Rethinking Fantasy Races - Slaughtering Your Sacred Minotaurs
So I realize that I've been mostly focusing on the higher profile races. I think it's time to start pushing into deeper waters. So today, I'm gonna be working on one of my favorite races. Kobolds.
Step 1: Concept
Pathfinder kobolds are, for some reason, just not as engaging for me as D&D kobolds. Maybe it's because Pathfinder goblins are the way they are. I don't know. At any rate, I'd like to really hit that "Tucker's Kobolds" feel from the ground up while giving them a bit more heft. Still weak and scrappy, but also not a fucking handicap.
Step 2: Racial Qualities
TYPE - Humanoid (reptilian). Yeah, I'm gonna stick with the draconic/reptilian origins here. I was thinking of maybe playing around in the rat and/or dog origins, but I'm probably gonna just keep with simplicity.
SIZE - Small
SPEED - I like them speedy. Normal speed here.
ABILITIES - The standard +2 Dexterity, –4 Strength, and –2 Constitution will simply not fly here. +2 Dex, -2 Str, sure. As for the mental bonus, I'm thinking Int. Crafty little bastards.
LANGUAGES - Xenophobic works here. Automatic Draconic. Bonus...let's say Common, Gnome, Sign Language, and Undercommon. I like giving Sign Language out. A cowardly race being able to communicate in silence? Totally on point.
Step 3: Racial Traits
Alright, let's see what kobolds typically get here...
Natural Armor (2 RP) - Absolutely.
Crafty - Wow, the race builder points went crazy here. Like, a +2 to three different skills and two skills as permanent class skills for 3 points total? Like...super inconsistent. So let's break this down and look at it again.
Skill Training (1 RP) - Craft (trapmaking) and Stealth as permanent class skills
Skill Bonus (6 RP) - +2 Craft (trapmaking), Perception, Profession (miner)
Darkvision (2 RP) - Word.
Light Sensitivity (-1 RP) - Works.
So, we're looking at 10 points right there. Let's look at alternates.
Dragon Affinity (1 RP) - Really cool.
Dragonmaw (2 RP) - Also really cool.
Dragon-Scaled (1 RP) - Energy resistance works for me.
Shoulder to Shoulder (3? 7? Who knows?) - I love racial traits like this. ^_^
Wyrmcrowned (Same as above. Probably 3.) - This is pretty neat too.
Man, these traits are really making me want to play up the "tiny dragon" angle. Let's see what we can do. Also, I want to give them a claw/claw/bite routine.
KOBOLD
Type - Humanoid (reptilian) 0 RP
Size - Small 0 RP
Base Speed - Normal 0 RP
Ability Score Modifiers - Standard (+2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, -2 Strength) 0 RP
Languages - Xenophobic 0 RP
Racial Traits
Defense Racial Traits
Natural Armor 2 RP
Dragon-Scaled 1 RP
Shoulder to Shoulder 3 RP
Feat and Skill Racial Traits
Skill Bonus (Craft (trapmaking), Perception, Profession (miner)) 6 RP
Skill Training 1 RP
Wyrmcrowned 3 RP
Magical Racial Traits
Dragon Affinity 1 RP
Offense Racial Traits
Claws 2 RP
Dragonmaw 2 RP
Senses Racial Traits
Darkvision 2 RP
Weakness Racial Traits
Light Sensitivity -1 RP
So...22 points total. We can cut the Perception bonus and Skill Training. That gets us to 19. Dragon Affinity needs to be an alternate because it's useless to non-sorcerers, so that'll drop us to 18. And we'll make Wyrmcrowned an alternate as well, to get us to our desired goal of 15.
Which shapes us up into...
Kobold Standard Racial Traits
Ability Score Racial Traits: Kobolds are quick and clever, but their slight builds make them less powerful. They gain +2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, and -2 Strength.
Type: Kobolds are Humanoids with the reptilian subtype.
Base Speed: Kobolds have a base speed of 30 feet.
Languages: Kobolds begin play speaking Draconic. Kobolds with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Common, Gnome, Sign Language, and Undercommon. See the Linguistics skill page for more information about these languages.
Defense Racial Traits
Dragon-Scaled: Kobolds gain energy resistance based on the color of their scales. Black-scaled and green-scaled kobolds gain acid resistance 5. Blue-scaled kobolds gain electricity resistance 5. Red-scaled kobolds gain fire resistance 5. White-scaled kobolds gain cold resistance 5.
Natural Armor: Kobolds naturally scaly skin grants them a +1 natural armor bonus.
Shoulder to Shoulder: A kobold can occupy the same space as one other Small ally without penalty. If you share a space with another kobold, you each gain a +1 circumstance bonus to AC, as you help jostle one another out of the way of incoming attacks. You also gain a +1 racial bonus on aid another rolls.
Feat and Skill Racial Traits
Crafty: Kobolds gain a +2 racial bonus on Craft (trapmaking) and Profession (miner) checks.
Offense Racial Traits
Claws: Kobolds receive two claw attacks that each deal 1d3 damage. These are primary natural attacks.
Dragonmaw: Kobolds gain a bite attack that deals 1d4 points of damage. Once per day, you can deal 1d6 points of additional energy damage with your bite attack. The damage type depends on your scale color: acid for black or green; electricity for blue; fire for red; cold for white.
Senses Racial Traits
Darkvision: Kobolds can see perfectly in the dark up to 60 feet.
Weakness Racial Traits
Light Sensitivity: Kobolds lives in darkness have caused them to suffer from light sensitivity.
Alternate Racial Traits
Dragon Affinity: Kobold sorcerers with the draconic bloodline or kobold bloodline treat their Charisma scores as 2 points higher for all sorcerer spells and class abilities. This racial trait replaces the natural armor trait.
Wyrmcrowned: Your horns have grown to the extent that they appear similar to those of a dragon who shares your scale color, lending a draconic power or menace to your dealings with others. Choose either Diplomacy or Intimidate. You gain a +2 racial bonus on checks with that skill, and it is always a class skill for you. This racial trait replaces shoulder to shoulder.
Look at 'em. Tiny, angry, dragons. ^_^ Let me know what you think.
Until next time.
Thursday, November 2, 2017
Thursday, October 26, 2017
Everything Hurts and I'm Dying
I know I owe you an update today, but I'm currently dealing with a kidney stone and producing coherent thought just isn't going to happen. See you next week.
Thursday, October 19, 2017
Rethinking Fantasy Races Part 12 - Internet Troll
Rethinking Fantasy Races - Slaughtering Your Sacred Minotaurs
So, by now, it's no secret that World of Warcraft was where a lot of my early character inspiration came from. I intend to continue tweaking races to fit. We've already made our zombies, so let's tackle the trolls. Or, in this case, Trollkin.
Step 1: Concept
Essentially, trollkin are more primitive, more socially outcast orcs. We're gonna have to keep that in mind so that they don't end up just being essentially an orc subrace. This is also the first time we're gonna be scaling down a monster into an acceptable player race rather than tweaking an existing race. Let's dig in.
Step 2: Racial Qualities
TYPE - Humanoid (giant). Even though they're gonna be medium sized.
SIZE - Medium.
SPEED - Normal.
ABILITIES - Trolls are tough. I like a Con bonus here. I don't really want to give them a Wis bonus and a Cha penalty, but that's what feels right. Maybe I can be okay with an Int penalty. It seems like they have a natural inclination away from technological progress. =/
LANGUAGES - Standard. Trotang (derived from "Troll Tongue", but the heavy accent altered perception of the phrase) and Common. Allies get us Goblin and Orc. Enemies get us Elven and Dwarven. Ancestors give them Giant. We gave orcs a strong connection to the elements, but in WoW trolls have more reverence for loa*. About the closest thing we really come to loa are just outsiders, maybe giving them Abyssal, Celestial, and Infernal as bonus languages works here. Or, actually, maybe they're more like fey...I think I like that better. So scratch the planar languages and add Aklo and Sylvan.
That gives us Common and Trotang as starting languages with Aklo, Dwarven, Elven, Giant, Goblin, Orc, and Sylvan as bonus languages.
*Loa (also spelled lwa) are the spirits of Haitian Vodou and Louisiana Voodoo. They are also referred to as "mystères" and "the invisibles" and are intermediaries between Bondye (French: Bon Dieu, meaning "good God")—the Supreme Creator, who is distant from the world—and humanity. Unlike saints or angels, however, they are not simply prayed to, they are served. They are each distinct beings with their own personal likes and dislikes, distinct sacred rhythms, songs, dances, ritual symbols, and special modes of service. Contrary to popular belief, the loa are not deities in and of themselves; they are intermediaries for, and dependent on, a distant Bondye.
