Race - Scalekin

by Silverblade1234

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New Race: Scalekin

by Silverblade (updated 9/22/2022)

Humanoid relatives of dinosaurs, scalekin embody all the ferocity, cunning, and tenacity of their saurian kin. Scalekin are immediately recognizable from their reptilian appearance, natural armor (often scales adorned with feathers, but sometimes thick hide or even bone plates), and fearsome natural weapons like deadly fangs, razor claws, spiked tails, and more. Despite these common characteristics, scalekin belong to a wide variety of saurian lineages: the towering tallneck, the dread razormaw, the aerial skywing, and other remarkable families.

On many worlds, scalekin maintain their settlements, cities, and civilization in the deep wilderness. They are beings of legend, mythical dinosaur-people of primal nobility. Explorers launch expeditions to find the secret cities of the scalekin, in search of forgotten knowledge and untold treasure—few return, either from the dangers of the journey, or the dangers of the destination. On other worlds, scalekin live more openly, sharing their knowledge and might with others. Their saurian characteristics are both striking and fearsome, ensuring they stand out wherever they are found—some scalekin seek solitude as a result, while others actively lend their considerable talents to the protection and betterment of their chosen communities. Regardless of their circumstances, even the most inconspicuous of scalekin carries a spark of the primal in their soul, and their strength and cunning should not be underestimated.

Acknowledgments

I’m far from the first person to explore dinosaurs or dinosaur-people in 5E, and while my scalekin are an original creation, undoubtedly some parts of it were inspired—intentionally or accidentally—by other works. Here are some references I found particularly inspiring:

Scalekin Traits

You have the following racial traits.

Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.

Size. You are Medium.

Speed. Your walking speed is 30 feet.

Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and one other language of your choice.

Ability Score Increases. You can increase one score by 2 and increase a different score by 1, or increase three different scores by 1.

 Natural Armor. You are naturally protected by thick scales, rugged hide, bone plates, or another form of natural armor. While you aren’t wearing armor, your base AC is 13 + your Dexterity modifier.

Natural Weapons. You can make unarmed strikes with your fangs, claws, tail, or other dangerous natural weapons. When you hit with an unarmed strike using a scalekin natural weapon, you deal bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage (your choice whenever you make the attack) equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.

Saurian Adaptation. Like their dinosaur relatives, scalekin display a variety of characteristics to help them survive. Choose one of the following:

  • Cunning: You have proficiency in the Stealth skill. In addition, you can attempt to hide even when you are only lightly obscured by foliage, heavy rain, falling snow, mist, and other natural phenomena.
  • Mighty: You have proficiency in the Athletics skill. In addition, you have advantage on ability checks and saving throws made to resist being knocked down or pushed.
  • Swift: You have proficiency in the Acrobatics skill. In addition, your speed is increased by 5 feet.
  • Vigilant: You have proficiency in the Perception skill. In addition, choose hearing, sight, smell, taste, or touch; you have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on this sense.

