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Recently I've been attempting to incorporate the Keidran into D&D as a playable race. This is what I have so far.

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Physical Description: Looks like a hybrid-form Lycanthrope. Animal depends on clan (see clans)

Ability Mods: Depends on clan

Racial Features:

= Medium
= Low Light Vision 60’
= -2 on diplomacy checks vs. Non-Keidran
= +2 to diplomacy checks vs. Keidran, +4 if target is of same clan
= Once ever two months females enter a week-long “heat”. During this time they are very sexually attracted to non-hostile males regardless of race. Sex is possible with other races but reproduction is not. At the end of the heat 12 hours of rest is required or the character is fatigued until they receive proper rest.
= When at 0 or lower HP, instead of going unconscious, the Keidran enter a feral state in which they attack those they judge to be enemies relentlessly until no enemies remain. At this point they turn on whatever living thing is closest. During the feral state, the character loses HP normally as if dying. Once per round on her turn the Keidran may make a Will save (DC=10+ 1/2HD) to end the feral state and immediately fall unconscious.
= Keidran are carnivorous. Eating bread, fruit, or vegetable causes them to be sickened for 12 hours or until the food is purged.
= Keidran have trouble holding their booze. A mug of average ale would be the alcohol equivelent of 3 mugs to a Keidran.
= Unarmed strike is replaced by a claw attack.(1d4)


--Clans—

Wolf
Preferred Class: Wizard
Ability Mods: +2 Int –2 Str
The wolf clan is focused mainly on spellcasting and may choose a spell at each Wizard level in which she gains access to a new spell level(provided they can cast it)of the Illusion school, which can be cast in exchange for a spell slot equal to or higher than the spell level. (like a cleric does with cure spells)


Tiger
Preferred Class: Fighter
Ability Mods: +2 Str –2 Int
The tiger clan it trained very well in the use of the polearm and a tiger clan Fighter gains Weapon Focus with any polearm she has proficiency with as a bonus feat.


Fox
Preferred Class: Rogue
Ability Mods: +2 Dex -2 Con
Rogues of the fox clan are trained to deceive others in combat and gains the Improved Feint feat even if she does not meet the prerequisites.

Cheetah (was shown in the comic but only like a cameo appearance)
Preferred Class: Barbarian
Ability Mods: +2 Con -2 Cha
Barbarians of this clan are unnaturally fast an gain a land speed bonus equal to their natural land speed when raging. This replaces the Fast Movement class ability.

Cultural Notes
Keidran Cultural Notes

· While Keidran acknowledge the existence of a creator, they commonly choose not to worship.
· Considered an adult at age 10 (venerable at age 33)
· Arranged Marriges
· Males and females considered equal
· Common clothing is little more than a loincloth due to thick fur
· Take human slaves
· Are taken as slaves by humans
· Burial: Cremated , ashes scattered in forest.
· Festival of Beasts: (need more info)
· Not expressly evil although uneasy and sometimes hostile towards other races.

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Constructive critcism and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Not bad.

On the culture section on the bottom tough, where it says burial, keidran don't bury their dead; they cremate them and scatter the ashes in the forest.

I kinda disagree with your stats. Personally, I think that Keidran tend to have more physical attributes than mental ones.

Personally, I think this would be better:
Tiger: +2 dex, -2 int - tigers are more agile than strong, so I think this would be better.
Wolf: +2 str, -2 int, -2 cha - Wolves are strong, but not as smart as other races (think half-orcs).
Fox: +2 int +2 cha, -2 str - foxes are smart and handsome, but not as powerful as other races.
Cheetah: -2 str, +2 dex, +2 con, -2 cha - Cheetahs are amazingly fast, and have a strong fortitude, but are also smaller and generally are more shy.

Great other abilities tho!

-Zaragor out

Problem with your changes to the Cheetah stats is that your getting +2 in all the physical stas and a single -2 in the primary dump stat.

Too big a boost. A Dex 16 Char can reliably be counted on to pluck arrows from the air casually, while Elf's can do absurd stuff with less than a 20 DEX. Int 20 gives great resistance to illusions (unlikely here), means too great an intelligence (A five year old Kiedran could rival Liche int), etc. Charisma I can understand WITHIN SPECIES (as high Charisma's aren't that inhuman), though much of the other stuff should be +1 with specific categories improved on as well.

This is why a choose not to play with optimizers.

This is why we dont make new races in D&D, because even with the general rules for creating a race you can't make a balanced race without massive play testing - your possitives for the keidrans way out weigh the negatives- you want to play as a keidran? Use the Catfolk race from Races of the Wild, give them the quick learning from the human race (extra feat and extra skill points) and cut their life span down to 30 years max. Natural weapons claws 1d4 and bite 1d6.

This is the main thing with D&D, actually: You can make 'Balanced' or 'Fluff-Accurate', yet not both at once in most instances.

