~Corvus~
2015-01-11, 04:18 PM
I had these races in my computer and I decided to write some up here. I'd like to be able to make them available for some games at some point, but I'd also like to know that they're reasonable, somewhat flavorful and balance. Have at it =)
Amazon
(Human Subtype)
Personality: Amazons are often quick to act, feeling that talking will often confuse the situation when their reflexes can serve them fine. They are quick to distrust all outsiders, although given time and a reason for mutual benefit from others, they can and will develop strong friendships. Amazon women are not as prone to the deception, deceit, and manipulation that many human women are; however, that does not mean they cannot be as such: it's just that they are inherently more direct and less tactful than women from most other cultures.
Amazons have grown up to understand and believe that women are completely superior to men in every way: They can do everything men can do and women have actual relationship skills. Amazon adventurers have a very difficult time accepting the ideas of male-dominated cultures of the Dwarves, gnomes, and humans. They view men as predictable, wool-headed, and in need of control because of their borderline sociopathic natures. Despite this, the amazons appreciate the direct nature of men, and more often than not they women view men, even their faults, with amusement. They find it strange that men from other lands are allowed to fight and hunt, and especially be the grand majority in intellectual thought (when women are clearly the superior arguers), but they enjoy physical activity with men in all other aspects of life.
Physical Description: Amazons stand roughly 5'10'' to 6' 6" in height, sometimes with stronger arms and legs than the men of other cultures. Though the Amazon women may look savage and intimidating with their war paint, various scars, and so on, they can appear quite beautiful to some people. Their hair, eyes and skin are usually of earthy tones. Amazons have dark brown to blonde, usually, and as they age their hair usually turns to a pure white. However, many Amazon women can (easily) make dyes to color their hair. The Amazons most often have green or brown eyes.
Amazon make their clothes from the hides, skins, and feathers of their prey. Some of the Kobolds that live close to the Amazons have even set up trades for hides from their own deceased for dyes, weapons, and some spices. Their armor is purposely dulled to blend in with their surroundings. Often, metallic armor is layered with thin leather or cloth to hide its appearance. Though, within their tribes, metallic armor is rare. On particularly hot days, they weave grass hats or skirts to stay cool.
They also tend to decorate themselves with tattoos. The Amazons trade with the Elves for ink, and then combine green, red, blue and purple pigments to make tattoo colors, all derived from the indigenous fruits from their islands' trees. Tattoos vary from small designs to complete coverings and depictions of animals, or perhaps tattooed camouflage. With slight alterations to the mixture, the dye can be used to color their clothing, such as the robes for the Priestesses.
As alluded to in the title (http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi3548446745), this Amazon race is less about the *legendary* strength and more about a mixed influence of Incan ideas and Diablo 2 (http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/classes/amazonhistory.shtml).
I find the idea of the Amazon as written in popular culture to be less true to the mythological Amazon of Greek origin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazons), so I try to mix these into a milder race with interesting results.
Relations: The Amazons are reclusive and don't take well to visitors or any races they don't have frequent contact with. Although they occasionally clash with the humanoids that inhabit their islands, the amazons also find a favorable profit in trading with the Elves, Dwarves, and humans.
Humans and Half-elves are simply unpredictable and completely variable, but Amazons have a bit of a difficult time distinguishing elves from half-elves, much to the chagrin of both races.
Although they find common ground with the elves in terms of artistic ideas and religious beliefs, when they get down to personal freedoms (and, of course, letting MEN think freely...dangerous, that), there is bound to a clash of ideals. The two races’ ideological differences will also highlight the rift between the incredible tact and sophistication that most elves have and the Amazons' incredible lack of tact--and, more broadly, social sophistication. There is often much tension that can be caused between the elves and the Amazons simply by the manner in which they express themselves. Once they realize they are agreeing, but in different manners of expression, they can get along well enough.
The amazons do trade with the Dwarves and humans from time to time, but they regard them with much suspicion. Amazon women greatly appreciate the direct nature of dwarves, and find it slightly easier to befriend a dwarf than an elf, perhaps because Dwarves aren’t so rigid in their speech and are both are slow to trust others (though dwarves definitely take longer). Most dwarves will grudgingly give Amazons great respect for being such strong-spirited individuals (which frequently reminds them of their own).
Perhaps the least compatible are Halflings, who are so often tricky and shifty. Amazons like people that are reliable, honest, direct and to the point. Because of the harsh realities of life and nature, they find it very difficult to trust a race that would rather trick and steal than work hard. They can accept the need of many halflings to be constantly-moving, but that is about it. Amazons view halflings with more pity than anything. An amazon who is on friendly terms with a halfling will overlook their reputed nature and see them for the lucky and plucky individual they are--but still might not trust them completely. Gnomes, too, are rather pitiful: they have a tendency to trick and obscure facts, play pranks (often when the situation is not right for it), and have an odd fascination with gems bordering on greed.
Surprisingly (or maybe not), the Amazons get along best with half-orcs. Although they are reputed to be violent, the Amazons enjoy the half-breed’s propensity for crude jokes, partying, and simple pleasure. The Amazons empathize with the social-outcast nature of the Half-orcs, particularly because of their own choice to ostracize themselves from others. To an Amazon, it is easier—but not preferable—to be apathetic and ignore someone you cannot get along with. Thus, the Amazons are quick to find the good sides of the Half-Orcs' nature :smallwink:. This can lead to tension and strife between the half-orc females and Amazons, although these minor squabbles and scuffles generally end in some bruised or broken ribs and grudging respect, and possibly new and greater friendship.
Lands: With the help and imagination of their stay-at-home males, the Amazons formed magnificent cities within jungles and forests, often with the ruins of long-forgotten races. All Amazon cities are lined with trapped areas of spiked wood and bamboo pits, traps, snares, and tricky devices of many kinds to both ward off any unwanted intruders that might attempt to breach their cities (and breed with the men they strive to protect), as well as trap unsuspecting food.
