Hi Unearthed Arcana!
I need some help polishing the base racial traits of a race I am making.
The intent of this player race is to give my DM an alternative to the broken yuan-ti PC race for assembling a few baddies for us due to certain campaign setting tweaks.
In some cases, the DM builds the foes like player characters, some with normal monsters, and some with a bit of both normal monsters and enemies set up like player characters.
TL;DR flavor wise, one of the yuan-ti gods is drafting up a replacement for yuan-ti they can trust. Why? Yuan-ti are obsessed with killing and abusing their own gods. Most of the other racial fluff still needs to be polished since I need to make it make sense to those outside of our campaign.
My main concern right now is whether I should make the alternate eating methods as subraces instead of feats. That'd be pretty contentless for the feats though.
The Detect Balance Guide calculations I made are at the end of the post. I linked the post for reference since my target cost is 27. Why? To show that the race IS a terrifying threat (by being viable mechanically without their racial feats).
I am also aiming for the Detect Balance cost of 27 in case I need to run a player character or two to assist telling the story.
Right now it's 28, but that's just from the overflow of mental ASI of choice.
The intent of this race is for villainous NPCs that might be bosses that are hand constructed through character building. It is also meant to serve as inspiration for antagonists who utilize this to terrifying extent and aren't big dumb monsters. I am not going to make the race Large because that gives them more of an advantage in melee than it should.
Haustian base racial traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2, a mental score of your choice increases by 1, and your Strength decreases by 2.
Age. Haustians mature at the same rate as humans, but they’re considered young until they reach the age of 50. On average, they live about 350 years.
Alignment. While Haustians are naturally empathic and sympathetic, their sapient prey diet forces them to make hard life choices. They are generally chaotic, with most leaning towards chaotic evil.
Size. Haustians are about 7 to 9 feet tall. They have muscular, but slender bodies that weight between 240 and 300 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft.
Silver Tongued. You have proficiency in the Persuasion skill.
Gape of the Serpent. You can swallow creatures the same size as you. However, when you are at maximum stomach capacity, you are considered grappling the creatures inside you.
You can hold one creature your size, two creatures one size category smaller than you, or four creatures two size categories smaller than you. You can regurgitate all creatures inside you without using an action.
In addition, while your stomach has creatures in it, you weigh an additional 15 pounds regardless of how much the creatures weigh. You also do not have additional volume from the creatures inside you. You can alter the volume your stomach occupies without using an action. For the purposes of detect magic, this effect registers as transmutation magic. A creature with truesight or Witch's Sight can see your stomach's unaltered volume.
Magic Jaws. You can use an action to tug on a creature's existence with a lick of your lips. The target must be a creature within 10 ft of you. The target must then succeed a Dexterity saving throw or be swallowed by you. The DC is set by the mental score of choice for your Ability Score Increase.
At the 5th level, this also inflicts 1d4 magical piercing damage. The damage increases to 2d4 at the 11th level, and 3d4 at the 17th level.
Iron Gut. When you receive (minimum is equal to your level + your Constitution modifier) damage from a creature inside you on a single turn, make a Constitution saving throw at the end of that turn. The DC for this saving throw equals 8 + your Constitution modifier + your proficiency bonus.
If you fail, regurgitate all swallowed creatures, which fall prone in a space within 5 feet of you. If you die, a swallowed creature is no longer restrained by you and can escape from the corpse by using 5 feet of movement, exiting prone.
Caustic Embrace. Creatures swallowed by you are blinded and restrained and have total cover against all attacks and effects outside of you. At the start of each of your turns, inflict 1d4 acid damage to all creatures swallowed by you. The damage increases to 2d4 at the 6th level, 3d4 at the 11th level, and 4d4 at the 16th level.
Languages. You speak Common and one language of your choice.
What about physical eating methods?
For reference, the race also has these two alternate eating methods. However, they're currently locked in as feats vs as subraces since a skill contest is much harder to dodge than a Dex save.
I wasn't sure if I should actually make these subraces.
Raking Jaws
Prerequisite: Haustian, Strength 13 or higher
Your physical strength allows you to swallow prey easily, even without using magic to aid your predatory stunts.
You can initiate a Strength (Athletics) contest against the target's Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) (their choice) as an action. If you win the contest, the target is swallowed by you.
Once you take this feat, you can't take Swift Jaws. You also cannot use your Magic Jaws ability.
Swift Jaws
Prerequisite: Haustian, Dexterity 13 or higher
Your swift maneuvers allows you to get the drop on your prey easily, even without using magic to aid your predatory stunts.
You can initiate a Dexterity (Sleight of Hands) contest against the target's Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) (their choice) as an action. If you win the contest, the target is swallowed by you.
Once you take this feat, you can't take Raking Jaws. You also cannot use your Magic Jaws ability.
Detect Balance Costs
| Trait | Cost | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| +2 Con | 8 | |
| +1 mental score | 5 | To fix Magic Jaws DC being awkward and based on class |
| -2 Str | -4 | You don't get to have a magic stomach and carry as many things outside at same time |
| Common and one language | 0 | |
| 30 ft movement | 0 | |
| Gape of the Serpent | 8 | Allows swallowing common foes whole |
| Iron Gut, Caustic Embrace | 6 | Racial "cantrip" |
| Magic Jaws | 3 | Racial "cantrip" |
| Persuasion Prof | 2 | |
| ------------------ | ------ | ------------------------------------------------------ |
| Total | 28 |