Step 3: Racial Traits
As mentioned before, trolls aren't exactly codified the same way player races are. They aren't quite going to have the same suite of abilities to draw from so there are going to have to be modifications. Let's look at what trolls are already getting.
Darkvision (2 RP)
Low-Light Vision (1 RP)
Scent (4 RP)
Natural Armor (2 RP)
Improved Natural Armor (10 RP)
Regeneration (Not even in the race builder. Clearly too much.)
Claws (2 RP)
Bite (1 RP)
Rend (No cost, but probably around 2 RP)
So...that puts us at 24 even without the regeneration. If we knock regeneration down to fast healing, that puts us at 30 points. We can cut another 10 off by dropping the Natural Armor to +1. We can drop the Claw/Bite/Rend attacks to drop us to 15. It's a boring 15, though. There's nothing special. It's all just defenses and senses.
Let's see...Oh! So, you know how a troll's regen can only be overcome by fire or acid? Let's give these guys vulnerability to fire and acid. Which is...a huge weakness, I know. But it gets us 4 more RP to play with and is flavorful as all hell. As boring as skill bonuses are, I think I'm just gonna go with a +2 to Perception and Survival. And the Juju oracle's Natural Divination ability is pretty fucking cool, too.
Final form?
Trollkin Standard Racial Traits
Ability Score Racial Traits: Trollkin are tough both physically and mentally, but their primal culture makes it difficult to make a good first impression.
Type: Trollkin are Humanoids with the giant subtype.
Base Speed: Trollkin have a base speed of 30 feet.
Languages: Trollkin begin play speaking Common and Trotang. Trollkin with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Aklo, Dwarven, Elven, Giant, Goblin, Orc, and Sylvan as bonus languages. See the Linguistics skill page for more information about these languages.
Defense Racial Traits
Fast Healing: Trollkin regain 1 hit point each round. Except for where noted here, fast healing is just like natural healing. Fast healing does not restore hit points lost from starvation, thirst, or suffocation, nor does it allow the trollkin to regrow lost body parts. Fast healing continues to function (even at negative hit points) until death, at which point the effects of fast healing immediately end.
Natural Armor: Trollkin gain a +1 natural armor bonus to their Armor Class.
Feat and Skill Racial Traits
Natural Hunter: Trollkin receive a +2 racial bonus on Perception and Survival checks.
Senses Racial Traits
Darkvision:Trollkin can see in the dark up to 60 feet.
Low-Light Vision: Trollkin can see twice as far as a race with normal vision in conditions of dim light.
Scent: Trollkin gain the scent ability.
Weakness Racial Traits
Elemental Vulnerability:Trollkin have vulnerability to both acid and fire.
Alternate Racial Traits
Natural Divination: Some trollkin have a deeper connection with the wild world around them. Trollkin with this racial trait can read the entrails of a freshly killed animal or humanoid to gain an insight bonus equal to your Wisdom modifier on one saving throw. Alternatively, by observing and interpreting the flight of birds, you may apply a +10 competence bonus on any one skill check. Finally, by charting marks in dirt or on stone, or observing the behavior of sand thrown into the wind, you gain a +4 insight bonus on one initiative check. These bonuses must be used during the next 24 hours, and you must declare you are using the bonus before the check or save is made. Making a natural divination takes 10 minutes. You may use natural divination (in any combination) once per day plus one additional time per day for every four levels you have attained. This alternate trait replaces the Natural Hunter racial trait.
So there. They aren't quite finished, but this is as good as they're getting today. Let me know what you think.
Until next time.
So, by now, it's no secret that World of Warcraft was where a lot of my early character inspiration came from. I intend to continue tweaking races to fit. We've already made our zombies, so let's tackle the trolls. Or, in this case, Trollkin.
Step 1: Concept
Essentially, trollkin are more primitive, more socially outcast orcs. We're gonna have to keep that in mind so that they don't end up just being essentially an orc subrace. This is also the first time we're gonna be scaling down a monster into an acceptable player race rather than tweaking an existing race. Let's dig in.
Step 2: Racial Qualities
TYPE - Humanoid (giant). Even though they're gonna be medium sized.
SIZE - Medium.
SPEED - Normal.
ABILITIES - Trolls are tough. I like a Con bonus here. I don't really want to give them a Wis bonus and a Cha penalty, but that's what feels right. Maybe I can be okay with an Int penalty. It seems like they have a natural inclination away from technological progress. =/
LANGUAGES - Standard. Trotang (derived from "Troll Tongue", but the heavy accent altered perception of the phrase) and Common. Allies get us Goblin and Orc. Enemies get us Elven and Dwarven. Ancestors give them Giant. We gave orcs a strong connection to the elements, but in WoW trolls have more reverence for loa*. About the closest thing we really come to loa are just outsiders, maybe giving them Abyssal, Celestial, and Infernal as bonus languages works here. Or, actually, maybe they're more like fey...I think I like that better. So scratch the planar languages and add Aklo and Sylvan.
That gives us Common and Trotang as starting languages with Aklo, Dwarven, Elven, Giant, Goblin, Orc, and Sylvan as bonus languages.
*Loa (also spelled lwa) are the spirits of Haitian Vodou and Louisiana Voodoo. They are also referred to as "mystères" and "the invisibles" and are intermediaries between Bondye (French: Bon Dieu, meaning "good God")—the Supreme Creator, who is distant from the world—and humanity. Unlike saints or angels, however, they are not simply prayed to, they are served. They are each distinct beings with their own personal likes and dislikes, distinct sacred rhythms, songs, dances, ritual symbols, and special modes of service. Contrary to popular belief, the loa are not deities in and of themselves; they are intermediaries for, and dependent on, a distant Bondye.
Step 3: Racial Traits
As mentioned before, trolls aren't exactly codified the same way player races are. They aren't quite going to have the same suite of abilities to draw from so there are going to have to be modifications. Let's look at what trolls are already getting.
Darkvision (2 RP)
Low-Light Vision (1 RP)
Scent (4 RP)
Natural Armor (2 RP)
Improved Natural Armor (10 RP)
Regeneration (Not even in the race builder. Clearly too much.)
Claws (2 RP)
Bite (1 RP)
Rend (No cost, but probably around 2 RP)
So...that puts us at 24 even without the regeneration. If we knock regeneration down to fast healing, that puts us at 30 points. We can cut another 10 off by dropping the Natural Armor to +1. We can drop the Claw/Bite/Rend attacks to drop us to 15. It's a boring 15, though. There's nothing special. It's all just defenses and senses.
Let's see...Oh! So, you know how a troll's regen can only be overcome by fire or acid? Let's give these guys vulnerability to fire and acid. Which is...a huge weakness, I know. But it gets us 4 more RP to play with and is flavorful as all hell. As boring as skill bonuses are, I think I'm just gonna go with a +2 to Perception and Survival. And the Juju oracle's Natural Divination ability is pretty fucking cool, too.
Final form?
Trollkin Standard Racial Traits
Ability Score Racial Traits: Trollkin are tough both physically and mentally, but their primal culture makes it difficult to make a good first impression.
Type: Trollkin are Humanoids with the giant subtype.
Base Speed: Trollkin have a base speed of 30 feet.
Languages: Trollkin begin play speaking Common and Trotang. Trollkin with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Aklo, Dwarven, Elven, Giant, Goblin, Orc, and Sylvan as bonus languages. See the Linguistics skill page for more information about these languages.
Defense Racial Traits
Fast Healing: Trollkin regain 1 hit point each round. Except for where noted here, fast healing is just like natural healing. Fast healing does not restore hit points lost from starvation, thirst, or suffocation, nor does it allow the trollkin to regrow lost body parts. Fast healing continues to function (even at negative hit points) until death, at which point the effects of fast healing immediately end.
Natural Armor: Trollkin gain a +1 natural armor bonus to their Armor Class.
Feat and Skill Racial Traits
Natural Hunter: Trollkin receive a +2 racial bonus on Perception and Survival checks.
Senses Racial Traits
Darkvision:Trollkin can see in the dark up to 60 feet.
Low-Light Vision: Trollkin can see twice as far as a race with normal vision in conditions of dim light.
Scent: Trollkin gain the scent ability.