The Amazon cities are ruled by both men and women; however, men may not hold the highest places in government, nor can they participate within the Priestess Circle. Further, males are not allowed to go adventuring or hunting. They are, however, allowed to participate in government, construction, blacksmithing, weaving, glassblowing, painting, and the many creative arts that don’t involve writing. Only Amazon women are allowed to read and write and ONLY women on the ships that they trade upon. Interestingly enough, Amazon women more frequently give birth to women as opposed to men.
Language: Sylvan is language of choice among Amazons. When dealing with humans and other races for trading, they tend to speak Common, although they do so with a rough dialect and a heavy accent.
Names: Most amazons have short names, nicknames and titles rather than surnames. Their common names are typically short and easy to pronounce for use in combat situations. Finally, the translations to common are often rough approximations. Examples: Min Dreadlock; Nan Farsaw; Miki Frosteye, Keeper of Kryos; Agi Thruss, High Priestess of Volcaron; Ulé Vapo, Wavemistress of the Spearsister’s Kiss.
Male names tend to be named for their occupation and the family name of whom they are coupled with. Children have a nickname and their family name, though all males, even children, do work. Examples: Fletcher Farsaw, Todder Farsaw, Blacksmith Thruss, Potter Yapiss, Farmer Frosteye.
Racial Traits
+2 Dexterity, −2 Intelligence: Amazons are quick and agile by nature, but their isolation from other cultures and lack of established academic tradition leads them to lack the intelligence many other races possess.
Medium: As medium size creatures, Amazons have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Humanoid (Human). Amazons do not gain the extra skill points, the extra feat that normal humans gain, nor do they get the access to languages like regular humans. Although the Amazons are descended from humans, they have different traits from normal humans. As the human type, however, they are affected by spells that would affect humans, like charm person and hold person. Additionally, they count as humans in regard to Favored Enemy of the Ranger class.
Base land speed for an amazon is 30 feet.
Evasive movement: For every 5 ranks in either Tumble or Balance, Amazons gain a +1 Dodge bonus to AC while moving. Only the highest-ranked skill is used. For example, if Nyalla has 15 ranks in Balance and only 8 in Tumble, Balance is used.
Military Tradtition: Amazon women are proficient with spears, longspears, javelins, shortspears, short bows, and longbows. Furthermore, Amazons treat any other spear-class or bow-like weapons as Martial weapons instead of their standard types or required proficiencies.
+2 to Knowledge (nature) and +2 to Survival checks, and always have these skills as class skills: Amazon women are inured to the outdoor lifestyle.
Claustrophobic: Amazons that spend more then a few days in a large city become shaken (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/conditionSummary.htm#shaken). Amazons aren't comfortable in cities.
-2 to Bluff and Disguise checks: Amazon women tend to be more straightforward than most races, so they have a difficult time being deceptive.
Female Bloodline: An Amazon adventurer can only be Female. The males are *never* allowed to adventure outside of their own society. As thus, only females are available as a PC class. Furthermore, due to some genetic drift, an Amazon woman who gives birth has a 75% chance to give birth to a female and 25% chance to give birth to a male.
Amazon adventurers that become pregnant feel compelled to return to their homeland to return the child to its natural environment.
Automatic Languages: Sylvan and Common. Bonus Languages: Elven, Draconian, Gnoll, Kobold, Terran.
Favored Classes: Scout or Totemist.
The Fairelf
Perhaps it is not so tough for others to understand that, with the proximity of elves and other Fey creatures, that the mingling of elven and pixie blood was only a matter of time.
Personality: Most fairelves grow up in the comfort and peace of nature, accompanied by the charm and magical dedication of their fey and elven parents. They inherit a love for nature that is rather protective and proactive, but usually they aren't as wrapped up with personal conflicts and the like that many other humanoids pursue or perpetuate. fairelves favor creativity and self-expression and frequently use magic to feature their own personal tastes. They have a healthy appreciation for pranks, and they place as much value on independence as they put on mutual help and support.
Physical description: These elves are about half as tall as the standard high elf and proportionally smaller. They stand from 2 feet to 2'6" and feature skin from pale, pasty white to a even a light, pale green or a reddish pink. Their eyes and hair come in almost any pretty color combination imaginable, probably because of all the complex magics involved in their conception.
fairelves have large dragonfly-like wings, of any combination of light grey, light green, light blue, dark gray, to dark blue.
Relations: fairelves get along wonderfully with most fey, but when they leave fey lands, it is most commonly to a gnome settlement, not one inhabited with other elves. fairelves see eye-to-eye with gnomes, with their pranks to lighten moods and with their love for nature and its myriad creatures. They find that Elves are wonderful to interact with, and the elves' accepting attitudes towards others is nice, but beneath the kind appearance the fairelves see a bit of a superiority complex. Humans can be fun and amusing, but fairelves are also told stories of how terribly greedy and corrupt they can be. Many fairelves will refuse to enter a human city except under the most dire of circumstances.
Alignment: fairelves tend to be rather neutral in alignment, and thus fairelves view strict lawful adherence as dangerous and horrifying as unchecked greed and great abandonment of any personal constraints. In times of conflict or danger, fairelves would much rather have a good rapport and be well-spoken of, but their methods of achieving this good rapport is on the whole quite chaotic. As thus, fairelves are not above murder, deception, and betrayal if these actions lead to the death or downfall of poachers, greedy kings that try to take land they do not rightfully own…those who threaten the delicate balance of nature.
Lands: fairelves tend to live with and their sprite parents, often living their eternal lives with their fey cousins. Few of these Elves live with other elves except as diplomats and representatives of organizations like the Seelie Court between the Fey and other elves. There are many fairelves that also live with gnomes and their kin, providing creativity and creative influence even among the ingenious gnomes. All things considered, fairelves have no true lands of their own, and they are quite content with this.
Religion: Obad-Hai and Ehlonna both have a solid demographic of followers in the fairelves, yet these fey elves still more frequently pursue arcane manipulations of magic than the divine pursuits of druids. As thus, they somehow find a way to merge goals of the nature gods with their more personal arcane ideas and beliefs.
Language: fairelves speak the magic-laden and beautiful language of they fey, and are taught common as a second language out of courtesy more than anything else. Those with exceptional propensity for learning often pick up gnome, elven, or maybe even halfling.
