of any 
  kind. The demiliches resistances and immunities make 
  it able to withstand several troublesome effects. 
  However, your lack of hands or limbs makes it difficult 
  to carry equipment or use magic items. 
  
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  Races 
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   Demiliches normally don’t depart the place where 
  they first fell. Consider what suddenly motivated your 
  character stir from near-endless peace to a life of 
  adventure. Also consider who your character was as a 
  lich, and who they were before becoming a lich. 
   Also consider the existence of your character’s 
  phylactery. The ability to reform after 1d10 days is 
  exceptionally powerful, so be sure to discuss the issue 
  of the phylactery with your DM before deciding to play 
  a demilich. If you feed a soul into your phylactery, you 
  become a full lich. Replace your demilich race with 
  stats for your original race, and apply the lich template. 
  Design Notes 
  The demilich is a challenging creature. At such a high 
  CR, it has a pile of resistances and abilities which we 
  will need to strip away to turn it into something fair to 
  play. It also faces certain design complications because 
  it’s a floating head. On top of the creature’s abilities, 
  we also need to consider the demilich’s phylactery.  
   Demiliches are undead, which costs 1 BP. 
   Liches are spellcasters, but any sufficiently evil and 
  powerful spellcaster can become a lich. As such, it’s 
  difficult to decide which of the demilich’s ability scores 
  to increase. Increasing all three would cost too much 
  BP, so we’ll give a flexible +1 increase to any mental 
  stat for 1.5 BP. 
   From their stat block, we get tiny for -1.5 BP, +2 
  natural armor (down from +5) for 1 BP, 0 ft. walking 
  speed for -2 BP, 30 ft. fly speed for 4 BP, hover for 2 BP, 
  poison immunity for 2 BP, and necrotic and psychic 
  damage resistance (down from immunity) for 4 BP.  
   We’ll drop some of the demiliches condition 
  immunities, but we’ll keep paralyzed, petrified, and 
  prone for a total of 1.5 BP since a floating skull has no 
  ears, doesn’t move much, and doesn’t really care if it’s 
  on its side. Demiliches normally don’t speak, but we’ll 
  let them speak Common for 0 BP. 
   Demiliches have no limbs for -2 BP, no hands for -2 
  BP, and can’t wear armor or shields for -4 BP. 
   We’re at just 5.5 BP, despite the demilich having 
  several excellent traits. The only salvageable ability 
  remaining is Howl. It’s a death effect, so we’ll drop the 
  death part and focus on the fear aspect. Fear is a 3rd-
  level spell, so it should eat our remaining BP nicely. 
  We’ll allow it to be cast two levels early, totaling 3.25 
  BP. 
   Unfortunately, the rest of the demiliches stat block 
  needs to be completely abandoned. The abilities are 
  designed for a massively powerful solo monster, so 
  they can’t really be adapted to a player race. 
   Since demiliches should really be spellcasters, I’ll 
  allow them to ignore spellcasting foci for 0.5 BP. 
   The last piece to discuss is the phylactery. The ability 
  to reform after 1d10 days means that death is 
  essentially meaningless, and the player is functionally 
  invincible. I can’t really fix this without massively 
  changing what a demilich is, so I’ll leave it up the 
  players to discuss with their DM. However, I also don’t 
  want it to be an easy “I want to be a regular lich now” 
  mechanic, so I’ll add a mechanic which forces the 
  demilich to lose its phylactery again after reforming. 
   At 9.25 BP, the demilich is at within our target range 
  of 8-10 BP, but I think that it’s more powerful than its 
  BP indicates. If you want to strengthen the demilich, 
  give it a second flexible ability increase. If you want to 
  weaken the demilich, remove its natural armor or 
  delay fear to 7th level. 
  Demons 
  The vile denizens of the Abyss. 
  Demon Traits 
  Demons share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Fiend (demon). 
   Alignment. Embodiments of chaos and evil, most 
  demons are chaotic evil. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Subrace. Choose one of these subraces. You gain the 
  traits listed under your chosen subrace in addition to 
  those listed above. 
  Balor 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Charisma. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Flaming Aura. As an action, you create an aura if 
  abyssal flames. Each creature within 5 ft. of you must 
  succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or take 1d6 fire 
  damage. The DC for this saving throw is 8 + your 
  proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier. The 
  damage increases by 1d6 when you reach 5th level 
  (2d6), 11th level (3d6), and 17th level (4d6). 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Infernal Resistance. You have resistance to fire 
  damage. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Abyssal. 
  
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  Races 
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  Barlgura 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. You have a 
  climb speed of 30 ft. 
   Bite and Fists. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 
  slashing or bludgeoning damage on a hit. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Abyssal. 
  Chasme 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 ft. 
   Drone. Once you reach 3rd level, you can cast the 
  sleep spell once per day. Every 4 levels, you may cast 
  sleep as a spell slot 1 level higher (2nd-level at 5th level, 
  3rd level at 9th level, 4th level at 13th level, and 5th level 
  at 17th level). Constitution is your spellcasting ability for 
  this spell. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Proboscis. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 piercing 
  and 1d4 necrotic damage on a hit. 
   Spider Climb. You can climb difficult surfaces, 
  including upside down on ceilings, without needing to 
  make an ability check. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Abyssal. 
  Dretch 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Constitution, +1 any other. 
   Size. Your size is small. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 slashing damage 
  on a hit. 
   Fetid Cloud. Once per day, as an action you can 
  create a 10-foot radius of disgusting green gas 
  extending out from you. The gas spreads around 
  corners, and its area is lightly obscured. It lasts for 1 
  minute or until a strong wind disperses it. You must 
  maintain concentration during this time, as if you were 
  casting a spell. 
   Any creature that starts its turn in that area must 
  succeed on a Constitution saving throw or be poisoned 
  until the start of its next turn. The DC for this saving 
  throw equals 8 + your Constitution modifier + your 
  proficiency bonus. While poisoned in this way, the 
  target can take either an action or a bonus action on its 
  turn, not both, and can't take reactions. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 11+ your Dexterity modifier. 
   Poison Immunity. You are immune to poison 
  damage, and immune to the poisoned condition. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Abyssal. 
  Glabrezu 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Intelligence. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13+ your Dexterity modifier. 
   Pincer. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 bludgeoning 
  damage on a hit. When you take the Attack action and 
  make an unarmed strike, you can use a bonus action to 
  initiate a grapple with the target of your successful 
  unarmed strike. 
   Sense Magic. Once you reach 3rd level, you can cast 
  the detect magic as a ritual. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Abyssal. 
  Goristro 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Charge. Once per turn, if you move at least 15 feet 
  toward a creature and hit it with a Strength-based 
  melee weapon attack, the target takes an extra 1d6 
  damage from the attack. This damage increases to 2d6 
  at 5th level, 3d6 at 11th level, and 4d6 at 17th level. 
   Horns. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 piercing 
  damage on a hit, or 1d10 damage on a hit when you 
  use your Charge ability. 
   Labyrinthine Recall. You can perfectly recall any 
  path you have traveled. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Siege Monster. You deal double damage to objects 
  and structures. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Abyssal. 
  Hezrou 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Bite and Claw. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 
  piercing or slashing damage on a hit. 
  
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  Races 
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   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 12 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Stench. As a bonus action you can exude a horrifying 
  stench for up to one minute. Any creature which starts 
  its turn within 5 ft. of you must succeed on a 
  Constitution saving throw or be poisoned until the start 
  of its next turn. The DC for this saving throw is 8 + your 
  proficiency bonus + your Constitution modifier. 
   You must maintain concentration during that time, 
  as if you were casting a spell. If you lose concentration, 
  affected creatures are no longer poisoned by this 
  ability. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Abyssal. 
  Manes 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Constitution. 
   Size. Your size is small. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 ft. 
   Can’t Speak. You are unable to speak, but are still 
  able to read, write, and understand any languages 
  which you know. You are unable to perform verbal 
  spell components. 
   Claw. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 piercing or 
  slashing damage on a hit. 
   Demonic Resistance. You have resistance to cold, 
  electric, and fire damage. 
   Languages. You can understand, read, and write in 
  Abyssal. 
  Marilith 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 to any two. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Inhuman Reflexes. Your AC increases by +1. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 12 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Six Arms. You have six arms, and may hold and use 
  items in each of your hands.  
   If you have Extra Attacks, when you take the Attack 
  action you may make each of your attacks using any 
  weapon you are holding. 
   When you take the Attack action and attack with a 
  weapon which qualifies for use with two-weapon 
  fighting, you can use a bonus action to attack with a 
  different qualifying weapon. You don’t add your ability 
  modifier to the damage of the bonus attack unless the 
  modifier is negative or you have an ability which allows 
  you to add your ability modifier to the bonus attack 
  granted by two-weapon fighting. If you choose to make 
  this additional attack, you may not benefit from using a 
  shield until the beginning of your next turn. 
   If you use a weapon with the Heavy property or use 
  a Versatile weapon two-handed you may not benefit 
  from using a shield until the beginning of your next 
  turn, but you may switch between multiple Heavy or 
  Versatile weapons with each attack. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Abyssal. 
  Nalfeshnee 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 20 ft. 
   Bite and Claw. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 
  piercing or slashing damage on a hit. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Horror Nimbus. As an action, you can emit a 
  scintillating, multicolored light that instill fear in nearby 
  creatures. Each creature within 10 feet of you that can 
  see the light must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw 
  or be frightened for 1 minute. The DC for this saving 
  throw is 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma 
  bonus. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the 
  end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a 
  success. If a creature's saving throw is successful or the 
  effect ends for it, the creature is immune to your 
  Horror Nimbus for the next 24 hours.  
   You must maintain concentration during that time, 
  as if you were casting a spell. If you lose concentration, 
  affected creatures are no longer frightened by this 
  ability. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13+ your Dexterity modifier. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Abyssal. 
  Quasit 
   Creature Type. Fiend (demon, shapechanger) 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity. 
   Size. Your size is tiny. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Claw. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 slashing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Scare. As an action, you can instill fear in a creature. 
  One creature of your choice within 20 feet must 
  succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be frightened for 
  1 minute. The DC of this saving throw is 8 + your 
  proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier. The target 
  
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  Races 
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  can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its 
  turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.  
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a long rest. 
   Shapechanger. As an action, you can magically take 
  the form of a small creature. You may take the form of 
  a bat, a centipede, or a toad. Any equipment you are 
  holding or wearing is not transformed. You retain all of 
  your own statistics, and the effect ends if you take 
  damage. 
   To discern that you are disguised, a creature can use 
  its action to inspect your appearance and must succeed 
  on an Intelligence (Investigation) check. The DC of this 
  check is 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma 
  modifier. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a long rest. 
   Hidden Step. As a bonus action, you can magically 
  turn invisible until the start of your next turn or until 
  you attack, make a damage roll, or force someone to 
  make a saving throw.  
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Abyssal. 
  Shadow Demon 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Claw. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 psychic damage 
  on a hit. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Shadow Stealth. While in dim light or darkness, you 
  can take the Hide action as a bonus action. 
   Stealthy. You have proficiency in the Stealth skill. 
   Sunlight Sensitivity. You have disadvantage on 
  attack rolls and on Wisdom (Perception) checks that 
  rely on sight when you, the target of your attack, or 
  whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct 
  sunlight.  
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Abyssal. 
  Vrock 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Constitution. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Beak and Talons. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 
  piercing or slashing damage on a hit. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Spores. As an action, you can shake poisonous 
  spores from your wings to infect creatures within 15 
  feet. The spores spread around corners. Each creature 
  in that area must succeed on a Constitution saving 
  throw or become poisoned. The DC of this saving 
  throw is 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Constitution 
  modifier. 
   A target can repeat the saving throw at the end of 
  each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a 
  success. Emptying a vial of holy water on the target 
  also ends the effect on it. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Abyssal. 
  Yochlol 
   Creature Type. Fiend (demon, shapechanger) 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Constitution. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft.  
   Shapechanger. As an action, you can magically take 
  the form of a servant of Lolth. You may take your 
  normal ooze form, the form of a female drow, or the 
  form of a spider. Any equipment you are holding or 
  wearing is not transformed. You retain all of your own 
  statistics, except as noted below. 
   To discern that you are disguised, a creature can use 
  its action to inspect your appearance and must succeed 
  on an Intelligence (Investigation) check. The DC of this 
  check is 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma 
  modifier. 
   When in your normal form, you are a yellow ooze. 
  You have a 30 ft. climb speed. You ignore movement 
  restrictions caused by webbing. You are unable to wear 
  armor or use shields, and you have no hands and are 
  unable to wield weapons or use some items. Your AC is 
  equal to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. Your unarmed 
  strikes deal 1d4 bludgeoning damage and 1d4 poison 
  damage on a hit. 
   When in the form a female drow, you are able to 
  wear armor and use shields and items just as if you 
  were a normal drow. 
   When in the form of spider, you have a 30 ft. climb 
  speed, but may only climb while wearing light armor or 
  while unarmored. You ignore movement restrictions 
  caused by webbing. You have no hands and are unable 
  to wield weapons or use some items. Your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. Your unarmed strikes 
  
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  Races 
  46 
  deal 1d4 bludgeoning damage and 1d4 poison damage 
  on a hit. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Abyssal, Elven, and Undercommon. 
  Playing a Demon 
  Demons are all unique, and each demon excels in a 
  variety of roles. Despite these differences, demons are 
  all inherently evil, and as such are well suited to evil 
  campaigns. 
  Balor 
  Balors make good fighters, paladins, and sorcerers due 
  to their ability increases. Their ability to fly grants 
  balors excellent mobility, and allows spellcasters to 
  remain out of harm’s way without needing 
  Concentrate on spells like fly. 
   Balors’ ability scores make them excellent front-line 
  leaders, and their role in the abyss makes them a good 
  focal-point around which to build an evil party. 
  Barlgura 
  Barlgura are strong and brutish, so they make excellent 
  Barbarians, Fighters, and Monks. Because of their 
  natural weapons and natural armor, they are able to 
  fight effectively without relying on weapons or armor. 
  Their climb speed allows them to traverse many 
  obstacles easily, granting them mobility not available 
  to many races. 
   Barlgura are pack predators, so forming a party of 
  like-minded creatures is a natural instinct. 
  Chasme 
  Chasme’s dexterity and mobility make them excellent 
  Monks, Rangers, and Rogues, but their lack of hands 
  makes them unable to utilize ranged weapons. 
  Consider feats like mobile to take advantage of your 
  natural mobility while quickly moving in and out of 
  reach. 
   Chasme function similarly to bounty hunters in the 
  abyss. While this likely makes them naturally solitary, it 
  shouldn’t preclude them from being an asset to an evil 
  party. 
  Dretch 
  Among the weakest of demons, dretches aren’t really 
  built for one specific set of tasks. Ironically, being 
  terrible at everything means that they’re equally good 
  at almost anything. Their flexible ability increase makes 
  the dretch adaptable to nearly any class, and their 
  other traits offer options welcome on any character. 
   Dretches are self-loathing creatures who spend most 
  of their time roaming the abyss and complaining about 
  how terrible they are. This might make for an amusing 
  personality, but be sure not to frustrate your fellow 
  players by constantly complaining. This sense of self-
  deprecation also makes dretches great followers in a 
  party with a strong, central personality like a balor or 
  cambion. 
  Glabrezu 
  Glabrezu are intelligent and strong, which makes them 
  an ideal choice for an eldritch knight or a wizard 
  pursuing the bladesinging tradition. The glabrezu’s 
  natural armor works fine in place of real armor, and its 
  pincer attack makes the glabrezu fearsome in melee 
  combat without a weapon. 
   Glabrezu are prone to evil plots and deceit, but 
  aren’t terribly charismatic. This makes them a great 
  brain-trust for the party’s more charismatic characters. 
  Goristro 
  Goristro are strong, but that’s about it. They make 
  excellent barbarians and fighters, and excel at charging 
  into combat to quickly kill foes. 
   Goristro are beasts of little intellect, but make 
  excellent warriors. As such, they make a great addition 
  to an evil party with leaders who are smart enough to 
  make use of the goristro’s strengths. 
  Hezrou 
  Hezrou are foot soldiers: strong, and durable. As such, 
  they make good barbarians and fighters. Their Stench 
  ability provides a useful advantage in melee combat, 
  but be careful not to poison your allies. 
  Manes 
  Manes are durable, but that’s about it. Their good 
  Constitution and their resistances and immunities 
  allow them to shrug off many types of damage and a 
  couple of problematic conditions. This makes them 
  ideal for springing traps, drawing fire, and otherwise 
  drawing unwanted attention away from the rest of the 
  party. 
   The manes lacks the ability to speak, which can make 
  it troublesome to include in a party. You will be almost 
  completely unable to use social skills like Persuasion, 
  so you will need to find ways to depend on others for 
  those capabilities. 
  Marilith 
  The marilith is flexible and versatile. With flexible 
  ability increases it can fill numerous roles, and its 
  ability to hold and wield multiple items allows it to 
  easily adapt to numerous situations. While the marilith 
  does fine as a spellcaster, its AC bonus and additional 
  hands allow it to shine in melee combat. 
  
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  Races 
  47 
  Nalfeshnee 
  Nalfeshnee are strong brutes with a powerful crowd 
  control ability. Horror Nimbus allows you to frighten 
  foes, imposing disadvantage on their attacks. This 
  makes it easy for the nalfeshenee to excel in melee 
  combat even if its AC is low. The nalfeshnee’s strength 
  makes it a good Barbarian, Cleric, or Fighter. 
  Quasit 
  Quasits are small and stealthy, making them excellent 
  rangers and rogues. The quasits magical abilities grant 
  it some unique options which most characters can’t 
  achieve without magic. 
   Quasits frequently serve spellcasters as familiars and 
  greater demons as messengers, so they have good 
  reason to be among mortal adventurers. Your 
  character might be bound to another character in 
  some fashion, or they might have some great demonic 
  purpose which motivates their adventures. 
  Shadow Demon 
  The shadow demon is a natural rogue. They excel in 
  darkness, and their ability to deal psychic damage with 
  their claws allows them to easily damage creatures 
  which are resistant to normal weapon damage types. 
   Shadow demons are the essence of demons which 
  died and were unable to return to the abyss. Consider 
  what sort of demon your character was before their 
  destruction. Use this decision to shape your characters 
  personality. 
  Vrock 
  The Vrock is a durable flyer, allowing it to get into 
  melee combat and survive well. However, it lacks 
  natural armor and its unarmed strikes are weak, so be 
  sure to pick up armor and weapons. The vrock’s Spores 
  ability allows you to hinder nearby foes, granting you a 
  significant advantage in melee combat. 
   Vrocks are petty, greedy creatures attracted to shiny 
  baubles like cheap jewelry. While one might think that 
  this makes them easy to motivate, the vrock is more 
  likely to kill anyone with the capacity to give the vrock 
  something that it wants. Any party including a vrock 
  should consider some means of keeping the vrock in 
  line so it doesn’t murder the rest of the party to take 
  their belongings. 
  Yochlol 
  The yochlol is a complex race with the ability to change 
  forms. As an ooze, it can fit into small spaces and move 
  around easily, but can’t use weapons, wear armor, or 
  use many items which you typically wear or hold. As a 
  spider, you can wear light armor and some items 
  without losing your climb speed, but lose the ability to 
  speak. As a drow, you behave more like a normal 
  humanoid, but lose your climb speed and your 
  unarmed strike damage. 
   The yochlol exists to serve Lolth. As such, it fits well 
  into a party of drow or some other Underdark 
  creatures. 
  Design Notes 
  Demons are numerous and diverse. Very little is shared 
  between demon varieties beyond their creature type, 
  but there are a handful of similar abilities which will 
  have the same design issues. Like other fiends, I want 
  to make a specific point to differentiate demons from 
  similar creatures including tieflings (and their variants) 
  and cambions.  
   Demons are fiends, costing 0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   Specialized vision is a common ability between 
  demons. All demons have either Darkvision or 
  Truesight (they don’t need both because Truesight 
  eclipses the effect of Darkvision). I can’t grant Truesight 
  to a player race: it’s simply too powerful. I 
  approximated a perpetual see invisibility to 2.5 BP (see 
  the Kuo-Toa design notes), which is the most that I 
  would ever allow. However, to truly approximate 
  Truesight, I would need to add Darkvision for another 2 
  BP. 4.5 BP really doesn’t leave a lot of room for 
  anything else, and demons with wings will shoot 
  straight to 8.5 BP before they get anything remotely 
  interesting. Instead, I’ll grant all demons Darkvision for 
  2 BP and call it good. Some might get superior 
  Darkvision, but I’ll probably avoid it to save BP. 
   All demons have some set of resistances. Resistance 
  to cold, fire, and lightning damage are all common, and 
  all demons have immunity to poison. Unfortunately, I’ll 
  need to abandon all of these to save BP, but I may re-
  introduce them on a case-by-case basis for individual 
  demons. 
   Most demons also have telepathy. I’ve adjust the 
  range down to 30 ft. for 2 BP for other creatures, so 
  some demons may retain that ability. Demons with 
  telepathy typically only speak Abyssal, but even that 
  isn’t consistent across all demons. 
   With Darkvision and the creature type cost, all 
  demons start at 2.5 BP before we discuss individual 
  design. 
  Balor 
  Balors are the most powerful demons short of demon 
  princes. They have all of the best features of demons: 
  horns, wings, and fire-related abilities. If you recall the 
  
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  Races 
  48 
  balrog from Lord of the Rings, you can see the 
  similarities pretty clearly. 
   Because they’re CR 19 monsters clearly intended to 
  work as solo monsters, we need to strip away huge 
  amounts of the balor to make them a playable race. 
   Balors have fantastic ability scores, but I think 
  Strength and Charisma are really their two biggest. 
  They’re big strong melee combatants, but also leaders 
  of lesser demons. We’ll grant +1 to each for 2 BP. 
   From their stat block, we can take medium size 
  (down from huge), 30 ft. walking speed (down from 
  40), and 30 ft. flying speed (down from 80 ft.) for 4 BP. 
  Balors normally have telepathy, but we just don’t have 
  enough room for it. Instead, we’ll grant racial 
  languages plus Common for 0 BP. 
   We’re already at 8.5 BP and we haven’t even 
  considered to the balor’s resistances or their fun 
  abilities. With so little BP, we need to dump almost all 
  of it. 
   I’ll grant the balor fire resistance for 2 BP. Even 
  though we’re already above our BP range, I want to 
  retain Flame Aura somehow, so I’ll reskin the 
  swordburst cantrip out of the Sword Coast 
  Adventurer’s Guide to deal fire damage for 0.25 BP. 
   At 10.75 BP, the balor exceeds our target range of 8-
  10 BP. However, they have only one active ability, so 
  despite their high BP value they’re not particularly 
  exciting. If you want to strengthen the balor, grant it 
  natural armor. If you want to weak the balor, remove 
  its Charisma increase. 
  Barlgura 
  Barlgura are big, dumb brutes. They have a tiny bit of 
  innate spellcasting, including some illusion effects 
  which I really can’t explain. Their Reckless ability 
  duplicates the effect of the Barbarian’s Reckless Attack 
  ability, which makes it clear that barlguras are intended 
  to be melee monsters. Barlguras also have blindsight, 
  but much like their weird illusion abilities I don’t really 
  see anything in their flavor to justify it. 
   The barlgura’s physical ability scores are fantastic, as 
  one might expect from a creature like this. Adjusting 
  for their size, I think we can still justify +2 Strength and 
  +1 Constitution for 3 BP. 
   From their stat block, we’ll take medium size (down 
  from large), +2 natural armor (down from +5) for 1 BP, 
  30 ft. walking speed, and 30 ft. climb speed for 2 BP. 
  Barlgura normally have telepathy, but we just don’t 
  have enough room for it. Instead, we’ll grant racial 
  languages plus Common for 0 BP. 
   We’re at 8.5 BP already, but I still want the barlgura 
  to be work without weapons, so I’ll give it a 1d6 natural 
  weapon for 1.5 BP. 
   At 10 BP, the barlgura is at the top of our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. Despite its high BP cost, it’s still not a 
  great race. Comparing the barlgura to the half-orc, the 
  two seem roughly equivalent. 
   If you want to strengthen the barlgura, give it more 
  natural armor or increase its Darkvision to Superior 
  Darkvision. If you want to weaken the barlgura, reduce 
  its natural armor or natural weapon damage. 
  Chasme 
  Chasmes are giant demonic mosquito. Their iconic 
  ability is Drone, which puts creatures to sleep. Their 
  proboscis is a potent natural weapon which deals 
  necrotic damage and lowers the targets hit point 
  maximum. Chasmes also have spider climb, which 
  allows them to easily traverse walls and ceilings, much 
  like a real mosquito. 
   Adjusted for size, the chasme’s ability scores aren’t 
  great. Dexterity and Wisdom are the chasme’s two 
  best abilities, but Wisdom doesn’t really do anything 
  for it as a race, so we’ll focus on Dexterity. A +1 
  Dexterity increase for 1 BP leaves us lots of room for 
  other traits. 
   From the monster entry, we get medium size (down 
  from large), +2 natural armor (down from +5) for 1 BP, 
  25 ft. walking speed (up from 20) for -0.5 BP, 30 ft. fly 
  speed (down from 60) for 4 BP. We’ll drop telepathy in 
  favor of racial languages plus Common for 0 BP, and 
  we’ll keep Spider Climb for 1 BP. Based on their picture 
  in the Monster Manual, chasmes have no hands for -2 
  BP. 
   At 7 BP, we don’t have a lot of room left to tackle the 
  Chasme’s natural weapon and Drone ability. With no 
  hands, the Chasme needs a passable natural weapon to 
  make it playable, so we’ll spend 2 BP to give it 
  proboscis and deal 1d4 piercing and 1d4 necrotic 
  damage.  
   Drone presents a design problem going beyond BP. 
  The closest ability we can use to approximate it is the 
  sleep spell, which drops in effectiveness very quickly as 
  players gain levels. We could allow Drone to cast sleep 
  with a gradually improving spelt slot level, but the BP 
  cost will be high and it’s still not guaranteed to remain 
  useful. We could call casting sleep as a 9th-level spell 5 
  BP (1 for the spell level, plus 0.5x4 for increasing the 
  spell slot level), but that’s more BP than we can justify. 
   I think our best bet is to have Sleep grow at pace 
  with half-casters like the Paladin or Ranger, which caps 
  its spell level at 5th-level for a total of 3 BP. We’re not 
  
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  Races 
  49 
  getting a lot for that 3 BP, so I think we’ll be okay 
  exceeding our target BP range. 
   At 12 BP, the chasme exceeds our target range of 8-
  10 BP. Despite the high BP, the chasme is frail, doesn’t 
  have great abilities, and Drone will only rarely be able 
  to affect enemies in any significant capacity. If you 
  want to strengthen the chasme, increase its Dexterity 
  increase to +2. If you want to weaken the Chasme, 
  reduce its walking speed or remove its natural armor. 
  Dretch 
  Dretch are small, frail, and not very threatening. 
  Fortunately, that makes them very easy to design. 
   Dretch’s ability scores terrible, but that also gives us 
  a lot of flexibility. The dretch’s best ability is 
  Constitution, so we’ll give the dretch +1 Constitution 
  and a +1 flexible increase for 2.5 BP. 
   From their stat block, we get small size for -1 BP, +1 
  natural armor for 0.5 BP, 25 ft. walking speed (up from 
  20 ft.), and we’ll grant dretches racial languages plus 
  common for 0 BP. We’ll give the Dretch a 1d6 natural 
  weapon for 1.5 BP. 
   At just 5 BP, we have lots of room for other abilities. 
  The dretch’s only active ability is Fetid Cloud, which has 
  a similar effect to the stinking cloud spell, but with half 
  the radius and no range. We’ll call that essentially a 
  2nd-level spell (stinking cloud is a 3rd-level spell), and 
  allow it to be cast two levels early for 2.25 BP. That 
  leaves us enough room to give the dretch Poison 
  Immunity for 2 BP. 
   At 9.25 BP, the dretch is within our target range of 8-
  10 BP. The dretch has good ability increases and some 
  other racial traits that place it roughly on par with 
  halflings. Because of their flexible ability increases, I 
  can see dretches succeeding in a variety of classes. 
  Glabrezu 
  The glabrezu is an interesting demon. They’re built like 
  your typical melee monster, but instead of being a 
  simple murder machine like many demons, they use 
  their high intelligence to deceive and mislead mortals.  
   Because of their personality, it’s hard to pin down 
  the glabrezu’s abilities. Accounting for size, its 
  Constitution and Intelligence seem like two great 
  options, but its personality seems to indicate Strength 
  and Charisma. I think Strength and Intelligence will 
  make the most sense for building a character. That will 
  make the glabrezu a natural choice for an eldritch 
  knight, but that will also help justify abandoning most 
  of the glabrezu’s innate spellcasting. We’ll grant +1 
  Strength and +1 Intelligence for 2 BP. 
   From their stat block, we get medium size (down 
  from large), +3 natural armor (down from +7) for 1.5 
  BP, and racial languages plus common for 0 BP. 
   At 6 BP, we’ve got a bit of room to tackle the 
  glabrezu’s remaining traits. Glabrezu have four arms, 
  but since they only have two hands we’ll just ignore 
  them. A 1d8 natural weapon makes sense for the 
  pincers for 2 BP, and we can add Grab for another 2 BP. 
   We’re going to need to drop essentially all of the 
  glabrezu’s innate spellcasting, but we can keep detect 
  magic as ritual only for 0.5 BP without really breaking 
  anything. 
   At 10.5 BP, the glabrezu slightly exceeds our target 
  range of 8-10 BP, but it’s locked into a small handful of 
  viable builds, and many of those will quickly supersede 
  the glabrezu’s racial traits with class features 
  (weapons, armor, spellcasting, etc.). If you want to 
  strengthen the glabrezu, grant it a +1 constitution 
  increase. If you want to weaken the glabrezu, reduce 
  its natural weapon damage or remove grab. 
  Goristro 
  The goristro is described as a giant, demonic minotaur. 
  Based on their abilities, the similarities are extremely 
  apparent. So much so that I went and designed the 
  minotaur before designing the goristro. 
   The first big difference between the two is their 
  creature type. It doesn’t come with a BP change, but 
  it’s important. Goristro also aren’t as clever as 
  minotaurs, so we’ll change the flexible ability increase 
  to a fixed Strength increase, reducing the BP cost by 
  0.5, and we’ll add Siege Monster for 0.5 BP to offset 
  the cost. It’s not terribly exciting, but that’s probably 
  enough to distinguish the two without breaking 
  anything. 
   To make adjustments to the goristro, see the 
  minotaur design notes. 
  Hezrou 
  Hezrou are surprisingly boring in 5th edition. In 3rd 
  edition, the Hezrou had a list of spell-like abilities 
  which made them dangerous well beyond their 
  physical bulk. In 5th edition, they’re essentially just 
  oversized demonic troglodytes. 
   Adjusting for size, all of the Hezrou’s physical ability 
  scores are good. They serve as front-line soldiers in 
  demonic armies, so that makes a lot of sense. They 
  should make good barbarians and fighters, so +1 
  increases to Strength and Constitution for 2 BP make 
  sense.  
   From their stat block, we get medium size (down 
  from large), +2 natural armor (down from +6) for 1 BP, 
  
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  Races 
  50 
  30 ft. walking speed, racial languages plus Common for 
  0 BP, and a 1d8 natural weapon for 2 BP. 
   At 8 BP, we don’t have much room left, and we still 
  need to tackle Stench. For a normal Hezrou it’s an 
  always-active ability, but that’s probably too strong for 
  a player ability. The Dretch’s Fetid Cloud ability is a 
  good basis, but the Fetid Cloud has a more potent 
  effect and is only usable once per day. If we weaken 
  the effect, I think we can get away with once per 
  encounter. 
   We’ll make Stench cause creatures within 10 ft. to be 
  poisoned, but we’ll require that the hezrou maintain 
  Concentration to maintain the effect for us to a 
  minute. We’ll allow it to be used once per short rest as 
  a bonus action and call it 2 BP. We’ll also add Poison 
  Immunity even though it will exceed our target BP 
  range. 
   At 11.5 BP, the hezrou exceeds our target range of 8-
  10 BP. The race has very limited utility, and most 
  hezrous will likely be barbarians or fighters, which will 
  make their natural armor and natural weapon abilities 
  largely inconsequential. If you want to strengthen the 
  hezrou, increase its natural armor. If you want to 
  weaken the hezrou, reduce its natural armor or natural 
  weapon damage, or reduce Stench to once per day. 
  Manes 
  Manes are pitiful little demons. Their ability scores are 
  terrible and they have essentially no special abilities or 
  traits. They’re like an ugly dretch that smells better. 
  Manes can’t even talk. Because they have so little 
  going for them, it’s very difficult to design the Manes. 
   Like the dretch, the Manes doesn’t have any 
  particularly good abilities, but they have decent 
  Constitution, so we’ll give them +2 Constitution for 2 
  BP. 
   From their stat block, we get small size for -1 BP, 25 
  ft. walking speed (up from 20 ft.), no ability to speak 
  for -1.5 BP, only racial languages for -1 BP, and we’ll let 
  the Manes have a 1d8 natural weapon for 2 BP 
  because I have very few ideas what else to give them. 
   At just 3 BP we have lots of room, so we’ll look at 
  their demonic resistances. For 6 BP, we can grant 
  resistance to cold, fire, and lightning. For another 1 BP, 
  we can grant immunity to the charmed and frightened 
  conditions. 
   At 910 BP, the manes is at the top of our target 
  range of 8-10 BP, but still pretty terrible. They’re hard 
  to kill, but that’s really all that they have going for 
  them. If you want to strengthen the manes, give it 
  poison immunity. If you want to weaken the manes, 
  make the player choose two of its three damage 
  resistances. 
  Marilith 
  The Marilith is the first creature in the Monster Manual 
  with multiple arms, all of which have a human-like 
  hand. Beyond the normal design issues implicit in 
  adapting a high-CR creature, multiple arms a huge 
  design problem on their own. The mere ability to hold 
  things in six hands means that players can do crazy 
  things like use two greatswords, hold a shield, and 
  throw a spear at the same time. We’ll tackle the easy 
  stuff first, then discuss the 6-arms thing. 
   The Marilith’s abilities are stellar. Even adjusting for 
  size, it’s basically impossible to determine which 
  abilities to emphasize. We can go the vanilla human 
  route and dump 6 a ton of BP into a +1 to every ability, 
  but that’s really unhelpful in practice. Instead, we’ll 
  give them two flexible +1 increases.  
   From their stat block, we get medium size (down 
  from large), +2 natural armor (down from +3) for 1 BP, 
  30 ft. speed (down from 40 ft.), and racial languages 
  plus Common. 
   At 6.5 BP, we’ve got a bit of room to tackle the 
  marilith’s Reactive and Parry abilities, and the six arms 
  issue.  
   Reactive is too good for a player. Adding even one 
  extra reaction per round would be massively disruptive 
  to the game’s mechanics. Imagine a character with the 
  Sentinel feat getting to stop two or more foes in a 
  given round. Imagine a rogue sneak attacking twice or 
  more on other creature’s turns. It’s not a pretty 
  picture. 
   Parry is also too good. It’s essentially a better version 
  of the Defensive Duelist feat, making it something like 
  3 or 4 BP. 
   We need something to address the Marilith’s crazy 
  reflexes without breaking anything. Advantage on 
  opportunity attacks seems to work well for Reactive, 
  but I’m really worried about combining it with Sentinel, 
  War Caster, or any number of abilities which combine 
  with opportunity attacks. Parry should just be an AC 
  boost, but I really don’t want it to constantly consume 
  the marilith’s reactions. 
   It’s not particularly fun, but a flat +1 bonus to AC for 
  2 BP is probably the best we can do. AC doesn’t scale 
  much, so a fixed +1 to AC is a potent ability even if it 
  isn’t terribly exciting. 
   Six arms is a lot of arms. This isn’t 3.5, so we’re not 
  going to let players get extra attacks for each arm or 
  allow them to use two-weapon fighting rules with 
  greatswords. To keep things relatively balanced, all 
  
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  Races 
  51 
  that multiple arms will really do is allow the marilith to 
  hold a bunch of stuff and attack with different 
  weapons without needing to switch between them. 
  This isn’t a huge benefit, but it needs to be very 
  explicitly defined to prevent abuse. Several creatures 
  have multiple arms, so the design used here will be 
  used repeatedly throughout this document. We’ll call 
  the “extra arms” ability 0.5 BP + 0.25 BP for each extra 
  arm, totaling 1.5 BP for the marilith. 
   Marilith also have the ability to grapple foes with 
  their tails, but we’ll need to abandon that ability to 
  remain within BP constraints. If players ask about it, 
  tell them that a medium marilith’s tail isn’t strong 
  enough to grapple creatures effectively. 
   At 10 BP, the marilith tops out our target range of 8-
  10 BP. The marilith’s flexible ability scores and 
  excellent armor make it an interesting option if players 
  find a way to take advantage of them. If you want to 
  strengthen the marilith, grant it a 1d4 damage natural 
  weapon. If you want to weaken the marilith, remove its 
  natural armor. 
  Nalfeshnee 
  The nalfeshnee is fairly straightforward. Most of their 
  abilities are easily defined, and their only unique ability 
  is Horror Nimbus. 
   We need a lot of BP to pay for flight, so we don’t 
  have a lot of room for ability increases. We’ll settle for 
  +1 Strength for 1 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), +3 natural armor (down from +8) for 1.5 BP, 20 
  ft. walking speed for -1 BP, 30 ft. flying speed for 4 BP, 
  and racial languages plus Common for 0 BP. The 
  Nalfeshnee’s natural weapons do a ton of damage, so 
  we’ll drop them down to 1d8 damage for 2 BP. 
   At 8 BP, we don’t have much room for Horror 
  Nimbus. The dissonant whispers spell is close, but I 
  don’t want the damage. Fear is an obvious comparison, 
  but it’s too high level and adds some additional effects 
  which we don’t want. If we stick to the basic 
  Frightened condition, reduce the radius to 10 ft., and 
  add a Concentration requirement, I think that we can 
  make Horror Nimbus usable once per short rest at 1 
  BP. 
   At 9 BP, the nalfeshnee is within our target range of 
  8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the nalfeshnee, 
  increase its walking speed or grant it another +1 ability 
  increase. If you want to weaken the nalfeshnee, reduce 
  Horror Nimbus to once per long rest. 
  Quasit 
  Quasits are tiny, but certainly not weak. Their ability to 
  change shapes makes them extremely mobile, and 
  their abilities to become invisible, frighten foes, and 
  deal poison damage all make them very dangerous. 
  Despite their low CR, we’ll need to make significant 
  cuts to the quasit to make it playable. 
   The quasit’s only good ability score is Dexterity, so 
  we’ll grant the quasit a +2 to Dexterity for 2 BP. 
   From their stat block, we get tiny size for -1.5 BP and 
  30 ft. walking speed (down from 40) for 1 BP. We’ll 
  grant the quasit a 1d6 claw for 1.5 BP but drop the 
  poison component. 
   At 5.5 BP, we’ve got a bit of room to tackle 
  Shapechanger, Scare, and Invisibility. 
   Shapechanger steals some of the most useful parts 
  of wild shape. I don’t want to trample on a class like 
  that, and access to all of those movement types would 
  be more BP than I could possibly allocate to a single 
  race. If we make this a purely cosmetic effect, I think 
  we can keep it for 0.5 BP. We’ll add the Shapechanger 
  creature subtype for another 0.25 BP. 
   Scare is easy. It doesn’t deal damage and isn’t as 
  effective as the dissonant whispers spell, so we’ll grant 
  it once per day for 0.5 BP. 
   Invisibility is a problem. Granting the spell once per 
  day is 2 BP, which is possible, but doesn’t really offer a 
  significant enough option to replicate an ability which 
  is usable at will like this. Instead, we’ll borrow from the 
  recently published Volo’s Guide to Monsters. The 
  firbolg race includes the Hidden Step ability, which I 
  think perfectly meets my goals for the quasit’s 
  invisibility. We’ll call it 2 BP. 
   At 8.75 BP, the quasit is within our target range of 8-
  10 BP. If you want to strengthen the quasit, change its 
  claws damage to 1d4 slashing and 1d4 poison damage. 
  If you want to weaken the quasit, reduce Vanish to 
  once per long rest. 
  Shadow Demon 
  Shadow demons are incorporeal, which is very odd for 
  a fiend. Their incorporeal nature presents a lot of 
  problems similar to those discussed in the Banshee 
  design notes, so we’ll take some of the same steps to 
  address the shadow demon. Unfortunately, where the 
  banshee is just a screaming undead which happens to 
  be able to move through walls, Incorporeal Movement 
  is one of the shadow demon’s defining features. It’s 
  going to be difficult to maintain the shadow demon’s 
  flavor while still making it mechanically viable. 
   The shadow demon’s best ability score is Dexterity, 
  so we’ll grant it +1 to Dexterity for 1 BP. The shadow 
  
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  Races 
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  demon’s mental abilities are decent, too, but not 
  enough to justify an ability increase. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, 30 ft. 
  walking speed, 30 ft. flying speed for 4 BP, and Sunlight 
  Sensitivity for -2 BP (converted from Light Sensitivity). 
  Everything else will require additional discussion. 
   Incorporeal Movement is out. Etherealness is the 
  closest player option, and it’s an extremely high-level 
  spell for a very good reason. The ability to pass through 
  barriers is simply too good to leave to players without 
  extremely powerful magic. 
   Shadow Stealth is similar to Cunning Action’s hide 
  option, but with the limitation that it only applies in 
  dim light or darkness. We’ll keep it and call it 1 BP. 
   The shadow demon’s claws are really unique 
  because they deal psychic damage instead of a more 
  conventional damage type like slashing. We’ll give the 
  shadow demon 1d6 psychic damage and call it 2 BP. 
  Psychic damage is difficult to resist, so it should 
  certainly cost a bit more to resist than normal weapon 
  damage types which are frequently resisted by many 
  creatures. 
   The shadow demon should be naturally stealthy, so 
  we’ll grant it Stealth proficiency for 0.5 BP. 
   At 9 BP, the shadow demon is within our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the shadow 
  demon, improve its Dexterity increase to +2. If you 
  want to weaken the shadow demon, change its claws 
  to slashing damage. 
  Vrock 
  Vrocks are flying bird demons with the ability to shake 
  poisonous spores from their wings and to stun foes 
  with a shriek. Most of their abilities are easy to 
  quantify, but Spores and Shriek will need some focus. 
   The vrock’s physical abilities are great, but their 
  mental abilities are poor. Adjusting for size it’s difficult 
  to decide which abilities should receive an increase. 
  We’ll give it a +1 Constitution increase since we’ll use 
  Constitution for the DC of Spores. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), 30 ft. walking speed (down from 40 ft.), 30 ft. fly 
  speed (down from 50) for 4 BP. We’ll drop the vrock’s 
  natural armor to conserve BP. A normal vrock relies on 
  natural weapons, but I think they’ll be fine to use a real 
  weapon so we’ll give the vrock a 1d4 natural weapon 
  for 1 BP. 
   At 8.5 BP, we have very little room for Shriek Spores. 
  Shriek might be too powerful to keep. The command 
  spell’s “Halt” option is passable approximation, but for 
  1 BP we can only allow it to affect one creature once 
  per day. Instead, we’ll focus on Spores, which I think 
  will be much more fun. 
   Since Spores recharges for a normal vrock, I want it 
  to be rechargeable on a short rest. I also want it to 
  remain viable as the vrock levels. With so little BP to 
  work with, I think it makes sense to abandon the 
  damage component of spores. The Poisoned status 
  effect imposes disadvantage on attack rolls and ability 
  checks, which is already a significant tactical 
  advantage. We’ll keep the 15-foot radius, and keep the 
  holy water mechanic for flavor. We’ll call it 2 BP. 
   At 10.5 BP, the vrock is slightly above our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. Because most of its BP is tied up in 
  flight, the vrock doesn’t have a lot of cool abilities, but 
  Spores is a fantastic option in a crowded fight. If you 
  want to strengthen the vrock, increase its natural 
  weapon damage. If you want to weaken the vrock, 
  reduce Spores to once per long rest. 
  Yochlol 
  Yochlols are among the most complex demons. Where 
  other demons are creatures designed for a singular 
  purpose, the Yochlol does a bunch of stuff which isn’t 
  tied together except by the “I work for Lolth” flavor. 
  Many of its abilities are extremely problematic, so 
  designing the yochlol to be playable will take some 
  effort. 
   The yochlol’s ability scores are all good, so it’s 
  difficult to decide what deserves an increase. 
  Constitution seems like a likely choice since it’s the 
  yochlol’s highest ability, so we’ll grant a +2 Constitution 
  increase for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, +3 natural 
  armor for 1.5 BP, 30 ft. walking speed, 30 ft. climb 
  speed for 2 BP, racial languages plus Common 
  (Undercommon in this case) and 1 additional fixed 
  language for 0.25 BP. Because the Yochlol’s default 
  form is an ooze, they have no hands for -2 BP, and 
  can’t wear armor or use shields for -4 BP. We can add a 
  natural weapon for 2 BP which deals 1d4 weapon 
  damage plus 1d4 poison damage, and poison immunity 
  for 2 BP. 
   At 6.25 BP, we have room for the yochlol’s remaining 
  abilities. Spider Climb costs 1 BP and Web Walker costs 
  another 0.5 BP, bringing us to 7.75 BP. 
   We can use the Quasit’s Shapechanger mechanic as 
  a basis and expand it to support a drow form and a 
  spider form.  
   A drow form allows the Yochlol to use weapons and 
  armor, which represents a 6 BP change, so the drow 
  form will need to have some adjustments. If we 
  remove the natural armor and natural weapon, that’s 
  
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  3.5 BP. If we remove the climb speed, Spider Climb and 
  Web Walker, that’s 7 BP total. That’s a little bit more 
  than I wanted, but the ability to become a humanoid is 
  pretty fantastic when you’re a weird yellow blob. 
   The spider form should still be able to climb and 
  move through webs. Since the drow form is so 
  mechanically different from the ooze form, I want the 
  spider form to be different too. Spiders can probably 
  wear armor, which represents a 4 BP change, so we’ll 
  need to make cuts. Spiders can’t talk for -1 BP, but 
  that’s about it. If we add a light armor only restriction 
  to the spider form’s climb, which removes most of the 
  utility of armor since the yochlol already gets natural 
  armor as good as light armor. 
   We’ll call the yochlol‘s shape changing ability 2 BP 
  since it’s versatile, powerful, and offers major stat 
  changes. We’ll also add the Shapechanger subtype for 
  0.25. 
   At 10 BP, the yochlol is at the top of our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. It’s a complex creature with some 
  interesting abilities. The ability to change shape 
  functionally allows the yochlol to change races and 
  capabilities quickly. However, players may have trouble 
  bringing those abilities into play without losing or 
  destroying their gear. If you want to strengthen the 
  yochlol, increase the yochlol’s natural armor in ooze 
  form and spider form. If you want to weaken the 
  yochlol, reduce its constitution increase. 
  Devils 
  Evil creatures native to the nine hells, devils seek to 
  entrap the souls of wayward mortals. 
  Devil Traits 
  Devils share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Fiend 
   Alignment. Embodiments of tyranny, most demons 
  are lawful evil. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Devil’s Sight. Magical darkness doesn't impede your 
  Darkvision. 
   Devil’s Soul. If you are killed outside of Hell, you are 
  instead returned to hell. If you are killed in Hell, your 
  spirit is permanently destroyed. You cannot be raised 
  from dead, except by very powerful effects like a wish 
  spell or divine intervention. 
   Subrace. Choose one of these subraces. You gain the 
  traits listed under your chosen subrace in addition to 
  those listed above. 
  Barbed Devil (Hamatula) 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 any. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Barbed Hide. As a bonus action you may deal 1d6 
  piercing damage to any creature grappling you. 
   Claw. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 piercing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Hurl Flame. You know the fire bold cantrip. Charisma 
  is your spellcasting ability for this spell. 
  
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  Races 
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   Keen Senses. You have proficiency in the Perception 
  skill. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 12 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Infernal. 
  Bearded Devil (Barbazu) 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Beard. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 piercing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Poison Resilience. You have advantage on saving 
  throws against poison, and you have resistance against 
  poison damage.  
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 11 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Steadfast. You can't be frightened while you can see 
  an allied creature within 30 feet of you. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Infernal. 
  Bone Devil (Osyluth) 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Constitution. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Sting. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 piercing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Infernal. 
  Chain Devil (Kyton) 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Devil’s Chains. When you hold a normal chain, it 
  sprouts spikes and hooks along its length. Upon losing 
  your grip on the chain, these growths immediately 
  vanish. You can use chains as a weapon, and are always 
  proficient with them. 
   While using a chain one-handed, the chain deals 1d8 
  slashing damage. While using a chain two-handed, the 
  chain deals 1d10 damage and has the Reach property. 
   When you take the Attack action and make an attack 
  with a chain, you can use a bonus action to initiate a 
  grapple with the target of your successful attack.  
   Animate Chains. Upon reaching 5th level, as an 
  action you can animate a chain to fight for you. One 
  mundane chain within 60 feet sprouts hooks and 
  barbs, and animate under your control for 1 minute, 
  provided that the chain is not being worn or carried. 
   When you use this ability, you can make a melee 
  weapon attack against a creature within 5 feet of the 
  chain. On a hit, the target takes slashing damage equal 
  to 1d8 + your Strength modifier. 
   The animated chain is an object with AC 20, 20 hit 
  points, resistance to piercing damage, and immunity to 
  psychic and thunder damage. As a bonus action on 
  your turn, you can move the chain up to 20 feet and 
  repeat the attack against a creature within 5 feet of it.  
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Infernal. 
  Erinyes 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 any. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Hellish Weapon. Starting at 3rd level, as a bonus 
  action, you may imbue a weapon which you are 
  currently holding with fiendish poison. For one minute, 
  melee weapon attacks with the weapon deal an 
  additional 1d6 poison damage. You must maintain 
  concentration during that time, as if you were casting a 
  spell. If you lose concentration or lose your grip on the 
  weapon, the poison effect ends. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Infernal. 
  Horned Devil (Malebranch) 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Tail. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 piercing damage 
  on a hit. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Infernal. 
  Ice Devil (Gelugon) 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 any. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
  
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  Races 
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   Bite and Tail. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 
  bludgeoning or piercing damage on a hit. 
   Ice Wall. Once per turn as an action, you can create 
  a frozen barrier. You create a wall of ice up to 5 feet 
  wide, up to 5 feet high, and 6 inches thick in an 
  unoccupied space which you can see within 30 ft.  
   The wall lasts for 1 minute or until you are 
  incapacitated or die. The wall can be damaged and 
  breached; it has AC 5, 10 hit points, vulnerability to fire 
  damage, and immunity to acid, cold, necrotic, poison, 
  and psychic damage. If the wall is breached, the effect 
  ends. You must maintain concentration during that 
  time, as if you were casting a spell. 
   Icy Weapon. Starting at 3rd level, as a bonus action, 
  you may freeze one melee weapon which you are 
  currently holding. For one minute, melee weapon 
  attacks with the weapon deal an additional 1d6 cold 
  damage. You must maintain concentration during that 
  time, as if you were casting a spell. If you lose 
  concentration or lose your grip on the weapon, it cools 
  quickly, returning to a normal temperature. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Infernal. 
  Imp 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity. 
   Size. Your size is tiny. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 ft. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Stinger. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 piercing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Hidden Step. As a bonus action, you can magically 
  turn invisible until the start of your next turn or until 
  you attack, make a damage roll, or force someone to 
  make a saving throw.  
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Infernal. 
  Lemure 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Constitution. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 ft. 
   Fist. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 bludgeoning 
  damage on a hit. 
   Hellish Resistances. You have advantage on saving 
  throws against poison, and you have resistance against 
  poison damage, cold damage, and fire resistance. 
   Languages. You can understand, read, and write in 
  Infernal. 
  Pit Fiend 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Charisma. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Horror Nimbus. As an action, you can emit a 
  scintillating, multicolored light that instill fear in nearby 
  creatures. Each creature within 10 feet of you that can 
  see the light must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw 
  or be frightened for 1 minute. The DC for this saving 
  throw is 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma 
  bonus. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the 
  end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a 
  success. If a creature's saving throw is successful or the 
  effect ends for it, the creature is immune to your 
  Horror Nimbus for the next 24 hours.  
   You must maintain concentration during that time, 
  as if you were casting a spell. If you lose concentration, 
  affected creatures are no longer frightened by this 
  ability. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Infernal. 
  Spined Devil (Spinagon) 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity. 
   Size. Your size is small. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 piercing damage 
  on a hit. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Tail Spine. You may fire bony, flaming spines from 
  your body as a ranged weapon attack. This attack has 
  30/60 range, and deals 1d4 piercing damage and 1d4 
  fire on a hit. 
   You have a number of spines equal to 2 + half your 
  level. Used spines regrow by the time you finish a long 
  rest. 
  
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   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Infernal. 
  Playing a Devil 
  Devils are diverse with a wide range of abilities and 
  personalities, but they are all absolutely evil, and make 
  great characters in an evil campaign.  
  Barbed Devil (Hamatula) 
  Barbed devil’s traits are diverse, allowing it to function 
  in a wide variety of classes. Their barbed hide makes 
  them excellent grapplers, but Hurl Flame also allows 
  them to fight at range. 
   Barbed devils are typically guards and sentinels for 
  more powerful demons, and are motivated by the 
  desire to accumulate material wealth. This makes them 
  easy to include in an evil party as a guard or a hired 
  mercenary. 
  Bearded Devil (Barbazu) 
  The numberless foot soldiers of Hell, bearded devils 
  make excellent barbarians and fighters. Natural armor, 
  poison resistance, and Steadfast provide several useful 
  defensive options, and your beard provides a helpful 
  offensive option if you’re unarmed. 
   Bearded devils are greedy, so money is an excellent 
  motivator for them. Promises of looted treasure, 
  payment for their services, or other material rewards 
  will easily compel a bearded devil to adventure. 
  Bone Devil (Osyluth) 
  The bone devil is a durable flyer. Take advantage of 
  your flight and Darkvision to confound foes in dark 
  areas. 
   Bone devils are taskmasters, making them a good 
  option for a party leader in an evil party, especially one 
  composed of lower-ranking devils. 
  Chain Devil (Kyton) 
  Chain devils are excellent melee fighters, and their 
  chains allow them to grapple foes at a short distance, 
  allowing you to hold foes in place and attack them 
  safely. Animate Chains provides a helpful source of 
  additional damage in combat. 
   Chain devils torture the souls of evil mortals. If there 
  are lemures in the party, they may be fearful of the 
  chain devil. 
  Erinyes 
  Erinyes are versatile flyers, and can play a variety of 
  classes well. Hellish Weapons provides a potent 
  damage boost to melee weapons, allow the Erinyes to 
  be extremely effective in melee combat. 
   Erinyes don’t have a specific role among devils, but 
  they work well in a variety of evil-themed parties. The 
  Monster Manual mentions that the first Erinyes were 
  fallen angels, which can provide inspiration for your 
  character’s personality. 
  Horned Devil (Malebranch) 
  Simple, but extremely capable, Horned Devils make 
  excellent barbarians, fighters, and paladins. The 
  combination of flight and natural armor makes them 
  easy to play and very effective, but without heavy 
  armor you’ll need to invest in Dexterity to boost your 
  AC. 
  
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  Races 
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   Horned Devils are lazy. They can be compelled to 
  action by stronger creatures, so they can fit very well 
  into a party with another powerful demon. 
  Ice Devil (Gelugon) 
  Ice Devils are versatile devils which can excel in many 
  roles. Their Frozen Weapon ability provides a potent 
  damage boost in melee combat, and their Ice Wall 
  ability provides a useful way to manipulate terrain. 
   Ice devils are commanders of hell’s armies, making 
  them an obvious choice for a party leader in a party 
  composed of devils and other evil creatures. They are 
  ambitious and resentful of their superiors, which 
  provides some excellent ways to motivate your 
  character. 
  Imp 
  The imp’s abilities make it great at stealth. Flight, 
  invisibility, and a dexterity increase all work very well 
  together for rangers and rogues. 
   Imps are created to serve evil masters of all kinds, so 
  they make a great addition to any evil party. If the 
  party includes a strong evil personality like another 
  devil or a warlock, an imp is an excellent addition to 
  the party. 
  Lemure 
  The lemure is a punching bag. With several resistances 
  and excellent Constitution, it can withstand a startling 
  quantity of damage. However, it lacks active abilities so 
  you’ll need to look to your class for offensive options. 
   Lemures are the lowest of devils, so they natural fall 
  into place as servants, cannon fodder, or convenient 
  punching bags. Parties including other devils will have a 
  clear pecking order, but any evil party will likely still 
  treat the lemure with some degree of active disdain. 
  Pit Fiend 
  Pit fiends are the highest form of generic devil, 
  subservient only to archfiends. Their strength makes 
  them powerful in melee combat, but their charisma 
  also makes them excellent negotiators. 
   As befits the pit fiend’s status, the pit fiend is a 
  natural choice for a party leader, especially in a party 
  including other devils. Pit fiends are narcissistic, 
  domineering, and manipulative. Resist the urge to 
  solve every problem through force of arms, but if 
  violence is required be confident in your abilities. 
  Spined Devil (Spinagon) 
  Spined devils are dexterous flyers. Their bite is 
  powerful for a creature their size, making them 
  dangerous in melee combat. Their ability to fire spines 
  from their tails gives them a potent ranged option that 
  deals as much damage as a longbow, but can only be 
  used a few times per day. 
   Spined devils have a similar purpose to imps, but 
  where imps will serve anyone sufficiently evil, spined 
  devils generally only serve other devils. Spined devils 
  are cowardly pack creatures, so they fit well into a 
  party, especially if that party have bigger creatures to 
  hide behind. 
  Design Notes 
  Devils, while very different in flavor, share a lot with 
  demons. They have similar abilities and resistances, 
  similar motivations, and handful of devils can be 
  compared directly to demon equivalents (imps and 
  quasits, for example). As such, we can borrow a lot of 
  design work from the work I’ve already done for 
  demons.  
   Devils are fiends, costing 0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   Like demons, devils all have either Darkvision or 
  Truesight. I’ll elect to drop all devils down to Darkvision 
  like I did with demons, and I’ll add Devil’s Sight for an 
  additional 1 BP. It’s tempting to make Devil’s Sight less 
  costly since it’s such a situational ability, but a smart 
  player will abuse it as often as possible by bringing 
  magical darkness into every fight. At that point, it 
  becomes a massive tactical advantage which 0.5 just 
  doesn’t cover. 
   As with demons, we’ll need to drop all of the devils’ 
  resistances and immunities, including Magic 
  Resistance. 
   Devil’s notably can’t be killed anywhere except Hell. 
  While this is nice for a creature that lives forever, it 
  presents practical issues for players. If you’re doing all 
  of your adventuring on the material plane, being 
  banished to hell means that you’re functionally dead 
  unless you can cast plane shift. Since devils can’t be 
  raised, a devil who dies may very well be out of reach 
  of the rest of the party, effectively removing g them 
  from the campaign. We’ll retain this mechanic, but we 
  won’t assign it a BP value since it’s not clearly a benefit 
  or a drawback. 
   That brings our base BP cost for devils to 3.5 BP. 
  That’s a really big base cost, but it will have to do. 
  Barbed Devil (Hamatula) 
  Barbed devils are very simple. Their only ability which 
  we haven’t handled before is Barbed Hide, and it’s not 
  complicated. 
   The barbed devil’s abilities are all fairly good, so it’s 
  hard to decide which ability to increase. The race’s 
  function says something physical, but their emphasis 
  
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  Races 
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  on being constantly alert says Wisdom. I don’t want to 
  shoehorn the barbed devil into being a Cleric, so we’ll 
  go for a single flexible increase for 1.5 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, 30 ft. 
  walking speed, +2 natural armor for 1 BP, and racial 
  languages plus Common for 0 BP. We’ll keep the 1d6 
  claw damage for 1.5 BP. 
   Hurl Flame looks startlingly similar to the fire bolt 
  cantrip, so we’ll give the barbed devil fire bolt for 0.5 
  BP. 
   At 8 BP, we don’t have a ton of room left, but we 
  don’t have much left to tackle. I want to emphasize the 
  barbed devil’s role as a guard, so we’ll add proficiency 
  in Perception for 0.5 BP. 
   Barbed hide can be very abusable for a character 
  looking to emphasize grappling unless we design it very 
  carefully. I think we’ll stick very close to the ability as 
  written, but I’ll add a bonus action use cost, and reduce 
  it to 1d6 damage to match the barbed devil’s unarmed 
  strikes. That makes it a nice, reliable damage boost in a 
  grapple without being insanely powerful at low levels. 
  We’ll call that 0.5 BP. 
   At 9 BP, the barbed devil is within our target range of 
  8-10 BP. The barbed devil has some cool abilities which 
  allow it to be used in a variety of builds, but it doesn’t 
  excel at any one set of roles. To strengthen the barbed 
  devil, increase its claw and barbed hide damage to 1d8. 
  To weaken the barbed devil, remove its natural armor 
  or remove barbed hide. 
  Bearded Devil (Barbazu) 
  Bearded devils are very nearly humanoid. Their most 
  unique traits are their attacks. The bearded devil’s 
  signature beard allows them to poison foes, and the 
  bearded devil’s glaive inflicts a brutal bleed effect. They 
  serve primarily as foot soldiers, so players will likely use 
  them to build fighters or similar characters.  
   The bearded devil’s physical abilities are all good, 
  and its mental abilities are all bad. I think it makes 
  more sense to emphasize Strength and Constitution 
  over Dexterity, so we’ll give the bearded devil +2 
  Strength and +1 Constitution for 3 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, +1 natural 
  armor for 0.5 BP, 30 ft. walking speed, and racial 
  languages plus Common for 0 BP. We can replace 
  Steadfast with Brace for 0.5 BP. 
   We can’t allow the bearded devil’s beard to poison 
  targets like the monster does; it’s just too powerful. 
  Instead, we’ll allow the bearded devil’s beard to deal 
  1d4 piercing damage for 1 BP and drop the poison 
  component. 
   We don’t really have anything exciting or unique in 
  the race yet, so we’ll add Poison Resilience for 1 BP. 
  We’ll also add Steadfast for 1 BP. 
   At 10.5 BP, the bearded devil is slightly above our 
  target range of 8-10 BP. It has solid abilities for a melee 
  build, but lacks interesting active abilities. If you want 
  to strengthen the bearded devil, change its bear to 
  deal poison damage and possibly increase the damage 
  to 1d6. If you want to weaken the bearded devil, 
  remove its natural armor or its beard. 
  Bone Devil (Osyluth) 
  Bone devils have great numerical stats, but no 
  interesting special abilities. This makes them easy to 
  design by shaving down their numbers. 
   All of the bone devil’s ability scores are good, making 
  it difficult to device what to increase. We’re going to 
  need to be careful with our BP, so we’ll give the bone 
  devil +1 Constitution for 1 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), +3 natural armor (down from +7) for 1.5 BP, 30 
  ft. walking speed (down from 40 ft.), 30 ft. fly speed 
  (down from 40 ft.) for 4 BP, and racial languages plus 
  Common for 0 BP. 
   We’re already at 10 BP, so we can’t add much more. 
  Hooked devils are known to use weapons, so we don’t 
  need to invest heavily in the bone devil’s natural 
  weapons. We’ll give it 1d4 natural weapon damage for 
  1 BP, and drop the poison component from its sting. 
   At 11 BP, the bone devil exceeds our target range of 
  8-10 BP, but it’s also a really boring race. Its stats are 
  fine, but it doesn’t really do anything interesting. If you 
  want to strengthen the bone devil, grant it a +1 
  Strength increase or add 10 ft. reach to its unarmed 
  strikes. If you want to weaken the bone devil, reduce 
  its natural armor. 
  Chain Devil (Kyton) 
  The chain devil is named for its vicious chains, which 
  run the border between natural and material weapon. 
  Beyond that complication, the chain devil is fairly 
  simple. 
   The chain devil’s physical ability scores are excellent. 
  It’s Strength and Constitution are its highest abilities, 
  so we’ll give the chain devil a +1 to each for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, 30 ft. 
  walking speed, and racial languages plus Common for 0 
  BP. We’ll drop the chain devil’s natural armor so save 
  BP. They’re basically humanoid, so most players will 
  likely elect to wear armor anyway. 
   The bulk of the chain devil’s abilities relate to turning 
  normal chains into weapons. While that’s a neat trick, 
  
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  Races 
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  it’s not much better than a regular weapon. The chain 
  devil monster deals 2d6 damage (matching a 
  greatsword) and has reach. That’s better than any 
  weapon a player can normally access, so we’ll drop 
  that a bit. I want to retain reach, so we’ll make the 
  chains deal 1d10 damage with reach, but add the 
  Heavy property. Functionally, it’s a glaive. I’ll also allow 
  the chain devil to use a chain one-handed and deal 1d8 
  damage, matching a flail. We’ll also add Grab, and call 
  this 2.5 BP total. 
   Animate Chains is very similar to Spiritual Weapon, 
  so we’ll reskin that for 2 BP. We’ll change the force 
  damage to slashing damage, too. 
   At 10.5 BP, the chain devil slightly above our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. Its abilities aren’t particularly 
  interesting, but the ability to grapple with reach is 
  interesting, and Animate Chains is a great option for 
  any melee character.  
  Erinyes 
  The Erinyes is extremely simple; it’s little more than a 
  flying humanoid. As such, it’s extremely simple to 
  design. 
   All of the erinyes’ ability scores are good, which 
  makes it difficult to pick something to increase. 
  Instead, we’ll give the Erinyes a single flexible increase 
  for 1.5 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, 30 ft. fly 
  speed (down from 60 ft.) for 4 BP, and racial languages 
  plus Common for 0 BP. 
   Hellish Weapons can be replicated by reskinning the 
  azer’s Heated Weapon to deal poison damage for 2 BP. 
   At 11 BP, the Erinyes exceeds our target range of 8-
  10 BP. The flexible increase and flight allow it to 
  explore a variety of classes, but Hellish Weapon really 
  forces it into melee. If you want to strengthen the 
  erinyes, increase its flight speed. If you want to weaken 
  the Erinyes, reduce Hellish Weapons to once per day. 
  Horned Devil (Malebranch) 
  By devil standards, the horned evil is extremely boring. 
  Essentially all it does is damage. Even their personality 
  is boring: they’re lazy and scared of things that are 
  bigger than they are, but follow orders to the letter.  
   The horned devil’s best abilities are Strength and 
  Constitution, so we’ll give them a +1 to each for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), +3 natural armor (down from +5) for 1.5 BP, 25 
  ft. walking speed (up from 20) for -0.5 BP, a 30 ft. flying 
  speed (down from 60 ft.) for 4 BP, and racial languages 
  plus Common for 0 BP. We’ll drop the horned devil’s 
  tail down to 1d4 damage for 1 BP, and abandon the 
  bleed effect. 
   At 11.5 BP, the horned devil exceeds our target 
  range of 8-10 BP, but it’s very dull. It’s a flying stat 
  block. I really wish we had some more inspiration, but 
  there isn’t anything to go on. If you want to strengthen 
  the horned devil, increase one of its ability increases. If 
  you want to weaken the horned devil, remove its tail 
  damage. 
  Ice Devil (Gelugon) 
  The ice devil has excellent stats, but it’s not very 
  interesting. Its only special abilities are cold damage on 
  its attacks and Wall of Ice. 
   Since all of the ice devil’s abilities are good, it’s hard 
  to know what to emphasize. Adjusting for size, 
  Intelligence and Charisma could be the ice devil’s best 
  abilities, but since it’s primarily a melee monster it’s 
  hard to justify increasing either. We’ll give the ice devil 
  a flexible +1 increase for 1.5 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), +3 natural armor (down from +6) for 1.5 BP, 30 
  ft. walking speed (down from 40 ft.), and racial 
  languages plus Common for 0 BP. We’ll keep cold 
  resistance for 2 BP because it would be silly not to. 
   At 7 BP, we don’t have much room left. We still need 
  to do something about Wall of Ice, and I want to keep 
  the ice devil’s cold damage mechanic. The ice devil also 
  has natural weapons which we should consider. 
   The cold damage on attacks seems like a big draw. 
  We’ll re-skin the azer’s Heated Weapon ability to deal 
  cold damage for 2 BP. 
   Based on the ice devil’s stat block it makes sense to 
  give the ice devil a 1d8 natural weapon, but I don’t 
  want to spend that much BP at this point. We’ll give 
  the ice devil 1d4 damage with bite and tail for 1 BP, but 
  we’ll drop the claws since they’re the lowest damage 
  and adding a third weapon damage type costs extra BP.  
   Wall of Ice is right out. The wall of ice spell is a 6th-
  level spell, and there’s no way I’m granting it as a racial 
  ability. We’ll give the ice devil a considerably weakened 
  version which will allow the ice devil to create a small 
  barrier, but we’ll totally remove the damage mechanic. 
  We’ll allow it to be used at will like a cantrip, but 
  require Concentration, last up to a minute, and limit it 
  to one 5-foot by 5-foot section 6 inches thick. The 
  shape water cantrip can freeze a cube of up to 5 feet of 
  water, so we’re trading volume for the ability to create 
  ice with abundance of water. We’ll call this 0.5 BP since 
  it’s functionally similar to a cantrip. 
   At 10.5 BP, the ice devil is slightly above our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. The ice devil has some great 
  
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  Races 
  60 
  signature abilities, and some decent stats that should 
  make it fun to play. If you want to strengthen the ice 
  devil, increase its natural weapon damage. If you want 
  to weaken the ice devil, reduce Ice Wall to once per 
  short rest. 
  Imp 
  Imps are the smallest devils, and they serve primarily 
  as messengers and spies. Their ability to fly and turn 
  invisible makes them excellent at their duties. The imp 
  has some similarities to the quasit, so we’ll draw on the 
  quasit for a few ideas. 
   The imp’s best ability by far is Dexterity, so we’ll give 
  the imp +1 Dexterity for 1 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get tiny size for -1.5 BP, 2 ft. 
  walking speed for 0 BP, 30 ft. fly speed (down from 40 
  ft.) for 4 BP, and racial languages plus Common for 0 
  BP.  
   We’re already at 7 BP, so we don’t have a ton of 
  room left. We need to tackle the imp’s natural 
  weapons and its invisibility and shapechanger abilities.  
   Like the quasit, we’ll replace Invisibility with Hidden 
  Step for 2 BP. Unfortunately, that leaves us very little 
  room for anything else. We’ll drop shapechanger 
  entirely, and grant the imp a 1d4 natural weapon for 1 
  BP. 
   At 10 BP, the imp is slightly above our target range of 
  8-10 BP. Comparisons to the quasit are obvious: the 
  imp trades the quasits offensive capacity and 
  Shapechanger for the ability to fly. If you want to 
  strengthen the imp, increase its natural weapon 
  damage. If you want to weaken the imp, reduce Vanish 
  to once per long rest. 
  Lemure 
  Lemures are the weakest of demons. Their only 
  remarkable ability is Hellish Rejuvenation, and most of 
  their stat block is penalties. The primary function of 
  lemures is to be tortured for their sins as mortals, or to 
  be turned into more useful devils. Since they lack any 
  other clear direction and the only decent part of their 
  stat block is their hit points, we’ll emphasize their 
  ability to absorb punishment. 
   The lemure’s best abilities are constitution and 
  wisdom, but I don’t want this to look like a creature 
  known for its mental capacity, so we’ll give the lemure 
  +2 Constitution for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block we get medium size, 25 ft. speed 
  (up from 15 ft.) for -1 BP, only racial languages for -1 
  BP, and no ability to speak for -1 BP. 
   At 2.5 BP, we have lots of room for resistances. We’ll 
  add poison immunity for 2 BP, cold resistance for 2 BP, 
  and fire resistance for 2 BP. I’m tempted to add 
  immunity to the charmed and frightened conditions, 
  but player characters will have enough intelligence that 
  they should be able to be charmed or frightened. 
   For lack of other options, we’ll add a 1d4 natural 
  weapon for 1 BP. 
   At 9.5 BP, the lemure is within our target range of 8-
  10 BP. The lemure is extremely durable, but that’s 
  about it. If you want to strengthen the lemure, give it 
  the ability to understand Common and/or the ability to 
  speak. If you want to weaken the lemure, drop poison 
  immunity to poison resilience. 
  Pit Fiend 
  Pit fiends have a lot in common with balors, so it’s 
  natural to make some comparisons. The two creatures’ 
  numbers are similar, but their special abilities and 
  attacks are very different. 
   The pit fiend’s abilities are all fantastic, but Strength 
  and Charisma are the best, so we’ll grant +1 to each for 
  2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), 30 ft. walking speed, 30 ft. flying speed (down 
  from 60 ft.) for 4 BP, and racial languages plus 
  common. We’ll drop the pit fiend’s natural armor to 
  conserve BP.  
   We’re already at 9.5 BP so we don’t have room for 
  much else. I’m fine leaving the pit fiend without natural 
  armor or natural weapons since the original monster 
  seems to do just fine using a mace. That leaves Fear 
  Aura and the pit fiend’s innate spellcasting. 
   We can replace Fear Aura with the Nalfeshnee’s 
  Horror Nimbus for 1 BP. The effect is functionally the 
  same, and it doesn’t require re-inventing the wheel. 
  We’ll need to abandon the pit fiend’s innate 
  spellcasting. 
   At 10.5 BP, the pit fiend slightly exceeds our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the pit 
  fiend, give it the Produce Flame cantrip with Charismas 
  the pit fiend’s spellcasting ability. If you want to 
  weaken the pit fiend, reduce its walking speed or 
  reduce Horror Nimbus to once per day. 
  Spined Devil (Spinagon) 
  Spined devils are similar to imps in their position as 
  spies and messengers, but have few other similarities 
  beyond their duties. Spined devils are better known for 
  their capacity to launch flaming spines from their 
  bodies. 
   The spined devil’s best ability is Dexterity, so we’ll 
  grant a +1 to Dexterity for 1 BP. 
  
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  Races 
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   From the stat block, we get small size for -1 BP, 25 ft. 
  walking speed (up from 20 ft.), 30 ft. fly speed (down 
  from 40 ft.) for 4 BP, and racial languages plus 
  Common. We’ll drop the spined devil’s natural armor 
  to conserve BP. 
   The spine devil has excellent natural weapons, 
  including both its bite and its spines which deal roughly 
  1d8 weapon damage. The spine devil’s spines also deal 
  fire damage, but have limited usage. We’ll keep the 
  spine devil’s bite at 1d8 for 2 BP. 
   We’ll allow the spine devil’s spines to deal 1d4 
  piercing and 1d4 fire at range for 0.5 BP. We’ll retain 
  the limited spines ability for flavor, but 12 spines won’t 
  become a limiting factor until high level when most 
  characters are making multiple attacks and enemies 
  have big piles of hit points. Instead, we’ll give the 
  player 2 spines plus half their level. That will still max 
  out at 12, and it will keep the limit low enough at low 
  levels that players will still need to be picky about 
  when to use their limited spines. 
   We’ll need to drop the flyby ability, unfortunately. 
  Players who really want it can pick up the Mobile feat 
  to get a similar effect. 
   At 10 BP, the spine devil is at the top of our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the spine 
  devil, allow its spines to regrow after a short rest. If 
  you want to weaken the spine devil, reduce its bite 
  damage to 1d6 and reduce its spine damage to 1d6 
  fire. 
  Dinosaurs 
  Dinosaurs vary wildly in size and appearance, but the 
  most iconic dinosaurs are typically giant reptilian 
  creatures. In many Dungeons and Dragons settings, 
  dinosaurs still exist in a handful of locations throughout 
  the world. 
   The dinosaurs presented here are examples of a 
  handful of iconic dinosaurs. If you want to play a 
  different but similar dinosaur, you can use the stats 
  below with little or no modification. For example, if 
  you wanted to play a stegosaurus, you could change 
  the ankylosaurus’ tail to deal piercing damage. 
  Dinosaur Traits 
  Dinosaurs share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Alignment. Simple animals motivated by little 
  beyond basic survival instincts, most dinosaurs are 
  neutral.  
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
   Subrace. Choose one of these subraces. You gain the 
  traits listed under your chosen subrace in addition to 
  those listed above. 
  Allosaurus 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 35 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 slashing damage 
  on a hit. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 12 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Pounce. If you move at least 15 feet straight toward 
  a creature then hit it with an unarmed strike on the 
  same turn, you may attempt to shove the target prone 
  as a bonus action (see “Shoving a Creature”, page 195 
  of the Player’s Handbook). 
  Ankylosaurus 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 15 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Tail. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d10 bludgeoning 
  damage on a hit. 
   Trip. If you hit a creature with an unarmed strike, 
  you may attempt to shove the target prone as a bonus 
  action (see “Shoving a Creature”, page 195 of the 
  Player’s Handbook). 
  Plesiosaurus 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +2 Constitution. 
  
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  Races 
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   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 20 ft. You have a 
  swim speed of 40 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d10 bludgeoning 
  damage on a hit. You may make unarmed strikes as 
  though you had reach. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
  Pteranodon 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 ft.  
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 piercing damage 
  on a hit. 
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Flyby. You may perform the Disengage action as a 
  bonus action.  
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 11 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
  Triceratops 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 35 ft.  
   Gore and Stomp. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 
  piercing or bludgeoning damage on a hit. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Trampling Charge. If you move at least 15 feet 
  straight toward a creature then hit it with an unarmed 
  strike on the same turn, you may attempt to shove the 
  target prone as a bonus action (see “Shoving a 
  Creature”, page 195 of the Player’s Handbook). 
  Tyrannosaurus Rex 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 35 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 slashing damage 
  on a hit.  
   When you take the Attack action and make an 
  unarmed strike, you can use a bonus action to initiate a 
  grapple with the target of your successful unarmed 
  strike. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 12 + your Dexterity modifier. 
  Playing a Dinosaur 
  Dinosaurs are simple creatures with few special 
  abilities, but they’re also built to survive on their own 
  without the aid equipment of magic. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Allosaurus 
  The allosaurus is a powerful charger. Pounce allows 
  you to knock foes prone, making it difficult for foes to 
  escape and granting you Advantage on any successive 
  attacks. 
   Unlike most dinosaurs, the allosaurus has hands 
  which it can use to hold and use items, allowing it to 
  easily solve problems which most beasts find 
  insurmountable. 
  Ankylosaurus 
  The ankylosaurus is well defended, even without 
  armor. Its tail does incredible damage with its tail, and 
  has the ability to knock foes prone. However, it has 
  trouble dealing with challenges which can’t be solved 
  by knocking them down. 
  Plesiosaurus 
  The plesiosaurus is a strong swimmer with a fantastic 
  bite attack which can be made at reach. Its aquatic 
  mobility and ability increases make it an excellent 
  fighter or barbarian. However, since it lacks hands it 
  has trouble casting spells or using tools. 
  Pteranodon 
  Pteranodons are fast, nimble flyers. Take advantage of 
  Flyby to remain out of range of melee attacks. Your 
  mobility works great for a variety of classes, but 
  remember that when you are out of melee reach you 
  may be leaving your allies vulnerable. 
  
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  Races 
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  Triceratops 
  The triceratops is a strong charger, capable of doing 
  huge amounts of damage in melee. However, it lacks 
  hands and will have trouble solving problems which 
  humanoids can handle without issue. 
  Tyrannosaurus Rex 
  The tyrannosaurus rex is a grappler with the ability to 
  grab foes after biting them. Use this to hold 
  troublesome enemies in place while you wear them 
  down. 
  Design Notes 
  Mechanically, dinosaurs are little different from other 
  beasts. Lots of natural armor and natural weapons, but 
  generally dinosaurs can’t do things like breath fire. As 
  such, they’re fairly simple to design. 
   Since dinosaurs are the firsts beasts approached in 
  this document, now is a good time to discuss the issue 
  of speech. The awaken spell seems like a likely source 
  of intelligence beast heroes, and since it grants the 
  subject the ability to speak a language, I think it’s 
  reasonable to grant all beats the ability to speak at 
  least one language. 
   Dinosaurs are beasts, costing -0.5 BP due to the 
  increased vulnerability to numerous magical effects. 
  Allosaurus 
  The allosaurus is built to charge things and knock them 
  prone, making pounce their central ability. 
   Adjusting for size, Strength and Constitution are the 
  allosaurus’ best abilities, so we’ll grant +2 Strength and 
  +1 Constitution for 3 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), +2 natural armor for 1 BP, and 35 ft. walking 
  speed (down from 60 ft.) for 1 BP. We’ll retain the 
  allosaurus’ natural weapons at 1d8 damage for 2 BP. 
   Pounce works similarly to the Charge ability, so we’ll 
  impose the same movement limitation. The Monster 
  Manual version allows the knockdown without costing 
  an action, then allows an extra attack as a bonus 
  action. I don’t want to make knocking a target prone 
  free, so we’ll make it a bonus action instead. If the 
  player wants to bite after charging, they can use Extra 
  Attack. This replicates part of the Tavern Brawler feat, 
  so I want to call this 2 BP, but we’ll drop it to 1.5 BP 
  since it has a limitation. 
   At 8.5 BP, the allosaurus is within our target range of 
  8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the allosaurus, 
  increase its Constitution increase. If you want to 
  weaken the allosaurus, reduce its Strength increase. 
  Ankylosaurus 
  The ankylosaurus is a heavily armored herbivore. 
   Adjusting for size, Strength and Constitution are the 
  allosaurus’ best abilities, so we’ll grant +2 Strength and 
  +1 Constitution for 3 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  huge), +5 natural armor for 2.5 BP, 30 ft. walking 
  speed, and no hands for -2 BP. We’ll drop the 
  ankylosaurus’ tail damage to 1d10 damage for 3 BP. 
  That’s a ton of damage for a natural weapon, but with 
  no hands the ankylosaurus is very limited in its options.  
   We’ll add Trip for another 2 BP. 
   At 8 BP, the ankylosaurus is at the bottom of our 
  target range of 8-10 BP. It has excellent natural armor 
  and extremely potent natural weapon, but has serious 
  problems overcoming problems which can’t be solved 
  by knocking them over. If you want to strengthen the 
  ankylosaurus, increase its natural armor. If you want to 
  weaken the ankylosaurus, reduce its natural armor or 
  tail damage. 
  Plesiosaurus 
  The plesiosaurus is an aquatic predator. For some 
  reason, it has the ability to flop around on land, but 
  mostly it goes around biting stuff underwater. 
   The plesiosaurus’ physical abilities are all good, but 
  its Strength and Constitution are its best abilities, so 
  we’ll give it +2 to each for 4 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), +1 natural armor for 0.5 BP, 20 ft. walking speed 
  for -1 BP, 40 ft. swim speed for 3 BP, hold breath for 1 
  hour for 1 BP, and no hands for -2 BP. 
   At just 5 BP we really need to give the plesiosaurus 
  something cool. We’ll grant their bite at 1d10 damage 
  for 3 BP and add reach for another 1 BP. That 
  essentially gives the plesiosaurus a built-in glaive. 
   At 9 BP, the plesiosaurus is at the bottom of our 
  target range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the 
  plesiosaurus, increase its natural armor. If you want to 
  weaken the plesiosaurus, weaken its bite. 
  Pteranodon 
  The pteranodon is a fast flying, but it’s not terribly 
  strong. The flyby attack is a potent option for many 
  builds, especially Rogues. 
   The pteranodon’s best ability is Dexterity, so we’ll 
  grant a +2 Dexterity increase for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, +1 natural 
  armor for 0.5 BP, 10 ft. walking speed for -2 BP, 40 ft. 
  fly speed (down from 60) for 5 BP. We’ll set the 
  pteranodon’s bite at 1d8 for 2 BP. Because they 
  qualify, we’ll add natural weapon finesse for 0 BP. 
  
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  Races 
  64 
   The pteranodon is the first creature we’re designing 
  to include the Flyby ability. It’s similar to the effect of 
  the Mobility feat or the Withdraw action, but doesn’t 
  require the use of an action. I don’t want this to be too 
  easy for players to abuse, so we’ll alter Flyby to allow 
  players to use Disengage as a bonus action for 2 BP. 
   At 10 BP, the pteranodon is at the top of our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the 
  pteranodon, allow them to use their feet like 
  prehensile hands. If you want to weaken the 
  pteranodon, remove flyby. 
  Triceratops 
  The triceratops is mechanically very similar to the 
  Allosaurus, so much of the design will be the same. 
   The triceratops’ two best abilities are Strength and 
  Constitution, so we’ll grant +2 Strength and +1 
  Constitution for 3 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), +3 natural armor (down from +4) for 1.5 BP, 35 
  ft. walking speed (down from 50) for 1 BP, and we’ll 
  grant the triceratops a 1d10 natural weapon for 3 BP. 
  The triceratops has no hands for -2 BP. 
   Trampling Charge has the same effect and faces the 
  exact same problems as Pounce, so we’ll just reskin 
  Pounce for 2 BP. 
   At 6 BP, the triceratops is below our target range of 
  8-10 BP. Comparisons to the allosaurus are obvious: 
  the triceratops has better natural weapon damage and 
  natural armor, but lacks hands. If you want to 
  strengthen the triceratops, improve its natural armor. 
  If you want to weaken the triceratops, reduce its 
  natural weapon damage. 
  Tyrannosaurus Rex 
  The t-rex is cosmetically similar to the allosaurus, but 
  where the allosaurus knocks its foes down to kill them, 
  the t-rex grapples them. That’s a pretty tiny difference, 
  so essentially we can just trade the allosaurus’s Pounce 
  for Grab. 
  Displacer Beast 
  Otherworldly feline predators with the ability to 
  displace light and mask their location. 
  Displacer Beast Traits 
  Displacer beasts share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Cruel, predatory pack creatures, 
  displacer beasts are usually lawful evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Can’t Speak. You are unable to speak, but are still 
  able to read, write, and understand any languages 
  which you know. You are unable to perform verbal 
  spell components. 
   Displacement. Once you reach 5th level, as an action 
  you can project an illusion that makes you appear to be 
  standing near your actual location. For 1 minute, any 
  creature has disadvantage on attack rolls against you. 
  You must maintain concentration during that time, as if 
  you were casting a spell. An attacker is immune to this 
  effect if it doesn't rely on sight, as with blindsight, or 
  can see through illusions, as with truesight. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 12 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Tentacles. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 
  bludgeoning damage and 1d4 piercing damage on a hit. 
   Languages. You can understand, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Displacer Beast 
  Displacer beasts are powerful in melee combat where 
  their tentacles do considerable damage, and their 
  Displacement ability provides them a potent defensive 
  option which allows them to survive situations which 
  would otherwise be overwhelming. 
   Displacer beasts are pack predators, but typically 
  only associate with their own kind unless they form 
  some sort of beneficial arrangement. This is difficult to 
  do without the ability to speak, but not impossible. 
  Design Notes 
  Displacer beasts are mostly simple, but their 
  Displacement ability will take a bit of work.  
   Displacer beasts are Monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP 
  but offering no specific traits. 
   The displacer beast’s best abilities are Strength and 
  Constitution, which makes sense for a predator like 
  this. We’ll grant +1 to each for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), +1 natural armor for 0.5 BP, 35 ft. walking speed 
  (down from 40) for 1 BP, Darkvision for 2 BP. Displacer 
  beasts have no hands for -2 BP, and can’t speak for -1.5 
  BP but we’ll allow them to understand Common for 0 
  
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  BP. We’ll drop the displacer beast’s tentacle attacks to 
  1d4+1d4 damage for 2 BP. 
   At 4.5 BP, we’ve got a little bit of room. Avoidance is 
  extremely potent for a player and not central to the 
  creature’s flavor, so we’ll dump it. Similar abilities exist, 
  but they’re typically high-level class abilities. 
   Displacement is the displacer beast’s most iconic 
  ability, so I want it to be a prominent part of the race. 
  It’s functionally similar to the blur spell, so we’ll reskin 
  blur. I also want it to be usable frequently, so we’ll 
  allow it to recharge on a short rest for a total of 5 BP. 
   At 9.5 BP, the displacer beast is within our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the 
  displacer beast, give it 10 ft. reach with its natural 
  weapons. If you want to weaken the displacer beast, 
  reduce or remove its natural armor, or limit its 
  Displacement ability to once per day. 
  Doppelganger 
  Doppelgangers are legendary creatures which disguise 
  themselves as people, often living their victim’s lives 
  temporarily to fulfill the Doppelgangers goals, 
  whatever those might be. 
  Doppelganger Traits 
  Doppelgangers share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity (shapechanger) 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity, +1 Charisma. 
   Alignment. Doppelgangers tend to be shifty, self-
  centered, and devious, but aren’t outright evil. They 
  can be of any alignment, but are usually neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Devious. You are proficient in Deception. 
   Keen Insight. You are proficient in Insight, and may 
  add double your proficiency bonus to Insight checks. 
   Shapechanger. You can cast Disguise Self once per 
  day. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for this spell. 
   Slam. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 bludgeoning 
  damage on a hit. 
   Surprise Attack. If you surprise a creature and hit it 
  with an attack during the first round of combat, the 
  target takes an extra 1d6 damage from the attack. You 
  can use this trait only once per combat. 
   This damage increases to 2d6 at 5th level, 3d6 at 11th 
  level, and 4d6 at 17th level. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Doppelganger 
  Doppelgangers are deceptive, tricky, and hedonistic, 
  though not necessarily evil. They seek to impersonate 
  others for personal gain, and often cooperate with 
  allies in order to do so.  
   In a party, Doppelgangers make excellent Rogues, 
  with a natural talent for deception and subtlety. 
  Design Notes 
  Doppelgangers present significant design problems as a 
  playable race. Despite a reasonably low CR, 
  Doppelgangers have a slew of abilities which are 
  considerably too powerful to provide to player 
  characters. Previous editions of the game have left 
  Doppelgangers as a monster, but introduced 
  Changelings as a playable race with a similar feel. 
  However, the goal of this guide is to present a playable 
  version of every monster in the Monster Manual within 
  the confines of existing published rules, so I’m going to 
  do my best to approximate the Doppelganger. 
   Doppelgangers are Monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. Their shapechanger subtype 
  has some implications for polymorph effects. 
   The doppelganger’s monster stat block gives them 
  impressive ability scores. A +1 to Dexterity is a great 
  start. The stat block gives them equal Constitution and 
  Charisma, but I think that Charisma plays to the 
  Doppelganger’s theme much better, so I’ll give them +1 
  to Charisma. Total, that’s 2 BP. I normally give a race a 
  +2 to their primary ability score, but Doppelgangers 
  have too much going on to spend all of their BP early in 
  the design process. 
   The basic numbers give us 30 foot walking speed, 
  Darkvision for 2 BP, and racial languages plus Common 
  for languages. 
   Doppelgangers need Deception to function, and 
  Insight provides a nice way for players to “read” other 
  creatures without giving them the ability to constantly 
  read the thoughts of other creatures. That’s another 1 
  BP for two fixed skills. 
   We’re already at 5.5 BP and we still need to design 
  the most difficult portions of the race. Doppelgangers 
  have a slam attack which deals 1d8 damage, 
  Shapechanger, Ambusher, Surprise Attack, and Read 
  Thoughts. The Slam attack can be a 1d4 natural 
  weapon for 1 BP (we won’t attempt the 1d8 damage, 
  which would cost another 1 BP), and our updated 
  
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  version of Surprise Attack costs another 1 BP, bringing 
  us to 8. 
   With just 2.5 BP left, we don’t have much room to 
  design Shapechanger, Ambusher, and Read Thoughts. 
  Looking at what we have already, I think it makes sense 
  to drop Ambusher. Getting Advantage against a 
  creature which you have surprised is pretty easy, so it’s 
  not great loss. 
   Shapechanger and Read Thoughts can both be 
  replicated with spells, but Polymorph is too strong for a 
  racial spell, and at 2 BP Detect Thoughts will eat most 
  of our remaining BP. 
   Shapechanger leaves the Doppelgangers stats 
  unchanged in any form, which means it’s essentially 
  just an illusion. We can approximate that with disguise 
  self for 1 BP. The once per day limitation might be 
  disappointing for players looking to play a 
  doppelganger, but it’s a good limitation for a player 
  character to have. We’ll also allow the Doppelganger to 
  cast this spell 2 levels early (at 1st level instead of 3rd) 
  for an additional 0.25 BP. 
   With only 1.5 BP remaining, we don’t have enough 
  room for a magical solution. Instead, I’ll give the 
  Doppelganger Expertise in Insight for 1 BP. That gives 
  them a constant ability to easily “read” other creatures 
  without needing to exceed our target BP cap. We’ll call 
  it “Keen Insight”. 
   At 9.75 BP, the Doppelganger is within our target BP 
  range of 8-10. If you really want your Doppelganger to 
  have Detect Thoughts, consider dropping the skill 
  proficiencies and expertise, and allow them to cast 
  Detect Thoughts once per day starting at level 5. If you 
  want to strengthen the Doppelganger, allow it to use 
  Shapechanger once per short rest, or extend the 
  duration to 24 hours. If you want to weaken the 
  Doppelganger, remove Surprise Attack and/or Keen 
  Insight. 
  Dracolich [Template: Acquired] 
  The most villainous of evil dragons sometimes seek to 
  extend their already long lives, performing an unholy 
  ritual to make them undead.  
  Becoming a Dracolich 
  Any living, evil dragon of 10th level or higher can 
  become a dracolich. When the dragon attains enough 
  experience to gain a level, they may choose to undergo 
  the dracolich creation ritual instead of gaining a level in 
  class.  
   To perform the ritual, you must acquire a gem worth 
  no less than 5,000 gp to serve as your phylactery. The 
  ritual is then performed by three or more creatures 
  capable of casting ritual spells, typically wizards or 
  cultists devoted to your service. Performing the ritual 
  takes one hour. Half-way into the ritual, you must 
  willingly consume a poisonous drought which slays you 
  instantly. If the ritual is interrupted after this point, 
  your soul is released to the afterlife. 
   Upon completing the ritual, the character 
  immediately gains the single level of the Dracolich 
  template and all of the traits detailed below, and 
  reanimates as a dracolich. 
  Dracolich Traits 
  All dracoliches have the following traits, adding these 
  traits to their existing racial traits upon gaining the 
  template. 
  Hit Points 
   Hit Dice. 1d10 per dracolich level 
   Hit Points at Higher Levels. 1d10 (or 6) + your 
  Constitution modifier per dracolich level 
  Traits 
  Dracoliches gain the following traits at each level, as 
  indicated on the table below. 
  Level 
  Features 
  1 
  Creature Type, Condition Immunities, Damage 
  Resistance, Phylactery, Poison Immunity 
   Creature Type. You replace your current creature 
  type with Undead, but retain any subtypes. 
   You don’t require air, food, drink, or sleep. Instead, 
  you enter a restful state, remaining semiconscious, for 
  4 hours a day. While resting, you can dream after a 
  fashion; such dreams are reflexive mental exercises 
  inherent to your consciousness. After resting in this 
  way, you gain the same benefit that a human does 
  from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Condition Immunities. You are immune to the 
  charmed, exhaustion, frightened, and paralyzed.  
   Damage Resistance. You have resistance to necrotic 
  damage. 
   Poison Immunity. You are immune to poison 
  damage, and to the poisoned condition. 
   Phylactery. If your physical form is destroyed, your 
  soul instantly returns to your phylactery so long as it is 
  on the same plane. If your physical form is destroyed 
  while your phylactery is on another plane, your spirit is 
  released to the afterlife. 
   While trapped in your phylactery, your senses 
  behave normal. You may see, hear, etc. in the area 
  around your phylactery. However, you can take no 
  actions, and have no way to communicate. 
  
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   If your phylactery then touches the corpse of 
  another dragon, you can take possession of that 
  dragon’s body. If that dragon was a different variety of 
  dragon, your original racial traits are replaced by those 
  of the dragon whose body you possess. 
  Design Notes 
  Dracolich is one of the simpler templates in the game. 
  There is no progression, there are no unique 
  mechanics, and the template is acquired without a 
  troublesome starting point like the creature’s death or 
  being attacked by a monster. It also has fairly few 
  abilities, so we can squeeze it into a single template 
  level. 
   Dracoliches will use d10 hit points for 1 BP. 
   Dracoliches can only be dragons, so changing the 
  creature type costs 0.5 BP. 
   The dracoliches damage resistances and immunities 
  are split into several separate entries in the Monster 
  Manual entry. We’ll retain resistance to necrotic 
  damage for 2 BP, Poison Immunity for 2 BP, and 
  condition immunities to charmed, exhaustion, 
  frightened, and paralyzed for 2 BP total. 
   Despite the long list of traits, that’s only 6.5 BP. That 
  leaves plenty of room for the dracolich’s phylactery, 
  but even that is fairly weak compared to other 
  resurrection mechanics. The written description of the 
  phylactery locks the dracolich’s soul to the gem, but 
  doesn’t allow it to regenerate its own body. For a 
  player, this means either keeping dragon corpses laying 
  around or asking your allies to hunt dragons when your 
  body is destroyed. We’ll add a 5,000 gp cost for the 
  phylactery gem since the gem should be special and 
  valuable on its own, and we’ll call the whole ability 2 
  BP. 
   At 9.5 BP, the dracolich’s single level is within our 
  target range of 8-10 BP for the first level of leveled 
  templates. If you want to strengthen the dracolich, 
  increase the hit die size to d12. If you want to weaken 
  the dracolich, remove some condition immunities or 
  replace them with Advantage on saves against affects 
  which would impose those conditions. 
  Dragon, Shadow [Template: Natural or 
  Acquired] 
  True dragons that are born on the Shadowfell or that 
  spend many years there are infused with the plane's 
  dark energies, losing much of their original self and 
  becoming a shadow dragon. 
  Becoming a Shadow Dragon 
  A true dragon born on the Shadowfell or a true dragon 
  that lives there for several years can be corrupted by 
  the dark energies of that plane, changing them into a 
  shadow dragon. 
  Shadow Dragon Traits 
  All shadow dragons have the following traits, adding 
  these traits to their existing racial traits upon gaining 
  the shadow dragon template. 
   Bite. If you deal acid, cold, fire, lightning, or poison 
  damage with your bite as part of your racial traits, 
  change that damage type to necrotic. Additional 
  damage from other effects such as spells or class 
  features is not affected. 
   Damage Resistance. You have resistance to necrotic 
  damage. 
   Damage Vulnerability. You have weakness to radiant 
  damage. 
   Shadow Breath. Any damage-dealing breath weapon 
  possessed by the dragon deals necrotic damage 
  instead of its original damage type.  
   Shadow Stealth. While in dim light or darkness, you 
  can take the Hide action as a bonus action. 
   Skill Proficiency: Stealth. You gain proficiency in 
  Stealth. 
   Sunlight Weakness. While in sunlight, you have 
  disadvantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and saving 
  throws. 
  Design Notes 
  The shadow dragon monster template does quite a bit 
  to alter the original dragon, adding several new traits 
  and switching the original dragon's offensive abilities to 
  deal necrotic damage. While in many cases damage 
  types are largely interchangeable, resistance to 
  necrotic damage is considerably less common that 
  resistance to basic energy damage types like acid and 
  fire. The shadow dragon monster template comes with 
  only one weakness, and it's a fairly minor one, so we'll 
  need to find a way to balance that. 
   It's difficult to decide if this template will be a 
  leveled template or not. Leveled would be easier since 
  we won't need to trim so much from the template, but 
  natural leveled templates are complicated because a 
  character can't take their first level in a template. We'll 
  keep this as a non-leveled template, but we'll need to 
  make some cuts to the traits granted by the original 
  template. 
   The original monster template grants resistance to 
  necrotic damage for 2 BP. We'll adjust Living Shadow to 
  
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  Races 
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  only grant proficiency in Stealth for 0.5 BP instead of 
  expertise. We'll drop living shadow because it's 
  considerably too powerful for a player. Shadow Stealth 
  is basically the same as Cunning Action's option to hide 
  as a bonus action with a limitation on when you can 
  use it, so we'll call it 1.5 BP, though it's difficult to 
  assess how effective this will be in the larger context of 
  the template. Switching the dragon's energy damage to 
  necrotic can occasionally be a big advantage since 
  dragons are so dependent on energy damage. We'll call 
  it 0.5 BP. Finally, we'll drop the additional effect on the 
  dragon's breath weapon which creates shadows. That 
  brings our total to 4.5 BP. 
   Sunlight Sensitivity is the only drawback in the 
  original monster template. That's not nearly enough to 
  offset the benefits of the template, so we'll change 
  that to Sunlight Weakness for -3 BP. Finally, we'll add 
  vulnerability to radiant damage for -1 BP. 
   That brings our total to 0.5 BP, meaning that the 
  Shadow Dragon template will very slightly strengthen 
  the character. The benefits of the template are clearly 
  excellent, but Sunlight Weakness is a huge limitation, 
  and vulnerability to radiant damage is a serious 
  weakness considering how difficult it is to find 
  resistance to radiant damage. DMs allowing players to 
  take this template should be sure to bring the 
  template's drawbacks into play to prevent the 
  template from becoming an unfair advantage. 
  Dragon 
  Symbols of strength and pride, dragons are among the 
  most legendary creatures in existence. The ten “true” 
  dragon species are each as different from each other as 
  humanoid races, occupying different environments, 
  eating different food, and displaying widely varying 
  personalities. 
  Dragon Traits 
  Dragons share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Dragon 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Breath Weapon. You can use your action to exhale 
  destructive energy. Your species determines the size, 
  shape, and damage type of the exhalation. 
   When you use your breath weapon, each creature in 
  the area of the exhalation must make a saving throw, 
  the type of which is determined by your species. The 
  DC for this saving throw equals 8 + your Constitution 
  modifier + your proficiency bonus. A creature takes 2d6 
  damage on a failed save and half as much damage on a 
  successful one. The damage increases by 1d6 when you 
  reach 5th level (3d6), 11th level (4d6), and 17th level 
  (5d6). 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Draconic. 
   Subrace. Dragons are numerous and varied. Choose 
  one of these subraces. 
   Subrace. Choose one of these subraces. You gain the 
  traits listed under your chosen subrace in addition to 
  those listed above. 
  Black Dragon 
   Ability Score Adjustment. +1 Dexterity, -2 Wisdom. 
   Alignment. The most vile and ill-tempered of 
  chromatic dragons, most black dragons are chaotic evil. 
   Speed. You have a swim speed of 20 ft. 
   Amphibious. You can breathe air and water. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 slashing and 1d4 
  acid damage on a hit. 
  
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  Races 
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   Breath Weapon. Your breath weapon is a 5 ft. by 30 
  ft. line of acid, and allows a Dexterity save for half 
  damage. 
   Damage Resistance. You have resistance to acid 
  damage. 
  Blue Dragon 
   Ability Score Adjustment. +1 Constitution, -2 
  Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Vain and territorial, most blue dragons 
  are lawful evil. 
   Speed. You have a burrow speed of 5 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 slashing and 1d4 
  lightning damage on a hit. 
   Breath Weapon. Your breath weapon is a 5 ft. by 30 
  ft. line of lightning, and allows a Dexterity save for half 
  damage. 
   Damage Resistance. You have resistance to lightning 
  damage. 
  Green Dragon 
   Ability Score Adjustment. +1 Intelligence, -2 
  Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Tricky and manipulative, most green 
  dragons are chaotic evil. 
   Speed. You have a swim speed of 20 ft. 
   Amphibious. You can breathe air and water. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 slashing and 1d4 
  poison damage on a hit. 
   Breath Weapon. Your breath weapon is a 15 ft. cone 
  ft. line of poison, and allows a Dexterity save for half 
  damage. 
   Poison Immunity. You are immune to poison 
  damage, and immune to the poisoned condition. 
  Red Dragon 
   Ability Score Adjustment. +1 Strength, -2 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Exceedingly vain and covetous, even for 
  a dragon, most red dragons are chaotic evil. 
   Speed. You have a climb speed of 10 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 slashing and 1d4 
  fire damage on a hit. 
   Breath Weapon. Your breath weapon is a 15 ft. cone 
  of fire, and allows a Dexterity save for half damage. 
   Damage Resistance. You have resistance to fire 
  damage. 
  White Dragon 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Constitution, -2 
  Intelligence. 
   Alignment. Evil, bestial hunters, most white dragons 
  are chaotic evil. 
   Speed. You have a climb speed of 10 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 slashing and 1d4 
  cold damage on a hit. 
   Breath Weapon. Your breath weapon is a 15 ft. cone 
  of cold, and allows a Dexterity save for half damage. 
  Brass Dragon 
   Ability Score Adjustment. +1 Constitution, -2 
  Wisdom. 
   Speed. You have a burrow speed of 5 ft. 
   Alignment. Gregarious and friendly, most brass 
  dragons are chaotic good. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 slashing and 1d4 
  fire damage on a hit. 
   Breath Weapon. Your breath weapon is a 5 ft. by 30 
  ft. line of fire, and allows a Dexterity save for half 
  damage. 
   Damage Resistance. You have resistance to fire 
  damage. 
  Bronze Dragon 
   Ability Score Adjustment. +1 Strength, -2 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Honorable creatures who gladly fight for 
  good causes, most bronze dragons are lawful good. 
   Speed. You have a swim speed of 20 ft. 
   Amphibious. You can breathe air and water. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 slashing and 1d4 
  acid damage on a hit. 
   Breath Weapon. Your breath weapon is a 5 ft. by 30 
  ft. line of lightning, and allows a Dexterity save for half 
  damage. 
   Damage Resistance. You have resistance to lightning 
  damage. 
  Copper Dragon 
   Ability Score Adjustment. +1 Intelligence, -2 
  Wisdom. 
   Alignment. Jovial but even-tempered pranksters, 
  most copper dragons are chaotic good. 
   Speed. You have a climb speed of 10 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 slashing and 1d4 
  acid damage on a hit. 
   Breath Weapon. Your breath weapon is a 5 ft. by 30 
  ft. line of acid, and allows a Dexterity save for half 
  damage. 
   Damage Resistance. You have resistance to acid 
  damage. 
  Gold Dragon 
   Ability Score Adjustment. None. 
   Alignment. Dedicated foes of evil, most gold dragons 
  are lawful good. 
   Speed. You have a swim speed of 20 ft. 
   Amphibious. You can breathe air and water. 
  
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  Races 
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   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 slashing and 1d4 
  fire damage on a hit. 
   Breath Weapon. Your breath weapon is a 15 ft. cone 
  of fire, and allows a Dexterity save for half damage. 
   Damage Resistance. You have resistance to fire 
  damage. 
  Silver Dragon 
   Ability Score Adjustment. +1 Charisma, -2 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Cheerful, social, and happy assist good 
  creatures, most silver dragons are lawful good. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 slashing and 1d4 
  cold damage on a hit. 
   Breath Weapon. Your breath weapon is a 15 ft. cone 
  of cold, and allows a Dexterity save for half damage. 
   Damage Resistance. You have resistance to cold 
  damage. 
   Keen Senses. You have proficiency in the Perception 
  skill. 
  Playing a Dragon 
  Dragons have unique personalities, but mechanically 
  are very similar. Study the Monster Manual entries for 
  your chosen dragon species for ideas on personality 
  and motivation. 
  Design Notes 
  Dragons share a lot. They all have roughly similar 
  anatomy and abilities: wings, claws, scales, breath 
  weapons, etc. This saves us a ton of design work. We’ll 
  look at the wyrmling version of each dragon to keep 
  things simple. 
   Dragons are dragons (obviously), costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   Ability score adjustments are difficult. We know that 
  dragons have a ton of abilities which will cost a lot of 
  BP, but I feel like we need to grant something to 
  further reflect the immense power of true dragons, 
  we’ll grant every dragon +1 Strength for 1 BP, and we’ll 
  make further adjustments by subrace (addressed 
  below). Each subrace will get another +1 to something 
  (or the Strength bonus will increase to +2) and -2 to 
  something else to negate the BP cost. 
   After a quick glance through the stat blocks, every 
  wyrmling has a few things in common. We’ll retain 
  medium size and the 30 ft. walking speed, but we’ll 
  drop the dragons’ fly speed to 30 ft. for 4 BP to leave 
  room for other stuff. We’ll also keep Darkvision for 2 
  BP. Dragons speak only racial languages for -1 BP, and 
  don’t have hands for -2 BP, but we’ll give them a 1d4 
  slashing + 1d4 energy bite attack for 2 BP. 
   Each dragon also has a breath weapon (we’ll drop 
  the secondary breath weapons from metallic dragons) 
  and immunity to the damage type of their breath 
  weapon. We’ll retain the breath weapon for 2 BP and 
  drop immunity down to resistance for 2 BP (except for 
  Green Dragons since Poison Immunity is only 2 BP). For 
  breath weapons, we’ll duplicate the table from the 
  dragonborn race. 
   We’re already at 10.5 BP, unfortunately, so we have 
  very little room to differentiate each species beyond 
  their breath weapons. The only thing we can afford 
  without going wildly outside of normal BP range is 
  additional movement types, but even that is a bit more 
  BP than I want to add. Still, it’s a crucial part of the 
  creatures, so we’ll add 1 BP worth of special movement 
  type to each type of dragon. Unfortunately, that means 
  that we’re leaving out things like amphibious and ice 
  walk. 
   The silver dragon is the only dragon type without a 
  third movement mode, so we’ll grant them Perception 
  proficiency for 0.5 BP. They’ll be 0.5 BP behind other 
  dragons, but that’s not enough of a difference to worry 
  about. 
   That brings our total to 11.5 BP (11 for silver 
  dragons), slightly above our target range of 8-10 BP. If 
  you want to strengthen dragons, increase their species-
  specific movement speed or raise their resistance to 
  immunity. If you want to weaken dragons, reduce or 
  remove their species-specific movement speed. 
  Black Dragon 
  Black dragons are stealthy and have unusually high 
  Dexterity for a dragon, so we’ll grant +1 Dexterity. 
  However, they’re quick to anger, so we’ll add -2 
  Wisdom. 
  Blue Dragon 
  Blue dragons have unusually high Constitution, but 
  poor Dexterity, so we’ll grant +1 Constitution and -2 
  Dexterity. 
  Green Dragon 
  Green dragons have high Intelligence, even by dragon 
  standards, so we’ll grant +1 Intelligence. Their other 
  ability scores are all average by draconic standards, so 
  it’s hard to know what to reduce. For lack of a better 
  idea, we’ll apply -2 Dexterity. 
  Red Dragon 
  Red dragons are the stronger species of true dragon, so 
  we’ll grant them an additional +1 Strength. Their 
  Dexterity is as poor as that of blue dragons, so we’ll 
  apply -2 Dexterity. 
  
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  White Dragon 
  White dragons have good Constitution, but they’re 
  dumb as rocks. An ancient white dragon is only as 
  intelligent as an average human. We’ll grant +1 
  Constitution and -2 Intelligence. 
  Brass Dragon 
  Brass dragons have good Constitution, but the lowest 
  Wisdom of the metallic dragons. We’ll grant +1 
  Constitution and -2 Wisdom. 
  Bronze Dragon 
  Bronze dragons have similar abilities to red dragons, so 
  we’ll match their +1 Strength and -2 Dexterity. 
  Copper Dragon 
  Copper dragons have mostly average ability scores by 
  dragon standards. Their Intelligence is unusually high, 
  so we’ll grant +1 Intelligence, but it’s hard to decide 
  what to reduce. The Monster Manual describes them 
  as pranksters, so we’ll apply -2 Wisdom to reflect their 
  goofy nature. 
  Gold Dragon 
  Gold dragons are difficult because they have the best 
  ability scores of any dragon, exceeded only by copper 
  dragons in Intelligence. When you’re good at 
  everything, what are you best at? We can’t afford the 
  BP for +1 to everything, so we’ll just skip additional 
  ability increases for gold dragons. 
  Silver Dragon 
  Silver dragons have among the highest Charisma, so 
  we’ll grant +1 Charisma. Their Dexterity never exceeds 
  10, so we’ll apply -2 Dexterity. 
  Dragon Turtle 
  Dragons turtles are enough aquatic creatures related 
  to true dragons. 
  Dragon Turtle Traits 
  Dragon turtles share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Dragon 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Having no strong moral leanings, dragon 
  turtles are usually neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 20 ft. You have a 
  swim speed of 40 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 slashing on a hit. 
   Breath Weapon. Vou can use your action to exhale 
  scalding steam in 15 ft. cone. 
   When you use your breath weapon, each creature in 
  the area of the exhalation must make a saving throw, 
  the type of which is determined by your species. The 
  DC for this saving throw equals 8 + your Constitution 
  modifier + your proficiency bonus. A creature takes 2d6 
  fire damage on a failed save and half as much damage 
  on a successful one. The damage increases by 1d6 
  when you reach 5th level (3d6), 11th level (4d6), and 
  17th level (5d6). 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 14 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Aquan 
  and Draconic. 
  Playing a Dragon Turtle 
  Dragon turtles are slow-moving on land, but very quick 
  in the water. They also have excellent natural armor, 
  allowing many dragon turtles to survive unarmored. 
  Dragon turtles make excellent Barbarians and Fighters 
  thanks to their good Strength and Constitution. 
   Dragon turtles seem content to work for whoever 
  will provide them with treasure, making little 
  distinction between good and evil. This allows them to 
  fit easily into a party which does mercenary work. 
  Design Notes 
  Dragon turtles are interesting creatures. They look like 
  giant turtles, and they breathe deadly steam. What’s 
  not to like? They’re also mechanically simple, which 
  makes it easy to adapt their stats. 
   Dragon turtles are dragons, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   Strength and Constitution are the dragon turtle’s 
  only good abilities, so we’ll grant +1 to each for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  gargantuan), +4 natural armor for 2 BP (down from 
  +10), 20 ft. walking speed for -1 BP, 40 ft. swim speed 
  for 1.5 BP, fire resistance for 2 BP, and Darkvision for 2 
  BP. Dragon turtles speak only racial languages for -1 
  BP, plus an additional fixed language for 0.25 BP. 
  Dragon turtles have no hands for -2 BP. 
   At 6.25 BP, all we have left to tackle is the dragon 
  turtle’s natural weapons and breath weapon. We can 
  add a breath weapon for 2 BP and a 1d8 natural 
  weapon for another 2 BP. 
   At 10.25 BP, the dragon turtle is very slightly above 
  our target range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen 
  the dragon turtle, increase its walking speed or its 
  
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  natural armor. If you want to weaken the dragon 
  turtle, reduce its natural armor. 
   
