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I recently made a homebrew race based on the Legend of Zelda Rito for Dungeons and Dragons 5E, and I was wondering how balanced it is. The Rito are bird like creatures, similar to the Aarakocra but a little less powerful. I made this build for a Legend of Zelda campaign I am planning (Breath of the Wild setting if it matters).

Ability Score Increase: Your dexterity score increases by 2.

Speed: 30 ft.

Flight: You have a flying speed of 30 feet while you are not wearing medium or heavy armor.

Rito Weapon Training: You are proficient in the longbow, shortbow, and hand crossbow.

Languages: Common and Rito.

Size: Your size is medium.

Thomas Markov
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fedadsafd
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2 Answers2

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Technically Yes

We use the Detect Balance spreadsheet and get:

  • DEX +2: 8 points
  • flight 30ft light armor: 16 points
  • weapon training: 2 points

total 26 points, which is considered correct.

Note that flying characters can cause problems in campaigns, independently of what the spreadsheet says. This question has more on the topic. A DM might choose to disallow flying characters in their campaign, especially if it's starting at level one.

Dan B
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It depends on what it's balanced against.

Compared to existing races it's quite weak seeing as there are no races that have only a +2 to one stat that don't get a feat in exchange. It's definitely not balanced compared to the regular Aarakocra race, since it's just weaker in most aspects.

Flying is a huge advantage especially at early levels, but unless you are remaking all the races into your own Legend of Zelda versions, it seems like you've gone too far in trying to make it underpowered.

My suggestion would be to either use the existing Aarakocra or to beef up your class a little by giving it a +1 to another stat, and maybe some more flavorful features.

Nic
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    There's a meaningful sense in which all races are underpowered compared to the Aarakocra. – Thomas Markov Mar 27 '21 at 03:04
  • That's fair, I just don't think removing features and leaving it with just flying is the way to go. Personally I think that's a problem with the base Aarakocra too. I think Humblewood implemented bird races much better. – Nic Mar 27 '21 at 03:29
  • I'd be curious to see more comparisons to other races. Especially about what other races only have a +2 and what they get from it. – 3C273 Mar 27 '21 at 12:46
  • Thomas's comment that arakokra are on their own tier is true. But that's part of the reason I'd like conparison to other races. Put another way : if arakokra are God-tier, is this race High-tier underpowered or Mid-tier underpowered? – 3C273 Mar 27 '21 at 12:48