Open Subrace Class Diversity

[droidarmy]

It seems like open subraces are geared specifically towards base classes. It would be nice to see open subraces have more opportunity towards quasiclasses and special class combinations. Also, it feels like open subraces have been neglected as the module has evolved.
I've tried to keep lore in mind, and I propose the following changes to these open subraces to encourage class diversity and balance open subraces:

== DWARVES

"Azer"
(CURRENT)
- SR18, 50% immune fire, 50% vulnerable cold

"Azer"
(NEW)
- SR10 + CL/1.5, 50% immune fire, 50% vulnerable cold, Flame Weapon 1/day @ PL.

"Derro"
(CURRENT)
- FC: Sorcerer

- CON -2, CHA +3, SR18, free feat: Blind Fight, speaks Undercommon

"Derro"
(NEW)
- FC: Sorcerer

- CON -2, CHA +2, SR6 + CL/12, free feat: Blind Fight, speaks Undercommon, Lore + 4

== ELVES

"Aelfborn"
(CURRENT)
- DEX +1, INT +1, WIS -1, CHA -2

"Aelfborn"
(NEW)
- DEX +1, INT +1, WIS -1, CHA -2, (Immunity: Sleep OR Lightning Reflexes AND Lore +6)

"Grey Elf"
(CURRENT)
- INT +2, STR -2, hide +2, move silently +2

"Grey Elf"
(NEW)
- INT +2, STR -2, hide +2, move silently +2, Weapon Proficiency: Martial

"Moon Elf"
(CURRENT)
- INT +2, STR -2, Spellcraft +4

"Moon Elf"
(NEW)
- INT +2, STR -2, Spellcraft +4, Immunity: Charm OR Immunity: Dominate

"Wild Elf"
(CURRENT)
- FC: Barbarian

- INT -2, STR +2

"Wild Elf"
(NEW)
- FC: Barbarian

- INT -2, STR +2, Intimidate + 4

== GNOMES

"Forest Gnome"
(CURRENT)
- FC: Ranger

- WIS +1, CHA -1, hide +4, heal +4

"Forest Gnome"
(NEW)
- FC: Ranger
/ BC: Druid
- WIS +1, CHA -1, hide +4, heal +4, Heal spells are automatically empowered.

== HALF_ELVES

"Nereidkin"
(CURRENT)
- CHA +2, STR -1, INT -2, breathes water, speaks Animal, speaks Sylvan

"Nereidkin"
(NEW)
BC: Bard
- CHA +2, STR -1, INT -2, breathes water, speaks Animal, speaks Sylvan, Immunity: Charm

== HALFLINGS


"Hobbit"
(CURRENT)

- FCs: Rogue, Paladin

- DEX +1, INT -2, WIS +1, free feat: Iron Will



"Hobbit"
(NEW)

- FCs: Rogue, Paladin

- DEX +1, INT -2, WIS +1, free feat: Iron Will, (Weapon Specialization: First small/tiny weapon focus OR One With The Land 1 use/day at Level for PL).


== HALF-ORCS

"Orc"
(CURRENT)
- FCs: Fighter, Barbarian

- STR +1, CON +2, INT -2, WIS -1, speaks Orcish

"Orc"
(NEW)
- FCs: Fighter, Barbarian

- STR +1, CON +2, INT -2, WIS -1, speaks Orcish, Weapon Specialization: First Weapon Focus

== HUMANS

"Goblin"
(CURRENT)
- FC: Rogue

- STR -3, DEX +2, free feat: Stealthy, free feat: Darkvision, reduces character size to small, speaks Goblin

"Goblin"
(NEW)
- FC: Rogue
/ BC: Shaman (Druid reco: Cleric possible)
- STR -3, DEX +2, free feat: Stealthy, free feat: Darkvision, reduces character size to small, speaks Goblin, Spell Focus: Conjuration

[chirality]

honestly if they've been neglected, it's for good reason; as time passed it became ever easier for new players (the target audience) to quickly acquire secret subraces. yes, yes, there's the level requirement for UR/BUR which didn't exist for years, but that's barely a hindrance when <secret location> lost immortality requirement. it's very simple to drag a newbie to <secret thingy> at low level to get them <secret thingies>.

i like the idea of giving them some attention. it's cool and would feel fresh.

that said, it's hard to do much without stepping on toes of <secret thingy> subraces which, depending on the races compared, run the gamut from barely an improvement over open, to huge upgrade (likewise, some URs are barely an upgrade from their <secret thingy> counterparts while others are big upgrades). i mention this cuz i'm not sure about a couple of your proposals, e.g. aelfborn, grey elf, hobbit, orc, goblin, which would get an extra free feat. not a "huge" upgrade, you might think, it's just 1 measly feat--but at the same time, the guidelines/buyin metrics used to balance subraces (even up to and including XRs) are pretty tight on stuff like bonus feats; 1 feat is kind of a big deal, depending on the circumstance.

i think the flame weap and one w/ the land are interesting ideas, maybe a bit more suitable and closer to the target for something that offers a funky/fluffy way to freshen up open subraces without translating to an actual power increase to bring them into closer competition with <secret thingies>. of course giving any open subrace a special tied to PLs seems a bit, well, counterintuitive, in light of the fact that aside from extreme outlier cases (either for funsies or for a bot toon of specialist build that doesn't care about subrace upgrade), no one really plays open any longer than they have to, and certainly not into PLs (just to be clear: in general, with extremely rare exceptions). if anything i'd just give them the funny little special perk at L20 or something. on that note, flame weapon 1/day is a bit odd, i'd do something more situational/tactical (like one w/ the land, interesting idea), that's not a kind of "given function you hope a party member does for you in a run", maybe fire shield for example.

as for immunity:dominate, no way, that's far too stronk for anything, let alone open subrace. immunity: charm is similar to PL-based special, i don't see that as having any value whatsoever for an open subrace. at that it's a bit strong too, considering it's a thing assigned to XR sub.

the heal empower is interesting, i think it's technically a bit strong but prolly fine for open subrace druid anyway, could be fun in a cool way for newbies.

--aelfborn is sleep imm already eh? as above, bonus feat alone is a lot, maybe just the +6 lore is ok tho.

anyway, cool suggestion, tl;dr = just consider that any "improvement" is kind of muddying the line between open (which really is not supposed to be anything "positive" at all, it's just equivalent to a base race, but with different/more specific build path perks) and <secret thingies>