Adventurers: fairelves would never have existed had it not been for adventurous sprites or elves (most frequently the latter), and thus is no surprise that fairelves would ever have a desire to go adventuring. Most that adventure for a time decide to retire into political careers or pursue their own arcane theses with vigor.
-2 Str, +2 Dex, -2 Con, +2 Charisma : fairelves are agile of tongue and body, but physically they are frail and weak.
Humanoid (Elf, Fey): fairelves are affected by spells and abilities that would affect either Elves or fey creatures. For example, they are affected both by Charm Person and by Charm Monster. For the purposes of abilities like a Ranger's Favored Enemy class feature, they would be counted as either Elf or Fey, whichever grants the ranger greater benefit.
Small size: +1 bonus to Armor Class, +1 bonus to attack rolls, +4 bonus on Hide checks, -4 penalty on grapple checks, lifting and carrying limits 3/4 of those of Medium creatures.
A fairelf's base land speed is 30 feet, and it has magical wings, and can use them to glide 20 feet per 5 feet fallen, but it cannot use them to fly until it has 6 hit dice or more, whereupon it gains a flight speed equal to its base movement speed with maneuverability (average). However, they cannot fly for a number of rounds greater than their constitution bonus (minimum of 1). At 12 or more hit dice, the fairelf's flight speed becomes 30 ft, maneuverability (good). Hit Dice can be gained through class levels. Speeds and gliding are contingent upon a light load. See Carrying Capacity, pg 161 of the PHB and Tactical movement on pg 20 of the DMG.
Eternal blood: Fairelves cannot die due to old age, although they progress physically at about the age of elves. Bonuses and penalties to ability scores still accrue as normal.
+2 to Will saves against spells and spell-like abilities. Against spells and abilities with the mind-affecting descriptor, this increases by another +1. Thanks to their dual heritage, fairelves are particularly resistant to spells or abilities that would alter or affect the mind.
Low-lit vision: fairelves can see twice as far as humans in the dark.
fairelves have a +2 racial bonus on Sense Motive, Listen, Search, and Spot checks. Due to their nature as magical creatures, they are quite perceptive creatures.
Automatic Languages: Sylvan, Common. Bonus Languages: Elven, Gnome, Halfling, Goblin, Orc.
Favored class: Sorcerer
Pentaur
Think of the Centaur in Races of the Wild, but with these Racial ability scores to remove Level Adjustment and RHD:
+2 Con, -2 Intelligence: Pentaur are tough, but tend to be less mentally adept.
Humanoid (Monstrous): the Pentaur is considered a humanoid with a monstrous humanoid subtype. Thus, it is treated as both a humanoid and a Monstrous Humanoid for purposes of spells, spell-like abilities, feats and qualifications for classes.
Medium-size.
Pony-sized length: Pentaur lack the incredible strength and size of their Centaur brethren.
⁃ Pentaur take up two 5' spaces, front-to-back, even though they count as a Medium-sized creature.
⁃ Pentaur only have a 5' reach, despite their size. Furthermore, Pentaur can only use Medium-sized weapons.
Barding: Since the body of a Pentaur is awkward, metal armor for Pentaur cost twice as much and weight 1.5 times as much as for a medium-sized creature. However, Armor that costs more than 110 GP in this fashion is already considered masterwork-quailty for pentaur.
A pentaur's base land speed is 40 feet.
Low-lit vision: Pentaurs can see twice as far as humanoids in dim light.
Quadruped: +4 bonus to resist Bull Rush, Overrun, and Trip attempts.
Hooves: A pentaur has two hoof attacks that are natural weapons each dealing 1d6 damage (bludgeoning) and Strength bonus with a critical range of 20/x2. A pentaur can make two hoof attacks as a full attack, but not as part of an attack with non-natural weapons. NB: the secondary attack has a -5 to hit and deals 1d6 + 1/2 strength bonus.
Automatic languages: Common, Sylvan. Bonus Languages: Elven, Gnome, Halfling, Dwarf.
Favored Class: Druid
The idea of this race is to provide a bare-bones, smaller centaur race for those PCs that want to play one of these mythical creatures.
I bet this race would benefit from more fluff, but I really don't see *too* much point to it.
Kithling
It is rumored that many thousands of years ago, when the Dragons still ruled the land, there once was a race that lived apart from them, known as the Kith. The stories vary: these Kithling were slaves of the Dragons and eventually escaped their captivity. Others disagree: the Kith had lived in these lands before the Dragons came along and virtually wiped out the Kith. Different still, other stories say that the Kith struck a deal with the Dragons, trading only some of their own as slaves to prevent themselves from being wiped out. Whatever the rumors are, they all agree on something: at some point, some of the Dragons, intrigued by the Kith, decided that they might be interesting mates, and, taking the form of Kith themselves, they had offspring.
There must be some truth to these rumors, because the Kithling often inhabit the nooks and crannies of the world, and the Kithling, despite their ingenuity, have no records of their origin save spoken word.
The Kithling have evolved into a semi-nomadic, semi-domestic race of traders, collectors of magic, and collectors of knowledge. Their records and libraries of magic and knowledge rival the gnomes, the elves...all collected in their various locations throughout the world. They strive and—so far—have succeeded in recording great quantities of knowledge of the world. Odd, though, that they have no working memory of their own origins: it is both a source of both shame and intrigue to their people.
Personality: Kithling adore magic, magical items, stories, and knowledge of all kinds. If gnomes are the penultimate pranksters, then the Kithling are the penultimate tinkers. A Kithling's fascination and wonder for magic in all its forms is infectious, and they apply their own curiosity and relish for magic to more practical arts, such as artifice and arcane magic.
Intelligent, naturally curious, inquisitive and—at times—secretive, the Kithling involve themselves in the unusual, rare and arcane whenever they can. They can be impish or demanding at times and at other times they can be patient, glib, knowledgeable and enthusiastic.