   
   
  Drider 
  Driders are abominations cursed by Lolth after failing a 
  test of faith and strength. They resemble drow from 
  the waist up and spiders from the waist down. 
  Drider Traits 
  Driders share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Insane, reclusive, and evil, most driders 
  are chaotic evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. You have a 
  climb speed of 30 ft. 
   Diminished Drow Magic. You know the dancing 
  lights cantrip. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for 
  this spell 
   Fey Ancestry. You have advantage on saving throws 
  against being charmed, and magic can't put you to 
  sleep. 
   Spider Climb. You can climb difficult surfaces, 
  including upside down on ceilings, without needing to 
  make an ability check. 
   Sunlight Sensitivity. You have disadvantage on 
  attack rolls and on Wisdom (Perception) checks that 
  rely on sight when you, the target of your attack, or 
  whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct 
  sunlight.  
   Superior Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 
  120 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. 
   Web Walker. You ignore movement restrictions 
  caused by webbing. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Undercommon and Elven. 
  Playing a Drider 
  Driders aren’t as nimble as normal drow, but they’re 
  more durable and more mobile. Take advantage of 
  your ability to climb walls and ceilings in order to 
  overcome your enemies. 
   Despite being cursed by their goddess, driders still 
  revere Lolth and often still have motives which bring 
  them close to drow society. Consider what may have 
  happened to turn your character into a drider, and how 
  they feel about it. 
  Design Notes 
  Driders are very close to drow in terms of design, so 
  we’ll start with drow as a base and move toward the 
  drider stat block. This is a bit problematic because 
  drow are 11.5 BP, but we’ll do what we can. 
   Driders are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but offering 
  no specific traits. 
   Driders have good abilities across the board. Drow 
  get bonuses to Dexterity and Charisma, but since 
  driders are spidery abominations, I don’t think a 
  Charisma bonus makes sense. We’ll grant +1 Dexterity 
  and +1 Constitution for 2 BP. 
   Driders retain several drow abilities: Fey Ancestry for 
  0.5 BP, the drow’s innate spellcasting for 4.5 BP total, 
  Superior Darkvision for 3 BP, and Sunlight Sensitivity 
  for -2 BP. That brings our running total to 9.5 BP. 
   We’ll add a 30 ft. climb speed for 2 BP, Spider Climb 
  for 2 BP, and Web Walker for 0.5 BP.  
   That brings our total to 14 BP, which is just too 
  much. We’ll need to make cuts. If we remove the 
  ability to cast both faerie fire and darkness, that drops 
  our BP cost to 10. Driders are cursed drow, so I think it 
  makes sense that they would lose some iconic drow 
  abilities. 
   At 10 BP, the drider tops out our target range of 8-10 
  BP. If you want to strengthen the drider, allow it to cast 
  faerie fire once per day. If you want to weaken the 
  drider, remove its Constitution increase. 
  Dryad 
  Dryads are fey creatures resembling humanoid women 
  sculpted from bits of trees. In some settings, they 
  closely resemble beautiful humans or elves, while in 
  others their bodies appear composed entirely of wood. 
  Dryad Traits 
  Dryad share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Fey 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Wisdom, +1 Charisma. 
   Alignment. Dryads are wild spirits of the forest, can 
  often care little for the world’s morals. They care for 
  their forests, and concern themselves with little else. 
  Most Dryads are neutral, though Dryads whose forests 
  are frequently assaulted by other creatures (especially 
  humans) may be driven to acts of evil to protect their 
  homes. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
  
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   Darkvision. 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. 
   Bound to the Forest. Your spirit is bound to a single 
  tree. Your appearance resembles that of your tree, 
  changing with the seasons as your tree does. If the tree 
  takes damage, you take an equal quantity of damage. If 
  the tree becomes sick, you suffer effects similar to the 
  tree. If your tree dies or is uprooted you die instantly. If 
  you die your tree dies instantly.  
   Dryad Magic. You know the druidism cantrip, and 
  may cast the shillelagh cantrip once per day. At 3rd 
  level, you may cast entangle and goodberry each once 
  per day. Your spellcasting ability for these spells is 
  Charisma.  
   Fey Charm. As an action, you may attempt to 
  magically charm one humanoid or up to three beasts 
  within 30 feet. The targets must succeed on a will 
  saving throw or be magically charmed for one hour. 
  Each target must make a Wisdom saving throw, and do 
  so with Advantage if you or your companions are 
  fighting it. If it fails the saving throw, it is charmed by 
  you until the effect ends or until you or your 
  companions do anything harmful to it. The DC of this 
  saving throw is 8 + your proficiency bonus + your 
  Charisma modifier. Charmed creatures regard you as a 
  friendly acquaintance. When the effect ends, the 
  creatures knows that they were charmed by you. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 11 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Speak with Trees. You may speak with trees as if you 
  shared a language. 
   Tree Stride. Once per turn as a bonus action, you 
  may enter a tree at least one size larger than you and 
  emerge from another tree nearby. To do this, spend 10 
  or more feet of your movement (in 5 foot increments). 
  You then emerge from another tree within a distance 
  equal to twice the movement you spent. You emerge 5 
  feet from the tree in an unoccupied space of your 
  choice. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Sylvan. 
  Playing a Dryad 
  Dryads are wild spirits of the forest. They have natural 
  abilities similar to a Druid, and make excellent Druids 
  and Rangers. Their natural Charisma also makes them 
  good Sorcerers and Warlocks. 
   Many dryads are emotionally detached from the 
  affairs of mortal beings so long as those events do not 
  threaten the dryad’s home. As such, it may be difficult 
  to find a place for them in an adventuring party. Still, 
  you may be at home in a party with a Druid, a Ranger, 
  or a Paladin with the Oath of Ancients. 
  Design Notes 
  Dryads have simple stat blocks, but a pile of innate 
  spellcasting and a few unique abilities.  
   Dryads are Fey, starting them at a cost of 1 BP. 
   Medium size, 30 foot walking speed, Darkvision for 2 
  BP, and racial languages plus Common will cover all of 
  the basics. Dryads also have 1 point of natural armor 
  and proficiency in Perception and Stealth, but we’ll 
  need to ignore those. We’ll also consider the Dryad’s 
  spellcasting last because they have so many innate 
  spells, and we don’t want to eat up all of our BP before 
  touching on other abilities. 
   Dryads are Fey creatures with magical abilities 
  similar to a Druid, and the natural ability to charm 
  humanoids and animals. +1 to Wisdom and +1 to 
  Charisma will work great for 2 BP. Charisma makes 
  more sense based on the Dryad’s stat block, but the 
  theme of the character really speaks to Druids and 
  Rangers, so Wisdom is likely to play more of a role in 
  player character’s builds. 
   Magic Resistance is obviously a problem. It’s a great 
  ability for a monster which needs to survive an entire 
  party of players, but it’s just too good for a PC. We 
  could drop it to Cunning for 2 BP, but it really doesn’t 
  matter to the theme of the Dryad so we’ll drop it 
  entirely. 
   Speak with Beasts and Plants is also a problem. 
  Speak with Animals is only as 1st-level spell, but Speak 
  with Plants is a 3rd-level spell. We’ll roll that into our 
  discussion of the Dryad’s innate spellcasting and tackle 
  it later. 
   Tree Stride is, as you might except by now, another 
  problem. The spell Tree Stride is a 5th-level spell, but 
  has considerably longer range. 5 BP is obviously more 
  than we want to spend on one ability, so we need a 
  lower cost version with a similar feel. The Dryad’s 
  version is actually a reasonable basis: it costs 10 feet of 
  movement to use, limits the usage to Large or bigger 
  trees. The 60 foot range is a bit unfair, so we’ll tweak 
  that a bit. Costing movement to get more movement is 
  also a really good trade for players, so there needs to 
  be a bigger cost. 
   For a bonus action, we’ll allow players to move from 
  one tree to another at double speed, but they need to 
  
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  Races 
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  spend at least 10 feet of movement to do so, and they 
  must end their turn outside of the tree. That still fits 
  the look and feel, but won’t allow Dryads to totally 
  outmaneuver foes in a forest without a little bit of 
  effort. We’ll call that 1 BP. 
   With 4 BP remaining we have very little room to 
  work with considering how much we have left to 
  tackle, so let’s tap into mythology (and ideas from 
  previous editions) to bring in some flavor in exchange 
  for some free BP. Dryads are spirits bound to trees, and 
  in mythology (and in previous editions) if the Dryad’s 
  tree were destroyed the Dryad would die too. An 
  immobile, large, defenseless, and extremely flammable 
  hit point link is a significant risk for an adventurer. A 
  free 1 BP for being life-linked to a tree seems like a fair 
  trade, and fits the theme of a reclusive, cautious, 
  forest-dwelling Fey. Dryad players will need to check 
  on their tree periodically to ensure that it is in good 
  health or they may begin to suffer. 
   Now with 5 BP, we have a little more wiggle room to 
  tackle the Dryad’s remaining abilities. We need to 
  tackle natural armor (if we want to keep it), Speak with 
  Beasts and Plants, the Dryad’s innate spellcasting, and 
  Fey Charm. 
   Fey Charm is essentially Charm Person, but also 
  allows the Dryad to target up to three beasts instead of 
  a humanoid. We can allow players to do that for 1.25 
  BP (a little more than the 1 BP for normal Charm 
  Person). 
   Speak with Beasts and Plants is harder. It’s a 
  constant effect which replicates a 1st-level spell and a 
  3rd-level spell simultaneously, which is worth at least 4 
  BP. If we limit the ability similarly to the Forest 
  Gnome’s Speak with Small Beasts ability, we can limit it 
  to trees for 0.5 BP. If the Dryad wants to speak to 
  animals or other plants, they should consider being a 
  Druid. 
   The Dryad has a small pile of spells, but we’ll need to 
  drop most of them. We can grant druidcraft for 0.5 BP 
  and shillelagh once per day for another 0.25. Entangle 
  and goodberry once per day each for another 2 BP add 
  some great thematic options. The spellcasting ability 
  will need to be Charisma to stick to the monster stats, 
  but that’s probably fine. 
   With just 0.5 BP remaining, we’ll give the Dryad 1 
  point natural armor. It’s not much, so Dryad players 
  will probably wear real armor. 
   At 10 BP, the Dryad maxes out the target BP range. It 
  has some really cool abilities that should make it fun to 
  play, but it definitely has some room for adjustment. If 
  you want to make the Dryad more suitable as a 
  Druid/Ranger, switch the spellcasting ability to 
  Wisdom. If you want to make the Dryad stronger, allow 
  it to cast Shillelagh at will like a normal Cantrip instead 
  of once per day, or improve the natural armor. If you 
  want to weaken the Dryad, 
  Remove the ability to cast Entangle and/or Goodberry. 
  Elementals 
  Elementals are beings composed of raw elemental 
  energy. At home in their home planes, they have no 
  physical form, but when summoned to other planes 
  they take shape and enact their summoner’s will. 
  Elemental Traits 
  Elementals share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Elemental. You do not require air, 
  food, drink, or sleep. Instead, you enter a restful state, 
  remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. While 
  resting, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are 
  reflexive mental exercises inherent to your 
  consciousness. After resting in this way, you gain the 
  same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Alignment. Having no culture, society, or solid form 
  on their home planes, most elementals are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Poison Immunity. You are immune to poison 
  damage, and immune to the poisoned condition. 
   Unstable Form. Your body is not completely rigid, 
  and your limbs often fluctuate in size and shape as you 
  move. You are unable to wear armor, but may still use 
  shields. 
   Subrace. Choose one of these subraces. You gain the 
  traits listed under your chosen subrace in addition to 
  those listed above. 
  Air 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 0 ft. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet, and can 
  hover. 
   Gust. You know the gust cantrip. Charisma is your 
  spellcasting ability for this spell. 
   Air Form. You can enter a hostile creature's space 
  and stop there. You can move through a space as 
  narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing. You are 
  immune to the exhaustion, grappled, petrified, prone, 
  restrained, and unconscious conditions. 
  
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  Races 
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   Slam. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 bludgeoning 
  damage on a hit. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Auran. 
  Earth 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. You have a 
  burrow speed of 20 ft. 
   Earth Glide. You can burrow through non-magical, 
  unworked earth and stone. While doing so, you don't 
  disturb the material you move through. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Siege Monster. You deal double damage to objects 
  and structures. 
   Slam. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 bludgeoning 
  damage on a hit. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Terran. 
  Fire 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 35 ft. 
   Illumination. You shed bright light in a 10-foot radius 
  and dim light for an additional 10 feet. 
   Born of Flame. You have resistance against fire 
  damage. 
   Fire Form. You can enter a hostile creature's space 
  and stop there. You can move through a space as 
  narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing. You are 
  immune to the exhaustion, grappled, petrified, prone, 
  restrained, and unconscious conditions. 
   When you enter another creature’s space for the 
  first time that round, you may make an unarmed strike 
  as a bonus action. 
   Touch. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 fire damage 
  on a hit. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Ignan. 
  Water 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. You have a 
  swim speed of 30 ft. 
   Freeze. If you take cold damage, you partially freeze; 
  your speed is reduced by half until the end of your next 
  turn. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 12 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Slam. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 bludgeoning 
  damage on a hit. 
   When you take the Attack action and make an 
  unarmed strike, you can use a bonus action to initiate a 
  grapple with the target of your successful unarmed 
  strike. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Aquan. 
  Playing an Elemental 
  Elementals all act and play differently. Their 
  personalities might reflect their native element in some 
  fashion, but since elementals are a simple, vaguely-
  defined intelligence in their native form it’s difficult to 
  make any assumptions about an elementals 
  personality. 
   Because elementals only solidify when summoned 
  magically, consider what summoned your character. A 
  spellcaster who summoned you might have a dramatic 
  effect on your character’s behavior and motivations. 
  Air 
  Air elementals are nimble flyers. Use your mobility to 
  get into difficult areas and to ambush your foes. With 
  excellent Dexterity and mobility, consider classes like 
  Rogue. 
  Earth 
  Earth elementals are durable and strong with good 
  natural armor. Consider classes like barbarian, fighter, 
  or monk. 
  Fire 
  Fire elementals are quick and agile. Their natural 
  Dexterity makes them excellent fighters, rangers, and 
  rogues, and Fire Form allows them to easily move past 
  and through enemies in the thick of a fight. 
  Water 
  Water elementals are strong grapplers. Consider 
  classes like barbarian and fighter to capitalize on your 
  melee combat abilities. 
  Design Notes 
  The four basic elementals share some common parts, 
  but beyond those core traits each elemental is very 
  different from the rest. 
   Elementals are elementals (obviously), costing 1 BP. 
   Based on their stat blocks, we’ll drop all of the 
  elementals to medium size and grant them Darkvision 
  for 2 BP and Poison Immunity for 2 BP. Elementals 
  speak only racial languages for -1 BP. 
   Earth elementals put this in question a bit, but I’m 
  going to rule that elementals can’t wear armor for -3 
  BP. Being able to fit into 1-inch spaces and meld with 
  stone makes armor a non-option.  
   That puts us at 1 BP before we design the individual 
  elementals. Not bad consider what they get, but most 
  elementals will have some issues with AC. 
  
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  Races 
  76 
  Air 
  Air elementals are fast flyers with a unique Whirlwind 
  ability. Whirlwind will take some effort since it doesn’t 
  match any published spells, but the air elementals 
  other abilities are easily converted. 
   Dexterity is clearly the air elemental’s best ability, so 
  we’ll grant +1 Dexterity for 1 BP. 
   From the stat block, we 0 ft. walking speed for -3 BP, 
  and 30 ft. fly speed (down from 90 ft.) for 4 BP. We’ll 
  add Hover for 2 BP, a 1d8 slam for 2 BP, and flexible 
  form for 0.5 BP. We’ll also pick up immunity to the 
  exhaustion, grappled, petrified, prone, restrained, and 
  unconscious conditions for 3 BP. That’s a lot of 
  immunities, but it’s hard to apply any of those to a 
  cloud. We’ll need to drop the elementals damage 
  resistances. 
   We’re already at 10.5 BP, so we really don’t have 
  room for anything cool for Whirlwind. We’ll grant air 
  elementals the gust cantrip for 0.5 BP and call it a day. 
   At 11 BP, the air elemental exceeds our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. With the ability to pass through tiny spaces 
  and ignore a lot of conditions which typically pin 
  creatures in place it can present serious problems for 
  DMs. If you want to strengthen the air elemental, grant 
  it resistance to electricity or thunder damage. If you 
  want to weaken the air elemental, remove its 
  immunities to the exhaustion, paralyzed, and 
  unconscious conditions. 
  Earth 
  Perhaps the simplest of elementals since it has a 
  mostly solid form, the earth elemental is a big durable 
  rock with the ability to glide through earth. 
   The earth elemental has excellent Strength and 
  Constitution, so we’ll grant +1 to each for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get +3 natural armor (down 
  from +7) for 1.5 BP, 30 ft. walking speed, 20 ft. burrow 
  speed (down from 30 ft.) for 3 BP, Earth Glide for 1 BP, 
  Siege Monster for 0.5 BP, and a 1d8 natural weapon for 
  2 BP. We’ll also retain vulnerability to thunder damage 
  for -1 BP. 
   At 10 BP, the earth elemental is at the top of our 
  target range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the 
  earth elemental, increase its natural armor. If you want 
  to weaken the earth elemental, reduce its burrow 
  speed or natural weapon damage. 
  Fire 
  Fire elementals are all about setting stuff on fire. Fire 
  elementals make potent summons because they can 
  burn foes simply by moving through their spaces, but 
  we can’t offer that option to players as a race because 
  it’s considerably too powerful at low level. We’ll need 
  to weaken the fire elemental considerably to make it 
  safe for use as a player race. 
   The fire elemental’s best ability is Dexterity, so we’ll 
  grant the fire elemental +1 Dexterity for 1 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get 35 ft. walking speed 
  (down from 50 ft.) for 1 BP, fire resistance for 2 BP 
  (down from immunity), a 1d6 fire damage natural 
  weapon for 1.5 BP, and Illumination for 0.25 BP. We’ll 
  retain Water Susceptibility for -1 BP, and we’ll pick up 
  immunity to the exhaustion, grappled, petrified, prone, 
  restrained, and unconscious conditions for 3 BP. 
   I want to retain the fire elemental’s ability to move 
  through foes and damage them, but we need to limit it 
  to keep it balanced while still keeping it relevant at 
  high levels. I think it’s reasonable to allow it to work 
  once per round as a bonus action similar to two-
  weapon fighting. If we allow it to deal full unarmed 
  strike damage, that will put it roughly on par with two-
  weapon fighting. This is very potent, so we’ll call it 3 
  BP. 
   At 11.75 BP, the fire elemental exceeds our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the fire 
  elemental, give it natural armor. If you want to weaken 
  the fire elemental, remove its constitution increase. 
  Water 
  Water elementals are grapplers. Whelm is functionally 
  similar to many other creature’s Constrict abilities, so 
  we can make similar design adjustments. 
   Strength and Constitution are the water elemental’s 
  best abilities, so we’ll grant +1 to each for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get +2 natural armor for 1 
  BP, 30 ft. walking speed, 30 ft. swim speed (down from 
  90 ft.) for 1 BP, a 1d8 slam for 2 BP, Grab for 2 BP, and 
  flexible form for 0.5 BP. We’ll also pick up immunity to 
  the exhaustion, grappled, petrified, prone, restrained, 
  and unconscious conditions for 3 BP. We’ll drop acid 
  resistance since it’s costly and not crucial to the theme 
  of the race. 
   Freeze is a fun thematic handicap. We’ll change the 
  effect to half of the character’s speed rather than a 
  fixed 20 ft., but other than that it’s fine. We’ll call this -
  0.5 BP. 
   At 11 BP, the water elemental exceeds our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the water 
  elemental, increase its natural armor or swim speed. If 
  you want to weaken the water elemental, remove its 
  natural armor. 
  Empyrean 
  
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  Empyreans are the immortal children of the gods of the 
  upper planes. Though not quite gods themselves, they 
  are more powerful than most mortals could possibly 
  imagine. 
  Empyrean Traits 
  Empyreans share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Celestial 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Charisma, +1 any other. 
   Alignment. Divine children of the most righteous of 
  gods, most empyreans are chaotic good. However, 
  some empyreans are corrupted or cursed by evil 
  deities or the forces of the lower planes; these 
  empyreans are usually neutral evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. You have a 
  swim speed of 30 ft. 
   Bolster. Once you reach 3rd level, you can cast the 
  bless spell once per day. Charisma is your spellcasting 
  ability for this spell. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Manifest Emotions. You can experience deity-like 
  fits of emotion which affect the world around you in 
  small ways. When you are sad, the sky might turn gray 
  or rain. When you are happy, birds might chirp, or 
  small animals might parade behind you. When you are 
  angry, fires might burn abnormally high or thunder 
  might crack in the distance. The exact effects of this 
  trait are up to the Dungeon Master. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Celestial. 
  Playing an Empyrean 
  Empyreans are great at almost everything. Their 
  flexible ability increase allows them to fill a variety of 
  classes, and their ability to fly and swim easily makes 
  them exceptionally mobile in a variety of situations. 
  Bolster provides a potent way to strengthen your allies 
  when things are going badly. 
   Empyreans are extremely self-assured, as befits their 
  parentage. Your character should be confident, 
  possibly to the point of recklessness. Try to use 
  manifest Emotion for dramatic effect, but be sure not 
  to let your character’s personality overshadow your 
  fellow players. 
  Design Notes 
  Empyreans, like many creatures with such a high CR, 
  are absurdly powerful. We’ll need to shave a lot off of 
  their numbers before we can really see the design 
  patterns emerge. While designing the Empyrean, we 
  also need to be very careful not to duplicate the design 
  of similar creatures like aasimar. 
   Empyreans are celestials, costing 0.5 BP but offering 
  no specific traits. 
   The Empyrean’s ability scores are all amazing. Its 
  worst abilities are above the player ability cap. The 
  best approximation might be to grant a +1 to all 
  abilities, but we need a lot of BP to cover the rest of 
  the empyrean’s abilities, so we’ll give them a +1 
  flexible increase and a +1 to Charisma for 2.5 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get almost nothing useful. 
  Most of it needs to be ignored. We’ll give empyreans 
  medium size, 30 ft. walking speed, 30 ft. fly speed for 4 
  BP, 30 ft. swim speed for 1 BP, and racial languages 
  (Celestial) plus Common for 0 BP.  
   At 8 BP, we’ve already got a fairly powerful race. The 
  ability to both fly and swim easily makes them 
  exceptionally mobile. We’ll use our remaining BP for a 
  bit of innate spellcasting. 
   I’m worried that with the Charisma increase Bolt will 
  just make the empyrean a ready-made sorcerer, so I’m 
  going to dump it. It’s not particularly important to the 
  creature, and if players want to shoot lasers they can 
  play a spellcaster. 
   Bolster looks very similar to Bless and it’s a cool 
  thematic ability, so we’ll grant Bless once per day for 1 
  BP. 
   At 9 BP, the empyrean is within our target range of 
  8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the Empyrean, 
  change its ability increase to two flexible increases or 
  grant it a free cantrip. If you want to weaken the 
  Empyrean, remove its Charisma increase. 
  Ettercap 
  Hideous spider-like creatures that hunt humanoids and 
  fey for food. 
  Ettercap Traits 
  Ettercaps share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Hunters of intelligent creatures, most 
  ettercaps are neutral evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. You have a 
  climb speed of 30 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 piercing and 1d4 
  poison damage on a hit. 
   Can’t Speak. You are unable to speak, but are still 
  able to read, write, and understand any languages 
  
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  which you know. You are unable to perform verbal 
  spell components. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Spider Climb. You can climb difficult surfaces, 
  including upside down on ceilings, without needing to 
  make an ability check. 
   Web. You may shoot sticky webs from your body as 
  a ranged weapon attack. This attack has 30/60 range. 
  On a hit, the creature is restrained by webbing. As an 
  action, the restrained creature can make a Strength 
  check against a DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus 
  + your Constitution bonus, escaping from the webbing 
  on a success. The effect ends if the webbing is 
  destroyed. The webbing has AC 10, 5 hit points, 
  resistance to bludgeoning damage, and immunity to 
  poison and psychic damage. 
   Web Walker. You ignore movement restrictions 
  caused by webbing. 
   Languages. You can understand, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing an Ettercap 
  Nimble creatures with strong natural weapons, 
  ettercaps make excellent fighters, rangers, and rogues. 
  Their Web ability allows them to gain a tactical 
  adbvantage over their foes, allowing the ettercap to 
  close the distance to their victim. 
   Ettercaps tend and care for giant spiders in much the 
  same way that humans care for cattle. An ettercap 
  might find a home in a party containing giant spiders or 
  other similar predators. 
  Design Notes 
  Ettercaps are spider-like in function, but humanoid in 
  shape. Having already designed creatures like the 
  Drider, ettercaps aren’t particularly difficult to design. 
   Ettercaps are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   The ettercap’s best ability is Dexterity, which makes 
  sense considering their stealthy nature. We’ll grant a 
  +1 to Dexterity for 1 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, 30 ft. 
  walking speed, 30 ft. climb speed for 2 BP, 60 ft. 
  Darkvision for 2 BP, Spider Climb for 2 BP, Web Walker 
  for 0.5 BP, and a 1d8 natural weapon for 2 BP. We’ll 
  allow the Ettercap to understand Common for 0 BP, 
  but ettercaps can’t speak for -1.5 BP. 
   At 8.5 BP, we don’t have much room for Web Sense 
  or Web. I think we’ll just drop Web Sense to save BP. 
   Web is like a much weaker version of the web spell. I 
  would call it somewhere between a cantrip and a 1st-
  level spell. I think we can grant the ability as-written 
  once per short rest and call it 1 BP.  
   At 10 BP, the Ettercap is at the top of our target BP 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the 
  Ettercap, increase its Dexterity increase. If you want to 
  weaken the Ettercap, reduce Web to once per long 
  rest. 
  Ettin 
  Two-headed giants known for the constant bickering of 
  their two unique personalities. 
  Ettin Traits 
  Ettins share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Giant 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Foul, angry, solitary, and quarrelsome, 
  most ettins are chaotic evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Powerful Build. You count as one size larger when 
  determining your carrying capacity and the weight you 
  can push, drag, or lift. 
   Two Heads. While both of your heads are awake, 
  you have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks 
  and on saving throws against being blinded, charmed, 
  deafened, frightened, stunned, and knocked 
  unconscious. 
   Wakeful. When one of your heads is asleep, your 
  other head is awake. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Giant 
  and Orc. 
  Playing an Ettin 
  Ettins are strong brutes, so they make excellent 
  Barbarians and Fighters. Their resistances allow them 
  to resist many conditions which spellcasters frequently 
  use to incapacitate martial characters, so ettins make 
  excellent mage hunters. Two-weapon fighting builds 
  are a great theme for ettins, but don’t feel like you 
  absolutely need to go that route. 
   Having two personalities can be fun to roleplay, but 
  remember that your character is defined by a constant 
  shared experience. Your personalities feud constantly, 
  but likely have similar opinions and outlooks on most 
  subjects. Overfamiliarity often breeds resentment, but 
  
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  remember that each of your personalities is completely 
  dependent on the other to survive. 
   Bickering with yourself can be amusing occasionally, 
  but be careful not to force other players at the table to 
  sit around while you have lengthy conversations with 
  yourself. How your personalities act while the other 
  sleeps can also be a major part of your character’s 
  personality.  
  Design Notes 
  Ettins are big dumb brutes that are resistant to certain 
  effects because they have two brains to affect. They 
  tend toward two-weapon fighting, but there isn’t 
  anything specific in their stats which is easy to translate 
  to a player ability. 
   Ettins are giants, costing 0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   The ettin’s best abilities are Strength and 
  Constitution, so we’ll grant +2 to Strength and +1 to 
  Constitution for 3 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), 30 ft. walking speed (down from 40 ft.), 
  Darkvision for 2 BP, racial languages only for -1 NP, and 
  an additional fixed language for 0.25 BP. We’ll drop the 
  ettin’s natural armor and expect that players will likely 
  wear armor. We’ll also add Powerful Build for 0.25 BP 
  to get the feel of being a giant without actually being 
  large. 
   At 5.75 we’ve got plenty of room to handle Two 
  Heads and Wakeful.  
   Immunities to the six conditions listed under two 
  heads would cost 3 BP, so we’ll call that 1.5 BP. 
  Guaranteed advantage on a skill is very powerful, 
  especially one as important as Perception. We’ll call 
  that 2 BP, but that might be a bit low. This is a powerful 
  set of abilities, so I’ll limit it to only apply while both 
  heads are conscious. 
   Wakeful is immunity to a condition, so we’ll grant it 
  for 0.5 BP. 
   At 9.75 BP, the Ettin is within our target range of 8-
  10 BP. If you want to strengthen the Ettin, allow it to 
  apply its ability score bonus to damage rolls with 
  weapon attacks made with off-hand weapons when 
  two-weapon fighting. If you want to weaken the Ettin, 
  reduce its strength bonus, or remove the Perception 
  portion of Two Heads. 
  Faerie Dragon 
  Cheerful draconic pranksters, faerie dragons take 
  delight playing harmless pranks on passers-by. 
  Faerie Dragon Traits 
  Faerie dragons share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Dragon 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity, +1 Charisma. 
   Alignment. Puckish tricksters with no real ill-will, 
  most faerie dragons are chaotic good. 
   Size. Your size is tiny. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 15 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 piercing damage 
  on a hit. 
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Euphoria Breath. You can use your action to exhale a 
  puff of euphoria gas at one creature within 5 feet. The 
  target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw, or for 
  1 minute, the target is overcome by feelings of 
  Euphoria. The DC of this saving throw is 8 + your 
  proficiency bonus + your Constitution bonus. On a 
  failed save, the affected creature can’t move or take 
  actions, including reactions. The creature may attempt 
  a new saving throw at the end of each of its turns. 
   Mindless creatures and creatures with no emotions 
  are immune to this ability. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 40 feet, and can 
  hover. To use this speed, you can’t be wearing medium 
  or heavy armor. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Trickster Magic. You may cast the dancing lights, 
  mage hand, and minor illusion cantrips each once per 
  day. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these 
  spells. You may cast spells as though you were using a 
  magic focus, even if you are not doing so. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Draconic and Sylvan. 
  Playing a Faerie Dragon 
  Faerie dragons are extremely nimble, and are 
  charismatic, making them excellent Rogues and 
  Sorcerers. 
  
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   Players who like to rely on trickery, illusions, and 
  surprise will likely enjoy playing a Faerie Dragon. If you 
  choose to perform pranks, be sure that your recipients 
  will find them as good-natured as you do, and be sure 
  not to interfere with another players’ fun. 
  Design Notes 
  Faerie dragons have a lot of easily interpreted abilities, 
  but their Innate Spellcasting and their Euphoria Breath 
  both present interesting design challenges. 
   Faerie dragons are dragons, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   The faerie dragon’s best ability is Dexterity, and 
  Charisma is its second highest ability and its 
  spellcasting ability. We’ll grant +2 Dexterity and +1 
  Charisma for 3 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get tiny size for -1.5 BP, 15 
  ft. walking speed (up from 10 ft.) for -1.5 BP, 40 ft. fly 
  speed (down from 60 ft.) for 5 BP, Darkvision for 2 BP, 
  only racial languages for -1 BP plus an additional fixed 
  language for 0.25 BP. We’ll give the faerie dragon a 1d4 
  bit for 2 BP, but no hands for -2 BP. Because they 
  qualify, we’ll add natural weapon finesse for 0 BP. 
   At 7.25 BP, we’ve got a bit of room left for the faerie 
  dragon’s remaining abilities. 
   The faerie dragon’s innate spellcasting needs to be 
  approached very carefully. The monster entry allows 
  the faerie dragon to cast all of the spells which it is old 
  enough to cast, and the spells gradually grow in level 
  over time. This is fine for a monster (although 
  Polymorph on a CR 1 creature seems dangerous), but 
  obviously too abusable for players. 
   Instead of making a complicated attempt to adjust 
  the faerie dragon’s spellcasting, we’ll embrace the 
  “Red” level, and allow the faerie dragon to cast the 
  dancing lights, mage hand, and minor illusion cantrips 
  each once per day each for a total of 0.75 BP. We’ll also 
  allow them to cast spells without a spellcasting focus 
  for 0.25 BP. 
   Euphoria breath is difficult to conceptualize. The 
  monster entry’s version is extremely powerful. 
  Affected creatures have a 2 in 3 chance to waste their 
  turn running around, and only a 1 in 3 chance to even 
  attempt to shake off the effect. The closest 
  approximation I can find is the confusion spell, which is 
  4th-level and clearly too powerful to put on a race. 
  We’ll need to completely abandon the original effect 
  and find something conceptually similar. 
   The root concept is that the creature becomes 
  “euphoric”. My dictionary defines Euphoria as feelings 
  of intense happiness. That immediately reminds me of 
  the tasha’s hideous laughter spell. Since it’s a 1st-level 
  spell we can use it, but I want to make the effect more 
  unique and usable on a short rest recharge. I’ll remove 
  the portions of the effect which make creatures prone 
  and incapacitated, but we’ll still prevent the creature 
  from taking reactions. We’ll also drop the range to 5 ft. 
  to mirror the original ability. We’ll call this 1 BP. 
   At 8.5 BP, the faerie dragon is within our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you want to weaken the faerie 
  dragon, reduce its flight speed or only allow Euphoria 
  Breath to recharge on a long rest. If you want to 
  strengthen the faerie dragon, allow it to use its cantrips 
  at will. 
  Flameskull 
  The animated remains of a dead spellcaster, 
  flameskulls are evil, insane facsimiles of their former 
  selves. 
  Flameskull Traits 
  Flameskulls share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Undead. You don’t require air, food, 
  drink, or sleep. Instead, you enter a restful state, 
  remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. While 
  resting, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are 
  reflexive mental exercises inherent to your 
  consciousness. After resting in this way, you gain the 
  same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity, +1 Intelligence. 
   Alignment. Evil creatures creating using dark magic 
  to server nefarious purposes, most flameskulls are 
  neutral evil. 
   Size. Your size is tiny. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 0 ft. 
   Flaming Body. You are resistant to cold and fire 
  damage. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 40 feet, and can 
  hover. 
   Illumination. You shed bright light in a 10-foot radius 
  and dim light for an additional 10 feet. 
   Magic Skull. You are immune to the paralyzed, 
  petrified, and prone conditions. You are always treated 
  as holding a spellcasting focus. You are unable to wear 
  armor. You have no hands. You are unable to wield 
  weapons or wear shields, and cannot use items which 
  require manipulation, including spellcasting foci, 
  wands, tools, etc. You may cast spells as though you 
  were using a spellcasting foci. 
   Poison Immunity. You are immune to poison 
  damage, and immune to the poisoned condition. 
  
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   Recalled Magic. You know the fire bolt and mage 
  hand cantrips. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability 
  for these spells.  
   Rejuvenation. Upon falling to 0 hit points, you 
  immediately stabilize. While unconscious, if you take 
  damage which is insufficient to kill you, you suffer a 
  death saving throw failure as normal, but you remain 
  stabilized. After 1 hour of being unconscious and 
  stabilized you regain 1 hit point. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Flameskull 
  Flameskulls are natural wizards. Their ability to fly and 
  their resistances help them to remain out of harm’s 
  way, but they lack natural armor and without the 
  ability to wear armor their AC can be problematic. 
   Flameskulls are often bound to obey evil masters, 
  which provides an easy way to work them into a party. 
  Alternatively, flameskulls which are no longer able to 
  fulfill their given orders become independent, and are 
  free to pursue whatever goals they choose. Since 
  flameskulls have vague recollections of their previous 
  life, consider who your character was before their 
  death and use it to inform your character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Similar in many ways to demiliches, flameskulls are 
  much simpler to design because they have 
  considerably fewer abilities. 
   Demiliches are undead, which costs 1 BP. 
   Unlike demiliches, flameskulls are very clearly more 
  skewed toward wizardry. As such, a +2 to Intelligence 
  makes sense. However, I don’t want the flameskull to 
  be a strictly better wizard than the demilich. The two 
  should be different, but a demilich wizard shouldn’t be 
  a strictly worse choice than a flameskull wizard. 
  Flameskulls are also extremely dexterous, so we’ll give 
  them +1 Dexterity and +1 Intelligence for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get tiny size for -1.5 BP, 0 ft. 
  walking speed for -2 BP, 40 ft. fly speed for 5 BP, hover 
  for 2 BP, poison immunity for 2 BP, cold and fire 
  damage resistance (down from immunity) for 4 BP, and 
  the ability to speak Common for 0 BP. 
   Flameskulls have no limbs for -2 BP, no hands for -2 
  BP, and can’t wear armor or shields for -4 BP. We’ll 
  duplicate the demilich condition immunities which we 
  kept for a total of 1.5 BP. Demiliches normally don’t 
  speak. 
   At 6 BP, we’ve got some room for the flameskull’s 
  remaining abilities. We’ll match the Azer’s illumination 
  ability for 0.25 BP. We’ll dump Magic Resistance 
  because it’s too powerful for a player, but we can at 
  least adapt everything else. 
   The flameskull’s innate spellcasting is its primary 
  function. We can replace the Fire Ray ability with the 
  fire bolt cantrip for 0.5 BP. We’ll retain mage hand for 
  another 0.5 BP. Like the demilich, we’ll allow them to 
  ignore spellcasting foci for 0.5 BP.  
    Rejuvenation is a serious problem. Much like the 
  lich’s phylactery, it makes the creature functionally 
  immortal. Since most enemies don’t carry around holy 
  water, it’s essentially guaranteed that the player will 
  rejuvenate normally. Instead of allowing players to 
  return to full health for free, we’ll just make 
  rejuvenation a slightly gentler death mechanic. We’ll 
  call this 1 BP. 
   At 8.75 BP, the flameskull is within our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. It is comparable to the demilich in many 
  ways, and presents a loss of versatility in favor of some 
  potent pre-determined options. The flameskull’s 
  resistances are more useful, and it will be more 
  effective at low levels thanks to its free cantrips, but at 
  mid and high levels the demilich’s Howl ability will 
  likely eclipse the cantrips. 
    If you want to strengthen the flame skull, allow it to 
  cast the shield spell once per day starting at 3rd level. If 
  you want to weaken the flame skull, remove its ability 
  to cast the magic missile spell, or remove its cold 
  resistance. 
  Flumph 
  Good-natured telepathic creatures similar to jellyfish 
  which float about in the underdark, where they feed 
  harmlessly on the psychic energy of other creatures. 
  Flumph Traits 
  Flumphs share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Aberration 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Intelligence, +1 Wisdom. 
   Alignment. Flumphs are good-natured creatures 
  who live in complex, structured societies. Most 
  flumphs are lawful good. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Size. Your size is small. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 5 ft. 
   Advanced Telepathy. You can communicate 
  telepathically with any creature that knows a language 
  within 30 ft. You can perceive the content of any 
  
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  Races 
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  telepathic communication used within 30 feet of you, 
  and you can't be surprised by creatures with any form 
  of telepathy. 
   Exposed Mind. You are vulnerable to psychic 
  damage. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet, and can 
  hover. To use this speed, you can’t be wearing medium 
  or heavy armor.  
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Prone Deficiency. If you are knocked prone, roll a 
  die. On an odd result, you land upside-down and are 
  incapacitated. At the end of each of your turns, you can 
  make a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw, righting yourself 
  and ending the incapacitated condition if it succeeds. 
   Stench Spray. You can use your action to spray a 
  foul-smelling liquid. Each creature in a 15-foot cone 
  must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw, or be 
  poisoned for 1d4 rounds. Creatures are poisoned while 
  within 5 feet of the coated creature. The coated 
  creature may make a new saving throw at the end of 
  each of its turns, ending the effect on a success. The DC 
  for this saving throw equals 8 + your Constitution 
  modifier + your proficiency bonus.  
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a long rest. 
   Telepathic Shroud. You are immune to any effect 
  that would sense your emotions or read your thoughts, 
  as well as all divination spells. 
   Tendrils. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 piercing and 
  1d4 acid damage on a hit. 
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   Languages. You can understand, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Flumph 
  Flumphs are flying telepaths, allowing them to move 
  about safely, often avoiding notice of other creatures. 
  Their ability scores make for excellent clerics and 
  wizards, but rogues might also benefit from the 
  flumph’s traits. 
   Flumphs are good-natured, and like to be around 
  good people with good thoughts for them to feed 
  upon. They generally avoid creatures with disturbing 
  thoughts, and they actively seek the downfall of those 
  creatures. These motivations make them a good 
  member of a good-aligned party, but parties with evil 
  characters or anti-heroes might be a problem for a 
  flumph. 
  Design Notes 
  Flumphs are among the weirder creatures in the game. 
  Most of their abilities are tied up in telepathy, which 
  makes them a bit complex to design. 
   Flumphs are aberrations, costing 0.5 BP but offering 
  no specific traits. 
   The description of flumphs emphasizes their 
  intelligence and wisdom, so we’ll grant them a +1 to 
  Intelligence and a +1 to Wisdom for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get small size for -1 BP, 5 ft. 
  walking speed for -2.5 BP, 30 ft. fly speed for 4 BP, 
  vulnerability to psychic damage for -1 BP, Darkvision 
  for 2 BP, no ability to speak for -1 BP, but flumphs can 
  still understand Common for 0 BP. We’ll keep the 
  flumph’s tendrils at 1d4 piercing and 1d4 acid damage 
  for 2 BP, but we’ll remove the ongoing damage 
  component. We’ll grant 30 ft. telepathy for 2 BP. 
  Flumphs have no hands for -2 BP. Because they qualify, 
  we’ll add natural weapon finesse for 0 BP. 
   At 5 BP, it’s time to tackle the flumph’s other 
  abilities. Advanced Telepathy is extremely situational, 
  so we’ll call it 0.5 BP. Prone Deficiency can be an 
  absolutely lethal handicap, but since the DC to avoid it 
  is so low we’ll call it -1 BP. 
   Telepathic Shroud is strong, but technically 
  situational. Still, immunity to an entire school of magic 
  is extremely potent. We’ll keep the ability as written 
  for 3 BP.  
   Finally, we need to do something with Stench Spray. 
  I have to assume that the DC is tied to the flumph’s 
  Constitution modifier, and players will see that this is 
  an extremely effect crowd-control effect. The Poisoned 
  condition applies Disadvantage on attacks and ability 
  checks, severely hindering those affected. Even at one 
  use per day, this is still very powerful. If we allow a free 
  saving throw every round and grant advantage for 
  washing with water or something, I think we can bring 
  this down to 2 BP. 
   At 9 BP, the flumph is within our target range of 8-10 
  BP. If you want to strengthen the flumph, allow it to 
  use Stench Spray after a short rest or allow it to be 
  used as a bonus action. If you want to weaken the 
  flumph, remove Stench Spray. 
   
   
  
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  Races 
  83 
  Fomorian 
  Evil, twisted descendants of a cursed race of giants, 
  fomorians live a life of cruelty and depravity deep in 
  the underdark. 
  Fomorian Traits 
  Fomorians share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Giant 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Evil, depraved creatures who bow only to 
  superior strength, moth fomorians are chaotic evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Curse of the Evil Eye. As an action, you may use your 
  Evil Eye ability, but on a failed save the creature is also 
  afflicted with a magical deformity. The creature may 
  attempt a new saving throw at the end of each of its 
  turns, ending the effect on a success. 
   When you use this ability, choose one deformity 
  from the list below.  
  • Twisted Legs: Reduce the creature’s movement 
  speed for 10 ft. 
  • Warped Joints: The creature has disadvantage on 
  Dexterity saving throws and ability checks, and on 
  attacks based on Dexterity. 
  • Withered Limbs: The creature has disadvantage on 
  Strength saving throws ability checks, and on attacks 
  based on Strength. 
   Evil Eye. As an action, you may target one creature 
  you can see within 30 ft. of you. The target must 
  succeed on Charisma saving throw or take 1d8 psychic 
  damage. The DC for this saving throw is 8 + your 
  proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier. The 
  damage increases by 1d8 when you reach 5th level 
  (2d8), 11th level (3d8), and 17th level (4d8). 
   Powerful Build. You count as one size larger when 
  determining your carrying capacity and the weight you 
  can push, drag, or lift. 
   Twisted Form. Due to your deformed body, you are 
  unable to wear armor. You may still use shields 
  normally. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Giant. 
  
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  Races 
  84 
  Playing a Fomorian 
  Fomorians are as strong as any giant, and as such make 
  excellent barbarians and fighters. However, since they 
  are unable to wear armor fomorian fighters may have 
  problems with their armor class. Curse of the Evil Eye 
  provides a potent tactical option which you can use to 
  gain a temporary advantage over your foes. 
   Fomorians are evil creatures which prey on the 
  weak, using slavery to feed themselves and eating 
  slaves who are unable to serve them. They bow only to 
  greater strength, so fomorians fit best into a party with 
  an evil character sufficiently strong to bend the 
  fomorian to some degree of respect and subservience. 
  Design Notes 
  Fomorians are giants, and as such we can borrow a lot 
  from the design work we already did on the cyclops. 
  The fomorian’s only unique abilities are Evil Eye and 
  Curse of the Evil Eye, and they’ll need some 
  adjustment. 
   Cyclopes are Giants, costing 0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   Like many giants, fomorians are big, dumb brutes. 
  We’ll give them +2 Strength and +2 Constitution for 3 
  BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  huge), +4 natural armor for 2 BP, 30 ft. walking speed, 
  Darkvision for 2 BP, and racial languages plus Common 
  (Undercommon in this case) for 0 BP. We’ll also add 
  Powerful Build for 0.25 BP to make the fomorian feel 
  like a giant despite its medium size. Based on their 
  description and their twisted forms, we’ll also disallow 
  armor for -3 BP. 
   That brings our total to 7.75 BP before we tackle Evil 
  Eye and its curse. Curse of the Evil Eye is a massively 
  powerful debuff, and it will take quite a bit of 
  adjustment to make it reasonable for a player. To 
  replicate the damage effect, we can make a fake 
  cantrip which deals psychic damage, and call it 0.5 BP. 
  The difficult part is the debuffs. 
   I want Curse of the Evil Eye to be usable on a short 
  rest, but to make that possible it needs to be fairly 
  weak. A 1st-level spell usable on a short rest is 2.5 BP, 
  which puts us over our target range. Some cantrips, 
  like ray of frost, apply similar debuffs. If we allow the 
  fomorian to apply the player’s choice of one a few 
  minor debuffs, I think we can fit it into 1 BP.  
   At 6.25 BP, the fomorian is below our target range of 
  8-10 BP. It has a workable stat block and a really 
  unique active ability that should make it fun to play. 
  The fomorian’s biggest limitation is its inability to wear 
  armor, which is easily overcome by the Barbarian’s 
  Unarmored Defense thanks to the Fomorian’s ability 
  increases. If you want to strengthen the fomorian, 
  allow it to wear armor. If you want to weaken the 
  fomorian, reduce its ability score increases. 
  Fungi 
  Fungi are oversized plant creatures native to the 
  underdark, where the dark and damp provide excellent 
  environs for these creatures to thrive. 
  Fungi Traits 
  Fungi share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Plant 
   Alignment. Typically unthinking plants, most fungi 
  are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can understand, read, and write in 
  Common. 
   Subrace. Choose one of these subraces. You gain the 
  traits listed under your chosen subrace in addition to 
  those listed above. 
  Gas Spore 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 0 ft. 
   Death Burst. When you drop to 0 hit points, you 
  explode in a cloud of spores and immediately die. Each 
  creature within 20 feet of you must succeed on a 
  Constitution saving throw or take 1d6 poison damage 
  and become infected with a disease on a failed save. 
  The DC of this saving throw is 8 + your proficiency 
  bonus + your Constitution modifier. The damage 
  increases by 1d6 when you reach 5th level (2d6), 11th 
  level (3d6), and 17th level (4d6). Creatures immune to 
  the poisoned condition are immune to this disease, 
  and this ability has no effect on creatures which are 
  already dead. 
   Spores invade an infected creature's system, killing 
  the creature in a number of hours equal to 1d12 +the 
  creature's Constitution score, unless the disease is 
  removed. The disease can be removed magically, or 
  with a successful Wisdom (Medicine) check against the 
  original DC. 
  
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  Races 
  85 
   After the creature dies, you regrow from the 
  creature’s body with 1 hit point. If multiple infected 
  creatures die after being infected, you respawn from 
  the first creature’s body. Each remaining effected body 
  spawns 2d4 tiny gas spores that grow to full size in 7 
  days, and use the normal statistics for gas spores. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet, and can 
  hover. To use this speed, you can’t be wearing medium 
  or heavy armor. You are immune to the prone 
  condition. 
   Touch. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 poison 
  damage on a hit. 
  Shrieker 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +2 Constitution. 
   False Appearance. While motionless, you appear 
  indistinguishable from a normal fungus. You must 
  spend one minute motionless before this ability takes 
  effect. You must maintain concentration during that 
  time, as if you were casting a spell. 
   Keen Senses. You have proficiency in the Perception 
  skill. 
   Shriek. When a bright light or a hostile creature 
  come within 30 ft. of you, you emit a shriek audible 
  within 300 feet of you. You continue to shriek until the 
  disturbance moves out of range and for 1d4 rounds 
  after. You may force yourself to stop shrieking as a 
  bonus action on your turn. 
   Slam. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 bludgeoning 
  damage on a hit. 
  Violet Fungus 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 
  Constitution. 
   False Appearance. While motionless, you appear 
  indistinguishable from a normal fungus. You must 
  spend one minute motionless before this ability takes 
  effect. You must maintain concentration during that 
  time, as if you were casting a spell. 
   Rotting Touch. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 
  necrotic damage on a hit. 
   Upon killing a creature with your rotting touch, the 
  creature’s body begins to decompose rapidly. If you die 
  within 1 day, you regrow from the oldest body which 
  you killed after 1 day. You are restored to life at 1 hit 
  point. If you do not regrow from an affected body, a 
  normal violet fungus grows from the body and reaches 
  full size after 2d6 days. 
  Playing a Fungi 
  Fungi are awakened plant creatures. Being magically 
  awakened has some effect on the creature depending 
  on who or what awakened them. Consider who or 
  what awakened you, and your awakener’s effect on 
  your character’s personality. 
  Gas Spore 
  With no ability increases, it’s hard to pick a class for the 
  gas spore. You’ll need to rely on the gas spore’s Touch 
  to fight, so consider classes which work well in melee 
  like barbarian are monk. Death Burst can provide a 
  timely burst of area damage, but when your hit points 
  get low be sure that you have a living enemy nearby to 
  infect. 
   Gas spores are borderline suicidal. They reproduce 
  by spawning from the dead bodies of other creatures. 
  This requires that you occasionally die and infect 
  nearby creatures. Since the effects of your spores can 
  kill your allies, be careful about where you are when 
  your Death Burst goes into effect, and make sure that 
  someone in your party is proficient in Medicine. 
  Shrieker 
  Shriekers are simple creatures that defend themselves 
  by bludgeoning foes with their bodies. Their excellent 
  Strength and Constitution makes them excellent 
  barbarians and fighters, but their Shriek ability makes it 
  difficult for them to be subtle or stealthy. 
  Violet Fungus 
  The violet fungus is physically capable, and has a 
  potent natural weapon which deals necrotic damage. 
  Due to its reliance on natural weapons, classes like 
  barbarian and monk are good choices, but fighter may 
  also be an option.  
   The violet fungus has the ability to regrow from 
  corpses of creatures killed by the fungus’s rotting 
  touch. This ability is potent, but you may need to keep 
  track of bodies in order to know where you will regrow. 
  As bodies decompose, they will spawn normal violet 
  fungi. These fungi are completely normal, and may be 
  hostile to you’re and your allies, so be sure not to let 
  them become problems for your party. 
  Design Notes 
  Fungi are one of most difficult creatures in the Monster 
  Manual to design as playable races. They are 
  essentially mindless, 2 of the three don’t move, and 
  the third self-destructs when it takes damage. I’m 
  going to have to take some artistic liberties to make 
  these viable options. We’ll make the base assumption 
  
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  Races 
  86 
  that the plants have been affected by the awaken spell, 
  which makes it much easier to turn fungi into a player 
  race. 
   Fungi are plants, costing 0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   All fungi have blindsight 30 ft. Since we’re assuming 
  that fungi are “awakened”, we’ll dump blindsight in 
  favor of human-like senses. We’ll add Darkvision for 2 
  BP since fungi are from the Underdark. They also have 
  no hands for -2 BP. We’ll allow fungi to speak 
  Undercommon for 0 BP.  
   That leaves us at 0.5 BP before we design individual 
  fungi. 
  Gas Spore 
  The gas spore is essentially a bomb. It’s designed to 
  take damage then immediately explode and infect 
  nearby creatures. The fact that these creatures survive 
  to reproduce can be attributed almost entirely to the 
  fact that they look like beholders. If they didn’t, 
  throwing rocks to destroy gas spores would quickly 
  make them extinct. Since it’s so central to the creature, 
  I want to find a way to make Death Burst work for 
  players. 
   The gas spore’s ability scores are pitiful. They’re 
  literally designed for the gas spore to die immediately. 
  I have no idea what to do with them.  
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), 0 ft. walking speed for -3 BP, 30 ft. fly speed (up 
  from 10 ft.) for 4 BP and the ability to hover for 2 BP, 
  and immunity to poison for 2 BP. We’ll retain immunity 
  to the prone condition for 0.5 BP. Gas spores have no 
  hands for -2 BP and no arms for -2 BP. 
   That mess brings us to 2 BP, leaving us plenty of 
  room for other abilities. With no hands, the gas spore 
  really need a solid natural weapon. We’ll grant a 1d8 
  poison damage natural weapon for 2 BP. 
   We’ll leave Eerie Resemblance unmodified for 0.5 
  BP. 
   Death Burst is the gas spore’s biggest draw. I want it 
  to be really cool to compensate for the race’s lack of 
  ability score increases or other interesting abilities. To 
  keep it balanced, we’ll match the damage to a cantrip. 
  The range is fine, so we’ll keep it at 20 ft.  
   The disease mechanic of Death Burst is still a 
  problem. Creatures don’t get any saves after the initial 
  effect, so without access to magical disease removal, 
  death is guaranteed. That’s a bit much for a player 
  ability. Instead, we’ll allow the gas spore to grow if the 
  creature dies after being diseased, and we’ll allow a 
  Wisdom (Medicine) check against the original DC so 
  that creatures can attempt to remove the effect 
  without magic. This places some responsibility on the 
  gas spore’s party members, since it’s not guaranteed 
  that an enemy will killed by the gas spore’s death 
  burst. 
   The 7-day regrowth time may also be frustratingly 
  long for players who are excited to jump back into 
  adventuring after their party member regrows. Instead, 
  we’ll allow the gas spore to regrow at 1 hit point, then 
  leave them to deal with healing on their own. This may 
  encourage investment in Constitution and feats like 
  Durable in order to boost their healing rate. We’ll call 
  all this 3 BP, but it’s really hard to approximate effects 
  which can make creatures nearly immortal. 
   At something like 7.25 BP, the gas is below our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. However, Death Burst is 
  unpredictable and potentially more powerful than the 
  BP indicates. If you want to strengthen the gas spore, 
  increases its natural weapon damage or grant it a +1 
  ability score increase. If you want to weaken the gas 
  spore, reduce its flying speed or natural weapon 
  damage. 
  Shrieker 
  Where the gas spore is hard to design because it’s 
  weird, the shrieker is weird because it’s boring. All it 
  does is shriek. It doesn’t move, it doesn’t fight, and it 
  doesn’t release harmful spores. I really don’t know 
  what to do with it. I think our best bet is to make it a 
  walking club made of fungus. I’m sure someone 
  somewhere will at least get a laugh out of that. 
   The shrieker’s ability scores are awful, but in keeping 
  with our “fungul club” theme, we’ll give it +2 to 
  Strength and +2 to Constitution for 4 BP. 
   Amazingly, we get almost nothing from the stat 
  block. We can keep False Appearance for 0.5 BP. Since 
  Shriekers are all about screaming when they see stuff, 
  I’ll grant proficiency in Perception for 0.5 BP. We’ll 
  keep Shriek for free, but we’ll modify it a bit so that 
  shriekers aren’t constantly screaming when a party 
  member is nearby. Shriekers have no arms for -2 BP. 
   We’ll grant the shrieker a 1d8 natural weapon for 2 
  BP so that shriekers can club people with their bodies. 
   At 5.5 BP, the shrieker is well below our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. It’s barely playable, but with so little source 
  material there’s not much that we can do. If you want 
  to strengthen the shrieker, give it natural armor. As 
  much as +4 for 2 BP would reasonable. If you want to 
  weaken the shrieker, reduce its natural weapon 
  damage. 
  
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  Races 
  87 
  Violet Fungus 
  The violet fungus is the easiest fungus to design. It 
  already moves and has an attack, so we don’t need to 
  do a lot of crazy design to make them work. 
   The violet fungus’s abilities are terrible. I want it to 
  be less of a blunt instrument than the Shrieker, so I’ll 
  give it +1 to all three physical ability scores for 3 BP. 
   We don’t get much from the violet fungus’ stat 
  block. We can keep False Appearance for 0.5 BP, and 
  we’ll drop its natural weapon to 1d6 necrotic damage 
  for 2 BP. 
   It’s not listed in the stat block, but the violet fungus 
  reproduces by killing other creatures, which then 
  produce a new fungus after 2d6 days. Like the Gas 
  Spore, we can adapt this to allow the fungus to regrow 
  itself. The 2d6 days is the amount of time before the 
  fungus fully regrows, so we’ll tweak things to restore 
  the fungus to 1 hp and allow natural healing to bring 
  the fungus back up to full health. We’ll also limit the 
  effect to bodies killed in the past 24 hours; others will 
  grow a normal violet fungus. This is a very potent 
  ability, so we’ll call it 4 BP.  
   At 10 BP, the violet fungus is at the top of our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the violet 
  fungus, extend the window it has to respawn from a 
  corpse from 1 day to 2 days. If you want to weaken the 
  violet fungus, remove one of its ability score increases. 
  Galeb Duhr 
  Galeb Duhr are earth spirits bound into a vaguely 
  humanoid form made of stone, frequently created to 
  guard specific locations. They are renowned for their 
  ability to remain in motion 
  Galeb Duhr Traits 
  Galeb Duhr share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Elemental. You do not require air, 
  food, drink, or sleep. Instead, you enter a restful state, 
  remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. While 
  resting, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are 
  reflexive mental exercises inherent to your 
  consciousness. After resting in this way, you gain the 
  same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Though intelligent, Galeb Duhr’s 
  perception of the world is simple, and they are not 
  prone to great philosophical thought. Most Galeb Duhr 
  are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 15 ft. 
   False Appearance. While motionless, you appear 
  indistinguishable from a boulder. You must spend one 
  minute motionless before this ability takes effect. You 
  must maintain concentration during that time, as if you 
  were casting a spell. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 14 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Rolling Stone. As a bonus action you may begin 
  rolling. While rolling, your base speed is doubled 
  (quadruple while rolling downhill). As a bonus action, 
  you may stop rolling. 
   When you use your action to Dash while rolling, you 
  can use a bonus action to make one unarmed strike or 
  to shove a creature. This causes you to stop rolling. 
   Slam. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 bludgeoning 
  damage on a hit. 
   Stone Body. You are immune to the exhaustion, 
  paralyzed, poisoned, and petrified conditions. In 
  addition, you are immune to poison damage. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Terran. 
  Playing a Galeb Duhr 
  Galeb Duhr are rocks. They’re big, durable brutes. They 
  make excellent Barbarians and Fighters, but don’t do 
  well at range. Their walking speed is a problem, so be 
  sure to use Rolling Stone tactically to get into melee 
  range. 
   Because Galeb Duhr are typically summoned to 
  defend a location, they generally don’t have a reason 
  to go adventuring. Be sure to come up with a suitable 
  explanation for how your Galeb Duhr came into 
  existence, and why it is off adventuring instead of 
  guarding something. 
  Design Notes 
  Galeb Duhr are very similar to Earth Elementals, so 
  they’re going to have some stuff in common. Since 
  they’re large creatures, we’ll drop their size to medium 
  to fit in line with normal player race rules. 
   Galeb Duhr are of the elemental creature type, 
  costing 1 BP. 
   Galeb Duhr have matching Strength and 
  Constitution, so if they’re going to get bonuses they 
  should match. +2 to both would be appropriate, but 
  we’re going to need a ton of BP to cover the Galeb 
  Duhr’s other abilities, so we’ll go for +1 to each for 2 
  BP. We can use the reduced size as an explanation for 
  being relatively frail compared to a normal Galeb Duhr. 
   From their stat block, we get +4 natural armor (down 
  from +6) for 2 BP, 15 ft. walking speed for -1.5 BP, 
  Darkvision for 2 BP and only racial languages for -1 BP, 
  
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  Races 
  88 
  Poison Immunity for 2 BP, plus immunity to the 
  exhausted, paralyzed, and petrified conditions for 1.5 
  BP. We’ll need to discuss other basic parts of the stat 
  block because the Galeb Duhr’s abilities make them a 
  bit complicated. 
   We’re at 8 BP and we still need to tackle natural 
  weapons, tremorsense, False Appearance, Rolling 
  Charge, and Animate Boulders. Tremorsense isn’t really 
  important to making the Galeb Duhr a playable race 
  and it’s extremely powerful (and therefore expensive), 
  so we’ll just drop it. 
   The Galeb Duhr’s slam deals 2d6 damage, which we 
  can drop to 1d8 due to the size decrease. 2 BP is hard 
  at this stage, but the Galeb Duhr’s slam should be good 
  enough to be its go-to weapon. 
   False Appearance is potentially very powerful, so we 
  need to impose limitations to make it fit within our BP 
  range. Spending one minute to get comfortable and 
  enable the ability seems reasonable, and requiring 
  Concentration means that the Galeb Duhr can’t sit 
  around and maintain spells while waiting to ambush 
  enemies. We’ll call that 0.5 BP. 
   There’s nothing in the Monster Manual which 
  indicates how the Galeb Duhr starts or ends rolling. As 
  far as I can tell, you just declare it. If that’s the case, 
  there’s functionally no penalty for the Galeb Duhr’s 
  terrible speed. I want rolling to be a fun tactical option 
  rather than a way to bypass the Galeb Duhr’s terrible 
  speed. 
   I’ll let the Galeb Duhr stop or start rolling as a bonus 
  action. While this is a fairly minor cost, the limits of the 
  action economy mean that Galeb Duhr will need to 
  make a tactical decision about whether it’s better to 
  spend the bonus action and move quickly, or to trudge 
  around on their feet. 
   We can also roll Rolling Charge into this mechanic by 
  duplicating part of the Charger feat. If the character 
  takes the Dash action, they can spend a bonus action 
  to stop rolling and make an unarmed strike. The Galeb 
  Duhr’s monster entry allows them to deal an extra 2d6 
  damage and require a Strength save to resist being 
  knocked prone. That’s far too strong for a player 
  ability, so we’ll need to ignore that part. Players can 
  already use the Shove action in place of an attack, so 
  we’ll allow players to make an unarmed strike or a 
  shove. I’m going to call this 2 BP total, but that might 
  be a bit low. It’s hard to say without extensive 
  playtesting. 
   Animate Boulders is clearly too powerful for a player, 
  so we’ll need something similar. The Mold Earth 
  cantrip is a good thematic fit for 0.5 BP, and since it’s 
  rarely useful in combat I think that it’s fine to add 
  despite exceeding our BP range. 
   At 13 BP, the Galeb Duhr exceeds our target BP 
  range of 8-10, but I don’t think that it’s so powerful 
  that it will cause notable problems. If you need to 
  weaken the Galeb Duhr, drop its natural armor by a 
  point or two, or drop its unarmed strike damage to 
  1d6. 
  Gargoyle 
  A source of constant paranoia for adventurers, 
  gargoyles are evil creatures which disguise themselves 
  as ordinary statues in order to ambush their prey. 
  Gargoyle Traits 
  Gargoyles share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Elemental. You do not require air, 
  food, drink, or sleep. Instead, you enter a restful state, 
  remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. While 
  resting, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are 
  reflexive mental exercises inherent to your 
  consciousness. After resting in this way, you gain the 
  same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength or +1 
  Constitution. 
   Alignment. Gargoyles take great joy in harming 
  other creatures, especially sentient creatures. Most 
  Gargoyles are chaotic evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Claws. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 slashing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   False Appearance. While motionless, you appear 
  indistinguishable from a statue. You must spend one 
  minute motionless before this ability takes effect. You 
  must maintain concentration during that time, as if you 
  were casting a spell. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 12 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Stone Body. You are immune to the poisoned and 
  petrified conditions. In addition, you are immune to 
  poison damage. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Terran. 
  
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  Races 
  89 
  Playing a Gargoyle 
  Gargoyles are tough, flying creatures. Their natural 
  armor allows them to survive without armor, and they 
  work well at range or in melee. However, their slow 
  walking speed means that they have trouble getting 
  around in places where they can’t fly. 
   Gargoyles are patient ambush predators, and 
  typically disguise themselves as statues for centuries 
  while waiting for a mortal to wander by. With such a 
  sedentary personality, you’ll need to consider a good 
  reason why a gargoyle would go off adventuring. 
  Design Notes 
  Gargoyles are very simple compared to other 
  Elemental creatures, which simplifies their design 
  considerably. However, their impressive flight speed 
  adds a considerable BP cost which we need to 
  anticipate from the beginning of the design process. 
   Gargoyles are of the elemental creature type, costing 
  1 BP. 
   Since they’re made of rock, bonuses to Strength and 
  Constitution make sense. Based on their monster stat 
  block, +1 Strength and +1 Constitution for 2 BP does 
  the job without costing too much BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, +2 natural 
  armor (down from +5) for 1 BP, 25 ft. walking speed 
  (down from 30 ft.) for -0.5 BP, 30 ft. fly speed (down 
  from 60 ft.) for 4 BP, Darkvision for 2 BP, and only 
  racial languages for -1 BP. We’ll drop the gargoyle’s 
  resistances, but we’ll keep Poison Resilience (down 
  from immunity) for 1 BP, and condition immunity to 
  Petrification for 0.5 BP. We’ll set the gargoyle’s natural 
  weapons to 1d4 for 1 BP, but won’t go any further so 
  we can conserve BP. 
   False appearance costs another 0.5 BP, and we’ll 
  keep the limitations discussed in the Galeb Duhr design 
  notes. 
   At 11.5 BP gargoyles exceed our target BP range of 8-
  10. If you need to weaken gargoyles reduce their 
  natural armor or further reduce their walking speed. If 
  you need to strengthen gargoyles increase their natural 
  armor by 1 or increase their natural weapon damage. 
   
   
  Genies 
  Potent denizens of the elemental planes, genies are 
  famed for their wealth and stature, and for their ability 
  to grant wishes. 
  
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  Races 
  90 
  Genie Traits 
  Genies share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Elemental 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Elemental Demise. If you die, your body 
  disintegrates, leaving behind only equipment you were 
  wearing and a trace of your native elemental energy. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Subrace. Choose one of these subraces. You gain the 
  traits listed under your chosen subrace in addition to 
  those listed above. 
  Dao 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Greedy, malicious, and vain, most dao 
  are neutral evil. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. You have a 
  burrow speed of 10 ft. 
   Earth Glide. You can burrow through non-magical, 
  unworked earth and stone. While doing so, you don't 
  disturb the material you move through. 
   Earth Magic. You know the mold earth cantrip. 
  Charisma if your spellcasting ability for this spell. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Terran. 
  Djinni 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Charisma. 
   Alignment. Jovial and mischievous, but not so prone 
  to the cruel tendencies of other genies, most djinni are 
  chaotic good. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Air Magic. You know the gust cantrip. Charisma if 
  your spellcasting ability for this spell. 
   Lightning Resistance. You have resistance against 
  lightning damage. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Auran. 
  Efreeti 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Cruel, spiteful tyrants, most efreeti are 
  lawful evil. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 35 ft. 
   Fire Resistance. You have resistance against fire 
  damage. 
   Hurl Flame. You know the fire bolt cantrip. Charisma 
  if your spellcasting ability for this spell. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Ignan. 
  Marid 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Intelligence, +1 Wisdom. 
   Alignment. Self-centered and egotistical, but not 
  outright malicious, most marid are chaotic neutral. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. You have a 
  swim speed of 30 ft. 
   Water Magic. You know the shape water cantrip. 
  Charisma if your spellcasting ability for this spell. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Aquan. 
  Playing a Genie 
  Genies are haughty and self-assured, and believe 
  themselves second only to deities. They take pride in 
  material wealth, in keeping slaves, and in their 
  impressive homes. The desire for prestige, material 
  wealth, or political gain might motivate a genie to 
  pursue a life of adventure outside of the genie’s native 
  plane. 
  Dao 
  Dao are strong and durable. Their ability to glide 
  through earth allows them to be extremely mobile. To 
  capitalize on these abilities, consider classes like 
  barbarian and fighter. 
   Dao are greedy, egotistical creatures. They can be a 
  strong presence in an evil party, and despite their lack 
  of charisma might serve as a suitable party leader 
  through force. Other party members might be grudging 
  equals, willing subordinates, or possibly slaves. 
  Djinni 
  The djinni’s strength and charisma makes them 
  excellent paladins, sorcerers, and warlocks. They can 
  also serve as purple dragon knight fighters. 
   Djinni are the friendliest of genies. They treat their 
  slaves like favored servants, deserving both of respect 
  and protection. They can also be bent to service or 
  cooperation with flattery and bribes. A djinni in a party 
  might have been convinced by one of the party 
  members, or it might view the rest of the party as its 
  slaves. Regardless, djinni react harshly to betrayal by 
  those whom it trusts. 
  Efreeti 
  Efreeti are fast and durable, but lack the strength or 
  charisma of other genies. They work well in any class, 
  though they lack an aptitude for any specific task. Their 
  Constitution increase may be helpful for classes like 
  barbarian, fighter, and monk, but their increased speed 
  can be helpful for rangers, rogues, and spellcasters. 
   Efreeti don’t play well with others. They’re cruel 
  masters, so making the party slaves can be problematic 
  for a group of players. Efreeti also don’t particularly 
  like being bound to service, but this may be preferable 
  to letting the efreeti take command. Consider your 
  character’s place in the party carefully before 
  considering the efreeti. 
  
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  Races 
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  Marid 
  The marid’s abilities make it an excellent spellcaster. 
  Cleric, druid, and wizard are all obvious choices but 
  don’t overlook eldritch knight fighter or arcane 
  trickster rogue. 
   Marid are egomaniacs, so their retelling of events 
  may often overshadow the presence of other party 
  members. If the rest of the party can endure this, 
  marids fit easily into many parties. 
  Design Notes 
  Genies share a lot in common with genasi and 
  elementals, so we can borrow design ideas from both, 
  but we must also be careful to distinguish genies from 
  genasi and elementals. Genasi are humanoids with 
  some elemental traits, but lack the magical potency of 
  a genie. Elementals are raw elemental energy given 
  form, but lack the finesse and refinement of a genie. 
   Genies are elementals, costing 0.5 BP but offering 
  none of the specific traits which most other elementals 
  receive (not needing to eat and sleep, etc.). 
   From the stat blocks, we can draw some common 
  traits. They all have natural armor, but we’ll abandon it 
  to save BP since genies can easily wear armor. They can 
  all fly, though at different speeds. They all have 
  Darkvision for 2 BP, and only speak their racial 
  languages for -1 BP.  
   We’ll keep Elemental Demise for -0.25 BP. A body is 
  required for many spells which raise the dead, but it 
  doesn’t come up frequently, so this usually isn’t 
  important. 
   That brings us to 1.25 BP before we approach 
  individual genies. We’ll need to make massive cuts to 
  make genies playable, but not outright better than 
  other race options. I’m not too worried about outdoing 
  genasi since the air and earth genasi are both terrible. 
  The fire and water genasi are actually playable, so I’ll 
  try not to step on their toes too much. 
  Dao 
  Dao are much like other earth-related elementals: 
  strong, durable, and little else. 
   Their best abilities are Strength and Constitution, so 
  we’ll give dao +1 to each for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get 25 ft. walking speed 
  (down from 40 ft.) for -0.5 BP, 10 ft. burrow speed 
  (down from 30 ft.) for 2 BP, 30 ft. fly speed for 4 BP, 
  and condition immunity to Petrified for 0.5 BP. We’ll 
  retain Sure-Footed, but its BP cost is somewhere 
  between 0.25 and 0, so we’ll just ignore it. 
   That brings our total to 9.25. We can’t come 
  anywhere close to the dao’s innate spellcasting, so 
  we’ll add the mold earth cantrip for 0.5 BP and call it 
  good. 
   At 9.75 BP, the dao is within our target range of 8-10 
  BP. Dao have a good flavor, but since so much of their 
  BP is tied up in movement modes, they don’t have 
  anything particularly flashy. Still, having both a burrow 
  speed and a flight speed is a rare combination. If you 
  want to weaken the Dao, reduce its burrow and its fly 
  speed. If you want to strengthen the dao, grant it 
  natural armor. 
  Djinni 
  Djinni are air genies, and are notably the only good-
  aligned genie. Their abilities are primarily air-themed, 
  and they have access to several air-related abilities and 
  spells. 
   Adjusting for size, Charisma is the djinni’s highest 
  ability. Strength is still a good ability for the djinni, so 
  we’ll grant +1 Strength and +1 Charisma for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get 30 ft. walking speed, 30 
  ft. fly speed (down from 90 ft.) for 4 BP, and damage 
  resistance to lightning damage for 2 BP (down from 
  immunity). We’ll drop thunder immunity to save BP. 
   Like the dao, we can’t replicate the djinni’s innate 
  spellcasting so we’ll grant it the gust cantrip for 0.5 BP. 
   At 9.75 BP, the djinni is within our target range of 8-
  10 BP. It trades the Dao’s additional movement mode 
  for resistance to lightning damage, and the djinni’s 
  abilities make it viable for several interesting builds. If 
  you want to weaken the djinni, remove its lightning 
  damage resistance. If you want to strengthen the 
  djinni, increase its fly speed or add thunder damage 
  resistance. 
  Efreeti 
  Efreeti are perhaps the most evil of genies. As fire 
  elementals, they are resistant to fire damage, and like 
  many fire elemental creatures they are strong and 
  highly mobile. 
   The efreeti’s highest ability is Constitution, so we’ll 
  grant +1 for 1 BP to conserve BP. 
   From the stat block, we get 35 ft. walking speed 
  (down from 40 ft.) for 1 BP, 30 ft. fly speed (down from 
  60 ft.) for 4 BP, and resistance to fire damage (down 
  from immunity) for 2 BP. 
   We can’t match the efreeti’s innate spellcasting, so 
  we’ll grant it the fire bolt cantrip to replicate Hurl 
  Flame for 0.5 BP. 
   At 9.75 BP, the efreeti is within our target range of 8-
  10 BP. If you want to weaken the efreeti, reduce its 
  walking speed. If you want to strengthen the efreeti, 
  grant it a +1 Strength increase. 
  
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  Races 
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  Marid 
  Marid are weird fishy genies. They like to tell tall tales, 
  and are exceptionally egotistical, even by genie 
  standards. 
   The marid’s abilities are almost all good. Adjusting 
  for size its Strength and Constitution are the best, but 
  that’s not particularly interesting. Marids are notable 
  both the most intelligent and wisest genies, so we’ll 
  grant the marid +1 to Intelligence and Wisdom for 2 
  BP.  
   From the stat block, we get 30 ft. walking speed, 30 
  ft. swim speed (down from 30 ft.) for 2 BP, 30 ft. fly 
  speed (down from 90 ft.) for 4 BP. They have resistance 
  to an impressive three energy types, but we’ll need to 
  drop all three to save BP. 
   We can’t match the marid’s innate spellcasting, so 
  we’ll grant it the shape water cantrip for 0.5 BP. 
   At 9.75 BP, the marid is within our target range of 8-
  10 BP. If you want to weaken the marid, make players 
  select between one of the two ability increases. If you 
  want to strengthen the marid, allow players to choose 
  two ability increases from any of the three mental 
  abilities. 
  Ghouls 
  Ghouls are cannibalistic undead that hunt in packs, 
  seeking humanoid flesh. 
  Ghoul Traits 
  Ghouls share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Undead. You don’t require air, food, 
  drink, or sleep. Instead, you enter a restful state, 
  remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. While 
  resting, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are 
  reflexive mental exercises inherent to your 
  consciousness. After resting in this way, you gain the 
  same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Ghouls are undead cannibals. Ghouls are 
  nearly always Chaotic Evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Claws.  Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 slashing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Ghoulish Resistance. You are immune to the 
  Charmed, Exhausted, and Poisoned conditions, and you 
  are immune to Poison damage. 
   Paralyzing Claws. On a successful melee attack with 
  your claws, you may attempt to paralyze the target. 
  The target must make a Constitution save against a DC 
  equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Constitution 
  modifier. On a failure, the target is paralyzed for 1 
  minute. Elves and undead are immune to this effect.  
  At the end of the creature’s turn, they may attempt 
  this save again, ending the effect on a successful saving 
  throw. 
   You may not use this ability again until you have 
  completed a long rest. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common.  
  Playing a Ghoul 
  Ghouls work well in the dark. Their Darkvision and 
  Paralyzing Claws make them excellent assassins, so 
  they excel as Rogues. Their Dexterity also helps them 
  as Monks, Rangers, and sometimes as Fighters. 
   Because Ghouls are evil, flesh-eating undead, they 
  often have issues traveling among civilized people. Be 
  sure to find ways to disguise your true nature in places 
  where it might be a liability, and seek out allies who 
  are willing to tolerate your cannibalistic 
  nature. 
  Design Notes 
  Ghouls are very straightforward by undead standards. 
  Their only complex mechanic is the paralyzing effect on 
  their claws. 
   Ghouls are undead, which costs 1 BP. 
   The ghoul’s only notably good ability score is 
  Dexterity, so we’ll go for +1 to Dexterity for 1 BP. That’s 
  lower than most races get to their primarily ability 
  score, but the Ghoul’s appeal isn’t in its ability scores. 
   From the Ghoul stat block, we can take medium size, 
  30 ft. walk speed, Darkvision for 2 BP, and racial 
  languages plus Common. We’ll pick up the common 
  undead immunities to Charmed, Exhaustion, and 
  Poison for 3 BP total. 
   Ghouls deal 2d6 damage with their bite or 2d4 with 
  their claws. Players use natural weapons as unarmed 
  strikes, and generally don’t distinguish between the 
  body part used to make the attack. Since I want to 
  emphasize the claws, we’ll focus on the claw damage. 
  Since no weapons deal 2d4 damage in 5e, we’ll shoot 
  for 1d8 for a total of 2 BP. 
   We’ve spent 9 BP so far and covered everything but 
  the paralysis effect on the claws. Based on the monster 
  stat block, the Ghoul’s save DC is 8 + proficiency + 
  Constitution (10 for both the Ghast and the Ghoul 
  
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  Races 
  93 
  presented in the Monster Manual). While this DC is 
  fine on a monster which might appear in one or two 
  encounters, a player is going to be using this ability 1 or 
  more times almost every round for the life of the 
  character. With even a modest investment in 
  Constitution that becomes a game-breaking ability 
  immediately. 
   Instead of applying to every attack, we could make 
  the paralysis apply only on critical hits. That would 
  make it a cool ability which the player can count on for 
  an infrequent but potent advantage. However, it also 
  means that 5% of the time the player can paralyze any 
  foe not immune to the effect. That’s a bit problematic, 
  especially when you consider the likelihood of Ghoul 
  Monks and Fighters making 4 attacks a turn. 
   We could apply the effect on critical hits and require 
  a save. That makes the ability reasonably easy to avoid, 
  but also makes the ability difficult to rely upon for 
  classes which don’t get more than one or two attacks. 
   I think our best bet is to make the ability an on-hit 
  effect with limited uses. Once per long rest with a 
  repeating Constitution save by the target seems 
  reasonable for 1 BP. Making the ability usable more 
  often would be great, but considering that this 
  replicates the effect of a 5th-level spell without 
  Concentration it’s already very powerful. 
   At 10 BP, the ghoul is at the top of our target rang 
  eof 8-10 BP. The Ghoul’s abilities are mostly passive, 
  but its claws and paralysis ability give it some unique 
  active options. If you want to strengthen the ghoul, 
  increase its Dexterity increase to +2. If you want to 
  weaken the ghoul, reduce its natural weapon damage. 
  Ghosts [Template: Acquired] 
  The most common undead spirit, ghosts are the spirits 
  of the dead trapped in the realm of the living until they 
  complete some unfinished business. 
  Becoming a Ghost 
  Any formerly living mortal creature whose body and 
  soul are separate entities (such as most humanoids, 
  but excluding creatures like elementals and fiends) can 
  become a ghost by dying with unfinished business. This 
  business is typically of great emotional importance to 
  the dead creature, but the exact nature varies widely 
  from ghost to ghost. It might be the defeat of some 
  nefarious villain, the recovery of a prized possession, or 
  witnessing a long-awaited event such as the blooming 
  of a rare flower.   
   Upon their death, at the Dungeon Master’s 
  Discretion, the creature can be reanimated as a ghost. 
  In this case, the creature returns as a ghost the 
  following night at sunset close to the creature, object, 
  or location which is the subject of their Haunt trait. Any 
  non-magical equipment which the new ghost was 
  wearing or wielding (such as armor, weapons, and 
  spellcasting foci) appear on the ghost in ghostly form. 
  These items function as normal for the ghost, but if the 
  ghost willingly discards them them they turn to mist 
  and are permanently destroyed. The real items remain 
  wherever they were at the time of the ghost’s revival, 
  as do any magic items which the ghost bore at the time 
  of its death. 
   Upon gaining the Ghost template, the character 
  immediately gains the traits listed for level 0 under 
  Ghost Traits, below. 
   In addition, the character's growth and training are 
  affected. The next time the character gains enough 
  experience to gain a level, instead of selecting a class in 
  which to take a new level the character immediately 
  gains a level of the Ghost template. 
   Once a creature becomes a Ghost, it cannot be 
  raised from the dead until it completes its unfinished 
  business, or it has been destroyed. 
  Destroying a Ghost 
  Ghosts can be destroyed in two ways. First, by 
  completing their unfinished business. This causes the 
  ghost to immediately pass on to whatever fate would 
  normally await their dead soul. The ghost may attempt 
  to cling to existence by succeeding on a Charisma 
  saving throw at the beginning of its turn. This save DC 
  begins at 10 and increases by 1 every round. During 
  this time, the ghost has vulnerability to all damage 
  types, and if it is reduced to 0 hit points it is destroyed 
  as described below. 
   Second, the ghost can be destroyed like any other 
  creature by “killing” it. This permanently destroys the 
  ghost’s immortal soul, and it cannot be raised from the 
  dead by any magic short of a Wish spell. 
   In either case, the ghosts body dissolves into mist 
  and vanishes. Any equipment which it retained upon 
  being revived as a ghost (see above) vanishes. Any 
  other items which the ghost acquired after being 
  revived fall to the ground in the ghost’s space. 
  Ghost Traits 
  Hit Points 
   Hit Dice. 1d8 per ghost level 
   Hit Points at Higher Levels. 1d8 (or 5) + your 
  Constitution modifier per ghost level 
  
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  Races 
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  Traits 
  Ghosts gain the following traits at each level, as 
  indicated on the table below. 
  Level 
  Features 
  0 
  Creature Type, Alignment, Haunt, Unfinished 
  Business, Ghostly Manifestations 
  1 
  Undead Nature, Ghostly Flight, Ethereal Sight, 
  Withering Touch, Horrifying Vissage, Possession 
   Creature Type. You replace your current creature 
  type with Undead, but retain any subtypes.  
   You don’t require air, food, drink, or sleep. Instead, 
  you enter a restful state, remaining semiconscious, for 
  4 hours a day. While resting, you can dream after a 
  fashion; such dreams are reflexive mental exercises 
  inherent to your consciousness. After resting in this 
  way, you gain the same benefit that a human does 
  from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Alignment. While becoming a ghost does not 
  guarantee a change to your alignment, the 
  circumstance of your death may affect your alignment. 
  Many ghosts of good people return crazed and 
  vengeful, while ghosts of villains might return 
  remorseful and repentant. In either case, your 
  alignment might also shift over time if you remain a 
  ghost for a long time, as the horror of your existence 
  weighs on you. Whether your alignment changes, how, 
  and when are all determined by the Dungeon Master. 
   Haunt. Upon reanimating as a ghost, you begin to 
  haunt a creature, object, or location related to your 
  death. The subject of your haunt is determined by the 
  Dungeon Master. Whenever you take a long rest, you 
  must do so near or inside of the subject of your haunt. 
   Unfinished Business. You are bound to undeath by 
  some unfinished business, and memories of your 
  former life haunt you. The exact nature of your 
  unfinished business is determined by the Dungeon 
  Master, but should be closely tied to the subject of 
  your Haunt trait. 
   Upon completing your business, you die 
  permanently, and your spirit passes on (see 
  “Destroying a Ghost”, above). However, until you do so 
  objects of significance from your former life fill you 
  with dread and make you more vulnerable. These 
  objects might be favorite possessions, the instruments 
  of your untimely demise, or even a person of great 
  significance from your former life. These objects must 
  be presented in a way which is specifically traumatic to 
  you, such as torture implements laid out in a torture 
  chaimber, a former lover in the company of a rival, or a 
  favored possession in the hands of a thief. 
  Alternatively, a creature can spend their action to hold 
  the object aloft, forcing you to suffer this vulnerability 
  while they continue to do so. 
   While vulnerable this way, you have vulnerability to 
  all damage types. In addition, if you are reduced to 0 
  hit points, you are immediately destroyed (see 
  “Destroying a Ghost”, above). If you are already at 0 hit 
  points when you are made vulnerable, you are not 
  immediately destroyed, but suffering any damage in 
  this state immediately destroys you. 
   Ghostly Manifestations. Sensations of profound 
  sadness, loneliness, and unfulfilled yearning emanate 
  surround you. Strange sounds or unnatural silences 
  create an unsettling atmosphere. Cold spots settle in 
  rooms that have roaring fires when you enter. A 
  choking stench might seep into the area, inanimate 
  objects might move of their own accord, and corpses 
  might rise from the grave.  
   You have no control over these manifestations; they 
  simply occur. The exact behavior of these 
  manifestations is determined by the Dungeon Master. 
   Undead Nature. You have resistance to necrotic 
  damage. You have vulnerability to radiant damage. 
   Ghostly Flight. All of your existing movement speeds 
  are reduced to 0, but are not lost. You have a fly speed 
  of 30 feet. You may replicate any movement type for 
  which you have a movement speed (burrowing, 
  climbing, walking, etc.) using your fly speed by 
  pantomiming the motions of movement.  
   Ethereal Sight. You can sense the presence of any 
  creature within 30 feet of you that is invisible or on the 
  Ethereal Plane. You can pinpoint such a creature that is 
  moving. 
   Withering Touch. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 
  necrotic damage on a hit. 
   Horrifying Vissage. As an action, you can twist your 
  appearance into a horrifying visage to frighten other 
  creatures. Any non-undead creatures in a 30-foot cone 
  must make a Wisdom saving throw or become 
  frightened. The DC of this saving throw is 8 + your 
  proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier. A 
  frightened target can repeat the saving throw at the 
  end of each of its turns, ending the frightened 
  condition on itself on a success.  
   This effect lasts up to one minute. You must 
  maintain concentration during that time, as if you were 
  casting a spell. If you lose concentration, the frightened 
  condition ends for all affected creatures. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a long rest. 
   Possession. As an action, you may attempt to 
  possess a creature within 5 feet that is of the same 
  
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  Races 
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  creature type which you were while alive. The creature 
  must make a Charisma saving throw, or be possessed. 
  The DC of this saving throw is 8 + your proficiency 
  bonus + your Charisma modifier. On a failed saving 
  throw, you disappear into the target, and the target 
  loses control of its actions. The creature may repeat 
  this saving throw at the end of each of your turns. 
   You now control the body but don't deprive the 
  target of awareness. You can't be targeted by any 
  attack, spell, or other effect, except ones that turn 
  undead, and you retain your alignment, Intelligence, 
  Wisdom, Charisma, and class features. You otherwise 
  use the possessed target's statistics, but don't gain 
  access to the target's knowledge, class features, or 
  proficiencies. 
   You may possess a creature for up to 1 minute. You 
  must maintain concentration during that time, as if you 
  were casting a spell. You may prematurely end the 
  effect as a bonus action. When the effect ends, you 
  reemerge into an occupied space withing 5 feet of the 
  creature. 
   Any time that the creature takes damage while you 
  possess it, both you and the creature take the damage 
  (after applying any resistances which the creature 
  might have, but ignoring any of yours). In addition, 
  each time the creature takes damage it may attempt 
  the saving throw again, ending this effect on a success.  
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a long rest. 
  Design Notes 
  Ghosts are a difficult template to implement. Unlike 
  skeletons or zombies, they add a bunch of special 
  abilities, so we’ll need to make it a leveled template. 
  Much like we’ve handled death knights, we’ll make 
  ghosts a leveled template with a 0-level in order to 
  make the template applicable as soon as the creature 
  dies.  
   I want to limit ghosts to a single level. Being a non-
  leveled template would have been better, but granting 
  permanent flight is a bit too appealing if the only 
  mechanical cost is death, which isn’t especially costly if 
  you come back as a gost at no cost. Limiting ourselves 
  to one level means that becoming a ghost won’t be a 
  huge speed-bump on a character’s way to their class’s 
  high-level abilities, so we don’t need to worry about 
  advancing things like Spellcasting. However, it also 
  means that we have a total of 8 to 10 BP to work with, 
  and we have a lot of stuff to squeeze into that BP. 
   Ghosts have d8 hit dice, so we’ll use d8 hit dice for 
  0.5 BP. Ghosts are very Charisma-dependent since their 
  attacks and DCs are all Charisma-based, but I don’t 
  think we’ll have enough BP to grant an ability increase. 
  Ghosts switch to the undead creature type for 1 BP. 
  That sets us at 1.5 BP before we get into the difficult 
  stuff, which leaves us plenty of room to work. 
   Ghosts have a long list of abilities we need to tackle. 
  Flight, 7 damage resistances, 3 damage immunities, 
  and 9 condition immunities. Darkvision, ethereal sight, 
  incorporeal movement, withering touch, etherealness, 
  horrifying visage, and possession. That’s a lot, so we’ll 
  need to make a bunch of cuts. We’ll borrow ideas from 
  changes we made to banshees, which had similar 
  issues like flight and incorporeal movement. 
   The ghost’s move speeds are immediately difficult. 
  We’ll grant 30 ft. fly speed (down from 40 ft.) for45 BP, 
  but without knowing the original creature’s movement 
  types I don’t know how much they’re giving up. 30 foot 
  walking speed is the base line, so we’ll work from that 
  assumption. Ghosts get no walking speed, so we’ll 
  assume -3 BP worth of walking speed lost.  
   The Monster Manual entry also describes ghosts as 
  walking along the ground, despite their lack of walking 
  speed. To keep to this theme, we’ll also strip all of the 
  creature’s other movement types, and include a note 
  that ghosts use their move speed in place of any other 
  move speeds which they might have. Burrowing, 
  climbing, or swimmings ghosts will all technically be 
  flying and pantomimimg the motions they made in life, 
  which sounds both fun and spooky, which is exactly 
  what I think people want from ghosts. Unfortunately, 
  we can’t guess what their original speeds were, so we 
  won’t assess a negative BP value for this. I don’t want 
  heavily armored characters to miss out on being 
  ghosts, so we’ll remove the normal restriction 
  prohibiting flight in medium and heavy. 
   Ghosts have resistances or immunity to every 
  damage type except radiant. Even if we drop all of the 
  immunities to resistances, drop the resistances, and 
  bump radiant damage up to a vulnerability, the BP cost 
  is simply too high for us to keep the ghost’s interesting 
  abilities. We’ll take resitance to Necrotic damage for 2 
  BP, but drop the rest, and add vulnerability to radiant 
  damage for -1 BP. 
   We’ll add Darkvision for 2 BP, and we’ll replace 
  Etherial Sight with Otherwordly Perception for 2.5 BP 
  (see the Kuo-Toa design notes) and call it Ethereal Sight 
  for consistency with the monster entry. We’ll drop 
  Incorporeal Movement and Etherealness, as we’ve 
  done with banshees and other incorporeal creatures. 
  Withering Touch is a weapon attack, so we’ll make it a 
  natural weapon that deals 1d8 necrotic damage for 2 
  
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  BP. Ghosts appear to use Charisma for Withering 
  Touch, but that’s more powerful than I think we can 
  justify, and would make ghosts too appealing for 
  Charisma-heavy characters like paladins and warlocks. 
   Horrifying Visage is too good to grant to players as-
  written, so we’ll need to rework it. The fear effect is 
  mostly fine, but aging creatures who fail the save is a 
  nightmare for the Dungeon Master because suddenly 
  the DM needs to know the lifespans of every creature 
  in existence, and few of those are noted in 5th edition. 
  Animals live much shorter lives than humans, so aging 
  1d4x10 years could age them to death, even on a low 
  roll.  
   Our best option here is to reskin a spell, as we’ve 
  done with similar abilities. Fear is an obvious 
  candidate, but we need to consider differences 
  between the effects. Fear requires concentration and 
  has a smaller area of effect, but also forces enemies to 
  move away from the caster. Horrifying Visage also 
  allows a repeated save at the end of each turn. 
   Casting fear once per day would be 3 BP. Removing 
  the forced movement would make it too weak to be a 
  3rd-level spell, thereby reducing the BP cost. Allowing 
  additional saves every round would further weaken the 
  effect. We’ll take these changes and call the ability just 
  1 BP. 
   Possession is easily the hardest part of adapting 
  ghosts, but it’s also their most iconic ability, so we can’t 
  just drop it. Like with Horrifying Visage, we’ll look for 
  spells with similar effects which would allow us to 
  approximate the effect. 
   Magic jar and dominate person seem to be the best 
  places to start. Magic jar is 6th level, but only targets 
  humanoids, and requires an expensive focus and 
  creates some risk for the caster. Removing those 
  limitations would like raise the spell level to 7th or 8th 
  level. Dominate person is already a 5th-level spell. 
  Obviously those options won’t work for us, since we 
  can’t grant a high-level spell as an ability when the 
  player receiving it might only be 2nd level. 
   While magic jar would be closer to the original 
  effect, we’ll start with dominate person as our base 
  since it’s much more manageable. Allowing the ghost 
  to cast dominate person once per day would be 5 BP, 
  so we’ll work down from there.  
   Possession causes the ghost’s body to vanish, which 
  both protects the ghost and prevents the ghost from 
  taking an action at the same time as the creature it is 
  possessing. If we tweak this a bit so that the possessed 
  creature and the ghost both suffer any damage which 
  the host takes, I think we can take -1 off the BP. If 
  ghosts could possess a creature and sit inside it while 
  allowing the ghost’s allies to treat it lika a piñata, 
  possession would probably be more powerful than we 
  want. 
   I was hoping that adding additional saves when the 
  creature takes damage would help to reduce the BP 
  value, but dominate person already has that. So we’ll 
  add additional saving throws at the end of each of the 
  ghost’s turns for -2 BP. Unfortunately this means that 
  the subject will rarely stay possessed for the full 
  duration, but I think that’s a limitation we’ll need to 
  deal with to keep ghosts balanced. 
   Finally, we should give some thought to creature 
  type. The original ghost monster entry only allows 
  ghosts to possess humanoids, but the depicted ghost is 
  also a humanoid. Should ghosts of beasts and plants 
  possess humanoids? I think we’ll tweak possession to 
  allow ghosts to possess creatures of the same creature 
  type which they were in life. This fits the theme of 
  attempting to cling to their former lives, and it will add 
  another interesting limitation to possession. I don’t 
  know that it’s enough to adjust the BP value, 
  unfortunately. 
   That brings Possession to 2 BP, which I think is great 
  considering where we started. Unfortunately, that also 
  brings our total BP to 12, which is higher than I want. 
   Unfinished Business, which is one of those semi-
  flavor blocks with no specifically explained effects, 
  might be our solution here. We can draw two 
  components from the ability: first, the ghost 
  immediately dies when their business is finished. 
  Second, presenting some “weakness” from the ghost’s 
  former life makes the ghost “more vulnerable”.  
   Finishing the ghost’s business could be a time-bom 
  for the player. If their business is to defear some 
  anatagonist, the character might complete their 
  business in the middle of a difficult encounter and 
  vanish. A clever player will likely avoid this, but it’s still 
  a possibility. 
   Making the ghost vulnerable when presented with a 
  weakness is more likely to be a handicap. I want this to 
  be a serious handicap because we need to offset at 
  least 2 BP. Bringing this weakness to bear against a 
  player will require enemies to know about the player, 
  which doesn’t happen often, so it needs to be a serious 
  weakness. When ghosts are hit their vulnerability they 
  shouldn’t think “okay, I need to stay away from that”, 
  they should think “I need to leave now”.  
   To really make the weakness hurt, we’ll make the 
  ghost suffer vulnability to all forms of damage, and if 
  they’re reduced to 0 hit points they are immediately 
  
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  destroyed. That feels harsh as I’m writing it, but I did 
  say that I wanted the vulnerability to be serious. 
   At exactly 10 BP, the ghost’s abilities fit into a single 
  template. If you want to strengthen the ghost, reduce 
  the impact of the vulnerability presented by Unfinished 
  Business. If you want to Strengthen the ghost, adjust 
  Possession to remove the additional saving throw at 
  the end of each of the host’s turns. 
  Giants 
  Ancient creatures resembling gigantic humanoids. 
  Giants live within a rigid social structure called the 
  ordning, and serve ancient giant deities over the deities 
  revered by other races. 
  Giant Traits 
  Giants share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Giant 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Powerful Build. You count as one size larger when 
  determining your carrying capacity and the weight you 
  can push, drag, or lift. 
   Rock. As a ranged weapon attack you can conjure 
  and throw a large rock with a free hand. This attack has 
  a range of 20/60 ft., and deals 1d6 + your Strength 
  modifier bludgeoning damage on a hit. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Giant. 
   Subrace. Choose one of these subraces. You gain the 
  traits listed under your chosen subrace in addition to 
  those listed above. 
  Cloud Giant 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Wisdom, +1 Charisma. 
   Alignment. Cloud giants primarily worship Memnor, 
  the giant trickster deity. Depending on the giant’s 
  favorite aspects of Memnor, a cloud giant is usually 
  either neutral good or neutral evil. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 35 ft. 
   Cloud Magic. You know the light cantrip. Upon 
  reaching third level, you can cast the fog cloud spell 
  each once per day. Charisma is your spellcasting ability 
  for these spells. 
   Keen Smell. You have advantage on Wisdom 
  (Perception) checks that rely on smell. 
  Fire Giant 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Brutal tyrants who work their slaves to 
  death in fields and in mines, most fire giants are lawful 
  evil. 
   Armor Training. You have proficiency with light and 
  medium armor. 
   Born of Flame. You have resistance against fire 
  damage. 
   Master Craftsmen. You are proficient with one set of 
  artisan’s tools of your choice. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 ft. 
  Frost Giant 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Violent raiders who respect nothing but 
  the ordning and physical might, most frost giants are 
  neutral evil. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 35 ft. 
   Born of Winter. You have resistance against cold 
  damage. 
  Hill Giant 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +2 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Motivated by little more than hunger 
  and prone to fits of rage, most hill giants are chaotic 
  evil. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
  Stone Giant 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Reclusive and caring little for the outside 
  world, most stone giants are neutral. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Camouflage. You have advantage on Dexterity 
  (Stealth) checks made to hide in rocky terrain. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Rock Catching. If a rock or similar object is hurled at 
  you, as a Reaction you can, with a successful Dexterity 
  saving throw, catch the missile and take no 
  bludgeoning damage from it. This DC is 10, + 5 for each 
  size category by which the attacked is larger than you. 
  Storm Giant 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Wisdom. 
   Alignment. Benevolent, but bound only by their own 
  moral compass, most storm giants are chaotic good. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. You have a 
  swim speed of 30 ft. 
   Amphibious. You can breathe air and water. 
   Born of the Storm. You have resistance to thunder 
  damage. 
  
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  Races 
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   Storm Magic. You know the shocking grasp cantrip. 
  Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for this spell. 
  Playing a Giant 
  Giants are widely varied in personality, but all live 
  within the Ordning. Ordning politics might provide 
  numerous motivations for giants who are commanded 
  by higher-ranking giants, or they might choose to 
  adventure in order to advance their own status. 
   Remember that all giants have the ability to throw 
  stones, so they are never without a weapon. 
  Cloud Giant 
  Cloud giants are potent spellcasters among giant kind, 
  and their abilities make them excellent clerics, druids, 
  sorcerers, and warlocks. 
   Cloud giants are second only to the storm giants in 
  the ordning, and as such rely on lower giants to do 
  much of their dirty work, especially when violence is 
  required. Cloud giants are motivated by status and 
  displays of wealth, and often gamble on events in 
  mortal lands to gain both. A clever giant might move to 
  influence such events directly, perhaps even walking 
  among mortals to cheat other gamblers. So long as 
  they don’t get caught, even other cloud giants consider 
  this a clever decision. 
  Fire Giant 
  Fire giants are strong and tough like most giants. Their 
  resistance to fire and easy access to armor allows them 
  to succeed in classes which would normally require 
  high dexterity to survive frequent combat in light 
  
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  Races 
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  armor. Consider classes like barbarian, fighter, and 
  ranger. 
   Fire giants are fiercely militaristic, seeking to 
  conquer and enslave lands near their homes in order to 
  feed their communities of smiths, artisans, and 
  soldiers. A fire giant might take to life of adventure to 
  acquire resources for their forge, or they might be 
  commanded to do so by a giant higher in the Ordning. 
  Frost Giant 
  Frost giants are strong and remarkably quick for such a 
  bulky creature. Use your improved speed to your 
  advantage in melee combat. Consider classes like 
  Barbarian and Fighter which excel in combat. 
   Falling on the lower half of the Ordning, frost giants 
  have little political influence among giants. They are 
  motivated mostly by the need to gather food and 
  weaponry to survive their homelands. Still, since they 
  are so low-ranking, many giants could compel a frost 
  giant to a life of adventure for those giants’ own 
  purposes. 
  Hill Giant 
  Hill giants are big dumb slabs of meat. They make fine 
  Barbarians and Fighters, but have little utility beyond 
  smashing things. 
   Hill giants have simple personalities and emotions, 
  and are prone to fits of rage. Party members need to 
  be cautious not to offend the hill giant or make the 
  giant feel inadequate in any way lest they enrage the 
  hill giant. Hill giants lack any real culture, instead 
  adopting whatever cultures they have been able to 
  observe recently. This mimicry might lead a hill giant to 
  adopt a life of adventure after briefly seeing a group of 
  adventurers (likely before killing and eating them).  
  Stone Giant 
  Stone giants are the nimblest of giants. Despite their 
  strength, they also make excellent rangers and rogues, 
  though their abilities work just as well for fighters. 
   Stone giants are typically reclusive, and view the 
  surface world as a surreal dream-world where nothing 
  is real. As such, their behavior might be erratic while 
  they are above ground, making them a potential 
  liability to surface-dwelling allies. 
  Storm Giant 
  Storm giants are strong and wise, making them 
  excellent clerics and druids. Their ability to throw 
  stones and cast shocking grasp give them reliable 
  combat options even without a weapon at hand. 
   Storm giants are wise, patient seers. When they 
  venture from their secluded homes, they do so with 
  great purpose toward a long-term vision which might 
  reach well beyond the lifespans of shorter-lived races 
  like humans or elves.  
  Design Notes 
  Giants have a lot in common. Like subraces of a normal 
  humanoid race, giants are primarily distinguished by 
  abilities which distinguish their theme and flavor. 
   Giants are giants (obviously), costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   We’ll drop all giants to medium size. To make them 
  feel big, we’ll grant Powerful Build for 0.25 BP, and 
  we’ll allow all giants to speak racial languages and 
  common for 0 BP. 
   All true giants also share the ability to throw 
  boulders. This is a really fun, flavorful ability that I want 
  to retain in some form. However, I don’t want it to 
  completely replace actual ranged weapons. I’ll allow 
  giants to throw stones as a ranged weapon attack, 
  dealing 1d6 damage. We’ll call this 2 BP. 
   That brings us to 2.75 BP before we examine 
  individual races. 
  Cloud Giant 
  Cloud giants are haughty, reclusive giants who dwell 
  high above the world, gathering wealth and prestige to 
  raise their status in the Ordning. They are among the 
  best giant spellcasters, second only to storm giants. 
   Based on their hands-off role in giant conflicts, and 
  the note about them being notable spellcasters among 
  giants, I want to avoid making cloud giants another 
  Strength/Constitution race. Cloud giants have the best 
  Wisdom and Charisma among true giants (excluding 
  Storm Giants), so we’ll grant a +1 to each for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get +2 natural armor (down 
  from +4) for 1 BP, 35 ft. walking speed (down from 40 
  ft.) for 0.5 BP, racial languages plus Common for 0 BP, 
  and Keen Smell for 0.5 BP. 
   At 6.25 BP, we’ve got some more room to explore 
  the cloud giant’s innate spellcasting. Looking at the 
  lower-level options in the stat block, we can pick up 
  the light cantrip for 0.5 BP, the fog cloud spell for 1 BP. 
   At 8.25 BP, the cloud giant is within our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the cloud giant, 
  add the ability to cast the feather fall spell. If you want 
  to weaken the cloud giant, remove the ability to cast 
  fog cloud. 
  Fire Giant 
  Fire giants’ stats hardly reflect their flavor. Fire giants 
  are the great crafter among giants, claiming slave 
  kingdoms to feed their enormous forges. 
  
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  Races 
  100 
   Like many giants, the fire giant’s best abilities are 
  Strength and Constitution. We’ll grant +1 to each for 2 
  BP. 
   From the stat block, we get 25 ft. walking speed 
  (down from 30 ft.) for -0.5 BP, resistance to fire 
  damage (down from immunity) for 2 BP. 
   To keep with their theme as skilled crafters, we’ll 
  also grant the fire giant proficiency in one type of 
  artisan’s tools of the player’s choice for 0.75 BP. 
   That doesn’t leave the fire giant with much, so we’ll 
  add proficiency in light and medium armor for 2 BP. 
   At just 9 BP the fire giant is within our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the fire giant, 
  increase one of its ability score increases. If you want 
  to weaken the fire giant, remove its Strength increase. 
  Frost Giant 
  Frost giants are simple creatures. They don’t have any 
  especially interesting abilities, and they win fights by 
  being big and muscly and hitting stuff. 
   The frost giant’s best abilities are Strength and 
  Constitution. We’ll grant +2 Strength and +1 
  Constitution for 3 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get 35 ft. walking speed for 
  0.5 BP and cold resistance for 2 BP. Unfortunately, 
  that’s all that we have to go on. 
   At 8.25 BP, the frost giant is a bit boring, but plenty 
  functional. If you want to strengthen the frost giant, 
  increase its Constitution increase. If you want to 
  weaken the frost giant, reduce its Strength increase. 
  Hill Giant 
  Huge and barely intelligent, hill giants are incredibly 
  plain. They’re going to be a stat block with big plusses 
  and little else. 
   We’re going to give the hill giant +2 Strength and +2 
  Constitution for 4 BP. There’s little else we could do 
  here. 
   From the stat block, we get +3 natural armor (down 
  from +5) for 1.5 BP and 30 ft. walking speed. 
   At 8.25 BP, the hill giant is within our target range of 
  8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the hill giant, 
  increase its natural armor. If you want to weaken the 
  hill giant, reduce its Constitution increase. 
  Stone Giant 
  Stone giants are bizarre by giant standards. They have 
  more special abilities than most giants, and have the 
  notable ability to catch rocks. 
   Stone giants are strong and tough like other giants, 
  but accounting for size their Dexterity is nearly as good 
  as their other physical abilities. I want to emphasize 
  this unique trait, so we’ll give the stone giant +1 
  Strength and +1 Dexterity for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get +2 natural armor for 1 
  BP, 30 ft. walking speed, Darkvision for 2 BP, and 
  Camouflage for 0.5 BP. We’ll retain Rock Catching for 
  0.5 BP since it won’t come up often, but we’ll adjust it 
  to make it harder to catch rocks thrown by larger 
  creatures. 
   At 8.75 BP stone giants are within our target range of 
  8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen stone giants, grant 
  them a constitution increase. If you want to weaken 
  stone giants, remove Rock Catching. 
  Storm Giant 
  Storm giants are the most powerful of giant, and their 
  stats reflect that superiority. They function as well on 
  land as they do underwater. 
   Storm giants are as strong as any other giant, but 
  they’re also the wise leaders and seers of giant-kind. To 
  emphasize this, we’ll grant the storm giant +1 Strength 
  and +1 Wisdom for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get 30 ft. walking speed 
  (down from 50 ft.), and 30 ft. swim speed (down from 
  50 ft.) for 2 BP. We’ll drop cold resistance and lightning 
  immunity, but we’ll keep thunder resistance for 2 BP. 
  We’ll retain Amphibious for 0.5 BP. 
   That brings us to 9.25 BP, leaving us little room for 
  the storm giants remaining abilities. I really like 
  Lightning Strike, but there isn’t an equivalent spell 
  effect so we’ll grant storm giants the shocking grasp 
  cantrip for 0.5 BP to keep the thematic effect. 
   At 9.75 BP, the storm giant is within our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the storm giant, 
  grant it resistance to lightning damage. If you want to 
  weaken the storm giant, remove the ability to cast 
  shocking grasp. 
  Gibbering Mouther 
  Horrifying creatures resembling amoeba made of eyes 
  and toothy maws, known for their ability to drive prey 
  to madness with their insane gibbering. 
  Gibbering Mouther Traits 
  Gibbering mouthers share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Aberration 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Despite being a horrifying abomination, 
  gibbering mouthers are motivated by little more than 
  simple instinct, so most gibbering mouthers are 
  neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
  
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  Races 
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   Speed. Your base walking speed is 20 ft. You have a 
  swim speed of 20 ft. 
   Amoeboid. Your body is a gelatinous, amoeboid 
  form. You are unable to wear armor. You have no arms 
  or hands, and are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Bites. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 slashing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Blinding Spittle. As an action, you can spit a chemical 
  glob at a creature which you can see within 15 feet of 
  you. The glob explodes in a blinding flash of blinding 
  light. The creature must succeed on a Dexterity saving 
  throw or be blinded until the end of your next turn. 
  The DC of this saving throw is 8 + your proficiency 
  bonus + your Constitution modifier.  
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Gibber. As an action, you can babble incoherently.  
  Each creature that is within 20 feet of you and can hear 
  you must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw. The DC 
  of this saving throw is 8 + your proficiency bonus + 
  your Charisma modifier. On a failure, the creature can't 
  take reactions until the start of its next turn and rolls a 
  d8 to determine what it does during its turn. On a 1 to 
  4, the creature does nothing. On a 5 or 6, the creature 
  takes no action or bonus action and uses all its 
  movement to move in a randomly determined 
  direction. On a 7 or 8, the creature makes a melee 
  attack against a randomly determined creature within 
  its reach or does nothing if it can't make such an 
  attack. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Trip. If you hit a creature with an unarmed strike, 
  you may attempt to shove the target prone as a bonus 
  action (see “Shoving a Creature”, page 195 of the 
  Player’s Handbook). 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Gibbering Mouther 
  The gibbering mouther is a strange creature. Without 
  the ability to use spellcasting foci or perform somatic 
  components. Instead, look for classes that work well in 
  melee. Without the ability to wear armor, barbarian is 
  an obvious choice to capitalize on the gibbering 
  mouther’s strong Constitution, but fighter and monk 
  can also be options. 
   As a horrifying monster with vaguely-defined origins, 
  gibbering mouthers are a strange addition to any party. 
  An evil (or at least sufficiently permissive) party might 
  welcome such a hideous creature, but expect them to 
  treat you like the monstrosity that you are.  
  Design Notes 
  Gibbering mouthers are a bit of a mess. Their abilities 
  are weird and alien, they don’t have normal humanoid 
  anatomy, and they have several completely unique 
  abilities. We’ll need to strength some things to make 
  the mouther playable and weaken others to make it 
  fair. 
   Gibbering mouthers are aberrations, costing 0.5 BP 
  but offering no specific traits. 
   Amazingly, the gibbering mouther’s only good ability 
  is Constitution. We’ll give the mouther +2 Constitution 
  for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get 20 ft. walking speed (up 
  from 10 ft.) for -1 BP, 20 ft. swim speed (up from 10 ft.) 
  for 1 BP, immunity to the Prone condition for 0.5 BP 
  and Darkvision for 2 BP. Gibbering mouthers have no 
  hands or arms for a total of -4 BP, and can’t wear 
  armor for another -3 BP. Gibbering mouthers normally 
  don’t speak a language, but we’ll grant them the ability 
  to speak Common for 0 BP. They certainly have enough 
  mouths. 
   At -2 BP, we have a ton of room. We’ll grant the 
  mouther a 1d8 natural weapon for 2 BP and add Trip 
  for another 2 BP. That still leaves us quite a bit of room 
  Aberrant Ground, Gibbering, and Blinding Spittle.  
   Aberrant Ground could be very powerful. It makes 
  the gibbering mouther difficult to move past, which 
  makes it a powerful front-line character without relying 
  on class abilities or the Sentinel feat to prevent 
  enemies from moving past it. I think we’ll drop the 
  range to 5 ft. and call it 2 BP, but it’s hard to 
  approximate how strong such a unique effect will be. 
   Gibbering is obviously too powerful to be a passive 
  for a player. Even allowing it to be used at will is too 
  good, so we’ll update it to be usable once per short 
  rest as an action. Beyond that I think we can leave the 
  ability unchanged. It’s unclear what ability informs the 
  DC, but based on the gibbering mouther stat block it 
  looks like Wisdom is the key ability. That really doesn’t 
  make much sense (except that Wisdom is the gibbering 
  mouther’s only passable mental ability), so we’ll make 
  it Charisma instead. There are 1st-level spells which are 
  arguably more powerful, but we’ll call this 3 BP to be 
  safe.  
  
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   Blinding spittle is another weird ability. It has a 
  recharge roll, so we’ll drop it to once per encounter like 
  we’ve done previously with other recharge abilities. I’m 
  hesitant to grant an AOE blind effect like this. 
  Blindness/Deafness is the closest magical 
  approximation, and it’s a 2nd-level spell which affects 
  only one target. Of course, it also has a 1-minute 
  duration. If we drop the duration to 1 round, I think we 
  can equate it to a 1st-level spell, and allow it on a short 
  rest for 3 BP. 
   At 10 BP, the gibbering mouther is at the top of our 
  target range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the 
  gibbering mouther, grant it natural armor. If you want 
  to weaken the gibbering mouther, reduce its natural 
  weapon damage to 1d6. 
  Gith 
  Githyanki and Githzerai were once on race enslaved by 
  Illithids. A great leader named Gith led them to 
  freedom, but their race divided between the leadership 
  of Gith and that of Zerthimon. Since then, the two 
  races have remained completely separate, and hate 
  each other bitterly. 
  Gith Traits 
  Gith share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Humanoid (gith) 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Psychic Strikes. Starting at third level, as a bonus 
  action, you may focus your psionic energies behind 
  your attacks. For one minute, your melee weapon 
  attacks deal an additional 1d6 psychic damage, and are 
  treated as attacks from a magic weapon. You must 
  maintain concentration during that time, as if you were 
  casting a spell. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Gith. 
   Subrace. Choose one of these subraces. You gain the 
  traits listed under your chosen subrace in addition to 
  those listed above. 
  Githyanki 
  Githyanki share the following racial traits in addition to 
  the racial traits share by all Gith. 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength. 
   Alignment. Githyanki are a heavily war-like race, 
  devoting their entire existence to hunting their former 
  masters. Most Githyanki are Lawful Evil. 
   Psionics. You know the mage hand Cantrip, and 
  when you cast it the hand is invisible. Once you reach 
  3rd level, you can cast jump once per day. Once you 
  reach 5th level, you can cast misty step once per day. 
  Once you reach 7th level, you can cast nondetection 
  (self only) once per day. Wisdom is your spellcasting 
  ability for these spells. 
  Githzerai 
  Githzerai share the following racial traits in addition to 
  the racial traits share by all Gith. 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Wisdom. 
   Alignment. Githzerai are contemplative and 
  philosophical, devoting their efforts and abilities to 
  defending themselves and their monasteries against 
  the predations of the Illithids and the hostility of the 
  Githyanki. Most Githzerai are Lawful Neutral.  
   Psionics. You know the mage hand Cantrip, and 
  when you cast it the hand is invisible. Once you reach 
  3rd level, you can cast feather fall, jump, and shield 
  spells each once per day. Once you reach 5th level, you 
  can cast see invisibility once per day. Wisdom is your 
  spellcasting ability for these spells. 
  Playing a Gith 
  Gith are skilled warriors with potent psionic abilities. 
  Githyanki make excellent Barbarians, Fighters, Rangers, 
  and occasionally Rogues. Githzerai make excellent 
  Druids, Monks, and Rangers. 
   Both Gith subraces share a mutual hatred of Mind 
  Flayers, and hunting and killing them is an important 
  part of both Gith cultures. Because this task is so 
  central to the cultures of the two subraces, it makes 
  and excellent justification for adventuring.  
  Design Notes 
  Gith are difficult to convert to a playable race. Their 
  stat blocks include abnormally high ability scores and a 
  lot of innate spellcasting. They also deal bonus psychic 
  damage on all of their attacks. 
   I think it makes sense to assume that the stat blocks 
  presented in the Monster Manual include something 
  along the lines of class levels. Githzerai are clearly 
  Monks, while Githyanki are almost certainly Fighters. 
  This emphasis helps us to parse out what is central to 
  the race absent any specific training or experience, and 
  also helps guide us toward where the race’s abilities 
  should excel. 
   Gith are humanoid, which costs 0 BP and includes no 
  special abilities.  
   Both subraces have high Dexterity, so they’ll each 
  get a +1 to Dexterity. Githyanki have high Strength, so 
  
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  we’ll give them a +1 to Strength as well. Githzerai have 
  high Wisdom and are frequently Monks, so we’ll give 
  them +1 Wisdom. That’s 2 BP for either subrace. 
   The gith stat blocks give us 30 ft. walk speed, no 
  special senses, and only racial languages for -1 BP. 
   The innate spellcasting for both subraces is easy to 
  implement so long as we drop the 3/day uses. Both 
  subraces get Mage Hand for .5 BP. Githyanki get jump 
  (1 BP), misty step (2 BP), and nondetection (3 BP) for a 
  total of 6 BP. Githzerai get feather fall (1 BP), jump (1 
  BP), see invisibility (2 BP), and shield (1 BP) for a total of 
  5 BP. 
   That brings us to 7 BP for Githzerai and 6 BP for 
  Githyanki. I think that the “self only” limitation on the 
  Githzerai’s Nondetection balances things out. 
   The last piece to consider is the Gith ability to add 
  psychic damage to attacks. Githzerai do d8’s of 
  damage, which Githyanki only deal d6’s. I think that 
  d6’s make more sense for bonus damage on attack, so 
  we’ll stick to those. We need to limit this ability 
  considerably to keep it from becoming a problem at 
  low levels where even 1d6 bonus damage can easily 
  win a fight.  
   In this case I think it makes sense to steal another 
  ability and reskin it. The Azer’s Heated Weapon ability 
  (see the Azer entry in this document) can cover this 
  ability perfectly. We can tweak it a bit to work with any 
  melee weapon attack, and to be a magical weapon 
  attack to mimic the Gith monster stat blocks, and call it 
  3 BP. 
   That brings the Githyanki up to 10 BP (less if we 
  consider the “self only” limitation on Nondetection 
  worth BP) and the Githzerai up to 9 BP, both of which 
  fit into our target range of 8-10 BP. Both Gith have lots 
  of cool active abilities which give them fun tactical 
  options. However, they lack passive abilities common 
  to other races, so players may find them “bursty”, in 
  that they may spend their racial abilities quickly and 
  run out of usable options early in the day. 
  Gnolls 
  The vial spawn of the demon lord Yeenoghu, Gnolls are 
  a savage race of hyena-like humanoids with a wild 
  penchant for violence and destruction. They are 
  formidable warriors, forming tribes dominated by a 
  single alpha who rose to power through strength, 
  violence, and cunning. 
  Gnoll Traits 
  Gnolls share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Humanoid (Gnoll) 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength. 
   Alignment. Gnolls are descendants of the demon 
  lord Yeenoghu. They are bereft of anything resembling 
  a conscience, motivated only by the need to kill and 
  destroy. Gnolls are nearly always chaotic evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
  
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   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Rampage. When you reduce a creature to 0 hit 
  points with a melee attack on your turn, you can take a 
  bonus action to move up to half your speed and make 
  a bite attack. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 piercing damage 
  on a hit. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Gnoll. 
  Playing a Gnoll 
  Gnolls are normally murderous, rampaging maniacs. 
  While this is fine for something that the party needs to 
  defeat in battle, it’s a bit of a problem for a player 
  character. Unless your party is a group of similarly-
  motivated psychopaths, you may want to grant your 
  Gnoll a higher purpose than simple violence. 
   While it’s not emphasized in the Gnoll’s abilities 
  (either here or in the monster stat block), remember 
  that Gnolls formed from hyenas, and that is a great 
  insight into their personalities and behavior. Hyenas 
  are opportunistic pack hunters, and will attack 
  ruthlessly when they have an overwhelming chance of 
  victory, but are smart enough to retreat when they are 
  outmatched or when things are going poorly.  
   Consider also why your character departed his tribe. 
  Was he or she driven out for some transgression? Are 
  they fleeing a power struggle? Was their tribe 
  destroyed or scattered by adventurers or a rival group? 
  Design Notes 
   Gnolls are brutes in a similar vein to Orcs and many 
  other similarly barbaric humanoids.  
   Gnolls are humanoid, which costs 0 BP and includes 
  no special abilities. Based on their monster stat block, 
  Strength appears to be their best ability score, so we’ll 
  give them a +2 to Strength for 2 BP.  
   Rampage is the Gnoll’s signature ability, and I want 
  to leave it in place unchanged if possible. We can 
  either make it limitless, once per short rest, or once per 
  long rest. Long rest is obviously silly, but I’m not sure if 
  I want to go for short rest either. The ability might 
  trigger once or twice in an entire encounter, and a 
  single attack for 1d4+ damage as a bonus action isn’t 
  going to break anything. Still, let’s call that 2 BP. Maybe 
  3, but 1 point won’t make or break the race. 
   The rest of the Gnoll’s traits can be copied straight 
  from the monster stat block. Their bite is a natural 
  weapon for 1 BP. 30 ft. walking speed is standard. +2 
  BP for Darkvision. Gnolls normally only speak Gnoll, but 
  we’ll give them standard racial language plus Common 
  so that they work in a party of non-Gnolls without 
  spending additional character resources to learn 
  Common. 
   That leaves our total BP at 7 or 8, depending on how 
  we weight Rampage. A little lower than our target of 8-
  10, but still fantastic as a Barbarian, Fighter, or Paladin. 
  If you want to buff Gnolls a bit more, I recommend a +1 
  to Dexterity or Constitution. 
  Goblins 
  A staple of fantasy settings, goblins are small, evil 
  humanoids who live in the wild places of the world, 
  occasionally ranging into civilized lands to kill, loot, and 
  pillage. 
   Goblins are the smaller of goblinoid kind, but 
  frequently ally with Bugbears and Hobgoblins for 
  mutual strength when they attack civilized races. 
  Goblin Traits 
  Goblins share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Humanoid (Goblinoid) 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Goblins revel in theft, murder, and 
  inflicting pain on other creatures. Goblins are almost 
  always Chaotic Evil. 
   Size. Your size is small. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Stealthy. You have proficiency in the Stealth skill. 
   Nimble Escape. You can take the Disengage or Hide 
  action as a bonus action. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Goblin. 
  Playing a Goblin 
  Goblins are cowardly and weak on their own, but work 
  well in groups, especially when there are larger 
  members to draw attention away from the goblin. As 
  such, Goblins often make excellent Rangers and 
  Rogues, allowing them to capitalize 
  On their natural Dexterity while other allies draw the 
  ire of the party’s foes. 
  
