Aug 5

Aug 5 New Spelljammer Races

More Spelljammer articles for your reading pleasure
Introduction to Spelljammer
Additional Spelljammer Races - The Forgotten Races of the Multiverse

We're excited here at Dump Stat for the release of the new Spelljammer books. There's a lot to like about the Spelljammer setting. The Astral Sea is on display in all its glory, through which you can fly on wondrous and bizarre ships, encountering a wide variety of creatures, old and new. Spelljammer pushed the boundaries of D&D back in 1990 and should be a welcome addition now in 2022.

If owning your own spaceship wasn't enough, we are teased with six new playable races via the Travelers of the Multiverse UA (2021). Whether or not these races make the final cut will not be known until August 16th, and based on Unearthed Arcana's checkered past, we can assume one or two could disappear. At the very least, there will be some changes, so now seems like a good time to take a closer look at them. The proposed new races are the Astral Elf, Autognome, Giff, Hadozee, Plazmoid, and Thri-kreen.

Astral Elf

Apparently, the Wildspace needs its own race of Elves. There's always room for more pointy-eared humanoids, right? Astral Elves left the Feywild long ago, searching for a way to be closer to their gods. No word on how that's been going, but they'll have plenty of time since nothing on Astral Plane ever ages. As if the Eleven race wasn't detached and moody enough, the Astral Elf takes these traits to an entirely new level. We shouldn't take it personally since time has lost its meaning for them. When you live practically forever, you're bound to think deeply about the universe and be sad when you realize what a disastrous dumpster fire we all live in. Oh wait, that's what happens if you think about life in the present real world for too long.

All elf subraces gain a unique trait or two, and the Astral Elf is no different. I suspect that at least one of these traits will disappear in the official text, but I am often wrong. Astral Fire allows you to choose the dancing lights, light, or sacred flame cantrip, and you choose Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma as your spellcasting ability. Radiant Soul explains how Astral Elves have lived in such a dangerous landscape for so long. Those pesky death-saving throws are much less scary now because when you succeed, you can regain hit points equal to your proficiency bonus + either your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma modifier. Trance Proficiencies are a ribbon trait, but gaining two new weapon or tool proficiencies after a long rest can be helpful. It's especially true if you have a shiny new magic weapon you aren't proficient with.

Autognome

If you're left unsatisfied by playing a Warforged because you're not 'robot' enough, then the Autognome is for you. You are not a humanoid but an actual construct created by a gnome who needed a personal valet, traveling companion, or maybe just a friend. Each Autognome is unique in quality and design, so one Autognome could be made from the finest materials and another from random pieces of junk its creator had lying around.

The Autognome's traits are many. Armored Casing provides the race with a base armor class of 13 + your Dexterity modifier. Built for Success feels more like a feat than a trait, something that is very powerful at lower levels and not so much as you become a superhero. You can add a d4 to one attack roll, ability check, or saving throw after seeing the d20 but before the effects of the roll are resolved. Your proficiency bonus is the number of times you can use this ability, reloading after a long rest. Mechanical Nature is the fancy name for a construct's resistance to poison damage and immunity to disease, along with advantage on saving throws against being paralyzed or poisoned and not needing to eat, drink, or breathe. Sentry's Rest is the same as the Warforged trait of the same name. Specialized Design gives you two tool proficiencies of your choice.

The biggest question for me was how do I heal my robot character? Being an Autognome begs the question of how to regain hitpoints since healing spells don't work on constructs. The True Life trait solves this problem. Casting the mending cantrip allows you to expend a hit die, regaining a number of hit points equal to the roll plus your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1 hit point). More importantly, this trait waves away the fact that healing spells don't work on constructs as the Autognome's creator specifically designed it so they could benefit from cure wounds, healing word, and sparing the dying.