Physical Description: Kithling stand at about 2½ to 3 feet tall and weigh from 35 to 45 pounds. They look like a strange cross between gnomes and kobolds, and the most immediately striking difference between gnomes and Kithling is that the latter have small patches of scales scattered across their skin. More humanoid than reptilian, however, they have wiry, gnome-like frames with small tails. Their arms and are distinctly humanoid, but their legs and feet are tough, muscly and almost reptilian. Kithling have small, gently-spiked ridges on the top sides of their heads that often protrude from their hair. Their faces looks more or less like a gnome's except for their sharp, pointed incisors. Males usually have neat, trimmed facial hair or none at all. Kithling wear clothing suited to their natural environment: in mountains, they tend to wear clothing of earthy tones; on the plains, they wear leather. At sea or abroad, they tend to wear *bright, colorful clothing that is also practical in function.
Kithling reach adulthood around 70 years of age, and have been known to live past 600 years of age.
Alignment: The Kithling are curious, open-minded individuals that are more concerned with knowledge, magic and truth than about morality. Kithling tend strongly towards neutrality, viewing extremes of morality as more dangerous than useful (although most Kithling would agree that they prefer good-natured neighbors as opposed to sour ones). On the lawful side, they have a deep respect for tradition, and especially for the preservation of great artifacts, libraries and proven knowledge. There are many that are more drawn to chaotic, unpredictable lives as traders, artificers, adventurers, or all three. In the pursuit of knowledge, some Kithling may become clerics of any type—similarly, some Kithling are drawn into dark, evil arts of magic—but usually even these clerics or dark practitioners approach their domains or subjects with level-headed intellectual curiosity (though, to be fair, it is tough to maintain that intellectual distance for too long with great power).
Relations: *Elves, who share in their curious nature and refined sense and fascination with lore and magical arts. Although Elves are slow to trust, the Kithling find that the time spent fostering that trust (and tolerating the elves' slight disdain) to be well worth any—albeit minor—cost to dignity. Dwarves have an admirable sense of suspicion and methodical ways of thinking that earns them grudging respect, and Kithling find great value in trading with the dwarves, but other than that, they tend to keep their distance. Humans share this sense of curiosity, but they lack the care and balance that prevents them from dangerous extremes. Humans are so willful, reckless and impulsive, it makes the Kithling wonder how they have propagated so much of the world. Half-elves are much better to associate with, as they share some of human ambition, but maintain some perspective on dangerous extremes that comes with longer life. Half-orcs are generally too boisterous, loud and simple-minded for the Kithling: they prefer a good conversation or an intellectual game as opposed to the crazy dancing or drinking that the Half-orcs will engage in. Gnomes and Kithling share an interest for the arcane, for stories, and sometimes even for mechanical devices, but Gnomes have strange tastes in obsessions and pranks that leave the Kithling nonplussed. Halflings, on the other hand, despite their reputations as vagabonds and vagrants, are kindred spirits to these short races: both are outsiders everywhere, rarely at home in one place for long, and the subject of an unfair amount of suspicion wherever they go.
Lands: The Kithling inhabit the nooks and crannies of the world not occupied by their neighbors. Content with living most places they can establish a decent library, they also maintain connections with each other through their own social networks and trade routes. Kithling are excellent traders, and at the same time, manage to stay below honorable mention for this ability. Kithling adventurers are not uncommon, as they will do so out of curiosity, lust for knowledge or power, or for the benefit of keeping themselves and their own race supported and connected.
Religion: Most Kithling aren't terribly given over to religion, since they usually view religion as a dubious source of power at best and needlessly dangerous at worst. Those that are given over to religion, however, venerate Boccob over all others, since he is the lord of magic and knowledge. Most Kithling clerics are cloistered clerics, since they worship Gods for the knowledge they can gain from the religion more than anything else.
Language: The Kithling speak common, and they are often raised to learn ancient languages, such as Elven, Dwarven or Draconic. They have no language of their own, since they see greater value in sticking with common languages and learning other ones from there. Their own long lives and penchant for trading allows them to pick up many other languages as well, even the subtle inflections and rich variations of elven. The Kithling have even gone so far as living with other races, such as Orcs or Giants, to learn of their languages and their culture.
Names: The Kithling have a great love for names. They actually place great emphasis on names, and the type of name given indicates his or her place in society. The intricacies of these classifications are rather refined, and can take several hundred years to understand and appreciate fully. It is commonly known that Draconic names are considered at the highest honor among Kithling, and are only given to Elders and wise-people of their tribes
Adventurers: The Kithling are known as intrepid and useful adventurers, most frequently as artificers, wizards or bards. Some Kithling work as anthropological researchers, living with savage species, if only to understand them. If anyone, these are the Jane Goodalls of D&D.
Kithling Racial Traits
+2 Intelligence, -4 Strength. Kithling are small and rather weak, even for their size, but make up for it with their intelligence and skills.
Small: As a small creature, a Kithling gains a +1 size bonus to armor class, a +1 size bonus to attack, a -4 size penalty on grapple checks, and a +4 size bonus on Hide, but she uses smaller weapons than humans use, and her lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character.
Humanoid (halfling, dragonblood): Kithling are halfling-like humanoids with the dragonblood subtype. For all nonmagical effects related to race (such as a ranger's favored enemy class feature), a Kithling is considered a halfling. However, for any magical effects related to race, Kithling are considered dragons (thus they are affected by spells such as hold monster but not charm person). Kithling are considered both halflings and dragonblooded (but NOT dragons) for the purpose of racial feats and prestige class qualification.
Base land speed is 20 feet.
Low-lit vision: Kithling can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. They retain the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
Darkvision: Thanks to their magical heritage, Kithling can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight. Kithling can function just fine with no light at all.
+2 racial bonus to Appraise checks. Kithling reputation as natural traders is well-founded, but they are also quite tricky.
+2 racial bonus to any one Knowledge skill (player's choice upon creation, limited by class): the Kithling are inquisitive and curious by nature, and every male and female Kithling picks up on and remembers at least some kind of knowledge beyond what others of their kind may know.
Use Magic Device skill always counted as Class Skill, may use untrained, and may apply Int bonus instead of Cha bonus to the skill. Their familiarity with magic items affords them an ability to work with magical devices, even without training.
Automatic languages: Common and Draconic. Bonus languages: Any (other than secret languages such as Druidic). Kithling are both well-traveled traders and collectors of knowledge.