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   Goblins rarely depart from their home, as they are 
  safest among the multitudes of their own kind. If you 
  plan to play a goblin among other races, be sure to find 
  a suitable reason why your character left their home 
  and fell in with the party. 
  Design Notes 
  Goblins are small creatures, roughly on par with 
  Halflings, and they should fill a similar niche. Goblins 
  are presented with high Dexterity, which makes their 
  ability increase obvious. +2 Dexterity for 2 BP is fine, 
  but I don’t see a need for any other ability score 
  increases. 
   Goblins are humanoid, which costs 0 BP and includes 
  no special abilities. 
   Comparing the three types of Goblinoids, we can see 
  that they all have proficiency in Stealth, which seems 
  like a nice component to share between the three 
  races’ traits. 0.5 BP for a fixed skill proficiency. 
   Nimble Escape actually presents a significant design 
  problem. It covers 2/3 of the function of Cunning 
  Action, which is wasteful because Goblin Rogues are a 
  common choice for players hoping to play a monstrous 
  race. Adding it unmodified doesn’t present any balance 
  issues, but it’s likely going to be wasted on many 
  characters. It’s a pretty great ability, so let’s call that 2 
  BP. 
   The rest of the Goblin’s traits can be copied straight 
  from the monster stat block. 30 ft. walking speed for 
  +0.5 BP (remember that 25 ft. is the default for small 
  creatures), +2 BP for Darkvision, and normal racial 
  languages plus Common.  
   That leaves our total BP at 7. A little lower than our 
  target of 8-10, but plenty playable for Rangers, Rogues, 
  or Fighters. If you want to buff Goblins a bit more, I 
  recommend a +1 to Intelligence or Wisdom. 
  Golems 
  Enduring creatures built to serve their master’s 
  commands, golems are magical juggernauts wrought 
  from humble materials. 
  Golem Traits 
  Golems share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Construct. You do not require air, 
  food, drink, or sleep. Instead, you enter a restful state, 
  remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. While 
  resting, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are 
  reflexive mental exercises inherent to your 
  consciousness. After resting in this way, you gain the 
  same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution 
   Alignment. Constructs built to serve their master’s 
  will without complaint, most golems are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Can’t Speak. You are unable to speak, but are still 
  able to read, write, and understand any languages 
  which you know. You are unable to perform verbal 
  spell components. 
   Immutable Form. Your body is composed of 
  inanimate materials, compelled to move by magic. You 
  are immune to the Exhaustion, Paralyzed, Petrified, 
  and Poisoned conditions, and to poison damage. You 
  are immune to any spell or effect which would alter 
  your form. 
   Slam. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 bludgeoning 
  damage on a hit. 
   Languages. You can understand, read, and write in 
  Common. 
   Subrace. Choose one of these subraces. You gain the 
  traits listed under your chosen subrace in addition to 
  those listed above. 
  Clay Golem 
   Acid Resistance. You have resistance to acid 
  damage. 
   Berserk. Whenever you start your turn with half of 
  your maximum hit points or fewer and are not 
  incapacitated, roll a d6. On a 6, you go berserk. On 
  each of your turns while berserk, you attack the 
  nearest creature you can see. If no creature is near 
  enough to move to and attack you attack an object, 
  with preference for an object smaller than yourself. 
  Once you go berserk, you continue to do so you are 
  destroyed or regain all of your hit points. 
   After one minute, you may attempt to calm yourself 
  by making a Wisdom save against a DC of 15. On a 
  success, you regain control of your actions. On a 
  failure, you continue to go berserk. You do not need to 
  roll a d6 at the beginning of your turns unless you take 
  additional damage which leaves you below half of your 
  maximum hit points.  
   While you are going berserk a trusted ally may 
  attempt to calm you by speaking in in a calm, firm 
  voice as an action. You must be able to hear the ally, 
  who makes a Persuasion check against a DC of 15. On a 
  success, you are calmed just as if you passed the 
  Wisdom save to calm yourself. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Haste. You can momentarily increase your speed, 
  striking swiftly and evading blows with ease. Until the 
  
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  end of your next turn, you magically gain a +2 bonus to 
  AC, have advantage on Dexterity saving throws, and 
  can make a melee weapon attack as a bonus action.  
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Unstable Form. Your body is not completely rigid, 
  and your limbs often fluctuate in size and shape as you 
  move. You are unable to wear armor, but may still use 
  shields. 
  Flesh Golem 
   Aversion to Fire. If you take fire damage, you suffer 
  disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks until the 
  end of your next turn. 
   Berserk. Whenever you start your turn with half of 
  your maximum hit points or fewer and are not 
  incapacitated, roll a d6. On a 6, you go berserk. On 
  each of your turns while berserk, you attack the 
  nearest creature you can see. If no creature is near 
  enough to move to and attack you attack an object, 
  with preference for an object smaller than yourself. 
  Once you go berserk, you continue to do so you are 
  destroyed or regain all of your hit points. 
   After one minute, you may attempt to calm yourself 
  by making a Wisdom save against a DC of 15. On a 
  success, you regain control of your actions. On a 
  failure, you continue to go berserk. You do not need to 
  roll a d6 at the beginning of your turns unless you take 
  additional damage which leaves you below half of your 
  maximum hit points.  
   While you are going berserk a trusted ally may 
  attempt to calm you by speaking in in a calm, firm 
  voice as an action. You must be able to hear the ally, 
  who makes a Persuasion check against a DC of 15. On a 
  success, you are calmed just as if you passed the 
  Wisdom save to calm yourself. 
   Lightning Immunity. You are immune to lightning 
  damage. 
  Iron Golem 
   Body of Iron. Your AC is equal to 18. You gain no 
  benefit from wearing armor, but may still wear shields 
  normally. 
   Poison Breath. As an action, you can breathe poison 
  in a 15 foot cone. Each creature in that cone must 
  make a Dexterity saving throw. The DC for this saving 
  throw equals 8 + your Constitution modifier + your 
  proficiency bonus. A creature takes 2d6 poison damage 
  on a failed save and half as much damage on a 
  successful one. The damage increases by 1d6 when you 
  reach 5th level (3d6), 11th level (4d6), and 17th level 
  (5d6). 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
  Stone Golem 
   Body of Stone. Your AC is equal to 18. You gain no 
  benefit from wearing armor, but may still wear shields 
  normally. 
   Slow. You can target one or more creatures within 
  10 feet of you and magically slow their movements.  
  Each target must make a Wisdom saving throw against 
  this magic. The DC of this saving throw is 8 + your 
  proficiency modifier + your Constitution bonus. On a 
  failed save, a target can't use reactions, its speed is 
  halved, and it can't make more than one attack on its 
  turn. In addition, the target can take either an action or 
  a bonus action on its turn, not both. 
   These effects last for 1 minute. You must maintain 
  concentration during that time, as if you were casting a 
  spell. A target can repeat the saving throw at the end 
  of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a 
  success.  
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a long rest. 
  Playing a Golem 
  Golems share a lot. Their personalities are essentially 
  identical, and they share a lot of traits. Golems are 
  typically unthinking servitors, so consider what might 
  have caused your character to gain greater intelligence, 
  and consider what they have chosen to do with that 
  intelligence. Perhaps their last received instruction led 
  them to a life of adventure, or perhaps they are 
  seeking a higher purpose for themselves. 
   Because golems are strong and durable and have 
  resistances to damage types and special effects, they 
  do well as front-line classes like fighter. 
  Clay Golem 
  Clay golems have enough natural armor to match light 
  armor, but lack the ability to wear real armor. As such, 
  you’ll need to find other ways to boost your AC, like a 
  high Dexterity score. Be sure to use your Haste ability 
  to the best possible effect, like when you have 
  Advantage on your attacks for a round, or when you’re 
  expecting to suffer multiple attacks before your next 
  turn. 
   Clay golems are the easiest golems to construct, if 
  only because their materials can be easily gathered. 
  However, their relatively soft forms are less able to 
  contain the earth elemental which gives them 
  movement, so they’re prone to fits of rage when they 
  become damaged. Be very careful to avoid triggering 
  
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  Races 
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  Berserk as much as possible, or at least to let it run its 
  course away from your friends and allies. 
  Flesh Golem 
  Flesh golems suffer the same Berserk tendencies as 
  clay golems, so take the same precautions. They are 
  also immune to lightning damage, but suffer penalties 
  when they suffer fire damage. Fire is a common threat 
  to any adventurer, so do whatever you can to avoid it. 
   Unlike other golems, flesh golems can wear armor 
  like a humanoid would. 
  Iron Golem 
  Iron golems are extremely durable. Their heavy iron 
  skin is as good as plate armor. The iron golem’s breath 
  weapon provides a useful way to handle groups of 
  nearby foes which often present problems for 
  characters using weapons over spells. 
  Stone Golem 
  Stone golems are just as durable as iron golems, but 
  trade the iron golem’s poison breath for the ability to 
  magically slow nearby foes. Slow provides a great way 
  to prevent foes from running away quickly or from 
  easily reaching your allies, but since you can only use it 
  once per day be sure to use it to great effect.  
  Design Notes 
  Golems are magical robots. They’re really cool 
  monsters to face, but they present some problems 
  when designing them to be a player race. Fortunately, 
  many of these problematics are duplicated between 
  other golems, so we can share the results of our design 
  efforts between individual golem types. Golems 
  generally aren’t intelligent, but we’ll treat them as 
  though they were affected by something similar to the 
  awaken spell to give them human-like intelligence. 
   Golems are constructs, which costs 1 BP. 
   All golems have very similar abilities. Strength and 
  Constitution are the best across the board by a wide 
  margin, so we’ll grant golems +1 Strength and +1 
  Constitution for 2 BP.  
   All golems share some traits in common. All golems 
  are immune to poison and psychic damage (plus at 
  least one other damage type) and non-magical, non-
  adamantine weapons. We’ll dump the psychic damage 
  immunity since we’re making golems intelligent, and 
  we’ll dump the weapon damage immunity because it’s 
  unfair for a player to have, but we’ll keep Poison 
  Immunity for 2 BP.  
   Golems are also immune to several conditions. We’ll 
  keep Exhaustion, Paralyzed, and Petrified for 1.5 BP, 
  but remove the mental condition immunities because 
  we’re making golems intelligent. Golems are also 
  immune to effects which change their shape 
  (polymorph effects generally), so we’ll call that another 
  0.25 BP. 
   All golems have Darkvision for 2 BP. Iron and Stone 
  golems have Superior Darkvision, but we’ll stick to 
  regular Darkvision to conserve BP. 
   All golems have a slam attack which we’ll keep at 
  1d4 for 1 BP. They can use weapons, so they don’t 
  need to rely on natural weapons. 
   Golems all have Magic Resistance. Magic Resistance 
  is a massively powerful ability on a player, and the 5 BP 
  cost reflects this. At this point that’s far too much to 
  add, so we’ll abandon Magic Resistance entirely. 
   With the bulk of golems’ shared traits handled, I 
  want to consider speech. I’ve left other constructs like 
  animated objects without the ability to speak, and I 
  think I want to maintain that trend for golems. We’ll 
  allow them to understand common, but disallow 
  speech for -1.5 BP. 
   That brings our BP total to 8.25. That’s a bit of a 
  problem since individual golems have several unique 
  abilities to consider. 
  Clay Golem 
  The clay golem is the simplest golem, but it still has a 
  handful of unique traits which we haven’t addressed 
  which we’ll need to rework to make the race playable. 
   I don’t think I want the clay golem to wear armor. 
  Clay is a soft, malleable substance so strapping rigid 
  armor over it wouldn’t be particularly effective. We’ll 
  drop the clay golem’s natural armor to +3 (down from 
  +5) for 1.5 BP and disallow armor for -3 BP. 
   Acid Absorption is a problem. Turning a type of 
  energy damage into free healing is a fun mechanic on 
  monster, but when you’ve got a wizard in the party 
  who can deal acid damage as a cantrip it quickly 
  becomes an infinite source of easy healing. We’ll 
  replace it with resistance to acid for 2 BP. 
   Berserk is an interesting trait. It’s clearly a massive 
  drawback: dropping below half hit points is a common 
  occurrence for player characters, and going into an 
  unstoppable rage when you’re an immortal construct is 
  a serious problem. We need to implement a time-limit 
  and a mechanism by which allies can calm the golem. 
  We also need to update the hit point threshold (40 is a 
  bit high for low-level characters). 50% should be fine. 
   A one-minute tantrum seems like a reasonable 
  amount of time. We’ll allow a Wisdom saving throw 
  after one minute. Borrowing from the flesh golem, 
  we’ll also allow the golem to be calmed by talking to it. 
  We can’t assume that the golem’s creator will be in the 
  
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  party, so we’ll allow certain characters to calm the 
  golem as an action. Using a phrase like “a trusted ally” 
  leaves enough wiggle room for the DM to decide who 
  can and can’t calm the golem. We’ll keep the flesh 
  golem’s DC of 15 for both the Wisdom saving throw 
  and the Persuasion check. We’ll call this -3 BP since it’s 
  a fairly large handicap that will occur frequently. 
   Haste is one of my favorite golem abilities. A sudden 
  boost of speed every once in a while offers the golem 
  an opportunity for a jump in effectiveness without 
  significantly changing the golem’s other traits. I want to 
  retain the ability in-tact as much as possible. The extra 
  attack as a bonus action can be easily compared to 
  two-weapon fighting, but haste should probably apply 
  an ability modifier to damage. The defensive bonuses 
  are also fairly strong, even if they’re short-lived. We’ll 
  allow Haste to grant one additional weapon attack 
  (which will include Slam, of course) as a bonus action, 
  and we’ll allow the ability to be used once per short 
  rest for 4 BP. 
   The rider effect on the clay golem’s slam attack is 
  obviously too good (and too annoying to track) to give 
  to a player race, so we’ll drop it. 
   At 9.75 BP, the clay golem is within our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the clay golem, 
  increase its slam damage. If you want to weaken the 
  clay golem, reduce its natural armor or reduce Haste to 
  once per day. 
  Flesh Golem 
  The most humanoid-like golem, flesh golems are the 
  closest thing you get to Frankenstein’s monster. 
  Notable among golems, they lack natural armor or 
  weaponry. They’re basically just a human with the 
  shared golem traits and lightning absorption. They 
  share a lot in common with clay golems, so we’ll 
  borrow the design work we’ve already done. 
   We’ll keep Berserk for -3 BP. Aversion to Fire is close 
  enough to weakness to fire that we can call it -1 BP.  
   That brings the flesh golem’s BP total down to just 4, 
  which obviously isn’t okay since the clay golem is 
  strictly better. I dumped Acid Absorption on the clay 
  golem, so I should do the same for the flesh golem. 
  However, with this much BP I think we can grant the 
  flesh golem full immunity to lightning damage for 5 BP. 
   At 9.25 BP, the flesh golem is within our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the flesh golem, 
  give it temporary hit points equal to any lightning 
  damage it resists. If you want to weaken the flesh 
  golem, reduce its lightning damage immunity to 
  resistance. 
  Iron Golem 
  Iron golems are fairly simple. We’ll give them +8 
  natural armor (down from +11) for 4 BP, disallow 
  armor for -3 BP, add fire resistance for 2 BP, and add a 
  breath weapon for 2 BP.  
   Unfortunately, that’s 13 BP so we’re going to have to 
  make some cuts. I think we’ll drop fire resistance. It 
  hurts making any cuts at this point, but between fire 
  resistance and Poison Breath, I think Poison Breath is 
  more fun.  
   At 11.25 BP, the iron golem exceeds our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. While this is admittedly strong, much of the 
  golem’s BP is locked up in its natural weapons and 
  natural armor, both of which may lose significance 
  after low levels. If you want to strengthen the iron 
  golem, give it fire resistance. If you want to weaken the 
  iron golem, remove its poison breath. 
  Stone Golem 
  Stone golems are very similar to iron golems. We’ll give 
  them the same +8 natural armor for 4 BP, and disallow 
  armor for -3 BP. The stone golems only remaining 
  special ability is Slow, and with 1 BP to spend it’s going 
  to take some work. 
   It’s going to be hard to fit Slow into 1 BP. The slow 
  spell is a 3rd-level spell with nearly identical effects. 
  Reducing the range helps a bit, as does dropping the 
  AC penalty inflicted by the slow spell, but I would still 
  consider that on part with a 2nd-level spell. We’ll call it 
  2 BP and allow Slow to be used once per day. 
   At 11.25 BP, the stone golem exceeds our target BP 
  range of 8-10. Like the iron golem, much of the stone 
  golem’s BP is tied up in its slam attack and natural 
  armor, both of which may lose relevance beyond low 
  levels. If you want to strengthen the stone golem, 
  allow it to use Slow after a short rest. If you want to 
  weaken the stone golem, reduce its natural armor. 
  Gorgon 
  Horrible predators resembling bulls made of metal, 
  gorgons are famous for petrifying their pray before 
  devouring them. 
  Gorgon Traits 
  Gorgons share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Despite their horrifying nature, gorgons 
  are intellectually simple beasts motivated by animal 
  instinct, so most gorgons are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
  
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   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Hoof. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 bludgeoning 
  damage on a hit. 
   Metal Skin. Your AC is equal to 18. You gain no 
  benefit from wearing armor. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Petrifying Breath. As an action, you can breathy 
  petrifying gas in a 15-foot cone. Each creature in that 
  area must succeed on a Constitution saving throw. The 
  DC of this saving throw is 8 + your proficiency bonus + 
  your Constitution modifier. 
   On a failed save, a target begins to turn to stone and 
  is restrained. The restrained target must repeat the 
  saving throw at the end of its next turn. On a success, 
  the effect ends on the target. Creatures that are 
  immune to petrification are immune to this effect. 
   This effect lasts up to one minute. You must 
  maintain concentration during that time, as if you were 
  casting a spell. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Languages. You can read and understand Common. 
  Playing a Gorgon 
  The gorgon is a strong, durable beast with a potent 
  breath effect. Because the range of petrifying breath is 
  short, choose a class which works well in melee 
  combat. Barbarian, fighter, and paladin are obvious 
  choices, but ranger and rogue may also work. 
  Design Notes 
  Gorgons are an interesting creature. They’re essentially 
  a magical bull with a ton of natural armor and a strong 
  breath weapon.  
   Gorgons are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   The gorgon’s best abilities are Strength and 
  Constitution, as you might expect from a creature 
  which is functionally a metal bovine. We’ll give the 
  gorgon +1 Strength for 1 BP, but drop the Constitution 
  increase to save BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), +8 natural armor (down from +9) for 4 BP, 30 ft. 
  walking speed (down from 40 ft.) immunity to the 
  Petrified condition for 0.5 BP, and Darkvision for 2 BP. 
  We’ll drop the gorgon’s hoof attack to 1d8 damage for 
  2 BP. Gorgons can’t speak for -1.5 BP, but understand 
  Common for 0 BP. They have no hands for -2 BP.  
   That brings us to 6.75 BP before we tackle Trampling 
  Charge and Petrifying Breath. We’ll go ahead and drop 
  Trampling Charge to save BP for Petrifying Breath. 
   Petrifying Breath should borrow a lot from the 
  design work we did for the Basilisk. However, that 
  leaves two major problems: I valued the basilisk’s 
  petrifying gaze at 4 BP, and a gaze attack only affects 
  one creature. Adding an area of effect should 
  absolutely increase that BP value, possibly by 1 but 
  more likely by 2. We simply can’t do that. 
   I’m going to do something crazy. I’m going to make 
  petrifying breath not actually petrify foes. Instead, it 
  will restrain them. Restrained is still a really powerful 
  condition. If we reduce the breath cone to 15 feet, set 
  a 1-minute duration with saves every round, require 
  concentration, and make this usable on a short rest I 
  think we can call this around 4 BP. 
   At 10.25 BP, the gorgon slightly exceeds our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the gorgon, 
  increase its natural armor. If you want to weaken the 
  gorgon, reduce its natural armor or only allow 
  petrifying breath to be used once per day.  
  Grell 
  Grell are vicious ambush predators resembling a 
  floating brain with a beak. They prey on nearly 
  anything that is edible and small enough for them to 
  kill and carry off. 
  Grell Traits 
  Grell share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Aberration 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Vicious creatures with no quandaries 
  about eating sentient creatures, most grell are neutral 
  evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 10 ft. 
   Beak. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 slashing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Blind Senses. You have no eyes, and are blind (and 
  therefore immune to the Blinded condition). You have 
  blindsight 30 ft.  
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet and can 
  hover. To use this speed, you can’t be wearing medium 
  or heavy armor. You are immune to the Prone 
  condition. 
  
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   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak in Grell. 
  Playing a Grell 
  Grell are vicious flying predators. Their mobility and 
  blindsight allow them to ambush foes who might be 
  impeded by darkness. However, the limited range of 
  blindsight makes them vulnerable in large, open areas. 
  Consider classes which fare well in melee combat like 
  barbarian, fighter, and monk. Also consider classes 
  which benefits from the grell’s mobility like rogue. 
   Grell are typically solitary creatures, which makes 
  them an odd party member. They don’t have any real 
  ambition for treasure, fame, or power, but they really 
  enjoy eating sentient creatures, which may be enough 
  to motivate them to join an evil party. 
  Design Notes 
  Grell are weird creatures. They have the difficulties 
  presented by both blindsight and flight, which presents 
  a considerably BP cost before we get into any active 
  abilities. Fortunately, the grell doesn’t have any. 
   Grell are aberrations, costing 0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   The grell’s ability scores are interesting. The highest 
  is Strength, and they descend perfectly in order. We’ll 
  give them +1 Strength and +1 Dexterity for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, 10 ft. 
  walking speed for -2 BP, 30 ft. fly speed for 4 BP with 
  the ability to hover for 2 BP. We’ll drop lightning 
  immunity to lightning resistance for 2 BP. We’ll retain 
  immunity to the Prone condition for 0.5 BP, and we get 
  immunity to the Blinded condition because grell are 
  blind for -4 BP. Grell have blindsight 30 ft. (down from 
  60 ft.) for 6 BP, and they can only speak racial 
  languages for -1 BP. Grell have no hands for -2 BP, and 
  we’ll give them a 1d8 natural weapon for 2 BP.  
   I’m a little uncertain about whether or not grell can 
  wear armor. They’re strangely shaped, but if you could 
  strap a few bits of leather and steel to its brain-shaped 
  body, I suppose that would technically qualify as 
  armor. 
   At 10 BP, the grell is at the top of our target range of 
  8-10 BP. The grell’s blindsight and its ability to fly make 
  it a fearsome foe, but its extremely limited sensory 
  range is a huge handicap. If you want to strengthen the 
  grell, increase its blindsight range. If you want to 
  weaken the grell, remove one of its ability increases. 
  Grick 
  Gricks are snake-like ambush predators which primarily 
  dwell underground. They live in packs around an alpha, 
  typically the largest and best-fed of the group. 
  Grick Traits 
  Gricks share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 
  Wisdom. 
   Alignment. Typically unintelligent predators, most 
  gricks are neutral. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. You have a 
  climb speed of 30 ft. 
   Beak and Tentacles. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 
  bludgeoning or slashing damage on a hit. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 12 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Stone Camouflage. You have advantage on Dexterity 
  (Stealth) checks made to hide in rocky terrain. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Grick 
  Gricks are strong and agile, making them a great 
  candidate for classes like monk and rogue. Their 
  wisdom is helpful for classes like cleric and druid, but 
  be remember that the grick’s lack of hands make it 
  hard for them to use material components for many 
  spells. 
   Gricks have a pack structure, so following a strong 
  “alpha” may be a natural behavior. A grick might join a 
  party for mutual protection, or simply to get food more 
  easily. An awakened grick might also develop a higher 
  sense of purpose than its base animal instincts might 
  impart. 
  Design Notes 
  Gricks are simple creatures. They don’t have any 
  unique abilities, and they can be easily adapted. 
  
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  They’re unintelligent creatures, so we’ll treat them like 
  they’ve been awakened. 
   Gricks are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but offering 
  no specific traits. 
   The grick’s Strength, Dexterity, and Wisdom are all 
  equally good. They’re dumb animals, so Wisdom seems 
  like a weird option, but they seem to be at least clever 
  enough to be ambush predators. The race doesn’t have 
  anything in the way of active abilities, so we’ll give it +1 
  Strength, +1 Dexterity, and +1 Wisdom for 3 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, +2 natural 
  armor for 1 BP, 30 ft. walking speed, 30 ft. climb speed 
  for 2 BP, Darkvision for 2 BP, and Camouflage for 0.5 
  BP. We’re treating the grick as though it was 
  awakened, so we’ll allow it to speak Common for 0 BP. 
  Gricks have no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll give them a 
  1d8 natural weapon for 2 BP. 
   At 9 BP, the grick is within our target range of 8-10 
  BP. If you want to strengthen the grick, increase its 
  natural armor. If you want to weaken the grick, remove 
  of its ability score increases. 
  Griffon 
  Griffons are a popular mythological beast, appearing in 
  numerous works of fiction. They often serve as flying 
  mounts, combining the utility of a Pegasus with the 
  aggression of an apex predator. 
  Griffon Traits 
  Griffons share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Typically unintelligent beasts, most 
  griffons are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Beak and Claws. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 
  slashing damage on a hit. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 40 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Keen Sight. You have advantage on Wisdom 
  (Perception) checks that rely on sight. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Griffon 
  Griffons are great flying melee combatants. Their 
  strong natural weapons and excellent flight speed 
  allow them to get around in combat quickly, and their 
  keen sight allows them to easily notice foes. Consider 
  classes like barbarian and fighter to take advantage of 
  your prowess in melee, but be careful of medium and 
  heavy armor as it prevents you from flying. 
   It’s natural to want to allow allies to ride you into 
  combat. This is a fun mechanic, but can be somewhat 
  complicated. Be sure to consult the rules on 
  independent mounts, explained in the third paragraph 
  under “Controlling a Mount” on page 198 of the 
  Player’s Handbook. 
   Griffons are proud, noble creatures. Griffon heroes 
  will likely lean more toward lawful than chaotic, but 
  may be fine in an evil party which treats them 
  sufficiently well. Since griffons greatly enjoy horse 
  meat, they may present a constant threat to other 
  party member’s mounts. 
  Design Notes 
  Griffons are functionally flying lions. This is awesome, 
  but it’s also not terribly interesting to design. Like 
  many other monstrosities, we’ll treat them as though 
  they have been awakened to make them easier to fit 
  into a party. 
   Griffons are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   Griffon’s best abilities are Strength and Constitution, 
  so we’ll grant the griffon +1 to each for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), 30 ft. walking speed, 40 ft. fly speed (down from 
  80 ft.) for 5 BP, Darkvision for 2 BP, and Keen Sight for 
  0.5 BP. Griffons have no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll give 
  them a 1d8 natural weapon for 2 BP. Since we’re 
  treating griffons as though they were awakened, we’ll 
  allow them to speak Common for 0 BP. 
   At 10 BP, the griffon is within our target range of 8-
  10 BP. They’re a fairly boring race, to be honest, but 
  they fit the monster and they have decent stats. If you 
  want to strengthen the griffon, increase its fly speed. If 
  you want to weaken the griffon, reduce its walking 
  speed. 
  Grimlock 
  
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  Grimlocks are the twisted descendants of humans who 
  once worshipped Illithids, their bodies now adapted to 
  their lives in the underdark. 
  Grimlock Traits 
  Grimlocks share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Humanoid (grimlock) 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength. 
   Alignment. Grimlocks are wicked hunters who still 
  seek to serve their former masters. Most Grimlocks are 
  Neutral Evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Blind Senses. You have no eyes, and are blind (and 
  therefore immune to the Blinded condition). You have 
  blindsight 30 ft., or 10 ft. when you are deafened 
  and/or unable to smell.  
   Keen Hearing and Smell. You have proficiency in the 
  Perception skill. You have advantage on Wisdom 
  (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or smell. 
   Keen Senses. You have proficiency in the Perception 
  skill. 
   Stealthy. You have proficiency in the Stealth skill. 
   Stone Camouflage. You have advantage on Dexterity 
  (Stealth) checks made to hide in rocky terrain. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Undercommon. 
  Playing a Grimlock 
  Strong and blind, Grimlocks thrive in close-quarters 
  melee combat. Consider classes like Barbarian and 
  Fighter which can take advantage of your capabilities. 
   Still devoted to their former masters, grimlocks fit 
  well into parties containing a mind flayer. 
  Design Notes 
  Grimlocks are fairly normal humanoids, excepting their 
  Blindsight, and even that is easy to quantify. 
   Grimlocks are humanoid, which costs 0 BP and offers 
  no specific abilities.  
   Grimlocks, lacking the perception range to be ranged 
  combatants, are melee brutes. However, they’re not 
  particularly durable. We’ll give them a +2 to Strength 
  for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, 30 ft. walk 
  speed, and the ability to speak Common 
  (Undercommon in this case) for 0 BP. 
   Grimlocks’ biggest complication comes from being 
  blind. Blindness makes them automatically immune to 
  the Blinded condition, and offsets most of the BP cost 
  of Blindsense 30 ft., netting 2 BP. While this isn’t 
  difficult to implement, it certainly presents challenges 
  for including Grimlocks in a party. 
   The rest of the Grimlocks abilities are simple. Blind 
  Senses is -1 BP, Keen Hearing and Smell is 1 BP (see 
  Keen Sense in the Race Builder rules), and Camouflage 
  is 0.5 BP. 
   That touches all of the important points from the 
  Grimlock’s monster stat block, but we’re only at 4.5 BP. 
  Since Grimlocks survive by sneaking around in the dark 
  and ambushing people, it make sense to give them 
  Stealth proficiency. Their reliance on their keen senses 
  is also a good basis for giving them Perception 
  proficiency. That’s another 1 BP total, bringing us up to 
  5.5. That’s really low, but that’s really all that we can 
  get from the Grimlock’s stat block. 
   At 5.5 BP, the Grimlock is below our target range of 
  8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the Grimlock, give it 
  a Constitution increase or natural armor, or improve its 
  blindsight range. 
  Hags 
  Hags are evil creatures with magical powers. They also 
  famously form covens, typically consisting of three 
  witches joining together for greater power. 
  Hag Traits 
  Hags share the following racial traits. 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Intelligence. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Claws. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 slashing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Subrace. Choose one of these subraces. You gain the 
  traits listed under your chosen subrace in addition to 
  those listed above. 
  Green Hag 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Charisma. 
   Alignment. Spiteful, manipulative creatures, most 
  green hags are neutral evil. 
   Creature Type. Fey 
   Hag Magic. You know the minor illusion cantrip. 
  Once you reach 3rd level, you can cast the disguise self 
  spell once per day. Once you reach 5th level, you also 
  cast the invisibility spell once per day. Charisma is your 
  spellcasting ability for these spells. 
  
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   Mimicry. You can mimic any sounds you have heard, 
  including voices. A creature that hears the sounds can 
  tell they are imitations with a successful Insight check 
  against a DC equal to 8 + your Charisma (Deception) 
  bonus. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common, Draconic, and Sylvan. 
  Night Hag 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Charisma. 
   Alignment. Banished from the Feywild, then tainted 
  by the lower planes, most night hags are neutral evil. 
   Creature Type. Fiend 
   Hag Magic. Once you reach 3rd level, you can cast 
  the disguise self and sleep spells once per day, each. 
  Once you reach 5th level, you also cast the ray of 
  enfeeblement spell once per day. Charisma is your 
  spellcasting ability for these spells. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Abyssal, Common, Infernal, and Primordial. 
  Sea Hag 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Ugly inside and out, most sea hags are 
  chaotic evil. 
   Creature Type. Fey 
   Horrific Appearance. As a bonus action, you may 
  reveal your true appearance to surprised creatures 
  within 30 feet. Affected creatures must attempt a 
  Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature is 
  frightened for 1 round.  
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Illusory Appearance. You cover yourself and 
  anything you are wearing or carrying with a magical 
  illusion that makes you look like an ugly creature of 
  your general size and humanoid shape. The effect ends 
  if you take a bonus action to end it or if you die. 
   The changes wrought by this effect fail to hold up to 
  physical inspection. For example, you could appear to 
  have no claws, but someone touching your hand might 
  feel the claws. Otherwise, a creature must take an 
  action to visually inspect the illusion and succeed on an 
  Intelligence (Investigation) check to discern that the 
  hag is disguised. The DC of this check is 8 + your 
  proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest.  
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Aquan, 
  Common and Giant. 
  Playing a Hag 
  Hags are intelligent, cunning creatures. As such, they 
  make excellent wizards. Green hags and night hags also 
  have increase charisma, making them excellent 
  warlocks and sorcerers. 
   Notoriously vain, hags view nearly all other creatures 
  as inferior, often including other hags. However, hags 
  are quick to make bargains which benefit the hag, 
  possibly including joining a party of adventurers with 
  similar goals. 
  Green Hag 
  Green hags are deceitful and manipulative. Their 
  powers center on illusions, allowing them to disguise 
  their appearance and to become invisible. Use these 
  abilities to deceive, confuse, and manipulate your foes. 
  Night Hag 
  Night hags are as deceitful and manipulative as the 
  green hag, but their abilities are less illusory and more 
  substantive. Night hags can cast some potent spells to 
  incapacitate and weaken their foes, and their change 
  shape allows them to assume the form of a humanoid 
  in a way which will pass close inspection. 
  Sea Hag 
  Sea hags are bestial and uncouth by hag standards. 
  Where other hags are deceitful and tricky, sea hags are 
  more direct and violent. Sea hags are also the most 
  durable of hags. While they lack the charisma to serve 
  as sorcerers or warlocks, their improved constitution 
  allows them to survive a life as a wizard or as an 
  eldritch knight. 
  Design Notes 
  Hags are somewhat confusing. Their flavor is all about 
  being evil spellcasters, doing rituals, and stealing souls 
  but their ability scores look like your normal vanilla 
  Strength and Constitution meat-slab. I think I’m going 
  to embrace the hag’s flavor over their stats in the 
  interest of supporting player characters that capitalize 
  on the hags’ flavor.  
   Hags have only a few things in common 
  mechanically. They’re all medium, have 30 ft. walking 
  speed, and have Darkvision for 2 BP (we’ll drop the 
  night hag to normal Darkvision). We’ll drop their 
  natural weapons to 1d4 for 1 BP. 
   Hag covens use Intelligence as their spellcasting 
  ability. Since I want to emphasize their capacity as 
  spellcasters, we’ll grant all hags +1 Intelligence for 1 
  BP. Strangely, hags use Charisma for their individual 
  innate spellcasting, but we’ll address that later. 
  
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   That brings us to 4 BP before we consider individual 
  types of hags. 
  Green Hag 
  The most generic hag, the green hag does all of the 
  things which you would expect of a hag. It eats babies 
  (I’m not joking), it casts some spells, and it’s generally 
  unpleasant. It has a handful of special abilities, but 
  most of them can be match by reworking spells. 
   Green hags are fey, costing 0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   Green hags use Charisma for their innate 
  spellcasting, so we’ll grant them +1 Charisma for 1 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get racial languages plus 
  Common for 0 BP, an additional fixed language for 0.25 
  BP, Amphibious for 0.5 BP, and Mimicry for 1 BP. We’ll 
  drop the green hag’s natural armor to save BP. 
   At 6.25 BP, we’ve still got some room to tackle the 
  green hag’s innate spellcasting, Illusory Appearance, 
  and Invisible Passage.  
   Illusory Appearance is essentially identical to the 
  disguise self spell, and Invisible Passage is essentially 
  the invisibility spell. We can grant both for a total of 3 
  BP. I really like emphasizing the illusion magic, so we’ll 
  grant the minor illusion cantrip for 0.5 BP and drop the 
  other cantrips. 
   At 9.75 BP, the green hag is within our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. Its abilities aren’t directly offensive, but 
  they combine to make the green hag tricky and 
  deceitful. If you want to strengthen the green hag, 
  grant it the vicious mockery cantrip. If you want to 
  weaken the green hag, remove its natural armor. 
  Night Hag 
   The night hag is fairly similar to the green hag, but 
  has a different set of special abilities. The night hag’s 
  abilities center more around sleep, and the hag’s ability 
  to travel to the ethereal plane and steal souls. We’ll 
  need to dump the whole soul stealing thing since we 
  won’t want players using that to solve all of their 
  problems. 
   Night hags are fiends, costing 0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   Like green hags, night hags use Charisma for their 
  innate spellcasting, so we’ll grant them +1 Charisma for 
  1 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get very little. We’ll need to 
  dump all of the night hag’s resistances, as well as 
  immunity to the Charmed condition. Night hags speak 
  racial languages plus Common for 0 BP, plus 2 fixed 
  languages for 0.5 BP.  
   At just 6 BP we have plenty of room to tackle the 
  night hag’s remaining abilities.  
   Change Shape is a bit like the “Change Appearance” 
  portion of the alter self spell. I don’t think holding up to 
  physical inspection is especially important to the flavor 
  of the race, so we’ll replace it with disguise self for 1 
  BP. 
   Etherealness is too good to grant to a player, so we’ll 
  drop it. Nightmare Haunting really doesn’t make sense 
  as a player ability, so we’ll drop that, too. 
   That leaves the night hag’s innate spellcasting. We 
  don’t have a ton of room left, so we’ll drop most of the 
  spells. We’ll retain sleep and ray of enfeeblement for 3 
  BP. 
   At 10 BP, the night hag is at the top of our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. Despite its high BP cost, the night hag 
  isn’t significantly more powerful than the green hag, 
  and is likely much less powerful than the tiefling. If you 
  want to strengthen the sea hag, allow it to cast magic 
  missile once per day. If you want to weaken the sea 
  hag, remove the ability to cast ray of enfeeblement.  
  Sea Hag 
  Sea hags are unique among hags in their lack of innate 
  spellcasting. They’re still hags, but instead of casting 
  spells they have a couple of offensive special abilities. 
   Sea hags are fey, costing 0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits.  
   Unlike other hags, sea hags’ abilities resemble your 
  typical Strength and Constitution monster. To reflect 
  this, we’ll grant the sea hag a +1 to Constitution for 1 
  BP. 
   From the stat block, we get +3 natural armor for 1.5 
  BP, 30 ft. swim speed (down from 40 ft.) for 1 BP, racial 
  languages plus Common for 0 BP and an additional 
  fixed language for 0.25 BP. 
   That brings us to 8 BP before we look at the sea 
  hag’s special abilities. Death Glare is obviously too 
  good for a player ability, so we’ll drop it. 
   Horrific Appearance is central to the sea hag, but it’s 
  also too good to be usable constantly. We can rework 
  it a bit to be a fun surprise effect. If we drop the fear 
  duration to 1 round, only allow it to affect surprised 
  creatures, and require a bonus action to activate, I 
  think we can allow it once per short rest for 1 BP. 
   Illusory Appearance is functionally similar to the 
  disguise self spell, but not quite as powerful. If we 
  allow it to be used once per day, I think we can call it 
  0.75 BP. 
   At the 10 BP, the sea hag is at the top of our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. The sea hag lacks the magical options 
  of other hags, but is considerably more durable. If you 
  
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  want to strengthen the sea hag, allow it to use Illusory 
  Appearance after a short rest. If you want to weaken 
  the sea hag, reduce its natural armor. 
  Half-Dragon [Template: Natural] 
  The offspring of a polymorphed dragon and another 
  creature, half-dragons carry many of the traits of their 
  draconic parentage. 
  Becoming a Half-Dragon 
  Half-dragons are born half dragon. They have one 
  parent that is a true dragon, and one that is a beast, 
  humanoid, giant, or monstrosity. When creating a 
  character with the half-dragon template, select a base 
  race to serve as the non-dragon parent. The non-
  dragon parent’s race is the race for the character. In 
  addition, select a variety of true dragon (blue, gold, 
  red, etc.) to serve as the dragon parent. This decision 
  affects the traits gained from the template. 
   For example: A half-dragon human with a red dragon 
  parent and a human parent would use human as the 
  character’s race, and would apply the half-dragon 
  template to the character. 
  Half-Dragon Traits 
  All half-dragons have the following traits, adding these 
  traits to their existing racial traits upon gaining the 
  half-dragon template. 
   Breath Weapon. You can use your action to exhale 
  destructive energy. Your species determines the size, 
  shape, and damage type of the exhalation. 
   When you use your breath weapon, each creature in 
  the area of the exhalation must make a saving throw, 
  the type of which is determined by your species. The 
  DC for this saving throw equals 8 + your Constitution 
  modifier + your proficiency bonus. A creature takes 2d6 
  damage on a failed save and half as much damage on a 
  successful one. The damage increases by 1d6 when you 
  reach 5th level (3d6), 11th level (4d6), and 17th level 
  (5d6). 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Draconic Nature. You are incapable of bearing 
  natural children. You live twice as long as a member of 
  your race. 
   Draconic Parentage. Select one type of true dragon 
  as your parent. Your chosen parent provides additional 
  traits.  
  Black Dragon 
   Ability Adjustment. -2 Wisdom. 
   Breath Weapon. Your breath weapon is a 5 ft. by 30 
  ft. line of acid, and allows a Dexterity save for half 
  damage. 
  Blue Dragon 
   Ability Adjustment. -2 Dexterity. 
   Breath Weapon. Your breath weapon is a 5 ft. by 30 
  ft. line of lightning, and allows a Dexterity save for half 
  damage. 
  Green Dragon 
   Ability Adjustment. -2 Dexterity. 
   Breath Weapon. Your breath weapon is a 15 ft. cone 
  ft. line of poison, and allows a Dexterity save for half 
  damage. 
  Red Dragon 
   Ability Adjustment. -2 Dexterity. 
   Breath Weapon. Your breath weapon is a 15 ft. cone 
  of fire, and allows a Dexterity save for half damage. 
  White Dragon 
   Ability Adjustment. -2 Intelligence. 
   Breath Weapon. Your breath weapon is a 15 ft. cone 
  of cold, and allows a Dexterity save for half damage. 
  Brass Dragon 
   Ability Adjustment. -2 Wisdom. 
   Breath Weapon. Your breath weapon is a 5 ft. by 30 
  ft. line of fire, and allows a Dexterity save for half 
  damage. 
  Bronze Dragon 
   Ability Adjustment. -2 Dexterity. 
   Breath Weapon. Your breath weapon is a 5 ft. by 30 
  ft. line of acid, and allows a Dexterity save for half 
  damage. 
  Copper Dragon 
   Ability Adjustment. -2 Wisdom.  
   Breath Weapon. Your breath weapon is a 5 ft. by 30 
  ft. line of acid, and allows a Dexterity save for half 
  damage. 
  Gold Dragon 
   Ability Adjustment. -2 Strength. 
   Breath Weapon. Your breath weapon is a 15 ft. cone 
  of fire, and allows a Dexterity save for half damage. 
  Silver Dragon 
   Ability Adjustment. -2 Dexterity. 
   Breath Weapon. Your breath weapon is a 15 ft. cone 
  of cold, and allows a Dexterity save for half damage. 
  
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  Design Notes 
  Half-dragons are somewhat difficult to design. They’re 
  a natural template with no ability progression, so they 
  need to be a non-leveled template. However, the 
  template doesn’t include any built-in drawbacks, which 
  makes balancing the template difficult. We’ll need to 
  apply some artistic license to keep the template fair, 
  and we also need to make the template meaningful 
  without making the dragonborn race pointless. 
   The template’s Monster Manual entry lists the traits 
  granted by the template. We can adapt them without 
  too much difficulty. 
   We’ll abandon Blindsight. Even at 10 ft. range, it’s 
  still 4 BP. We’ll also abandon Darkvision. We’ll replace 
  the listed breath weapons mechanics with a breath 
  weapon matching the dragonborn’s for 2 BP and we’ll 
  let half-dragons learn Draconic for 0.25 BP. We’ll 
  abandon any hope of damage resistance. That brings 
  us to 2.25 BP before we consider drawbacks. 
   Adding penalties is difficult. We could apply -2 to 
  several ability scores, but that wouldn’t be any fun. I’m 
  also hesitant to apply universal penalties to specific 
  ability scores because that will create practical limits 
  on the races and classes that will be able to use the 
  template effectively. We could add things like damage 
  vulnerabilities, but those don’t make sense on every 
  type of dragon. 
   I think our best bet is to assess each type of dragon 
  individually. Each type has different shortcomings, so 
  addressing them separately will allow us more 
  flexibility in design and will offer interesting character 
  options. The Monster Manual entry also lists some 
  personality traits which can provide some ideas. 
   To tie the half-dragon closely to its draconic 
  parentage, we’ll copy the dragon parent’s -2 ability 
  score adjustment for -1 BP. Gold dragons don’t have an 
  ability score reduction, so we’ll apply -2 Strength since 
  no other half-dragon has it. 
   That brings our total to 1.5 BP. That’s much higher 
  than our target BP of 0 for non-leveled templates, but I 
  think that the effects of the template are balanced well 
  enough that players will only bother with it if they’re 
  really excited about the idea of being a half-dragon. 
  Harpy 
  Harpies are winged, humanoid-like monstrosities 
  famous for using their luring song to attract and 
  enchant their victims. 
  Harpy Traits 
  Harpies share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Charisma. 
   Alignment. Harpies are vicious predators, using their 
  beguiling music to entrap and feed upon sentient 
  creatures. Most Harpies are chaotic evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 20 ft. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 40 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor.
   Claws. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 slashing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Luring Song. As an action, you sing a magical melody. 
  Every humanoid and giant within 100 feet of you that 
  can hear the song must succeed on a Wisdom saving 
  throw or be charmed until the song ends. The DC for 
  this saving throw is 8 + your proficiency bonus + your 
  Charisma modifier. You must take a bonus action on 
  subsequent turns to continue singing, and you must 
  maintain concentration during that time, as if you were 
  casting a spell. 
   While charmed by you, the target is incapacitated 
  and ignores the songs of other harpies. If the charmed 
  target is more than 5 feet away from the harpy, the 
  target can take the Dash action on its turn to move 
  toward you by the most direct route. It doesn't avoid 
  opportunity attacks, but before moving into damaging 
  terrain, such as lava or a pit, and whenever it takes 
  damage from a source other than the harpy, a target 
  can repeat the saving throw. A creature can also repeat 
  the saving throw at the end of each of its turns. If a 
  creature's saving throw is successful, the effect ends on 
  it.  
   A target that successfully saves is immune to your 
  song for the next 24 hours. You may not use this ability 
  again until you have completed long rest. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Harpy 
  Harpy’s bonus to Charisma makes them good 
  Sorcerers, but they can also work as charismatic 
  Rogues. Luring Song is a powerful effect, allowing you 
  to charm large groups of creatures and force them into 
  dangerous positions or harmful effects. Because Luring 
  Song affects humanoids, be careful not to harm your 
  allies.  
   Harpies typically see humanoids as prey rather than 
  allies, so if your party includes humanoids be sure to 
  work that aspect into your character’s behavior. 
  
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  Races 
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  Design Notes 
  Harpies are mechanically simple; their only complex 
  ability is their Luring Song. 
   Harpies are monstrosities, which costs 0.5 BP but 
  doesn’t provide any specific abilities. 
   The Harpy’s abilities scores are very low, with an 
  emphasis on physical ability scores and Charisma. It 
  seems likely that the Harpy’s Luring Song’s DC is 
  Charisma-based, so we should keep an emphasis on 
  that. A +1 to Charisma for 1 BP does the job. 
   From their stat block, we get medium size, 20 ft. 
  walk speed for -1 BP, and standard racial languages 
  plus Common. The Harpy’s fly speed is 40 ft. for 5 BP, 
  leaving us at 5.5 BP. 
   Harpies have claws which deal an impressive 2d4 
  damage, but we’ll convert that to 1d8 to keep it 
  consistent with normal weapons for 2 BP. 
   At 7.5 BP, we have some wiggle room for Luring 
  Song. The original ability is extremely potent, but has 
  some built-in limitations. It only affects humanoids and 
  giants (giants are likely included for historical reasons), 
  it allows a Wisdom save against a DC which is very low 
  due to the Harpy’s poor ability scores, and allows a 
  new save each round. Once the target saves 
  successfully, they’re immune for 24 hours. This is 
  crucial when players face a Harpy, but giving a player 
  this ability unchanged essentially guarantees that every 
  fight will be dominated by Luring Song. With a rising 
  proficiency bonus and almost certainly high Charisma, 
  the DC will be considerably higher, making the ability 
  even more threatening than it already is. 
   The DC calculation for ability like Luring Song works 
  just like everything else: 8 + proficiency bonus + ability 
  modifier. Tying Luring Song to Charisma makes the 
  most sense. However, the save DC isn’t enough to keep 
  this fair for players to use, especially without a 
  limitation on uses per day. The limitation of only 
  affecting humanoids and giants is significant: 
  depending on your campaign your enemies may be 
  almost exclusively humanoids, or you might not 
  encounter humanoids past very low levels. There’s also 
  the issue of other characters in the party, many of 
  whom are likely to be humanoids. 
   To approximate similar effects, spells are our best 
  bet. The Command spell’s “Approach” option covers 
  most of the effect. If we assume that encounters have 
  an average of 5 creatures, we can examine casting 
  Command with a 5th-level spell slot for 3 BP. Command 
  has a shorter range and only lasts for one round, but it 
  also affects all creature types. 
   I think that our best option is to limit Luring Song’s 
  usage to once per long rest, to limit the range, and to 
  require Concentration. 300 foot range is insane, and 
  intended for monsters to draw players into an 
  encounter against their will. 100 feet is much more 
  manageable for players, but still makes Luring Song a 
  massive crowd control effect. With the DC we 
  discussed earlier, I think that we can call this 
  somewhere in the range of 2 to 3 BP. 
   Somewhere between 9.5 and 10.5 BP puts the Harpy 
  right at the upper edge of your BP range. If you need to 
  strengthen the Harpy, allow Luring Song to be used 
  once per short rest instead of once per long rest, or 
  grant a +1 to Dexterity. If you need to weaken the 
  Harpy, reduce the Harpy’s Claw damage or fly speed.  
  Hell Hound 
  Hell hounds are vicious canines from hell, famed for 
  their ability to breathe fire and their vicious hunger for 
  mortal flesh. 
  Hell Hound Traits 
  Hell hounds share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Fiend 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength. 
   Alignment. Trainable and obedient so long as it is 
  allowed to feed its evil appetite, most hell hounds are 
  lawful evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 slashing damage and 
  1d4 fire damage on a hit. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Fire Breath. As an action, you can breathe fire in a 
  15-foot cone. Each creature in that cone must make a 
  Dexterity saving throw. The DC for this saving throw 
  equals 8 + your Constitution modifier + your 
  proficiency bonus. A creature takes 2d6 fire damage on 
  a failed save and half as much damage on a successful 
  one. The damage increases by 1d6 when you reach 5th 
  level (3d6), 11th level (4d6), and 17th level (5d6). 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Keen Hearing and Smell. You have advantage on 
  Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or 
  smell. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
  
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   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can read and understand in Infernal. 
  Playing a Hell Hound 
  Hell hounds are a wonderful addition to any evil party. 
  Their Darkvision and Keen Hearing and Smell make 
  them excellent sentries and scouts, and their excellent 
  speed allows them to move about quickly in melee. 
  Consider classes like Barbarian and Fighter which excel 
  in melee combat, but classes like Monk, Ranger, and 
  Rogue may also be good options. 
   Hell hounds are obedient, trainable creatures. 
  Serving an evil master is natural, and any party with a 
  suitably evil leader is a welcome home for a hell hound 
  character. 
  Design Notes 
  Hell hounds are flaming dogs. Their abilities are pretty 
  similar to many beasts, but they’re more notably on 
  fire than, say, a wolf. 
   Hell hounds are fiends, costing 0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   Hell hounds’ best abilities are Strength and 
  Constitution, but they have a bunch of special abilities 
  to eat into our BP budget so we’ll only grant a +1 to 
  Strength for 1 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, +3 natural 
  armor (down from +4) for 1.5 BP, 40 ft. movement 
  speed (down from 50 ft.) for 1 BP, fire damage 
  resistance (down from immunity) for 2 BP, and 
  Darkvision for 2 BP. Hell hounds can’t speak for -1.5 BP 
  and have no hands for -2 BP. We’ll set their bite attack 
  to 1d4 slashing and 1d4 fire for 2.5 BP. 
   At 7 BP, we don’t have a ton of room left for the hell 
  hound’s special abilities. Two Keen Senses costs 
  another 1 BP, and a breath weapon costs 2 more. I’m 
  not sure what to do with Pack Tactics, but we’re also at 
  10 BP already so we can safely drop it. 
   At 9.5 BP, the hell hound is at within our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. They’re fast and have a good mix of 
  offensive, defensive, and utility traits, and I think that 
  they’ll be an excellent addition to many parties. If you 
  want to strengthen the hell hound, increase its natural 
  armor. If you want to weaken the hell hound, reduce 
  its natural armor or speed.  
  Helmed Horror 
  Intelligent, animated suits of armor, the helmed horror 
  is an improvement on simple animated armor. Imbued 
  with human-like intelligence and flight, the helmed 
  horror is a truly formidable foe. 
  Helmed Horror Traits 
  Helmed horrors share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Construct. You do not require air, 
  food, drink, or sleep. Instead, you enter a restful state, 
  remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. While 
  resting, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are 
  reflexive mental exercises inherent to your 
  consciousness. After resting in this way, you gain the 
  same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Alignment. Intelligent servants with little ambition 
  beyond their given orders, helmed horrors can be of 
  any alignment but are usually neutral. 
   Blind Senses. You have no eyes, and are blind (and 
  therefore immune to the Blinded condition). You have 
  blindsight 60 ft. 
   Can’t Speak. You are unable to speak, but are still 
  able to read, write, and understand any languages 
  which you know. You are unable to perform verbal 
  spell components. 
   Construct Nature. You are immune to deafened, 
  paralyzed, and petrified conditions. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. 
   Living Armor. You are unable to wear armor, but 
  may still use shields. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 18. 
   Poison Immunity. You are immune to poison 
  damage, and immune to the poisoned condition. 
   Languages. You can read and understand Common. 
  Playing a Helmed Horror 
  With built-in full plate and the ability to fly, helmed 
  horrors are powerful warriors. However, they lack 
  ability increases, so they may not keep pace with other 
  races offensively. Without the ability to speak, most 
  spellcasting is out of the helmed horror’s reach. 
  Consider classes which work for the helmed horror like 
  fighter. 
   Helmed horrors don’t speak, which makes them a 
  troublesome member of a party. They are intelligent 
  and understand speech, but may need to resort to 
  pantomiming or other forms of communication to 
  converse with party members. 
  
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  Races 
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  Design Notes 
  Helmed horrors are essentially a flying suit of animated 
  armor. Since we’ve already designed a suit of animated 
  armor, we can go steal a bunch of stuff from it. We’ll 
  keep most of the animated armor’s traits, but I’ll 
  address specific differences. We’ll start from the 
  animated armor’s 9.25 BP. 
   Helmed Horrors lose the Antimagic Susceptibility 
  trait for 0.5 BP, but they also give up immunity to the 
  Exhaustion condition for -0.5 BP, they give up the 
  animated armor’s natural weapon for -1.5 BP, and they 
  give up False Appearance for -0.5 BP. That brings us to 
  7.25 BP. We’ll then add the helmed horror’s 30 ft. fly 
  speed for 4 BP. 
   At 11.75 BP, the helmed horror exceeds our target 
  BP range of 8-10 BP. Flight is a huge advantage over 
  animated armor. If you want to strengthen the helmed 
  horror, grant it a 1d4 natural weapon. If you want to 
  weaken the helmed horror, reduce its walking and fly 
  speeds to 25 ft. 
  Hippogriff 
  Similar in many ways to griffons, hippogriffs are easier 
  to tame and train, and as omnivores are less likely to 
  hunt local herds. Like griffons, they’re popular mounts 
  and companions. 
  Hippogriff Traits 
  Hippogriffs share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength. 
   Alignment. Typically unintelligent beasts, most 
  griffons are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 ft. 
   Beak and Claws. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 
  slashing damage on a hit. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 40 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Keen Sight. You have advantage on Wisdom 
  (Perception) checks that rely on sight. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Hippogriff 
  Hippogriffs play much like a griffon; excellent mobility 
  and good melee options. However, they trade the 
  griffon’s Constitution increase for improved walking 
  speed. While this isn’t always helpful for a flying 
  creature, it allows the hippogriff to maintain its speed 
  advantage in close quarters like building interiors and 
  cramped dungeon corridors. 
   Hippogriffs are omnivores, which makes them much 
  less of a liability than griffons in parties who must 
  frequently travel in lands where horses are common. 
  They are easily trained and loyal, making them a 
  devoted party member so long as their allies live. 
  Design Notes 
  Hippogriffs are frustratingly similar to griffons. Their 
  stat blocks are almost identical, differentiated only 
  enough to have different CR’s. The best we can hope to 
  do is make the hippogriff essentially a variant of the 
  griffon. 
   Hippogriffs have much lower Constitution than 
  griffons, so we’ll drop the griffon’s Constitution 
  increase to free up a little bit of BP. We’ll then use that 
  BP to increase the hippogriff’s walking speed to 40 ft. 
  This isn’t a huge change, but it’s enough to make the 
  two mechanically different. 
   If you want to adjust the hippogriff, follow the 
  guidance in the griffon design notes. 
  Hobgoblins 
  Hobgoblins are the most organized of the goblinoids, 
  more tactical than Bugbears and less crazed and 
  unpredictable than Goblins. They are strategic thinkers, 
  and their society is highly militarized. 
  Hobgoblin Traits 
  Hobgoblins share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Humanoid (goblinoid) 
   Ability Score Increase. Two different ability scores of 
  your choice increase by 1. 
   Alignment. Hobgoblin society is highly regimented, 
  but dictated by martial might and tyranny. Most 
  Hobgoblins are lawful evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Martial Advantage. Once per turn, you can deal an 
  extra 1d6 damage to a creature which you hit with a 
  weapon attack if that creature is within 5 feet of one of 
  
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  your allies that isn’t incapacitated. This damage 
  increases to 2d6 at 5th level, 3d6 at 11th level, and 4d6 
  at 17th level. 
   Stealthy. You have proficiency in the Stealth skill. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Goblin. 
  Playing a Hobgoblin 
  Hobgoblins are versatile, and do well in a variety of 
  roles. Martial Advantage is an extremely potent ability 
  which allows them to excel with weapons, but requires 
  that they work tactically with their allies to ensure that 
  they can deal extra damage. 
   Hobgoblins are organized and tactical, and make an 
  excellent focal point around which to construct a party 
  of monstrous races which only submit to authority 
  through force. Their society is very organized 
  compared to most monstrous humanoids, so many 
  different class and build options work with the theme 
  of the race. 
  Design Notes 
  Hobgoblins are skill warriors, tending toward rigorous 
  training more than the raw strength on which bugbears 
  rely. Their abilities are mostly simple, complicated only 
  by martial Advantage. 
  
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   Hobgoblins are humanoid, which costs 0 BP and 
  includes no special abilities. 
   From their stat block, we get 30 ft. walking speed, 
  medium size, and Darkvision for 2 BP. It’s hard to pin 
  down an ability score bonus since all of their physical 
  abilities are roughly the same (though not particularly 
  good), and none of their mental ability scores are any 
  good. So instead, let’s do something crazy and give 
  them two flexible +1 ability score increases, similar to 
  the variant humans presented in the Player’s 
  Handbook. That runs 3 BP, and make Hobgoblins a nice 
  parallel to humans. 
   Comparing the three types of Goblinoids, we can see 
  that they all have proficiency in Stealth, which seems 
  like a nice component to share between the three 
  races’ traits. 0.5 BP for a fixed skill proficiency. 
   We’re at 5.5 BP and we’ve covered everything but 
  Martial Advantage. The standard Hobgoblin deals 2d6 
  bonus damage, which is terrifying on a CR ½ creature. 
  A single successful usage with the standard Hobgoblin’s 
  longsword can do as much as 1d8+2d6+1 damage, 
  averaging 12.5 damage; enough to drop almost any 1st 
  level characters. Similarly, giving that much damage to 
  a player is considerably too powerful at low levels to be 
  usable. 
   Instead, let’s use the same damage scaling as 
  Surprise Attack (see the Bugbear Design Notes 
  presented earlier in this document). Martial 
  Advantage’s usage condition is considerably easier to 
  achieve, so it needs a correspondingly high BP cost. I 
  would call this as much as 4 BP, but since we have so 
  much wiggle room it doesn’t matter all that much. I’m 
  still worried about how much bonus damage this deals, 
  especially since it’s so reliable, but for 4 BP it needs to 
  be on par with a feat, and there are several feats which 
  I would consider better than this. 
   At something like 9.5 BP, Hobgoblins are a very solid 
  race. While they don’t have a lot of abilities, Martial 
  Advantage is a very strong option, providing a reliable 
  source of damage so long as the player’s allies 
  cooperate. This makes them the best of the goblinoid 
  races by 2 BP. 
   If you need to weaken Hobgoblins, drop the damage 
  bonus from Martial Advantage to d4’s instead of d6’s, 
  or adjust the damage scaling to 1d6 at 1st level and 2d6 
  at 11th level. 
  Homunculus 
  Small creatures created by spellcasters to serves as 
  spies, messengers, and companions.  
  Homunculus Traits 
  Homunculi share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Construct. You do not require air, 
  food, drink, or sleep. Instead, you enter a restful state, 
  remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. While 
  resting, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are 
  reflexive mental exercises inherent to your 
  consciousness. After resting in this way, you gain the 
  same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. As extensions of their creators, most 
  homunculi share their creator’s alignment. 
   Size. Your size is small. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 ft. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Magical Servant. You were created to serve your 
  master, a spellcaster of one kind or another. You can 
  share thoughts, senses, and languages through a 
  mystical bond. So long as you are on the same plane of 
  existence as your master, you can communicate 
  telepathically. You are immune to the charmed 
  condition. 
   So long as you live, your master cannot create 
  another homunculus. If your master dies, you die too. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 11 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Poison Immunity. You are immune to poison 
  damage, and immune to the poisoned condition. 
   Languages. You can understand, read, and write in 
  Common and any one language spoken by your 
  creator. 
  Playing a Homunculus 
  The homunculus is a small, nimble flyer. As such, it 
  does well fighting and range and performing as a scout. 
  Consider classes like ranger and rogue to take 
  advantage of your mobility.  
   The homunculus is a creature made to serve its 
  master. Consider who made your character: Who are 
  they? What do they want? What do they do? Why are 
  you off adventuring without them? 
  Design Notes 
  The homunculus requires some adjustment. At its core, 
  it’s a tiny flying humanoid with a function similar to a 
  familiar. I’m hesitant to leave the homunculus tied to a 
  
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  master, especially since the two share knowledge, 
  potentially granting the homunculus access to a huge 
  amount of knowledge not normally available to 
  players.  
   We also need to consider the homunculus’s master. 
  The telepathic bonding presents a considerable 
  advantage for the homunculus which we can’t fairly 
  grant to a player, but it’s also important to the flavor of 
  the creature. I think the best we can do is a vaguely-
  described trait with no specific implications, and leave 
  it up to the DM to implement. 
   Homunculi are constructs, costing 1 BP. 
   Homunculi have poor ability scores. Their only good 
  score is Dexterity, so we’ll grant the homunculus +1 
  Dexterity for 1 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get tiny size for -1.5 BP, +1 
  natural armor for 0.5 BP, 20 ft. walking speed for 0 BP, 
  30 ft. fly speed for 4 BP, poison immunity for 2 BP, and 
  Darkvision for 2 BP, and immunity to the Charmed 
  condition for 0.5 BP. Homunculi can’t speak for -1.5 BP, 
  but we’ll allow them to understand Common for 0 BP. 
  We’ll also add one flexible language for 0.5 BP to 
  reflect their master’s spoken language. 
   At 9 BP, the homunculus is within our target range of 
  8-10 BP. It’s a well-rounded flying creature, but doesn’t 
  have any really unique traits. If you want to strengthen 
  the homunculus, add a 1d4 damage natural weapon. If 
  you want to weaken the homunculus, reduce its flying 
  speed. 
  Hook Horror 
  Predators native to the Underdark, hook horrors are 
  named for their viciously hooked appendages. They 
  hunt in packs, and live in extended packs or “clans”. 
  Hook Horror Traits 
  Hook horrors share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Simple creatures of little intellect, most 
  hook horrors are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. and you 
  have a 30 ft. climb speed. 
   Blindsight. You have blindsight 30 ft. 
   Echolocation. You can’t use your blindsight while 
  deafened. 
   Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 10 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. 
   Hook. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 slashing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Keen Hearing. You have advantage on Wisdom 
  (Perception) checks that rely on hearing. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Hook 
  Horror. 
  Playing a Hook Horror 
  Big, durable, and deadly, hook horrors are terrifying 
  melee threats. Their climb speed and blindsight can 
  make them dangerous in many situations, including 
  magical darkness. Consider classes which do well in 
  melee like barbarian, monk, and fighter. 
  Design Notes 
  Hook horrors are fairly simple creatures. They’re 
  mostly your standard beast, but with some interesting 
  stuff around their senses. 
   Hook horrors are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   Like most beast-like creatures, Strength and 
  Constitution are the hook horror’s highest abilities, so 
  we’ll give it +1 to each for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), +3 natural armor (down from +5) for 1.5 BP, 30 
  ft. walking speed, 30 ft. climb speed for 2 BP, blindsight 
  30 ft. (down from 60 ft.) for 6 BP, echolocation for -1.5 
  BP, only racial languages for -1 BP, and keen hearing 
  for 0.5 BP. 
   The hook horror’s Darkvision is a bit odd. I don’t 
  know of another creature with so little Darkvision. Let’s 
  call it 0.5 BP. 
   Hook horrors have no hands for -2 BP, but we’ll set 
  their claw to a 1d8 natural weapon for 2 BP. 
   At 10.5 BP, the hook horror exceeds our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. It’s most notable issue is that it has 
  blindsight while not also being blind, making it a 
  fearsome threat when darkness or other sight-blocking 
  effects are a tactical option for a party of players. If you 
  want to strengthen the hook horror, increase its 
  natural armor. If you want to weaken the hook horror, 
  remove its Darkvision, reduce its blindsight range, or 
  remove one of its ability score increases. 
  Hydra 
  
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  Legendary reptilian creatures famed for their ability to 
  regrow their multiple heads, hydras are driven by 
  insatiable hunger.  
  Hydra Traits 
  Hydras share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts driven only 
  by hunger, most hydras are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. and a 30 ft. 
  swim speed. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 piercing damage 
  on a hit. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Hold Breath. You can hold your breath for 1 hour. 
   Multiple Heads. You have a number of heads equal 
  to your proficiency bonus. If you suffer damage from a 
  single source equal to or greater than your Constitution 
  score, one of your heads dies and falls off of your body. 
  On your next turn you may spend one hit die as a 
  bonus action to grow two additional heads. Roll the hit 
  die spent as though you were resting; you gain a 
  number of temporary hit points equal to your roll. 
  When these temporary hit points expire or are 
  depleted, the second head dies and falls off of your 
  body. 
   If you ever have 0 heads, you become incapacitated. 
  You may take no actions except to spend a bonus 
  action on your turn to grow two heads, at which point 
  you are no longer incapacitated and may act normally 
  for the remainder of your turn. If you have no more hit 
  dice to spend, you fall to 0 hit points and begin dying. 
  While you are in this state any healing allows you to 
  grow one head. 
   Whenever you spend a hit die to restore hit points 
  while resting, you may grow one head, up to your 
  normal number of heads. 
   While you have two or more heads which are awake, 
  you have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks 
  and on saving throws against being blinded, charmed, 
  deafened, frightened, stunned, and knocked 
  unconscious. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Wakeful. When you sleep, one of your heads is 
  awake. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Hydra 
  The hydra is a very complex race. The ability to lose 
  and regrow heads is a complicated mechanic, but it can 
  also be very powerful. However, regrowing heads cuts 
  into your pool of hit dice, so be careful not to burn 
  through them more quickly than you need to or you 
  will quickly find yourself headless and unable to heal. 
  Hydras thrive in close combat, so consider classes like 
  barbarian and fighter. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Hydras are among my favorite monsters to use as a 
  boss fight. Their variable number of heads and their 
  ability to rapidly increase and decrease in effectiveness 
  makes fights against them really chaotic and exciting. 
  Of course, a creature’s stats changing during a fight is a 
  really complicated issue for players. I want to preserve 
  the fun bits of the hydra without making it excessively 
  complicated. 
   Hydras are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but offering 
  no specific traits. 
   Like most beasts and monstrosities, Strength and 
  Constitution are the hydra’s best abilities. We’ll grant 
  +1 to each for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  huge), 30 ft. walking speed, 30 ft. swim speed for 1 BP, 
  Darkvision for 2 BP, and Hold Breath for 1 hour for 1 
  BP. We’ll treat the hydra as though it was awakened, 
  and allow it to speak Common for 0 BP. Hydras have no 
  hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set their bite to 1d8 damage 
  for 2 BP. 
   That brings our total 6.5 BP before we address the 
  issue of multiple heads. Fortunately, we’ve already 
  design the Ettin so we can draw on those ideas. The 
  hydra gets all of the same advantages for having 
  multiple heads, so we’ll duplicate the abilities from the 
  Ettin for the same total of 3.25 BP. 
   I want to expand on the multiple heads mechanic a 
  bit beyond the Ettin. I want the hydra’s number of 
  heads to be variable like the original monster, but we 
  can’t rely on the 25 damage mechanic since a fixed 
  
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  number doesn’t work well at every level. I still want a 
  mechanic for losing heads, and there’s a few ways we 
  could go. Each have pros and cons: 
  • Critical Hits: Lose a head when player receives a 
  critical hit. Dramatic and often unpredictable. May 
  be problematic in encounters with numerous 
  enemies. Doesn’t lose heads when they’re hit with 
  something that requires a saving throw but doesn’t 
  make an attack. 
  • Constitution Score: Lose a head when player takes 
  damage exceeding their Constitution score. Could be 
  a good way to tie to a scaling number. At low levels, 
  losing heads will be rare. At high levels, it will be very 
  common. Might place too much emphasis on 
  increasing the character’s Constitution score. 
  • Fraction of Hit Points: Lose a head when the player 
  takes damage exceeding a portion of their hit points, 
  like 1/4th. Scales well at every level, but won’t work 
  well with a fast regrowth mechanic. 
   I think that the Constitution Score option might be 
  the best. At low levels, losing a head will be rare 
  because enemies don’t do a lot of damage. That’s fine 
  with me. At high levels losing a head will become more 
  common, but the hydra will also be better prepared to 
  handle losing heads. This also allows the mechanic to 
  slowly work its way into the game, allowing the table 
  to grow accustomed to it over time instead of 
  expecting the group to adapt to it instantly. 
   Now that we’ve discussed losing heads, we need to 
  discuss regrowing them. For the monster, regrowing a 
  head grows two heads and restores 10 hit points. 
  That’s too good to grant to players as a racial ability. 
  Plus, I want regrowing a head to come with a cost of 
  some sort. 
   I think using hit dice might be an interesting solution. 
  They provide a growing pool for the hydra to draw on, 
  and using the natural healing mechanic to restore a 
  part of the character’s body seems reasonable. I don’t 
  want to cut into the character’s daily healing too badly, 
  so we’ll also let the hydra gain temporary hit points 
  from their hit die. 
   Unfortunately, I can’t begin to guess at a fair BP 
  assessment for the hydra. The multiple heads 
  mechanic is highly complex, so be very cautious about 
  including hydra characters in your game. If you want to 
  strengthen the hydra, increase its Strength increase. If 
  you want to weaken the hydra, remove or reduce the 
  temporary hit points granted be regrowing a head. 
  Intellect Devourer 
  A horrifying creature created the brain of a mind flayer 
  victim, the intellect devourer consumes the minds of 
  its victims and seize control of their bodies. 
  Intellect Devourer Traits 
  Intellect Devourer share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Aberration 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Pets created by mind flayers to serve 
  their tyrannical masters, most intellect devourers are 
  lawful evil. 
   Size. Your size is tiny. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 35 ft. 
   Blind Senses. You have no eyes, and are blind (and 
  therefore immune to the Blinded condition). You have 
  blindsight 30 ft.  
   Body Thief. If you would reduce a humanoid 
  creature to 0 hit points with Devour Intellect you may 
  attempt to seize control of the creature’s body as a 
  bonus action. Initiate an Intelligence contest with the 
  target. If you win the contest, instead of dealing the 
  psychic damage normally dealt by Devour Intellect you 
  magically consume the target’s brain, teleport into the 
  target’s skull, and take control of the target’s body. 
   While inside the creature, you have total cover 
  against attacks and other effects originating outside of 
  the host. You retain your Intelligence, Wisdom, and 
  Charisma scores, as well as your understanding of Deep 
  Speech, your telepathy, and your traits. You otherwise 
  adopt the target’s statistics. 
   You may remain inside the host for a number of 
  rounds equal to the creature’s Intelligence score. 
  During this time, you may access the creature’s mind 
  and memories. Each round, you may do one of the 
  following: 
  • Cast one of the creature’s spells using the 
  appropriate casting time for that spell 
  • Speak in a language the creature speaks as a free 
  action 
  • Recall one specific memory or piece of information 
  which the creatures knows as a bonus action 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Claws. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 slashing 
  damage on a hit. 
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
  
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   Devour Intellect. As an action, you can target one 
  creature that you can see within 10 feet of you and 
  which has a brain. The target must succeed on an 
  Intelligence saving throw or take 1d6 psychic damage. 
  The DC for this saving throw is 8 + your proficiency 
  bonus + your Intelligence modifier. The damage 
  increases by 1d6 when you reach 5th level (2d6), 11th 
  level (3d6), and 17th level (4d6). 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Telepathy. You can communicate telepathically with 
  any creature that knows a language within 30 ft.
   Languages. You can understand and read 
  Undercommon. 
  Playing an Intellect Devourer 
  The intellect devourer is a complicated creature. It’s 
  nimble and fast, which makes it a good Monk or Rogue. 
  It’s blindsight allows it easily located hidden and 
  invisible enemies, but the short range means that the 
  intellect devourer is often blind to nearby foes. 
   Devour Intellect and Body Thief allow the intellect 
  devourer to subdue foes with psychic damage, then 
  seize control the target’s body if it’s a humanoid. While 
  controlling a humanoid in this way, the intellect 
  devourer can use many of the creature’s abilities, 
  including its ability to cast spells, and can access a few 
  of the creature’s memories. However, Devour Intellect 
  has a very short range and needs to be timed carefully 
  to ensure a chance of success. 
  Design Notes 
  The intellect devourer is a super weird creature. It’s the 
  size of a house cat, but between its claws and its 
  special abilities it’s as lethal as many predatory 
  animals. Detect Sentience, Devour Intellect, and Body 
  Thief all require considerable design consideration, and 
  before we consider those abilities the intellect 
  devourer already has blindsight and telepathy. 
   Intellect devourers are aberrations, costing 0.5 BP 
  but offering no specific traits. 
   The intellect devourer’s ability scores aren’t great. Its 
  Dexterity, Constitution, and Intelligence are all above 
  10, but hardly enough to justify ability score increases. 
  We’ll grant the intellect devourer +1 Dexterity for 1 BP, 
  and save the rest of our BP for other abilities. 
   From the stat block, we get tiny size for -1.5 BP, 35 
  ft. walking speed (down from 40) for 1.5 BP (remember 
  that 20 is standard for tiny creatures). Intellect 
  devourers are blind for -4 BP, but have blindsight 30 ft. 
  (down from 60 ft.) for 6 BP. They can’t speak for -1.5 
  BP, but we’ll let them understand Undercommon for 0 
  BP, and they have 30 ft. telepathy (down from 60 ft.) 
  for 2 BP. Intellect devourers have no hands for -2 BP, 
  but we’ll set their natural weapons to 1d8 for 2 BP. 
  Because they qualify, we’ll add natural weapon finesse 
  for 0 BP. 
   That brings our total to 4 BP before we tackle the 
  intellect devourers other abilities. Detect sentience 
  insanely powerful for a player, so we’ll just dump it.  
   Devour Intellect is obviously too powerful for a 
  player. In a game where so many enemies have 3 
  Intelligence, the ability to one-shot them based on 
  their Intelligence is totally unfair. However, I think we 
  can retain the psychic damage component. If we reskin 
  a cantrip to deal psychic damage with an Intelligence 
  save and dump the stun effect, I think we can call this 
  0.5 BP. 
   Body Thief is really difficult. It’s very powerful and 
  fairly complicated, so I’m very hesitant to allow players 
  to use it. However, it’s also the intellect devourer’s 
  signature ability and removing it would essentially 
  invalidate the race’s design. We need to make it work, 
  but we also need to limit it very strictly. It has some 
  built-in limitations: a save, followed by an Intelligence 
  contest, and the target must be a humanoid. 
   If we allow Body Thief to be used at will, players will 
  spend all of their time using it. If we limit it to a certain 
  number of uses. On top of that, we’re potentially 
  handing players control of a powerful humanoid with 
  no duration limits. I want Body Thief to have a very 
  short time limit. 
   I think it makes sense to make Body Thief a rider 
  effect on devour intellect. Once the intellect devourer 
  is done devouring the target’s intellect, they should get 
  a chance to jump into the body briefly. We’ll allow the 
  intellect devourer to activate Body Thief as a bonus 
  action after dealing enough damage to drop a 
  humanoid to 0 hit points with Devour Intellect. 
   That still leaves the issue of essentially permanent 
  control of the victim. If we limit the duration of control 
  to 1 round per point of the creature’s Intelligence, we 
  solve two problems: the duration, and the fact that 
  low-intelligence creatures are extremely vulnerable to 
  Devour Intellect. This means that players can choose 
  an easy target and control it very briefly, or they can 
  choose an intelligent target and control it for a longer 
  period. 
   We also need to limit how much access the player 
  gets to the creature’s mind. Knowing everything that 
  
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  Races 
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  the creature know means that the intellect devourer 
  could potentially learn every secret in an adventure in 
  a single turn with very little effort on the player’s part. 
  We’ll limit access to the creature’s abilities so that the 
  intellect devourer can only use or recall fragments of 
  the creature’s memories. 
   Even with these adjustments, Body Thief is 
  potentially a very powerful ability. We’ll allow it to 
  recharge on a short rest, and call this 4 BP. 
   At 8.5 BP, the intellect devourer is within our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the 
  intellect devourer, increase the range of Devour 
  Intellect. If you want to weaken the Intellect Devourer, 
  reduce the damage die size of Devour Intellect. 
  Invisible Stalker 
  Invisible stalkers are air elementals magically bound to 
  retrieve objects and hunt creatures for its master. 
  Invisible Stalker Traits 
  Invisible stalkers share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Elemental. You do not require air, 
  food, drink, or sleep. Instead, you enter a restful state, 
  remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. While 
  resting, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are 
  reflexive mental exercises inherent to your 
  consciousness. After resting in this way, you gain the 
  same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Having no culture, society, or solid form 
  on their home planes, most elementals are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Air Body. You are immune to the exhaustion, 
  grappled, petrified, prone, restrained, and unconscious 
  conditions. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Faultless Tracker. You may add double your 
  proficiency bonus to Wisdom (Survival) checks to track 
  a creature or locate an object so long as your quarry is 
  on the same plane of existence. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet, and can 
  hover. 
   Hidden Step. As a bonus action, you can magically 
  turn invisible until the start of your next turn or until 
  you attack, make a damage roll, or force someone to 
  make a saving throw.  
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Poison Resilience. You have advantage on saving 
  throws against poison, and you have resistance against 
  poison damage.  
   Slam. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 bludgeoning 
  damage on a hit. 
   Unstable Form. Your body is not completely rigid, 
  and your limbs often fluctuate in size and shape as you 
  move. You are unable to wear armor. You are unable 
  to wield weapons or wear shields, and cannot use 
  items which require manipulation, including 
  spellcasting foci, wands, tools, etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Auran 
  and understand Common. 
  Playing an Invisible Stalker 
  The invisible stalker is similar in many ways to the air 
  elemental, but gives up the air elementals ability to 
  cast the gust cantrip for the ability to vanish, and 
  expertise in tracking creatures. Consider classes like 
  monk, ranger, and rogue which can take advantage of 
  these abilities easily. Since invisible stalkers can’t hold 
  or use objects, they can’t use weapons or spell foci, 
  making it difficult for them to function as spellcasters. 
   Invisible stalkers are created to serve the commands 
  of their masters until the magic binding them expires. 
  Their task might compel them to cooperate with other 
  adventurers, but their career might suddenly come to 
  an end when their task is complete if their master dies. 
  Invisible stalkers are unwilling servants, so they might 
  welcome this release. 
  Design Notes 
  The invisible stalker is similar in many ways to the air 
  elemental. However, while air elementals fly about and 
  blow stuff around the air stalker flies around being 
  sneaky and murdering people. Still, we can borrow a 
  lot of design work from the air elemental. 
   Invisible Stalkers are elementals, costing 1 BP. 
   Invisible stalkers have several good ability scores. 
  Dexterity is the best by far, followed by Strength, 
  Wisdom, and Constitution. We’ll grant the invisible 
  stalker +1 Dexterity for 1 BP and save our remaining BP 
  for other traits. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, 30 ft. 
  walking speed (down from 50 ft.), 30 ft. fly speed 
  (down from 50 ft.) for 4 BP with the ability to hover for 
  2 BP, Poison Resilience for 1 BP (down from immunity), 
  Darkvision for 2 BP, and racial languages plus Common 
  for 0 BP.  
  
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   We’ll duplicate the air elemental’s condition 
  immunities for 3 BP, but we’ll drop the invisible 
  stalker’s damage resistances. Since invisible stalkers 
  are made of air, we’ll disallow armor for -3 BP. They 
  also have no hands for -2 BP. We’ll give them a 1d8 
  slam attack for 2 BP. 
   This brings us to 10 BP, which is problem since we 
  haven’t tackled the invisible stalker’s Invisibility or 
  Faultless Tracker abilities.  
   We’ll add Hidden Step for 2 BP. It’s not nearly as 
  good as it really should be to adapt the invisible stalker, 
  but perpetual invisibility obviously isn’t viable on a 
  player race.  
   Faultless Tracker is too good for a variety of reasons. 
  It’s infallible as long as you’re on the right plane, 
  making it more powerful in some ways than many high-
  level divination spells. The core of the ability is 
  tracking, so we’ll grant Expertise in Survival for the 
  purposes of tracking for 1 BP. 
   At 13 BP, the invisible stalker exceeds our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. It’s frustrating close to the air 
  elemental, and the air elemental is a bit better 
  balanced. If you want to strengthen the invisible 
  stalker, allow it to function as though it had hands. If 
  you want to weaken the invisible stalker, reduce its 
  slam damage. 
  Jackalwere 
  Jackalweres are shapechangers which function similarly 
  to lycanthropes, but get their abilities from a very 
  different source. Imbued with demonic power, they 
  exist to serve their lamia masters. 
  Jackalwere Traits 
  Jackalweres share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Humanoid (shapechanger) 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Evil creatures made to lie and deceive, 
  most jackalweres are chaotic evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 35 ft. 
   Keen Hearing and Smell. You have advantage on 
  Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or 
  smell. 
   Pack Tactics. As a bonus action you may take 
  advantage of the presence of your allies. You gain 
  Advantage on the next attack roll you make this turn 
  against a creature if at least one of your allies is within 
  5 feet of the creature and the ally isn’t incapacitated. 
   Shapechanger. As an action, you can polymorph into 
  a specific Medium human or a jackal-humanoid hybrid, 
  or back into your true form (that of a Small jackal). 
  Other than your size, your statistics are the same in 
  each form. Any equipment you are holding or wearing 
  is not transformed. You retain all of your own statistics, 
  except as noted below. You revert to your true form if 
  you die. 
   While in your true form (that of a Small jackal), you 
  cannot speak, and Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 
  piercing damage on a hit. You have no hands, and as 
  such you are unable to wield weapons or wear shields, 
  and cannot use items which require manipulation, 
  including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, etc. 
   While in your hybrid form Your unarmed strikes deal 
  1d4 piercing damage on a hit. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Jackalwere 
  If you want to play a lycanthrope but don’t want to 
  deal with complicated templates, the jackalwere is a 
  good option. While technically not lycanthrope, the 
  jackalwere functions very similarly and avoids 
  problems incurred by natural cycles of the moon.  
   With a small Dexterity increase and two keen senses, 
  the jackalwere makes a great ranger or rogue, allowing 
  it to move about cautiously and locate threats while 
  also avoiding detection. 
   Jackalweres were created to serve lamias, which are 
  powerful evil creatures. As such, jackalweres typically 
  have evil, destructive personalities. Consider if your 
  character serves a lamia or some other similar entity, 
  and consider how that fits you into your party. 
  Design Notes 
  Jackalweres are similar in some ways to lycanthropes, 
  so when we get to designing lycanthropes I hope to 
  borrow some of the design work we’ll do here. The 
  most difficult mechanic of the jackalwere is its 
  Shapechanger ability, but we can borrow work done 
  for the Quasit and the Yochlol, so even that shouldn’t 
  be too difficult. Pack tactics also presents a challenge, 
  but it’s one that we’ll need to tackle to handle a lot of 
  other creatures. 
   Jackalweres are humanoids with the shapechanger 
  subtype, costing 0.25 BP. 
   The jackalwere’s best ability is Dexterity and its 
  Intelligence are above average, but the rest of its 
  abilities hang around 10.  We’ll grant the Jackalwere +1 
  Dexterity for 1 BP, and save the rest of our BP for other 
  things. 
  
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   From the stat block, we get medium size, 35 ft. 
  speed (down from 40 ft.) for 0.5 BP, Common for 0 BP, 
  and two keen senses for a total of 1 BP.  
   Pack Tactics presents a serious problem. Advantage 
  on attacks should never be this easy to get. With the 
  availability of familiars, animal companions, or even 
  expendable NPCs Pack Tactics essentially guarantees 
  advantage on all melee attacks. No amount of BP can 
  make this fair, so we need to reduce the effects. 
   After a lot of investigation, I’ve noticed that 
  creatures in the Monster Manual with pack tactics 
  never have multiattack (with the exception of giant 
  vultures) and almost never have abilities which use a 
  bonus action. This have me a clever idea: to limit Pack 
  Tactics, we’ll require it to be activated as a bonus 
  action and to only apply on the user’s next attack that 
  round. Using a bonus action to activate this makes it 
  reasonably accessible, but cuts into the character’s 
  action economy, especially at higher levels where 
  bonus action abilities become common. This is still very 
  good, so we’ll call it 5 BP.  
   At 7.75 BP, we’ve got very little room to tackle the 
  jackalwere’s Shapechanger and Sleep Gaze abilities.  
   Sleep Gaze is a really powerful ability. It doesn’t have 
  a hit point cap like the sleep spell, so it’s always useful. 
  It also doesn’t allow repeated saves, arguably making it 
  better than powerful spells like hold monster. After 
  considering a slew of ways to limit the ability, I can’t 
  find anything better than the sleep spell, which 
  becomes largely useless beyond low levels. Instead of 
  burning BP on a throw-away ability, we’ll abandon 
  Sleep Gaze. 
   The Jackalwere’s hybrid form essentially dominates 
  the function of its Shapechanger ability. Jackal form 
  and humanoid form are fine for sneaking around or 
  avoiding notice, but hybrid form combines the best 
  aspects of the two with no drawback. The jackal and 
  hybrid forms both add a 1d4 natural weapon (worth 1 
  BP), but the different forms don’t grant wildly different 
  utility like those of the Yochlol. Since we assessed the 
  yochlol’s Shapechanger ability at 2 BP, we’ll call the 
  jackalwere’s 1.5 BP. 
   At 9.25 BP, the jackalwere is within our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. It’s a reasonably effective race which 
  introduces a lycanthropy-style mechanic without 
  complicated templates. If you want to strengthen the 
  jackalwere, allow it to cast Sleep once per day starting 
  at 3rd level. If you want to weaken the jackalwere, only 
  allow it to use Keen Hearing and Smell while in jackal 
  or hybrid form. 
  Kenku 
  Kenku are raven-like humanoids, cursed by an ancient 
  master for their greed and duplicity. Now, Kenku 
  wander the earth as vagabonds, begging or stealing 
  whatever baubles they can find. 
   The official traits for Kenku are presented in Volo’s 
  Guide to Monsters. The traits presented here are 
  developed to reflect the monster stats presented in the 
  Monster Manual. 
  Kenku Traits 
  Kenku share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Humanoid (Kenku) 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Kenku prize beautiful baubles, and often 
  seek to acquire them through deception, trickery, and 
  crime. Most Kenku are chaotic neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Ambusher. You have advantage on attack rolls 
  against any creature you have surprised. 
   Deceptive. You are proficient in Deception. 
   Mimicry. You can mimic any sounds you have heard, 
  including voices. A creature that hears the sounds can 
  tell they are imitations with a successful Insight check 
  against a DC equal to 8 + your Charisma (Deception) 
  bonus. 
   Stealthy. You are proficient in Stealth. 
   Talons. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 slashing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Languages. You can understand, read, and write in 
  Common and Auran, but are unable to speak except 
  through your Mimicry ability. 
  Playing a Kenku 
  Kenku excel as Rogues. Their natural Dexterity, coupled 
  with Ambusher and Mimicry, allow them to accomplish 
  all sorts of clever tactics. 
   Because Kenku rely on mimicry for speech, you may 
  have trouble speaking with your party. Establish clear 
  forms of communication (specific signals, secretive 
  messages, etc.) to convey crucial information with 
  trusted allies. 
  Design Notes 
  Kenku are a very simple humanoid race. Their only 
  unique ability is their speech, which is easy to quantify 
  and has few strict mechanical implications. 
   Kenku are humanoid, which costs 0 BP and includes 
  no special abilities. 
  
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   Kenku’s only high ability score is Dexterity, so a +2 to 
  Dexterity for 2 BP is an obvious decision. The NPC 
  Traits table in the Dungeon Master’s Guide agrees.  
   From the stat block, we get medium size, 30 ft. walk 
  speed, and racial languages plus common. Kenku can’t 
  speak normally, but that’s offset by the Kenku’s 
  mimicry ability for 1 BP, which allows mostly normal 
  speech by shuffling words and phrases which the 
  Kenku has heard before. 
   Ambusher costs another 1 BP, bringing us to 3 BP. 
  That’s extremely low, so we’ll grant Deception 
  proficiency and Stealth proficiency for another 1 BP. 
   We’re still at really low BP, so I’ll dip back into 3.5 for 
  some ideas. Kenku in 3.5 had usable talons, so for 1 BP 
  we’ll give the Kenku talons that deal 1d4 damage. 
   At just 6 BP, Kenku are well below our target BP 
  range. I recommend using the official version of the 
  Kenku, though you may consider the adjustments I 
  suggest in the “Published Races” section presented 
  later in this document. 
  Kobolds 
  Kobolds are small, reptilian humanoids who worship 
  and revere dragons. They frequently occupy dungeons, 
  where they accumulate tiny hordes and seek to 
  emulate the grandiosity of true dragons. 
  Kobold Traits 
  Kobolds share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Humanoid (kobold) 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Kobolds obey the orders of their leader, 
  typically either a Kobold elder or a real dragon. Most 
  Kobolds are lawful evil. 
   Size. Your size is small. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Sunlight Sensitivity. You have disadvantage on 
  attack rolls and on Wisdom (Perception) checks that 
  rely on sight when you, the target of your attack, or 
  whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct 
  sunlight.  
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Draconic. 
   Subrace. Choose one of these subraces. You gain the 
  traits listed under your chosen subrace in addition to 
  those listed above. 
  Kobold 
   Pack Tactics. As a bonus action you may take 
  advantage of the presence of your allies. You gain 
  Advantage on the next attack roll you make this turn 
  against a creature if at least one of your allies is within 
  5 feet of the creature and the ally isn’t incapacitated. 
  Winged Kobold 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Charisma. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
  Playing a Kobold 
  Kobolds are small, nimble humanoids. Normal Kobolds 
  make excellent Fighters, Rangers, and Rogues, 
  especially in parties where they can count on their 
  allies for Pack Tactics. Winged Kobolds make good 
  Fighters and Rangers, but also make good Sorcerers 
  and Warlocks. 
   Kobolds tend to be follows more often than leaders, 
  but a charismatic Kobold, especially one with wings, 
  can be an effective leader in a monstrous party. 
  Design Notes 
  Kobolds are an icon of Dungeons and Dragons, and 
  have been around in various incarnations for a long 
  time. They’ve seen all manner of interpretations, but 
  are generally famous for being the frail, disposable 
  canon-fodder of dragons looking to build a quick 
  following. They are very mechanically simple, 
  complicated only by Pack Tactics and the possibility of 
  wings. 
   Kobolds are humanoid, which costs 0 BP and 
  includes no special abilities. 
   Kobolds’ only high ability score is Dexterity, so a +2 
  to Dexterity for 2 BP is an obvious decision. The NPC 
  Traits table in the Dungeon Master’s Guide agrees, but 
  also specifies a -4 to Strength. I’ve chosen to do away 
  
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  Races 
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  with racial ability score penalties, so we’ll ignore the 
  suggested Strength penalty. 
   From the Kobold’s stat block, we get 30 ft. walking 
  speed for 0.5 BP, small size for -1 BP, Darkvision for 2 
  BP, and racial languages plus Common. 
   Sunlight sensitivity is -2 BP, and a huge hindrance for 
  most adventurers. That brings us to just 1.5 BP. 
   The only things remaining are Pack Tactics, and flight 
  for winged kobolds. Flight at a 30 ft. speed is 4 BP, 
  bringing Winged Kobolds up to 5.5 BP. 
   Pack tactics is a major design consideration. Totally 
  fine on weak creatures like hyenas and Kobolds, it’s a 
  huge tactical option for player characters. A Rogue can 
  already Sneak Attack any foe with an adjacent ally, but 
  Advantage dramatically improves the reliability of the 
  Rogue’s attacks. Adding the possibilities of things like 
  summoned creatures and familiars means that any 
  player putting in a tiny bit of effort is guaranteed 
  perpetual Advantage on their attacks. We’ll call this 5 
  BP. 
   I think that it makes sense to reserve Pack Tactics for 
  non-winged Kobolds. It’s a tactical advantage similar to 
  the ability to fly, and I think it makes sense that 
  Kobolds stuck on the ground would benefit more from 
  the assistance of allies than Kobolds who could solve 
  problems by flying. 
   Pack Tactics costs 5 BP, so I’ll also grant Winged 
  Kobolds a +1 to Charisma to represent their stronger 
  Draconic heritage, and their tendency to become 
  leaders among their people. 
   At 6.5 BP, kobolds are below our target range of 8-10 
  BP. They present some interesting options, but have 
  few racial traits compared to published races. If you 
  want to strengthen kobolds, grant proficiency in 
  Stealth or add the Grovel, Cower, and Beg ability from 
  the official version of the race. 
  Kraken 
  Created to serve as soldiers in ancient war waged by 
  the gods, kraken now lurk the depths of the oceans, 
  driven by the violent urge to destroy the gods who 
  created them. 
  Kraken Traits 
  Krakens share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Evil creatures bent on destroying the 
  gods which created them, most krakens are chaotic 
  evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 15 ft. You have a 
  swim speed of 40 ft. 
   Bite and Tentacles. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 
  bludgeoning or piercing damage on a hit. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Lightning Resistance. You have resistance to 
  lightning damage. 
   Lightning Storm. As an action, you may target one 
  creature you can see within 30 ft. of you. The target 
  must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or take 1d8 
  lightning damage. The DC for this saving throw is 8 + 
  your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier. The 
  damage increases by 1d8 when you reach 5th level 
  (2d8), 11th level (3d8), and 17th level (4d8). 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 12 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Abyssal, Celestial, Infernal, and Primordial. 
  Playing a Kraken 
  Kraken are strong and durable, making them excellent 
  barbarians and fighters. However, lacking hands they 
  are unable to easily rely on weapons, shields, or other 
  tools. Lightning Storm offers a useful ranged option, 
  but most of the kraken’s fighting will be done with its 
  bite and tentacles. 
   Krakens are evil creatures who hate the gods, so 
  they won’t fit well into a party with religious characters 
  like clerics or paladins, even if those characters worship 
  evil deities. 
  Design Notes 
  Like any legendary creature with a high CR, the kraken 
  requires a lot of trimming. In a lot of ways the kraken is 
  basically an octopus, but it has some additional magical 
  abilities related to storms. I don’t want this to be 
  octopus with additional stuff, so the kraken will need 
  to give up some of the octopus’s traits in exchange for 
  some magical options. In fact, it may be best to start 
  from the giant octopus and adjust it to better fit the 
  flavor of the kraken. 
   Krakens are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
  
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   With the exception of Dexterity, all of the kraken’s 
  abilities scores are good. Unfortunately, that doesn’t 
  make selecting ability score increases easy. Krakens are 
  extremely intelligent, but they’re primarily known for 
  being big and smashing stuff. As such, we’ll grant the 
  Kraken +1 Strength and +1 Constitution for 2 BP. 
   From comparing the kraken and giant octopus stat 
  blocks, we can take a few common elements. We’ll 
  reduce the kraken’s size to medium, drop natural 
  armor to +2 for 1 BP, adjust the krakens walking speed 
  to 15 ft. for -1.5 BP, adjust swimming speed to 40 ft. for 
  1.5 BP, reduce lightning immunity to lightning 
  resistance for 2 BP, drop immunity to non-magic 
  weapon damage, and drop the condition immunities. 
  Truesight is way too powerful for a player race, but we 
  can drop it to Darkvision for 2 BP.  
   Krakens speak only racial languages for -1 BP, plus 3 
  fixed languages for a total of 0.75 BP. Real krakens 
  don’t speak and have telepathy, but we’ll let krakens 
  speak normally to keep things simple and to save BP. 
  We’ll keep Amphibious for 1 BP, but we’ll dump Siege 
  Monster. Krakens have no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll 
  set their natural weapons at 1d8 for 2 BP. 
   At 8.25 we’ve got a little bit of room for the kraken’s 
  remaining abilities. We’ll drop the kraken’s grapple 
  ability to save BP and we’ll drop Fling ability because 
  it’s too hard to adapt to something as small as 
  medium. That just leaves Lightning Storm and Ink 
  Cloud. 
   The kraken’s version of ink cloud adds a poison 
  damage effect, but I think we’ll drop that to keep the 
  ability from becoming problematic. Instead, we’ll 
  largely duplicate the giant octopus’s version. The giant 
  octopus’s ink cloud is very similar to the fog cloud spell. 
  Ink Cloud’s duration is much shorter an only works in 
  water, so we’ll allow it to be used once per short rest 
  and call it 1 BP. 
   Lightning Storm is a really cool ability, but it’s also 
  way too powerful to add to a race. Instead, we’ll reskin 
  a cantrip to deal lightning damage. I think it makes 
  sense for Lightning Storm to require a save instead of 
  the kraken making a spell attack, so we’ll duplicate the 
  sacred flame cantrip and alter it to deal lightning 
  damage for 0.5 BP. 
   At 9.75 BP, the kraken is within our target range of 8-
  10 BP. It’s a quick swimmer with decent traits, and a 
  fun ranged magical option. If you want to strengthen 
  the kraken, increase its natural armor. If you want to 
  weaken the kraken, reduce the damage dealt by 
  Lightning Storm from d8’s to d6’s. 
  Kuo-Toa 
  Kuo-Toa are subterranean fish people that worship 
  gods which they invent on their own, then bring into 
  existence through the force of their faith. 
  Kuo-Toa Traits 
  Kuo-Toa share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Humanoid (kuo-toa) 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Stength, -2 Charisma, +1 
  any other. 
   Alignment. Kuo-Toa are insane creatures prone to 
  creating their own gods, and are led by brutal 
  archpriests. Most Kuo-Toa are neutral evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. You have a 
  swim speed of 30 ft. 
   Amphibious. You can breathe air and water. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 11 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Otherworldly Perception. You can sense the 
  presence of any creature within 30 feet of you that is 
  invisible or on the Ethereal Plane. You can pinpoint 
  such a creature that is moving. 
   Slippery. You have advantage on ability checks and 
  saving throws made to escape a grapple. 
   Sunlight Sensitivity. You have disadvantage on 
  attack rolls and on Wisdom (Perception) checks that 
  rely on sight when you, the target of your attack, or 
  whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct 
  sunlight.  
   Superior Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 
  120 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. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Undercommon. 
  Playing a Kuo-Toa 
  Kuo-Toa’s ability increases makes them versatile, and 
  their other abilities allow them to function in a variety 
  of environments. However, Sunlight Sensitivity means 
  that most of your outdoor/above ground adventuring 
  will need to be done at night. 
  Design Notes 
  Kuo-Toa’s racial traits are fairly straightforward. Their 
  most notable ability is Otherworldly Perception, which 
  isn’t difficult to quantify. 
   Kuo-Toa are humanoid, which costs 0 BP and 
  includes no special abilities. 
  
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  Races 
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   The Monster Manual presents Kuo-Toa with no 
  especially high ability scores, and the Dungeon 
  Master’s Guide’s NPC Traits table suggests no ability 
  score increases. While that’s fine for a monster which 
  players will slay en masse, it’s not viable for a playable 
  race. The monster stat block has above average 
  Strength and below average Charisma, so we’ll grant 
  +1 Strength for 1 BP. That’s not very exciting, so we’ll 
  add a flexible +1 which can be applied to other ability 
  score. 
   From the Kuo-Toa’s stat block, we get medium size, a 
  30 foot walking speed, a 30 foot swim speed for 1 BP, 
  superior Darkvision for 3 BP, and +1 natural armor for 
  0.5 BP. 
   From the Kuo-Toa’s special abilities, we get 
  Amphibious for 1 BP, Slippery for 0.5 BP, and Sunlight 
  Sensitivity for -2 BP, bringing us to 6.5 BP. 
   Otherworldly Perception exactly replicates the 
  effects of the See Invisibility spell with a permanent 
  duration. See Invisibility’s duration is already 1 hour 
  long, which is long enough that we can comfortable call 
  Otherworldly Perception somewhere slightly above 2 
  BP. We’ll call it 2.5 BP. 
   At a total of 9 BP, the Kuo-Toa is within our target BP 
  range of 8-10. They’re a nice, versatile race with a few 
  cool abilities. If you need to strengthen Kuo-Toa, grant 
  them additional natural armor. If you need to weaken 
  Kuo-Toa, remove the flexible ability increase. 
   I haven’t touched on the Kuo-Toa’s unique 
  equipment. Including those items is up to you. I’m 
  hesitant to allow the sticky shield to players, but it’s a 
  fun tactical option which your players might enjoy. 
  Lamia 
  Evil, hedonistic creatures that resemble lions with 
  humanoid upper bodies in place of a lion’s head. 
  Lamia Traits 
  share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity. 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Charisma. 
   Alignment. Selfish hedonists, most lamia are chaotic 
  evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Claws. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 slashing damage on 
  a hit. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Innate Spellcasting. You know the minor illusion 
  cantrip. Starting at 3rd level, you can cast the disguise 
  self spell once per day. Charisma is your spellcasting 
  ability for these spells. 
   Intoxicating Touch. As an action, you can attempt to 
  touch a target and inflict them with a curse. Make a 
  melee spell attack against a creature within reach. On a 
  hit, the target is magically cursed for 1 hour. The 
  targets has Disadvantage on the next Wisdom saving 
  throw made during this hour, at which point this effect 
  ends immediately. Charisma is your spellcasting ability 
  for this attack. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Abyssal. 
  Playing a Lamia 
  Charismatic and possessing the ability to cast illusions 
  innately, Lamia are natural Sorcerers and Warlocks. 
  However, their ability to magically disguise themselves 
  and their natural charisma can also make them tricky 
  rogues. 
   Lamia are selfish, and hedonistic, and tend to 
  surround themselves with sycophants and toadies. This 
  makes them natural party leaders, but they may have 
  personality conflicts with characters who don’t take 
  orders and won’t defer to the Lamia’s clear superiority. 
  Design Notes 
  The lamia is a good mix of magical and melee abilities. I 
  want to emphasize its magical abilities primarily since 
  the lamia is by design a “lead from the rear” sort of 
  creature, but I’ll include the melee capabilities as a 
  backup. 
   Lamias are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but offering 
  no specific traits. 
   The lamia’s ability scores are all good, which makes it 
  difficult to select ability increases. Charisma is the 
  lamia’s spellcasting ability, so that’s a good choice. It’s 
  tempting to also grant a Strength increase, but if we 
  adjust for size the Lamia’s Strength is about the same 
  as its other abilities. We’ll grant +2 Charisma for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), we’ll drop the natural armor, 30 ft. walking 
  speed, Darkvision for 2 BP, and racial languages plus 
  Common. We’ll drop the lamia’s natural weapons 
  down to 1d4 for 1 BP. 
   At just 5 BP, we have lots of room for the lamia’s 
  remaining abilities. Innate spellcasting won’t be 
  difficult, but Intoxicating Touch requires some thought. 
  
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   As written, Intoxicating Touch is too good. It’s easy 
  to optimize a single attack, and thereafter the target of 
  Intoxicating Touch becomes a laughably easy target for 
  spells with Wisdom saving throws like Dominate 
  Monster, making even the most powerful monster a 
  negligible threat for the Lamia. To limit the ability, we’ll 
  only allow it to apply Disadvantage once, and we’ll limit 
  it to once per short rest. We’ll call that 2 BP. 
   That brings us to 7 BP before we tackle the Lamia’s 
  innate spellcasting. I’m expecting a lot of lamia 
  sorcerers and warlocks, so I don’t think we need to 
  keep everything, but we should touch the highlights. 
  Lamia get enchantment and illusion spells across 
  several spell levels, and they can cast Disguise Self and 
  Major Image at will. We’ll drop all of the spells above 
  first level outright. If we keep Disguise Self but drop it 
  once per short rest, that will cost 2.5 BP. Replacing 
  Major Illusion with Minor Illusion costs 0.5 BP, and still 
  gets at the same feeling without giving a first-level 
  player anything crazy. And just like that, we’re at 10 
  BP. 
   At 10 BP, the lamia is at the top of our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the Lamia, allow 
  it to cast disguise self at 1st level, or allow it to be cast 
  will. If you want to weaken the lamia, reduce disguise 
  self to once per long rest. 
  Lich [Template: Acquired] 
  The undead remains of evil wizards, liches are among 
  the most powerful magic users in the multiverse. 
  Becoming a Lich 
  The process of becoming a lich is a closely guarded 
  secret, known only to some of the most vile and 
  powerful creatures in the multiverse. To become a lich, 
  a wizard must bargain with a fiend, evil deity, or 
  similarly powerful evil entity which possesses the 
  knowledge required to become a lich. These creatures 
  often demand fealty or some significant service in 
  exchange for this precious knowledge. 
   Once they gain the knowledge to do so, when the 
  prospective lich attains enough experience to gain a 
  level, they must create their phylactery. A phylactery 
  must take the form of an object with an interior space 
  no smaller than three cubic inches, and contains magic 
  symbols magically inscribed in silver. The most 
  common form of phylactery is an amulet in the shape 
  of a small box, but it may take the form of any 
  qualifying object with your Dungeon Master's 
  permission. The components to create the phylactery 
  cost 1000gp, plus the cost of any special materials 
  specific to the prospective lich's phylactery design. 
   Once the phylactery is created and the prospective 
  lich is ready to take their first level in the lich template, 
  the prospective lich must perform a ritual to complete 
  the process. This ritual requires the sacrifice of a living, 
  intelligent creature with a soul such as a human. The 
  victim's blood is used to craft a poison potion, and the 
  victim's soul is fed to the phylactery by casting the 
  imprisonment spell, which the prospective lich must 
  cast themself. 
   Upon drinking the potion, the prospective lich 
  immediately dies. After 24 hours, if the victim's soul 
  has not been freed from the phylactery (by casting 
  dispel magic on the phylactery as a 9th-level spell), the 
  victim's soul is utterly destroyed and cannot be 
  restored except by divine intervention. The lich's soul is 
  then bound to the phylactery, and the lich's body 
  reanimates as a lich. 
   After reanimating, the character immediately gains 
  their first level in the lich template. They must take all 
  three levels of the template before they can take levels 
  in another class or template. 
  Lich Traits 
  All liches have the following traits, adding these traits 
  to their existing racial traits upon gaining the template. 
  Hit Points 
  • Hit Dice. 1d6 per lich level 
  • Hit Points at Higher Levels. 1d6 (or 4) + your 
  Constitution modifier per lich level 
  Traits 
  Liches gain the following traits at each level, as 
  indicated on the table below. 
  Level 
  Features 
  1 
  Transformation, Undead Nature, Phylactery, 
  Spellcasting 
  2 
  Lich Resistances 
  3 
  Frightening Gaze, Paralyzing Touch 
   Transformation. You replace your current creature 
  type with Undead, but retain any subtypes. 
   You don’t require air, food, drink, or sleep. Instead, 
  you enter a restful state, remaining semiconscious, for 
  4 hours a day. While resting, you can dream after a 
  fashion; such dreams are reflexive mental exercises 
  inherent to your consciousness. After resting in this 
  way, you gain the same benefit that a human does 
  from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Undead Nature. You have resistance to necrotic 
  damage. You have immunity to the poisoned condition, 
  and to poison damage.  
  
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   Phylactery. Your soul is bound to your phylactery. If 
  your body is every destroyed, the phylactery begins to 
  emit magical smoke. After 1d10 days, your body 
  reforms in an empty space adjacent to your phylactery. 
  If your phylactery is destroyed, you die immediately 
  and your soul is destroyed. Nothing short of divine 
  intervention can restore you. 
   In order to continue functioning, you must 
  occasionally feed souls to the phylactery. To do so, a 
  special version of the imprisonment spell must be cast 
  on a living, sentient creature with a soul within 5 feet 
  of the phylactery. While the lich typically casts this 
  spell, any spellcaster capable of casting the 
  imprisonment spell may perform the sacrifice. 
   Upon doing so, the creature's body falls into a death-
  like stasis and its soul is imprisoned within the 
  phylactery. A soul can be released from the phylactery 
  by casting *dispel magic* upon it as a 9th-level spell. If 
  the soul is not freed with 24 hours, the creature's body 
  dies and the phylactery consumes the creature's soul in 
  order to sustain you, destroying it utterly. Nothing 
  short of divine intervention can restore the creature. 
   You are sustained for one year per hit die of the 
  sacrificed creature. If another creature is sacrificed 
  before this time expires, the old spirit’s sustenance is 
  lost and replaced by the new spirit, provided that the 
  new spirit’s sustenance would end upon a later date 
  than that of the original spirit. 
   At the end of this period, your body and mind begin 
  to rapidly decay. You suffer a -1 penalty to each of your 
  ability scores, starting at midnight the day after the 
  imprisoned soul has been fully consumed. Every 24 
  hours, this penalty increases by 1. When your Strength 
  or Dexterity score falls to 0, your body falls immobile. 
  You are mentally aware, but can take no actions. When 
  your Wisdom or Charisma score falls to 0, your mind 
  goes into a vegetative state, and you are thoughtless, 
  helpless, and can take no actions. When your 
  Constitution or Intelligence score falls to 0, your body 
  decays into ash, your mind slips into a vegetative state, 
  and you become a Demilich. If a soul is ever sacrificed 
  to your phylactery, you reform instantly, returning to 
  full lich-dom. 
   Spellcasting. Upon gaining each level in the Lich 
  template, you are treated as one Wizard level higher 
  for the purposes of Spellcasting, including spell slots 
  and the level of spells which you can prepare with that 
  class. 
   Lich Resistances. You have resistance to cold 
  damage and lightning damage, and you have 
  advantage on saving throws against any effect which 
  turns undead. 
   Frightening Gaze. As an action, you can magically 
  terrify a creature with your gaze. Target one creature 
  within 60 feet of you that you can see. If the target can 
  see you, it must make a Wisdom saving throw or 
  become frightened until the end of your next turn. The 
  DC for this saving throw equals 8 + your Charisma 
  modifier + your proficiency bonus. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Paralyzing Touch. As an action, you may touch a 
  creature and magically paralyze them. Make a melee 
  spell attack. On a hit, the target takes 3d6 cold damage 
  and must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or be 
  paralyzed for 1 minute. You must maintain 
  concentration during that time, as if you were casting a 
  spell. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end 
  of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a 
  success. The DC of this saving throw is 8 + your 
  proficiency bonus + your Constitution modifier. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
  Design Notes 
  The lich is one of my favorite creatures in Dungeons 
  and Dragons. Their immortality allows them to take a 
  very long view of the world, plotting evil schemes 
  which might take centuries to come to fruition. They 
  have a pile of resistances which make them difficult to 
  defeat, plus several excellent plot ideas built right into 
  their mechanics. I want to be very careful to do the lich 
  justice. 
   Balancing the lich will be difficult. The lich gets too 
  much to fit into a single level, so we'll need to make 
  the template take 2-3 levels. That will mean wizards 
  give up Spell Mastery, their final Ability Score 
  Improvement, and Signature Spells. I want the lich to 
  be roughly equivalent to the power granted by those 
  features so that neither choice is universally better. 
   Liches are intended to be high-CR creatures. The 
  process to become one requires casting a 9th-level 
  spell, which is an impressive achievement on its own. 
  We'll require the ability to cast the imprisonment spell 
  as a wizard spell, and we'll require evil alignment since 
  being insanely evil is a big part of being a lich. We could 
  consider other requirements, but being a wizard of at 
  least 17th level seems like a sufficiently high bar.  
   Picking hit dice for the lich is easy. Wizards use 1d6, 
  so we'll stick with that for 0 BP per level. 
  