Giff

We talk about the Giff in detail here and here, so let's just cut to the chase and talk racial traits. The Giff has a swimming speed equal to its walking speed, which is 30 ft. Damage Dealer allows you to reroll a damage die when you roll a 1 once per turn. Hippo Build gives you advantage on Strength-based ability checks and Strength saving throws, along with being able to carry, push, drag, and lift enough treasure that people will think you're a large creature, not a medium one.

Hadozees

Humanoids with simian features, the Hadozees, now appear closer to giant walking squirrels than the skinny tailless apelike humanoids they were in the 2nd edition. They can climb like no one's business, using their hands and feet to quickly climb the tall trees on their home planet. The Hadozees have a thin layer of skin connected to their ankles and wrist. When they spread their arms and legs in mid-air, the Hadozees can glide through the air like a flying squirrel.

Being a great climber, you have a climbing speed equal to your 30 feet' walking speed. Dexterous Feet allows the Hadozees to take the Use an Object action as a bonus action. Ribbon trait for sure, but they can lead to some fun roleplay. The prominent Hadozee feature is Glide. You can extend your arms and legs, stretching the skin membranes which allow you to glide. What can you do while gliding? Glad you asked. When falling, you can move up to 5 feet horizontally for every 1 foot you descend. If you would take damage from a fall, you can use your reaction and take no damage. Hadozees won't want to wear heavy armor, or this ability cannot be used.

Plasmoids

Hooray, you can finally play an ooze! What, it wasn't your lifelong desire? The Plasmoid is one of the more ambitious playable races released for the 5th edition. The Plasmoid is an amorphous being with no specific form but will mimic that of those they are around. They have no skeletal structure or organs; instead, they are made up of plasma, cells, fiber, and the ganglia. The ganglia is a cluster of nerves that allows the Plasmoid to see the light, feel the heat, hear sounds, and experience pain like the rest of us. Long story short, the Plasmoids are identical to Odo from Star Trek Deep Space Nine.

Plasmoid traits are similar to what you'd find on most ooze creatures. They are Amorphous, meaning they can squeeze through 1-inch wide or larger spaces. Slight problem though, you can't be wearing and carrying anything. You also have an advantage on checks when someone attempts to grapple you. Plasmoids can Hold their Breath for 1 hour. Natural Resilience grants the Plasmoid resistance to acid and poison damage and advantage on saving throws against being poisoned.

Shape Self is what makes the Plasmoid the creature I know we'll all fall in love with. A Plasmoid can transform itself from a shapeless puddle into someone that has a body complete with a head, one or two arms, one or two legs, and makeshift hands and feet. As a bonus action, the Plasmoid can also shoot a pseudopod out up to 10 feet from its body. The pseudopod can't attack, activate magic items, or carry more than 10 pounds, but it's not entirely useless. Of all the things listed in the description, the best one is being able to pour out the contents of a container. I'm confident that your creepy ooze extendo arm being able to pour a potion of healing down the throat of a dying comrade as a bonus action will come in handy.

Thri-kreen

Currently found in the Monster Manual, the Thri-kreen are medium size humanoids that resemble insects. They have 4 arms, 2 legs, a set of antennae, and a hard protective shell that covers their body. The remainder of the limited description provided mirrors that were found in the Monster Manual, so let's get to the juicy stuff.

Chameleon Carapace grants the Thri-kreen a base Armor Class of 13 + your Dexterity modifier. This hard shell can also change color and texture to match its surroundings. As we stated above, they have two sets of arms, but the lower set isn't as useful as the upper one. Secondary Arms clarifies what these arms do; Only light weapons can be held by these arms, and you can forget about them holding a shield. Sleepless Revitalization means you don't need sleep. You have to rest, so enjoy making s'mores while the rest of the party dreams the night away. Thri-kreen Telepathy allows you to communicate with other creatures within 120 feet, which is excellent because your native tongue is a bunch of clicking sounds.

In less than a two of weeks, we'll find out if any of these races fell by the wayside, how much they changed, and if any new strange creatures will become playable races in the Spelljammer setting. Dracons anyone?

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