Favored class: Archivist. A multiclass kithin's Archivist class levels do not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty (see XP for Multiclass Characters, PHB pg 60).
Amazon
(Human Subtype)
Personality: Amazons are often quick to act, feeling that talking will often confuse the situation when their reflexes can serve them fine. They are quick to distrust all outsiders, although given time and a reason for mutual benefit from others, they can and will develop strong friendships. Amazon women are not as prone to the deception, deceit, and manipulation that many human women are; however, that does not mean they cannot be as such: it's just that they are inherently more direct and less tactful than women from most other cultures.
Amazons have grown up to understand and believe that women are completely superior to men in every way: They can do everything men can do and women have actual relationship skills. Amazon adventurers have a very difficult time accepting the ideas of male-dominated cultures of the Dwarves, gnomes, and humans. They view men as predictable, wool-headed, and in need of control because of their borderline sociopathic natures. Despite this, the amazons appreciate the direct nature of men, and more often than not they women view men, even their faults, with amusement. They find it strange that men from other lands are allowed to fight and hunt, and especially be the grand majority in intellectual thought (when women are clearly the superior arguers), but they enjoy physical activity with men in all other aspects of life.
Physical Description: Amazons stand roughly 5'10'' to 6' 6" in height, sometimes with stronger arms and legs than the men of other cultures. Though the Amazon women may look savage and intimidating with their war paint, various scars, and so on, they can appear quite beautiful to some people. Their hair, eyes and skin are usually of earthy tones. Amazons have dark brown to blonde, usually, and as they age their hair usually turns to a pure white. However, many Amazon women can (easily) make dyes to color their hair. The Amazons most often have green or brown eyes.
Amazon make their clothes from the hides, skins, and feathers of their prey. Some of the Kobolds that live close to the Amazons have even set up trades for hides from their own deceased for dyes, weapons, and some spices. Their armor is purposely dulled to blend in with their surroundings. Often, metallic armor is layered with thin leather or cloth to hide its appearance. Though, within their tribes, metallic armor is rare. On particularly hot days, they weave grass hats or skirts to stay cool.
They also tend to decorate themselves with tattoos. The Amazons trade with the Elves for ink, and then combine green, red, blue and purple pigments to make tattoo colors, all derived from the indigenous fruits from their islands' trees. Tattoos vary from small designs to complete coverings and depictions of animals, or perhaps tattooed camouflage. With slight alterations to the mixture, the dye can be used to color their clothing, such as the robes for the Priestesses.
As alluded to in the title (http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi3548446745), this Amazon race is less about the *legendary* strength and more about a mixed influence of Incan ideas and Diablo 2 (http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/classes/amazonhistory.shtml).
I find the idea of the Amazon as written in popular culture to be less true to the mythological Amazon of Greek origin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazons), so I try to mix these into a milder race with interesting results.
Relations: The Amazons are reclusive and don't take well to visitors or any races they don't have frequent contact with. Although they occasionally clash with the humanoids that inhabit their islands, the amazons also find a favorable profit in trading with the Elves, Dwarves, and humans.
Humans and Half-elves are simply unpredictable and completely variable, but Amazons have a bit of a difficult time distinguishing elves from half-elves, much to the chagrin of both races.
Although they find common ground with the elves in terms of artistic ideas and religious beliefs, when they get down to personal freedoms (and, of course, letting MEN think freely...dangerous, that), there is bound to a clash of ideals. The two races’ ideological differences will also highlight the rift between the incredible tact and sophistication that most elves have and the Amazons' incredible lack of tact--and, more broadly, social sophistication. There is often much tension that can be caused between the elves and the Amazons simply by the manner in which they express themselves. Once they realize they are agreeing, but in different manners of expression, they can get along well enough.
The amazons do trade with the Dwarves and humans from time to time, but they regard them with much suspicion. Amazon women greatly appreciate the direct nature of dwarves, and find it slightly easier to befriend a dwarf than an elf, perhaps because Dwarves aren’t so rigid in their speech and are both are slow to trust others (though dwarves definitely take longer). Most dwarves will grudgingly give Amazons great respect for being such strong-spirited individuals (which frequently reminds them of their own).
Perhaps the least compatible are Halflings, who are so often tricky and shifty. Amazons like people that are reliable, honest, direct and to the point. Because of the harsh realities of life and nature, they find it very difficult to trust a race that would rather trick and steal than work hard. They can accept the need of many halflings to be constantly-moving, but that is about it. Amazons view halflings with more pity than anything. An amazon who is on friendly terms with a halfling will overlook their reputed nature and see them for the lucky and plucky individual they are--but still might not trust them completely. Gnomes, too, are rather pitiful: they have a tendency to trick and obscure facts, play pranks (often when the situation is not right for it), and have an odd fascination with gems bordering on greed.
Surprisingly (or maybe not), the Amazons get along best with half-orcs. Although they are reputed to be violent, the Amazons enjoy the half-breed’s propensity for crude jokes, partying, and simple pleasure. The Amazons empathize with the social-outcast nature of the Half-orcs, particularly because of their own choice to ostracize themselves from others. To an Amazon, it is easier—but not preferable—to be apathetic and ignore someone you cannot get along with. Thus, the Amazons are quick to find the good sides of the Half-Orcs' nature :smallwink:. This can lead to tension and strife between the half-orc females and Amazons, although these minor squabbles and scuffles generally end in some bruised or broken ribs and grudging respect, and possibly new and greater friendship.
Lands: With the help and imagination of their stay-at-home males, the Amazons formed magnificent cities within jungles and forests, often with the ruins of long-forgotten races. All Amazon cities are lined with trapped areas of spiked wood and bamboo pits, traps, snares, and tricky devices of many kinds to both ward off any unwanted intruders that might attempt to breach their cities (and breed with the men they strive to protect), as well as trap unsuspecting food.
The Amazon cities are ruled by both men and women; however, men may not hold the highest places in government, nor can they participate within the Priestess Circle. Further, males are not allowed to go adventuring or hunting. They are, however, allowed to participate in government, construction, blacksmithing, weaving, glassblowing, painting, and the many creative arts that don’t involve writing. Only Amazon women are allowed to read and write and ONLY women on the ships that they trade upon. Interestingly enough, Amazon women more frequently give birth to women as opposed to men.
