Mannerisms/Motives Behind Savage Tribes?

[nakedonmyfoldin]

EDIT: I've more or less decided on a hyper-religious humanoid tribe, a tribe of lizardfolk allied with kobolds that control the marshes and waterways, a tribe of goblinoids, and perhaps some wood dwellers such as wild elves or halflings.
I've got some good ideas behind the humans, but I would love some input some potential ways that a BBEG could manipulate the other tribes to do his bidding.
Also, some more specific mannerisms behind the latter three tribes could help to lift them out of gray and make them really interesting. Maybe the forest dwellers are also lycanthropes/vampires. I know I'd like the elite members of the reptilian tribe to be half dragon, but this can be fleshed out further. And my goblinoids are very dull so far, and I would love to bring them off the page. Humans, in a nutshell, are worshippers of a god of pain (can't find the perfect god for this role, i'll probably make one up).

OP:I am playing around with a campaign idea, and I think instead of picking one race for the "bad guys", I'd like a situation in which a civilized city is surrounded on all sides by different tribes of different creatures. Each tribe is being puppeted by a mastermind. This allows me to present my players with more varied encounters and settings. I figured four tribes is more than enough, and I may choose to limit it to three. The players will start the campaign at level 1, so no giants or titans or the like. I know I'd like to include goblinoids as one of the tribes, but I don't know what I'd like the other two to be?

Ideas:
Savage humanoids - less xenophobia here. just humans raised in an uncivilized tribe.
Kobolds - very similar to goblins. Only thing keeping them in my mind is their magics, booby traps, and opportunity for half-dragon templates.
Ogres - more brutish than most goblins. Have mages. Not a lot of variety though.
Orcs - really not a lot of variety.
Duergar/Drow - could be used, but I don't know if they are all that savage. May not fit in with the other savage tribes, although I suppose uniformity is best to be avoided.

Any ideas are greatly appreciated. Even if you think I should scrap this idea or make a serious modification. I just always learn something or get a great idea when the folks on the Playground have a discussion. Thanks!

[Extra Anchovies]

Lizardfolk? They're always fun. Also maybe add a scattering of Thri-Kreen in with the mixed humanoids, or in small, independent nomadic groups.

Making all of the tribes masterminded by some BBEG or another might get a bit predictable. Maybe the Ogres want to take over the city on their own (with Ogre Mages publicly leading/inspiring them), the Kobolds want to adopt civilized ways (but aren't really sure how), the Lizardfolk just want to be left alone (but happen to live along a busy trade route), and then the Duergar, Orcs, and mixed savage humanoids all have some sort of BBEG mastermind? Maybe a cabal of Mind Flayers secretly ruling the Duergar (and having them conduct slaving raids for more brains), a canny Orc arcane spellcaster (maybe a Desert Half-Orc Sorcerer? he wouldn't have a racial charisma penalty) controlling the simple-minded Orc chief from behind the throne, and a Mongrelfolk druid trying to inspire the mixed savages to "rise up and destroy the nature-shunning city dwellers, hiding behind their city walls"?

Also, it's always good for the non-primary factions to have attitudes towards one another. Maybe the kobolds and the lizardfolk get along well because of their shared reptilian heritage, the orcs and ogres have a fragile alliance held together by the need for mutual self-defense, the duergar and mixed humanoids are openly at war, the city has existing trade agreements with the Lizardfolk (who let barges pass safely through the marshes if they pay the toll) and the Kobolds (sort of a beaver furs for muskets deal), and the orcs are looking to expand their territory into the Lizardfolk's current domain?

[Azoth]

Could alays have a tribe of feytouched or half-fey off in the wilderness. They are pissed at the settlers for carving out a chunk of nature. There are also a fair number of low CR fey that you can use as well.

[nakedonmyfoldin]

I haven't sorted everything out, but the puppeteer behind it all is definitely not going to be obvious. More like slight clues that tell the players that ex) these goblins are getting their information from someone within the city. But maybe a direct influence from the mastermind isn't necessary. By pushing a tribe in a certain direction, maybe a "mastermind" would know that it would cause these other tribes to act in a certain way.