Weakness Racial Traits
Elemental Vulnerability:Trollkin have vulnerability to both acid and fire.
Alternate Racial Traits
Natural Divination: Some trollkin have a deeper connection with the wild world around them. Trollkin with this racial trait can read the entrails of a freshly killed animal or humanoid to gain an insight bonus equal to your Wisdom modifier on one saving throw. Alternatively, by observing and interpreting the flight of birds, you may apply a +10 competence bonus on any one skill check. Finally, by charting marks in dirt or on stone, or observing the behavior of sand thrown into the wind, you gain a +4 insight bonus on one initiative check. These bonuses must be used during the next 24 hours, and you must declare you are using the bonus before the check or save is made. Making a natural divination takes 10 minutes. You may use natural divination (in any combination) once per day plus one additional time per day for every four levels you have attained. This alternate trait replaces the Natural Hunter racial trait.
So there. They aren't quite finished, but this is as good as they're getting today. Let me know what you think.
Until next time.
Thursday, October 12, 2017
Rethinking Fantasy Races Part 11 - Zombie
Rethinking Fantasy Races - Slaughtering Your Sacred Minotaurs
We've touched on most of the common races by now. This week, I want to take a look at a "race" that rarely gets developed for player use: the undead. Sure, Dhampir exist, but the half-vampire thing isn't quite what I'm angling for and they aren't even technically undead.
Step 1: Concept
What I want is something closer to the Forsaken from the Warcraft games. Sentient zombies, but balanced for player use. Plus I need to give them a decent name.
Step 2: Racial Qualities
TYPE - The Undead type carries a 16 RP cost, which is already more than I'm aiming for for the finished product. Dhampir are just Humanoids with some stuff to reinforce their undead connections, so we could go that route. There's also the Half-Undead subtype, which only costs 5 RP. That hits a fair amount of the notes I'm going for, so let's just start from there. Humanoid (half-undead).
SIZE - I guess this is going to be variable? I didn't initially consider the possibility of halfling Necrites (I decided to call them Necrites, obviously). I don't really like the idea. Maybe I can pull some explanation out of my ass as to why these things need to be Medium.
SPEED - A part of me deeply wants to make these guys Slow. We'll sit on that for now.
ABILITIES - Dhampir get +2 Dex, +2 Cha, -2 Con. That's kind of the opposite of what I want these guys to be. I get the -2 Con because undead lack a Con score. These guys, however, are gonna be stiff both physically and socially. The only other physical option we have is Strength, and I like it. As far as mental scores, I'm liking Int here over Wis. These guys are having to learn how to be people all over again.
So +2 Strength, +2 Intelligence, -2 Constitution.
LANGUAGES - Hrm...I'm gonna tweak something here. We're going to combine Xenophobic and Linguist. These guys are going to start out with only their racial language, Necril. BUT, their bonus languages will just be Any. I'm sure that balances out to 0 RP.
Step 3: Racial Traits
Let's take a look at what Dhampir get.
Undead Resistance - Already covered by the half-undead subtype.
Resist Level Drain - Also already covered.
Manipulative (4 RP) - Maaaybe.
SLAs (1 RP) - I don't know if I want these guys to have spell-likes.
Darkvision - Covered.
Low-Light Vision (1 RP) - Sure.
Light Sensitivity (-1 RP) - Also maybe.
Negative Energy Affinity - Covered
And alternates...give us literally nothing that isn't vampiric in nature.
I have an idea. We're gonna look at some of the abilities that Samsarans get.
Shards of the Past (4 RP) - This is really cool, thematically.
Mystic Past Life (4 RP) - Works really well here too. Gonna keep it an alternate.
I still don't feel like these guys really have an identity yet. Let's comb through the race builder and see what looks good.
Unnatural (2 RP) - I always loved the fact that animals instinctively fear the undead in some stories.
Stalker (1 RP) - Being able to pretend to be a corpse has gotta have some benefit, right?
Fell Magic (3 RP) - Still not sure I wanna give them SLAs, but if I decide to this is the way I'd like to go.
Stench Aura (4 RP) - This one just amuses me.
Toxic (1 RP) - And this one is legitimately cool.
Carrion Sense (1 RP) - I love how flavorful this is.
See in Darkness (4 RP) - I just really want to give this to things. All the things.
Resurrection Vulnerability (-1 RP) - Very Final Fantasy.
Hold Breath (1 RP) - This hits those WoW notes.
Well, that's more to look at, at least. We're gonna have to cut a ton.
NECRITE
Type - Humanoid (half-undead) 5 RP
Size - Medium 0 RP
Base Speed - Slow -1 RP
Ability Score Modifiers - Standard (+2 Strength, +2 Intelligence, -2 Constitution) 0 RP
Languages - Mixed 0 RP
Racial Traits
Defense Racial Traits
Unnatural 2 RP
Feat and Skill Racial Traits
Manipulative 4 RP
Shards of the Past 4 RP
Stalker 1 RP
Magical Racial Traits
SLAs 4 RP
Mystic Past Lie 4 RP
Offense Racial Traits
Stench Aura 4 RP
Toxic 1 RP
Senses Racial Traits
Low-Light Vision 1 RP
See In Darkness 4 RP
Carrion Sense 1 RP
Standard Racial Traits
Hold Breath 1 RP
Weakness Racial Traits
Light Sensitivity -1 RP
Resurrection Vulnerability -1 RP
So as of right now, we're looking at 33 points. Dropping Manipulative, all the SLAs, and Low-Light Vision gets us down to 22. Mystic Past Life as an alternate brings us to 18. Let's drop Stench Aura to hit 14 and remove Light Sensitivity to hit our 15.
So, our final version looks like this.
Necrite Standard Racial Traits
Ability Score Racial Traits: Necrites are raw power and intellect, but their bodies are still one foot in the grave. They gain +2 Strength, +2 Intelligence, and -2 Constitution.
Type: Necrites are Humanoids with the half-undead subtype.
Base Speed: Necrites have a base speed of 20 feet.
Languages: Necrites begin play speaking Necril. Necrites with high Intelligence scores can choose any languages they want (except secret languages, such as Druidic). See the Linguistics skill page for more information about these languages.
Defense Racial Traits
Half-Undead Traits: Necrites have darkvision 60 feet. Necrites gain a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against disease and mind-affecting effects. Necrites take no penalties from energy-draining effects, though they can still be killed if they accrue more negative levels than they have Hit Dice. After 24 hours, any negative levels they’ve gained are removed without any additional saving throws. Necrites are harmed by positive energy and healed by negative energy. A necrite with the fast healing special quality still benefits from that quality.
Unnatural: Necrites take a –4 penalty on all Charisma-based skill checks to affect creatures of the animal type, and receive a +4 dodge bonus to AC against animals. Animals’ starting attitude toward necrites is one step worse than normal.
Feat and Skill Racial Traits
Shards of the Past: A necrite’s past life grants them bonuses on two particular skills. A necrite chooses two skills—they gains a +2 racial bonus on both of these skills, and they are treated as class skills regardless of what class they actually take.
Stalker: Perception and Stealth are always class skills for necrites.
Offense Racial Traits
Toxic: A number of times per day equal to its Constitution modifier (minimum 1/day), a necrite can envenom a weapon that it wields with its toxic blood (using blood requires the necrite to be injured when it uses this ability). Applying venom in this way is a swift action.
Paralytic Blood: Injury; save Fort DC 10 + the 1/2 user’s Hit Dice + the user’s Constitution modifier; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d2 Dex; cure 1 save.
Senses Racial Traits
Carrion Sense: Necrites have a natural ability to sniff out carrion. This functions like the scent ability, but only for corpses and badly wounded creatures (creatures with 25% or fewer hit points).
See in Darkness: Necrites can see perfectly in darkness of any kind, including that created by spells such as deeper darkness.
Standard Racial Traits
Hold Breath: Necrites can hold their breath for a number of rounds equal to four times their Constitution score before risking drowning or suffocating.
Weakness Racial Traits
Resurrection Vulnerability: A raise dead spell cast on a necrite can destroy it (Will negates). Using the spell in this way does not require a material component.