Language: Sylvan is language of choice among Amazons. When dealing with humans and other races for trading, they tend to speak Common, although they do so with a rough dialect and a heavy accent.
Names: Most amazons have short names, nicknames and titles rather than surnames. Their common names are typically short and easy to pronounce for use in combat situations. Finally, the translations to common are often rough approximations. Examples: Min Dreadlock; Nan Farsaw; Miki Frosteye, Keeper of Kryos; Agi Thruss, High Priestess of Volcaron; Ulé Vapo, Wavemistress of the Spearsister’s Kiss.
Male names tend to be named for their occupation and the family name of whom they are coupled with. Children have a nickname and their family name, though all males, even children, do work. Examples: Fletcher Farsaw, Todder Farsaw, Blacksmith Thruss, Potter Yapiss, Farmer Frosteye.
Racial Traits
+2 Dexterity, −2 Intelligence: Amazons are quick and agile by nature, but their isolation from other cultures and lack of established academic tradition leads them to lack the intelligence many other races possess.
Medium: As medium size creatures, Amazons have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Humanoid (Human). Amazons do not gain the extra skill points, the extra feat that normal humans gain, nor do they get the access to languages like regular humans. Although the Amazons are descended from humans, they have different traits from normal humans. As the human type, however, they are affected by spells that would affect humans, like charm person and hold person. Additionally, they count as humans in regard to Favored Enemy of the Ranger class.
Base land speed for an amazon is 30 feet.
Evasive movement: For every 5 ranks in either Tumble or Balance, Amazons gain a +1 Dodge bonus to AC while moving. Only the highest-ranked skill is used. For example, if Nyalla has 15 ranks in Balance and only 8 in Tumble, Balance is used.
Military Tradtition: Amazon women are proficient with spears, longspears, javelins, shortspears, short bows, and longbows. Furthermore, Amazons treat any other spear-class or bow-like weapons as Martial weapons instead of their standard types or required proficiencies.
+2 to Knowledge (nature) and +2 to Survival checks, and always have these skills as class skills: Amazon women are inured to the outdoor lifestyle.
Claustrophobic: Amazons that spend more then a few days in a large city become shaken (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/conditionSummary.htm#shaken). Amazons aren't comfortable in cities.
-2 to Bluff and Disguise checks: Amazon women tend to be more straightforward than most races, so they have a difficult time being deceptive.
Female Bloodline: An Amazon adventurer can only be Female. The males are *never* allowed to adventure outside of their own society. As thus, only females are available as a PC class. Furthermore, due to some genetic drift, an Amazon woman who gives birth has a 75% chance to give birth to a female and 25% chance to give birth to a male.
Amazon adventurers that become pregnant feel compelled to return to their homeland to return the child to its natural environment.
Automatic Languages: Sylvan and Common. Bonus Languages: Elven, Draconian, Gnoll, Kobold, Terran.
Favored Classes: Scout or Totemist.
The Fairelf
Perhaps it is not so tough for others to understand that, with the proximity of elves and other Fey creatures, that the mingling of elven and pixie blood was only a matter of time.
Personality: Most fairelves grow up in the comfort and peace of nature, accompanied by the charm and magical dedication of their fey and elven parents. They inherit a love for nature that is rather protective and proactive, but usually they aren't as wrapped up with personal conflicts and the like that many other humanoids pursue or perpetuate. fairelves favor creativity and self-expression and frequently use magic to feature their own personal tastes. They have a healthy appreciation for pranks, and they place as much value on independence as they put on mutual help and support.
Physical description: These elves are about half as tall as the standard high elf and proportionally smaller. They stand from 2 feet to 2'6" and feature skin from pale, pasty white to a even a light, pale green or a reddish pink. Their eyes and hair come in almost any pretty color combination imaginable, probably because of all the complex magics involved in their conception.
fairelves have large dragonfly-like wings, of any combination of light grey, light green, light blue, dark gray, to dark blue.
Relations: fairelves get along wonderfully with most fey, but when they leave fey lands, it is most commonly to a gnome settlement, not one inhabited with other elves. fairelves see eye-to-eye with gnomes, with their pranks to lighten moods and with their love for nature and its myriad creatures. They find that Elves are wonderful to interact with, and the elves' accepting attitudes towards others is nice, but beneath the kind appearance the fairelves see a bit of a superiority complex. Humans can be fun and amusing, but fairelves are also told stories of how terribly greedy and corrupt they can be. Many fairelves will refuse to enter a human city except under the most dire of circumstances.
Alignment: fairelves tend to be rather neutral in alignment, and thus fairelves view strict lawful adherence as dangerous and horrifying as unchecked greed and great abandonment of any personal constraints. In times of conflict or danger, fairelves would much rather have a good rapport and be well-spoken of, but their methods of achieving this good rapport is on the whole quite chaotic. As thus, fairelves are not above murder, deception, and betrayal if these actions lead to the death or downfall of poachers, greedy kings that try to take land they do not rightfully own…those who threaten the delicate balance of nature.
Lands: fairelves tend to live with and their sprite parents, often living their eternal lives with their fey cousins. Few of these Elves live with other elves except as diplomats and representatives of organizations like the Seelie Court between the Fey and other elves. There are many fairelves that also live with gnomes and their kin, providing creativity and creative influence even among the ingenious gnomes. All things considered, fairelves have no true lands of their own, and they are quite content with this.
Religion: Obad-Hai and Ehlonna both have a solid demographic of followers in the fairelves, yet these fey elves still more frequently pursue arcane manipulations of magic than the divine pursuits of druids. As thus, they somehow find a way to merge goals of the nature gods with their more personal arcane ideas and beliefs.
Language: fairelves speak the magic-laden and beautiful language of they fey, and are taught common as a second language out of courtesy more than anything else. Those with exceptional propensity for learning often pick up gnome, elven, or maybe even halfling.
Adventurers: fairelves would never have existed had it not been for adventurous sprites or elves (most frequently the latter), and thus is no surprise that fairelves would ever have a desire to go adventuring. Most that adventure for a time decide to retire into political careers or pursue their own arcane theses with vigor.
