Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Kraik 03-24-08, 03:55 PM	Hey there I'm doing this topic just to see whether many people out there have a wierd race be a central figure in the founding of their homebrew worlds. I'll give you an example, in my world of Derothikis (Dero for short) Goblins play an extremely central role. After coming through a rift in time and space from their collapsing dimension into this one they built homes on this world. They were called green elves by the general populace, looking like elves except for having a weird skin pigmentation (hence 'Green' Elves). A war started between Green elves and the rest of the world and the great dragon lord Banthi, who was in love with their queen, for the sake of the world, cursed the males to be short, hunched, frail and ugly, with the women still being beauaitul and tall. Banthi was never forgiven by the goblin queen. They are now deminished in number and have split into 2 seperate groups, the barbarians (run of the mill goblins who treat the women like slaves) and nobles (underground cities of goblins which are matriarchal but the women are so high in the hierarchy, they can't leave the cities). They have begun looking for ways to cure their curse, turning to magic (which didn't work after many failed attempts which created hobgoblins) and technology (which also didn't work) and now are looking for divine relics to do what they couldn't. Well, theres my example and i would like to hear about yours, just for curiosities sake. So, what races in your world are really central that many wouldn't consider to be so, it can be a race you've made yourself or one from any number of the sourcebooks, i would like to hear them :D -Kraik
Myria- 03-24-08, 04:17 PM	Neat play environment. Goblins get lotsa love, lol. And Im not sure this fits exactly, not being "race" centered but rather "gender" centered, but here's one: In an area of my group's campaign world, there is a female-dominated society called Rohvianon where males are used as slave labor and for breeding purposes. They are shackled, chained, forced into hard labor (and hard lovin'). The women in this society are Ranger-class wildwomen--athletic, tatoo'd bushmaster types wielding sword and bow (we have dubbed them "Zealots"). They are natural enemies to lizardmen from the nearby Sss'kll Empire, with whom they fight for resources and territory on a small chain of southern islands. My friend whose idea this was says he got some of his 'slave population' ideas from the "Conan" mythology. Anyways, thanks for sharing.
Admiral_Lourve 03-24-08, 04:18 PM	The Drow. Ages ago the deep elves were split from their own kind by a terrible and petty demon that wished to feed on their souls, but luckily for them, their immortal leaders, "The Spider Eaters", destroyed her and rose to divinity. Since then they have acted as warriors against the otherworldy creatures that would dare disturb the realm. They have spread far and wide, leading a nomadic life, often staying in elven forest for a time, then moving onto the dwarven mountian homes. They move in small groups, from about five to ten; they have meeting in their ancestral city "Anash" every twelve years, where they talk about what they have battled and make plans to keep demons at bay. They are considered the diplomats of the dwarf and elf nations. Also, the Spider Eaters for clerics. :p Alignment: Lawful Neutral Portfolio: Drow, battle, victory, defence against demons, nobility, leadership, diplomacy, nomads, wet caverns, dark forests, mushrooms, enduring weeds Domains Darkness, Drow, Spider, Law, Protection, Strength, Travel Favoured Weapon: "Thorn in the *****-Queen's Side" Spear
Kraik 03-24-08, 04:47 PM	Wow, wasn't expecting such quick responses :D And their both very cool ideas, i love the wildwomen idea, kinda like amazons and it really rocks, mind if i use it? i've got an island just off the coast of a continent that would rock as a womans ruled area :D -Kraik
Admiral_Lourve 03-24-08, 04:55 PM	Thanks Kraik, your idea is actually very good, reminds me of some kind of folk fable.