Alternate Racial Traits
Mystic Past Life (Su): You can add spells from another spellcasting class to the spell list of your current spellcasting class. You add a number of spells equal to 1 + your spellcasting class’s key ability score bonus (Wisdom for clerics, and so on). The spells must be the same type (arcane or divine) as the spellcasting class you’re adding them to. For example, you could add divine power to your druid class spell list, but not to your wizard class spell list because divine power is a divine spell. These spells do not have to be spells you can cast as a 1st-level character. The number of spells granted by this ability is set at 1st level. Changes to your ability score do not change the number of spells gained. This racial trait replaces shards of the past.
There, I think they're neat. Let me know what you think.
Until next time.
We've touched on most of the common races by now. This week, I want to take a look at a "race" that rarely gets developed for player use: the undead. Sure, Dhampir exist, but the half-vampire thing isn't quite what I'm angling for and they aren't even technically undead.
Step 1: Concept
What I want is something closer to the Forsaken from the Warcraft games. Sentient zombies, but balanced for player use. Plus I need to give them a decent name.
Step 2: Racial Qualities
TYPE - The Undead type carries a 16 RP cost, which is already more than I'm aiming for for the finished product. Dhampir are just Humanoids with some stuff to reinforce their undead connections, so we could go that route. There's also the Half-Undead subtype, which only costs 5 RP. That hits a fair amount of the notes I'm going for, so let's just start from there. Humanoid (half-undead).
SIZE - I guess this is going to be variable? I didn't initially consider the possibility of halfling Necrites (I decided to call them Necrites, obviously). I don't really like the idea. Maybe I can pull some explanation out of my ass as to why these things need to be Medium.
SPEED - A part of me deeply wants to make these guys Slow. We'll sit on that for now.
ABILITIES - Dhampir get +2 Dex, +2 Cha, -2 Con. That's kind of the opposite of what I want these guys to be. I get the -2 Con because undead lack a Con score. These guys, however, are gonna be stiff both physically and socially. The only other physical option we have is Strength, and I like it. As far as mental scores, I'm liking Int here over Wis. These guys are having to learn how to be people all over again.
So +2 Strength, +2 Intelligence, -2 Constitution.
LANGUAGES - Hrm...I'm gonna tweak something here. We're going to combine Xenophobic and Linguist. These guys are going to start out with only their racial language, Necril. BUT, their bonus languages will just be Any. I'm sure that balances out to 0 RP.
Step 3: Racial Traits
Let's take a look at what Dhampir get.
Undead Resistance - Already covered by the half-undead subtype.
Resist Level Drain - Also already covered.
Manipulative (4 RP) - Maaaybe.
SLAs (1 RP) - I don't know if I want these guys to have spell-likes.
Darkvision - Covered.
Low-Light Vision (1 RP) - Sure.
Light Sensitivity (-1 RP) - Also maybe.
Negative Energy Affinity - Covered
And alternates...give us literally nothing that isn't vampiric in nature.
I have an idea. We're gonna look at some of the abilities that Samsarans get.
Shards of the Past (4 RP) - This is really cool, thematically.
Mystic Past Life (4 RP) - Works really well here too. Gonna keep it an alternate.
I still don't feel like these guys really have an identity yet. Let's comb through the race builder and see what looks good.
Unnatural (2 RP) - I always loved the fact that animals instinctively fear the undead in some stories.
Stalker (1 RP) - Being able to pretend to be a corpse has gotta have some benefit, right?
Fell Magic (3 RP) - Still not sure I wanna give them SLAs, but if I decide to this is the way I'd like to go.
Stench Aura (4 RP) - This one just amuses me.
Toxic (1 RP) - And this one is legitimately cool.
Carrion Sense (1 RP) - I love how flavorful this is.
See in Darkness (4 RP) - I just really want to give this to things. All the things.
Resurrection Vulnerability (-1 RP) - Very Final Fantasy.
Hold Breath (1 RP) - This hits those WoW notes.
Well, that's more to look at, at least. We're gonna have to cut a ton.
NECRITE
Type - Humanoid (half-undead) 5 RP
Size - Medium 0 RP
Base Speed - Slow -1 RP
Ability Score Modifiers - Standard (+2 Strength, +2 Intelligence, -2 Constitution) 0 RP
Languages - Mixed 0 RP
Racial Traits
Defense Racial Traits
Unnatural 2 RP
Feat and Skill Racial Traits
Manipulative 4 RP
Shards of the Past 4 RP
Stalker 1 RP
Magical Racial Traits
SLAs 4 RP
Mystic Past Lie 4 RP
Offense Racial Traits
Stench Aura 4 RP
Toxic 1 RP
Senses Racial Traits
Low-Light Vision 1 RP
See In Darkness 4 RP
Carrion Sense 1 RP
Standard Racial Traits
Hold Breath 1 RP
Weakness Racial Traits
Light Sensitivity -1 RP
Resurrection Vulnerability -1 RP
So as of right now, we're looking at 33 points. Dropping Manipulative, all the SLAs, and Low-Light Vision gets us down to 22. Mystic Past Life as an alternate brings us to 18. Let's drop Stench Aura to hit 14 and remove Light Sensitivity to hit our 15.
So, our final version looks like this.
Necrite Standard Racial Traits
Ability Score Racial Traits: Necrites are raw power and intellect, but their bodies are still one foot in the grave. They gain +2 Strength, +2 Intelligence, and -2 Constitution.
Type: Necrites are Humanoids with the half-undead subtype.
Base Speed: Necrites have a base speed of 20 feet.
Languages: Necrites begin play speaking Necril. Necrites with high Intelligence scores can choose any languages they want (except secret languages, such as Druidic). See the Linguistics skill page for more information about these languages.
Defense Racial Traits
Half-Undead Traits: Necrites have darkvision 60 feet. Necrites gain a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against disease and mind-affecting effects. Necrites take no penalties from energy-draining effects, though they can still be killed if they accrue more negative levels than they have Hit Dice. After 24 hours, any negative levels they’ve gained are removed without any additional saving throws. Necrites are harmed by positive energy and healed by negative energy. A necrite with the fast healing special quality still benefits from that quality.
Unnatural: Necrites take a –4 penalty on all Charisma-based skill checks to affect creatures of the animal type, and receive a +4 dodge bonus to AC against animals. Animals’ starting attitude toward necrites is one step worse than normal.
Feat and Skill Racial Traits
Shards of the Past: A necrite’s past life grants them bonuses on two particular skills. A necrite chooses two skills—they gains a +2 racial bonus on both of these skills, and they are treated as class skills regardless of what class they actually take.
Stalker: Perception and Stealth are always class skills for necrites.
Offense Racial Traits
Toxic: A number of times per day equal to its Constitution modifier (minimum 1/day), a necrite can envenom a weapon that it wields with its toxic blood (using blood requires the necrite to be injured when it uses this ability). Applying venom in this way is a swift action.
Paralytic Blood: Injury; save Fort DC 10 + the 1/2 user’s Hit Dice + the user’s Constitution modifier; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d2 Dex; cure 1 save.
Senses Racial Traits
Carrion Sense: Necrites have a natural ability to sniff out carrion. This functions like the scent ability, but only for corpses and badly wounded creatures (creatures with 25% or fewer hit points).
See in Darkness: Necrites can see perfectly in darkness of any kind, including that created by spells such as deeper darkness.
Standard Racial Traits
Hold Breath: Necrites can hold their breath for a number of rounds equal to four times their Constitution score before risking drowning or suffocating.
Weakness Racial Traits
Resurrection Vulnerability: A raise dead spell cast on a necrite can destroy it (Will negates). Using the spell in this way does not require a material component.
Alternate Racial Traits
Mystic Past Life (Su): You can add spells from another spellcasting class to the spell list of your current spellcasting class. You add a number of spells equal to 1 + your spellcasting class’s key ability score bonus (Wisdom for clerics, and so on). The spells must be the same type (arcane or divine) as the spellcasting class you’re adding them to. For example, you could add divine power to your druid class spell list, but not to your wizard class spell list because divine power is a divine spell. These spells do not have to be spells you can cast as a 1st-level character. The number of spells granted by this ability is set at 1st level. Changes to your ability score do not change the number of spells gained. This racial trait replaces shards of the past.
There, I think they're neat. Let me know what you think.
Until next time.
Thursday, October 5, 2017
Rethinking Fantasy Races Part 10 - The Orcish March
Rethinking Fantasy Races - Slaughtering Your Sacred Minotaurs
Orcs are another race that has generally changed a lot with each iteration. Their origin, as much of D&D, lies with Tolkien. They were, as far as I've read, a unique creation on Tolkien's part, but he also pretty much used orc and goblin interchangeably. Blizzard's orcs are basically green fantasy Klingons; noble warrior/primal shaman types. Then we've got the pigman orcs that somehow exist, probably as a result of other orcs' tusks and the fact that orc rhymes with pork.
