DM'ing la vita loca

[idksocrates]

Right now, i'm trying to shake things up with my core races. I've already added a few homebrew to the rules, but i want to do more with the cores. Mostly i want to deal with the fluff - stats are nice and all, but the fluff is what i really want to change.
soem of the ideas i had was to make the Duergar an "arcane" dwarf rather than a "gray" dwarf, and i made the Orcs more of a martial neutral nature-oriented race rather than an evil barbaric one.

What are some examples of what you guys have done with your core races to spice things up (and de-tolkienize things)?

[Beholden_Caulfield]

This belongs in the homebrew forum.

Also, "La Vida Loca."

[Brickwall]

I screw around with gnomes occasionally. They can be tweaked for true awesomeness if you don't play with racists.

[TheThan]

I’ve made my dwarves a desert dwelling species with a Arabic feel to them ( 101 Arabian nights etc). I turned the gnomes into a south seas barbarian race. Humans, I basically left alone, let’s see. Elves were refugees from a kingdom that was destroyed by a magical accident. I haven’t tweaked the halfings or the half elves, the half orcs I need to re-work.

[BCOVertigo]

Would you consider it racist to have added a SQ called Stillborn(Ex) to all the gnomes in my campaign? Cause it seems to have fixed my only objection about them.

[idksocrates]

Would you consider it racist to have added a SQ called Stillborn(Ex) to all the gnomes in my campaign? Cause it seems to have fixed my only objection about them.

yes. i believe i would.

[Jarl]

I redid the whole thing. There's two kinds of elf, orcs are fuzzy taller versions of elves, gnomes are half elf, half dwarf (and so are kobolds, thanks to the "two kinds of elf" thing), and basically all species can interbreed.
It's actually weird I would say "species" since that implies they can't interbreed (which they can), but WotC calls them "races", implying they can interbreed (which, as any given orc and elf will immediately tell you they can't).

-And I still haven't settled on a name for half-orcs yet. Everytime I think I've got one, it sticks for a week, tops. I've gone through Uruk, Daiest, Hourc, and even Kappa, and I still haven't settled.

[idksocrates]

This belongs in the homebrew forum.

Also, "La Vida Loca."

my bad. if one of the mods want to move it, they can.

also, i figured i was spelling it wrong, i just thought it sounded cool.


I redid the whole thing. There's two kinds of elf, orcs are fuzzy taller versions of elves, gnomes are half elf, half dwarf (and so are kobolds, thanks to the "two kinds of elf" thing), and basically all species can interbreed.
It's actually weird I would say "species" since that implies they can't interbreed (which they can), but WotC calls them "races", implying they can interbreed (which, as any given orc and elf will immediately tell you they can't).

-And I still haven't settled on a name for half-orcs yet. Everytime I think I've got one, it sticks for a week, tops. I've gone through Uruk, Daiest, Hourc, and even Kappa, and I still haven't settled.


that's interesting. i think in my setting i'm moving in the opposite direction - where the core races can't interbreed. think maybe i'll start calling em species...

[Jack_Banzai]

Okay, I have to admit it. I've never really understood why people hate gnomes so much. What's the big deal? Is it some sort of WoW/EQ thing? Because if it is, I can immediately discount it as pointless and lame.

[Were-Sandwich]

Would you consider it racist to have added a SQ called Stillborn(Ex) to all the gnomes in my campaign? Cause it seems to have fixed my only objection about them.
Yes. I would also consider it very bad taste.

[BCOVertigo]

Yes. I would also consider it very bad taste.

Even though it was meant as a joke, I really don't think it qualifies as racism because someone dislikes a particular type of fantasy creature, regardless of their similarities to humans in the real world. That's like telling someone who dislikes insects or reptiles they are racist. And further, if you want to pursue this line of thought, it would be a more accurate example to call people who say half-orcs are a weak race racist.

I don't think racism actually has any meaning in a game system where all the races are not equal. Real life and DND are different, as evidenced by the completely unambiguous alignment system (demons have the evil descriptor regardless of any argument you make concerning the nature of morality) and the fact that in many cases having a kobold for a given character build really will be inferior to another race. Racism only exists in real life, where it is unjustified.

Anyways this isn't what this thread was meant for, so I'll hop down from the podium and add that I do like the idea of orcs as more than axe wielding noob food, I gave them a sort of tribal society that has good relations with the more civilized races and work together as guides and mercenaries.

[BCOVertigo]

Okay, I have to admit it. I've never really understood why people hate gnomes so much. What's the big deal? Is it some sort of WoW/EQ thing? Because if it is, I can immediately discount it as pointless and lame.

I don't play WoW and I played UO before it turned into a D2 clone, but still have too much loyalty to ever play EQ. Sorry, no such luck.

I personally dislike them because their racial abilities seem utterly random, and they serve no purpose other than to fight kobolds. I removed them for the sake of convenience. The only person who ever wanted to play one(or even liked the race) I no longer play with, so what's the point of writing up a society, history, etc. for a race nobody will miss? It's not like I don't have a nigh endless amount of other ones to choose from. They just didn't seem to add anything...

[idksocrates]

in my campaign setting, gnomes play a central role. their the most open of the non-human societies, and while magically inferior to elves, they are the second most advanced magically and most advanced technologically based society in the campaign system.

I respecced them to give them more of an "artisan" feel, with bonuses to craft, and a discount on creating magic items, and obliterated the illusion bonuses that they recieved from modern day folklore.

i do play wow, and there does seem to be alot of ill will followign the short humanoids. people are always saying that gnomes are only good for punting. don't know why though.

i'll definately admit that in standard dnd, gnomes seem alot more "tacked on". maybe it was an attempt by the creators to try to add something more than pure tolkien rip offs.

[Tallis]

My orcs tend to be more neutral than evil, though they are still barbaric. The first orc PC in the game was a cavalier. Elves and dwarves are more like the ones in norse mythology. Dwarves are CN or N, use magic frequently and forge magic items. Elves are taller and not as frail.