DarthCestual 03-24-08, 09:30 PM	I been kicking around a homebrew setting in the back of my head the last couple of weeks, so in a nutshell, this is what I have for playable races... Humans- Mankind is a race of consumers with powerful planar traveling abilities. Imagine humans like the aliens from Independence Day, they teleport to a world, set up one or two permanent cities, the consume all the resources around the city miles, sending most of what they gather back through dimensional portals to parts unknown, returning every few centuries after the land has had a chance to heal and replenish itself and strip it again. This has left Mankind with an almost boogey-man reputation on worlds they left long ago, as well as prophetic warnings of their return. Stragglers are sometimes left behind, who die off or go native to survive and sometimes thrive on the worlds they're stranded on. It's why humans can be found most anywhere. Oozes- They were the FirstLife. While the world still churned in it's birth, the oozes crept forth. They founded an unimaginable civilization rooted in math and logic but also explored art and philosophy. They shared the world with the Greenfolk who came soon after, and mostly lived peacefully, creating sculptures of acid-shaped rock or plotting the movement of the stars and working out mathematical puzzles. Then the gods came and made lifeforms in myriad solid forms who came with their wicked fire and the oozes fled wherever they couldn't be pursued. Eventually, survival became paramount and their culture forgotten, locked in their subconscious while their focus was to stay alive, hunt, and eat. But after many millenia, something has sparked their memories, and they wish to recapture their lost culture. But there are rumors of activity in the ancient ruins of Men... Greenfolk- A general term for intelligent plant creatures, who seek to protect nature from those that would ravage the land. Transforged- A race of SpellJamming Warforged that travel the stars as mercenaries, merchants, explorers, and warriors. The unique trait of this particular type of Warforged is their ability to take on other forms, typically beasts and monsters that can be found on most D&D worlds. Creatures such as Rust Monsters, Carrion Crawlers, Displacer Beasts, Bullettes and even Beholders. Transforged seem to have an agenda of their own, but no one outside their kind knows what it is. They'll hire themselves out to most anyone for a fair price, most often taking their pay in magic items as their SpellJamming craft are powered by mana furnaces, as so long as the job promises the search of ancient ruins, lost cities, or distant locales. Spectators- A large hive of beholders from the plane of Mechanus established a nation on this world, in an attempt to create the polar opposite of what most beholders are known for. They have created a thriving civilization of non-evil or hatefully insane beholders. They encourage diversity and each seeks to better themselves by exploring many aspects of life and raising the quality of life for their society as a whole. They each relish their uniqueness as facets in the eye of the Great Mother. Other races are welcome in their cities, but are quickly dealt with should they become rowdy. I need one or two more playable races I think to round things out a bit. I'm currently toying with Genasi or some other elemental theme, trolls, or maybe yuan-ti, but nothing has really grabbed me yet.
james_gaines 03-25-08, 01:33 AM	Golgorim- Nephilim-like beings, very charismatic and tough, but very reckless. They stand about 6ft tall, have blue skin, brown hair, and tusks. The males are very flamboyant (sp?), playboy spendthrifts while the women are a bit more, lets say, reasonable. They do fun things with hp. During their lifetime all are haunted by a niggling feeling of loss and depression. Most will go through some really horrible mid-life crisis at one point, which usually involves a long trip into the desert. If they never recover they eventually become Ogre Mages (Note: Ogre mages are not related to Ogres in my game). So for a vague picture, think ogre mage/human hybrid that loves jokes.
Kraik 03-25-08, 08:23 AM	wow, both those ideas seem great and Darthcestual, your ideas seem to be some of the most weird i've heard, yet it seems like it would be a great game to play in, with ooze being a playable race and the idea of humans being planar travelers seems to be one hell of a good idea, i'd go for the campaign setting. And look into mephits as playable races for that elemental type thing you were looking for, though I'm not sure it's exactly what you want, it's just the idea that popped into my head for you. Kepp em' coming people :D -Kraik
Shaso_Fish 03-25-08, 09:53 AM	Its hardly an original idea (heck, its almost blatantly copied), but one of the major races in the campaign I'm running are the Tau from Warhammer 40,000, altered ever-so-slightly to fit in a fantasy setting. Their background is essentially the same (existed on a demi-plane semi-separate from the Material Plane, almost colonized and wiped out by humanity, separated from the rest of the world for hundreds of years, and then rejoined), especially with the point that they have no mages, divine casters, or psions of any kind. Instead, they rely on fairly modern Steampunk-esque technology (kite-planes, trains, anti-material rifles, thermite, etc.) combined with some highly exotic materials (allowing for flying vessels comparable to the Eberronian Airships as well as some more mundane things) to be at a level comparable to most of their foes. Which is good for them, because the (mainland) nation closest to them on the Astral Seas is very intent on capturing one of their leaders...
Rosisha 03-25-08, 10:10 AM	I have Fey Memphits, they have a terrain location, and they then reflect that. Size varies, and abilities. Terrain Types: Mountain Plains Island Ocean Taiga Swamp Forest Jungle Desert Arctic The Fay Memphit then combined elements of animals and plants from that area. For example, an Ocean memphit would be very similar to a bipedal crab, able to stand on its hind legs, and manipulate things with its hands. However, it would also have kelp for hair, and perhaps have bits of coral growing on its shell. The breath weapon was a spray of ink. My other favorite was the taiga, a wolf like memphit with spiky pine needle hair, and tough bark like skin. Their yellow eyes flashed and their breath weapon was an icy cold cloud. Rosisha
Aeolius 03-25-08, 11:20 AM	Technically my game isn't a homebrew; I set my games in the World of Greyhawk. That being said, I tend to focus on either the "Mysterious Places" of Oerth, undersea settings, or a combination of both. When the campaign stipulates that PCs must have a natural swim speed and be able to breathe underwater without magic, all sorts of possibilities present themselves. While typical races include sea elves, merfolk, and locathah, options need not be so provincial. Couple that with the fact that I tend to use hags as both NPC protagonists and antagonists, as inspired by "Ecology of the Greenhag" in DRAGON #125. One neutrally-aligned night hag, now a spirit hag, has been in all of my online games since 1995.
