Seharvepernfan
2015-02-06, 08:35 AM
Recently, I had an idea for a world where humans do not resemble any real-life ethnicity or culture. This was to avoid the whole not!spain, not!africa, not!japan stuff you see in many fantasy worlds, and also avoids the problem of representing real races in a game world. I also wanted to avoid players choosing humans for the bonus feat.
I wanted humans to be colorful (literally) and different, but not alien. I was thinking there would be humans with green, blue, purple, red, and literal black skin, but I couldn't come up with a reason for why they would have developed that way, until I thought of giants. Humans descended from storm giants could have greenish skin and hair, and it would make sense without having to be explained (though why storm giants are green is beyond me). Later, I thought about having other humans descended from genies.
However, I didn't want my elves/dwarves/gnomes/etc to look different, so I had the idea that all the races in this world came to it through portals many ages ago. The elves stuck to the forests, the dwarves to the mountains, and so on, except for the humans, who were out in the open with no real defense, so they clung to whichever race of giants lived nearby, forming a symbiotic relationship with them. Over time, with the aid of magic, these humans and giants interbred, to the point where every human now has about the same amount of giant blood, and there are no humans left that have none. In some areas, humans instead interbred with genies (who are native to this world, since the elemental planes do not exist in my cosmology).
You can instead just add these traits to certain groups of humans in your campaign worlds; the above was just my reason for coming up with all this.
Anyway, here are their various racial traits:
Giants: Humans descended from giants speak giant, in addition to common. They gain bonus skill points as normal, but do not gain bonus feats.
Cloud: White or light blue skin, silvery white or brass hair.
-Falling Resistance 5 (ignore the first 5 points of falling damage taken)
-Weak Scent (5ft), allows tracking via scent, though at a -4 penalty.
-When using two-handed weapons, they deal damage as if their strength score was 2 points higher.
-Gain a +1 bonus to Charisma
Fire: Black skin, red or orange hair.
-Fire Resistance 5, -1 saves/-2 checks vs cold
-Sturdy: +2 vs. bull rush, overrun, & trip
-Gain +2 racial bonus to Intimidate
-Gain +1 bonus to Constitution
Frost: White skin, light blue or blonde hair.
-Cold Resistance 5, -1 saves/-2 checks vs fire or heat
-Long Limbed: +2 with Disarm attempts & Grapple checks.
-Gain +2 racial bonus to Intimidate
-Gain +1 bonus to Constitution
Stone: Grey skin, bald.
-Gain +1 natural armor bonus (stacks with other sources)
-Gain +1 racial bonus with thrown weapons
-Gain +4 bonus to Hide in rocky or stone terrain
-Gain a +2 racial bonus to Climb checks
-Is proficient with thrown rocks (1d3, x2, 10ft, B) (DM's; don't get picky about how big or what kind)
Storm: Light green skin, dark green hair.
-Electricity Resistance 5
-Ignore armor check penalties to swim, gain +2 racial bonus to Swim
-Hold Breath (x4 Con)
-Gain +1 bonus to Strength
Genies: Humans descended from genies speak whichever elemental language their ancestors spoke, in addition to common. They gain bonus skill points as nomal, but do not gain bonus feats. They have a +2 racial bonus to Sense Motive, and gain +1 CL with illusion spells.
Djinn: Blue skin, regular hair.
-Electricity Resistance 5
-Gain +2 racial bonus to Jump & Tumble
-Gain +1 CL with air spells
Efreeti: Red skin, regular hair.
-Fire Resistance 5, -1 saves/-2 checks vs cold
-Gain +2 racial bonus to spellcraft, escape artist, & grapple checks.
-Gain +1 CL with fire spells
Marid: Teal skin, regular hair.
-Ignore Slippery Conditions: A marid ignores any penalties to movement, skill checks, and grapple checks imposed by slippery conditions. If the slipperiness is from a magic effect, they gain a +2 on saves against it.
-Gain a +2 racial bonus to Swim
-Hold Breath (x4 Con)
-Gain +1 CL with water spells
Shaitan: Purple skin, regular hair.
