Racial Heritage Templates [D&D 3.5]

[Mordenkainen]

For a campaign I was thinking of running, I thought it would be interesting to use a "racial template" design. The idea is that after hundreds of years, the races other than humans have become extinct, due either to breeding with humans to extinction of the race or natural catastrophe. Either way, the blood of these ancient races would still run through the humans many years later, giving them racial templates that could be applied to their characters. Here's what I have so far:

A Few Notes
The following templates are not meant to be powerful, but just small quirky things in a fairly low-magic campaign. One of the reasons for this is that the players will already be getting the extra feat and extra skill points from being humans and I didn't want them to be overpowered. The other reason for this is because the characters would not have had exposure to the cultures and societies of their roots: For instance, the dwarven template would have the inborn qualities of a dwarf like ability score bonuses and penalties, poison resistance, and so on, but not the cultural qualities, like Stonecunning, their attack bonuses against goblinoids, the bonus on Appraise checks, and so on.

Races
If you would randomly like to determine if your character has racial heritage to any of the races, roll a d10 and refer to the chart below. If you have already decided on a template, skip this step.

{table=head] Roll | Template
1-5 | None
6 | Dwarven
7 | Elven
8 | Gnome
9 | Halfling
10 | Orc
[/table]

Dwarven Heritage
You are shorter and stouter than most people you know. You are tougher than your friends can stand up to much punishment. However, you are often surly and aloof and act coldly towards strangers, but you are a true friend to those that are close to you.

Racial Traits:
+1 Constitution, -1 Charisma
Darkvision 20 ft: Unlike many humans you have the amazing ability to see in the dark.
+2 to avoid being bull rushed or tripped while standing on the ground
+1 on saving throws against poison
+1 bonus on saving throws against spells and spell-like effects

Elven Heritage
You are graceful and impressive, with sharp features and a striking figure. However beautiful you may be, you are still arrogant and are slow to make friends. When given a task, however, you are relentless and precise, and will get the job done quickly and efficiently.

Racial Traits:
Low Light Vision: Even in areas of low light, you can see twice as far as you normally can.
+1 Dexterity, -1 Constitution
+3 against sleep spells and effects and a +2 bonus against enchantment spells
+1 bonus on Listen, Search, and Spot

Gnome Heritage
You are short and jovial, finding humor where others can't. You are also known for your inquisitive nature and curious personality. You will stop at nothing to answer a question, no matter how far it will take you.

Racial Traits:
+1 Constitution, -1 Strength
+2 racial bonus against illusions
+1 DC to illusion spells*
+2 bonus on Listen
+2 bonus on Craft (alchemy)

*In this particular campaign world, arcane magic is hated and feared. Though a gnome has this power that is potentially able to be unlocked, it is unlikely that he would use it because of this.

Halfling Heritage
You are short, but surprisingly social, getting along well with most everyone in town. You are known for settling disputes and quarrels, and are generally considered a lighthearted fellow.

Racial Traits:
+1 Dexterity, -1 Strength
+1 on Climb, Jump, Listen, and Move Silently checks
+1 on all saving throws
+1 on saving throws against fear

Orc Heritage
You are strong and aggressive, but are somewhat crude and dense. You are well known for your strength in battle, but not very well liked. You are also very impulsive and have a primal instinct to fight when you are insulted.

Racial Traits:
+2 Strength, -1 Intelligence, -1 Charisma
Darkvision 30 ft: Unlike many humans you have the amazing ability to see in the dark.


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Well, this was in my head for a while and I wanted to get it out there. Thoughts?

EDIT:

Orc Strength bonus is decreased to +1; Intelligence and Charisma penalty incread to -1
Dwarven darkvision upped to 30 ft.

[LordErebus12]

i for one like it

[Virdish]

Only problem I see is that this would make anyone with a racial template strictly better then a standard person since they still get their bonus feat and skills plus goodies.

[LordErebus12]

Only problem I see is that this would make anyone with a racial template strictly better then a standard person since they still get their bonus feat and skills plus goodies.


i say make every single human to have this template. since the entire place is mostly humans.

[Mordenkainen]

Only problem I see is that this would make anyone with a racial template strictly better then a standard person since they still get their bonus feat and skills plus goodies.


i say make every single human to have this template. since the entire place is mostly humans.

Now that I look at it, yes, I should do away with the random system. Adventurers represent the top 1% of people with amazing genetic makeup (explaining why their more powerful than the average commoner). Because of this, I think that I may do away with the random heritages and instead let the players choose their own, keeping in mind that the average commoner would have a much lower chance of having such heritage. The heritages could also explain why adventurers are stronger than average people and why they can do such amazing things (in case you can't tell, this always bugged me in D&D).

By the way, the reason why I let people play humans without racial heritages is to limit the supernatural. In that specific world, magic is hated and feared and the ability to see in the dark could be seen as dark magic. Theoretically, the characters with these gifts could be persecuted if their powers were discovered.

[Vadskye]

By the way, the reason why I let people play humans without racial heritages is to limit the supernatural. In that specific world, magic is hated and feared and the ability to see in the dark could be seen as dark magic. Theoretically, the characters with these gifts could be persecuted if their powers were discovered.

Offering a tradeoff between clearly defined power in the present and abstract, poorly-defined downsides at some point in the future seldom goes well.

That aside, I think you've done a good job with all of these, save that "Orc heritage" is inordinately good. Unless you intend for orc parentage to be significantly more common than a typical D&D setting would assume, I'd take it down to +1 Strength.

[Mordenkainen]

Offering a tradeoff between clearly defined power in the present and abstract, poorly-defined downsides at some point in the future seldom goes well.

That aside, I think you've done a good job with all of these, save that "Orc heritage" is inordinately good. Unless you intend for orc parentage to be significantly more common than a typical D&D setting would assume, I'd take it down to +1 Strength.

In case you can't tell, this idea has gone through multiple stages of varying complexity, and that's the reason some things seem incongruent, especially things involving the chance of having no heritage. The way I think I'll handle it is that all characters can choose a heritage (including if they don't want one, though, as you said, that would be odd) and not have one randomly determined.

Also, regarding the orc, the reason I gave him +2 Strength rather than +1 was because I had realized how much better the other races were. Half orcs were perhaps one of the most cheated of the races in 3.5 (though regular orcs were really good) in that they got a bonus in strength, a penalty in charisma and intelligence, and darkvision, while the other races got equivalent abilities, and bonuses galore. However, I forgot that since the specific campaign these were made for is low-magic, a bonus in Strength is much more valuable than a bonus in many of the other stats, so I think I will downgrade the Strength bonus to +1. On another note, I think I'll also boost the dwarven darkvision to 30 ft instead of the 20 I gave them.

[Vadskye]

Sounds fair. I'd just say that I think the weakness of the half-orc was an intentional design decision to represent the fact that half-orcs should be rarer from a fluff perspective than all of the other races; that's why it got so cheated. But lowering the dwarf (even by a little bit) is a good idea; it already gets a pretty sweet deal.

[Mordenkainen]

Since this heritage would have already been rare, it is unlikely that Orc Heritage would have been even more so.