Scalekin Lineage. You are part of a scalekin lineage that grants you certain potent attributes and abilities. Choose a lineage from the Scalekin Lineages table, such as the ferocious razormaw or mighty stoneback. You gain the Primal Edge and Primal Power of that lineage. You can use your lineage’s Primal Power a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Scalekin Lineages
Lineage Primal Edge Primal Power
Razormaw
(carnotaurus, tyrannosaurus)		 The thrill of the hunt courses in your veins. Your speed is doubled during your first turn of combat, and the first unarmed strike you make during this turn has advantage and deals an additional die of damage. As a bonus action, you can let out a terrifying roar. Creatures of your choice within 10 feet of you that can hear you must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw (DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Constitution modifier) or become frightened of you until the end of your next turn.
Skywing
(pteranodon, quetzalcoatlus)		 Because of your winged arms, you have a flying speed equal to your walking speed. If you are wearing medium or heavy armor, your flying speed is halved after applying all other modifiers. You can’t use your arms for any other purpose while flying, though you can use your feet to grapple and shove. You can take the Dash action as a bonus action. When you use this ability, you increase your flying speed by twice your speed, instead of the normal extra amount.
Spearhorn
(styracosaurus, triceratops)		 You are skilled in using your dangerous horns in combat. Immediately after you hit a creature with a melee attack on your turn, you can use a bonus action to attempt to shove that target with your horns. After a creature within 5 feet makes a melee attack against you, you can use your reaction to retaliate with your horns. The creature must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw (DC = 8 + your Constitution modifier + your proficiency bonus) or take piercing damage as if hit by one of your unarmed strikes and be pushed 10 feet away from you.
Stoneback
(ankylosaurus, stegosaurus)		 You can use your thick armor plates to deflect attacks. You gain a +1 bonus to Armor Class while not using a shield. When you take the Attack action on your turn, you can replace one of your attacks with a tail slam that creates a mighty shockwave. Each creature in a 10-foot cone must succeed on a Constitution saving throw (DC = 8 + your Constitution modifier + your proficiency bonus) or take bludgeoning damage as if hit by one of your unarmed strikes and be knocked prone.
Swiftclaw
(deinonychus, velociraptor)		 Your quick reflexes allow you to swiftly react to danger. You can add your proficiency bonus to your initiative rolls. You can use your bonus action to move up to half your speed. You can then immediately make an unarmed strike, if there is a target within your reach.
Tallneck
(brontosaurus, diplodocus)		 Because of your great size, you are exceptionally hardy and resilient. Your hit point maximum increases by 1, and it increases by 1 every time you gain a level. You can add a d6 to one attack roll, ability check, or saving throw you make, and you can do so after seeing the d20 roll but before the effects of the roll are resolved. The roll must be based on Strength or Constitution.
Tidefin
(mosasaurus, plesiosaurus)		 You are acclimated to hunting underwater. You have a swimming speed equal to your walking speed, and can hold your breath for up to 1 hour at a time. You also gain darkvision out to a range of 60 feet. Within that range, you can see in dim light as if it were bright light and in darkness as if it were dim light. You discern colors in that darkness only as shades of gray. As a bonus action, you can make a special unarmed strike to ferociously bite a creature. If this attack hits, it deals piercing damage and your target is grappled in your vise-like jaws. At the start of each of your turns, you can deal 1d6 piercing damage to a creature you are grappling with this trait.
Thundercrest
(lambeosaurus, parasaurolophus)		 You have a hollow bone crest on your head that you can use to make complex sounds. This crest counts as a musical instrument with which you are proficient. As a bonus action, you can let out a harmonious or discordant sound, affecting all other creatures within 10 feet of you. If harmonious, each affected creature has advantage on saving throws to avoid or end the charmed and frightened conditions until the start of your next turn, and also gains temporary hit points equal to 1d6 + your Constitution modifier. If discordant, each affected creature must succeed on a Constitution saving throw (DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Constitution modifier) or take thunder damage equal to 1d6 + your Constitution modifier and be unable to take reactions until the start of your next turn.

Racial Feats

A feat represents a character achieving mastery in one of their capabilities or discovering the ability to do something new. Here are feats that harness and empower the primeval heritage of scalekin, available to you if you use the optional feat rule in the Player’s Handbook.

Ancient Knowledge

Prerequisite: Scalekin

Scalekin are an ancient race, with an ancestral memory dating back to prehistoric times. You have learned to tap into this racial memory for both knowledge and power, and gain the following benefits:

  • Increase your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
  • You learn the guidance cantrip.
  • You learn the false life and augury spells, each of which you can cast once without requiring material components and without expending a spell slot. Once you cast either of these spells in this way, you can’t cast that spell in this way again until you finish a long rest. You can also cast these spells using spell slots you have of the appropriate level. The spells’ spellcasting ability is the ability increased by this feat.

Primal Bloodline

Prerequisite: Scalekin

Your saurian heritage is exceptionally strong, granting you the following benefits:

  • Increase your Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
  • You can use your Constitution modifier instead of your Dexterity modifier when determining the AC gained from your Natural Armor trait.
  • The damage die of your Natural Weapons trait increases to a d8, and you can use Dexterity or Strength for the attack and damage rolls of your unarmed strikes using your scalekin natural weapons.
  • You regain an expended use of your Scalekin Lineage's Primal Power whenever you finish a short rest.

Commentary

Thank you for reading my attempt at creating a dinosaur race for 5E! This is hardly original territory, with several other great saurian creations by talented authors, such in The Ultimate Adventurer’s Guide (Benjamin Huffman and others) and Planegea (David Somerville). Compared to these creations, I wanted to create a dinosaur race (“scalekin,” to distinguish my work from the saurians of other creators) that was more consistent with recent 5E race design in terms of balance and gameplay. In particular, I wanted my scalekin to:

  • Have fewer but more impactful, gameplay-oriented features;
  • Avoid traits unique to specific settings or cultures;
  • Have significant limited-use abilities that use their natural weapons (or other signature traits) in some way.

My goal was to create a dino-race that feels fearsome, mighty, and primal, without being actually unbalanced in the context of modern 5E races. It's complete enough to share, though there are definitely some things I'm still thinking about. I'm especially interested in the relative balance and "cool factor" between the different Scalekin Lineages, whether you think the feats are too good or not good enough, and if there are any dino-person concepts you think are not achieved by my scalekin. I tried to include a good variety of dinosaur types, at least the ones that I thought came with distinct, compelling gameplay ideas, but I certainly could have missed something important!

Please don't hesitate to let me know if you have any feedback, and thanks for reading!

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