I definitely like the lizardfolk idea. Would it make sense for a tighter association between the kobolds and lizardmen? Not so much as to call themselves a unified tribe, but at least to cooperate with similar goals and whatnot. I feel like the two races compliment each other pretty well, so it would be cool to get a lot of social/combat synergy from them.

My current favorite 3 are:
Human/demi-human tribe: Hyper-religious. Almost culty, but not so much so that it fits the cliché mold. Worship a God that embodies pain. The highest religious figures cause themselves extreme pain to be purer and more powerful in the eyes of their lord. (any ideas for a good deity here?)

Lizardfolk/Kobold: Occupy the marshlands/delta. Make raids on the cities supply lines. Send in spys and other subterfuge into the city through the sewers.

Goblinoids: Goblins, Hobgoblins, Bugbears, Worgs, oh my. Just a straight up power hungry clan of goblinoids that want to see the city wrested from humanoid hands.

A fourth tribe could work if it filled a niche not yet occupied. This war should last for a good while, so a healthy supply of factions/enemies keeps things very dynamic.

Any ideas for ulterior motives in the chains of commands of these tribes would be sweet. Since I just read the lizardfolk suggestion, I'm still fleshing out their role in the whole ordeal. If you hate some of my choices, or wish to add something, please say so, I love input.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by nakedonmyfoldin
A fourth tribe could work if it filled a niche not yet occupied.

Wild halflings come to mind. Scouts and rangers with maxed Hide and Move Silently would make for virtually undetectable raiders.

[nakedonmyfoldin]

I like where you're going with that. I had considered wood elves, since there aren't really any stealthy, forest guys around.

I'm also wondering where I can integrate some undead in here. As it stands, I'm not sure which of these factions would ally themselves with the undead.

[Judge_Worm]

Troglodytes, Kuo-Toa, Lizardfolk(MMI), Dragonkin (Draconomicon), Goliaths (RoS), and anthropomorphic animals (MMII) always make fun neighbors.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by nakedinmyfoldin
I like where you're going with that.

If you're open to Pathfinder content, the Childlike (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/childlike) feat gives halflings a bonus to pass as a human child. That plus maximized stealth skills could make the halflings the perfect infiltrators for the city--you could even have a street gang of "children" which is actually composed of Childlike halflings, who gather intelligence on everything inside the city walls.

Depending where you want to take it, the halflings would either be intelligence brokers, selling it to other tribes and factions, or they might pass it along to their own tribesfolk outside city walls, to better plan raids and ambushes against caravans and other commerce.

[PraxisVetli]

I promote Lizardfolk.
Due note MMIII's Blackscale and, my personal favorite, Poison Dusk breeds.

Also, Miniatures Handbook's Tribal Chieftan class, while certainly not OP by any means, is really cool.
I'd suggest at least checking it out.


on the note of Fey/half/touched, Killoren from one of the 'Races of___' books (can't remember which) are pretty cool. Definitely could fit a role.

[nakedonmyfoldin]

I might be able to integrate that somehow, although I'm not sure that I would buy an adult Halfling being mistaken for a child, unless they are hooded or something. Maybe teenagers? I'm still debating though using the wild elves or wild halflings

[Ellowryn]

I might be able to integrate that somehow, although I'm not sure that I would buy an adult Halfling being mistaken for a child, unless they are hooded or something. Maybe teenagers? I'm still debating though using the wild elves or wild halflings

Just throwing this out there, but there is a race of evil halflings in BoVD called Jarren. Mostly the same stats as a normal halfling and are physically the same but you can always recognize one by their palpable aura of evil.

[Extra Anchovies]

Just throwing this out there, but there is a race of evil halflings in BoVD called Jarren. Mostly the same stats as a normal halfling and are physically the same but you can always recognize one by their palpable aura of evil.