-2 Str, +2 Dex, -2 Con, +2 Charisma : fairelves are agile of tongue and body, but physically they are frail and weak.
Humanoid (Elf, Fey): fairelves are affected by spells and abilities that would affect either Elves or fey creatures. For example, they are affected both by Charm Person and by Charm Monster. For the purposes of abilities like a Ranger's Favored Enemy class feature, they would be counted as either Elf or Fey, whichever grants the ranger greater benefit.
Small size: +1 bonus to Armor Class, +1 bonus to attack rolls, +4 bonus on Hide checks, -4 penalty on grapple checks, lifting and carrying limits 3/4 of those of Medium creatures.
A fairelf's base land speed is 30 feet, and it has magical wings, and can use them to glide 20 feet per 5 feet fallen, but it cannot use them to fly until it has 6 hit dice or more, whereupon it gains a flight speed equal to its base movement speed with maneuverability (average). However, they cannot fly for a number of rounds greater than their constitution bonus (minimum of 1). At 12 or more hit dice, the fairelf's flight speed becomes 30 ft, maneuverability (good). Hit Dice can be gained through class levels. Speeds and gliding are contingent upon a light load. See Carrying Capacity, pg 161 of the PHB and Tactical movement on pg 20 of the DMG.
Eternal blood: Fairelves cannot die due to old age, although they progress physically at about the age of elves. Bonuses and penalties to ability scores still accrue as normal.
+2 to Will saves against spells and spell-like abilities. Against spells and abilities with the mind-affecting descriptor, this increases by another +1. Thanks to their dual heritage, fairelves are particularly resistant to spells or abilities that would alter or affect the mind.
Low-lit vision: fairelves can see twice as far as humans in the dark.
fairelves have a +2 racial bonus on Sense Motive, Listen, Search, and Spot checks. Due to their nature as magical creatures, they are quite perceptive creatures.
Automatic Languages: Sylvan, Common. Bonus Languages: Elven, Gnome, Halfling, Goblin, Orc.
Favored class: Sorcerer
Pentaur
Think of the Centaur in Races of the Wild, but with these Racial ability scores to remove Level Adjustment and RHD:
+2 Con, -2 Intelligence: Pentaur are tough, but tend to be less mentally adept.
Humanoid (Monstrous): the Pentaur is considered a humanoid with a monstrous humanoid subtype. Thus, it is treated as both a humanoid and a Monstrous Humanoid for purposes of spells, spell-like abilities, feats and qualifications for classes.
Medium-size.
Pony-sized length: Pentaur lack the incredible strength and size of their Centaur brethren.
⁃ Pentaur take up two 5' spaces, front-to-back, even though they count as a Medium-sized creature.
⁃ Pentaur only have a 5' reach, despite their size. Furthermore, Pentaur can only use Medium-sized weapons.
Barding: Since the body of a Pentaur is awkward, metal armor for Pentaur cost twice as much and weight 1.5 times as much as for a medium-sized creature. However, Armor that costs more than 110 GP in this fashion is already considered masterwork-quailty for pentaur.
A pentaur's base land speed is 40 feet.
Low-lit vision: Pentaurs can see twice as far as humanoids in dim light.
Quadruped: +4 bonus to resist Bull Rush, Overrun, and Trip attempts.
Hooves: A pentaur has two hoof attacks that are natural weapons each dealing 1d6 damage (bludgeoning) and Strength bonus with a critical range of 20/x2. A pentaur can make two hoof attacks as a full attack, but not as part of an attack with non-natural weapons. NB: the secondary attack has a -5 to hit and deals 1d6 + 1/2 strength bonus.
Automatic languages: Common, Sylvan. Bonus Languages: Elven, Gnome, Halfling, Dwarf.
Favored Class: Druid
The idea of this race is to provide a bare-bones, smaller centaur race for those PCs that want to play one of these mythical creatures.
I bet this race would benefit from more fluff, but I really don't see *too* much point to it.
Kithling
It is rumored that many thousands of years ago, when the Dragons still ruled the land, there once was a race that lived apart from them, known as the Kith. The stories vary: these Kithling were slaves of the Dragons and eventually escaped their captivity. Others disagree: the Kith had lived in these lands before the Dragons came along and virtually wiped out the Kith. Different still, other stories say that the Kith struck a deal with the Dragons, trading only some of their own as slaves to prevent themselves from being wiped out. Whatever the rumors are, they all agree on something: at some point, some of the Dragons, intrigued by the Kith, decided that they might be interesting mates, and, taking the form of Kith themselves, they had offspring.
There must be some truth to these rumors, because the Kithling often inhabit the nooks and crannies of the world, and the Kithling, despite their ingenuity, have no records of their origin save spoken word.
The Kithling have evolved into a semi-nomadic, semi-domestic race of traders, collectors of magic, and collectors of knowledge. Their records and libraries of magic and knowledge rival the gnomes, the elves...all collected in their various locations throughout the world. They strive and—so far—have succeeded in recording great quantities of knowledge of the world. Odd, though, that they have no working memory of their own origins: it is both a source of both shame and intrigue to their people.
Personality: Kithling adore magic, magical items, stories, and knowledge of all kinds. If gnomes are the penultimate pranksters, then the Kithling are the penultimate tinkers. A Kithling's fascination and wonder for magic in all its forms is infectious, and they apply their own curiosity and relish for magic to more practical arts, such as artifice and arcane magic.
Intelligent, naturally curious, inquisitive and—at times—secretive, the Kithling involve themselves in the unusual, rare and arcane whenever they can. They can be impish or demanding at times and at other times they can be patient, glib, knowledgeable and enthusiastic.