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   Because we want the lich to continue being a 
  powerful spellcaster, we'll grant Spellcasting for 3 BP 
  per level. 
   The lich's first level is the most important, and comes 
  with a lot of important distinguishing qualities of the 
  lich. Equivalent wizards pick up Spell Mastery, which is 
  one of the wizard's most powerful class features, so we 
  want the benefits to roughly match that level of power. 
  The undead creature type costs 1 BP. Like many other 
  undead, we'll grant Poison Immunity for 2 BP and 
  resistance to necrotic damage for 2 BP.  
   We'll also add the lich's Phylactery. The phylactery is 
  a massively powerful survival tool, and it's nearly 
  impossible to assess a BP cost for it. A sufficiently 
  clever lich can make finding phylactery so difficult that 
  entire adventuring campaigns could be written to 
  search for and destroy it. However, it also presents a 
  permanent threat to the lich, and an ongoing tax to 
  keep the lich from deteriorating into a demilich. 
   Including spellcasting, that brings our total to 8 BP, 
  ignoring a possible BP value for the lich's phylactery. 
  That’s at the bottom of our target range of 8-10 BP for 
  the first level of leveled templates. Compared to Spell 
  Mastery, I think this is a viable option. Spell Mastery is 
  extremely useful, but the comfort of immortality seems 
  like a fair trade considering how many spell slots a 
  wizard of this level has available to spend on their 1st- 
  and 2nd-level spells. 
   Our second level is somewhat harder. A wizard of 
  would get an Ability Score Increase at this level. An 
  ability score increase is a huge benefit, but by now 
  nearly all wizards will have 20 intelligence. We could 
  grant an Ability Score Increase, but that's boring. We 
  can grant a bonus to Intelligence which allows the lich 
  to exceed 20, but +1 would be useless and +2 would be 
  so tempting that I think it would make levels 19 and 20 
  of the wizard class unappealing. I think it makes the 
  most sense to dump the ability score increase, and go 
  back to our template prerequisites and add 20 
  Intelligence as a prerequisite. 
   By now the wizard has received four ability score 
  increases (not counting the one at 19th level) so they 
  likely have 20 intelligence and have had the 
  opportunity to pick two feats (or improve other ability 
  scores) previously, so there may not be many 
  appealing feats for them at this level. I suspect that 
  most wizards would either pick up a feat that makes 
  them more durable or an increase to Constitution with 
  their 19th-level ability score increase. Following that 
  logic, I think we can focus on the lich's remaining 
  defenses. We'll add resistance to cold and lightning and 
  turn resistance for 4 BP total, which already hits our 
  target rang eof 4-5 BP for a level of a leveled template. 
   We still haven't covered everything that the lich gets, 
  so we'll add a third and final level to the template 
  which adds the Paralyzing Touch and Frightening Glare. 
  We're matching the effectiveness of Signature Spells, 
  which is two free 3rd-level spells every short rest, so 
  we've got some room to work.  
   Looking at the DC's in the monster stat block, they're 
  not tied to Intelligence. The math works out to 8 + 
  proficiency bonus (7) + 3, but the lich has three abilities 
  with +3 modifiers. I think Constitution makes sense for 
  Paralyzing Touch, and Charisma makes sense for 
  Frightening Glare. The frustrating ability dependencies 
  will help bring the power level down to match 
  Signature Spells. We'll also limit the usage of both 
  abilities to once per short rest to prevents players from 
  using them every round. 
   Paralyzing Touch is essentially the hold monster spell 
  with a little bit of damage, so we can make some 
  adjustments to make it work. Dropping hold monster's 
  range to touch goes a long way, but it's not enough for 
  the difference between a 3rd-level spell from Signature 
  Spells and a 5th-level spell.  We’ll add a Concentration 
  requirement, which is a big hurdle for spellcasters at 
  this level with a mountain of options to consume their 
  Concentration. We’ll call it 4 BP. 
   Frightening Glare is essentially the same as the 
  mummy's Dreadful Glare, so we'll copy it for 1 BP. 
   That brings the BP total for our final level of lich to 5 
  BP, right at the top of our target range for a level of a 
  leveled template. 
  Lizardfolk 
  Lizardfolk are a reptilian race of swamp-dwelling 
  humanoids. They are fiercely territorial, and are adept 
  survivors. 
  Lizardfolk Traits 
  Lizardfolk share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Humanoid (lizardfolk) 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Lizardfolk have no notion of traditional 
  morality, and they find the concepts of good and evil 
  utterly alien. Truly neutral creatures, they kill when it is 
  expedient and do whatever it takes to survive. Most 
  Lizardfolk are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft., and you 
  have a swim speed of 30 ft. 
   Hold Breath. You can hold your breath for 1 hour. 
  
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   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Survivalist. You have proficiency in the Perception, 
  Stealth, and Survival skills. 
   Teeth and Claws. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 slashing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Draconic. 
  Playing a Lizardfolk 
  Lizardfolk are natural survivalists: strong, durable, and 
  skilled. Their ability scores make them good Barbarians 
  and Fights. Their racial skills make them excellent 
  Rangers and Rogues. Their excellent natural armor 
  allows them to survive unarmored, and their natural 
  weapons allow them to fight unarmed.  
   Lizardfolk have no concept of good and evil as other 
  races do, which might make them difficult to include in 
  a party of normal humanoids. They view other 
  creatures more as food than companions, which makes 
  social interactions awkward at best, and dangerous at 
  worst. Their abnormal sense of morality might allow 
  lizardfolk to fit into any party, but a party which 
  offensds the lizardfolk’s sensibilities might have trouble 
  keeping their ally in check. 
  Design Notes 
  Lizardfolk are very basic humanoids, and possess no 
  abilities unique to the race. This makes them very easy 
  to quantify, but not terribly interesting to design. 
   Lizardfolk are humanoid, which costs 0 BP and 
  includes no special abilities. 
   The basic Lizardfolk and Lizardfolk Shaman monster 
  stat blocks both have 15 Strength and 13 Constitution. 
  The Dungeon Master’s Guide’s NPC Traits table 
  presents Lizardfolk with +2 Strength and a -2 
  Intelligence penalty. I’ve chosen to do away with racial 
  ability penalties, but we’ll keep the +2 Strength for 2 
  BP, and add a +1 to Constitution for another 1 BP. 
   From their stat block, we get medium size, 30 foot 
  walking speed, 30 foot swim speed for 1 BP, and only 
  racial languages for -1 BP. Their only special ability is 
  Hold Breath for 0.25 BP. 
   Lizardfolk also have an impressive +3 natural armor, 
  which we’ll keep for 1.5 BP. +3 natural armor is on par 
  with studded leather, so Lizardfolk players who 
  normally opt for light armor will be able to completely 
  forego armor. 
   The basic Lizardfolk is presented with a bite attack 
  which deals 1d6 damage, and the Lizardfolk Shaman 
  and Lizardfolk King/Queen both have claw attacks for 
  1d4. Since players don’t distinguish between natural 
  weapons, we’ll keep the 1d6 natural weapon for 1.5 
  BP. 
   At just 6.25 BP, Lizardfolk are seriously lacking. 
  Characters opting for armor above light armor won’t 
  benefit from the Lizardfolk’s natural armor. Lizardfolk 
  Barbarians are an obvious choice, so with Unarmored 
  Defense they will also lose the benefits of natural 
  armor. 1d6 is good for unarmed strikes, but nearly 
  every player will opt for a weapon dealing 1d8 damage, 
  so they will lose that bonus too. At that point, 
  Lizardfolk have 3 BP worth of abilities that are outright 
  ignored. We need to give them some other options to 
  work with. 
   The only thing left to draw from is the skills 
  presented in the Lizardfolk stat blocks. Fortunately, we 
  are presented with three very different Lizardfolk, all of 
  which have the same three skills. Granting each of 
  these skills is just 1.5 BP. I’m a little bit hesitant to 
  grant 3 skills on a race, but considering a variant 
  Human could take the Skilled feat, and Half-Elves get 2 
  flexible skills, I don’t see any issues. Plus, these skills 
  play well to Lizardfolk society’s strict emphasis on 
  survival. 
   3rd edition lizardfolk had the ability to hold their 
  breath for an hour at a time. This makes sense 
  considering their habitat, so we’ll grant lizardfolk the 
  same ability for 1 BP. 
   At a total of 8.75 BP, lizardfolk within our target 
  range of 8-10. They have some good things going for 
  them which definitely make them playable. They don’t 
  have any big flashy abilities, but they have a ton of 
  skills and they can do everything which they need to 
  survive, which really seems to fit the race’s personality. 
  Lycanthropes [Template: Acquired or 
  Natural] 
  Lycanthropy is a curse tied to the cycles of the moon. 
  When the moon is full, lycanthropes are transformed 
  into an animal hybrid form and lose control of their 
  actions, often for days at a time. While some 
  lycanthropes are good-natured, most lycanthropes are 
  violent predators that go on murderous hunting sprees 
  when transformed. 
  Becoming a Lycanthrope 
  A humanoid creature with one or more parents who 
  are lycanthropes is born with the same lycanthropy as 
  their cursed parent. If both parents are infected with 
  
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  different versions of lycanthropy, choose randomly 
  which will be inherited. 
   Creatures not already cursed with lycanthropy may 
  be cursed when attacked by a lycanthrope's attacks, 
  usually by a bite. A humanoid hit by an attack that 
  carries the curse of lycanthropy must succeed on a 
  Constitution saving throw (DC 8 + the lycanthrope's 
  proficiency bonus + the lycanthrope's Constitution 
  modifier) or be cursed.  
   After being cursed with lycanthropy, the effects take 
  some time to become noticeable. The character's 
  demeanor might shift subtly, their features might 
  change slightly to resemble the animal tied to their 
  curse, and their hair might change color or become 
  abnormally thick.  
   Upon gaining the Lycanthropy template, the 
  character immediately gains the traits listed for level 0 
  under Lycanthrope Traits, below. In addition, the 
  character's growth and training are affected. The next 
  time the character gains enough experience to gain a 
  level, instead of selecting a class in which to take a new 
  level the character immediately gains a level of the 
  Lycanthropy template. Characters born with 
  lycanthropy take their first level in a class, as normal, 
  and apply the traits listed under Lycanthrope Traits, 
  below. Upon reaching second level, they must gain a 
  level in the Lycanthrope template. 
   After gaining this level, the curse of lycanthropy 
  continues to affect the character. Every time the 
  character gains enough experience to gain a level, they 
  must make a Constitution saving throw against the 
  original DC to resist becoming cursed. On a failed 
  saving throw, the character must take a second level of 
  the Lycanthropy template. On a successful saving 
  throw, the character may gain a level normally, but 
  may not choose to take a second level of the 
  lycanthropy template. At any point after becoming 
  cursed, the character may choose to embrace their 
  curse. If they do so, they automatically fail this saving 
  throw the next time they would gain a level. 
   After gaining the final level of the Lycanthropy 
  template, characters may resume gaining levels 
  normally. 
  Removing Lycanthropy 
  A remove curse spell can rid an afflicted lycanthrope of 
  the curse, but a natural born lycanthrope can be freed 
  of the curse only with a wish. Upon removing the 
  curse, the character loses any traits gained from the 
  lycanthropy template, as normal.  
   After recovering from lycanthropy, the character 
  becomes resistant to the curse, and makes all future 
  saving throws to resist lycanthropy with Advantage. 
   For further information on removing templates, see 
  the Templates rules presented earlier in this 
  document. 
  Lycanthrope Traits 
  All lycanthropes share the following traits, adding 
  these traits to their existing racial traits.  
  Hit Points 
   Hit Dice. See Lycanthropy Form, below. 
   Hit Points at Higher Levels. 1d12 (or 7) + your 
  Constitution modifier per lycanthrope level 
  Traits 
  Lycanthropes gain the following traits at each level, as 
  indicated on the table below. 
  Level 
  Features 
  0 
  Creature Type, Cursed by the Moon, Lycanthropy 
  Form 
  1 
  Controlled Shapechanger, Bestial Might 
  2 
  Alignment Change, Master Shapechanger, 
  Improved Bestial Might 
   Creature Type. The affected creature adds the 
  shapechanger subtype to their existing subtypes. 
   Cursed by the Moon. When the full moon rises, you 
  are forced to assume the shape of your hybrid form. 
  Your character’s actions for the following 24 hours are 
  determined entirely by the alignment specific to their 
  version of lycanthropy, and your specific actions are 
  decided by the Dungeon Master. After this period, your 
  character returns to humanoid form. You remember 
  these events as if they were a nightmare and might 
  have trouble recalling your actions in their entirety. 
   In addition, you have vulnerability to bludgeoning, 
  piercing, and slashing damage dealt by silver weapons. 
   Shapechange. You can transform into an animal-
  human hybrid, an animal, or into your true form, which 
  is your original humanoid form. Your statistics, except 
  as noted under your Lycanthropy Form, are the same 
  in each form. Any equipment you are wearing or 
  carrying isn't transformed. Clothes or armor you are 
  wearing are shed or destroyed if your new form does 
  not fit into them. While in animal form, you are unable 
  to speak. You revert to your true form if you die. 
   You are unable to control this transformation when 
  initially afflicted with lycanthropy, but gradually gain 
  more control as you gain levels in the Lycanthropy 
  template. 
   Controlled Shapechange. As an action, you may 
  attempt to activate your Shapechanger trait to change 
  
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  Races 
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  forms by making a Constitution saving throw. The DC of 
  this saving throw depends on your current form and 
  your desired form, as described in the table below. On 
  a successful saving throw, you may use Shapechanger 
  to change into your desired form. On a failed saving 
  throw, you suffer one level of exhaustion. 
  Current Form 
  Desired Form 
  DC 
  True Form 
  Hybrid Form 
  13 
  True Form 
  Animal Form 
  15 
  Hybrid Form 
  True Form 
  10 
  Hybrid Form 
  Animal Form 
  13 
  Animal Form 
  True Form 
  13 
  Animal Form 
  Hybrid Form 
  10 
   Bestial Might. You gain additional traits, as specified 
  by your Lycanthropy Form. 
   Alignment Change. You adopt the alignment 
  specified by your Lycanthropy Form. 
   Master Shapechanger. When making a Constitution 
  saving throw to activate your Shapechanger trait, you 
  make the saving throw with Advantage. In addition, 
  you no longer lose control of your character when the 
  full moon rises, though you are still forced to assume 
  your hybrid form for 24 hours. 
   Improved Bestial Might. You gain additional traits, 
  as specified by your Lycanthropy Form. 
  Lycanthropy Form 
  Your lycanthropy form is determined by the 
  lycanthrope that afflicted you with the curse of 
  lycanthropy. The traits listed below are acquired 
  Werebear 
   Hit Dice. 1d12 per level 
   Alignment. Lawful good 
   Bestial Strength. Your Strength increases by +1, to a 
  maximum of 20. While unarmored in your hybrid or 
  animal forms, your AC is equal to 11 + your Dexterity 
  bonus. While in your hybrid or animal forms, Your 
  unarmed strikes 1d8 slashing damage or piercing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Improved Bestial Strength. Your Strength increases 
  by +1, to a maximum of 20. While unarmored in your 
  hybrid or animal forms, your AC is equal to 12 + your 
  Dexterity bonus. You gain Keen Smell in all forms. 
  While in your hybrid or animal forms, you gain a climb 
  speed of 30 feet. 
   Keen Smell. You have advantage on Wisdom 
  (Perception) checks that rely on smell. 
  Wereboar 
   Hit Dice. 1d10 per level 
   Alignment. Neutral evil 
   Bestial Strength. Your Strength increases by +1, to a 
  maximum of 20. While unarmored in your hybrid or 
  animal forms, your AC is equal to 11 + your Dexterity 
  bonus. While in your hybrid or animal forms, uour 
  unarmed strikes 1d6 piercing damage on a hit. While in 
  your hybrid or animal forms, you gain the Charge trait. 
   Improved Bestial Strength. Your Strength increases 
  by +1, to a maximum of 20. While unarmored in your 
  hybrid or animal forms, your AC is equal to 12 + your 
  Dexterity bonus. While in your hybrid or animal forms, 
  you gain the Relentless trait. 
   Charge. Once per turn, if you move at least half of 
  your base land speed (rounded down to the nearest 5 
  feet) toward a creature and hit it with a Strength-based 
  melee weapon attack, the target takes an extra 1d6 
  damage from the attack. This damage increases to 2d6 
  at 5th level, 3d6 at 11th level, and 4d6 at 17th level. 
   Relentless. When you are reduced to 0 hit points but 
  not killed outright, you can drop to 1 hit point instead. 
  You can’t use this feature again until you finish a long 
  rest. If you have the Relentless trait from another 
  source, such as your race, you may use it an additional 
  time before you finish a long rest. 
  Wererat 
   Hit Dice. 1d8 per level 
   Alignment. Lawful evil 
   Bestial Strength. Your Dexterity increases by +1, to a 
  maximum of 20. While unarmored in your hybrid or 
  animal forms, your AC is equal to 11 + your Dexterity 
  bonus. While in your hybrid or animal forms, your 
  unarmed strikes 1d4 piercing damage on a hit. These 
  unarmed strikes use the higher of your Strength or 
  Dexterity for attack and damage. While in your animal 
  form, you gain 60 ft. Darkvision. 
   Improved Bestial Strength. Your Dexterity increases 
  by +1, to a maximum of 20. While unarmored in your 
  hybrid or animal forms, your AC is equal to 12 + your 
  Dexterity bonus. While in your hybrid or animal forms, 
  you gain the Keen Smell trait. 
   Keen Smell. You have advantage on Wisdom 
  (Perception) checks that rely on smell. 
  Weretiger 
   Hit Dice. 1d10 per level 
   Alignment. Neutral 
   Bestial Strength. Your Strength increases by +1, to a 
  maximum of 20. While unarmored in your hybrid or 
  animal forms, your AC is equal to 11 + your Dexterity 
  bonus. While in your hybrid or animal forms, Your 
  unarmed strikes 1d8 piercing damage or slashing 
  
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  damage on a hit. While in your hybrid or animal forms, 
  you gain the Pounce trait. 
   Improved Bestial Strength. Your Strength increases 
  by +1, to a maximum of 20. While unarmored in your 
  hybrid or animal forms, your AC is equal to 12 + your 
  Dexterity bonus. You gain 60 ft. Darkvision in all forms. 
   Pounce. If you move at least half of your base land 
  speed (rounded down to the nearest 5 feet) straight 
  toward a creature then hit it with an unarmed strike on 
  the same turn, you may attempt to shove the target 
  prone as a bonus action (see “Shoving a Creature”, 
  page 195 of the Player’s Handbook). 
  Werewolf 
   Hit Dice. 1d10 per level 
   Alignment. Chaotic evil 
   Bestial Strength. Your Strength increases by +1, to a 
  maximum of 20. While unarmored in your hybrid or 
  animal forms, your AC is equal to 11 + your Dexterity 
  bonus. While in your hybrid or animal forms, Your 
  unarmed strikes 1d8 piercing damage on a hit.  
   Improved Bestial Strength. Your Strength increases 
  by +1, to a maximum of 20. While unarmored in your 
  hybrid or animal forms, your AC is equal to 12 + your 
  Dexterity bonus. While in your hybrid or animal forms, 
  you gain the Keen Hearing and Smell, and your base 
  land speed increases by 5 feet. You gain proficiency in 
  Stealth. 
   Keen Hearing and Smell. You have advantage on 
  Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or 
  smell. 
  Design Notes 
  Lycanthropy was first template I wrote for this 
  document. I selected it because the multiple types of 
  lycanthropy presented design challenges which would 
  help us balance the different versions of the template 
  against each other. Though the different types of 
  lycanthropes presented in the Monster Manual range 
  in power, I wanted the templates to be roughly 
  equivalent. 
   The "level 0" portion of the template gives 
  characters the Shapechanger subtype (0.25 BP), which 
  makes them immune to polymorph effects. It's offset 
  by vulnerability to silver weapons (-0.5 BP), which don't 
  come up much in a normal campaign, but if the players 
  start stomping around as werewolf the DM is likely to 
  start producing enemies with silvered weapons. It's 
  technically a net negative, but those are story points 
  which I think will make it more interesting to play a 
  lycanthrope. 
   The first level of the lycanthropy template causes the 
  character's alignment to shift. While this doesn't have a 
  BP value it can be an important deterrent if a player is 
  cursed by a lycanthrope with an alignment opposed to 
  that of his party. It also grants Controlled 
  Shapechanger, granting willing access to the 
  lycanthrope's different forms. Changing shapes itself 
  isn't particularly exciting, but the ability to switch 
  between a combat form and a socially-acceptable 
  humanoid form is probably worth 1 BP. 
   Individual lycanthrope types grant additional traits, 
  which we'll examine individually. 
  Werebear 
  Werebears are big and strong, and notably have a 
  climb speed. The published rules grant them the 
  largest Strength increase, but I'm hesitant to grant 
  more than +1 on a single-level template because it's so 
  appealing. 
   The werebear will use d12 hit dice for 2 BP. 
   We'll limit their size to medium, grant +1 Strength 
  for 2 BP, +2 natural armor for 1 BP, 1d8 natural 
  weapons for 2 BP, and Keen Smell for 0.5 BP, and a 
  climb speed of 30 ft. for 2 BP. With the exception of 
  Keen Smell those will only apply in hybrid or animal 
  form, but since I expect lycanthropes to spend much of 
  their time in hybrid form I won't adjust the BP cost to 
  compensate for the restriction.  
   At 9.5 BP, the werebear is within our target range of 
  8-10 BP. d12 hit dice are great for the sorts of 
  characters who are likely to seek out becoming a 
  werebear, and the werebear's traits provide a nice mix 
  of new options. 
  Wereboar 
  Wereboars are strong and all about charging. That's 
  really appealing for melee characters like barbarians 
  and fighters, and Relentless provides a fantastic 
  defensive option for characters who tend to draw a lot 
  of attacks. 
   The wereboar will use d10 hit dice for 1 BP. 
   We'll grant +1 Strength for 2 BP, +2 natural armor for 
  1 BP, 1d6 natural weapons for 2 BP, Charge for 2 BP 
  and Relentless for 0.5 BP. 
   At 8.5 BP, the wereboar falls within our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. It's less versatile than the werebear, but its 
  emphasis on melee combat still makes it very 
  appealing for a certain set of character types. 
  Wererat 
  Wererats are the weakest of lycanthropes, and gain the 
  least from lycanthropy. That's fine for monsters, but 
  
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  Races 
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  not much fun for player characters. We'll need to find 
  some extra stuff to add to beef up the wererat. 
   The wererat will use d8 hit dice for 0.5 BP. 
   We'll grant +1 Dexterity for 2 BP, 1d4 natural 
  weapons for 1 BP, Keen Smell for 0.5 BP, and 
  proficiency in Stealth for 1 BP. Normal wererats only 
  get Darkvision in rat form, but I can't think of any 
  reason why that would be the case so we'll grant 
  Darkvision for 2 BP. 
   At 7 BP, the wererat falls below our target range of 
  8-10 BP. It's absolutely a niche option, but it can very 
  useful for rangers, rogues, and other stealthy 
  characters who lack access to Darkvision, not to 
  mention the utility of turning into a rat to get into small 
  spaces unnoticed. 
  Weretiger 
  Weretigers have more special abilities than other 
  lycanthropes, which makes designing them easy 
  without depending on a big ability score increase to eat 
  up their BP budget. 
   The weretiger will use d10 hit dice for 1 BP. 
   We'll grant +1 Strength for 2 BP, Darkvision for 2 BP, 
  Keen Hearing and Smell for 1 BP, Pounce for 1.5 BP, 
  and 1d8 natural weapons for 2 BP. 
   At 9.5 BP, the weretiger falls within our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. It provides useful senses, a fun active 
  ability, and an ability increase, making it an interesting 
  and appealing character option. 
  Werewolf 
  The werewolf is very similar to the weretiger, making it 
  difficult to design is in a way that keeps it unique. Even 
  more frustrating, it loses both Darkvision and Pounce 
  without adding anything except natural armor. 
   The werewolf will use d10 hit dice for 1 BP. 
   We'll grant +1 Strength for 2 BP, +1 natural armor for 
  0.5 BP, Keen Hearing and Smell for 1 BP, and 1d8 
  natural weapons for 2 BP. 
   That only brings our total to 6.5 BP, which isn't 
  nearly enough. The weretiger is nearly identical but 
  strictly better, so we need some way to distinguish the 
  werewolf. The werewolf stat block doesn't provide any 
  other options, so we'll look at the wolf for ideas. Both 
  the werewolf and the wolf have listed bonuses to 
  Perception and Stealth, so we'll grant proficiency in 
  Stealth for 0.5 BP. The wolf also gets Pack Tactics, but 
  that's more BP than I want to spend, and werewolves 
  aren't presented as pack animals. For lack of a better 
  option, we'll grant the werewolf a 5-foot increase in 
  walking speed for 0.5 BP. 
   At 7.5 BP, the werewolf falls slightly below our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. It combines several options from 
  other forms of lycanthropy, making it a nice mix of 
  abilities. 
  Magmin 
  Small fire elementals bound into a form of hardened 
  magma. 
  Magmin Traits 
  Magmins share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Elemental. You do not require air, 
  food, drink, or sleep. Instead, you enter a restful state, 
  remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. While 
  resting, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are 
  reflexive mental exercises inherent to your 
  consciousness. After resting in this way, you gain the 
  same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Though not actively evil or intentionally 
  destructive, magmins are driven by an innate desire to 
  set fire to everything around them. Most magmins are 
  chaotic neutral. 
   Size. Your size is small. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Death Burst. When you fall to 0 hit points, you 
  explode in a burst of fire and magma. Each creature 
  within 10 feet of you must make a Dexterity saving 
  throw, taking 1d8 fire damage on a failed save, or half 
  as much damage on a successful one. The DC of this 
  check is 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Constitution 
  modifier. Flammable objects that aren't being worn or 
  carried in the area are ignited. The damage increases 
  by 1d8 when you reach 5th level (2d8), 11th level (3d8), 
  and 17th level (4d8). 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Ignited Illumination. As a bonus action, you can set 
  yourself ablaze or extinguish your flames. While ablaze, 
  you shed bright light in a 10-foot radius and dim light 
  for an additional 10 feet.  
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 12 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Touch. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 fire damage 
  on a hit. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Ignan. 
  Playing a Magmin 
  Magmin are quick and have good Dexterity, making 
  them excellent rangers and rogues. Their Touch ability 
  allows them to deal fire damage with a touch, allowing 
  
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  Races 
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  them to easily circumvent resistances to normal 
  weapon damage. Death burst provides a great last 
  resort option, but be careful not to rely on it or you 
  may find your character unconscious through long 
  portions of an encounter. 
   Like other elementals, magmin only exist when 
  magically summoned. Consider what magic brought 
  your character into existence, and who may have 
  performed that magic. You might be bound to that 
  spellcaster in some fashion, which may be a good 
  reason to remain in an adventuring party. 
  Design Notes 
  Magmins’ stats are very similar to fire elementals, so 
  we need to be careful not to make magmins a small 
  version of the fire elemental. 
   Magmins are elementals, costing 1 BP. 
   The magmin’s only notably good ability is Dexterity, 
  so we’ll give them a +2 to Dexterity for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get small size for -1 BP, +2 
  natural armor for 1 BP, 30 ft. walking speed for 0.5 BP 
  (remember that 25 ft. is standard for small races), 
  resistance to fire damage (down from immunity) for 2 
  BP, Darkvision for 2 BP, and only racial languages for -1 
  BP.  
   Illumination normally costs 0.25 BP, but we’ll allow 
  the magmin to toggle it for an additional 0.25 BP. 
   We’ll drop the magmin’s natural weapon to 1d8 fire 
  damage for 2 BP. 
   That brings us to 9 BP, and all that we have left to 
  consider is Death Burst. Death burst is a great 
  mechanic on monsters because it makes them 
  dangerous to slay en masse, but it’s difficult to apply to 
  players. For monsters, they generally “die” when they 
  hit 0 hit points, but players generally use the death 
  saving throws mechanics, which mean that whatever 
  incapacitated them has often moved away long before 
  the player dies. 
   In order to make death burst interesting, I think that 
  it make sense to adjust it to take effect when the 
  player falls to 0 hit points. I don’t want the damage to 
  be so powerful that players spend a ton of time trying 
  to get knocked out, but I also want it to be enough that 
  it matters. I think if we tie it to cantrip damage 
  progression we’ll hit a nice middle-ground. We’ll use 
  d8’s for the damage dice to keep the damage 
  reasonably effective, and allow a Dexterity save for half 
  damage. We’ll limit this to once per short rest and call 
  it 1 BP. 
   At 10 BP, the magmin is at the top of our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. The magmin is quick and works 
  reasonably well with no equipment, and its death burst 
  is a good fallback mechanic. If you want to strengthen 
  the magmin, increase the damage die of Death burst to 
  d10’s or increase its natural armor. If you want to 
  weaken the magmin, disallow armor or reduce the 
  damage die of Death burst to d6’s. 
  Manticore 
  Evil predators resembling a lion with bat wings and a 
  humanoid face. Manticores are known for their ability 
  to fire bony spikes from their tails. 
  Manticore Traits 
  Manticores share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Evil, intelligent predators, most 
  manticores are lawful evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Bite and Claws. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 
  piercing or slashing damage on a hit. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor.
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 11 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Tail Spikes. You may fire stiff, bony spikes from your 
  tail as a ranged weapon attack. This attack has 30/60 
  range, and deals 1d8 piercing damage on a hit. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Manticore 
  Strong and durable like many beasts and beast-like 
  creatures, manticores make excellent barbarians and 
  fighters. Lacking hands limits the manticore’s abilty to 
  use spellcasting foci, but the manticore’s tail spikes 
  offer a potent ranged option. 
   Manticores hunt in packs, and willingly join forces 
  with other evil creatures provided that they are treated 
  well and given regular prey. An evil party might recruit 
  
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  Races 
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  a manticore character by promising it the right to eat 
  the party’s foes. 
  Design Notes 
  The manticore is mostly a beast with a few extra traits. 
  Its tail spikes are the manticore’s most notable ability, 
  but we can easily replicate it by borrowing from the 
  needle blight. 
   Manticores are monstrosities, costing 0.5 but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   Like most beasts and beast-like monsters, the 
  manticore’s best abilities are Strength and 
  Constitution. We’ll give the manticore +1 to each for 2 
  BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), +1 natural armor for 0.5 BP, 30 ft. walking 
  speed, 40 ft. fly speed (down from 50 ft.) for 8 BP, 
  Darkvision for 2 BP, and the ability to speak Common 
  for 0 BP. Manticores have no hands for -2 BP, but we’ll 
  give them 1d8 natural weapons for 2 BP. Like the 
  needle blight, we’ll allow the manticore to fire spikes at 
  range for 0.5 BP. 
   At 8.5 BP, the manticore falls within our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the manticore, 
  increase its fly speed. If you want to weaken the 
  manticore, remove its natural armor or reduce its fly 
  speed. 
  Medusa 
  Mythical beasts with snakes for hair and the ability to 
  petrify creatures with their gaze. 
  Medusa Traits 
  Medusas share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity, +1 Charisma. 
   Alignment. Evil creatures cursed as a result of their 
  desire for eternal life and beauty, most medusas are 
  lawful evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 11 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Petrifying Gaze. As an action, you can attempt to 
  petrify a creature with your gaze. You and the creature 
  must be within 30 ft. and must be able to see each 
  other. Creatures whose bodies are not made of flesh, 
  such as constructs, are immune to this effect, as are 
  creatures immune to paralysis. The target creature 
  must make a Constitution saving throw. The DC for this 
  saving throw is 8 + your Constitution modifier + your 
  proficiency bonus. 
   On a failed save, the creature begins to turn to 
  stone. They are treated as having 1 level of exhaustion. 
  The creature must repeat this saving throw at the end 
  of each of its turns. On a failed saving throw, the 
  creature is treated as gaining an additional level of 
  exhaustion. If the creature fails 6 saving throws, it is 
  petrified until freed by greater restoration or similar 
  magic. On a successful saving throw, the creature 
  resists the effect, and is treated as having one less level 
  of exhaustion. The creature is treated as having one 
  less level of exhaustion each round until they are 
  treated as having 0 levels of exhaustion. Creatures 
  immune to exhaustion are not immune to this effect, 
  and any actual levels of exhaustion do not stack with 
  this effect. 
   This effect lasts up to one minute. You must 
  maintain concentration during that time, as if you were 
  casting a spell. If you lose concentration, the creature is 
  treated as having no levels of exhaustion from this 
  effect and immediately returns to normal. If the 
  creature becomes petrified by this effect, the effects 
  are permanent and you no longer need to concentrate. 
   A creature that is not surprised may avert its eyes 
  from you as a reaction, which makes it immune to this 
  ability. If it does so, it cannot see you until the 
  beginning of its next turn.  
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Snake Hair. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 poison 
  damage on a hit. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Medusa 
  Medusas are nimble, crafty, and have a deadly 
  petrifying gaze. Their abilities make them excellent 
  rogues and warlocks, and either class fits the origin of 
  the monster well. 
   Cursed by their own vanity, medusas may have 
  varying opinions about revealing themselves to other. 
  A medusa traveling with others might choose to cover 
  themselves, possibly wearing a veil to obscure their 
  petrifying gaze. 
  
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  Races 
  143 
  Design Notes 
  Medusas are a fantastic classical monster. While 
  they’re primarily known for their petrifying gaze, they 
  also have snakes for hair for some reason. Designing 
  them is fairly straightforward since we’ve already 
  designed petrifying gaze for other creatures, and the 
  medusas other traits are easily replicated. 
   Medusas are monstrosities, costing 0.5 but offering 
  no specific traits. 
   The medusa’s best ability scores are Dexterity, 
  Constitution, and Charisma. Though Constitution is the 
  Medusa’s highest, I think we’re going to ignore it. 
  According the Monster Manual, medusas are created 
  as the price of ancient magic which grants the subject 
  eternal beauty. I think Dexterity and Charisma better 
  represent that ideal, so we’ll grant the medusa +1 
  Dexterity and +1 Charisma for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, +1 natural 
  armor (down from +3) for 0.5 BP, 30 ft. walking speed, 
  Darkvision for 2 BP, and Common. We’ll drop snake 
  hair to 1d4 poison damage for 1 BP, and we’ll duplicate 
  the basilisk’s petrifying gaze for 4 BP. 
   At 10 BP, the medusa is at the top of our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the 
  medusa, increase the damage dealt by poison hair 
  from 1d4 poison to 1d4 poison and 1d4 piercing. If you 
  want to weaken the medusa, remove its natural armor. 
  Mephits 
  Mephits are imp-like elemental creatures composed of 
  two of the four elements. 
  Mephit Traits 
  Mephits share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Elemental. You do not require air, 
  food, drink, or sleep. Instead, you enter a restful state, 
  remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. While 
  resting, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are 
  reflexive mental exercises inherent to your 
  consciousness. After resting in this way, you gain the 
  same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Alignment. Cruel tricksters, most Mephits are 
  neutral evil. 
   Size. Your size is small. 
   Claws. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 slashing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Poison Immunity. You are immune to poison 
  damage, and immune to the poisoned condition. 
   Subrace. Choose one of these subraces. You gain the 
  traits listed under your chosen subrace in addition to 
  those listed above. 
  Dust Mephit 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Death Burst. When you fall, you explode in a burst of 
  dust. Each creature within 5 feet of you must then 
  succeed on a Constitution saving throw or be blinded 
  for 1 minute. The DC of this saving throw is 8 + your 
  proficiency bonus + your Constitution bonus. A blinded 
  creature can repeat the saving throw on each of its 
  turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Auran 
  and Terran. 
  Ice Mephit 
    Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   False Appearance. While motionless, you appear 
  indistinguishable from an ordinary shard of ice. You 
  must spend one minute motionless before this ability 
  takes effect. You must maintain concentration during 
  that time, as if you were casting a spell. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Ice Body. You have weakness to bludgeoning 
  damage and fire damage, and you have resistance to 
  cold damage. 
   Innate Spellcasting. You can cast the fog cloud spell 
  once per day. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for 
  this spell. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Aquan 
  and Auran. 
  Magma Mephit 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   False Appearance. While motionless, you appear 
  indistinguishable from an ordinary mound of magma. 
  You must spend one minute motionless before this 
  ability takes effect. You must maintain concentration 
  during that time, as if you were casting a spell. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Magma Body. You have weakness to cold damage, 
  and you have resistance to fire damage. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Ignan 
  and Terran. 
  
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  Mud Mephit 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 20 ft. and you 
  have a swim speed of 20 ft. 
   False Appearance. While motionless, you appear 
  indistinguishable from an ordinary mound of mud. You 
  must spend one minute motionless before this ability 
  takes effect. You must maintain concentration during 
  that time, as if you were casting a spell. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 20 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Mud Breath. As an action, you can breathe viscous 
  mud onto a creature within 5 feet. If the target is 
  Medium or smaller, it must succeed on a Dexterity 
  saving throw or be restrained for 1 minute. The DC for 
  this saving throw equals 8 + your Constitution modifier 
  + your proficiency bonus. A creature can repeat the 
  saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the 
  effect on itself on a success. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Aquan 
  and Terran. 
  Smoke Mephit 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Fire Resistance. You have resistance to fire damage. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Aquan 
  and Ignan. 
  Steam Mephit 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Death Burst. When you fall to 0 hit points, you 
  explode in a burst of fire and magma. Each creature 
  within 10 feet of you must make a Dexterity saving 
  throw, taking 1d8 fire damage on a failed save, or half 
  as much damage on a successful one. The DC of this 
  check is 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Constitution 
  modifier. Flammable objects that aren't being worn or 
  carried in the area are ignited. The damage increases 
  by 1d8 when you reach 5th level (2d8), 11th level (3d8), 
  and 17th level (4d8). 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Fire Resistance. You have resistance to fire damage. 
   Innate Spellcasting. You know the dancing lights 
  cantrip. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for this 
  spell. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Auran 
  and Ignan. 
  Playing a Mephit 
  Mephits all work in roughly the same way. They lack 
  ability increases, but their mobility and special abilities 
  offer interesting options which can work for a variety 
  of classes. 
   The Monster Manual provides little information on 
  mephits’ personalities, but it describes them as cruel 
  tricksters. If your party includes characters who 
  worship a deity who enjoys trickery, or if your party 
  gets by on deception, a mephit might be a good fit. 
  Design Notes 
  Mephits are a collection of very similar elementals. In 
  video game terms, they’re a pallet swap. They’re 
  largely identical, but they’re a different color and deal 
  different types of damage. 
   Mephits are elementals, which costs 1 BP. 
   Each mephit’s ability scores are different, which 
  makes their ability score increases difficult to pin 
  down. We’ll consider them individually when we get to 
  the subrace specifics. 
   From the stat blocks, we can see that mephits share 
  small size for -1 BP, Darkvision for 2 BP, and poison 
  immunity for 2 BP, and speaks two languages. We’ll call 
  the languages racial plus one fixed, for a net of -0.75 
  BP. We’ll give all mephitis 1d4 natural weapons for 1 
  BP, though several of them deal additional damage. 
  Because mephits have so many abilities, we need to 
  conserve BP. 
   Each mephit also has a Death Burst and a breath 
  weapon. Several also have damage immunities or 
  vulnerabilities and innate spellcasting (usually one 1st-
  level spell). We’ll need handle each ability separately 
  for each mephit, and we’ll likely need to drop one or 
  more depending on the specific mephit’s other 
  abilities. 
   Counting all of the traits which apply to all mephitis, 
  we’re starting from 4.25 BP before we examine 
  individual subraces. 
  Dust Mephit 
  From the stat block, we get 30 ft. walking speed for 0.5 
  BP, 30 ft. fly speed for 4 BP, and vulnerability to fire for 
  -1 BP. We’ll drop the innate spellcasting since it doesn’t 
  scale. Between the death burst and the breath 
  weapon, I think I like the death burst better because 
  it’ll be really hard to balance a blinding effect on a 
  breath weapon. We’ll call it 2 BP. 
   At 9.75 BP, the dust mephit falls within our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the dust 
  mephit, grant it a breath weapon that applies the same 
  
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  blinding effect as Death Burst in a 15-foot cone. If you 
  want to weaken the dust mephit, reduce its walking 
  speed. 
  Ice Mephit 
  From the stat block, we get 30 ft. walking speed for 0.5 
  BP, 30 ft. fly speed for 4 BP, vulnerability to 
  bludgeoning damage for -1 BP, vulnerability to fire for -
  1 BP, and resistance to cold (down from immunity) for 
  2 BP. Ice mephitis can cast the fog cloud spell once per 
  day for 1 BP, and we’ll allow it to be cast 2 levels early 
  for an additional 0.25 BP. We’ll also retain False 
  Appearance for 0.5 BP. We’ll drop death burst and the 
  ice mephit’s breath weapon. 
   At 9.5 BP, the ice mephit is within our target range of 
  8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the ice mephit, give 
  it a breath weapon which deals cold damage in a 15-
  foot cone or upgrade its cold resistance to cold 
  immunity. If you want to weaken the ice mephit, 
  reduce its speed. 
  Magma Mephit 
  From the stat block, we get 30 ft. walking speed for 0.5 
  BP, 30 ft. fly speed for 4 BP, vulnerability to cold for -1 
  BP, and resistance to fire (down from immunity) for 2 
  BP. That’s already 9.75 BP, but we’ll retain False 
  Appearance because the magma mephit won’t get 
  anything else fun without it. 
   At 10.25 BP, the magma mephit slightly exceeds our 
  target range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the 
  magma mephit, increase its fire resistance to fire 
  immunity or grant it a breath weapon which deals fire 
  damage in a 15-foot cone. If you want to weaken the 
  magma mephit, reduce its speed or remove False 
  Appearance. 
  Mud Mephit 
  From the stat block, we get 20 ft. walking speed for -
  0.5 BP, 20 ft. fly speed for 3 BP, and 20 ft. swim speed 
  for 0.5 BP. Because its speed is abnormally slow for a 
  mephit, we are left with more BP to work with than 
  other mephits get. 
   I really like the mud mephit’s breath weapon, so 
  we’ll retain the breath weapon unchanged and False 
  Appearance for 0.5 BP. I think we can call the breath 
  weapon 2 BP, but I’m not sure how effective the effect 
  will prove to be. 
   At 9.75 BP, the mud mephit falls within our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the mud 
  mephit, grant it a Death Burst effect which applies the 
  same effect as the mud mephit’s breath weapon. If you 
  want to weaken the mud mephit, reduce the duration 
  of its breath weapon’s effect. 
  Smoke Mephit 
  From the stat block, we get 30 ft. walking speed for 0.5 
  BP, 30 ft. fly speed for 4 BP, and resistance to fire 
  (down from immunity) for 2 BP. That doesn’t leave 
  much room, but we’ll add the dancing lights cantrip for 
  0.5 BP. 
   At 10.25 BP, the smoke mephit slightly exceeds our 
  target range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the 
  smoke mephit, upgrade its fire resistance to fire 
  immunity. If you want to weaken the smoke mephit, 
  remove its ability to cast dancing lights. 
  Steam Mephit 
  From the stat block, we get 30 ft. walking speed for 0.5 
  BP, 30 ft. fly speed for 4 BP, and resistance to fire 
  (down from immunity) for 2 BP. That makes the steam 
  mephit essentially identical to the smoke mephit, but 
  without a fun cantrip. We can’t do that, and we don’t 
  have enough BP for a breath weapon, so we’ll give the 
  steam mephit Death Burst. 
   At 10.75 BP, the steam mephit exceeds our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the steam 
  mephit, grant it a breath weapon which deals fire 
  damage in a 15-foot cone. If you want to weaken the 
  steam mephit, remove its Death Burst. 
  Merfolk 
  Merfolk are an iconic race of aquatic humanoids, 
  famous for their fish-like lower bodies. 
  Merfolk Traits 
  Merfolk share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Humanoid (merfolk) 
   Ability Score Increase. Your ability scores each 
  increase by 1. 
   Alignment. Merfolk are diverse creatures, and have 
  no predisposition to any one alignment. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 10 ft., and you 
  have a swim speed of 40 feet. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Aquan. 
  Variant Merfolk Traits 
  If your campaign uses the optional feat rules from chapter 5 
  of the Player’s Handbook, your Dungeon Master might allow 
  these variant traits, all of which replace the Merfolk’s Ability 
  Score Increase trait. 
   
  Ability Score Increase. Two different ability scores of your 
  choice increase by 1. 
   
  Skill. You gain proficiency in one skill of your choice. 
   
  Feat. You gain one feat of your choice. 
  
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  Playing a Merfolk 
  Merfolk are the humans of the sea; they are a flexible, 
  diverse, and far-ranging race which can fit into any 
  story. Their ability scores allow them to thrive as any 
  class. 
  Design Notes 
  Merfolk are among the simplest of humanoids. They 
  have no unique abilities. The only thing which truly 
  complicates their design is how incredibly bland their 
  monster stack block is. 
   Merfolk are humanoid, which costs 0 BP and 
  includes no special abilities. 
   From the merfolk’s stat block, we get medium size, 
  10 ft. walking speed for -2 BP, 40 ft. swim speed for 2 
  BP, and racial languages plus common. The Merfolk’s 
  only special ability is Amphibious for 1 BP, bringing the 
  total to 4 BP.  
   Merfolk are the closest thing you’ll get to aquatic 
  humans, so it makes sense that their abilities would be 
  similar. Since the merfolk’s monster stat block lacks 
  any particularly good ability scores, we’ll give them the 
  option of +1 to all ability scores for 6 BP or two flexible 
  +1 ability score increases for 3 BP, and one feat for 4 
  BP as a “variant”. 
   At 10 or 11 BP, we have two perfectly fine human 
  substitutes for aquatic campaigns. If you want to 
  strengthen merfolk, grant them a flexible skill 
  proficiency. If you want to weaken merfolk, reduce 
  their swim speed 
  Merrow 
  Monstrosities descended from merfolk ensnared by 
  the demon lord Demogorgon, merrow are hulking 
  aquatic monstrosities set loose on the material plane 
  to cause havoc. 
  Merrow Traits 
  Merrow share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +2 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Twisted by eons on the abyss, most 
  merrow are chaotic evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 10 ft. and you 
  have a swim speed of 40 ft. 
   Bite and Claws. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 
  piercing or slashing damage on a hit. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Abyssal 
  and Aquan. 
  Playing a Merrow 
  Merrow are strong and durable, making them excellent 
  barbarians and fighters. They lack any active special 
  abilities, but that doesn’t make them any less effective. 
   Since merrow originate from the abyss, they fit well 
  into any party with demon worshippers or other 
  similarly evil characters. 
  Design Notes 
  Where merfolk are aquatic humans, merrow are 
  aquatic half-orcs. They lack the variety and versatility 
  of merfolk, but make up for it with emphasis on brute 
  strength. 
   Merrow are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   The merrow’s best ability scores are Strength and 
  Constitution, so we’ll give them +2 Strength and + 
  2Constitution for 4 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), +3 natural armor for 1.5 BP, 10 ft. walking speed 
  for -2 BP, 40 ft. swim speed for 2 BP, Darkvision for 2 
  BP, racial languages plus one fixed language for -0.75 
  BP, and Amphibious for 0.5 BP. We’ll drop the 
  merrow’s natural weapons to 1d4 for 1 BP since they 
  can use weapons. 
   At 8.25 BP, the merrow is within our target range of 
  8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the merrow, grant it 
  Aggressive. If you want to weaken the merrow, reduce 
  its ability increases. 
  Mimic 
  Mimics are iconic ambush predators, known for 
  disguising themselves as mundane objects like chests 
  to attract and prey upon unsuspecting prey. 
  Mimic Traits 
  Mimics share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Motivated by little more than hunger, 
  most mimics are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 15 ft. 
   Adhesive. While in object form, you can adhere to 
  huge or smaller object or creature that touches you as 
  
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  Races 
  147 
  a reaction. Ability checks to escape this grapple have 
  disadvantage. 
   Amorphous Form. You have no hands. You are 
  unable to wield weapons or wear shields, and cannot 
  use items which require manipulation, including 
  spellcasting foci, wands, tools, etc. You are unable to 
  wear armor or use shields. You are immune to the 
  Prone condition. 
   Bite and Pseudopod. You are proficient with your 
  unarmed strikes, and may attack with a bite or with a 
  pseudopod. 
   When you attack with a bite, your unarmed strikes 
  deal 1d4 piercing damage and 1d4 acid damage on a 
  hit. 
   When you attack with a pseudopod, your unarmed 
  strikes deal 1d8 bludgeoning damage on a hit. When 
  you take the Attack action and make an unarmed strike 
  with a pseudopod, you can use a bonus action to 
  initiate a grapple with the target of your successful 
  unarmed strike. You may grapple even though you 
  have no hands. 
   Damage Resistance. You have resistance to acid 
  damage. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   False Appearance. While motionless in object form, 
  you appear indistinguishable from an ordinary object. 
  You must spend one minute motionless before this 
  ability takes effect. You must maintain concentration 
  during that time, as if you were casting a spell. 
   Grappler. You have advantage on attack rolls against 
  a creature you are grappling. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 11 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Shapechanger. You can use an action to polymorph 
  into an object or back into your true, amorphous form. 
  Your statistics are the same in each form. Any 
  equipment you are wearing or carrying isn't 
  transformed. You revert to your true form if you die. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Mimic 
  Mimics are fantastic grapplers, but are seriously 
  hampered by their limited mobility. Learn to rely on 
  guile, ambushes, or assistance to quickly get yourself 
  into melee range. Consider classes like barbarian to 
  improve your AC, but fighter, monk, and ranger can 
  both capitalize on your capabilities in melee combat. 
  Design Notes 
  Mimics are a fantastic and iconic monster, but like any 
  ambush predator it’s difficult to turn them into a player 
  race because waiting for pretty to stumble into your 
  mouth isn’t generally how players do things. 
   Mimics are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but offering 
  no specific traits. 
   The mimic’s best abilities are Strength and 
  Constitution, so we’ll give them +1 to each for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, +1 natural 
  armor for 0.5 BP, 15 ft. walking speed for -1.5 BP, acid 
  resistance (down from immunity) for 2 BP, immunity to 
  the Prone condition for 0.25 BP, Darkvision for 2 BP, 
  and False Appearance for 0.5 BP. Mimics have no 
  hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set their natural weapons to 
  1d8 for 2 BP. We’ll allow it to bite for 1d4 slashing and 
  1d4 acid, but won’t allow the mimic to apply Grab (see 
  below) unless it uses a pseudopod. Since oozes can’t 
  wear armor and the mimic’s true form is an 
  “amorphous form”, we’ll disallow armor for -3 BP. 
   That brings us to 3.25 BP, and we need to consider 
  Shapechanger, Adhesive, Grappler, and the grab effect 
  on the mimic’s pseudopod attacks. 
   Shapechanger doesn’t actually offer the mimic any 
  useful options. In fact, reverting to its natural shape 
  only removes abilities. Since that’s the case, we’ll call 
  Shapechanger 0 BP and largely ignore it. 
   The mimic’s remaining abilities need to be handled 
  very cautiously. While they’re fine on a monster, giving 
  them to a player can very quickly create a problem 
  character. Adding Grab to the mimic’s natural weapons 
  costs 2 BP. Grappler adds the most important part of 
  the Grappler feat, so 2 BP seems like a reasonably 
  estimate. We’ll make Adhesive trigger on the mimic’s 
  reaction to keep it from being abused, and we can call 
  it 2 more BP. 
   At 9.75 BP, the mimic is within our target range of 8-
  10 BP. It’s a fantastic grappler, but it’s limited by its 
  poor AC and limited mobility. If you want to strengthen 
  the mimic, raise its walking speed. If you want to 
  weaken the mimic, remove its natural armor. 
  Mind Flayer 
  Horrifying creatures known for eating the brains of 
  sentient creatures. 
  Mind Flayer Traits 
  Mind flayers share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Aberration 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Intelligence. 
  
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   Alignment. Horrible brain-eating tyrants, most mind 
  flayers are lawful evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Extract Brain. On a successful hit with your 
  tentacles, if the damage would reduce the creature to 
  0 hit points, you may choose to kill the target by 
  extracting and devouring its brain. 
   Innate Spellcasting (Psionics). Once you reach 3rd 
  level, you can cast the levitate spell once per day. 
  Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for this spell. 
   Mind Blast. As an action, you can magically emit 
  psychic energy in a 15-foot cone. Each creature in that 
  line must make an Intelligence saving throw. The DC 
  for this saving throw equals 8 + your Intelligence 
  modifier + your proficiency bonus. A creature takes 2d6 
  psychic damage on a failed save and half as much 
  damage on a successful one. The damage increases by 
  1d6 when you reach 5th level (3d6), 11th level (4d6), 
  and 17th level (5d6). 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Tentacles. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 psychic 
  damage on a hit. 
   Telepathy. You can communicate telepathically with 
  any creature that knows a language within 30 ft. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Deep 
  Speech and Undercommon. 
  Playing a Mind Flayer 
  Mind flayers are intelligent and have some useful 
  abilities which supplement the abilities of classes like 
  wizard. When official psionics rules are eventually 
  published, mind flayers should make natural psionics. 
   Arcane spellcasters are hugely rare among mind 
  flayers, who eschew arcane magic in favor of psionics. 
  If you choose to play a mind flayer wizard, being an 
  outcast among your own kind is wonderful motivation 
  to take up a life of adventure. 
  Design Notes 
  One of the most popular monsters in the game, mind 
  flayers are really interesting. They have a good mix of 
  abilities, they have great flavor, and they make great 
  villains. I really want to do them justice. 
   Mind flayers are aberrations, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   All of the mind flayer’s mental ability scores are 
  fantastic, but Intelligence is clearly the best. We’ll give 
  mind flayers +1 Intelligence for 1 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, 30 ft. 
  walking speed, Darkvision (down from Superior 
  Darkvision) for 2 BP, racial languages plus 
  Undercommon, and Telepathy for 2 BP.  
   That already brings us to 5.5 BP, so we need to be 
  very careful with the rest of our BP. The rest of the 
  mind flayer’s stat block includes Magic Resistance, 
  Innate Spellcasting, Tentacles, Extract Brain, and Mind 
  Blast.  
  
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  Races 
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   We’ll drop Magic Resistance. We could use Cunning 
  instead, but generally when I see Magic Resistance it’s 
  on creatures that need to work as stand-alone boss 
  monsters. Players don’t need to do that. 
   The mind flayer’s innate spellcasting takes a sharp 
  jump in power level. We’ll keep levitate for 1 BP, but 
  drop the rest to conserve BP 
   We can examine Tentacles and Extract Brain 
  together. We definitely don’t have room to add 
  grappling abilities to the mind flayer, so we’ll drop the 
  grapple mechanics add Extract Brain as a fun rider 
  effect of some kind. We’ll drop the tentacle damage to 
  1d4 for 1 BP, and we’ll allow Extract Brain to work like 
  a coup de grace, installing killing anything dropped to 0 
  hit points after being hit with the mind flayer’s 
  tentacles. We’ll call Extract Brain 0.5 BP since nearly 
  every time a player drops a foe to 0 hit points it’s 
  considered dead. 
   We’re already at 8 BP, and Mind Blast is too good to 
  add without significant adjustment. If we reskin a 
  breath weapon to deal psychic damage in a cone, we 
  can get away with 2 BP for Mind Blast. 
   At 10 BP, the mind flayer is at the top of our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. The race has some very potent 
  abilities, but really only works for a tiny number of 
  character concepts. If you want to strengthen the mind 
  flayer, increase its Intelligence increase. If you want to 
  weaken the mind flayer, reduce Mind Blast to once per 
  day. 
  Minotaur 
  Minotaurs are great horned monstrosities resembling a 
  humanoid bull. They are famous for their horns, and 
  for their ability to perfectly navigate labyrinths. 
  Minotaur Traits 
  Minotaurs share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength. 
   Monster of the Labyrinth. +1 Strength, Constitution, 
  or Wisdom. 
   Alignment. Descended from cursed demon-
  worshippers and outcasts, most minotaurs are chaotic 
  evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Charge. Once per turn, if you move at least 15 feet 
  toward a creature and hit it with a Strength-based 
  melee weapon attack, the target takes an extra 1d6 
  damage from the attack. This damage increases to 2d6 
  at 5th level, 3d6 at 11th level, and 4d6 at 17th level. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Horns. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 piercing 
  damage on a hit, or 1d10 damage on a hit when you 
  use your Charge ability. 
   Labyrinthine Recall. You can perfectly recall any 
  path you have traveled. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Abyssal. 
  Playing a Minotaur 
  Minotaurs are strong brutes, and make excellent 
  Barbarians, Clerics, Fighters, and Rangers. Be sure to 
  use your Charge ability when moving around in 
  combat. 
   Minotaurs are evil monsters in most fantasy settings, 
  but not in all of them. Depending on your setting, your 
  character might be from any number of backgrounds 
  and have any kind of personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Wizards took a swing at Minotaurs as a player race in 
  their article “Unearthed Arcana: Waterborne 
  Adventures”. I’ll use that article as an additional source 
  of inspiration, but I’ll attempt primarily to the Minotaur 
  presented in the Monster Manual because the 
  Waterborne Adventures version is intended to cater 
  primarily to Dragonlance, while the Monster Manual 
  version is more generic. 
   Minotaurs are Monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits.  
   Minotaurs are strong and durable, but they’re also 
  clever. Accounting for size, their best abilities are 
  Strength and Wisdom. I really want Minotaurs to be 
  clever combatants rather than just dumb brutes, so 
  we’ll steal some inspiration from the Conqueror’s 
  Virtue ability on Wizards of the Coast’s Dragonlance 
  minotaurs. We’ll grant a fixed +1 Strength, and the 
  choice of another +1 to either Strength, Constitution, 
  or Wisdom. We’ll call this 2.25 BP. 
   From their stat block, we get medium size (down 
  from large), +3 natural armor (down from +4) for 1.5 
  BP, 30 ft. walking speed (down from 40 ft.), Darkvision 
  for 2 BP, and we’ll give them racial languages plus 
  Common for 0 BP since they’re a near-humanoid race 
  and should fit into a party easily.  
  
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  Races 
  150 
   We’ll add Charge for another 2 BP, and Labyrinth 
  Recall for 0.5 BP, but we’ll drop Reckless since it should 
  remain a feature exclusive to Barbarians and many 
  Minotaurs will choose to go that route anyway. 
   The minotaurs horns are where I take issue with 
  Wizards of the Coast’s design. 1d10 damage is too 
  good for an attack which doesn’t use two hands. At 
  that point, why would anyone ever use a weapon? On 
  top of that, Wizards of the Coast grants minotaurs 
  advantaged on checks made to shove a creature, 
  making them unparalleled at an extremely popular 
  fighter tactic. Hammering Horns further compounds 
  this issue by removing the need for the Shield Master 
  feat.  
   We’re already at 8.75 BP, so we don’t have much 
  room left. I’ll grant the minotaur 1d6 damage with its 
  horns, and I’ll allow it to deal 1d10 when using their 
  horns with Charge. This motivates the minotaur to use 
  its horns when charging, but still encourages it to use a 
  weapon most of the time. I’ll call that 1.25 BP. 
   At 10 BP, the minotaur is at the top of our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. Their abilities shoehorn them into a 
  small set of builds, but that makes sense based on the 
  monster. If you want to strengthen the minotaur, allow 
  them to pick two of their three flexible ability 
  increases. If you want to weaken the minotaur, replace 
  its flexible ability increase with a fixed +1 Constitution 
  increase, or reduce the damage their horns deal on a 
  charge from 1d10 to 1d8. 
  Modrons 
  Modrons are constructs from the plan of Mechanus 
  who serve Primus. A normal Modron’s mind is linked 
  into the Modron hierarchy, and they are utterly 
  incapable of disobedience. However, sometimes 
  Modrons become defective, and break from the 
  dictates of Primus. 
   The traits presented here work for all modrons, but 
  players will generally play rogue modrons. 
  Modrons Traits 
  Modrons share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Construct. You do not require air, 
  food, drink, or sleep. Instead, you enter a restful state, 
  remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. While 
  resting, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are 
  reflexive mental exercises inherent to your 
  consciousness. After resting in this way, you gain the 
  same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Alignment. Modrons are typically lawful neutral, but 
  a rogue Modron may be of any alignment. 
   Disintegration. If you die, your body disintegrates 
  into dust, leaving behind any items you were wearing 
  or carrying. 
   Otherworldly Perception. You can sense the 
  presence of any creature within 30 feet of you that is 
  invisible or on the Ethereal Plane. You can pinpoint 
  such a creature that is moving. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Modron. 
   Subrace. Choose one of these subraces. You gain the 
  traits listed under your chosen subrace in addition to 
  those listed above. 
  Monodrone and Quadrone 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Fist. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 bludgeoning 
  damage on a hit. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
  Duodrone  
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity, +1 Constitution. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Fist. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 bludgeoning 
  damage on a hit. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
  Tridrone 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity, +1 Constitution. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Fist. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 bludgeoning 
  damage on a hit. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Three Arms. You have three arms, and may hold and 
  use items in each of your hands.  
   If you have Extra Attacks, when you take the Attack 
  action you may make each of your attacks using any 
  weapon you are holding. 
   When you take the Attack action and attack with a 
  weapon which qualifies for use with two-weapon 
  fighting, you can use a bonus action to attack with a 
  different qualifying weapon. You don’t add your ability 
  modifier to the damage of the bonus attack unless the 
  modifier is negative or you have an ability which allows 
  you to add your ability modifier to the bonus attack 
  
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  granted by two-weapon fighting. If you choose to make 
  this additional attack, you may not benefit from using a 
  shield until the beginning of your next turn. 
   If you use a weapon with the Heavy property or use 
  a Versatile weapon two-handed you may not benefit 
  from using a shield until the beginning of your next 
  turn, but you may switch between multiple Heavy or 
  Versatile weapons with each attack. 
  Pentadrone 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 35 ft. 
   Arms. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 bludgeoning 
  damage on a hit. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 14 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Paralyzing Gas. As an action, you can exhale a mildly 
  paralytic gas in a 15-foot cone. Each creature in that 
  line must make a Constitution saving throw. The DC for 
  this saving throw equals 8 + your Constitution modifier 
  + your proficiency bonus. A creature is restrained for 
  one minute on a failed. A creature can repeat the 
  saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the 
  effect on itself on a success. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a long rest. 
  Playing a Modron 
  Monodrones and quadrones make excellent rangers 
  and rogues due to their increased Dexterity and their 
  ability to fly. Duodrones and quadrons make excellent 
  barbarians, fighters due to their strength, durability, 
  and natural armor. Pentadrones also make excellent 
  barbarians and fighters, but trade their hands for a 
  potent breath weapon. 
   Since modrons don’t act outside of their given 
  instructions, it’s generally best to assume that modron 
  player characters are “rogue” modrons (not to be 
  confused with modron rogues). Rogue modrons are 
  only vaguely detailed, so a rogue modron might do any 
  number of strange things, including joining a party of 
  adventurers. 
  Design Notes 
  Modrons are bizarre constructs. They have five 
  variations, which are essentially subraces for our 
  purposes. They share some core traits, but have 
  several differences. 
   Modrons are constructs, which costs 1 BP. 
   From the various Modron stat blocks we can draw 
  some shared traits. All Modrons have truesight, 
  Disintegration, and only racial languages for -1 BP. 
  We’ll add Disintegration for 0 BP, and we’ll downgrade 
  modrons to Otherworldly Sight ability for 2.5 BP as 
  we’ve done for other creatures with truesight. 
   Other traits of individual Modron types need to be 
  considered individually. It’s important to note that 
  some of the drones are functionally identical, 
  essentially representing higher-level version of the 
  same creature. Due to these redundancies, we’ll 
  combine the monodrone and quadrone. 
  Monodrone and Quadron 
  Monodrones and quadrones are flyers. For normal 
  modrons monodrones are flying cannon fodder, while 
  quadrones are flying archers. Beyond numerical 
  differences and their default gear, they’re essentially 
  identical. 
   Dexterity is both the monodrone’s and the 
  quadrone’s highest ability, so we’ll grant a +1 to 
  Dexterity for 1 BP. 
   From the stat blocks for monodrones and quadrone, 
  we get medium size, +3 natural armor (down from +4) 
  for 1.5 BP, 30 ft. walking speed, 30 ft. fly speed for 4 
  BP, and a 1d4 natural weapon for 1 BP. 
   At 10 BP, the monodrone and quadrone are at the 
  top of our target BP range of 8-10 BP. The quadrone 
  doesn’t have any active abilities, but its traits combine 
  to make it a potent threat in the air. If you want to 
  strengthen the monodrone and quadrone, increase 
  their natural armor. If you want to weaken the 
  monodrone and quadrone, reduce their natural armor 
  or remove their natural weapon. 
  Duodrone 
  Duodrones the weakest of the non-flying modrons. 
  Their traits are extremely bland, so we’ll need to give 
  them decent numbers to make them competitive with 
  monodrones and quadrones. 
   Like monodrones and quadrones, duodrones’ best 
  ability is Dexterity, followed closely by constitution. 
  Their abilities aren’t great, but they also don’t have 
  much else to look at so it’s hard to find ways to spend 
  BP. We’ll give the duodrone +2 Dexterity and +1 
  Constitution for 3 BP.  
   From the stat block, we get medium size, +4 natural 
  armor for 2 BP, 30 ft. walking speed, and a 1d4 natural 
  weapon for 1 BP. 
  
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   At 8.5 BP, the duodrone falls within our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. It lacks the mobility of the monodrone and 
  quadrone, but has better natural armor and ability 
  scores. If you want to strengthen the duodrone, 
  increase its natural armor. If you want to weaken the 
  duodrone, reduce its natural armor or removes its 
  natural weapon. 
  Tridrone 
  The tridrone is very similar to a duodrone, but has an 
  extra arm. That’s enough difference to separate the 
  two, but most of the design is identical. We’ll drop the 
  tridrone’s natural armor to +3, and add Extra Arms 
  with one arm for 0.75 BP. 
   At 8.75 BP, the tridrone falls within our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. It’s very similar to the duodrone, but trades 
  the protection of extra natural armor for the versatility 
  of a third hand. If you want to strengthen the tridrone, 
  increase its natural armor. If you want to weaken the 
  tridrone, reduce its natural armor. 
  Pentadrone 
  The pentadrone is where things get a bit silly. When 
  most modrons are relatively similar to humanoids in 
  terms of anatomy, the pentadrone is like a weird robot 
  flower with legs. It has no hands and has a relatively 
  weak natural weapon which is normally acceptable 
  since it makes 5 attacks with it, and its Paralyzing Gas 
  ability is startlingly powerful. 
   Unlike other modrons, the pentadrone’s best ability 
  is Strength. It’s reasonable to assume that it’s partially 
  because the pentadrone is large, but since we can’t 
  make a creature with no hands rely on finesse weapons 
  or ranged weapons, giving it a Dexterity increase isn’t 
  terribly helpful. We’ll give the pentadrone +2 Strength 
  for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), +4 natural armor for 2 BP, and 35 ft. walking 
  speed (down from 40 ft.) for 0.5 BP. Pentadrones have 
  no hands for -2 BP. Normally pentadrones only deal 
  1d6 damage with their natural weapons, but we’ll 
  upgrade it to 1d8 for 2 BP to compensate for losing the 
  ability to make 5 attacks. 
   That brings us to 7 BP before we consider the 
  pentadrone’s Paralyzing Gas. As it stands it’s far too 
  powerful. Paralysis is an extremely potent effect, so 
  Paralyzing Gas is at least as powerful as the hold 
  monster spell, which is a 5th-level spell. If we reduce 
  the effect to Restrained, and reduce the range to that 
  of other breath weapons, and limit usage to once per 
  day, I think we can call it 3 BP. 
   At 10 BP, the pentadrone is at the top of our target 
  BP range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the 
  pentadrone increase its natural weapon damage or 
  allow it to use Paralyzing Gas once per short rest. If you 
  want to weaken the pentadrone reduce its natural 
  armor or reduce its Strength increase. 
  Mummies 
  Undead raised by terrible rituals, mummies are 
  animated bodies wrapped in bandages which 
  frequently occupy ancient crypts and tombs. 
  Mummy Traits 
  Mummies share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Undead. You don’t require air, food, 
  drink, or sleep. Instead, you enter a restful state, 
  remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. While 
  resting, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are 
  reflexive mental exercises inherent to your 
  consciousness. After resting in this way, you gain the 
  same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength. 
   Alignment. Animated by an evil necromantic ritual, 
  most mummies are lawful evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 ft. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Dreadful Glare. As an action, you can magically 
  terrify a creature with your gaze. Target one creature 
  within 60 feet of you that you can see. If the target can 
  see you, it must make a Wisdom saving throw or 
  become frightened until the end of your next turn. The 
  DC for this saving throw equals 8 + your Charisma 
  modifier + your proficiency bonus. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Fist. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 bludgeoning 
  damage on a hit. 
   Flammable. You have vulerability to fire damage. 
   Undead Nature. You have resistance to necrotic 
  damage. You have immunity to the poisoned condition, 
  and to poison damage. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and one other language that the mummy 
  knew in life. 
   Subrace. Choose one of these subraces. You gain the 
  traits listed under your chosen subrace in addition to 
  those listed above. 
  
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  Mummy 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Constitution. 
  Mummy Lord 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Wisdom. 
  Playing a Mummy 
  Mummies are intelligent undead. Normal mummies 
  are raised from servants to serve and protect the 
  tombs of the mummy lord who they served in life. Both 
  types of mummy are strong, but their abilities differ. 
  Common mummies are durable, making them 
  excellent barbarian fighters, while mummy lords are 
  wise, making them excellent clerics and druids. 
   Mummies are inherently evil, and are animated into 
  undeath when a condition specified by their creator is 
  met. This condition typically involves the desecration of 
  some item or location important to the mummy’s 
  creator. Consider what animated your mummy 
  character, who created them, and what would allow 
  your character to return to a peaceful rest. 
  Design Notes 
  Mummies are fairly basic undead for the most part. 
  The basic mummy has some rider effects on its Rotting 
  Fist natural weapon and Dreadful Glare, and the 
  mummy lord adds some innate spellcasting and 
  Rejuvenation. We’ll need to give the basic mummy 
  some stuff to differentiate it, but first we’ll look at 
  what the two have in common. 
   Mummies are undead, costing 1 BP. 
   Both mummies have excellent Strength, so we’ll give 
  them both +1 Strength for 1 BP. 
   From the stat blocks, we get medium size, 25 ft. 
  walking speed (up from 20 ft.) for -0.5 BP, vulnerability 
  to fire for -1 BP, resistance to necrotic damage (down 
  from immunity) for 2 BP, Poison Immunity for 2 BP, 
  and Darkvision for 2 BP. We’ll drop all of the mummy’s 
  natural armor and condition immunities to save BP. 
   That brings us to 6.5 BP. We haven’t tackled the 
  mummy’s natural weapons, Dreadful Glare, or the 
  differences between the two types of mummy. We can 
  add a 1d4 natural weapon for 1 BP, and expect most 
  mummies to use weapons. 
   Dreadful Glare is primarily a single-target fear effect. 
  If we drop the paralysis component, it’s both easier to 
  bring into the game and easier to assess. We’ll also 
  need to reduce Dreadful Glare from at-will usage to 
  prevent abuse.  
   The closest spell I can find to a single-target fear 
  effect is the command spell’s “Flee” option. Command 
  once per day would be 1 BP, but it’s also considerably 
  more versatile than Dreadful Glare. Since we only one 
  of the command spell’s five options, I think we can 
  allow Dreadful Glare once per short rest for 1 BP. 
   Unfortunately, that brings us to 8.5 BP, and we still 
  haven’t done anything to differentiate the two types of 
  mummy. It’s not much, but a second ability increase 
  will give a little differentiation and encourage different 
  roles without costing a ton of BP. We’ll give standard 
  mummies +1 Constitution and mummy lords +1 
  Wisdom. 
   At 9.5 BP mummies are within our target range of 8-
  10 BP. If you want to strengthen mummies, increase 
  their natural weapon damage. If you want to weaken 
  mummies, remove one of their ability score increases. 
  Myconid 
  Myconids are peaceful, sentient fungoid creatures 
  native to the underdark. 
  Myconid Traits 
  Myconids share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Plant.  
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Constitution, +1 Wisdom. 
   Alignment. Simple, peaceful creatures with a simple 
  bug regimented society, most myconids are lawful 
  neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 ft. 
   Can’t Speak. You are unable to speak, but are still 
  able to read, write, and understand any languages 
  which you know. You are unable to perform verbal 
  spell components. 
   Fist. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 bludgeoning 
  damage on a hit. 
   Pacification Spores. You eject spores at one creature 
  you can see within 5 feet of you. The target must 
  succeed on a Constitution saving throw or be 
  incapacitated for 1 minute. The DC of this saving throw 
  is 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Constitution 
  modifier. The target can repeat the saving throw at the 
  end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a 
  success.  
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Rapport Spores. As an action, you can spread spores 
  which allow affected creatures to communicate 
  telepathically. A 20-foot radius of spores extends from 
  you. These spores can go around corners and affect 
  only creatures with an Intelligence of 2 or higher that 
  aren't undead, constructs, or elementals. Affected 
  creatures can communicate telepathically with one 
  
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  another while they are within 30 feet of each other. 
  The effect lasts for 1 hour.  
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Superior Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 
  120 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. 
   Sun Sickness. While in sunlight, you have 
  disadvantage on ability checks, attack rolls, and saving 
  throws. You die if you spend more than 1 hour in direct 
  sunlight. 
   Languages. You know no languages. 
  Playing a Myconid 
  Myconids are durable and wise, but their racial traits 
  don’t lend themselves well to violence. Consider 
  classes like cleric, druid, and monk which can take 
  advantage of the myconid’s ability score increases, and 
  which spend enough time in melee to use Pacifying 
  Spores. 
   Because myconids lack the ability to speak, they rely 
  almost entirely on Rapport Spores to communicate. 
  This bizarre form of telepathy allows a small group of 
  creatures to communicate with each other, offering a 
  potent silent communication mechanism for groups of 
  adventurers who often must rely on stealth to survive. 
  Myconids abhor violence, so consider how your 
  character might reconcile their innate pacifism with the 
  violent lifestyle of adventurers. 
  Design Notes 
  Myconids are mushroom people. Their culture is 
  actually pretty interesting, though certainly not 
  complex. Their spores may present some interesting 
  design challenges, but since the race abhors violence 
  they’re not particularly deadly. The Monster Manual 
  presents a stat block for the myconid sprout and the 
  myconid sovereign. Since these are functionally 
  child/elder versions of one race and not unique 
  subraces or something we’ll consider myconids to be 
  one race and design them as such. 
  
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   Myconids are plants, costing 0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   The myconid’s three variations have fairly similar 
  abilities, and Constitution and Wisdom are clearly the 
  myconid’s best, so we’ll give them +1 to each for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, +2 natural 
  armor for 1 BP, 25 ft. walking speed (up from 20 ft.) for 
  -0.5 BP, and 120 ft. Darkvision for 3 BP. Myconids  have 
  no languages for -3 BP and can’t speak (no BP 
  adjustment since they have no languages). We’ll drop 
  the myconid’s natural weapons to 1d4 for 1 BP since 
  they appear to have something resembling hands with 
  which to use weapons. 
   That brings us to 5 BP before considering the 
  myconid’s remaining abilities, most of which relate to 
  spores. Distress Spores seems like an occasionally 
  interesting plot device for players, so we’ll call it 0 BP. 
  Sun Sickness is essentially the same as Sunlight 
  Sensitivity, so we’ll call it -2 BP.  
   That drops our total to 3 BP before we consider 
  other types of spores. The three different myconids 
  show different kinds of spores. All three get Rapport 
  Spores. Adults add Pacifying Spores, and sovereigns 
  add Animating Spores and Hallucination Spores. The 
  sovereign’s new spore abilities are really powerful, so 
  we’ll work from the myconid adult. 
   Pacifying Spores is very potent. Stunned is very 
  nearly as powerful as Paralyzed, so it’s easy to compare 
  this spell to the hold monster and power word stun 
  spells, both of which are very high level spells. We’ll 
  need to find a weaker approximation. The tasha’s 
  hideous laughter spell is a nice low-level option. We’ll 
  drop the prone component of the spell and the 
  intelligence requirement, then reduce the range to 5 
  feet to match the original ability. We’ll allow myconids 
  to use it once per short rest, and call it 3 BP. 
   Rapport Spores is harmless, but it’s deceptively 
  powerful. The closest approximation is the rary’s 
  
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  telepathic bond spell, which is a 5th-level spell. We’ll 
  need to make some cuts to keep the ability fair. 
  Rapport Spores’ range is 20 ft. (slightly smaller than 
  rary’s telepathic bond), and the telepathy only works if 
  the communicating creatures are within 30 feet of 
  each other. That means that they’re basically in 
  speaking range, so I think that’s probably enough of a 
  cut. We’ll call this 3 BP, and allow it to be used once 
  per short rest. 
   At 8 BP, the myconid is within our target range of 8-
  10 BP. If you want to strengthen the myconid, grant it 
  some natural armor. If you want to weaken the 
  myconid, remove its natural weapon. 
  Myconid Spore Servant [Template: 
  Natural] 
  Zombie-like creatures reanimated by the spores of a 
  myconid sovereign, myconid spore servants exist to 
  serve and protect their peaceful masters. 
  Becoming a Myconid Spore Servant 
  Any large or smaller flesh and blood creature can 
  become a spore servant by being brought back to life 
  by the animating spores of a myconid sovereign. 
  Constructs, elementals, oozes, plants, or undead can't 
  be turned into spore servants. 
  Myconid Spore Servant Traits 
  All myconid spore servants have the following traits, 
  adding these traits to their existing racial traits upon 
  gaining the template. 
   Creature Type. You replace your current creature 
  type with Plant, and remove any subtypes or tags. 
   Retained Racial Traits. You retain racial ability 
  adjustments to Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution, 
  any resistances, vulnerabilities, immunities, natural 
  armor, and natural weapons (claws, etc.). 
   Lost Racial Traits. If your racial traits include natural 
  weapons that deal damage types other than 
  bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage (poison, fire, 
  etc.), your natural weapons no longer deal that 
  damage. You lose any racial ability adjustments to 
  Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. You lose any 
  special senses such as Darkvision, Blindsight, or 
  Tremorsense. You lose any other special racial traits 
  and abilities not specified under Retained Racial Traits. 
   Ability Score Increase. -2 Intelligence, -2 Wisdom, -2 
  Charisma. 
   Alignment. Robbed of their former personality, most 
  myconid servants are neutral. 
   Speed. Reduce each of your racial speeds by 10 feet, 
  to a minimum of 5 feet. 
   Senses. You have blindsight with a radius of 30 feet, 
  but you are blind beyond this radius. 
   Condition Immunities. You are immune to the 
  blinded, charmed, frightened, and paralyzed 
  conditions. 
   Attacks. If your race does not already have natural 
  weapons, you develop the ability to fight with your fists 
  or limbs better than a living member of your race. Your 
  unarmed strikes deal 1d4 bludgeoning damage on a 
  hit. 
   Languages. You lose all known languages, but can 
  responds to orders given to you by myconids using 
  rapport spores. You must give highest priority to orders 
  received from the most powerful myconid. 
  Design Notes 
  Myconid Spore Servants are a strange template, even 
  by monster template standards. Unlike most 
  templates, the template removes a significant amount 
  of the original creature’s traits. Because we can’t make 
  any assumptions regarding the original creature’s 
  traits, that makes it exceptionally difficult to assess the 
  template’s BP cost.  
   Still, we’ll do the best we can. We’ll assess most of 
  the abilities as though they were applied to a 
  featureless humanoid. 
   The template changes the creature’s type to Plant, 
  which costs 0.5 BP. 
   Spore servants are blind for -4 BP, and gain 30 ft. 
  blindsight for 6 BP. They gain immunity to the 
  charmed, frightened, and paralyzed conditions for a 
  total of 1.5 BP. Finally, spore servants get 1d4 natural 
  weapons for 1 BP. 
   We should also discuss the servant’s ability scores. 
  The original template sets the creature’s mental 
  abilities to fixed values, presenting mechanical 
  problems for character creation, not to mention the 
  massive weakness of having such massive ability score 
  penalties. Instead, we’ll remove racial ability 
  adjustments to mental ability scores and impose -2 
  penalties to each of them for a total of -3 BP.  
   That brings our total to 2 BP. That’s more than we 
  want for a non-leveled template, but it’s hardly the 
  template’s biggest problem. Removing all of the race’s 
  special traits is worth an unpredictable amount of BP. 
  Without designing a different template for each race, 
  it’s basically impossible to balance.  
   If you plan to include this template as a player option 
  in your games, be very cautious about how it affects 
  
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  Races 
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  the balance of your game. Use the race building rules 
  at the end of this document to get an idea of how fair 
  this template is for the race in question. If you need 
  additional penalties, consider reductions to Intelligence 
  or Wisdom. 
  Naga 
  Eternal, undying spirit creatures resembling snakes, 
  nagas dwell among ruins of long-dead civilizations. 
  Naga Traits 
  Nagas share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 piercing damage 
  and 1d4 poison damage on a hit. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Immortal Nature. You do not require air, food, drink, 
  or sleep. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Poison Immunity. You are immune to poison 
  damage, and immune to the poisoned condition. 
   Rejuvenation. If you die, you return to life in a 
  secluded area near where you died 1d6 days later. Only 
  a wish spell can prevent this trait from functioning.  
   Serpentine Body. You have no arms or hands. You 
  are unable to wield weapons or wear shields, and 
  cannot use items which require manipulation, including 
  spellcasting foci, wands, tools, etc. You are unable to 
  wear armor. 
   Subrace. Choose one of these subraces. You gain the 
  traits listed under your chosen subrace in addition to 
  those listed above. 
  Guardian Naga 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Wisdom. 
   Alignment. Wise, noble spirits dedicated to guarding 
  ancient sites and artifacts, most guardian nagas are 
  lawful good. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 35 ft. 
   Innate Spellcasting. You know the thaumaturgy 
  cantrip. Once you reach 3rd level, you can cast the 
  shield of faith spell once per day. Once you reach 5th 
  level, you can also cast the calm emotions spell. 
  Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for these spells. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Celestial and Common. 
  Spirit Naga 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Intelligence. 
   Alignment. Devious, spiteful, and obsessed with 
  revenge, most spirit nagas are chaotic evil. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 35 ft. 
   Innate Spellcasting. You know the minor illusion 
  cantrip. Once you reach 3rd level, you can cast the 
  charm person spell once per day. Once you reach 5th 
  level, you can also cast the detect thoughts spell. 
  Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for these spells. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Abyssal 
  and Common. 
  Bone Naga Traits 
  A naga’s rejuvenation can be prevented by a ritual known to 
  the Yuan-Ti which changes the naga into a bone naga, an 
  undead servitor with abilities resembling those it bore in life. 
  A bone naga uses the same traits as a living naga, except as 
  noted below. 
   
  Creature Type. Undead. You don’t require air, food, drink, 
  or sleep. Instead, you enter a restful state, remaining 
  semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. While resting, you can 
  dream after a fashion; such dreams are reflexive mental 
  exercises inherent to your consciousness. After resting in this 
  way, you gain the same benefit that a human does from 8 
  hours of sleep. 
   
  Alignment. Undead servants stripped of their former 
  personalities, most bone nagas are lawful evil. 
   
  Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   
  Immortal Nature. Bone nagas lose the Immortal Nature 
  trait. 
   
  Rejuvenation. Bone nagas lose the Rejuvenation trait. 
   
  Undead Nature. You are immune to the charmed, 
  exhaustion, and paralyzed conditions. 
  Playing a Naga 
  Nagas are potent spellcasting snakes. Their 
  Rejuvenation ability allows them to face danger 
  fearlessly, and their spells and natural weapons 
  provide reliable options in a variety of situations. 
  Bone Naga 
  Bone nagas give up the naga’s Rejuvenation ability, but 
  picks up some useful condition immunities.  
   Since bone naga are evil undead servitors created by 
  yuan-ti rituals, they are a good fit in a party including 
  yuan-ti. However, they might also work alongside other 
  evil characters like necromancers who might have 
  access to the magic to create a bone naga. 
  
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  Guardian Naga 
  Guardian nagas wise and make excellent clerics, druids, 
  and monks. Their innate spells complement those of 
  the cleric, providing some utility and defensive options. 
   Guardian nagas work to keep evil artifacts and 
  locations out of the hands of those who would abuse 
  them. They fit well into any party seeking to remove 
  evil forces from sites of power or seeking to 
  recover/destroy artifacts which could be used for 
  nefarious purposes. 
  Spirit Naga 
  Spirit nagas are intelligent and conniving, making them 
  excellent arcane tricksters and wizards. Their innate 
  spells lend themselves to trickery and manipulation. 
   Spirit nagas are evil and vengeful, but have few 
  motivations beyond revenge. Fortunately, it’s easy to 
  turn revenge into motivation to do a variety of things, 
  so they can fit easily into a variety of parties. 
  Design Notes 
  Nagas are interesting creatures. They’re giant snakes, 
  which makes them plenty threatening already, but 
  their biggest ability is their innate spellcasting.  
   All three types of naga have excellent Dexterity, 
  which is unsurprising for a snake. We’ll give each naga 
  +1 Dexterity for 1 BP. 
   From the stat blocks, we get medium size (down 
  from large), +3 natural armor (down from +4 for the 
  guardian naga, up from +2 for the bone and spirit naga) 
  for 1.5 BP, poison immunity for 2 BP, Darkvision for 2 
  BP, and racial languages plus Common for 0 BP. Nagas 
  have no hands for -2 BP and no arms for another -2 BP. 
  We’ll also disallow armor for -3 BP because I have no 
  idea how you would armor a snake. 
   All three nagas deal poison damage on their bite 
  attacks. Spirit and Guardian nagas require a save, but 
  requiring a save every time a player attacks is a 
  horrible idea, so we’ll stick to guaranteed damage. For 
  2 BP, we’ll allow nagas to deal 1d4 piercing and 1d4 
  poison damage with their natural weapons. 
   Nagas all have innate spellcasting, and their stat 
  blocks state that they can cast their innate spells with 
  only verbal components so I’ll allow them to ignore 
  spellcasting foci for 0.5 BP. All three get several spells 
  running up to 6th-level spells on the guardian naga, but 
  I think we’ll limit all three variety’s spells to 3rd-level at 
  most. 
   That brings our total to just 2 BP before we examine 
  individual naga varieties. 
  Bone Naga 
  The bone naga is the weakest naga, representing a 
  diminished version of what was once a powerful 
  immortal guardian. It’s interesting to note that the 
  bone naga’s spellcasting derives from the original, and 
  beyond that and the creature type the monsters differ 
  very little. In fact, it’s difficult to find any meaningful 
  variations between a bone naga race and the two other 
  naga races. Instead of trying to scrape together some 
  meaningful differences, we’ll present the bone naga as 
  a variant which can apply to either of the other two 
  naga variations. 
   Bone nagas are undead, costing 1 BP. They give up 
  the monstrosity creature type for -0.5 BP. 
   Bone nagas are slower than other nagas, dropping 
  their speed to 30 ft. for -0.5 BP. They also lose 
  Immortal Nature or -1 BP, and they lose Rejuvenation. 
  Bone nagas gain condition immunities to charmed, 
  exhaustion, and paralyzed for a total of 1.5 BP. 
   In total, the bone naga is 0.5 BP (minus whatever 
  Rejuvenation is worth) stronger than a living naga. 
  That’s not a big difference, so we don’t make any other 
  adjustments. 
  Guardian Naga 
  The most powerful naga, guardian nagas are what you 
  want from a noble defender. They plan ahead, they 
  attempt diplomacy first, and when they’re pushed 
  they’re strong enough to push back. 
   Guardian nagas are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   Guardian nagas are wiser than other nagas, which 
  fits their flavor, and Wisdom is their spellcasting ability. 
  We’ll give guardian nagas +1 Wisdom for 1 BP. 
   From the guardian naga’s stat block, we get 35 ft. 
  walking speed (down from 40 ft.) for 0.5 BP, bringing us 
  to 4 BP before we look at innate spellcasting. 
   I want the guardian naga’s innate spells to 
  emphasize defense and mysticism over blasting things, 
  and I want to grant a cantrip and one spell of 1st and 
  2nd level. Since we’re trying to create a weakened 
  version of the guardian naga’s spellcasting, we’ll select 
  spells from the bone naga’s innate spellcasting list, 
  which is a middle point between the original monster 
  and where we can to be. We’ll take thaumaturgy, 
  shield of faith, and calm emotions. That costs a total of 
  3.5 BP. 
   Rejuvenation is difficult to tackle. Our best bet is to 
  draw on the design work we’ve done previously for the 
  demilich. We’ll obviously remove the phylactery 
  component, but otherwise the ability will work in 
  
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  Races 
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  largely the same way. Unfortunately, it’s basically 
  impossible to assess a BP cost for this ability. 
   At a 7.5 BP, the guardian naga is below our target 
  range of 8-10 BP, but it’s impossible to estimate the 
  value of Rejuvenation. If you want to strengthen the 
  bone naga, allow it to cast the bestow curse spell once 
  per day starting at 7th level. If you want to weaken the 
  guardian naga, remove Rejuvenation. 
  Spirit Naga 
  I’m not really sure why spirit nagas exist. They’re evil 
  and vengeful, which seems to draw them away from 
  the “immortal guardian” aspect of nagas. 
   Spirit nagas are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   The spirit naga’s Intelligence isn’t much better than 
  its other abilities, but since it’s the spirit naga’s 
  spellcasting ability we’ll give it +1 Intelligence for 1 BP.  
   From the spirit naga’s stat block, we get 35 ft. 
  walking speed (down from 40 ft.) for 0.5 BP, bringing us 
  to 4 BP before we look at innate spellcasting. 
   The spirit naga’s spells emphasize enchantment and 
  illusion, so we’ll focus on those options over direct 
  damage options. We’ll borrow from the bone naga the 
  same way we did for the guardian naga. We’ll take 
  minor illusion, charm person, and detect thoughts. That 
  costs a total of 3.5 BP. 
  Nightmare 
  Nightmares are black, fiendish horses famed for their 
  incredible speed and their flaming manes and tails. 
  Nightmare Traits 
  Nightmares share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Fiend 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Charisma. 
   Alignment. Evil, predatory fiends created from 
  tortured pegasi, most nightmares are neutral evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 ft. 
   Can’t Speak. You are unable to speak, but are still 
  able to read, write, and understand any languages 
  which you know. You are unable to perform verbal 
  spell components. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 40 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Hooves. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 bludgeoning 
  damage and 1d4 fire damage on a hit. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 11 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can read understand Abyssal, 
  Common, and Infernal. 
  Playing a Nightmare 
  Nightmares are strong and have a commanding 
  presence. Their natural charisma makes them excellent 
  paladins, sorcerers, and warlocks, but their lack of 
  hands makes it difficult for them to cast many spells. 
   The nightmare’s personality isn’t explored in the 
  Monster Manual, so it’s unclear what motivates them. 
  Since they’re created from mutilated pegasi, it’s 
  possible that the creature serves whoever created it 
  originally, which may be a way to justify including a 
  nightmare in an evil party. 
  Design Notes 
  Nightmares are a great creature. They look great, they 
  make a great mount for a villain, and they have some 
  cool abilities. All around, they’re just a fantastic 
  creature. Since they’re flying quadrupeds, we can 
  borrow design elements from other creatures which 
  we’ve already designed like griffons and hippogriffs. 
   Nightmares are fiends, costing 0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   Nightmares resemble beasts in many ways. Strength 
  and Constitution are their best abilities, but adjusting 
  for size Dexterity and Charisma aren’t much lower. To 
  make things interesting, we’ll give the nightmare +1 
  Strength and +1 Charisma for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), +1 natural armor for 0.5 BP, 40 ft. walking speed 
  (down from 60 ft.) for 1 BP, 40 ft. fly speed for 5 BP, 
  fire resistance (down from immunity) for 2 BP, racial 
  languages plus Common and one additional fixed 
  language for 0.25 BP, and illumination for 0.25 BP. 
   Nightmares have no hands for -2 BP, and can’t speak 
  for -1.5 BP. We’ll let their natural weapons deal 1d4 
  bludgeoning and 1d4 fire damage for 2 BP. 
   That brings our total to 9.5 BP. Unfortunately, that 
  means that we’ll need to cut the nightmare’s 
  remaining abilities. Confer Fire Resistance should cost 
  something like 3 BP, and Ethereal Stride would need to 
  be massively weakened to be viable.  
   At 10 BP, the nightmare is at the top of our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the 
  nightmare, increase its fire resistance to fire immunity 
  
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  or increase its fly speed. If you want to weaken the 
  nightmare, reduce its walking speed. 
  Nothic 
  Nothics are one-eyed aberrations, the twisted remains 
  of scholars and spellcasters afflicted with a vile curse 
  left by Vecna. 
  Nothic Traits 
  Nothics share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Aberration. 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Evil creatures born of a dark curse, most 
  Nothics are neutral evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Arcane Mysteries. You gain proficiency in the Arcana 
  skill. 
   Claw. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 slashing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Keen Sight. You have advantage on Wisdom 
  (Perception) checks that rely on sight. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 12 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Otherworldly Perception. You can sense the 
  presence of any creature within 30 feet of you that is 
  invisible or on the Ethereal Plane. You can pinpoint 
  such a creature that is moving. 
   Rotting Gaze. As an action, you may target one 
  creature you can see within 30 ft. of you. The target 
  must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or take 
  1d8 necrotic damage. The DC for this saving throw is 8 
  + your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier. 
  The damage increases by 1d8 when you reach 5th level 
  (2d8), 11th level (3d8), and 17th level (4d8). 
   Weird Insight. You gain proficiency in the Insight 
  skill. 
   As an action, you may target one creature you can 
  see within 30 ft. of you. The target must contest its 
  Charisma (Deception) check against your Wisdom 
  (Insight) check. If you win, you magically learn one fact 
  or secret about the target. The target automatically 
  wins if it is immune to being charmed. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Undercommon. 
  Playing a Nothic 
  Sneaky, nimble, and with excellent senses, Nothics 
  make excellent Monks and Rogues. Their Weird Insight 
  allows them to glean secrets from enemies at a 
  distance, and their Rotting Gaze provides a lethal 
  attack option, even while unarmed. 
   Despite their affliction, Nothics are still inclined to 
  hoard magical knowledge. They are at home in a party 
  with multiple spellcasters, especially wizards. 
  Design Notes 
  Nothics are an interesting creature. They have a really 
  interesting origin, and a couple of unique abilities 
  which I think will have some interesting applications at 
  the table. We’ll need to adapt truesight like we have 
  with other monsters, and we’ll need to adapt Rotting 
  Gaze and Weird Insight. 
   Nothics are aberrations, which costs 0.5 BP but 
  grants no special traits. 
   Nothics have good physical ability scores and decent 
  intelligence, but it’s difficult to tell what to emphasize. 
  There appear to be some mathematical errors in the 
  Nothic’s stat block which make things especially 
  complicated. The Nothic’s primary offensive ability, 
  Rotting Gaze, doesn’t follow normal DC calculation 
  rules (8 + proficiency bonus + ability modifier), and 
  even the Nothic’s claws appear to use different abilities 
  for determining their attack bonus and damage bonus. 
  We’ll leave the ability increases for now and look at 
  them again after we’re done with everything else. 
   From the stat block we get medium size, 30 ft. 
  walking speed, +2 natural armor for 1 BP, only racial 
  languages for -1 BP, Keen Sight for 0.25 BP, and a 1d6 
  natural weapon for 1.5 BP. 
   Truesight is still too powerful to give to players, so 
  we’ll drop it to Otherworldly Gaze (see the Kuo-Toa 
  design notes earlier in this document) for 2.5 B. 
   Rotting Gaze does 3d6 damage and has no usage 
  limitation. It’s the Nothic’s signature offensive ability, 
  so I really want to keep the feel intact as much as 
  possible. The closest approximation we can get is a 
  cantrip, and there are several which deal similar 
  damage at will with a saving throw to negate the 
  damage. 3d6 damage is obviously too much damage 
  for a low-level character, so we’ll need to stick to 
  cantrip damage scaling. Reskinning Sacred Flame to 
  deal Necrotic damage is probably our best bet. We’ll 
  drop the range to 30 feet to keep it in line with a 
  normal Nothic. A cantrip costs 0.5 BP, so we’ll call our 
  version of Rotting Gaze 0.5 BP and try to ignore the 
  range reduction. I’m really not sure which ability 
  should determine the DC. Intelligence seems logical 
  since Nothic are cursed wizards. 
   Weird Insight is the hardest part of the Nothic to 
  quantify. The closest comparison is the Detect 
  
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  Thoughts spell. Weird Insight is usable at will, so it’s 
  probably more powerful than just a 2nd-level spell, but 
  it’s also extremely imprecise and leaves the DM a lot of 
  room to give the player useless facts. We’ll call it 2.5 
  BP. 
   The Nothics skills are really central to its function. 
  Arcana is a defining part of the creature’s backstory, 
  and without Insight proficiency Weird Insight is 
  basically useless. We’ll grant the Nothic both for 1 BP. 
   With all of that settled, we’re at 8.75 BP and still 
  need an ability score increase. We only have room for a 
  +1 to something, and it’s really hard to decide what it 
  should be. +1 Intelligence fits the theme, but a Nothic 
  wizard seems to fly in the face of the monster’s origins. 
  A bonus to Dexterity fits the sneaky, infiltrator style of 
  the monster, so I think that’s probably our best bet. +1 
  Dexterity for 1 BP. 
   At 9.75 BP, the Nothic is nearly at the top of our 
  target BP range of 8-10 BP. It has some very unique 
  abilities, and it should be really fun to play. If you need 
  to strengthen the Nothic, give it a +1 to Constitution. If 
  you need to weaken it, either take away the +1 to 
  Dexterity, remove one of the skill proficiencies, or 
  reduce Rotting Gaze’s damage to d6’s instead of d8’s. 
  Ogre 
  Among the smallest of giants, ogres are famous for 
  being violent, brutish, cruel, and incredibly stupid. 
  Ogre Traits 
  Ogres share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Giant 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +2 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Vicious, greedy, and easily angered, most 
  ogres are chaotic evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Furious Temper. If you are insulted, confused, 
  mocked, robber, inconvenienced, or otherwise 
  bothered by a creature or object, you can fly into a 
  violent tantrum. As a bonus action, choose a creature 
  or object that you can see within 90 feet to be the 
  subject of your tantrum. Until your tantrum ends, you 
  deal an extra 1d6 damage to the target whenever you 
  hit it with a weapon attack. If the target drops to 0 hit 
  points before this effects end, you can use a bonus 
  action on a subsequent turn of yours to turn your 
  tantrum on a new creature or object. 
   Your tantrum lasts for 1 hour. You must maintain 
  concentration during that time, as if you were casting a 
  spell. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Powerful Build. You count as one size larger when 
  determining your carrying capacity and the weight you 
  can push, drag, or lift. 
   Siege Monster. You deal double damage to objects 
  and structures. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Giant. 
  Half-Ogre Traits 
  Ogres occasionally mate with humans, hobgoblins, bugbears, 
  or orcs to produce half-ogre children. Half-ogres have the 
  same traits as ogres, except as noted below. 
   
  Bugbear. Half-ogres with bugbear parents lose the Siege 
  Monster trait, and gain the Savage Attacks trait. 
   
  Hobgoblin. Half-ogres with hobgoblin parents lose the Siege 
  Monster trait, and gain the Stealthy trait. 
   
  Human. Half-ogres with human parents lose the ogre’s +2 
  to Constitution, and gain +1 to any ability score except 
  Strength. 
   
  Orc.  Half-ogres with orc parents lose the Furious Temper 
  trait and gain the Aggressive trait. 
  Playing an Ogre 
  Ogres are fantastic barbarians. Their natural strength 
  and durability play perfectly to the barbarian’s most 
  important abilities, and Furious Temper offers a potent 
  damage boost. 
   Ogres aren’t smart, but they’re greedy and like to kill 
  things. As such, they make fantastic mercenaries, 
  providing an easy way to bring them into a party of evil 
  characters. 
  Design Notes 
  Ogres are a very simple creatures. They’re almost 
  identical to hill giants, but lack the ability to throw 
  boulders. 
   Ogres are giants, costing 0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   The ogre’s only good abilities are Strength and 
  Constitution, so we’ll grant +2 to each for 4 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), 30 ft. walking speed, Darkvision for 2 BP, and 
  racial languages plus Common. We’ll add Powerful 
  Build for 0.25 BP as we have for other giants. 
   That brings us to 6.75 BP, and leaves us with a 
  strictly worse version of the hill giant. We need to find 
  
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  Races 
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  something else to add to the ogre to distinguish them. 
  There isn’t anything else in their stat block to draw on, 
  but if we look at their flavor we can come up with 
  some ideas.  
   Ogres get angry, and they’re good at smashing 
  things. Siege Monster is a good start, but at only 0.5 BP 
  it’s not enough. I want to emphasize their tantrums, 
  but I also don’t want to steal from the barbarian. Some 
  bonus damage or something would be a great option, 
  and I want to motivate the ogre to continue attacking 
  the target of their anger. 
   Bonus damage against a previously specified target is 
  done very well by the hunter’s mark, so we can steal 
  from the spell’s effect. We’ll drop the Perception and 
  Survival components of the spell and allow it to target 
  objects, but otherwise leave it unchanged. If we allow 
  the ogre to use this effect once per short rest, we can 
  call it 2.5 BP. 
   At 9.25 BP, the ogre falls within our target range of 
  8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the ogre, allow it to 
  use Furious Temper once each time it rolls initiative. If 
  you want to weaken the ogre, reduce its ability score 
  increases. 
  Half-Ogres 
  Ogrillons are frustratingly similar to ogres. Really the 
  only difference is that their stats are slightly weaker. 
  That’s totally unhelpful for designing a new race. 
   Instead, we’ll present half-ogres as a variant on the 
  ogre. We’ll swap Furious Temper for one or more of 
  the racial traits of the second parent. 
  Oni 
  Fearsome magical bogeymen resembling ogres with 
  blue skin and magical powers. 
  Oni Traits 
  Oni share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Giant 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Charisma. 
   Alignment. Conniving and opportunistic, but willing 
  to serve a master that rewards the oni, most oni are 
  lawful evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Claws. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 slashing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Powerful Build. You count as one size larger when 
  determining your carrying capacity and the weight you 
  can push, drag, or lift. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Giant. 
  Playing an Oni 
  Oni’s abilities make it a fantastic paladin, sorcerer, or 
  warlock. Natural flight provides fantastic mobility 
  which usually requires powerful magic, so take 
  advantage of your flight to out-maneuver your foes in 
  combat. 
   Oni are perfectly happy to cooperate with other 
  creatures so long as the creatures provide the oni with 
  payment, typically in the form of magic items. 
  Design Notes 
  Oni resemble ogres, but trade their brute strength for 
  magical abilities. None of the oni’s abilities are new, so 
  designing it is straightforward. 
   Oni are giants, costing 0.5 BP but offering no specific 
  traits. 
   Oni are strong like any giant and cast spells using 
  Charisma, so we’ll grant them +1 to Strength and +1 to 
  Charisma for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), 30 ft. walking speed, 30 ft. fly speed for 4 BP, 
  Darkvision for 2 BP, and racial languages plus Common. 
  We’ll drop the oni’s natural weapons to 1d4 damage 
  for 1 BP. We’ll add Powerful Build for 0.5 BP as we’ve 
  done with other giants. 
   Unfortunately, that brings us to 10 before we get to 
  anything interesting. As much as I want to add some 
  innate spellcasting, we’ll need to leave that to the 
  player. 
   At 10 BP, the oni is at the top of our target range of 
  8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the oni, allow it to 
  cast the charm person spell once per day starting at 3rd 
  level. If you want to weaken the oni, remove its claws. 
  Oozes 
  Oozes are horrifying creatures which dissolve their 
  pray, and can often rapidly destroy metal, wood, and 
  stone. 
  Ooze Traits 
  Oozes share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Ooze 
  
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  Races 
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   Alignment. Usually unintelligent predators, most 
  oozes are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Amoeboid. Your body is a gelatinous, amoeboid 
  form. You are unable to wear armor. You have no arms 
  or hands, and are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. You are immune to the deafened, exhaustion, and 
  prone conditions. 
   Blind Senses. You have no eyes, and are blind (and 
  therefore immune to the Blinded condition). You have 
  blindsight 30 ft. 
   Languages. You can read and speak in Common. 
   Subrace. Choose one of these subraces. You gain the 
  traits listed under your chosen subrace in addition to 
  those listed above. 
  Black Pudding 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Amorphous. You can move through a space as 
  narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing. 
   Corrosive Form. Contact with your body corrodes 
  and destroys mundane armor and weaponry. When 
  you make an unarmed strike and roll a natural 20 you 
  may destroy any non-magical shield made of metal or 
  wood which the creature is currently wielding. If the 
  creature is not wielding a shield, you may destroy any 
  non-magical armor made of metal or wood that the 
  creature is wearing. Alternatively, if a creature attacks 
  you with a non-magical weapon made of metal or 
  wood and rolls a natural 1 you may destroy the 
  weapon used in the attack. 
   Damage Resistance. You have resistance to acid and 
  electricity. 
   Pseudopod. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 
  bludgeoning and 1d4 acid damage on a hit. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 20 ft. You have a 
  climb speed of 20 ft. 
   Spider Climb. You can climb difficult surfaces, 
  including upside down on ceilings, without needing to 
  make an ability check. 
   Split. When you are subjected to lightning or 
  slashing damage, you split into two new oozes if you 
  have a number of hit points greater than your level 
  after applying the damage. Each new ooze has current 
  and maximum hit points equal to half of your original 
  total, rounded down. The two new oozes are one size 
  smaller than your previous size. Any ongoing effects 
  continue to affect both oozes. You may not split into 
  more than two oozes at one time.  
   While split this way, you control both oozes. If both 
  oozes are effected by a source of damage, such as a 
  breath weapon or a fireball spell, both oozes make 
  saving throws and suffer damage independently. Both 
  oozes move independently, and can move your full 
  speed. However, both oozes must share your actions, 
  bonus actions, and reactions. If you make the Attack 
  action and may make multiple attacks, you can make 
  each attack from either pudding. 
   You may rejoin the two oozes as an action, 
  combining the current and maximum hit points and 
  returning to your normal size. Any ongoing effects 
  affecting either pudding continues to affect the 
  rejoined ooze. Duplicate effects only affect the ooze 
  once, as though the effect had been applied to the 
  same creature multiple times. 
   Once split, your body begins to decompose. After a 
  number of rounds equal to your Constitution score, the 
  ooze with fewer hit points dies. If both oozes have the 
  same number of current hit points, select one 
  randomly to die.  
   If either ooze dies, your hit point maximum is 
  reduced to that of the surviving ooze and you remain in 
  your reduced size until you complete a long rest or are 
  effected by a greater restoration spell. 
  Gelatinous Cube 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +2 Constitution. 
   Engulf. As an action you can move up to your speed 
  and attempt to engulf a creature in your body. While 
  doing so, you can enter spaces of a creature up to your 
  size. Whenever you enter a creature's space, you must 
  attempt to grapple the creature. 
   If you fail to grapple the creature, the creature can 
  choose to be move into an unoccupied space within 5 
  feet except the one which you just left. A creature that 
  chooses not to be move suffers the consequences of 
  losing the grapple. 
   If you succeed the grapple, you enter the creature's 
  space, and the creature takes damage equal to your 
  pseudopod damage. The engulfed creature can't 
  breathe and is restrained while grappled in this way. As 
  a bonus action at the beginning of your turn you may 
  automatically deal damage equal to your pseudopod 
  damage to all creatures which you have currently 
  engulfed. 
   When you move, the engulfed creature moves with 
  you. An engulfed creature can try to escape by 
  defeating you in a grapple. On a success, the creature 
  escapes and enters an unoccupied space of its choice 
  within 5 feet of you. 
  