Step 1: Concept
I feel like going with the popular Blizzard model is the best choice here. Powerful, combative, tribal...that all sounds good to me.
Step 2: Racial Qualities
TYPE - Humanoid (orc)
SIZE - Medium. They're buff, but they aren't 8+ feet tall.
SPEED - Normal.
ABILITIES - Okay, core orcs get +4 Strength and -2 to all mental stats. Rubbish, I say. I'm cool with dropping the +4 Strength to +2.
A penalty to all racial stats is just insulting. Just because orcs live in a tribal society doesn't mean that they aren't as mentally capable as a human. I mean, humans also live in tribal societies.
No, we're going to make the penalty just -2 Charisma. Orcs aren't exactly known for their social skills.
That leaves us with a mental bonus to hand out, and I think Wisdom is the right choice here. Orcs are hunters and survivalists.
So, +2 Strength, +2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma.
LANGUAGES - Standard. They'll start with Common and Orc.
Allies? Probably goblinoids, ogres, and trolls. That gives us Goblin and Giant.
Enemies? Traditionally humans, elves and dwarves. Elven and Dwarven get added.
Weird stuff? I think orcs work really well as elementalists. Maybe I'm pulling too much from Warcraft here, but having strong reverence for the elements feels good to me. We'll add Aquan, Auran, Ignan, and Terran. That puts us over seven bonus languages, but fuck it.
That gives us Common and Orc as starting languages with Aquan, Auran, Dwarven, Elven, Giant, Goblin, Ignan, and Terran as bonus languages.
Step 3: Racial Traits
Alright, core orcs get the following:
Ferocity (4 RP) - This is a great ability, but it's a slightly worse form of Diehard, which we can pick up for half the RP cost. Also, I consolidated Endurance and Diehard into a single feet way back when I tinkered with mechanics.
Weapon Familiarity (2 RP) - This version of weapon familarity is actually lacking a weapon for its point cost. We'll give them something cool.
Darkvision (2 RP) - Yup.
Light Sensitivity (-1 RP) - I've honestly never understood why orcs have light sensitivity. It may just have been my gaming groups over the years, but orcs were a lot more likely to be living in swamps and deserts than in caves. /shrug
Man, orcs get shafted. Let's look at alternates.
Feral (2 RP?) - This ability starts out cool with Survival as a constant class skill and a bonus to melee attack and damage rolls at negative hit points. Then, for some reason, it takes away your automatic languages. -_- Maybe we'll keep the first half.
Smeller (6 RP!) - So, giving up 6 RP worth of traits for a half strength trait that would normally cost 4 RP? Why do they hate orcs so much? We'll just make this full Scent. It's better and cheaper.
Squalid (4 RP) - This is actually a really cool ability except it's way overcosted. I mean, Dual-Minded is 1 RP for a flat +2 to Will saves. Maybe I'll just give them a bonus to Fort saves? We'll see. Oh look, the half-orc version of this is identical, but it replaces a 2 RP ability.
Not enough abilities. Let's pull from Half-Orc.
Intimidating (2 RP) - Cool beans.
Gatecrasher (2 RP) - Way cool.
Pain Tolerance (4 RP) - DR that only works against nonlethal damage is an awesome concept. Too bad this ability is as overcosted as it is. Maybe I'll bump the nonlethal DR up to 5. Because nonlethal damage rarely happens anyway.
Scavenger (2 RP) - Nice.
Shaman's Apprentice (2 RP) - See Ferocity.
Okay, let's put this together and see what we have.
ORC
Type - Humanoid (orc) 0 RP
Size - Medium 0 RP
Base Speed - Normal 0 RP
Ability Score Modifiers - Standard (+2 Strength, +2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma) 0 RP
Languages - Standard 0 RP
Racial Traits
Defense Racial TraitsSqualid 2 RP
Pain Tolerance 4 RP
Feat and Skill Racial Traits
Intimidating 2 RP
Scavenger 2 RP
Static Bonus Feat (Endurance) 2 RP
Offense Racial Traits
Feral 2 RP
Gatecrasher 2 RP
Weapon Familiarity 2 RP
Senses Racial Traits
Darkvision 2 RP
Scent 4 RP
Weakness Racial Traits
Light Sensitivity -1 RP
That brings us to 23 RP. Let's see what we can chop down. Let's make Scavenger and Squalid alternate traits, and cut Pain Tolerance (as much as I like it) which should bring us down to 15.
That brings us to...
Orc Standard Racial Traits
Ability Score Racial Traits: Orcs are powerful hunters, but they have difficulty making a good impression. They gain +2 Strength, +2 Wisdom, and -2 Charisma.
Type: Orcs are humanoids with the orc subtype
Base Speed: Orcs have a base speed of 30 feet.
Languages: Orcs begin play speaking Common and Orc. Orcs with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Aquan, Auran, Dwarven, Elven, Giant, Goblin, Ignan, and Terran. See the Linguistics skill page for more information about these languages.
Feat and Skill Racial Traits
Ferocity: Orcs gain Endurance as a bonus feat.
Intimidating: Orcs gain a +2 racial bonus to Intimidate skill checks.
Offense Racial Traits
Feral: Orcs gain Survival as a class skill and gain a +1 racial bonus on melee weapon attack and damage rolls when at negative hit points.
Gatecrasher: Orcs gain a +2 racial bonus on Strength checks to break objects and on sunder combat maneuver checks.
Weapon Familiarity: Orcs are always proficient with greataxes, falchions, and scorpion whips, and treat any weapon with the word “orc” in its name as a martial weapon.
Senses Racial Traits
Darkvision: Orcs can see perfectly in the dark up to 60 feet.
Scent: Orcs gain the scent ability.
Weakness Racial Traits
Light Sensitivity: Orcs are dazzled as long as they remain in an area of bright light.
Alternate Racial Traits
Scavenger: Some orcs eke out a leaving picking over the garbage heaps of society, and must learn to separate rare finds from the inevitable dross. Orcs with this racial trait receive a +2 racial bonus on Appraise checks and on Perception checks to find hidden objects (including traps and secret doors), determine whether food is spoiled, or identify a potion by taste. This racial trait replaces gatecrasher.
Squalid: Some orcs exist in surroundings so filthy and pestilent that even other orcs would have difficulty living in them. Orcs with this racial trait gain a +2 racial bonus on saving throws made to resist nausea, the sickened condition, and disease. This racial trait replaces gatecrasher.
There. Much better than core. Let me know what you think.
Until next time.
Orcs are another race that has generally changed a lot with each iteration. Their origin, as much of D&D, lies with Tolkien. They were, as far as I've read, a unique creation on Tolkien's part, but he also pretty much used orc and goblin interchangeably. Blizzard's orcs are basically green fantasy Klingons; noble warrior/primal shaman types. Then we've got the pigman orcs that somehow exist, probably as a result of other orcs' tusks and the fact that orc rhymes with pork.
Step 1: Concept
I feel like going with the popular Blizzard model is the best choice here. Powerful, combative, tribal...that all sounds good to me.
Step 2: Racial Qualities
TYPE - Humanoid (orc)
SIZE - Medium. They're buff, but they aren't 8+ feet tall.
SPEED - Normal.
ABILITIES - Okay, core orcs get +4 Strength and -2 to all mental stats. Rubbish, I say. I'm cool with dropping the +4 Strength to +2.
A penalty to all racial stats is just insulting. Just because orcs live in a tribal society doesn't mean that they aren't as mentally capable as a human. I mean, humans also live in tribal societies.
No, we're going to make the penalty just -2 Charisma. Orcs aren't exactly known for their social skills.
That leaves us with a mental bonus to hand out, and I think Wisdom is the right choice here. Orcs are hunters and survivalists.
So, +2 Strength, +2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma.
LANGUAGES - Standard. They'll start with Common and Orc.
Allies? Probably goblinoids, ogres, and trolls. That gives us Goblin and Giant.
Enemies? Traditionally humans, elves and dwarves. Elven and Dwarven get added.
Weird stuff? I think orcs work really well as elementalists. Maybe I'm pulling too much from Warcraft here, but having strong reverence for the elements feels good to me. We'll add Aquan, Auran, Ignan, and Terran. That puts us over seven bonus languages, but fuck it.
