Racial Passives

Kinda off the cuff, but the things I think need the most attention are Namekians who get access to a couple minor techs and then Hardiness. My idea for hardiness may be kinda unhinged but seemed fun idk

Namekians:

• Mystic Attack/Tsu No Beam/Otashi. These are nice flavor, but don't even come close to the utility Androids get with their item boosts so they feel underwhelming.
• Regeneration. A bit underwhelming since battles for the past decade have mostly math deciding damage rather than a ref seeing someone block a sword and saying "lol you lost an arm, 30% damage". Commentary on damage aside, I think regen is a pretty iconic part of being Namekian from canon. My two ideas:

Saiyans:

• Hardiness. The main culprit behind these changes lol. Only one idea for this, see below.
• Hybrid perks. SSJ line OR Zenkai. With hybrid transformations going away, this needs a change. Depends on what goes in to replace Hardiness.

I think something to consider when looking at racial passives are which passives are good for starting the game, and which provide value through the life of the game. Currently, pretty much every race has around 2 or 3 passives that provide value (of varying degree) throughout the game, with humans probably having the most of these.

The one race that sticks out to me when looking at this is Changelings. Other than being able to have one underling past the limit, which can easily be applied to anyone working for the PTO anyway, there are no passives that provide any value beyond initially starting. You could say that breathing in space counts, but as far as I know, there's no actual use for that. I'm not saying that I necessarily have an answer of what there should be currently, but I thought it was worth pointing out.

So now that I have more time, I'll try to show what I mean more:

Namekians

Beneficial at the start of the game:
- Start with the abilities Mystic Attack and Regeneration.
- Start RPG with item: Weighted Cape.
- Start RPG with double intelligence.

Beneficial throughout the game:
- Mystic Attack and Regeneration.
- Can find dragonballs faster (3 Dragonballs per 2 weeks).
- Have several "Namekians Only" moves and items available.

3 on each, so a fairly even spread. Some are more beneficial than others.

Saiyans

Beneficial at the start of the game:
- Start with the transformation Uncontrolled Ouzaru.
- Start with the ability Zenkai.
- Start with the ability Hardiness.
- Start RPG with item: Saiyan Armor W/ Shoulders.


Beneficial throughout the game:
- Zenkai
- Hardiness

Zenkai is good, hardiness as it is, is a bit meh. Overall, I'd say not as good as Namekians. The whole tail being able to be equipped being listed as an advantage is dumb. It's not an advantage.

Androids

Beneficial at the start of the game:
- Start with the abilities Built In Scouter, Ki Disruptor, and Hikou.
- Have several purchasable upgrades and android-only items.
- Immune to battle fatigue from ki drain (except for Cell and Cell Jr).

Beneficial throughout the game:
- Built In Scouter, Ki Disruptor, and Hikou.
- Immune to battle fatigue from ki drain (except for Cell and Cell Jr).

The main advantage is the immunity to battle fatigue. The others are okay, but I don't know how helpful they really are.

Humans

Beneficial at the start of the game:
- Start with the abilities Sense and Leadership.
- Start RPG with item: Karate Gui.
- Start RPG with double charisma.
- Receive +25 zeni from any side job.
- Receive an extra +5 exp from spars and battles.
- Receive +5 all stats when training with Master Roshi.
- A human may fight alongside 2 allies in battles.
- If captain or co-captain of an alliance, increases max size of alliance by +1.


Beneficial throughout the game:
- Receive +25 zeni from any side job.
- Receive an extra +5 exp from spars and battles.
- Receive +5 all stats when training with Master Roshi.
- A human may fight alongside 2 allies in battles.
- If captain or co-captain of an alliance, increases max size of alliance by +1.

Whilst some are only small benefits, humans clearly have far and away the most benefits in both categories.

Changelings

Beneficial at the start of the game:
- Start RPG with an open transformation quest. (With starting power levels as they are, nearly every race can have their first trans quest open within a few weeks max)
- Start RPG with 1 underling.
- Start RPG with an additional 5,000 to a stat (+1,500 if canon).
- May have 1 additional underling past the limit. (Anyone going down a certain PTO route can have unlimited)
- Start RPG with -3 alignment score. (Only an advantage if you're planning on being evil)

Beneficial throughout the game:
- 1 Underling past limit if you're not going down the PTO route.

Clearly the most unbalanced. As Kale suggested, if breathing in space allowed you to survive planetary destruction, then it would add something unique to the race, but I do feel like it needs more than that, especially for benefit of the long game.

Aliens

Beneficial at the start of the game:
- Start RPG with 1,000 extra zeni.
- Capable of equipping 3 accessories.
- Start RPG with +5,000 extra of any stat (+7,000 if canon).
- Receive +10 to the stat from side jobs (if criminal, you may pick a stat).

Beneficial throughout the game:
- Capable of equipping 3 accessories.
- Receive +10 to the stat from side jobs (if criminal, you may pick a stat).

One of the best racial passives with the extra accessory slot, but not much outside of that.

Demons

Beneficial at the start of the game:
- None

Beneficial throughout the game:
- If dead may come back 1 week sooner if desired.
- Ability to become Majin.
- Training increased by +10 all stats per week while in the next dimension.
- Have the ability to travel to Hell when in the next dimension.
- Receive double base gains for meditation training.
- Can reach -10 alignment.
- May use 'Evil Only' techs regardless of actual alignment

Pretty much opposite to Changelings, no real benefit to being a demon at the start, but plenty of long game traits that are good. Some more than others obviously.

Celestials

Beneficial at the start of the game:
- None

Beneficial throughout the game:
- Have several "Celestials Only" moves available.
- Don't have to spend a week at Yamma's check-in when killed.
- Once per month, may go to the Next Dimension for 2 weeks.
- Can use the technique Heal while at any alignment.

Same as demons, but less benefits. Not necessarily worse passives though.



Not every race needs to have the same amount of passive advantages in both columns, especially when some passives are far better than others. It may have already been discussed to be honest, but I did want to bring more attention to this as some races are clearly much better later in the game than others.




Some suggestions:

Changeling Passive: Transformation Regulation takes 1 week less.

Ruthless Aggression [Changeling]: When defeated by an opponent, the next time you face them, you will get X benefit until you defeat them [Perhaps increased training, or in battle bonus]. This benefit does not stack upon multiple defeats.

[Insert Race here] Passive: Ability to bring additional prepared item into battle.

Hybrid Passive: Ability to learn dominant race techs.

Alien Passive: Reduce cost of general items by X%


That's about all I can think of for now.

Namekians

• Dragon Balls

• Regeneration / Namekian Only Techs

Removing the 'over the duration of the RPG' limitation would be really great.  Having only one Majin at a time is probably a good call, unless there's a series of Epic Quests you have to do to have two at a time, which I think might be neat.  That would be a separate discussion for later though. 

Honestly, I completely forgot Prince of Hell does that, so I wouldn't exactly miss it, but a 5% chance of inflicting Burn would put it at the same crit rate as Special Attack stuns. yeah, nah, nuke that. 

I understand the concern, and that's something that will be kept an eye on because if it does end up being abused outside of the intention, I have no problem immediately addressing the situation for the sake of balance. As is right now, neither set of the dragon balls have been used in almost a year, and custom dragon balls would require the most historically under-utilized race, some PL requirements, among others, while also being less efficient to 'farm.'

All in all, I think the plus side in character development for the very few Namekians and their RP partners offsets the potential for abuse. But, I will eat these words if I have to.