If you want something even more unspeakably vile than Jarren, though...

Replace the halflings with Kender.

[Bullet06320]

Goblins with a twist
I once had Cleric of Loki convince a tribe of goblins that he was Maglubiyet, a little illusion and some bluff later, the goblin tribe was told to go live like men, learn their ways, and given directions to a nearby adventuring party
some very confused adventurers when a goblin tribe showed up at their camp and parleyed with them, 3 sessions of teaching goblins how to build a town, explaining to a neighboring town about this little experiment, and fending off an attack of another adventuring band thinking to kill and loot the goblin town, made for some good roleplaying and memorable sessions

[Pilo]

Race of Faerûn has a wild dwarf race. Which can live in forests or jungle.

[nakedonmyfoldin]

I do like the idea of the mastermind using polymorph or straight up trickery to convince one of the less intelligent tribes that he is their deity, although I don't know if he will use this to pacify but to create more borderland chaos to weaken a distract the crown. Perhaps he can use some gobbies bolster his own ranks

[nakedonmyfoldin]

Any ideas for ulterior motives in the chains of commands of these tribes would be sweet? By this I mean, why would a BBEG want a particular tribe's involvement, and how could the tribe be persuaded or manipulated to do the BBEG's bidding?

[Coidzor]

Neraphs (Planar Handbook?), Kokoburo(savage dwarfs from Oriental Adventures), Centaurs(as is or using more of their Greek roots), Goliaths for hillcountry and coming down from the mountains, Darfellan if you alter their fluff a bit and just take advantage of the Were-Orca Spawn angle that basically come out looking like they're painted for battle, Sahaugin for actually fairly sophisticated but alien and xenophobic raiders of coastal areas...

Athasian/Jungle Halflings would do well, I think. Though I suppose the Jungle is optional, but the feel of them in densely wooded areas would be neat. Forest Gnomes, with their ability to talk to and coordinate with animals in and around their forest homes without being druids, might also be interesting. Maybe some kind of Whisper Forest Gnome Athasian Halfling hybrid. :smallamused: Maybe one of those varieties of frog-people that's good at getting around in jungles and using poisons.

You can draw inspiration from basically any steppe-dwelling raiding culture of horsemen and horse archers for at least one tribal culture.

Cribbing the Picts, either from a filtered view of the historical culture or from the Conan series might also be of interest.

Make sure to include at least one where the women are prominent in going to battle with the men and are actually even more fearsome than the menfolk.

Possibly some variant of Kokoburo inspired by Dwarf Fortress where the female dorfs will go into battle with crib-shields on their arms and babies in their beards and if the mother falls in battle the babies turn into a swarm to pummel their enemies with their tiny fists of rage.

Neraphs could be refugees from Limbo that are looking to set themselves up in a more hospitable environment, so anyone offering them land with good hunting and foraging can probably win their support.

Sahuagin could be motivated by religious fervor, xenophobia, purely mercenary/financial reasons(they've been bribed to attack the other civilization and are profiting from the spoils of war on top of that), or because they can't stand the idea of air-breathing surface-dwellers starting to have culture and society and civilization and want to put them back in their place.

Goliath could have similar motivations as a pastoral horseriding culture that wants more pasture land for their herds, only in the Goliaths case it'd mostly be goats and sheep and less varied cattle and horses. They could also be being paid in finished goods that they can't make due to not having access to forests for lumber or the actual ores of the mountains they dwell in in order to make their own metal tools.

Darfellan could basically be like land-based dolpins/orcas, which is actually kinda terrifying if you stop and think about it. Not as terrifying as a race of sapient ducks with access to weapons and armor, though. They raid and kill/maim/etc. groups smaller/weaker than they are for the lulz.

[nakedonmyfoldin]

Probably won't go the duck/darfellan route, but I like the out of the box thinking. I don't think low level characters are ready to do serious aquatic based adventures. I'll probably place the city inland with access toa river for trade. Lizards will control this water with some smaller, more swift kobold allies