That gives us Common and Orc as starting languages with Aquan, Auran, Dwarven, Elven, Giant, Goblin, Ignan, and Terran as bonus languages.
Step 3: Racial Traits
Alright, core orcs get the following:
Ferocity (4 RP) - This is a great ability, but it's a slightly worse form of Diehard, which we can pick up for half the RP cost. Also, I consolidated Endurance and Diehard into a single feet way back when I tinkered with mechanics.
Weapon Familiarity (2 RP) - This version of weapon familarity is actually lacking a weapon for its point cost. We'll give them something cool.
Darkvision (2 RP) - Yup.
Light Sensitivity (-1 RP) - I've honestly never understood why orcs have light sensitivity. It may just have been my gaming groups over the years, but orcs were a lot more likely to be living in swamps and deserts than in caves. /shrug
Man, orcs get shafted. Let's look at alternates.
Feral (2 RP?) - This ability starts out cool with Survival as a constant class skill and a bonus to melee attack and damage rolls at negative hit points. Then, for some reason, it takes away your automatic languages. -_- Maybe we'll keep the first half.
Smeller (6 RP!) - So, giving up 6 RP worth of traits for a half strength trait that would normally cost 4 RP? Why do they hate orcs so much? We'll just make this full Scent. It's better and cheaper.
Squalid (4 RP) - This is actually a really cool ability except it's way overcosted. I mean, Dual-Minded is 1 RP for a flat +2 to Will saves. Maybe I'll just give them a bonus to Fort saves? We'll see. Oh look, the half-orc version of this is identical, but it replaces a 2 RP ability.
Not enough abilities. Let's pull from Half-Orc.
Intimidating (2 RP) - Cool beans.
Gatecrasher (2 RP) - Way cool.
Pain Tolerance (4 RP) - DR that only works against nonlethal damage is an awesome concept. Too bad this ability is as overcosted as it is. Maybe I'll bump the nonlethal DR up to 5. Because nonlethal damage rarely happens anyway.
Scavenger (2 RP) - Nice.
Shaman's Apprentice (2 RP) - See Ferocity.
Okay, let's put this together and see what we have.
ORC
Type - Humanoid (orc) 0 RP
Size - Medium 0 RP
Base Speed - Normal 0 RP
Ability Score Modifiers - Standard (+2 Strength, +2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma) 0 RP
Languages - Standard 0 RP
Racial Traits
Defense Racial TraitsSqualid 2 RP
Pain Tolerance 4 RP
Feat and Skill Racial Traits
Intimidating 2 RP
Scavenger 2 RP
Static Bonus Feat (Endurance) 2 RP
Offense Racial Traits
Feral 2 RP
Gatecrasher 2 RP
Weapon Familiarity 2 RP
Senses Racial Traits
Darkvision 2 RP
Scent 4 RP
Weakness Racial Traits
Light Sensitivity -1 RP
That brings us to 23 RP. Let's see what we can chop down. Let's make Scavenger and Squalid alternate traits, and cut Pain Tolerance (as much as I like it) which should bring us down to 15.
That brings us to...
Orc Standard Racial Traits
Ability Score Racial Traits: Orcs are powerful hunters, but they have difficulty making a good impression. They gain +2 Strength, +2 Wisdom, and -2 Charisma.
Type: Orcs are humanoids with the orc subtype
Base Speed: Orcs have a base speed of 30 feet.
Languages: Orcs begin play speaking Common and Orc. Orcs with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Aquan, Auran, Dwarven, Elven, Giant, Goblin, Ignan, and Terran. See the Linguistics skill page for more information about these languages.
Feat and Skill Racial Traits
Ferocity: Orcs gain Endurance as a bonus feat.
Intimidating: Orcs gain a +2 racial bonus to Intimidate skill checks.
Offense Racial Traits
Feral: Orcs gain Survival as a class skill and gain a +1 racial bonus on melee weapon attack and damage rolls when at negative hit points.
Gatecrasher: Orcs gain a +2 racial bonus on Strength checks to break objects and on sunder combat maneuver checks.
Weapon Familiarity: Orcs are always proficient with greataxes, falchions, and scorpion whips, and treat any weapon with the word “orc” in its name as a martial weapon.
Senses Racial Traits
Darkvision: Orcs can see perfectly in the dark up to 60 feet.
Scent: Orcs gain the scent ability.
Weakness Racial Traits
Light Sensitivity: Orcs are dazzled as long as they remain in an area of bright light.
Alternate Racial Traits
Scavenger: Some orcs eke out a leaving picking over the garbage heaps of society, and must learn to separate rare finds from the inevitable dross. Orcs with this racial trait receive a +2 racial bonus on Appraise checks and on Perception checks to find hidden objects (including traps and secret doors), determine whether food is spoiled, or identify a potion by taste. This racial trait replaces gatecrasher.
Squalid: Some orcs exist in surroundings so filthy and pestilent that even other orcs would have difficulty living in them. Orcs with this racial trait gain a +2 racial bonus on saving throws made to resist nausea, the sickened condition, and disease. This racial trait replaces gatecrasher.
There. Much better than core. Let me know what you think.
Until next time.
Thursday, September 28, 2017
Rethinking Fantasy Races - Hybrid Theory
Rethinking Fantasy Races - Slaughtering Your Sacred Minotaurs
We're taking a break from our usual revamps in order to address a pretty big elephant in the room. Hybrids.
Half-elves and half-orcs have been a staple of the genre for a long time. But why just those two? If it's a peculiar quirk of Human genetics, shouldn't we have half-dwarves, half-gnomes, three-quarterlings, et cetera?
Maybe elves, humans, and orcs are just more closely related than some of the other races. Maybe dwarves, gnomes, and halflings fit on their own branch of reproductive compatibility.
Of course, half-ogres and orogs are a thing. That would mean that ogres are more closely related to elves than halflings. Hobbits (the OG halflings) were supposed to have been a subrace of men in Middle Earth.
It's an awful muddled mess. There's no consistency. No pattern. No direction.
The simplest answer is to just say that hybrids are simply not viable, or so rarely viable as to be campfire stories. That's a cop-out decision, though.
So, we can try to establish some general rules. Easy stuff, like things need to be within one size category to be viable. I don't even want to think about the awfulness of a halfling/ogre hybrid.
We could simply say that if it's a humanoid, it can crossbreed, but it somehow feels wrong for a lizardfolk and a human to produce viable offspring. So let's say oviparous and viviparous species are incompatible.
Also, I'm going to be exploring a different (Magic? Technological?) evolutionary path for the "beast races", so let's just say that any race with animalistic features will be biologically incompatible with "standard races". (I have no idea what kobolds should fall under. They don't have an easily defined animalistic origin like catfolk or vanara. Headaches.)
Let's also say that races with the same racial subtype are at least partially compatible. Elves and Dark Elves should be able to produce a child, as should Dwarves and Duergar, etc.
That still gives us a massive range of possible hybrids.
We'll definitely still need to come up with...a chart? I don't know.
I guess, in the spirit of the game, I could just randomly roll reproductive compatibility. That might lead to some legitimately interesting evolutionary history.
As far as the offspring, there's also a lot to consider.
Do we want reciprocal hybrids to exist (ligers/tigons, mules/hinnies, et cetera)? If so, that complicates things further. Reciprocal hybrids tend strongly toward infertility. The interesting quirk of that is Haldane's rule. Certain hybrids are infertile in one gender with the other being fully (usually partially) fertile. This is always the gender with two of the same chromosomes, so in mammals this means that female hybrids are more commonly fertile than males.
What about the reproductive viability of these hybrids? I very much do not want to get into possible racial traits for a quarter elf/quarter orc/half human. The easy answer is to say that all hybrids are infertile. Another cop-out decision. I feel more comfortable with hybrids having restricted viability. So a half-elf would be reproductively viable with elves, half-elves, and humans, but nothing else. That, at least, carries on some genetics and it saves me getting into all the details of numbers of chromosomes and other bioscience that I only have a basic academic knowledge of.
As far as the further breedings, there's always the "One Drop" rule that we could consider, though I don't really care for it. If a hybrid race produces child, that child will just be the hybrid. In the above example, it wouldn't matter if the half-elf mated with an elf, half-elf, or human. The result would always be a half-elf.
So, if this is the case, wouldn't the entire world eventual become these half-races, unable to breed with any other race? I mean, potentially, yeah. This is something even Darwin struggled with. A potential answer is koinophilia.
