Post/Author/DateTime	Post
PenderGrass 09-11-03, 02:32 PM	So, you are the DM - and you want this game to be 'different' - looking at your racial list you see that you want to 'modify' the standard races.... how do you do that? Ideas in the DMG run the gamut of modifying the size, indigenous environment, and so forth.... But you want something really cool - like legless elves that have been cursed by some demonic power for the last 500 centuries to be born with no legs..... How would you, the DM - or how have you, the DM - change the base races?
Kalanth 09-11-03, 02:40 PM	The only real chages I can think of that I did are these. I made Half-Elves a barbaric people because that when a Half-Elf is born they are cast out and left to die. I made the Orcs the most magical and magically inclinded race on the planet. Halflings train Tyrannosauruses as their riding beasts. And finally, Ogres are the leaders in the intelectual world.
Erus 09-11-03, 02:44 PM	I've been toying with a shapeshifting race, able to shapeshift into any humanoid of their same size at will.... still working on the ins and outs of it. As far as core races, I've left them pretty standard in my game other than the fact that an elf is an elf is an elf... Just because you grew up in the woods or on a tall hill or in a boat does not change the fact that you are just an elf. Erus
kalniel 09-11-03, 02:47 PM	You can create a tolkein-esque setting: Elfs are usually lawful, very tall and powerful. Humans are chaotic. Add a high man type race (or use the half elf for this) that are lawful and stronger & more cha than normal men. Half elfs are very very very very rare, but powerful.
Kalanth 09-11-03, 02:47 PM	Originally posted by Erus I've been toying with a shapeshifting race, able to shapeshift into any humanoid of their same size at will.... still working on the ins and outs of it. Check the rules on the Irda in the DLCS, you may like them for this purpose.
Erus 09-11-03, 03:00 PM	Originally posted by Kalanth Check the rules on the Irda in the DLCS, you may like them for this purpose. Really? I am a self-proclaimed old timer and when the DL stuff first came out it was all based on the books. Good stuff, however the adventures published were the worst Railroading storyhour types ever printed so I had sworn them off. Should I be looking at the new DLCS? or the old hardcover? Erus
Kalanth 09-11-03, 03:09 PM	Originally posted by Erus Really? I am a self-proclaimed old timer and when the DL stuff first came out it was all based on the books. Good stuff, however the adventures published were the worst Railroading storyhour types ever printed so I had sworn them off. Should I be looking at the new DLCS? or the old hardcover? Erus The new DLCS has a very well laid out ruling on how the Irda can do the shapechanging. It may provide you with good groundrules for a shapechanging race. Personally I am very pleased with the way it works, and I have an Irda in my campaign right now. I am very pleased with the results.
Fixxxer 09-11-03, 03:44 PM	Well, there are several varying degrees of change. For instance, on the lower side of the spectrum, the drow in my world are mainly homosexual agorophobes. This doesn't change the race mechanically, but it's an obvious difference all the same. Somewhere near the middle of the spectrum are the orcs in my world. They're still rather barbaric, but they have developed cities, culture, family units and even artisans. Orcs in my world can be easily compaired to klingons. There's still no real mechanical change in the race, but there's an obvious social change, which may influence the way certain mechanics are treated. On the higher end of the spectrum are the elves from a game I once played in breifly. In this game, elves were 3ft tall and green. They were mischivous, but helpful little beings who usually remained invisible to the naked eye. They didn't fight or use weapons or even tools because they had no use for them...their magic did everything for them. They were also immortal and possessed the same wish ability that solars have. This is a major change. The race itself has been completely rewritten. All of the abilities have been changed or removed and the physical charactaristics have been seriously altered beyond a simple evolution.
Nerfix 09-11-03, 03:53 PM	In my setting, Elves, who are mostly extinct, were simply put nazis. Nazi Elves. "WE SHALL DESTROY THOSE HALFBREED MONGRELS!"
Dudeeehm 09-11-03, 03:57 PM	While you wish your elves to be legless, I wish mine would stop being Legolas.
