Kitsune Race (2014 rules)

[stuck berry]

I have a young mentee who is getting into D&D. He wants to have a kitsune race for when he runs his own campaigns. I'm not super into Japanese stuff, but in my research I found that kitsune folklore has a surprising amount of depth, more than enough to create a fleshed-out race that fits in the D&D milieu. My mentee's input amounted to a rough idea of powers. He wanted shapeshifting, elemental damage, and foxfire that "damages the soul." I combined this with what I researched, along with some "D&D-isms" that I thought would integrate them better into D&D campaigns.

The race currently consists of core traits with three subraces. I am using Detect Balance Plus as a balance tool and I rate that the race is between 23 and 27 points (Integer Value). I am looking for feedback on balance, design, and readability.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/15JwUXL0N17GlmevwuBPP1baeBTFY5IMaFv5piH8F8YY/edit?usp=sharing

[digital vale]

Ah look, more kitsune for me to look at and throw into my pile.

[stuck berry]

Hopefully mine can stand out from the crowd. Doc is up now.

[digital vale]

Honestly pretty alright all things considered, I don't rate dancing lights as a cantrip but I do like the extra bits and pieces it gets as you level up. I honestly wishes that other races got their own innate cantrip boosts.

[stuck berry]

Thank you for the kind words. I'm sure I'll revisit the racial cantrip concept in the future. I noticed that all the kitsune subraces' unique ability keys off their +1 stat. Hopefully this won't detract from their usefulness, esp. the ninko foxfire DCs.

I'm also considering moving Keen Senses to the core race, so all subraces get the boost. Yako is rated just a teensy bit higher than the other subraces by my calculations, so this will help even them out.

[digital vale]

Probably smart, personally I'd aim for something like 29 or 30 on detect balance, races being a tiny bit stronger is fine if it isn't strong in all areas of play i think.