Bobfred21 03-25-08, 11:43 AM	The Dal'Krae It is said, that long ago the Dal'krae thrived on another world. They were incredibly advanced, physically, magically and psionically - well beyond the means of any of the sentient races of Mazoria. But then something happened. A great religious war broke out between the Dal'krae. The war raged for years until finally, one faction rose above the rest. None could stand up to them, and soon enough the other factions had been brought to their knees, with none left to fight. So what was left of these defeated factions rallied under the former queen of the Dal'krae and built great ships with which to travel through the void between worlds and left. But their brothers and sisters would not be so kind as to let them get away. As they fled, a great curse was cast upon them; a genophage. The genophage attacked their bodies and minds in terrible ways, but most of the Dal'krae were powerful enough to fend the sickness off, simply through force of will, they thought nothing of the genophage at first - a failed attack on their people. Soon enough, the Dal'krae realized how terribly wrong they'd been. Though their minds were strong enough to fend off the genophage, the minds of their newborn children could not hope to protect themselves from this terrible illness. Any Dal'krae children would die soon after birth. Mourning for their terrible loss, the Dal'krae finally came to a world called Mazoria and stopped to mourn. It was here that it is said, that a group of Dal'krae philosophers found a way to protect their children, at least for a time. The Dal'krae constructed a great tower at the heart of their new city, and a great many went into a permenant sleep in order to connect their minds to this great tower - this great beacon, that they had constructed. This beacon allowed them to extend their consciousness and defend their children's minds, at least partially from the genophage, albeit at the cost of doing so for the rest of their lives. This solution however, was not perfect and though the Dal'krae children would now survive, they would never be able to reach their potential. The Dal'krae were a very long lived race, capable of living for thousands of years -but not their children; not anymore. Soon enough the originals realized that even they, in their advanced state could not fight off the genophage forever - slowly, but surely their minds would slip and their bodies would begin to waste. Those lucky enough and smart enough to take precautions, the queen among them, build great sleeping sarcophaci and put themselves into a deep slumber, in the hopes that one day they're brethren will find a cure for the genophage and they may wake to resume their lives. Now there are very few, if any originals left, those who didn't sleep died and all that remain are the ill-fated children of the Dal'krae, doomed to die either by violence or to the genophage, though the originals were capable of living for thousands of years their children are lucky to eke out 400 hundred before the genophage takes their minds and destroys their bodies. Yet they live on, in the hopes that one day, they will be free.
Naderion 03-25-08, 11:53 AM	There are a couple of custom races in my setting, some of them more original than others. :D The Erynir are one of the probably very few really original creations you see today. I started with the intention of creating a distinctly new race, that doesn't copy the general idea of any existing race. I basicaly started with a blank humanoid and added attributes I thought fun and as I added aspects, the whole thing was slowly getting shape and its own identity. :D The Erynir are a race of humanoids, which are on average slightly taller than dwarves at 1,40m, making them tall in comparison with small races, but noticeably short for medium-sized creatures. In appearance, they are similar to elves, but have pale but rich green skin and black to very dark brown hair. They are not aquatic creatures, but can breath in water, though they are not adopted to prolonged live underwater. They are a tribal society that lives semi-nomadic in woodlands and mostly sticking to rivers or lakes as campsites, where they stay for some months before relocating. They have a habbit of eating small fishs raw, of which they think no different than eating an apple, but often appears slightly unsettling to others. Their most prominent and least desireable trait is their strong tendency for complete ignorance of the customs and social rules of other cultures. They refuse to follow any customs other than their own and many people actually belive they do it on purpose just because they think it fun. Needles to say, this makes them very unwelcomed guests almost everywhere, but they can be quite tolerable when dealing with them on neutral ground and they are reasonable enough to cooperate with others in times of mutual dangers. But they are not generally unlikeable and can be quite nice company, if one learns to live their excentricies. They are quite agile and make very good ranger or rogues, if they are accustomed to civilization. Another major race are the Beast Men (not final name). They are strong humanoids about 2m in highth and taller with some canine and feline features. Their bodies are completely covered in short coarse fur of sand color, and practically all of them have long manes in darker shades. Both males and females possess a pair of goat-like horns, which protude from above their brows and arch backwards to the upper back of their heads. Beside their considerable strength (+2 Str and Con) they have also extremely powerful legs and are very skilled climbers (+4 racial bonus on climb and jump). They are a wild race and often hot-blooded, though not exactly savage. Their homelands are often the lower reaches of northern mountain ranges or the nearby forests. Though they generally prefer to be left alone, they are not outright hostile towards temporary visitors and in many places in the northern lands, some of them have started a live as mercenaries or dock-workers. Though much smaller in number, they hold very well against the orcs that share their homelands, but often clash violently with packs of gnolls. Then there's my own version of Deep Ones/Kuo-toa/Murlocs, but they are about the same thing they have been for the past 80 years. The seniakai are a race of reptilian humanoids with the lower bodies of snakes (yes, this also isn't a particulary new concept). They ruled over most realms in the age of the reptilian empires, but even 12,000 years later have a lot of influence over large parts of the lizardfolk populations. There are four subraces of seniakai: The nobles, which have many magical abilities; the guardians, which are considerably taller and stronger than any other seniakai and serve as elite troops; the common soldiers, which are similar to the nobles, but have no magical powers; and the servants, which are slightly smaller than average humans and only have the intellect of average lizardmen. The noble senikai, though few in nubers these days, are among the most powerfull arcanists of the world, rivaling the elven mages. Their palace cities are located mostly in the foothills of huge mountain ranges which are surrounded by thick jungles, so their contact with human, elven, and dwarven kingdoms is mostly very limited. The Giant Fey (another name not final), are a race of humanoids which could be described as civilized ogres, though they are much more human-like in shape. They are 2,20 to 2,40 in height and have very pale green skin. Obviously they are very strong, but also surprisingly agile for their size. They have probably descended from fey, but are not related in any way to ogres, trolls or giants. They live in ancient castles on secluded mountains, but are not as rare in civilized lands to be considered legendary. Though most of them are of the intellectual type, few of them are shy to make use of their strengths and two-handed maces are their favorite weapon, followed by massiv greatswords whith which they can completely devestate forces of smaller foes like goblins. They are very skilled at eldritch magic (a blend of arcane and druidic magic) and wear elaborate clothing, but most prefer rather simple lives in their mountain homes, hunting in the wilds or collecting legends and songs, rather then pouring over tomes or taking part in the political events of the world. Their culture is ancient and most of them belive that it endured because they kept a low profile as a race and don't worry about archieving power in the outside world.
JulesCARV 03-25-08, 06:39 PM	IMC, aboleths were very important. Until about seven centuries ago, they basically ruled the world (at least, the humanoid world -- dragons and the like could afford to ignore them). They took over in the distant past, and used the world as a research station -- hybridizing various species, trying out various psionic or magical powers, etc. They didn't really care about ruling, and were mostly in it out of "scientific" interests, so mostly they just had human/elf/gnome/goblin/etc vassals who did the day-to-day ruling in their name, sending a few prisoners and such their way upon request. The global network of humanoid vassal-kingdoms created by the aboleths is responsible for he prevelance of the copper/silver/gold/platinum coinage system and denomination weigh of 1/50th of a pound (9.07 grams), a system agreed upon by all of the humanoid vassal-kingdoms to facilitate trade, and for the prevalence of common as a language. (Originally it was the language of just one medium-sized human tribe, which was enslaved by drow, but when the drow originally tried to resist the aboleths, and the aboleths quickly put them in their place and liberated the humans, the human tribals subsequently became such enthusiastic collaborators with the aboleths that they spread throughout the world as administrators and enforcers of the aboleth cause, spreading their language with them.) Eventually, thanks mainly to the incompetence of their humanoid vassals, many humanoids began to resist the system the aboleths had put in place. The aboleths eventually concluded that the cost of retaining the world wasn't worth it for their research, so they left. There was a lot of history before the aboleths came, but the aboleths basically tried to create the illusion that the world had always been ruled by aboleths into the infinite past, and always would be into the infinite future, so they basically tried to suppress the evidence of anything before their arrival. They didn't get everything -- there are still some ruins and artifacts from the civilizations that existed before the aboleths came, but no one knows much about them, and they don't have any "official" history. As a result, the "history" of this world is rather short in comparison to most fantasy worlds -- there are only about 1,400 years of recorded history. (the world is about 750 years after the aboleths left and were trying to keep the world in "historical stasis," and some elderly elves recorded what they remembered of the previous 600-something years of