Al-Ashrad 09-11-03, 04:13 PM	"While you wish your elves to be legless, I wish mine would stop being Legolas." Hehe... what, no Drizzt? As for races, I added two different one to my world, but they're both pretty rare. First, I took the "Rakasta" monther from X1: the Isle of Dread, and made them a race. I gave them a few bonuses and a few penalties (can't remember what they are exactly... I'm at work). They're mostly nomadic, and live in plains areas, kind of like Mongols. Their patron diety is the goddess of luck, so they are tricksters to an extent. The other race I implemented is the Skaven from Warhammer Fantasy Battles (gee, I hope GW doesn't sue me... hehe). Statistic-wise, they're similar to Rakasta (fast, nimble), but Skaven live in cities, mostly in slums areas, sewers, and marshes. They live in disease-ridden areas (their patron diety is the god of disease), and have pretty good saves against disease and poison. -Al-Ashrad
LordArkan 09-11-03, 04:26 PM	Originally posted by PenderGrass But you want something really cool - like legless elves that have been cursed by some demonic power for the last 500 centuries to be born with no legs..... So they're half-elves? *ducks* /can't believe no one else said that first...
kryus 09-11-03, 04:27 PM	I hear ya Al-Ashrad. We had a monk after crouching tiger hidden dragon and before that a mercenary general from gladiator. I digress. My PCs have recently been teleported to a desert. Some of the inhabitants are elves with bronze skin and white hair. I'll admit to being influenced by Dune Fremmen and possibly the wheel of time's people of the dragon. Geological location has greatly influenced the these elves. They make weapons from the vermin (scorpion and such) that live in the desert. Loyalty to the clan is very important. etc... Each clan had it's specificity to better survive as the desert is very harsh.
PenderGrass 09-11-03, 04:50 PM	So they're half-elves? :D
rayan4d2 09-11-03, 05:03 PM	I did an awful lot to all my races There are a race of hairy dwarves that live in the norther wastes, a race of albino elves that reflect the harsh desert sun away from their bodies, dividing gnomes into the tinkering rock gnomes and the woodland forest gnomes. I've created a frog-like lizardfolk called the Golg and a lemure based people of the south called the Sulari. There are the shadow elves who long ago lost their shadows to a strange curse and are struggling to become whole again. As my world develops I hope to make a few more.
SmiloDan 09-11-03, 05:04 PM	I made an ancient predecessor to the orcs called the auric. They are golden skinned with cinnamon colored eyes, very civilized, and very community oriented. They get +2 Wis and -2 Cha, their favored class is monk, have lowlight vision, +2 on Search, Sense Motive, and Spot, and, um, I forgot what else, but it was cool. Oh yeah, +1 on Saving Throws versus the spells, spell-like abilities, and supernatural abilities of chaotic creatures.
Vaalingrade Ashland 09-11-03, 05:41 PM	half elves are a viable race IMC, centuries of breeding and interbreeding have led to half elves surpassing humans as most populus within ten years in game time. No goblinoids (meaning no orcs/half-orcs) for plot reasons. No gnomes, because I folded gnomes, halfings and kender into one super chibi race of mechanistic pickpockets. I have cat people and cat girls, plus an angel race.
PhaedrusXY 09-11-03, 05:51 PM	Originally posted by Kalanth The new DLCS has a very well laid out ruling on how the Irda can do the shapechanging. It may provide you with good groundrules for a shapechanging race. Personally I am very pleased with the way it works, and I have an Irda in my campaign right now. I am very pleased with the results. Cool man, I really liked the story of the Irda. I played one once in a 2nd ed game, but stayed in a single humanoid form almost all the time. My party never did know I was an Irda IC. :D A game I'm playing in now is set in an alternate fantasy version of Rennaisance Earth. The gods of various regions decided to create their idealized races at some point in the ancient past. The Olympian's created elves. Also, something happened to prevent the rise of Judeo-Christian religion, so all the old pagan faiths from ancient Greece, Babylon, Syria, and the like are still what everyone holds to. It's pretty interesting. The elves were culturally like the ancient romans were, but their civilization has been destroyed somehow and there are very few full blooded elves left.
Trent_Bladesong 09-11-03, 07:41 PM	So they're half-elves? A pun! I love it!:D
Fixxxer 09-11-03, 11:29 PM	Originally posted by LordArkan So they're half-elves? Ooooooh, :D Edited for masked vulgarity. -Pony
Thyrwyn 09-12-03, 07:51 AM	Would they be considered Small Creatures - since they are two feet shorter?
PenderGrass 09-12-03, 09:30 AM	In this pun fun, I think my elves don't stand a chance as they don't have a leg to stand on..... My Aquatic Legless Elves are called Bawb....
Aeolius 09-12-03, 09:53 AM	Originally posted by PenderGrass ...Aquatic Legless Elves.... All puns aside, I envision a community of aquatic elves who have adapted to a life similar to that of a hermit crab; the remains of their lower torsos would be protected by large conch shells. Alternately, perhaps they have learned an arcane manner to utilize the tauric template; resulting in a race of octopoid sea elves. Perhaps the elves made a pact with a xerfilstyx devil, resulting in a planetouched subspecies that is half nudibranch.