-Acid Resistance 5
-Gain a +2 racial bonus to Climb
-Stonecunning (as dwarves)
-Gain +1 CL with earth spells
-Darkvision (as dwarves)
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Thoughts?
I wanted humans to be colorful (literally) and different, but not alien. I was thinking there would be humans with green, blue, purple, red, and literal black skin, but I couldn't come up with a reason for why they would have developed that way, until I thought of giants. Humans descended from storm giants could have greenish skin and hair, and it would make sense without having to be explained (though why storm giants are green is beyond me). Later, I thought about having other humans descended from genies.
However, I didn't want my elves/dwarves/gnomes/etc to look different, so I had the idea that all the races in this world came to it through portals many ages ago. The elves stuck to the forests, the dwarves to the mountains, and so on, except for the humans, who were out in the open with no real defense, so they clung to whichever race of giants lived nearby, forming a symbiotic relationship with them. Over time, with the aid of magic, these humans and giants interbred, to the point where every human now has about the same amount of giant blood, and there are no humans left that have none. In some areas, humans instead interbred with genies (who are native to this world, since the elemental planes do not exist in my cosmology).
You can instead just add these traits to certain groups of humans in your campaign worlds; the above was just my reason for coming up with all this.
Anyway, here are their various racial traits:
Giants: Humans descended from giants speak giant, in addition to common. They gain bonus skill points as normal, but do not gain bonus feats.
Cloud: White or light blue skin, silvery white or brass hair.
-Falling Resistance 5 (ignore the first 5 points of falling damage taken)
-Weak Scent (5ft), allows tracking via scent, though at a -4 penalty.
-When using two-handed weapons, they deal damage as if their strength score was 2 points higher.
-Gain a +1 bonus to Charisma
Fire: Black skin, red or orange hair.
-Fire Resistance 5, -1 saves/-2 checks vs cold
-Sturdy: +2 vs. bull rush, overrun, & trip
-Gain +2 racial bonus to Intimidate
-Gain +1 bonus to Constitution
Frost: White skin, light blue or blonde hair.
-Cold Resistance 5, -1 saves/-2 checks vs fire or heat
-Long Limbed: +2 with Disarm attempts & Grapple checks.
-Gain +2 racial bonus to Intimidate
-Gain +1 bonus to Constitution
Stone: Grey skin, bald.
-Gain +1 natural armor bonus (stacks with other sources)
-Gain +1 racial bonus with thrown weapons
-Gain +4 bonus to Hide in rocky or stone terrain
-Gain a +2 racial bonus to Climb checks
-Is proficient with thrown rocks (1d3, x2, 10ft, B) (DM's; don't get picky about how big or what kind)
Storm: Light green skin, dark green hair.
-Electricity Resistance 5
-Ignore armor check penalties to swim, gain +2 racial bonus to Swim
-Hold Breath (x4 Con)
-Gain +1 bonus to Strength
Genies: Humans descended from genies speak whichever elemental language their ancestors spoke, in addition to common. They gain bonus skill points as nomal, but do not gain bonus feats. They have a +2 racial bonus to Sense Motive, and gain +1 CL with illusion spells.
Djinn: Blue skin, regular hair.
-Electricity Resistance 5
-Gain +2 racial bonus to Jump & Tumble
-Gain +1 CL with air spells
Efreeti: Red skin, regular hair.
-Fire Resistance 5, -1 saves/-2 checks vs cold
-Gain +2 racial bonus to spellcraft, escape artist, & grapple checks.
-Gain +1 CL with fire spells
Marid: Teal skin, regular hair.
-Ignore Slippery Conditions: A marid ignores any penalties to movement, skill checks, and grapple checks imposed by slippery conditions. If the slipperiness is from a magic effect, they gain a +2 on saves against it.
-Gain a +2 racial bonus to Swim
-Hold Breath (x4 Con)
-Gain +1 CL with water spells
Shaitan: Purple skin, regular hair.
-Acid Resistance 5
-Gain a +2 racial bonus to Climb
-Stonecunning (as dwarves)
-Gain +1 CL with earth spells
-Darkvision (as dwarves)
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Thoughts?