Talk:Bjorn Lyder (3.5e Race)

Needed Improvements / Concerns

I was requested, and here I am. Bear-like humanoids eh, sounds neat. The physical description could probably use some fleshing out, as I am imagining anything from "chonky hairy dwarves" to "actual bears standing on two legs with bear faces". But fluff is fluff, how is the crunch?

+2 overall bonus, and only one real unique racial ability, Dying Fight. LA 1. Also Humanoid, which I should mention always requires a subtype (even if it is just "Bjorn") because that's how the Humanoid type works. Consider Anthro if appropriate.

You can probably get away with more than this at LA 1. Admittedly WotC does make LA 1 races that look like this but I discourage it. WotC always overestimated races and underestimated the cost of an LA 1. As it is, this is basically a Pathfinder race (+2 overall bonus, nothing else overwhelming) at LA 0, and even in 3.5e base you can get away with more than this.

My first recommendation is more racial features, even if they are small. What abilities do these bear men have that stand them out from any other medium sized darkvision creatures? Any racial skills, weapon proficiencies, something to do with a bear trait like hibernation or climbing or being chonky?

The other thing concerns Dying Fight. It's a cool idea but it will act funny. At level 1 it will always be on, which I doubt is intended. Well, it'll be on for Con/rounds and then it's unclear if it ever activates again and when. And at level 2nd and beyond it will never apply for the same reason that it's very easy to go from alive to stone dead, 10 hp is not much of a barrier.

My recommendation would be to greatly increase that barrier (say whenever you are under 1/2 hp, make it percentage based) and lower the bonus to make it more palpable. That way they get mini-rage whenever they are bloodied, but can still have some hp as a barrier before you drop. It is ok to have the duration be "as long as you are in this state", as being wounded is its own penalty.

The other recommendation, since it seems to fit their current flavor, is perhaps Diehard as a bonus feat. A bear enduring a near fatal blow and getting mad to tear you apart? That sounds about right. With this I suspect you could still pull LA 0, but if not add some more gloss and keep it at LA 1.

I hope this perspective was helpful. -- Eiji-kun (talk) 20:33, 4 March 2020 (UTC)

Thank you for looking it over. Ive made Changes based on your recommendations and I believe it functions a little better and makes up for that LA +1. Canlin Undrosh (talk) 14:16, 5 March 2020 (UTC)