I think these races are reasonably balances, as they don't have any real bonuses except low-light vision and natural attacks. however the attacks are slightly weaker than normal weapons one would carry anyways (Perhaps remove bite tho). If you would keep it, I would reduce the damage to 1d3 and 1d4 respectively.

The attribute bonuses are totally balances as I see it. To bring up the cheetah, -2 str more than balances out +2 agi. And the +2 con and -2 cha are exactly what dwarves have and they also have darkvision (better than LLV) and other bonuses (attack to certain races and skill bonuses). A lot of people diss skill bonuses, but in fact, out of personal experience as a DM, I always use skill challenges, and having good skill will make a difference whether you survive or not in my adventures.

Yes the +2 bonus might have a big impact in a game, but remember the penalty can we quite bad as well. It's balanced for this reason.

I always play with modifiers, kinda makes the game more diverse imo.

-Zaragor

I have yet to see any evidence of Kiedran surpassing typical D&D Elves. For example, I have yet to see a Kiedran get knocked from a mount in a surprise strike, and yet still manage to land on their feet, swing a ranged weapon around, ready it, and have it aimed at the attacker.

I agree with your claw summary. D3 may be a bit high (D2 seems better for me), but it works well enough. Similarly, there should be a choice to use the unarmed strike OR claws. Kiedran can suddenly no longer grapple with foes, cause non-lethal damage, etc?

Makes little sense to me. A Kiedran could potentially be too weak to move with what amounts to a lone bracer on an arm. +2 Dex is also still a bit... excessive.

+2 or -2 anything is not the best to do for following 'fluff' unless we're seeing excessive benefits / penalties. +2 Int, for example, means the average Wolf Kiedran is between "Very Intelligent" and "Highly Intelligent".

When did this happen? I haven't played D&D 3rd Ed (only 2nd), and dwarves were only +1 / -1 there.

All races have +2/-2 modifiers in 3rd ed. And it seems to be working quite well anyways. +2 dex isn't that much, as it only gives +1 to hit with ranged attacks, +1 to intiative, +1 to armor and +1 to reflex saves. +1 to str gives you +1 to hit with melee attacks, +1 damage on melee attacks (sometimes some ranged aswell). One is more offensive, while the other is more defensive.

Some classes might benefit more from one stat than the other, but in a game of D&D, none of the characters are really 'average' anyways. If you consider the average ability scores of 10/11, you can find that 12/13 int is above average, but only slightly. It doesn't make a huge impact on the game itself. To make a skill check, say you needed 10 or higher, with the increased int you can make it at 9 or higher, but say you take a penalty to another ability score so your chances to succeed will be smaller on another task.

The +2/-2 to ability scores isn't making some races more imbalanced, it merely allows the characters to specialize better.

I once had a rogue char with 16+ on all attributes and 20 dex. That was kinda imbalanced, but I was really lucky with my rolls. In a game of D&D using normal rules, you can kill the biggest dragon using only a small dagger in one blow. It doesn't happen often but you MAY be able to do it.
That's what makes the game so fun, as it doesn't really depend 100% of your attributes or skills, but your luck. You can still affect the circumstances by skill, but it can only get you so far.

There is no AGI stat in DnD, the only way to kill a dragon in one blow with a knife is for it to already be near death, or the dagger causes death, you are a level 20+ rogue with rediculous STR bonuses sneak attacking and coup de grace, dragon slaying dagger, or you are playing with the 20 20 20 variant rule - nat 20 Crit - Confirm with nat 20, nat 20 instant death

Gah, mixed up agi with dex. too much warcraft lately.

20 20 20 rule is part of the game actually, but most DMs remove it (like me) simply cause it seems a bit too unlikely. Some DMs also use nat 20 on a skill check is auto-success, but that'll create problems. Such as you can swim up a waterfall on a nat 20? Well it's possible in epic levels (DC 120 i think), but for any normal characters it would be impossible.

The reason why I love D&D is that no rule is absolute, that everything can be changed to fit your game.

As long as you make the changes before you start the game and let everyone know- nothing quite like taking eschew materials when it turns out "in this world people dont need material components that cost less than 55GP" or "Orc aren't sensitive to light in this world so they dont take the negitive effects of being out in the daylight- so being a full orc was totally possible for your barbarian idea."

And i preffer to use the +10 on natural 20's - +10 to skill checks so a 20 is instantly a 30 + your mods making your amazing feat truely amazing - while not making the impossible possible.

the 20 20 20 rule is 1 chance in 160,000- so that means 159999 d20 rolls should pass before it actually comes into effect. Personally, I just prefer to amp up modifiers each time and slowly decrease the threat range (for example- You crit with a rapier, threat range 18-20, roll again, if that crits, roll again with a crit range 19-20. If that crits, you get a x3 modifier instead of a x2. Goes on to threat range 20 and a x4 mod, then stay at 20 and continue to x5-6-7...1337 and so on.

And speaking of D&D, there seems to be enough threads here that it warrants transforming this into a general D&D race thread and stickying it, methinks.

I'd personally like to contribute. :3