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   Ooze Cube. You take up your entire space. Other 
  creatures can enter your space, but when a creature 
  that does so you may subject the creature to your 
  Engulf as a reaction and has disadvantage on opposed 
  grapple check. 
   Creatures which you have engulfed can be seen but 
  have total cover. 
   A creature within 5 feet of you can take an action to 
  pull a creature or object out of your body. Doing so 
  requires defeating you at an opposed grapple, and the 
  creature making the attempt takes damage equal to 
  your Pseudopod damage. 
   You can hold only one creature of your size or up to 
  four creatures one or more sizes smaller than you 
  inside your body at a time. 
   Ooze Cube. You take up your entire space. Other 
  creatures can enter your space, but when a creature 
  that does so you may subject the creature to your 
  Engulf as a reaction and has disadvantage on opposed 
  grapple check. 
   Creatures which you have engulfed can be seen but 
  have total cover. 
   A creature within 5 feet of you can take an action to 
  pull a creature or object out of your body. Doing so 
  requires defeating you at an opposed grapple, and the 
  creature making the attempt takes damage equal to 
  your Pseudopod damage. 
   You can hold only one creature of your size or up to 
  four creatures one or more sizes smaller than you 
  inside your body at a time. 
   Pseudopod. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 acid 
  damage on a hit. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 20 ft.  
   Transparent. While motionless, you are able to hide 
  in plain sight. You must spend one minute motionless 
  before this ability takes effect. You must maintain 
  concentration during that time, as if you were casting a 
  spell. After you become transparent, it takes a Wisdom 
  (Perception) check to notice you until you move or take 
  an action. The DC of this check is 8 + your proficiency 
  bonus + your Constitution modifier. 
  Gray Ooze 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Constitution. 
   Amorphous. You can move through a space as 
  narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing. 
   Corrode Metal. Contact with your body corrodes and 
  destroys metal. When you make an unarmed strike and 
  roll a natural 20 you may destroy any non-magical 
  shield made of metal which the creature is currently 
  wielding. If the creature is not wielding a shield, you 
  may destroy any non-magical armor made of metal 
  that the creature is wearing. Alternatively, if a creature 
  attacks you with a non-magical weapon made of metal 
  and rolls a natural 1 you may destroy the weapon used 
  in the attack. 
   Damage Resistance. You have resistance to acid, 
  cold and fire. 
   Pseudopod. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 
  bludgeoning and 1d4 acid damage on a hit. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 20 ft. You have a 
  climb speed of 20 ft. 
  Oche Jelly 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Amorphous. You can move through a space as 
  narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing. 
   Damage Resistance. You have resistance to acid and 
  electricity. 
   Pseudopod. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 
  bludgeoning and 1d4 acid damage on a hit. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 20 ft. You have a 
  climb speed of 20 ft. 
   Spider Climb. You can climb difficult surfaces, 
  including upside down on ceilings, without needing to 
  make an ability check. 
   Split. When you are subjected to lightning or 
  slashing damage, you split into two new oozes if you 
  have a number of hit points greater than your level 
  after applying the damage. Each new ooze has current 
  and maximum hit points equal to half of your original 
  total, rounded down. The two new oozes are one size 
  smaller than your previous size. Any ongoing effects 
  continue to affect both oozes. You may not split into 
  more than two oozes at one time.  
   While split this way, you control both oozes. If both 
  oozes are effected by a source of damage, such as a 
  breath weapon or a fireball spell, both oozes make 
  saving throws and suffer damage independently. Both 
  oozes move independently, and can move your full 
  speed. However, both oozes must share your actions, 
  bonus actions, and reactions. If you make the Attack 
  action and may make multiple attacks, you can make 
  each attack from either pudding. 
   You may rejoin the two oozes as an action, 
  combining the current and maximum hit points and 
  returning to your normal size. Any ongoing effects 
  affecting either pudding continues to affect the 
  rejoined ooze. Duplicate effects only affect the ooze 
  once, as though the effect had been applied to the 
  same creature multiple times. 
   Once split, your body begins to decompose. After a 
  number of rounds equal to your Constitution score, the 
  ooze with fewer hit points dies. If both oozes have the 
  
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  same number of current hit points, select one 
  randomly to die.  
   If either ooze dies, your hit point maximum is 
  reduced to that of the surviving ooze and you remain in 
  your reduced size until you complete a long rest or are 
  affected by a greater restoration spell. 
  Playing an Ooze 
  Oozes are extremely dangerous, but face severe 
  defensive limitations because they can’t wear armor 
  and have no natural armor. They also have poor speed, 
  so they often have trouble getting within reach of their 
  foes. Oozes don’t have hands to perform somatic 
  components, so they generally work best in classes like 
  Barbarian, Fighter, and Monk. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Black Pudding 
  Black puddings include the most interesting ooze 
  abilities. They have the ability to destroy weapons and 
  armor and the ability to split in half. Split offers a 
  potent tactical option, but also exposes the character 
  to twice as much possible damage from area effects. 
  Gelatinous Cube 
  The gelatinous cube is a potent grappler. Engulf allows 
  the ooze to quickly capture foes and damage them very 
  easily while making it difficult for them to escape. Hide 
  in Plain sight also allows the gelatinous cube to set 
  dangerous ambushes for unwary foes. 
  Gray Ooze 
  The gray ooze trades the black pudding’s Split ability 
  for additional durability. 
  Ochre Jelly 
  The ochre jelly trades the black pudding’s Corrosive 
  Form ability for additional durability. 
  Design Notes 
  Oozes are frustrating. They have several totally unique 
  abilities which make them very hard to design and 
  balance. On top of that, all four types of ooze are 
  different enough that they have very little common to 
  all four despite frequent overlap. Since oozes are 
  unintelligent, we’ll assume that they’ve been affected 
  by an effect similar to the awaken spell. 
   Oozes are oozes (obviously), costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   From the stat blocks, we get medium size (down 
  from large for several types), immunity to the 
  deafened, exhaustion, and prone conditions for a total 
  of 1.5 BP, blindness for -4 BP, and blindsight 30 ft. for 6 
  BP. Since we’re treating oozes as awakened, we’ll grant 
  the ability to speak Common for 0 BP. Oozes have no 
  arms for -2 BP, they have no hands for -2 BP, and they 
  can’t wear armor for -3 BP. 
   That brings our total to -4.5 BP before examining 
  individual oozes, leaving us a huge amount of room to 
  design. 
  Black Pudding 
  The black pudding is indicative of the difficulties in 
  designing oozes as a playable race. Its ability to damage 
  and destroy weapons and armor is fine for an 
  occasional monster, but adding it to a player means 
  bringing that frustrating book-keeping into every 
  encounter for the duration of the character’s career. 
  Black puddings also introduce the ability to split in half, 
  presenting further design problems. 
   Black oozes’ only good abilities are Strength and 
  Constitution, so we’ll grant +1 to each for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get 20 ft. walking speed for -
  1 BP, 20 ft. climb speed for 1.5 BP, resistance to acid 
  and lightning (down from immunity, and we’ll drop 
  cold and slashing) for 4 BP, Amorphous for 0.5 BP, and 
  Spider Climb for 1 BP. We’ll add a 1d4+1d4 natural 
  weapon for another 2 BP. 
   That brings our total to 6.25 BP before we tackle 
  Corrosive Form and Split.  
   Corrosive Form as written is an unmanageable mess, 
  so we need to make it easier to track, and we need to 
  be extremely careful to balance it. Destroying your 
  enemy’s weapon or armor isn’t universally useful: it’s 
  either a fight-ending advantage or a totally worthless 
  ability depending on the type of enemy. We need the 
  ability to be reasonably possible to trigger, but also not 
  so easy to trigger that it can win every fight in which 
  the enemies use weapons and armor. 
   Corrosive Form needs to trigger both offensively and 
  defensively, and I want there to be an incentive for the 
  ooze to draw attacks and make attacks repeatedly until 
  the effect triggers. As such, I think we’ll tie the ability 
  to natural 20’s and natural 1’s. It makes the ability 
  unreliable but very exciting, and forces the ooze to play 
  how I hope they will. It also means that stronger 
  enemies which require more attacks to kill are more 
  likely to suffer the effects, while easily dispatched 
  enemies frequently won’t bring the effect into play. 
   Since we don’t want the effects to require tracking 
  tiny reductions in damage or AC, we’ll just outright 
  
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  Races 
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  destroy the affected object. It’s definitely going to be a 
  problem for foes in heavy armor, but I think that’s 
  exactly what we want from the ability. It’s hard to 
  assess the value of this ability, but I think it falls 
  somewhere around 3 BP. 
   Split also presents some problems. When the original 
  monster splits it becomes twice as lethal but also 
  becomes vulnerable to area of effect damage. We can’t 
  allow a player to essentially double their number of 
  turns, so we’ll need to adjust the ability. If we force the 
  player to share their actions and bonus action between 
  each split but grant each split the ability to move 
  independently it gives the ooze an interesting tactical 
  option without significantly improving its ability to deal 
  damage.  
   We’ll also split the character’s hit points between 
  the two oozes. This keeps the vulnerability to area 
  damage, adding a tactical drawback to what would 
  otherwise be a massive tactical option. 
   The monster conspicuously omits a mechanism for 
  the oozes to re-join. I assume that the monster just 
  stays perpetually split and the oozes eventually regrow 
  to full size. We can’t leave any of these issues in place 
  or players will do things like split in half, then send one 
  of the splits off adventuring while the other stays safely 
  at home to make the character functionally immortal. 
  Instead, we’ll add a death timer to the split. After a 
  number of rounds equal to the ooze’s constitution 
  modifier, one of the oozes will die and reduce the 
  character’s maximum hit points until they take a long 
  rest.  
   We’ll allow the two oozes to merge as an action, 
  rejoining the character’s hit point pools. I think we can 
  call this 2 BP, but it’s hard to estimate without 
  extensive playtesting. 
   At 11 BP, the black pudding exceeds our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. The black pudding has some unpredictable 
  mechanics, so be cautious when considering whether 
  to include it in your game. If you want to strengthen 
  the black pudding, give it natural armor. If you want to 
  weaken the black pudding, only allow it to split once 
  per short rest. 
  Gelatinous Cube 
  The gelatinous cube’s big ability is Engulf. It’s more 
  complex than conventional grappling, so we’ll need to 
  take some artistic liberties to make it playable. Beyond 
  that, the gelatinous cube is easily approximated. 
   The gelatinous cube’s best ability by far is 
  Constitution, so we’ll grant it +2 Constitution for 2 BP. 
  We’ll also grant +1 Strength for 1 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get 20 ft. walking speed (up 
  from 15 ft.) for -1 BP. We’ll add a 1d8 natural weapon 
  for another 2 BP. 
   At 0.25 BP, we’ve got a ton of room to work. The 
  gelatinous cube’s remaining abilities are Ooze Cube, 
  Transparent, and Engulf. Removing any of them would 
  be a huge disservice to the original monster, and the 
  three depend on each other to function. 
   Transparent is the easiest to handle, so we’ll do that 
  first. It works a lot like False Appearance, so we’ll use 
  False Appearance as a base. The ability to hide in plain 
  sight is still better than looking like a mundane object 
  since a mundane object like a boulder or pile of magma 
  can be clearly out of place. We’ll retain the one-minute 
  timer from False Appearance, but we’ll essentially 
  allow the ooze to hide in plain sight. We’ll set a 
  Constitution-based DC to spot the character instead of 
  using Stealth since the ooze isn’t so much hiding as it is 
  attempting to suppress its constant jiggling. False 
  appearance is 0.5 BP, but this is a bit better so we’ll call 
  it 1 BP. 
   Ooze Cube and Engulf are very tightly connected. 
  The biggest function of Ooze Cube is applying Engulf, 
  so we can’t design Ooze Cube until we design Engulf.  
   Engulf is very similar to grappling in many ways, but 
  it has some important differences.  
  • The gelatinous cube doesn’t need to roll anything to 
  apply the effect.  
  • The gelatinous cube gets to damage affected 
  creatures for free every turn.  
  • The gelatinous cube moves into the targets space, 
  pushing it away if it isn’t engulfed 
  • Engulfed creatures are restrained, not grappled. 
  • Engulfed creatures move with the cube 
  automatically without requiring a grapple check 
  • Engulfed creatures have full cover 
  • Other creatures can attempt to remove affected 
  creatures from the cube 
   We’ll need to change several of those points to make 
  the ability both usable and fun for players. I think we’ll 
  trade the saving throw mechanic in favor of the normal 
  grapple mechanics because they’re more “normal” for 
  players to use. We can then allow other creatures to 
  remove engulfed creatures by grappling them and 
  forcibly moving them out of the gelatinous cube’s 
  space. 
   Granting a creature full cover while engulfed might 
  not be as useful as one might think. In a game where 
  enemies are frequently outnumbered by players this 
  means that a creature it protected against attacks and 
  
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  Races 
  167 
  spells from other party members. Still, it’s an exciting 
  combat option that’s central to the race, so we’ll leave 
  it in place. 
   We’ll allow the gelatinous cube to make a free attack 
  against each engulfed creature as a bonus action, 
  which covers the last important point of the Engulf 
  ability. It’s extremely difficult to assess the power of an 
  ability this complex, but I’ll estimate something like 6 
  BP. 
   Finally, we’ll take a look at Ooze Cube. The important 
  part of the ability grants a free chance to engulf a 
  creature. If we require the player to use their Reaction 
  to make the attempt, I think we can call it 2 BP. 
   At 9 BP, the gelatinous cube is within our target 
  range of 8-10 BP, but includes several completely 
  unique abilities which make balancing the race difficult. 
  If you want to weaken the gelatinous cube, only allow 
  the cube to engulf one creature at a time. If you want 
  to strengthen the gelatinous cube, allow it to engulf 
  creatures which enter its space without expending a 
  reaction. 
  Gray Ooze 
  The gray ooze is relatively simple after designing the 
  black pudding. It trades the black pudding’s Split and 
  Spider Climb abilities for increase durability. 
   The gray ooze’s best ability by far is Constitution, so 
  we’ll grant it +2 Constitution for 2 BP.  
   From the stat block, we get 20 ft. walking speed (up 
  from 10 ft.) for -1 BP, 20 ft. climb speed (up from 10 ft.) 
  for 1.5 BP, resistance to acid, cold, and fire for 6 BP 
  (down from immunity), Amorphous for 0.5 BP, and 
  False Appearance for 0.5 BP. We’ll add a 1d4+1d4 
  natural weapon for another 2 BP. 
   Finally, we’ll duplicate the black puddings Corrosive 
  Form ability, but since the gray ooze can only dissolve 
  metal we’ll drop the cost to 2.5 BP. 
   At 11 BP, the gray ooze exceeds our target range of 
  8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the gray ooze, 
  increase its speed. If you want to weaken the gray 
  ooze, decrease its speed. 
  Ochre Jelly 
  The ochre jelly is the gray ooze’s opposite in a sense, 
  trading the black puddings Corrosive Form for extra 
  resistances. 
   Black oozes’ only good abilities are Strength and 
  Constitution, so we’ll grant +1 to each for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get 20 ft. walking speed (up 
  from 10 ft.) for -1 BP, 20 ft. climb speed (up from 10 ft.) 
  for 1.5 BP, resistance to acid and lightning (we’ll drop 
  slashing) for 4 BP, Amorphous for 0.5 BP, and Spider 
  Climb for 1 BP. We’ll add a 1d4+1d4 natural weapon 
  for another 2 BP. Finally, we’ll duplicate the black 
  pudding’s Split for 2 BP. 
   At 8.25 BP, the ochre jelly is within our target BP 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the ochre 
  jelly, increase its lightning resistance to lightning 
  immunity. If you want to weaken the ochre jelly, 
  reduce its speed. 
  Orcs 
  Orcs are an iconic race featured in numerous works of 
  fantasy dating all the way back to Lord of the Rings. 
  Though their presence and personality varies between 
  settings, Orcs are universally muscular brutes prone to 
  violence and destruction. 
  Orc Traits 
  Orcs share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Humanoid (orc) 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength. 
   Alignment. Prone to violence and destruction, most 
  Orcs are chaotic evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Aggressive. As a bonus action, you can move up to 
  your speed toward a hostile creature that you can see. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Menacing. You gain proficiency in the Intimidation 
  skill. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Orc. 
   Subrace. Choose one of these subraces. You gain the 
  traits listed under your chosen subrace in addition to 
  those listed above. 
  Orc 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Constitution. 
  Orog 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Intelligence. 
  Playing an Orc 
  Orcs are strong, aggressive brutes. They excel in melee 
  combat, so take advantage of Aggressive to quickly 
  move to melee range and bring your immense Strength 
  into play. Orogs are more intelligent than typical Orcs, 
  so their play style should be less reckless, but equally 
  aggressive. 
  
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  Races 
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   Orcs, especially Orogs, make great mercenaries, 
  which offers them plenty of opportunity to work 
  alongside civilized races and travel in civilized lands. 
  However, in many settings Orcs are widely hated so 
  you may have trouble interacting with civilized 
  peoples. 
  Design Notes 
  Orcs are simple humanoids, and the multiple stat 
  blocks presented in the Monster Manual present 
  several sources to compare in order to determine the 
  core components of the race. Half-Orcs also provide an 
  excellent basis, provided we can strip out what should 
  come from their human heritage and what should 
  remain solely unique to Half-Orcs. 
   Orcs are humanoid, which costs 0 BP and includes no 
  special abilities. 
   Orcs are famously strong, so a +2 to Strength is an 
  obvious starting point. The Dungeon Master’s Guide’s 
  NPC traits table suggests +2 Strength and -2 to 
  Intelligence for Orcs, but I’ve chosen to do away with 
  racial ability score penalties. I want to differentiate 
  between normal Orcs and Orogs, so we’ll give Orcs a +1 
  to Constitution and Orogs a +1 to Intelligence to reflect 
  their superior intellect, which costs 3 BP for either 
  subrace. 
   From the multiple Orc stat blocks we get medium 
  size, 30 ft. walking speed, Darkvision for 2 BP, racial 
  languages plus Common, and proficiency in 
  Intimidation for 0.5 BP. 
   Aggressive is a great ability for a melee brute seeking 
  to close to melee range quickly. It replicates the Dash 
  option of Cunning Action, so we’ll call this 1 BP. 
  Goblin’s Nimble Escape is 2 BP for the other 2/3 of 
  Cunning Action, so half the BP for half the effect seems 
  fair. 
   At a total of just 6.5 BP Orcs are a bit below our 
  target BP range of 8-10 BP. Coincidentally, that puts 
  the Orc at the same BP cost as the Half-Orc. 6.5 is a bit 
  low, but the Orc’s abilities make it an excellent 
  Barbarian, Fighter, or Paladin. The Orog makes a good 
  Eldritch knight thanks to its Intelligence boost. 
  Aggressive offers a fantastic option for the Orc to 
  quickly close to melee distance where it functions best. 
   If you want to strengthen Orcs, give them Savage 
  Attacks. 
  Otyugh 
  Disgusting creatures which dwell in mounds of rotting 
  garbage, otyughs are motivated by nothing except the 
  need to eat. 
  Otyugh Traits 
  Otyughs share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Aberration 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +2 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Motivated by nothing but hunger, most 
  otyughs are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Bite and Tentacles. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 
  piercing or bludgeoning damage on a hit. 
   When you take the Attack action and make an 
  unarmed strike, you can use a bonus action to initiate a 
  grapple with the target of your successful unarmed 
  strike. You may grapple even though you have no 
  hands. 
   Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 120 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. 
   Limited Telepathy. You can magically communicate 
  simple ideas, emotions, and images telepathically with 
  any creature within 100 feet of it that can understand a 
  language. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
  
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  Races 
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   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Otyugh. 
  Playing an Otyugh 
  Otyughs are simple beasts. Their natural armor and 
  excellent constitution make them extremely durable, 
  so they make good Barbarians, Fighters, and Monks. 
   Otyughs are motivated by nothing but the need to 
  eat, but they’re intelligent enough to speak and can be 
  trained by masters which can feed them enough to 
  keep them happy. Promises of suitable food may be 
  enough to motivate an otyugh into nearly any party. 
  Design Notes 
  Otyughs are simple creatures. Tentacle Slam is their 
  only unique ability, and it’s not important enough to 
  the creature that I would feel bad abandoning it. 
   Otyughs are aberrations, costing 0.5 BP but offering 
  no specific traits. 
   The otyugh’s two best abilities are Strength and 
  Constitution, with Constitution being higher by a fair 
  margin. We’ll grant the otyugh +1 Strength and +2 
  Constitution for 3 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), +3 natural armor for 1.5 BP, 30 ft. walking 
  speed, Darkvision (down from 120 ft.)  for 2 BP, and 
  only racial languages for -1 BP. Otyughs have no hands 
  for -2 BP, but we’ll give them a 1d8 natural weapon for 
  2 BP and add Grab for another 2 BP. 
   That brings us to 8 BP before we tackled Limited 
  Telepathy and Tentacle Slam. We’ll grant Limited 
  Telepathy for 1 BP. 
   Tentacle slam is a powerful offensive option. A 
  repeatable way to stun a creature is dangerous in a 
  game where players frequently outnumber monsters. 
  Stunned is a very powerful condition not typically 
  available from spells until at least 6th-level spells, so it’s 
  very difficult to assess a BP cost and still make the 
  ability accessible. Instead, I think we’ll just drop 
  tentacle slam and upgrade the otyugh’s Darkvision to 
  120 ft. for another 1 BP. 
   At 10 BP, the otyugh is at the top of our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the otyugh, 
  improve its natural weapon damage. If you want to 
  weaken the otyugh, reduce its Constitution increase. 
  Owlbear 
  An iconic monstrosity resembling a bear with an owl’s 
  head, owlbears are fierce and hardy predators. 
  Owlbear Traits 
  Owlbears share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +2 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Usually simple beasts, most owlbears are 
  neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 35 ft. 
   Bite and Claws. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 
  piercing or slashing damage on a hit. 
   Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 120 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. 
   Keen Sight and Smell. You have advantage on 
  Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight or smell. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 12 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Owlbear 
  Owlbears are dumb brutes. Their excellent ability 
  increases make them great barbarians and fighters, 
  and their keen senses and Darkvision make them 
  excellent at Perception checks. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Mechanically, owlbears aren’t much different from 
  normal beasts. Their abilities are extremely basic, so 
  they’re easy to adapt. We’ll treat the owlbear as 
  though it was awakened. 
   Owlbears are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   The owlbear’s best ability is Strength, followed by 
  Constitution. Since the owlbear doesn’t have any 
  interesting abilities, we’ll give it +2 to each for 4 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), 40 ft. walking speed for 1 BP, Darkvision for 2 
  
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  BP, Common for 0 BP (we’re treating the owlbear as 
  awakened), two keen senses for 1 BP. Owlbears have 
  no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll give them a 1d8 natural 
  weapon for 2 BP. 
   At 8.5 BP, the owlbear is within our target range of 
  8-10 BP. It’s not a particularly interesting race, but 
  mechanically the owlbear is a very boring creature. If 
  you want to strengthen the owlbear, increase its 
  natural armor. If you want to weaken the owlbear, 
  reduce its ability score increases. 
  Pegasus 
  Beautiful, winged horses native to the celestial planes. 
  Pegasus Traits 
  Pegasi share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Celestial 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +1 Wisdom. 
   Alignment. Wild, free, and noble, most pegasi are 
  chaotic good. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 ft. 
   Can’t Speak. You are unable to speak, but are still 
  able to read, write, and understand any languages 
  which you know. You are unable to perform verbal 
  spell components. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 50 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Hooves. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 bludgeoning 
  damage on a hit. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can understand and read Common, 
  Elvish, and Sylvan. 
  Playing a Pegasus 
  The pegasus’s greatest strength is its excellent flight 
  speed. Use your speed to stay out of enemy’s reach 
  whenever possible. However, since pegasi lack hands 
  to use ranged weapons you will need to move into 
  melee or find a way to cast spells without the ability to 
  speak or hold spell foci. 
   Pegasi are celestial creatures who are often sent to 
  aid those in need. They form life-long bonds, often 
  working alongside those pursuing noble goals. They 
  fight well into parties which include paladins or good-
  aligned clerics. 
  Design Notes 
  Pegasi are among the most iconic flying mounts in the 
  game. We’ve already designed Nightmares, which are 
  essentially altered pegasi, so we can borrow large 
  elements of the nightmare’s design. However, the has 
  considerably more abilities, so to make up the BP gap 
  we’ll improve the pegasus in other areas. 
   Pegasi are celestials, costing 0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. Pegasi seem like a race that should make 
  good clerics and druids, so we’ll give them +2 Strength 
  and +1 Wisdom for 3 BP. 
   Adjusting for size, the pegasus has numerous 
  excellent abilities all within a point or two of each 
  other, which makes it hard to choose which to 
  emphasize. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), 40 ft. walking speed (down from 60 ft.) for 1 BP, 
  50 ft. fly speed (down from 90 ft.) for 6 BP, racial 
  languages plus Common and one additional fixed 
  language for 0.25 BP, and inability to speak for -1.5 BP. 
  Pegasi have no hands for -2 BP, but we’ll set their 
  natural weapons to 1d8 for 2 BP. 
   At 9.25 the pegasus is within our target range of 8-10 
  BP. It’s unusually fast, but it’s difficult to play since its 
  abilities cater to classes which are difficult to play 
  without hands. If you want to strengthen the pegasus, 
  grant it natural armor. If you want to weaken the 
  pegasus, reduce its speed. 
  Peryton 
  Intelligent, flying bird-like monstrosities that feed on 
  the hearts of humanoids 
  Peryton Traits 
  Perytons share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength. 
   Alignment. Intelligent creatures that feed almost 
  exclusively on humanoids, most perytons are chaotic 
  evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Dive Attack. Once per turn, if you dive at least 30 
  feet toward a creature and hit it with a melee weapon 
  attack, the target takes an extra 1d6 damage from the 
  attack. This damage increases to 2d6 at 5th level, 3d6 at 
  11th level, and 4d6 at 17th level.  
   Gore and Talons. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 
  piercing damage on a hit. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 40 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
  
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   Flyby. You may perform the Disengage action as a 
  bonus action. 
   Keen Sight and Smell. You have advantage on 
  Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight or smell. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 11 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Languages. You can understand and read Common 
  and Elven. 
  Playing a Peryton 
  The peryton is a powerful flying combatant. It has good 
  fly speed, and with the combination of Dive Attack and 
  Flyby it can make devastating hit-and-run attacks. 
  Consider classes like barbarian and fighter to take 
  advantage of the peryton’s natural weapons, but also 
  consider rogue to combine Dive Attack with the 
  damage boost from Sneak Attack. 
   Perytons are evil, intelligent predators which feed 
  primarily on humanoids. While they have little more 
  ambition than unintelligent beasts, they might be 
  drawn into a party of evil characters if the party’s 
  efforts offer the peryton frequent access to their 
  primary food source. 
  Design Notes 
  Perytons are simple creatures thanks to design work 
  we’ve already done for other creatures. 
   Perytons are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   The peryton’s best ability is Strength, and its other 
  abilities aren’t good enough to merit mention. We’ll 
  give the peryton +1 Strength for 1 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, +1 natural 
  armor (down from +2) for 0.5 BP, 20 ft. walking speed 
  for -1 BP, 40 ft. fly speed (down from 60 ft.) for 5 BP, 
  racial languages plus Common for 0 BP, the inability to 
  speak for -1 BP. Perytons have no hands for -2 BP, and 
  we’ll set their natural weapons to 1d8 for 2 BP. 
   That brings us to 5 BP before tackling the peryton’s 
  special abilities. Dive Attack costs 2 BP, Flyby costs 
  another 2 BP, and two keen senses cost 1 BP. 
   At 10 BP, the peryton is at the top of our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the 
  peryton, increase its natural armor. If you want to 
  weaken the peryton, remove its natural armor. 
  Piercer 
  The larval stage of ropers, piercers disguise themselves 
  as stalactites in order to fall and impale unsuspecting 
  foes that pass below them. 
  Piercer Traits 
  Piercer share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent creatures, most 
  piercers are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 5 ft. You have a 
  climb speed of 5 ft. 
   Blindsight. You have blindsight 30 ft. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Drop. As an action you can attempt to fall on a 
  creature directly below you. Make a melee weapon 
  attack. On a hit, you deal 1d6 piercing damage per 10 
  feet fallen, up to 6d6. On a miss you take half the 
  normal falling damage for the distance fallen. 
   False Appearance. While motionless, you appear 
  indistinguishable from a stalactite. You must spend one 
  minute motionless before this ability takes effect. You 
  must maintain concentration during that time, as if you 
  were casting a spell. 
   Limbless. You have no arms or hands, and are unable 
  to wield weapons or wear shields, and cannot use 
  items which require manipulation, including 
  spellcasting foci, wands, tools, etc. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 15 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Languages. You can understand and read Common. 
  Playing a Piercer 
  Playing a piercer is an exercise in self-harm. Its pitifully 
  low speed and near total lack of combat options makes 
  surviving combat nearly impossible. Capitalize on the 
  race’s ability to surprise foes and consider classes like 
  rogue which can deal huge amounts of damage in a 
  single attack. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Piercers are a difficult monster to design because they 
  are not built for the traveling inherent in a life of 
  adventure. They’re one-shot ambush predators. Their 
  natural attacks only work once, then require a long and 
  painfully slow climb. I have no idea why or how 
  
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  Races 
  172 
  someone would play a piercer. But, in the spirit of this 
  document, I’m going to adapt it anyway. We’ll treat the 
  piercer as awakened so that we can allow it to speak. 
   Piercers are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   The piercer’s only decent ability is Constitution, so 
  we’ll grant it +2 Constitution for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, +5 natural 
  armor for 2.5 BP, 5 ft. walking speed for -2.5 BP, 5 ft. 
  climb speed for 0.5 BP, 30 ft. blindsense for 6 BP, 
  Darkvision for 2 BP, Common for 0 BP, no hands for -2 
  BP and no arms for -2 BP, False Appearance for 0.5 BP, 
  and Spider Climb for 1 BP. 
   That brings our total to 8.5 BP. I’ll just grant Drop as-
  written and call it 2 BP since it’s functionally very 
  similar to Charge or Dive Attack, and has the added 
  drawback that it can easily kill the user. 
   At 10.5 BP, the piercer exceeds our target range of 8-
  10 BP but it’s still absolutely unplayable, and there’s 
  really nothing that you can do to fix it without turning 
  it into a totally different creature. If you want to 
  strengthen the piercer, increase its speeds 
  dramatically. If you want to weaken the piercer you’re 
  a cruel, cruel person. 
  Pixie 
  Tiny, charming fey, pixies are friendly to good-natured 
  creatures but use their magical prowess to lead 
  dangerous creatures astray. 
  Pixie Traits 
  Pixies share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Fey 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity, +1 Wisdom or 
  Charisma. 
   Alignment. Overwhelmingly friendly and mostly 
  nonviolent, most pixies are neutral good. 
   Size. Your size is tiny. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 10 ft. 
   Cunning. You have advantage on all Intelligence, 
  Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws against magic. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Hidden Step. As a bonus action, you can magically 
  turn invisible until the start of your next turn or until 
  you attack, make a damage roll, or force someone to 
  make a saving throw.  
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Innate Spellcasting. You know the druidcraft cantrip. 
  Once per day, you may cast the dancing lights cantrip. 
  Once you reach third level, you can cast the entangle 
  spell once per day. Charisma is your spellcasting ability 
  for these spells. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Sylvan. 
  Playing a Pixie 
  With good Dexterity and the ability to fly, pixies make 
  excellent monks, rangers, and rogues. However, their 
  natural aversion to weapons can make them somewhat 
  reluctant in combat. Instead, pixies often rely on 
  trickery to deter foes. 
   Pixies are friendly and welcoming to good-natured 
  creatures, but their natural opposition to violence 
  makes it difficult for them to become adventurers. 
  Consider what may have motivated your character to 
  take up a life of excitement and danger. 
  Design Notes 
  The pixie is a near-humanoid fey with some fun 
  abilities. Its traits are easily adapted based on previous 
  work. 
   Pixies are fey, costing 0.5 BP but offering no specific 
  traits. 
   Pixies have a few decent abilities, but Dexterity is the 
  best by far, even accounting for size. Their Wisdom and 
  Charisma are both good, too. Charisma is their 
  spellcasting ability, but I think Wisdom also makes 
  sense. We’ll grant pixies +2 Dexterity and the choice of 
  +1 Wisdom or +1 Charisma for 2-ish BP. Flexible ability 
  scores typically cost more BP, but the choice between 
  two abilities isn’t enough to justify more BP cost. 
   From the stat block, we get tiny size for -1.5 BP, 10 
  ft. walking speed for -1 BP, 30 ft. fly speed for 4 BP, and 
  only racial languages for -1 BP. 
   That brings us to 3.5 BP before we consider the 
  pixie’s remaining abilities. Magic Resistance is too 
  powerful alongside the traits we have left to cover, but 
  we can add Cunning for 2 BP. Superior Invisibility is just 
  too powerful to a player, but we can add Hidden Step 
  for another 2 BP. 
   For a CR ¼ creature, the pixie’s spellcasting is 
  terrifyingly powerful. Fly, phantasmal force, and 
  polymorph are all effects far out of range for players 
  which might realistically encounter a pixie in combat. 
  Obviously, these options are far too powerful for a 
  playable race, so we’ll make some significant cuts. 
  We’ll retain the druidcraft cantrip for 0.5 BP, the 
  dancing lights cantrip once per day for 0.25 BP, and the 
  entangle spell for 1 BP. 
   At 9.25 BP, the pixie is within our target range of 8-
  10 BP. If you want to strengthen the pixie, allow it to 
  
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  Races 
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  cast dancing lights at will or grant it a +1 Charisma 
  increase. If you want to weaken the pixie, remove the 
  Pixie’s Wisdom increase. 
  Pseudodragon 
  Pseudodragons are small creatures resembling a red 
  dragon, but they lack many of the iconic traits of a true 
  dragon. 
  Pseudodragon Traits 
  Pseudodragons share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Dragon 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Cheerful and rarely hostile, most 
  pseudodragons are neutral good. 
   Size. Your size is tiny. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 15 ft. 
   Bite and Sting. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 
  piercing damage on a hit. 
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   Blindsight. You have blindsight 10 ft. 
   Can’t Speak. You are unable to speak, but are still 
  able to read and understand any languages which you 
  know. You are unable to perform verbal spell 
  components. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 40 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Limited Telepathy. You can magically communicate 
  simple ideas, emotions, and images telepathically with 
  any creature within 100 feet of it that can understand a 
  language. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can understand and read Common 
  and Draconic. 
  Playing a Pseudodragon 
  Pseudodragons are fast, nimble, and have excellent 
  senses, making them excellent rangers and rogues. 
  They lack the raw combative power of true dragons, 
  but make up for it with other traits. 
   Pseudodragons are generally reclusive, but their 
  loyalty can be earned with good food or treasure from 
  an agreeable companion. Pseudodragons lack the 
  ability to speak, so they rely on their limited telepathy 
  as their primary means of communication. 
  Design Notes 
  Pseudodragons are very similar to dragons, but their 
  lack of breath weapon and energy resistance opens up 
  some BP space for other traits. 
   Pseudodragons are dragons, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   The pseudodragon’s best ability is Dexterity, so we’ll 
  grant +1 Dexterity for 1 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get tiny size for -1.5 BP, we’ll 
  abandon natural armor, 15 ft. walking speed for -0.5 
  BP, 40 ft. fly speed for 5 BP, Darkvision for 2 BP, and 10 
  ft. blindsight for 4 BP. Pseudodragons can’t speak for -
  1.5 BP, but still understand racial language plus 
  Common for 0 BP. We’ll retain Keen Senses as written 
  for 1.25 BP. Pseudodragons have no hands for -2 BP, 
  and we’ll give them a 1d4 natural weapon for 1 BP. 
   That brings us to 9.75 BP. We’ll drop the 
  pseudragon’s poison since any reasonable adaptation 
  of the ability would need to cost too much BP. 
   At 9.25 BP, the pseudodragon is within our target BP 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the 
  pseudodragon, increase its natural weapon damage. If 
  you want to weaken the pseudodragon, reduce its 
  flight speed. 
  Purple Worm 
  Huge subterranean predators, purple worms are 
  known for the massive tunnels they leave as they 
  burrow through solid stone. 
  Purple Worm Traits 
  Purple worms share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +2 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Usually unintelligent creatures, most 
  purple worms are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 35 ft. You have a 
  burrow speed of 20 ft. 
   Bite and Stinger. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 
  piercing damage or 1d4 piercing damage and 1d4 
  poison damage on a hit. 
   Blind Senses. You have no eyes, and are blind (and 
  therefore immune to the Blinded condition). You have 
  blindsight 30 ft. 
  
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  Races 
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   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 15 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Serpentine Body. You have no arms or hands. You 
  are unable to wield weapons or wear shields, and 
  cannot use items which require manipulation, including 
  spellcasting foci, wands, tools, etc. You are unable to 
  wear armor. 
   Tunneler. You can burrow through solid rock at half 
  its burrow speed and leaves a 16-inch-diameter tunnel 
  in your wake. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Purple Worm 
  Purple worms make excellent fighters and barbarians. 
  Their natural strength and constitution, coupled with 
  their excellent natural armor, make them deadly in 
  combat. However, the worm’s limited blindsight can 
  make it difficult to reach your foes. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Purple worms are essentially a force of nature in the 
  Underdark. One of the most powerful creatures in the 
  Monster Manual, their stats are extremely high. 
  However, since the creature’s design is so simple we 
  can approximate a purple worm race very easily. Since 
  purple worms aren’t intelligent, we’ll treat them as 
  though they have been affected by an Awaken effect. 
  We’ll also borrow some design elements from other 
  snake-like creatures like the naga. 
   Purple worms are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   The purple worm’s best abilities by a huge margin 
  are Strength and Constitution, so we’ll grant +2 to each 
  for 4 BP. 
   From the stat block, we met medium size (down 
  from Gargantuan), +5 natural armor (down from +10) 
  for 2.5 BP, 35 ft. walking speed (down from 50 ft.) for 
  0.5 BP, 20 ft. burrow speed (down from 30 ft.) for 3 BP, 
  and 30 ft. blindsight for 6 BP. We’ll allow the worm to 
  speak Common since we’re treating is as awakened. 
  Purple worms have no hands for -2 BP, can’t wear 
  armor (how would they tunnel in full plate?) for -3 BP, 
  and are blind for -4 BP. We’ll also add a 1d8 natural 
  weapon for 2 BP, but we’ll drop the swallow mechanic. 
   That brings our total to 9.5 BP before we look at 
  Tunneler, the purple worm’s only remaining ability. It 
  allows the worm to create a tunnel through which 
  allies could pass, giving it much of the function of 
  useful spells like passwall. However, it also makes the 
  purple worm very easy to track, largely removing any 
  hope of stealthy tunneling. I don’t think the ability is 
  powerful enough that it should cost a ton of BP, but we 
  need to decide how wide the tunnel should be. 
   One size category in Dungeons and Dragons 
  represents a creature roughly doubling in size. If we 
  trace that backwards from Gargantuan to Medium, we 
  halve the original worm’s size 3 times, effectively 
  dividing it by 8. That’s 1.25 feat, or 16 inches across. 
  That’s enough for small creatures to crawl through and 
  for tiny creatures to walk through, but most medium 
  creatures generally won’t be able to fit at all. We’ll call 
  Tunneler 0.5 BP. 
   At 10 BP, the purple worm is at the top our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. It’s not terribly interesting, but 
  Tunneler presents a unique opportunity for the worm’s 
  party. If you want to strengthen the purple worm, 
  increase its natural weapon damage. If you want to 
  weaken the purple worm, remove Tunneler. 
  Quaggoth 
  Quaggoth are barbaric, cannibalistic humanoids which 
  dwell in the Underdark. They are famous for becoming 
  more vicious in the face of their own deaths. 
  Quaggoth Traits 
  Quaggoths share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Humanoid (quaggoth) 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Vicious and cannibalistic, but not 
  outright malicious, most Quaggoths are chaotic 
  neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft., and you 
  have a climb speed of 30 ft. 
   Claws. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 slashing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 12 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Poison Resilience. You have advantage on saving 
  throws against poison, and you have resistance against 
  poison damage.  
  
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  Races 
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   Wounded Fury. The first time you fall below one 
  fifth of your maximum hit points (rounded up), you 
  may fly into a fury. While in this fury, once per turn 
  when you may deal 1d6 damage to any target that you 
  hit with a melee attack. The fury ends if you become 
  incapacitated or regain hit points which are enough to 
  bring you above 1/5th of your maximum hit points. This 
  damage increases by 1d6 at 5th level (2d6), 11th level 
  (3d6), and 17th level (4d6). 
   You may not use this ability again until you have 
  completed a short or long rest. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Undercommon. 
  Playing a Quaggoth 
  Quaggoth are strong and durable, so they make 
  excellent barbarians and fighters. Quaggoth are most 
  dangerous when they’re badly injured, so discourage 
  your allies from healing you when you so that you can 
  bring Wounded Fury into play. 
  Design Notes 
  Quaggoths are fairly basic humanoids with several 
  easily quantifiable qualities, but they have several 
  expensive abilities and their Wounded Fury ability 
  presents an interesting design challenge. 
   Quaggoths are humanoid, which costs 0 BP and 
  includes no special abilities. 
   Based on their monster stat block, Quaggoths are 
  strong durable. We’ll give them a +1 to Strength and a 
  +1 to Constitution for 2 BP. We could go higher, but we 
  need to save BP for  
   From the stat block, we get medium size, +2 natural 
  armor for 1 BP, 30 ft. walking speed, 30 ft. climb speed 
  for 2 BP, superior Darkvision for 3 BP, racial languages 
  for -1 BP, and immunity to poison for 2 BP. 
   Matching the Quaggoth’s claw damage costs another 
  1.5 BP. 
   At a total of 10.5 BP, we’ve exceeded the BP limits 
  and we haven’t even looked at Wounded Fury. We can 
  drop the Superior Darkvision to regular Darkvision to 
  save 1 BP. Dropping the 30 ft. Climb speed to 20 ft. 
  saves another 0.5 BP. Reducing Poison Immunity to 
  Poison Resilience saves another 1 BP, bringing us back 
  down to 8.5 BP, enough to do something with 
  Wounded Fury. 
   Wounded Fury won’t work without some 
  adaptation. At low levels 10 hp may be more than the 
  character’s maximum hit points, and at high levels 
  hitting that tiny range can be extremely difficult. The 
  2d6 damage may also present a problem.  
   We need to tie the hit point cap to something that 
  will scale with level. 10 is a bit more than one fifth of 
  the Quaggoth’s hit points, so one fifth seems like a 
  good ballpark.  
   The damage also needs to be adjusted. Character 
  with numerous attacks (monks, TWF builds, Fighters) 
  would get far too much damage from 2d6 per attack. 
  Instead, I think it makes sense to make it a once-per-
  turn boost, and scale the damage like a cantrip. 
   Finally, we need to consider abuse cases. With such a 
  tantalizing ability, there’s a good chance that players 
  may spend all of their time below the hit point cap for 
  Wounded Fury. I think we’ll need to limit the usage to 
  once per short rest. The ability can trigger the first time 
  the character falls below 1/5th of their maximum hit 
  points, and last until the end of the encounter. That 
  will make the ability usable and exciting, but players 
  won’t be able to use it constantly. 
   Now how do assess the BP cost for this? Hunter’s 
  Mark should have roughly similar damage, and will be 
  usable around the same number of times per day, so I 
  think it’s fair to call Wounded Fury somewhere around 
  1 BP. 
   At 9 BP, the Quaggoth is within our target range of 8-
  10 BP. Quaggoths are a durable, vicious melee monster 
  with some cool abilities. If you need to strengthen the 
  Quaggoth, undo one or more of the BP-saving cuts 
  discussed earlier in this section. If you need to weaken 
  the Quaggoth. Drop the Wounded Fury damage scaling 
  to 1d6 at 1st level and 2d6 at 11th level. 
  Rakshasa 
  Fiends resembling a humanoid tiger, rakshasa are 
  rarely seen in true form, preferring instead to disguise 
  themselves as nobles and other important figures. 
  Rakshasa Traits 
  Rakshasa share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Fiend 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Charisma. 
   Alignment. Evil spirits in mortal flesh, most 
  rakshasas are lawful evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Claws. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 slashing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
  
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   Devil’s Soul. If you are killed outside of Hell, you are 
  instead returned to hell. If you are killed in Hell, your 
  spirit is permanently destroyed. You cannot be raised 
  from dead, expect by very powerful effects like a wish 
  spell or divine intervention. 
   Innate Spellcasting. You know the minor illusion 
  cantrip. Once you reach 3rd level, you can cast the 
  disguise self spell once per day. Once you reach 5th 
  level, you can cast the invisibility spell once per day. 
  Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Infernal. 
  Playing a Rakshasa 
  The rakshasa’s natural charisma and innate spellcasting 
  make it an excellent sorcerer and warlock, but it can 
  also make a potent rogue. 
   Rakshasa are adept at impersonating important 
  figures. They make an excellent leader for an evil party. 
  Design Notes 
  Rakshasa are essentially humanoid, but have a few fun 
  magical abilities. We’ll need to drop a lot of the 
  rakshasa’s defenses to make the race playable, but 
  we’ll do our best to retain the creature’s flavor. 
   Rakshasas are fiends, costing 0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   The rakshasa’s spellcasting is Charisma-based, so 
  we’ll grant +1 Charisma for 1 BP. The rakshasa’s other 
  abilities are all above average, but we’ll ignore them. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, +3 natural 
  armor for 1.5 BP, 30 ft. walking speed (down from 40 
  ft.), Darkvision for 2 BP, and racial languages plus 
  Common for 0 BP. We’ll drop the rakshasa’s claw to 
  1d4 for 1 BP. 
   That brings our total to 7 BP before we consider the 
  rakshasa’s innate spellcasting. The rakshasa is a 
  trickster at heart, so we’ll emphasize trickery with their 
  spells. We’ll keep the minor illusion cantrip, disguise 
  self, and invisibility for a total of 2.5 BP. 
   Finally, we’ll copy the death mechanic from devils 
  since rakshasas follow the same rules. 
   At 9.5 BP, the rakshasa is within our target range of 
  8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the rakshasa, 
  increase its Charisma increase. If you want to weaken 
  the rakshasa, remove its natural armor. 
  Remorhaz 
  Large insects with a powerful internal flame. 
  Remorhaz Traits 
  Remohazes share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent predators, most 
  remorhazes are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. You have a 
  burrow speed of 10 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 piercing damage 
  and 1d4 fire damage on a hit. 
   Damage Resistance. You have resistance to cold 
  damage and fire damage. 
   Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 120 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. 
   Heated Body. When a creature makes a successful 
  melee attack against you, you may retaliate with a 
  burst of flame as a reaction. The creature must make a 
  Dexterity saving throw. It takes 2d10 fire damage on a 
  failed save, or half as much damage on a successful 
  one. The DC of this saving throw is 8 + your proficiency 
  bonus + your Constitution modifier. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a long rest. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Remorhaz 
  Remohazes lack ability increases, but their other traits 
  make them excellent in a variety of classes. Their lack 
  of hands may make it difficult to cast spells, but any 
  class which thrives in combat can benefit from the 
  remorhaze’s natural weapons and resistance to both 
  cold and fire damage. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Remorhazes are powerful creatures, but their abilities 
  aren’t particularly unique so reworking them into a 
  playable race isn’t hard. The Monster Manual also 
  
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  Races 
  177 
  provides two age blocks for the remorhazes, which 
  gives us a helpful way to identify which traits are truly 
  central to the creature. We’ll work primarily from the 
  young version. Remorhazes also aren’t playably 
  intelligent, so we’ll treat them as awakened. 
   Remorhazes are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   Strength and Constitution are the remorhaz’s best 
  ability scores by a wide margin, but since they have so 
  many special abilities we’ll need to forgo an ability 
  increase to save BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), +3 natural armor for 1.5 BP, 30 ft. walking 
  speed, 10 ft. burrowing speed (down from 20 ft.) for 2 
  BP, resistance to cold and fire (down from immunity) 
  for 4 BP, Darkvision for 2 BP, and the ability to speak 
  Common since we’re treating them as awakened. We’ll 
  need to drop tremorsense to save BP. Remorhazes 
  have no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll give them a 1d4+1d4 
  natural weapon for 2 BP. Because they qualify, we’ll 
  add natural weapon finesse for 0 BP. 
   That brings our total to 10 BP before we look at 
  Heated Body. We’ll copy the design from the Azer for 1 
  BP. 
   At 11 BP, the remorhaz exceeds our target range of 
  8-10 BP. It’s got a good set of abilities, and without an 
  ability increase it shouldn’t cause any balance issues. If 
  you want to strengthen the remorhaz, grant it a +1 
  Strength increase. If you want to weaken the 
  remorhaz, remove Heated Body or the remorhaz’s 
  natural armor. 
  Revenant [Template: Acquired] 
  Undead spirits bound to life for the sole purpose of 
  revenge, they can occupy any dead body, returning 
  again and again until their foe is dead, or the magic 
  binding them to undeath eventually fades. 
   Wizards of the Coast debuted a Revenant subrace in 
  the Gothic Heroes Unearthed Arcana article. The 
  version presented here is intended as an alternate 
  version more closely based on the original Monster 
  Manual entry. Combining both versions is technically 
  possible, though not recommended. 
   http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/gothic-
  heroes 
  Becoming a Revenant 
  Any formerly living mortal creature whose body and 
  soul are separate entities (such as most humanoids, 
  but excluding creatures like elementals and fiends) can 
  become a revenant by being murdered. 
   Upon their death, at the Dungeon Master’s 
  Discretion, the creature can be reanimated as a 
  revenant. In this case, the creature returns as a 
  revenant 24 hours later as a Revenant If the creature’s 
  original body is intact, the revenant occupies its own 
  body. Otherwise, it occupies a nearby dead body of the 
  Dungeon Master’s choice (see Hunger for Revenge, 
  below). 
   Upon gaining the Revenant template, the character 
  immediately gains the traits listed for level 0 under 
  Revenant Traits, below. 
   The creature who murdered you becomes your 
  Adversary, and is central to many of the Revenant’s 
  traits. If you were murdered by multiple creatures, the 
  one to strike the final blow becomes your adversary, 
  but after their death the Dungeon Master may allow 
  you to continue pursuing each murderer in order until 
  they are all dead or you run out of time (see Destroying 
  a Revenant, below). 
   In addition, the character's growth and training are 
  affected. The next time the character gains enough 
  experience to gain a level, instead of selecting a class in 
  which to take a new level the character immediately 
  gains a level of the Revenant template. 
   Once a creature becomes a Revenant, it cannot be 
  raised from the dead until it achieves its revenge, or it 
  has been destroyed at the end of one year. 
  Destroying a Revenant 
  Revenants can only be permanently destroyed in two 
  ways. First, by allowing the revenant to kill the subject 
  or subjects of its revenge. Second, after one year the 
  revenant immediately dies, and its spirits departs for 
  the afterlife. 
   Any attempt to raise the revenant from the dead 
  treats the creature’s original death as the date of its 
  death. As such, most revenants are out reach of Raise 
  Dead. If a Revanent is permanently destroyed then 
  raised from the dead, it loses the Revanent template. 
  Revenant Traits 
  Hit Points 
   Hit Dice. 1d10 per revenant level 
   Hit Points at Higher Levels. 1d10 (or 6) + your 
  Constitution modifier per revenant level 
  Traits 
  Revenants gain the following traits at each level, as 
  indicated on the table below. 
  
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  Races 
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  Level 
  Features 
  0 
  Creature Type, Hunger for Revenge, , 
  Rejuvenation 
  1 
  Darkvision, Regeneration, Turn Immunity 
  2 
  Relentless, Vengeful Glare, Vengeful Tracker 
   Creature Type. You replace your current creature 
  type with Undead, but retain any subtypes.  
   You don’t require air, food, drink, or sleep. Instead, 
  you enter a restful state, remaining semiconscious, for 
  4 hours a day. While resting, you can dream after a 
  fashion; such dreams are reflexive mental exercises 
  inherent to your consciousness. After resting in this 
  way, you gain the same benefit that a human does 
  from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Hunger for Revenge. You have only one year to 
  exact revenge. When your adversary dies, or if your 
  fails to kill your adversary before its time runs out, you 
  crumble to dust and your soul fades into the afterlife. 
   Rejuvenation. If you die, you return to life wherever 
  you died 24 hours later.  
   If your body was destroyed, you return to life in 
  another nearby dead body, typically one within 1 mile 
  of wherever you died. This body immediately 
  transforms to resemble your original appearance. Your 
  equipment does not accompany you when you return 
  to life in a new body. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Regeneration. You are able to recover from wounds 
  with horrifying speed. As a bonus action, you may 
  spend a Hit Die to recover hit points.  
   You are vulnerable to radiant damage and damage 
  from holy water. If you take acid or fire damage, you 
  may not use your regeneration trait to recover hit 
  points until the end of your next turn. 
   When you take a short or long rest, you regain spent 
  Hit Dice, up to a number of dice equal to half of your 
  total number of them, rounded up.  
   Turn Immunity. You are immune to any effect which 
  turns undead. 
   Relentless. You are immune to the Charmed and 
  Frightened conditions. 
   Vengeful Glare. As an action, you paralyze one 
  creature which you can see within 30 feet. 
   Vengeful Tracker. You know the distance to and 
  direction of any creature against which you seek 
  revenge, even if the creature and you are on different 
  planes of existence. If the creature you are tracking 
  dies, the revenant knows. 
  Design Notes 
  Revenants share a lot of their revival mechanics with 
  death knights, and share some of their flavorful bits 
  with ghosts, so we can borrow design ideas from both. 
  Revenants have a long list of abilities which become 
  extremely potent in the hands of the player, so we’ll 
  need to make the Revenant a leveled template and 
  split the abilities across several levels.  
   Like other leveled templates with entry points that 
  players might not be able to control, we’ll have a “0 
  level” which is applied immediately upon the 
  character’s death. 
   Before we decide how many levels to make the 
  template, we’ll assess the BP value of the Revenants 
  abilities. I’m hoping that we can squeeze everything 
  into one level, but that seems unlikely. 
   The original creature’s type changes to Undead for 1 
  BP. We’ll give the revanent d10 hit dice for 1 BP per 
  level. 
   The monster entry lists a pile of resistances and 
  condition immunities. Many of them are common for 
  undead creatures, and we’ve removed them for other 
  races. We’ll keep Poison Immunity for 2 BP, and 
  immunity to Charmed and Frightened for 1 BP total 
  because those feel central to the theme of the 
  monster. We’ll also keep Darkvision for 2 BP. 
   Regeneration is an expensive ability, coming in at 4 
  BP since Revenants can’t reattach or regrow their 
  limbs. It also includes vulnerability to two types of 
  damage (typically the ones which halt regeneration). 
  For revenants, that’s fire and radiant damage. 
   The Revenant’s Rejuvenation is very similar to that  
  Rejuvenation is very similar to that of the Naga. Like 
  the Naga it’s difficult to estimate a BP cost because it’s 
  difficult to estimate how frequently a player might die. 
   Revenants are immune to any effect which turns 
  undead. There are currently only a handful of things 
  which do that, and very few classes have access to 
  them. In a normal campaign you can’t expect to run 
  into many NPC clerics who happen to have Turn 
  Undead prepared, either. We’ll call it 0.5 BP to keep it 
  in line with other condition immunities. 
   Vengeful Tracker combines two powerful effects 
  which closely resemble two powerful spells: find the 
  path and true seeing. Both are 6th-level spells, which is 
  very potent. However, for the Revenant the effect is 
  limited to one specific creature. In the Revenant’s ideal 
  situation, the True Seeing effect only comes into play 
  once before the Revenant kills their adversary and 
  turns to dust. The ability is very powerful but also 
  extremely limited. It’s like the world’s sharpest knife, 
  
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  Races 
  179 
  but it can only cut one specific steak that you’re going 
  to have for dinner tonight before you turn to dust and 
  pass on into the afterlife. Let’s call it 2 BP, but that 
  might be way too much or way too little. It’s hard to 
  say for certain. 
   Vengeful Glare is a refreshing return to relatively 
  normal abilities. It’s essentially Hold Monster with a 1 
  round duration, followed by a lingering fear effect, 
  usable at will. That’s obviously way to good for a player 
  who’s going to hold an enemy paralyzed while their 
  allies poke it with pointy sticks. However, it also only 
  works against a creature “against which it has sworn 
  vengeance”. Typically this means only the Revanent’s 
  adversary, which like Vengeful Tracker is extremely 
  limiting. If we limit the usage to once per day, I think 
  we can call it 1 BP. 
   That brings us to 13.5 BP, which is a bit more than I 
  want to squeeze into a single template level, and 
  doesn’t include the 1 BP per level for hit dice. We’ll 
  need to make the Revanent take two levels, 
  unfortunately.  
   We’ll grant the creature type and Hunger for 
  Revenge at level 0, as well as Rejuvenation because a 
  Revanent dying at level 0 would be really disappointing 
  otherwise. 
   For the Revanent’s first level, we start 1 BP for the 
  hit die, and we’ll add Darkvision, Regeneration, and 
  Turn Immunity for a totally of 7.5 BP. That’s slightly 
  below our 8-10 BP target range for level 1 in a leveled 
  template, but Regeneration is a ton of fun, so it should 
  be okay. 
   For the Revanent’s second and final level, we again 
  start with 1 BP for the hit die, and we’ll add immunity 
  to Charmed and Frightened for 1 BP, Vengeful Tracker 
  for 2 BP, and Vicious Glare for 1 BP, bringing our total 
  for the level 5 BP, right at the top of our 4-5 BP target 
  range. 
   If you want to weaken the Revanent, reduce its hit 
  dice to d8s. If you want to strengthen the Revanent, 
  reduce it to a single level, but grant it all of the traits 
  for both levels in that one level. 
  Roc 
  Rocs are massive birds of prey, faster than nearly any 
  other flying creature and strong enough to carry off 
  full-grown horses. 
  Roc Traits 
  Rocs share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent predators, most 
  rocs are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 20 ft. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 50 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Keen Sight. You have advantage on Wisdom 
  (Perception) checks that rely on sight. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Powerful Build. You count as one size larger when 
  determining your carrying capacity and the weight you 
  can push, drag, or lift. 
   Talons. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 piercing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Roc 
  Rocs are fantastic flyers. Their ability increases and 
  speed make them excellent at getting into melee 
  combat where they’re most effective. Consider classes 
  like Barbarian and Fighter which can easily capitalize on 
  the roc’s strengths. Keen Sight also provides a useful 
  boost to Perception, making the roc an effective flying 
  scout. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Rocs are extremely mundane. Really their only 
  remarkable traits are their immense size and absurd 
  speed. When we reduce those to fit a playable race, 
  they’re just like many other flying beast-like creatures. 
  Since they’re not intelligent, we’ll treat the roc as 
  awakened. 
   Rocs are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but offering 
  no specific traits. 
   The roc’s best ability scores are Strength and 
  Constitution by wide margins, so we’ll grant +1 to each 
  for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  gargantuan), +3 natural armor (down from +5) for 1.5 
  BP, 20 ft. walking speed for -1 BP, 50 ft. flying speed for 
  
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  Races 
  180 
  6 BP, and the ability to speak common since we’re 
  treating the roc as awakened. Rocs have no hands for -
  2 BP, and we’ll set their natural weapons to 1d8 for 2 
  BP. We’ll keep Keen Sight for 0.25 BP, and we’ll drop 
  the grab mechanic. 
   To emphasize that rocs are massive birds, we’ll add 
  Powerful Build for 0.25 BP. 
   At 9.5 BP, the roc is within our target range of 8-10 
  BP. If you want to strengthen the roc, grant it the Grab 
  ability. If you want to weaken the roc, reduce its 
  natural armor or flight speed. 
  Roper 
  Ropers are ambush predators native to the Underdark 
  that use their long, grasping tendrils to pull prey into 
  their toothy mouths. 
  Roper Traits 
  Ropers share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength. 
   Alignment. Intelligent creatures perfectly happy to 
  feed on other intelligent creatures, most ropers are 
  neutral evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 20 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 piercing damage 
  on a hit. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   False Appearance. While motionless, you appear 
  indistinguishable from a normal cave formation, such 
  as a stalagmite. You must spend one minute 
  motionless before this ability takes effect. You must 
  maintain concentration during that time, as if you were 
  casting a spell. 
   Grasping Tendrils. When you make the Attack 
  action, you may make a special melee attack to grasp a 
  creature up to 50 ft. away with your tendrils. To do 
  this, grapple the creature as though it were within your 
  reach. If you succeed, you subject the creature to the 
  grappled condition. If you move more than 50 feet 
  away from the creature, this grapple ends. 
   You can have up to six tendrils at a time. Each tendril 
  can be attacked (AC 20; 10 hit points; immunity to 
  poison and psychic damage). Destroying a tendril deals 
  no damage to you. As a bonus action, you can extrude 
  a replac1ement. A tendril can also be broken if a 
  creature takes an action and succeeds on a Strength 
  check against it. The DC of this check is 8 + your 
  proficiency bonus + your Constitution modifier. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 15 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Reel. When you make the Attack action, in place of 
  one of your attacks you may attempt to pull any 
  creatures grappled by your tendrils closer to you. Make 
  a Strength (Athletics) check contested by each target's 
  Strength (Athletics). If you succeed against any 
  creature, you pull the target up to 25 feet straight 
  toward you. After doing so, you may make an unarmed 
  strike as a bonus action against any creature which you 
  successfully pulled toward you. 
   Languages. You can understand and read Common. 
  Playing a Roper 
  Ropers are slow-moving grapplers. Use your grasping 
  tendrils to drag foes into range of your unarmed 
  strikes. Because you need multiple attacks to make 
  efficient use of your tendrils, consider classes which 
  offer Extra Attack, especially Fighter. 
   Ropers don’t have particularly interesting 
  personalities, and they’re motivated mostly by the 
  need to eat. While this doesn’t give much basis for a 
  personality, it also makes them a blank slate for a 
  character. 
  Design Notes 
  Ropers are a really weird creature. They’re frustratingly 
  slow, so they compensate by using their tentacles to 
  drag prey closer to them. That’s a really unique 
  mechanic so we’ll need to take some time considering 
  how it will work for players. 
   Ropers are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but offering 
  no specific traits. 
   Strength is the roper’s best ability, and since 
  grappling is such an important mechanic we’ll grant +1 
  for 1 BP and ignore other abilities to conserve BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), +5 natural armor (down from +11) for 2.5 BP, 20 
  ft. walking speed (up from 10 ft.) for -1 BP, 10 ft. climb 
  speed for 1 BP, Darkvision for 2 BP, False appearance 
  for 0.5 BP, and Spider Climb for 1 BP. Ropers can’t 
  speak for -1.5 BP, but we’ll allow them to understand 
  Common. Ropers have no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set 
  their bite to 1d8 for 2 BP. 
  
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   That brings our total to 7.5 BP before considering the 
  roper’s other abilities. Tendril, Grasping Tendrils, and 
  Reel are all tightly tied together. We don’t have a lot of 
  room left, and I don’t want the roper’s grapple abilities 
  to be so powerful that they easily win every fight. 
   The monster version of Tendril allows the roper to 
  apply the Restrained condition. While this makes the 
  monster terrifying, it would make a player too 
  powerful. We’ll drop Restrained in favor of Grappled. 
  We’ll also drop the disadvantage component because it 
  would make it too easy for a roper player to win every 
  grapple. From there, we can add Grab for 2 BP and 
  allow it to be used at range for 0.5 BP like we’ve done 
  with other natural weapons. We’ll keep Grasping 
  Tendrils unmodified as a balancing factor. 
   Reel is a totally unique ability. It allows the monster 
  to move restrained creatures without a check, save, or 
  contest of any kind. That’s very powerful, so I think 
  we’ll require a grapple check when the roper uses the 
  ability.  
   The roper’s multiattack ability allows it to tendrils, 
  reel, and finally make a bit attack all as one action. This 
  is very powerful, and players typically need to use a 
  bonus action to do this. To match this behavior, we’ll 
  allow the roper to make a bite attack as a bonus action 
  when they use reel to pull a creature within 5 ft. 
  Altogether this ability is likely somewhere in the range 
  of 2 BP. 
   At 11.5 BP, the roper exceeds our target range of 8-
  10 BP. Ropers are complicated creatures with 
  unpredictable effects on combat, so be very cautious 
  about including them in your games. If you want to 
  strengthen the roper, don’t require a grapple check 
  when it uses Reel. If you want to weaken the roper, 
  remove its strength increase. 
  Rust Monster 
  Rust monsters are gigantic insectoid creature with the 
  ability to dissolve and consume ferrous metals. 
  Rust Monster Traits 
  Rust monsters share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Normally motivated by little except 
  hunger, most rust monsters are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 35 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 piercing damage 
  on a hit. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Iron Scent. You can pinpoint, by scent, the location 
  of ferrous metal within 30 feet of it. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Rust Metal. Contact with your body corrodes and 
  destroys mundane armor and weaponry. When you 
  make an unarmed strike and roll a natural 20 you may 
  destroy any non-magical shield made of metal which 
  the creature is currently wielding. If the creature is not 
  wielding a shield, you may destroy any non-magical 
  armor made of metal that the creature is wearing. 
  Alternatively, if a creature attacks you with a non-
  magical weapon made of metal and rolls a natural 1 
  you may destroy the weapon used in the attack. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Rust Monster 
  Rust monsters are quick and tough, but aren’t 
  particularly dangerous. They present a serious problem 
  for enemies with metal equipment, but other creatures 
  likely won’t find them particularly threatening. 
  Consider classes like fighter which thrive in melee and 
  offer you extra attacks so that you are more likely to 
  apply Rust Metal. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Among the most feared of monsters despite its relative 
  weakness, the rust monster is known for its ability to 
  destroy metal. We’ve already dealt with a similar 
  mechanic for oozes, so we’ll borrow that work. Beyond 
  that, the rust monster is fairly simple. Since rust 
  monsters are normally unintelligent, we’ll treat them 
  as awakened. 
   Rust monsters are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   None of the rust monster’s abilities are especially 
  good, I think we’ll emphasize Constitution to make 
  them nice and hardy. We’ll grant +1 Constitution for 1 
  BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, +3 natural 
  armor for 1.5 BP, 35 ft. walking speed (down from 40 
  
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  ft.) for 0.5 BP, Darkvision for 2 BP, and the ability to 
  speak Common since we’re treating the rust monster 
  as awakened. Rust monsters have no hands for -2 BP, 
  but we’ll set their bite to 1d8 for 2 BP. 
   That brings us to 4 BP before we tackle Iron Scent, 
  Rust Metal, and Antennae. Iron Scent is a very limited 
  version of Blindsense. 30 ft. blindsense is 3 BP, so I 
  think 1 BP is fair for Iron Scent. It will be very effective 
  against humanoids and constructs, but the rest of the 
  world’s creatures likely won’t be affected. 
   Antennae and Rust Metal works very similarly to the 
  gray ooze’s Corrode Metal ability. We would need to 
  make all of the same adjustments that we did for the 
  gray ooze, so we’ll just copy Corrode Metal for 2.5 BP. 
   At 9 BP, the rust monster is within our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the rust monster, 
  increase its Constitution increase. If you want to 
  weaken the rust monster, reduce its natural armor. 
  Sahuagin 
  Sahuagin are a predatory race of fish-like humanoids 
  who dwell in the deepest trenches of the seas, 
  emerging only to pillage and wage war. 
  Sahuagin Traits 
  Sahuagin share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Humanoid (sahuagin) 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Wisdom. 
   Alignment. Brutal conquerors who believe the whole 
  of the sea to be their domain, most Sahuagin are lawful 
  evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft., and you 
  have a 40 ft. swim speed. 
   Limited Amphibiousness. You can breathe air and 
  water, but you need to be submerged at least once 
  every 4 hours to avoid suffocating. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 12 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Shark Telepathy. You can magically communicate 
  any shark within 120 feet, using a limited telepathy. 
   Superior Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 
  120 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. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Sahuagin. 
  Playing a Sahuagin 
  Sahuagin are fierce warriors with a strong religious 
  streak. They make good Clerics, Druids, Fighter, and 
  Rangers. Their ability to communicate with sharks 
  telepathically makes sharks good choices for pets, 
  summons, or animal companions. 
   Sahuagin believe that they rightfully reign over the 
  whole of the sea, so your character may have a 
  superiority complex regarding other aquatic races. 
   In non-aquatic campaigns, breathing is a serious 
  problem for a Sahuagin character. You may need to 
  keep a large source of water handy (such as a large 
  barrel) in which to submerge yourself every few hours 
  in order to avoid suffocation. 
  
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  Design Notes 
  I’ll just come right out and say that I’m not going to 
  specify a mechanical difference between genders, and 
  I’m not going touch on the four-armed Sahuagin. 
   Sahuagin are humanoid, which costs 0 BP and 
  includes no special abilities. 
   Sahuagin’s ability scores aren’t spectacular, but if we 
  take the top two we can justify a +1 to Strength and a 
  +1 to Wisdom for 2 BP. 
   From the basic Sahuagin’s stat block, we get medium 
  size, 30 ft. walking speed, 40 ft. swim speed for 1.5 BP, 
  Superior Darkvision for 3 BP, only racial languages for -
  1 BP, +2 natural armor for 1 BP, and 1d4 natural 
  weapons for 1 BP. 
   We’re already at 7.5 BP, which doesn’t leave us with 
  much room, but is enough to tackle the remaining 
  pieces of the Sahuagin. 
   Limited Amphibiousness is great for quick forays 
  onto land, but the four hour limitation means that 
  Sahuagin likely won’t survive a campaign on land. We’ll 
  call it 0.5 BP since Amphibious is 1 BP. 
   Shark Telepathy allows Sahuaging to command 
  sharks, not just communicate with them. That’s clearly 
  too powerful for players since they’ll do silly things like 
  gather packs (Schools? Shoals?) of sharks and throw 
  them at problems. Instead, we’ll weaken it to allow the 
  Sahuaging to communicate with sharks, but the player 
  would still need to make an Animal Handling check to 
  make them do stuff. We’ll call that 0.5 BP, but in an 
  underwater campaign it could definitely be worth 
  more. 
   At this point we have a perfectly functional race, 
  which is great because there is no way in any of the 
  nine 9 hells that I’m giving Blood Frenzy to a player. In 
  a game which involves so much combat, players will 
  spend the vast majority of their time attacking things 
  which don’t have all of their hit points, so Blood Frenzy 
  is simply too powerful to allow to a player.  
   8.5 BP puts the Sahuagin inside our target BP range. 
  Sahuagin get several cool abilities, and their good swim 
  speed and Superior Darkvision make them an excellent 
  option for a deep-sea campaign. If you need to 
  strengthen Sahuagin, give them Advantage on Wisdom 
  (Animal Handling) checks with sharks or improve their 
  natural armor. If you need to weaken Sahuagin, reduce 
  their Superior Darkvision to regular Darkvision. 
  Salamanders 
  Salamanders are elemental creatures from the plane of 
  fire resembling a gigantic snake with a humanoid upper 
  body. 
   Salamanders have two stages of life: The “Fire 
  Snake” stage encompasses a Salamanders first year, 
  during which they grow into a full Salamander. 
  Salamander Traits 
  Salamanders share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Elemental 
   Alignment. Deeply influenced by the tyranny of 
  efreeti, and by their chaotic elemental natures, most 
  salamanders are neutral evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Heated Body. When a creature makes a successful 
  melee attack against you, you may retaliate with a 
  burst of flame as a reaction. The creature must make a 
  Dexterity saving throw. It takes 2d10 fire damage on a 
  failed save, or half as much damage on a successful 
  one. The DC of this saving throw is 8 + your proficiency 
  bonus + your Constitution modifier. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a long rest. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 12 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Subrace. Choose one of these subraces. You gain the 
  traits listed under your chosen subrace in addition to 
  those listed above. 
  Fire Snake 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity. 
   Can’t Speak. You are unable to speak, but are still 
  able to read and understand any languages which you 
  know. You are unable to perform verbal spell 
  components. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Tail. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 bludgeoning 
  damage and 1d4 fire damage on a hit. 
   Languages. You can understand and read Ignan. 
  Salamander 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity. 
   Heated Weapon. Starting at 3rd level, as a bonus 
  action, you may heat one metal melee weapon which 
  you are currently holding. For one minute, melee 
  weapon attacks with the weapon deal an additional 
  1d6 fire damage. You must maintain concentration 
  during that time, as if you were casting a spell. If you 
  lose concentration or lose your grip on the weapon, it 
  cools quickly, returning to a normal temperature. 
  
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   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Tail. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 fire damage on a 
  hit. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Ignan. 
  Playing a Salamander 
  Salamanders are capable warriors and share many of 
  the most important traits of humanoids. If you plan to 
  play a campaign which covers a long period of in-game 
  time, you might choose to start as a fire snake and age 
  into an adult salamander. Otherwise, the adult 
  salamander is likely a more effective choice. Adult 
  salamanders gain increases to both Strength and 
  Dexterity, allowing them to succeed in a wide variety of 
  classes and roles. 
   Salamanders are nomadic creatures native to the 
  plane of fire. They might find their way into the 
  material plane where they enjoy setting fire to 
  everything that possible can. As such, they may fit well 
  into an evil party with a penchant for destruction. 
  Design Notes 
  Salamanders are mostly straightforward, but present 
  an interesting design question due to their age 
  categories and sizing. Fire snakes are medium, while 
  adults are large. Normally we drop large creatures to 
  medium, but what do that imply for fire snakes? 
  There’s also the issue of age. What happens in 
  campaigns in which a lot of in-world time passes? I 
  think our best bet is to keep both version of the 
  salamander at medium size, and include language for 
  the fire snake to age into a full salamander. 
   Salamanders are elementals, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, +2 natural 
  armor (down from +3 for the adult) for 1 BP, 30 ft. 
  walking speed, vulnerability to cold for -1 BP, 
  resistance to fire (down from immunity) for 2 BP, 
  Darkvision for 2 BP, and only racial languages for -1 BP. 
   That brings our total to 3.5 BP before we consider 
  special abilities. Both versions have Heated Body, so 
  we’ll retain that for 1 BP using the same design we’ve 
  used for other races. 
   That brings our total to 4.5 BP before we examine 
  individual versions of the salamander.  
  Fire Snake 
  We don’t want the fire snake to just be a weaker 
  version of the adult salamander, so we’ll need to take 
  some artistic liberties. It’s important that whatever we 
  add transitions neatly into the adult salamander. 
   The fire snake’s best ability is Dexterity, so we’ll 
  grant +2 Dexterity for 2 BP. We’re a bit starved for 
  traits, so we’ll also grant +1 Constitution for 1 BP. 
   Fire snakes can’t speak for -1.5 BP, have no hands for 
  -2 BP. We’ll set their natural weapons to 1d4+1d4 fire 
  for 2 BP. 
   I’m not sure what else to give the fire snake, 
  unfortunately. 
   At 6 BP, the fire snake is below our target BP range 
  of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the fire snake, 
  consider  
  Salamander 
  Adult salamanders grow arms and the ability to speak, 
  making them a much more useful race for a playable 
  character. 
   Adjusting for size, all of the salamander’s physical 
  ability scores are good. We’ll grant +1 to Strength and 
  +1 to Constitution for 2 BP. 
   Adult salamanders gain the Heated Weapons ability. 
  We’ll copy the work we’ve done for other races like the 
  Azer, and add Heated Weapon for 2 BP. We’re already 
  at 8.5 BP, and salamanders typically rely on material 
  weapons, so we’ll drop the salamander’s natural 
  weapons to 1d4 fire for 1 BP. 
   At 9.5 BP, the salamander is within our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the salamander, 
  increase its natural weapon damage. If you want to 
  weaken the salamander, remove its natural armor. 
  Satyr 
  Satyrs are mythical creatures resembling a cross 
  between a goat and a human. They are famous for 
  their hedonistic tendencies and their magical pan 
  pipes. 
  Satyr Traits 
  Satyrs share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Fey 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity, +1 Charisma. 
   Alignment. Wild, hedonistic creatures drawn to 
  revelry and celebration, most Satyrs are chaotic 
  neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 ft. 
   Magic Resistance. You have advantage on all saving 
  throws against magic. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common, Elvish, and Sylvan. 
  
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  Playing a Satyr 
  Satyrs don’t have any exciting active abilities, but they 
  have good ability scores for a variety of classes and 
  Magic Resistance makes them extremely resilient 
  against spellcasters. 
  Design Notes 
  Satyr are very simple for a fey. Without their pipes, 
  they don’t have any especially troublesome abilities. 
  For simplicity (and because an item shouldn’t be part 
  of a race’s features), we’ll ignore the satyr pipes. If a 
  DM decided to introduce satyr pipes as a magic item it 
  would be in line with many other magic items. 
   Satyr are fey, which costs 0.5 BP but doesn’t grant 
  any specific abilities. 
   From their ability scores we see that Satyrs are 
  nimble and charismatic, so we’ll give them a +2 to 
  Dexterity and +1 to Charisma for 3 BP total. 
   From the Satyr stat block, we get medium size, 40 ft. 
  walking speed for 1 BP, and racial languages plus 
  Common and an extra fixed language for 0.25 BP. 
   The Satyr’s only special ability is Magic Resistance. 
  That’s more powerful than I’m usually comfortable 
  granting to any player, but we’re only at 4.25 BP so 
  there really isn’t much else to use. I’ll grant Magic 
  Resistance for 5 BP. 
   At 9.25 BP, the Satyr is within our target BP range. 
  Their ability scores give them several class options, but 
  I suspect that people will generally chose to play a 
  Satyr primarily for Magic Resistance. 
   If you need to strengthen the Satyr, grant them 
  proficiency in Performance. If you need to weaken 
  them, replace Magic Resistance with Cunning. 
  Scarecrow 
  Scarecrows are crude humanoid constructs made of 
  sack cloth and straw animated by binding an evil spirit 
  into a constructed body. 
  Scarecrow Traits 
  Scarecrows share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Construct. You do not require air, 
  food, drink, or sleep. Instead, you enter a restful state, 
  remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. While 
  resting, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are 
  reflexive mental exercises inherent to your 
  consciousness. After resting in this way, you gain the 
  same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity, +1 Charisma. 
   Alignment. Evil spirits bound into a physical body, 
  most scarecrows are chaotic evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Claw. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 slashing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Construct Nature. Your body is composed of 
  inanimate materials, compelled to move by magic. You 
  are immune to the Exhaustion, Paralyzed, Poisoned, 
  and Unconscious conditions, and to poison damage. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   False Appearance. While motionless, you appear 
  indistinguishable from a normal scarecrow, such as a 
  stalagmite. You must spend one minute motionless 
  before this ability takes effect. You must maintain 
  concentration during that time, as if you were casting a 
  spell. 
   Flammable. Your body is made of dry straw, wood, 
  and sack cloth. You are vulnerable to fire damage. 
   Terrifying Gaze. As an action, you can magically 
  terrify a creature with your gaze. Target one creature 
  within 60 feet of you that you can see. If the target can 
  see you, it must make a Wisdom saving throw or 
  become frightened until the end of your next turn. The 
  DC for this saving throw equals 8 + your Charisma 
  modifier + your proficiency bonus. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Languages. You can understand, read, and write in 
  Common and one other language of your choice. 
  Playing a Scarecrow 
  Scarecrows are a common sight in agricultural 
  communities since they’re used to deter common pests 
  like birds. Couple with their increased Dexterity, they 
  make excellent stealthy characters like rangers and 
  rogues. Their increased Charisma can make them 
  terrifying creatures, but their inability to speak limits 
  their ability to cast spells so classes like sorcerer and 
  warlock may be difficult choices. 
   Scarecrows are animated by evil spirits, making them 
  innately evil. They obey the orders of their creator, but 
  a scarecrow which doesn’t destroy itself upon its 
  creator’s death may be motivated by revenge, by the 
  last orders of its creator, or by generally destructive 
  tendencies. When creating a scarecrow character, 
  consider your creator’s personality as much as your 
  own, and consider how your character’s creator 
  influences your character’s actions and motivations. 
  
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  Races 
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  Design Notes 
  Scarecrows are an excellent low-CR construct, so for 
  players hoping to play a construct character they can 
  be a good option. Their abilities are straightforward 
  and their stats are easily adapted. 
   Scarecrows are constructs, costing 1 BP. 
   The scarecrows abilities aren’t great, but their best 
  are Dexterity and Charisma so we’ll grant +1 to each 
  for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get 30 ft. walking speed, 
  vulnerability to fire for -1 BP, Poison Immunity for 2 BP, 
  immunity to the exhaustion, paralyzed, and 
  unconscious conditions (we’ll drop charmed and 
  frightened) for 1.5 BP, and Darkvision for 2 BP. We’ll 
  give scarecrows Common plus one flexible language for 
  0.5 BP, but they can’t speak for -1.5 BP.  
   We’ll add False Appearance for 0.5 BP, we’ll drop the 
  scarecrows natural weapons to 1d4 for 1 BP since they 
  can use weapons, and we’ll steal Dreadful Glare from 
  the mummy for 1 BP to approximate the scarecrow’s 
  Terrifying Gaze since the abilities are very similar and 
  would need to make the same adjustments to fit 
  Terrifying Gaze onto a playable race. 
   At 9 BP, the scarecrow is within our target range of 
  8-10 BP. It’s a versatile race with some fun abilities that 
  should make it easily playable alongside published 
  humanoid races. If you want to strengthen the 
  scarecrow, add natural armor or increase its claw 
  damage. If you want to weaken the scarecrow, remove 
  its condition immunity to and paralyzed. If you dislike 
  immunity to unconsciousness and its associate 
  complications, consider removing it. 
  Shadow 
  Undead shadows hunt living creatures, killing them by 
  sapping their strength and converting them into new 
  shadows. 
  Shadow Traits 
  Shadows share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Undead. You don’t require air, food, 
  drink, or sleep. Instead, you enter a restful state, 
  remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. While 
  resting, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are 
  reflexive mental exercises inherent to your 
  consciousness. After resting in this way, you gain the 
  same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Undead creatures that prey on the good 
  and the kind-hearted, most shadows are chaotic evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 35 ft. 
   Amorphous. You can move through a space as 
  narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing. 
   Can’t Speak. You are unable to speak, but are still 
  able to read, write, and understand any languages 
  which you know. You are unable to perform verbal 
  spell components. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Shadow Stealth. While in dim light or darkness, you 
  can take the Hide action as a bonus action. 
   Shadowy Nature. Your body is composed of barely 
  solid shadow. You are immune to the Exhaustion, 
  Grappled, Paralyzed, Petrified, Poisoned, and 
  Restrained conditions, and to poison damage. 
   Strength Drain. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 
  necrotic damage on a hit. 
   You have the ability to drain the strength of living 
  creatures. When you make an unarmed strike against a 
  living creature and roll a natural 20 the target must 
  make a Strength saving throw. On a success, the 
  creature is unaffected. On a failure, the target’s 
  strength is drained, and the creature suffers 
  disadvantage on Strength-based attack rolls, Strength 
  ability checks, and Strength saving throws until it 
  completes a short or long rest, or is affected by lesser 
  restoration or similar magic. The DC of this saving 
  throw is 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Constitution 
  bonus. 
   If you score a natural 20 again against a creature 
  which is currently under the effects of Strength Drain, 
  they must make a second Strength saving throw. On a 
  success, the creature remains drained. On a failure, the 
  creature falls to 0 hit points and begins dying. 
   Sunlight Weakness. While in sunlight, you have 
  disadvantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and saving 
  throws. 
   Languages. You can understand, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Shadow 
  Shadows are nimble and sneaky, make a great ambush 
  predator. Consider classes like monk, ranger, and rogue 
  which cater well to stealth. 
   Shadows can’t speak. Their motivations are only 
  vaguely defined, so it’s unclear what might motivate a 
  shadow to join a party of adventurers. A cleric of an 
  evil deity might control the shadow by divine means, or 
  
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  Races 
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  the shadow might work alongside servants of an evil 
  deity.  
  Design Notes 
  Shadows are immensely frustrating. They have 
  immunity or resistance to every damage type except 
  radiant, a pile of condition immunities, a unique and 
  extremely deadly rider effect on their attacks, and 
  somehow they’re only CR ½. On top of that, the 
  shadow has some immunities (grappled, prone, 
  restrained) which imply that the creature isn’t 
  corporeal, but otherwise follows the normal rules for 
  corporeal creatures. We’ll need to make a lot of cuts, 
  and strength drain will require some serious 
  adjustment. 
   Shadows are undead, costing 1 BP. 
   The shadow’s best abilities are Dexterity and 
  Constitution, but we’ll ignore Constitution and grant +1 
  Dexterity for 1 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, 35 ft. 
  walking speed (down from 40 ft.) for 0.5 BP, damage 
  vulnerability to radiant for -1 BP, resistance to necrotic 
  for 2 BP (down from immunity; we’ll drop the other 
  resistances), Poison Immunity for 2 BP, immunity to 
  the exhaustion, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, and 
  restrained conditions (we’ll drop frightened and prone) 
  for 2.5 BP, Darkvision for 2 BP, and Amorphous for 0.5 
  BP. Shadows can’t speak for -1.5 BP, but we’ll allow 
  them to understand Common for 0 BP. 
   That brings us to 7 BP before we consider the 
  shadow’s remaining abilities. Sunlight Weakness is a 
  considerable weakness. It’s similar to Sunlight 
  Sensitivity but with worse consequences, so we’ll call it 
  -3 BP.  
   Shadow Stealth is similar to the rogue’s Cunning 
  Action ability, but has only one of the three functions 
  and only works in shadows. This will be very easy to 
  use in parties where everyone has Darkvision, but will 
  become very difficult the moment a light source 
  appears. We’ll call this 1 BP. 
   Strength Drain is the final piece of the shadow. It 
  should be the shadow’s primary offensive option, so 
  we’ll set the damage to 1d8 for 2 BP. The actual 
  Strength effect is the real problem. Asking a table to 
  track Strength penalties on every creature which the 
  shadow fights would be foolish, so we’ll need to 
  rewrite the mechanic. The effect needs to require less 
  tracking, so we’ll make the effect trigger less frequently 
  and make the effect stronger.  
   Triggering on a natural 20 will make the effect occur 
  infrequently, but make it an occasional moment of 
  excitement. Creatures with more Strength should be 
  more resistant to the effect, so we’ll allow a Strength 
  saving throw to resist the effect. We’ll make it work in 
  two stages: the first stage will imply disadvantage to 
  Strength ability checks and saving throws, and the 
  second will drop the creature to 0 hit points. This 
  requires two natural 20s and two failed saves, so it 
  won’t be an easy win condition, but even applying the 
  effect successfully once could be the defining moment 
  of a fight. We’ll drop the ability to create additional 
  shadows. It’s hard to estimate a BP cost for this, but 
  we’ll call it 2 BP. 
   At 9 BP, the shadow is within our target range of 8-
  10 BP. The shadow’s Strength Drain is unpredictable, 
  so be cautious about including shadow characters in 
  your game. If you want to strengthen the shadow, add 
  natural armor. If you want to weaken the shadow, limit 
  how often it can apply Strength Drain’s strength 
  reduction effect. 
  Shambling Mound 
  Shambling mounds are patient predators, lying in wait 
  in swamps and forest for days at a time while they wait 
  for pretty to stumble upon them. 
  Shambling Mound Traits 
  Shambling mounds share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Plant 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength. 
   Alignment. Usually unintelligent predators, most 
  shambling mounds are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 20 ft. You have a 
  swim speed of 20 ft. 
   Blind Senses. You have no eyes, and are blind (and 
  therefore immune to the Blinded condition). You have 
  blindsight 30 ft. 
   Damage Resistance. You have resistance to lightning 
  damage. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Plant Nature. You are immune to the Deafened and 
  Exhaustion conditions. 
   Slam. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 bludgeoning 
  damage on a hit. 
   When you take the Attack action and make an 
  unarmed strike, you can use a bonus action to initiate a 
  
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  grapple with the target of your successful unarmed 
  strike. You may grapple even though you have no 
  hands. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Shambling Mound 
  Shambling mounds are slow, but they’re strong and 
  durable. Without hands, they have trouble using items 
  like weapons or spellcasting foci, so consider classes 
  which do well in melee combat like barbarian, fighter, 
  and monk. However, keep in mind that your lack of 
  hands will prevent you from using ranged weapons, 
  and your poor speed will make it easy for enemies to 
  escape you. Expect to spend a lot of time taking the 
  Dash action unless you can find ways to improve your 
  speed. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  The shambling mound is a weird creature. It has a 
  dangerous mix of abilities, but fortunately we can steal 
  similar abilities from other creatures which we’ve 
  already designed. Because shambling mounds are only 
  as intelligent as animals, we’ll treat them as awakened. 
   Shambling mounds are plants, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   The shambling mound’s best abilities are Strength 
  and Constitution, but we’ll only grant +1 Strength for 1 
  BP and save BP for the shambling mound’s other traits. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), +3 natural armor (down from +6) for 1.5 BP, 20 
  ft. walking speed for -1 BP, 20 ft. swimming speed for 
  0.5 BP, and immunity to the deafened and exhaustion 
  conditions for 1 BP. Shambling mounds are blind for -4 
  BP, but have blindsight 30 ft. (down from 60 ft.) for 6 
  BP. We’ll drop resistance to cold and fire to save BP, 
  and allow them to speak Common for 0 BP. 
   That brings our total to 5.5 BP before we tackle the 
  shambling mounds natural weapons and remaining 
  abilities. We don’t have anywhere near enough range 
  to keep lightning absorption, so we’ll drop it to 
  resistance for 2 BP. We’ll say that the shambling 
  mound has no hands for -2 BP, and set its natural 
  weapons to 1d8 damage. We’ll approximate Engulf 
  with Grab for 2 BP. 
   At 19.5 BP, the shambling mound is within our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the 
  shambling mound, increase its lightning resistance to 
  lightning immunity. If you want to weaken the 
  shambling mound, reduce its natural armor. 
  Shield Guardian 
  Shield guardians are constructs built to defend their 
  master from harm. 
   The traits presented here represent a shield guardian 
  that has been separated from its bound amulet, setting 
  it adrift in the world with free will but still motivated by 
  its need to protect creatures of great importance to 
  the shield guardian. 
  Shield Guardian Traits 
  Shield guardians share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Construct. You do not require air, 
  food, drink, or sleep. Instead, you enter a restful state, 
  remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. While 
  resting, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are 
  reflexive mental exercises inherent to your 
  consciousness. After resting in this way, you gain the 
  same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Intelligent but wholly subservient to their 
  master, most shield guardians are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Can’t Speak. You are unable to speak, but are still 
  able to read, write, and understand any languages 
  which you know. You are unable to perform verbal 
  spell components. 
   Construct Nature. You are immune to the charmed, 
  exhaustion, frightened, and paralyzed conditions. 
   Fist. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 bludgeoning 
  damage on a hit. 
   Natural Armor. Your AC is equal to 18. You are 
  unable to wear armor, but may still use shields. 
   Shield. When a creature makes an attack against an 
  ally other than you within 5 feet of you, you may grant 
  a +2 bonus to the ally's AC as a reaction. 
   Languages. You understand spoken commands in 
  any language. You can read and write in Common. 
  Playing a Shield Guardian 
  Shield guardians are built to defend other creatures. 
  Consider classes like Fighter and Paladin which also 
  cater to this focus. 
   Most shield guardians are bound to an amulet. While 
  you are free of this bond, you still feel the urge to 
  
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  protect a creature that you perceive as your master or 
  keeper. Consider who this creature might be, and how 
  that shapes your character’s actions. 
  Design Notes 
  The shield guardian is a fairly simple construct with a 
  small handful of specific abilities tailored to protecting 
  another creature. We can borrow a lot of our design 
  choices from similar creatures like animated armor and 
  iron golems. 
   Shield guardians are constructs, costing 1 BP. 
   The shield guardian’s best abilities are Strength and 
  Constitution, so we’ll grant +1 to each for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), Poison Immunity for 2 BP, and condition 
  immunities to charmed, exhaustion, frightened, and 
  paralyzed for 2 BP. We’ll give them +8 natural armor 
  (down from +11) for 4 BP but disallow armor for -3 BP. 
  Shield guardians can’t speak for -1.5 BP, but can 
  understand commands in any language which we’ll call 
  1 BP. We’ll set the shield guardian’s natural weapons 
  to 1d8 for 2 BP. 
   That brings us to 9.5 BP before considering the shield 
  guardian’s remaining abilities. We’ll drop Regeneration 
  since it will cost far too much BP. We’ll also drop Spell 
  Storing; if a shield guardian player wants spells, they 
  can learn to cast them. 
   Shield is like a weaker version of the Protection 
  fighting style. It’s hard to estimate an exact BP cost, but 
  I think it’s somewhere in the range of 1 BP since the 
  bonus is only +2 instead of Disadvantage, and the two 
  effects are mutually exclusive because they both 
  consume your reaction. 
   The shield guardian’s bonded amulet is a liability, but 
  it also includes the ability to absorb damage dealt to 
  the wearer, which is a powerful effect in a party of 
  player characters. It’s difficult to balance this and we’re 
  already over our target BP range, so I think we’ll 
  abandon the amulet entirely. We’ll introduce a fluff 
  reason why this is the case. 
   At 10.5 BP, the shield guardian exceeds our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the shield 
  guardian, update Shield to provide a bonus equal to 
  half of the character’s proficiency bonus. If you want to 
  weaken the shield guardian, remove its Constitution 
  increase. 
  Skeleton [Template: Natural] 
  Bones bound together and animated by necrotic 
  energy. The evil that animates them compels them to 
  kill mortals on sight. 
  Becoming a Skeleton 
  Any formerly living organic creature which leaves 
  behind a skeleton when it dies can become a skeleton. 
  Cartilaginous creatures, such as sharks, cannot become 
  skeletons. The body is animated by means of animate 
  dead or a similar spell or magical effect. 
   The skeleton template must be applied to a 
  character during character creation. Skeletons retain 
  essentially nothing of their former mind, so a skeleton 
  created from the body an experienced character loses 
  any class levels, proficiencies, or other acquired 
  capabilities that it may have had while it was alive. The 
  skeleton is functionally a new character, sharing only 
  the body of the formerly living character. 
  Skeleton Traits 
  All skeletons have the following traits, adding these 
  traits to their existing racial traits upon gaining the 
  skeleton template. 
   Creature Type. You replace your current creature 
  type with Undead, but retain any subtypes. 
   You don’t require air, food, drink, or sleep. Instead, 
  you enter a restful state, remaining semiconscious, for 
  4 hours a day. While resting, you can dream after a 
  fashion; such dreams are reflexive mental exercises 
  inherent to your consciousness. After resting in this 
  way, you gain the same benefit that a human does 
  from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Ability Adjustments. +1 Dexterity, -2 Intelligence, -2 
  Wisdom, -2 Charisma. 
   Alignment. Animated by evil magics, all skeletons 
  are evil. 
   Breakable. You have vulnerability to bludgeoning 
  damage. 
   Can’t Speak. You are unable to speak, but are still 
  able to read, write, and understand any languages 
  which you know. You are unable to perform verbal 
  spell components. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Undead Nature. You have immunity to the 
  exhausted and poisoned conditions, and to poison 
  damage.  
  Design Notes 
  The Skeleton is a fairly simple template. It trades the 
  flexibility of life for some of the biggest advantages of 
  undeath. It's easy to compare skeletons to zombies: 
  zombies are slower and more durable, but skeletons 
  
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  Races 
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  are more agile and more vulnerable. Since skeleton is a 
  natural template, we'll make it a non-leveled template, 
  so the BP cost needs to be close to zero. That means 
  we'll need to find penalties to offset the benefits of the 
  template. 
   Skeletons switch to the undead creature type for 1 
  BP. 
   Unlike many undead, skeletons aren't resistant to 
  necrotic damage. However, they still don't need to eat, 
  drink, or sleep (included in the creature type BP), they 
  still get immunity to the exhausted condition for 0.5 
  BP, they still get Poison Immunity for 2 BP, and they 
  have 60 ft. Darkvision for 2 BP. That brings our total to 
  5.75 BP before we consider drawbacks. 
   Skeletons can't speak for -1.5 BP. They're vulnerable 
  to bludgeoning damage, which we'll call -2 BP since 
  most of the Monster Manual prefers piercing or 
  slashing damage for physical damage. Skeletons are 
  described as very simple-minded, and their stat blocks 
  have horrible mental ability scores, so we'll add -2 to 
  each mental ability score for -3 BP total.  
   That brings our total to -1 BP. That means that the 
  skeleton template likely makes the character very 
  slightly weaker than normal, but I think that's fine. 
  Slaadi 
  Slaadi are creatures resembling giant frog-like 
  humanoids which originate from the chaotic plane of 
  Limbo. 
  Slaadi Traits 
  Slaadi share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Aberration 
   Alignment. Evil beings from the chaotic plane of 
  limbo, most slaadi are chaotic evil. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Subrace. Choose one of these subraces. You gain the 
  traits listed under your chosen subrace in addition to 
  those listed above. 
  Blue Slaad 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Bite and Claw. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 
  piercing damage on a hit. 
   Chaos Phage. One per day, upon hitting a humanoid 
  creature with an unarmed strike, you may choose to 
  infect the creature with a transformative disease. The 
  target must succeed on a Constitution save, or be 
  infected. The DC of this saving throw is 8 + your 
  proficiency bonus + your Constitution modifier. 
   While infected, the target can't regain hit points, and 
  its hit point maximum is reduced by 10 (3d6) every 24 
  hours. If the disease reduces the target's hit point 
  maximum to 0, the target instantly transforms into a 
  red slaad or, if it has the ability to cast spells of 3rd level 
  or higher, a green slaad. Only a wish spell can reverse 
  the transformation. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Telepathy. You can communicate telepathically with 
  any creature that knows a language within 30 ft. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Slaad. 
  Green, Gray, or Death Slaad 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Innate Spellcasting. You know the fire bold cantrip 
  and the mage hand cantrip. Once you reach 3rd level, 
  you can cast the detect magic spell once per day. 
  Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells. 
   Metamorphosis. At some unpredictable point in 
  your existence, you may discover the magic to 
  permanently transform yourself into a gray slaad. 
   Once you become a gray slaad, you may become a 
  death slaad by eating the entire corpse of a death 
  slaad. 
   The changes do not alter your stats, but do alter your 
  character’s appearance to reflect their new status. 
   Shapechanger. As an action, you can polymorph into 
  a specific small or medium humanoid (typically the one 
  you emerged from as a tadpole), or back into your true 
  form. Other than your size, your statistics are the same 
  in each form. Any equipment you are holding or 
  wearing is not transformed. You retain all of your own 
  statistics, except as noted below. You revert to your 
  true form if you die. 
   While in your true form Your unarmed strikes deal 
  1d6 slashing damage on a hit. 
   Telepathy. You can communicate telepathically with 
  any creature that knows a language within 30 ft. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Slaad. 
  Red Slaad 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Bite and Claw. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 
  piercing damage on a hit. 
   Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of 
  you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it 
  
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  were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only 
  shades of gray. 
   Implant Egg. One per day, upon hitting a humanoid 
  creature with an unarmed strike, you may choose to 
  implant a slaad egg. The target must succeed on a 
  Constitution save, or be infected. The DC of this saving 
  throw is 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Constitution 
  modifier. 
   A humanoid host can carry only one slaad egg to 
  term at a time. Over three months, the egg moves to 
  the chest cavity, gestates, and forms a slaad tadpole. In 
  the 24-hour period before giving birth, the host starts 
  to feel unwell, its speed is halved, and it has 
  disadvantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and saving 
  throws. At birth, the tadpole chews its way through 
  vital organs and out of the host's chest in 1 round, 
  killing the host in the process. 
   If the disease is cured before the tadpole's 
  emergence, the unborn slaad is disintegrated. 
   Telepathy. You can communicate telepathically with 
  any creature that knows a language within 30 ft. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Slaad. 
  Slaad Tadpole 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity. 
   Size. Your size is tiny. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 piercing damage 
  on a hit. 
   Metamorphosis. Upon emerging from your host, you 
  begin to grow into a fully-formed slaad over 2d12 
  hours. You grow into a fully grown blue slaad normally, 
  or into a green slaad if the host had the ability to cast 
  3rd level spells or higher. 
   Serpentine Body. You have no arms or hands. You 
  are unable to wield weapons or wear shields, and 
  cannot use items which require manipulation, including 
  spellcasting foci, wands, tools, etc. You are unable to 
  wear armor. 
   Languages. You can understand and read Slaad. 
  Playing a Slaad 
  Slaad have two functional groups. Red and blue slaadi 
  are brutish warriors, primarily responsible for fighting 
  and reproduction. Green, gray, and death slaadi are the 
  leaders among their kind, and operate in a rough 
  hierarchy enforced mostly by force. 
  Blue Slaad 
  The blue slaad makes a perfect fighter or barbarian. 
  Chaos Phage allows you to prevent foes from healing, 
  which can be a powerful advantage over enemies with 
  the ability to do so. Converting foes into new slaad may 
  not matter frequently, but creating new slaad can be a 
  powerful way to gain allies. 
  Red Slaad 
  Much like the blue slaad, the red slaad is a simple 
  brute, the red slaad makes a perfect barbarian or 
  fighter. Their ability to inject eggs into foes may not 
  matter frequently for most adventurers, but don’t 
  underestimate the value of growing a few slaad allies. 
  Green, Gray, or Death Slaad 
  Green, gray, and death slaad are functionally identical, 
  but represent a gradual increase in social status among 
  slaadi. These cosmetic changes and social status 
  improvements are independent of your character’s 
  game statistics, but can represent exciting new 
  opportunities for your character. 
   These slaadi are the leaders among their kind, and as 
  such they make an excellent party leader in a chaotic 
  party. 
  Slaad Tadpole 
  Slaad tadpoles only exist for up to 24 hours. Your DM 
  might choose to have you live out this brief period 
  prior to metamorphosing into an adult slaad. 
  
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  Races 
  192 
  Design Notes 
  Slaadi are difficult to design. There are six forms of 
  slaad, all with fairly different abilities. There are some 
  similarities, but many of them are small. 
   Slaadi are aberrations, costing 0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   From the stat blocks, we get 30 ft. walking speed, 
  Darkvision for 2 BP and only racial languages for -1 BP. 
  We’ll drop all of the slaadi’s resistances, Magic 
  Resistance, and Regeneration from every slaadi but the 
  tadpole. 
   That brings our BP total to 1.5 BP before we examine 
  individual slaadi varieties. 
  Blue Slaad 
  The blue salad is the second weakest variety of slaadi. 
  They’re basically clawed humanoids, but have the 
  important function of producing more slaadi. 
   The red slaad’s best abilities are Strength and 
  Constitution. We’ll grant +1 Strength and +1 
  Constitution for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), +2 natural armor for 1 BP, 30 ft. walking speed, 
  Telepathy for 2 BP, and a 1d8 natural weapon for 2 BP. 
   That brings our total to 8.5 BP before we examine 
  the red slaad’s ability to infect humanoids with chaos 
  phage. The most dangerous part of the ability is 
  preventing the target from regaining hit points. We’ll 
  limit use to once per short rest and call it 1 BP. 
   At 9.5 BP, the blue slaad is within our target range of 
  8-10 BP. It’s not a particularly interesting race, but the 
  ability to create more slaadi may be fun. If you want to 
  strengthen the blue salad, increase its Constitution 
  increase. If you want to weaken the blue slaad, remove 
  its Constitution increase.  
  Green, Gray, and Death Slaadi 
  While blue slaadi and red slaadi are weak and serve 
  little purpose except to kill things and make more 
  slaadi, green slaadi have the capacity to ascend 
  through the ranks of green, gray, and death slaadi.  
   Though green slaadi are as big and strong as blue 
  slaadi, their also have some magical abilities which 
  we’ll emphasize over raw bulk. I also want to provide a 
  vaguely-defined mechanism for the green slaad to 
  become a gray slaad, and eventually a death slaad, so 
  the abilities should transition cleanly from one subrace 
  into another without a ton of disruption. 
   The green slaad’s best ability is Strength, so we’ll 
  grant +1 Strength and save the rest of our BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, +2 natural 
  armor (down from +4) for 1 BP, only racial languages 
  for -1 BP, and Telepathy for 2 BP. We’ll set the green 
  slaad’s natural weapons to 1d6 for 1.5 BP. 
   That brings our BP total to 6 BP before we consider 
  the green slaad’s remaining abilities. Shapechanger and 
  Hurl Flame will be easy to duplicate from previously 
  designed races, but we’ll need to largely gut the slaad’s 
  innate spellcasting. 
   The slaad’s version of Shapechanger is the simplest 
  version we’ve created up to this point. I don’t want the 
  slaad to have a super-powered version of Disguise self 
  at all times, so we’ll limit Shapechanger to a one 
  specific humanoid. That’s roughly equivalent to the 
  jackalwere’s version, so we’ll keep the 1.5 BP cost. 
   As we’ve done with several demons and devils, we’ll 
  replicate Hurl Flame with the fire bolt cantrip for 0.5 
  BP.  
   That just leaves the green slaad’s innate spellcasting. 
  Green, gray, and death slaadi all share roughly the 
  same spells with a few additions and improvements at 
  each stage. To try and keep a logical progression we’ll 
  try to do something similar. We’ll retain mage hand 
  and detect magic for 1.5 BP. 
   At 10 BP, the green slaad is at the top of our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the green 
  slaad, grant it a +1 Constitution increase. If you want to 
  weaken the green slaad, remove its ability to cast make 
  hand.  
  Red Slaad 
  The red slaad is the weakest form of slaadi, and is 
  basically a weaker version of the blue salad, which is 
  fine for a monster but terrible for a playable race. The 
  only meaningful distinction is that the red slaad applies 
  a different effect with its claw attacks, so we’ll make 
  some adjustments to reflect this but otherwise we’ll 
  copy the blue slaad. 
   Because the blue slaad’s claw effect is better than 
  the red slaad’s, we’ll increase the red slaad’s Strength 
  increase to +2. 
  Slaad Tadpole 
  Slaad tadpoles are the weakest of slaadi, but they also 
  only exist for 24 hours before they turn into a real 
  slaad. I don’t anticipate anyone playing a tadpole for 
  any significant duration, so I won’t worry too much 
  about making them reasonably playable. Their stats are 
  awful, so doing so would be difficult. 
   The slaad tadpole’s only good ability is Dexterity, so 
  we’ll grant +2 Dexterity for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get tiny size for -1.5 BP, 30 
  ft. walking speed for 1 BP, only racial languages for -1 
  BP, and a 1d4 natural weapon for 1 BP. Tadpoles can’t 
  
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  Races 
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  speak for -1.5 BP, have no hands for -2 BP, and no arms 
  for -2 BP. I can’t imagine that a tadpole could wear 
  armor, but if a player wants to buy a suit of armor for 
  their tadpole then we may as well let them. 
   At -2.5 BP, the slaad tadpole is well below our target 
  BP range. It’s clearly not a long-term playable race, but 
  fortunately it’s not intended to be. 
  Specter 
  Spirits of mortals denied the release of the afterlife, 
  specters are trapped in the material plane where their 
  rage and sorrow drive them to murder the living. 
  Specter Traits 
  Specters share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Undead. You don’t require air, food, 
  drink, or sleep. Instead, you enter a restful state, 
  remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. While 
  resting, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are 
  reflexive mental exercises inherent to your 
  consciousness. After resting in this way, you gain the 
  same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Evil, murderous spirits, most specters are 
  chaotic evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Deathly Resistance. You have resistance to necrotic 
  damage. You are immune the poisoned condition, and 
  to poison damage. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Life Drain. As an action you may make a melee spell 
  attack. This attack deals 1d8 necrotic damage. This 
  damage increases to 2d8 at 5th level, 3d8 at 11th level, 
  and 4d8 at 17th level. Charisma is your spellcasting 
  ability for this attack. 
   Sunlight Sensitivity. You have disadvantage on 
  attack rolls and on Wisdom (Perception) checks that 
  rely on sight when you, the target of your attack, or 
  whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct 
  sunlight.  
   Languages. You can understand, read, and write in 
  Common and one other language of your choice. 
  Playing a Specter 
  Specters are murderous, evil creatures that only go out 
  at night. Their ability to fly and their increased 
  Dexterity make them excellent rogues, allowing them 
  to surprise and kill unwary victims. 
   Specters have no ties to their former life except their 
  known languages. Their motivations are almost 
  exclusively violent, so it’s difficult to compel them to 
  join an adventuring party. Still, they might elect to join 
  a party with a spellcaster or wraith which originally 
  created the specter, or with some other Creature who 
  has the ability to control the undead. 
  Design Notes 
  Specters are similar to banshees in many ways. They 
  fly, they have Incorporeal Movement, and they’ve got 
  too many resistances for us to replicate. We’ll borrow 
  as much design as we can from the banshee. 
   Specters are undead, costing 1 BP. 
   The specter’s only good ability is Dexterity, so we’ll 
  grant +1 Dexterity for 1 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, 0 ft. 
  walking speed for -3 BP, 30 ft. fly speed (down from 50 
  ft.) for 4 BP, hover for 2 BP, resistance to necrotic 
  damage (down from immunity) for 2 BP, Poison 
  Immunity for 2 BP, and Darkvision for 2 BP. Specters 
  can’t speak for -1.5 BP, but they know Common for 0 
  BP and one flexible language for an additional 0.5 BP. 
  We’ll also keep Sunlight Sensitivity for -2 BP. 
   That brings us to 9 BP. Like the banshee, we’ll 
  abandon incorporeal movement and the specter’s 
  condition immunities. We’ll duplicate the banshee’s 
  Corrupting Touch for 0.5 BP and rename it Life Drain. 
   At 8.5 BP, the specter is within our target range of 8-
  10 BP. If you want to strengthen the specter, change 
  Life Drain to be an unarmed strike which deals 1d8 
  damage. If you want to weaken the specter, reduce 
  poison immunity to poison resistance. 
  Sphinxes 
  Sphinxes are creatures created by the gods to protect 
  things of great importance. 
  Sphinx Traits 
  Sphinxes share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
   Alignment. Serving their chosen task without failure 
  and without tiring, most sphinxes are lawful neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
  
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   Claws. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 slashing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Innate Spellcasting. You may cast spells as though 
  you were using a magic focus, even if you are not doing 
  so.  
   Inscrutable. You are immune to any effect that 
  would sense your emotions or read your thoughts, as 
  well as any divination spell that you refuse. Wisdom 
  (Insight) checks made to ascertain your intentions or 
  sincerity have disadvantage. 
   Keen Sight. You have advantage on Wisdom 
  (Perception) checks that rely on sight. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Unassailable Mind. You have resistance to psychic 
  damage, and are immune to the Charmed and 
  Frightened conditions. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Sphinx. 
   Subrace. Choose one of these subraces. You gain the 
  traits listed under your chosen subrace in addition to 
  those listed above. 
  Androsphinx 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Wisdom. 
  Gynosphinx 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Intelligence. 
  Playing a Sphinx 
  Sphinxes are flying creatures built primarily for 
  spellcasting. They have the ability to cast spells without 
  a focus, allowing them to cast spells more easily than 
  most creatures without hands. Their natural weapons 
  also offer a useful fallback option when their spells fall 
  short. Androsphinxes should consider classes like cleric 
  and druid, while gynosphinxes should consider wizard. 
   Sphinxes are created to guard something: an artifact, 
  a place, or a piece of information. The Monster Manual 
  states that sphinxes never leave the place they are 
  created to guard, even if they stray from their original 
  purpose, but for the purposes of adventuring you may 
  need to break that rule. 
  Design Notes 
  Sphinxes are a classic creature featured in fiction from 
  several cultures. Generally they’re known for asking 
  riddles, but in Dungeons and Dragons they’re 
  characterized as guardians set in the place by deities. 
  Mechanically, they’re similar to griffons with some 
  innate spellcasting, so we’ll borrow a lot of design work 
  from the griffon. We’ll examine the similarities 
  between the two varieties before we examine 
  individual traits. 
   Sphinxes are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), 30 ft. walking speed (down from 40 ft.), 30 ft. fly 
  speed (down from 50 ft.) for 4 BP, resistance to psychic 
  damage (down from immunity) for 2 BP, conditions 
  immunities to Charmed and Frightened for 1 BP, and 
  racial languages plus Common for 0 BP. We’ll drop 
  natural armor and Truesight to save BP. Sphinxes have 
  no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set their natural weapons 
  to 1d8 for 2 BP. 
   Inscrutable is the only special ability that identical 
  between the two varieties. It’s an extremely situational 
  ability, so we’ll leave it unchanged for 0.5 BP. 
   Both types of sphinx have a lot of innate spellcasting, 
  and they make sense as options for spellcaster player 
  characters. Since they have no hands, we’ll allow both 
  types of sphinx to cast spells as though they were 
  holding a focus for 0.5 BP. 
   That brings our BP total to 8.5 before we examine 
  individual subraces. That’s not much room to work 
  with, unfortunately. 
   Going into ability score increases and innate 
  spellcasting to differentiate the varieties of sphinxes 
  makes sense thematically, but we’re short on BP and 
  need to face practical realities of how the races are 
  likely to be used.  
   If we grant the Androsphinx a +1 Wisdom increase, 
  it’s most likely to be used for clerics and druids, which 
  would make cleric-like innate spellcasting redundant. If 
  we grant the gynosphinx a +1 Intelligence increase, it’s 
  most likely to be used for wizards, which would make 
  wizard-like inmate spellcasting redundant. So, we’ll just 
  stick to the two ability score increases. And abandon 
  innate spellcasting. 
   At 10 BP, the both varieties of sphinx are at the top 
  of our target range of 8-10 BP. If you want to 
  strengthen either variety of sphinx, grant it a cantrip 
  from the monster stat block for that variety of sphinx, 
  such as prestidigitation or theurgy. If you want to 
  weaken sphinxes, reduce their natural weapon damage 
  or walking speed. 
  Sprite 
  
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  Tiny fey warriors, sprites resemble humanoids with 
  gossamer wings like those a dragonfly. 
  Sprite Traits 
  Sprites share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Fey 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Staunch warriors who oppose evil fey 
  and goblinoids at every turn, most sprites are neutral 
  good. 
   Size. Your size is tiny. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 10 ft. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Heart Sight. The sprite touches a creature and 
  magically knows the creature's current emotional 
  state. If the target fails a Charisma saving throw, the 
  sprite also knows the creature's alignment. The DC of 
  this saving throw is 8 + your proficiency bonus + your 
  Charisma bonus. Celestials, fiends, and undead 
  automatically fail the saving throw.  
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Hidden Step. As a bonus action, you can magically 
  turn invisible until the start of your next turn or until 
  you attack, make a damage roll, or force someone to 
  make a saving throw. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Poison Brewers. In their forest domains, sprites 
  brew toxins, unguents, antidotes, and poisons, 
  including the sleep poison with which they coat their 
  arrows. You are proficient with the Poisoner’s Toolkit. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common, Elvish, and Sylvan. 
  Playing a Sprite 
  Sprite are nimble flying characters. As such, they make 
  excellent rangers and rogues, but can also make 
  excellent fighters and paladins if you emphasize finesse 
  weapons or ranged weapons. 
   Sprites are militant and good-natured, which makes 
  them welcome in a party of heroic adventurers. Druids, 
  Paladins, and Rangers all make great companions, 
  though any good-aligned character might find 
  themselves fighting alongside a sprite. 
  Design Notes 
  Sprites are fey similar to pixies, but where pixies are 
  peaceful and rely on trickery and deception, sprites are 
  fierce warriors not afraid to fight to defend their 
  homes. We can borrow from the pixie’s design and 
  make adjustments to fit the sprite’s flavor. 
   Sprites are fey, costing 0.5 BP but offering no specific 
  traits. 
   Sprites have a few decent abilities, but Dexterity is 
  the best by far, even if we reduce it a bit to adjust for 
  size. We’ll grant sprites +2 Dexterity for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get tiny size for -1.5 BP, 10 
  ft. walking speed for -1 BP, 30 ft. fly speed for 4 BP, and 
  racial languages plus Common and one additional fixed 
  language for 0.25 BP. 
   That brings us to 4.25 BP before we consider the 
  Sprite’s remaining abilities. Like the Pixie, we’ll replace 
  Invisibility with Hidden Step for 2 BP. 
   Heart sight is unique ability. It’s a bit similar to the 
  Paladin’s Divine Sense ability and to the detect good 
  and evil spell. I also don’t want players to go around 
  using this all the time on every person they meet, so 
  we’ll limit it to once per encounter. Otherwise, we’ll 
  leave it unchanged. The single-target nature and touch 
  range both seem like sufficient limitations compared to 
  detect good and evil, so we’ll call this 2 BP. 
   Sprites are known to use a sleep poison, and use of 
  this poison is important enough to get a full paragraph 
  of text in the monster’s description. I feel like 
  abandoning that would be a bad design decision, so 
  we’ll grant sprites proficiency with the Poisoner’s Kit 
  for 0.5 BP. 
   At 8.75 BP, the sprite is within our target range of 8-
  10 BP. If you want to strengthen the Sprite, grant it a 
  +1 increase to Intelligence or Wisdom. If you want to 
  weaken the Sprite, reduce its Dexterity increase. 
  Stirge 
  Stirges are blood-sucking creatures resembling the foul 
  hybrid of a bat and a mosquito. 
  Stirge Traits 
  Stirges share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most 
  stirges are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is tiny. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 10 ft. 
   Blood Drain. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 piercing 
  damage on a hit.  
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  
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  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   On a successful attack, you may choose to attach to 
  the target. While attached, you may not attack using 
  Blood Drain. If the target moves, you may choose to 
  move with it. You may remove yourself as an action or 
  by spending half of your movement. The creature may 
  remove you as an action.  
   At the beginning of your turn, you may drain the 
  creature’s blood, dealing damage equal to your 
  unarmed strike damage to the target as a bonus action. 
  Once you drain hit points of blood equal to your 
  Constitution score you detach automatically. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 40 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 11 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Stirge 
  Stirges are quick flying creatures with good dexterity. 
  Their lack of hands means that they must rely on their 
  Blood Drain attack, but to boost their damage consider 
  stealthy classes like ranger and rogue. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Stirges are straightforward creature except for their 
  blood drain ability. Since they’re normally unintelligent, 
  we’ll treat the stirge as though it has been awakened. 
   Stirges are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   The stirge’s ability are all terrible except Dexterity, so 
  we’ll grant +2 Dexterity for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get tiny size for -1.5 BP, +1 
  natural armor for 0.5 BP, 10 ft. walking speed for -1 BP, 
  40 ft. fly speed for 5 BP, Darkvision for 2 BP. Since 
  we’re treating the stirge as awakened, we’ll allow it to 
  speak Common for 0 BP. Stirges have no hands for -2 
  BP. Because they qualify (once we add Blood Drain), 
  we’ll add natural weapon finesse for 0 BP. 
   That brings us to 4.5 BP before we consider the 
  stirge’s Blood Drain. The natural weapon part is easy, 
  so we’ll set it to 1d6 piercing damage for 1.5 BP. The 
  difficult part is the blood drain and the 
  attachment/detachment stuff. The monster entry 
  assumes that the stirge is attacking because it’s hungry, 
  and the 10 hit point cap represents the stirge’s 
  stomach. A playable character needs to be able to keep 
  fighting much longer than that. The 
  attachment/detachment component is similar to 
  grapple, but it doesn’t apply the grappled condition to 
  either creature. I’m also hesitant to allow the stirge to 
  deal damage for free, even if it’s only once per turn. 
   I don’t expect stirges to be good grapplers because 
  of their size and poor Strength, so Grab isn’t a good 
  option. Instead, we’ll copy the attach mechanic largely 
  unchanged. We’ll increase the “stomach” value to the 
  stirge’s Constitution score, and we’ll allow the stirge to 
  deal unarmed strike damage for free as a bonus action 
  without making am attack. Making an attack may seem 
  like a limiting factor, but if we go that route it’s difficult 
  to make attaching tactically useful without then adding 
  another benefit like Advantage, which then opens up 
  all kinds of combinations like Sneak Attack which could 
  be really problematic. I’m not sure how to asses this, 
  but 3 BP seems reasonable. 
   At 9 BP, the stirge is within our target range of 8-10 
  BP. It’s a good flyer with a unique attack ability, but it’s 
  not very interesting otherwise. If you want to 
  strengthen the stirge, increase its natural weapon 
  damage. If you want to weaken the stirge, lower its fly 
  speed 
  Succubus/Incubus 
  Fiends which inhabit all of the lower planes, succubi 
  and incubi are known for their ability to lead mortals to 
  pursue dark desires. 
  Succubus/Incubus Traits 
  Succubi and Incubi share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Fiend 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Charisma. 
   Alignment. Evil creatures bent on corrupting 
  virtuous mortals, most succubi and incubi are neutral 
  evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
  
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   Charm. As an action, you may attempt to magically 
  charm one humanoid within 30 feet. The target must 
  succeed on a will saving throw or be magically charmed 
  for one hour. It must make a Wisdom saving throw, 
  and does so with Advantage if you or your companions 
  are fighting it. If it fails the saving throw, it is charmed 
  by you until the effect ends or until you or your 
  companions do anything harmful to it. The DC of this 
  saving throw is 8 + your proficiency bonus + your 
  Charisma modifier. The charmed creature regards you 
  as a friendly acquaintance. When the effect ends, the 
  creature knows it was charmed by you. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a long rest. 
   Claws. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 slashing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 120 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. 
   Draining Kiss. As an action, you may kiss a creature 
  under the effects of your Charm ability or a willing 
  creature. The target takes 1d10 psychic damage. This 
  damage increases by 1d10 when you reach 
  5th level (2d10), 11th level (3d10), and 17th level 
  (4d10). 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Shapechanger. As an action, you can polymorph into 
  a specific small or medium humanoid, or back into your 
  true form. Other than your size, your statistics are the 
  same in each form. Any equipment you are holding or 
  wearing is not transformed. You retain all of your own 
  statistics, except as noted below. You revert to your 
  true form if you die. 
   While in your humanoid form you lose the use of 
  your Claws and Flight traits. 
   Telepathic Bond. You can communicate 
  telepathically with a creature charmed using your 
  Charm ability, regardless of distance. You do not need 
  to be on the same plane of existence as the affected 
  creature. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common, Abyssal, and Infernal. 
  Playing a Succubus/Incubus 
  With increased Charisma and their magical ability to 
  charm creatures, succubi and incubi make excellent 
  bards, sorcerers, and warlocks. However, they can also 
  make for excellent charming rogues. 
   Succubi and incubi work willingly with fiends of all 
  kinds, but might also join a party of mortals. In a good-
  aligned party they might seek to lead the party’s 
  virtuous characters astray, or in an evil party they 
  might look elsewhere for prey. 
  Design Notes 
  Succubi and incubi are mostly straightforward 
  creatures with a handful of unique abilities. 
   Succubi and incubi are fiends, costing 0.5 BP. 
   The succubi’s and incubi’s best abilities are Dexterity 
  and Charisma, but with so many special abilities to 
  handle we don’t have room for both. We’ll grant +1 
  Charisma for 1 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, 30 ft. 
  walking speed, 30 ft. fly speed (down from 60 ft.) for 4 
  BP, Darkvision for 2 BP, racial languages plus Common 
  and an additional fixed language for 0.25 BP, and a 1d4 
  natural weapon (down from 1d6) for 1 BP. We’ll drop 
  the succubi’s and incubi’s natural armor, damage 
  resistances, and telepathy to conserve BP. 
   That brings our BP total to 8.75, which doesn’t leave 
  us much room to address the succubi’s and incubi’s 
  remaining abilities. We’ll dump Etherealness because 
  any reasonable approximation would be too powerful 
  for a playable race. 
   Charm is perhaps the race’s most important ability. It 
  has roughly the same effect as the dominate person 
  spell, but where the spell has a 1-minute duration the 
  succubi/incubi version lasts a full day and doesn’t 
  require concentration. The monster’s “fluff” is the only 
  thing keeping it from using this ability repeatedly to 
  dominate everyone it meets. That obviously won’t 
  work for a player, so we’ll need to make significant 
  cuts. 
   We’ll drop the spell’s effect to match Charm Person, 
  and allow it to be cast just once per day for 1 BP. We’ll 
  also allow it to be cast 2 levels early for another 0.25 
  BP. 
   With Charm considerably weakened and Telepathy 
  removes, Telepathic Bond doesn’t work, so we’ll need 
  to adjust it. We’ll let the Succubus/Incubus 
  communicate telepathy with charmed creatures, but 
  we’ll limit the effect to only work on creatures 
  charmed with the Charm ability to prevent it from 
  being used with normal spells. We’ll call this 0.5 BP. 
   Draining Kiss is a weird one. It only works on 
  charmed/willing creatures, so it’s not much of a 
  combat option. We should make it powerful enough 
  that it’s meaningfully useful to execute charmed or 
  willing creatures. Since it’s effectively touch range, 
  
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  Races 
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  we’ll reskin the shocking grasp cantrip. Since we’re 
  losing advantage against metal armor and the ability to 
  use it in combat, we’ll bump the damage from 1d8 to 
  1d10. We’ll call this 0.5 BP. 
   Finally, we’ll consider Shapechanger. It’s identical to 
  the green/grey/death slaad’s version, so we’ll duplicate 
  the design changes and keep the 1.5 BP cost. 
   At 12.5 BP, the succubus and incubus greatly exceed 
  our target range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen 
  the succubus and incubus, add a +1 Dexterity increase. 
  If you want to weaken the succubus and incubus, 
  reduce their walking or flying speed, delay Charm to 3rd 
  level, orreduce the damage on Draining Kiss. 
  Tarrasque 
  A legendary creature more powerful than even the 
  oldest dragons. 
  Tarrasque Traits 
  Tarrasques share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity (titan) 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Normally a destructive, unintelligent 
  beast, most tarrasques are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Bite and Claws. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 
  piercing or slashing damage on a hit. 
   When you take the Attack action and make an 
  unarmed strike, you can use a bonus action to initiate a 
  grapple with the target of your successful unarmed 
  strike. 
   Damage Resistance. You have resistance against fire 
  damage and poison damage, and you have advantage 
  on saving throws against poison. 
   Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 120 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. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 12 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Reflective Carapace. Any time that you are targeted 
  by a magic missile spell, a line spell, or a spell that 
  requires a ranged attack roll, you have a chance to 
  reflect the spell back at its caster. If the spell requires a 
  saving throw, you may do so by rolling a natural 20 on 
  the saving throw. If the spell requires a ranged attack 
  roll, you may do so when the caster rolls a natural 1 on 
  the attack roll. If the spell is a magic missile spell, roll a 
  d20 and on a natural 20 you may reflect the spell. If 
  you successfully reflect the spell, you are unaffected, 
  and the effect is reflected back at the caster, using the 
  spell slot level, spell save DC, attack bonus, and 
  spellcasting ability of the caster. 
   Siege Monster. You deal double damage to objects 
  and structures. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Tarrasque 
  The tarrasque is a simple beast with some excellent 
  defensive abilities. Consider classes like barbarian and 
  fighter which can take advantage of these strengths. 
   The tarrasque is typically a unique creature, and 
  typically isn’t very intelligent. Consider how your 
  character cam to exist, and how it gained its abnormal 
  intelligence. 
  Design Notes 
  Designing the tarrasque as a playable race seems 
  absurd because it’s intended to be a singular, unique 
  creature. It’s the highest CR creature in the Monster 
  Manual by 6. The monster is a frightening beast both 
  offensively and defensively. Its defenses make it 
  resilient to traditional methods of effect, but also 
  largely immune to indirect attacks which players might 
  attempt with the aid of NPCs. No armies of 1st-level 
  wizards killing it with magic missile, or making it stand 
  in a giant bonfire until it falls over. We’ll need to make 
  drastic cuts to make the creature a playable race. We’ll 
  treat the tarrasque as though it was awakened. 
   Tarrasques are monstrosities with the titan subtype, 
  costing 0.5 BP but offering no specific traits. 
   Like other beasts and beast-like creatures, the 
  tarrasque’s best abilities are Strength and Constitution. 
  We’ll grant +1 to each for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  gargantuan), +2 natural armor for 1 BP, 30 ft. walking 
  speed (down from 40 ft.), resistance to fire (down from 
  immunity) for 2 BP, and Poison Resilience (down from 
  immunity) for 1 BP, and Siege Monster for 0.5 BP. Since 
  we’re treating the tarrasque as awakened we’ll allow it 
  to speak Common for 0 BP. We’ll drop the tarrasque’s 
  condition immunities. Tarrasques have no hands for -2 
  BP, but we’ll grant 1d8 natural weapons for 2 BP. 
   At 7 BP we’ve got a little bit of room to consider the 
  tarrasque’s remaining abilities. Most will need to be 
  dumped, unfortunately. We’ll add Grab for 2 BP, but I 
  
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  Races 
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  don’t want the tarrasque to be just another grapple 
  monster. 
   Reflective Carapace is my favorite of the Tarrasque’s 
  abilities, and I think it’s the most iconic. I don’t want to 
  make the tarrasque immune to these spells one sixth 
  of the time, so we’ll create a new mechanic for 
  triggering the effect. I think it makes sense to trigger on 
  a natural 20, which is rare enough that I think we can 
  call this 1 BP. 
   At 10 BP, the tarrasque is at the top of our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. It’s a cool creature with some 
  interesting defenses, but offensively it’s lackluster. If 
  you want to strengthen the tarrasque, increase its 
  ability increases or its natural armor. If you want to 
  weaken the tarrasque, remove Siege Monster. 
  Thri-Kreen 
  A destert-dwelling race of insect-like humanoids. 
  Thri-Kreen Traits 
  Thri-kreen share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Humanoid (thri-kreen) 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity, +1 Wisdom. 
   Alignment. Reclusive and nomadic, most thri-kreen 
  are chaotic neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 35 ft. 
   Bite and Claws. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 
  piercing or slashing damage on a hit. 
   Chameleon Carapace. You can change the color of 
  your carapace to match the color and texture of your 
  surroundings. As a result, you have advantage on 
  Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide. 
   Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 120 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. 
   Four Arms. You have four arms, and may hold and 
  use items in each of your hands.  
   If you have Extra Attacks, when you take the Attack 
  action you may make each of your attacks using any 
  weapon you are holding. 
   When you take the Attack action and attack with a 
  weapon which qualifies for use with two-weapon 
  fighting, you can use a bonus action to attack with a 
  different qualifying weapon. You don’t add your ability 
  modifier to the damage of the bonus attack unless the 
  modifier is negative or you have an ability which allows 
  you to add your ability modifier to the bonus attack 
  granted by two-weapon fighting. If you choose to make 
  this additional attack, you may not benefit from using a 
  shield until the beginning of your next turn. 
   If you use a weapon with the Heavy property or use 
  a Versatile weapon two-handed you may not benefit 
  from using a shield until the beginning of your next 
  turn, but you may switch between multiple Heavy or 
  Versatile weapons with each attack. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 12 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Standing Leap. Your long jump is up to 30 feet and 
  your high jump is up to 15 feet, with or without a 
  running start. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Thri-
  kreen. 
  Playing a Thri-Kreen 
  With increased Dexterity and Wisdom, thri-kreen 
  thrive in a variety of classes. Four arms make them 
  excellent with weapons, but also allow them to easily 
  switch between using weapons and using spellcasting 
  foci, or between using two-handed weapons and 
  shields.  
   Thri-kreen are normally reclusive and avoid other 
  races. Consider what may have compelled your 
  character to join up with a group of adventurers who 
  are likely members of other races. 
  Design Notes 
  Thri-kreen are a fun race for bug-lovers, for people 
  who want to play a humanoid with multiple arms, and 
  especially for fans of psionics and the Dark Sun setting. 
   Thri-kreen are humanoids, costing 0 BP. 
   The thri-kreen’s best abilities are Dexterity and 
  Wisdom. We’ll grant +1 Dexterity and +1 Wisdom for 3 
  BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, +2 natural 
  armor (down from +3) for 1 BP, 35 ft. walking speed 
  (down from 40 ft.) for 0.5 BP, 60 ft. Darkvision for 2 BP, 
  only racial languages for -1 BP, and Chameleon Skin 
  (renamed to Chameleon Carapace since they’re bugs) 
  for 2 BP. We’ll drop the thri-kreen’s natural weapons to 
  1d4 for 1 BP, and drop the poison effect from the bite. 
  Thri-kreen have four arms for 1 BP. 
   The thri-kreen’s version of Standing Leap is the thri-
  kreen’s only truly unique ability. It’s neat, but not much 
  more useful than something like the levitate spell, and 
  since the range is strictly limited to 30 feet it can often 
  be replicated by using rope. As such, we’ll call it 0.5 BP 
  and leave it unmodified. 
   At 9 the thri-kreen is within our target range of 8-10 
  BP. If you want to strengthen the thri-kreen increase its 
  
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  natural armor or natural weapon damage, or or allow it 
  to speak Common. If you want to weaken the thri-
  kreen, reduce its Dexterity increase. 
  Treant 
  Mighty trees awakened into magical life. 
  Treant Traits 
  Trants share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Plant 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Wisdom. 
   Alignment. Free, good-natured creatures with no 
  formal society, most treants are chaotic-good. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Animate Plants. You may cast the entangle spell 
  once per day. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for 
  this spell. 
   False Appearance. While motionless, you appear 
  indistinguishable from a mundane tree. You must 
  spend one minute motionless before this ability takes 
  effect. You must maintain concentration during that 
  time, as if you were casting a spell. 
   Siege Monster. You deal double damage to objects 
  and structures. 
   Tree Body. Your body is an animated tree, and it 
  grows and moves in inconsistent and often 
  unpredictable ways. You are unable to wear armor, but 
  may still use shields. Also, you are vulnerable to fire 
  damage. 
   Natural Armor. Your AC is equal to 17. 
   Slam. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 bludgeoning 
  damage on a hit. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Sylvan. 
  Playing a Treant 
  Treants are strong, wise, and very durable. Their 
  exceptional natural armor allows them to survive 
  melee combat easily. Their increased Strength makes 
  them excellent fighters and rangers, while their 
  increased wisdom makes them powerful clerics, druids, 
  and monks. 
   Treants are long-lived, and born from trees. Consider 
  what caused your treant to become a treant. What sort 
  of tree were you? Did a druid care for you while you 
  were a tree?  
  Design Notes 
  Treants are fairly simple compared to other plant 
  creatures.  
   Treants are plants, costing 0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   The treant’s best ability scores are Strength and 
  Constitution, with Wisdom not far behind. Which 
  abilities we decide to emphasize will determine how 
  people play the race. Strength and Constitution will 
  make the treant yet another barbarian/fighter. 
  Strength and Wisdom will make the treant a good 
  cleric, ranger, and druid. Constitution and Wisdom will 
  make the treant a good cleric and druid. Bonuses in all 
  three will likely result in a lot of treant clerics and 
  almost nothing else. I think Strength and Wisdom offer 
  the most interesting options, so we’ll grant +1 Strength 
  and +1 Wisdom for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  huge, 30 ft. walking speed, vulnerability fire for -1 BP, 
  False Appearance for 0.5 BP, and Siege Monster for 0.5 
  BP. Treants speak Common plus racial languages, plus 
  two fixes languages for 0.5 BP. We’ll drop resistance to 
  piercing and bludgeoning weapons, and we’ll need to 
  examine natural armor a bit more closely than normal. 
   Treant anatomy is a bit strange, which raises some 
  questions about their capabilities. Can they wear 
  armor? Can they use weapons? How many arms do 
  they have? The art in the Monster Manual pictures a 
  treant with four limbs ending in what appear to be 
  hands (one is on the right side behind the back, and 
  you can see the hand hanging down between the legs), 
  which is neat but not especially helpful. We’ll need to 
  take some liberties. 
   Since we’re going for a medium treant, I think we 
  can safely stick to two arms. Removing the damage 
  multiplier for size sets a medium treant’s natural 
  weapons to 1d6 damage, but I don’t know that I want 
  the treant to be reliant on weapons. Using weapons 
  and armor tends to make False Appearance difficult to 
  use, plus a tree carrying around a sword might look 
  kind of silly. Still, this is a silly document full of strange 
  things like sentient carpets, and tarrasques as a 
  playable race, so we can live with a bit more silliness. 
   We’ll set the treant’s natural weapons to 1d8 for 2 
  BP. We’ll disallow armor for -3 BP and set the treant’s 
  natural armor to +7 for 3.5 BP, disallowing Dexterity 
  bonus to AC for another -1 BP. 17 AC is lower than full 
  plate, but it’s the best you can get from light or 
  medium armor without a shield or other AC boost. 
   That brings us to 7.5 BP before we examine Animate 
  Trees. We can’t have players cloning themselves like 
  this, so we’ll need to find something with a similar 
  flavor but different effects. With so little BP to work 
  with we don’t have many options. I think our best bet 
  
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  is Entangle for 1 BP, and we’ll allow it 2 levels early for 
  another 0.25 BP. 
   At 8.75 BP the treant is within our target range of 8-
  10 BP. It’s extremely durable and has some minor but 
  fun abilities to play with and works for a decent range 
  of classes. If you want to strengthen the treant, grant it 
  a +1 constitution increase. If you want to weaken the 
  treant, reduce its natural weapon damage to 1d6. 
  Troglodyte 
  Troglodytes are foul smelling, tribal reptilian 
  humanoids who dwell in the underdark. 
  Troglodyte Traits 
  Troglodytes share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Humanoid (troglodyte) 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +2 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Vicious predators that leave their 
  victim’s bodies lying about to rot, most troglodytes are 
  chaotic evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Bite and Claw. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 
  piercing or slashing damage on a hit. 
   Chameleon Skin. You have advantage on Dexterity 
  (Stealth) checks made to hide. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 11 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Stench. As a bonus action you can exude a horrifying 
  stench for up to one minute. Any creature which starts 
  its turn within 5 ft. of you must succeed on a 
  Constitution saving throw or be poisoned until the start 
  of its next turn. The DC for this saving throw is 8 + your 
  proficiency bonus + your Constitution modifier. 
   You must maintain concentration during that time, 
  as if you were casting a spell. If you lose concentration, 
  affected creatures are no longer poisoned by this 
  ability. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Sunlight Sensitivity. You have disadvantage on 
  attack rolls and on Wisdom (Perception) checks that 
  rely on sight when you, the target of your attack, or 
  whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct 
  sunlight.  
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Troglodyte. 
  Playing a Troglodyte 
  Troglodytes and strong and durable, and their Stench 
  ability makes them potent barbarians and fighters. 
  Chameleon Skin allows them to make excellent 
  ambushes, so they can also work well as Rangers. 
   Be careful with your Stench ability. It doesn’t 
  distinguish between friends or foes, so you may 
  occasionally find yourself poisoning your allies if you’re 
  not careful to remain at a polite distance. 
  Design Notes 
  Troglodytes are mostly a simple humanoid, but their 
  Chameleon Skin and Stench abilities provide some 
  design challenges which aren’t apparent when 
  considering the monster stat block. 
   Troglodytes are humanoid, which costs 0 BP and 
  includes no special abilities. 
   From their stat blocks we can see that Troglodytes 
  have good Strength and Constitution. The Dungeon 
  Master’s Guide’s NPC Traits table suggests +2 to both, 
  plus -4 penalties to Intelligence and Charisma. I’ve 
  chosen to do away with racial ability score penalties, so 
  we’ll ignore them. +2 to Strength and Constitution 
  seems like a bit much, but mountain dwarves get the 
  same bonus and they’re certainly not overpowered. 
  Both bonuses total 4 BP. 
   From their stat block we get medium size, +1 natural 
  armor for 0.5 BP, 30 ft. walking speed, Darkvision for 2 
  BP, Sunlight Sensitivity for -2 BP, a 1d4 damage natural 
  weapon for 1 BP, and only racial languages for -1 BP. 
   At 5.5 BP we still need to tackle Chameleon Skin and 
  Stench. Chameleon Skin is similar to Camouflage, but 
  considerably more versatile since you can use it 
  anywhere. I’ll call it 2 BP. 
   We can copy Stench from the Hezrou Demon for 2 
  BP. 
   At 8.5 BP the troglodyte is within our target BP range 
  of 8-10. If you want to strengthen the troglodyte, 
  increase its natural armor or natural weapon damage. 
  If you want to weaken the troglodyte, replace 
  Chameleon Skin with Camouflage. 
  Troll 
  Trolls are giants with the ability to regenerate quickly, 
  even regrowing their own severed heads. 
  Troll Traits 
  Trolls share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Giant 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Constitution. 
  
