Race: Shardmind [First Draft]

When I make a race, I often think: What makes this different? Why would someone want to play this, when a human, an elf, or a gnome is right there?

Back in the old 4e days of yore, the Player's Handbook III offered a wide swath of races, introducing githzerai, minotaurs, and wilden to the game. Each of the subsequent PHB's offered a "power source" they focused on. PHB2 had Primal, whereas PHB3 offered multiple Psionic classes to choose from!

Alongside those were, of course, the shardminds. An enigmatic race of psionic living crystal, formed from the last line of defense against the nightmares of the Far Realms.

Lore-rich and with strong psionic ties, shardmind stood out from the other race offerings in the PHB3 by virtue of being so different. You could be a more established race, sure, or you could be a being of glowing, living crystal that speaks by imparting thoughts into the minds of others.

So, naturally, I had to carry that over to 5e, soon as I could!

FEATURES:

• A Depth of Lore that solidifies a shardmind's place in the world!
• Glow When You Want To! Turn it off when you don't.
• Turn into a Swarm of Crystal Shards and really mess people up.
• Two New Racial Feats! For manipulating your psionic crystal to cast spells, or conjure weapons!

CONCERNS:

• There's a lot in this race, but it doesn't necessarily feel over-powerful.
• I'm always unsure of feat balance. Feats are hard to manage, and I don't have as much practice with them as I'd like.

WHAT I LEARNED:

• KEEP. MAKING. FUN. RACES!