aboleth rule just after the aboleths left) Some dragons, extremely ancient undead, etc, know, but usually they either weren't paying attention to what most people would consider relevant (i.e., "Sure, as an ancient silver dragon, I was alive 5,000 years ago, but I wasn't really looking at what a bunch of humanoids were doing on ground. I was tracking the movement of the stars. Now, if you want to know about the motions of the stars 3,937 years ago, then I have some very detailed records, but about a bunch of humanoids killing each other and declaring themselves kings? Who cares about that stuff?") or they aren't talkative. (I.e., an ancient vampire who keeps her very existence secret.) At the beginning the game, while the vassal kingdoms created by the aboleths tried to maintain their rule after the aboleths left, and a few of them have continued to hold on even to the present, most of them have fallen. Sometimes, they're just replaced by anarchy and warlords. Sometimes other, more stable arrangements (durable kingdoms, theocracies, republics, etc) have arisen. Overall, perhaps about 30% of the world was never really ruled by the aboleth system (wild or extremely isolated rural areas), 40% was once ruled by aboleths, but is now in a state of anarchy (many inhabitants of such are likely to look upon the aboleth age as a semi-mythical golden age), about 10% are kingdoms that were originally part of the aboleth system that have managed to retain their rule seven centuries after they've departed, and about 20% have some new form of stable rule. For a while, I've wanted to incorporate anthropomorphic animal/furry types. They're not really central to a campaign, they wouldn't replace "normal" races like elves, goblins, etc, and they aren't super-important, but I figured that they seem like they ought to exist in some form, since they're a common part of the fantasy genre in the same sense as ogres, unicorns, vampires etc, and they're also reasonably popular among players as a PC race. I'm figuring they'd be a result of aboleth experimentation.
Naderion 03-26-08, 07:41 AM	I use aboleths as the very first race that archieved dominance over large parts of the world and the one who ever got closest to that goal. But that's at least 30.000 years ago and history didn't really start before 12.000 years ago.
Rinian2 03-28-08, 04:56 AM	I had a campaign a while back where the elves and the treants were mortal descendants of a race called the Verdan. The Verdan were the undying forests of ancient days and, as is often the case, something went awry and the Verdan discovered that they were producing a worryingly small amount of young (or saplings as I called them). There were many experiments that the Verdan tried before two main branches were established. The first was the more accepted which was to maintain the treeness of the Verdan by grafting parts of themselves onto various other species of plants. This branch produced the treant. The other branch was despised by most Verdan. The aim of this branch was to suffuse animals with the essense of the Verdan. The most successful result of this branch was the elves. The Verdan became silent but one or two still live deep within the unexplored forests. As a side effect of the Verdan's struggles to survive, there are many more Plant type creatures and wooden items can be enchanted more easily.
DarthCestual 03-28-08, 09:48 PM	And look into mephits as playable races for that elemental type thing you were looking for, though I'm not sure it's exactly what you want, it's just the idea that popped into my head for you.-Kraik I hadn't considered mephits, but that did give me a bit of inspiration, and I tend to come up with my own stuff, since I lack the encyclopedic knowledge of most D&D gamers.;) So, I bring... Gobbosai- The goblins of this world are touched by the elemental planes. The season a gobbosai was born in determines their element. Spring=Air - Their skin colors range from pale grays, to light blues and greens. Summer=Fire - Fire gobbosai have skin colors of light yellows to deep reds. Autumn= Earth - Skin tones of tans to dark browns mark the gobbosai of fall. Winter= Water - Water gobbosai colors range from white to deep blue. I'm sure there's templates I can apply for simplicities sake, and I'd allow players to pick from appropriate para-elemental abilities as well. I picture the gobbosai as one of the economic/political superpowers, with several large industrialized cities and dozens of smaller towns & villages that constantly bicker between each other. Conflicts range from political intrigue, trade disputes, family feuds, and flat out wars. Only one ancient human city is in the gobbosai territory, the majority being in the northern and eastern continents. This one however has had a massive fortress built around it ages ago by the gobbosai nations as a precaution against Humanity's return. Over the years however, with the increased tensions between gobbosai cities, the fortress over the years have been staffed by fewer and fewer troops, and at this point, it has little more than a skeleton crew to watch the ruins.
Kraik 03-29-08, 07:36 AM	Sounds cool Cestual :D good idea there and ofr everyone else, your ideas sound really good, especially the aboleth one by julesCARV, it interests me a lot and sounds like a really good idea for a campaign world :D Rainans idea also seems extremely interesting, with elves being the outcasts of their old society, sounds cool :D Keep them coming guys, i like hearing about all your weird races and background stories -Kraik