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  Races 
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   Alignment. Lacking any societal structure or respect 
  for authority and happy to eat anything that they can 
  catch, including intelligence creatures, most trolls are 
  chaotic evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Claw. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 slashing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Keen Smell. You have advantage on Wisdom 
  (Perception) checks that rely on smell. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Regeneration. You are able to recover from wounds 
  with horrifying speed, and can even regrow severed 
  body parts. As a bonus action, you may spend a Hit Die 
  to recover hit points.  
   If a part of your body is removed or destroyed 
  (including your head) but you are not killed, you may 
  re-attach the body part as an action. 
   You are vulnerable to acid and fire. If you take acid 
  or fire damage, you may not use your regeneration 
  trait to recover hit points or re-attach limbs until the 
  end of your next turn. 
   When you take a short or long rest, you regain spent 
  Hit Dice, up to a number of dice equal to half of your 
  total number of them, rounded up. If you have lost any 
  body parts, the missing body parts regrow and the 
  original body parts wither and die.  
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Giant. 
  Playing a Troll 
  Trolls are hard to kill, and that is their single most 
  defining characteristic. Classes which spend a lot of 
  time being attacked suit trolls well. Consider barbarian, 
  fighter, monk, and paladin. Be sure to increase your 
  Constitution to improve the effectiveness of your 
  Regeneration. 
  Design Notes 
  Trolls are mostly simple, but are differentiated by their 
  regeneration. Up to this point we’ve abandoned 
  Regeneration every time is has come up because 
  perpetual healing is too powerful to grant to a player. 
  Doing that for the troll would totally invalidate the 
  race, so we’ll need to get more creative. 
   Trolls are giants, costing 0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   The troll is famously difficult to kill, and its 
  Constitution reflects that. We’ll grant +2 Constitution 
  for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), +3 natural armor (down from +4) for 1.5 BP, 30 
  ft. walking speed, Darkvision for 2 BP, only racial 
  languages for -1 BP, Keen Smell for 0.5 BP, and 1d6 
  natural weapons for 1.5 BP. Like other giants, we’ll add 
  Powerbuild Build for 0.5 BP. 
   That brings us to 7 BP before we look at 
  Regeneration. Natural healing is typically handled using 
  hit dice. Normally this healing is only accessible during 
  a short or long rest, but I think bringing them into play 
  any time might be what we need. Allowing hit dice to 
  be used as a bonus action gives us an easily accessible 
  healing mechanic, it has a built-in usage limitation, its 
  usefulness scales with level, and it doesn’t cut into the 
  character’s actions too much. Players who use feats 
  will find the Durable option especially useful.  
   We also need to bring acid and fire damage into the 
  design. Disallowing regeneration for one round isn’t 
  impactful to force a player to avoid those damage 
  types, so we’ll add weakness to acid and fire damage 
  for -2 BP total, and when the troll takes one of those 
  damage types we will block regeneration for one 
  round. That will make players cautious about those 
  damage types. 
   At this point we’ve made the troll able to easily 
  access the healing options already available. That’s 
  neat, but doesn’t actually provide more healing than an 
  equivalent human. Since we’ve decided to tie 
  Regeneration to the Hit Dice mechanics, we should 
  stick to that idea. Granting additional hit dice will allow 
  regeneration to remain useful and impactful beyond 
  the pool of hit dice normally available to a character. 
  Characters normally regain half of their hit dice in a 
  day, which simply isn’t enough for a busy troll. If we 
  move that recovery rate up to every short or long rest, 
  we’re tripling the troll’s total available hit dice in a day. 
  I briefly considered setting the recovery to match the 
  troll’s Constitution modifier, but Constitution will 
  already be over-emphasized for trolls, and it won’t 
  scale with level as well as I want it to. 
   It’s difficult to assess a value for this ability since 
  there really isn’t anything to compare it to. We could 
  compare it to several castings of the cure wounds spell, 
  but that doesn’t accurately reflect Regeneration’s 
  scaling. The ability is fantastic because it allows the 
  troll to heal itself so much in a day, but compared to a 
  spellcaster with access to spells like word of healing 
  
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  Races 
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  and heal the ability to recover large amounts of hit 
  points certainly isn’t unique. Still, we’ll call this 5 BP. 
   At 10 BP, the troll is at the top of our target range of 
  8-10 BP. It’s a fairly generic creature, but regeneration 
  provides an exciting and powerful tactical option which 
  may be powerful enough to cause issues in your game. 
  If you want to strengthen the troll, allow it to regain all 
  of its hit dice when it takes a short rest. If you want to 
  weaken the troll, reduce the rate at which it regains hit 
  dice. 
  Umber Hulk 
  Enormous insect-like monsters that hunt pretty by 
  bursting through solid stone walls. 
  Umber Hulk Traits 
  Umber hulks share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength. 
   Alignment. Vicious predators with no societal 
  structure, most umber hulks are chaotic evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. You have a 
  burrow speed of 10 ft. 
   Claws and Mandibles. Your unarmed strikes deal 
  1d8 slashing damage on a hit. 
   Confusing Gaze. As an action you can gaze at 
  another creature that can see and that can see you 
  within 30 feet and attempt to magically confuse it. The 
  target must make a Wisdom saving throw. The DC of 
  this saving throw is 8 + your proficiency bonus + your 
  Constitution modifier.  
   A creature that is not surprised may avert its eyes 
  from you as a reaction, which makes it immune to this 
  ability. If it does so, it cannot see you until the 
  beginning of its next turn.  
   On a failed saving throw, the creature can't take 
  reactions until the end of its next turn and rolls a d6 to 
  determine what it does during that turn. On a 1 to 4, 
  the creature does nothing. On a 5 or 6, the creature 
  takes no action but uses all its movement to move in a 
  random direction. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 17. You gain no benefit from wearing armor, though 
  you may still use shields normally. While wearing 
  armor or clothes which cover a significant portion of 
  your body, you lose the effects of your Tremorsense 
  trait and may not use your burrow speed or your 
  Tunneler trait. 
   Tremorsense. You can detect and pinpoint the origin 
  of vibrations within 30 feet, provided that you and the 
  source of the vibrations are in contact with the same 
  ground or substance. Tremorsense can't be used to 
  detect flying or incorporeal creatures. 
   Tunneler. You can burrow through solid rock at half 
  its burrow speed and leaves a 3-foot wide and 4-foot 
  high tunnel in your wake. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Umber 
  Hulk. 
  Playing a Umber Hulk 
  Umber hulks are strong ambush predators. Their 
  natural armor makes them durable without relying on 
  armor, but won’t make a suit of full plate. Use your 
  ability to burrow through stone and your tremorsense 
  to surprise foes. Consider classes like Barbarian which 
  can deal large amounts of damage using your increased 
  Strength. 
   Very little information is given about umber hulks 
  and their societies or personalities. You may need to 
  explore sourcebooks from previous editions or 
  improvise your character’s motivations and history. 
  Design Notes 
  With the exception of Confusing Gaze, the umber hulk 
  is a very simple creature. 
   Unber hulks are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   The umber hulk’s best ability score by far is Strength, 
  so we’ll grant +1 Strength for 1 BP.  
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), +7 natural armor for 3.5 BP, 30 ft. walking 
  speed, 10 ft. burrow speed (down from 20 ft.) for 2 BP, 
  Darkvision 60 ft. (down from 120 ft.) for 2 BP, 30 ft. 
  Tremorsense for 2 BP, only racial languages for -1 BP, 
  and 1d8 natural weapons for 2 BP. We’ll disallow 
  armor for -3 BP because it would interfere with the 
  Umber Hulk’s carapace and tremorsense, and we’ll 
  disallow adding Dexterity to AC for another -1 BP. We’ll 
  copy Tunneler from the purple wyrm for another 0.5 
  BP. 
   That brings us to 8.5 BP before we consider 
  Confusing Gaze. We’ll need to adjust it like we did with 
  the basilisk’s petrifying gaze so that it’s not passive and 
  can’t doesn’t outright win every fight. We can adjust it 
  to an action to use the gaze, reduce it to a single 
  
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  Races 
  204 
  target, and only allow it to be used once per short or 
  long rest, but we also need to change the specific 
  effect. Currently it’s a one-round effect similar to the 
  confusion spell. We can’t duplicate a 4th-level spell, so 
  we’ll need to weaken the effect. Dropping the area of 
  effect is a big step. If we drop the “attack an adjacent 
  creature” I think we can call this 2 BP. 
   At 10.5 BP, the umber hulk exceeds our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the umber hulk, 
  use the original confusion effects (only the effects) of 
  the umber hulk’s Confusing Gaze. If you want to 
  weaken the umber hulk, reduce its strength increase. 
  Unicorn 
  Noble celestial creatures resembling white horses with 
  an ivory horn. 
  Unicorn Traits 
  Unicorns share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Celestial 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, and either +1 
  Wisdom or +1 Charisma. 
   Alignment. Noble protectors sent by good deities, 
  most unicorns are lawful good. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 ft. 
   Charge. Once per turn, if you move at least 15 feet 
  toward a creature and hit it with a Strength-based 
  melee weapon attack, the target takes an extra 1d6 
  damage from the attack. This damage increases to 2d6 
  at 5th level, 3d6 at 11th level, and 4d6 at 17th level.  
   Hooves and Horn. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 
  bludgeoning or piercing damage on a hit. 
   Innate Spellcasting. You know the druidcraft cantrip. 
  Once you reach 3rd level, you can cast cure wounds and 
  detect good and evil once per day each. Your 
  spellcasting ability for these spells is either Wisdom or 
  Charisma, depending on which ability you chose to 
  increase. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Untamed. You are immune to the charmed and 
  paralyzed conditions. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common, Elven, and Sylvan. 
  Playing a Unicorn 
  Unicorns are fast and versatile. They excel in divine and 
  nature-based classes like cleric, druid, and paladin. 
  Their innate spellcasting provides helpful utility 
  options, and healing touch provides a useful source of 
  healing that works even when spells won’t. 
   Unicorns are sent by deities to protect forests, 
  sacred sites and items, and occasionally important 
  creatures. Consider what your divine purpose is, and 
  how that brough your character into a party of 
  adventurers. 
  Design Notes 
  Unicorns are fancy horses with some special abilities. 
   Unicorns are celestials, costing 0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   The unicorn has several good abilities, so it’s a bit 
  difficult to decide what to increase. Strength is obvious, 
  but it’s hard to device between Wisdom and Charisma. 
  Unicorns are placed by good-aligned deities (often 
  nature deities), so classes like cleric, druid, paladin, and 
  ranger all make sense. We’ll grant +1 Strength and the 
  choice of +1 Wisdom or +1 Charisma for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), 40 ft. walking speed (down from 50 ft.) for 1 BP, 
  condition immunities to charmed and paralyzed for 1 
  BP, Darkvision for 2 BP, racial languages plus Common 
  and one additional fixed language for 0.25 BP, and 
  Charge for 2 BP. Unicorns have no hands for -2 BP, and 
  we’ll set the unicorn’s natural weapons to 1d8 for 2 BP. 
  We’ll drop poison immunity, telepathy, magic 
  resistance, and teleport. 
   That brings out total to 8.75 BP before we examine 
  the unicorn’s remaining abilities. Healing Touch is 
  essentially Cure Wounds without spell components, so 
  we’ll grant it once per day for 1 BP. We’ll drop most of 
  the unicorn’s innate spellcasting, but we’ll keep 
  druidcraft and detect good and evil for 1.5 BP. 
   At 11.25 BP, the unicorn slightly exceeds our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the 
  unicorn, allow it to cast cure wounds after a short rest, 
  or allow it to use its own horn as a spell focus. If you 
  want to weaken the unicorn, remove one of its leveled 
  innate spells. 
  Vampire [Template: Acquired] 
  Evil undead humanoids that feed on the blood of the 
  living. Vampires’ powers are numerous, and include 
  the ability to assume the form of a bat, to mentally 
  dominate the living, and the ability to heal from mortal 
  wounds almost instantly. 
  
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  Becoming a Vampire 
  If a living humanoid creature slain by a vampire’s bite is 
  then buried in the ground, it rises the following night as 
  a vampire spawn.  
   Upon gaininng the Vampire template, the character 
  becomes a Vampire Spawn and immediately gains the 
  traits listed for level 0 under Vampire Traits, below. In 
  addition, the character's growth and training are 
  affected. The next time the character gains enough 
  experience to gain a level, instead of selecting a class in 
  which to take a new level the character immediately 
  gains a level of the Vampire template.  
   After gaining the first level of the Vampire template, 
  characters may resume gaining levels normally if they 
  choose to do so.  
   In order to gain the second level of the Vampire 
  Template, the vampire which created the Vampire 
  Spawn must knowingly and willingly allow the Vampire 
  Spawn to drink the vampire’s blood. Upon doing so, 
  the Vampire Spawn may continue taking levels of the 
  Vampire template the next time they gain enough 
  experience to gain a level.  
   Unfortunately, most vampires are reluctant to 
  promote their spawn, as doing so means that their 
  former spawn is no longer destroyed upon the master 
  vampire’s death, thereby removing the need to protect 
  their master in order to survive. 
  Removing Vampirism 
  A creature that becomes a vampire or vampire spawn 
  cannot be returned to normal life except by a Wish 
  spell or similarly powerful magic, or by destroying the 
  vampire or vampire spawn and raising the creature 
  from the dead with raise dead or a similar spell. 
  Vampire Traits 
  All vampires share the following traits, adding these 
  traits to their existing racial traits.  
  Hit Points 
   Hit Dice. 1d8 per vampire level 
   Hit Points at Higher Levels. 1d8 (or 5) + your 
  Constitution modifier per vampire level 
  Traits 
  Vampires gain the following traits at each level, as 
  indicated on the table below. 
  Level 
  Features 
  0 
  Alignment, Creature Type, Chained to the Grave, 
  Vampire Weaknesses, Bite and Claws, Darkvision 
  1 
  Regeneration, Spider Climb 
  2 
  Charm, Children of the Night 
  3 
  Shapechanger 
  4 
  Ability Score Increase 
  5 
  Misty Escape 
   Alignment. Your alignment changes to lawful evil. 
   Creature Type. Your creature type changes to 
  Undead, and adds the Shapechanger subtype to their 
  existing subtypes. 
   Chained to the Grave. The coffin, crypt, or grave site 
  in which you were buried becomes your resting place, 
  and you must rest there by day. If you did not receive a 
  formal burial, you must rest beneath at least one foot 
  of earth at the place that you rose from the dead. You 
  may move your resting place by transporting your 
  coffin or a significant amount of grave dirt to another 
  location. 
   Vampire Weaknesses. You gain the following flaws: 
  • Forbiddance. You can't enter a residence without an 
  invitation from one of the occupants. 
  • Harmed by Running Water. You take 20 acid damage 
  when you start your turn in running water. 
  • Stake to the Heart. You are destroyed if a piercing 
  weapon made of wood is driven into your heart 
  while you are incapacitated in your resting place. 
  • Sunlight Hypersensitivity. You take 20 radiant 
  damage when you start your turn in sunlight. While 
  in sunlight, you have disadvantage on attack rolls 
  and ability checks. 
   Bite and Claws. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 
  piercing and 1d4 necrotic damage, or 1d8 slashing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Regeneration. You are able to recover from wounds 
  with horrifying speed. As a bonus action, you may 
  spend a Hit Die to recover hit points.  
   You are vulnerable to radiant damage and damage 
  from holy water. If you take acid or fire damage, you 
  may not use your regeneration trait to recover hit 
  points until the end of your next turn. 
   When you take a short or long rest, you regain spent 
  Hit Dice, up to a number of dice equal to half of your 
  total number of them, rounded up.  
  
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   Spider Climb. You can climb difficult surfaces, 
  including upside down on ceilings, without needing to 
  make an ability check. 
   Shapechanger. If you aren’t in sunlight or running 
  water, as an action you can polymorph into a Tiny bat 
  or a Medium cloud of mist, or back into your true form.  
   While in bat form, you can't speak, your walking 
  speed is 5 feet, and you have a flying speed of 30 feet. 
  Your statistics, other than your size and speed, are 
  unchanged. Anything you are wearing transforms with 
  you, but nothing you are carrying does. You revert to 
  your true form if you fall to 0 hit points. 
   While in mist form, you vampire can't take any 
  actions, speak, or manipulate objects. You are 
  weightless, have a flying speed of 10 feet, can hover, 
  and can enter a hostile creature's space and stop there. 
  In addition, if air can pass through a space, the mist can 
  do so without squeezing, and you can't pass through 
  liquids. You have advantage on Strength, Dexterity, and 
  Constitution saving throws and resistance to all 
  nonmagical damage, except the damage you take from 
  sunlight. You can’t fall and remain hovering in the air 
  even when stunned or otherwise incapacitated.  
   You may remain in mist form for up to one hour, at 
  which point you return to your true form. If you are 
  forced to revert to your true form while in a space that 
  cannot contain you, you are shunted into the nearest 
  safe space, following a path which mist could follow, 
  and take 1d6 damage per 5 feet traveled this way. The 
  resistance from mist form does not apply to this 
  damage. 
   Once you adopt mist form, you cannot do so again 
  until you have completed a long rest. You may adopt 
  bat form at will. 
   Misty Escape. When you drop to 0 hit points outside 
  your resting place, you transform into a cloud of mist 
  (as in the Shapechanger trait) instead of falling 
  unconscious, provided that you aren’t in sunlight or 
  running water.  
   If you can't transform (either due to sunlight, 
  running water, because you have used Misty Escape 
  already since your last long rest, or due to another 
  effect which prevents you from changing forms), you 
  are destroyed. 
   While you have 0 hit points in mist form, you can't 
  willingly to your vampire form, and you must reach 
  your resting place within 1 hour or be destroyed. While 
  at 0 hit points, you automatically succeed on death 
  saving throws (you may not roll these saves, so you 
  cannot roll a natural 20 to regain one hit point). 
  However, if you take radiant damage (such as the 
  damage you take from sun light) or damage from holy 
  water, you are treated as though you had failed a 
  death saving throw. If you fail three death saving 
  throws, you are destroyed. 
   Once in your resting place, you revert to your 
  vampire form. You are then paralyzed until you regain 
  at least 1 hit point. You may take short and long rests 
  while in this state, spending hit dice to heal yourself as 
  normal. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Charm. You may cast the charm person spell once 
  per short rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for 
  this spell. 
   Children of the Night. You magically call 3d4 
  swarms of bats or rats, provided that the sun isn 't up. 
  While outdoors, you can call 3d4 wolves instead. The 
  called creatures arrive in 1d4 rounds, acting as your 
  allies and obeying your spoken commands (no action 
  required by you). The beasts remain for 1 hour, until 
  you die, or until you dismiss them as a bonus action. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
  Design Notes 
  Vampires have too many abilities to make them a non-
  leveled template. Fortunately, the fifth edition version 
  of vampires presents a clear progression from living 
  creature to vampire spawn, then later to full-fledged 
  vampire. We’ll consider the vampire spawn the first 
  level of the template, and we’ll use the second level to 
  add the abilities which vampires get that vampire 
  spawn don’t, like Charm. Before we distribute abilities 
  over levels, we’ll need to assess their BP cost. 
   The “Players Characters as Vampires” sidebar is 
  important to note. It provides very little information, 
  unfortunately, but it explicitly sets the DC formula for 
  Charm, and it explains that ability score adjustments 
  aren’t applied until the character becomes a full 
  vampire. 
   Creatures that become vampires become Undead, 
  costing 1 BP. 
   Chained to the Grave is a tiny handicap for 
  adventurers. While it’s a crucial vulnerability for 
  enemies in a typical campaign, for most players it will 
  only matter behind the scenes. As such, we won’t 
  assess a BP cost. 
   Vampire Weaknesses comes with several handicaps. 
  Forbiddance is difficult to assess, and depending on the 
  campaign it might either be a major problem or it 
  might literally never matter. We won’t assess a BP cost. 
  
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  207 
  Harmed by Running Water is similarly difficult to 
  assess, but we’ll call it a damage vulnerability for -1 BP. 
  Stake to The Heart is basically an extension of Chained 
  to the Grave, and honestly vampires are no more 
  vulnerable to being executed than a normal humanoid, 
  so we won’t assess a BP cost. Sunlight Hypersensitivity 
  is Sunlight Weakness with an added damage 
  component, so we’ll call it -4 BP. In total, Vampire 
  Weaknesses comes to -5 BP. 
   The vampire’s bite and claws are simple, adding a 
  1d8 natural weapon for 2 BP. Darkvision adds another 
  2 BP. 
   The Vampire’s regeneration is very similar to the 
  Troll’s. Vampires regenerate twice as fast and their 
  regeneration is halted by different things, but the heart 
  of the ability is the same and it faces all of the same 
  design issues for a playable character. However, 
  vampires don’t have the ability to regenerate limbs. 
  While that doesn’t usually matter, it’s occasionally an 
  important distinction. That might be enough of a 
  difference to adjust the BP cost, but the damage types 
  which halt the Vampire’s regeneration are also less 
  common so we’ll call it a wash. We’ll duplicate the 
  design we did for the Troll, adjust the effects which 
  block it, and keep the 5 BP cost. 
   Spider Climb is 1 BP.  
   Shapechanger is difficult. We can draw on previously 
  design creatures like the Yochlol, but even that isn’t a 
  perfect approximation. The bat form is reasonably 
  simple, but the mist form is a more powerful version of 
  the gaseous form spell, which is a 3rd-level spell, and 
  vampires can shapechange at will. 
   The bat form is surprisingly useful. Not only does it 
  grant the vampire the ability to fly, but it also allows 
  the vampire to continue to use its bite attack, thereby 
  allowing it to fight effectively while flying. The vampire 
  doesn’t lose any notable capabilities except hands and 
  the ability to speak. Since the bat grants 30 ft. fly 
  speed, we’ll call it 3 BP (4 BP for speed, -1 BP for the 
  hassle of transforming and for losing your hands and 
  speech while transformed). 
   Mist form is simarly frustrating. Combined with 
  Misty Escape, it’s intended to keep your big bad evil 
  guy alive even if the players manage to kill them in 
  combat. We need to keep the ability mostly intact to 
  stay true to the monster, but the current version is too 
  powerful. If we weaken the mist form to match 
  Gaseous Form, that helps a bit because the player isn’t 
  quite as invulnerable and they’re much slower. Even 
  with that change, it’s still a 3rd-level spell. We’ll allow it 
  to be used once per day for 3 BP, and we’ll set an 
  explicit 1-hour duration cap on its usage so players 
  don’t spend all of their time floating around as mist 
  until they need to fight things. 
   Like any revival mechanic, Misty Escape is difficult to 
  grant to a player. Adventurers have a high mortality 
  rate, so abilities which allow them to survive death at 
  no cost except time are very powerful. Previously I’ve 
  avoided adding BP costs for mechanics like this on 
  creatures like the demilich, but this is the only instance 
  of a revival mechanic on a template. It’s also the fastest 
  revival mechanic, allowing the character to return to 
  full capacity in a matter of hours thanks to 5th edition’s 
  generous healing rules.  
   To limit the ability, we’ll limit the duration to one 
  hour just as we did with mist form on Shapechange, 
  and we’ll only allow it to be used once per long rest so 
  players aren’t hopping out of their coffin and throwing 
  themselves on sharp spikes in a loop, as amusing as 
  that might be. The vampire monster entry doesn’t 
  mention how or if the vampire makes death saves 
  while in this form, but I think the intent is that misty 
  escape prevents the vampire from making death saving 
  throws. It’s also totally unclear what happens if the 
  vampire takes damage while at 0 hit points and and 
  already in mist form. It would be really disappointing 
  for a vampire to die as a cloud of fleeing mist, only for 
  its body to reform and drop out of the air, but I think 
  we need to allow that possibility. 
   This is a build of a wild guess, but we’ll call this 5 BP. 
  It’s an entire template level worth of class features, but 
  as a player I would probably consider that a good level.  
   Charm is like a very slightly improved version of 
  Charm Person, but it’s not quite dominate person. 
  Rather than expend a bunch of time and effort writing 
  and balancing a new ability, we’ll just allow the 
  vampire to cast Charm Person once per short rest for 
  2.5 BP. 
   Children of the Night looks like it should be a design 
  problem, but after a little of research it proves to be 
  very similar to a limited version of the conjure beast 
  spell. Children of the Night will give you more wolves 
  on average than you can get from conjure beast, but I 
  don’t think the number of animals is really central to 
  the ability. Even the one hour duration and the 
  mechanism for issuing commans is the same. Conjure 
  beast is a level 3 spell, which would normally cost 3 BP. 
  We’ll keep all of the limits on children of the night (only 
  works at night, wolves only available outside) and set 
  the number summoned to 3d4 (which averages to 7.5, 
  just short of conjure beast’s 8 creatures), and we’ll call 
  it 2 BP. 
  
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  Races 
  208 
   With the vampire’s laundry list of abilities assessed, 
  we must now decide how to distribute them across 
  template levels. The vampire’s abilities total 21.5 BP, 
  including the -5 BP for Vampire Weaknesses. 
   Since players won’t always become vampires when 
  they’re ready to level, we need a 0 level. Granting the 
  creature type, Chained to the Grave, and Vampire 
  Weaknesses gives us the absolute basics of being a 
  vampire, but it’s also -4 BP, and the penalties are big 
  enough that without some benefits it’s possible that 
  players might not make it to their next level. To 
  balance the drawbacks, we’ll grant Darkvision and the 
  Vampire’s natural weaponsw. That brings the total to 0 
  BP, which is exactly what we want for a template’s 0-
  level. 
   The template’s first level should be for Vampire 
  Spawn, which get considerably fewer abilities than a 
  full Vampire. Accounting for the decisions above, 
  Regeneration and Spider Climb are the Vampire 
  Spawn’s only remaining abilities. That totals to just 6 
  BP, which is abit low for our target of 8-10 BP for the 
  first level of leveled templates, but we don’t have 
  much room to make adjustments without changing the 
  flavor of the creature. 
   That leaves us with 15.5 BP worth of remaining 
  abilities. At 4-5 BP per level, that’s about 3 levels. That 
  would bring our template to 4 levels, so we’ll add an 
  ability increase at level 4 and stretch the template to 5 
  levels. 
   Where we allocate the vampire's abilities is totally 
  flexible. Misty Escape should require that the vampire 
  already has Shapechange, but that’s the only notable 
  restriction. 
   For the template’s second level, we’ll grant Charm 
  and Children of the Night for 4.5 BP, placing us right in 
  the middle of our target range of 4-5 BP. 
   For the template’s third level, we’ll grant 
  Shapechange. Between both forms, that’s 6 BP. It’s a 
  little bit above our target of 4-5 BP, but we’ll need to 
  accept it in order to keep Shapechange a singular 
  ability and to avoid adding another template level. 
   For the template’s fourth level, we’ll grant an Ability 
  Score Increase so that players taking the template 
  don’t miss out on the normal progression of Ability 
  Score Increases they would normally get from their 
  class. 
   For the template’s fifth and final level, we’ll grant 
  Misty Escape. At 5 BP, it’s enough to fill the level on its 
  own. 
   If you want to strengthen the Vampire, increase the 
  size of its hit die. If you want to weaken the vampire, 
  reduce its natural weapon damage. 
  Water Weird 
  Elemental guardians bound to a watery location. 
  Water Weird Traits 
  Water weirds share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Elemental. You do not require air, 
  food, drink, or sleep. Instead, you enter a restful state, 
  remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. While 
  resting, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are 
  reflexive mental exercises inherent to your 
  consciousness. After resting in this way, you gain the 
  same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Alignment. Lacking a concept of good or evil, most 
  water weirds are neutral, though their persoanlities 
  might be warped by the water they occupy. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Can’t Speak. You are unable to speak, but are still 
  able to read, write, and understand any languages 
  which you know. You are unable to perform verbal 
  spell components. 
   Constrict. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 
  bludgeoning damage on a hit. When you take the 
  Attack action and make an unarmed strike, you can use 
  a bonus action to initiate a grapple with the target of 
  your successful unarmed strike. You may grapple even 
  though you have no hands. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Poison Immunity. You are immune to poison 
  damage, and immune to the poisoned condition. 
   Unstable Form. Your body is not completely rigid, 
  and your limbs often fluctuate in size and shape as you 
  move. You are unable to wear armor. You are immune 
  to the exhaustion, grappled, paralyzed, restrained, 
  prone, and unconscious conditions. 
   Water Bound. The water weird dies if it leaves the 
  water to which it is bound or if that water is destroyed. 
   Water Camouflage. You have advantage on 
  Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide in water. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Languages. You can understand, read, and write in 
  Aquan. 
  
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  Races 
  209 
  Water Weird 
  Water weirds are sneaky ambush attackers, but they’re 
  severely limited by their inability to wear armor or 
  move on land. Consider classes like barbarian or monk 
  which will offer you alternate sources of AC, and do 
  your best to mitigate your inability to walk. Also 
  consider classes like rogue which can take advantage of 
  your Warer Camouflage. 
   Water weirds are bound to specific bodies of water. 
  Discuss how this would work with your DM. In an 
  aquatic campaign this will rarely be an issue, but in a 
  land-based campaign you might need to do something 
  strange like roll around in a barrel. 
  Design Notes 
  Water weirds are very similar to water elementals with 
  a few minor differences. They’re also bound to the 
  body of water which they guard, which presents some 
  problems at the table. 
   Water weirds are elementals, costing 1 BP. 
   The water weird’s two best abilities are Strength and 
  Dexterity, so we’ll grant +1 to each for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), 0 ft. walking speed for -3 BP, 50 ft. swim speed 
  (down from 60 ft.) for 2 BP, resistance to fire for 2 BP, 
  Poison Immunity for 2 BP, immunity to the exhaustion, 
  grappled, paralyzed, restrained, prone, and 
  unconscious conditions for 3 BP, only racial languages 
  for -1 BP and no ability to speak for -1.5 BP. We’ll drop 
  blindsight to conserve BP. Water weirds have no hands 
  for -2 BP, and we’ll set their natural weapons to 1d8 
  damage for 2 BP. Water weirds can’t wear armor for -3 
  BP. 
   That brings our total to 3.5 BP before we consider 
  the water weirds remaining abilities. We’ll add Grab for 
  2 BP to replace the remaining effects of Constrict. 
  Granting players perpetual invisibility in water will 
  make the water weird too good in water-heavy 
  campaigns, so we’ll replace it with Chameleon Skin for 
  2 BP. 
   Water Bound presents a serious limitation and 
  several questions. How do we define “destroyed” for 
  these purposes? Can you evaporate a water weird’s 
  pool? What happens when you dump it into a larger 
  source of water? Can the water weird live in a barrel? 
  We’ll leave the ability unchanged and not assess a BP 
  value. 
   At 7.5 BP, the water weird is below our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. It’s a problematic option since it’s bound to 
  a body of water, so be cautious about including one in 
  your games. If you want to strengthen the water weird, 
  increase one of its ability increases. If you want to 
  weaken the water weird, remove one of the ability 
  increases. 
  Wight 
  The undead bodies of mortals who cried out to evil 
  forces to escape the moment of their death. 
  Wight Traits 
  Wights share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Undead. You don’t require air, food, 
  drink, or sleep. Instead, you enter a restful state, 
  remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. While 
  resting, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are 
  reflexive mental exercises inherent to your 
  consciousness. After resting in this way, you gain the 
  same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 to any two of Strength, 
  Dexterity, and Constitution. 
   Alignment. Vile creatures who feed on the life force 
  of other living mortals, most wights are neutral evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Life Drain. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 necrotic 
  damage on a hit. 
   Poison Immunity. You are immune to poison 
  damage, and immune to the poisoned condition. 
   Sunlight Sensitivity. You have disadvantage on 
  attack rolls and on Wisdom (Perception) checks that 
  rely on sight when you, the target of your attack, or 
  whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct 
  sunlight.  
   Undead Resilience. You have resistance to necrotic 
  damage. You are immune to the exhaustion and 
  poisoned conditions, and to poison damage. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and one other language of your choice which 
  you spoke in life. 
  Playing a Wight 
  Wights excel in melee combat. They can increase any 
  two of their physical ability scores, and Undead 
  Resilience provides several useful defenses. Between 
  Darkvision and Sunlight Sensitivity you will function 
  better at night or underground, so avoid fighting in 
  sunlight. 
  
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  Races 
  210 
   Wights remember their previous lives. Consider who 
  your character was in life, and what compelled them to 
  call out to dark powers and become a wight instead of 
  facing death. Wights hate the living, seeking to snuff 
  out the spark of life in other creatures. You will fit well 
  into any evil party that spends a lot of time killing 
  things. 
  Design Notes 
  Wights are an excellent undead to convert into a 
  playable race. They’re mechanically simple with a cool 
  flavor, and they use items like a normal humanoid.  
   Wights are undead, costing 1 BP. 
   With the exception of Intelligence and Wisdom, all of 
  the wight’s abilities are excellent, making it difficult to 
  decide which abilities to increase. Wights seem more 
  like martial creatures than spellcasters, so we’ll grant 
  them the option of +1 to any two physical ability 
  scores. +1 to any two is normally 3 BP, but we’ll call it 
  2.75 BP since we’re limiting them to physical abilities. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, 30 ft. 
  walking speed, resistance to necrotic damage for 2 BP, 
  Poison Immunity for 2 BP, condition immunity to 
  exhaustion for 0.5 BP, Darkvision for 2 BP, Common for 
  0 BP plus another flexible language for 0.5 BP, and 
  sunlight sensitivity for -2 BP. 
   That brings us to 8.75 BP before we consider the 
  wight’s Life Drain. We’ll need to drop the zombie 
  mechanic, but we can grant a 1d4 necrotic damage 
  natural weapon for 1 BP. 
   At 9.75 BP, the wight is within our target range of 8-
  10 BP. It’s a simple option for people hoping to play 
  undead without any abilities that could unbalance the 
  game despite several excellent traits. If you want to 
  strengthen the wight, add Charisma to the three 
  existing options for ability score increases. If you want 
  to weaken the wight, remove one of its two +1 ability 
  increases or remove its natural weapons. 
  Will-o’-Wisp 
  Evil spirits that lead mortals to their doom and feed on 
  their dying souls. 
  Will-o’-Wisp Traits 
  Will-o’-wisps share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Undead. You don’t require air, drink, 
  or sleep. Instead, you enter a restful state, remaining 
  semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. While resting, you 
  can dream after a fashion; such dreams are reflexive 
  mental exercises inherent to your consciousness. After 
  resting in this way, you gain the same benefit that a 
  human does from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Evil creatures that prey on the suffering 
  of others, most will-o’-wisps are chaotic evil. 
   Size. Your size is small. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 0 ft. 
   Consume Life. As a bonus action, you can target one 
  creature it can see within 5 feet of it that has 0 hit 
  points and is still alive. The target must succeed on a 
  DC Constitution saving throw against this magic or die. 
  The DC of this saving throw is 8 + your proficiency 
  bonus + your Constitution bonus. If the target dies you 
  may spend a hit die to heal yourself, and you are 
  nourished as though had eaten enough food for a 
  week. If the creature fails the save and rolls a natural 1, 
  a new will-o-wisp forms in the space initially indifferent 
  the creature’s body. This will-o’-wisp is neutral to the 
  player and their allies, and doesn’t need to eat for a 
  week after its creation. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Ephemeral. You can't wear or carry anything, 
  including weapons, armor, shields, etc, and your 
  Strength score may not exceed 1. In addition, you are 
  immune to the exhaustion, grappled, paralyzed, prone, 
  restrained, and unconscious conditions. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 40 feet. 
   Hidden Step. As a bonus action, you can magically 
  turn invisible until the start of your next turn or until 
  you attack, make a damage roll, or force someone to 
  make a saving throw.  
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Ignited Illumination. As a bonus action, you can 
  cause yourself to glow or extinguish your light. While 
  glowing, you shed bright light in a 10-foot radius and 
  dim light for an additional 10 feet. While extinguished, 
  you cast light less than that of a candle. 
   Shock. As an action, you may shock a creature within 
  reach. Make a melee spell attack against the target. On 
  a hit, the target takes 1d8 lightning damage. The 
  damage increases by 1d8 when you reach 5th level 
  (2d8), 11th level (3d8), and 17th level (4d8). Wisdom is 
  your spellcasting ability for this attack.  
   Undead Nature. You have resistance to lightning and 
  necrotic damage. You have immunity to poison 
  damage, and to the poisoned condition. 
  
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   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and one other language of your choice which 
  you spoke in life. 
  Playing a Will-o’-Wisp 
  Will-o’-wisps are complicated creatures. They are 
  unable to use weapons or armor, and with no natural 
  armor they are very frail. Their only means to attack is 
  their Shock ability, which requires them to be in melee 
  reach. Because Shock is a spell attack, you won’t be 
  able to take advantage of abilities like Sneak Attack, 
  and without the ability to hold a spellcasting foci you 
  may have trouble playing a spellcaster.  
   Will-o’-wisps are one of the few types of undead that 
  need to eat. Consume Life will sustain you for a week, 
  so be sure that you never wander too far away from 
  something that you can feed upon when the need 
  arises. Joining a party of adventurers, especially an evil 
  one which doesn’t hesitate to kill, is a good way to gain 
  a reliable source of sustenance. 
  Design Notes 
  Will-o’-wisps are tiny evil death balls. They have a ton 
  of resistances, several condition immunities, and 
  Incorporeal Movement. We’ll need to make serious 
  cuts to make them playable, but fortunately they only 
  have a few unique abilities. 
   Will-o’-wisps are undead, costing 1 BP. 
   Will-o’-wisps have the highest Dexterity score in the 
  Monster Manual, so we’ll grant them +2 Dexterity for 2 
  BP. 
   From the stat block, we get tiny size for -1.5 BP, 0 ft. 
  fly speed for -3 BP, 40 ft. fly speed (down from 50 ft.) 
  for 5 BP, damage resistance to lightning (down from 
  immunity) and necrotic damage for 4 BP, Poison 
  Immunity for 2 BP, condition immunities to exhaustion, 
  grappled, paralyzed, prone, restrained, and 
  unconscious for 3 BP, and Darkvision 60 ft. (down from 
  120 ft.) for 2 BP. We’ll drop the remainder of the wisp’s 
  resistances to save BP. We’ll allow wisps to speak 
  Common plus one flexible language for 0.5 BP.  
   That brings us to 15 BP before we consider the 
  wisp’s remaining abilities. We’ll replace Invisibility with 
  Hidden Step for 2 BP, and we’ll grant Illumination with 
  the ability to toggle it for 0.5 BP. 
   Ephemeral is really interesting. We’ve tackled races 
  with no hands and no ability to wear armor, but not an 
  absolutely inability to carry things. That’s a pretty 
  serious handicap for an adventurer who needs to do 
  things like open doors and carry McGuffins. We’ll cap 
  the Will-o’-wisp’s Strength at 1 and call the Ephemeral 
  a total of -9 BP (no hands, no arms, no armor or 
  shields, and an additional -1 for the Strength cap). 
   Consume Life combines several important aspects of 
  the will-o’-wisp. Wisps are among the notable few 
  undead which actually need to eat, and Consume Life 
  allows them to do so while also providing a healing 
  ability. While the stat block doesn’t explain it, this is 
  also how will-o’-wisps reproduce. Unfortunately, 
  granting this ability without a cap on usage will open 
  up potential abuse cases. If we require the wisp to use 
  a hit die for the healing, I think we can call this ability 1 
  BP. We’ll allow this to feed the wisp for a week so that 
  they don’t need to kill daily to survive, and we’ll allow 
  the wisp to create additional wisps if the victim rolls a 
  natural 1 to resist. 
   With no ability to use weapons, the will-o’-wisp is 
  dependent on Shock to attack. It’s a spell attack that 
  deals lightning damage, so we’ll re-skin the shocking 
  grasp cantrip (dropping the Advantage mechanic) for 
  0.5 BP. It’s not clear which ability backs the wisp’s 
  attack bonus, but it appears to be Wisdom. 
   At 10 BP, the will-o’-wisp is at the top of our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. The race has several complicated 
  mechanics, and may presents difficulties in your game. 
  If you want to strengthen the will-o’-wisp, allow it to 
  cast spells as though it were holding a spellcasting 
  focus. If you want to weaken the will-o’-wisp, limit 
  Consume Life to once per short rest or reduce its 
  Dexterity increase. 
  Wraith 
  Malice incarnate, wraiths are undead creatures bent 
  on the end of all life. 
  Wraith Traits 
  Wraiths share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Undead. You don’t require air, food, 
  drink, or sleep. Instead, you enter a restful state, 
  remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. While 
  resting, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are 
  reflexive mental exercises inherent to your 
  consciousness. After resting in this way, you gain the 
  same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Existing solely to extinguish all life, most 
  wraiths are neutral evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 0 ft. 
   Bereft of Body. You are unable to wear armor, but 
  may still use shields.  
  
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   Darkvision. 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. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet, and can 
  hover. To use this speed, you can’t be wearing medium 
  or heavy armor. 
   Life Drain. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 necrotic 
  damage on a hit. 
   Sunlight Sensitivity. You have disadvantage on 
  attack rolls and on Wisdom (Perception) checks that 
  rely on sight when you, the target of your attack, or 
  whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct 
  sunlight.  
   Undead Resilience. You have resistance to necrotic 
  damage. You are immune to the exhaustion, grappled, 
  paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, and restrained 
  conditions, and to poison damage. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and one other language of your choice which 
  you spoke in life. 
  Playing a Wraith 
  Wraiths are nimble and durable. They make excellent 
  fighters, rangers, and rogues. Take advantage of your 
  flight to out-maneuver your foes. 
   Wraiths seek the end of all life, so it makes the most 
  sense to include them in a party of undead, or at least 
  in a party of characters with deeply evil goals. 
  Design Notes 
  Wraiths face similar challenges to other incorporeal 
  creatures like the banshee, but their special abilities 
  aren’t particularly difficult to handle. 
   Wraiths are undead, costing 1 BP. 
   The wraith’s abilities are almost all good, so it’s hard 
  to decide which to increase. Dexterity and Constitution 
  are the wraith’s best, so we’ll grant +1 to each for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we medium size, 0 ft. walking 
  speed for -3 BP, 30 ft. fly speed (down from 60 ft.) for 4 
  BP, Hover for 2 BP, resistance to necrotic damage 
  (down from immunity) for 2 BP, Poison Immunity for 2 
  BP, condition immunities to exhaustion, grappled, 
  paralyzed, petrified, prone, and restrained for 3 BP, 
  Darkvision for 2 BP, Common plus one flexible 
  language for 0.5 BP, and Sunlight Sensitivity for -2 BP. 
  We’ll drop the wrath’s other resistances and condition 
  immunity to charmed to save BP. We’ll disallow armor 
  for -3 BP. 
   That brings us to 10.5 BP. The only remaining ability 
  is Life Drain. Most creatures with similar abilities make 
  them as spell attacks, so it’s unusual that this is a 
  weapon attack. We’ll treat it as a natural weapon 
  dealing 1d6 necrotic damage for 1.5 BP. 
   At 12 BP, the wraith is at the top of our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. It’s very durable, not particularly exciting. If 
  you want to strengthen the wraith, allow it to choose 
  between a Constitution increase or a Charisma 
  increase. If you want to weaken the wraith, reduce its 
  natural weapon damage. 
  Wyvern 
  Beastly creatures related to true dragons, wyverns are 
  powerful hunters with a deadly poison sting. 
  Wyvern Traits 
  Wyverns share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Dragon 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Usually unintelligent creatures, most 
  wyverns are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 20 ft. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Stinger. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 piercing 
  damage and 1d4 poison damage on a hit. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Wyvern 
  Wyverns are strong and durable, but lack special 
  abilities. Consider classes which can capitalize on the 
  wyvern’s traits like barbarian and fighter. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  
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  Races 
  213 
  Design Notes 
  Wyverns are a poor-man’s dragon, bigger than a 
  pseudodragon but far less magical. It has no unique 
  abilities, which makes it very easy to design. Wyverns 
  are unusually intelligent for beasts, but they’re still 
  subject to being awakened so we’ll treat them as such. 
   Wyverns are dragons, costing 0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   Like many beasts and similar creatures, the wyvern’s 
  best abilities are Strength and Constitution, so we’ll 
  grant +2 Strength and +1 Constitution for 3 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), +3 natural armor for 1.5 BP, 20 ft. walking speed 
  (up from 20 ft.) for -1 BP, 40 ft. fly speed (down from 
  80 ft.) for 5 BP, Darkvision for 2 BP. Since we’re 
  treating the wyvern as awakened, we’ll allow it to 
  speak Common for 0 BP. Wyverns have no hands for 02 
  BP, and we’ll set the wyvern’s natural weapons to 1d4 
  piercing and 1d4 poison for 2 BP. 
   At 10 BP, the wyvern is at the top of our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. It’s simple with no special abilities, but it 
  works. If you want to strengthen the wyvern, increase 
  its constitution increase. If you want to weaken the 
  wyvern, reduce its natural armor. 
  Xorn 
  Three-armed, three-legged, three-eyed stony orange 
  metal-eaters. 
  Xorn Traits 
  Xorn share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Elemental 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Generally peaceful and motivated mostly 
  by hunger and curiosity, most xorns are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 20 ft. You have a 
  burrow speed of 20 ft. 
   Claws. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 slashing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Earth Glide. You can burrow through non-magical, 
  unworked earth and stone. While doing so, you don't 
  disturb the material you move through. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 17. You gain no benefit from wearing armor, though 
  you may still use shields normally. 
   Three Arms. You have 3 arms, and may hold and use 
  items in each of your hands.  
   If you have Extra Attacks, when you take the Attack 
  action you may make each of your attacks using any 
  weapon you are holding. 
   When you take the Attack action and attack with a 
  weapon which qualifies for use with two-weapon 
  fighting, you can use a bonus action to attack with a 
  different qualifying weapon. You don’t add your ability 
  modifier to the damage of the bonus attack unless the 
  modifier is negative or you have an ability which allows 
  you to add your ability modifier to the bonus attack 
  granted by two-weapon fighting. If you choose to make 
  this additional attack, you may not benefit from using a 
  shield until the beginning of your next turn. 
   If you use a weapon with the Heavy property or use 
  a Versatile weapon two-handed you may not benefit 
  from using a shield until the beginning of your next 
  turn, but you may switch between multiple Heavy or 
  Versatile weapons with each attack. 
   Treasure Sense. You can pinpoint, by scent, the 
  location of precious metals and stones, such as coins 
  and gems, within 60 feet of you. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Terran. 
  Playing a Xorn 
  Xorns are slow moving, but difficult to kill. With natural 
  armor and increase constitution they’re extremely 
  durable. Their ability to move through stone without 
  leaving a trace makes it easy for them to ambush or 
  bypass foes. Xorns work as a wide variety of classes, 
  but don’t excel in any one area. 
   Xorns are usually not violent, but they’re curious and 
  have difficult dietary needs. They might join a group of 
  adventurers in hopes of a steady supply of gems and 
  metal to eat, or in hopes of finding a way back to the 
  plane of earth. 
  Design Notes 
  Xorn are very similar to earth elementals, which makes 
  sense considering their origins. 
   Xorn are elementals, costing 0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   Xorns have extremely high Constitution, so we’ll 
  grant +1 Constitution for 1 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, +7 natural 
  armor (down from +9) for 3.5 BP, 20 ft. walking speed 
  for -1 BP, 20 ft. burrow speed for 3 BP, Darkvision for 2 
  BP, 30 ft. tremorsense (down from 60 ft.) for 2 BP, only 
  racial languages for -1 BP, Earth Glide for 1 BP, and 
  camouflage for 0.5 BP. We’ll disallow armor for -3 BP, 
  
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  Races 
  214 
  and prevent the xorn from adding Dexterity to AC for -
  1 BP. We’ll set the xorn’s natural weapons to 1d8 for 2 
  BP. Xorns have three arms for 0.5 BP. 
   That brings our total to 9.5 BP before we consider 
  Treasure Sense. Treasure Sense is hard to assess 
  because it’s situational, but potentially very powerful. 
  It invalidates many hidden doors, instantly locates 
  anyone carrying money or wearing jewelry. We’ll call it 
  2 BP, but it’s difficult to assess. 
   At 11.5 BP, the xorn exceeds our target range of 8-10 
  BP. It’s a problematic race and it’s difficult to know 
  where to make further cuts to reduce BP costs. If you 
  want to strengthen the xorn, increase its natural armor 
  to +8. If you want to weaken the xorn, reduce its 
  natural weapon damage.  
  Yeti 
  Furry white monstrosities that stalk frozen 
  mountaintops in search of food. 
  Yeti Traits 
  Yetis share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Intelligent creatures that happily commit 
  cannibalism, most yetis are chaotic evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. You have a 
  climb speed of 30 ft. 
   Chilling Gaze. As an action, you can target one 
  creature that you can see within 30 ft. If the target can 
  see you, it must make a Constitution saving throw 
  against this magic or take 1d8 cold damage have its 
  speed reduced by 10 feet until the start of your next 
  turn. The DC of this saving throw is 8 + your proficiency 
  bonus + your Constitution modifier. 
   Claws. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 slashing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Cold Resistance. You have resistance to cold 
  damage. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Fear of Fire. If you take fire damage, you have 
  disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks until the 
  end of your next turn. 
   Keen Smell. You have advantage on Wisdom 
  (Perception) checks that rely on smell. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 11 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Snow Camouflage. You have advantage on Dexterity 
  (Stealth) checks made to hide in snowy terrain. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Yeti. 
  Playing a Yeti 
  Yetis’ increased Strength and Constitution makes them 
  excellent barbarians and fighters, but their Snow 
  Camouflage can make them stealthy enough to make 
  excellent rangers. 
   Yetis are vicious, carnivorous, and not particularly 
  intelligent, but that makes them excellent muscle in a 
  party of evil characters. With no qualms about eating 
  humanoids, access to easy food may be enough to 
  persuade a yeti to go adventuring. 
  Design Notes 
  Yetis are simple creatures. Chilling Gaze is their only 
  totally unique ability, so designing the yeti as a race 
  isn’t difficult. 
   Yetis are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but offering 
  no specific traits. 
   The Yeti’s best abilities by a wide margin are 
  Strength and Constitution, so we’ll grant +1 to each for 
  2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), +1 natural armor for 0.5 BP, 30 ft. walking speed 
  (down from 40 ft.), 30 ft. climb speed (down from 40 
  ft.) for 2 BP, damage resistance to cold (down from 
  immunity) for 2 BP, Darkvision for 2 BP, only racial 
  languages for -1 BP, Keen Smell for 0.5 BP, and 
  Camouflage for 0.5 BP. 
   That brings our total to 9 BP. Fear of Fire is 
  essentially vulnerability, so we’ll call it -1 BP. We’ll drop 
  the yeti’s natural weapons to 1d4 for 1 BP. 
   Chilling Gaze is obviously too powerful for a racial 
  ability. Paralysis of any duration is too powerful to be 
  usable at will. The cantrip ray of frost has a similar 
  effect (cold damage and movement reduction) so we’ll 
  tweak it to replace Chilling Gaze. Instead of an attack 
  we’ll allow a saving throw, and to match the flavor of 
  the ability we’ll allow the target to ignore the speed 
  reduction if they’re immune to cold damage. We’ll call 
  it 0.5 BP since it’s essentially still a cantrip. 
   At 9.5 BP, the yeti is within our target range of 8-10 
  BP. It has some fun abilities and should work very well 
  alongside published humanoid races. If you want to 
  strengthen the yeti, increase its natural weapon 
  damage to 1d4 slashing and 1d4 cold, or grant it a 
  breath weapon dealing cold damage in a cone. If you 
  want to weaken the yeti, remove its natural armor. 
  
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  Races 
  215 
  Yuan-ti 
  Yuan-ti are foul, snake-worshipping creatures who seek 
  to attain divine ascension through world conquest, 
  manipulation, and eventually by devouring and 
  supplanting their own gods. 
  Yuan-ti Traits 
  Yuan-ti share the following racial traits. 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Charisma. 
   Alignment. Evil, power-hungry creatures who seek 
  power by any means, most yuan-ti are neutral evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Cunning. You have advantage on all Intelligence, 
  Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws against magic. 
   Darkvision. 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.  
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Abyssal, Common, and Draconic. 
   Poison Immunity. You are immune to poison 
  damage, and immune to the poisoned condition. 
   Subrace. Choose one of these subraces. You gain the 
  traits listed under your chosen subrace in addition to 
  those listed above. 
  Yuan-ti Abomination 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength. 
   Bite and Constrict. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 
  piercing damage and 1d4 poison damage or 1d8 
  bludgeoning damage on a hit. 
  Yuan-ti Malison 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength. 
   Malison Type. Select one of the three types of 
  Malisons. 
  • Type 1: Human body with snake head. Your unarmed 
  strikes deal 1d4 piercing damage and 1d4 poison 
  damage on a hit. 
  • Type 2: Human head and body with snakes for arms. 
  You have no hands. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 
  piercing damage and 1d4 poison damage on a hit. 
  When you take the Attack action and make a melee 
  attack with your unarmed strikes, as bonus action 
  you may make one additional unarmed strike. 
  • Type 3: Human head and upper body with a 
  serpentine body instead of legs. Your unarmed 
  strikes deal 1d4 bludgeoning damage on a hit. When 
  you hit a creature with an unarmed strike or an 
  improvised weapon on your turn, you can use a 
  bonus action to attempt to grapple the target. 
  Yuan-ti Pureblood 
   Creature Type. Humanoid (yuani-ti) 
   Innate Spellcasting. You know the poison spray 
  cantrip. Once you reach 3rd level, you can cast the find 
  familiar (poison snake only) spell once per day. Once 
  you reach 5th level, you can cast the suggestion spell 
  once per day. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for 
  these spells. 
   Stealthy. You have proficiency in the Stealth skill. 
  Playing a Yuan-ti 
  Yuan-ti are all charismatic, evil creatures, but their 
  specific abilities make them differ greatly. The malison 
  and the abomination are powerful melee fighters with 
  enhanced strength and natural weapons, so consider 
  classes like barbarian, fighter, and paladin. Purebloods 
  have innate spellcasting, which will provide helpful 
  additional options for sorcerers and warlocks. 
   Evil and ambitious, yuan-ti make a great choice for a 
  party of evil characters. The race’s overall goal is to 
  dominate the world and ascend to god-hood, so an 
  individual yuan-ti might go to great lengths to further 
  that goal. 
  Design Notes 
  Yuan-ti are one of my favorite creatures. Their society 
  is interesting, and unlike many of the villainous 
  humanoid races, they aren’t just insane cannibalistic 
  murderers and barbarians. Their culture clearly justifies 
  the existence of the three different types of Yuan-ti, 
  and gives each a specific role and function in society. 
   That said, the mechanical differences in the three 
  types of Yuan-ti also present considerable mechanical 
  challenges. The power scale between the three is 
  sufficiently different that we’ll need to do a lot to 
  differentiate the three. The pureblood will be fairly 
  straightforward, but the malison and abomination are 
  hugely different. 
   Yuan-ti purebloods are humanoids (0 BP), but the 
  malison and abomination are both monstrosities (0.5 
  BP). Neither creature type offers specific abilities. 
   All three types of yuan-ti list Charisma as their 
  highest ability score, so we’ll grant each a +1 to 
  Charisma for 1 BP. 
   From the monster stat blocks we can draw a few 
  similarities. All three types of yuan-ti get Poison 
  Immunity for 2 BP, Darkvision for 2 BP, speak racial 
  languages plus Common and an additional fixed 
  
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  Races 
  216 
  language for 0.25 BP, Magic Resistance for 5 BP, and 
  proficiency in Stealth for 0.5 BP, but we’ll only apply 
  that to the pureblood to balance out the BP 
  differences. That puts us at 9.75 BP, so we’ll need to 
  make some serious cuts to their remaining shared 
  traits to make room for the stuff which set Yuan-ti 
  subraces apart. 
   If we drop Magic Resistance to Cunning, we recover 
  3 BP, leaving us some room for other abilities. 
   All yuan-ti get some innate spellcasting. We’ll keep it 
  Charisma-based to keep in line with the monster stat 
  block and the Charisma increase which we decided 
  upon earlier. All yuan-ti can cast animal friendship and 
  suggestion, but to differentiate between the subraces 
  (and to save on BP) we’ll leave all of the innate 
  spellcasting to the purebloods. The innate spellcasting 
  is kind of an after-thought for malisons and 
  abominations anyway, so I don’t think it’s a big loss. 
   That leaves us at 6.75 BP for each subrace, giving us 
  room to tackle the specific abilities of the subraces. I’m 
  going to discuss the remaining design of each subrace 
  individually because they’re so different. 
  Pureblood 
  Purebloods are the simplest of the Yuan-ti. They’re 
  humanoid, and their most notable ability is their innate 
  spellcasting. As discussed previously, I’ll also grant 
  purebloods proficiency in Stealth to balance out the 
  creature type BP cost difference. The rest of the 
  pureblood’s remaining BP will go into innate 
  spellcasting. 
   Animal friendship is a 1st-level spell. Yuan-ti cast it at 
  will, but it can only target snakes. That’s pretty similar 
  to a cantrip in some ways, but with a 24-hour duration 
  players will almost certainly abuse it to charm a small 
  army of snakes and drown their enemies in snakes. A 
  more reasonable effect would be to allow the 
  character to have a single pet snake. That’s pretty 
  similar to Find Familiar, so we’ll just give the pureblood 
  Find Familiar (snake only) for 0.5 BP (down from 1 
  since it’s a reduced effect, and since you generally 
  don’t need a new familiar every day). As per the 
  normal innate spellcasting rules, the pureblood won’t 
  be able to use this ability until 3rd level. 
   All yuan-ti are able to cast suggestion three times 
  per day. Suggestion is a 2nd-level spell, so we definitely 
  don’t want to allow that. Instead, we’ll allow it to be 
  cast once per day for 2 BP. 
   The pureblood monster stat block allows the 
  pureblood to cast poison spray three times per day as 
  part of their innate spellcasting, but for a player that’s 
  not particularly useful. Instead, we’ll just give 
  purebloods poison spray as a cantrip for 0.5 BP. 
   At 9.75 BP, the yuan-ti pureblood is a fun race with 
  some cool thematic abilities. If you need to strengthen 
  the pureblood, grant them a +1 to intelligence. If you 
  need to weaken the pureblood, remove the ability to 
  cast find familiar. 
  Malison 
  Malisons are the middle tier of yuan-ti. They have one 
  snake body part (we’ll count “arms” as one body part), 
  which distinguishes them from purebloods.  
   Their ability scores are considerably better than 
  those of a pureblood, too. Their Strength matches their 
  Charisma, so a +1 Strength increase for 1 BP is a good 
  fit. It will also help differentiate between the 
  pureblood’s emphasis on stealth and cunning and the 
  malison’s emphasis on being a snake thug. 
   All that’s left if the Malison’s natural weapons. Each 
  type is a little bit different. The first two types deal 
  additional poison damage with their bites. Yuan-ti 
  poison typically deals 2d6 damage, but that’s far too 
  much for a player, so we’ll need to lower it. 
   Type 1 is easy. A natural weapon that deals 1d4 
  damage is normally 1 BP. If we add 1d4 of poison 
  damage it’s roughly as effective as 1d8 damage, so 
  we’ll call that another 1 BP for the poison damage. 
   Type 2 is a bit more complicated. The damage should 
  be the same as type 1, so 2 BP is fine, but having 
  snakes for hands presents some serious problems. The 
  ability to open and close what is functionally a claw 
  can’t match the dexterity of a real hand, so type 2 has 
  the “no hands” trait for -2 BP. We should spend that BP 
  to keep type 2 viable, so for 2 BP we’ll give type 2 the 
  ability to make an extra unarmed attack as a bonus 
  action. This will allow them to keep pace with more 
  conventional melee characters who can perform two-
  weapon fighting. 
   Type 3 is the most complex. The Constrict attack 
  presented in the Monster Manual is too good for a 
  player due to the restrain mechanic. We’ll make the 
  constrict attack a natural weapon dealing 1d4 damage 
  for 1 BP and add Grab for 2 BP. Type 3 Yuan-ti will still 
  need to use weapons for most of their damage, but can 
  use their tail to grapple a bit better than a human. 
   At 9.75 BP, the malison is within our target range of 
  8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the malison, 
  increase its Strength increase. If you want to weaken 
  the malison, remove the Strength increase. 
  
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  Abomination 
  The pinnacle of Yuan-ti, abominations are as much a 
  snake as a yuan-ti can be. Of course, being the best 
  subrace makes it difficult to design the abomination 
  without actually making it better than other yuan-ti. 
  The abomination combines the strengths of Types 1 
  and 3 malisons, plus the innate spellcasting of 
  purebloods. We’ll need to take a little from each 
  without making the abomination too powerful. 
   The abomination’s best ability is Strength, so we’ll 
  grant a +1 Strength increase for 1 BP. 
   Already at 7.75 BP it’s hard to know what parts of 
  the abomination to keep. We’ll add a 1d8 natural 
  weapon for 2 BP, and allow it to be used either as a 
  poison bite of as a tail attack but we’ll abandon Grab.  
   At 9.75 BP, the abomination is within our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. It’s functionally identical to the snake 
  head malison, but without the luxury of CR gaps we 
  don’t have any room to provide meaningful mechanical 
  differences. If you want to strengthen the 
  abomination, grant it some natural armor. If you want 
  to weaken the abomination, reduce its natural weapon 
  damage. 
  Yugoloth 
  Fiendish mercenaries who will work for anyone who 
  can pay, yugoloths are a varied collection of closely-
  related fiends. 
  Yugoloth Traits 
  Yugoloths share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Fiend (Yugoloth) 
   Alignment. Evil, fiendish mercenaries motivated by 
  little more than material reward, most yugoloths are 
  neutral evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Darkvision. 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.  
   Fiendish Resilience. You are resistance to acid 
  damage and to poison damage. In addition, you have 
  advantage on saving throws against poison. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Abyssal. 
   Subrace. Choose one of these subraces. You gain the 
  traits listed under your chosen subrace in addition to 
  those listed above. 
  Arcanoloth 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Intelligence, +1 Charisma.  
   Innate Spellcasting. You know the prestidigitation 
  cantrip. Once you reach third level, you can cast the 
  detect magic spell once per day. Charisma is your 
  spellcasting ability for these spells. 
  Mezzoloth 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Claw. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 slashing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Four Arms. You have four arms, and may hold and 
  use items in each of your hands.  
   If you have Extra Attacks, when you take the Attack 
  action you may make each of your attacks using any 
  weapon you are holding. 
   When you take the Attack action and attack with a 
  weapon which qualifies for use with two-weapon 
  fighting, you can use a bonus action to attack with a 
  different qualifying weapon. You don’t add your ability 
  modifier to the damage of the bonus attack unless the 
  modifier is negative or you have an ability which allows 
  you to add your ability modifier to the bonus attack 
  granted by two-weapon fighting. If you choose to make 
  this additional attack, you may not benefit from using a 
  shield until the beginning of your next turn. 
   If you use a weapon with the Heavy property or use 
  a Versatile weapon two-handed you may not benefit 
  from using a shield until the beginning of your next 
  turn, but you may switch between multiple Heavy or 
  Versatile weapons with each attack. 
  Nycaloth 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
  Ultroloth 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Constitution, +1 Charisma. 
   Hypnotic Gaze. As an action, you may target one 
  creature it can see within 30 feet of it. If the target can 
  see you, the target must succeed on a Wisdom saving 
  throw against this magic or be charmed until the end of 
  your next turn. The charmed target is stunned. The DC 
  of this saving throw is 8 + your proficiency bonus + 
  your Charisma modifier. If the target's saving throw is 
  successful, the target is immune to your gaze for the 
  next 24 hours. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
  
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  Playing a Yugoloth 
  Yugoloths are very different creatures, each of which 
  can thrive in different ways. 
  Arcanoloth 
  With increases to both intelligence and charisma, 
  arcanoloths make excellent eldritch knights, sorcerers, 
  warlocks, and wizards. 
   Arcanoloths deal primarily in information, but also 
  collect valuable magic items. This is easily enough to 
  motivate an enterprising arcanoloth to set out on a life 
  of adventure in search of buried information or 
  valuable trinkets, especially if someone else in the 
  party is paying the arcanoloth to be there. 
  Mezzoloth 
  Mezzoloths serve as foot soldiers in yugoloth armies. 
  Their strength and durability makes them excellent 
  barbarians and fighters, and their additional arms and 
  claws allow them to easily switch between weapons 
  and equipment to suit their needs in combat. 
   Mezzoloths enjoy violence and being rewarded. 
  Those are abundant in a life of adventuring, so 
  convincing a mezzoloth to join and adventuring party 
  should be simple. 
  Nycaloth 
  Strong, flying combatants, nycaloths make good 
  fighters and barbarians. With increased strength, 
  nycaloths will do well either in melee combat or using 
  thrown weapons while flying out of enemy reach. 
   Nycaloths like to stick to one master who treats 
  them well. If an adventuring party includes someone 
  who might serve as this master, the nycaloth may be a 
  life-long ally to the party. 
  Ultroloth 
  Durable with high Charisma, Ultroloths make excellent 
  evil paladins, sorcerers, and warlocks. Be sure to use 
  your Hypnotic Gaze to stun powerful enemies so that 
  your allies can quickly defeat them. 
   Leaders among Yugoloths, Ultroloths are a natural 
  party leader in a party of evil characters, especially if 
  they are mercenaries or demons. 
  Design Notes 
  A group of closely-related fiends, Yugoloths are a 
  diverse set of fiends created to function independent 
  of the lower planes. This allows them to serve as 
  mercenaries, making them fantastic adventurers. 
  Beyond flavor there’s very little in common between 
  types of yugoloth. Yugoloths are powerful creatures, so 
  we’ll need to make significant cuts to convert them 
  into a playable race. 
   Yugoloths are fiends, costing 0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   From the stat blocks, we get medium size (down 
  from large for the nycaloth, acid resistance (down from 
  immunity) for 2 BP, Poison Immunity for 2 BP, 
  Darkvision for 2 BP, and racial languages plus Common 
  for 0 BP. We’ll drop all of the yugoloths’ damage 
  resistances, telepathy, blindsight, truesight, magic 
  resistance, magic weapons, and Teleport. We’ll also 
  drop the Arcanoloth’s ability to speak all languages. 
   Despite massive cuts, that brings our total to 6.5 BP 
  before we consider individual varieties of yugoloth.  
  Arcanoloth 
  The spellcasters of yugoloth society, arcanoloth’s 
  remaining abilities are dominated almost entirely by 
  innate spellcasting. 
   Arcanoloth’s abilities are almost all excellent, but 
  Intelligence is their best and Charisma is their 
  spellcasting ability, so it’s a bit difficult to decide which 
  ability to increase. Yugoloths serve as negotiators 
  which suggests Charisma, but they also collect 
  knowledge and information which suggests Intelligent. 
  We’ll grant +1 Intelligence and +1 Charisma for 2 BP 
  even though most characters may have trouble using 
  both. 
   We’ll drop the arcanoloth’s claws to save BP so that 
  we can focus on innate spellcasting. We don’t have a 
  lot of room left, so we’ll add the prestidigitation cantrip 
  and the detect magic spell for 1.5 BP. 
   At 10 BP, the arcanoloth tops out our target range of 
  8-10 BP. It’s an excellent base for many arcane 
  spellcasters. If you want to strengthen the arcanoloth, 
  allow it to cast detect thoughts or grant it claws dealing 
  1d4 damage. If you want to weaken the arcanoloth, 
  remove the ability to cast detect magic. 
  Mezzoloth 
  Mezzoloths are four-armed insectoids that serve as 
  foot soldiers in yugoloth armies. They have a little bit 
  of innate spellcasting, but the spells are too high level 
  for us to keep so we’ll need to focus on the 
  mezzoloth’s melee capabilities. 
   Strength and constitution are the mezzoloth’s best 
  abilities, so we’ll grant +1 to each for 2 BP. 
   We’ll grant the mezzoloth 4 arms for 1 BP and we’ll 
  set the mezzoloth’s natural weapons to 1d4 damage 
  for 1 BP. 
   At 10.5 BP, the mezzoloth exceeds our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. It’s a fairly standard strength-constitution 
  
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  Races 
  219 
  race with a couple of neat abilities, so it should fit well 
  into a party of published races despite the high BP cost. 
  If you want to strengthen the mezzoloth, increase its 
  Strength increase to +2. If you want to weaken the 
  mezzoloth, remove its claws. 
  Nycaloth 
  Nycaloths are flying shock troopers with some innate 
  spellcasting. The nycaloth has lots of other traits to 
  cover we’ll need to be careful without BP. 
   The nycaloth’s strength and constitution are its best 
  abilities, but we’ll only grant +1 Strength for 1 BP so 
  that we can reserve BP for other things. 
   30 ft. flight costs the nycaloth 4 BP, already bringing 
  us to 11.5 BP. We’ll set the nycaloth’s natural weapons 
  to 1d4 for 1 BP. 
   At 12.5 BP, the nycaloth exceeds our target range of 
  8-10 BP. It’s likely too powerful to include in a party 
  without some cuts. If you want to weaken the 
  nycaloth, remove its ability increase, remove its claws, 
  or reduce its walking speed. 
  Ultroloth 
  Ultroloths are the leaders of yugoloth armies. They 
  have innate spellcasting similar to the arcanoloth, 
  though less powerful, and have a potent hypnotic gaze 
  attack. To differentiate the ultroloth from the 
  arcanoloth, we’ll drop the innate spellcasting in favor 
  of hypnotic gaze. 
   The ultroloth’s best ability is Charisma, and 
  Constitution is a close second, so we’ll grant +1 to each 
  for 2 BP. 
   Hypnotic gaze is a single-target effect which charms 
  stuns the target for one round. That already includes a 
  lot of limitations, but the ability to use it at will still 
  presents a problem. We’ll limit use to once per short 
  rest and call it 2 BP. 
   At 10.5 BP, the ultroloth slightly exceeds our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. It works for some builds and should 
  work fine alongside published races. If you want to 
  strengthen the ultroloth, allow it to cast detect magic 
  once per day. If you want to weaken the ultroloth, 
  remove the Constitution increase. 
  Zombie [Template: Natural] 
  A classic fictional monster, zombies are the bodies of 
  dead creatures animated by evil magic.  
  Becoming a Zombie 
  Any formerly living organic creature with a corporeal 
  body can become zombie. The body is animated by 
  means of animate dead or a similar spell or magical 
  effect. 
   The zombie template must be applied to a character 
  during character creation. Zombies retain essentially 
  nothing of their former mind, so a zombie created from 
  the body of an experienced character loses any class 
  levels, proficiencies, or other acquired capabilities that 
  it may have had while it was alive. The zombie is 
  functionally a new character, sharing only the body of 
  the formerly living character. 
  Zombie Traits 
  All zombies have the following traits, adding these 
  traits to their existing racial traits upon gaining the 
  zombie template. 
   Creature Type. You replace your current creature 
  type with Undead, but retain any subtypes. 
   You don’t require air, food, drink, or sleep. Instead, 
  you enter a restful state, remaining semiconscious, for 
  4 hours a day. While resting, you can dream after a 
  fashion; such dreams are reflexive mental exercises 
  inherent to your consciousness. After resting in this 
  way, you gain the same benefit that a human does 
  from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Ability Adjustments. -2 Dexterity, -2 Intelligence, -2 
  Wisdom, -2 Charisma. 
   Alignment. Animated by evil magics, all zombies are 
  evil. 
   Speed. Any natural movement speeds you possess 
  (walking speed, climbing speed, flight, etc.) are 
  reduced by 10 ft., to a minimum of 5 ft. 
   Can’t Speak. You are unable to speak, but are still 
  able to read, write, and understand any languages 
  which you know. You are unable to perform verbal 
  spell components. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Relentless. When you are reduced to 0 hit points but 
  not killed outright, you can drop to 1 hit point instead. 
  You can’t use this feature again until you finish a long 
  rest. If you have the Relentless trait from another 
  source, such as your race, you may use it an additional 
  time before you finish a long rest. 
   Undead Nature. You have immunity to the 
  exhausted and poisoned conditions, and to poison 
  damage.  
  
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  Races 
  220 
  Design Notes 
  The Zombie is a simple template. Mostly it trades the 
  advantages of life for the durability of undeath. Being 
  undead comes with a few useful benefits, so we need 
  to find some penalties to sufficiently offset those 
  benefits. 
   Zombies switch to the undead creature type for 1 
  BP. 
   Unlike many undead, zombies aren't resistant to 
  necrotic damage. However, they still get immunity to 
  the exhausted condition for 0.5 BP, and they still get 
  Poison Immunity for 2 BP. Undead Fortitude is far too 
  powerful to grant to a player, so we'll replace it with 
  Relentless for 0.5 BP. We'll also add a special note 
  specifying that if the player has relentless from two 
  sources (such as the half-orc race), they can use the 
  ability an additional time before resting. All zombies 
  also have 60 ft. Darkvision for 2 BP. That brings our 
  total to 6.25 BP before we consider penalties. 
   Zombies normally lose 10 ft. of walking speed for -1 
  BP because losing 10 ft. would make melee combat so 
  difficult. Zombies can't speak for -1.5 BP. Zombies have 
  bad Dexterity, and all of their mental ability scores are 
  poor. I'm hesitant to apply 4 ability score penalties 
  because it's super boring, but it also fits the monster 
  really well so we'll apply -2 to Dexterity, Intelligence, 
  Wisdom, and Charisma for a total of -4 BP. 
   That brings our total to 0 BP, which matches our 
  target of 0 BP for non-leveled templates. While that 
  technically means that it makes the player slightly 
  stronger according to the BP, I think the significant 
  penalties for being a zombie are still enough to 
  prevents players from seeing this as an easy path to 
  power.   
   
   
   
  
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  Races 
  221 
  Miscellaneous Creatures 
  This section contains animals, vermin, and some other 
  creatures that don’t quite qualify as monsters for 
  reasons beyond knowing. 
  Ape 
  Apes are large primates resembling hairy, 
  disproportionate humans. 
  Ape Traits 
  Apes share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +2 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most apes 
  are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. You have a 
  climb speed of 30 ft. 
   Fist. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 bludgeoning 
  damage on a hit. 
   Rock. You may throw a rock or similar object as a 
  ranged weapon attack. This attack has 30/60 range, 
  and deals 1d6 bludgeoning damage on a hit. This is 
  made as though the object had the Thrown weapon 
  property. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing an Ape 
  For someone looking to play a beast without sacrificing 
  the versatility of a humanoid, the ape is a great option. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  The ape is, in many ways, essentially humanoid, which 
  makes it easy to design. It’s also notably the first 
  creature with a “giant” version, so the decisions we 
  make here will inform many of the decisions we make 
  for other creatures with a giant version. This will be 
  discussed further under the Giant Ape. Like other 
  beasts, we’ll treat the ape as awakened. 
   Apes are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   The ape’s physical ability scores are all good, so it’s 
  hard to know what to increase. Apes tend to be the big 
  strong primates, so I think increasing Strength and 
  Constitution makes the most sense. We’ll grant +2 to 
  each for 4 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, 30 ft. 
  walking speed, 30 ft. climb speed for 2 BP, a 1d6 
  natural weapon for 1.5 BP, and we’ll add Rock by 
  allowing the natural weapon to be used at range for 
  0.5 BP. 
   That brings our total BP to 7.5 BP. The ape doesn’t 
  have any other distinguishing traits to work from, so 
  we’ll leave it there. 
   At 7.5 BP, the ape falls just below our target range of 
  8-10 BP.  
  Awakened Shrub 
  A small shrub magically granted intelligence and 
  mobility. 
  Awakened Shrub Traits 
  Awakened shrubs share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Plant 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent plants, most 
  awakened shrubs are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is small. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 ft. 
   False Appearance. While motionless, you appear 
  indistinguishable from a mundane shrub. You must 
  spend one minute motionless before this ability takes 
  effect. You must maintain concentration during that 
  time, as if you were casting a spell. 
   Flammable. You have vulnerability to fire damage. 
   Rake. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 slashing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing an Awakened Shrub 
  Awakened shrubs are terrible. Only play them if 
  survival and success are unimportant. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Awakened shrubs are terrible. At CR 0 everything 
  about them is pitiful. We’ll need to add quite a bit to 
  make this anywhere near playable. 
   Awakened shrubs are plants, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
  
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  Races 
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   None of the awakened shrub’s ability scores are 
  good, so we won’t grant an ability increase. 
   From the stat block, we get small size for -1 BP, 25 ft. 
  walking speed (up from 20 ft.), vulnerability to fire for -
  1 BP, the ability to speak Common for 0 BP, and False 
  Appearance for 0.5 BP. We’ll set the shrub’s natural 
  weapons to 1d6 damage for 1.5 BP. 
   That brings our BP total to 0.5 BP. There’s no 
  recovering from this much of a deficit. 
   At 0.5 BP, the awakened shrub is well below our 
  target range of 8-10 BP. It’s totally unplayable, so I 
  don’t encourage using it in your games except as a 
  joke. 
  Awakened Tree 
  A sturdy tree magically granted intelligence and 
  mobility. 
  Traits 
  Awakened trees share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Plant 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +2 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent plants, most 
  awakened trees are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is small. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   False Appearance. While motionless, you appear 
  indistinguishable from a mundane tree. You must 
  spend one minute motionless before this ability takes 
  effect. You must maintain concentration during that 
  time, as if you were casting a spell. 
   Flammable. You have vulnerability to fire damage. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Slam. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 bludgeoning 
  damage on a hit. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing an Awakened Tree 
  Awakened trees are sturdy and strong, but not terribly 
  interesting. Consider classes like barbarian, fighter, and 
  monk, and be sure to avoid fire. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Essentially a much bigger version of the awakened 
  shrub, we’ll mostly copy the shrub. Since their 
  concepts are similar, the awakened tree will end up 
  looking a lot like a boring version of the treant. 
   Awakened trees are plants, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   Awakened trees have considerably better ability 
  scores than awakened shrubs. We’ll grant +2 Strength 
  and +2 Constitution for 4 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, +3 natural 
  armor (down from +7) for 1.5 BP, 30 ft. walking speed, 
  vulnerability to fire for -1 BP, the ability to speak 
  Common, False Appearance for 0.5 BP, and 1d8 natural 
  weapons for 2 BP. 
   At 7.5 BP, the awakened tree is below our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. It’s really boring, but perfectly 
  functional. If you want to strengthen the awakened 
  tree, increase its natural armor to +7 but disallow 
  adding Dexterity to the tree’s AC. If you want to 
  weaken the awakened tree, reduce its natural armor to 
  +2. 
  Axe Beak 
  Tall, flightless birds with a powerful beak. 
  Axe Beak Traits 
  Axe beaks share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most axe 
  beaks are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 50 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 slashing damage 
  on a hit. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing an Axe Beak 
  Axe beaks are strong and fast, so consider classes 
  which can take advantage of your increased mobility to 
  get into melee and deal a lot of damage quickly. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  
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  Races 
  223 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Fairly straightforward beast. Like other beasts, we’ll 
  treat the axe beak as awakened. 
   Axe beaks are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   The axe beak’s abilities aren’t great, but Strength is 
  its best so we’ll grant +1 Strength for 1 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), 50 ft. walking speed for 2 BP, the ability to speak 
  Common, and 1d8 natural weapons for 2 BP. Axe beaks 
  have no hands for -2 BP. 
   At 2.5 BP, the axe beak is well below our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. It’s mostly unplayable. If you plan to 
  include it in your game, consider granting skill 
  proficiencies like Survival, or possibly a feat. 
  Baboon 
  Predatory primates native to jungles. 
  Baboon Traits 
  Baboons share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most 
  baboons are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is small. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. You have a 
  climb speed of 30 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 slashing damage 
  on a hit. 
   Pack Tactics. As a bonus action you may take 
  advantage of the presence of your allies. You gain 
  Advantage on the next attack roll you make this turn 
  against a creature if at least one of your allies is within 
  5 feet of the creature and the ally isn’t incapacitated. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Baboon 
  The combination of increased Dexterity and Pack 
  Tactics is an extremely potent option for rogues and for 
  dexterity-based fighters and rangers.  
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Fairly straightforward beast. Like other beasts, we’ll 
  treat the Baboon as awakened. 
   Baboons are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   The baboon’s best ability is Dexterity, so we’ll grant 
  +1 Dexterity for 1 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get small size for -1 BP, 30 ft. 
  walking speed for 0.5 BP, 30 ft. climb speed for 2 BP, 
  the ability to speak Common for 0 BP, Pack Tactics for 5 
  BP, and 1d4 natural weapons for 1 BP. 
   At 8 BP, the baboon is at the bottom of our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. It’s perfectly viable for a handful of 
  characters concepts. If you want to strengthen the 
  baboon, increase its Dexterity increase. If you want to 
  weaken the baboon, reduce its walking speed. 
  Badger 
  Omnivorous burrowing mammals. 
  Badger Traits 
  Badgers share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Constitution, +1 Wisdom. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most 
  badgers are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is small. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 ft. You have a 
  burrow speed of 5 ft. 
   Bite and Claws. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 
  piercing or slashing damage on a hit. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Keen Smell. You have advantage on Wisdom 
  (Perception) checks that rely on smell. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Badger 
  Wise and tough, badgers make good druids and 
  rangers. Despite its slow speed, don’t underestimate 
  the effectiveness of the Badger’s ability to burrow. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  
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  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Fairly straightforward beast. Like other beasts, we’ll 
  treat the badger as awakened. 
   Badgers are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   The badger’s two best abilities are Constitution and 
  Wisdom, so we’ll grant +1 to each for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get tiny size for -1.5 BP, 25 
  ft. walking speed (up from 20 ft.), 5 ft. burrow speed 
  for 1.5 BP, Darkvision for 2 BP, and Keen Smell for 0.5 
  BP. Badgers have no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set the 
  badger’s natural weapons to 1d6 for 1.5 BP. 
   At 3.5 BP, the badger is well below our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. If you plan to include it in your game, 
  consider granting skill proficiencies like Survival, or 
  possibly a feat. 
  Bat 
  Flying nocturnal mammals known for their 
  echolocation. 
  Bats Traits 
  Bats share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most bats 
  are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is tiny. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 5 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 piercing damage 
  on a hit. 
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   Blindsight. You have blindsight 60 ft. 
   Echolocation. You can’t use your blindsight while 
  deafened. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Keen Hearing. You have advantage on Wisdom 
  (Perception) checks that rely on hearing. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Bat 
  Bats are nimble, they can fly, and their blindsight 
  allows them to function well in perfect darkness. 
  Consider classes which can capitalize on these 
  strengths like ranger and rogue. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Fairly straightforward beast. Like other beasts, we’ll 
  treat the bat as awakened. 
   Bats are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   The bat’s only notable good ability is Dexterity, so 
  we’ll grant +1 Dexterity for 1 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get tiny size for -1 BP, 5 ft. 
  walking speed for -2 BP, 30 ft. fly speed for 4 BP, 
  blindsight 60 ft. for 6 BP, the ability to speak Common 
  for 0 BP since we’re treating the bat as awakened, 
  echolocation for -1.5 BP, and Keen Hearing for 0.5 BP. 
  Bats have no hands for -2 BP., and we’ll set the bat’s 
  natural weapons to 1d4 for 1 BP. Because they qualify, 
  we’ll add natural weapon finesse for 0 BP. 
   At 4.5 BP, the bat is well below our target range of 8-
  10 BP. Blindsight is great, but likely not enough to 
  make the bat playable. If you plan to include it in your 
  game, consider granting skill proficiencies like 
  Perception, or possibly a feat. 
  Black bear 
  Relatively small bears, black bears are still dangerous. 
  Black Bear Traits 
  Black bears share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +2 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most black 
  bears are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 ft. You have a 
  climb speed of 30 ft. 
   Bite and Claws. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 
  piercing or slashing damage on a hit. 
   Keen Smell. You have advantage on Wisdom 
  (Perception) checks that rely on smell. 
  
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   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 12 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Black Bear 
  Black bears make excellent barbarians and fighters due 
  to their excellent ability score increases, but will have 
  trouble playing other classes. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Fairly straightforward beasts, black bears have no 
  unique traits. Like other beasts, we’ll treat the black 
  bear as awakened. 
   Black bears are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering 
  no specific traits. 
   The black Bear’s strength and constitution are both 
  good, so we’ll grant +2 to each for 4 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, +2 natural 
  armor (up from +1) for 1 BP, 40 ft. walking speed for 1 
  BP, 30 ft. climb speed for 2 BP, the ability to speak 
  Common for 0 BP since we’re treating the black bear as 
  awakened, and Keen Smell for 0.5 BP. Black bears have 
  no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set their natural weapons 
  to 1d8 for 2 BP. 
   At 8 BP, the Black Bear is at the bottom of our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the black 
  bear, increase its natural armor. If you want to weaken 
  the black bear, reduce its natural armor or walking 
  speed. 
  Blink Dog 
  Canine creatures native to the feywild famous for their 
  ability to blink out of existence to attack foes and avoid 
  injury. 
  Blink Dog Traits 
  Blind dogs share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Fey 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Noble and just, most blink dogs are 
  lawful good. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 piercing damage 
  on a hit. 
   Keen Hearing and Smell. You have advantage on 
  Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or 
  smell. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Teleport. As a bonus action, you may teleport 
  yourself and any equipment you are carrying or 
  wearing to an unoccupied space within 40 ft. that you 
  can see. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Languages. You can understand, read, and write in 
  Sylvan. You can speak, read, and write in Blink Dog, but 
  may not speak any other languages. 
  Playing a Blink Dog 
  Blink dogs are nimble and have the ability to teleport, 
  allowing them to quickly move into melee combat. 
  Consider classes like fighter, ranger, and rogue which 
  can take advantage of these capabilities. 
   Blink dogs receive little detail in the Monster 
  Manual, so their personality is poorly defined and it is 
  difficult to suggest what might motivate a blink dog to 
  take up a life of adventure. 
  Design Notes 
  Blink dogs are basically dogs with the ability to teleport 
  short distances.  
   Blink dogs are fey, costing 0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   The blink dog’s best ability by far is Dexterity, so 
  we’ll grant +2 Dexterity for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, 40 ft. 
  walking speed for 1 BP, and Keen Hearing and Smell for 
  1 BP. Blink dogs understand only racial languages plus 
  an additional fixed language for -0.75 BP. They can only 
  speak Blink Dog, which we’ll call -0.75 BP. Blink dogs 
  have no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set their natural 
  weapons to 1d6 for 1.5 BP. 
   The blink dog’s Teleport ability is essentially the 
  same as Misty Step so we’ll re-skin the spell, and allow 
  it to be used once per short rest for a total of 6 BP. 
   At 8.5 BP, the blink dog is within our target range of 
  8-10 BP.  
  
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  Blood Hawk 
  Small raptors with blood-red feathers which hunt in 
  flocks. 
  Blood Hawk Traits 
  Blood hawks share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity, +1 Wisdom. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most 
  blood hawks are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is small. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 10 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 slashing damage 
  on a hit. 
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Pack Tactics. As a bonus action you may take 
  advantage of the presence of your allies. You gain 
  Advantage on the next attack roll you make this turn 
  against a creature if at least one of your allies is within 
  5 feet of the creature and the ally isn’t incapacitated. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 50 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Keen Sight. You have advantage on Wisdom 
  (Perception) checks that rely on sight. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Blood Hawk 
  Blood hawks are nimble and wise, making them 
  excellent rangers. Pack Tactics is extremely useful for 
  rogues, especially when combined with flight. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Fairly straightforward beast. Like other beasts, we’ll 
  treat the blood hawk as awakened. 
   Blood hawks are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering 
  no specific traits. 
   The blood hawk’s Dexterity and Wisdom are both 
  good, so we’ll grant +1 to each for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get small size, 10 ft. walking 
  speed for -1.5 BP, 50 ft. fly speed (down from 60 ft.) for 
  6 BP, the ability to speak Common for 0 BP since we’re 
  treating the blood hawk as awakened, Keen Sight for 
  0.5 BP, and Pack Tactics for 5 BP. Blood hawks have no 
  hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set their natural weapons to 
  1d4 for 1 BP. Because they qualify, we’ll add natural 
  weapon finesse for 0 BP. 
   At 10.5 BP, the blood hawk slightly exceeds our 
  target range of 8-10 BP. Despite its BP cost, it’s still not 
  a great race. 
  Boar 
  Omnivores resembling large hairy pigs with sharp 
  tusks. 
  Boar Traits 
  Boars share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most 
  boars are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 ft. 
   Charge. Once per turn, if you move at least 15 feet 
  toward a creature and hit it with a Strength-based 
  melee weapon attack, the target takes an extra 1d6 
  damage from the attack. This damage increases to 2d6 
  at 5th level, 3d6 at 11th level, and 4d6 at 17th level.  
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 11 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Relentless. When you are reduced to 0 hit points but 
  not killed outright, you can drop to 1 hit point instead. 
  You can’t use this feature again until you finish a long 
  rest. 
   Tusk. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 slashing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Boar 
  Boars are strong, fast, and good at charging. Pick 
  classes which support hit-and-run tactics to capitalize 
  on the bonus damage from Charge. 
  
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   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Fairly straightforward beast. Like other beasts, we’ll 
  treat the boar as awakened. 
   Boars are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   The boar’s ability scores are all fairly poor, but 
  Strength is their best so we’ll grant +1 Strength for 1 
  BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, +1 natural 
  armor for 0.5 BP, 40 ft. walking speed for 1 BP, charge 
  for 2 BP, the ability to speak Common for 0 BP since 
  we’re treating the boar as awakened, and Relentless 
  for 0.5 BP. Boars have no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set 
  their natural weapons to 1d6 for 1.5 BP. 
   At 3 BP, the boar is well below our target range of 8-
  10 BP. It’s largely unplayable. If you plan to include it in 
  your game, consider granting skill proficiencies like 
  Athletics, or possibly a feat. 
   
   
   
  Brown Bear 
  Larger and more aggressive than the black bear. 
   See the traits listed under “Black Bear”, earlier in this 
  section. 
  Design Notes 
  The brown bear is essentially identical to the black bear 
  with slightly better ability scores and a few more hit 
  dice. That’s not enough to distinguish the two as 
  playable races, so we’ll just refer players to the black 
  bear stats. 
  Camel 
  Quadrupedal herd animals famous for the large humps 
  on their backs and for their ability to survive extended 
  periods without water. 
  Camel Traits 
  Camel share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most 
  camels are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 50 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 slashing damage 
  on a hit. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Camel 
  With the camel’s impressive speed, consider serving as 
  a willing mount for your party members. With no 
  hands and weak natural weapons, consider classes 
  which will compensate for your lack of offensive 
  options like Monk. 
  Design Notes 
  Fairly straightforward beast. Like other beasts, we’ll 
  treat the camel as awakened. 
   Camels are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   The camel’s ability scores are all fairly poor, but 
  Strength and Constitution are their best so we’ll grant 
  +1 to each for 2 BP. 
  
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  Races 
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   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), 50 ft. walking speed for 2 BP, and the ability to 
  speak Common for 0 BP since we’re treating the camel 
  as awakened. Camels have no hands for -2 BP, and 
  we’ll set their natural weapons to 1d4 for 1 BP. 
   At 2.5 BP, the camel is well below our target range of 
  8-10 BP. It’s largely unplayable. If you plan to include it 
  in your game, consider granting skill proficiencies like 
  Athletics, or possibly a feat. 
  Cat 
  Small, quadrupedal predators frequently domesticated 
  for their ability to hunt pests. 
  Cat Traits 
  Cat share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most cats 
  are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is small. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 ft. You have a 
  climb speed of 30 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 slashing damage 
  on a hit. 
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Cat 
  With good movement speed and high dexterity, cats 
  make natural rogues. However, their poor natural 
  weapons and lack of hands make them fairly weak 
  without a damage boost like Sneak Attack. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Fairly straightforward beast. Like other beasts, we’ll 
  treat the cat as awakened. 
   Cats are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   The cat’s ability scores are mostly terrible, but their 
  Dexterity is good so we’ll grant +2 Dexterity for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get tiny size for -1 BP, 40 ft. 
  walking speed for 1.5 BP, 30 ft. climb speed for 2 BP, 
  the ability to speak Common for 0 BP since we’re 
  treating the cat as awakened, and Keen Smell for 0.5 
  BP. Cats have no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set their 
  natural weapons to 1d4 for 1 BP. Because they qualify, 
  we’ll add natural weapon finesse for 0 BP. 
   At 3 BP, the cat is well below our target range of 8-
  10 BP. It’s largely unplayable. If you plan to include it in 
  your game, consider granting skill proficiencies like 
  Acrobatics, or possibly a feat. 
  Constrictor Snake 
  Large snakes that kill prey by crushing and strangling 
  them in the snake’s heavy coils. 
  Constrictor Snake Traits 
  Constrictor snakes share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most 
  constrictor snakes are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Bite and Constrict. You are proficient with your 
  unarmed strikes, and may attack with a bite or with a 
  constrict attack. 
   When you attack with a bite, your unarmed strikes 
  deal 1d8 slashing damage on a hit. 
   When you constrict, your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 
  bludgeoning damage on a hit. When you take the 
  Attack action and make a constrict attack, you can use 
  a bonus action to initiate a grapple with the target of 
  your successful unarmed strike. You may grapple even 
  though you have no hands. 
   Blindsight. You have blindsight 10 ft. 
   Serpentine Body. You have no arms or hands. You 
  are unable to wield weapons or wear shields, and 
  cannot use items which require manipulation, including 
  spellcasting foci, wands, tools, etc. You are unable to 
  wear armor. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Constrictor Snake 
  Constrictor snakes have good physical ability scores, 
  decent movement options, and a powerful grapple 
  
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  Races 
  229 
  ability on their natural weapons. Consider classes 
  which work well in melee like barbarian, fighter, and 
  monk. Use your blindsight to ambush hidden or 
  invisible foes and grapple them to keep them from 
  fleeing. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  More complex than many beasts, the constrictor snake 
  has a couple of interesting abilities like blindsight and 
  Grab. Like other beasts, we’ll treat the constrictor as 
  awakened. 
   Constrictor snakes are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   The constrictor snake’s best ability scores are 
  Strength and Dexterity, so we’ll grant +1 to each for 2 
  BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), 30 ft. walking speed, 30 ft. climb speed for 2 BP, 
  blindsight 10 ft. for 4 BP, and Grab for 2 BP. Constrictor 
  snakes have no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set their 
  natural weapons to 2 BP. Due to the nature of the 
  snake’s movement, we’ll disallow armor for -3 BP. 
   At 6.5 BP, the constrictor snake is below our target 
  range of 8-10 BP.  
  Crab 
  Clawed crustaceans valued for their succulent meat. 
  Crab Traits 
  Crab share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. None. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most 
  crabs are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is small. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 ft. You have a 
  swim speed of 20 ft. 
   Blindsight. You have blindsight 60 ft. 
   Claw. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 slashing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 11 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Crab 
  The crab is only useful for its blindsight. Its poor armor, 
  weak natural weapons, and lack of ability increases 
  make it wholly unthreatening.  
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  A fairly straightforward beast. Like other beasts, we’ll 
  treat the crab as awakened. 
   Crabs are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   The crab’s ability scores are all awful, so we’ll omit 
  an ability increase. 
   From the stat block, we get tiny size for -1 BP, +1 
  natural armor for 0.5 BP, 25 ft. walking speed (up from 
  20 ft.) for 0 BP, 20 ft. swim speed for 0.5 BP, blindsight 
  30 ft. for 6 BP, and amphibious for 0.5 BP. Crabs have 
  no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set their natural weapons 
  to 1d4 for 1 BP. 
   At 4.5 BP, the crab is well below our target range of 
  8-10 BP. Blindsight is its only redeeming quality. If you 
  plan to include it in your game, consider granting skill 
  proficiencies like Athletics, or possibly a feat. 
  Crocodile 
  Aquatic predators that emerge from murky pools to 
  ambush their prey. 
  Crocodile Traits 
  Crocodiles share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most 
  crocodiles are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 20 ft. You have a 
  swim speed of 30 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 piercing damage 
  on a hit.  
   When you take the Attack action and make an 
  unarmed strike, you can use a bonus action to initiate a 
  grapple with the target of your successful unarmed 
  strike. 
  
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  Races 
  230 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 12 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Crocodile 
  Strong ambush grapplers, unfortunately the crocodile’s 
  natural hunting methods don’t cater well to a life of 
  adventuring. You will need to adapt to hunting prey 
  outside of the crocodile’s natural habitat. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  A fairly straightforward beast. Like other beasts, we’ll 
  treat the crocodile as awakened. 
   Crocodiles are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   The crocodile’s ability scores aren’t great, but their 
  Strength is good so we’ll grant +2 Strength for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), +2 natural armor for 1 BP, 20 ft. walking speed 
  for -1 BP, 30 ft. swim speed for 2 BP, and 15 minutes of 
  Hold Breath for 0.25 BP, and Grab for 2 BP. Crocodiles 
  have no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll drop their natural 
  weapons to 1d8 for 2 BP. 
   At 5.75 BP, the crocodile is well below our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you plan to include it in your game, 
  consider granting skill proficiencies like Athletics, or 
  possibly a feat. 
  Death Dog 
  Evil, two-headed canine monstrosities with a taste for 
  humanoid flesh. 
  Death Dog Traits 
  Death Dogs share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Evil creatures with a taste for human 
  flash, most death dogs are neutral evil 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 piercing damage 
  on a hit.  
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Superior Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 
  120 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. 
   Two Heads. While both of your heads are awake, 
  you have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks 
  and on saving throws against being blinded, charmed, 
  deafened, frightened, stunned, and knocked 
  unconscious. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Death Dog 
  Death dogs are similar to many beasts, but notable 
  have two heads. This provides several defensive 
  benefits, making the death dog resistant to many 
  debilitating conditions and difficult to survive. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Little more than a beast, the death dog is easy to 
  design. We’ll treat the death dog as awakened. 
   Death dogs are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   The death dog’s physical ability scores are all good, 
  making it difficult to decide what to increase. Since the 
  death dog is mostly a basic beast, we’ll grant +1 
  Strength and +1 Constitution for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, 40 ft. 
  walking speed for 1 BP, 120 ft. Darkvision for 3 BP, and 
  two heads for 3.5 BP, and the ability to speak Common 
  for 0 BP since we’re treating the death dog as 
  awakened Death dogs have no hands for -2 BP, and 
  we’ll set their natural weapons to 1d6 for 1.5 BP. 
   At 9 BP, the death dog falls within our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the death dog, 
  increase its natural weapon damage. If you want to 
  weaken the death dog, remove the Perception benefit 
  of Two Heads. 
  Deer 
  Quadrupedal herbivores native to several continents. 
  Deer Traits 
  Deer share the following racial traits. 
  