Erus 09-12-03, 10:12 AM	I wanna play a forest roaming legless woodelf named Russel Thank you Kalanth for the info... I will grab it this weekend and give it a read. Erus
tarkin 09-12-03, 03:41 PM	Originally posted by Vaalingrade Ashland ... I have cat people and cat girls, plus an angel race. Wow. Both cat people AND cat girls. those cat people must be pretty prejudiced to think that cat girls don't count as cat people. Whent he cat girls get older are they allowed to join the cat people?
PenderGrass 09-12-03, 03:59 PM	Where the heck is CatWoman - rrrrrrrrrrrrrrRRRow!!!:D
AlteredEgo 09-12-03, 05:10 PM	So you've gone beyond nerfing elves and straight into kneecapping them? :D I like the hermit crab idea...boost that natural armor bonus! :) On my own races, the worst I've done is given Dwarves prehensile beards...
Kalanth 09-12-03, 05:14 PM	Originally posted by AlteredEgo On my own races, the worst I've done is given Dwarves prehensile beards... A man after my own heart. Giving the Dwarfs a super power that has always been a favorite of mine from the old Classic Marvel Super Heroes RP, Prehensile Hair! Whoo-Hoo!!!
LordArkan 09-13-03, 02:06 AM	Originally posted by Fixxxer Ooooooh, :D I feel loved!!! :pile: Edited for quoted masked vulgarity. -Pony
Dartanel 09-13-03, 02:36 AM	For my part, I reworked the races based upon the history of my campaign world. The races were each the creation of a specific deity, so they have subraces which relfect the deity's portfolio. The Dwarves were made by the goddess of the Earth and the Beasts. Thus their two subraces are the standard dwarves, and surface dwelling dwarves with a strong affinity toward animals. The Elves were created by the god of magic, beauty, love, and fire. And there is a subrace for each aspect of that. The major change in this is that the elves are not associated with nature in any way. The Gnomes were the creation of the goddess of the waters and the plants. There's a species which is made to defend each of the lands she holds sacred (forests, rivers, seas, etc.) This makes most gnomes far more wilderness oriented than normal gnomes. The Halflings were the creation of the god of air, night, and protection. Mechanically their subraces aren't very different (except for the Sunlings) but stylistically they are very different. They're hunters and spies rather than gypsies and robbers. The humans were the creations of the goddess of darkness and evil, but they turned from her. Mechanically they're the same, but they all serve a subordinate role among their fellow races, filling niches within the societies of the other races. Most importantly, though, all the races breed true with all the other ones. Except Elf/Gnome (fire & water don't mix) and Halfing/Dwarf (Earth/Air) Standard half elves were replaced completely, and a whole set of half-breed races were written up. Human blood has an amplifying effect on the natural tendencies of the race they breed with. Half-humans are generally more primal and unstanble then their parents. For example, the half-human elves are known as the Sirra Homnae (Burning Men) They are beings of tremendous magical power, trapped in bodies too frail to contain it. Their ability with magic is unmatched, but their bodies slowly break down until they finally self-destruct under their own magical power.
Yankee 09-13-03, 03:36 AM	I changed the three Goblinoid races (goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears) to Fae. This was mainly for plot reasons, and partly so rangers who had favoured enemy fae would be less ripped off.
TaisharMalkier 09-13-03, 04:59 AM	Originally posted by Al-Ashrad The other race I implemented is the Skaven from Warhammer Fantasy Battles (gee, I hope GW doesn't sue me... hehe). Statistic-wise, they're similar to Rakasta (fast, nimble), but Skaven live in cities, mostly in slums areas, sewers, and marshes. They live in disease-ridden areas (their patron diety is the god of disease), and have pretty good saves against disease and poison. -Al-Ashrad Hey, any chance you can do me a favor and post the rules you used for skaven? I play skaven for warhammer and I'd get a kick out of playing one for D+D (if I can get someone else to DM ;p). Also, don't have other materials you referenced. Thanks Cheers
Al-Ashrad 09-15-03, 06:21 PM	"Hey, any chance you can do me a favor and post the rules you used for skaven?" Sure thing. The rules are not much though... Skaven +2 DEX -2 CHA Low-Light Vision Base Speed 40ft. Medium Size +2 racial save bonus v. disease +2 bonus to listen, hide, search and spot checks Auto languages- Skaven and Common Bonus languages- Orcish, Giant, Gnoll, Goblin & Draconic Favored Class: Rogue -Al Ashrad