Koinophilia is, essentially, the natural draw to the thing that is most similar to you. Biological imperative wants you to breed with the most perfect example of your species that you can. Proto-dwarves, therefore, would instinctually have avoided proto-elves because their long spindly limbs would seem weak and fragile. That same instinct carries over even into civilized society. Because early evolution is propelled by the need for survival and propagation, it's just very unlikely to happen. Certainly, there are going to be dwarves that are attracted to elves, but they'll always be biological outliers. The majority of dwarves are going to be attracted to dwarves. Other races are generally going to be too tall, too short, too thin, not enough body hair, can't see in the dark, gods why do they dance so much, et cetera.
All this is to say one thing:
I just don't know.
I've written a lot of words and come to very few conclusions. I suppose, for now, I'll just push hybrids to the background.
I'm not happy about it, but I don't really see a path forward right now. Let me know what you think.
Until next time.
We're taking a break from our usual revamps in order to address a pretty big elephant in the room. Hybrids.
Half-elves and half-orcs have been a staple of the genre for a long time. But why just those two? If it's a peculiar quirk of Human genetics, shouldn't we have half-dwarves, half-gnomes, three-quarterlings, et cetera?
Maybe elves, humans, and orcs are just more closely related than some of the other races. Maybe dwarves, gnomes, and halflings fit on their own branch of reproductive compatibility.
Of course, half-ogres and orogs are a thing. That would mean that ogres are more closely related to elves than halflings. Hobbits (the OG halflings) were supposed to have been a subrace of men in Middle Earth.
It's an awful muddled mess. There's no consistency. No pattern. No direction.
The simplest answer is to just say that hybrids are simply not viable, or so rarely viable as to be campfire stories. That's a cop-out decision, though.
So, we can try to establish some general rules. Easy stuff, like things need to be within one size category to be viable. I don't even want to think about the awfulness of a halfling/ogre hybrid.
We could simply say that if it's a humanoid, it can crossbreed, but it somehow feels wrong for a lizardfolk and a human to produce viable offspring. So let's say oviparous and viviparous species are incompatible.
Also, I'm going to be exploring a different (Magic? Technological?) evolutionary path for the "beast races", so let's just say that any race with animalistic features will be biologically incompatible with "standard races". (I have no idea what kobolds should fall under. They don't have an easily defined animalistic origin like catfolk or vanara. Headaches.)
Let's also say that races with the same racial subtype are at least partially compatible. Elves and Dark Elves should be able to produce a child, as should Dwarves and Duergar, etc.
That still gives us a massive range of possible hybrids.
We'll definitely still need to come up with...a chart? I don't know.
I guess, in the spirit of the game, I could just randomly roll reproductive compatibility. That might lead to some legitimately interesting evolutionary history.
As far as the offspring, there's also a lot to consider.
Do we want reciprocal hybrids to exist (ligers/tigons, mules/hinnies, et cetera)? If so, that complicates things further. Reciprocal hybrids tend strongly toward infertility. The interesting quirk of that is Haldane's rule. Certain hybrids are infertile in one gender with the other being fully (usually partially) fertile. This is always the gender with two of the same chromosomes, so in mammals this means that female hybrids are more commonly fertile than males.
What about the reproductive viability of these hybrids? I very much do not want to get into possible racial traits for a quarter elf/quarter orc/half human. The easy answer is to say that all hybrids are infertile. Another cop-out decision. I feel more comfortable with hybrids having restricted viability. So a half-elf would be reproductively viable with elves, half-elves, and humans, but nothing else. That, at least, carries on some genetics and it saves me getting into all the details of numbers of chromosomes and other bioscience that I only have a basic academic knowledge of.
As far as the further breedings, there's always the "One Drop" rule that we could consider, though I don't really care for it. If a hybrid race produces child, that child will just be the hybrid. In the above example, it wouldn't matter if the half-elf mated with an elf, half-elf, or human. The result would always be a half-elf.
So, if this is the case, wouldn't the entire world eventual become these half-races, unable to breed with any other race? I mean, potentially, yeah. This is something even Darwin struggled with. A potential answer is koinophilia.
Koinophilia is, essentially, the natural draw to the thing that is most similar to you. Biological imperative wants you to breed with the most perfect example of your species that you can. Proto-dwarves, therefore, would instinctually have avoided proto-elves because their long spindly limbs would seem weak and fragile. That same instinct carries over even into civilized society. Because early evolution is propelled by the need for survival and propagation, it's just very unlikely to happen. Certainly, there are going to be dwarves that are attracted to elves, but they'll always be biological outliers. The majority of dwarves are going to be attracted to dwarves. Other races are generally going to be too tall, too short, too thin, not enough body hair, can't see in the dark, gods why do they dance so much, et cetera.
All this is to say one thing:
I just don't know.
I've written a lot of words and come to very few conclusions. I suppose, for now, I'll just push hybrids to the background.
I'm not happy about it, but I don't really see a path forward right now. Let me know what you think.
Until next time.
Thursday, September 21, 2017
Rethinking Fantasy Races Part 09 - Half Jack
Rethinking Fantasy Races - Slaughtering Your Sacred Minotaurs
Halflings. Hobbits, if you're a Tolkien purist. The funny thing is that the modern concept of halflings is actually based on very unusual hobbits. Most hobbits were homebodies, never really caring what was happening outside the Shire. Life was good, why wonder? No, modern halflings are the idealogical spawn of the Bagginses; those strange hobbits who actually enjoyed traveling or, dare I say it, adventuring? That naturally grew into the modern (wildly racist) "halflings are stereotypical gypsies" vibe that they have going on. Shady wanderers with sticky fingers and silver tongues. Fast talkers and snake oil salesmen. It's kind of tragic, even for a fictional race.
Step 1: Concept
I think I want to lean into what Tolkien first intended for hobbits in general. Sure, there will always be Bagginses; outlying exceptions proving the rule*. Those are clearly the halflings that will become adventurers, which is kind of the point of RPGs. I want that functionality to be built into the race without explicitly pushing them that direction.
*As an aside, the word "prove" used to mean "test". The exception that proves the rule isn't the thing that says beyond doubt that the rule is true, it's what makes us consider whether it really is a rule after all. Where my fellow word nerds at?
Step 2: Racial Qualities
TYPE - Humanoid (halfling). Hobbits supposedly shared an ancestor with humans, but we aren't gonna go that route.
SIZE - Small. That's kind of the point.
SPEED - Debatable. I kind of like the idea of them having a base speed equal to humans; faster than their short legs would imply.
ABILITIES - I'm torn again. There's the draw of the shifty conman saying that their base modifiers are dead on. Then there's the draw of the homebody cook telling me that their stats should be more similar to dwarves. I'll revisit this once I see what kind of racial traits we're going with. I honestly didn't expect halflings to be this troublesome which, I suppose, is amusingly appropriate. Underestimated even in mechanical form.
*Okay, coming back here after looking at what other traits I want to give them. I've decided that I'm happy with the +2 to Dexterity, but I'm shifting the +2 Charisma to +2 Wisdom. I'll also be keeping the -2 to Strength. I know I defended gnomes with this, but it feels appropriate on halflings.
LANGUAGES - Standard. Common and Halfling as starters.
Allies are dwarves, elves, gnomes, humans...pretty much anyone that isn't actively trying to kill them. That adds Dwarven, Elven, and Gnome.
Enemies? Let's say orcs, gnolls, and giants. Those feel good to me. So Giant, Gnoll, and Orc.
One more? Umm...Goblin? Why not?
Step 3: Racial Traits
Okay, base halfling traits are as follows:
Fearless (1 RP): Sure.
Lucky, Lesser (2 RP): I can dig it.
Sure-Footed (4 RP): Makes sense.
Weapon Familiarity (1 RP): Word.
Keen Senses (2 RP): Cool.
So...I actually like all of these. Let's see what else sticks.
Acquisitive (2 RP): I like this.
Attentive (2 RP): I really don't want to just toss a bunch of skill bonuses in the pot, but they feel good.
Blessed (1 RP): This feels way better than Fearless.
Driven Worker (4 RP): More skill bonuses...
Ingratiating (6 RP): I like it, but I think I like the more focused nature of Driven Worker better. Let gnomes be generalists, halflings can be specialists.
Low Blow (2 RP): I like it.
Practicality (5 RP): There is a ton of overlap with these traits...
Resourcefulness (5 RP): Way cool. I love unique abilities like this.