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   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity, +1 Wisdom. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most deer 
  are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 50 ft. 
   Gore. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 piercing 
  damage on a hit.  
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Deer 
  The deer’s ability scores make it an excellent Druid, 
  Monk, or Ranger. However, its weak weapons and lack 
  of special traits make it extremely weak compared to 
  other races. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Fairly straightforward beast. Like other beasts, we’ll 
  treat the deer as awakened. 
   Deer are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   The deer’s best ability scores are Dexterity and 
  Wisdom, so we’ll grant +2 Dexterity and +1 Wisdom for 
  3 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, 50 ft. 
  walking speed for 2 BP, and the ability to speak 
  Common for 0 BP since we’re treating the deer as 
  awakened. Deer have no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set 
  their natural weapons to 1d4 for 1 BP. 
   At 3.5 BP, the deer is well below our target range of 
  8-10 BP. Despite fantastic ability scores it’s not really a 
  playable option. If you want to strengthen the deer, 
  increase its natural weapon damage. If you plan to 
  include it in your game, consider granting skill 
  proficiencies like Survival, or possibly a feat. 
  Dire Wolf 
  Larger and more primitive looking than the common 
  wolf. 
   See the traits listed under “Wolf”, later in this 
  section. 
  Design Notes 
  The dire wolf is essentially identical to the wolf with 
  slightly better ability scores and a few more hit dice. 
  That’s not enough to distinguish the two as playable 
  races, so we’ll just refer players to the wolf stats. 
  Draft Horse 
  Larger and stronger than ponies, draft horses are bread 
  for pulling large objects and other forms of labor. 
   See the traits listed under “Pony”, later in this 
  section. 
  Design Notes 
  The draft horse is essentially identical to the pony with 
  slightly better ability scores and a few more hit dice. 
  That’s not enough to distinguish the two as playable 
  races, so we’ll just refer players to the pony stats.  
  Eagle 
  Large raptors, eagles are native to many continents. 
  Eagle Traits 
  Eagles share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity, +1 Wisdom. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most 
  eagles are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is small. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 10 ft. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 60 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Keen Sight. You have advantage on Wisdom 
  (Perception) checks that rely on sight. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Talons. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 piercing 
  damage on a hit.  
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  
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  Playing an Eagle 
  The eagle is fast and nimble, but otherwise weak. 
  Consider classes like druid and ranger which take 
  advantage of the eagle’s ability increases and mobility. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Fairly straightforward beast. Like other beasts, we’ll 
  treat the eagle as awakened. 
   Eagles are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   The eagle’s best ability scores are Dexterity and 
  Wisdom, so we’ll grant +1 to each for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get small size for -1 BP, 10 ft. 
  walking speed for -1.5 BP, 60 ft. fly speed for 7 BP, 
  Keen Sight for 0.5 BP, and the ability to speak Common 
  for 0 BP since we’re treating the eagle as awakened. 
  Eagles have no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set their 
  natural weapons to 1d4 for 1 BP. Because they qualify, 
  we’ll add natural weapon finesse for 0 BP. 
   At 5.5 BP, the eagle is well below our target range of 
  8-10 BP. Despite excellent speed, the eagle is simply 
  too weak to serve as a playable race. If you plan to 
  include it in your game, consider granting skill 
  proficiencies like Perception, or possibly a feat. 
  Elephant 
  Enormous land-dwelling herbivores with huge tusks, 
  and long prehensile trunks. 
  Elephant Traits 
  Elephants share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +2 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most 
  elephants are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 35 ft. 
   Gore and Stomp. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 
  piercing damage or bludgeoning damage on a hit.  
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Trampling Charge. If you move at least 15 feet 
  straight toward a creature then hit it with an unarmed 
  strike on the same turn, you may attempt to shove the 
  target prone as a bonus action (see “Shoving a 
  Creature”, page 195 of the Player’s Handbook). 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing an Elephant 
  Strong, durable, and fast, elephants are powerful 
  chargers. Consider classes like barbarian and fighter 
  which can survive running into and out of melee to 
  take advantage of Trampling Charge. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Fairly straightforward beast. Like other beasts, we’ll 
  treat the elephant as awakened. 
   Elephants are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   The elephant’s best abilities are Strength and 
  Constitution, so we’ll grant +2 to each for 4 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  huge), +3 natural armor for 1.5 BP, 35 ft. walking speed 
  (down from 40 ft.) for 0.5 BP, and the ability to speak 
  Common for 0 BP since we’re treating the elephant as 
  awakened. Elephants have no hands for -2 BP, and 
  we’ll set their natural weapons to 1d8 for 2 BP. 
   Like the triceratops, we’ll reskin Pounce for 2 BP to 
  approximate Trampling Charge. 
   At 8 BP, the elephant bottoms out our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. It’s a fairly boring race, but it’s reasonably 
  playable. If you want to strengthen the elephant, 
  increase its speed. 
  Elk 
  Large, horned quadrupeds resembling enormous deer. 
  Elk Traits 
  Elks share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most elk 
  are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 50 ft. 
  
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   Charge. Once per turn, if you move at least 15 feet 
  toward a creature and hit it with a Strength-based 
  melee weapon attack, the target takes an extra 1d6 
  damage from the attack. This damage increases to 2d6 
  at 5th level, 3d6 at 11th level, and 4d6 at 17th level.  
   Hooves and Ram. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 
  bludgeoning damage on a hit. 
   Knockdown. If you move at least 15 feet straight 
  toward a creature then hit it with an unarmed strike on 
  the same turn, you may attempt to shove the target 
  prone as a bonus action (see “Shoving a Creature”, 
  page 195 of the Player’s Handbook). 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing an Elk 
  Strong and fast, elk excel at charging. Use hit-and-run 
  tactics to capitalize on your Charge and Knockdown 
  traits. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Fairly straightforward beast. Like other beasts, we’ll 
  treat the elk as awakened. 
   Elk are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering no specific 
  traits. 
   The elk’s only good ability is Strength, so we’ll grant 
  +1 Strength for 1 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), 50 ft. walking speed for 2 BP, the ability to speak 
  Common for 0 BP since we’re treating the elk as 
  awakened, and we’ll combine Charge for 2 BP and 
  Pounce for 1.5 BP to approximate the secondary 
  effects on the elk’s Charge. Elk have no hands for -2 BP, 
  and we’ll set their natural weapons to 1d8 for 2 BP. 
   At 6 BP, the elk is below our target range of 8-10 BP. 
  It’s not particularly interesting, but having two charging 
  abilities could make it fun to play. 
  Flying Snake 
  Brightly colored, winged serpents. 
  Flying Snake Traits 
  Flying snakes share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most 
  flying snakes are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is small. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. You have a 
  swim speed of 30 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 piercing damage 
  and 1d4 poison damage on a hit. 
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   Blindsight. You have blindsight 10 ft. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Serpentine Body. You have no arms or hands. You 
  are unable to wield weapons or wear shields, and 
  cannot use items which require manipulation, including 
  spellcasting foci, wands, tools, etc. You are unable to 
  wear armor. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Flying Snake 
  Flying snakes are mobile, dexterous, and have 
  blindsight. As such, they do well in any class that 
  emphasizes stealth, including monk, ranger, and rogue. 
  However, with no ability to wear armor or use shields 
  and with no natural armor they have problems raising 
  their armor class. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Fairly straightforward beast. Like other beasts, we’ll 
  treat the flying snake as awakened. 
   Flying snakes are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering 
  no specific traits. 
   The flying snake’s Dexterity is excellent, so we’ll 
  grant +2 Dexterity for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get small size (up from tiny) 
  for -1 BP, 30 ft. walking speed for 0.5 BP, 30 ft. fly 
  speed (down from 60 ft.) for 4 BP, 30 ft. swim speed 
  for 2 BP, blindsight 10 ft. for 4 BP, the ability to speak 
  
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  Races 
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  Common for 0 BP since we’re treating the elk as 
  awakened, and flyby for 2 BP. Flying snakes have no 
  hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set their natural weapons to 
  1d4 piercing + 1d4 poison for 2 BP. Because they 
  qualify, we’ll add natural weapon finesse for 0 BP. 
   Like other snakes, we’ll also disallow armor for -3 BP. 
   At 10 BP, the flying snake tops out our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. It’s not especially exciting but it’s very 
  mobile and has excellent stats. If you want to 
  strengthen the flying snake, increase its fly speed. If 
  you want to weaken the flying snake, reduce its natural 
  weapon damage or reduce its walking speed. 
  Frog 
  Amphibious creatures native to a wide variety of 
  climates. 
  Frog Traits 
  Frogs share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most frogs 
  are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is tiny. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 20 ft. You have a 
  swim speed of 20 ft. 
   Amphibious. You can breathe air and water. 
   Limited Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 
  30 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. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Standing Leap. Your long jump is up to 30 feet and 
  your high jump is up to 15 feet, with or without a 
  running start. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Frog 
  Frogs are too weak to be reasonably played as a player 
  character. They lack any form of attack, and with no 
  ability to hold spellcasting foci or use somatic 
  components they are unable to cast most spells. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Fairly straightforward beast. Like other beasts, we’ll 
  treat the flying snake as awakened. 
   Frogs are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   The frog’s abilities are atrocious. Dexterity is the only 
  ability score above 10, so we’ll grant +1 Dexterity for 1 
  BP. 
   From the stat block, we get tiny size for -1.5 BP, 20 
  ft. walking speed, 20 ft. swim speed for 0.5 BP, 
  Darkvision 30 ft. for 1.5 BP, the ability to speak 
  Common for 0 BP since we’re treating the frog as 
  awakened, Amphibious for 0.5 BP and Standing Leap 
  for 0.5 BP. The frog has no hands for -2 BP, but does 
  not have any natural weapons to compensate. 
   At 0 BP, the frog is functionally unplayable. 
  Giant Ape 
  Larger and stronger than normal apes. 
   See the traits listed under “Ape”, earlier in this 
  section. 
  Design Notes 
  The giant ape is essentially identical to the ape with 
  slightly better ability scores and a few more hit dice. 
  That’s not enough to distinguish the two as playable 
  races, so we’ll just refer players to the ape stats.  
  Giant Badger 
  Enormous omnivorous mammals that live in burrows. 
  Giant Badger Traits 
  Giant badgers share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +2 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most giant 
  badgers are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. You have a 
  burrow speed of 10 ft. 
   Bite and Claw. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 
  piercing damage or 1d8 slashing damage on a hit. 
   Keen Smell. You have advantage on Wisdom 
  (Perception) checks that rely on smell. 
   Limited Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 
  30 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. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  
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  Playing a Giant Badger 
  Giant badgers tough, and have a burrow speed. 
  However, they’re not very strong and lack natural 
  armor. Consider classes which will keep you alive like 
  barbarian or fighter. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  The giant badger’s stats aren’t much different from 
  those of the standard badger, but they’re different 
  enough to highlight some differences in the stat blocks. 
  As usual, we’ll treat the giant badger as awakened. 
   Giant badgers are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering 
  no specific traits. 
   The giant badger’s abilities aren’t great, but their 
  constitution is good so we’ll grant +2 Constitution for 2 
  BP. We’re going to have a lot of extra BP, so we’ll add a 
  +2 Strength increase as well. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, 30 ft. 
  walking speed, 10 ft. burrow speed for 2 BP, 30 ft. 
  Darkvision for 1.5 BP, Keen Smell for 0.5 BP, and the 
  ability to speak Common for 0 BP since we’re treating 
  the giant badger as awakened. Giant badgers have no 
  hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set their natural weapons to 
  1d8 for 2 BP. 
   At 7.5 BP, the giant badger is below our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the Giant Badger, 
  grant it proficiency in a skill like Ahtletics or Survival. If 
  you want to weaken the giant badger, reduce its ability 
  score increases. 
  Giant Bat 
  Enormous cave-dwelling creatures with leathery wings. 
  Giant Bat Traits 
  Giant bats share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most giant 
  bats are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 10 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 piercing damage 
  on a hit. 
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   Blindsight. You have blindsight 60 ft. 
   Echolocation. You can’t use your blindsight while 
  deafened. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 40 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Keen Hearing. You have advantage on Wisdom 
  (Perception) checks that rely on hearing. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
   
   
  Playing a Giant Bat 
  Giant bats have good physical ability scores, and with 
  blindsight and flight are able to move around quickly in 
  the dark. Consider classes which perform well in 
  darkness like rogue. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Fairly straightforward beast. Like other beasts, we’ll 
  treat the giant bat as awakened. 
   Giant bats are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   Giant bats have good Strength and Dexterity, so we’ll 
  grant +1 to each for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), 10 ft. walking speed for -2 BP, 40 ft. fly speed 
  (down from 60 ft.) for 5 BP, blindsight 60 ft. for 6 BP, 
  the ability to speak Common for 0 BP since we’re 
  
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  Races 
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  treating the bat as awakened, echolocation for -1.5 BP, 
  and Keen Hearing for 0.5 BP. Giant bats have no hands 
  for -2 BP., and we’ll set the giant bat’s natural weapons 
  to 1d6 for 2 BP. Because they qualify, we’ll add natural 
  weapon finesse for 0 BP. 
   At 9.5 BP, the giant bat is within our target range of 
  8-10 BP. Flight and blindsight are a potent combination 
  that could make the giant bat fun to play. If you want 
  to strengthen the giant bat, increase its fly speed. If 
  you want to weaken the giant bat, reduce its fly speed. 
  Giant Boar 
  A larger version of the common boar. 
   See the traits listed under “Boar”, earlier in this 
  section. 
  Design Notes 
  The giant boar is essentially identical to the boar with 
  slightly better ability scores and a few more hit dice. 
  That’s not enough to distinguish the two as playable 
  races, so we’ll just refer players to the boar stats. 
  Giant Centipede 
  Enormous bugs with numerous legs. 
  Giant Centipede Traits 
  Giant centipedes share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most giant 
  centipedes are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is small. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. You have a 
  climb speed of 30 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 piercing damage 
  and 1d4 poison damage on a hit. 
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   Blindsight. You have blindsight 60 ft. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 11 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Giant Centipede 
  Giant centipedes are nimble and quick, and have 
  excellent blindsight, allowing them to thrive in 
  darkness. Consider classes like monk, ranger, and 
  rogue which perform well while being stealthy. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Fairly straightforward beast. Like other beasts, we’ll 
  treat the giant centipede as awakened. 
   Giant centipedes are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   Giant centipedes have poor stats, but their Dexterity 
  is decent so we’ll grant +1 Dexterity for 1 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get small size, +1 natural 
  armor for 0.5 BP, 30 ft. walking speed for 0.5 BP, 30 ft. 
  climb speed for 2 BP, blindsight 30 ft. for 6 BP, and the 
  ability to speak Common since we’re treating the giant 
  centipede as awakened. Giant centipedes have no 
  hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set their natural weapons to 
  1d4 piercing and 1d4 poison for 2 BP. Because they 
  qualify, we’ll add natural weapon finesse for 0 BP. 
   We’ll abandon the paralysis mechanic of the giant 
  centipede’s bite to save BP. 
   At 9.5 BP, the giant centipede is within our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. It’s playable, but not very exciting. 
  Giant Constrictor Snake 
  Larger still than the already immense constrictor snake. 
   See the traits listed under “Constrictor Snake”, 
  earlier in this section. 
  Design Notes 
  The giant constrictor snake is essentially identical to 
  the constrictor snake with slightly better ability scores 
  and a few more hit dice. That’s not enough to 
  distinguish the two as playable races, so we’ll just refer 
  players to the constrictor snake stats. 
  Giant Crab 
  Enormous crustaceans capable of grasping a full-grown 
  human in their claws. 
  Giant Crab Traits 
  Giant crabs share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
  
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   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most giant 
  crabs are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. You have a 
  swim speed of 30 ft. 
   Blindsight. You have blindsight 30 ft. 
   Amphibious. You can breathe air and water. 
   Claw. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 piercing 
  damage a on a hit. 
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Giant Crab 
  Giant crabs are quick and have natural armor and blind 
  sight. This combination of mobility, durability, and 
  senses makes them excellent stealth characters, either 
  as a monk, a ranger, or a rogue. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Fairly straightforward beast. Like other beasts, we’ll 
  treat the giant crab as awakened. 
   Giant crabs are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering 
  no specific traits. 
   Giant crabs have poor stats, but their Dexterity is 
  decent so we’ll grant +1 Dexterity for 1 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, +2 natural 
  armor (down from +3) for 1 BP, 30 ft. walking speed, 30 
  ft. swim speed for 2 BP, 30 ft. blindsight for 6 BP, the 
  ability to speak Common since we’re treating the giant 
  crab as awakened, Amphibious for 0.5 BP, and Grab for 
  2 BP. Giant crabs have no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set 
  their natural weapons to 1d6 for 1.5 BP. Because they 
  qualify, we’ll add natural weapon finesse for 0 BP. 
   At 11.5 BP, the giant crab exceeds our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. However, I don’t think it’s much more 
  appealing than any published race. If you want to 
  strengthen the giant crab, increase its natural weapon 
  damage. If you want to weaken the giant crab, reduce 
  its blindsight range or remove its natural armor. 
  Giant Crocodile 
  Truly massive lizards that dwell in warm, murky waters. 
   See the traits listed under “Crocodile”, earlier in this 
  section. 
  Design Notes 
  The giant crocodile is essentially identical to the 
  crocodile with slightly better ability scores and a few 
  more hit dice. That’s not enough to distinguish the two 
  as playable races, so we’ll just refer players to the 
  crocodile stats. 
  Giant Eagle 
  Enormous raptors strong enough to carry off full grown 
  humans. Unlike most beasts, giants are intelligent. 
  Giant Eagle Traits 
  Giant eagles share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. One of few naturally intelligent beasts, 
  most giant eagles are neutral good. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 10 ft. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 60 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Keen Sight. You have advantage on Wisdom 
  (Perception) checks that rely on sight. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Talons. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 piercing 
  damage on a hit.  
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Giant 
  Eagle. You can understand, read, and write in Common 
  and Auran, but can’t speak any language except Giant 
  Eagle. 
  
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  Playing a Giant Eagle 
  Giant eagles are both strong and nimble, giving them 
  numerous class options. Consider classes which do well 
  in melee like barbarian and fighter, but don’t ignore 
  classes like ranger or rogue just because they lack the 
  sheer martial might of other classes. 
   Giant eagles are described as noble, and are among 
  few naturally intelligent beasts. With little information 
  provided on giant eagle culture and personality, you’ll 
  need to fill in the gaps. 
  Design Notes 
  Fairly straightforward beast. Notably, giant eagles are 
  already intelligent. 
   Giant eagles are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering 
  no specific traits. 
   Giant eagles have excellent physical ability scores. 
  Strength and Dexterity are the best, so we’ll grant +1 to 
  each for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), 10 ft. walking speed for -2 BP, 80 ft. fly speed for 
  9 BP, and Keen Sight for 0.5 BP. Giant Eagles can speak 
  only their own language, but can understand Common 
  and Auran. We’ll call that Common plus a racial 
  language and an additional fixed language for 0.25 BP, 
  and we’ll apply half of the Can’t Speak penalty for -0.75 
  BP. Giant eagles have no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set 
  their natural weapons to 1d8 for 2 BP. Because they 
  qualify, we’ll add natural weapon finesse for 0 BP. 
   At 8.5 BP, the giant eagle is within our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. However, most of this BP comes from the 
  giant eagle’s fly speed, so the race isn’t especially 
  interesting.  
  Giant Elk 
  Horned herd animals the size of elephants. 
   See the traits listed under “Elk”, earlier in this 
  section. 
  Design Notes 
  The giant elk is essentially identical to the elk with 
  slightly better ability scores and a few more hit dice. 
  That’s not enough to distinguish the two as playable 
  races, so we’ll just refer players to the elk stats. 
  Giant Fire Beetle 
  Nocturnal insects the size of dogs known for their 
  glowing glands. 
  Giant Fire Beetle Traits 
  Giant fire beetles share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most giant 
  fire beetles are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is small. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 slashing damage 
  on a hit.  
   Blindsight. You have blindsight 30 ft. 
   Illumination. You shed bright light in a 10-foot radius 
  and dim light for an additional 10 feet.  
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Giant Fire Beetle 
  Giant fire beetles are durable, but their illumination 
  makes them an easy target. Blindsight allows them to 
  operate in darkness, but since they glow they’re unable 
  to use mundane darkness to their advantage. Consider 
  classes like barbarian or fighter which are capable of 
  surviving drawing a lot of attacks. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Fairly straightforward beast. Like other beasts, we’ll 
  treat the giant fire beetle as awakened. 
   Giant fire beetles are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   Giant fire beetles have terrible ability scores. 
  Constitution is the only one above 10 (barely), so we’ll 
  grant +1 Constitution for 1 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get small size for -1 BP, +3 
  natural armor for 1.5 BP, 30 ft. walking speed for 0.5 
  BP, 30 ft. blindsight for 6 BP, Illumination for 0.25 BP. 
  Giant fire beetles have no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set 
  their natural weapons to 1d6 for 1.5 BP. 
   At 7.25 BP, the giant fire beetle is below our target 
  range of 8-10 BP.  It’s close to a reasonably BP value, 
  but it’s barely playable. If you want to strengthen the 
  
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  giant fire beetle, grant it some natural armor, increase 
  its natural weapon damage, or increase its Constitution 
  modifier. 
  Giant Frog 
  Enormous amphibians that prey on nearly anything 
  they can swallow. 
  Giant Frog Traits 
  Giant frogs share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +1 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most giant 
  frogs are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. and you 
  have a swim speed of 30 ft. 
   Amphibious. You can breathe air and water. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 piercing damage 
  a on a hit. 
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   When you take the Attack action and make an 
  unarmed strike, you can use a bonus action to initiate a 
  grapple with the target of your successful unarmed 
  strike. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Giant Frogs 
  Giant frogs are strong and nimble, but lack natural 
  armor. Either wear manufactured armor, or consider 
  classes like barbarian and monk with offer other 
  options to raise your armor class. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Fairly straightforward beast. Like other beasts, we’ll 
  treat the giant frog as awakened. 
   Giant frogs are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   The giant frog’s abilities aren’t great, but we’ll grant 
  +2 Strength and +1 Dexterity for 3 BP since those are 
  their best ability scores. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, 30 ft. 
  walking speed, 30 ft. swim speed for 1 BP, 30 ft. 
  Darkvision for 1.5 BP, the ability to speak Common 
  since we’re treating the giant frog as awakened, 
  Amphibious for 0.5 BP, and Standing Leap for 0.5 BP. 
  Giant frogs have no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll raise the 
  giant frog’s natural weapons to 1d8 for 2 BP and add 
  Grab for 2 BP. Because they qualify, we’ll add natural 
  weapon finesse for 0 BP. 
   We really can’t grant Swallow to players. It’s too 
  easy to abuse, and it would win most fights against 
  medium or smaller creatures with little effort on the 
  player’s part. 
   At 8 BP, the giant frog is at the bottom of our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the giant 
  frog, grant it natural armor. If you want to weaken the 
  giant frog, reduce its Strength increase. 
  Giant Goat 
  Enormous quadrupeds native to mountainous 
  environments, and are known for their grand, curved 
  horns. 
  Giant Goat Traits 
  Giant goats share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +1 Wisdom. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most giant 
  goats are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 ft. 
   Charge. Once per turn, if you move at least 15 feet 
  toward a creature and hit it with a Strength-based 
  melee weapon attack, the target takes an extra 1d6 
  damage from the attack. This damage increases to 2d6 
  at 5th level, 3d6 at 11th level, and 4d6 at 17th level.  
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 11 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Ram. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 bludgeoning 
  damage a on a hit. 
  
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   Sure-Footed. You have advantage on Strength and 
  Dexterity saving throws made against effects that 
  would knock you prone. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Giant Goat 
  Giant goats are strong and wise, making them excellent 
  druids, fighters, monks, and rangers. Their natural 
  armor is poor, so consider wearing manufactured 
  armor. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Fairly straightforward beast. Like other beasts, we’ll 
  treat the giant goat as awakened. 
   Giant goats are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering 
  no specific traits. 
   The giant goat’s ability scores are pretty typical for a 
  large animal, but they’ve got abnormally high Wisdom. 
  We’ll grant +2 Strength and +1 Wisdom for 3 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), +1 natural armor for 0.5 BP, 40 ft. walking speed 
  for 1 BP, the ability to speak Common since we’re 
  treating the giant goat as awakened, and Charge for 2 
  BP. Giant goats have no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set 
  their natural weapons to 1d8 for 2 BP. 
   Surefooted is new, but it’s also really situational. 
  We’ll call it 0.5 BP. 
   At 6.5 BP, the giant goat is below our target range of 
  8-10 BP. It’s not a terrible race, but it’s not especially 
  interesting. If you want to strengthen the giant goat, 
  increase its natural armor. If you want to weaken the 
  giant goat, reduce its natural weapon damage. 
  Giant Hyena 
  Larger and even more vicious than their smaller 
  cousins. 
  Giant Hyena Traits 
  Giant hyenas share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most giant 
  hyenas are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 piercing damage 
  on a hit. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Rampage. When you reduce a creature to 0 hit 
  points with a melee attack on your turn, you can take a 
  bonus action to move up to half your speed and make 
  a bite attack. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Giant Hyena 
  Strong and tough, hyenas make excellent barbarians 
  and fighters. Rampage provides an easy way to get an 
  extra attack, so try to focus on eliminating weak but 
  numerous foes to thin their numbers quickly. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Fairly straightforward beast. Like other beasts, we’ll 
  treat the giant hyena as awakened. 
   Giant hyenas are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering 
  no specific traits. 
   The giant hyena’s ability scores are surprisingly good 
  for a mundane beast. Unfortunately, that makes it hard 
  to decide what to improve. We’ll grant +2 Strength and 
  +1 Constitution for 3 BP since those will dominate the 
  abilities that giant hyena characters use. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), 40 ft. walking speed (down from 50 ft.) for 1 BP, 
  and the ability to speak Common since we’re treating 
  the giant hyena as awakened. Giant hyenas have no 
  hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set their natural weapons to 
  1d8 for 2 BP. 
   We’ll copy Rampage from the gnoll for 2 BP. 
   At 5.5 BP, the giant hyena is well below our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. Improving it numerically won’t make 
  it much better, and there isn’t much inspiration to add 
  additional features. If you want to strengthen giant 
  hyena, increase its Constitution increase , increase its 
  speed, or grant it Pack Tactics. 
  Giant Lizard 
  Enormous reptiles as large as horses, they dwell in a 
  variety of warm climates. 
  
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  Giant Lizard Traits 
  Giant lizards share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most giant 
  lizards are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 piercing damage 
  on a hit. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 11 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Gecko 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. You have a 
  climb speed of 30 ft. 
   Spider Climb. You can climb difficult surfaces, 
  including upside down on ceilings, without needing to 
  make an ability check. 
  Iguana 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 ft. You have a 
  climb speed of 30 ft. 
  Salamander 
   Hold Breath. You can hold your breath for 15 
  minutes. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. You have a 
  climb speed of 30 ft. and a swim speed of 30 ft. 
  Playing a Giant Lizard 
  Strong and quick, giant lizard make excellent 
  barbarians and fighters. The three versions of the giant 
  lizard offer you options to suit the environment in 
  which your campaign will primarily take place. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Fairly straightforward beast. Like other beasts, we’ll 
  treat the giant lizard as awakened. 
   Giant lizards are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering 
  no specific traits. 
   The giant lizard’s ability scores are fairly typical for a 
  mundane beast. We’ll grant +2 Strength and +1 
  Constitution for 3 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), +1 natural armor for 0.5 BP, 30 ft. walking 
  speed, 30 ft. climb speed for 2 BP, 30 ft. Darkvision for 
  1.5 BP, and the ability to speak Common since we’re 
  treating the giant lizard as awakened. Giant lizards 
  have no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set their natural 
  weapons to 1d8 for 2 BP. 
   With the basic lizard covered, I want to address the 
  optional variant lizards presented in the Monster 
  Manual. I love diversity in races, so covering different 
  varieties of lizards seems like a fun idea. 
   Hold breath is 0.25 BP, and a swim speed is another 
  1 BP. Spider climb is 1 BP, but I don’t think we need to 
  worry about a 0.25 BP difference. I also don’t want the 
  generic lizard to be totally worthless, so we’ll grant +10 
  walking speed for 1 BP. 
   At 7.5 or 7.75 BP, the giant lizard is just below our 
  target range of 8-10 BP. With three subraces to choose 
  from, players have some fun options. If you want to 
  strengthen the giant lizard, increase its natural armor. 
  If you want to weaken the giant lizard, reduce its 
  Strength increase. 
  Giant Octopus 
  Enormous aquatic creatures with soft bodies and 
  incredibly powerful tentacles. 
  Giant Octopus Traits 
  Giant octopi share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most giant 
  octopi are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 10 ft. You have a 
  swim speed of 60 ft. 
   Amorphous. Your body is not completely rigid, and 
  your limbs often fluctuate in size and shape as you 
  move. You can move through a space as narrow as 1 
  inch wide without squeezing. You are unable to wear 
  armor. 
   Camouflage. You have advantage on Dexterity 
  (Stealth) checks made while underwater. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Hold Breath. You can hold your breath for 1 hour. 
  
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   Ink Cloud. A 20-foot radius cloud of ink extends all 
  around you if you are underwater. The area is heavily 
  obscured for 1 minute, although a significant current 
  can disperse the ink. Immediately after releasing the 
  ink, you can use the Dash action as a bonus action. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields. However, your tentacles are nimble enough to 
  manipulate and use most other objects. 
   Tentacles. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 
  bludgeoning damage on a hit. 
   Water Breathing. You can breathe only underwater. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Giant Octopus 
  Octopi are interesting beasts. Clever, inventive, and 
  intelligent enough to use simple tools. They can 
  squeeze through small spaces, and are dangerous 
  grapplers. However, their inability to wear armor 
  makes them vulnerable in extended combat. Consider 
  classes which provide alternatives to manufactured 
  armor like barbarian and monk. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Despite how complex and interesting octopi are in real 
  life their stat block is fairly simple. Since players will 
  spend so much more time playing an octopus than a 
  dungeon master would spend running a monster, we’ll 
  need to make some additions to match the exceptional 
  capabilities of real-world octopi. 
   Giant octopi are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering 
  no specific traits. 
   The giant octopus’s strength is fantastic, but its other 
  ability scores aren’t great. We’ll grant +2 Strength for 2 
  BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), 10 ft. walking speed for -2 BP, 60 ft. swim speed 
  for 2.5 BP, Darkvision for 2 BP, and the ability to speak 
  Common since we’re treating the giant octopus as 
  awakened.  
   Octopi are aquatic, and can’t breathe air. Hold 
  Breath works fine with this change, so we’ll grant 1 
  hour of Hold Breath for 1 BP, and Water Breathing for 
  0 BP.  
   Camouflage is a bit of a problem. Normally it’s 
  specific to a particular terrain like forests or rocky 
  terrain, but “underwater” is really broad for an aquatic 
  creature. We’ll call it 1 BP, but that might be too low if 
  the campaign spends a lot of time underwater. 
   Octopi don’t have hands, but they have prehensile 
  tentacles which are nimble enough to use simple tools. 
  I don’t think they could reasonably swing a weapon or 
  hold a shield, but they’ve been recorded opening door 
  knobs and other such tasks. So we’ll grant No Hands for 
  -1.5 BP and expand the description the mention the 
  octopus’s awesome tentacles. 
   We’ll set the giant octopus’s natural weapons to 1d8 
  for 2 BP and add Grab for another 2 BP. 
   Ink Cloud is pretty similar to fog cloud, though it only 
  works underwater and also allows the octopus to Dash 
  as a bonus action. A 1st-level spell allowed two levels 
  early, and usable once per short rest is 2.75 BP. The 
  water limitation is significant, but I except octopi will 
  primarily be used in underwater campaigns. Dashing in 
  combination with fog cloud is great, but it only occurs 
  once per short rest. We’ll call the whole thing 3 BP. 
   Though the stat block doesn’t mention it, one of the 
  many wonderful capabilities of octopi is that they can 
  squeeze through any space small enough to fit their 
  beak. We’ll add Amorphous for 0.5 BP. Of course, their 
  movement relies heavily on the fact their bodies are 
  soft and malleable. We’ll disallow armor for -3 BP. 
   At 9 BP, the octopus is well within our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. It’s an interesting race, but as you might 
  expect it will have a lot of issues in land-based 
  campaigns. If you want to strengthen the giant 
  octopus, grant it natural armor. If you want to weaken 
  the giant octopus, reduce its Strength increase. 
  Giant Owl 
  Enormous, nocturnal birds of prey known for their 
  near-silent flight despite their immense size. 
  Giant Owl Traits 
  Giant owls share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Though they often befriend creatures 
  like fey or other chaotic-aligned forest creatures, most 
  owls are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 5 ft. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 60 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
  
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   Flyby. You may perform the Disengage action as a 
  bonus action.  
   Keen Hearing and Sight. You have advantage on 
  Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or 
  sight. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Superior Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 
  120 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. 
   Talons. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 piercing 
  damage on a hit.  
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Giant 
  Owl, but cannot speak other languages. You can 
  understand, read, and write in common, elvish, and 
  sylvan. 
  Playing a Giant Owl 
  Fast and nimble with excellent Darkvision, giant owls 
  are excellent scouts, especially at night. Consider 
  classes which can take advantage of your mobility like 
  fighter or rogue. 
   Giant owls are one of very few naturally intelligent 
  beasts. The Monster Manual doesn’t explore their 
  personality or society, so you’ll need to create those on 
  your own. 
  Design Notes 
  Giant owls are mostly simple beasts, but notably 
  they’re one of very few beasts which are intelligent 
  without being awakened. Beyond that distinction, 
  they’re very simple.  
   Giant owls are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   The giant Dexterity is the giant owl’s only particularly 
  good ability score, and it’s still not great. We’ll grant +1 
  Dexterity for 1 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), 5 ft. walking speed for -2.5 BP, 60 ft. flying 
  speed for 7 BP, 120 ft. Darkvision for 3 BP, flyby for 2 
  BP, and keen hearing and sight for 0.5 BP. Giant owls 
  have no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set their natural 
  weapons to 1d8 for 2 BP. Because they qualify, we’ll 
  add natural weapon finesse for 0 BP. 
   Giant owls speak their own language, but can only 
  understand other languages. We’ll call the limited 
  ability to speak -0.75 BP like we did with the blink dog. 
  Giant owls get their own language plus two fixed 
  languages for a total of -0.5 BP.  
   At 9.25 BP, the giant owl is within our target range of 
  8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the giant owl, grant 
  it a +1 Wisdom increase. If you want to weaken the 
  giant owl, reduce its flight speed. 
  Giant Poisonous Snake 
  Enormous predators which hunt by biting and 
  poisoning their prey. 
  Giant Poisonous Snake Traits 
  Giant poisonous snakes share the following racial 
  traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most giant 
  poisonous snakes are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. You have a 
  swim speed of 30 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 piercing damage 
  and 1d4 poison damage on a hit.  
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   Blindsight. You have blindsight 10 ft. 
   Serpentine Body. You have no arms or hands. You 
  are unable to wield weapons or wear shields, and 
  cannot use items which require manipulation, including 
  spellcasting foci, wands, tools, etc. You are unable to 
  wear armor. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Giant Poisonous Snake 
  With high Dexterity and blindsight, giant poisonous 
  snakes are natural rogues. However, with no ability to 
  wear armor and no natural armor you will need to be 
  very cautious about protecting yourself in combat. 
  Consider classes like barbarian and monk which 
  provide alternatives to manufactured armor. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  
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  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Giant poisonous snakes are simple beasts, possessing 
  no unique or difficult traits. Like other beasts, we’ll 
  treat the giant poisonous snake as awakened. 
   Giant poisonous snakes are beasts, costing -0.5 BP 
  but offering no specific traits. 
   Dexterity is the giant poisonous snake’s only 
  particularly good ability score, so we’ll grant +2 
  Dexterity for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, 30 ft. 
  walking speed for 0 BP, 30 ft. swim speed for 1 BP, and 
  10 ft. Blindsight for 4 BP. Since we’re treating the giant 
  poisonous snake as awakened, we’ll grant the ability to 
  speak Common for 0 BP. Giant poisonous snakes have 
  no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set their natural weapons 
  to 1d4 and 1d4 poison for 2 BP. We’ll also disallow 
  armor for -3 BP because I have no idea how you would 
  armor a snake. 
   At 3.5 BP, the giant poisonous snake is well below 
  our target range of 8-10 BP. If you plan to include it in 
  your game, consider granting skill proficiencies like 
  Stealth, or possibly a feat. 
  Giant Rat 
  Oversized cousin of the omnipresent vermin, giant rats 
  are more dangerous than their smaller relatives and 
  are just likely to carry contagious diseases. 
  Giant Rat Traits 
  Giant rats share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most giant 
  rats are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is small. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 piercing damage 
  on a hit.  
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   Keen Smell. You have advantage on Wisdom 
  (Perception) checks that rely on smell. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Pack Tactics. As a bonus action you may take 
  advantage of the presence of your allies. You gain 
  Advantage on the next attack roll you make this turn 
  against a creature if at least one of your allies is within 
  5 feet of the creature and the ally isn’t incapacitated. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Giant Rat 
  High Dexterity and Pack Tactics can make the giant rat 
  a potent melee threat. However, with a weak natural 
  weapon you’ll need to look for ways to boost your 
  damage output. Consider classes like Monk and Rogue 
  which offer damage boosts which can easily capitalize 
  on Pack Tactics. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Giant rats are simple beasts, possessing no unique or 
  difficult traits. Like other beasts, we’ll treat the giant 
  rat as awakened. 
   Giant rats are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   Dexterity is the giant rat’s only particularly good 
  ability score, so we’ll grant +2 Dexterity for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get small size for -1 BP, 30 ft. 
  walking speed for 0.5 BP, Darkvision for 2 BP, Keen 
  Smell for 0.5 BP, Pack Tactics for 5 BP. Since we’re 
  treating the giant rat as awakened, we’ll grant the 
  ability to speak Common for 0 BP. Giant rats have no 
  hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set their natural weapons to 
  1d4 for 1 BP. Because they qualify, we’ll add natural 
  weapon finesse for 0 BP. 
   At 7.5 BP, the giant rat is just below our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. It’s not very interesting, but a race with 
  good Dexterity and Pack Tactics can be very effective. If 
  you want to strengthen the giant rat, grant it a swim 
  speed or proficiency in Stealth. If you want to weaken 
  the giant rat, reduce its Dexterity increase. 
  Giant Scorpion 
  Enormous arachnids with crushing claws and a 
  poisonous sting. 
  
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  Giant Scorpion Traits 
  Giant scorpions share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most giant 
  scorpions are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Blindsight. You have blindsight 30 ft. 
   Claws and Sting. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 
  piercing damage and 1d4 poison damage on a hit with 
  your sting, or 1d8 damage with your claws.  
   When you take the Attack action and make an 
  unarmed strike, you can use a bonus action to initiate a 
  grapple with the target of your successful unarmed 
  strike, provided that you made the attack with your 
  claws. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 12 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Giant Scorpion 
  A terrifying physical threat, the giant scorpion makes 
  an excellent barbarian or fighter. The scorpion’s claws 
  provide an easy way to grapple foes, keeping them in 
  place while you overpower them. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  The giant scorpion is horrifying. It’s fast, it has 
  blindsight, it has Grab, and it does a pile of poison 
  damage. It’s strange for a beast, but we’ll need to 
  make some cuts to make it playable. Like other beasts, 
  we’ll treat the giant scorpion as awakened. 
   Giant scorpions are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   The giant scorpion’s Strength and Constitution are 
  both decent, so we’ll grant +1 to each for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), +2 natural armor (down from +4) for 1 BP, 30 ft. 
  walking speed (down from 40 ft.) for 0 BP, and 30 ft. 
  Blindsight (down from 60 ft.) for 6 BP. Since we’re 
  treating the giant scorpion as awakened, we’ll grant 
  the ability to speak Common for 0 BP. Giant snakes 
  have no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set their natural 
  weapons to 1d8 for 2 BP, we’ll add Grab for 2 BP, and 
  we’ll allow the scorpion to deal 1d4 piercing and 1d4 
  poison damage if it forgoes Grab. 
   At 10.5 BP, the giant scorpion exceeds our target BP 
  range of 8-10 BP. It’s powerful, but lacks versatility and 
  adaptability. If you want to strengthen the giant 
  scorpion, increase its natural armor by 1 or 2. If you 
  want to weaken the giant scorpion, remove blindsight. 
  Giant Sea Horse 
  Enormous fish with heads that resemble land-born 
  horses, giant sear horses occasionally serve as mounts 
  for aquatic humanoids. 
  Giant Sea Horse Traits 
  Giant sea horses share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most giant 
  sea horses are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 0 ft. You have a 
  swim speed of 40 ft. 
   Charge. Once per turn, if you move at least 15 feet 
  toward a creature and hit it with a Strength-based 
  melee weapon attack, the target takes an extra 1d6 
  damage from the attack. This damage increases to 2d6 
  at 5th level, 3d6 at 11th level, and 4d6 at 17th level.  
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 11 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Ram. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 bludgeoning 
  damage on a hit.  
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   Water Breathing. You can breathe only underwater. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Giant Sea Horse 
  With increased Strength and Dexterity but no hands, 
  the giant seahorse is a potent physical threat. Choose a 
  
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  class which can easily capitalize on the damage boost 
  from Charge, like barbarian or fighter. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  The giant sea horse is an aquatic charger similar to the 
  giant elk. However, unlike other chargers, it’s more 
  Dexterity-based, which makes it difficult to make into a 
  logical and playable race. The beast isn’t particularly 
  strong, so we’ll need to make some enhancements to 
  make it playable. Like other beasts, we’ll treat the giant 
  scorpion as awakened. 
   Giant sea horses are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   The giant sea horse’s Dexterity is decent, but that’s 
  not enough. The sea horse has Charge, which requires 
  Strength, so we’ll grant +1 Strength and +1 Dexterity 
  for 3 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), +2 natural armor (up from +1) for 1 BP, 0 ft. 
  walking speed for -3 BP, 40 ft. swim speed for 1.5 BP, 
  Charge for 2 BP, and Water Breathing for 0 BP. Since 
  we’re treating the giant scorpion as awakened, we’ll 
  grant the ability to speak Common for 0 BP. Giant sea 
  horses have no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set their 
  natural weapons to 1d8 for 2 BP (up from 1d6). 
  Because they qualify, we’ll add natural weapon finesse 
  for 0 BP. 
   At just 3 BP the giant sea horse is far below our 
  target range of 8-10 BP. It’s hard to see a way to make 
  it playable, though in a purely underwater campaign it 
  might be passable since lacking a land speed isn’t a 
  handicap. If you want to strengthen the sea horse, 
  increase its ability increases or natural armor.  
  Giant Shark 
  Even larger than hunter sharks, giant sharks prey on 
  nearly anything that moves, including passing ships. 
   See the traits listed under “Hunter Shark”, later in 
  this section. 
  Design Notes 
  There are three varieties of shark presented in the 
  Monster Manual. While the reef shark is a better 
  representation of sharks which hunt in schools, the 
  giant shark and the hunter shark are differentiate only 
  by their numeric stats and their size. Since we need to 
  reduce both of their sizes to medium, they’re 
  functionally identical, so we’ll just refer players to the 
  hunter shark. 
  Giant Spider 
  Arachnids as big as a full-grown human, giant spiders 
  catch prey in elaborate sticky webs. 
  Giant Spider Traits 
  Giant spiders share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +2 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most giant 
  spiders are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. and you 
  have a climb speed of 30 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 piercing damage 
  and 1d4 poison damage on a hit.  
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 11 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Spider Climb. You can climb difficult surfaces, 
  including upside down on ceilings, without needing to 
  make an ability check. 
   Web. You may shoot sticky webs from your body as 
  a ranged weapon attack. This attack has 30/60 range. 
  On a hit, the creature is restrained by webbing. As an 
  action, the restrained creature can make a Strength 
  check against a DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus 
  + your Constitution bonus, escaping from the webbing 
  on a success. The effect ends if the webbing is 
  destroyed. The webbing has AC 10, 5 hit points, 
  resistance to bludgeoning damage, and immunity to 
  poison and psychic damage. 
   Web Walker. You ignore movement restrictions 
  caused by webbing. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  
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  Races 
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  Playing a Giant Spider 
  Giant spiders are mobile and deadly. Spider Climb 
  allows you to easily traverse walls and ceilings, 
  allowing you to easily reach places normally 
  inaccessible to most creatures. Web provides a 
  powerful means of immobilizing your foes while you 
  move in to attack them. Consider classes like 
  barbarian, fighter, and rogue which fare well in melee 
  combat and which can take advantage of your ability to 
  immobilize foes. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Gross. Giant spiders have a whole mess of useful traits 
  which make them surprisingly interesting as a race 
  option. We can borrow some design elements from the 
  Ettercap, too. Like other beasts, we’ll treat the giant 
  spider as awakened. 
   Giant spiders are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering 
  no specific traits. 
   The giant spider’s Dexterity is its best ability, but its 
  Strength isn’t bad either. We’ll grant +2 Dexterity and 
  +1 Strength for 3 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), +1 natural armor for 0.5 BP, 30 ft. walking 
  speed, 30 ft. climb speed for 2 BP, Darkvision for 2 BP, 
  Spider Climb for 1 BP, and Web Walker for 0.5 BP. We’ll 
  drop blindsight to conserve BP. Since we’re treating the 
  giant spider as awakened, we’ll grant the ability to 
  speak Common for 0 BP. Giant spiders have no hands 
  for -2 BP, and we’ll set their natural weapons to 1d4 
  and 1d4 poison for 2 BP. Because they qualify, we’ll 
  add natural weapon finesse for 0 BP. 
   The giant spider’s version of Web differs very slightly 
  from the Ettercaps’s. The spider’s web is weak to fire, 
  but totally immune to bludgeoning damage instead of 
  merely resistant. I don’t think this is enough to justify a 
  BP change, so we’ll keep Web for 1 BP. 
   At 9.5 BP, the giant spider is within our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the giant spider, 
  increase its natural armor. If you want to weaken the 
  giant spider, remove its Strength increase. 
  Giant Toad 
  Amphibious predators the size of a horse. 
   See the traits listed under “Giant Frog”, earlier in this 
  section. 
  Design Notes 
  While the difference between frogs and toads matters 
  in the real world, the mechanical difference between 
  the giant frog and the giant toad boils down to size and 
  slightly bigger numbers. We’ll just refer players to the 
  giant frog. 
  Giant Vulture 
  Possessing greater intellect than many beasts, giant 
  vultures are evil scavengers. While they feed mostly on 
  the bodies of the already dead, a hungry flock of 
  vultures will not hesitate to speed the process along. 
  Giant Vulture Traits 
  Giant vultures share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Giant vultures have no qualms about 
  killing and eating intelligent creatures, and will pursue 
  them for days to slowly watch them die. Most giant 
  vultures are neutral evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 10 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 piercing damage 
  on a hit.  
   Can’t Speak. You are unable to speak, but are still 
  able to read, write, and understand any languages 
  which you know. You are unable to perform verbal 
  spell components. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 40 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Keen Sight and Smell. You have advantage on 
  Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight or smell. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Pack Tactics. As a bonus action you may take 
  advantage of the presence of your allies. You gain 
  Advantage on the next attack roll you make this turn 
  against a creature if at least one of your allies is within 
  5 feet of the creature and the ally isn’t incapacitated. 
   Languages. You can read and understand Common. 
  Playing a Giant Vulture 
  Strong flyers with the advantage of Pack Tactics, giant 
  vultures are a potent physical threat if they have 
  nearby allies. With Keen Sight and Smell, the ability to 
  fly makes you an excellent scout. With no ability to use 
  
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  weapons, consider classes which excel in melee 
  combat like barbarian, monk, and ranger. 
   Giant vultures are among very few naturally 
  intelligent beasts. They are deliberately cruel, and 
  enjoy feeding on intelligent creatures. While they’re 
  not especially prone to cooperation, they may feel at 
  home in a party which has a tendency to kill a lot of 
  intelligent creatures. 
  Design Notes 
  One of very few intelligent beasts, the giant vulture has 
  elements in common with giant eagles and giant owls. 
  However, unlike other giant birds, the giant vulture 
  can’t speak. 
   Giant vultures are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering 
  no specific traits. 
   The giant vulture’s Strength and Constitution are its 
  only good ability scores, so we’ll grant +1 to each for 2 
  BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), 10 ft. walking speed for -2 BP, 40 ft. flying speed 
  (down from 60 ft.) for 5 BP, Keen Sight and Keen Smell 
  for 1 BP total, and Pack Tactics for 5 BP. Giant vultures 
  can’t speak for -1.5 BP, but still understand Common 
  for 0 BP. Giant vultures have no hands for -2 BP, and 
  we’ll set their natural weapons to 1d8 for 2 BP. 
   At 8 BP, the giant vulture is within our target range 
  8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the giant vulture, 
  increase its speed. If you want to weaken the giant 
  vulture, reduce its ability increases or its speed. 
  Giant Wasp 
  Carnivorous insects as big as a full-grown human, giant 
  wasps share their smaller cousins’ aggression and 
  poisonous sting. 
  Giant Wasp Traits 
  Giant wasps share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most giant 
  wasps are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 10 ft. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 50 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Sting. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 piercing 
  damage and 1d4 poison damage on a hit. 
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Giant Wasp 
  Flight and high Dexterity make the giant wasp an 
  excellent rogue, but they may also work well as fighters 
  and rangers. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Giant wasps are fairly simple since their only 
  interesting ability is their poison sting. Like other 
  beasts, we’ll treat the giant wasp as awakened. 
   Giant wasps are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering 
  no specific traits. 
   The giant wasp’s only good ability is Dexterity, so 
  we’ll grant +2 Dexterity for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, 10 ft. 
  walking speed for -2 BP, and 50 ft. fly speed for 6 BP. 
  Since we’re treating the giant wasp as awakened, we’ll 
  grant the ability to speak Common for 0 BP. Giant 
  wasps have no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set their 
  natural weapons to 1d4 and 1d4 poison for 2 BP. We’ll 
  drop the stabilizing/paralysis effect since players can 
  choose to knock a creature unconscious when 
  dropping them to 0 hit points with a melee attack. 
   Because they qualify, we’ll add natural weapon 
  finesse for 0 BP. 
   At 5.5 BP, the giant wasp is well below our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you plan to include it in your game, 
  consider granting skill proficiencies like Perception, or 
  possibly a feat. 
  Giant Weasel 
  Enormous mammalian predators that feed on smaller 
  animals, especially rodents. 
  Giant weasel Traits 
  Giant weasels share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
  
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  Races 
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   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most giant 
  weasels are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 35 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 slashing damage 
  on a hit. 
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Keen Hearing and Smell. You have advantage on 
  Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or 
  smell. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Giant Weasel 
  Giant weasels are fast, nimble, and observant. They 
  make excellent monks, rangers, and rogues, but lack 
  options to succeed in most other classes. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Giant weasels are extremely simple. Like other beasts, 
  we’ll treat the giant wasp as awakened. 
   Giant weasels are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering 
  no specific traits. 
   The giant weasel’s best ability is Dexterity. Wisdom is 
  slightly than the weasel’s other abilities, but not 
  enough to justify an increase. We’ll grant the giant 
  weasel +2 Dexterity for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, 40 ft. 
  walking speed for 1 BP, Darkvision for 2 BP, and Keen 
  Hearing and Keen Smell for 1 BP. Since we’re treating 
  the giant weasel as awakened, we’ll grant the ability to 
  speak Common for 0 BP. Giant weasels have no hands 
  for -2 BP, and we’ll set their natural weapons to 1d6 
  (up from 1d4) for 1.5 BP. Because they qualify, we’ll 
  add natural weapon finesse for 0 BP. Because they 
  qualify, we’ll add natural weapon finesse for 0 BP. 
  Because they qualify, we’ll add natural weapon finesse 
  for 0 BP. Because they qualify, we’ll add natural 
  weapon finesse for 0 BP. 
   At 5.5 BP, the giant weasel is well below our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. It’s extremely boring, but from a 
  walking bite attack monster there’s not much 
  inspiration to be drawn. If you plan to include it in your 
  game, consider granting skill proficiencies like Stealth, 
  or possibly a feat. 
  Giant Wolf Spider 
  Enormous arachnids that eat by hunting prey instead 
  of luring them into a web. 
  Giant Wolf Spider Traits 
  Giant wolf spiders share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most giant 
  wolf spiders are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 ft. and you 
  have a climb speed of 40 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 piercing damage 
  and 1d4 poison damage on a hit.  
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 11 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Spider Climb. You can climb difficult surfaces, 
  including upside down on ceilings, without needing to 
  make an ability check. 
   Web Walker. You ignore movement restrictions 
  caused by webbing. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  
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  Playing a Giant Wolf Spider 
  Gian wolf spiders are faster than normal giant spiders, 
  but lack their potent Web ability. Consider classes 
  which can capitalize on your ability to get into combat 
  quickly like Barbarian and Rogue. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  It’s difficult to distinguish the giant wolf spider from 
  the giant spider since the two are so mechanically 
  similar. Instead of repeating the same work, we’ll start 
  from the giant spider and tweak it to fit the giant wolf 
  spider. 
   The wolf spider loses Web, but it also has much 
  better ability scores than the giant spider. We’ll drop 
  Web and replace its BP cost with a 10 ft. increase to 
  the giant spider’s walking and climb speeds. 
  Goat 
  Smaller than their giant cousins, goats live in the same 
  climates. Goats, due to their smaller size, are 
  frequently domesticated for meat and milk. 
   See the traits listed under “Giant Goat”, later in this 
  section. 
  Design Notes 
  Goats are a CR 0 creature, making them difficult to 
  design as a playable race. What few traits are usable 
  are duplicated on the giant goat, so we’ll just refer 
  players to the giant goat instead. 
  Hawk 
  Small raptors that prey primarily on fish and small 
  mammals. 
  Hawk Traits 
  Hawks share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity, +1 Wisdom. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most 
  hawks are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is tiny. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 10 ft. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 60 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Keen Sight. You have advantage on Wisdom 
  (Perception) checks that rely on sight. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Talons. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 slashing 
  damage on a hit. 
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Hawk 
  Hawks are fast, nimble, and observant. They make 
  excellent rangers, though without hands they may 
  have trouble casting some spells due to their inability 
  to use spellcasting foci. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Hawks are largely identical to blood hawks, but are 
  smaller, have worse ability scores, and don’t get Pack 
  Tactics. That makes it difficult to meaningfully 
  distinguish the hawk without just making it a weaker 
  blood hawk. 
   Hawks are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   Dexterity is the hawk’s best ability by a wide margin, 
  and its Wisdom is also good, so we’ll grant +2 Dexterity 
  and +1 Wisdom for 3 BP.  
   From the stat block, we get tiny size for -1.5 BP, 10 
  ft. walking speed for -1 BP, 50 ft. fly speed for 6 BP, and 
  Keen Sight for 0.5 BP. Since we’re treating the hawk as 
  awakened, we’ll grant the ability to speak Common for 
  0 BP. Hawks have no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set their 
  natural weapons to 1d4 (up from 1) for 1 BP. 
   At 5.5 BP, the hawk is well below our target range of 
  8-10 BP. It has some minor advantages over the blood 
  hawk, but compared to Pack Tactics those advantages 
  don’t help much. If you want to strengthen the hawk, 
  increase it speed or ability increases. 
  Hunter Shark 
  
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  Races 
  251 
  Vicious aquatic predators drawn to the smell of blood. 
  Hunter Shark Traits 
  Hunter sharks share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most 
  hunting sharks are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 0 ft. You have a 
  swim speed of 40 ft. 
   Blindsight. You have blindsight 30 ft. 
   Blood Frenzy. The smell of fresh blood drives you 
  into a vicious frenzy. When you make an Attack action 
  and make a successful unarmed strike attack, you may 
  make another unarmed strike against the same target 
  as a bonus action. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 piercing damage 
  on a hit. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 11 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Water Breathing. You can breathe only underwater. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Hunter Shark 
  Hunter sharks thrive in melee combat. Barbarian, 
  Fighter, and Ranger are all natural choices for a hunter 
  shark. Focus on larger targets to get as much damage 
  as possible out of Blood Frenzy. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  The hunter shark is mostly a simple beast, except for 
  Blood Frenzy which will require a lot of consideration. 
  Like other beasts, we’ll treat the hunter shark as 
  awakened. 
   Hunter sharks are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering 
  no specific traits. 
   Hunter sharks are very strong, and their Consitution 
  is good. We’ll grant +2 Strength and +1 Constitution for 
  3 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), +1 natural armor for 0.5 BP, 0 ft. walking speed 
  for -3 BP, 40 ft. swim speed for 1.5 BP, 30 ft. blindsight 
  for 6 BP, and Water Breathing for 0 BP. Since we’re 
  treating the hunter shark as awakened, we’ll grant the 
  ability to speak Common for 0 BP. Hunter sharks have 
  no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set their natural weapons 
  to 1d8 (down from 2d8) for 2 BP. Because they qualify, 
  we’ll add natural weapon finesse for 0 BP. 
   That brings our total to 7.5 BP before we consider 
  Blood Frenzy. Blood Frenzy is difficult because most 
  enemies spend most of the encounter below their 
  maximum hit points. Generally, that’s what players 
  want to happen. Since that’s the case, it would mean 
  near-perpetual Advantage. We could add a bonus 
  action activation, but that’s even more permissive than 
  Pack Tactics, which already carries a hefty BP cost. 
   Instead, we’ll design something mostly new. I want 
  the ability to encourage the shark to focus on attacking 
  foes which it has already damaged. We’ll allow the 
  hunter shark to make an extra unarmed strike as a 
  bonus action against a target they hit with an Attack 
  action. That’s powerful, but there are several feet and 
  class abilities that provide similarly effective options. 
  We’ll call it 3 BP to be safe. 
   At 10.5 BP, the hunter shark slightly exceeds our 
  target range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the 
  hunter shark, increase its natural armor. If you want to 
  weaken the hunter shark, reduce its Strength increase. 
  Hyena 
  Vicious pack predators with a distinctive call that 
  sounds like maniacal cackling. 
  Hyena Traits 
  Hyenas share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most 
  hyenas are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 50 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 slashing damage 
  on a hit. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  
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  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   Pack Tactics. As a bonus action you may take 
  advantage of the presence of your allies. You gain 
  Advantage on the next attack roll you make this turn 
  against a creature if at least one of your allies is within 
  5 feet of the creature and the ally isn’t incapacitated. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Hyena 
  Hyenas are very past, and Pack Tactics provides an 
  excellent offensive option. However, their bite doesn’t 
  do a lot of damage and they’re not especially durable. 
  Be sure to consider armor or a class that provides other 
  AC sources like barbarian or monk. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  I’m a bit surprised by the hyena’s stat block. Real-world 
  hyenas are very strong. Even by themselves, they’re 
  extremely dangerous animals. Most real-world animals 
  are low CR, but CR 0 is still surprising. Regardless, the 
  hyena is a simple beast to design. Like other beasts, 
  we’ll treat the hyena as awakened. 
   Hyenas are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   Hyenas have really poor ability scores, so we’ll 
  largely ignore them. We’ll grant +1 Strength and +1 
  Dexterity for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, 50 ft. 
  walking speed for 2 BP, and Pack Tactics for 5 BP. Since 
  we’re treating the hyena as awakened, we’ll grant the 
  ability to speak Common for 0 BP. Hyenas have no 
  hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set their natural weapons to 
  1d6 for 1.5 BP. 
   At 8 BP, the hyena is at the bottom of our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the hyena, 
  add a Constitution increase. If you want to weaken the 
  hyena, reduce its speed. 
  Jackal 
  Small canines which hunt in packs. 
  Jackal Traits 
  Jackals share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity, +1 Wisdom. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most 
  jackals are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is small. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 slashing damage 
  on a hit. 
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Pack Tactics. As a bonus action you may take 
  advantage of the presence of your allies. You gain 
  Advantage on the next attack roll you make this turn 
  against a creature if at least one of your allies is within 
  5 feet of the creature and the ally isn’t incapacitated. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Jackal 
  Small and agile, jackals make excellent rangers and 
  rogues. Look for other sources of damage to 
  supplement your weak natural weapons, such as Sneak 
  Attack or Hunter’s mark. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Jackals are almost identical to hyenas, though they’re 
  smaller, have better dexterity, and do less damage. 
  We’ll follow some of the same design choices. Like 
  other beasts, we’ll treat the hyena as awakened. 
   Jackals are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   The jackal’s Dexterity is its best ability, so we’ll grant 
  +2 Dexterity for 2 BP. Since their Wisdom is decent, 
  we’ll also grant +1 Wisdom for 1 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get small size for -1 BP, 40 ft. 
  walking speed for 1.5 BP, Keen Hearing and Keen Smell 
  for 1 BP, and Pack Tactics for 5 BP. Since we’re treating 
  the jackal as awakened, we’ll grant the ability to speak 
  Common for 0 BP. Jackals have no hands for -2 BP, and 
  we’ll set their natural weapons to 1d4 for 1 BP. 
  
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  253 
  Because they qualify, we’ll add natural weapon finesse 
  for 0 BP. 
   At 8 BP, the jackal is at the bottom of our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. They’ll fit into a small niche of build 
  concepts, but aren’t versatile enough to work for a lot 
  of characters. If you want to strengthen the jackal, 
  increase its natural weapon damage. If you want to 
  weaken the jackal, reduce its speed or remove its 
  Wisdom increase. 
  Killer Whale 
  Enormous, aquatic mammals, they are highly 
  intelligent, and extremely capable hunters. 
  Killer Whale Traits 
  Killer whales share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most killer 
  whales are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 0 ft. You have a 
  swim speed of 50 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 slashing damage 
  on a hit. 
   Blindsight. You have blindsight 60 ft. 
   Echolocation. You can’t use your blindsight while 
  deafened. 
   Hold Breath. You can hold your breath for 30 
  minutes. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Killer Whale 
  Kill whales are strong, fast swimmers. Blindsight allows 
  them to fight effectively in deep water, but also allows 
  them to face invisible foes effectively. Consider classes 
  which can capitalize on your strength and your strong 
  bite attack. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  I’m sure science enthusiasts have spent plenty of time 
  decrying the “killer whale” misnomer for orcas, so I’ll 
  gloss over it in favor of remaining consistent with the 
  Monster Manual. Beyond that, the killer whale is 
  mostly a simple beast. Like other beasts, we’ll treat the 
  hyena as awakened. 
   Killer whales are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering 
  no specific traits. 
   The killer whale’s Strength is its best ability by far, so 
  we’ll grant +2 Strength for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  huge), +1 natural armor (down from +2) for 0.5 BP, 0 ft. 
  walking speed for -3 BP, 50 ft. swim speed (down from 
  60 ft.) for 2 BP, 60 ft. blindsight (down from 120 ft.) for 
  9 BP, Echolocation for -1.5 BP, 30-minute Hold Breath 
  for 0.5 BP, and Keen Hearing for 0.5 BP. Since we’re 
  treating the killer whale as awakened, we’ll grant the 
  ability to speak Common for 0 BP. Killer whales have no 
  hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set their natural weapons to 
  1d8 for 2 BP. 
   At 9.5 BP, the killer whale is within our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. Most of its BP is eaten by blindsight, but it’s 
  a very capable aquatic racial option. If you want to 
  strengthen the killer whale, increase its natural armor. 
  If you want to weaken the killer whale, reduce its 
  blindsight range. 
  Lion 
  Fierce pack predators that dwell in temperate 
  grasslands. Known for their noble stature and the 
  iconic manes of their males. 
  Lion Traits 
  Lions share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most lions 
  are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 50 ft. 
   Bite and Claw. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 
  piercing damage or slashing damage on a hit. 
   Keen Smell. You have advantage on Wisdom 
  (Perception) checks that rely on smell. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Pack Tactics. As a bonus action you may take 
  advantage of the presence of your allies. You gain 
  
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  Races 
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  Advantage on the next attack roll you make this turn 
  against a creature if at least one of your allies is within 
  5 feet of the creature and the ally isn’t incapacitated. 
   Pounce. If you move at least 15 feet straight toward 
  a creature then hit it with an unarmed strike on the 
  same turn, you may attempt to shove the target prone 
  as a bonus action (see “Shoving a Creature”, page 195 
  of the Player’s Handbook). 
   Running Leap. With a 10-foot running start, you can 
  long jump up to 25 feet. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Lion 
  Lions are powerful charges, combining the mobility of 
  Running Leap and the power of Pounce to overcome 
  their foes. They hunt best in packs where they can take 
  advantage of Pack Tactics. Other classes like Barbarian, 
  Monk, and Fighter which excel in melee combat. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Mostly simply beasts, but lions have several potent 
  special abilities. 
   Lions are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   Lions have excellent physical ability scores, but we 
  need to be careful to save BP for their other abilities. 
  We’ll grant +1 Strength for 1 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), 50 ft. walking speed for 2 BP, Keen Smell for 0.5 
  BP, Pack Tactics for 5 BP, and Pounce for 1.5 BP. Lions 
  have no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set their natural 
  weapons to 1d8 for 2 BP. 
   Running Leap is the lion’s only unique ability. It’s not 
  quite as good as Standing Leap, so we’ll call it 0.5 BP. 
   At 10 BP, the lion is at the top of our target range of 
  8-10 BP. It’s a great charger, but won’t be effective at 
  much else. If you want to strengthen the lion, grant it a 
  +1 to Dexterity. If you want to weaken the lion, remove 
  Pack Tactics and replace it with additional ability score 
  increases. 
  Lizard 
  Small reptiles that dwell in a wide variety of warm 
  climates. 
  Lizard Traits 
  Lizards share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most 
  lizards are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is tiny. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 20 ft. You have a 
  climb speed of 20 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 piercing damage 
  on a hit. 
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Lizard 
  Tiny and nimble, lizards make excellent rogues. 
  However, they’re slow and not very durable, so be 
  cautious to avoid drawing attention to yourself. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Lizards are extremely weak, so we’ll need to give them 
  a lot to make them anything resembling playable. Like 
  other beasts, we’ll treat the mastiff as awakened. 
   Lizards are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   The lizard’s best ability score is Dexterity, though at 
  just 11 it’s not very impressive. Lacking better options, 
  we’ll grant +2 Dexterity for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get tiny size for -1.5 BP, 20 
  ft. walking speed, 20 ft. climb speed for 1.5 BP, and 20 
  ft. Darkvision for 1.5 BP. Lizards have no hands for -2 
  BP, and we’ll set their natural weapons to 1d4 (up from 
  1) for 1 BP. Because they qualify, we’ll add natural 
  weapon finesse for 0 BP. 
   At just 2.5 BP, the lizard is well below our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. It’s nowhere near viable as playable 
  race. If you plan to include it in your game, consider 
  
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  Races 
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  granting skill proficiencies like Stealth, or possibly a 
  feat. 
  Mammoth 
  Ancestors of modern elephants, mammoths are huge 
  tusked quadrupeds covered in thick fur. 
   See the traits listed under “Elephant”, earlier in this 
  section. 
  Design Notes 
  Mammoths are essentially just bigger, scarier 
  elephants. Scaling them down to a playable race makes 
  them indistinguishable from elephants, so we’ll point 
  players to the elephant stats that we’ve already 
  designed. 
  Mastiff 
  Enormous dogs domesticated for hunting and for riding 
  by small humanoids, Mastiffs are easy to train and 
  fiercely loyal companions. 
  Mastiff Traits 
  Mastiffs share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 
  Constitution. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most 
  mastiffs are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 piercing damage 
  on a hit. 
   Keen Hearing and Smell. You have advantage on 
  Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or 
  smell. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Mastiff 
  With excellent physical ability scores and good speed, 
  mastiffs thrive in melee combat. Consider classes 
  which can capitalize on these advantages like 
  barbarian, monk, fighter, and rogue. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Simple beasts with few special traits. Like other beasts, 
  we’ll treat the mastiff as awakened. 
   Mastiffs are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   The mastiff’s physical abilities are all decent, so it’s 
  hard to know what to increase. Large dogs are 
  generally known for being strong, but their Dexterity is 
  slightly higher for some reason. This may be a bit crazy, 
  but we’ll grant +1 to Strength, Dexterity, and 
  Constitution for a total of 3 BP. That’s a bit of a risky 
  design choice, but mastiffs get almost nothing else so I 
  think we have some room for risky choices. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, 40 ft. 
  walking speed for 1 BP, and Keen Hearing and Keen 
  Smell for 1 BP. Mastiffs have no hands for -2, and we’ll 
  set their natural weapons to 1d8 (up from 1d6) for 2 
  BP. 
   At just 4.5 BP, the mastiff is well below our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. They’re fast and have good ability 
  scores, but with almost no special abilities they’re 
  boring. If you plan to include it in your game, consider 
  granting skill proficiencies like Survival, or possibly a 
  feat. 
  Mule 
  Infertile quadrupeds bred from a horse and donkey, 
  mules are renowned for their usefulness as pack 
  animals. 
  Mule Traits 
  Mules share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +2 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most 
  mules are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 ft. 
   Beast of Burden. You count as one size larger when 
  determining your carrying capacity and the weight you 
  can push, drag, or lift. 
   Hooves. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 bludgeoning 
  damage on a hit. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
  
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   Sure-footed. You have advantage on Strength and 
  Dexterity saving throws and ability checks made 
  against effects that would knock it prone. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Mule 
  With excellent Strength and Constitution, mules excel 
  in melee combat. Consider classes like Barbarian and 
  Monk. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Simple beasts with few special traits. Like other beasts, 
  we’ll treat the mule as awakened. 
   Mules are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   The mule’s best ability scores are Strength and 
  Constitution. Lacking notable special abilities to 
  consume BP, we’ll grant +2 to each for 4 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, 40 ft. 
  walking speed for 1 BP, and sure-footed for 0.25 BP. 
  Mules have no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set their 
  natural weapons to 1d8 (up from 1d4) for 2 BP. 
   The mule’s only unique ability is Beast of Burden. It’s 
  essentially the same as Powerful Build, so we’ll reskin 
  Powerful Build for 0.25 BP. 
   At 5 BP, the mule is below our target range of 8-10 
  BP. It has no notable traits, but its ability score 
  increases are nice. If you want to strengthen the mule,  
  Octopus 
  Clever, 8-tentacle aquatic predators with soft bodies 
  and sharp-beaked mouths. 
  Octopus Traits 
  Octopi share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most 
  octopi are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 5 ft. You have a 
  swim speed of 30 ft. 
   Amorphous. Your body is not completely rigid, and 
  your limbs often fluctuate in size and shape as you 
  move. You can move through a space as narrow as 1 
  inch wide without squeezing. You are unable to wear 
  armor. 
   Camouflage. You have advantage on Dexterity 
  (Stealth) checks made while underwater. 
   Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 30 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. 
   Hold Breath. You can hold your breath for 1 hour.  
   Ink Cloud. A 20-foot radius cloud of ink extends all 
  around you if you are underwater. The area is heavily 
  obscured for 1 minute, although a significant current 
  can disperse the ink. Immediately after releasing the 
  ink, you can use the Dash action as a bonus action. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields. However, your tentacles are nimble enough to 
  manipulate and use most other objects. 
   Tentacles. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 
  bludgeoning damage on a hit. 
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   Water Breathing. You can breathe only underwater. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing an Octopus 
  Smaller and weaker than the giant octopus, you will do 
  better to focus on stealth and surprise than charging 
  directly into combat. Consider classes like monk and 
  ranger than cater well to a stealthy playstyle. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Largely the same as the giant octopus, the octopus is 
  basically a smaller, weaker, slower version of the same 
  creature. Like other beasts, we’ll treat the octopus as 
  awakened. 
   Octopi are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   The octopus’s Dexterity is its only good ability score. 
  We’ll grant +2 Dexterity for 2 BP. 
  
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   From the stat block, we get small size for -1 BP, 5 ft. 
  walking speed for -2 BP, 30 ft. swim speed for 1 BP, 30 
  ft. Darkvision for 1.5 BP, and the ability to speak 
  Common since we’re treating the octopus as 
  awakened.  
   Octopi are aquatic, and can’t breathe air. Hold 
  Breath works fine with this change, so we’ll grant 1 
  hour of Hold Breath for 1 BP, and Water Breathing for 
  0 BP.  
   Camouflage is a bit of a problem. Normally it’s 
  specific to a particular terrain like forests or rocky 
  terrain, but “underwater” is really broad for an aquatic 
  creature. We’ll call it 1 BP, but that might be too low if 
  the campaign spends a lot of time underwater. 
   Octopi don’t have hands, but they have prehensile 
  tentacles which are nimble enough to use simple tools. 
  I don’t think they could reasonably swing a weapon or 
  hold a shield, but they’ve been recorder opening door 
  knobs and other such tasks. So we’ll grant No Hands for 
  -1.5 BP and expand the description the mention the 
  octopus’s awesome tentacles. 
   We’ll set the octopus’s natural weapons to 1d4 for 1 
  BP and add Grab for another 2 BP. Because they 
  qualify, we’ll add natural weapon finesse for 0 BP. 
   Ink Cloud is similar to the fog cloud spell, though it 
  only works underwater and also allows the octopus to 
  Dash as a bonus action. A 1st-level spell allowed two 
  levels early, and usable once per short rest is 2.75 BP. 
  The water limitation is significant, but I except octopi 
  will primarily be used in underwater campaigns. 
  Dashing in combination with fog cloud is great, but it 
  only occurs once per short rest. We’ll call the whole 
  thing 3 BP. 
   Though the stat block doesn’t mention it, one of the 
  many wonderful capabilities of octopi is that they can 
  squeeze through any space small enough to fit their 
  beak. We’ll add Amorphous for 0.5 BP. Of course, their 
  movement relies heavily on the fact their bodies are 
  soft and malleable. We’ll disallow armor for -3 BP. 
   At just 4 BP the octopus is far below our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the octopus, 
  grant it proficiency in Stealth, and possibly natural 
  armor.  
  Owl 
  Nocturnal raptors that fly almost silently and can see 
  great distances in the dark of night. 
  Owl Traits 
  Owls share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity, Wisdom. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most owls 
  are neutral 
   Size. Your size is tiny. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 5 ft. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 60 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Flyby. You may perform the Disengage action as a 
  bonus action.  
   Keen Hearing and Sight. You have advantage on 
  Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or 
  sight. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Superior Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 
  120 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. 
   Talons. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 piercing 
  damage on a hit.  
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing an Owl 
  Tiny, nimble, and observant, owls make excellent 
  rangers and rogues. Their natural weapons are weak, 
  so look for other sources of damage like Sneak Attack. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Owls are almost identical to giant owls. Regular owls 
  are smaller and lose the Giant Owl’s languages since 
  normal owls aren’t naturally intelligent. We’ll start 
  from the giant owl, and adjust the BP to fit the 
  standard owl. 
   Dropping size from medium to tiny costs -1.5 BP. 
  Since we’re treating the owl as awakened it can speak 
  common, costing 0.5 BP compared to the Giant Owl’s 
  speech capabilities. We’ll set the Owl’s natural 
  weapons to 1d4 (up from 1), costing -1 BP compared to 
  
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  258 
  the Giant Owl. That brings us to 1 BP less than the giant 
  owl. We’ll grant the owl +1 Wisdom increase to make it 
  worthy of consideration next to the giant owl. Because 
  they qualify, we’ll add natural weapon finesse for 0 BP. 
   At 9.25 BP, the owl is within our target range of 8-10 
  BP. If you want to strengthen the giant owl, increase its 
  Dexterity increase to +2. If you want to weaken the 
  giant owl, reduce its flight speed. 
  Panther 
  Black-furred feline predators. 
  Panther Traits 
  Panthers share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity, +1 Strength. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most 
  panthers are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 50 ft. You have a 
  climb speed of 40 ft. 
   Bite and Claw. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 
  piercing damage or slashing damage on a hit. 
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   Keen Smell. You have advantage on Wisdom 
  (Perception) checks that rely on smell. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Pounce. If you move at least 15 feet straight toward 
  a creature then hit it with an unarmed strike on the 
  same turn, you may attempt to shove the target prone 
  as a bonus action (see “Shoving a Creature”, page 195 
  of the Player’s Handbook). 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Panther 
  Strong and nimble with an excellent climb speed, 
  predators are a great ambush predator. Consider 
  classes like barbarian or fighter which thrive in melee, 
  but don’t overlook stealthy classes like monk, ranger, 
  and rogue. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Panthers are similar to lions in a lot of ways, which 
  makes sense when comparing feline predators. 
  However, their stats reflect difference between the 
  real-world animals. Lions are larger pack hunters, while 
  panthers are solitary hunters and skilled climbers. The 
  end result will be two similar races with differences 
  reflecting the differences between the two animals. 
  Like other beasts, we’ll treat the panther as awakened. 
   Panthers are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   Panthers have less costly special abilities than lions, 
  leaving us more room for ability increases. The 
  Panther’s best abilities are Strength and Dexterity. 
  We’ll grant +2 Dexterity and +1 Strength for 3 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, 50 ft. 
  speed for 2 BP, 40 ft. climb speed for 3 BP, Keen Smell 
  for 0.5 BP, and Pounce for 1.5 BP. Panthers have no 
  hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set their natural weapons to 
  1d8 for 2 BP. Because they qualify, we’ll add natural 
  weapon finesse for 0 BP. 
   At 10 BP, the Panther is at the top of our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you want to Strengthen the 
  Panther, increase its Strength increase. If you want to 
  weaken the panther, reduce its Dexterity increase or its 
  walking speed. 
  Phase Spider 
  Horrifying arachnids capable of entering the ethereal 
  plane to ambush their prey. 
  Phase Spider Traits 
  Phase spiders share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most giant 
  spiders are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. and you 
  have a climb speed of 30 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 piercing damage 
  and 1d4 poison damage on a hit.  
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
  
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   Darkvision. 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. 
   Ethereal Jaunt. As a bonus action, you can magically 
  shift to the ethereal plane or the material plane. At the 
  start of your next turn, your return to the plane on 
  which you activated this ability.  
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 11 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Spider Climb. You can climb difficult surfaces, 
  including upside down on ceilings, without needing to 
  make an ability check. 
   Web Walker. You ignore movement restrictions 
  caused by webbing. 
  Playing a Phase Spider 
  Dangerous ambush predators, phase spiders are 
  capable of briefly stepping into the ethereal plane to 
  ambush their prey. While this is a powerful ability, it 
  can only be used briefly. Consider classes which can 
  take advantage of surprising your enemies like monk, 
  ranger, and rogue. 
   Unlike other giant spiders, phase spiders are 
  intelligent. However, they lack the capacity to speak or 
  understand languages. Consider how and why you 
  might communicate with other party members who 
  would likely be considered food in normal 
  circumstances. 
  Design Notes 
  The Phase Spider is largely identical to the giant spider, 
  separated by little beyond Web and Ethereal Jaunt. 
  Notably, phase spiders are Intelligent enough that they 
  don’t qualify for awakening, but they can’t speak or 
  understand languages. They’re also unaligned, which is 
  generally reserved for creatures without sufficient 
  Intelligence to have an alignment. 
   Phase spiders are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   The phase spider’s Strength and Dexterity are even, 
  so we’ll grant +1 to each for 2 BP.  
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), +1 natural armor for 0.5 BP, 30 ft. walking 
  speed, 30 ft. climb speed for 2 BP, Darkvision for 2 BP, 
  Spider Climb for 1 BP, and Web Walker for 0.5 BP. 
  Phase spiders have no languages for -3 BP. Phase 
  spiders have no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set their 
  natural weapons to 1d4 and 1d4 poison for 2 BP. 
  Because they qualify, we’ll add natural weapon finesse 
  for 0 BP. 
   That brings us to 5.5 BP before we tackle Ethereal 
  Jaunt. We obviously can’t allow it in its current form. 
  Access to the ethereal plane is immensely useful, and 
  allowing it to be used at will is something that many 
  high-level wizards can’t do. Instead, we’ll start with 
  Hidden Step (which we’ve used to replace Invisibility) 
  and make some adjustments. 
   Retaining the 1-round duration, bonus action 
  activation, and short rest recharge mechanics are great 
  ways to limit the ability. 1 round of etherealness till 
  allows the Phase Spider to do a lot of interesting things 
  like evading enemies, walking through barriers, etc. 
  Hidden Step is 2 BP, but Etherealness is much more 
  powerful than invisibility, so we’ll call Ethereal Jaunt 4 
  BP. 
   At 9.5 BP, the Phase Spider is within our target BP 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you want to weaken the phase 
  spider, add a -2 Intelligence penalty. If you want to 
  strengthen the phase spider, allow it to use Ethereal 
  Jaunt more frequently. Once every time it rolls 
  initiative could work, but presents possible abuse. 
  Consider twice or three times per short rest. 
  Poisonous Snake 
  Common in many locals as a variety of species, 
  poisonous snakes are a dangerous threat to anyone 
  unfortunate enough to stumble upon them unaware. 
  Poisonous Snake Traits 
  Poisonous snakes share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most 
  poisonous snakes are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. You have a 
  climb speed of 30 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 poison damage 
  on a hit.  
   Blindsight. You have blindsight 10 ft. 
   Serpentine Body. You have no arms or hands. You 
  are unable to wield weapons or wear shields, and 
  cannot use items which require manipulation, including 
  spellcasting foci, wands, tools, etc. You are unable to 
  wear armor. 
  
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   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Poisonous Snake 
  With high Dexterity and blindsight, poisonous snakes 
  are natural rogues. However, with no ability to wear 
  armor and no natural armor you will need to be very 
  cautious about protecting yourself in combat. Consider 
  classes like barbarian and monk which provide 
  alternatives to manufactured armor. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Simple beasts, poisonous snakes have no unique traits. 
  Like other failures in nomenclature found throughout 
  the Monster Manual, we’ll ignore the fact that snakes 
  are venomous, not poisonous. Like other beasts, we’ll 
  treat the poisonous snake as awakened. We’ll also 
  borrow heavily from design choices made for the giant 
  poisonous snake. 
   Poisonous snakes are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   The Poisonous Snake’s only good ability score is 
  Dexterity, so we’ll grant +2 Dexterity for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get tiny size for -1.5 BP, 30 
  ft. walking speed for 1 BP, 30 ft. climb speed for 2 BP, 
  and 10 ft. blindsight for 4 BP. Since we’re treating the 
  poisonous snake as awakened, we’ll grant the ability to 
  speak Common for 0 BP. Poisonous snakes have no 
  hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set their natural weapons to 
  1d8 poison damage for 2 BP. We’ll also disallow armor 
  for -3 BP because I have no idea how you would armor 
  a snake. 
   At just 2 BP the poisonous snake is well below our 
  target range of 8-10 BP. If you plan to include it in your 
  game, consider granting skill proficiencies like Stealth, 
  or possibly a feat. 
  Polar Bear 
  Enormous arctic predators with stark white fur. 
  Polar Bear Traits 
  Polar bears share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +2 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most polar 
  bears are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 ft. You have a 
  swim speed of 30 ft. 
   Bite and Claws. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 
  piercing or slashing damage on a hit. 
   Keen Smell. You have advantage on Wisdom 
  (Perception) checks that rely on smell. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 12 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Polar Bear 
  Polar bears make excellent barbarians and fighters due 
  to their excellent ability score increases, but will have 
  trouble playing other classes. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  After adjusting their size, polar bears are identical to 
  black bears in almost every aspect. We can trade the 
  black bear’s climb speed for a swim speed, and 
  suddenly we have a new bear. That does drop the Polar 
  Bear’s BP by 1, so check the Black Bear’s design notes 
  for guidance on adjusting either bear. 
  Pony 
  Smaller than horses, ponies make excellent mounts for 
  small riders like halflings and human children. 
  Pony Traits 
  Ponies share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most 
  ponies are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 ft. 
   Hooves. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 bludgeoning 
  damage on a hit. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  
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  Races 
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  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Pony 
  Fast and strong, ponies fare well in melee and make 
  excellent barbarians and fighters. If you have small 
  characters in your party, consider letting them ride you 
  to take advantage of your speed. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Simple beasts, ponies have no unique traits. Like other 
  beasts, we’ll treat the pony as awakened. 
   Ponies are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   The Pony’s Strength and Constitution are good, so 
  we’ll grant +2 Strength and +1 Constitution for 3 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size and 40 ft. 
  walking speed for 1 BP. Since we’re treating the pony 
  as awakened, we’ll grant the ability to speak Common 
  for 0 BP. Ponies have no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set 
  their natural weapons to 1d8 damage for 2 BP. 
   At just 3.5 BP, the pony is well below our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you plan to include it in your game, 
  consider granting skill proficiencies like Athletics, or 
  possibly a feat. 
  Quipper 
  Tiny predatory fish, quippers often live in schools 
  which quickly devour anything they find. 
  Quipper Traits 
  Quippers share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most 
  quippers are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is tiny. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 0 ft. You have a 
  swim speed of 40 ft. 
   Blood Frenzy. The smell of fresh blood drives you 
  into a vicious frenzy. When you make an Attack action 
  and make a successful unarmed strike attack, you may 
  make another unarmed strike against the same target 
  as a bonus action. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 piercing damage 
  on a hit. 
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Water Breathing. You can breathe only underwater. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Quipper 
  Tiny creatures with few notable traits, quippers can still 
  make effective fighters and rogues. Blood Frenzy can 
  provide a powerful boost to your damage output, 
  despite the quipper’s small bite attack. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Essentially a tiny shark, the quipper is a simple 
  creature. We’ll borrow design elements from the 
  hunger shark, especially Blood Frenzy. Like other 
  beasts, we’ll treat the quipper as awakened. 
   Quippers are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   The Quipper’s only good ability score is Dexterity, so 
  we’ll grant +2 Dexterity for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get tiny size for -1.5 BP, 0 ft. 
  walking speed for -3 BP, 40 ft. swim speed for 1.5 BP, 
  Blood Frenzy for 3 BP, and Water Breathing for 0 BP. 
  Since we’re treating the Quipper as awakened, we’ll 
  grant the ability to speak Common for 0 BP. Quippers 
  have no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set their natural 
  weapons to 1d4 (up from 1) for 1 BP. Because they 
  qualify, we’ll add natural weapon finesse for 0 BP. 
   At just 3.5 BP, the quipper is well below our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you plan to include it in your game, 
  consider granting skill proficiencies like Athletics, or 
  possibly a feat. 
   
   
   
  
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  Rat 
  Rodents common to nearly every locale occupied by 
  humans, rats are often considered signs of filth and 
  disease.  
  Rats Traits 
  Rats share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most rats 
  are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is tiny. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 20 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1 piercing damage 
  on a hit.  
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 30 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. 
   Keen Smell. You have advantage on Wisdom 
  (Perception) checks that rely on smell. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Rat 
  Among the weakest of creatures, rats have trouble 
  succeeding in nearly any role. However, their 
  prevalence can make them an effective rogue if you 
  capitalize on the fact that rats are commonly ignored in 
  many locales. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Normal rats are, unsurprisingly, very similar to giant 
  rats. However, they’re considerably worse. We’ll start 
  from the giant rat stats and work backward. 
   Rats are tiny, costing -0.5 BP. Their Darkvision range 
  is reduced to 30 ft., costing -0.5 BP. Their bite damage 
  goes from 1d4 to 1, costing -1 BP. Because they qualify, 
  we’ll add natural weapon finesse for 0 BP. Finally, they 
  lose Pack Tactics, costing -5 BP. 
   At just 0.5 BP, rats are truly pitiful. If you plan to 
  include it in your game, consider granting skill 
  proficiencies like Stealth, or possibly a feat. 
  Raven 
  Black birds known for their intelligence and their ability 
  to mimic sounds. 
  Raven Traits 
  Ravens share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most 
  ravens are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is tiny. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 10 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1 piercing damage 
  on a hit.  
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  
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  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 50 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Mimicry. You can mimic any sounds you have heard, 
  including voices. A creature that hears the sounds can 
  tell they are imitations with a successful Insight check 
  against a DC equal to 8 + your Charisma (Deception) 
  bonus. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Raven 
  Fast and nimble, but physically weak, ravens don’t do 
  well in combat. However, with good Dexterity and 
  excellent flight they can make decent rogues. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Fairly simple beasts, ravens have no unique traits. Like 
  other beasts, we’ll treat the raven as awakened. 
   Ravens are beasts, costing -0.5 BP but offering no 
  specific traits. 
   The Raven’s only good ability score is Dexterity, so 
  we’ll grant +2 Dexterity for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get tiny size for -1.5 BP, 10 
  ft. walking speed for -1 BP, 50 ft. flight speed for 6 BP, 
  Mimicry for 1 BP. Since we’re treating the Raven as 
  awakened, we’ll grant the ability to speak Common for 
  0 BP. Ravens have no hands for -2 BP. Because they 
  qualify, we’ll add natural weapon finesse for 0 BP. 
   At just 4 BP, the raven is well below our target range 
  of 8-10 BP. If you plan to include it in your game, 
  consider granting skill proficiencies like Perception, or 
  possibly a feat. 
  Reef Shark 
  Smaller than hunter sharks or giant sharks, reef sharks 
  inhabit shallow waters and hunt in packs. 
  Reef Shark Traits 
  Reef shark share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most 
  hunting sharks are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 0 ft. You have a 
  swim speed of 40 ft. 
   Blindsight. You have blindsight 30 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 piercing damage 
  on a hit. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Pack Tactics. As a bonus action you may take 
  advantage of the presence of your allies. You gain 
  Advantage on the next attack roll you make this turn 
  against a creature if at least one of your allies is within 
  5 feet of the creature and the ally isn’t incapacitated. 
   Water Breathing. You can breathe only underwater. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Reef Shark 
  Strong fast, and deadly in the water, reef sharks 
  function best when they have allies to support them in 
  melee combat. Consider classes like barbarian, fighter, 
  and monk which excel in melee. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Reef sharks are extremely similar to hunter sharks once 
  we adjust for size, so we’ll start from the hunter shark 
  and make adjustments. 
   The biggest difference between the two sharks is 
  trading Blood Frenzy for Pack Tactics. It’s a 2 BP 
  difference, and since the Hunter Shark is already at 
  10.5 BP we need to make some cuts from the reef 
  shark. We’ll drop the reef shark’s ability increases to 
  just +1 Strength and we’ll drop natural armor 
  altogether, bringing the reef shark’s BP to 10. 
   If you want to adjust the Reef Shark, check the 
  Hunter Shark’s design notes for suggestions. 
  Rhinoceros 
  Sturdy pachyderms with ivory horns on their noses. 
  
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  Rhinoceros Traits 
  Rhinoceri share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 ft.  
   Charge. Once per turn, if you move at least 20 feet 
  straight toward a creature then hit it with an unarmed 
  strike on the same turn, the target takes an extra 1d6 
  damage from the attack. This damage increases to 2d6 
  at 5th level, 3d6 at 11th level, and 4d6 at 17th level. 
   In addition, you may attempt to shove the target 
  prone as a bonus action (see “Shoving a Creature”, 
  page 195 of the Player’s Handbook). 
   Gore. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 piercing 
  damage on a hit. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 12 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Rhinoceros 
  Powerful and durable, rhinoceroses make excellent 
  chargers. Consider classes which do well in melee 
  combat like barbarian or fighter. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Simple beasts, rhinoceroses have no unique traits. Like 
  other beasts, we’ll treat the Rhinoceros as awakened. 
   Rhinoceroses are beasts, costing -0.5 BP. 
   The Rhinoceros’ Strength is fantastic, and its 
  Constitution is also good. We’ll grant +2 Strength and 
  +1 Constitution for 3 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), +2 natural armor for 1 BP, and 40 ft. walking 
  speed for 1 BP. Since we’re treating the Rhinoceros as 
  awakened, we’ll grant the ability to speak Common for 
  0 BP. Rhinoceroses have no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll 
  set their natural weapons to 1d8 (down from 2d8) for 2 
  BP. 
   The Rhinoceros’s Charge combines Charge (the 
  bonus damage) and Pounce (the knockdown). We’ll 
  add both traits for a total of 3.5 BP. 
   At 8 BP, the Rhinoceros is at the bottom of our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the 
  Rhinoceros, increase its natural armor or Constitution 
  increase. If you want to weaken the Rhinoceros, 
  remove its Constitution increase.  
  Riding Horse 
  Larger and stronger than ponies, but faster and less 
  sturdy than draft horses, riding are bread travel and 
  frequently used as mounts in combat. 
   See the traits listed under “Pony”, earlier in this 
  section. 
  Design Notes 
  The riding horse is essentially identical to the pony with 
  slightly better ability scores and a few more hit dice. 
  That’s not enough to distinguish the two as playable 
  races, so we’ll just refer players to the pony stats.  
  Saber-Toothed Tiger 
  Feline predators distinguished by their jutting canine 
  teeth. 
   See the traits listed under “Tiger”, later in this 
  section. 
  Design Notes 
  Saber-toothed tigers are largely identical to tigers, 
  differentiated only by slighter better numbers. That’s 
  not enough to distinguish the two as playable races, so 
  we’ll just refer players to the tiger stats.  
  Scorpion 
  Arachnids with a deadly poisonous sting and grasping 
  claws. 
  Scorpion Traits 
  Scorpions share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most 
  scorpions are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is tiny. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 10 ft. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
  
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   Sting. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 poison damage 
  on a hit.  
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Scorpion 
  Nimble and tiny, scorpions make natural rogues. 
  However, limited by their poor speed and locked into 
  poison damage, you may have trouble defeating foes 
  who can escape your reach or resist your damage. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Simple beasts, scorpions have no unique traits. Like 
  other beasts, we’ll treat the Scorpion as awakened. 
   Scorpions are beasts, costing -0.5 BP. 
   The Scorpion’s Dexterity is its only ability score 
  above 10, so we’ll grant +2 Dexterity for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get tiny size for -1.5 BP, +1 
  natural armor for 0.5 BP, 10 ft. walking speed for -1 BP, 
  and 10 ft. blindsight for 4 BP. Since we’re treating the 
  Scorpion as awakened, we’ll grant the ability to speak 
  Common for 0 BP. Scorpions have no hands for -2 BP, 
  and we’ll set their natural weapons to 1d8 poison for 2 
  BP. Because they qualify, we’ll add natural weapon 
  finesse for 0 BP. 
   At just 3.5 BP, the scorpion is well below our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you plan to include it in your game, 
  consider granting skill proficiencies like Stealth, or 
  possibly a feat. 
  Sea Horse 
  Small fish with heads resembling a horse’s. 
  Sea Horse Traits 
  Sea horses share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most sea 
  horses are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is tiny. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 0 ft. You have a 
  swim speed of 20 ft. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Sea Horse 
  Slow and lacking meaningful traits of any kind, sea 
  horses are essentially unplayable. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Simple beasts, sea horses have no unique traits. Like 
  other beasts, we’ll treat the sea horse as awakened. 
   Sea horses are beasts, costing -0.5 BP. 
   The Sea Horse’s Dexterity is its only ability score 
  above 10, so we’ll grant +2 Dexterity for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get tiny size for -1.5 BP, 0 ft. 
  walking speed for -2 BP, 20 ft. swim speed for 0.5 BP, 
  and Water Breathing for 0 BP. Since we’re treating the 
  Sea Horse as awakened, we’ll grant the ability to speak 
  Common for 0 BP. Sea horses have no hands for -2 BP. 
   At -3.5 BP, the sea horse is unsalvageable. It’s 
  essentially unplayable.  
  Spider 
  Larger than common household spiders, but not so 
  immense as true giant spiders, spiders the size of 
  housecats are dangerous predators. 
  Spider Traits 
  Spiders share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most 
  spiders are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is tiny. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 20 ft. You have a 
  climb speed of 20 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 poison damage 
  on a hit.  
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  
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  Races 
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  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 30 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. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Spider Climb. You can climb difficult surfaces, 
  including upside down on ceilings, without needing to 
  make an ability check. 
   Web Sense. While in contact with a web, you know 
  the exact location of any other creature in contact with 
  the same web. 
   Web Walker. You ignore movement restrictions 
  caused by webbing. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Spider 
  Nimble and capable of walking on walls and ceilings, 
  spiders make excellent rogues. Since your attacks are 
  weak, consider classes like monk or rogue which add to 
  your damage output. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Simple beasts, spiders have no unique traits except 
  Web Sense. Like other beasts, we’ll treat the Spider as 
  awakened. 
   Spiders are beasts, costing -0.5 BP. 
   The Spider’s Dexterity is its only ability score above 
  10, so we’ll grant +2 Dexterity for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get tiny size for -1.5 BP, 20 
  ft. walking speed, 20 ft. climb speed for 1.5 BP, 30 ft. 
  Darkvision for 1.5 BP, Spider Climb 1 BP, Web Walker 
  for 0.5 BP. Since we’re treating the Spider as 
  awakened, we’ll grant the ability to speak Common for 
  0 BP. Spiders have no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set 
  their natural weapons to 1d4 poison for 1 BP. Because 
  they qualify, we’ll add natural weapon finesse for 0 BP. 
   Web sense is simple and extremely situational. We’ll 
  call it 0.5 BP.  
   At 4 BP, the spider is well below our target range of 
  8-10 BP. If you plan to include it in your game, consider 
  granting skill proficiencies like Stealth, or possibly a 
  feat. 
  Swarm [Template: Natural] 
  Tiny creatures occasionally group of and attempt to 
  overwhelm foes with sheer numbers. 
  Becoming a Swarm 
  Any tiny creature can be used as the basis for a swarm 
  of identical tiny creatures.  
  Swarm Traits 
  All swarns have the following traits, adding these traits 
  to their existing racial traits upon gaining the swarm 
  template. 
   Size. You are a medium swarm of tiny creatures. 
   Swarm. Your individual members are magically 
  joined into a singular mind. If any member of your 
  swarm survives, your consciousness survives. Any new 
  members added to the swarm are absorbed by the hive 
  mind. However, any members of your swarm which 
  venture more than 5 feet from the rest of the swarm 
  lose their connection to the swarm mind, regain their 
  individual consciousness, and act as they normally 
  would for a creature of their type. 
   As you lose hit points, individual members of your 
  swarm die, reducing your total size. When you fall 
  below half of your maximum hit points, you become 
  less effective. You deal half damage, suffer 
  Disadvantage on all ability checks except Dexterity 
  (Stealth) checks, and enemies gain Advantage on 
  saving throws against spells which you cast.  
   Swarm Attacks. You can occupy another creature's 
  space and vice versa, and you can move through any  
  opening large enough for a single member of your 
  swarm. You have a reach of 0 feet. To make melee 
  attacks, you must share a space with the target. When 
  you take the Attack action, you roll once for any 
  attacks you make and apply the results to all creatures 
  which currently share your space (including allies). 
   Swarm Life. You are unable to heal or otherwise 
  regain hit points by normal means. You cannot gain 
  temporary hit points. If you fall to 0 hit points, you die 
  outright.  
   To regain hit points, you must rest in a place where 
  you are able to recruit additional members of your 
  swarm. Where this may occur is determined by the 
  Dungeon Master.  
   Swarm Resistances. You have resistance to 
  bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage. You are 
  immune to the prone and restrained conditions.  
  
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  Races 
  267 
  Design Notes 
  Swarms are difficult. They are, by nature, not a single 
  creature. Piling a mound of rats together and calling 
  them a singular creature doesn’t really make sense.  
  The swarm members’ minds are not connected any 
  more than those of two humans walking alongside in a 
  crowd. In order to make swarms make sense, we’ll 
  need to assume that there is some sort of magic at 
  work, and turn them into a hivemind. There’s no way 
  to build a swarm of 18th-level rat fighters, so the swarm 
  itself needs to be the character. 
   Swarms have four other major complications which 
  we need to address: resistances, condition immunities, 
  inability to heal, and reduced damage while at half hit 
  points or fewer. Swarms need to work at level 1, so 
  they need to be a non-leveled template. 
   Swarms have resistance to damage types dealt by 
  weapons. This makes sense because thrusting a spear 
  into a pile of lizards generally won’t do as much 
  damage as thrusting it into a singular creature. 
  Resistance to all four costs 12 BP.  
   Swarms also have a pile of condition immunities. 
  They make sense for a collection of individual minds, 
  but the BP cost is simply too high. We’ll drop most of 
  the immunities, but we’ll keep prone and restrained for 
  1 BP because I can’t figure out how to trip or tie up a 
  swarm. 
   We’ve now reached 13 BP, and fortunately it’s time 
  to start considering swarm weaknesses. The swarms 
  listed in the Monster Manual can’t heal. No cure 
  wounds, no hit dice, nothing. Clearly that’s not viable 
  for a player character, so we’ll need to allow some sort 
  of healing mechanism.  
   I’ve always liked the idea of killing swarms by 
  gradually reducing its numbers, so we’ll allow swarms 
  to heal during a rest by absorbing new members into 
  the swarm, and we’ll make a note that swarms die 
  outright when they reach 0 hit points because their last 
  member has perished. Interestingly, this makes the 
  character’s choice of base creature extremely 
  important. A swarm of rats will do fine in any city, but a 
  swarm of pixies outside of the feywild might need to 
  make frequent trips home to absorb more members. 
  This creates an interesting risk/reward balance when 
  players build their character. Unfortunately, this ability 
  is so far outside of normal mechanics that I can’t begin 
  to guess at a reasonable BP value. 
   The reduced damage output mechanic is simple, 
  thankfully. Reducing the swarm to half or fewer hit 
  points means that half of its members are dead, so it 
  has lost half of its effectiveness. We’ll expand the 
  drawback to cover not just damage, but spellcasting 
  and ability checks. Normal swarms don’t worry about 
  those things, but if we don’t address it we’ll see a lot of 
  bat swarm wizards who don’t particularly care about 
  dealing half damage since they can rely on other 
  effects. Unfortunately, this is also far outside of normal 
  mechanics, so it’s difficult to offer a justifiable BP 
  value. 
   I can’t fairly estimate the swarm template’s BP value. 
  It’s no higher than 13, but that’s hardly comforting. If 
  you choose to allow swarms in your game, do so with 
  extreme caution. The unique healing mechanic 
  severely limits the swarm’s survivability, even in the 
  best of cases. If you need to strengthen swarms, allow 
  them to heal one hit point per spell level of any healing 
  spell which affects them. If you want to weaken 
  swarms, only allow them to heal on a long rest. 
  Tiger 
  Immense felines famous for their orange and black 
  striped coats. 
  Tiger Traits 
  Tigers share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +1 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most 
  tigers are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 ft. 
   Bite and Claw. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 
  piercing or slashing damage on a hit.  
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Keen Smell. You have advantage on Wisdom 
  (Perception) checks that rely on smell. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Pounce. If you move at least 20 feet straight toward 
  a creature then hit it with an unarmed strike on the 
  same turn, you may attempt to shove the target prone 
  
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  Races 
  268 
  as a bonus action (see “Shoving a Creature”, page 195 
  of the Player’s Handbook). 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Tiger 
  Strong and nimble, tigers thrive in melee combat. 
  Consider classes like barbarian and fighter which can 
  capitalize on the tiger’s natural capabilities. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Simple beasts, tigers have no unique traits. Like other 
  beasts, we’ll treat the Tiger as awakened. 
   Tigers are beasts, costing -0.5 BP. 
   The Tiger’s physical ability scores are excellent, but 
  it’s hard to know what to emphasize. I like the idea of 
  focusing on the tiger as a strong, agile predator, so 
  we’ll grant +2 Strength and +1 Dexterity for 3 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), 40 ft. walking speed for 1 BP, 60 ft. Darkvision 
  for 2 BP, Keen Smell for 0.5 BP, and Pounce for 1.5 BP. 
  Since we’re treating the Tiger as awakened, we’ll grant 
  the ability to speak Common for 0 BP. Tigers have no 
  hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set their natural weapons to 
  1d8 for 2 BP. Because they qualify, we’ll add natural 
  weapon finesse for 0 BP. 
   At 7.5 BP, the tiger is just below our target BP range 
  of 8-10 BP. It’s a fine charger, but not so interesting as 
  similar beasts like the Lion. 
  Vulture 
  Enormous birds that feed almost exclusively on carrion. 
  Vulture Traits 
  Vultures share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Constitution, +1 Wisdom. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most 
  vulture are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 10 ft. 
   Beak. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 piercing 
  damage on a hit.  
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 40 feet. To use this 
  speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. 
   Keen Sight and Smell. You have advantage on 
  Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight or smell. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Pack Tactics. As a bonus action you may take 
  advantage of the presence of your allies. You gain 
  Advantage on the next attack roll you make this turn 
  against a creature if at least one of your allies is within 
  5 feet of the creature and the ally isn’t incapacitated. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Vulture 
  With fast flight and Pack Tactics, vultures are an 
  excellent flying ambusher, but they rely heavily on 
  allies. Since the vulture’s unarmed strike damage is 
  relatively weak, look for other ways to increase your 
  damage. Consider classes like monk, ranger, and rogue. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Simple beasts, vultures have no unique traits. Like 
  other beasts, we’ll treat the Vulture as awakened. 
   Vultures are beasts, costing -0.5 BP. 
   The ability scores are poor, but it has above-average 
  Constitution and Wisdom, so we’ll grant +1 to each for 
  2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, 10 ft. 
  walking speed for -2 BP, 40 ft. flying speed (down from 
  50 ft.) for 5 BP, Keen Sight and Keen Smell for 1 BP, and 
  Pack Tactics for 5 BP. Since we’re treating the Vulture 
  as awakened, we’ll grant the ability to speak Common 
  for 0 BP. Vultures have no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set 
  their natural weapons to 1d4 for 1 BP. 
   At 10.5 BP, the vulture is slightly above our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. The combination of fast flight and 
  pack tactic make it a potent threat, but it has poor 
  offensive options and will likely be heavily dependent 
  on allies to succeed in combat. If you want to 
  strengthen the vulture, increase its flight speed to 50 
  ft. If you want to weaken the vulture, reduce its flight 
  speed to 30 ft. 
  Warhorse 
  
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  Races 
  269 
  A riding horse trained to kick and bite when 
  threatened, warhorses are an excellent steed for 
  anyone seeking to ride into battle. 
   See the traits listed under “Pony”, earlier in this 
  section. 
  Design Notes 
  The warhorse is essentially identical to the pony with 
  slightly better ability scores and a few more hit dice. 
  That’s not enough to distinguish the two as playable 
  races, so we’ll just refer players to the pony stats.  
  Weasel 
  Burrowing marsupials valued for their fluffy white 
  winter coats. 
  Weasel Traits 
  Weasels share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Dexterity, +1 Wisdom. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most 
  weasels are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is tiny. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 piercing damage 
  on a hit.  
   You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the 
  attack and damage rolIs of your unarmed strikes. Your 
  unarmed strikes count as a weapon with the Finesse 
  property for all effects which require it, such as Sneak 
  Attack. 
   Keen Hearing and Smell. You have advantage on 
  Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or 
  smell. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Weasel 
  Nimble and observant, weasels make excellent rangers 
  and rogues. Be sure to look for ways to boost your 
  damage output like Hunter’s Mark and Sneak Attack. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  Design Notes 
  Simple beasts, weasels have no unique traits. Like 
  other beasts, we’ll treat the Weasel as awakened. 
   Weasels are beasts, costing -0.5 BP. 
   The weasel’s Dexterity is excellent, and its Wisdom is 
  above average, so we’ll grant +2 Dexterity and +1 
  Wisdom for 3 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get tiny size for -1.5 BP, 30 
  ft. walking speed for 1 BP, and Keen Hearing and Keen 
  Smell for 1 BP. Since we’re treating the Weasel as 
  awakened, we’ll grant the ability to speak Common for 
  0 BP. Weasels have no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set 
  their natural weapons to 1d4 (up from 1) for 1 BP. 
  Because they qualify, we’ll add natural weapon finesse 
  for 0 BP. 
   At just 2 BP, the weasel is well below our target 
  range of 8-10 BP. If you plan to include it in your game, 
  consider granting skill proficiencies like Stealth, or 
  possibly a feat. 
  Winter Wolf 
  Considerably larger than a normal wolf, and coated in 
  thick white fur. Winter wolves have pale blue eyes, and 
  deadly frozen breath. 
  Winter Wolf Traits 
  Winter wolves share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Intelligent predators that ally themselves 
  with evil giants, most winter wolves are neutral evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 piercing damage 
  on a hit.  
   Cold Breath. As an action, you can breathe a blast of 
  freezing wind in a 15-foot cone. Each creature in that 
  cone must make a Dexterity saving throw. The DC for 
  this saving throw equals 8 + your Constitution modifier 
  + your proficiency bonus. A creature takes 2d6 cold 
  damage on a failed save and half as much damage on a 
  successful one. The damage increases by 1d6 when you 
  reach 5th level (3d6), 11th level (4d6), and 17th level 
  (5d6). 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Keen Hearing and Smell. You have advantage on 
  Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or 
  smell. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 12 + your Dexterity modifier. 
  
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  Races 
  270 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Snow Camouflage. You have advantage on Dexterity 
  (Stealth) checks made to hide in snowy terrain. 
   Trip. If you hit a creature with an unarmed strike, 
  you may attempt to shove the target prone as a bonus 
  action (see “Shoving a Creature”, page 195 of the 
  Player’s Handbook). 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common, Giant, and Winter Wolf. 
  Playing a Winter Wolf 
  Equipped with a long list of useful racial traits, the 
  Winter Wolf is a formidable creature. Use your speed 
  to move into melee quickly. Impede single foes with 
  Trip, and attack groups of enemies with your cold 
  breath. Your natural armor reduces the need for 
  manufactured armor, but don’t forget to invest in your 
  Dexterity if you plan to go unarmored. 
   Winter wolves commonly ally themselves with evil 
  ice giants, so they’re a natural addition to a party with 
  an ice giant character. 
  Design Notes 
  While they’re mechanically simple, winter wolves have 
  a long list of traits to be considered. 
   Winter wolves are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but 
  offering no specific traits. 
   Winter wolves have good physical ability scores, 
  especially Strength and Constitution. We need to 
  conserve BP, so we’ll grant +1 to each for 2 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), +2 natural armor for 1 BP, 40 ft. walking speed 
  (down from 50) for 1 BP, racial languages plus Common 
  and an additional fixed language for 0.25 BP, Keen 
  Hearing and Keen Smell for 1 BP, Camouflage for 0.5 
  BP, a breath weapon for 2 BP, and Trip for 2 BP. We’ll 
  drop Pack Tactics to conserve BP. Winter wolves have 
  no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set their natural weapons 
  to 1d8 for 2 BP. 
   At 10.25 BP, the Winter Wolf slightly exceeds our 
  target range of 8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the 
  Winter Wolf, increase its Strength increase. If you want 
  to weaken the Winter Wolf, remove its Constitution 
  increase. 
  Wolf 
  Canine pack hunters native to a variety of climates, 
  wolves have long symbolized the danger of the 
  untamed wilds. 
  Wolf Traits 
  Wolves share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Beast 
   Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity. 
   Alignment. Normally unintelligent beasts, most 
  wolves are neutral. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 ft. 
   Bite. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 slashing damage 
  on a hit. 
   Keen Hearing and Smell. You have advantage on 
  Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or 
  smell. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 11 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Pack Tactics. As a bonus action you may take 
  advantage of the presence of your allies. You gain 
  Advantage on the next attack roll you make this turn 
  against a creature if at least one of your allies is within 
  5 feet of the creature and the ally isn’t incapacitated. 
   Trip. If you hit a creature with an unarmed strike, 
  you may attempt to shove the target prone as a bonus 
  action (see “Shoving a Creature”, page 195 of the 
  Player’s Handbook). 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common. 
  Playing a Wolf 
  Wolves are capable attackers, but lack defensive 
  options. Be sure to pick up armor, or consider classes 
  like barbarian and monk which offer alternate means 
  of boosting your AC. Cooperate with allies in combat; 
  use Pack Tactics to gain Advantage on your attacks, 
  then use Trip so that allies will gain Advantage on their 
  own attacks. 
   Like many other creatures, being awakened has a 
  great deal of influence on your character’s personality. 
  Consider what effect granted your character superior 
  intelligence, and how that effect shaped your 
  character’s personality. 
  
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  Races 
  271 
  Design Notes 
  Simple beasts, wolves have no unique traits. However, 
  they have several special abilities which will eat BP 
  quickly. Like other beasts, we’ll treat the Wolf as 
  awakened. 
   Wolves are beasts, costing -0.5 BP. 
   Wolves have good physical ability scores, but aside 
  from Dexterity it’s hard to know what to emphasize 
  since four of the ability scores are 12. We’ll grant +1 
  Dexterity for 1 BP, and spend the rest of the BP 
  elsewhere. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size, +1 natural 
  armor for 0.5 BP, 40 ft. walking speed for 1 BP, Keen 
  Hearing and Keen Smell for 1 BP, Pack Tactics for 5 BP, 
  and Trip for 2 BP. Since we’re treating the Wolf as 
  awakened, we’ll grant the ability to speak Common for 
  0 BP. Wolves have no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set 
  their natural weapons to 1d8 for 2 BP. 
   At 10 BP, the wolf is at the top of our target range of 
  8-10 BP. If you want to strengthen the wolf, add a +1 
  Strength increase. If you want to weaken the wolf, 
  reduce its speed. 
  Worg 
  Bigger than a wolf and nearly as intelligent as a human, 
  worgs are cunning, malevolent predators. They 
  frequently serve goblins and hobgoblins as mounts, 
  and accompany them in battle. 
  Worg Traits 
  Worgs share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Monstrosity 
   Ability Score Increase. +2 Strength, +1 Constitution. 
   Alignment. Cunning beasts that ally themselves with 
  goblinoids and willingly hunt humans, most worgs are 
  neutral evil. 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 ft. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Keen Hearing and Smell. You have advantage on 
  Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or 
  smell. 
   Natural Armor. While unarmored, your AC is equal 
  to 12 + your Dexterity modifier. 
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Trip. If you hit a creature with an unarmed strike, 
  you may attempt to shove the target prone as a bonus 
  action (see “Shoving a Creature”, page 195 of the 
  Player’s Handbook). 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in Goblin 
  and Worg. 
  Playing a Worg 
  Strong and fast, worgs are aggressive melee 
  combatants. Their Trip ability provides allies an easy 
  way to gain Advantage against their foes. Consider 
  classes like barbarian and fighter which can capitalize 
  on the worg’s traits. 
   Worgs are frequently raised by goblinoids for use as 
  mounts or hunting companions. This makes the Worg 
  an excellent addition to many parties featuring goblin 
  character. 
  Design Notes 
  Worgs are extremely similar to wolves, but give up 
  Pack Tactics for better numbers. They’re already 
  intelligent and capable of speech, so we don’t need to 
  treat them as awakened. 
   Worgs are monstrosities, costing 0.5 BP but offering 
  no specific traits. 
   The Worg’s best ability score is Strength. Its 
  Dexterity and Constitution are equal, but I think it 
  makes more sense to emphasize Strength. We’ll grant 
  +2 Strength and +1 Constitution for 3 BP. 
   From the stat block, we get medium size (down from 
  large), +2 natural armor for 1 BP, 40 ft. walking speed 
  (down from 50 ft.) for 1 BP, 60 ft. Darkvision for 2 BP, 
  only racial languages plus on fixed language for -0.75 
  BP, Keen Hearing and Keen Smell for 1 BP, and Trip for 
  2 BP. Worgs have no hands for -2 BP, and we’ll set their 
  natural weapons to 1d8 for 2 BP. 
   At 9.75, the Worg is within our target range of 8-10 
  BP. If you want to weaken the Worg, reduce its 
  Strength increases. If you want to strengthen the 
  Worg, increase its speed. 
   
   
  
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  Races 
  272 
  Monstrous 
  Character Options 
  This section presents several new character options. 
  While these feats are intended for use by the races 
  presented in this document, some of them may be 
  useful for races presented in other publications. 
  Class Options 
  Combat Style 
  The Combat Style class feature exists across several 
  classes. The following Combat Style options are 
  available to fighters, paladins, and rangers. 
  Natural Weapon 
  The damage dealt by your unarmed strikes increase by 
  one die size (1 > 1d4 > 1d6 > 1d8 > 1d10 > 1d12, up to 
  1d12). If your unarmed strike damage includes multiple 
  dice, only one of the dice changes in size. You may 
  choose which die to improve, but this decision is 
  permanent. 
  Feats 
  Bestial Spellcaster 
  A wave of the claw, a series of canine yips, or even 
  grinding chitinous plates together can serve just as well 
  as waggling fingers and magic words. 
  • lncrease your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma 
  score by 1, to a maximum of 20. 
  • If you lack human-like hands, you may cast spells as 
  though you were wielding a spellcasting focus.  
  • If you can create vocalizations or sounds of some 
  sort which your race uses to communicate (barking, 
  trumpeting, whale song, etc.) you may perform 
  verbal components even if you are physically 
  incapable of speaking a language. 
  Mighty Breath 
  Your breath weapon is exceptionally fearsome. 
  Prerequisite: Breath weapon racial trait. 
  • Increase the die size of the damage dealt by your 
  breath weapon by one size (1d6 > 1d8 > 1d10 > 1d2, 
  up to 1d12). If your breath weapon deals multiple 
  damage dice (2d6, 3d8, etc.), they all increase in size. 
  • You may use your breath weapon twice before 
  requiring a short or long rest. 
  Natural Weapon Master 
  Your body is as deadly as any blade. 
  Prerequisite: Racial natural weapons such as claws, a 
  bite, or tentacles. 
  • The damage dealt by your unarmed strikes increase 
  by one die size (1 > 1d4 > 1d6 > 1d8 > 1d10 > 1d12, 
  up to 1d12). If your unarmed strike damage includes 
  multiple dice, only one of the dice changes in size. 
  You may choose which die to improve, but this 
  decision is permanent. 
  • After taking the Attack action, you may use a bonus 
  action to make an unarmed strike using your natural 
  weapons. You don’t add your ability modifier to the 
  damage of the bonus attack, unless that modifier is 
  negative. 
  • You may use the higher of your Strength or your 
  Dexterity modifier for attack and damage rolls with 
  unarmed strikes when using your natural weapons. 
  Powerful Flyer 
  You are able to fly while weighed down, and can fly 
  unusually fast while unencumbered. 
  Prerequisite: Flight racial trait. 
  • While wearing light armor or no armor, your flight 
  speed increases by 10 feet. 
  • You can fly while wearing medium armor or carrying 
  a medium load. 
  Thick Hide 
  Your unladen body as impenetrable as the sturdiest 
  armor. 
  Prerequisite: Natural Armor racial trait. 
  • Increase your Constitution score by +1, to a 
  maximum of 20. 
  • While unarmored, your AC increases by +1.  
   