Physical Description: Kithling stand at about 2½ to 3 feet tall and weigh from 35 to 45 pounds. They look like a strange cross between gnomes and kobolds, and the most immediately striking difference between gnomes and Kithling is that the latter have small patches of scales scattered across their skin. More humanoid than reptilian, however, they have wiry, gnome-like frames with small tails. Their arms and are distinctly humanoid, but their legs and feet are tough, muscly and almost reptilian. Kithling have small, gently-spiked ridges on the top sides of their heads that often protrude from their hair. Their faces looks more or less like a gnome's except for their sharp, pointed incisors. Males usually have neat, trimmed facial hair or none at all. Kithling wear clothing suited to their natural environment: in mountains, they tend to wear clothing of earthy tones; on the plains, they wear leather. At sea or abroad, they tend to wear *bright, colorful clothing that is also practical in function.
Kithling reach adulthood around 70 years of age, and have been known to live past 600 years of age.
Alignment: The Kithling are curious, open-minded individuals that are more concerned with knowledge, magic and truth than about morality. Kithling tend strongly towards neutrality, viewing extremes of morality as more dangerous than useful (although most Kithling would agree that they prefer good-natured neighbors as opposed to sour ones). On the lawful side, they have a deep respect for tradition, and especially for the preservation of great artifacts, libraries and proven knowledge. There are many that are more drawn to chaotic, unpredictable lives as traders, artificers, adventurers, or all three. In the pursuit of knowledge, some Kithling may become clerics of any type—similarly, some Kithling are drawn into dark, evil arts of magic—but usually even these clerics or dark practitioners approach their domains or subjects with level-headed intellectual curiosity (though, to be fair, it is tough to maintain that intellectual distance for too long with great power).
Relations: *Elves, who share in their curious nature and refined sense and fascination with lore and magical arts. Although Elves are slow to trust, the Kithling find that the time spent fostering that trust (and tolerating the elves' slight disdain) to be well worth any—albeit minor—cost to dignity. Dwarves have an admirable sense of suspicion and methodical ways of thinking that earns them grudging respect, and Kithling find great value in trading with the dwarves, but other than that, they tend to keep their distance. Humans share this sense of curiosity, but they lack the care and balance that prevents them from dangerous extremes. Humans are so willful, reckless and impulsive, it makes the Kithling wonder how they have propagated so much of the world. Half-elves are much better to associate with, as they share some of human ambition, but maintain some perspective on dangerous extremes that comes with longer life. Half-orcs are generally too boisterous, loud and simple-minded for the Kithling: they prefer a good conversation or an intellectual game as opposed to the crazy dancing or drinking that the Half-orcs will engage in. Gnomes and Kithling share an interest for the arcane, for stories, and sometimes even for mechanical devices, but Gnomes have strange tastes in obsessions and pranks that leave the Kithling nonplussed. Halflings, on the other hand, despite their reputations as vagabonds and vagrants, are kindred spirits to these short races: both are outsiders everywhere, rarely at home in one place for long, and the subject of an unfair amount of suspicion wherever they go.
Lands: The Kithling inhabit the nooks and crannies of the world not occupied by their neighbors. Content with living most places they can establish a decent library, they also maintain connections with each other through their own social networks and trade routes. Kithling are excellent traders, and at the same time, manage to stay below honorable mention for this ability. Kithling adventurers are not uncommon, as they will do so out of curiosity, lust for knowledge or power, or for the benefit of keeping themselves and their own race supported and connected.
Religion: Most Kithling aren't terribly given over to religion, since they usually view religion as a dubious source of power at best and needlessly dangerous at worst. Those that are given over to religion, however, venerate Boccob over all others, since he is the lord of magic and knowledge. Most Kithling clerics are cloistered clerics, since they worship Gods for the knowledge they can gain from the religion more than anything else.
Language: The Kithling speak common, and they are often raised to learn ancient languages, such as Elven, Dwarven or Draconic. They have no language of their own, since they see greater value in sticking with common languages and learning other ones from there. Their own long lives and penchant for trading allows them to pick up many other languages as well, even the subtle inflections and rich variations of elven. The Kithling have even gone so far as living with other races, such as Orcs or Giants, to learn of their languages and their culture.
Names: The Kithling have a great love for names. They actually place great emphasis on names, and the type of name given indicates his or her place in society. The intricacies of these classifications are rather refined, and can take several hundred years to understand and appreciate fully. It is commonly known that Draconic names are considered at the highest honor among Kithling, and are only given to Elders and wise-people of their tribes
Adventurers: The Kithling are known as intrepid and useful adventurers, most frequently as artificers, wizards or bards. Some Kithling work as anthropological researchers, living with savage species, if only to understand them. If anyone, these are the Jane Goodalls of D&D.
Kithling Racial Traits
+2 Intelligence, -4 Strength. Kithling are small and rather weak, even for their size, but make up for it with their intelligence and skills.
Small: As a small creature, a Kithling gains a +1 size bonus to armor class, a +1 size bonus to attack, a -4 size penalty on grapple checks, and a +4 size bonus on Hide, but she uses smaller weapons than humans use, and her lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character.
Humanoid (halfling, dragonblood): Kithling are halfling-like humanoids with the dragonblood subtype. For all nonmagical effects related to race (such as a ranger's favored enemy class feature), a Kithling is considered a halfling. However, for any magical effects related to race, Kithling are considered dragons (thus they are affected by spells such as hold monster but not charm person). Kithling are considered both halflings and dragonblooded (but NOT dragons) for the purpose of racial feats and prestige class qualification.
Base land speed is 20 feet.
Low-lit vision: Kithling can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. They retain the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
Darkvision: Thanks to their magical heritage, Kithling can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight. Kithling can function just fine with no light at all.
+2 racial bonus to Appraise checks. Kithling reputation as natural traders is well-founded, but they are also quite tricky.
+2 racial bonus to any one Knowledge skill (player's choice upon creation, limited by class): the Kithling are inquisitive and curious by nature, and every male and female Kithling picks up on and remembers at least some kind of knowledge beyond what others of their kind may know.
Use Magic Device skill always counted as Class Skill, may use untrained, and may apply Int bonus instead of Cha bonus to the skill. Their familiarity with magic items affords them an ability to work with magical devices, even without training.
Automatic languages: Common and Draconic. Bonus languages: Any (other than secret languages such as Druidic). Kithling are both well-traveled traders and collectors of knowledge.
Favored class: Archivist. A multiclass kithin's Archivist class levels do not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty (see XP for Multiclass Characters, PHB pg 60).