Underfoot (4 RP): Dovetails nicely with Low Blow.
Well, let's see how this goes.
HALFLING
Type - Humanoid (halfling) 0 RP
Size - Small 0 RP
Base Speed - Normal 0 RP
Ability Score Modifiers - Standard (+2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, -2 Strength) 0 RP
Languages - Standard 0 RP
Racial Traits
Defense Racial Traits
Lucky, Lesser 2 RP
Underfoot 4 RP
Feat and Skill Racial Traits
Driven Worker 4 RP
Resourcefulness 5 RP
Sure-Footed 4 RP
Offense Racial Traits
Low Blow 2 RP
Weapon Familiarity 1 RP
Senses Racial Traits
Keen Senses 2 RP
That brings us to 24 RP. We can drop Resourcefulness and make Driven Worker an alternate to bring us in line.
That brings our final version to...
Halfling Standard Racial Traits
Ability Score Racial Traits: Halflings are quick and have great natural instincts, but their slight builds don't help much in the way of physical prowess. The gain +2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, and -2 Strength.
Size: Halflings are Small creatures and gain a +1 size bonus to their AC, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, a –1 penalty to their CMB and CMD, and a +4 size bonus on Stealth checks.
Base Speed: Halflings have a base speed of 30 feet.
Languages: Halflings begin play speaking Common and Halfling. Halflings with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Dwarven, Elven, Giant, Gnoll, Gnome, Goblin, and Orc. See the Linguistics skill page for more information about these languages.
Defense Racial Traits
Halfling Luck: Halflings receive a +1 racial bonus on all saving throws.
Underfoot: Halflings gain a +1 dodge bonus to AC against foes larger than themselves and a +1 bonus on Reflex saving throws to avoid trample attacks.
Feat and Skill Racial Traits
Sure-Footed: Halflings receive a +2 racial bonus on Acrobatics and Climb checks.
Offense Racial Traits
Low Blow: Halflings gain a +1 bonus on critical confirmation rolls against opponents larger than themselves.
Weapon Familiarity: Halflings are proficient with slings and treat any weapon with the word “halfling” in its name as a martial weapon.
Senses Racial Traits
Keen Senses: Halflings receive a +2 racial bonus on Perception checks.
Alternate Racial Traits
Driven Worker: Many halfling families have developed techniques to accomplish work faster and more efficiently, whether to contribute to the community or to please overbearing masters. These halflings gain a +4 racial bonus on checks with one Craft, Perform, or Profession skill. This racial trait replaces sure-footed.
I think I can be happy with that. Let me know what you think.
Until next time.
Halflings. Hobbits, if you're a Tolkien purist. The funny thing is that the modern concept of halflings is actually based on very unusual hobbits. Most hobbits were homebodies, never really caring what was happening outside the Shire. Life was good, why wonder? No, modern halflings are the idealogical spawn of the Bagginses; those strange hobbits who actually enjoyed traveling or, dare I say it, adventuring? That naturally grew into the modern (wildly racist) "halflings are stereotypical gypsies" vibe that they have going on. Shady wanderers with sticky fingers and silver tongues. Fast talkers and snake oil salesmen. It's kind of tragic, even for a fictional race.
Step 1: Concept
I think I want to lean into what Tolkien first intended for hobbits in general. Sure, there will always be Bagginses; outlying exceptions proving the rule*. Those are clearly the halflings that will become adventurers, which is kind of the point of RPGs. I want that functionality to be built into the race without explicitly pushing them that direction.
*As an aside, the word "prove" used to mean "test". The exception that proves the rule isn't the thing that says beyond doubt that the rule is true, it's what makes us consider whether it really is a rule after all. Where my fellow word nerds at?
Step 2: Racial Qualities
TYPE - Humanoid (halfling). Hobbits supposedly shared an ancestor with humans, but we aren't gonna go that route.
SIZE - Small. That's kind of the point.
SPEED - Debatable. I kind of like the idea of them having a base speed equal to humans; faster than their short legs would imply.
ABILITIES - I'm torn again. There's the draw of the shifty conman saying that their base modifiers are dead on. Then there's the draw of the homebody cook telling me that their stats should be more similar to dwarves. I'll revisit this once I see what kind of racial traits we're going with. I honestly didn't expect halflings to be this troublesome which, I suppose, is amusingly appropriate. Underestimated even in mechanical form.
*Okay, coming back here after looking at what other traits I want to give them. I've decided that I'm happy with the +2 to Dexterity, but I'm shifting the +2 Charisma to +2 Wisdom. I'll also be keeping the -2 to Strength. I know I defended gnomes with this, but it feels appropriate on halflings.
LANGUAGES - Standard. Common and Halfling as starters.
Allies are dwarves, elves, gnomes, humans...pretty much anyone that isn't actively trying to kill them. That adds Dwarven, Elven, and Gnome.
Enemies? Let's say orcs, gnolls, and giants. Those feel good to me. So Giant, Gnoll, and Orc.
One more? Umm...Goblin? Why not?
Step 3: Racial Traits
Okay, base halfling traits are as follows:
Fearless (1 RP): Sure.
Lucky, Lesser (2 RP): I can dig it.
Sure-Footed (4 RP): Makes sense.
Weapon Familiarity (1 RP): Word.
Keen Senses (2 RP): Cool.
So...I actually like all of these. Let's see what else sticks.
Acquisitive (2 RP): I like this.
Attentive (2 RP): I really don't want to just toss a bunch of skill bonuses in the pot, but they feel good.
Blessed (1 RP): This feels way better than Fearless.
Driven Worker (4 RP): More skill bonuses...
Ingratiating (6 RP): I like it, but I think I like the more focused nature of Driven Worker better. Let gnomes be generalists, halflings can be specialists.
Low Blow (2 RP): I like it.
Practicality (5 RP): There is a ton of overlap with these traits...
Resourcefulness (5 RP): Way cool. I love unique abilities like this.
Underfoot (4 RP): Dovetails nicely with Low Blow.
Well, let's see how this goes.
HALFLING
Type - Humanoid (halfling) 0 RP
Size - Small 0 RP
Base Speed - Normal 0 RP
Ability Score Modifiers - Standard (+2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, -2 Strength) 0 RP
Languages - Standard 0 RP
Racial Traits
Defense Racial Traits
Lucky, Lesser 2 RP
Underfoot 4 RP
Feat and Skill Racial Traits
Driven Worker 4 RP
Resourcefulness 5 RP
Sure-Footed 4 RP
Offense Racial Traits
Low Blow 2 RP
Weapon Familiarity 1 RP
Senses Racial Traits
Keen Senses 2 RP
That brings us to 24 RP. We can drop Resourcefulness and make Driven Worker an alternate to bring us in line.
That brings our final version to...
Halfling Standard Racial Traits
Ability Score Racial Traits: Halflings are quick and have great natural instincts, but their slight builds don't help much in the way of physical prowess. The gain +2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, and -2 Strength.
Size: Halflings are Small creatures and gain a +1 size bonus to their AC, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, a –1 penalty to their CMB and CMD, and a +4 size bonus on Stealth checks.
Base Speed: Halflings have a base speed of 30 feet.
Languages: Halflings begin play speaking Common and Halfling. Halflings with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Dwarven, Elven, Giant, Gnoll, Gnome, Goblin, and Orc. See the Linguistics skill page for more information about these languages.
Defense Racial Traits
Halfling Luck: Halflings receive a +1 racial bonus on all saving throws.
Underfoot: Halflings gain a +1 dodge bonus to AC against foes larger than themselves and a +1 bonus on Reflex saving throws to avoid trample attacks.
Feat and Skill Racial Traits
Sure-Footed: Halflings receive a +2 racial bonus on Acrobatics and Climb checks.
Offense Racial Traits
Low Blow: Halflings gain a +1 bonus on critical confirmation rolls against opponents larger than themselves.
Weapon Familiarity: Halflings are proficient with slings and treat any weapon with the word “halfling” in its name as a martial weapon.
Senses Racial Traits
Keen Senses: Halflings receive a +2 racial bonus on Perception checks.
Alternate Racial Traits
Driven Worker: Many halfling families have developed techniques to accomplish work faster and more efficiently, whether to contribute to the community or to please overbearing masters. These halflings gain a +4 racial bonus on checks with one Craft, Perform, or Profession skill. This racial trait replaces sure-footed.
I think I can be happy with that. Let me know what you think.
Until next time.
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