   
  
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  Races 
  273 
  Backgrounds 
  The following backgrounds are designed for use 
  primarily by monstrous characters, but frequently work 
  just as well for more conventional characters. 
  Exile 
  No longer welcome among your own kind, you have 
  abandoned your home to try to survive the world on 
  your own. Perhaps your will return home again 
  someday, but for now you must live among people 
  whose ways are foreign to you. 
   
  Skill Proficiencies: Persuasion, Survival 
  Tool Proficiencies: Herbalism kit 
  Languages: One of your choice 
  Equipment: A club, quarterstaff, or spear, a set of 
  traveler’s clothes, a pouch containing 5 gp. 
  Cast Out 
  What was the reason you were driven from your 
  home? You can work with your DM to determine the 
  exact nature of your seclusion, or you can choose or 
  roll on the table below to determine the reason behind 
  your seclusion. 
  d8 
  Cast Out 
  1 
  I committed an unforgivable crime 
  2 
  I was falsely accused 
  3 
  I angered an influential figure 
  4 
  I failed an important task 
  5 
  I stole an object of great value 
  6 
  I faked my own death 
  7 
  I was an outsider among my people 
  8 
  I left of my own free will 
  Feature: Stranger in a Strange Land 
  Accustomed to being among people who do not share 
  your ideals or culture, you have learned to quickly 
  adopt the mannerisms of the local peoples wherever 
  you go. Even if your people are not normally 
  encountered wherever you are, most people treat you 
  like a local unless they have a specific reason not to do 
  so, and your race does not draw unwanted attention 
  from people with no strong feelings toward your race. 
  Suggested Characteristics 
  Some exiles are well suited to a life away from their 
  own kind, while others long to return home. Whether 
  they seek to return home or not, the solitary nature of 
  their life shapes their behavior. Many are driven to 
  depression, anger, or insanity by their circumstances. 
   
  d8 
  Personality Trait 
  1 
  I’ve been away from my people so long 
  that I barely speak my native tongue. 
  2 
  I have come to accept my situation. 
  3 
  I love my people, and extol their 
  virtues to anyone who will listen. 
  4 
  I take pity on those in similar 
  situations, and aid them when I can. 
  5 
  I have trouble conforming to etiquette 
  and manners in my new homeland. 
  6 
  I believe that I was exiled for some 
  higher purpose. 
  7 
  I am often distracted by thoughts and 
  reminders of home. 
  8 
  I seek to make myself an example to my 
  people. 
   
  d6 
  Ideal 
  1 
  Independence. I must prove that I can 
  survive alone. (Chaotic) 
  2 
  Revenge. I want revenge for how I was 
  treated. (Evil) 
  3 
  Penance. I need to endure the 
  punishment for my mistakes. (Lawful)  
  4 
  Forgiveness. Everyone falls short, and 
  deserves forgiveness. (Good) 
  5 
  Diversity. Every culture has merit, 
  and I can’t expect others to conform 
  to my ideals. (Neutral) 
  6 
  Discovery. I can learn a lot from the 
  world outside my former home. (Any) 
   
  d6 
  Bond 
  1 
  I still want the best for my people. 
  2 
  I hope to return to my home one day. 
  3 
  I keep a prized memento to remind me 
  of my former home. 
  4 
  I have contacts among my people with 
  whom I keep in touch. 
  5 
  I went into exile to escape the full 
  consequences of my actions, but I 
  still fear the punishment I am due. 
  6 
  I am loyal to those who took me in. 
   
  d6 
  Flaw 
  1 
  I am easily enticed by the pleasures 
  of my new homeland. 
  2 
  I refuse to abandon or deviate from 
  the customs of my people. 
  3 
  I continue act in ways which would 
  disappoint my people. 
  4 
  I am overcome by shame for even minor 
  transgressions. 
  5 
  I often forget the laws of my new 
  homeland. 
  6 
  I find the culture of my new homeland 
  strange and disturbing. 
  
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  Races 
  274 
  Orphan 
  Orphaned at a young age, someone took you in and 
  taught you everything that you know. Regardless of 
  your surrogate parent and your origins, this experience 
  defined your life. 
   
  Skill Proficiencies: Your choice of two from among 
  Animal Handling, Deception, Religion, Sleight of Hand, 
  and Survival 
  Tool Proficiencies: One type of Artisan’s tools or one 
  vehicle 
  Languages: One of your choice 
  Equipment: A dagger, a hand-drawn map of the city 
  you grew up in, a set of common clothes, and a belt 
  pouch containing 10 gp 
  Adopted 
  You were taken in by a person or an organization which 
  raised you to adulthood. You can decide who or what 
  raised you, or you can roll on the table below. 
  d8 
  Adopted 
  1 
  A church or religious group 
  2 
  A family with no children of 
  their own 
  3 
  An orphanage 
  4 
  A local artisan or craftsman 
  5 
  A group of elderly spinsters 
  6 
  A criminal organization 
  7 
  A traveler or adventurer 
  8 
  A local educator or sage 
  Feature: Charitable Spirit 
  Wherever you go you can find others willing to shelter 
  and provide for you, least temporarily. This might be as 
  simple as sharing a tent and a heel of bread, or as 
  lavish as a stay in a well-appointed castle with a grand 
  feast. In any case, you can find a place to sleep and a 
  meal from a willing host. Though the host won’t ask 
  you for payment in coin, they may expect you to repay 
  their kindness in other ways. 
  Suggested Characteristics 
  An orphan often feels lost in the world, and seeks out 
  purpose and a sense of belonging. Whatever the 
  circumstances of their parentage and adoption, being 
  raised by an adoptive family has a great effect on the 
  orphan’s view of the world. 
  d8 
  Personality Trait 
  1 
  I don’t remember my original 
  family, but I don’t miss them. 
  2 
  Someday I want to build a family 
  of my own. 
  3 
  I will go to great lengths to 
  care for my friends and family. 
  4 
  I’m accustomed to doing things 
  alone, so I forget to ask for 
  help even if I know it’s 
  available. 
   
  d6 
  Ideal 
  1 
  Rebellion. My adopted parent’s 
  culture is anathema to me, and I 
  rail against it at every 
  opportunity. (Chaotic) 
  2 
  Stricture. My adopted parent 
  taught me the value of discipline 
  and order. (Lawful) 
  3 
  Charity. The charity of others 
  saved me from a life of despair, 
  and I must pass that gift on to 
  others. (Good) 
  4 
  Jealousy. When I have little to 
  call my own, so I can’t let 
  anyone threaten what little I 
  have. (Evil) 
  5 
  Self-sufficiency. I need to be 
  able to stand on my own without 
  depending on others. (Neutral) 
  6 
  Family. Family is what I choose 
  to make it. (Any) 
   
  d6 
  Bond 
  1 
  I carry a token of my original 
  family, and prize it above all. 
  2 
  I carry a gift from my adoptive 
  parent which was of little value 
  to them, but which carries great 
  significance for me. 
  3 
  I return to my adopted home as 
  often as I can manage. 
  4 
  I owe my adoptive parent a great 
  debt which I may spend why whole 
  life attempting to repay. 
  5 
  I care deeply for the safety and 
  wellbeing of children. 
  6 
  I hold onto hope that one day I 
  will be reunited with my birth 
  family. 
   
  d6 
  Flaw 
  1 
  I resent whoever is responsible 
  for making me an orphan. 
  2 
  I fear abandonment by those I 
  consider friends or family. 
  3 
  I resent the pity that others 
  feel for me. 
  4 
  I have trouble accepting gifts or 
  assistance for fear of indebting 
  myself to others. 
  5 
  I fear scarcity, and hoard 
  mundane objects like food. 
  6 
  I am slow to accept new family 
  and friends 
  
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  Races 
  275 
  Emissary 
  Tasked with a duty of great importance, you were sent 
  away from your own lands to serve your people from 
  afar as a representative. 
   
  Skill Proficiencies: Any two from among Deception, 
  Insight, Intimidation, and Persuasion. 
  Tool Proficiencies: One type of gaming set 
  Languages: One of your choice 
  Equipment: A set of fine clothes, a badge of office or 
  an official letter, and a purse containing 5 gp 
  Mission 
  You were tasked with an important mission which you 
  must complete before returning home. You can decide 
  what your mission is, or you can roll on the table 
  below. 
  d8 
  Mission 
  1 
  Negotiate Peace 
  2 
  Declare War 
  3 
  Permanent Ambassador 
  4 
  Espionage 
  5 
  Exploration 
  6 
  Establish Trade Relations 
  7 
  Cultural Exchange 
  8 
  Academic Exchange 
  Feature: Demand Audience 
  Your status as an emissary allows you to gain an 
  audience with suitable authorities, dignitaries, or major 
  figures, so long as the subject is not personally hostile 
  toward you. While the subject is not forced to 
  acquiesce to any requests or demands you might 
  make, they will meet with you at the very least. 
  Suggested Characteristics 
  Emissaries are as diverse as the people they represent. 
  Some are sent to negotiate peace or trade, while 
  others are sent to deliver declarations of ware. An 
  emissary’s methods, motives, and behavior greatly 
  influence how they interpret their mission. 
  D6 
  Personality Trait 
  1 
  I am very important and everyone 
  should treat me well. 
  2 
  My people’s culture is clearly 
  superior to others. 
  3 
  I can learn many things from 
  other cultures which will help my 
  people. 
  4 
  I collect mundane customs of 
  foreign lands like trophies. 
  5 
  I share the customs of my people 
  with others every chance I get. 
  6 
  I love to share stories of my 
  friends and family back home. 
   
  d6 
  Ideal 
  1 
  Peace. I seek permanent peace for 
  my people. (Good) 
  2 
  Conflict. I seek to bring my 
  people to the glory of war. 
  (Evil) 
  3 
  Order. I seek to ensure that my 
  people are treated fairly in 
  foreign lands. (Lawful) 
  4 
  Freedom. I seek to ensure that my 
  people are free to do as they 
  please in foreign lands. 
  (Chaotic) 
  5 
  Isolationism. I seek to isolate 
  my people from the outside world. 
  (Neutral) 
  6 
  Trade. I seek to open trade with 
  other peoples. (Any) 
   
  d6 
  Bond 
  1 
  I must complete my mission at any 
  cost. 
  2 
  I wear a badge of office with 
  great pride. 
  3 
  My good reputation among foreign 
  peoples is crucial to my duties. 
  4 
  I have someone at home who I 
  can’t see until I complete my 
  mission, but I miss them dearly.  
  5 
  I am emotionally close to the 
  person to whom I was sent as an 
  emissary. 
  6 
  I am enamored with a culture 
  foreign to my own, and after 
  completing my mission I hope to 
  remain among them. 
   
  d6 
  Flaw 
  1 
  The wellbeing of my own people is 
  my sole concern. 
  2 
  I take great offense to even the 
  most innocent faux pas.  
  3 
  I openly mock the social customs 
  of other cultures. 
  4 
  I flaunt activities which are 
  acceptable in my own culture, but 
  taboo in others. 
  5 
  I am utterly incapable of 
  understanding foreign cultures. 
  6 
  I assume that others adhere to my 
  people’s culture without any 
  evidence that will do so. 
   
  
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  Races 
  276 
  Published Races 
  The following section assesses races currently 
  published in the official rules, assigns a BP cost to each 
  race, and attempts to offer design suggestions for 
  altering races which might benefit from such 
  adjustments. 
   It’s interesting to note that the races drawn from 
  Volo’s Guide to Monsters were published after I had 
  completed the designs presented earlier in this 
  document. In some cases my own designs came 
  amusingly close to the official versions. 
   This section does not include races published in the 
  Unearthed Arcana article series. The current version of 
  this document includes races from the Player’s 
  Handbook and Volo’s Guide to Monsters. 
  Aarakocra (9 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (3 BP). +2 Fixed, +1 Fixed. 
  • Size (0 BP). Medium. 
  • Speed (5 BP). 25 ft. walking, 50 ft. flying 
  • Vision (0 BP). Normal. 
  • Languages (0 BP). Racial Language and Common. 
  • Special Abilities (1 BP). Natural Weapons. 
   The aarakocra is a fine race with a couple of minor 
  issues. Its flying speed eats over half of its BP, so it 
  hasn’t got much else going on. Its fly speed is amazing, 
  so even without other abilities, it can be problematic in 
  your games.  
   If you want to weaken the aarakocra, reduce its 
  flying speed to 30 ft. If you want to strengthen the 
  aarakocra, grant it proficiency in a skill like perception 
  or survival, or give it the “Dive Attack” ability (see 
  above under “Race Builder: Special Abilities”). 
  Aasimar (DMG Version) (15 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (3 BP). +2 Fixed, +1 Fixed. 
  • Size (0 BP). Medium. 
  • Speed (0 BP). 30 ft. 
  • Vision (2 BP). Darkvision. 
  • Special Abilities (4 BP). Damage Resistance x2 
  • Innate Spellcasting (6 BP). 1 fixed cantrip, 2nd-level 
  spell two levels early, 3rd-level spell two levels early 
  • Languages (0 BP). Racial Language and Common. 
   Aasimar are frustrating. Their BP cost is clearly not 
  acceptable, but it’s hard to remove much without 
  deviating from the historical incarnations of the race. 
  The race just has too much going for it. I think the issue 
  here is that the race attempted to stay true to the 
  mechanics of Aasimar in previous editions instead of 
  emphasizing the theme of the race with a new 
  mechanical spin in the same way that the core races 
  were designed. 
   If you want to weaken the aasimar, delay its access 
  to both of its two innate level spells by 2 levels and 
  remove Darkvision. If you want to strengthen the 
  Aasimar, grant it proficiency in Religion. 
  Aasimar (VGTM Version) 
  • Ability Score Increase (2 BP). +2 fixed. 
  • Size (0 BP). Medium. 
  • Speed (0 BP). 30 ft. 
  • Vision (2 BP). Darkvision. 
  • Languages (0 BP). Racial Language and Common. 
  • Innate Spellcasting (0.5). 1 fixed cantrip 
  • Special Abilities (2.5 BP). Damage Resistance, and 
  enough healing to match Toughness. 
   A dramatic improvement over the DMG version, the 
  VGTM version of the Aasimar is more balanced, and 
  expands upon the flavor of the race by presenting 
  three subraces. The subraces are very similar and fairly 
  well balanced against each other, though not perfectly. 
  However, the race still gets a lot of stuff, so its BP cost 
  is a little bit high. 
   If you want to weaken the Aasimar, reduce the 
  Charisma increase or remove Healing Hands. 
  Fallen (11 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (1 BP). +1 fixed. 
  • Special Abilities (3 BP). Necrotic Shroud. 
   The weakest of the Aasimar subraces, the Fallen’s 
  special ability’s non-damage effect only applies once 
  when the ability is triggered and has a disappointing 
  duration. 
   If you want to strengthen the Fallen, allow it to apply 
  the fear effect from Necrotic Shroud each time the 
  bonus necrotic damage is dealt. You may also grant 
  Advantage on the saving throw if the creature has 
  previously succeeded on a save against the ability 
  during that activation of Necrotic Shroud. 
  Protector (12 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (1 BP). +1 fixed. 
  • Special Abilities (4 BP). Radiant Soul. 
   Access to flight is fantastic, but it only lasts for one 
  minute per day, so it’s not as good as real flight and not 
  worth as much BP. 
  
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  Races 
  277 
  Scourge (12 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (1 BP). +1 fixed. 
  • Special Abilities (4 BP). Radiant Consumption. 
   Despite the self-damaging effect, the AOE damage 
  from Radiant Consumption is a fantastic option in a 
  game where heroes are often outnumbered by groups 
  of foes with small numbers of hit points. 
  Bugbear (7.5 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (3 BP). +2 fixed, +1 fixed. 
  • Size (0 BP). Medium. 
  • Speed (0 BP). 30 ft. 
  • Vision (2 BP). Darkvision. 
  • Proficiencies (0.5 BP). 1 Fixed skill. 
  • Special Abilities (2 BP). Long-Limbed, Powerful Build, 
  Surprise Attack. 
  • Languages (0 BP). Racial Language and Common. 
   Bugbears introduce two new racial traits on 
  published races: Long-limbed and Surprise Attack. 
  Long-limbed is really interesting, but it’s hard to assess 
  since reach works so strangely in 5th edition. If you 
  have the Polearm Master feat, reach is always 
  excellent because it widens the area which you can 
  discourage foes from entering. If you don’t, reach can 
  actually be a handicap because it allows foes to move 
  around safely within a wider area without exiting your 
  reach. We’ll call it 0.5 BP. 
   I should note that I wrote the version of Surprise 
  Attack several months before Volo’s Guide to Monsters 
  was published. The design which Wizards decided to 
  publish is specifically what I was trying to avoid: 2d6 
  bonus damage for a 1st-level character. With that 
  bonus, it’s easy for a bugbear to deal 4d6 damage plus 
  an ability modifier at 1st-level, which is enough damage 
  to kill a CR ½ creature in one attack and to cut down 
  about half of a CR 1 creature’s hit points. At that point, 
  low-level encounters become pointless. It also faces 
  the issue that the damage becomes irrelevant at higher 
  levels since it doesn’t scale. 
   Limiting Surprise Attack to once per combat was a 
  smart limitation that I decided to retain. While 
  surprising foes more than once is exceptionally rare, 
  the text prevents a potential abuse case. We’ll still call 
  Surprise Attack 1 BP despite the difference between 
  the official version and my own version. 
   If you want to strengthen the bugbear, add Savage 
  Attacks. If you want to weaken the bugbear, reduce its 
  Strength bonus. If you want to rebalance the bugbear, 
  trade the official version of Surprise Attack for the one 
  presented in this document.  
  Centaur (10 BP) 
  • Creature Type (0.5 BP). Fey. 
  • Ability Score Increase (3 BP). +2 fixed (2 BP), +1 fixed 
  (1 BP). 
  • Size (0 BP). Medium. 
  • Speed (1 BP). 40 ft. 
  • Vision (2 BP). Darkvision. 
  • Proficiencies (0.75 BP). 1 from a fixed list. 
  • Special Abilities (3 BP). Charge, Equine Build, Natural 
  Weapons. 
  • Languages (0 BP). Racial Language and Common. 
   We first saw Centaurs in an Unearthed Arcana article 
  which featured racial traits for Centaurs and 
  Minotaurs. Wizards got very close to the final version 
  in the Unearthed Arcana article, but made some 
  mathematical tweaks, expanded the Centaur’s 
  proficiency options, and perhaps most notably 
  removed the part of Equine Build intended to allow 
  allies to ride on a Centaur’s back. With this removal, 
  Equine Build is just Powerful Build with a handicap, so 
  we’ll call it 0 BP and add it to the Race Builder’s list of 
  special abilities. 
   Centaurs also introduce a new version of the Charge 
  ability. The version of Charge presented in the Monster 
  Manual adds extra damage to the monster’s attacks, 
  but but the damage could be problematic when 
  granted to a player. Instead, the new version allows 
  players to make an Unarmed Strike as a Bonus Action. 
  This version would be problematic for monsters 
  because it adds more dice rolling, which makes turns 
  take longer, but on a player it’s a great option. The 
  damage won’t scale as fast as the monster version of 
  Charge, but in a lot of ways that could be a good thing. 
  We’ll add it to the Race Builder as a variant version of 
  Charge. 
   With the new options out of the way, the rest of the 
  Centaur’s traits fall within stuff covered in the Race 
  Builder. It’s interesting to note that the creature type 
  was changed from Monstrosity to Fey (a change which 
  I support, considering the real-world mythological 
  origins of centaurs), but that doesn’t come with a BP 
  change so the two are mostly interchangeable. The 
  race is fun and interesting with a minor but meaningful 
  decision point in the racial traits, and Charge remains a 
  central part of what makes the Centaur special without 
  being so crucial that a Centaur can’t function in close 
  quarters. 
   If you want to strengthen the Centaur, increase its 
  natural weapon damage. If you want to weaken the 
  
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  Races 
  278 
  Centaur, reduce its list of skill proficiency options or 
  reduce iuts Strength increase. 
   
  Dragonborn (6 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (3 BP). +2 fixed (2 BP), +1 fixed 
  (1 BP). 
  • Size (0 BP). Medium. 
  • Speed (0 BP). 30 ft. 
  • Vision (0 BP). Normal. 
  • Special Abilities (3 BP). Breath Weapon, Damage 
  Resistance  
  • Languages (0 BP). Racial Language and Common. 
   Dragonborn are a really popular race. Their abilities 
  are solid for a paladin and passable for a sorcerer or 
  warlock, and everyone wants to be a dragon. The 
  dragonborn’s signature abilities are its breath weapon 
  and damage resistance. Energy resistance is fantastic, 
  but the breath weapon has mediocre range, and 
  doesn’t do a ton of damage past first level. Even with 
  the damage scaling, it’s frequently more effective to 
  swing a weapon than to use an action on your breath 
  weapon. Plus, once you’ve used your breath weapon 
  the dragonborn reverts to a fixed stat block with no 
  active abilities. 
   If you want to strengthen the dragonborn, grant it a 
  skill proficiency appropriate for its dragon ancestor 
  and/or make their breath weapon a bonus action. If 
  you want to weaken the dragonborn, reduce its 
  Strength increase. 
  Dwarf 
  • Ability Score Increase (2 BP). +2 Fixed. 
  • Size (0 BP). Medium. 
  • Speed (-1 BP). 25 ft. 
  • Vision (2 BP). Darkvision. 
  • Languages (0 BP). Racial Language and Common. 
  • Proficiencies (2.5 BP). 3 Martial Weapons, 1 Simple 
  Weapon, 1 Semi-flexible Tool. 
  • Special Abilities (1.5 BP). Poison Resilience, 
  Stonecunning. 
   Dwarfs are one of my favorite races in 5e. All three 
  subraces are playable, none of them feel unfair, and 
  they work for a large enough subset of characters that 
  they don’t feel shoehorned. 
   I don’t advise altering dwarfs in any way. 
  Duergar (9.75 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (1 BP). +1 Fixed 
  • Languages (+0.25). +1 fixed language. 
  • Vision (-1 BP). Superior Darkvision (improved from 
  Darkvision), Sunlight Sensitivity. 
  • Innate Spellcasting (3 BP). 1 1st-level spell, 1 2nd-level 
  spell. 
  • Special Abilities (0.5 BP). Duergar Resilience. 
  Hill Dwarf (9.5 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (1 BP). +1 Fixed. 
  • Special Abilities (.5 BP). Toughness.  
  Mountain Dwarf (10 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (2 BP). +2 Fixed. 
  • Proficiencies (2 BP). Light and Medium Armor. 
  Elf 
  • Ability Score Increase (2 BP). +2 Fixed. 
  • Size (0 BP). Medium. 
  • Speed (0 BP). 30 ft. 
  • Vision (2 BP). Darkvision. 
  • Languages (0 BP). Racial Language and Common. 
  • Proficiencies (0.5 BP). 1 Fixed skill. 
  • Special Abilities (1 BP). Fey Ancestry, Trance. 
   Elves are another great race. They have diverse 
  subraces which open up good builds for nearly every 
  class in the game. The drow are a bit more powerful 
  than I like, but their spells are gentle enough that 
  they’re not a huge problem. 
   I don’t advise changing elves in any way, with the 
  possible exception of Drow as explained below. For 
  other subraces I’ve provided suggestions for tweaks if 
  you want a different “feel” for the subrace. 
  Drow (11.5 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (1 BP). 1 Fixed. 
  • Vision (-1 BP). Superior Darkvision (improved from 
  Darkvision), Sunlight Sensitivity. 
  • Proficiencies (1.5 BP). 3 Martial Weapons. 
  • Innate Spellcasting (4.5). 1 Fixed Cantrip, 1 1st-level 
  spell, 1 3rd-level spell. 
   The drow’s innate spellcasting makes it 
  mathematically the most powerful elf subrace. 
  However, its spells are non-lethal and situational, and 
  Sunlight Sensitivity presents a significant handicap, so I 
  don’t think that the drow’s high BP score indicate that 
  it’s overpowered. 
   If you want to weaken the Drow, delay its access to 
  both of its two innate level spells by 2 levels. 
  Eladrin (DMG Version) (13.75 BP?) 
  • Ability Score Increase (1 BP). 1 Fixed. 
  
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  Races 
  279 
  • Proficiencies (2 BP). 4 Martial Weapons. 
  • Innate Spellcasting (5.25+ BP). 1 2nd-level spell 
  usable once per short rest, and it’s available from 
  first level. 
   The Eladrin is far too powerful almost entirely due to 
  Fey Step. Fey Step is a fantastic ability for a small set of 
  builds, but granting it at 1st level and allowing it on a 
  short rest makes the Eladrin extremely powerful, 
  especially at low levels before misty step is available to 
  other races. 
   If you want to weaken the Eladrin, reduce its 
  proficiencies to longsword and longbow, and delay 
  Misty Step to 5th level. 
  Eladrin (Mordenkainen’s Version) (12.5 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (1 BP). 1 Fixed. 
  • Special Abilities (6 BP). Fey Step is misty step four 
  levels early, on a short rest, with an added rider. 6 BP 
  may not be sufficient. 
   The finalized version of the Eladrin isn’t significantly 
  different from the rough version presented in the 
  Dungeon Master’s Guide. However, it trades free 
  weapon proficiencies for a rider effect on Fey Step. 
  That doesn’t solve the fundamental problem that misty 
  step is very powerful to grant on a short rest at 1st 
  level. However, the BP value does drop by roughly a 
  point depending on how we rate the Fey Step rider 
  effects. 
   If you want to weaken the Eladrin, delay the rider 
  effect on Fey Step to 3rd level, and only allow Fey Step 
  to be used once per long rest until the player reaches 
  5th level. 
  High Elf (9 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (1 BP). 1 Fixed. 
  • Proficiencies (2 BP). 4 Martial Weapons. 
  • Innate Spellcasting (1 BP). 1 Flexible Cantrip. 
   High Elf is a great option for Eldritch Knight and 
  Arcane Tricksters because it gets you access to magic 
  earlier than normal. With the addition of cantrips like 
  Green-flame Blade, it also presents a powerful and 
  potentially problematic damage boost, especially at 
  low levels.  
   Overall, I think the High Elf is fine aside from 
  problem cases like combining Green-flame Blade with 
  Sneak Attack. If you want to tweak the High Elf, 
  consider replacing the free cantrip with three cantrips 
  each usable once per day. That will make the cantrips 
  more of a flavorful utility option, and less of an 
  exploitable way to get free damage without a feat or 
  multi-classing. 
  Sea Elf (9.5 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (1 BP). 1 Fixed. 
  • Speed (1 BP). 30 ft. swim. 
  • Proficiencies (1.5 BP). 2 Martial Weapons, 2 simple 
  weapons. 
  • Languages (0 BP). Racial Language and Common. 
  • Special Abilities (0.5 BP). Friend of the Sea is 
  functionally Speak with Animals weakened and 
  converted to work a bit like a Cantrip. 
   The sea elf looks weaks alongside the other entries 
  in Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes, but is much more in 
  line with the normal BP range for races. It’s well 
  balanced, it’s unique, and it has a fun set of abilities. 
  Shadar-Kai (14.5 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (1 BP). 1 Fixed. 
  • Special Abilities (8 BP). 1 damage resistance. 
  Blessing of the Raven Queen is functionally identical 
  to the Eladrin’s Fey Step, but you’re locking into one 
  rider effect. 
   The Shadar-Kai is and Eladring that trades away the 
  ability to change its Fey Step rider in exchange for 
  resistance to necrotic damage. The rider on Blessing of 
  the Raven Queen is pretty good, so it’s a really great 
  trade. But when you trade something worth very little 
  for something worth a lot you introduce balance issues, 
  which are reflected in the Shadar-Kai’s BP value. At 
  14.5, the Shadar-Kai is the second highest rated official 
  race, falling just behind the Yuan-Ti Pureblood. 
   If you want to weaken the Shadar-Kai, delay the rider 
  effect on Blessing of the Raven Queen to 3rd level, and 
  limit its use to once per long rest. 
  Wood Elf (9.5 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (1 BP). 1 Fixed. 
  • Proficiencies (2 BP). 4 Martial Weapons. 
  • Speed (+0.5 BP). Increase to 35 ft. walking speed. 
  • Special Abilities (0.5 BP). Mask of the Wild. 
  Firbolg (9 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (3 BP). +2 fixed, +1 fixed. 
  • Size (0 BP). Medium. 
  • Speed (0 BP). 30 ft. 
  • Vision (0 BP). Normal. 
  • Languages (0.25 BP). Racial Language and Common, 
  plus one additional fixed language. 
  
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  Races 
  280 
  • Innate Spellcasting (2.5 BP). 2 1st-level spells 
  available 2 levels early. 
  • Special Abilities (3.25 BP). Hidden Step, Powerful 
  Build, and an ability which is essentially a weak at-
  will version of speak with animals. 
   Firbolgs are a fun race that works in a lot of builds 
  due to its excellent ability increases and its eclectic mix 
  of special abilities. It’s very well balanced, and it’s a 
  great example of a well-designed race. 
   If you want to strengthen the firbolg, grant it the 
  druidcraft cantrip. If you want to weaken the firbolg, 
  delay access to its innate spellcasting for 2 levels. 
  Genasi 
  • Ability Score Increase (2 BP). +2 fixed. 
  • Size (0 BP). Medium. 
  • Speed (0 BP). 30 ft. 
  • Vision (0 BP). Normal. 
  • Languages (0 BP). Racial Language and Common. 
   Genasi have a lot of problems. The fire and water 
  genasi subraces are strictly better than the air and 
  earth elementals, which is especially apparent since 
  they’re presented immediately adjacent. The base race 
  is fine, but fixing the race as a whole requires tweaks to 
  the individual subraces. 
   If you want to weaken genasi, reduce their 
  constitution bonus. If you want to strengthen genasi, 
  improve the individual subraces. 
  Air (6 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (1 BP). +1 fixed. 
  • Innate Spellcasting (2.25 BP). 1 level 2 spell, 
  available 4 levels early (usually not allowed, but we’ll 
  call it 0.5 BP). 
  • Special Abilities (0.5 BP). Unending breath. 
   The air genasi is probably my least favorite of the 
  genasi. Levitate is a really situational spell that melee 
  characters essentially can’t use. Unending Breath is 
  neat, but extremely situational. And that’s it. That’s all 
  that they get. An ability increase and two options 
  which most characters will never use. 
   If you want to strengthen the air genasi, grant it the 
  ability to cast the gust of wind cantrip, increase its 
  dexterity increase, and increase its walking speed to 35 
  feet. 
  Earth (6 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (1 BP). +1 fixed. 
  • Innate Spellcasting (2.25 BP). 1 level 2 spell, 
  available 4 levels early (usually not allowed, but we’ll 
  call it 0.5 BP). 
  • Special Abilities (0.5 BP). Earth Walk. 
   The earth genasi is very close to functional despite a 
  low BP cost. The abilities are great, and Earth Walk 
  solves a very common problem for melee characters at 
  low levels before flight becomes a widely accessible 
  option. The earth genasi just needs a bit of flair. 
   If you want to strengthen the earth genasi, grant it 
  11+dex natural armor and Sure-Footed (see Race 
  Builder: Special Abilities, above). 
  Fire (8.5 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (1 BP). +1 fixed. 
  • Vision (2 BP). Darkvision. 
  • Innate Spellcasting (1.5 BP). 1 fixed cantrip, 1 level 1 
  spell. 
  • Special Abilities (2 BP). Damage Resistance (Fire). 
   The fire genasi is my favorite genasi. It has clear build 
  options, a couple good passive abilities, and a couple 
  good active abilities that fit the theme. 
   If you want to strengthen the fire genasi, allow the 
  fire genasi to cast burning hands starting at 1st level. 
  Water (8.5 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (1 BP). +1 fixed. 
  • Speed (1 BP). 30 ft. swim 
  • Innate Spellcasting (2 BP). 1 fixed cantrip, 1 level 1 
  spell, +1 spell level to a leveled spell. 
  • Special Abilities (2.5 BP). Amphibious, Damage 
  Resistance (Acid). 
   The water genasi is another good example of what 
  the genasi should be: a couple good passive abilities 
  and couple good active abilities, all of which fit the 
  theme of the race. 
   If you want to strengthen the water genasi, change 
  its damage resistance from acid to cold. 
  Gith 
  • Ability Score Increase (1 BP). +1 fixed. 
  • Size (0 BP). Medium. 
  • Speed (0 BP). 30 ft.  
  • Languages (0 BP). Racial Language and Common. 
   Like the Kenku, I wrote my version of the Gith before 
  the official version was published, which provides an 
  exciting opportunity to compare the two results. There 
  is certainly some overlap between the two, which is 
  always reassuring. Wizards went for an Intelligence 
  
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  Races 
  281 
  increase as part of the shared racial traits, which isn’t 
  where I landed but it’s absolutely a valid option.  
   Without the need to closely reflect the monster stat 
  block, Wizards had a bit more freedom, and I really like 
  what they did with it, for the most part. Unfortunately, 
  the balance between the two races is absolutely 
  terrible. A gap of 4.5 BP between subraces is nutty, and 
  the Githzerai is so mechanically bland that I see very 
  little to make playing it appealing. The Githyanki is the 
  clear winner here. 
  Githyanki (11.5 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (2 BP). +2 fixed. 
  • Languages (0.5 BP). 1 flexible. 
  • Proficiencies (4.5 BP). 1 flexible skill or tool, light and 
  medium armor, 3 martial weapons. 
  • Innate Spellcasting (3.5). 1 fixed cantrip, 1 1st-level 
  spell, 1 2nd-level spell. 
  The Githyanki’s traits are far more powerful than those 
  of the Githzerai. Nothing specific here is problematic; 
  the issue is simply that they get too much. 
   If you want to weaken the Githyanki, remove its 
  medium armor and short sword proficiency, or remove 
  its ability to cast misty step. 
  Githzerai (7 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (2 BP). +2 fixed. 
  • Innate Spellcasting (3.5). 1 fixed cantrip, 1 1st-level 
  spell, 1 2nd-level spell. 
  • Special Abilities (0.5 BP). 2 condition resistances. 
   The Githzerai doesn’t get much. A Wisdom increase 
  and some innate spellcasting are the really big points, 
  and that’s really not enough. 
   If you want to strengthen the Githzerai, grant a 
  flexible skill or tool proficiency, or allow it to cast all of 
  its leveled innate spells two levels early. 
  Gnome 
  • Ability Score Increase (2 BP). +2 fixed. 
  • Size (-1 BP). Small. 
  • Speed (0 BP). 30 ft. (base; actual speed is 25 ft.). 
  • Vision (2 BP). Darkvision. 
  • Languages (0 BP). Racial Language and Common. 
  • Special Abilities (2 BP). Cunning. 
   Gnomes are an oft-overlooked race. They don’t have 
  many interesting abilities which are actively useful. 
  Cunning is a great defense, but doesn’t come up often. 
  The subraces have great flavor, but offer very little 
  mechanically. The base race’s Intelligence increase also 
  tends to shoehorn norms into a small set of builds, but 
  there are other races which are strictly better in those 
  builds, so the gnome is generally more of a novelty 
  than an actual option. 
   If you want to Strengthen the gnome, see the advice 
  below for individual subraces. If you want to weaken 
  the gnome, reduce its Intelligence increase or its 
  walking speed. 
  Forest (7 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (1 BP). 1 Fixed. 
  • Innate Spellcasting (0.5 BP). 1 fixed Cantrip. 
  • Special Abilities (0.5 BP). Speak With Small Beasts is 
  functionally Speak with Animals weakened and 
  converted to work a bit like a Cantrip. 
   If you want to strengthen the forest gnome, 
  emphasize its illusion mastery by allowing it to cast the 
  silent image once per day starting at 3rd level. 
  Rock (7.5 BP). 
  • Ability Score Increase (1 BP). 1 Fixed. 
  • Proficiencies (0.5). 1 Fixed (see Tinker). 
  • Special Abilities (1 BP). Artificer’s Lore, Tinker (1 BP). 
   If you want to strengthen the rock gnome, grant it 
  proficiency in one tool, or weapon proficiency in 
  spears, light crossbows, and shields. 
  Svirfneblin (7.75 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (1 BP). 1 Fixed. 
  • Vision (+1 BP). Superior Darkvision (improved from 
  Darkvision). 
  • Languages (0.5 BP). +1 Fixed. 
  • Special Abilities (0.25 BP). Camouflage. 
   If you want to strengthen the svirfneblin, grant it 
  Stonecunning (See Race Builder: Special Abilities, 
  above). 
  Goblin (7.5 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (3 BP). +2 fixed, +1 fixed. 
  • Size (-1 BP). Small. 
  • Speed (0.5 BP). 30 ft. 
  • Vision (2 BP). Darkvision. 
  • Special Abilities (3 BP). Fury of the Small, Nimble 
  Escape 
  • Languages (0 BP). Racial Language and Common. 
   Like many of the other races in Volo’s Guide to 
  Monsters, I wrote the version in this document several 
  months before the official version was published. In 
  this case, I’m surprised by how close the two designs 
  are. The official version adds a Constitution bonus, 
  
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  which is a great addition to the race though it doesn’t 
  really align with the nature of the race. The official 
  version also drops Stealthy, which is surprising.  
   The official goblin also adds Fury of the Small, which 
  is a fun ability that should see a lot of use. The damage 
  scaling is easy to track, and keeps the ability relevant at 
  every level. We’ll call it 1 BP. 
   If you want to strengthen the goblin, grant Stealth 
  proficiency. If you want to weaken the goblin, remove 
  the Constitution increase.  
  Goliath (6 BP). 
  • Ability Score Increase (3 BP). +2 fixed, +1 fixed. 
  • Size (0 BP). Medium. 
  • Speed (0 BP). 30 ft. 
  • Vision (0 BP). Normal. 
  • Proficiencies (0.5 BP). 1 fixed skill. 
  • Special Abilities (2.5 BP). Stone’s Endurance, 
  Powerful Build, Mountain Born. 
  • Languages (0 BP). Racial Language and Common. 
   Despite its low BP score, I think that the goliath race 
  works very well. Its traits mostly limit goliaths to 
  strength-based melee builds, but that suits the flavor 
  of the race very well.  
   If you want to strengthen the goliath, add a +1 
  Wisdom increase. If you want to weaken the goliath, 
  reduce its Strength increase. 
  Halfling 
  • Ability Score Increase (2 BP). +2 fixed. 
  • Size (-1 BP). Small. 
  • Speed (0 BP). 30 ft. (base; actual speed is 25 ft.). 
  • Vision (0 BP). Normal. 
  • Special Abilities (3.5 BP). Lucky, Brave, Nimbleness. 
  • Languages (0 BP). Racial Language and Common. 
   Halflings are an iconic race with a lot going for them. 
  Despite their low BP score, many of the halflings 
  abilities are fantastic. The two subraces open up 
  enough builds to make the race interesting, and the 
  halfling’s unique abilities differentiate it enough that 
  other races with similar traits aren’t strictly better. 
   If you want to weaken the Halfling, reduce its 
  Dexterity increase. If you want to strengthen the 
  Halfling, give it proficiency with daggers and slings. 
  Ghostwise (7.5 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (1 BP). +1 fixed. 
  • Special Abilities (2 BP). Silent Speech. 
  Lightfoot (6.5 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (1 BP). +1 fixed. 
  • Special Abilities (1 BP). Naturally Stealthy. 
  Stout (6 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (1 BP). +1 fixed. 
  • Special Abilities (0.5 BP). Poison resilience. 
  Half-Elf 
  • Ability Score Increase (5 BP). +2 fixed, 2x +1 flexible. 
  • Size (0 BP). Medium. 
  • Speed (0 BP). 30 ft. 
  • Vision (2 BP). Darkvision. 
  • Special Abilities (.5 BP). Fey Ancestry. 
  • Languages (0.5 BP). Racial Language and Common, 
  plus one flexible language. 
   Half-elves are among the best of the races included 
  in the player’s handbook. They get increases to more 
  abilities than anyone, and they have the flexibility of 
  the variant human while still having a +2 to an ability. 
  They get so many options that they can play nearly any 
  build, and their abilities make them an obvious go-to 
  option for a huge variety of builds. The variants 
  presented in the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide 
  present variants which range widely in strength, and 
  offer half-elves even more options, allowing them to 
  outdo other races in a huge number of builds. 
   If you want to weaken half-elves, remove one of 
  their flexible ability increases, and consider adjusting 
  the races other abilities depending on the chosen 
  variant. If you want to strengthen half-elves, see the 
  advice for each variant below.  
  Aquatic (10 BP) 
  • Speed (+2 BP). 30 ft. swim speed. 
   A swim speed is a fair trade for two skills. In an 
  aquatic campaign, characters live and die by their 
  ability to swim. 
   If you want to weaken the aquatic half-elf, reduce its 
  walking speed. If you want to strengthen the aquatic 
  half-elf, grant it Amphibious or Hold Breath (see Race 
  Builder: Special Abilities, above). 
  Drow (12.5) 
  • Innate Spellcasting (4.5). 1 Fixed Cantrip, 1 1st-level 
  spell, 1 3rd-level spell. 
   The half-drow variant gives up two skills for access to 
  the drow’s potent innate spellcasting. These spells are 
  potent, though somewhat situational, and access to 
  
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  the drow’s magic without the drow’s handicaps can be 
  a potent combination. 
   If you want to weaken the half-drow variant, delay 
  its access to both of its two innate level spells by 2 
  levels 
  High/Moon/Sun (9 BP) 
  • Innate Spellcasting (1 BP). 1 Flexible Cantrip. 
   An extra cantrip can be a potent tool, especially for a 
  half-elf spellcaster. With the half-elf’s existing traits, I 
  don’t think the High/Moon/Sun elf variant needs any 
  adjustment. 
  Keen Senses (8.5 BP) 
  • Proficiencies (0.5 BP). 1 fixed skill. 
   The “Keen Senses” variant is a joke. Hopefully no 
  player would be foolish enough to actually pick this. 
   If you want to strengthen the Keen Senses variant, 
  add Fey Ancestry and Trance to bring the half-elf a little 
  closer to its elven heritage and a little further away 
  from its human heritage. 
  Standard (10 BP) 
  • Proficiencies (2 BP). 2 flexible skills. 
   With the possible exception of the half-drow, I think 
  that the vanilla half-elf is still the best version of the 
  half-elf. Two skills of the player’s choice means that the 
  player starts the game with a minimum of 6 skills. On 
  top of the half-elf’s other fantastic traits, it poises the 
  half-elf to dominate the majority of the game which 
  doesn’t involve combat without cutting into the half-
  elf’s ability to succeed in combat. 
   If you want to weaken the vanilla half-elf, reduce its 
  skill proficiencies to any one instead of any two.  
  Wood (10, 9, or 8.5 BP) 
  One of the following: 
  • Proficiencies (2 BP). 4 Martial Weapons. 
  • Speed (+1 BP). Increase to 35 ft. walking speed. 
  • Special Abilities (0.5 BP). Mask of the Wild. 
   Proficiencies in weapons really aren’t that important. 
  Most characters who want to use them will already 
  have proficiency, and characters without good weapon 
  proficiencies have other options. Having options is 
  nice, but limiting the player to one of the three is silly. 
   If you want to strengthen the wood elf variant, allow 
  players to select any two of the three options. If you 
  want to weaken the variant, reduce the weapon 
  proficiency option to any two of the four listed 
  weapons. 
  Half-Orc (6.5 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (3 BP). +2 fixed (2 BP), +1 fixed 
  (1 BP). 
  • Size (0 BP). Medium. 
  • Speed (0 BP). 30 ft. 
  • Vision (2 BP). Darkvision. 
  • Proficiencies (0.5 BP). 1 fixed skill. 
  • Special Abilities (1 BP). Relentless Endurance and 
  Savage Attacks. 
  • Languages (0 BP). Racial Language and Common. 
   The half-orc is among the worst playable races in the 
  game. Their abilities allow them to excel in a tiny 
  variety of builds, so nearly every half-orc is either a 
  barbarian or a fighter. Its fine for a race to have a 
  definitive niche, but where the half-orc should excel it’s 
  easily outdone by other playable races like the dwarf 
  and the goliath. 
   If you want to weaken the half-orc, reduces its 
  Strength increase. If you want to strengthen the half-
  orc, grant it Aggressive or Charge (see Race Builder: 
  Special Abilities, above).  
  Hobgoblin (9 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (3 BP). +2 fixed, +1 fixed. 
  • Size (0 BP). Medium. 
  • Speed (0 BP). 30 ft. 
  • Vision (2 BP). Darkvision. 
  • Proficiencies (2 BP). 2 martial weapons, light armor. 
  • Special Abilities (2 BP). Saving face. 
  • Languages (0 BP). Racial Language and Common. 
   This is absolutely not what I expected from the 
  official version of hobgoblins. Aside from the name and 
  Darkvision, I don’t see how the hobgoblin lines up with 
  the original monster. The ability increases are going to 
  produce a lot of eldritch knights and wizards. 
   Saving Face is a neat ability, but there’s not a lot to 
  compare it to, so it’s hard to rate. It only works once 
  per short rest and it provides a bonus slightly better 
  than something like guidance. Still, the ability to trigger 
  it on a miss is excellent. We’ll call it 2 BP. 
   If you want to strengthen the hobgoblin, make the 
  Intelligence increase a flexible increase. If you want to 
  weaken the hobgoblin, reduce its Consitution increase 
  or limit Saving Face to once per long rest. 
  Human 
  • Size (0 BP). Medium. 
  • Speed (0 BP). 30 ft. 
  
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  • Vision (0 BP). Normal. 
  • Languages (0 BP). Racial Language and Common. 
   The human comes in two flavors. For advice on 
  altering humans, see the two variants below. 
  Standard Human (6 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (6 BP). 6x +1 Fixed 
   I’ve never seen anyone play the standard human 
  unless they were using pre-generated characters. 
  While it’s easy to take this as an indication of how 
  much fun feats are, it’s also an indication that the 
  standard human is not a fun option. It’s nearly 
  impossible to make active use of all 6 ability scores, 
  and beyond numerical increases the human has 
  nothing to offer. 
   If you want to strengthen the standard human, grant 
  it proficiency in two skills of the player’s choice. This 
  will allow players to get some more use out of their 
  universally strong ability scores. 
  Variant Human (8 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (3 BP). 2x +1 Flexible 
  • Skills (1 BP). +1 Flexible 
  • Feat (4 BP).  
   The variant human is clearly the better of the two. 
  Feats are extremely potent, and access to one at 1st 
  level is extremely tempting for any player with feats in 
  mind. On top of that, two flexible ability increases 
  means that the variant human is one of the best 
  options for nearly every build concept in the game. The 
  bonus skill proficiency is a neat extra, and even without 
  it I would consider the variant human one of the better 
  races in the game. 
   If you want to weaken the variant human, remove 
  the flexible ability increase. If you want to strengthen 
  the variant human, grant a free proficiency in a tool or 
  vehicle. 
  Kenku (6 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (3 BP). +2 fixed, +1 fixed. 
  • Size (0 BP). Medium. 
  • Speed (0 BP). 30 ft. 
  • Vision (0 BP). Normal. 
  • Languages (-1 BP). Racial Language and Common, 
  but with a limitation. 
  • Proficiencies (1.5 BP). Two options from a fixed list. 
  • Special Abilities (1.5 BP). Expert Forgery, Mimicry 
   Considering the issues which I faced while designing 
  the version of kenku presented earlier in this 
  document, I’m not surprised that the official version of 
  Kenku is so lackluster. The race’s abilities mostly create 
  roleplaying complications, and the kenku gets little in 
  the way of actual usable abilities. 
   If you want to strengthen the kenku, grant them the 
  Ambusher special ability (see “Special Abilities”, 
  above), natural weapons dealing 1d4 damage, or both. 
  Kobold (7.5 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (1 BP). +2 fixed, -2 fixed. 
  • Size (-1 BP). Small. 
  • Speed (0.5 BP). 30 ft. 
  • Vision (2 BP). Darkvision. 
  • Special Abilities (5+ BP). Grovel, Cower, and Beg, 
  Pack Tactics (Original version worth more than 5 BP), 
  Sunlight Sensitivity. 
  • Languages (0 BP). Racial Language and Common. 
   Perhaps the most problematic entry in Volo’s Guide, 
  Kobolds introduce two new abilities: Grovel, Cower, 
  and Beg and Pack Tactics. It also introduces the option 
  of ability score penalties, a relic of bygone editions 
  which I had sincerely hoped would never resurface. 
   The kobold is a perfect example of why ability score 
  penalties don’t work. In 3rd edition, that penalty would 
  cause reduced damage for a character using a bow or a 
  finesse weapon, so characters would either need to 
  suffer the reduced damage or find a way to solve it 
  through feats. In 5th edition, ranged and finesse 
  weapons no longer face that issue. A kobold of nearly 
  any class could go their whole career without using 
  Strength for anything except an occasional ability 
  check. 
   I strongly disagree with the way Pack Tactics was 
  handled. Copying the monster ability verbatim is far 
  too powerful. Imagine a rogue making two attacks on 
  their turn, both with Advantage, essentially 
  guaranteeing that they hit and deal Sneak Attack 
  damage. Imagine a kobold fighter using two weapons 
  and fishing for criticals every round.  
   In my own version of Pack Tactics, I made the ability 
  require the use of a bonus action. While this is typically 
  a small cost for many characters since not everyone 
  has a use for bonus actions, it’s a meaningful handicap 
  because it forces kobolds to choose between pressing 
  their advantage and using another option like a second 
  weapon or Cunning Action. 
   Grovel, Cower, and Beg is really amusing, and I think 
  it’s one of the few redeeming qualities of the official 
  kobold. It’s usable on a short rest, so we’ll call it 2 BP.  
  
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   I think my own version of the kobold is better 
  balanced and more in line with the design philosophy 
  of 5th edition. I suggest using the version of Kobolds 
  presented earlier in this document, possibly with the 
  addition of Grovel, Cower, and Beg.   
  Lizardfolk (9 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (3 BP). +2 fixed, +1 fixed. 
  • Size (0 BP). Medium. 
  • Speed (0 BP). 30 ft. 
  • Vision (0 BP). Normal. 
  • Languages (0 BP). Racial Language and Common. 
  • Proficiencies (1.5 BP). Two options from a fixed list. 
  • Special Abilities (4.5 BP). Natural Weapon, Cunning 
  Artisan, Hold Breath, Natural Armor, Hungry Jaws 
   Another fantastic entry from Volo’s Guide, the 
  lizardfolk is really fun. The natural weapons and armor 
  can be replaced with material weapons and armor, but 
  the specific values of both are still useful, and Hungry 
  Jaws helps to keep the bite in play even if the character 
  prefers material weapons. 
   If you want to strengthen the lizardfolk, adjust 
  Hungry Jaws to grant temporary hit points equal to the 
  damage dealt. If you want to weaken the lizardfolk, 
  reduce their natural armor by 1. 
  Loxodon (6.25 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (3 BP). +2 fixed, +1 fixed. 
  • Size (0 BP). Medium. 
  • Speed (0 BP). 30 ft. 
  • Vision (0 BP). Normal. 
  • Languages (0 BP). Racial Language and Common. 
  • Special Abilities (3.25+ BP). 2 Condition Resistances, 
  1 Keen Sense, Natural Armor, Powerful Build, Trunk. 
   The Loxodon’s only unique feature is their Trunk. It’s 
  nearly an extra hand, but not quite. An extra pair of 
  hands is 0.5 BP, so we’ll say Trunk is 0.5 BP to account 
  for the additional ability to use it as a snorkel. 
   Notably, the Loxodon’s version of Keen Smell is more 
  expansive than versions we’ve seen previously. Normal 
  keen senses only apply to Wisdom (Perception), but 
  the Loxodon’s version is expanded to cover Wisdom 
  (Survival) and Intelligence (Investigation) as well. 
   The Loxodon falls well below our target range of 8-
  10 BP, and it shows. They work great as clerics and as 
  druids, but that’s about it. Their racial traits are highly 
  situational, and there aren’t enough of them to 
  compensate. 
   If you want to strengthen the Loxodon, increase its 
  Wisdom increase or grant a +1 Strength increase. 
  Minotaur (9.75 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (3 BP). +2 fixed, +1 fixed. 
  • Size (0 BP). Medium. 
  • Speed (0 BP). 30 ft. 
  • Vision (0 BP). Normal. 
  • Languages (0 BP). Racial Language and Common. 
  • Proficiencies (0.75 BP). One semi-flexible skill from a 
  fixed list. 
  • Special Abilities (5.5 BP). Goring Rush, Natural 
  Weapons,  
   Goring Rush replicates the important part of the 
  Charger feat, and Hammering Horns replicates the 
  important part of Shield Master, so we’ll call them 2 BP 
  each. 
   It’s interesting to note that this version of the 
  Minotaur deviates from the version presented in the 
  Monster Manual. The Monster Manual’s version sticks 
  more to the Greek mythological roots of the Minotaur, 
  while this version adheres to the Ravnica version of the 
  Minotaur. Ravnica’s minotaurs are so detached from 
  the creature’s origin that they don’t even get 
  Darkvision. 
   Mechanically, the Minotaur is solid. It’s a great 
  melee monster, but it’s also pigeon-holed into that role 
  because its abilities are so focus on running up to stuff 
  and hitting it. If you want to Strengthen the Minotaur, 
  increase its Constitution increase or grant Darkvision. If 
  you want to weaken the minotaur, reduce its Strength 
  increase or reduce its natural weapon damage. 
  Orc (6 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (2 BP). +2 fixed, +1 fixed, -2 
  fixed. 
  • Size (0 BP). Medium. 
  • Speed (0 BP). 30 ft. 
  • Vision (2 BP). Darkvision. 
  • Proficiencies (0.5 BP). One fixed skill. 
  • Special Abilities (1.5 BP). Aggressive, Powerful Build 
  • Languages (0 BP). Racial Language and Common. 
   I’m glad that orcs kept Aggressive, but otherwise 
  they’re disappointing. The intelligence penalty is totally 
  unnecessary, and Aggressive is the only ability they 
  have which is likely to see a lot of use. Half-orcs are 
  objectively better, which is sad since half-orcs aren’t an 
  especially powerful race. 
   My own version of orcs isn’t significantly different, 
  dropping the Intelligence reduction and Powerful Build. 
  You could use either version and likely won’t notice 
  much of a difference unless you use my Orog subrace. 
  
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  Simic Hybrid ( BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (3.5 BP). +2 fixed, +1 flexible. 
  • Size (0 BP). Medium. 
  • Speed (0 BP). 30 ft. 
  • Vision (2 BP). Darkvision. 
  • Languages (0 BP). Racial Language and Common. 
   The Simic Hybrid is easily the most interesting race in 
  Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica, and it’s one of the 
  more mechanically interesting races in the game. It’s 
  the only race in the game which includes a decision 
  point made after character creation, and the race’s 
  traits don’t totally come online until 5th level.  
   This presents some unique challenges since we’ve 
  never examined a race that works like this. The closest 
  we get is races with innate spellcasting that becomes 
  available as players gain access to higher-level spells. If 
  we assume that each Animal Enhancement option is 
  equivalent to the other options at its level, that could 
  be a decent comparison, but the reality is that some 
  options are worth more BP than others. 
   The first tier of Animal Enhancement replicates a 
  weakened version of Feather Fall at will for roughly 2 
  BP, 30 ft. climb speed for 2 BP, and Amphibious for 0.5 
  BP with a 30 ft. swim speed for 1 BP. 
   The second tier simulates a combination of 1d6 
  natural weapons, 2 extra arms, and the core of the 
  Tavern Brawler feat for something like 4 BP, or 
  Inhuman Reflexes for 2 BP, or a breath weapon with 
  enhanced damage for something like 3 BP. 
   With those assessments in place, we can see that by 
  level 5 the Simic Hybrid’s BP can range from 9 BP to 
  11.5 BP. That’s a significant range, but even the options 
  which are lower on the BP scale are still worthwhile 
  and appealing. 
   I like the Simic Hybrid a lot. It’s versatile, 
  conceptually interesting, and can work in nearly any 
  class. While it’s certainly complicated, I think it’s 
  among the most appealing official races. Despite its 
  potentially to exceed our target rang eof 8-10 BP, I 
  don’t recommend making any adjustments.  
   You might consider inventing new options for Animal 
  Enhancement, but do so with caution. While an 
  individual option may not be a problem, each option 
  dramatically increases the number of possible 
  combinations and gives way possible unforeseen 
  problem cases. 
  Tabaxi (10.5 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (3 BP). +2 fixed, +1 fixed. 
  • Size (0 BP). Medium. 
  • Speed (1.5 BP). 30 ft. walking, 20 ft. climb 
  • Vision (2 BP). Darkvision. 
  • Languages (0 BP). Racial Language and Common. 
  • Proficiencies (1 BP). Two fixed skills. 
  • Special Abilities (3 BP). Feline Agility, Natural 
  Weapon. 
   Tabaxi are fine, and they work pretty well, but 
  they’re not very exciting. I predict a lot of tabaxi 
  rogues, so Cunning Action will make Feline Agility 
  rarely important but occasionally crazy. Considering 
  that’s the tabaxi’s only active ability, that’s 
  disappointing.  
   If you want to strengthen the Tabaxi, allow it to 
  select two skills from a list including the two it already 
  gets and new options like Survival. If you want to 
  weaken the tabaxi, reduce its Dexterity bonus. 
  Tiefling 
  • Ability Score Increase (3 BP). +2 Fixed, +1 Fixed. 
  • Size (0 BP). Medium. 
  • Speed (0 BP). 30 ft. 
  • Vision (2 BP). Darkvision. 
  • Languages (0 BP). Racial Language and Common. 
  • Innate Spellcasting (5 BP). 1 fixed cantrip, 1 1st-level 
  spell with +1 spell level, 1 3rd-level spell. 
  • Special Abilities (2 BP). Damage Resistance. 
   The tiefling is one of the strongest races in the game. 
  It has excellent ability increases for several builds, and 
  its other traits are useful for a wide variety of builds.  
   Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide introduces variant 
  tiefling options. The variant tieflings offer some 
  excellent trades to cater to a variety of tastes and 
  character concepts, but do little to balance the tiefling. 
   Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes introduce tiefling 
  subraces. However, unlike normal subraces they work 
  more like the variants presented in Sword Coast 
  Adventurer’s Guide. This is unpleasant, but necessary 
  because tieflings weren’t originally published with 
  subraces. The changes all replace the standard 
  tiefling’s ability increases and innate spellcasting, 
  replacing darkness with a 2nd-level spell 
   It’s unclear how these subraces interact with the 
  variants, but I’m of the opinion that the two should not 
  be mixed. 
   If you want to weaken the tiefling, reduces its +2 
  ability increase to +1, or remove its free cantrip. 
  
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  Asmodeus (Standard) (11 BP) 
  • Innate Spellcasting (5 BP). 1 fixed cantrip, 1 1st-level 
  spell with +1 spell level, 1 2rd-level spell. 
  Baalzebul (11 BP) 
  • Innate Spellcasting (5 BP). 1 fixed cantrip, 1 1st-level 
  spell with +1 spell level, 1 2rd-level spell. 
  Dispater (10.75 BP) 
  • Innate Spellcasting (5 BP). 1 fixed cantrip, 1 1st-level 
  spell, 1 2rd-level spell. 
  Fierna (11 BP) 
  • Innate Spellcasting (5 BP). 1 fixed cantrip, 1 1st-level 
  spell with +1 spell level, 1 2rd-level spell. 
  Glasya (10.75 BP) 
  • Innate Spellcasting (5 BP). 1 fixed cantrip, 1 1st-level 
  spell, 1 2rd-level spell. 
  Levistus (11 BP) 
  • Innate Spellcasting (5 BP). 1 fixed cantrip, 1 1st-level 
  spell with +1 spell level, 1 2rd-level spell. 
  Mammon (10.75 BP) 
  • Innate Spellcasting (5 BP). 1 fixed cantrip, 1 1st-level 
  spell, 1 2rd-level spell. 
  Mephistopheles (11 BP) 
  • Innate Spellcasting (5 BP). 1 fixed cantrip, 1 1st-level 
  spell with +1 spell level, 1 2rd-level spell. 
  Zariel (11 BP) 
  • Innate Spellcasting (5 BP). 1 fixed cantrip, 1 1st-level 
  spell with +1 spell level, 1 2rd-level spell. 
  Variant: Devil’s Tongue (12 BP) 
  No BP Change. 
  Variant: Feral (12 BP) 
  No BP Change. 
  Variant: Hellfire (12 BP) 
  No BP Change. 
  Variant: Winged (11 BP) 
  • Speed (+4 BP). 30 ft. flying 
  • Innate Spellcasting (-5 BP). No spells. 
  Tortles (9.5 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (3 BP). +2 fixed, +1 fixed. 
  • Size (0 BP). Medium. 
  • Speed (0 BP). 30 ft. 
  • Vision (0 BP). Normal. 
  • Proficiencies (0.5 BP). 1 fixed skill. 
  • Special Abilities (6 BP). Natural weapons (1 BP), 
  natural armor (3.5 BP), Hold Breath (1 BP), Shell 
  Defense (0.5 BP). 
  • Languages (0 BP). Racial Language and Common. 
   Presented in the Tortle Package, Tortles generally 
  don’t get a lot of attention as a race because the 
  package is online-only, and doesn’t contain any player 
  options beyond the Tortle race. 
   Tortles are a fantastically designed race. They fall 
  within our target range of 8-10 BP, incidcating that 
  they’re well balanced. Their racial traits are interesting 
  and thematic, and work well for numerous builds. Their 
  natural armor also validates design decisions that I 
  made in this document for races with exceptionally 
  high natural armor like animated armor and umber 
  hulks.  
   If you want to strengthen tortles, increase their 
  natural armor to 18. If you want to weaken tortles, 
  Reduce their natural armor or remove their natural 
  weapons. 
  Triton (11.75 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (3 BP). 3x +1 fixed. 
  • Size (0 BP). Medium. 
  • Speed (0 BP). 30 ft. 
  • Vision (0 BP). Normal. 
  • Languages (0 BP). Racial Language and Common. 
  • Innate Spellcasting (5.25 BP). One 1st-level spell, one 
  2nd-level spell, and one 3rd-level spell, all available 2 
  levels early, but with the single innate spell slot 
  limitation.  
  • Special Abilities (3.5 BP). Amphibious, damage 
  resistance, and an ability which is essentially a weak 
  at-will version of speak with animals. 
   The triton is exciting not because it’s a powerful 
  race, but because it introduces new design options. 
  Granting three static ability increases is 
  unprecedented, and the Triton is the first race with 
  innate spellcasting that can only cast one of its spells 
  per rest. Adding both of those as options for designing 
  other races gives us useful new options for designing 
  other races. 
   The triton is a little bit stronger than our target BP 
  range of 8-10, but some small tweaks can bring it down 
  without significantly changing the race. If you want to 
  
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  weaken the triton, delay each of its innate spells by 2 
  levels, remove Emissary of the Sea, or do both. 
  Vedalken (8.5 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (3 BP). +2 fixed, +1 fixed. 
  • Size (0 BP). Medium. 
  • Speed (0 BP). 30 ft. 
  • Vision (0 BP). Normal. 
  • Proficiencies (1.75 BP). One semi-flexible skill, one 
  tool. 
  • Special Abilities (3.25+ BP). Cunning, Partially 
  Amphibious, Tireless Precision, 
  • Languages (0.5 BP). Racial Language and Common, 
  plus one flexible. 
   The Vedalken introduces some new mechanics, but 
  nothing difficult. Tireless Precision includes two 
  proficiencies which we can break out, but the +1d4 
  bonus on those proficiencies is new. At an average of 
  2.5, adding a d4 is not as good as doubling the 
  character’s proficiency bonus except at very low levels. 
  Expertise in a skill is 1 BP, so we’ll call this additional 
  bonus 0.5 BP. 
   Partially Amphibious is basically Hold Breath for 1 
  hour, but it only works underwater so you can’t hold 
  your breath while walking through noxious gases or 
  while being strangled. Hold Breath for 1 hour is 1 BP, 
  so we’ll call Partially Amphibious 0.75 BP because 
  holding your breath underwater is the primary reason 
  an adventurer hold’s their breath. 
   That brings the Vedalken to 8.5 BP, right inside our 
  target range of 8-10 BP. It’s well-balanced, interesting, 
  and has a couple unique mechanics which make the 
  race stand out from other races with similar ability 
  score increases. If you want to strengthen the 
  Vedalken, replace the +1d4 skill bonus with Expertise in 
  those two proficiencies. If you want to weaken the 
  Vedalken, reduce its ability increases. 
  Yuan-Ti Pureblood (15.75 BP) 
  • Ability Score Increase (3 BP). +2 fixed, +1 fixed. 
  • Size (0 BP). Medium. 
  • Speed (0 BP). 30 ft. 
  • Vision (2 BP). Darkvision. 
  • Innate Spellcasting (3.75+ BP). 1 fixed cantrip, one 
  modified 1st-level spell, one 2nd-level spell available 2 
  levels early. 
  • Special Abilities (7 BP). Magic Resistance, Poison 
  Immunity. 
  • Languages (0 BP). Racial Language and Common. 
   While it doesn’t present as many design problems as 
  the kobold, the yuan-ti pureblood is well outside of 
  normal BP ranges. Immunity to poison and resistance 
  to all magic makes the pureblood extremely difficult to 
  kill. Its ability increases are really useful, and its innate 
  spellcasting is really good. 
   The version of yuan-ti purebloods presented earlier 
  in this document is considerably less powerful, opting 
  for playability and balance without sacrificing the flavor 
  of the race. If you want to use the official version, I 
  suggest dropping Magic Resistance entirely, and 
  delaying Suggestion until 5th level.  
  
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  Appendix: Race 
  Builder 
  The following rules are an expansion to the rules 
  presented in the Dungeon Master’s Guide. 
  Build Points 
  Each race should be worth roughly 8-10 build points 
  (BP). Races worth more tend to be stronger, while 
  races worth less tend to be weaker. Keep in mind that 
  this number is an approximation, not a precise 
  measure. Some combinations of traits may be more or 
  less potent than their point value might indicate. 
  Creature Type 
  Each creature must have a creature type. This 
  determines the starting point of your new race, and 
  often includes several basic traits common to all 
  creatures of that type. 
   Keep in mind that not being a humanoid means that 
  the race is affected differently by many spells like 
  Dominate Beast, Dominate Person, and Dominate 
  Monster. Beasts are affected by the lowest level 
  versions, while humanoids (“Person”) are affected by 
  the mid-level version, and everything else is only 
  affected by the high-level version. 
   For more information on creature types, see page 6 
  of the Monster Manual. 
   Humanoid (0 BP). Most player races are humanoids. 
  Humanoids have no special traits. 
   Aberration (0.5 BP). No special traits. 
   Beast (-0.5 BP). Beasts are affected by several spells 
  which don’t have equivalents for most other creature 
  types. They are also affected by the lowest-level 
  version of Dominate. Beasts generally don’t have 
  opposable digits (-2 BP), so they must rely on their 
  natural weapons for attacks. Beasts usually can’t speak 
  (-1.5 BP). 
   Celestial (0.5 BP). No special traits. 
   Construct (1 BP). Constructs do not require food, 
  drink, or sleep (see the “trance” special ability). 
   Dragon (0.5 BP). No special traits. Dragons typically 
  have Darkvision (2 BP). 
   Elemental (1 BP). Most elementals do not require 
  food, drink, or sleep (see the “trance” special ability). If 
  the elemental still requires food, drink, and/or sleep, 
  the creature type costs 0.5 BP instead. 
   Fey (0.5 BP). No special traits. 
   Fiend (0.5 BP). No special traits. 
   Giant (0.5 BP). No special traits. Giants typically have 
  Darkvision (2 BP) and Powerful Build (0.25 BP). 
   Monstrosity (0.5 BP). No special traits. 
   Ooze (0.5 BP). No special traits. 
   Plant (0.5 BP). No special traits. 
   Undead (1 BP). Undead do not require air, food, 
  drink, or sleep (see the “trance” special ability). 
  Undead typically have Darkvision (2 BP), and are 
  typically immune to the Exhausted and Poisoned 
  conditions, and to poison damage (2.5 BP total). 
  Subtype 
  Subtype rarely matters, but a handful have some 
  important mechanical effects. 
   Shapechanger (0.25). Shapechangers ignore 
  polymorph effects. 
  Size 
  Adventurers come in all shapes and sizes. This 
  document presents new rules for tiny characters (see 
  below), but does not includes rules for players larger 
  than medium. 
  Size 
  BP Cost 
  Notes 
  Tiny 
  -1.5 
  20 ft. Walking Speed, half 
  normal carry weight, weapon 
  limitations (see below) 
  Small 
  -1 
  25 ft. Walking Speed 
  Medium 0 
  30 ft. Walking Speed 
  Limbs 
  Most creatures have movable extremities which allow 
  them to manipulate items. A typical playable race has 
  two legs and two arms. The assumption is that the 
  creature has hands which allow them to finely 
  manipulate objects, but that might mean hands, claws, 
  tentacles, or some other appendage. 
  Arms 
  Arms 
  BP Cost 
  2 Arms 
  0 
  No Arms 
  -2 
  No hands 
  -2 
   Extra Arms (0.5 + 0.25 per arm beyond the second 
  BP). You have more than two arms, and may hold and 
  use items in each of your hands.  
   If you have Extra Attacks, when you take the Attack 
  action you may make each of your attacks using any 
  weapon you are holding. 
   When you take the Attack action and attack with a 
  weapon which qualifies for use with two-weapon 
  fighting, you can use a bonus action to attack with a 
  
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  Races 
  290 
  different qualifying weapon. You don’t add your ability 
  modifier to the damage of the bonus attack unless the 
  modifier is negative or you have an ability which allows 
  you to add your ability modifier to the bonus attack 
  granted by two-weapon fighting. If you choose to make 
  this additional attack, you may not benefit from using a 
  shield until the beginning of your next turn. 
   If you use a weapon with the Heavy property or use 
  a Versatile weapon two-handed you may not benefit 
  from using a shield until the beginning of your next 
  turn, but you may switch between multiple Heavy or 
  Versatile weapons with each attack. 
   No Arms. Creatures with no arms automatically also 
  have “No hands” (see below), and lack an arm-like 
  extremity such as a pseudopod or tentacle which could 
  be used to manipulate objects. 
   No hands. Creatures without hands are unable to 
  wield weapons or wear shields, and cannot use items 
  which require manipulation, including spellcasting foci, 
  wands, tools, etc. unless they have some other means 
  by which to do so. Creatures which still have arms may 
  push and pull items, and may be able to lift them with 
  their limbs, but generally can’t manipulate items finely 
  enough to use them for tasks requiring precise motion.  
   For these purposes “hands” refers to any suitable 
  grasping appendage, including prehensile tentacles or 
  exceptionally dextrous claws. If the appendage could 
  easily lift and pour out the contents of a glass, open a 
  door knob, sign a name, and wield a sword, it counts as 
  a hand. As such, monkey paws and kenku claws qualify, 
  but octopus tentacles and most tails typically do not. 
   Note that lacking hands does not technically prohibit 
  a creature from writing. While the creature may not be 
  able to handle a pen, they still might be able to write 
  by scratching out text with a claw, dragging their body 
  through sand, or otherwise marking a surface. 
   For creatures with racial Dexterity increases and no 
  hands, strongly consider adding the Natural Weapon 
  Finesse special ability. These creatures often see the 
  Rogue class as an appealing option, and the inability to 
  wield a weapon should not prevent them from doing 
  so. 
  Age 
  Each race should have an entry describing their general 
  age range. This has little mechanical effect on the race, 
  but is important for defining the race. 
  Alignment 
  Each race should have an entry describing the general 
  alignments of members of that race. This has little 
  mechanical effect on the race, but is important for 
  defining the race. 
  Ability Score Increases 
  Every race should have one or more ability increases; 
  this indicates where that race excels. 
   “Fixed” ability increases apply to a single ability score 
  determined when the race is designed, while “Flexible” 
  ability bonuses can be applied to any ability score 
  (except one which also received a Fixed increase), or to 
  a choice of more than one ability score (Strength or 
  Constitution, Wisdom or Charisma, etc.), as chosen by 
  the player during Character Creation. Multiple Flexible 
  ability increases may not be applied to the same ability 
  score. 
  Increase 
  BP Cost 
  -2 Fixed 
  -1 
  +1 Fixed 
  1 
  +2 Fixed 
  2 
  +1 Flexible 
  1.5 
  Vision and Senses 
  Vision 
  BP Cost 
  Blind 
  -4 
  Normal 
  0 
  Darkvision (10 ft.) 
  1 
  Darkvision (30 ft.) 
  1.5 
  Darkvision (60 ft.) 
  2 
  Darkvision (120 ft.) 
  3 
   Blind (-4 BP). You have no eyes. You are immune to 
  the Blinded condition. 
   Devil’s Sight (1 BP). Magical darkness doesn’t 
  impede your Darkvision. 
   Otherworldly Perception (2.5 BP). You can sense the 
  presence of any creature within 30 feet of you that is 
  invisible or on the Ethereal Plane. You can pinpoint 
  such a creature that is moving. 
  Additional Senses 
  Sense 
  BP Cost 
  Blindsight 30 ft. 
  6 
  Blindsight -10 ft. 
  -1 
  Blindsight +10 ft. 
  +1 
  Blindsight +10 ft. 
  +1 
  Blindsense 30 ft. 
  3 
  Blindsense +10 ft. 
  +1 
  Tremorsense 30 ft. 
  2 
  Tremorsense +10 ft. 
  +1 
   Blind Senses (-1 BP). Your blindsight or blindsense 
  distance is reduced to 10 ft. while you are deafened 
  and/or unable to smell. 
  
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  Races 
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   Echolocation (-1.5 BP). You can’t use your blindsight 
  while deafened. 
   Tremorsense (2+ BP). You can detect and pinpoint 
  the origin of vibrations within a specific radius, 
  provided that you and the source of the vibrations are 
  in contact with the same ground or substance. 
  Tremorsense can't be used to detect flying or 
  incorporeal creatures. 
  Movement 
  Every race should generally have a base land speed. 30 
  feet is standard walking speed. 
  Walking Speed 
  Remember that small races have a base walking speed 
  of 25 ft. and tiny races have a base land speed of 20 ft. 
  This is included in the -1 BP for being small and the -1.5 
  BP for being tiny, and is applied after defining the races 
  base walking speed. A small race which selected -5 ft. 
  speed would have a final speed of 20 feet. 
  Speed 
  BP Cost 
  30/25/20 ft. 
  0 
  -5 ft. 
  -0.5 
  +5 ft. 
  +0.5 
  Burrowing Speed 
  Very few creatures have burrow speeds, and those 
  which do typically have a much higher walking speed. 
  Burrow speeds present considerable problems because 
  they allow players to easily circumvent a variety of 
  problems without exposing themselves as much as 
  they might while flying. 
  Speed 
  BP Cost 
  10 ft. 
  2 
  -5 ft. 
  -0.5 
  +10 ft. +1 
   Earth Glide (1 BP). You can burrow through non-
  magical, unworked earth and stone. While doing so, 
  you don't disturb the material you move through. 
  Climb Speed 
  Climb speeds allow creatures to easily circumvent 
  obstacles like walls and pits, but aren’t as problematic 
  as burrow speeds or flying speeds. 
  Speed 
  BP Cost 
  30 ft. 
  2 
  -10 ft. 0.5 
  +10 ft. +1 
   Spider Climb (1 BP). You can climb difficult surfaces, 
  including upside down on ceilings, without needing to 
  make an ability check. 
  Flying Speed 
  Flight is a potent tool, accessible to most races only 
  with powerful magic like the spell Fly. Flight allows 
  creatures to stay safely out of reach of potential 
  threats, and allow them to easily bypass many 
  obstacles. 
   Creatures with a natural flying speed cannot fly while 
  wearing medium or heavy armor. 
  Speed 
  BP Cost 
  30 ft. 
  4 
  -10 ft. -1 
  +10 ft. +1 
   Hover (2 BP). You can remain in place while flying. 
  Swimming Speed 
  Creatures with swimming speeds often have poor (or 
  no) walking speeds. These creatures can be extremely 
  problematic as player races. 
  Speed 
  BP Cost 
  30 ft. 
  1 
  -10 ft. 
  -.5 
  +10 ft. +.5 
  Languages 
  Nearly all races speak at least one language. A typical 
  race can speak its own language plus Common, and 
  most races in this document have green granted the 
  ability to speak Common even if they could normally 
  only speak their racial language. The ability to speak 
  Common makes a race viable in a party without the 
  need to spend additional resources learning Common, 
  which makes it easier to integrate monstrous 
  characters into a party. 
   Note that “Racial Language and Common” also 
  covers races which only speak Common, including 
  Humans and many other races. 
  Language 
  BP Cost 
  No languages 
  -3 
  Racial Language Only 
  -1 
  Racial Language and Common 
  0 
  1 Additional Fixed Language .25 
  1 Flexible Language 
  .5 
   Can’t Speak (-1.5 BP). You are unable to speak, but 
  are still able to read, write, and understand any 
  languages which you know. You are unable to perform 
  verbal spell components. 
   If your race provides no languages, you do not gain 
  the -1 BP for can’t speak, as the BP reduction is already 
  built into the “No languages” languages option. If your 
  race has the Mimicry trait, you can’t benefit from Can’t 
  Speak, as Mimicry allows sufficient speech to make the 
  BP adjustment meaningless. 
  
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  Races 
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  Proficiencies 
  Many races provide bonus proficiencies of various 
  sorts. These proficiencies often pertain to a racial 
  aptitude for something which is not explained by the 
  race’s ability increases. 
  Skills / Tools 
  Proficiency 
  BP Cost 
  1 Flexible Skill or Tool 
  Proficiency 
  1 
  1 Semi-flexible Skill or Tool 
  from a fixed list 
  .75 
  1 Fixed Skill or Tool 
  Proficiency 
  .5 
   Expertise (1 BP). You may add double your 
  proficiency bonus to skill checks with the selected skill. 
  If the race does not provide proficiency in the skill, this 
  bonus applies only to a single specific usage of the skill, 
  like using Athletics to climb. 
  Armor 
  Proficiency 
  BP Cost 
  Light Armor 
  1 
  Light and Medium Armor 
  2 
  Light, Medium and Heavy Armor 
  4 
  Shields 
  2 
  Weapons 
  Proficiency 
  BP Cost 
  1 Simple Weapon 
  .25 
  All Simple Weapons 
  1 
  1 Martial Weapon 
  .5 
  All Simple and Martial Weapons 2 
  Innate Spellcasting 
  Some races have the innate ability to cast spells. If your 
  race can cast spells this way, select an ability score to 
  use for all of the race’s spells. 
   Note that racial spells beyond Cantrips normally 
  can’t be cast until the character reaches a caster level 
  sufficient to cast spells of those level (use the table on 
  page 165 of the Player’s Handbook) +2. For example: 
  An Air Genasi can cast Levitate (a 1st-level spell) at 3rd 
  level. 
   Leveled spells (not Cantrips) gained this way can be 
  cast once per day, recharging after a long rest. Spells 
  cast this way require no material components. 
  Spell 
  BP Cost 
  1 Fixed Cantrip usable 
  once per day 
  .25 
  1 Fixed Cantrip 
  .5 
  1 Cantrip from a fixed 
  class’s spell list 
  1 
  1 Spell 
  Spell’s 
  level 
  1 Spell (Ritual Only) 
  Spell’s 
  level /2 
  Increase spells spell slot 
  level by 1 
  +0.5 
  Cast spell 2 levels early 
  +0.25 
  Cast spell 2 levels 
  earlier than a primary 
  spellcaster of the 
  appropriate level (cleric, 
  wizard, etc.) 
  Not allowed 
  Recharge on short rest 
  x2.5 
   Innate Focus (0.25 BP). The race may always cast 
  spells as though it were holding a spellcasting focus. 
  This is a useful option for races which emphasize 
  spellcasting but lack a means to carry material 
  components, like beholders and demiliches. However, 
  not all spells require material components, so it’s not 
  necessary to apply this to every class which would 
  make a decent spellcaster. 
   Single Innate Spell Slot (Varies). The race may only 
  cast one of its leveled innate spells per rest. Divide the 
  BP cost of every spell except the highest-level spell by 
  2. For example: if a race can cast one 1st-level spell and 
  one 2nd-level spell, but can only cast one of the two per 
  rest, the BP cost is 2.5 BP instead of 3 BP. 
  Special Abilities 
  Other special abilities are often unique to the race, but 
  here is a collection of pre-existing abilities to use for 
  your own races. Many of these abilities are copied or 
  adapted from officially presented races, but several 
  have been created for use in races presented in this 
  document. 
   Aggressive (1 BP). As a bonus action, you can move 
  up to your speed toward a hostile creature that you 
  can see. 
   Ambusher (1 BP). You have advantage on attack rolls 
  against any creature you have surprised. 
   Amorphous (0.5 BP). You can move through a space 
  as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing. 
   With some rare exceptions, most creatures with 
  Amorphous should also have Unable to Wear Armor, 
  but may still be able to use shields if they have 
  appropriate limbs. 
   Amphibious (0.5 BP). You can breathe air and water. 
   Artificer's Lore (0.5 BP). Whenever you make an 
  Intelligence (History) check related to magic items, 
  alchemical objects, or technological devices, you can 
  add twice your proficiency bonus, instead of any 
  proficiency bonus you normally apply. 
  
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  Races 
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   Brave (0.5 BP). You have advantage on saving throws 
  against being frightened. 
   Breath Weapon (1 BP). You gain a breath weapon, 
  as described on page 34 of the Player’s Handbook. 
   Camouflage (0.5 BP). You have advantage on 
  Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide in the terrain 
  to which the species is native. 
   Chameleon Skin (2 BP). You have advantage on 
  Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide. 
   Charge (2 BP). Once per turn, if you move at least 
  half of your race’s base speed feet toward a creature 
  and hit it with a Strength-based melee weapon attack, 
  the target takes an extra 1d6 damage from the attack. 
  This damage increases to 2d6 at 5th level, 3d6 at 11th 
  level, and 4d6 at 17th level.  
   If this ability proves to be too powerful in your 
  games, consider limiting its use to once per combat or 
  once per short rest, or use the alternate version 
  presented below. 
   Charge (Alternate) (2 BP; requires Natural 
  Weapon). If you move at least 30 ft. straight toward a 
  target and hit it with a melee weapon attack on the 
  same turn, you can immediately make a single 
  unarmed strike against the same target as a bonus 
  action. 
   Condition Resistance or Immunity (0.25 or 0.5 each, 
  respectively). Select from the following conditions: 
  • Blinded 
  • Charmed 
  • Deafened 
  • Exhaustion 
  • Grappled 
  • Paralyzed 
  • Petrified 
  • Prone 
  • Stunned 
  • Unconscious (Immunity to unconsciousness means 
  that you die outright when you reach 0 hit points) 
   Cunning (2 BP). You have advantage on all 
  Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws 
  against magic. 
   Damage Immunity (5 BP). You are immune to Acid, 
  Cold, Fire, Lightning, Necrotic, Radiant, or Thunder 
  Damage. 
   Damage Resistance (2 BP or 4 BP). You have 
  resistance to Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, Necrotic, 
  Radiant, or Thunder Damage for 2 BP each. You have 
  resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage 
  for 4 BP each. 
   Dive Attack (2 BP; requires Flight). Once per turn, if 
  you dive at least half your race’s flight speed toward a 
  creature and hit it with a melee weapon attack, the 
  target takes an extra 1d6 damage from the attack. This 
  damage increases to 2d6 at 5th level, 3d6 at 11th level, 
  and 4d6 at 17th level.  
   Duergar Resilience (0.5 BP). You have advantage on 
  saving throws against illusions and against being 
  charmed or paralyzed. 
   Damage Vulnerability (-1 BP). You have vulnerability 
  to one type of damage. 
   Earth Walk (0.5 BP). You can move across difficult 
  terrain made of earth or stone without expending extra 
  movement. 
   Equine Build (0 BP). Equine Build. You count as one 
  size larger when determining your carrying capacity 
  and the weight you can push or drag. 
   In addition, any climb that requires hands and feet is 
  especially difficult for you because of your hooves. 
  When you make such a climb, each foot of movement 
  costs you 4 extra feet, instead of the normal 1 extra 
  foot. 
   False Appearance (0.5 BP). While motionless, you 
  appear indistinguishable from a mundane object which 
  your race resembles. You must spend one minute 
  motionless before this ability takes effect. You must 
  maintain concentration during that time, as if you were 
  casting a spell. 
   Feat (4 BP). You gain one feat of your choice for 
  which you qualify. 
   Fey Ancestry (0.5 BP). You have advantage on saving 
  throws against being charmed, and magic can't put you 
  to sleep. 
   Flexible Form (0.5 BP). You can enter a hostile 
  creature's space and stop there. You can move through 
  a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing. 
   Flyby (2 BP; requires Flight). You may perform the 
  Disengage action as a bonus action. 
   Grab (2 BP; requires Natural Weapon). When you 
  take the Attack action and make an unarmed strike, 
  you can use a bonus action to initiate a grapple with 
  the target of your successful unarmed strike. You may 
  grapple even though you have no hands if your form 
  supports doing so (rugs of smothering, slimes, and 
  snakes are all good examples). 
   Grappler (2 BP). You have advantage on attack rolls 
  against a creature you are grappling. 
   Hidden Step (2 BP). As a bonus action, you can 
  magically turn invisible until the start of your next turn 
  or until you attack, make a damage roll, or force 
  someone to make a saving throw.  
  
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  Races 
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   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Hold Breath (0.25+ BP). You can hold your breath for 
  15 minutes per 0.25 BP. 
   Ice Walk (0.5 BP). You can move across and climb icy 
  surfaces without needing to make an ability check. 
  Additionally, difficult terrain composed of ice or snow 
  doesn't cost extra moment. 
   Illumination (0.25). You shed bright light in a 10-foot 
  radius and dim light for an additional 10 feet. For an 
  additional 0.25 BP the race may suppress or re-activate 
  this ability as a bonus action. 
   Immortal Nature (1 BP). You don’t require food, 
  drink, or sleep (see the “trance” special ability). 
   Inhuman Reflexes (2 BP). Your AC increases by +1. 
   Keen Sense (0.5 BP each). Select one or more senses 
  from hearing, sight, or smell. You gain advantage on 
  Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on those senses. 
   Light Sensitivity (-2 BP). While in bright light, you 
  have disadvantage on attack rolls, as well as on 
  Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.  
   Limited Telepathy (1 BP). You can magically 
  communicate simple ideas, emotions, and images 
  telepathically with any creature within 100 feet of it 
  that can understand a language. 
   Lucky (2 BP). When you roll a 1 on an attack roll, 
  ability check, or saving throw, you can re-roll the die 
  and must use the new roll.  
   Magic Resistance (5 BP). You have advantage on all 
  saving throws against magic. 
   Mask of the Wild (0.5 BP). You can attempt to hide 
  even when you are only lightly obscured by foliage, 
  heavy rain, falling snow, mist, and other natural 
  phenomena. 
   Mimicry (1 BP). You can mimic any sounds you have 
  heard, including voices. A creature that hears the 
  sounds can tell they are imitations with a successful 
  Insight check against a DC equal to 8 + your Charisma 
  (Deception) bonus. 
   Mountain Born (0.25 BP). You’re acclimated to high 
  altitude, including elevations above 20,000 feet. You’re 
  also naturally adapted to cold climates, as described in 
  chapter 5 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide. 
   Natural Armor (0.5+ BP). You have a natural armor 
  bonus of +X. When unarmored, your AC is equal to 10 + 
  your natural armor bonus + your dexterity modifier. 
  The BP cost of this ability is the natural armor bonus (X) 
  divided by 2 (do not round the final value). If the bonus 
  is +3 or greater, you may disallow adding Dexterity (as 
  though the character were wearing heavy armor) to 
  the character’s AC for -1 BP. 
   Be very cautious about granting more than +3 
  natural armor. +2 is the highest bonus provided by light 
  armor, so +3 natural armor means that the character 
  can have higher AC than a character in light or medium 
  armor can achieve. Consider disallowing armor (see 
  Unable to Wear Armor, below) for races with 
  exceptionally high natural armor, especially if it 
  provides as much AC as heavy armor does. 
   Shields always contribute to AC on top of natural 
  armor, unless the race’s natural armor entry 
  specifically states that they do not. 
   Natural Weapon (1 BP). Your unarmed strikes deal 
  1d4 damage on a hit (1d3 for small races). This die size 
  can be increased for an additional .5 BP per step up to 
  1d8 (1.5 total BP for 1d6, 2 BP for 1d8). Creatures with 
  no hands may deal 1d10 damage for 3 BP, but this is 
  only recommended for races with few other active 
  traits to use. 
   Note that many monster’s natural weapons behave 
  like a Finesse property in their monster stat block, but 
  there is no general rule allowing player characters to 
  do this.  
   Natural weapons may deal one or two types of 
  damage between bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing, 
  or may deal any of the three for an additional .5 BP. 
   Natural Weapon Finesse (0 BP; requires No Hands 
  and Dexterity increase). You can use Dexterity instead 
  of Strength for the attack and damage rolIs of your 
  unarmed strikes. Your unarmed strikes count as a 
  weapon with the Finesse property for all effects which 
  require it, such as Sneak Attack. 
   Natural Weapon Reach (0.5 BP). Attacks made with 
  one of your natural weapons (selected when applying 
  this trait to the race) are made with reach 5 ft. greater 
  than normal for a creature of your size. 
   Naturally Stealthy (1 BP). You can attempt to hide 
  even when you are obscured only by a creature that is 
  at least one size larger than you. 
   Nimbleness (1 BP). You can move through the space 
  of any creature that is of a size larger than yours. 
   Otherworldly Perception (2.5). You can sense the 
  presence of any creature within 30 feet of you that is 
  invisible or on the Ethereal Plane. You can pinpoint 
  such a creature that is moving. 
   Pack Tactics (5 BP). As a bonus action you may take 
  advantage of the presence of your allies. You gain 
  Advantage on the next attack roll you make this turn 
  against a creature if at least one of your allies is within 
  5 feet of the creature and the ally isn’t incapacitated. 
   Poison Immunity (2 BP). You are immune to poison 
  damage, and immune to the poisoned condition. 
  
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   Poison Resilience (1 BP). You have advantage on 
  saving throws against poison, and you have resistance 
  against poison damage.  
   Pounce (1.5 BP). If you move at least half of your 
  race’s base speed straight toward a creature then hit it 
  with an unarmed strike on the same turn, you may 
  attempt to shove the target prone as a bonus action 
  (see “Shoving a Creature”, page 195 of the Player’s 
  Handbook). 
   Powerful Build (0.25 BP). You count as one size 
  larger when determining your carrying capacity and the 
  weight you can push, drag, or lift. 
   Rampage (2 BP). When you reduce a creature to 0 
  hit points with a melee attack on your turn, you can 
  take a bonus action to move up to half your speed and 
  make a bite attack. 
   Regeneration (5 BP). You are able to recover from 
  wounds with horrifying speed, and can even regrow 
  severed body parts. As a bonus action, you may spend 
  a Hit Die to recover hit points.  
   If a part of your body is removed or destroyed 
  (including your head) but you are not killed, you may 
  re-attach the body part as an action. 
   You are vulnerable to two or more damage types. If 
  you take damage of those types, you may not use your 
  regeneration trait to recover hit points or re-attach 
  limbs until the end of your next turn. 
   When you take a short or long rest, you regain spent 
  Hit Dice, up to a number of dice equal to half of your 
  total number of them, rounded up. If you have lost any 
  body parts, the missing body parts regrow and the 
  original body parts wither and die.  
   The BP of this value includes the BP value of 
  vulnerability to 2 damage types. Additional 
  vulnerabilities can be added for the normal BP value 
  (see Damage Vulnerability). If you do not have the 
  ability to regrow or reattach limbs, reduce the BP cost 
  to 4. 
   Relentless/Relentless Endurance (0.5 BP). When 
  you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, 
  you can drop to 1 hit point instead. You can’t use this 
  feature again until you finish a long rest. 
   Running Leap (0.25 BP). With a 10-foot running 
  start, you can long jump up to 25 feet. 
   Savage Attacks (0.5 BP). When you score a critical 
  hit with a melee weapon attack, you can roll one of the 
  weapon’s damage dice one additional time and add it 
  to the extra damage of the critical hit. 
   Shadow Stealth (1 BP). While in dim light or 
  darkness, you can take the Hide action as a bonus 
  action. 
   Shriek (2 BP). As an action you can emit a horrifying 
  screech that can be heard clearly within 300 feet. 
  Creatures within 30 feet of you must make a Wisdom 
  saving throw or be frightened for until the end of your 
  next turn. The DC of this saving throw is 8 + your 
  proficiency bonus + your Constitution modifier. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete long rest. 
   Siege Monster (0.5 BP). You deal double damage to 
  objects and structures. 
   Slippery (0.5 BP). You have advantage on ability 
  checks and saving throws made to escape a grapple. 
   Standing Leap (0.5 BP). Your long jump is up to 30 
  feet and your high jump is up to 15 feet, with or 
  without a running start. 
   Stench (2 BP). As a bonus action you can exude a 
  horrifying stench for up to one minute. Any creature 
  which starts its turn within 5 ft. of you must succeed on 
  a Constitution saving throw or be poisoned until the 
  start of its next turn. The DC for this saving throw is 8 + 
  your proficiency bonus + your Constitution modifier. 
   You must maintain concentration during that time, 
  as if you were casting a spell. If you lose concentration, 
  affected creatures are no longer poisoned by this 
  ability. 
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Stonecunning (0.5 BP). Whenever you make an 
  Intelligence (History) check related to the origin of 
  stonework, you are considered proficient in the History 
  skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the 
  check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus. 
   Stone’s Endurance (2 BP). You can focus yourself to 
  occasionally shrug off injury. When you take damage, 
  you can use your reaction to roll a d12. Add your 
  Constitution modifier to the number rolled, and reduce 
  the damage by that total.  
   After you use this ability, you can't use it again until 
  you complete a short or long rest. 
   Sunlight Hypersensitivity (-3 BP). You take 5 radiant 
  damage when you start your turn in sunlight. While in 
  sunlight, you have disadvantage on attack rolls and 
  ability checks. 
   The damage may be increased to 20 for an additional 
  -1 BP. 
   Sunlight Sensitivity (-2 BP). You have disadvantage 
  on attack rolls and on Wisdom (Perception) checks that 
  rely on sight when you, the target of your attack, or 
  whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct 
  sunlight.  
  
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   Sunlight Weakness (-3 BP). While in sunlight, you 
  have disadvantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and 
  saving throws. 
   Sure-footed (0.25 BP). You have advantage on 
  Strength and Dexterity saving throws and ability checks 
  made against effects that would knock it prone. 
   Surprise Attack (1 BP). If you surprise a creature and 
  hit it with an attack during the first round of combat, 
  the target takes an extra 1d6 damage from the attack. 
  You can use this trait only once per combat. 
   This damage increases to 2d6 at 5th level, 3d6 at 11th 
  level, and 4d6 at 17th level.  
   If this ability proves to be too powerful in your 
  games, consider limiting its use to once short rest. 
   Telepathic Shroud (3 BP). You are immune to any 
  effect that would sense your emotions or read your 
  thoughts, as well as all divination spells. 
   Telepathy (2 BP). You can communicate 
  telepathically with any creature that knows a language 
  within 30 ft. 
   Toughness (0.5 BP). Your hit point maximum 
  increases by 1, and it increases by 1 every time you 
  gain a level. 
   Trance (0.5 BP). You don’t need to sleep. Instead, 
  you meditate deeply, remaining semiconscious, for 4 
  hours a day. (The Common word for such meditation is 
  “trance.”) While meditating, you can dream after a 
  fashion; such dreams are actually mental exercises that 
  have become reflexive through years of practice. After 
  resting in this way, you gain the same benefit that a 
  human does from 8 hours of sleep. 
   Trip (2 BP). If you hit a creature with an unarmed 
  strike, you may attempt to shove the target prone as a 
  bonus action (see “Shoving a Creature”, page 195 of 
  the Player’s Handbook). 
   Two Heads (3.5 BP). While both of your heads are 
  awake, you have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) 
  checks and on saving throws against being blinded, 
  charmed, deafened, frightened, stunned, and knocked 
  unconscious. 
   Additional heads do not increase the BP value of this 
  ability. 
   Unable to Wear Armor (3-4 BP). For whatever 
  reason, you are unable to wear armor (possibly 
  because your body is shapeless or has built-in armor). 
  If you are also unable to use a shield, the BP cost is 4. 
   Unending Breath (0.5 BP). You can hold your breath 
  indefinitely while you’re not incapacitated. 
   Water Breathing (0 BP). You can breathe only 
  underwater. 
   Web Walker (0.5 BP). You ignore movement 
  restrictions caused by webbing. 
  Examples 
  The design notes presented with each race in this 
  document should serve as wonderful examples for 
  adapting existing monsters into playable races. 
  However, let’s imagine for a moment that we want to 
  create something entirely new.  
   I’ll walk you through the process of using the race 
  builder to turn an idea into a new race or a new 
  subrace for an existing race. 
  New Race: Mongrelfolk 
  I want to build a race that fits close to normal 
  humanoids to serve as an example of what may be the 
  most common use for my Race Builder roles. Dipping 
  back into 3rd edition for inspiration, I found the 
  Mongrelfolk in the Races of Destiny supplement. 
  They’re a weird race with a jumbled genetic 
  background, and I don’t think they ever got a lot of 
  usage in 3rd edition, so I don’t think we’ll ever see an 
  official update for 5th edition. 
   Before we dip into the actual mechanics, we need to 
  decide what we want the race to have. The original 
  race was tough, but unintelligent, and uncharismatic. It 
  had low-light vision (which went away in 4th edition 
  and didn’t come back), the ability to emulate other 
  races, to mimic sounds like a kenku, to resist magic 
  sleep effects like elves, and a handful of other minor 
  bonuses from every race in the player’s handbook. I 
  want to keep that hodgepodge feel, which will let us 
  explore most of the race builder rules. We’ll take each 
  section of the race builder rules in order, and when 
  we’re done we’ll have a new race. 
   We first need to decide on a creature type. We’ll 
  stick to humanoid (0 BP), and like the original race we’ll 
  include the Human subtype (0 BP). 
   We’ll stick to medium size for 0 BP. 
   Mongrelfolk have normal, human-like limbs. Two 
  arms, two legs, and hands. That’s the base-line 
  assumption of the Race Builder rules, so it’s 0 BP. 
   Races of Destiny doesn’t address the lifespans of 
  Mongerlfolk, so we don’t have any information to draw 
  on. If you choose to use Mongrelfolk in your game, 
  choose an age scheme which makes sense. I think 
  human lifespans are a good start, maybe with a few 
  years added on for the mongrelfolk’s longer-lived 
  ancestors. 
   Alignment is important for the flavor of a race. 
  Mongrelfolk are descended from races with a wide 
  
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  variety of belief systems, so we can’t really suggest 
  what a common alignment might be. 
   Ability score increases in 5th edition work differently 
  from 3rd edition. 3rd edition included two ability score 
  penalties for Mongrelfolk, but we’ll ignore those. 
  Instead, we’ll grant +2 Constitution for 2 BP. The 
  original race got +4, but in 5th edition racial ability score 
  increases never exceed 2. 
   Vision and senses are usually easy for humanoids. 
  With some exceptions, most have either normal vision 
  or Darkvision. Races which had low-light vision in 3rd 
  edition (like elves) now have Darkvision in 5th edition. 
  We’ll make that same adjustment for Mongrelfolk, and 
  grant them Darkvision for 2 BP. 
   Movement is similarly easy. Mongrelfolk don’t have 
  any special movement types to adapt, and the base 30 
  ft. move speed for medium creatures costs 0 BP. 
   Mongrelfolk in 3rd edition got Common and one 
  language of their choice. However, if you read beyond 
  the racial traits the description of Mongrelfolk 
  mentions that they have a “pidgin” language called 
  Mongrel. I like unique racial languages, so we’ll grant 
  Racial Languages Plus Common for 0 BP. We could also 
  grant an additional flexible language for 0.5 BP, but 
  we’ll save that for later if we need to add mor BP to the 
  race. 
   In 3rd edition Mongrelfolk received a racial skill 
  bonus to 10 skills. Adding one or more skill 
  proficiencies is certainly not out of the question. 
  However, there’s not match between the core race 
  racial skill proficiencies in 5th edition and those in 3rd 
  edition. I think we’ll grant a single flexible skill or tool 
  proficiency for 1 BP. 
   Mongrelfolk didn’t have any magic-related abilities in 
  3rd edition, so we’ll skip innate spellcasting. 
   When we reach Special Abilities, it’s a good idea to 
  re-count the BP you’ve spent so far. We’ve spent 5 BP, 
  so we’ve got lots of room to consider special abilities. 
   To match the 3rd edition version of Mongrelfolk, we’ll 
  add immunity to sleep for 0.5 BP, Mimicry for 1 BP, and 
  poison resilience for 2 BP. That brings us to 8.5 BP, 
  which is in the 8-10 BP range that we want to hit, but 
  we have a little more room. To approximate Diffuse 
  Blood from 3rd edition’s Mongrelfolk, we’ll grant 
  Advantage on saving throws against any effect which 
  targets a specific humanoid race, and allow them to 
  use magic items which require that the user be a 
  specific race, and we’ll call it 0.5 BP. 
   At 9 BP, we’re right in the middle of the target BP 
  range. Now that we have our traits decided on, here’s 
  the finished product: 
   Update: After publishing this document, it came to 
  my attention that Mongrelfolk appear in the Curse of 
  Strahd campaign. I feel a bit silly for missing that, but 
  the version of Mongrelfolk I present here is still useful 
  as an example of designing a new race without 5th 
  edition stats to examine. 
  Mongrelfolk Traits 
  Mongrelfolk share the following racial traits. 
   Creature Type. Humanoid (Human) 
   Ability Increase. +2 Constitution 
   Size. Your size is medium. 
   Alignment. Descended from diverse ancestry, 
  Mongrelfolk follow all sorts of ideologies, and don’t 
  favor one alignment over any other. 
   Darkvision. 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. 
   Diffuse Blood. You have Advantage on saving throws 
  against any effect which targets a specific race. You 
  may use items intended for any humanoid race as 
  though you were a member of that race. 
   Dwarven Ancestry. You have advantage on saving 
  throws against poison, and you have resistance against 
  poison damage. 
   Elven Ancestry. Magic can’t put you to sleep. 
   Human Ancestry. You gain proficiency in one skill or 
  tool of your choice. 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Common and Mongrel. 
  New Subrace: Animated Tome 
  I really like the idea of an animated spellbook wizard, 
  so I want to explore that idea. 
   We’ll start with Animated Object as our base race. 
  That sets us at 8.5 BP before we consider additional 
  racial traits. Like I did with animated objects, we’ll need 
  to consider some limitations specific to the subrace in 
  order to open up BP for fun new abilities. As we did 
  with out entirely new race, above, we’ll go through the 
  race builder in order. 
   Our creature type is already determined, so we can 
  skip that part. 
   How big do we want our tome to be? Small is a 
  possibility if we want the animated tome to be 
  especially big, but a halfling-sized tome seems 
  excessive. We’ll go for tiny, which still covers books up 
  to a reasonably large size, including spellbooks. That’s a 
  -1.5 BP adjustment from our base race. 
   Next we need to consider limbs. Books obviously 
  don’t have hands, so we’ll say no hands for -2 BP. But 
  
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  do books have something we could consider arms? I 
  think an animate book could reasonably use its covers 
  as crude arms to knock stuff about, and it could close 
  around objects to carry them about, so we’ll say that 
  an animated tome has “arms”. 
   Age is easy for animated objects. So long as they’re 
  well cared for, they’re immortal. 
   Alignment is easy, too. Books can be about anything, 
  so they’re alignment can be anything. 
   Ability score increases are a challenge specifically 
  because books can be about anything. We could say an 
  Intelligence increase if the book is scientific or factual 
  in nature. It would be Wisdom or Charisma if the book 
  is philosophical or political in nature. We’ll grant a 
  flexible +1 ability increase for 1.5 BP. 
   Vision and senses is also covered by our subrace, so 
  we’ll stick with the Blind Senses used by animated 
  objects. 
   Animated tomes don’t have legs, so walking seems 
  unlikely. We’ll give the animated tome a 0 ft. walking 
  for -2 BP, but we’ll give it 30 ft. fly speed for 4 BP and 
  the ability to hover for another 2 BP. Flying swords 
  notably can’t hover, but their emphasis on melee 
  combat makes constant motion much more sensible. 
  Flying books seem like they should be able to hang 
  around and think. 
   Languages are another interesting challenge. Verbal 
  components are extremelty important for spellcasters, 
  so I want to allow the animate tome access to speech. 
  Giving them the ability to speak Common makes sense, 
  but it’s also really boring. We’ll give them Draconic 
  instead since it’s a cool language to use for magic. 
  Since it’s not Common, we can call that “Racial 
  language only” for -0.5 BP, but we’re also removing 
  Can’t Speak for 1.5 BP, for a net increase of 1 BP. 
   Animated tomes won’t be able to wear armor or 
  weild weapons, but it would be cool to grant a 
  proficiency of some kind based on the book’s contents. 
  We’ll revisit the idea later. 
   I expect that a lot of animated tomes will be 
  spellcasters, especially wizards and warlocks with Pact 
  of the Tome. A little bit of innate spellcasting would be 
  a nice addition, but I think I want to tie that into the 
  book’s subject matter similar to proficiencies. We’ll 
  grant Innate Focus for 0.25 BP, as I’ve done for other 
  flying spellcasters with no hands. 
   Finally, we should consider special abilities. 
  Unfortunately, we’re already at 10.75 BP, so we’re 
  already exceeding the target range of 8-10 BP, and we 
  can’t spare room for any costly abilities. Fortunately, 
  not all special abilities have a positive BP value. We’ll 
  pick up Unable to Wear Armor for with the “no shields” 
  option for -4 BP.  
   I like the idea of the animated tome knowing its own 
  contents, and those contents dictating some of the 
  character’s traits. We’re at just 6.75 BP so we’ve got 
  plenty of room to play. The choice of a feat is 4 BP, to 
  offering the option of the benefits of one of two feats 
  is a great option. The Magic Initiate and Skilled feats 
  both seem like great options for a book, and we’ll 
  slightly limit the options to make sense for a book. 
  Magic options will be limited to wizard spells, and we’ll 
  offer a few sets of example proficiency sets which 
  would make sense a book. In addition, we’ll add 
  languages to the list of possible proficiencies so long as 
  the three selected proficiencies are all of a related 
  subject. To keep with the theme of the ability, we’ll 
  name this trait “Subject Matter”. 
   Now that we have our traits decided on, here’s the 
  finished product: 
  Animated Tome Traits 
  The following traits apply in addition to the racial traits 
  detailed in the Animated Object racial traits. 
   Ability Increase. Your Intelligence, Wisdom, or 
  Charisma increases by +1. 
   Size. Your size is tiny. 
   Speed. Your base walking speed is 0 ft. 
   Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet, and can 
  hover. 
   Innate Spellcasting. You may cast spells as though 
  you were using a magic focus, even if you are not doing 
  so. 
   Living Book. You are unable to wear armor or use 
  shields.  
   No Hands. You are unable to wield weapons or wear 
  shields, and cannot use items which require 
  manipulation, including spellcasting foci, wands, tools, 
  etc. 
   Subject Matter. You are intimately familiar with the 
  contents of your own pages, and draw knowledge from 
  their contents. Depending on your subject matter, you 
  gain a set of abilities from the list below. 
  • Spellbook. You know two cantrips from the wizard 
  spell list, and a singly 1st-level wizard spell is written 
  in your pages. You may cast this spell once per day. 
  In addition, you may use your own body to record 
  spells, such as spells learned as a wizard, ritual spells 
  from the Ritual Caster feat, or spells added to a 
  warlock’s Book of Shadows. 
  • Arcane Lore. You are proficient in Arcana and 
  History, and the Primordial language. 
  
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  • Astronomy. You are proficient in Nature and 
  Perception, and in Navigator’s Tools. 
  • Almanac. You are proficienct in History and Nature, 
  and in your choice of one land vehicle. 
  • Cyphers. You are proficient in History and Insight, 
  and with Forgery Kits. 
  • History. You are proficient in History and Insight, and 
  the Elven language. 
  • Medicine. You are proficient in Medicine and 
  Nature, and with Healer’s Kits. 
  • Natural Lore. You are proficient in Animal Handling 
  and Nature, and with Herablism Kits. 
  • Romance. You are proficient in Insight and 
  Persuasion, and the Common language. 
  • Theatre. You are proficient in Deception and 
  Performance, and with Disguise Kits. 
  • Other. With your Dungeon Master’s permission, 
  your subject matter can be some subject not 
  detailed here. You gain three proficiencies: two skills, 
  and one tool or language. These proficiencies should 
  all fit a similar theme, similar to the options 
  presented here (excluding the Spellbook option, 
  which is intentionally unique). 
   Languages. You can speak, read, and write in 
  Draconic. 
  
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  Appendix: 
  Template Builder 
  Creating a template using the rules presented in this 
  document is similar in many ways to creating a new 
  race. Templates provide traits in much the same way 
  that a race does, and can follow many of the same 
  rules. 
   The sections below go into detail on designing new 
  templates. The Design Notes section, below, addresses 
  the process I followed for creating these rules. 
  Build Points 
  Like races, templates use a system of build points (BP) 
  to assess the strength of individual options and the 
  template as a whole. 
   Non-leveled templates should have a BP value of 
  roughly 0; they should provide options to customize a 
  creature, but shouldn’t make that creature weaker or 
  stronger since they’re applied mostly for free. 
   Some leveled templates may have a “0 level”, which 
  is applied immediately upon gaining the template but 
  before the character gains a level. Like non-leveled 
  templates, these should have a BP range of roughly 0. 
   Leveled templates should have a BP values of 
  roughly 8-10 for the first level of a template, and 
  roughly 4-5 BP for additional levels beyond the first. 
  This should keep them roughly equivalent to class 
  levels, as explained in the design notes section, below. 
  However, keep in mind that front-loading rewards may 
  encourage players to take a single level in a template 
  before looking elsewhere. While the BP value of 
  additional template levels should be lower, the traits 
  offered by those levels should be tantalizing enough 
  that players who start a template want to finish it. 
   Breaking up template levels and assigning abilities to 
  those levels is as much an art as it is a science. 
  Distribute abilities so that there is always something 
  exiting one or two levels away. If the template includes 
  abilities which are less exciting (passive abilities, 
  damage resistances, etc.), use those abilities to space 
  out the more exciting abilities. 
   Deciding how many template levels to use is also a 
  crucial part of designing your template. There is no 
  strict cap on how many template levels a template 
  should have, but I recommend 10 at the absolute most. 
   
  Ability Score Adjustments 
  Be cautious about applying ability score adjustments 
  on a template, as they could provide characters with an 
  easy way to maximize their key ability scores faster 
  than they would be able to do so normally.  
  Increase 
  BP Cost 
  -2 Fixed 
  -2 
  +1 Fixed 
  2 
  +2 Fixed 
  4 
  +1 Flexible 
  3 
  Hit Dice 
  Leveled templates, like class levels, offer hit dice. These 
  hit dice behave just like hit dice gained from class 
  levels. 
  Hite Die 
  BP Cost 
  D6 
  0 
  D8 
  0.5 
  D10 
  1 
  D12 
  2 
  Special Abilities 
  Most special abilities from the Race Builder appendix 
  can be applied to templates without issue. The 
  following special abilities include traits available to 
  templates, but not available to races. 
   Ability Score Increase (5 BP). Leveled templates 
  only. Leveled templates with 4 or more levels may 
  provide ability score increases. Generally, these should 
  not occur earlier than the 4th template level, and 
  should almost never appear less than 4 levels apart 
  (one at 4th level, one at 8th level, etc.). Fighters and 
  Rogues notably receive ability score increases closer 
  together than other characters, but those traits are 
  part of the things which set those classes apart from 
  other options. 
   Spellcasting (3 BP per level). Leveled templates only. 
  Template must require the Spellcasting or Pact Magic 
  class features. Upon gaining a level in the template, 
  select one of your classes with the Spellcasting or Pact 
  Magic class feature. You are treated as one level higher 
  for the purposes of Spellcasting or Pact Magic in that 
  class, including spells known, spell slots, and the level 
  of spells which you can prepare with that class. 
  Design Notes 
  Creating character templates and template levels is a 
  leap of faith in some ways. It's a totally new concept 
  which tries to drag the "Effective Character Level" 
  concept kicking and screaming out of 3rd edition and 
  into 5th edition. This was a complex mechanic in 3rd 
  
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  edition because the idea of having non-levels that 
  counted as levels was difficult for many players to 
  grasp. By making "template levels" work just like 
  normal class levels we can treat templates more like 
  multiclassing than like a totally new concept. 
   Since we're basing template levels on the existing 
  multiclassing rules, it makes sense to balance template 
  levels against what characters gain from multiclassing. 
  We can use the BP system to roughly approximate the 
  value of multiclass options, though this more art than 
  science because the value of multiclassing varies so 
  much depending on your character and level. We'll 
  examine the cleric, fighter, rogue, and wizard classes 
  since they're presented in the basic rules with simple 
  options to balance against. 
   Clerics use d8 hit dice for 0.5 BP per level. 
  Multiclassing into cleric grants proficiency in light 
  armor and medium armor (2 BP), and shields (2 BP). 
  One level of a full spellcasting class grants 2 1st-level 
  spells per day (2 BP at least) and 3 cantrips from a fixed 
  class's spell list (3 BP). The Life domain included in the 
  basic rules adds heavy armor proficiency (2 BP on top 
  of the existing armor proficiency) and Disciple of Life, 
  which we'll call 1 BP. That's a total of 12 BP. A second 
  level grants an additional 1st-level spell per day (1 BP 
  at least) and Channel Divinity, including the Turn 
  Undead option and the Preserve Life option granted by 
  the Life domain. We'll call that 3 BP. That's a total of 
  12.5 for a single level, and 4.5 more for a second.  
   Fighters use d10 hit dice for 1 BP per level. 
  Multiclassing into fighter grants proficiency in light 
  armor and medium armor (2 BP), shields (2 BP), simple 
  weapons and martial weapons (2 BP), a fighting style 
  which we'll call 2 BP, and second wind which we'll call 
  2.5 BP since it's roughly equivalent to healing word on 
  a short rest (1st-level spell * 2.5). A second level grant 
  a single use of Action Surge, usable once per short rest, 
  which we'll call 2.5 BP. That's a total of 11.5 BP for a 
  single level and 3.5 more for a second. 
   Rogues use d8 hit dice for 0.5 BP per level. 
  Multiclassing into rogue grants proficient in light armor 
  (1 BP), one skill from the rogue's skill list (0.75 BP), 
  proficiency with thieves' tools (0.5 BP), Expertise in two 
  things (2 BP), Sneak Attack which we'll call 1 BP since 
  we only get 1d6, and Thieves' Cant which we'll call 0.25 
  BP since it's essentially a fixed language. A second level 
  grants Cunning Action, which we'll call 4 BP. That's a 
  total of 6 BP for a single level and 4.5 more for a 
  second. 
   Wizards use d6 hit dice for 0 BP per level. 
  Multiclassing into wizard grants no proficiencies. A 
  single level of spellcasting grants 2 1st-level spells per 
  day (2 BP at least) and 3 cantrips from a fixed class's 
  spell list (3 BP). Arcane recovery gets you one 1st-level 
  spell slot back, so we'll call it 1 BP. A second level 
  grants an additional 1st-level spell per day (1 BP at 
  least), as well as Arcane Tradition. The Evocation 
  tradition included in the basic rules grants Evocation 
  Savant which we'll call 0 BP and Sculpt Spells which 
  we'll call 2 BP. That's a total of 6 BP for a single level, 
  and 3 more for a second. 
   For groups that use multiclassing rules, it's 
  interesting to note how these approximations 
  illustrates the varying effectiveness of taking a single 
  level in different classes. For example, many power 
  gamers like to take a single level of cleric because the 
  class grants excellent options at 1st level, even if you’re 
  multiclassing. For the purposes of templates, it gives us 
  a rough BP range that we can target to keep template 
  levels reasonably balanced.  
   We'll shoot for 8-10 BP for the first level of a 
  template and 4-5 BP for additional levels. However, 
  these are only vague guidelines. The features granted 
  by class levels grow in power as characters gain levels, 
  and most templates need to be both available and 
  viable at any level. Templates may require the 
  character to take all levels in the template before 
  allowing them to take other levels, but won’t always do 
  so. Templates which do so may fluctuate in BP cost 
  between levels, so long as levels beyond the first 
  average to our 4-5 BP range. 
   Some templates may also require a “0 level” if they 
  are applied under special circumstances. Lycanthropes 
  and vampires don’t typically attack while a player is 
  waiting to gain a level. These “0 levels” will work a bit 
  like non-leveled templates and will introduce 
  extremely basic traits from the template, such as 
  creature type. 
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Dungeons & Dragons [multi]/DM's Guild/Monstrous Races/389627-Monstrous_Races.pdf